Micromax Modu T: mobile review

Most of the websites that you see on google about this phone talks positive about this phone. Not only that, its creates such an exaggeration which makes people believe that this is "THE PHONE" given its light weight, touch, etc. To tell you the truth, its just another normal basic mobile phone and is no better than other mobiles in the market. To tell you very frankly, this phone is a bit disappointing. Having used a nokia touch model earlier, Modu is very unfriendly.

So - you may ask - "Why the hell did you get this phone if you knew these features?"
Well - this is the only phone i could discover after hours and hours of internet searching and that was meeting my requirements. And I didn't have any complex requirement to start with - I was looking for a mobile which had i) no camera & ii) Internet. Simple 2 requirements isn't it? And why did i have this unique requirement? My official constraints prevent me from carrying a camera mobile and I needed internet to keep myself occupied during the boring 90 mins journey back home.

 Let me try to list down the advantages and disadvantages of this phone.
Advantages:
1. Only phone in Indian market (probably world market) that has no-camera (camera can be detached) but has internet feature. And it comes with a touch screen.
2. Audio quality is good for songs
3. It has a camera but can be detached from the phone.
4. Very cheap for the features built on it - i got it for Rs.4500.
5. Very compact when camera is detached

Disadvantages:
1. Only 1 application can be operational at a time. If you are listening to a song and you get a message in between, you will need to close your message window to resume the song. Now - that is a horrible feature to have and I truly hate it.
2. In built browser is not good. I tried to download opera but it is very slow.
3. Battery is very weak - needs recharging frequently
4. I tried to download jar but is doesn't download - i install jar by downloading it to PC and copying it through USB cable.
5. No groups available in contacts. If i need to send the same message to multiple people, i need to mark them one by one. The horrible part is that there is no search feature and i have to scroll to search for each contact.
6. The headset and charger needs to be placed in the same socket, so both cant be done at the same time.
7. Auto tuning on FM frequency doesn't work well.
8. Facebook and Twitter cookies doesn't work well. It frequently asks me to login.
9. If i try to open a new page from an exising page, the phone hangs and restarts itself.
10. THE MOST HORRIBLE FEATURE OF ALL - If you are typing a message and realise that there is a spelling mistake in your first line, you have to erase the message by hitting backspace and then rewrite from the point you corrected your mistake. The cursor cant be placed at an earlier line directly to correct your mistake. I usually tend to refrain from using unparliamentary language, but i cant resist in this case.
11. There are many more irritating features of this phone, but i'm stopping here.

Verdict
Pls check for more other options rather to settle for this phone. I'm suffering.

Destination Mystery-land

“What is the time?”, I asked.

“6 mins to go.” Guru replied.

I looked around for a rock to sit. I found one, a very small one, but enough to seat myself for a couple of minutes. If not me, my legs needed that rest. The other 3 of them were sitting on 3 small rocks opposite to me. The shade cast by the trees was a blessing at that point in time. Those 3 water bottles and the hand pump were helping us quench our thirst. Karthi was wearing a dead look. Those fifteen minutes of rest was a huge relief. It was the first time in about 3 hours that we saw some people. We heard unknown whistling sounds and looked around in silence. Two saint-like people walked past us, and our eyes followed them until they were gone behind the trees of the forest. We held back our tongues until they were out of sight. On one side was the hill and on the other side was the forest. We were right in the middle following a footpath. Welcome to the world of Mystery-land.

“Just think of where we were 9 hours back?”, I asked. “We were at home.”

The Previous day

I was driving back with my family from “Bombay Halwa House” when this plan came up. Kartik was keen to make the trip happen. I was for it, but we had to decide on the mode of transport. We thought about the possibilities of both motorbike and car, and as our desires would have it, we finalized that we would race through motorbikes. We expected tough objections – but were pleased to see the plan being accepted. Kartik called up Guru and Karthi and confirmed that they were joining too. A BULLET journey would have been more enthralling, but its unsuitability prompted us to take Karthi’s PULSAR along with mine. We still had confusions regarding the mode of transport, the mystery still remained as to which would get finalized. More mystery was created by several people during the interim and finally, we decided that we will be taking our bikes, after Karthi sought permission from home to avoid all sorts of further confusions.

