Thekkady - A Forest stay to relish

After trips to Kodai and Munnar in last few year. It was time to explore other locations and we decided for Thekkady. This place is in amidst of Periyar tiger reserve forest.

How to reach this place: The best way to reach would be from Madurai by road, its about 130 kms, the drive would be through the plains expect for last 15kms which would be on ghat road. Compared to Kodai or Munnar the ghat road part is  comparatively less.

Accommodation and getting around: In the last few years, number of resorts and hotels have opened in and around Thekkady and Kumili. Did some research on web and found some of them to charge exorbitant amount, which was more, if not equal to five star accommodation in metros. September end, being off-season time  as usual narrow down on list of few hotels and resorts . It took about 30 minutes up on Ghat road to reach Thekkady, we did visit couple of hotel and finally decided to venture into the Periyar Tiger reserve, which does have accommodation like Aranya Nivas - a Kerala government undertaking (KTDC). 

After making entry pass in the tiger reserve, as we drove inside the reserve we could clearly feel the forest. Its was greenery all around, after about couple of kms drive we found a board to Periyar house (a hotel maintained by KTDC). 

With lush green all around, we checked the tariff and facilities at accommodation. The rate was nominal and felt good for 2 days stay just to relax and roam around.

Since, Periyar house is right inside the reserve forest the gate closes at 6:00 PM in the evening and hence you need to be inside the gate before that time. I found food to be OK, but does not have much option and personally, I felt it to be OK. The more critical one for me , was to relish the time in forest with nature.

Periyar house is situated right inside Periyar tiger reserve and you really feel you are right inside the forest. Having stayed for 2 night (3 days) we had ample time to roam around by foot and by car. The experience at Periyar house is so very unique with lush green all around. In our 2 days stay at the place, were able to spot deers, giant squirrel, rabbit and wild boars.

The lake and boat ride is famous in Thekkady and ought not be missed. Apart from lake, there are other options like trekking and elephant ride. However, for us two days stay inside a jungle was enough to spend time, relax and relish the greenery all around.

In all stay inside Periyar reserve, Thekkady was unique and refreshing, plan to visit once in few years!!

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Ambi pur mini vent clip - A review

Had earlier written a post about Ambipur vent clip ( click here to read). I had first received a sample at Ambipur – indiblogger meet at Chennai in last week of May 2013. Now, it’s time to write about my experience in using Ambi pur car vent clip. Post receiving the sample in May, had procured Ambipur vent clip twice and here is my experience associated with usage of Ambipur.

Design: Unique and one of its kind, could not find an alternative in similar design. 100%* would be my grading for design.

Flexibility: By flexibility, I meant removing as per one wish and closing the unit. It would be 100%* since, one would be able to remove it as per wish and adjust the perfume output as well.

Quality: A perfume needs last for duration is mentioned in specs. Further, Ambipur is said to neutralize bad odor and per spec it is said to last for 30 day. The fragrance is very pleasant, but to me in the last few days (about a week) of its vent clip life, it was not that effective, could not really realize its presence. Hence would grade it as 80%*.

Cost: This is one point, which I am not able to find much justification. The 2ml vent clip cost INR 200 for 30 days, while you get 7 ml of old model for 45 days for INR 200. Similarly I received a sample Ambipur set and refresh 5 ml for 60 days to be at INR 200, which is can be used at home and office. I really do not see a justification as why 2ml Ambi pur vent clip lasting 30 days need to be priced at INR 200?. On top of this, the old model car Ambipur kit and Ambi pur set and refresh models also has option of refills as well. Hence, I feel pricing wise, Ambi pur vent clip is slightly over priced and  my rating is 50 ~ 60% *. The rating is not due to competition pricing, but Ambipur pricing ambiguity among its products.

In fact, I am planning to use Ambipur set and refresh pack in my car in future due to its economic pricing.

Availability: I found vent clips not freely available in department stores. The old model car fragrance and Ambipur set and refresh more commonly available. The rating is 70%*.

Across the globe everyone knows how challenging it would be to drive a car in India cities particularly during peak hours. Driving a car with Ambipur will not only make the drive from 'smelly to smiles', it could transform your mood from ‘ratty to relax' and truly you will feel as though you are on a holiday!

•  Note: The rating are my own mind parameter, user can have their own discretion if , they do not accept the rating. There may not be any fact associated with rating. :-)

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Shopping : Future predictions.

The shopping methods had evolved over the years. When internet become available globally in 90's I still remember, it was just static website designed and used for product promotion or as in information about availability of products or offering. There was no search engine to look upon to search information. Search engines and then, came commercial transactions through website later in early 2000s.

