Anwar Buchoo (Blog)

Indian song gone viral

2012-01-02T21:10:00.001-08:00

This song has gone completely viral on the net.

With over 30M views (that's very very rare for an indian composition) and is currently the 37th of Top 100 music videos of Youtube.

Upside down reality

2011-10-16T08:32:00.001-07:00

BBQ Rougaïzza @ Pizza Hut

2011-10-11T00:46:00.001-07:00

Pizza Hut Mauritius has been giving out free pizzas quite often, lately. For instance, last week itself, they launched 4 "challenges" on their facebook page and gave away many free pizzas to the winners.

Friday afternoon, I came across their 4th challenge which was as follows :

Suppose you have to create a REAL MAURITIAN pizza. What would be the name and the main ingredients ?

Since, I love cooking at home, I thought why not give it a try and let my imagination do the rest. I posted this :

Name : "BBQ Rougaïzza" (as in Rougaille)

Toppings : Lychee/litchi (bring in some sweetness in a unique way), stringy white mozzarella, tomato sauce for flavour (a bit of lycopene in :)), crushed garlic, mushrooms, green bell pepper (or roasted), slight amount of corn, caramelised onion (done in olive oil), grilled chicken breast (pre-marinated in a BBQ sauce), baked cashew nuts (cashews on pizza are just great)

Top finishing layer : 3-4 tomato (or sun-dried) slices, a couple of jalapeño slices, 2 slices of eggplant on the top finishing layer, sprinkle some shredded parsley and dried oregano on top.

Shape : Circular (the classical one) or square pizza like the ones they serve in Rome or even Heart-shaped pizza.

Pizza base : Current Pizza Hut base (thin or thick crust)

Serve with some good hot Tabasco® sauce :)

For those who adventurous in culinary, you can even replace the chicken by some local salted fish of ours :)

Ten most creative ones (winners) were announced this Monday morning. More than 30 recipes were posted and mine was among the best 10. To my surprise, "BBQ Rougaïzza" was selected by the Pizza Hut team as the best among the 10 best.

I just got my voucher/code for the free large pizza, perfect ! Pizza night tonight, I guess.

However, the best pizzas are definitely served in Italia. The big square pizzas they sell in Rome are just too good and different (those I tasted there). A bit fatty but the best in the world, for sure :-)

Opening program you use often with administrative rights - Windows 7

2011-10-05T01:11:00.001-07:00

Do you have Windows 7 OS and find it a hassle to open programs you use regularly with administrative rights (as shown below) ?

Here’s a solution : create a scheduled task shortcut of your program with administrative rights. Follow the steps below.

QC Explorer is used as an example.

You can do it for Visual Studio requiring debugging privileges, too.

Step 1 : Open Task Scheduler

Step 2 : Create a task

Step 3 : Fill General details

Step 4 : Create a new Action for the task

Step 5 : Choose the program to launch

Step 6 : Define the conditions for the task

Step 7 : Define the Settings for the task. Click OK to create the task. You can also define if you want to run another instance when you launch the app again.

Step 8 : Verify task has been created and ready.

Step 9 : Create desktop shortcut for your application

Step 10 : Modify the shortcut properties to run the task you just created. Use the name you entered in step 3 (don’t forget to enclose in double quotes if it contains space). You can modify the icon to show the original icon of the program you are creating the shortcut for.

(Target : C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn “QC Explorer”)

That’s it! Just double click on the shortcut on your desktop to run the program as administrator! J

(courtesy Jeffrey Ah-Chong)

http://www.linfo.re/-Societe-/L-operation-de-prelevement-de-requins-se-poursuit

Est-ce l'homme ou le requin le plus dangereux ?

2011-09-28T22:47:00.001-07:00

C'est incroyable ! Unbelievable.

Les hommes ont des pieds pour rester sur terre mais quelques uns (insoucients, imprudents) préfèrent aller surfer en mer là où c'est plus dangereux. Résultat, ils se font tués par des requins. Le Préfet / Sous-Préfet de la Réunion a décidé, malheureusement, à mener des opérations pour justement tuer ces requins, jugés dangereux pour les hommes. Le requin tue l'homme et l'homme tue le requin en retour.

