At home I tried download using Bittorrent, which was successful to an extent over my 48kbps gprs access (download speed was only 1-18kbps). Download progress was something like 200-300MB per day. Though it may steadly progress and get complete in 5-10 days,  it was very costly indeed to download over gprs connection. Back at office, torrent over wget http/ftp clicked my mind, here is how I downloaded the entire 2.8GB iso file in 2 days.

Download the list of servers from http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/7/ to PublicActiveMirrors.html
# wget http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/7/ -O PublicActiveMirrors.html

Extract all http server lists from the file
# grep ‘>http<’ PublicActiveMirrors.html  | cut -f2 -d\” | awk ‘{printf (“%s/%s\n”,$0,”Fedora/i386/iso/F-7-i386-DVD.iso”)}’ > urls.txt

Now use the following csh script to loop indefenitly and wget with –continue option
# Retry till I kill it!!!
while echo
do
        for url in `cat urls.txt`
        do
                wget -c -t 3 -w 20 -v $url
                sleep 60
        done
        sleep 120
done

I got my ISO ready in less than 2 days.
# ls -l F-7-i386-DVD.iso
-rw-r–r– 1 ajcl users 2900602880 May 27 20:12 F-7-i386-DVD.iso

You may also download the SHA1SUM from any download mirror above and check if downloaded ISO is alright.
# sha1sum -c SHA1SUM

I verified the ISO using QEMU as well, now I will burn it on to a DVD and upgrade my FC5 to FC7

More on FC7 blues later

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I called TASC in advance for a booking. But that didn’t carry any value. Saturday (6th) around 10am I reported at TASC (Oberai Motoros, Dehradun). Car was put in queue and attended shortly.

As per manual there is not much to be done in first FS, wash, routine checks etc.. only. Service adviser (SA) suggested and made it
optional to change engine oil. He told about a air pressure cap for tubes. I opted for both.

I had one complaint, regarding my power window. F/RHS power window was having trouble winding up. It was shown to TASC 2 times before. SA assured me that it will be taken care. Request for another coat of paint protection and under body treatment was also agreed upon unpaid.

I had a plan to fit heater (HV/AC) in my GLS (Only AC now), SA said it will cost 4K + 1.5K labor. In one of the previous posts in TIUG yahoo groups, heater fitting cost was 4K inclusive of labor, so I dropped the idea for now

I left the car and came back, expected delivery time was 5.30

Around 4.30, I reached TASC. But car was not in vicinity. I waited around 15 minutes or more to get the invoice, as it was getting generated from Mumbai (now centralised billing from Tata, a good move for customers). I paid the bill
of 1500 (4 litr engine oil, 200ml addictive, 4 air tight caps for tyres, and taxes.

Invoice mentioned about work done on F/RHS power window winder. But result was same, more over there was a big bang sound when the glass touched bottom (some bush missing?)

I reported the same to SA. He called in the technician who attended to this. He tried few times and told me that it is because of water and will be alright in no time. Regarding the sound, he was very passive until I operated F/LHS window where sound of glass touching the bottom was nominal. Then both SA and technician agreed to look into it
another day

I didn’t experience any remarkable difference in driving after this FS. While giving the car for FS, I forget to mention about mileage, which is around 9km/ltr now. Now I hope it will improve, for FS and my driving habits

Work done

1. Wash, checks, top-ups (hope it is done)
2. 4 Ltr Engine oil, 200ml additive and oil filter (paid)
3. Second coat of paint protection (paint felt very smooth, foam coat or wax?)
4. No under body treatment was done, as previous coat was found ok (I doubt this, I knew about 2-3 major scratches under the hood)
5. Window winder check (I doubt this, problem persists and aggravated too with a bang sound)
6. Fitting of 4 air pressure caps costed me 113 incl taxes, this costs only Rs. 50 outside,

So pending issues are

1. Power window breaks in up winder and sound in down winder
2. Mileage, idle rpm?

PS: Make sure to remove all accessories like cd player head, tools, car cover, kits & spares in glow box, etc.. before giving your car for service. Better keep it at home than TASC’s safe vault (a small vault was available with Oberai Motors’ gate keeper.