That Day

I heard a distant sound of a very familiar music. It was reaching closer and closer. I looked around for the direction of the sound. I tried all four directions. The source of sound was untraceable. All of a sudden I woke up with a startle and switched off the alarm. I looked by my side – my daughter was fast asleep. I was sure that hadn’t I reached out to turn off the alarm, she would have woken up. I sighed in relief. I glanced at my watch – it was 4 AM on a Sunday morning and we had a tough day ahead. I refreshed myself quickly, locked the front door and went upstairs. Guru and Karthi were already ready. I had my fill of milk and we got ready to leave.

It was still dark – the only lone figure on the streets was Narayanan uncle who greeted us towards the end of his morning walk. For a usual citizen of India, that would be a midnight walk at those early hours. We started our bikes, the weather was chill. The pillion riders (Karthi & Guru) shouldered a bag and Karthi also carried a coconut in his hand – courtesy my mom – a god fearing woman who trusted that coconut more than anything else. We took the Chennai Bypass through the cold morning wind that made my exposed skin go numb. I directed my mates to Mahindra City – to give them a feel as to what it actually looked like. We had a cup of tea there and then it was time to continue the journey. By the way we had broken the coconut in front of a roadside temple in Perungalathur. We took the highway, drove a little faster as the dawn was slowly breaking up. It was an experience of life to see clouds of fog near Chengalpet floating around us – it felt like we were in some hill station. I never imagined such things to be happening around Chennai. We rode the motorbikes faster when the sun peeped up from the eastern side over the sea. We overtook each other several times and were thoroughly enjoying every moment of the ride. We stopped few miles before Dindivanam to give the cameras some work and then proceeded further not to waste more time.

At the beginning of the diversion before Dindivanam, we reshuffled ourselves so that everyone could get a chance to ride and rest. We entered the state highway and raced faster and faster till we came to a temporary halt at Senji to take a view of the fort. We then planned to visit it on the way back and continued our journey. At around 8:30, we reached the place where we wanted to. We looked around – there was a hill in front, the most worshipped one – especially on every full moon day. The hill looked ordinary – pretty ordinary to me. It does appear normal to every human, but few know about the mysteries revolving around it. Welcome to the world of Tiruvannamalai – the so called mystery land.

We had our stomach filled at a restaurant and marched towards the temple after parking our bikes at the bus stand. Our target was to walk around the hill – not by road, but through the forest around it. We had a quick look inside the temple and started to energize ourselves for the adventure. We had heard Kartik’s stories about the mysteries surrounding the place and hoped we could get to witness some. With a gulp of tender coconut, we walked into the forest taking the deviation from the road. The place looked calm, didn’t have a soul within sight and looked frightening. We knew we were 4 of us – but what would happen if a group of gangsters attacked us? What do we do? We didn’t have any weapons; all we had was 2 cameras, cash and few credit cards. Or what do we do if any animal attacked us? We would run for life, but atleast one of them would be a feast for the animal – especially Karthi and I being the plumper ones would be preferred by them. We had seen video clips of lions and tigers attacking humans – but when it comes to the real experience, I bet anyone would urinate in their pants. Suddenly, a man appeared in front – he looked like a foreigner. I chose not to talk to him, but Kartik was not as quiet as I was. He engaged himself with a conversation with the Russian and we came to know that he got to a place called “Amma Cave”. We asked him for directions and he was kind enough to guide us. We walked along and the place became more and more deserted. We were walking along a small path with stones on both sides and all we could see on either side was a forest look with lots of bushes and trees – you would never have an idea if a wolf would jump out from one of those bushes and hold our flesh. We walked in a file and instructed the last member to keep talking or singing along so as to assure ourselves that he’s not lost or caught. We followed the arrow marks on the rocks.

