Internet in India

Artist: Shakti
Song: Come On Baby Dance With Me
Comments: Absolute gem from retro Shakti, when they were acoustic, fast and spunky. Impeccable coordination between the guitar and violin. Absolute pleasure.

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Ever wondered why the internet sucks in India? While users in China, South Korea, Japan, USA etc have a pay per month model, wonder why you are subjected to the pay per month and byte (of more than alloted traffic)? Wonder why websites like youtube.com exist if one cannot stream in real time? The disambiguation follows.

As the name suggests, the internet is an interconnected - network of Internet Service providers (ISPs). The websites/servers are hosted in IPs (or internet addresses) owned by ISPs. For example, sify.com is most likely hosted by severs routed through the SIFY ISP. Routing basically means providing paths for the flow of internet traffic (bandwidth), much like routing vehicular traffic on, lets say National Highway 4 (NH4) between Bombay and Bangalore. NH4 & the railway line are similar to a couple ISPs connecting two points, lets say BSNL & VSNL, and much like the the two means of transport, the two ISPs may differ in speeds and quality of internet traffic.

Artist: Shakti
Song: Peace Of Mind
Comments: Mellow. Mellifluous. Masterpiece.

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A website is like a vehicle, limited by the path it is connected to the external world, much like how a truck cannot use rails to get around. In the website's case, the limitation is which IP it chooses to host its content on. However, a single website can have mirrors on multiple ISPs. When you access a website, you essentially get on the route the particular ISP prefers. So to access google.com, your request may hop from your house to Singapore to Tokyo to LA where the google.com server is physically hosted, the route assuming you are browsing through, say BSNL. The same website may take far fewer/greater hops if you browse through a different ISP.

The way an ISP reduces the number of hops (lesser the hops, greater is the speed) is to form a pact (actual physical connection) with ISPs in other countries. For example, if BSNL had a direct (physical) link with an ISP in the US, your request to view google.com might just take one hop, your home to their server in LA. Hence, an ISP with larger number of pacts would in theory provide faster service, assuming all other underlying infrastructure remains the same.

However, the above mentioned situation is not the most efficient way to hook up the internet and is for the most part antiquated, except in India. Imagine this situation: you are a BSNL subscriber and you try to access sify.com. Your request may have hop from your house to the BSNL server to its parent sever in Singapore to SIFY's parent server in Japan to SIFY's local server in Hyderabad. Basically, to access a sever located in India, your request hopped all over the world, which seems a little retarded. Hence was born the idea of an Internet Exchange: a connection/exchange between ISPs in close proximity. With this concept, your request to view a local website will now be routed to the requested sever through the local exchange and will not travel around the world. Also, it has a normalizing effect on speeds of access of the same location from two different ISPs as your request can now be routed through shorter paths acquired by other ISPs through the exchange.

Artist: Shakti
Song: Girija Sutha Part 1.
Comments: Composed by Mandolin Srinivas. Adrenalin meets Meditation.

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The internet can now be visualized as an interconnection of exchanges. So why (still) does the internet suck in India?. Two things: not all Indian ISPs fairly contribute to the National Internet Exchange and most of them route their traffic from other Asian countries, while most of the servers in the world are hosted in the USA (i.e most of the Internet's traffic is to servers in the USA). On unfair contribution to the National exchange, there is no definite solution as some ISPs have more local servers and better pacts with foreign providers than others, which affects the quality of service (which is their marketing pitch). To genuinely better the internet in India, ISPs / National Exchange need to have more pacts with US providers / exchanges as against Asian exchanges. Also, the physical locations of the national exchange is presently in the metros, which is again a retarded decision as most of the traffic in India is from its IT hubs namely Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Some interesting observations:

• India was among the last countries to set up an Exchange (2003)!! Until then, what must have been local traffic still traveled all around the world.
• While China has six Internet Exchanges, India has only one.
• Most Indian ISPs do not have their own gateways (Physical devices used for traffic switching etc).
• Indian ISPs do not have direct physical connections to US exchanges although most of the traffic to and from India is to servers in the US.