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Alan is of Irish and Scottish Gaelic origin and means Harmony, or the cheerful handsome one.

The boy’s name Alan is pronounced AL-an. It is of Old German origin, and its meaning is “precious”. From Adal. Also possibly derived from the Gaelic “ailin” meaning “little rock”. Introduced into England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, such as Alan, Earl of Brittany, who was rewarded for his services with vast estates in the newly conquered kingdom. Popular in the Middle Ages, with a boom around the 1950s influenced by the popularity of actor Alan Ladd. Alun is a Welsh form. South African author Alan Paton; lyricist Alan Jay Lerner; playwright Alan Bennett; astronaut Alan Shepard; actors Alan Alda, Alan Cumming; poet Allen Ginsberg; basketball player Allen Iverson.

Alan has 24 variant forms: Ailean, Ailin, Al, Alain, Alair, Aland, Alann, Alano, Alanson, Alen, Alin, Allain, Allan, Allayne, Allen, Alley, Alleyn, Alleyne, Allie, Allin, Allon, Allyn, Alon and Alun.

Similar baby name suggestions for Alan are Alwyn, Alwin, Aluin, Aloin, Ilon, Ilan, Elon, Elan, Eilan, Elian, Jalan, Olin, Olyn, Olen and Wylan. Search for more names similar to Alan starting with Al-, Ala-, Alan- or ending with -an, -lan, -alan.

Alan is a very popular male first name and a popular surname, according to the 1990 U.S. Census.

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There are lots of blogs on setting up & customising FC5 for you & me, but here are my experiances – which taught me many a thing, tips & tricks

Data DVD Writing in Linux, Fedora Core 5

If your DVD is recognized by FC5, as is the case with most DVDRW’s you
can use following commands for compiling and burning a DVD ROM

Format a DVD-RW, not required for DVD-R 
    dvd-rw-format /dev/cdrw-sr0
    OR
    cdrecord dev=/dev/cdrw-sr0 formattype=full|force

Burning an already compiled ISO image
    cdrecord -v -dev=/dev/cdrw-sr0 driveopts=burnfree -sao -eject image.iso
    OR
    growisfs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/cdrw-sr0 image.iso

Compiling ISO and writing on the fly
    growisfs -V “Disk Volume Label” -Z /dev/cdrw-sr0 -R -J -graft-points -pathspecs ./=./path/to/files
    # here multiple path sepcs can be given or put in a file and given as an argument

If you hate command prompts, use the following
    In Gnome, nautilus->Go->CD/DVD Creator, which is basically a front end to growisofs tool
    nautilus-cd-burner is the actual program which does this.

Minimise any application to system tray !!!

I was just wondering if that was possible. Minimize Any Application to the System Tray gave me the lead to AllTray
and rpm for my FC5 could be found at alltray-0.69-1.fc5.i386.rpm

Now modify any launcher in your menu or desktop to prefix alltray before the command name!! It will start minimised to systray in GNOME, KDE, XFCE and more

Following command can be used to create quickstart tray icon for OO.org in Linux (This feature is natively supported in MS Windows). This command will preload OO.org and hide using alltray. The tray icon can be used to quickly launch any of the suite components.

alltray -m “Calc:oocalc” -m “Draw:oodraw” -m “Impress:ooimpress” -m “Math:oomath” -m “Writer:oowriter” -m “Base:oobase” -m “Term:gnome-terminal” ooffice -minimized

Its the coolest appelt I ever found, open source really rocks

XMMS and SELinux in FC5

Some libraries are to be made SELIUNX complaint

eg: with xmms-mp3 pluggin, following did the trick

chcon -R -t texrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/xmms/

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Read on..


