converting to world date/timezones on linux, with the humble date

Playing with dates in linux, our humble date is well equipped.

• Want the IST date, in case your host is a PDT/UTC one.

#TZ="Asia/Calcutta" date

• Want a specific date (older)

# TZ="Asia/Calcutta" date -d "2011-07-10 19:58 PDT"

Mon Jul 11 08:28:00 IST 2011

• Other way

# TZ="America/Los_Angeles" date -d "2011-07-10 7:58 IST"

Sat Jul 9 19:28:00 PDT 2011

• If you need to find all the valid country specific timezone constants :

# ls -l /usr/share/zoneinfo/{continent}/{city}

• Here is something cool you can do at your bash prompt:

PS1="[\$(TZ=\"Asia/Calcutta\" date +%D-%k:%M:%S) IST, \$(TZ=\"America/Los_Angeles\" date +%D-%k:%M:%S) PDT]"

PS1="$PS1\[\e[36m\]\u\[\e[0m\]"

PS1="$PS1@"

Shows me this

[07/12/11-17:32:24 IST, 07/12/11- 5:02:24 PDT]myname@myhost]$

Trip to leh - Planning Phase

(The new plan - thanks to Dheeraj, RK and ANup Sir and many more guys from bcmtouring.com)

June 4th - Day 1 - Bangalore -> Virar (NH4 to Mumbai and NH8 to Virar - 1027 Kms - estimated time 14-15 hrs rotated between 2 drivers )

June 5th - Day 2 - Virar->Jaipur-> (NH8 - 1108 Kms - 15 Hrs)

June 6th - Day 3 - Jaipur->Kud/Patnitop (it will be tough drive) by pass Jammu at Chak Dayala or Samba, will save you around 1 hour

June 7th - Day 4 - Kud/Patnitop - Srinagar, Stay near Dal Lake, on Bulevourd Road, good location, and that is the road you will take for the onward journey, and it comparativeky safe too. Also you will reach Dal by 1:00 Pm if you start early around 5:00 Am, so you can think of going upto Sonmarg. That will put you in very good position for next day. And its much more safer. So choose between view of Dal or view of Sonmarg. I would go for Sonmarg :P

June 8th - Day 5 - Sonmarg - kargil, even try to reach Sanko if PWD GH is functional there, Kargil is dumping ground of Kashmir, sadly pretty messed up place, Kargil have a MASS, if required and Petrol pump

June 9th - Day 6 - Kargil - Rangdum relaxed drive

June 10th - Day 7 - Rangdum - Padum relaxed drive

June 11th - Day 8 - Padum - Lamayuru relaxed drive

June 12th - Day 9 - Lamayuru to Leh

June 13th - Day 10 - Move around Leh Palace/Shanti Stupa/Thiksey/Shey/Hemis/Hall of Fame and Permits

June 14th - Day 11 - Leh - Khardungla - Leh, if you start early, you can come back by 3-4 Pm. And if required get the car checked at Druk MASS,

June 15th - Day 12 - Leh -> Pongong Lake -> Tangste, stay at Tanste, you will not have to rush back to Leh and can spend more time at Lake

June 16th - Day 13 - Tangste - Upshi(Petrol) - Mahe - Karzok(Tso Moriri), you will have to keep deisel in Cans as well, From Tso Morir till Tandi

June 17th - Day 14 - Tso Morri Lake -> Sarchu

June 18th - Day 15 - Sarchu Manali

June 19th - Day 16 - Manali -> Chandigarh

June 20th - Day 17 - Chandigarh -> Udaipur

June 21st - Day 18 - Udaipur -> Pune

June 22nd - Day 19 - Pune -> Bangalore

June 23rd - Day 20 - One back up day , in case of any twist

Anna Hazare - fight for right

Probably from Day 1 we are taught about good and bad. In the light of everything we do we are taught not to do the wrong thing. (Arm chair intellectuals churning debate on what is right and wrong, please excuse me, I have a different thought)

Now, all that Panchtantra, Astrix, Tintin or whatever we read, there was always a right and wrong. ie say for cheating is always wrong and although enough was said, not to cheat, folks used to cheat. I am no Ram, so I am no where to say all of you are wrong and I am right. I am fallible and have fallen more than once for greed, for my selfish requirements.

Are the politician's wrong in amassing wealth through corrupt ways?

probably no!

Since if I was there, I would have done the same!

My honest salute goes to the folks, who are righteous and instill a faith in us to become righteous. I Pray, that Anna you succeed in this world of mortals. May you shine like the polar stars guiding us in our way to become a better human beings.

I pray people shed narrowness guided by their self interest. Please for God's sake understand this is a good move towards the right. We should strengthen the movement by not just vocally joining the movement, but by being ourselves righteous and teaching others to become so. Society needs to change.

Anna Hazare

In the last few days we have seen a simple, honest man has shaken the common folks to fight against corruption. For 5 days a hunger strike, joined and supported from people all around India and abroad. Unprecedented tweeting and facebook phenomenon, was witnessed.

There are so many counter arguments on the movements, let me list as many as I can recollect.

1. This is black mailing Govt.

2. This is undemocratic.

3. This is unconstitutional.

4. will this solve the problem.

5. Gandhian philosophy did not help us yesterday and it will not help us today.

There are even now reports of Bhushan CD's having transcripts of corruption. Infighting.

Anna Hazare is very small in front of todays corruption. No doubt the society at large is so corrupt and I fear, maybe the Anna will lose to the society. He is not fighting the politicians. No. He is fighting everyone of us, who chose the easiest, safest way to progress and embrace corruption.

I can pray. To this day I Pray, May Lord give Anna the wisdom and the strength to cut across the darkness we have created.

Places I would like to visit

1. Pollachi - maitreyi vedic village - its a spiitual destination, which is close to Aliyar Dam and Coimbatore.

2. Tranquil tea - after reading hindu article, which is in in Kotagiri close to sims park.

Why I Hate Cricket in India

Its 30/03/2011 and the semifinals of WC between India and Pakistan is going to be played. The frenzy over the media/newspaper is to be seen. This time around the frenzy is just way beyond I can understand or have a logical clue as to why?

BCCI is a big bag of scams and people who have dirty hands. Cricketers are over hyped sportsman. No Doubt they are sportsmen, but what do we say to the earnest hockey players? Hockey is officially our national game!

:) with a smile I am watching all around - India will win. I pray India looses, just so people can open there eyes and see this is a game a simple game and not carried away to such frenzies.

I read a guardian reports article and looking at it from a foreigners eye, I feel myself not from India. People, I am sure very few will read this ever (thank goodness) please wake up. Sports should be taken as sports and not foolish frenzy. What just happens, is the businessmen and politicians will use every such opportunity to exploit you.

Hardly few people know the money involved in these matches.

A Jew family is stabbed to death, including 3 small children.

How can someone kill 1 month old girl? and then think he would be able to live happily ever after?
I cannot understand the killers, however its very interesting, as how much angry one can get.

However, angry your are, however, injustice have come upon you, however, grief has stricken you, its inhuman to stoop to such levels. I am sad and bitter after reading this. 3 small childrens severely stabbed to death.