डॉ. जगन्नाथ दिक्षित ठाणे व्याख्यान

डॉ. जगन्नाथ दिक्षित ठाणे व्याख्यान

स्थूलत्व निर्मूलन, मधुमेह निर्मूलन

Dr. Jagannath Dixit's Lecture in Thane
How to prevent obesity
How to prevent and CURE diabetes

पुणे फिटनेस मुुव्हमेंट - Pune Fitness Movement

श्रीकांत जिचकार यांचे पुण्यातील भाषण, बहुधा १९९७ च्या आसपास.
गुगल सर्च: नागपूर फिटनेस मुव्हमेंट, पुणे फिटनेस मुव्हमेंट.
स्थूलत्व निर्मूलन, मधुमेह निर्मूलन यांचा उगम!

डॉक्टरांंचे लाघवी बोल भुरळ घालतात. इन्शुलीन व ग्लुकॅगॉन या संप्रेरकांचे आरोग्यावर होणारे परीणाम. थोडेसे जुने, परंतु योग्य दिशेचे संशोधन व निष्कर्ष.

डॉ. जगन्नाथ दिक्षित यांनी हीच चळवळ आता पुढे नेली आहे. स्वत: करत असलेल्या अनेक प्रयोग, सर्वेक्षण, आणि बहुवार्षिक संशोधनांनंतर.

Shrikant Jichkar's Talk in Pune, most likely around 1997.
Google search: Nagpur fitness movement, Pune fitness movement.
How to prevent obesity and diabetes - Original thoughts.

Doctor's sweet voice explaining effects of insulin and glucagon hormones on health. A bit stale research and conclusions, though very much on the right path.

Dr. Jagannath Dixit has taken this movement further; adapting with latest findings and conclusions in this area based on his own experiments, surveys, and multi-year research.

If you like to maintain White Elephant, buy Apple products!

If you like to maintain White Elephant, buy Apple products! A White Elephant is a beautiful product though albeit a costly affair.

Product is good, no doubt

I bought my beautiful Apple MacBook 13' in Nov 2009. It was almost like love at first sight, and did not mind shelling out a premium at that point. Love is blind, right? Snow Leopard was shining at that time. And I was/am pretty happy/proud owner of a Apple product in India. Quite a thing I think.

A year passed. There was another temptation from Apple: the first iPad became available in India in Jan 2010. Of course I bought it. Pretty impressed, and satisfied with the product.

Product maintenance is costly (as well)

So far so good. Come Jun 2012. My MacBook's battery started depleting noticeably quickly. I visited Authorized Apple Service Provider (AASP) in Thane, Kapurbavadi Junction. Battery replacement was suggested. The cost of the battery is about Rs 8000. That cost is probably okay though quite high I think. The icing on the cake was the service charge by the AASP. AASP charged me about Rs 2000 as service charges!

Battery plus service charge in all is about Rs 10000. The AASP service charge is cool 25% of the battery cost. That's about 20-25% of the original cost of MacBook itself! The total of Rs 10000 every, say 3 years, just for battery replacement! Compare it with a decent Windows box that's available in India at about Rs 30000, just thrice the cost of Apple's battery replacement. My Dell Inspiron battery seems to cost (including service charges) about Rs 5000.

Lessons

Frankly, I did not think of such recurring cost every three years when I bought MacBook. Just thought it might be useful for people who don't have such White Elephant yet, but are considering buying one. You don't have much choice once you are deep into it! AASP support is kind of a monopoly play. If you want a reliable service/maintenance, you are truly stuck with AASP anyway. There is no alternative per se. In Windows world, there seems to be a range of options when it comes to maintenance in India, right from manufacturer's support to off the shelf options in any hardware variety.

BTW, MS Office (Word, Excel) today are equal to, if not better than, their Apple iWorks counterparts. I have paid versions of both. I do use both of them, at least at intermediate level I think. I can imagine Apple iWorks having an upper hand in its beginning days. And, MS Office catching up later on. Today, MS Office works better for me.

Just wondering what is the experience with iPhone, or iPad maintenance in India. Guess I am worried too from maintenance point of view in my case. Android based products will catch up (or almost already there may be), and will work out better from India/above point of view I think.

So, hold your wallet, think, think twice before you decide to buy Apple products in India. A wait for few months, half year or so for a competitive (maintenance friendly) product will not prove bad in hindsight, may be. If you are not money conscious, then you will not worry about maintenance cost anyway!

Rustomjee Urbania Thane: Story of Approvals

As mentioned in the earlier post, the builder asked for interest payment even though it did not have TMC approvals for the 16th floor for about one and half years after i booked the flat. So, digging about what all documentation is required by the builder (at a high level) was a side trail. Here are the findings interspersed with how approvals and various letters played their part in my case.