Artist: Shakti
Song: Girija Sutha Part deux.
Comments: Composed by Mandolin Srinivas. Adrenalin meets Meditation.

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Size and its Matters

Artist: DropKick Murphys
Song: Cadence To Arms
Comments: Nice Celtic-Punk band. Buy em!

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'Size doesn't matter'. Its true according to at least one article that cites research wherein a blindfolded tramp couldn't tell the difference between a 2', 4' and 6' member! No wonder my short (prolly in more ways than one :D) buddy resorts to BDSM, of which blindfolding is a big part. This post, however, is not overly concerned with the accuracy of size statements suchlike or the tactful use of kink to overcome its shortcomings. What it addresses is the lack of brain size ahem power among the expatriat Indian populace in Britan. So the BBC broadcast-ed some juvenile findings on the size of the average Indian member which concluded it to be an inch or two lesser than the average denizen of the earth to which our desi brethren took much offense to and held protests online and outside the BBC offices accusing the reputed media enclave of perpetrating racism.

In this case, the adjudication is most clearly with the BBC. It is common knowledge that Indians and most other Asians have a smaller build, the reasons for which may be genetics and poverty (that results in under-nutrition). Logic says that a smaller build = smaller member, which gives much credence to the research findings. Why then accuse the (western) media of partisanship and hint at Paksitani conspiracies! Address the issue at hand v.i.z tailor making condoms for the Indian size to avoid tears. Refusing to change condom sizes is like jogging in Micheal Jordan's shoes to prove a point! You're the one who'll end up not enjoying the jog! :-)

A related article cites a person of North Indian origin blaming the rest of India for bringing down the average size. Aaaahh!! Another (educated) racist, cowbelt yokel tub-thumping the North superiority cause! Well, FUCK YOU!! The latest national Human Development Index (HDI) gives the first three positions to the south!! Also, the top 10 in the list features ALL the five southern states! That basically translates to the north being poor(er) --> under-nutrition --> small(er) brains, brawns and loins! QED bitches. Now enjoy the Music. And read my disclaimer.

Artist: DropKick Murphys
Song: Shipping up to Boston.
Comments: Feature on 'The Departed' soundtrack.

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About Soul Rendition

Artist: BBC (In Our Time)
Song: Indian Mathematics (Documentary) Part 1.
Comments: Part 2 at the end of the page

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Soul Rendition's content, hence forth, aims to target the musically curious, intelligent thinker. Every post will contain audio from a single artist/theme that the author considers worth sharing. Although the author has a penchant towards certain genres, the showcase will be eclectic and novel enough for the most adventurous of musical aficionados. The showcased music tries to set a mood for the subsequent text.

The blog author, being a musician of sorts himself, refuses to critique or judge the artist in purview for he does not believe in subliminal creatures as music critics/journalists. However, the fact that the artists content featured on this page is indicative of the author's fondness and in all probability, it will go down well with the (intelligent) audience.

The quality of the streaming content, unlike other streaming pages, shall be EXTREMELY HIGH. In fact, a connection of 256kbps+++ is highly recommended for browsing this page or for any other site of consequence in the entertainment industry.

Soul Rendition is not intended for the faint of heart, conservatives, politically correct and people with mental make ups below the age of 18.

Soul Rendition does not host any audio/video protected by copyright laws. It merely points to material already available on the internet in a manner that protects/hides the links of the content from potential leechers. In a manner of speaking, media here is similar to any other streaming site (although superior in quality), except that the files themselves are never hosted here or at sites owned by the author.

Artist: BBC (In Our Time)
Song: Indian Mathematics (Documentary) Part 2.

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Bum of the Shipping Industry: India

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The ship-breaking business is dirty, hazardous and too cumbersome and costly for the west. Following other outsourcing models, this industry has moved to India. However, unlike software,BPO or church services for the dead, it leaves the employees anything but rich or sexed out. In fact, the health hazards are a lot more serious than working ungodly hours or RSI. It ranges from severe asbestoses to irreparable damage to body parts resulting from sever injuries and in the worst case death.

Read more at this BBC link.

Listen/Download a documentary on the same here.


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