Saturday, November 10, 2007

Cricket teaching websites

IT'S vacation time and those children who have not moved out for sightseeing trips are utilising their time playing ‘mohalla’ cricket. Here are some sites that can teach you the art of hitting a good shot

www.krissrikkanth.com/clinic/clinicf.asp
This Web site is coaching clinic of former Indian captain K. Srikanth. You will find coaching tips with movie clips especially shot to illustrate the stroke. You will also see the glorious shots from matches, the footwork and position of the head while playing the stroke. The tips to counter specific type of bowling are illustrated with pictures. Bowling techniques are also described. Common mistakes made by players are mentioned and way to overcome is also provided. A lot of pictures have been provided for warming up techniques. The page "http://www.kris-srikkanth.com/rules/law0.asp" contains general laws of cricket. You will learn more about the spirit of cricket, responsibilities of captain and players, rules for substitution of runners and fielders. Characteristics of bat, ball, wickets and bails are mentioned. Conditions for replacement of the ball are mentioned. Pitch specifications, preparation and maintenance are also pasted.

http://scotlandcricket.rivals.net
This site provides a series of coaching guides, demonstrated with help of animations and pictures. You will learn about common batting, bowling and fielding techniques. A picture of cricket pitch will appear showing different strokes like straight drive, back-foot drive, forward defence, backward defence, square-cut and pull. Just click on the name of any stroke you want to play and an animation made in Macromedia Flash will provide you step-by-step illustration to play that shot. Similar illustrations are provided about leg-spin, off-spin, in-swing and out-swing bowling techniques. There is also a close-up view of the correct grip for each bowling action and fielding techniques at different field positions.

www.criccontest.com/cric-coaching/working/index.htm
This site is developed by E-Inforogers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. The site provides A to Z terminology used in cricket and different modes of dismissal of a batsman. Specifications of equipments like bat, ball, wickets, gloves and other accessories, points to be taken care of while purchasing them are discussed. Tips are provided on batting like taking guard, judging deliveries, gripping the bat and playing different strokes. Guidelines on wicket keeping include standing positions for different types of bowling. Tips on fielding and running between the wickets are also available. All tips are illustrated with the help suitable pictures and way to overcome common mistakes are also mentioned.
Other Realted Sites

www.cricketcoach.com/index.asp
www.azharuddin.com/learn_crick/learn_index.html

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal


Keeping vigil on your personal computer

Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal write:
WHEN you are not at home, if someone uses your PC, you may want to note the date and time your PC starts to keep a tab on the activity in your absence. Here we present a wonderful program step-by-step, which activates each time when your PC starts and stores the date and time in a file without knowledge of the user.

Step 1:
A file named autoexec.bat is present in the root directory of your bootable disc.
Add following statements to the end of this file:
@echo off
date <>> file2
time <>> file2
echo. >> file2
Caution: Don’t delete the previous contents of autoexec.bat file. Just add these statements to the end of the file, lest your PC may not work properly.

Step 2:Now you have to create a file named file1 from DOS prompt, in the same root directory where autoexec.bat is placed. File1 is to be created as shown below:
· Copy con file1 <>
· Again press enter key
· Press F6 key
· Press enter key
You will see a message – 1 file(s) copied.

Now onwards, whenever your computer is started, the date and time of start will be stored in file2. You can check all dates and times by giving command: "Type file2" at DOS prompt of root directory.

This program works with DOS 6.22 and previous versions and also with Win9x. It may not work with Win NT and Windows 2000.
Explanation of program:Whenever your computer starts, statements in autoexec.bat file are automatically executed.

1) date <>> file2
To understand above statement, we split it into two statements:
date >> file2
date < file1
The ">>" operator is a redirection operator, used to append (add text to end of a file) output of the command/file on its LHS to the file on its RHS. Hence "date >> file2" will append output of date command to output file. Similar case is with time command. Now, the problem is that the date and time commands seek input from the user by prompting: "Enter new time/date". At this time we have to press ENTER key. In our program we store ENTER in file1. "date < file1" statement redirects its output (i.e. ENTER) to date command. Hence we don’t need to press ENTER key manually.

2) "echo." statement leaves one line blank. This blank line is further redirected to file2. It will leave one line blank after every date and time.
3) "@echo off" causes all statements to execute invisibly.