In later part of 2000's there were independent sites which used to collate products offered by various manufacturers under specific product space, which were like a telephone yellow pages. The yellow pages were common used in 1990’s for business to business requirement. 

As we progressed over time, changes happened, there were more interaction with different device and systems started happening. No more it’s just the website, the website interacts with bank or credit card site and further towards enhancing the security these days we find OTP (one time password code sent to mobile device) for user log in. 

Now, if one looks into the future online shopping system, it’s definitely not going to be standalone application, it will have apps or interface protocol through which it needs to communicate with range of devices and systems, then the business logic needs to analyze, provide a intelligent response to requester though touch of button. By next decade and so, without getting out of once place, one can get the best product and best fit product in matter of few minutes. It’s just being survival of the fittest and necessary intelligence would be built into system to offer the best.

 How is this going to happen?

First and foremost, in about fifteen year are so, we would have ‘WWUI’ in place. 

What’s WWUI?. 

I call it ‘worldwide unique identifier’ for humans. Each one will have a ‘worldwide unique identifier’ in an encoded machine readable form. This WWUI consists of one’s retina and fore finger images impression captured through a high resolution biometric sensor which would be digitally encoded and stored in central worldwide computer server governed by ANUIO (All nations unique identifier organization - global welfare organization supported and funded by participating countries governments federal banks). There would be agreed protocol interface, through which any web application can request for already stored unique identifier linked to a person's retina and finger impression.

If one want to check bank balance, all they need to go is go to bank web page and click on log on button. Once this is done the built in high resolution scan camera or biometric sensor in the computer device switches on, scans the finger and retina impression, then the related web application would send scanned image as request signal to central WWUI server and retrieve unique identification number of this person to bank system. If this person has an account in that specific bank and identity matches with unique identification already in bank database, it would automatically log into the user’s banking transaction page and provide banking page for further action. 

The ‘unique identifier’ would also be used for online credit, debit card transaction and ATM. Further this not would not be just for commercial transactions, it would be also used for social media sites like bodybook (similar to current face book) , whistter (similar to current twitter) and voicer ( a new application by 2030, were user can provide product reviews and user experience online).

Worldwide unique identifier system

Eureka !!!….. There would be no need to remember any or multiple passwords or forget, request for password reset or  more critically, there is no cyber crime due to hacking of online system and website.

Now, let’s look at how this is going to be used in online shopping. I would classify the online shopping experience by 2030 like this,

Review sell: If one wants to travel from Chennai to New Delhi. All one need to do is, log into online shopping system which specialize on travel and enter travel location, date of travel and budget available. The portal or application will then crawl through websites and analyze the best fitment travel based on  price, travel mode (check all flights, express buses or trains), tickets available, customer reviews and then, rank the list of all travel options, that can selected by user. It will also analyze the reviews and customer experience and provide a list of ranking fits. Meaning, if there is more negative reviews on various social forum, then site would rank the specific travel option lower.

But, then how do one say reviews are genuinely provided by users?. A valid question indeed.

Well, as I had discussed earlier, even for writing reviews in social web site, the log in process would be through WWUI interface mechanism, so naturally every living individual can have only one account in all the discrete systems and web sites. Hence, naturally reviews would be genuine as it is linked to a specific person. Such review sell process will be applicable for hotel accommodation, certain products as well. Finally, if you wish to purchase, then WWUI interface works with internet banking, credit cards system. So naturally no hacking or password stealing happens. 

Building intelligence  .. for informed purchase decision

Fitment sell: There may be case where, one needs to look for best fit for a person. Say apparels, shoes and other accessories purchase. All these products normally you try or wear before choosing the products. I call this ‘Fitment sell’.

When one is interested in products such as shoes or dress. The biometric sensor in the your system will scan and measure the size of your foot or body according to product need, after which a fitment match is done with shoes or apparels available online for sale and then indicate back not only whether the fitment is right or not, but also it would display on screen as how one would look like wearing the shoes or apparels on screen. This would be the ultimate virtualization. If you feel good to purchase, then it would invoke the WWUI interface for payments.

WWUI, can be extended for retail store outlets sale as well and our wallet could well be free from plastic credit or debit cards.

Well, if one rewinds about decade or two back, very few people knew what internet was all about. From then on, the technology had galloped so very fast that mobile phones, internet has become part and parcel of our life. Hence, in future, I believe we would well have above technology in place particularly to avoid cyber crime and take a well informed decision to purchase a product in matter of few minutes.

