“When life changes in seconds why should we pay for minutes?”. It is a question to the mobile phone users by the TATA DOCOMO advertiser. Do the new with the TATA DOCOMO. What is new in TATA DOCOMO? Per second billing for the calls. I am sure it will be a great relief for the mobile callers.

Tata DOCOMO is gaining a lot of attention from the beginning due to 1 Paisa /second. This rate is applicable for local as well as STD calls. The real glamour is that the same rate is not only applicable to Tata – Tata user but from Tata to any other user.

Diet–SMS:

A new addition to the Tata DOCOMO service is the Diet-SMS. On 08-09-2009,Tata DOCOMO launched a short messaging service (SMS), called Diet-SMS, which enables customers to pay on a per-character basis. The cost of any Diet-SMS will be only one paisa per character used, thereby providing complete value to customers.

TATO DOCOMO is the joint venture of TATA Teleservices Limited’s telecom service and Japanese Telecom major NTT DOCOMO. It is operating on GSM platform.

Ask any Indian about best pearl shops and she/he invariably points to Hyderabad, inspite of the fact that Hyderabad is neither a coastal area or for that matter near a coastal area.

This aspect of world class pearls’ availability dates back to 400 years of rich culture of Hyderabad history with an amalgamation of arts and crafts. The royal kings of Nizam lead a rich life inviting craftsman from all over the world especially from the middle east, where we get to see rare pearls in abundance. That’s why quite rightly most people associate Hyderabad with pearls.

Source of the pearls

China and Japan supply the entire city market with all the pearl it needs. Raw pearls are drilled, boiled for about four days and bleached to rid them of their dark colour. Later, they are placed in glass bottles containing hydrogen peroxide, water and ether and sunned for four to five days in glass sun boxes with mirror base.
Finally, they are washed and assorted according to their shape and size.

Where to shop

Patar Gatti and Lad bazaar in Charminar are the oldest commercial areas in the twin cities where pearls can be transacted for. Some pearls stores present here are more than a century old. Those shops market mainly stones like garnets, topaz, jade and corals.Areas such as Abids and Basheerbagh are flooded with pearl shops. Some of the shops such as Suraj Bhan Jewellers, Basheerbagh, Jagadamba Pearls (Basheerbagh and Secunderabad), Mangatrai Pearls have exclusive sections for pearls. Secunderabad too has its share of pearl shops.

The Simple natural pearl test:

To find out whether pearls are natural, simple dip them in hot water. Natural pearls retains their colour while cultured pearls tend to fade.Many pearls look quite similar. But there are certain intricate factors that determine a pearl’s worth. Lustre and size are generally considered to be the two major factors. Lustre for instance, depends on the fineness and evenness of the layers.

The deeper the glow, the more perfect the shape and surface, the more valuable they get. The lustre of a pearl too determines its price. The thumb-rule to go by is to look for one’s reflection by gazing into the pearl. The foggier the reflection, the cheaper the pearl. Size, on the other hand, has to do with the age of the oyster that created the pearl (the maturer oysters produce larger pearls) and the location in which the pearl was cultured. White pearls have traditionally been popular in Hyderabad.

A good quality white pearl reflects a lovely sky blue colour under ultraviolet light, whereas a poor quality one emanates a greenish or mustardish sheen. Black pearls that have a green sheen and baroque (irregular shaped) pearls that reflect a rainbow of colours are also amongst the more valuable varieties. Natural pearls (Those made without man’s assistance) have become so rare and expensive, that for the vast majority of people cultured is the only option. However, top quality natural and cultured pearls are identical to the naked eye in terms of appearance and quality. Only under an X-ray machine can a trained eye discern any difference. Cultured pearls tend to have a larger core or nucleus. In all other respects, they are identical. The best-cultured pearls are those that come from an oyster that dies after the pearl is removed. Oysters, which do not die after the pearl is extracted, produce what are referred to as "Biwa" pearls.
Pearls also come in many colours. The most popular colours are whites and creams. Silver, black, gold and pinks are also gaining interest.
A deep lustrous black pearl is one of the more rare finds in the pearl industry. Thus, they are expensive.
Imitation pearls are a different story altogether. In most cases, a glass bead is dipped into a solution made from fish scales. This coating is thin and may eventually wear off. One can usually tell an imitation by biting on it. Fake pearls glide across your teeth, while the layers of nacre on real pearls feel gritty.

Recently I had a chance to visit K G Hospital in Coimbatore. I was really impressed by the facility and services rendered by this esteemed institution. They have a good team of doctors and paramedical staff who takes care of the patients.

Dr. G. Bakthavathsalam is the man behind this institution who was awarded with Prestigious National Award, Padmashree. I had a chance to meet him and spend some time with him during my visit. I also saw the facilities available at K G Hospital.

They also have the first 128 slice CT Machine which is the first one in Asia.

K.G. Hospital offers 24-hour round-the-clock Ambulance services geared to meet any emergency – surgical or medical. K.G. Hospital runs a fleet of well-equipped ambulances including a Mobile Heart Brigade, Responder 2000. K.G. Hospital ambulances take care of the patient, right from the site of the accident, or illness, and make available to him/her, at his doorstep all the medical expertise and advances in healthcare technology

K G Hospital has wide range of services which includes Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology, Eye Care. They are equipped with latest equipments to provide  better and advanced treatment.

K  G Eye Hospital does large number of free eye surgeries to poor people. They organize camps in villages and screen the people needing surgeries. They are brought to the Hospital and the surgery is done free of cost, providing them with food and accommodation and dropping them back to their village.