Get airline tickets on discount

Most of the schools and colleges have closed down for the annual feature called "summer vacations" and if the rush at bus-stands, railway stations and airports is any indication, most of the families want to utilise the vacations by sightseeing. The following sites can aid you in choosing your destination:

www.shubhyatra.com
This site, designed by Design Expo Network, has done a lot to facilitate the journey of those who wish to travel this summer. It provides a list of travel packages offered by India’s best tour operators. You can select a desired category for travel to hill stations, wildlife sanctuaries, coastal resorts, leisure sights, adventure tourism and honeymoon. Pilgrimage centres, historical places, idyllic islands, winter getaways and shopping paradise in India and abroad have been described in detail. Facility of online airline reservation and checking of the availability of seat is also provided. All one has to do is input the date of departure and names of starting and destination city. You may get airline tickets with discount. By inputting the names of start city and destination city, you will get suggestion on the availability of trains. A Smart-Route-Finder suggests you the best available routes and transport ways. You can select criteria for travel that takes minimum time or budget. Interactive maps of various cities of India are available. A distance calculator finds out the distance between 2 cities. The site also guides you about weekend gateways. You will find more about arts, culture, music, education, religion, clothing, weddings, dances and festivals of India. Information of beaches, sanctuaries, pilgrimage places and trekking and travel trips for visitors are provided.

www.vihari.com
This portal guides you to travel in an interesting fashion. You can select a category to visit to historical places, divine tour, wild life, adventure sports or relax tour. A map of India will appear showing you various places of your desired category. You just click on any city and get information about its history, culture, way of reaching there and accommodation facilities available there. It also gives you tips about best season to go there. Site also has nice photographs of the places. You will get some special tour packages also. The site provides you a search of tourist cities in an alphabetical order. All flight details of the various airports are available. Timings of arrival and departure of all trains at the various railway stations can also be found. Exclusive information of Indian healing system is also available on the site. It provides information about various known Ayurveda centres in the country and available package tours to visit. The site, made by Saparna Infotech Ltd, also includes information of Buddhist sites, fairs and festivals of the country.

OTHER RELATED SITES
www.tourism-india.com
www.tourisminindia.com
www.india-travel.com
www.travel.indiamart.com
www.LookupIndia.com

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal

Online help for HP tourists

AS the dew is dried up by the morning Sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of Himachal. ’— Skanda Purana
Vedas and Puranas have held Himalayas and Himachal Pradesh in high esteem and reverence. In this edition we provide our readers the links to a few sites that provide a peep into this state of high snow-clad mountains and eco-tourists

www.himachaltourist.com
This site has a lot of information for tourists. What’s the best time to visit, information related to tourist places, climatic conditions and way s of reaching are all given here. Those interested in wildlife and fauna can get a list of wildlife sanctuaries and animals that inhabit Himachal. Apply for online reservation of a hotel and a book a car.From www.theluxurybuses.com, you get online bus reservation for your trip. Shopping-aficionados will have a list of popular items of the state. Fair and festival calendar of Himachal is available on site. Art and culture section contains information about poetry and painting. Information about special packages offered by hotels at various tourist places makes this a must-visit site. An operator always remains present online to assist you.

http://yatraindia.com/hp
What more can a Web site offer than 138 beautiful pictures of flora, 50 pictures of fauna, 20 picturesque landscapes of Kinner Kailash mountain ranges, Spiti river, 26 pictures of orchards and 68 pictures of dances of the state. You can mail these pictures to your friends. Besides, pictures of garments, rugs, carpets and woodcarvings, tea gardens, agriculture, and forest produce are also there. Information of arts and craft, religion, history, culture, jewellery, cuisine, music, dances and lifestyle of every tourist destination is provided. Taste the thrill and excitement of adventure activities like water sports, golf and para gliding. Travel through the picturesque valleys of Kangra, Lahaul and Spiti, where Buddhism has left a deep impression. Experience yourself in the lap of nature and enjoy the peace of mind, calm and serene surroundings. If you are unable to visit Himachal, this site will sufficiently give you a glimpse of the state.

www.himachal.nic.in
An interactive map of Himachal Pradesh is provided. You just click on any district and get full image and information about it. You will find general information for each district. You will also get information about Governor, House functionaries, Members of the House, the latest party position, poll results, Budget session 2001 and Constituency map. History of Himachal includes the Rajput period, Mughal rule, Sikh and Gorkha war, 1857 revolt, British rule, struggle for freedom and post-Independence period. Tourism section has exclusive pictures on places of pilgrimage and trekking routes. A telephone directory of officers of Himachal government is provided.

