Cream Roll

I am not a school going kid now. I am not a college going student now. I am not a teenager undergoing graduation now. I am now earning money. All the (g)olden days are gone. Wish I was still a kid. Wish I could still enjoy the holidays after the unit tests and terminal exams. Wish I was innocent as I was in my childhood :-)
One day I was going back home after my office hours. I stopped at a bakery. The showcase displayed a variety of cakes, buns, sweets. But eyes were concentrated on something else. I saw Cream rolls. You may feel this is crazy, but its true. Some of you might even not know what a cream roll is. But for me, it was like finding something I had lost a decade ago. I still remember the childhood memories, Some children cry for sweets, chocolates, GEMS, Cadbury. But I cried to get a cream roll. I cried when my mom used to take me to the barber to have a hair cut. She promised to give me a cream roll. At school, Saturday used to be a half day. My mom used to pack cream roll in my tiffin.



Now those days were gone. Slowly even I forgot what a cream roll was. But when I had a bite of it at the bakery, Ummmmmmmm I cant describe the smile it brought on my face. I paid for the cream roll to the bakery guy. It was for 5 rs. 10 years ago, it costed me 1 rs 50 ps. Time has surely changed and prices have gone high. I couldnt find a proper pic. of a cream roll. Hope you get an idea about what food item i was talking about.

ATM

This blog is a tribute to the inventors of the ATM. Most of us think that the full form of ATM is "ANY TIME MONEY" Practically speaking it is right. You will find the correct full form of ATM as you read through this blog.

As is often the case with inventions, many inventors contribute to the history of an invention. In the case of the ATM, Don Wetzel invented the first successful and modern ATM in the USA, however he was not first inventor to create an ATM. In 1939, Luther George Simjian started patenting an earlier and not-so-successful version of an ATM.

An automatic teller machine or ATM allows a bank customer to conduct their banking transactions from almost every other ATM machine in the world. Don Wetzel was the co-patentee and chief conceptualist of the automated teller machine, an idea he said he thought of while waiting in line at a Dallas bank. At the time (1968) Wetzel was the Vice President of Product Planning at Docutel, the company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment. The other two inventors listed on the patent were Tom Barnes, the chief mechanical engineer and George Chastain, the electrical engineer. It took five million dollars to develop the ATM. The concept of the modern ATM first began in 1968, a working prototype came about in 1969 and Docutel was issued a patent in 1973. The first working ATM was installed in a New York based Chemical Bank. (dahsiN's note: There are different claims to which bank had the first ATM, I have used Don Wetzel's reference.)
"No, it wasn't in a lobby, it was actually in the wall of the bank, out on the street. They put a canopy over it to protect it from the rain and the weather of all sorts. Unfortunately they put the canopy too high and the rain came under it. (laughing) One time we had water in the machine and we had to do some extensive repairs. It was a walkup on the outside of the bank. That was the first one. And it was a cash dispenser only, not a full ATM... We had a cash dispenser, and then the next version was going to be the total teller (created in 1971), which is the ATM we all know today -- takes deposits, transfers money from checking to savings, savings to checking, cash advances to your credit card, takes payments; things like that. So they didn't want just a cash dispenser alone." - Don Wetzel on the first ATM installed at the Rockville Center, New York Chemical Bank from a NMAH interview.
The first ATMs were off-line machines, meaning money was not automatically withdrawn from an account. The bank accounts were not (at that time) connected by a computer network to the ATM. Therefore, banks were at first very exclusive about who they gave ATM privileges to. Giving them only to credit card holders (credit cards were used before ATM cards) with good banking records. Wetzel, Barnes and Chastain developed the first real ATM cards, cards with a magnetic strip and a personal ID number to get cash. ATM cards had to be different from credit cards (then without magnetic strips) so account information could be included.

Thank You Don and Luther for making us to shift from the cashier queues at the bank counter to longer queues in front of a ATM.

HNY06

It was 1st of Janauary. I had just come back from my hometown, the salary had been credited, and the best thing was, it was SUNDAY. After a noisy 31st december, i woke up late (as usual) . One of my friends called me and said he was coming to my house. i said, " Great ! Come fast, i've heard that there is a theatre near my house. It always shows the latest released movies at a very cheap rate. we will go there for a movie." My room mate also agreed. By the time my friend came and i got ready, it was 12:30. We thought, If we were to go for a movie, it would have started at 12:00 or before that. No point going there now. so we decided to have lunch at some hotel nearby the theatre, roam around and do a bit of shopping and reach the theatre by 2:30 pm.
We went to a hotel, had our lunch. Then we went to a ice-cream parlour. took a Jumbo ice-cream. There we came across some marathi girls, who spoke to us !! ( Finding marathi girls in Bangalore is rare, and they talking to you is still rare) With smiling faces, we left the place. We went to a T-shirt shop, did window-shopping and came out. At another shop, i bought two really cheap t-shirts.
It was 2 pm now. we decided to take an auto to the theatre thinking that :
1. If we reach early, we will be the first ones to get the ticket.
2. The next show must be at 3 pm and not 3:30 pm
3. If we dont get the ticket for the coming show, we will surely get a ticket for the evening show.

We took an auto and headed towards the theatre. The Auto driver said," 15 rs Lagega, meter nahi lagaunga". We said, ok. Take us to the theatre first. He raced his auto and took a sharp left. later he stopped his engine and cruised on the steep road. We cursed that auto driver. He was going to earn 15 rs without any efforts. Finally we approached the theatre. But wait ! where is the crowd ? There was not a single person moving towards the theatre. Huge Blue tarpaulin sheets covered the theatre premises. We peeped through the sheets to see that half of the theatre had collapsed and people were working on the other half. After moving a bit ahead, we learnt that the theatre was closed for renovation. "But i saw one movie last week here ! " my friend said. We looked at each others faces and cursed the theatre. Even the auto driver was laughing at us. We told him," Now put your meter on and take us back home " He agreed and took us back home. Even he felt pity of us and he didnt take the 15 rs we promised him to pay earlier.( again very rare in Bangalore)
"No more going out today, lets have a sound sleep on the first day of a new year" said my roomie. I was so depressed that i decided to go to the company and do some work.

What a nice start of a New Year !!
In case you are still wondering what does the topic mean: Happy New Year 06