Le requin, qui vit tranquillement dans son monde, est menacé de mort par les terriens. Ces requins ne sont même pas venus sur terre pour tuer ces hommes. C'est toujours le contraire qui est vrai.

L'homme continue à pratiquer la surpêche et parfois on se retrouve dans des cas où les prédateurs marins sont obligés de se rapprocher des côtes pour trouver de la nourriture. Des fois, il leur arrive de confondre un nageur avec l’une de ses proies habituelles.

Il ne faut pas oublier non plus que chaque année, de 30 à 70 millions de requins sont tués, principalement pour leurs ailerons (Shark Finning), très appréciés dans les soupes chinoises. Résultat : plus de vingt espèces de requins sont aujourd'hui sérieusement menacées d'extinction. Voir la vidéo d'un requin laissé-pour-compte, sans ailerons.

Je ne comprends jamais comment on peut tuer un animal (qui est dans son milieu naturel) pour le plaisir de l'homme (surf ou autre). L'attaque sur l'homme est devenu, pour certains, une échappatoire pour tuer les requins, prisés pour leurs ailerons. À noter, que chaque année, on a en moyenne 60 attaques mondialement et très rarement des morts.

Et dans tout ça, le requin n'a pas son mot à dire, mais moi je le fais et fais le toi aussi. J'espère que les requins vont se cacher et ne seront pas tués, inutilement, par ces humains, dans le jours qui viennent.

Maya Maya, kya hain drama !

2011-09-27T23:43:00.001-07:00

Maya Hanoomanjee fer Rajesh Jeetah gaga lor Radio Plus. Ou bizin écoute moi kozé avant do !
Rajesh Jeetah so programme : "Deeaaarrrr prrraaavinnnddd" ! :)

It's good to laugh once in a while with such local actors. Bollywood / Tollywood même fail la.

Halal, Haram food. Doubtful ?

2011-03-23T07:45:00.001-07:00

Recently, having come across a statement (by the Jummah Mosque of Mauritius), made me willing to write an article about this topic.

There are so many halal committees nowadays that each committee tends to claim superiority over the other. Now there’s this new one, named “Jummah masjid halal council (JMHC)”.
When you ask them about the status of Pizza Hut, KFC, Nando’s, McDonald, Debonair’s, Steers, FAIL, other restaurants, their simple answer is DOUBTFUL !
Now what’s that supposed to mean ? I wanted an answer hala l or haram, and I get "doubtful".

For sometime in the past, their main problem was with KFC. All they wanted to have was the recipe of KFC before issuing the certificate and I wonder why :)
Come on, that’s its business secret. How do you expect them to share it with you ?
I’ve recently visited some Arab countries and there was KFC, McDonald’s, Hardee’s, Pizza Hut everywhere with the official halal status. Do you think KFC shared its recipe with them ? :)

There’s much hypocrisy on this subject and maybe some hidden agenda too.

When I eat at these places in MRU, I ask if it’s halal. They say yes, with the certificates. So, I eat freely without being DOUBTFUL. Some people don’t eat at these places because the JMHC or the Halal Research Committee (HRC) of Mauritius has not issued them a hala l certificate.
My question : are the JMHC or HRC the only authentic halal committees on this planet ?

People tend to complicate simple things; that’s what we do best. Anyway, I think to be 100% sure that your meat is halal, you should raise the cattle yourself, slaughter it with your own hands or watch another person do it and lastly, cook it yourself.
Despite the JMHC/HRC issuing halal certificates to slaughter houses in Mauritius, how can they be sure that on any particular day the slaughtering is being done as required ? Are they present 24/7 there ?

As you see, we should do our own research too because with so much halal committees cropping, we can never be sure ! Moreover, there exist corrupt certifiers too, due to the financial gain in this sector. I was, myself, duped in Europe, by a muslim restaurant-owner, affirming that it's halal (he had certificates) and later I learnt it wasn't.

This debate will never end among some muslims; meanwhile, I’ll continue eating Pizza Hut, Debonair’s, Steers, Pizza Hut, KFC, McDo and at other halal restaurants.
God, alone, will judge me and no one else has the right to do so!

