User Experience & Interaction Design

I was working out a simple calculation for my personal finance, trying to figure how much should I save for my annual savings like Insurance, ULIPs, Bonds etc. It then iterated on and on and on, and I even included a wishlist column.

What does this Spreadsheet do?
The spreadsheet attempts to capture your monthly expenses, then capture your savings (captured for Per-Year, but automatically calculates for Per-Month internally) and a Wish List - items that you wish to buy the next year. For example an LCD TV, or Gadget or BlueRay player or even a Home Appliance.


What will it show to me?
Using this spreadsheet, you can find out how much you should save each month for meeting your yearly-savings and to buy Wish List items. This is not a Finance calculator, but a tool to give a ball-park idea to meet the savings need.



Instructions:
The Spreadsheet was created in OpenOffice and exported to Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP formats. I've given both formats here. You can download both and checkout for yourself.

1. Fill all the pale-yellow colored cells with the amounts. You can add/delete irrelevant heads.
   
2. The spreadsheet automatically calculates the Monthly shell for savings (such as Insurance, Bonds etc)
   
3. Additionally, if you fill out the Wish-List columns, it will calculate Monthly shell for Wish List too.
   
4. On the top you need to enter your monthly salary to find out how much you spend towards expenses, Savings instrucments and optionally for wishlist.
   
5. The cash-in-hand is the estimated amount remaining after all expenses are deducted from your salary.
   

Download
OpenOffice 2.0 Spreadsheet : myForeCast.ods
Microsoft Office 2000/XP : myForeCast.xls

- Rajesh Sundaram

I bought my Alto LXi purely based on budget and maintenance factors. Alto is one-step above India's basic car, the Maruti 800. It has got some better comforts than Maruti 800 and carries a tuned-up engine. The top-end 800 costs Rs.2.2Lakhs and a top-end Alto costs Rs.2.75Lakhs. The extra 55k can be justified for a all-new design (though it looks kinda outdated now), decent interiors, Power steering and a lovely Air-con. Logically anyone who has driven a 800 will feel much better inside an Alto.

Why did I chose the Alto?
I chose Alto from a list that carried WagonR, Santro and a Bolero. Looking at long term, the EMI, value, cost of Depreciation, yearly renewals such as Insurance made me chose Alto LXi. Infact fuel economy is one more influencing factor too.

Is Alto a city car?
Combined with a tuned motor of Maruti 800 (delivers 45 bhp) and a good Air-con, Alto gives you all the basic comforts for a city car. It has got enough power for the stop-and-go, city traffic. It will cool up the cabin decently and quickly. It has got enough space to carry 2 people in the rear and a third one can squeeze in, but cannot avoid rubbing shoulders.

My Life with Alto
Hate it or Love it. Alto is one unique car. It has got decent bits of everything to make you determined to buy a better-in-all-aspect car next time. Haha.. it's a joke. But yes, Alto does offer you everything a modern car has. It has basic safety - Seat Belts that makes you crave for Air bags. It has got basic comfort - standard definition seating that makes you long for wider and more ergonomic seats. It has got a decent engine which is derived from an outdated engine. It shows up when you try to over-take and try some sudden pick-ups. It has got a good Air con, which will make you wish for a Climate control. It has got a 800-based vague long-throw gearbox that makes you wish for a slick gearbox. (The classic gear-box problem of 800 and Alto exists. It appears to be a design problem, and the effect is - the first and Reverse gears are tight.. i mean really tight to slot in. Not all the Altos and 800s suffer from this, but generally few notices it.) It has got bit somewhat cramped interiors that makes you wish for a better space.

Inspite of all these can-live-with shortcomings, Alto is fun to drive in the city. Switch on the aircon and slot in the gear, you are set to go. You can cruise thru the bumper-to-bumper traffic effortlessly. On the highways it is a different story. I've scratched other's egos a lot of time. I've zipped past, and chased Lancers, Accents, Innovas, Santros, Esteems and even Skodas , who then got their egos scratched zipped past me at 140 hmph. Had there not been the speed limiter that puts Alto's range within 130 kmph, I would have tried overtaking them again. The car is such a ego-scratcher! :-D hahah...

So what makes Alto the number one selling car in India? It's the decent-bits-of-everything, fuel economy and maintenance. City driving gives you an FE of around 13 to 14 kmpl with / without aircon. Highway driving gives you 17 to 19kmpl with/without aircon. Maintenance wise, it doesnt burn any hole in your pocket. Just make sure you check the timing belt, engine oil, and clean the air filter once in 3 months. With decent boot space for weekend getaways and shopping, and space for a loving family of four, decent for occasional long drives, and a price that no other brand can match - Alto is the choice for many Indians.

