Google Street View Car in Bangalore

The much-hyped Google Street View Car is planning to move across Namma Bangaluru to collect photographs of the prime roads of Bangalore and then uploading it on Google Maps and Google Earth to give us some breathtaking panoramic views of the beautiful Bangalore.

According to an statement made by Google officials, "They will begin imagery collection in Bangalore for the Street View feature in Google Maps. Google cars and trikes will today begin driving and taking street level photographs of public locations around the city. The images will be made available at a later date in Street View on Google Maps."

Now, that sounds really cool.  But do you really want to know how Google has been able to show us such great detailed images?  This is how it works.  Google Street View displays images taken from a fleet of specially adapted cars. Areas not accessible by car, like pedestrian areas, narrow streets, alleys, and ski resorts, are sometimes covered by Google Trikes (tricycles) or a snowmobile. On each of these vehicles, there are 9 directional cameras for 360-degree views at a height of about 8.2 feet, or 2.5 meters, GPS units for positioning, and 3 laser range scanners for the measuring of up to 50 meters 180 degrees in the front of the vehicle. There are also 3G/GSM/Wi-Fi antennas for scanning 3G/GSM and Wi-Fi hotspots.

Those terms really sound super-cool high-tech stuff, but I really doubt that those sophisticated Google cars will be able to handle the Super Bangalorean roads with those amazing bumper to bumper traffic right across Hosur Road to Majestic to Mysore Road junction.  If those sophisticated cars get lost in Bangalore traffic, I don't know how Google Earth or Google Maps are going to find them in the famous Bangloarean traffic.  What says guys???

© 2011 Ranjan Kumar

US versus India: Earning versus Cost of Living

The once magic word NRI particularly US NRI is slowly losing its magical charm these days with rupees consistently getting stronger against US dollars and the continuing downward trend in US economy. In fact, if the trend continues to move the same way, the days are not too far where you will find a US techie drawing just the same salary as an Indian techie or to put it in another words a US techie will be earning as low as an Indian techie earns in India (that means US salary dipping and Indian salary rising).

SALARY:  Based on the data compiled by Manpower, take a look at the following startling revelations:

1. Sector's staff level salaries were as much as 86 per cent higher in the US compared to India in 2006. However, this gap declined to 82 per cent in 2007 and is expected to decline further to 78 per cent in 2008.

2. In the case of executive level salaries, the gap dropped from 68 per cent in 2006 to 60 per cent in 2007 and could further decline to 52 per cent this year.

3. The steepest decline of 21 per cent is likely to be seen in the middle manager level, where the US salaries used to be 69 per cent higher in 2006, but would be only 48 per cent higher than India in 2008. This difference stood at 57 per cent in 2007.

According to data compiled by Manpower, the average annual executive salaries in the US stood at $205,047 in 2006 and increased to $213,336 in 2007. In comparison, the Indian average annual salary is expected to rise from $65,356 to $103,167 in 2008.

For middle-manager level, the US average annual salary actually dropped from $104,681 in 2006 to $103,379 in 2007, while in India it rose from $32,733 in 2006 to $44,250 in 2007 and would further improve to $53,566 in 2008.

The Indian staff-level salary is expected to rise to $20,337 in 2008, from $13,156 in 2006 and $16,800 in 2007. In the US, the staff-level salary dropped from $92,201 in 2006 to $91,965 in 2007.

So, here we see a definite rise in Indian salary as compared to US salary.

COST OF LIVING:
1. Rent: Comparing the rent from a major US city like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or LA to a major Indian city like Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai (except Mumbai), the rent difference will be as much as $700 (Rs. 35,000) where in a major city in an upmarket locality you will have to pay $600 to $1000 (Rs. 30,000-50,000) against a whooping $2000-2500 in a major US city.

2. Children Education: US definitely is much better than India because a public school in US is free, but in India the fee varies anywhere from $20 to $200 per month depending upon the choice of school.