Two sides of a home loan

To begin with, there are two sides to the home loan story. On one side, the bank checks flat purchasers ability to repay the loan and gives the flat purchaser a "pre-approval letter". The pre-approval letter states the eligibility of flat purchaser for a loan of say few lacs of rupees. The pre-approval letter is valid for 90 days generally.
On the other side, the bank checks the project documents that are responsibility of the builder. The bank can issue a "sanction letter" to the flat purchaser for the project if the project documents are found good. Note that sanction letter is not mandatory requirement from builder point of view. But, it's pretty important from flat purchaser point of view for it verifies the legality of the flat in question. I did not insist on sanction letter for this flat, but luckily did not pay beyond the 20% down payment that i did at the time of booking. I trusted Rustomjee to have all the necessary approvals in place at the time of booking. I did booking on Nov 9, 2009 and paid 20% down payment by Dec 8, 2009. Booking time is kind of crazy as you feel that if i delay, the cost of flat would go up!

When to do Sale Agreement registration and pay Stamp Duty

Builder can then peruse either the pre-approval letter or the sanction letter by the bank and be satisfied that the flat can be sold to the flat purchaser. Now, the builder and the flat purchaser can proceed to make Agreement for Sale and register it with the state government acting as witness to the agreement. Luckily i waited until Rustomjee got the 16th floor approval on Mar 31, 2011 to proceed with registration of Agreement of Sale and payment of stamp duty. I realized that since Citibank was not agreeing to disburse the loan amount, certain project approvals are pending with the authorities. The authority in this case being Thane Municipal Corporation, and 16th floor plan approvals, commencement certificate and IOD were pending with TMC until Mar 31, 2011. Now, i registered the Agreement for Sale and paid stamp duty on May 11, 2011.

What happened between Dec 8, 2009 and May 11, 2011?

Bank needs registered Agreement for Sale original in order to disburse the loan amount to the builder as per the payment schedule mentioned in the Agreement for Sale. Builder sends "demand letters" to the flat purchaser stating how much work has been completed and how much money is due now. For example, for completion of plinth or 1st floor slab casting or top floor slab completion, builder can demand certain amount from the flat purchaser as mentioned in the payment schedule of the Agreement for Sale. Now, that is supposed to be the normal story. This is how it turned out in my case. Rustomjee sent first demand letter on May 4, 2010 stating that plinth and 1st floor slab casting is done with and i have to pay certain amount. That's the first written communication after booking on Dec 8, 2009. I declined stating that i've paid my 20% down payment and asked Rustomjee to go get the money from Citibank! Of course i mediated between Rustomjee and Citibank. Citibank refused to disburse loan for lack of approvals for the 16th floor. The same story repeated for subsequent demand letters. Also, subsequent demand letters from Rustomjee did not dare to declare how much work is complete and just asked for payment from me. Do you believe a builder that asks just money and does not say how much work is complete? Of course not. I did not trust Rustomjee by then. Citibank did not either. The last demand letter in 2010 i got was on Oct 5, 2010. I read it, it did not mention how much work was complete. I could not have helped Rustomjee even if i wanted to! Who has the money? The bank. The bank would not disburse the loan amount until Rustomjee had TMC approvals.

Happy ending: No wait

Then the D-day arrives. Mar 31, 2011.

Rustomjee gets TMC approval for 16th floor (in fact for all of the 27 floors of Athena C wing), gets sanction for development permission / commencement certificate on Mar 31, 2011. The same states conditions on construction that are supposed to be part of Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) and states that it is valid for construction within one year, etc. Hurray! The things seem to be moving now. In fact, moving pretty fast now.
On Apr 2, 2011, i receive a demand letter stating that all the floors of the building are complete and even windows and doors are planted on all floors! There is one more surprise with the demand letter. There is a Architecture Certificate stating the amount of work completed along with this demand letter. And, of course demanding the balance dues. I rejoice. Finally my favorite builder got the TMC approvals and i can pay his dues through my bank. The thought itself was so liberating! You don't want to be in someone else's favors. I mean if you consider constructing a 27 floor building with just 1st floor approval from authorities as a "favor". Nonetheless, we proceed to register the Agreement for Sale as i mentioned earlier on May 11, 2011. But, the story yet does not have happy ending though!!