After sometime we observed a diversion from the usual path and we saw the rock-mark. It said “Amma cave”. We pondered for a while whether to make a visit to the cave or to continue our planned journey. We chose the instinct of looking out for the cave – the path directed us towards the hill and we were sure it would be denser. We never knew how distant that cave was from the place we were at that moment. But our guts pushed our feet towards it – we started making our way towards the hill in search of the cave. All we could see was the path in front of us and bushes and small trees on both sides of us – we were sure that our potential energy was increasing. There were some moments where we seemed to lose our path as we couldn’t see any arrow marks, but Guru’s persistence and adventurous energy pushed us further to get back to the arrow marks. Karthi was already tired and was finding it difficult to trek, but we raised his confidence and gave him that energy to speed up with us. We saw huge rocks at a distance and wanted to reach it, but our current destination was the cave – so we marched forward till we came closer and closer to the cave. Throughout the journey, we never knew how far it was, and that was the most adventurous, entertaining and exciting part of it. Another difficult part was that we had only 3 bottles of water and had to sparingly use it. Being a sportsman helped in terms of stamina, but this was very different. Karthi was cursing all of us and desperately wanted to go back – he started negotiating the further plan – poor fellow, he was almost in a state of collapse. We lifted up his spirits and continued our trek – narrow paths led us to that huge rock that we saw earlier – and much to our astonishment, that was just beside the cave. We looked behind and had a spectacular view of the whole city below us. Never in life had we witnessed such a beautiful moment. The 4 of us, with all guts had climbed up the hill to find it amazingly peaceful with a nice breeze striking our face. I clicked few snaps and we had a mouthful of Cadbury Temptations. We also went close to the edge of the cliff and that was the peak moment of the adventure. We forgot about all our commitments and responsibilities – never bothered that we had to go to work the next day, but just enjoyed the moment - a once in a lifetime experience.

The cave was very small – there was literally nothing inside, but the purpose of the visit was not lost – we had enjoyed too many unplanned experiences and the satisfaction levels were already shooting up beyond thresholds. It looked like we all were having an orgasm. We spent few mins in the cave and started retracing the path downhill. The return was faster than we expected and we reached the point where we first observed the diversion sometime back. Karthi was still pleading us to retrace our path and not continue the trip, but Kartik was adamant that we should go round the hill (about 12 kilometers) and we all agreed. Karthi didn’t have a choice but to follow suit. We walked like adventurers on a marsh-land cautious of the surroundings and look out for any animals. That fear was still within me, I confess. We still obeyed the principle of the last person singing and kept on walking. I don’t remember what all we spoke about, but the experience was wonderful although the sun was burning hot on our heads. Definitely our caps helped. Guru kept on talking like a chatter-box and that kept us going. The path was deserted and that made the journey more and more interesting. We were running out of water and were desperate of some halt at some place where water was available. After more than an hour’s walk we reached a place where we found some human presence. A small local boy directed us to a water pump that looked like a nectar-pump at that moment. We filled our stomachs and bottles with water and planned to rest for 15 mins. I washed my head, face and all possible places with the water and felt refreshed for the 2nd half of the journey.

“What is the time?”, I asked.

“6 mins to go.” Guru replied.

I looked around for a rock to sit. I found one, a very small one, but enough to seat myself for a couple of minutes. If not me, my legs needed that rest. The other 3 of them were sitting on 3 small rocks opposite to me. The shade cast by the trees was a blessing at that point in time. Those 3 water bottles and the hand pump were helping us quench our thirst. Karthi was wearing a dead look. Those fifteen minutes of rest was a huge relief. It was the first time in about 3 hours that we saw some people. We heard unknown whistling sounds and looked around in silence. Two saint-like people walked past us, and our eyes followed them until they were gone behind the trees of the forest. We held back our tongues until they were out of sight. On one side was the hill and on the other side was the forest. We were right in the middle following a footpath.

“Just think of where we were 9 hours back?”, I asked. “We were at home.”, came the reply.

“Ye, I should blog this experience.” I confirmed. “Ok guys, it’s time to move on”, came the call and we pushed on, insisting Karthi that we can’t afford to extend this break. We moved on, but this time the environment was little different. It was still hot, but we felt energized, thanks to that break, but my right knee was in pain. I struggled to walk, but kept on going – in fact I started leading the group. I didn’t stop and that made the others to follow up quickly with me. I had only one target in mind – to complete this journey in quick time – whatever happens. Guru was continuously talking and we were continuously listening. From somewhere a dog appeared and it started walking along with us. We looked at each other to see if this was a mystery element, but ruled it out half-heartedly. We met a couple of other local boys and enquired about the other mysteries about the hill. We continued our path this time with the dog to accompany us. It rested whenever we did and walked along whenever we walked. It acted like a true companion. As we walked on an on we started hearing vehicle horns and were sure that the journey was nearing its completion. Our tired legs were happier than we were. At last we reached the end of the path and drifted ourselves to the main road. We took an auto and went straight to the parking stand. We picked up our vehicles with tiredness all over the body and went straight to a restaurant to have our fill. Chicken, mutton, fish and eggs filled our tables as we hogged. We couldn’t allow tiredness to get over us as we all knew that we had to ride back 200 kms to get back home – and we wanted to get back before dark.