OTHER RELATED SITES
www.hellohimachal.net/aboutHimachal.htm
www.shubhyatra.com/htm/himachalpradesh
www.hindubooks.org/temples/himachal
www.himachalguide.com

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal

Quotes from martyr’s jail book

WELCOME to Punjab — the state that has produced legendry lovers and famed soldiers. The land of the Five Rivers, has earned epithets like "granary of India" and the "sword arm of India". The following sites weave the beauty and rich heritage of this state on the Web:

www.punjabgovt.nic.in
This is the official Web site of the Punjab Government. It contains details of industrial, agricultural and IT policies of the government, growth rate of industries and investment opportunities in the state. Data regarding per capita income of state has been compared with that of India. Area, average yield and production of wheat, rice, sugarcane, cotton and fertiliser consumption of the past many years are tabulated. Information of export, dairy development and number of educational institutes, district-wise literacy rate and courses offered by various universities are listed. You can get telephones numbers of MPs, MLAs, police officers, DCs, HC judges and other officers.

www.punjabilok.com
Punjabi Millennium, a Nairobi-based company, owns this portal. Its motive is to "promote Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat" on the Net. The news item section at top of the page is cut-and-paste job from various newspapers including The Tribune. You will get links to download latest Punjabi songs, bhangra, Sufi music of Indian and Pakistani artists. A discussion board provides you facility to comment on some hot topics. Methods of preparation of Punjabi recipes and sweets are provided. Poems of famous Punjabi poets are also pasted. Kids can enjoy games and puzzles made using Java and Java Script. The good thing on this site is that here you will find a vast lists of Web sites of newspapers, magazines, online radio, Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam, education, hospitals, ayurveda, homeopathy, placement companies, science, Info-tech, environment, tourism, matrimonial, and fashion. Anyone can get 20 MB free Web space and domain name to build a site of his own.

www.webpunjab.com
An "efficient" matrimonial facility has been provided on this site. You can submit your matrimonial information free of cost. Check the database by clicking desired characteristics your life partner and get e-mail addresses of suitable ones. Facilities to buy or sell property in Punjab or second-hand cars are also provided. Find out names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of Punjabi NRIs of any profession. Information about jobs in India and abroad is provided. A museum of rural life of Punjab is available. Original photographs of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, his associates and family and quotes from his jail notebook are exclusive items on the site.

Related sites
www.justpunjab.com
www.punjabartscouncil.com
www.apnapunjab.com
www.ranglapunjab.com
www.punjabonline.com

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal

Discuss issues at e-panchayat

Review of websites of Haryana State


Haryana is a flourishing state that was the home of the legendary Bharata Dynasty, which gave the name "Bharat" to India. The state that was carved out of joint Punjab on November 1, 1966, and is spread over 44,212 sq km with a population of 16.46 million. The state has a network of 43 tourist complexes and with over 6.6 million tourists visiting the state each year, the government is promoting tourism in a big way. Some sites that take you to this state are:

http://haryana.nic.in
This is the official site of Haryana government designed by the NIC in coordination with Department of Public Relations, Haryana. Apart from messages of the CM and the Governor of Haryana, it contains addresses and phone numbers of ministers, administrative secretaries and deputy commissioners of the state. Education policy of the state government is mentioned here, which describes literacy rate, number of schools colleges and facilities provided there. Government polices and objectives on IT development and its infrastructure are also explained. You can find out results of examinations conducted by universities/colleges and school boards of Haryana. Budget of the year 2001-2002 includes Finance Minister’s speech and other aspects. Demographic data of the state, vital information and statistical inputs related to agriculture, irrigation, electricity, animal husbandry and transportation are available. Investment opportunities, overview of industrial infrastructure and policies, financial infrastructure and estate management procedures are described in length. Links to other related sites are also available.

www.haryana-online.com
This site is hosted and maintained by a person who has requested anonymity. It contains general information of all districts, area and population. Maps of most of the districts are available. It has a lot of information related to religious, cultural heritage, rich folklore, traditions, folk dances, fairs and festivals of the state. You can get free e-mail service with address of Haryana, that is ‘yourname@haryana-online.com’. Battles of Mahabharat, Panipat and Karnal have been mentioned. Information of archaeological sites in Haryana is also pasted here. Tributes have been paid to some famous personalities of the state, including Chaudhry Devi Lal. Names and e-mail addresses of top-rung police officers of each district are present. Facility for community discussion forum, called Panchayat, is provided. Here you can express your views related to topic on Haryana. The site is being updated constantly.

