Freshers Day at Magnolia : 30Aug,2009

THis really was the ice-breaker. After the euphoria of a small bunch of us hoisting the flags on a

freshlly installed flag mast on 15th August, we realized there is about 7-8 families living here already and decided to have a mini freshers day. Potluck and high tea was the format.

Boy, i am glad we had this. There is something about the spirit of the Magnolians. The nascent and still forming group connects well, is open and happy to be here. And we sure had a pretty decent line up nick nacks, coffee and tea as you can see from the picture

Who let the dogs out ..... the week that the two dogs would remember

This is the story of two dogs. I call them Tom and Jerry. Not because i love them like i love the Disney friends, but because these two used to create.

The dogs have been living on hte Magnolia site for a few years and they seem to believe they even have a copy of the Khata in their name. The security guards love them because they were the companions before some of us, the early movers, kept them company.

Its not nice having stray dogs in an apartment complex. So, some of us here had an ideological thing about their co-habitating Magnolia that's our new home.

There were two ways people protested. One was my way and the other was Rahul Saxena way. I used to target pebbles at Tom and Jerry. While i missed most of them, they figured out i am not their friend and would not provide shelter on a rainy day. Over two weeks, we were pretty well known to each other. I throw the nearest stone when i see them. Tom runs at my sight and goes off to 1st main Gurappana Palya at my sight. Jerry was smarter. He would just hide from me. But i was not effective at getting the canine pair to leave Magnolia.

Rahul Saxena ( of the B191 fame) was more effective. He threw some 'nicely worded' mails instead of pebbles. He threw them at certain focused folks in Magnolia ( unlike me). And he did not miss like i missed. Rahul's words of protest had their way and lo and behold, the dogs are gone.

That is the story of the life of the two dogs at Magnolia. Tom and Jerry live happily elsewhwere, I hope.

The picture here is of Jerry. I took it when he was in a rather lazy and contemplative mood at 11 in the night in the Magnolia basement. I shot the picture from behind a column so i would have some pictures for my story.

happy reading folks ...

We now have 10 families living at magnolia... an

more on Airtel Broadband at Magnolia

Here is an update on my previous communication on my efforts with Airtel to get them to provide Broadband connections in Magnolia. The Regional Sales head for sales did keep his promise of prevailaling on his planning organization to provision for broad band provisioning in Magnolia. I got a confirmation this morning that they have co-ordinated with Sobha for the procedure, successfully completed the technical feasibility studay on Saturday and are all set to lay 300pair copper from their neighbourhood fiber termination poing.

Mr Somanna, who looks after broadband provisioning for apartment complexes in Bangalore assured me this morning that they will be done with the cabling in under a week.

What it means that we should be able to apply for and get either a transfer or a new connection of airtel broadband services. that should give us some relief. My two broadband connections from BSNL continue to operate with 95% downtime.

I am glad the pursuit with Airtel is working out ...

so folks, happy surfing.

an

Ganesha Chaturthi at Magnolia ... one more first in a chain of firsts at Magnolia

4th Sunday at Magnolia. Can no more claim to be a newcomer at Magnolia. Surely not after celebrating our first festival of beloved Ganapathi Bappa. Doors festooned with flowers, all furniture displaced so we can have a proper pooja place for Ganesha, the music, agarbathi and smiles all around and a ton of eating. There were friends moving in and out, my nephew and niece came over and the mood was festivity. There was a larger percentage of eco-friendly (not painted, as you can see in the picture) Ganesha being sold in Jayanagar 9th block Ganesha bazar and we decided to contribute to being green by staying away from the painted versions of Ganesha.

In all, it was a great note to have completed the first month at Magnolia ... time, indeed, flies. There were a few more families moving in during the week. Mr Rizwan and his neigbour in block B, Sangeetha and family in Block C. We are quickly approaching the magic 2 digit 10 number of families living here. Srini(vasa Shastry) is moving in tomorrow. I am sure that will make the place come alive much more.

As always, i close this blog with a welcome to the rest of you who would be moving into Magnolia soon.

Vimala, my dad and my children join me in wishing you all a phenomenal Ganesha Chaturthi and life ahead that is stripped of all the obstables, bad and unhappy things.

Have a great week ahead ...

Independance day video ...

here is the video i promised i will post ... there were just a dozen of us, but it was a nice and short flag hoisting function..... i published the video on youtube and the link to is is below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1msqpNQEeu4

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