We ate our heart fill and started our journey back. On reaching Senji, we had a look at the fort from outside and continued our journey back. On seeing green fields, we stopped for some photographs. By the time we were 70 kms away from home, it was already dark. We rode back with the same energy through the same road that we took in the morning just waiting to get back home. With all our energy drained and waiting to jump into the bed, we reached home to find delicious food waiting for us. We had a quick shower and ate while already half-asleep - then collapsed to what completed one of the most fantastic adventurous days in my life. Thanks to the coconut, we were safe home.

Why Sehwag doesn't learn

Lightning strikes from the very first ball of the innings – he sends the ball smacking and the bowlers packing. Fielders run for cover and the fielding captain begins to shiver. This onslaught continues until he throws away his wicket. Welcome to the world of Virender Sehwag.

Many recognize him as a disciple of the little master Sachin – right from his stance to the extremely fruitful hand-eye co-ordination that can pick any length to ease. Be it the most demolishing fast bowler or a weaving magical spinner, the don’t care attitude has de-motivated every opposition until smart captains realized Viru’s unforgivable potential of throwing away his own precious wicket after setting up a beautiful stage. It is most similar to David Bechkam missing out on a penalty shoot out, that too sending the ball over the goalkeeper outside the goal scoring area. But Viru’s wicket-throwing capability can be analogous to one such soccer star who does a Beckham even without a goal keeper in place.

Every cricketer takes guard with one thing in mind – not to lose his wicket. Of course, scoring runs is primary, but it can only be done on preserving the wicket. I personally get embarrassed when I give my wicket away, even in under-arm cricket. The art of preserving the wicket is not easy, but can be mastered and for all reasons it should run in the blood of any cricketer playing at the international level. Proper shot selection is one of the key lessons taught in coaching centers and I’m sure every coach will expect compliance at it. Poor shot selections can cost a wicket that could most often lead to a loss through butterfly effect.

Like most parents who keep complaining about their brilliant child for careless performances in examinations, there is every sense when Viru fans will keep complain about his lackadaisical attitude. With the capacity of scoring big scores being self-disturbed due to negligence and irresponsibility, no true cricket fan would be able to digest. Few cricketers are gifted with the ability to score of any delivery, but a genius proactively takes responsibility to care for it and Viru seldom does it. There are few innings (201* @ Galle) that makes us feel he is maturing enough to convert all brilliant starts into huge scores, but the very fact that he does it only once in a blue moon causes irritations in fans – and sometimes to fellow team mates. Not only it affects the break in such a brilliant innings, it also provides an overwhelming confidence in the opposition which might turn into an extreme pressure for the batters yet to come.

For a player to have scored 2 triple hundreds in tests, it shouldn’t be difficult to mature himself into a much balanced cricketer. Its high time Viru should learn to take care of his precious wicket than to shun it away in crucial situations. A little balance in shot selection should definitely convert quick starts into mighty scores.

Bang in Bangalore - Day 3

Day 3, a Monday, was as important as a usual working day although I wasn’t travelling to MCity. Instead I was supposed to travel to Electronic City – where the other parts of my project team were located. Karthik and I rushed to the bus stop to catch the 6:40 bus as we thought we missed it by a whisker. We had to wait till 7:15 for the next one and I boarded the bus to find a window seat for myself while he diverted himself to his workplace. I forced myself not to sleep, as I usually do back home, so that I could get an idea about the Bangalore city. Half way through I slept involuntarily and woke up somewhere close to the office. I reached the office around 9:00. Couple of my team mates accompanied me for breakfast which I had at the TERMINAL food court. I then started to get into my regular work and also met up with all other folks in the Bangalore team.