Age versus Youth

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa , taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.
One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that he’s lost. Wandering about, he notices a young leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.
The old poodle thinks, “Oh, oh! I’m in deep-doo-doo now!”
Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap the old poodle exclaims loudly, “Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here.”
Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.
“Whew!” says the leopard, “That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!”
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard,
spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.
The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, “Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what’s going to happen to that conniving canine!
Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, “What am I going to do now?” But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn’t seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says.
“Where’s that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!

Moral of this story………….
*Don’t mess with old farts,* for age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience.
I am in no way insinuating that you are old, some of us are just more “youth challenged” than others!!!!
Notice the size of this print???

Job interviews

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Officer asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT, “And what starting salary were you looking for?”
The Engineer replies, “In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.”
The interviewer enquires, “Well, what would you say to a package of 5-weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years say, a red Corvette?”
The Engineer sits up straight and says, “Wow! Are you kidding?”
And the interviewer replies, “Yeah, but you started it.”

********************

The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists…

Two men and a woman.

For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.
“We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances.
In side of this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill Her!!!”
The man said, “You can’t be serious. I could never shoot my wife.”
The agent said, “Then you’re not the right man for this job.”

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the man came out with tears in his eyes.” I tried, but I can’t kill my wife.”
The agent said, “You don’t have what it takes. Take your wife and go home.”

Finally, it was the woman’s turn. She was given the same instructions to kill her husband.
She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls.
After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman.
She wiped the sweat from her brow, and said, “This gun is loaded with blanks. I had to beat him to death with the chair.”

**************************
 
A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life;
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless.

*************************

To Silence Gossip, Refuse to Repeat it.

There was a World wide survey of ” Most Embarrassing Moment in human life” and the final three incidents are ….
 
Third Place
” It was the day before my eighteenth birthday. I was living at home, but my
parents had gone out for the evening, so I invited my girlfriend over for
a romantic night alone. As we lay in bed after making love, we heard the
telephone ringing downstairs. I suggested to my girlfriend that I give her
a piggy-back ride to the phone. Since we didn’t want to miss the call, we
didn’t have time to get dressed. When we got to the bottom of the stairs,
the lights suddenly came on and a whole crowd of people yelled
“SURPRISE!”.
My entire family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and all of my
friends were standing there ! My girlfriend and I were frozen to the spot
in a state of shock and embarrassment ! for what seemed like an eternity.
Since then, no-one in my family has planned a surprise party again. “
 
Second Place (a lady)
” While in line at the bank one afternoon, my kid decided to release
some pent-up energy and started to run amuck. I was finally able to grab
hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other
patrons. I told her that if she didn’t start behaving herself right now,
she would be punished. To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in
a voice just as threatening, “If you don’t let me go right now, I will
tell Grandma that I saw you kissing Daddy’s pee-pee(dick) last night!”.
The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange. Even the
tellers stopped what they were doing ! I mustered the last of my dignity
and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow. The last thing that I
heard as the door closed behind me were the screams of laughter. “
 
And the Winner Is…..
This one actually happened at Harvard University in October last year. In
a biology class, the professor was discussing the high glucose levels
found in semen. A young female (freshman), raised her hand and asked, “If
I understand what you are saying, there is a lot of glucose in male semen,
as in sugar?” “That’s correct.” responded the professor, going on to add
much statistical data. Raising her hand again, the sweet young thing
asked, “Then why doesn’t it taste sweet?”. After a stunned silence, the
whole class burst out laughing, the poor girl turned bright red and as
she realized exactly what she had inadvertently said (or rather implied),
she picked up her books without a word and walked out of the class, and
never returned.
However, as she was going out of the door, the professor’s reply was a
classic. Totally straight-faced, he answered her question, “It doesn’t
taste sweet because the taste-buds for sweetness are on the tip of your
tongue and not in the back of your throat!    

Performance vs Position……..