The McDo "Sega" in Mauritius

2011-03-16T05:44:00.001-07:00

After the recent opening of the McDonald outlet at Phoenix, I decided to pay them a visit a couple of days ago. Since last year, there have been quite some manifestations from the ISKCON/Kranti groups to oppose the opening of this beef-selling outlet. The reason is same as that of McDo in India, i.e. religious conviction of our Hindu citizens and this outlet being near a to-be temple.

I was there around 18h and the McDo parking was nearly full. At the entrance, there was a paper with a notice on it saying “We are not able to sell any Beef products temporary until further notice” (ed. ongoing case in court). When I entered, I was amazingly surprised to see all the communities of the society, sitting and eating. There were many Hindus, Christians, and Muslims.

While at the queue, there were two Hindu boys in front of me waiting their turn. Suddenly, one of them started talking, a bit loud, to the other saying

Guy 1 : “this place is not too ok to sit and eat though ...” He continued “it’s got glass panes all over and people from outside can see us”.
To which the second guy added “yeah true, if my dad comes here and sees me.. gonna be in trouble. we can try sit in the corner (not that visible from outside)”

But, finally, there they were, all burgers on a plate and walking to a table.

I, furthermore, noticed two police officers, on duty, in front of the McDo building. It’s the first time I saw this in Mauritius, where you got 2 police officers outside a restaurant for security purpose.

Lastly, I ate my meal over there in a secure, hygienic and relaxing environment. The restaurant was nearly full, inside (raining outside). I guess all the recent “segas” about McDo did a great free publicity for this American QSR.

On a final note, today I heard that the Kranti group is calling for a boycott of Phoenix Commercial Centre, as a whole. This made me smile while thinking that if people are not even boycotting the McDo outlet there, how can you get people to boycott the entire mall :-)

We just got to wait for the court's decision next week (previously 29/03) and hope that everyone gets satisfaction out of this. If McDo will be forced not to sell any Beef, fair enough I think, compared to a shut-down order.

Ena dimoun mank rol dans sa pei la !

2011-01-25T00:00:00.001-08:00

Tout problème ki ena dans sa pei moris la, bizin ena ene zafer rélizion ki rent en jeu !

Fran tou, bane socioculturels sa pei la (tou rélizions, pa ziss ene !) mari mank rol. ena dimoun p mort san manzer/ou ek la drog (tou rélizions enkor ene foi !), mai aucain sa bane socio-sipaki-moloyo la pa pou fer naryen. zot program, invite PM dan fonction, gagne privilez pou zot ek zot ti clik, fer ene ta tapaz, gagne couvertir media ek apres ene poil na pena dan le concret !

Si ene touriss vine moris, li a croir morisien mari relizieu ek sa kantiter mouvement relizieuz ena dan sa zil la. mai pa pou autan ki crime ou delinquence p diminier. ena bane homme relizieu (couma zot apel zot !) fight pou bane zafer nonsense net ena coup, fer rier tou. vraimem bane socio-sipaki-moloyo ti bizin apel plito "communalo-politik" !

(Extrait de lexpress.mu d'aujourd'hui, ci-après)

Un front commun hindou pour protester contre le restaurant McDonald’s à Phoenix

L’ensemble des mouvements socioculturels hindous de l’île se réunit à Phoenix à 11h30 ce mardi 25 janvier. L’objectif s’organiser pour empêcher l’ouverture d’un restaurant McDonald’s à Jumbo Phoenix.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna passe à l’offensive. Elle réunit ce matin l’ensemble des associations hindoues de l’île pour dire publiquement son opposition à l’ouverture d’un restaurant McDonald’s face à son centre, à Phoenix.
Le recours à un front commun hindou était envisagé dès fin décembre. Mais la direction de la branche locale de l’International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) voulait avant tout discuter avec le promoteur du projet afin qu’une solution soit trouvée.

Il est inconcevable pour les fidèles que le fumet de boeuf parvienne jusqu’à leur temple alors qu’ils sont végétaliens. De plus, les écritures saintes hindoues décrivent la vache comme un animal sacré.

Le mouvement dit s’être adressé à la filiale du groupe Rogers - propriétaire du centre commercial de Phoenix - qui gère le site, ForeSite, le promoteur du restaurant n’ayant pas, ajoutent-ils, répondu à leurs sollicitations pour des discussions..
Une rencontre était à l’agenda vendredi dernier mais ForeSite ne s’y est pas fait représenter. ForeSite dit étudier le dossier avec ses consultants pour avoir une idée sur «les implications».du projet.