Lunch was a terrific experience – my manager took me to a 3-star like restaurant within the campus and we had a good discussion there – not to mention the good lunch too. I preferred to take vegetarian then although my motive of the entire visit was to hog as much as possible. She took me around one half of the campus after filling our stomach and I truly felt that the campus was looking beautiful especially with the drizzling atmosphere. There was not much activity in the afternoon as I pulled Preethi out of her work to take me around the other half of the campus. We spent an hour around the campus tasting a cup of tea and an “ice-cream-gulab jamoon” combo. I rushed back to my temporary workstation and wrapped up the day’s work to catch hold of the first bus back home.

As I alighted at the bus stop near Utham Sagar I already had had the experience of what people fear as “Bangalore traffic”. That evening was even worse with the rain gods showering their blessings on the city. Karthik picked me up and we had a meal at Utham Sagar. I bid goodbye to that restaurant with a sort of disgust for the only reason that he misled me with “Tomato Omlet”. It was still raining as we reached home and by that time it was time for me to start packing my bags for return. I had booked return in a Volvo bus for a comfort factor. The bus, which was supposed to pick me up from the pick-up point around 22:15, made us wait till 23:00 after which the next thing I saw was CMBT bus terminus. Although several auto drivers were pleading for a “savaari”, I preferred taking the bus as I stayed close-by. I reached home around 5:30 and from then on it was routine life.

Bang in Bangalore - Day 2

Day 2 started earlier than a usual holiday – I started waking myself up starting from 5:30 to 6:00 when I had to convince myself that it was already too late to get up for a function that starts at 7:00. Although the initial plan to attend the function was around 11:30, I was called in to be available as early as 7:00. Function???? What function???? Where did the function suddenly come in during a holiday???? Ye….. The primary purpose of my Bangalore visit was to attend the first birthday of my cousin sister’s darling daughter - Kavya.

The supposedly family visit had turned out to be an individual visit, thanks to health situations at home.

Karthik was too generous in accompanying me to the place – we struggled a little bit in finding out the house. He left me and his car there and walked off to watch a movie. As I entered the house, it was already 8 am. I sat along with everyone till the priest finished off the rituals after which we were all ready for breakfast. I hoped there was no “Tomato Omelet” this time!!!! We were served delicious Idly, Vada and Kesari. That might sound so suprising – the fact that "‘Idly’ being tasty" coming out from my mouth. I never liked Idlies and it’s only been in recent times I started eating it. After wrapping it up with a glassful of coffee, we sat down to rest for sometime (as if we’ve been working non-stop for 48 hours inside NASA) and this was the time I got to play with the little one. After Ria’s entry to our family, I learnt how to enjoy playing with little kids and I demonstrated the same in this case too. She was dressed up in beautiful violet “Pattu Paavaadai” and it was so pleasing to watch her reactions to the environment. Soon it was time for us to get ready for the birthday party and I helped my part for decorating the party hall that was situated close by. Although not many people turned up, it was a nice gathering and a decent environment and of course the food was way beyond satisfactory if not brilliant. I got to meet up with couple of my relatives who were more than happy to see me there representing the family.

Now, where was Karthik? I was sure the movie would have got over – no movie in India runs for more than 3 hours nowadays. He was almost nearing the place where I was and I quickly met up with him after leaving my cousin & family back home and collecting a bag of “function-snacks”, I drove back to pick up Karthik and we decided to go straight back home. On the way back we changed our mind and drove into "Vishweshwara Museum". Although it was not as interesting as it would be for a school-boy, it was a good way to while away some time in the afternoon. We visited all floors unambitiously and finally left the place with some road-side snack in hand. I drove all along the way back and finally reached home around 5 pm. I didn’t have an intention to wander after that, given the fact that I had to go to work the next day. I watched “Harry Potter” along with the left-over DBC, browsed for sometime and we headed off to buy dinner. Although I wasn’t really hungry I chose to taste chicken and felt satiated. With the “next day office” mindset, I sank myself into the bed with 2 thick bed sheets wrapping me to safeguard my chill-prone skin.

Bang in Bangalore - Day 1

I stepped out of the house with a heavy heart not because I was travelling alone. I looked at the dark sky outside. None would expect it to be bluish at this time of the day, rather night, unless you think of a polar existence. It was almost 9 PM as I waved goodbye to people at home carrying luggage on one shoulder and an umbrella on the other. It was pouring in Chennai while I was feeling guilty of not kissing my dream-girl before I left. Of course she would have cried if she knew I was leaving, what else would you expect from a 2 year old?