Related sites
http://www.nic.in/htc
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/haryana
http://www.indiaedu.com/haryana
www.hudaonline.com
www.ambalayellowpages.com
www.yatraindia.com/haryana

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal

Baisakhi on the Web

Review of websites covering the mega event of Tercentenary Khalsa Birth Celebrations: Visakhi (13th April 1999)

PUNJAB has always been known as a land of gaiety and merrymaking where festivals are celebrated with much fervour and enthusiasm. In Punjab, Baisakhi has a unique significance — besides being a harvest festival for the farmers, the day commemorates founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh. Here are a few sites, which describe the historical event of Tercentenary Khalsa Birth Celebrations at Anandpur Sahib.
www.tribuneindia.com/khalsa/index.htm
This is site of The Tribune. It has a full coverage of the spectacular show at Anandpur Sahib. It provides all news items published in this newspaper relating to the Tercentenary celebrations. In photo gallery you will see pictures of pilgrims of various religions thronging from many countries, religious functions, nagar kirtan, gatka, Khalsa marches and the glimpse of Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib. It also shows the international sports festival that was held there and the weapons of Guru Sahibaans kept in the "White City".
www.sikhnet.com
This site provides a link to its member site www.anandpursahib.org. This site describes the journey of about 400 West-born Sikhs devotees from all over Europe, Asia, the UK, Mexico, South America, Africa and the USA to Anandpur Sahib. Amar Infinity Foundation sponsors this site. It contains exclusive pictures and audio and video clips of Gurbani recitation, fireworks and the precious sword with six vignettes carved in yellow gold and set off with white gold, diamonds, and amethysts.
http://123baisakhi.com
This is a member site of Dgreetings.com family. It provides wallpapers and animated greeting cards related to Baisakhi. You can try out some of the traditional Punjabi dishes for the festival. Various aspects like religious, communal, regional and seasonal importance of Baisakhi have been touched upon. Importance of Baisakhi in Haryana, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Kashmir, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states is also described.
Links to other related sites:
www.baisakhi1999.org
http://india.indiagov.org/perspec/khalsa-spl99/intro.htm
www.patiala.org/tercentenary/celenews.htm
www.nic.in/apsf
— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal

UT with beauty

Review of websites of Chandigarh city

CHANDIGARH — The City Beautiful despite being the Capital of Punjab and Haryana has maintained identity of its own as a regional educational nodal point and flourishing Union Territory (UT). Some sites that have managed to capture Chandigarh’s glory are listed as under:

http://chandigarh.nic.in
This is the official Web site of Chandigarh Administration developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). General information about district administration (including judiciary and UT Police), telephone numbers and addresses of administrative officers of all departments are available. You can get exclusive information about historical background, architecture and planning of the city. A complete section of the site is dedicated to the marvellous master plan designed by Le Corbusier. Social welfare activities by Administration and NGOs are available. Voting pattern of Chandigarh Parliamentary Constituency, information about former MPs, details of previous elections held and bio-data of present MPs are also available.

http://chandigarhcity.com
This is a site made by Megrisoft. It provides complete information about the City Beautiful. It guides you about different tourist places, gardens, art galleries and museums of the city. You can also get to know the festivals and fete observed here, characterised by love, excitement, colours, lights and prayers. Names and information of courses of main schools and colleges are available. You will also find distances of other cities from Chandigarh. Helpline section includes addresses of hospitals, police stations, fire stations, cinema halls and electricity complaint centres with phone numbers. Links of some good Web sites of Chandigarh are also listed. Heart-broken "lovebirds" can get love and dating tips. Love cards and love poems are also available. Any one can air his views on discussion board made for the topics related to Chandigarh.

www.chandigarhweb.com
It one is made by Sukhdev Online. This is the site, which truly represents beauty of the tourist places pictorially. The surfer experiences as if he is really travelling through the city. You will find history, architecture, arts, cultural, religious places in and around Chandigarh and the festivals of the city. This site guides the tourists how to get there, where to stay, where to eat, where to shop and city attractions. It provides information about banking services, industries, business institutions, schools, colleges, medical and technical educational institutes and libraries. This site has done a special coverage of Silver Jubilee celebrations of Rock Garden, a creation of Padam Shri Nek Chand. Addresses of blood banks, allopathic, ayurvedic and homoeopathic civil dispensaries have also been posted. This site provides matrimonial facility. You will also find link for animated e-cards. The site also contains online vegetarian recipes guide.

