Category Archives: India

Pune builders resorting to fake comment postings

Posted on by
4

Because I get a lot of spam comments on my website (http://punetech.com), I have enabled moderation of comments. Which means that comments by first-timers will be held in the moderation queue until I've approved them. I get notification by email whenever a comment is waiting for approval.

I opened my mailbox today to find the following two comments in moderation on one of the posts on the http://punetech.com website. Please take a look.

Author : Patil G. (IP: 121.247.252.84 , 121.247.252.84.dynamic.pune.vsnl.net.in)
E-mail : sayaglobal@yahoo.co.in
URL    :
Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=121.247.252.84
Comment:
I recently visited a Residential Project at Sus, Pune called AAROHI by Tierth Developers, which is being designed by a big group of IT Professionals from various IT companies like Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Persistant, Cap Gemini etc. Its a very beautifully crafted projects with many 2 & 3 BR Flats, Row Houses & Bungalows with a superb Club House & Swimming Pool with almost all he games facilities. I thought evry IT professional must know about that. !

Approve it: http://punetech.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=mac&c=7646
Delete it: http://punetech.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=cdc&c=7646
Spam it: http://punetech.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=cdc&dt=spam&c=7646

——-

Author : Anand Shrivastava (IP: 121.247.252.84 , 121.247.252.84.dynamic.pune.vsnl.net.in)
E-mail : sanaish4@yahoo.com
URL    :
Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=121.247.252.84
Comment:
Well Mr. Patil, thanks for the info. Pl tell me How is the project located from Hinjewadi ? Pl mention the distances if possible. Our group is searching this kind of Project since last 6 months but we are unable to locate a good Project dedicated for IT Professsionals and one who is having Club House with all most all the sports facilities, as stated by you. Pl also state whether there is any School nearby that project? Thanks.

Approve it: http://punetech.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=mac&c=7647
Delete it: http://punetech.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=cdc&c=7647
Spam it: http://punetech.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=cdc&dt=spam&c=7647

Notice anything strange?
Points to be noted:

  • Both comments are still in the moderation queue. Specifically, the first comment has not been approved yet. Which means that there is no way "Anand Shrivastava" could have seen "Mr. Patil's" comment.
  • Also, they are posted from the same IP address.

I did not realize that the situation of Pune builders has become so desperate that they have to resort to astroturfing to get people interested.

I googled a bit, and found that they appear to do this in other places too. See for example the four or five comments at this link.

In anycase, the Aarohi project by Tierth Developers hires unscrupulous people. Not a good sign.

Posted via email from Navin’s posterous

Tantrik flops on live TV

Posted on by
Reply

Found this on boing-boing today. I wish I had seen this live. Would have been great to watch:

India TV, one of India’s major Hindi channels with national outreach, invited Sanal Edamaruku for a discussion on “Tantrik power versus Science”. Pandit Surinder Sharma, who claims to be the tantrik of top politicians and is well known from his TV shows, represented the other side. During the discussion, the tantrik showed a small human shape of wheat flour dough, laid a thread around it like a noose and tightened it. He claimed that he was able to kill any person he wanted within three minutes by using black magic. Sanal challenged him to try and kill him.

Tantrik busted on live TV

The tantrik tried. He chanted his mantras (magic words): “Om lingalingalinalinga, kilikili….” But his efforts did not show any impact on Sanal – not after three minutes, and not after five. The time was extended and extended again. The original discussion program should have ended here, but the “breaking news” of the ongoing great tantra challenge was overrunning all program schedules.

Now the tantrik changed his technique. He started sprinkling water on Sanal and brandishing a knife in front of him. Sometimes he moved the blade all over his body. Sanal did not flinch. Then he touched Sanal’s head with his hand, rubbing and rumpling up his hair, pressing his forehead, laying his hand over his eyes, pressing his fingers against his temples. When he pressed harder and harder, Sanal reminded him that he was supposed to use black magic only, not forceful attacks to bring him down. The tantrik took a new run: water, knife, fingers, mantras. But Sanal kept looking very healthy and even amused.

After nearly two hours, the anchor declared the tantrik’s failure. The tantrik, unwilling to admit defeat, tried the excuse that a very strong god whom Sanal might be worshipping obviously protected him. “No, I am an atheist,” said Sanal Edamaruku. Finally, the disgraced tantrik tried to save his face by claiming that there was a never-failing special black magic for ultimate destruction, which could, however, only been done at night. Bad luck again, he did not get away with this, but was challenged to prove his claim this very night in another “breaking news” live program.

See full article

Student families in school

Posted on by
3

My kids’ school, Vidya Valley, has just introduced something they are calling “Tutor groups” in school. A tutor group is a group of 15 to 20 students consisting of a few students from each class from 5th to 10th standard (aka grade). Each tutor group is assigned one teacher (“Guardian Tutor”) whose job it is to ensure the full welfare of the children in this group. Here, “full welfare” specifically refers to non-academic issues, like mental and physical welfare (for example to help with bullying, truancy issues, or special medical attention).

Each student stays in the same tutor group for all the 5 years, and the guardian tutor of the group remains the same throughout. Each year, the students of Std. 10 will obviously pass out and leave the group. At this time, new students from Std. 5 will enter the group. This whole set-up creates a sort of a family unit, where the guardian tutor becomes the surrogate parent, and the other students become surrogate siblings.

The tutor group meets every day for a little time – the school time-tables have been adjusted to allow for this. In addition, they meet once every two weeks for a longer period. These meetings have no agenda. Just hang out and bond and behave like a family.

See this pdf for a more detailed description of the guardian tutor system in Vidya Valley.

It sounds like a very interesting idea, and I have not really heard of anything like this being used in Pune schools (but I could be mistaken). In any case, seems like a neat thing to have. They have introduced it just a few months ago, so it will be interesting to see how it works out in real life.