My wife accompanied me till the bus stand and I was left standing alone for another 30 mins for my bus. A bus came at last, but that would only go half-way and I didn’t hesitate to run into it. To my irritation, the traffic, along with the rain, was not letting me any closer to the railway station. Alighting at the CMBT bus stand, I ran without an umbrella to catch my connecting bus and seriously thought I would miss the train. But to my delight, the traffic cleared soon and I reached the bus stand well before the scheduled departure of the train.

I was travelling by 2nd class AC after a long time and of course I had to feel comfortable. I switched on the reading light on my upper berth and continued my Harry Potter until I felt it was already too late to doze off. Keeping 3-4 alarms on my mobile phone, I slept off in an uncomfortable position that would have stiffed my neck, but luckily it didn’t. I had asked Karthik (my BIL) to pick me up from Bangalore (EAST) station and he was well before time. I reached Bangalore with the fear of feeling cold. It reminded me of one of my earlier visits to the city where I had started shivering the moment I stepped out of the train. But this time, to my pleasure, things were different. I didn’t have to wear the 2 jackets Karthik had brought to the station on my wife’s instructions. I was mocking at him as if he was feeling colder than I.

The day started off with a nice tea-shop tea on the way to his home as we went driving. It was still dark and I liked it. I knew it had been raining here too which was evident by the wet roads. As we reached his house I lost all temptations to sleep. We had another cup of tea at his home and started planning the day. I had to meet couple of relatives and we mixed that plan with our own plans. Around 9, we took off for breakfast at Utham Sagar where I was misled by the menu card that said “Tomato Omlet” which ultimately turned out to be a dull-tasting Tomato-Uthappam. We next drove to Yelahanka to meet my relatives and had a nice time there. Soon, it was time for lunch and we sped off from that place to Empire restaurant where we had our fill of grilled chicken and fish biriyani. Being a crazy cricket fan, I took snaps of Chinnaswamy stadium on the way. We then drove to Double Road to meet another relative of mine, spent a hour there and headed back home.

Oh! How could I miss ‘Death by chocolate’ (DBC)? We reached home – I had a bit of horrible time in driving through the traffic. We headed again to Utham Sagar and then to Corner house where we purchased DBC for ourselves and came back home in his pulsar which I was supposed to ride not beyond 40 km/hr. What a punishment!!!!! We ate dinner followed by DBC and watching a Harry Potter movie I slid into couple of bed sheets to signal the end of the day!!!!!

Isn’t this enough???


Working on a Saturday guaranteed a compensatory off. It becomes usually a tough decision to choose the day when you can avail it unless you really have some reason to utilize it. This time it wasn’t difficult. With the India - Australia series evenly poised at 2-2, and the 5th match scheduled at the Hyderabad run-feasting stadium, I had no second thoughts on availing it on that day. The monsoon also tempted me to stay with that decision as it would be cozy enough to stay at home watching the match.

Ten Years ago……..

“He is in his peak form. This is his time.”

Nine Years ago……..

“His peak is already reached. He is into the downfall now.”

Eight…….

“He is struggling to play his old strokes. His health will rule him out of the game soon.”

Seven…….

“His game has changed. It’s high time he retires and gives chance to youngsters.”

Six……..

“He shouldn’t be opening. He should bat lower down. He has lost ability to score.”

Five……..

“He is losing his eyesight. His hand-eye co-ordination is vanishing.”

Four…….

“He’s getting older. He can’t bat for long.”

Three……..

“This is seriously the time for him to retire. How long can he keep going?”

Two……..

“He is having so many injuries. I’m sure he can’t carry along from now.”

One……..

The same blah blah blah ………….

I’m getting too tired of such comments.

Nov 5th 2009, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad – A score of 175 off 141 balls at the age of 36 after 20 years of international cricket for India crossing 17000 ODI runs in the process and still counting. The only unfortunate event being that these 175 runs went for a losing cause. With 45 international hundreds and 91 fifties with a strike rate well above 85 and an average of 45.

But I admire all these critics who come up with some point to still criticize this man; the master; the GOD I worship. We dont appreciate you guys for being out of the ordinary just for the sake of it. The best part of you guys is that you cant find yourself a better player than him although you keep criticising him. HA HA!!!! If Sachin is not a great player, then who else is?????

I follow Sachinism.