Smile is the Name of the Man! Love you Dad!

Smile is the name of the man

Who made us his life’s ever green

Held our hands as we learnt to walk

Smiled at every word as we learned to talk

Giggled us all over to see us smile

Ran behind us in our every small mile

Endearingly spent all his precious time

To cheer us, support us and love us

As a Dad, he gave us all his love

Walked beside us every day then and now

As one winter morning snatched him away

Brutally spoiling our nest’s happy days

He still smiled on us from the sky above

Showing us his blessings and love

One Star followed us everywhere we go

Spreading his divine will with glow

I can see his smiles running behind us

As we take every step towards his dreams

The dreams that he dreamt for us

The dreams that would not let us sleep

Love you Dad, always in our hearts

You will live with eternal peace within us

Never missed you Dad, for you blessed

All the time in all our ups and downs to rise

Truly and endearingly guiding us

With your divine will and grace!

Travelling Via Hongkong and having Transit time..... Read this!

I would like to share my experience of visitng Hongkong during our journey to India....for this would be useful for those who are planning their stop over flights in HongKong. 

Minimum Time Needed:  

If you have minimum of 4-5 hours between your flights in Hongkong then it is advisable to use the transit visa and visit the City of Great Infrastructure.

Transit Visa Details:

Get refreshed after the first flight, and then go to the Immigration Counter, Fill up the form, and in the place asking for local address in HongKong you can fill up saying that you are in Transit and mention your next flight details.   The immigration officer will check your passport and give you visa anywhere between 1 day to 14 days for tourism.   We had no questions asked and got a 2 week tourist visa.  You dont need a visa before entering the country and it is usually on Arrival for close to 200 countries including for Indian Nationals.

Currency Exchange:

The airport has a foreign exchange western union where you can get your foriegn exchange converted to HKD.  Please note that you can only sell your Indian Currency, but unfortunately you cannot buy Indian Rupee in most of the airports across the world and this hurts.

Local Tourist Packages

Go to the HongKong Airport Customer Service Area and go to the Counter B12 where you get a HongKong Tourism Development driven tourist packages.   If you have more than 5 hours, you can choose from the various tourist sightseeing options they have and also can check in other counters with other tourist and hoteliers who can provide much customized packages.  

The transit package provides you a bus taking you across the HongKong and leaves you back in the downtown area where you can do plenty of shopping and roaming around and then take the Airport Express from the IFC Mall and come back to Airport well in time for your next flight

Food & Rest Areas

You can get all types of food, including Asian, Continental and Mediterrian cusinies.  If you want to eat in a good place, you have plenty of hotels inside the IFC Mall and if you want to have an economy food options, you can have in the World Wide Plaza area, but it will be very crowded and not so hygenic.  

You have paid rest areas in the Airport and also small hotels all over HongKong.

Take the exiting Ferry from HongKong to Macau...

We had an amazing experience and awestuck with the kind of infrastructure that this small country built after its Independence in 1997...There is lot to learn from visits to such small but sophisticated countries within Asia....Happy Travelling!

Planning to bring your USA TV with NTSC to India ? Read this !

For those NRI's returning home having NTSC specification American standard televisions wanting to bring the same to India, have to note the following

 
Major Differences between USA and India TV Systems and Other Possible Concerns:

1. The US Televisions are in the format NTSC, which is region specific. Where as the India Broadcast systems have AUTO or PAL Formats.   Most of the recent televisions have both NTSC and PAL.  So please check the global specifications on your televisions for any type -LED/LCD/Etc

2. Voltage systems used in India and USA.  US has the 110-120V @ 60 Hz while India uses 230V @ 50 Hz

3.  Packaging - Safety issues during Transit

4.  How much to pay at Customs at Indian Airports? How much do Airlines charge for transportation?  



Solutions to the above differences

1.  NTSC to PAL System Conversion

Most of the TV service provides in India, including Dish TV, Airtel and Sun Direct provide set up boxes that have the HDMI support feature and also internal NTSC to PAL converstion possibilities.    Dish TV Tru HD and Airtel HD Set up  boxes work with the HDMI output connected to the TV HDMI input and works like a charm.   I have set up the Airtel HD set up box and it works like a wonder on my Sony LED with only NTSC option.   

For those wanting to know the price I spent, it comes around Rs.3000 for set up boxes and Rs 1200 for convertor and choose any package of your choice starting from Rs.170 a month. 

What happens if you try to connect to normal TV cable is that the picture is only in Black and white with no sound.  

Non Worked Solutions ...So dont waste your time on these given below:     Using the earlier mentioned options in other online forums asking to set up the PAL to NTSC converter and external PAL tuner and etc are not viable and efficient options that I have researched...for they are very costly and a grey lines keep poping up on the TV using the Tuner.     Connecting with the TV tuner to your laptop and connecting the laptop to TV through HDMI is also a tough solution as every time you want to watch TV you have to start your laptop.  

2.  Voltage Conversion

230V- 110 V convertors are available in the India local markets and you can get a good convertor between Rs. 800-  Rs 1200.    Spending few extra Rupees would ensure that convertors also handle often dripping voltage fluctuations in India .  Check with your local electrician who can suggest you a good local brands that work in the locality

3.  Packaging

Please do use only the Company Provided packaging for the television that you intially got with the TV.   That is the best and safest packing that you can do.  Further protection based on the weight of the television,  you can package it in the Wooden Box or additional packing boxes available in Home Depo or Office Depo.    You can add bubble wrap or shredded paper around the television in the blank space so that the TV has additional support.   Dont forget to put all your screws, small stuff, remote along with the TV and dont forget to remove the batteries from the remote.  If possible keep the batteries in different baggage.   Check the dimensions of the box and weight and check with the airlines specifications.    

4.  Airport Transit

Check the dimensions and weight of the baggage and if you have extra billed baggage, ensure you put this as an additional paid baggage for check in instead of the free baggage allowance.  In that way, you can claim any damages in case of transit breakage.      Please ensure that you add Fragile Stickers all around and keep the UPPER Side indication so that the TV is not handled wrongly.    Speak to the airline representative for addition of Fragile Indicators from their side and a personal request for careful handling

5.  Customs to Pay at Indian Airports

Every person travelling back home is entitled to carry Rs.25k work of goods from abroad.  So keep you bill handy and also the dollar value on that date of purchase.  Most of the used home TVs more than 180 days old usually do not attract Octroi unless you dont have the correct bill and the package is looking brand new.     Otherwise, the difference of the TV value and Rs 25K limit attracts Customs Duty and you have to pay by cash at the SBI counter available and get a receipt before you take the TV out of the airport.   

There are other corrupt cheap means people do in the airports which I dont want to suggest.

Now Wall Mount or Get a good entertainment centre, and enjoy Happy Televisioning in India....same time dont get hooked to the forever crying soap operas of the India telediaspora!

Enjoy!