Tisya got her Pan Card issued on  at the age of Four Month and Nine Days (09 June 210).

By far this has has been the most wonderful experience of mine dealing with any government agency or should I say the only agency which offered a truly world class service experience.

I applied pan card for my four month old daughter (Tisya Singhal) online through NSDL. The form seems to be very simple and self explanatory. As my daughter is minor Pan was applied on her behalf by representative (her mother)

The fee for the pan card is Rs 94 . You have the option to pay through Credit or Debit Card / DD  /Cheque. The best mode of payment is Credit/Debit card as this beside expediting the process also give online status of your application using a 12 digit acknowledgement number issued on successful transaction.

A printout of acknowledgement need to be send to NSDL Pune with photograph and address proof within 30 days.

National Securities Depository Limited
3rd Floor, Sapphire Chambers
Near Baner Telephone Exchange
Baner, Pune – 411 045.

In case of any queries you can also call up NSDL call center at Pune (020 – 2721 8080) . I called them up twice , once while filling application and again checking the status of the application. The staff was extremely polite and helpful on both the occasions.

I received a SMS from NSDL on receipt of the application and again on confirmation of issue of the pan Card (whole process took less than 15 days) . Today the update on NSDL site shows that the PAN has been dispatched to our  mailing address through overnite courier.

A quick check on ovenite courier website says the courier has reached Delhi on 14th July from Mumbai. So hopefully We’ll get the Pan Card for Tisya tomorrow.

Next on agenda is to get a Passport for Tisya and that thought sends a shiver down my spine. To know why read my experience in getting my passport reissued

Related posts:

1. Getting Birth certificate for our baby in Gurgaon
2. Reissue of Indian Passport
3. Safeguard your SIM card against misuse
4. naming our baby daughter
5. Makaan Property Show
6. Google sites not opening with BSNL broadband
7. Google Chrome – First look

The Cradle provided a birth certificate for my daughter. Little did I realized that it only has a emotional and ornamental value and no legal validity. So we got it framed it nicely (Thanks to Tushina) and it occupies a place of pride in our bedroom.

I was told that as a procedure hospital has already send the notification to the municipal authorities about child birth. The birth certificate can be collected after 21 days from the MCD office, Gurgaon situated opposite civil hospital Gurgaon (See Map Below).

View Larger Map

I went there after  2 months to collect the certificate. I was told to submit an application again on plain paper (hospital has already send in the notification) and collect the certificate 21 days post that. The application has a simple format capturing Name of child , parents, date and place of birth, address and number of copies of certificate required. Not so simple…

The application format was pasted outside the clerk window in both English and Hindi, but he would accept the application only filled in Hindi and that too without child’s name. Once a certificate without name is issued then  a affidavit needs to be submitted stating that child name will not be changed in future to get a birth certificate with child’s name. I tried to convince him that we had already spend two months in finalizing the daughter name  as Tisya and have no intention to change it.

I got the birth certificate without child’s name and wrong address. On inquiring I was told the birth certificate will carry details as shared by hospital and can’t be changed  (I thanked heaven they have only put in wrong address and not wrong parents name).

On my next visit I submitted the affidavit for the child’s name, Birth certificate (without name) and the same stupid application (remember they would only print details as shared by hospital) and fee of Rs 17 (+Rs 52 for additional 4 copies). I was asked to come again in 7-8 days to check the spelling on certificate before printing.  They issued the certificate this time with name but in Hindi. Every action of theirs is covered under one blanket statement ‘yehi process hai’.

Now as a final step, I have again submitted the application (same futile details) and attached a copy of certificate (hindi) and fee of Rs 17 (+Rs 52 for additional 4 copies) for a new certificate. I have to visit the municipal office again to ensure the name is punched in right before the printing of the certificate.

Related posts:

1. Pan Card for Tisya
2. naming our baby daughter
3. Organ Trade in Gurgaon, India
4. Traffic light for footover bridge in gurgaon !
5. Talent Search 2.0
6. Google sites not opening with BSNL broadband
7. Google Chrome – First look

Related posts:

1. Getting Birth certificate for our baby in Gurgaon
2. Pan Card for Tisya
3. Google Chrome – First look
4. Google and Tom Sawyer
5. First Step
6. Google sites not opening with BSNL broadband
7. Life in Google Age

Getting BSNL broadband connection is one thing and then make run is another big task. Its not that BSNL dataone connection was my first choice but as they say beggars are not choosers. With limited option to pick from (precisely two BSNL and Tata Indicom) I reluctantly picked the state owned giant.

