India 3G Spectrum auction

During may 2010, Indian government auctioned the 3G spectrum to operators for 11 billion dollars. The commercial launch  is expected to be in mid-2011.

According to Department of Telecommunications(DOT) release:

Paired spectrum of 3 blocks of 5MHZ  have been auctioned for 3G in 2.1 GHz range.

A closer look at what this means:
The total geographical area of india is divided into areas called circles and 3-4 operator have been alloted 5Mhz frequency block in each circle. Unlike GSM, All the mobiles belonging to one operator use the same frequency but, ditinguish each other by a scrambling code .

ITU(International Telecomunication Union) has earmarkedset of frequencies called Frequency bands to be used for 3G. One such frquency band is Band 1 operating in a frequency of 2.1 GHZ.

This "Band 1" is used for 3G  transmission in europe, Asia Australia and south ameraica. Frequecies surrounding  3G spectrum are reserved for maritime mobile in india.

Three operators have successfully bid Frequencies for TamilNadu circle:

Books: Kiran Desai

When i began reading Kiran desai's first novel Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, the plot summary reminded me of  RK Narayan's Novels. A small railway staion for a village, the lone station master, a banyan tree for villagers to gather around..
But, this book  is about sampath, a young man working for postal service having a dull, simple life. He flees his home town and climbs up  a guava tree and his life makes a U-turn afterwards. The story is fresh. It is unique in all respect, and abundant with subtle humour.

Her second book The inheritance of loss touches upon a more serious topic -Influence of british in every day life of  indians and obsession with all things western.
The story is set in a far-away town on the foothills of himalayas and revolves around the life of a retired judge
and his cook.

Though the book adapts a bit of a complex writing style with a discontinuous flow, it is in most parts an interesting read.

Strawberries in Skåne

This saturday, I had been to strawberry fields .Since i come from a place where strawberry fields are a impossible sight, i was excited at the prospect of going there and plucking strawberries on my own.

It was in a place near Hassleholm in Skåne in southern sweden, 90kms away from malmo city. My first thought when i arrived was that the plants were much smaller in size than i expected, more like a shrub. Each one had 5 to 6 ripe strawberries. We were told early July is the best time to pluck strawberries in southern sweden.

Here are 2 gardens you could visit:
http://www.kvistalanga.se
http://www.eriksgarden.nu

Self-plucking strawberries is a good weekend outing and a good break from the mechanical city life.