A priest dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates.
Ahead of him is a person who is dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.
Saint Peter addresses him, “Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you into the Kingdom of Heaven?”
The person replies, “I’m Joe Cohen, taxi driver, from New York.”
Saint Peter consults his list. He smiles and says to the taxi driver,
“Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven”.
Now it is the priest’s turn. He stands erect and booms out, “I am the Right Reverend Joseph Snow, pastor of Saint Mary’s for the last forty-three years.”
Saint Peter consults his list. He says to the priest, “Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven”.
“Just a minute,” says the priest. “That man was a taxi driver. Why does he get a silken robe and golden staff?”
“Results”, shrugged Saint Peter. “While you preached, people slept. When he drove, people prayed.”

Moral: It is Performance, Not Position that Counts.

MIGHTY SARDAR……!

A salesman drove into Taran Taran, a small town in Punjab, where a street circus was in process. A sign read: “Don’t Miss The Amazing Bahadur Singh”.
That evening after his visits, the salesman bought a ticket and sat down. There, on center stage was a table with three walnuts on it. Standing next to it was an old, well-built Sardar.
The mighty Sardar dropped his pants, whipped out his huge ‘prick’ and quickly smashed all the three walnuts with three mighty swings!
The crowd erupted in applause as the elderly Sardar was carried off on the shoulders of the crowd.
Ten years later the salesman visited Taran Taran once again, and saw the faded sign for the same circus and again the same old sign “Don’t Miss The Amazing Bahadur Singh”.
He just couldn’t believe the old guy was still alive much less still doing his act!
He bought a ticket. Again, the center ring was illuminated. This time however, instead of walnuts, three coconuts were placed on the table.
The Sardar stood before the crowd, then dropped his pants and smashed the three coconuts with three quick swings of his amazing ‘prick’. The crowd went wild!
Flabbergasted, the salesman requested a meeting with Bahadur Singh after the show.
“Papaji, You are just incredible!” he told the Sardar. “But I have to know something. You are so much older now, why did you switch from the easier walnuts to coconuts?”
“Puttar,” said the Sardar, “Aankhan kharab ho gayeen hai yaar…Theek tharan aim nahin kar panda !” (My eyes have become dim …. I can’t aim properly !!!)

SHREWD SARDAR…………!

Pakistani, Bangladeshi and OUR Sardar are in a bar one night having a beer.

The Pakistani drinks his beer and suddenly throws his glass in the air, pulls out a gun and shoots the glass to pieces. He says “In Islamabad our glasses are so cheap that we don’t need to drink from the same one twice.”

The Bangladeshi [obviously impressed by this drinks his beer, throws his glass into the air, pulls out his gun and shoots the glass to pieces. He says “In Dhaka we have so much sand to make the glasses that we don’t need to drink out of the same glass twice either.”

OUR Sardar, cool as a cucumber, picks up his beer and drinks it, throws his glass into the air, pulls out his gun and shoots the Pakistani and Bangladeshi. He says “In India we have so many Pakistanis and Bangladeshi that we don’t need to drink with the same ones twice.”

Balle balle !!!!

Women are clever…who said so?

A woman was out golfing one day when she hit the ball into the woods.
She went into the woods to look for it and found a frog in a trap. The frog told her, “If you release me from this trap, I will grant you three wishes.”
The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, “Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for, your husband will get it ten times!”
The woman said, “That’s okay.”
For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The frog warned her, “You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to”.
The woman replied, “That’s okay, because I will be the most beautiful woman and he will have eyes only for me.”
So, KAZAM-she’s the most beautiful Woman in the world!
For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world.
The frog said, “That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you.”
The woman said, “That’s okay, because what’s mine is his and what’s his is mine.”
So, KAZAM-she’s the richest woman in the world!
The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, “I’d like a mild heart attack!”
 Moral of the story: Women are clever. Don’t mess with them!

 Attention female readers: This is the end of the joke for you. Stop here and continue feeling good!

Male readers: Please scroll down.
/> …
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
/> .
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The man had a heart attack ten times milder than his wife!!!

Moral of the story: Women are really dumb but think they’re really smart!
Let them continue to think that way and just enjoy the show!

PS: If you are a woman and are still reading this; it only goes to show that women never listen!!!

Forward this to all the guys for a good laugh, and to all the ladies who have a good sense of humour!

Take time to read this…..specially the last part!