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal
Make your resume heard
THERE are some who need a job and then there are those itching to hop on to something better. Whether he is a professional seeking a job abroad or an NRI wishing to settle in India, the Net provides job opportunities to all.

www.naukri.com
An Indian career Web site, naukri.com, is a forum where employers, placement agencies and job seekers can exchange information. Here the surfer can advertise and search for a job and also browse through resumes and get information about other Indian and international career sites. Names and information about 400 placement agencies and 100 employers is available on the site. Besides information about various educational institutes all over India offering different carrier courses is available. Article on how to write resume, negotiate salary, switch from one country to another are available. You can also get your resume written by a professional. About 5 per cent of the surfers are NRIs wanting to return to India. This site claims to have over 50,000 vacancies.

www.jobspider.com
It is one of the leading global online network on careers connecting companies with qualified career-minded individuals. The site can help job seekers to expand their career, providing continuous access to the recruiting companies, as well as interactive, personalised tools to make the process effective and convenient. Features include resume management, a personal job search agent, expert advice on job seeking, career management and free newsletters. It also provides some important interview tips.
Jobspider.com also offers real-time job postings, complete company profiles and resume screening.

www.jobsahead.com
An Indian career portal connecting high quality Indian talent with the organisations in India and abroad, this site claims to have 6,00,000 registered candidates, 6 million page views, 2500 corporate clients and 10,000 jobs. The site also offers a unique voice resume facility. You can get information about India’s top-of-the-line companies on their process of recruitment. From this site you can pick up tips on improving the existing resume and get tips to improve the interview skills. The site also provides discussion board where job seekers, employers and other career professionals can actively share thoughts, ideas and questions.

www.hotjobs.com
This site develops and provides companies with ‘innovative’ hiring products and services. The site’s popular consumer job board provides a resourceful and dynamic exchange between opportunity seekers and employers. For opportunity seekers, www.hotjobs.com is a non-stop career solutions resource that offers advanced privacy features and searching technology. Here you can create an online resume, control its privacy, set up an automatic job search agents and track job applications. Member companies enjoy access to hundreds of thousands of resumes as well as progressive Web-based recruiting functionalities and an "award-winning" applicant tracking system.

Cut out the labour, use macros

OFTEN you find yourself repeating a formatting task in MS Word. Being on a computer and having to do a mundane thing like that could seem ridiculous, and MS Word thinks so, too, and has a solution to that.

To format specific parts of text at different places in a document in a particular style you have to select the relevant text, give it the required font, size, special effects, alignment, etc. and then do that all over again for another bit of text. This labour can be done away with to a great extent by using Macros.

A macro is a collection of instructions, used to perform a specific task. You have to perform the task only once and record all its steps at that time in a macro and assign this macro a name. It can subsequently be "played" any number of times at other places whenever you need to perform that particular task. This repetition of tasks can be not only performed in that particular document but also in documents that you may create at a subsequent date. This saves time and, in turn, increases efficiency.

We will take up a specific example and go about the task step by step to explain the procedure. We will record and play a macro to format a text, giving it the font Arial, point size 12 and effect bold.

Select the desired text and the perform the following steps:
Recording
From the menu, select Tools > Macro > Record New Macro.
Give the macro a name (say "smallheading") and click OK.
A macro toolbar with Stop Recording and Pause Recording buttons will appear. The mouse cursor will have a small cassette like icon below it to indicate that recording is in progress. The status bar will show the word REC.
Now, change the font to Arial, size to 12 and give the bold effect.
Click the Pause Recording button if you want to perform any step and don’t want it to be recorded.
When finished, click Stop Recording.

Now, you have a set of instructions permanently stored in your hard disk for future use. A macro generates and stores a set of instructions in its own programming language behind the scene. You can work with macros without knowing that language.

Playback
This is what you do to format other parts of the text in a manner same as the above, i.e. "smallheading."
Select the relevant text.
From the menu, select Tools > Macro > Macros, or press [Alt] + F8.
Select the macro name "smallheading."
Click Run.

All aspects of formatting that you had earlier assigned to the style "smallheading" will automatically get applied to this new part of text too.

This was your first macro and as you use it you will realise how time saving it can be. You can record various tasks that you usually perform in Word. You could even type some text and record it in a macro if you need to insert it very often in the same or other documents at a later date.

Even the task of running the created macros can be reduced to shortcuts. You can run a macro by just pressing two shortcut keys instead of going to the menu bar and selecting the options from it.

Assigning shortcut keys
Click the Keyboard button while creating a macro.
You will see a text box; click the New Shortcut key. With the cursor in this box, press a combination of two keys, which you would like later to run the macro. Out of these two keys, one should be either [Alt] or the [Ctrl] key. The other key can be any numerical or letter. While entering the combination you keep the Alt/Ctrl key pressed, and then press the second key. Do not use shortcuts like [Ctrl] + C or [Ctrl] + V, which are already assigned by Windows to perform certain functions. In this example, we will give the shortcut [Ctrl] + J.
Click Assign and Close buttons.

Record the macro as described earlier.

You have now assigned a shortcut to a macro. Now to Run it you just press [Ctrl] + J.
Following a similar procedure, macros can also be used in Excel and Front Page.

— Sarabjeet Singh Kanwal