«Nous avons suivi toutes les procédures pour avoir le permis de construire le bâtiment qu’on a ensuite loué à McDonald’s. On est même allé au-delà des requirements. Le centre commercial a publié des notices dans les journaux comme le stipule la loi et on avait même installé un panneau sur le site», a expliqué Sanjiv Mihdidin, le directeur de ForeSite à lexpress.mu.

«Je ne vois pas où est le mal. Légalement, il n’y a aucun souci. Un voisin nous a écrit, on est en train de discuter avec nos consultants pour décider quoi répondre», a-t-il ajouté. Le restaurant de 250 couverts devant ouvrir ses portes à la mi-février, Hare Rama Hare Krishna ne veut pas prendre le risque de se retrouver devant le fait accompli.

La prise de position publique devait se faire à la Hindu House mais le choix du siège d’Iskcon a été choisi après discussions. «C’est le mouvement qui proteste, donc la réaction doit se faire à Phoenix», explique Nuvin Unoop de Voice of Hindu (VOH).

Avec Kranti et Ram Senna, ils seront aux cotés de l’Arya Sabha, de la Hindu House, de la Mauritius Sanatan Dharma Temples Federation, de la Mauritius Andra Maha Sabha, de la Mauritius Marathi Mandali Federation, de la Gahlot Rajput Maha Sabha et de la Fédération hindoue de Port-Louis pour apporter leur soutien à Iskcon.

See the full gallery on posterous

If you printed internet

2011-01-18T03:02:00.001-08:00

An old one, but a nice one !

See the full gallery on posterous

Unboxing WD HD TV Live

2010-10-23T11:30:00.001-07:00

An HD WD media player I bought some time back.

Very good Full HD media player with streaming support over LAN/media servers and internet.

See the full gallery on posterous

Football Fever: Teams strategy revealed

2010-06-15T22:38:00.001-07:00

I got this in an e-mail :o)

Courts advert ft. Leader of Parti Malin

2010-06-03T22:49:00.001-07:00

Courts advert ft. Leader of Parti Malin (Aubeeluck Danrajsingh)

Parti Malin Ringtone

2010-05-14T06:53:00.001-07:00

I selected bits of Parti Malin speech to make a ringtone which I've been using these days.
I thought of sharing it with you. You can use it (download link below) and make people around you laugh when your phone rings :-)

(178 KB)
Listen on posterous

Right click and save as : parti-malin-p-diiir.mp3

Post electoral satisfaction in Mauritius

2010-05-07T07:30:00.001-07:00

Now that the election 2010 in Mauritius is over, I can express my full satisfaction of this felicitous outcome.

I'm very happy that Corruption, Communalism and Casteism prevailed anew. I call it the "3Cs Law". Be it from the Labour Party or MMM or MSM, they all applied this winning formula in a very satisfactory manner.

I am very glad for my country today that we still commend the "3Cs Law". You know, we make our ancestors really proud. When we were brought onto this beautiful island, we were intravenously administered a dose of Corruption, Communalism and Casteism with half-life of 500 years (into our blood). This makes me feel more positive about the future of our beloved country which is Mauritius. At least, we don't have to bother for the upcoming 20 generations; we cannot be safer than that.

Beloved country of ours, may God help thee.

Mauritius Political Speech on MBC

2010-04-28T05:32:00.001-07:00

I've shared extracts of these speeches (in fact my favorites) and these are the real winning team of this upcoming election 2010 in Mauritius :-)

A nou vote blok (mais zot pa present dan tou circonscriptions ek zot symbol pa blok !)

Parti Malin and a bit of PPM - 26/04/2010

(1719 KB)
Listen on posterous

Parti Malin again - 27/04/2010

(1047 KB)
Listen on posterous

Taking a loan for your wedding? Think twice!

2010-04-06T08:02:00.001-07:00

Everybody wants to take loans these days, maybe because of their ready availability from financial institutions. Some take a loan for housing, investment, car, studies or wedding and so on. I will be writing mainly about the wedding loan.