** ebay has introduced an ebay application plug in which works with google crome browser. It looks like  business intelligence is built in, to provide a comparable ebay best price for a product even  if you are searching out side ebay. One could explore about the  product by clicking on link  here **

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Enchanting Himalayas

Himalayas the mountain range, which is so unique in nature and this place, I wish to explore at some point of time in my life. Vastness of Himalayas makes one to realize the significance of nature and the creator. Further, it have been scientifically said if Himalayas aren't their, then India could well have been a cold desert

Embedded video would give an exotic glimpse of the elegant Himalayas.

 In Sanskrit Hima (snow) and Alaya (abode) in combine to form Himayala ( Abode of Snow) and according to Hindu Mythology, Himalaya is the home of God Shiva. Nepalese call Himalayas ‘Samgarmatha’ that means ‘Goddess of the Universe’ or ‘Forehead of the Sky’.

The Himalaya, run across five countries Bhutan, India Nepal , Tibet and Pakistan, while Human race claims certain areas belong to them, Himalaya is an ideal example as none can climb that Himalayas is solely belongs to them. The Himalayan Mountain Range was formed roughly about 70 million years ago as a result of a collision between Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates. It is said to cover 612,021 sq km with geographic variation so stunning. The climatic changes in Himalayan regions change quickly. As a result, the areas are prone to monsoons, floods, snowstorms, landslides, earthquakes, tremors and high winds.

 Several greatest rivers in the world — the Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong, the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers originate from Himalayas or from the Tibetan Plateau. The medicinal herbs found at the foothills of Himalayas are the purest of all. According to Hindu mythology Ganges is believed to originate from head of lord Shiva.

I don’t think there is any place so very unique compared to Himalayas. Naturally, this is ultimate place for me to visit. Further, during trip to Himalaya I wish the world time machine stops, so that you really don’t need to hurry up seeing the places and be back to our normal routine life. Also, I believe, the mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness.

On Himalayas, some of the places worth exploring in my list are,

Ladakh: Rock carvings found in many parts of Ladakh show that the area has been inhabited from Neolithic times (around 10000 BC). Ladakh is a region in India totally isolated from the modern world. I understand this to be an authentic land, where one finds ancestral customs of life characterized by intense spirituality. Even an Indian traveler will probably find no similarities in the land and people between the ones he leaves behind and those he encounters in Ladakh. Rich traditions of Mahayana Buddhism still flourish in the purest form in this region, which has often been referred to as Little Tibet. Ladakh's landscape has more in common with the lunar landscape than any other place on earth  

Lukla: This is the place in nepal, if one wish to take a aerial view of Himalaya through a small aircraft, Lukla has an airport. The amazing video clipping of mount Everest take you out of the world.

 (video links courtesy - You tube).

 

Finally would be glad to wound it us with visit to Gangtok, which has emerging as Ecotourism spot in India. Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial (mass) tourism. Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world. I would look forward for a holiday tour company like Yatra travel which can customize such trips with suitable package tours with combination of suitable flight options, self driven car or SUV and offcourse, accomodation. Such options, if provided would very much prove to be unique tour of its kind

 I would like to sign with the quote which had mentioned in my earlier travel blog post.

 It would be a treat to watch the vastness and bounty of nature which would be so soothing to mind , for one who is, confined to city life most time, where almost every inch is man-made and short lived with arrogance of 'me' associated with it.

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Indian Economy - Depreciating INR

I came across an article , providing the details about fall of INR in recent time. The illustration and explanation was excellent however outflow of FII Debt funding alone may not be the only reason towards fall in INR value. India had been a closed economy till 90's and was forced to open up the economy in early 90's due to balance of payment crisis at that point of time. In a 'open' economy the many factors contribute or triggers such fall . 

To me, the other factors which is contributes to depreciation of INR can be,

 Foreign Equity inflows (FII and  FDI) are good for open economy, not only from investment perspective it is also said generate employment. But, then at the some pint of time, there is bound to be repatriation of profit in form of dividend or other investment. So naturally there would be an outflow. No business man would like to keep the equity for ever, without appropriate returns. 

Corporate Debt: It is said debt content with major corporate has increased over the years. More importantly about 40 to 50% of debt is in foreign currency. Now with dollar appreciating, the Indian corporate have to burn more money not only in form of interest, principle but also due to depreciated INR. This would certainly increase outflow of foreign exchange in future.

Oil import: There is no respite for oil bills import expenses or rather the outgo of foreign exchange on Y-n Y basis. It has been on increase always. Just look at the number of vehicles registered in an RTO in metro’s, one could judge the increase in vehicle registered, so naturally consumption of fuel is bound to increase, unless the country has efficiently planned public transport. 

