Broadband ahoy .....

hi folks ... i am back after a week of hiatus ...
this time with some inputs on broad band provisioning in Magnolia ...
As of now, htere is only one option ... that of BSNL. They implement the connection pretty fast. I had a bit of struggle for a couple of weeks to get the two connections working, but now -- hurrah ho.
So, for now ... the way out is BSNL. Pick up hte form from ms Vasanthi and you will all be wired up in 10 days.
OPTIONS : Airtel declared magnolia premises technically infeasible for broadband ... in plain terms, it only means they do not have fiber or copper running into the building. I escalated to the regional sales and support heads at Airtel and I think i am begining to see some positive movement. I got a call from their chap responsible for all apartment complexes in bangalore. They now got the internal approvals and are planning to lay a 300 pair copper into Magnolia from the fiber termination they have in the IBM premises next doors. They are in touch with Sobha and i offered to help if need be.
So, if things go well,we should have Airtel broadband operational in the next 3-4 weeks.

that's for now folks ... happy broadbanding ...

welcoming myself to the blog - courtesy an rao!!

AN has kindly agreed to let me be a contributor to his blog.
I am deeply grateful for that.
Happy posting to me and happy reading to all of you

anu

Tricolor and a bunch of happy anthem singers ...

When I last reported, the mast was just getting there. We then got around to actually finding a flag, hoisting it the right color up ( not funny ... if you were tying ropes to flags and making them go up masts, you would realize that things can go wrong), sang the anthem and distributed sweets.

One happy family is blooming with a breath of freshness and enthusiasm at Sobha Magnolia, Gurappanapalya, Bannergatta Road, Bangalore 560029 (which, by the way is the postal address).

Anuradha - barkha - Shastry sent you the report of the happenings. Here is some more spice to the story and a bunch of pictures shot at the site by yours truly photo journalist from A001. I knew which side of the camera was the lense and which of the buttons was the click. Rest was easy. We had a bunch of happy faces and good pictures are all credits to the smiling ones on the other side of the lense.

Below is the link to the picasa album with the pictures. Uploaded them at a good resolution. So, they are good to down load and print if you need to.

It sure was fun. We all landed up there and realized something pretty important was missing ..... ooooops ...... THE FLAG.

We then found a tiny flag, hoisted it, sang the anthem and quickly got unhappy how small the flag was. SO, we went and got hold of another flag, this time the right size and some sweets go around with ...

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/achutanrao/IndependanceDayAtSobhaMagnolia15Aug2009#

The Mast is up : its Vandemataram time ... where are you Magnolian?

Sobha got the flag mast installed ... (enclosing pictures) ... so, we are all set for the flag hoisting at 9 am tomorros, Friday 15th August,2009. Look forward to the Magnolians being here in large numbers .....

Week 1 at Magnolia

Its a week here already ... we moved here the night of last Monday 27th July,2009.
I must say the week has been pleasantly smooth ... compared to the 13 previous house shifting Vimala and i were in during our 25 years of marriage. One thought on my mind is ... "i dont want a 15th shift". capturing some essentials for those following us ...

1) Packers : we used leo Packers. The guys were amazingly good. Fast and efficient. Not a think broken and the deal was to pack-move-unpack-arrange( u still need to rearrange). (Baalu .. cell 98453 17563)
2)Milk, paper, water fountain for immediate use before your filter is up and operational : Mr Nagaraj , 98804 72994. They even deliver you Nilgaris bread if you tell them when and how much you want. That works real well
3) On the ground support : Ms Vasanthi , the house keeping supervisor (cell 99722 05789) is very quick and to the point. Whatever little teething issues we faced were fixed in a jiffy. She is very good and supportive.
4) Power : havent had any problems in the week.
5) Security : see the folks around. I presume they are taking good care. Surely hear them making rounds in the night
6) Car wash : If you want some day 1 help till you / your driver figure out water source etc., pl go to item 2. I think Nagaraj has someone do that
7) TV : I went with Hathway. They are already wired up. It took just a day to have 4 connections operational. If you want Tata Sky, the Tata Sky chap is making rounds here. Call harikishan on 934196 1499
8) Telephone : BSNL forms are with Ms Vasanthi. The line ( which is also the intercom) was operational in a week. We went for a Reliance wireless landline for backup. That was operational ( including address verification) in 24 hours.
9) Broad band : BSNL application is available with Ms Vasanthi. Please budget for a week to 10 days to turn this on. Our connection request got filed last Thursday and we got a work order no today.. Airtel declared that broadband connection to Magnolia is technically infeasible ....!!! I dont believe this. They must be working hard to lose business. I escalated to their regional support manager.
10) WATCH THIS ONE : If you are in the lower floors, be careful what geysers you buy. The water pressure is enormous and you will have problems if you do not buy the geysers that can not handle high pressure. The joints will leak.
11) Showers or are you unde the Niagara falls : We are in the ground floor. The water pressure is very high. The shower head design Sobha has chosen to use sprays extremely painful jets of high speed water at you. I am serious. It hurts just standing under the shower. So, we are changing the shower heads. The pressure is great for a rain shower. We just fitted one without pressure pump and the experience is divine!!!!

In all, vimala , the kids and I are really happy with the one week here. Did not experience the frustrations we were ready for. We even went for a cup of tea in the amphi theater this morning. It was great.

We might beat up Sobha for their complete mess up on project management, but i can not but praise them for the quality of the product they delivered ....

please do reach out so you dont have to go through the learnings we went through ...

an, vimala
There is s

I am finally living in Sobha Magnolia

hi all co-Sobha Magnolia apartment owners ...
I started writing this blog a year ago when i thought I was moving into the Magnolia apartment in July,09. The handing over dates, as you know, underwent many a change and we finally moved ... lock, stock, barrel ... into our apartment A001, Sobha Magnolia. On our day 4 here, i thought i should resume the blog. Will keep writing my posts on how things are around us ... It will probably interest some of you ... let me know what you think....
my name is A N Rao ( call me a n). married to Vimala for a little under 25 years. We have two sons.. Anoop,20 years and Shashank, 16 years. My dad Mr Venkateswarlu, 79 spends half his time with us and the other half in Hyderabad. That's us.

Sobha Magnolia : our house warming function

what's a better way to prepare to move into your home than a heart warming house warming function with all your loved ones, family, friends being around. We celebrated our house warming on the 12th of July followed by a Satyanarayana Pooja on the 13th. The apartment wasn't quite done yet, but was a shape fit for running the ceremony. Sharing some pictures from the ceremonies at my online albums.... happy viewing.
www://picasaweb.google.com/achutanrao/