Inspired by Information

Life is lot easier, when somebody "knowledgeable" is by your side. If NOT, you need the right information to make the struggle of life easier.

A number of times you have to do certain things, and you struggle, do trials and fail and learn in the process. You get sucess and you get what you wanted and over a period of time, you slowly forget how exactly you did. Some time later, some body else wants to do the same and asks for your help, and you can not even recall how you did. Your friend has to start all over again. This cycle goes on . . .
. . . and it will go on unless we have an easier way to share what we learned through the journey of our life with others. Fortunately, now we have internet and the blogging site which allows us to share with million others whatever we want to share and that too in muinutes.

"Inspired by Information" is my blog to share the information which I got from others or through my own struggle which probably can be used by others.

It will be under construction for several months so keep coming to check out what is new.

Neel

2011 Additions


Overwhelmed with emails, try Filters !!


If you are not a pro with email management and find overwhelmed with the emails you receive when you join a yahoo group, then you can use folders and filters to manage your emails. The document gives step by step procedure.

Click here to read more - Managing emails using folders and filters


When I lived in Bangalore

Search for a Good School

When I started search for a good school for my daughter, I had my questions like :
Need info about good schools in and around south Bangalore for my daughter who will be three this December.
Some specific questions:
What are the schools which has van service from south city? I have seen Bus from Kumaran and then van from St. Mark
What is the calendar in schools, means when they start accepting applications for admission and when the classes start?
What is the appropriate age for admission in school?( Currently my daughter goes to Prathama, the near by play school)
What is the difference in CBSE and ICSE and which one to prefer?
In what range, schools are looking for donations? I heard 1 lakh for DPS and 30 thousand for some others.
Any schools which works better for IT professionals, where the student can take leave for an extended period when their parents go onsite and come and join back the same school on return.
Is it okay to go for school which does not have high school and change later on, or it will be difficult to get admission in high school later on.
Any websites where I can search for local schools.

and I got really useful information from the people across. Some of them which might be useful for you:

Gita Madhavpeddi >>>
www.vidyasangam.org and

www.psbbschools.com for info on PSBB Academy on Bannerghatta Rd.(CBSE) Started 2006.New but sound philosophy.Affiliated to PSBB chennai (v.reputed school.)

Kumarans has all 3 boards. CBSE is on Kanakpura road .Old and reputed

DPS Kanakpura road (CBSE)Started maybe 2001

NPS koramangala(CBSE)Started 2003.NPS indiranagar is old and reputed

Innisfree House School, (ICSE) Quite old and reputed.

BGS NPS (CBSE) Bannerghatta road started 2006.

Brigade School Brigade Millennium 2004(CBSE) Good infrastructure and reasonably good teachers but tricky management people.50000 donation as of april 2006.


My daughter goes to DPS ,Pune now(class II).In Bangalore she did LKG from Akshara Playhome)and then went to Brigade school.(UKG and 1st).We did not have any issues regarding teaching etc but we felt badly let down when Brigade broke off its partnership with PSBB suddenly and unilaterally in the first year itself (March 2005).It had commenced in June 2004.
A large group of parents joined hands and formed a constructive action group and succeeded in persuading PSBB to start a new school since Brigade was unwilling to reconsider its decision.The parents group is Vidyasangam whose link i had sent you.They did not confront Brigade either through press or through legal action.They chose restraint. These parents were keen on the PSBB model of education and had earlier put their children in Brigade-PSBB bec of PSBB's reputation.Anyway the new school has come up(started functioning in June 2006).Brigade has issued legal notices to PSBB through the press.PSBB has assured the parents that it is legally sound.We had also opted for the new PSBB but we moved out of Bangalore.Some of the children from Southcity have shifted to PSBB and some have remained in Brigade.

DPS across India is reputed as a brand but they are quite commercial.They and Brigade may consider retaining child's seat on paying the entire fees of the year if travelling abroad but this is only hear say,one cannot be sure.

Philosophy wise PSBB,NPS,Kumarans are more down to earth and have better value systems in their culture.

In general it is easier to get admission in any school at the nursery/ LKG level.There is more competition in 1st standard level.

If you are looking for a good Playschool:
pls check out Akshara Playhome on JP nagar 100ft road (after 24th main junction) it is old and reputed.They are known to train children for Kumaran's entrance test for 1st std.
Eurokids BG road is also an option.