Conclusion
I love my Alto and most possibly I am going to keep it as long as possible. Even if I have to buy a new car / UV, Alto will stay in my Erode home. I am not going to sell it.

Landmark Forum - When I first heard this name, I thought my friend was referring to the shopping store "Landmark" at the "Forum" mall in Bangalore. After a few minutes of confused conversation, she corrected me that she refers to a "Workshop" conducted by an organization called "Landmark Education". Landmark Forum is the name of the first level course they sell.

She asked me to attend the introduction seminar that held in The Checkers Hotel, in Chennai for the first time. One fine evening myself and my wife visited that Seminar and was greeted by the people who called themselves "Volunteers". After handing over the application forms we were given a ID tag of some kind with our names written on it.


What is Landmark Forum?
To describe it short and precise, Landmark Education is a MNC that sells/offers a kind of self-awareness / realization course (but they dont call it self-awareness or self-improvement themselves), a course which makes you understand about what you dont know about what you dont know. (DKDK)

What happened there?
After some 20 minutes, the seminar started with a 5 minute delay. By that time there was enough crowd and soon, the hall seemed to overflow. I wondered from where does all these people got their invitations?

The meeting started off when the instructor arrived on the stage. I dont remember the name, but he was some Mr. Gurvinder Singh or some Gurpreet Singh. His name doesn't matter anyway. The instructor started off with a welcome speech and informed us that he will tell us why we have been invited and what does the landmark forum is all about.


I was struck. I began to think - "Fine. One more self-awareness course re-packaged in a different technical wrapper. Must be an idea of some Stanford MBA or some brilliant Drop-out." Mr.Singh proceded further explaining that many people know about what they dont know. But they dont know about what they dont know. (Sounds confused? Well we both were confused too) He further explained by drawing a big circle and marked a small quadrant as "you know" and the rest of the circle as "you dont know". And he said Landmark Forum will help you to find out / explore the part that the participants dont know that they dont know. And he began explaining how LF helped him to fix an issue with his mom and how his family had a "happily ever after" relationship among the members. As discussed in Sanjukta's blog the leader's speech covered the topic of love. Love your dear ones, convey the love etc etc. Boy! actually I bought it.

Later Mr.Singh proceeded about the concept of KNOW and DONT KNOW. At one point, I really felt that there is no difference between Mr.Singh and my chemistry teacher at Class XII. Both spoke of meaningless, or utterly complex, hard to understand language.

Participants brings Guests
Continuing with the same kind of speech, he asked a couple of people who attended the earlier Landmark Forum sessions to give a brief about what kind of magic LF did to their life. Everybody who got a chance to get the Mic spoke of various experiences that helped them to mend the problems in their life.And they even brought their friends and relatives as guests to attend this seminar. Well and good.

After that, Mr.Singh told the guests that he will demonstrate the power of a LF seminars, by solving any ONE guests actual problem and giving the tip to remain happy with money we've got. A couple of guests were asked to share any ONE problem they wanted to solve in their personal life. One guest was selected and he talked about how he was betrayed by his closest friend. Mr.Singh told him that he will help him to fix the relationship and suggested the guest to talk to his friend and fix it. The guest was adamant, reluctant, arguing and at one point of time, I was about to throw the chair over both of them. But fortunately both reached a conclusion and I was relaxed.

After the Break
Mr.Singh asked the guests and volunteers to sit in groups and asked the volunteers to tell the guests about the power of LE seminars and asked them to enroll the guests. Myself and my wife were seated along with another participants / volunteers. Both of them started speaking high about LF and they told us they are very happy that LE brought a big positive change in their life. Both of them did not reveal what is actually taught in LF, but insisted on making us sign on the enroll form.

Pricing & Plan
From what I spoke with them, it goes like the Participants / volunteers should bring guests and make them enroll to the courses. There are multiple levels of courses and each course costs Rs.8000 and onwards. They made us pay Rs.2000 on the spot and assured us, that we will not feel bad about the money once we attend the seminar/classes. The remaining Rs.6000 is to be paid after one week to bolster a seat in the actual classes.