Well, there’s this couple who contracted a MRU 200,000 loan for their wedding. They both started to work and wanted to get married soon. They were somewhat short of money to perform the wedding. What to do? They were whispered the idea of taking a loan to accomplish their dream wedding ceremony. The guy and the girl gave it a thought and convinced themselves to go ahead with the plan. In any case, what could be the problem with that?

So, there they go. The money was in their bank account after having contracted a 7-year unsecured personal loan, at a high interest rate. They got married within the following weeks. They paid for: reception, rent of venue, food, beverage, entertainment, rental items, decorations, wedding cake, bride's wedding dress, wedding gifts, cameraman, photographer. Fortunately, they did not spend all the money and had some money left to pay for their honeymoon suite at a five star hotel. After all, they wanted it to be perfect!

More or less everybody was happy (for some guests, the ceremony was not to their standard!). Now, the couple starts living in the real world. In that world, they live at their parent’s place, squatting a small room. They cannot contribute financially to help their parent run the kitchen either (remember they contracted a loan and they’ve got their own expenditure). So, they continue living in such conditions, for at least, the next 7 years.

Photo courtesy of 501cweb

The thing is, is it worth taking a loan for a wedding? Personally, I don’t think so. On balance, a wedding remains a 1-day (in some cases, a 3-days) ceremony in your life. Why take a loan to throw out big parties/dinner/lunch where in you invite people you barely meet every ten years? When you take a loan, the first thing to consider: what is the return on investment (ROI) after using the borrowed money? Yes, even when taking a loan, ROI counts. In the case of a wedding, the ROI is zero. All the money vanishes in one day to “please” your family and to follow traditions of throwing big ceremonial dinner/lunch!

If the couple had opted to take a loan for a house construction, then there would have been a return on this investment and they would’ve got a shelter. Remember, real estate appreciates unlike a car (and the like), which depreciates over time. When taking a loan, invest the money where you should really, don’t just blow it off in futile things. It’ll be all wasted!

Instead, take a loan which will ensure the stability and independence of your own future and that of your to-be-born kids. Indeed, failure may lie in pleasing everyone!

How to bribe a police officer in Mauritius

2010-03-26T21:27:00.001-07:00

Did you know that you could easily bribe a police officer in Mauritius? No, you can’t. Categorically, that’s the answer ICAC would give you. I’m not ICAC.

I was once travelling with a friend in his car, which he was driving. On the highway, at some point, he exceeded the speed limit by 10%. At that time, there were no speed cameras in Mauritius but the old fashion radar detectors. A few minutes passing the “detection point” (an officer hiding in the bush with the detector in hand), a rider signaled my friend to pull over. As soon as we stopped, the officer asked to swtich off the engine.

He started with his discourse about speeding and why he stopped us. He told my friend that though he did not exceeded the limit by much, it’s still an excess. As a routine check, he asked my friend for his driving license. While looking at the license, he asked my friend why you were speeding. I was wondering why he’s asking this question. If we were speeding, we should simply be fined (no why, if, but thing). My friend replied that he did not realise at what speed the car was going. There was a minute (or so) of silence.

The police officer, finally, broke the ice. He asked: “What should we do now?” We were both thinking is this some kind of a joke? A police officer asking an offender what we should do. By the gesture of the officer, my friend realised that he wanted “a little something”. My friend told him: “Since it’s my first contravention, I don’t know how to proceed with it.”

The rider stepped back and repeted: “You don’t know how to do it?” Then, he returned the driving license to my friend and asked him to slip a note inside the license and give it back to him. My friend gave away a one-hundred note (Rs 100). After that, the officer let us go without issuing any ticket.

Ok, now, do you think that my friend should have refused to bribe the police officer? It’s good to know that if you happen (for example) to park on yellow lines, the fine can get really high. If the police officer does not issue a fixed penalty for the offense, you will get a court summons for the charge. In that case, it’s up to the District Magistrate to decide which amount of fine you should pay. Trust me, the fine can easily be Rs 3000 (plus a court fee) for parking on yellow lines and even if it’s your first offense ever. Then again, Rs 100 vs. Rs 3000, I suppose you can do the math.

Believe it or not, Mauritius is still a highly corrupted country. Why is this so? It’s dead simple, because at the end of the day, what everyone really needs is money!

