How to keep your room cool without AC?

Summer has arrived and my bedroom is so hot that I cannot sleep at night. I bought a table fan, did some R&D based on the internet blogs, but nothing worked out. Buying air conditioner was the only way out. Then I did some research on various type of air conditioners like 5 star acs in various brands like Voltas, Bluestar, etc. I thought of it as an one time investment ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs.45,000. Then, I started analyzing the current consumption of the air conditioners. It was a big shock to me. Because all the house owners in our area including our house owner is collecting a charge of Rs.5 per Unit of electricity. So if I buy an AC then I have to pay Rs.1500 to Rs.2000 extra to electricity bill each and every month. This will become a permanent expense. So I dropped this idea. Then I continued my research on internet looking for other alternate "inexpensive" ways. I am a very stingy guy you know, so I always look out for cheap ways :) . At last I came across a solution. The solution is a simple thermodynamics logic that we had learnt in our school days. The logic is very simple, if the temperature of inside area is less and outside area is high, then hot air will come inside automatically to compensate the temperature. This is applicable for the opposite scenario as well. However this is a slow process. So I thought of a way to speed up this process and I found a really good way to do this.

When I bought a table fan I was keeping it near open windows so that it can pull the cool outside air inside. I tried it for a lot of days, but it did not work out as expected. Then I tried a different thing with my table fan. I locked the room door, kept the fan facing outward toward the windows so that all the air will blow out through the windows. I kept the fan at full speed running for half an hour. Imagine what had happened after half an hour. I entered my room from the hall, and you know there was so much temperature difference between my hall and room. The room was cool like my roof terrace. Awesome right!! The logic is very simple. My fan acted as an exhaust fan pushing all the hot air outside, so outside cool air rushed inside my room to level the temperature. Cool right!! I just tried this yesterday and it is working like a charm and I had a very good sleep. Give a try guys and you will be amazed by the result. And one last important thing, your room temperature will become even with outside temperature. If you want below 24 degree, then you should go air conditioner only :p

I am very stingy guy with money, so this is an excellent and natural way of cooling for me :) If you like this post and tried it out, Please like and share!!

Travel tips - Oslo, Norway

Norway is not part of the European Union. They are part of the schengen zone though. Okay, let's get right to the notes on Oslo.

Language:
English is widely spoken in Oslo – at shops, bus drivers, train stations, restaurants and people in general can speak in English.

At the airport:
When you come out of the green channel door at Oslo airport (Gardermoen), walk to the right. You will see a booth on the left called “Public Transport”. You will see a person with “Ruter” on his/her shirt / t-shirt. Ask for a 1 week travel card for Zone 1. It costs 230 NOK. It is valid on buses, trains and trams.

Then if you continue walking straight ahead you will reach the entrance to the Train station. Once you have a 1 week travel card, you get a discount on the Airport-to-City train fare. You have two types of trains to get to the city center. Please note the names of Oslo city center – Jernbanetorget / Oslo S /Oslo Sentralstasjon – you could see any one of these names.

The NSB trains cost 90 NOK to the city center (60 NOKs with the 1 week travel card). NSB trains ply every 20 to 30 minutes and takes 23 minutes to get to the city center. Flytoget trains ply every 10 minutes and cost double than NSB. Buy an NSB ticket using one of the ticketing machines at the entrance to the train station. Remember to click the British flag to see the screen in English. On the ticketing machine, place your Travel Card on the panel for it, enter your destination as Oslo S (Sentralstasjon), insert your payment card, wait for some time for it to recognize the payment card, it will ask you to enter the pin and press OK, do it, it will ask you to take out the payment card, do it, and then wait till it adds the trip to the Travel Card. It will tell you what it is doing in the form of messages on the screen. It will also give you a paper receipt for the 60 NOKs. Take out your travel card. The ticket checker on the train will ask to see your travel card, he will insert it into a handheld device to validate the trip. He does not check the paper receipt for the 60 NOKs.

At Oslo S, from the platform you have to walk up a ramp (or get on an escalator) to come to the main area of the train station. Walk towards the Karl Johans Gate exit. You will come to a large square outside the main door of the Oslo S. Towards your north-east you will see a tram stop. Take the 17 or 18 tram to get off at Bislett. If you stay at Parkveien, get off at the stop called Frydenlund. 

Towards your south-east you will have a bus stop for bus number 37. All bus stops will show which bus numbers stop there. Bus 37 takes you to Collets Gate (if you stay on Louises Gate, this is the stop for you). Bus 37 will also take you to the TCS office at Nydalen. This is the last stop on Bus 37.