Controversies
When searched over the Google, I found that what landmark forum does is - a cramped very strict tiring class that lasts nearly 12 hours, continually for two days. None of the content taught, spoke there could be found online. Also mysteriously, the so-called people who attended such classes never speak about what is being taught there. Instead they are very particular about pulling and joining other peoples into the classes. From a couple of websites like http://www.rickross.com/groups/landmark.html , http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1243&Itemid=12url, and http://sanjukta.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/heard-of-landmark-forum/ it seems Landmark Education has its own share of controversies.

As Sanjukta pointed out that her friend who led her to the LE seminar now stopped talking to her, I am afraid that my friend may stop talking to me if she finds that I am not willing to go for that class.

My take
There are many questions one may get, after attending the introductory seminar.
1. If they are truly willing to make people happy, why wont they publish a book?
2. Why does they never reveal their education material.. not even a page worth of it to the public? but insist on saying it will bring a positive change etc etc.
3. Why does they literally PUSH the guests to sign up with the program almost instantly?
4. Why does they call me again after months asking me to pay the rest of the money and attend the class? (At the time of intro session, they said that we need to pay Rs.2000 and enroll ourselves to secure our seats. Within the next one week, the rest of the money Rs.6000 should be paid otherwise we lose the chance) I paid the joining fee, but didnt bother to pay the remaining money later, and yet I am being called till now to join the classes. :-D
5. Why does so much controversies around? We have a saying "neruppu illaama pugaiyaathu" - Literally it means - No smoke without a fire.

I've decided not to join for the moment. But i feel such kind of referral programs and MLM schemes are the worst things around that could damage a friendship / relationship altogether. Let me see what happens. If I join the class I will write the PART II of this.

- Rajesh Sundaram

Xylo is a good package on 4 wheels, yet it is not perfect in all sense. But it is a value packed, bang-for-buck MPV in Indian roads. One of the quirks in xylo is the front-styling. So I tried my hands-on in photoshop to give a face-lift packing more aggressiveness and international styling in head lamps.

After driving my Honda Unicorn for almost 2.5 years, it is time to write a "experience" review. I wrote a test-drive sort of review long ago. But the machine was the first release with spoked wheels. The one I bought 2 years ago was the alloy wheeled, chrome flared model.

Looks:
Honda has its own unique look with their love for sharp edges and futuristic appeal. Honda Unicorn looks best without the chrome fittings. The all-black models which were released in the beginning of 2009 are great lookers anyway.

Experience so far:
Powered by a 13.7 bhp, 150cc engine, Honda Unicorn is targeted as an all-rounder bike. Great for city driving as well as highway driving. The engine produces linear acceleration for a decent pickup and great driving. As many other reviews says, Unicorn is not a spine bender but a smooth blend of speed and refinement on a linear line. While Pulsar, Apache concentrate on racing style initial pickup, they lose at sheer refinement.

What makes Unicorn a lovable creature is the highway driving. Unlike the biased magazine review, I find Unicorn to be a wonderful highway bike next to a cruiser. With the linear acceleration and driver friendly gear ratios, Unicorn is a great bike to drive in highways. My Chennai-Pondicherry drive with my wife in the Pillion proved that Unicorn offers one important features that is not found in other bikes - CONFIDENCE and SAFETY. She never complained about the 118 kmph speed, because there was no vibration and the mono suspension was a breeze on the back!

Unicorn's front disc brake is just decent and not a spectacular one. But learning a few tricks helped me to use it better. While the competition offers a stunning grip with discs, Unicorn's disc brake offers a more lazy grip. But a quick pull on the FB lever does the trick.

Under city driving conditions, I feel Unicorn is good but people who are less than 5' 2" may find it bit difficult. Adjusting the mono shox's could help them a bit. In the last 9 months I've driven nearly 5000 kms inside chennai, with my wife mostly. She never felt tired or never faced any back-ache problems. On the whole, the ride is pleasant.

Of course, like every pros there are cons too. Unicorn's graphics aren't the best and the bike looks good without any graphics actually. After two years, the clutch seems to wear out. Another major issue is - not with the bike, but service support. It is hard to find a slot with Honda service centers. Not sure about other cities, but in chennai Honda's service is pathetic. There goes a long queue of people waiting right from 6.30am onwards. And the dealers are not good again. Service is just for name sake and they don't care about the quality, but happily replace each and every spares even for fixable problem.

Conclusion
In short, Unicorn is a proven bike with great features and a smooth engine. Best bet for those who are looking for a all-round winner. For true performance, try the Yamaha R15.