3. Food: Of course, India much cheaper than US the savings in India can be as much as $300 to $500 a month.

4. Healthcare: Well, if you are fully covered in US, then its out of question, but if not, the healthcare in India is at least 25% cheaper than US.

5. Domestic Aide:  Undoubtedly, much cheaper in India, where in US, a single visit domestic maid takes anywhere from $25 to $50, in India for $50 you can get a domestic aide for a month.

Now, if you compare both these data together, I think its much less profitable becoming an NRI and better work in India and still make much better savings than US and enjoy the joy of living in your own country rather than some foreign land. In fact, if the trend continues, we might see a reversal trend and start seeing more of NRAs (non-resident Americans) in India rather than NRIs in US. Wat say guys???


© 2010 Ranjan Kumar

Bangalore one step away from getting into semi-finals

Yesterday was a day of low-scoring matches in IPL. The first match between Team Jaipur and Team Kolkata was like a one-day from 20 years back where bowler ruled the roost and batsmen were struggling to score a single run. Ultimately, KKR did deliver the knock-out blow to Rajsthan Royals, defending champion, and thus ended their dream of getting into the semis once again. The second match was a nightmare for Team Punjab where they squandered one of the easier opportunities to get into the semis being unable to defend a modest total posted by Team Chennai, thus putting their team on the rajor's edge.

This has made Bangalore's chances of getting into the semis much brighter. If they win today's match against the Chargers they will automatically be placed into the semis. But if they lose, then the average net run rate theory will come into play and they will have to vie with Team Punjab for the fourth spot in the semis. Though things look better for Bangalore now, but they have to just keep this NRR thing in mind while playing for today's match so that even if they lose to the Chargers, they should be well ahead on the NRR to keep Punjab out of fray.

Best of luck to Team Bangalore...

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Why Obama chose to target Bangalore?

The entire BPO industry in India went berserk after the Harvard Law Graduate President Barrack Obama said the following, "It’s a tax code of corporate loopholes that makes it perfectly legal for companies to avoid paying their fair share. It’s a tax code that makes it all too easy for a number — a small number of individuals and companies to abuse overseas tax havens to avoid paying any taxes at all. And it’s a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York.”

Why Obama chose to name Bangalore instead of any other city in the world remains an open mystery to the world, particularly Indians, and more particularly namma Bangaloreans. It seems like not only the other cities in India, but even the most powerful county in the world is fearful of namma Bangalure, the Silicon Valley of India, or should we say Silicon Valley of world. One thing is very clear, Bangalore is now much ahead in terms of IT business than any other cities in the world and so we Bangaloreans should feel proud about it.

But what worries everyone here in the IT capital of India is the after-effects of Obama's now famous Bangalore speech. Rumors have started spreading like wildfire that the BPO industry in Bangalore may see huge repercussions in the coming 6 months. Well, the fears are genuine but we should not be too much worried about this. This means like Obama wants some drastic changes made in the income tax laws of his own country, so that more revenues should come in US treasury. Now the accounts for about 60 percent ($30 billion) of the $50-billion IT export revenue from India. About 70 percent of the export revenue is generated by Indian firms and the remaining by multinational captives or third party vendors in the sub-continent. That means that if any loss of revenues will also be loss of revenue for US if they change the tax laws in their own country.

So, in other words, as long as Bangalore and the rest of India continues to work smartly, the US would always try to make reforms in their tax laws, so that a part of revenue generated in India will be paid back to US in terms of taxes, and thus we all Indians can says proudly that now we are helping US getting out of the great recession of all time.

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Work with the biggest medical transcription company in India

One of the biggest medical transcription companies in India requires a lot of OJT, MT, IMT, QA, senior QA with one of the most competitive remuneration in the industry. If you think you have the fire in your belly to prove yourself in the MT industry then join the biggest company in India. You can post your comment if you are interested to work in Bangalore.

The company offers a challenging environment to work, so if you are ready to take the challenge, go ahead.