SIM cards:
Pick up Lyca SIM cards at any convenience store such as 7 Eleven, Narvessen etc. While you could buy it from a convenience store at the airport, even if you forget, don't worry. They will take a copy of your passport. Convenience stores are all over the city. Ask them to register the SIM card for you, which means, they will have to send out your details to the provider. If you try to do it yourself by sending the provider an email with your details, it may or may not get activated - I have faced problems with that option with multiple follow up calls post that email.

Where to stay:
We use serviced apartments from The Apartments Company, http://www.theapartmentscompany.no/ One bedroom apartments are in the range of 600 to 800 NOK per day. They have apartments in the areas of Bislett and Parkveien, which I have referred to above, and are convenient locations. Expect hotels to be packed in July, so book ahead.

Public transport in Oslo:
Check the website https://ruter.no/en/ for all public transport routes. Use the English language option on the website. Purchase the 1 week travel card as explained above.

Shopping:
There is at least one grocery shop within a 1 KM radius anywhere in Oslo. It could be a 7 Eleven, Kiwi, Rimi, Narvessen, Coop. You can get onions, tomatoes, fruits, milk, bread, butter and eggs there.

For high street shopping head to Karl Johans Gate, which is a street close to Oslo S (Sentralstasjon). “Oslo City” mall is good too, and is across the Oslo S (Sentralstasjon)

There is a decent mall called Storo near the TCS office at Nydalen

Tips / lessons learnt:
When cooking open the windows and also switch on the exhaust over the stove. If the fire alarm goes off, ensure that the windows are open and the exhaust is running, and wait for some time and hope that it turns off. If it does not turn off, the fire service will come over and turn off the alarm. They will charge 6000 NOK for this service. 

If you keep the cooking stove on for a long time, it has a safety mechanism because of which it will beep. There will be a small button on the wall near the stove. You need to press that button and the sound will stop. This is to check if there is anyone in the house. If you do not press the button, it will switch off the electric supply to the stove. You will not be able to switch on the stove. To restore electric supply to the stove, press and hold that button for 3 seconds. 

In the bathroom, if you keep the hot water tap running continuously for a long time, say more than 20 minutes, it will cut off the hot water supply. You will have to wait for one hour to restore hot water again.

Buy your alcohol at the Oslo duty free – it is cheaper than Doha, Dubai and Copenhagen

Dosai:
There is a Sri Lankan Tamil restaurant called Palmyra café at Gronland. Take the train from Oslo S to Gronland. Then take the exit towards Politihuset

Enjoy your stay at Oslo ! And please do share your notes and tips for cities you have been to.

What kite are you flying?

Neha was very upset because her little sister spilled water on her science project. And, this was not the first time that her sister had spoiled her school work. Therefore, Neha requested her parents to buy her a study table with drawers where she could safely keep her books.
Neha's parents could not afford to buy a brand new table. However, they agreed to buy her a table from a second-hand furniture store. One day after school, Neha's mother took her to the second-hand furniture store, so that she could buy the table of her choice. Though, there were not many choices in that store, Neha pretended to look around.
She casually opened a drawer of an old black table. And, guess what did she find? A small transparent plastic bag with some rupee notes.
"Maybe I have found somebody's secret stuff. Am I the luckiest twelve-year old? My birthday is approaching. With this money, I can buy myself great presents…. maybe a bicycle, stationery, dresses..... and maybe I can even buy things for my family", Neha thought. She was overcome with greed and quickly slipped that bag to the end of the drawer.
She went to her mother and told her that she wanted to buy that black table. Neha's mother told her that the table looked too old and she should look for something better. "No, I like this one. I will paint it and glue some stickers on it to make it look better", Neha insisted. She was feeling scared from inside but her greed prompted her to lie.
Neha could not wait until everybody left after the table was organized in the room. She locked the room, quickly opened the drawer and took the plastic bag with rupee notes out. She found a paper along with that money. It seemed that some old lady was saving money for her children and grandchildren. Neha began counting the money. She could hear her loud heart beat when she finally reached a count of twelve thousand rupees.
But now, with the money she had, she thought that she would have to make up many lies to spend that money. She would have to hide the money all the time and was already feeling scared. She thought, "This money is not meant for me. The old lady had been saving this money for her family. She must have passed away and nobody would have known about the money in the drawer. Therefore, the family would have sold it to the second-hand furniture store."