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Acquaintance with a Subutex addict

2010-03-08T09:04:00.001-08:00

Subutex is a word highly covered by Mauritian media these days. Just for info, it is sold as a pill and its main purpose is to prevent withdrawal symptoms from occurring in an individual by reducing or removing the desire to take drugs like heroin and methadone.

OK, I am not writing another common blog post about Subutex (you can easily google for them).

It’s been almost a year now since I was searching for someone to do some work at my place. One day, I happen to meet that guy who is willing to do the work at a competitive price. I already knew a bit about the guy’s background and I agreed to give him the work.

Day 1, he came to work at 11h and after working for 30 minutes, he asked me an advance pay of Rs300. I must admit that I was a bit surprised since he did not even work half day. I gave him the money and he went on a lunch break (after working for 30 minutes!). I did not ask him what he’s gonna do with it.

Day 2, he came a bit earlier, at 8h. He looked really tired and could not talk much. He asked me an advance pay for the day and if I could drop him to some place. I said, wait, he did not even start working this time. I asked him what he is going to do with it. He did not reply. He told me that it would be quicker to go by car than walk.

We headed to a ghetto where he asked me to leave him on the road and to pick him back there, in 15 min. When he came back, that was a totally different person. Very strong, normal behaviour, no more tired! He worked till 20h that day.

I asked him what he took. He did not hesitate this time, he told me Subutex. He paid a visit to the dealer in the ghetto and bought 2 “bits” of Subutex. I did not know that Subutex pills were sold in bits. A pill is segmented into 8 exact bits. Each bit is sold at Rs150 (a pill Rs1200). He had to take 2 bits per day (sublingual) to feel “alright”.

I asked him why not go for the methadone governmental project to get rid of the addiction. He told me that he used to take heroin. When he went with Subutex, this removed the desire (“yen” in creole) to take heroin. But, now, he is stucked with Subutex. If he goes for methadone and if that did had an effect to remove desire for Subutex (if any…), he asked me, then what substance will remove the desire/yen of methadone?

He told me that he started taking drugs with friends while he was working at a hotel and now he needs to work to satisfy those desires. He can’t even contribute much to the household. He’s, also, married.

There are many prejudices about these people in the society. We must all realise that if we don’t give them work, they will surely end up by stealing or killing someone for money. We should not blame others and discharge our responsibility just by saying that we are not concerned by this. We can never say that our children will not be drug addicts one day!

Disguised caste system among Mauritian Muslims

2010-02-23T05:48:00.001-08:00

I wanted to post for so long on this sensitive topic and here I am, finally. So what really is casteism? In general terms, it describes the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into divisions of power and wealth within a society. This exists among many religions.

Although it appears that in Mauritius there are lesser manifestations from such Muslim groups, they still do exist. Here I’m referencing to groups that call themselves “Sunni-Surtee”, “Mehman” and so on. Ok, to understand the origin of these groups, we should go back in time (a little bit).

At the beginning, there was a group of traders who came to Mauritius, from north-west of India. This Muslim group is divided in two: the Surtees (from Surat) and the Mehmans (from Kutch). Both of them are from the state Gujarat. Although being a minority, they were influential and economically powerful communities to be settled in Port-Louis. Unlike other Muslims, they did not come here under contract. They were “free”.

Up to now, everything seems more or less normal.

Moreover, they considered themselves high-class and were highly endogamous (up to the point of marrying only with spouse from their town in India). They did not marry with Muslims of indentured labor background (the “Calcutteea”).

So, why (in our modern Mauritian society) do these Muslims continue to adhere and use such names to designate themselves? Can’t they be plain and simple Muslims like others? Can’t they marry other Muslims outside their groups (though I must admit this is happening slowly nowadays)?

They have been here for a long time now (more than 5 generations I must say), but why do the young “members” are still so excited to call themselves “Sunni-Surtee” or “Mehman”? Come on seriously, you still consider yourselves to be high-class? You must face it (one day I hope so) that you are Mauritian Muslims, who, as a matter of fact, don’t speak Gujarati but Creole!

I’m not against any of these groups (and I’ve got many relatives in these groups). Simply, you just need to realise that your ancestors left their respective towns because they understood that they would earn much money in Mauritius, then. Otherwise, if they were really satisfied with their towns/cultures/socio-economic conditions, they would never have left for Mauritius.