GOD CREATED CHILDREN (AND IN THE PROCESS
GRANDCHILDREN)
To those of us who have children in our lives,
Whether they are our own,
Grandchildren,
Nieces,
Nephews,
Or students…
Here is something to make you chuckle.

Whenever your children are out of control,
You can take comfort from the thought that
Even God’s omnipotence did not extend
To His own children
After creating heaven and earth,
God created Adam and Eve.
And the first thing he said was
DON’T!”
“Don’t what?”
Adam replied.
“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.”
God said.
“Forbidden fruit?
We have forbidden fruit?
Hey Eve. we have forbidden fruit!”
” No Way!”
Yes way!”
“Do NOT eat the fruit! “
Said God.
“Why?”
“Because I am your Father and I said so! “
God replied,
Wondering why He hadn’t stopped
Creation after making the elephants.
A few minutes later,
God saw His children having an apple break
And He was ticked!
“Didn’t I tell you not to eat the fruit?”
God asked.
“Uh huh,”
Adam replied.
“Then why did you? “
Said the Father.
“I don’t know,”
Said Eve.
“She started it! “
Adam said.
“Did not! “
“Did too! “
“DID NOT! “
Having had it with the two of them,
God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve
Should have children of their own.
Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.
BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THE STORY!
If you have persistently and lovingly tried to
 give
 children wisdom
and they haven’t taken it,
Don’t be hard on yourself.
If God had trouble raising children,
What makes you think it would be
A piece of cake for you?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!

1. You spend the first two years of their life Teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend The next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children.

3. Fathers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.

5. The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY:

Be nice to your kids. They will choose your Nursing home one day.

AND FINALLY:

IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION AND YOU GET A HEADACHE, DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE:
“TAKE TWO ASPIRIN” AND “KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN”!!!!!

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Having photos from various sources, all pertaining to the same context, event or trip, how do I view the photos with out loosing the flow?

There are various software, using which I can store, manage these photos. Software album makers like Google’s Picasa and ACDSee are excellent photo managers, but how do we tackle this flow problem?

Time is the key!! All digital cameras store EXIF information along with the JPEG header. I wrote a small C code to extract the DataTime EXIF tag from my photos using the libexif library.

Using another script, I can now rename/copy images in proper order. It is assumed that there is no time difference/lag between the camera sources.

What ever you do, it will be a good idea to sync Date/Time field of all cameras before shooting or starting the trip. Alternatively, time difference +/- can be adjusted by adding 2 more lines to the script to incorporate this allowance.

This code uses libexif Exif tag parsing library.

getexifdatetime.c



#include "stdio.h"

#include "libexif/exif-utils.h"
#include "libexif/exif-data.h"

// cc -lexif getexifdatetime.c -o getexifdatetime

int
main (int argc, char **argv)
{
  ExifData *ed;
  ExifTag et;
  ExifEntry *ee;
  char val[30];
  unsigned int i;

  ed = exif_data_new_from_file (argv[1]);
  et = EXIF_TAG_DATE_TIME;
  for (i = 0; i ifd[i], et)
    {
      if (ee)
	{
	  printf ("%s", exif_entry_get_value (ee, val, 30));
	}
    }

  exif_entry_free (ee);
  exif_data_free (ed);
}

rename2jpg-datekey.bash



#!/bin/bash
#####################################################################
# After getting back from an outing, collection of photos from different sources
# need to be sorted according to time stamp for better flow
# Here I use ImageMagic's identify command to get time stamp and rename/copy
# the source file to a destination with following format string
# Input: List of jpg directories,
#	 directory name can be user/location name for better meaning
# Output: $PREFIX-$TIME_STAMP.$SUFFIX.jpg
#	 All files goes to $PWD/renamed-with-date-stamp
#	 PREFIX can be like Image or Photo or Location name etc..
#	 SUFFIX can be like Author or Location etc..
#####################################################################
# Ajith/021006/First release
#####################################################################
# TODO
# GUI for input/format selection etc..
#####################################################################