Drag racing in Bangalore

Drag racing is not a new term for namma Bangaloreans, though it is not as common a sight now in the central business district. The activity has mostly shifted to city's outskirts particularly on the NICE road. We had a very tragic accident last year when a guy ran from traffic police while drag racing in the midnight and finally being shot down by the military police in the Bangalore cantonment area. Well, we can never forget that tragic event where a young guy lost his life due to drag racing.

Why I thought to write the blog today on drag racing is because of an unusual drag racing being taken place right in the heart of the city, perhaps one of the busiest area in Bangalore, Brigade Road. I was returning from office at around 6 p.m. in the evening in my Maruti 800 driving through the busy Brigade Road. Suddenly, a bike zipped pass my car going at over 80 kmph and then to everyone's stunned eyes, the guy took off his bike on one wheel and kept dragging the bike for almost 2 minutes on the busy Brigade Road stretch. One of the traffic police constable tried to stop but the biker just zipped away at a very high speed.

I just want to give these drag racers a word of advice, please do go with your hobby but please don't play with this hobby on the busy Bangalore roads because you are not risking your life only but putting other's lives at risk also because it creates sort of a havoc on the road while the fellow travelers start to look at you and in a way lose control of their own vehicle.

This is a very exciting sport...let the excitement and thrill be limited to outskirts where you don't put other's lives at risk

© 2009 Ranjan Kumar

Trip to Mahabalipuram

It was only at the last hours of the 30th of December we decided that this year we will celebrate the New Year's eve on the pristine beach of Mammalapuram with the entire family together but for Bhaiya. With everything given due concerns for, viz., the route, the cars, the sitting arrangements, the breakfast and lunch option, and the last but not the least, that we have to reach Bangalore the same night before the Dawn of New Year. The morning stated brightly with the two cars, my beloved Maruti 800 and Gautam's Alto, hitting top gear on Hosur Road at 6 a.m. on the 31st December. With Sun still not out of its closet and the proposed six-lane work going on Hosur Road still we reached Hosur in 10 minutes and then set on the motorists' dream Bangalore-Chennai Highway (a part of Golden Quadtrangle). Since Gautam had once been before on this highway, his Alto was taking the guide route and we were moving smoothly on the highway when I missed an arrow and landed on the road leading to Salem with Gautam's car taking the Chennai road. Fortunately, I was back to my senses within a minute and put the car in reverse gear and was as on the Chennai road within minutes. It was at 10 in the morning, going nonstop since 6 a.m., I suddenly found that everyone in the car are having mice jumping in the belly and we found a roadside dhaba just opened on the right side of the road. After stuffing us with puri and sabji, we went ahead nonstop until the Kanchipuram T-point came where we had to leave the smooth national highway and come on the narrow state highway to reach Mammalapuram. It took us more than one hour just to clear the heavy traffic of Kanchipuram City to be back on the highway leading to Mammalapuram. After not much untoward happenings and after paying almost 200 bucks at five toll gates, we finally were able to reach the beach just around 2 in the afternoon, much to everyone's chagrin that why we opted for such a long journey. Once on the beach, good times were back again with everyone jumping and shouting in the high waves. Papa still opted not to enter water and to look after our belongings! With time running out I was pleading with Ashi to come out of the sea as we have to hit the road once again to go back to Bangalore and hit the National Highway before the dark sets in. But, as it never happens with us, we were able to reach Kanchipuram only in the 8 in the night and back on the National Highway only around 9 p.m. Once again, we hit the top gear and went nonstop when only after driving for three hours nonstop, I noticed that I was hardly able to keep open my eyes and drive on. In fact, I had my eyes closed for a couple of seconds in the middle of the Highway, when the good senses prevailed and I parked the car on the side of the road to regain my senses back and be on the road back again. We had our dinner at around 12 in the midnight at a good Punjabi Dhaba (no pun intended..) in Tamilnadu was back in Ittina Neela at 2 a.m. of the New Year.