Pay interest, take possession

After receiving the original registered Agreement for Sale, Rustomjee asked for the price of such "favor". It asked me to pay Rs 13 lacs as interest payment at 24% per annum rate for continuing to construct the building without TMC approvals and me not making any payment for such activity between Dec 9, 2009 and May 11, 2011! Wow, how can i fund such a huge amount that is not part of Agreement for Sale? I protest. I decline. I negotiate. I find mistakes in interest calculation, the calculation presumed the construction was complete on Dec 9, 2009 itself at the time of booking! Interest calculation by slab casting dates, that Rustomjee shares after a lot of insistence, i cannot trust those for who can certify those dates. Interest calculation by demand letter dates? No, the demand letters do not mention the amount of work complete. How to calculate the price of construction that was done without approval from authorities? What if 16th floor was never approved? Why i should pay interest for the loan disbursal that Citibank refused to do? Continuing construction irrespective of TMC approvals was Rustomjee's decision. Rustomjee may have the financial power and will to pay penalty to TMC (TOI June 23, 2011: Rustomjee paid 21 crores penalty to TMC!), but how can a mere flat purchaser with not so much financial power bear the interest payment burden on top of the agreement value?
I tried figuring out on what basis such interest payment is legal, logical, or even ethical! I cannot see one single reason to pay the interest. What do you think?

No to interest payment

I said no to interest payment. Rustomjee issued Intimation of Cancellation notice via email (i am yet to receive the courier email said it sent) on Jun 20, 2011. Now, the matter is sub-judice if i use the legal term correctly! Let's see how it goes. It will be quite a learning for all parties involved i believe.

Documents that save you

BTW, below is the list of documents you should check minimally to verify the legality of your flat (when you book)
- Development agreement = Builder can develop this property or do construction for the owners of the land
- Title certificate = There are no encumbrances for the land in question
- ULC = Land is good for building construction
- Municipal approved set of plans = Should include floor of your flat
- Development permission / commencement certificate = From municipal corp. Should include floor of your flat!
- Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) = Any conditions on development by the municipal corp.

Citibank did check the above documents for the project between Dec 9, 2009 and Mar 31, 2011. And, it found that the last three documents were missing for the project during that period!

Rustomjee Urbania Thane: Builder is asking for interest payment!

Thought Rustomjee was a good builder! Think twice before you book or deal with it. Rustomjee is asking me to pay interest even though it did not have Thane Municipal Corp approval for about one and half years.

Chronology

I booked a flat "Rustomjee Urbania Athena C 1604" in Nov 2009. However, the TMC approval for the project was received by Rustomjee in Mar 2011. I did not pay beyond 20% as my bank refused to pay the loan amount for lack of TMC approval between Nov 2009 and Mar 2011. Rustomjee continued construction without TMC approval between Nov 2009 and Mar 2011.

Nationalized banks: Allow loan disbursal without approvals in place for the structure

Sometime after May 2010, Rustomjee had MOU with LIC or ICICI, and it tried to sell me as home loan client to LIC and ICICI. I disagreed siting non-beneficial home loan terms and risk of not getting TMC approval for the project at all.

Subsequently we registered the flat agreement in May 2011. Now, Rustomjee is asking for interest payment of about Rs 13 lacs beyond agreement value which we are of course refusing citing lack of documentation at their end.

On Jun 20th 2011, I received Intimation of Cancellation from Rustomjee. Today I am meeting my lawyer to go to Consumer Court Thane to address the issue.

Anyone faced similar isssue?
Anyone agreed to pay interest to Rustomjee?
Do let me know (ajit_sabnis@yahoo.com).
That will help me correct my course of action if wrong.

Flex

After a brief hiatus I'm back. I was busy relocating. Just a dump on what I understood about Flex so far.

JavaFX Script = ActionScript.
JavaFX Pad = Flex Builder, in the long run.
JRE = FlashPlayer.
MXML no real equivalent, but AjaxToolkits (Dojo, etc and jMaki are of help here).
Flex seems to be a clear leader, innovator in this space.

Presentation tier if it resides on client, what's the use of JSP/Servlet technology! A web app is just a packaging of Flex applications: a set of SWF files and HTMLs that refer them. A web server that dishes out such HTMLs and its embedded objects (SWF files) is just enough.

Looks like presentation with its dynamic aspect is back on the client box.
State management is back on the client box, i.e. state is maintained at client box, server gets back its scalability (to dish out data, or execute business logic, or any Web 3.0 functionality).
Business logic, if simple, can be part of client-side following MVCS (MVC with a communication service S to fetch data) pattern. If business logic is complex say transactional in nature, it can reside in a JEE server.