Gold Import: Amid all the efforts being made by the Government to curb gold imports, demand for the precious metal in India zoomed to a 10-year high (310 tonnes) in the three-month period ending June 30, according to the World Gold Council. Gold is very dear to Indian families and it is said to be second to China in import of precious metal. With return from Indian stock market not looking good in last few years and gold returns looking good in the last few years, the gold is also looked upon as an investment these days. However, this causes stress on foreign exchange due to import of gold. 

One may not know which factors can trigger a fall in exchange rate at any point of time in a global economy, unless there is a well planned and coordinated execution of growth oriented policies towards development of economy. Hence, is India really prepared for 'Open' Economy?

Also, at same time, fail to understand as how some of the developed countries even though have a higher deficit budget and with higher content of debt as percentage of their GDP has better currency exchange rate when compared to India?

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Gold bounches back

While stock market is taken a beating on Friday, gold seems to bounced back in the last few days and it was trading Rs 2946 per gram (22 carat) on Sat 17th Aug.

Apart from hike in gold prices in world market, following other factor seems to drive prices up,

•  Depreciating INR.
•  Import restriction and higher duty. 
• Condition of world and  Indian economy at this point of time.
•  Last but not the least the start of festive season in India.

Next to petroleum product, gold import is the highest drainer of foreign exchange in India. Added to this India is top consumer for gold. Further, its never going to easy for Indians to move away from attractiveness gold .

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Managing Oracle EBS implementation better.

Over the years, ERP product modules foot prints have grown and so is the complexity associated with product.  In about a decade time with increased complexities, the implementation need to take care business requirement vs module fitment for solution, shorter implementation time frame, and quick turnaround testing the solution, performance issue due to volume of transactions and accessing transaction on wide area network needs to be taken in to account.

If application is available to access though internet, it also increasingly difficult to perform load test or predict volume growth of users. It is increasing common these days, witness certain systems like Banking, Railways getting into performance issues at the peak hours as due importance might not have been given to loading of application during implementation stage. 

Appropriate product fitment to business requirement and product license of modules alone would not make an implementation successful. Implementation needs to be managed effectively right from conceptualization stage to beyond post implementation to be successful. Had earlier written about factors ( part1, part2, part3) which influence success of ERP implementation in a phased approach.

Apart from ERP product & managing implementation project, there are products available to enhance / support & manage the implementation at pre & post implementation stage better.  It’s critical the project stakeholder analyses the feasibility of using these tools. 

Brief overviews about the products, which can support Oracle EBS implementation, are, 

Oracle EBS Business accelerators: Every effort is made these days to reduce implementation time of Oracle EBS without compromising on business requirement. Hence one would find OBA quite useful during the requirement gathering & thereby automate functional set up during CRP stage (iterative process) of the implementation and thereby shorten the discovery start phase of the project.  Additionally, It provides information about flow based functionality of implementation, which is also quite critical in understanding the overall business process end to end, right at start of the project.. 

Oracle application testing suite: Oracle Application testing suite can used automate functional regression testing, Oracle Load testing. Process of manual testing can be a time consuming and hence OATS place a critical role in faster testing process and enhance productivity.

Oracle application management suite: The task of managing Applications is complex, time-consuming, and costly.   The Application Management Suites for E-Business Suite can reduce this complexity, and dramatically improve the availability, reliability, and predictability for E-Business Suite. The Suite leverages Oracle Enterprise Manager to provide enhanced system and user monitoring, configuration monitoring and change management capabilities.

Oracle Enterprise manager: Enterprise manager is quite useful to manage the entire technology stack of Database, middleware application. OEM is useful right from start to post implementation support.

Oracle Infrastructure: During implementation or post implementation, the infrastructure plays a crucial role in success of implementation. There could be a situation where, the ERP implementation from business solution perspective is said to be very effective. However, infrastructure challenges might prevent the effective implementation.  For example, tasks might take a long time to be executed, this issue may be related to network bandwidth, multiple time I/O operation, resources busy due to peak hour or resource intensive. Its critical, infrastructure is given right focus at right point of time.  Exadata machine, RAC, Data guard can be thought about and explored to overcome the infrastructure issues. Also, Saas (software-as-service) concept related to cloud computing is catching up. One of the characteristic of cloud service is Rapid elastic scalability, which means the ability to add computing capacity on demand. This feature would be useful to allocate resource for computing during peak time. 

With positioning of global single instance for multi-org operation, the application needs to be available for access 24x7 towards global operation. An application scalability suiting ever evolving business requirement is one part of it. Cost optimization in form of shorter implementation, effective testing, managing application post implementation, reliability and scalability of hardware infrastructure also plays critical part in success of implementation. Hence, naturally, one needs to look at various software tools which would enhance productivity of Oracle ERP implementation.

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