So, please bear in mind that Mauritius is the country you need to be proud of. Instead of being within your closed sectarian circuit, break through it and mix up with others! All together as one we will fight sectarianism/casteism (disguised or not)! And God knows best.

Kifer pinir (Pourquoi punir/why punish) l'ACIM ?

2010-02-02T05:09:00.001-08:00

(This post in creole/Cet article est en créole)

Minis securite sociale moris p repross l’ACIM (Jayen Chellum) ki zot pa p gagne cass parski zot ti fer operation escargo kot ti ena zeleve ki ti rent tard dan l’examen. Minis la vine dir lor radio ki « c’est graaave, c’est très très graaave ! ».
A beh ene ti kestion pou ou minis securite sociale, kan ou colegue minis l’education ti touye zeleves en 2008 r so decision irresponsable, lerla pa ti tane ou dir ki « c’est graaave, c’est très très graaave ! ». Minis la ti mem ena touper pou vine dir lor radio, lor 300,000 zeleve, ziss sa em ine mort, li pa grave ! Lerla pa ti trouver ki bizin met minis la dehor ou coupe so la paye ou met dan prison !
Apre, ki ou penser minis, ki 21,000 roupie bcou kass sa pou paye ene boug ki p roule l’ACIM ?

Ey ou la, na pa vine fer lion manze carrot don !

Mo esperer ki M. Jayen so la santer pane trop affecter ek sa la greve la.
Mai bon, couma dir p ena ene dezel subvention aster.. nou ava gueter. En tou ka, mari insensibilite sa zoto !

Pou conclir, dan sa ti zil moris (c ene plezir la), pou la guer pou droit, bizin fer la greve la faim mem wadir ! Ale mort em..

Planning to have kids soon?

2010-01-25T08:36:00.001-08:00

If you are a newly-wed couple (1 year or so), you've probably been shot with the question "so, when are you planning to have kids?" many times. I don't quite understand why are they so willing to know when you'll be having child/ren! I, personally, don't care about these people and my answer is generally the type: "you'll be the first one I'll inform about it. I swear, even before my wife knows!"
Then why am I posting this? Because there are some people who are so depressed by the idea of not having kids that they even decide to commit suicide! (and trust me on that).
Why do they become so depressed/frustrated? It's because of these people who are curious about others' lives. Not only that, but they also pressurize the couple with their freaky thoughts!
So please, stop interfering into others' lives and if you happen to be the "victim", stop listening to these craps. Most of these people don't even have a family or have already ben divorced. La vie est beaucoup plus simple que l'on ne croit!

(that was my first mobile post, hope it renders well)

Think about what it consumes before buying

2010-01-25T01:46:00.001-08:00

The Copenhagen climate conference is on the cover of all newspapers nowadays, so I thought it's time to revisit this topic and post all the cool new ads that appeared across the globe on the subject of global warming trying to educate and raise awareness.

Sync movement

2010-01-17T23:25:00.001-08:00

Cool animated graphic. Try to count the no. of boys in it…

www.funandfunonly.org) - SridhaR">

Unique 2010 calendar

2010-01-13T02:18:00.001-08:00

This is a quite unique 2010 calendar. I don't know what the differently-sized circles mean (moon, planet?) but
it's interesting.

My new kitten - Twix

2009-12-18T02:05:00.001-08:00

Last Monday night (14/12/09) I went to buy bread at my local bakery when I
saw a kitten sitting beside the road in dark. Naturally, I'm not that fond
of cats. I was continuing my way to the car when I realised that maybe it
won't live the night if left outside like this. I called and she walked to
me. My next unpredicted reaction was to pick it up and put it in the car with
me. Yesterday, I took her to visit the vet and now everything is going on smooth
and fine. She's been named Twix (don't ask why).
I don't understand how people can "dump" these kittens on the road..

I can explain how i love this screen...

2009-11-14T18:13:00.001-08:00

Why I did not buy an iPhone

2009-10-27T05:46:00.001-07:00

Recently, I was making up my mind to change my smartphone for a touch one with accelerometer and so on. The question was: which one to buy? iPhone? I said why not after all it has been quite well-reviewed when it was launched. To say, that I also find Apple's products nice. I'm not at all an anti-apple guy or whatever; I already got other Apple products at my place.