MTNL was the first to launch 3G services in India, and BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) is the first to launch in Chennai. This is a good news for BSNL users in Chennai. The 3G service will enable data speed of 2 Mbps against 144 Kbps available now over the GPRS and EDGE enabled mobile networks. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr M. Karunanidhi, launched the 3G service with an inaugural call to the Union Minister for Communication and IT, Mr A. Raja.

3G is the next generation of mobile communications systems. It enhances the services such as multimedia, high speed mobile broadband, internet access with the ability to view video footage on your mobile handset. With a 3G phone and access to the 3G network you can make video calls, watch live TV, access the high speed internet, receive emails and download music tracks, as well as the usual voice call and messaging services found on a mobile phone, like person to person video, live streaming, downloadable video of entertainment, news, current affairs and sport content and video messaging

Some Cons When you get a 3G connection -Your number will be changed, which means that you cannot activate 3G service for your existing number, but in a later stage it will be possible to upgrade your existing connection to 3G. When you take a 3G connection your SIM will be replaced by USIM. You can find the BSNL 3G Tariff details here.

Airtel has launched its service in Sri Lanka on the 12th of January 2009. Bharti Telecoms successful in India is now trying to establish their service in neighboring country. In Sri Lanka, Dialog was dominating the mobile services even though there are other small operators. To enter the market, Airtel has launched different packages. They need to target customers who already are using other services and even people who do not use mobile services. Airtel is one of the DTH service providers in India and may also launch this service in Sri Lanka in future. Airtel also has services like broadband which is very popular in India.

Cafegadgets is an online Gadgets shopping mall, from where you can buy almost all Gadgets like mobile phone, pen drives, MP3 players, digital cameras, almost all electronic products. The prices are better, and you get the product delivered at your home for free.

Top brands like Nokia, Sony Erricson, Casio, Apple, etc are listed here. This portal is initiated by Crazypricing eTail Private Limited. This portal has been growing since it has launched, reasons could be, better price, can be paid in 3 equal instalments, easy payment option by credit card, good customer service, etc. They offer best price because the products are sourced directly from the manufacturers. If companies like amazon, ebay can make it, why can’t this portal grow? I have not purchased anything from this portal yet, but I came to know about this portal from a television program which gave a very positive opinion of this portal.

I could find some testimonials on their website

Thanks for all your support and help… the response from your side was immediate and prolific. I am really impressed with the Customer Care of your organization and I wish the same be implemented throughout the Services industryof the country.

It was really nice talking to you. Will come back to you in case I face any other issues.

Reliance the biggest company in India has launched Reliance Living, which is a Retail outlet where you can by everything under one roof for your home. Reliance Living offers furniture, home furnishings, family fashion apparel, consumer durables and information technology.

Recent Global recession could be a threat for this launch as there are lots of layoffs going on, even in reliance retail. Hope this project goes well.

Dish TV ,one of the major DTH service provider in India is providing mobile Dish TV service. Suppose you are travelling in your car and you have the mobile dish TV, you can watch all the channels while travelling.

The dish antenna for mobile connectivity is different from the traditional Dish antenna. In mobile Dish TV a  special antenna is affixed on the roof top of the Car which tracks Dish TV’s satellite placed at 36,000km orbit. The cost is also much higher and is targeted to a different class of people. The cost comes to more than 1 lakh rupees (approximately INR 140,000), but it will be useful for politicians or people who are always on the move.

This mobile Dish TV can be used in Aircrafts, ships , cars,etc. If you are looking for something like this, please check your nearest Dish TV dealer for more information. This service is already used in Kingfisher Airlines in India and the intention of this service is for people who wants to keep in touch with the latest information, probably politicians, celebrities, etc. Political personalities like LK Advani, Lalu Prasad Yadhav, have already installed this in their mobile vans as it will be useful for election campaigns. Dish TV is the first DTH service provider in India and has the highest number of subscribers.

To book your Dish on Wheels Contact Dish TV

Tatasky is one of the most popular DTH service provider in India, which was launched in the year 2006. Recently Tatasky introduced Tatasky plus which have some advanced features like you can pause a program, record it and play later.

Tata Sky plus has MPEG4 technology, and an in-built personal video recorder that enables you to record live TV, play back a recorded programme and pause & rewind live TV. These features are not available on Tata Sky service. The digicomp has a hard disk capacity of 160gb which can record about 45 hours of program.

It has an interesting feature called series link through which you can record all the episodes of a particular serial which should of good use to many of the users. The space of the hard disc can be managed manually or automatically like when the space is getting full, you will be warned and you can delete unwanted programs to get space.

You can find full information about TATASky Plus here

If you are planning to by a Pocket PC phone, or PDA, then you can for just Rs 10,000. The phone will have features like internet, Push Mail, Calendar, task, same like a blackberry. The phone is to launched by Reliance communications. The phone is branded as RCom.

A US based company has designed the phone and its manufactured in China. Business people will be using PDA , but I feel that its something which everybody can use and once you are used to using pocket PC, then its very difficult to switch to a ordinary phone. In India very less people are using such kind of phones. The success of the product will really depend on the quality and efficiency of the phone. I have been using Windows mobile for the past 5 years and I have used about 6 models. The latest one is HTC Tytn II which is the best I have used which has an excellent processor and memory. I am not aware of the configuration of the phone what RCom is going to market, but if its low configuration then the user will face problems like getting stuck and some memory problems.