I also have a hidden agenda behind the same (No its not to please my father in law who works with another former state owned telecom giant MTNL), the bill generated for BSNl act as a legitimate address proof. Many of you would be aware of my plight while trying to reissue my passport where i run from pillar to post to prove my identity.

Anyways, BSNL connection started throwing tantrum from the day of installation only (including by the linesman who would ask for regular chai-pani for activation). The connectivity was erratic and connection tag slow. I relied on the internet god to check the connectivity. But little did I realize that there more to internet beyond google. Everything will work but for Google and related sites.

Here enters the Internet ka Baap, BSNL dataone, which for reasons best known to him don’t gel with google.  I resorted to other search engines and realize this is a very common problem for all BSNL broad band users who tries to access google, orkut, gmail and other google sites.

Doing some more research it suggests , i found following stuff on internet.

“DNS stands for Domain Name Server. When you type www.google.com, the DNS server converts the name into an IP address of Google. Then it follows the IP address to fetch you the webpage.

Now, due to a defective DNS server system, your typed address can not get resolved into IP. So you reach nowhere.”

This was really frustrating as life seems to be standstill for me on internet without google. But surprisingly this complicated and widespread problem has a quick solution.

SOLUTION (Simple) :

BSNL DNS is the root cause of the problem, so simply change it to DNS that works.

IMPLEMENTATION (Simpler) :

a) Double click the LAN icon on your system tray

b) Go to Properties > Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

c) Choose “Use the following DNS server addresses”

d) Update 208.67.222.222 as preffered DNS server and 208.67.220.220 as alternate DNS server

e) You’re DONE

These DNS are provided by OpenDNS . I have actually experience a better connectivity and page rendering using these settings. HAPPY SURFING….

Related posts:

1. Google Chrome – First look
2. Google and Tom Sawyer
3. 10 Years of Google
4. Life in Google Age
5. Google Street Map
6. gmail going social with google buzz
7. Let’s go shopping. Yahoo!

Its time now for gmail to go social. In these times when every application is geared for real time collabration, sharing and uploading how come mail be left behind. Google has launched buzz for gmail both on web and mobile.you can upload and share all interesting conversation , images ,link and status messages from the gmail itself.

But what about google wave wasn’t that also suppose to change the way we communicate and share. In-fact it looks promising at first go and there was huge mad rush to grab those few initial invites. Heard that the invites actually got auctioned on eBay.

On the other hand the google buzz seems to be available for larger audience and is not following the invite mode. I believe this shold make it a clear winner over wave. As Google Buzz give an advantage of a ready friend network to share and communicate.

I visited http://buzz.google.com to get started. The buzz appeared as a label on the left menu on gmail. It automatically made me follow people with whom I communicate more (not sure what to call this google intelligence or violation of my privacy / follow discretion). Being very true to the open social it allows me set my twitter and flickr account for updates (Not sure on exact integration, and its yet to integrate facebook).

As per google Official Blog

“We’ve relied on other services’ openness in order to build Buzz (you can connect Flickr and Twitter from Buzz in Gmail), and Buzz itself is not designed to be a closed system. Our goal is to make Buzz a fully open and distributed platform for conversations. We’re building on a suite of open protocols to create a complete read/write developer API, and we invite developers to join us on Google Code to see what is available today and to learn more about how to participate.”

Would I be using this ????    Not really…. (Except for the auto pdates which will reflect on my google profile.

Why ????  This may be a great tool but still not available for hosted domain. For me my network is not on gmail but my own domain. And you need to reach to your audience where they are and not ask them to come to you. So best of luck Google….

image credit : http://www.computerworld.com

Google official Blog

Related posts:

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2. 10 Years of Google
3. Google and Tom Sawyer
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5. Google Chrome – First look
6. Google Street Map
7. Life in Google Age

अब बताओ ये  क्या कनेक्शन है और मैं हिंदी में क्यूँ लिख रहा हूँ. नहीं ये बिंगो चिप्स की नई एड भी नहीं है. वो हुआ ऐसे की मैं हिंदी में न्यू इयर ग्रीटिंग टाइप करने का ट्राई कर रहा था और गूगल लिप्यंतरण (Transliteration) टूल एकदम मस्त लगा. और भाई लोगो गूगल लिप्यंतरण(Transliteration) और गूगल अनुवादक (Translator) दो अलग चीज़े है मुझे आज ही पता चला. आप लोगो की जानकारी के लिए भी बता दूं -  गूगल ट्रांसलेटर (Translator) का काम है अनुवाद करना मतलब की आप जो भी लिखेंगे उसे किसी और भाषा में उसी मतलब ले साथ लिखना. इसके द्वारा आप ५१ (51) विभिन्न भाषाओ में translation कर सकते है. जैसे की happy new year का हिंदी भाषा में ट्रांसलेशन होगा ‘नया साल मुबारक हो’ लेकिन गूगल ट्रांसलिटरेशन  (TRANSLITERATION) happy new year को लिखेगा हैप्पी न्यू इयर.

