Mauritius" - Nayar's Blog

24Hrs vs Rs 50 Million gov.mu Website

Posted by :Nayar On : May 20, 2013

Recently WebCup organized a competition to make a website in 24 hours. Have a look at the websites a team of 4 people had to do in 24hrs only!

Ceridian - http://ceridian.webcup.mu
Chesteroc - http://chesteroc.webcup.mu
Esokia - http://esokia.webcup.mu
Extension Interactive – http://extension-interactive.webcup.mu
FRCI - http://frci.webcup.mu
Elite Business School – http://elite-business-school.webcup.mu
Paperboat - http://paperboat.webcup.mu
TNT - http://tnt.webcup.mu
Team Urban Error - http://urban-error.webcup.mu
Wanderers - http://wanderers.webcup.mu
Web Thugs - http://web-thugs.webcup.mu

50 Millions government Website

Now compare those to our dear 50 Million Government Website: gov.mu. If such websites can be made in 24Hrs, why did the gov.mu cost Rs 50 Million? Food for thought….

When bus “sonnet” doesn’t work

Posted by :Nayar On : May 4, 2013

Category: Uncategorized

Tags:Mauritius, National Transport Corporation, United Bus Service

Recently, a bus had a break failure killing 10 people and the Prime Minister didn’t give a ****. I’m gonna raise another issue of public transportation we face daily i.e. the Bus Bell fails.

How people deal with it:-

1. Most youngsters usually walk to the door while the bus is still running. The driver stops at the next bus stop.

2. Some try to press the button and release it suddenly so as it makes a noise. The conductor sometimes notices it and alerts the driver.

3. Older people shout and usually add some “spicy” words towards the driver. (zourer mama)

Actions to be taken:-
Policeman could periodically stop a bus so as to check if the bells are working. Wouldn’t this rather be the responsibility of the NTA (National Transport Authority) or where fitness is given etc? I don’t know these things much but checking bus bells are an important thing.

Source

If fitness is given to NTC buses which can have break failures, then i guess we’re doomed to have crappy service at all levels. Why do we need a transport Minister? Just to agree to request because bus owners have been requesting a raise for a long time?

“The price of transport is being increased because the owners of the bus companies have been asking for an increase in the transport fees from quite a long time”. Source

No, Seriously!? Is that all you’re worth?

Mauritius becoming the “landless” island :-/

Posted by :Nayar On : March 31, 2013

Category: Uncategorized

Tags:Mauritius

Ministers say they have injected lots of money in draining systems. Money is not everything! In that case each country would have only a Finance minister who has the job of only injecting money.

But money controls the world. Inject money into project X in-front of the media then steal it from the back stage instead of planning and coordinating the projects..

Ministers allow commercial projects to be built upon ponds and marshy lands. Are there “land” left on our island where water can be absorbed? Our lands are being sold.

e.g. La Patinoire at Curepipe. There was a pond there. But they built an artificial river there that has concrete bottom.

Water are made to be evacuated quickly when it rains while in summer we crave for water. -_-

While natural calamities do happen, we must do our best to confront them.

Source: No, Seriously? o_O

Voting in Mauritian Municipal Election

Posted by :Nayar On : December 9, 2012

Category: Uncategorized

Tags:Curepipe, Mauritius

This is the first time i went voting. I was quite surprised that they don’t ask for National Identity card when you go in the voting centers. They just ask you your name and 2 persons remove your name from their lists.

I didn’t know anyone whom i voted. Just recognized the famous symbols and gave them votes according to the pamphlets they were distributing. Some pamphlets were just some abstract words and editorials. I tend to ignore them.

Write what you will do point wise! I am NOT interested in reading long editorials about frauds and mismanagement and promises about a better management. Say WHAT you want to do and HOW will you do it!!! >.<

Anyways, whosoever get elected, wish you best of luck. Don’t forget to

1. Listen to the people

2. Work hard for the people, not for your own pockets

We would be grateful

“made in moris”. Worst branding ever!!!

Posted by :Nayar On : November 12, 2012

Category: Uncategorized

Tags:Mauritius

Have they gone crazy? This is total bullshit!

Inside jokes are cool between friends. Only insiders can appreciate that. We cannot use a local word in a branding that will represent Mauritius in the world.

Foreigners know the word Mauritius from maps, dictionaries etc. Mauritius was branded “Mauritius : C’est un plaisir“. Would they be able to know “moris” is actually Mauritius? We’re wasting our marketing resources here. Y U NO MARKET MAURITIUS IN A CONSISTENT WAY!?

Hey! Would you go to a wedding in shorts and beachwear stuffs?