DEST=$PWD/renamed-with-date-stamp

if [ $# -lt 2 ]
then
	echo "No input directories given, quitting"
	echo "Minimum args: PREFIX and Input DIRECTORY[..]"
	exit
else
	# PREFIX=Image
	# PREFIX=Photo
	PREFIX=$1
	echo "Using $PREFIX as image prefix: $PREFIX-\$TIME-STAMP.\$SUFFIX.jpg"
	shift
	echo "Creating files in $DEST"
	mkdir -p "$DEST"
fi

for d in $*
do
	if [ ! -d "$d" ]
	then
		echo "$d is not a directory"
		continue
	fi
	pushd "$d"
	img_suffix=$(basename $d)
	for f in *.jpg
	do
		if [ "$f" = "*.jpg" ]
		then
			echo "No more files here"
			break
		fi
		TSF="${PREFIX} $(getexifdatetime "$f";) ${img_suffix}.jpg"
		if [ "$TSF" = "${PREFIX} ${img_suffix}.jpg" ]
		then
			echo "$f doesn't seem to have a time stamp"
			continue
		fi
		# Change : to _ for DOS compatibility
		TSF=$(echo $TSF | tr [:] [_] 
		echo -n cp "$f" "$TSF .."
		if [ -f "$DEST/$TSF" ]
		then
			echo " failed, image already exists."
		else
			cp "$f" "$DEST/$TSF"
			echo " done"
		fi
	done
	popd
done

This script can be easly integrated with Nautilus file manager for use from Gnome desktop.

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We were 8 in 2 cars, Polash’s family in his Wagon-R, Amol Shyam, Deepak Sareen with Akul and me in my Indica-Xeta.

The hike was not very difficult one, with well layed stone road by PWD. But we made it true hike bypassing the roads and cutting the hill across. We spend the full day climbing up, staying on top and returning, yes full day, but well spend

Driving from Rishikesh to Srinagar

Halt for Lunch at GMVN guest house after Rudraprayag

Chopta, few km more..

Campfire at Dugal Bitta guest house, apple and pototo barbecue,
thanks to the German company – boots below the table

Chaukhamba peak, view from Mayadeep guest house in Chopta

Isn’t the view really cool as the climate?

 
One for the road

Tired? No way!! In her cradle

And at the peak, panorama by Polash

For us, it was a fully day hike. But the 65 year old man who runs Ganesh Hotel (we call it Ganesh Resort, International!!!) up there near the temple said he climbs up in 15 mins and down in 5 mins!! even at this age – amazing, isn’t it?

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Polash got fond details on the hike at his blog

Few snaps from the hike..

Halt (gasp? no way!! we were all cool & off by now) for breakfast

Hey look! that is where we came from

Lonely planet? Don’t worry dear old man, we are with you

Sun peeking at us through the woods, what say?

At Mussorie mall road, we felt alone in the crowd

View of Nag Tibba and other local peeks from Gun Hill

A joint attempt to bring down the cable car? noopss!!

Cable comes this way from Mall road to Gun Hill

But posting doesn’t work

Flickr
Just I found that Flickr can be linked and used with various Blog backends, I could login with above settings and start blog from with in Flickr !!

Performancing
XMl RPC is really cool
Do this to increase the history listing

1. New tabe in Firefox, type about:config
2. Search for performacing
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New Indica V2 Xeta Petrol 1.4 Ltr, 70 PS

Xeta & me

Following were few of the initial complaints that got were rectified

• Wiper jet not working to full jet
  • done – The jets need to be cleaned with a thin wire
• Side indicators making lot of sound? try some other
  • ignore – relay sound ok
• Hissh sound from emergency indicator switch, can it be made soft?
  • ignore – will be softened by use
• AC fan is too noisy at 3 & 4 levels. Infact more noisier than the engine
  • ignore – You will get used to it
• Indica Club membership form?
  • ignore – no benefits at all.
• Clock light dimms when head lamp is switched on, is it ok? battery weak?
  • ok – for night driving & battery saving. A good feature

