The Experience of Handling Banga Bhawan Control Room for Uttarakhand Floods

Today (3rd July 2013) I am back to my normal office duty after being a part of the " Banga Bhawan Control Room" from 19th June to 2nd July. This control room was set up at the "Banga Bhawan", West Bengal Govt's state guest house, to monitor the search and rescue operation of the tourists from West Bengal who were stranded in Uttarakhand. Some of us from the Office of the Resident Commissioner in New Delhi were handling the control room, while of number of other people, including our Principal Resident Commissioner Sir, had gone to Uttarakhand to handle the ground level situation there.

It was a first-of-its-kind experience for me to be a part of the control room, which I worked for while handling the VIP Protocol duties that came my way. It was a mixed experience. It was a touching and charming experience when I would call up somebody and told him that we could trace his relative/friend in Uttarakhand, and he would be so happy and elated, and would thank us so profusely. And at the same time I had the painful experience of answering the call of an anxious person only to tell him that there was still no news about his friend or relative.

The assignment was demanding, but I loved being a part of it. It was so different from my usual job profile of providing protocol service to dignitaries.

I congratulate from my heart those families who have got back their loved ones. And my heartfelt condolences for the families whose loved ones have fallen victims to the devastation that will haunt our nation as a nightmare for many years.

WWW.FLIGHTSTATS.COM – A GREAT WAY FOR A FLYER TO KEEP TRACK OF THE FLIGHT SCHEDULE

If you are a frequent flyer, then www.flightstats.com is a great and effective way (if not the best way) for you to keep a track of the flight schedules, i.e. the Scheduled Time of Arrival/Departure and Expected Time of Arrival/Departure. www.flightstats.com keeps making a real time tracking of every flight, and keeps informing people about any change (delay, etc.) in a flight's Scheduled or Expected Time of Arrival/Departure. The updating takes place at an interval of virtually a couple of minutes. 

All you have to do is to just log on to www.flightstats.com and type the flight name, like 6E 206, AI 701, etc. Or you can just type the flight name in Google (by accessing the Internet through any device including your mobile handset), and the www.flightstats.com information will appear at the very top. 

The best thing of www.flightstats.com is that you do not have to call up the office of the concerned airlines again and again, and at the same time you will get an information that may be more accurate than the one provided by the airlines people.

Last but not the least, I have not been paid by anybody to advertise www.flightstats.com As a Protocol Officer I often have to keep track of airlines schedules. I have personally found www.flightstats.com to be very helpful in this regard, and wanted to share it with you people as I felt many of you would benefit from this information.

Indian Invents World's First Smartphone For The Blind

India's Sumit Dagar has made his country proud by inventing world‘s first smartphone for the blind people. The pioneering smartphone invented by this National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) alumnus converts every SMS and email sent to it into blind-friendly Braille. And naturally a visually challenged person can easily read the message. 

It is really so nice to know that now our visually challenged friends will be able to use, independently, a technology that has become part and parcel of the modern human life. And what significantly adds to the thrill of every Indian is the fact that this has been made possible by a fellow Indian. 

Since the early stage of its civilization India has enriched the world technology horizon with notable inventions, with the pioneering work of Sumit Dagar being a reflection of that rich technological legacy that our nation takes pride in. His work will also inspire others who want to make a noble use of their command of science and technology, by bringing more people within the periphery of the latter's service. 

"Dial Kashmir" - A Good Initiative

Congrats to Ms Mehvish Mushtaq for becoming the first Kashmiri lady to develop an Android application, named "Dial Kashmir".

Well, she deserves to be congratulated not merely for becoming the first Kashmiri girl to make this achievement, but also for the utility of the application developed by her. "Dial Kashmir" will serve as a one-stop source of crucial information, as it contains the contains the contact details of more than 500 government and private departments/organizations (such as fire service, police and hospital). Naturally, it will be of great help to both the local people as well as outsiders like tourists. And Mehvish is planning to further expand the database, adding the contact details of more organizations and entities, and thus making the database more valuable.

Great job, Ms. Mehvish. You have really made a good use of your knowledge of Computer Science Engineering and Android Service. We all wish you all the best.

The Intimate Relationship Between Communism and Violence

Every political doctrine or ideology has a certain political idiom, which tends to play a central character in how the followers of that ideology carry out their political activities.

With due respect for the believers in Communism, I feel Violence is the perennial political idiom of Communism. It seems Communists’ excessive obsession with "struggle" always makes them opt for ultra-aggressive steps, even when there is room for other options. This probably explains the bloodshed on almost every occasion when radical Communists have ceased power in a country. Communism has always tended to glorify "Revolution" rather than favoring the more acceptable "Evolution", while overlooking this fact that "Revolution" entails conflict.

This post is not aimed at maligning Communism, which is certainly one of the most notable political theories that the human civilization has ever come across. It is rather an observation by a very ordinary person, who otherwise very much identifies with some of the key objectives of Communism (such as a classless society).

Just To Break The Silence

It may sound funny. But actually I am making this posting just to break my long absence from my blog. I made the last posting in September 2012. After that there was a long silence. Today I felt that I must write something in my blog, even if it is something purely nonsense. So I made this posting.

Hopefully I will come back soon with a proper blog posting.

All The Best, "Barfi"!

It is really so thrilling to know about "Barfi" getting nominated for Oscar. 

While it is always great to find an Indian movie to Oscar nomination, what made Barfi's Oscar nomination so thrilling for me is the movie's close connection with two places that I am so obsessed with - a.) Darjeeling (in the North Bengal region, i.e. the picturesque region that was once the home for my family), and b.) Calcutta/Kolkata, the magnificent city where I grew up. 

All the best, Barfi!

NB - However, I am aware of the controversy that "Barfi" has imitated a number of scenes from a Charlie Chaplin movie. Well, I am not aware of to what extent the imitation has been made. But it is certainly not appreciable if the movie owes the acclaim it is enjoying to the scenes that it has imitated from other movie/movies.