Ofcourse you can! But would you? Is this the image they want others to have about us? That we are retards? We don’t know the context. We mix English with some other language?

Made in Mauritius is cool enough. I’m proud of my country!

Is it worth to get mobile internet in Mauritius?

Posted by :Nayar On : June 7, 2012

Category: Uncategorized

Tags:Android, Emtel, Mauritius, Orange

I’m really enjoying my Android phone at home using internet from the Orange livebox.

A mobile phone is supposed to be used outdoors. I know Emtel is the best when coming to mobile internet due to both their technologies and tariffs (haven’t inquired about MTML services yet). Anyways, when you buy a new phone, you are gifted with either Emtel or Orange sims.

Now, i have to see if the move to Emtel is really profitable. I don’t know how much data Androids eat normally. Emtel might be cheaper but to what extent will it be cheap?

I’ve enabled:-

Google: Contacts, gmail, Calendar
Facebook: Contacts, Status updates of my contacts, Calender
Twitter: Contacts , Tweets of my contacts.
Wordpress: Comments notifications.

I wonder what would happen if i would be on a paid data plan.

Maybe i can just forget about getting mobile internet and hope WiFi will be made available around the country. The University of Mauritius has already implemented WiFi on it’s campus and I’ve heard that municipalities also provide it to the public.

For now, i’m putting my phone on 2G mode to save energy

Taking the “191 Express Curepipe” bus

Posted by :Nayar On : January 31, 2012

Category: General

Tags:Mauritius, Transport

It’s the first time i saw the bus “191 Express Curepipe” passing through The University of Mauritius at Reduit. I boarded the bus without knowing it’s route. It did the same route as “173 Curepipe” does till Pont Fer i.e. it passes at Ebene first.

At the round about near SUPERCASH, the bus did not go in the direction of sir Abdool Razack Mohamed Hall. Instead, it continued on the motorway until it reached the Aux Coulee round about.

It then went through Aux Coulee till the Aux Coulee Police Station. From there, it went to Curepipe as other buses usually do.

Images from Google Earth

I can’t tell exactly if the journey took less time. But it was definitely more comfortable

DTC: The New SMS

Posted by :Nayar On : January 22, 2012

Category: General

Tags:Emtel, Mauritius, MTML, Orange, SMS

Since last week in Mauritus, SMS prices of Orange and Emtel has risen up to 70cents/- and for MTML 10cents/- i’ve heard. So, instead pf using SMS, why not make calls of 0.5-1 mins known as Do Tiny Calls . Call rate is 1.20/min.

Pros:-

Information can travell in both directions
Costs almost the same or even less.
Only the person needing you pays

Cons:-

It is cheaper for people on the same network only
Girls might have a *little* difficulty to have conversation of less than 1 minute

Mauritian Holiday Files for KDE

Posted by :Nayar On : January 15, 2012

Category: General

Tags:KDE, Linux, Mauritius, University of Mauritius

Wanna have our National Holidays and special days get shown in your KDE calendar?

Here’s the way to get it:

You can checkout from SVN here or download the files here (might not be up to date):

svn checkout http://kde-for-mauritius.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ kde-for-mauritius-read-only

Copy the contents of “Holiday Files” to “/usr/share/kde4/apps/libkholidays/plan2″. You will need administrative permission to do so. Open the destination location with this command (kubuntu). Then you will be able to paste the files

sudo dolphin /usr/share/kde4/apps/libkholidays/plan2

Right click on the time widget in the lower-right section of your screen and select “Digital Clock Settings”

Now go to calendar, nect to Mauritius, select “Days Off”

U’r Done!

Notes:

1. This calendar is only valid for Year 2012 only. The following Holidays won’t appear in the following years:

Spring Festival
Thaipoosam Cavadee
Maha Shivratee
Ougadi
Assumption // This holiday did not appear in year 2011. I did not put it reccuring for this reason cause i’m not sure when they decide to put it
Ganesh Chaturthi
Divali

If you know in advance when the above events will occur, please let me know. Events like Eid-Ul-Fitr and Eid-Ul-Adhia are approximated yearly like this:

“Eid-Ul-Fitr” weekend on hijri 1 shawwal // weekend makes it appear as a Day off
“Eid-Ul-Adhia” on hijri 10 thualhijjah // this will appear in green in the calendar as it is not a holiday

2. Send me a list of cultural days which mauritian celebrate such as St. Valentine’s day, Father Laval day and birth of Sir Ramgoolam etc.

3. If you want to help, here’s my project page hosted on Google code: http://code.google.com/p/kde-for-mauritius

Next, i’ll be doing a calendar for the Major activities organised by The University of Mauritius. Stay tuned to the SVN