समझ आया या नहीं . आया तो ठीक नहीं तो भाई मतलब की बात सुनो ३ बेवकूफों (3 Idiots) और इस बीते साल का कनेक्शन.

वैसे तो मैं सिनेमा बहुत कम देखता हूँ (वैसे ज्यादा दखने लायक फिल्मे बनती कहाँ है) लेकिन भाई मानना पड़ेगा आमिर खान को मस्त काम करता है , जान लगा देता है . वर्ना मजाल है कोई और हमसे इस मंदी के दौर में १००० रुपये खर्च करवा दे वो भी फिल्म देखने के लिए. 3 Idiots चेतन भगत के नोवेल five point someone पर आधारित है   तो भैया हम पहुंचे अम्बिएंस माल , गुडगाँव जानते तो होंगे आप एक किलोमीटर लम्बा एक फ़लोर और ऐसे चार फ़लोर. अब बताओ इतनी जगह में तो लो फ़लोर बसें चलनी चाहिए (अबे नहीं रिक्शे ज्यादा सेफ है, बसों में तो आग लग रही है और कीमतों में भी ). दिन का पहला शो देखने का फायदा है की सीटे साफ़ मिलती है और मूवी से पहले के सारे एड देखने का मौका

फिर भटक गया … वापस चलो ३ idiots पर

मूवी शुरू से आखिर तक उतार चड़ाव से भरी हुई , अचानक से नए नए मोड़ और भावनाए. शुरू होते ही सस्पेंस , कौन है यह ranchoddas shyamaldas  chanchad उर्फ़ rancho जिसकी तलाश में दोस्त लोग निकल पड़े है. फिर शुरू होती है दोस्तों की कॉलेज की जिन्दगी की कहानी , जिसमे है एक दूसरे से आगे निकलने की होड़, बिना सोचे समझे रटने और पास होने की दौड़. साथ में में है उम्मीदों पर खरे न उतरने और हार जाने का डर. इन सब के बीच तीन दोस्त इन सब डरो से लड़ते हुए अपने ही अंदाज़ में जीते जा रहे है. Rancho अपने दोस्तों को जीने का एक अलग ही ढंग सीखा कर एक दिन गायब  हो जाता है. उसके दोस्त आपनी आपनी जिंदगियों में सफल हो जाते है मगर अपने दोस्त को नहीं भूल पाते है.

साल २००९ भी कुछ इस तरह ही शुरू हुआ लेहमन बैंक की मेहेरबानी से जो मंदी का दौर शुरू हुआ था उसका असर पूरे जोर पर था. नौकरियों का कुछ पता नहीं था, बड़ी छोटी सभी कंपनियों  में धड़ले से छटनी  हो रही थी. तन्खाओं में कटौती आम सी बात हो गई थी. साल के पहले छे महीने तनाव व अनिश्चितता से भरे हुए थे.

मगर शाहरुख़ भैया ने कहाँ था अगर सब कुछ ठीक न हो तोह समझो की पिक्चर अभी बाकी है मेरे दोस्त.

तो इंटरवल के बाद मतलब के बाद के ६ महीनो में इकोनोमी में सुधार आने लग गया और २०१० आते आते लगता है वो  सब एक बुरा सपना था. अच्छा है की वो वक़्त बीत गया. मगर जाते जाते बहुत कुछ सीखा गया.

२००९ को मेरी ओर से धन्यवाद :

तुमने दिखा दिया की जो  बलात्कार  करने  की  क्षमता तुममे थी वो  संसार  में किस्सी में  नहीं है. जो बलात्कार पर बलात्कार तुमने किये , वैसा दुनिया कोई नहीं कर सकता. उम्मीद है आप आगे ऐसा कुछ नहीं करेंगे.

मेरे लिए तो 2009 मेरा दोस्त Rancho या funsukh Wangroo ही रहेगा. जिसने हर वक़्त में fun और sukh से रहना सिखा दिया.

जहाँपनाह तुस्सी ग्रेट हो , तोहफू कबूल करो.