I started doing some research on the cost-effectiveness of iPhone (a normal one, not jailbroken). I, always, do this in advance for all products I'm paying for.

1. Cost - too high compared to other touch phones out there. For the price of an iPhone, for instance, I could buy 2 Nokia touch phones along with some extra accessories. Ok, I agree the touch feeling and user experience is better on an iPhone than a 5800 XPM, for example, but then again.. twice the price ? It's more like paying for the brand.

2. Battery - this one is the best. I don't know what came in my mind, I thought why not youtube "change battery iphone". I got a video of a guy showing how to replace the battery of an iPhone. Frankly speaking, I never imagined that changing a phone battery could be so complicated (just for information, I've got an electrical background). I mean wait, isn't it just a phone! Replacing a CMOS battery on a motherboard is much more easier.
I'm not even talking about the battery life of an iPhone. I don't remember to charge my phone everyday and with iPhone by the of the day a guy reported that the phone was dead (without listening to music or videos or browsing).

3. Applications - I find it kinda limited on this aspect. Third-party applications can not be installed (for whatever stability reasons). I pretty much expect to install other applications and be more flexible.

4. Camera - I use a lot of my phone camera since I do not carry my digital camera with me every where but my phone, literally, yes. 2 MP camera, no flash, no filming, I think I don't have to elaborate on that one.

5. No MMS. Even the cheapest phone on the market supports this functionality. So, basically, you can not share your pictures (taken without flash) with your friends.

6. No copy/paste. This is a functionality I use a lot especially when typing sms/mails.

7. Memory - it's not upgradable. No memory card slot.

For a phone that should have been 5 years ahead of other phones, I think it's simply missed!

To conclude, I found it (iPhone) not worth the price. I, then, opted for a Nokia 5800 XPM, which is great by the way.

Simply my first kfc lunch

2009-10-18T11:09:00.001-07:00

I ate my first kfc today after the reopening of kfc in mauritius. I thought there won't be too much crowd today but I was wrong on this one! We, mauritian, love kfc with its salmonella and proudly i'm one of those people who strongly believe that salmonella is destroyed when cooked at high temprature. You are welcome to the club if you think so, too.
I have taken 2 memorable picture of this "refirst" kfc experience. I loved it! The first one was took before eating and the second, of course, after the event.

Sorry for grammatical mistakes in this post as i'm doing from a mobile keyboard. This is due to the fact that my pc's charger is not functioning. So no charger = no pc!
Enjoy your mauritian kfc, it's worth it.

SIM card got virus !

2009-10-09T04:22:00.001-07:00

Wednesday morning (07/10/09), I wake up and no (network) signal on my mobile. I restarted the smart phone, nothing improved. I swap my SIM card on another mobile phone, again nothing.

I thought it might be an Orange networking problem. So I checked another SIM card within my house and this one was OK.

I decided to call the customer care service on the 8900 and the guy could not help me at all. I was asked to check the nearest Orange CSC for more info. When I got there, to my suprise, the technician (he did not look like one though) simply answered to me that the SIM card has got a virus and nothing can be done with this SIM card! It needs an "upgrade" (don't know what he meant by upgrade since I got no reply when I asked him the meaning of this technical word of his)

The guy told me that my number will be reallocated on a new SIM card. I was starting to feel happy about the thought that I would be able to use my SIM once again, until the minute he uttered the word "PAY" to me. I was like stumbled. He asked me to pay MRU100 for the reallocation/upgrade or whatever. I was hallucinated that an Orange's SIM is not working (some hardware problem stuff that I'm not at all concerned with directly) and I find myself paying the bill for its "upgrade".

The guy told me in uncomplicated words that I got to pay for it no matter what. I paid and got my SIM. The SIM has now (09/10/09) been activated after more than 36 hours. I lost all my SMS' during the "offline" period. Don't they have any backup/queuing system on their servers ? Fortunately, my account balance was left unchanged with the amount I got it credited.

Tout simplement incroyable... vivre l'île maurice moderne!

Decorated car for wedding

2009-10-08T01:45:00.001-07:00

This was for my sis wedding