Pending Complaints after 16/09/06

• Noise from left rear shock absorber
• Both power window not steady? closing with some wobbling in the top?
  • Needs slight realignment of guide-rubber channels.
• Plastic part are still grey, complaints on paint protection
  • Wurth Trim Paint (Black) one time, carefull the adjacent areas are covered with tape to prevent spillover.
  • clean the plasics with hot water (not boiling, but about 50-60 deg C)
  • Acc. to him, the grey on plastics is because of wax, and this hot water will melt the wax and get the black back.Mild kir-kir sound when pressing break pedal?
• The brake pedal pivots & spring under the dash need a touch of grease.

Mileage info & tips

• I min idling required after starting & before stoping. For MPFI too?
• Low fule indicator lights up at 5 Ltr or 7 Ltr
  • Petrol avg 12 kmpl
  • CNG avg 16 kmpkg
  • LPG avg 10 kmpl
• Tyre pressure 30 psi (F) 28 psi (B)
  • ACCUTIRE DIGITAL PRESSURE GAUGE- Model MS-4020B 5-150PSI – 18$
  • Master Flow CYCLONE high volume portable Air compressor MODEL: MF-1040 upto 150PSI max – 33$
  • digital pressure guage ($8.0) and portable tyre inflator (5-150 PSI, cost $10.0) from US ( Radioshack and Walmart resp
  • 3-IN-1MINI SUPER (300PSI) MULTI PURPOSE, TYRE INFLATOR – EBay.in – Rs. 890/-
  • Dayton Tyre Gauge ( DT-206B) – Analog – EBay.in – Rs. 200/-
  • Tyre Pressure Gauge All Heavy Plastic Body – Analog – EBay.in – Rs. 270/-
  • While filling a hot tyre, defalte to 9-10psi and reinflate to 30/28
• Start & stop in petrol, run in gas
• “Shiner Polish” can be used to restore lost gleen of plastic etc.. 120/ltr but Turtle Wax is always better
• Wurth Trim Paint (Black) can be applied at plastic, one time & no further polish required
  • Clean & keep away all frictions
  • Turtle brand wax
  • Formua1 brand wax, Rs. 170/- with carnauba wax as base
  • SCRATCH OUT – Formua1 -Ebay.in – 240/-
  • FORMULA 1 ECONOMY PACK (2), SCRATCH OUT AND WAX & WASH – Ebay.in – 430/-
  • FORMULA 1, COMPLETE CAR CARE KIT (4) – Ebay.in – 724/-
  • It can last 6 motnhs – 1 year
• GTX Magnatec engine oil is good
• New battery
  • Amaron Pro + 4 year warranty – 2900 – 200 for old exide
  • Amaron Pro + 4 year warranty – 3300 – 150 for old one

Service Details

• Make sure supervisor marks all dents, scratches in his card in graphics
• All lights, indicators checked well before giving for service
• What about taking snaps with service person in view before giving for any long/troublesome service?

Common Spares

Some more info, Ideas for future

• Current cost of car: (IDV + Accessories cost) X 1.15
• Garware film for glass is best
• Certified by ARAI for CNG/LPG??
• CNG is cheaper, powerful & better than LPG?
• Xeta with CNG
• tank 8, 12 & 14kg
• Total cost ~ 50K
• Xeta with LPG
• tank 60 ltr
• Installation kit (includes convertor,cylinder and ECU) Rs.17500
• Internal gas filling nozzle Rs.500
• RTO regn charges Rs.1500/-
• Use the same engine oil & lubs with CNG/LPG also
• Rats can be killed with Coke treatement. Keep & replenish coke in a pan near rat path for weeks
• Dents & scratches an be fixed with Du Pont paint for finest finish
• Alloy wheels & tubeless tyres
• Better go for 4, keep spare as original, save cost,space and quick tyre repair !!
• 5 Alloy wheels + 5 tubeless tyre costs 15K-20K after exchange with old rim, tyre

Few of my comments are extracts of wisdom from Indica User Group at Yahoo