Related posts:

1. Mumbai Marathon 2009

Interesting images captured on road.

Maruti Suzuki launched a new multi-utility vehicle to cater to specific indian requirements. This was launched without much fanfare but was spotted on gurgaon roads

This guy is wearing helmet for protection from ???

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6. Neemrana Fort palace, Rajasthan
7. Indian Redifined

I am announcing my retirement today from active working life. I have spend quite a lot of my quality time and effort in building a retirement estate for my self. And now i feel like a chilling out and enjoying the fruit of my efforts well spend.

It was not an easy decision to quit. The ever lasting greed of earning more and more & never ending race to beat the world keep pulling me back to it. But then I set a target for my self and determined to stick to it. I wanted to retire in style and man i think i have achieved it.

My dream estate boost of a retirement villa with orchid , vegetable farm , stud farm, dairy , chicken and pig farm, small pond with lots of swans. Oh did I forgot to mention a entertainment arena with elephants and much more for my visiting friends and family.

Looks like a self sustained ecosystem , jealous… huh wanna see.

Click on the image above to have full view

Isn’t this beautiful, ok stop admiring it now.

But retirement is also not that easy a job, it’s now time to feed the cattle and pluck some ripe fruits & vegetables.

So catchya later.

BTW you need to be invited to visit my farm.  Invitations can be sought at http://facebook.com/amitguptaz or tweet me @amitguptaz

Related posts:

1. Abuse of Cost Per Click (CPC) Marketing?
2. Google Street Map
3. Logging out from makaan.com
4. My new mobile Nokia E63
5. naming our baby daughter
6. My new N95
7. Trip to Vaishno Devi

don’t ask why i am writing this post just one week into the new job.  Oh btw did i i tell you that i have joined the communities team at times internet limited. I’ll be working out from their swanky office on golf course road in gurgaon on  a social bookmarking site http://hotklix.com

Coming back to the post, there is no fault of mine , its actually how life plays dirty games with you. Now you tell me what will a child of lesser god like me will do if struck in my position.

i am all confused in choosing between luxuries of mortal world , spirituality and the work.  Now sitting here on my desk this is what i look around.

Office                                 Machaan                                 Temple

in office, i have all my colleagues slogging hard for the next performance review a year ahead , which will get them the next car or a house or a wife

looking at the temple, people are trying to get moksha to get rid of all the troubles in life. but i don’t want to die now to get it.

the last option is the machaan across the road, let me exggagerate for you, its a strip down version of swarg (the heaven) where you are served sura (wine) with live music. you pay for it with money and not your good deeds.

tell me what to do ? days are just passing by and i can’t decide…

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1. A Decade of Relationship
2. Trip to Leh (Ladhakh) Part II
3. Alien in My Own Country :(
4. Google Street Map
5. Product offsite at Karjat (Mumbai)
6. Rules of life
7. Amit @ Work

Now when i am logging off as a product manager for makaan.com after two and a half year, i am tempted to peep into the past and relive some of the moments that i’ll cherish for life. My session with makaan begins with an email request (typical web 2.0 style) to aditya verma (business head & vp, makaan.com ) and i got the invite to join in the core team to build a real estate portal.

First day @ makaan                         My Laapy

We started out with a small team in a makeshift office in south extn before moving to beautiful building in gurgaon.  We started in a typical start-up environment with a daunting task of going commercial in the least possible time. But this gave me a rare opportunity to work and understand every aspect of setting up a new business and felt like an entrepreneur.

The proud moment arrived on August 15, 2007 when we formally launched makaan.  I lived so many sweet and sour experiences during  my stay with makaan. Few of them become part of my blog and can be read below and rest will stay etched in my memory for ever.

- Offsite visit with makaan tech team (& family) to Chamba, Tehri dam and Mussorie.

- Endless wait in aircrafts for takeoff.
- I become a jealous economy class traveler (I pass it of as austerity).
- Been an alien in my own country.
- I spend a night at airport terminal.
- Completes 1 year @ Makaan
- Offsite to daman with software team
- Launch of makaan mobile application
- Launch of makaan 2.0
- Offsite to karjat with product team

Some more unforgettable moments captured on camera

Team makaan on second anniversary

What next ????

I’ll be logging into the domain of social bookmarking. To know more details keep watching this space or add this page to your favorite (web 1.0 style) or better bookmark this page

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1. A Year That Was…
2. Makaan Mobile
3. Makaan Property Show
4. Makaan.com TV Commercial
5. Product offsite at Karjat (Mumbai)
6. Makaan.com property survey on CNBC
7. Examination Results