Flex application can use two free/open RPC services, HTTPService and WebService, to interact with remote servers (to fetch data, or perform a business logic step). By "free/open" I mean you don't need any special proprietary (or for pay) infrastructure on the server side. The third type of RPC service, using RemoteObjects, is available if you have Adobe provided Flex Data Service (FDS) server infrastructure that maps Action Message Format (ActionScript binary object marshalling format) message to instantiate Java objects on server side. FDS is not free; may have changed now. { TODO: Not sure if it allows instantiating .NET CLR compliant objects for M$ platform. }

Flex Builder is Eclipse plugin; to develop Flex application you need C++ based IDE, and at run-time it needs JRE! { TODO: Why it needs JRE at run-time? }

Just a side-note: FlashPlayer is about 1.5MB size, JRE is about 15MB in size. Probably it is good for Sun to break JRE as say full vs minimum (to compete with FlashPlayer considering JavaFX).

Semantic Web

http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Principles.html
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Evolution.html
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Extensible.html
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/UU.html

http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Semantic.html

Achieving a set of connected applications for data on the Web in such a way as to form a consistent logical web of data.


http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/
Nova Spivack. Founder Radar Networks; SFO based Web 3.0 startup!


http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2007/03/14/a-relational-view-of-the-semantic-web.html?CMP=OTC-TY3388567169&ATT=A+Relational+View+of+the+Semantic+Web
A relational view of semantic web. With query language SPARQL, a query framework for RDF-based store.


http://www.mkbergman.com/?p=354
DBPedia, largest source of structured data on Internet. Freebase is another competing technology or consortium, based on Wikipedia.
DBPedia represents data using Resource Description Framework (RDF) model. RDF uses a triple "subject-predicate-object" to model data; subject is the resource, predicate denotes traits or aspects of resource and a relationship between the subject and the object. The subject, predicate and object can be individually identified using URIs.


http://blogs.sun.com/bblfish/entry/short_interview_for_semantic_web
Henry Story, Sun's Staff Engineer
Semantic web brings together the web, data bases, object oriented programming, and reasoning.
Claims that to bring these things together, we've to be extremely simple and clean and build on the core thought of "everything is connected".
Semantic web is about making information more connect-able.
Schema = Ontology, in semantic web terms. SPARQL can work with half-baked ontology/schema; it can determine ontology dynamically.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070409_248062.htm
Semantic web use cases!
Semantic web is about data mining; building relations using data in dynamic fashion.


WWW first decade of Internet: 1989 to mid-1990s; HTML. Server generated Web; users were just fetching data published as HTML. Few services like email, calendar that were used by users.
Web 2.0 second decade of Internet: Late 1990s to early naughties; services on Internet; amazon, ebay, google. AJAX-based rich UI, XML Web Services. Social networking, blogging, Wiki, photos, etc. Ability to categorize data by tagging. User generated Web.
Web 3.0 third decade of Internet: Late naughties to early teens; HyperData markup or Semantic Web. May be streamlining tagging a bit; allowing Internet end-points/applications to build relations between data available on the Net and/or themselves.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070409_961951.htm
Semantic web = Data web; its about finding and co-relating information.

Dependency Injection = GoF Builder

http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/injection.html

Component = Software that is intended to be used, without component-source-code change, by client applications. Component and it's client are typically co-located, e.g. in same JVM or in same executable.
Service = Service and it's client are not co-located, or client accesses a remote service.

If you see

public interface Injector {
public void inject(Object target);
}

, it injects (or sets) target to act on for a component. Basically, a setter on a component that implements Injector-interface.

Tester class or Assembler (actor) is nothing but a GoF-Builder-participant-Director that knows how to construct a GoF-Builder-participant-Product (MovieLister) that has GoF-Builder-BuildPart (MovieFinder).

Can we then say that Dependency Injection is nothing but configuring a GoF-Strategy (or algorithm in general) using GoF-Builder pattern?
Or, in general, Dependency Injection is nothing but GoF-Builder?

Builder is supposed to separate the construction of complex object (data and procedures that operate on that data - a GoF-Builder-participant-Product, or MovieLister in Martin's link above) from its representation (MovieLister with certain implementation of MovieFinder in Martin's link above).


Dependency Injection (DI) is referred as specific case of the general pattern "Inversion of Control", i.e. how framework invokes call-backs from client source code. For example, how MovieLister (say part of framework source code) invokes MovieFinder (say part of client source code). Inversion is in terms of framework invoking client, rather than the most typical case of client invoking framework methods.


http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/injection/

Java-EE 5 seems to be using such DI using Java-SE Annotations mechanism. The Java-EE 5 Web/Application Container is the Builder-Director that builds Java-EE-components like Servlets, EJBs. The Java-EE-components are the Builder-Products.

Java-EE 5 Annotations (examples at least) seem to promote hard-coding of such "dependency" names-or-identifiers, e.g.

@Resource(name="jms/demoTopic")
private javax.jms.Topic demoTopic;

Just wondering if it's possible to pass such names dynamically to the annotation!