What is the difference in CBSE and ICSE and which one to prefer?

CBSE has become more popular because evaluation systems are more child friendly.The syllabus is heavier than State Boards.Good for Engg.Med.
ICSE is a tougher system where they believe in making things difficult.
But if quality of English language learning is very important to you ICSE is definitely better.Some people believe that the future professions will belong to Humanities and Social Science based subjects.



Any schools which works better for IT professionals, where the student can take leave for an extended period when their parents go onsite and come and join back the same school on return.

Geeta Kalidas>>
Good idea to call up individual schools in Sept -Oct.(Traditionally the observation/interview season is november to january.Last year there was talk of a
Karnataka govt.rule for all schools--irrespective of which board--that admissions should not happen before April but i don't think schools like to change what they have always been doing.)
Most CBSE schools in Bangalore like the child to complete 4yrs(CBSE says 3 yrs 10 months) by May 31st for admission into LKG in June.
A December born child would be only 3 and a 1/2.
CBSE schools normally stick to the Age rule.
Most school academic years start in first or second week of June. Admission fees excluding total annual fees usually starts around 30000-40000 as far as i remember.


Mrs Uday>>>

This site give some comprehensive data regarding the institutions of Bangalore.
http://www.educationbangalore.com/index.shtml


Nancy >>

1. All most all schools will have van/bus service to South City depending on the no. of students already enrolled in that school from South City, e.g. Kumaran's, Innisfree, St. Pauls, Oxford, DPS, N.P.S (Koramangala), PSBB, BGS NPS, St Marks Global etc and so on

2. Most schools start application between Oct and Nov, you will have to enquire with the school to get specific date.

3. Ur Daughter will be 3 this December which means she can join NURSERY (or PRE-KG) in most (DPS, NPS, Innisfree etc) schools, some schools like PSBB will allow her admission to LKG. This is very school specific, so you have to enquire with the school.

4. Difference in CBSE and ICSE, dunno know too much on that. I studied CBSE, and I always had the impression that ICSE allows you to think more (rationalise) whereas CBSE emphasizes on learning everything by-heart. This is only my point of view.

5. DPS does not charge Rs 1lakh in donation (my son goes to DPS). They charge Rs. 16,200/- as donation to their charitable trust and Rs. 30000/- as Caution deposit which is refundable when u leave the school. Their yearly fees including bus fee amounts somewhere around Rs. 35,000. Other schools I am not too sure about. DPS has 2 buses operational from South City.

6. Schools better for IT professionals - DPS does not entertain leaving in between and then coming back after a period of time. If you want to keep the seat secure you will have to pay the full year fees.

I have heard that Innisfree allows the student to have 1 such break, but I cannot confirm.

If you are planning to travel with your family I would suggest that Play schools such as Euro Kids, Kidzee etc would be a better option.

7. Is better to send ur child to a playschool and then move her to a normal school by 1st std?

This question is purely relative on what your plans are for your child.

If you plan to stay in Bangalore for a while (3- 4 years) then it would be better to put her in a school since admission to 1st std will be less difficult. Putting the child in a normal school would mean that she would be into academics from day 1, which means that she would start learning to read and write from NURSERY onwards and by the time she reaches UKG they will start teaching the second language Hindi/Kannada also.

Playschools like Eurokids and other Montessori schools only start recognising alphabet by nursery and they only write by LKG and they donot start the second language by UKG, which means that when u move ur child to 1st std in a normal school she will be a little behind the students who started out in the school by NURSERY. On the other hand, the plus point here is that she would have had loadsa fun and playtime between the age 3 and 5 (The child will have to be 6 years for admission in 1st std.)

Gear Foundation is one such school who believes in Montessori and they start as early as 2 years, try the GEAR website (Pls GOOGLE for that).
Valley School on Kanakpura Road is an ALTERNATE school and they only start from std 1.

8. Websites - pls GOOGLE. Most of the schools I have listed here are available on the web with address and contact information. For feedback about the different schools talk to the parents in south city. Everybody has their own opnion.

As for me, I used send my son to Euro Kids and I was extremely happy with them. Now I have put him in DPS I am not so happy on the emphasis on do's and don'ts and less creative thinking.

Binu Paul >>
We are sending our daughter to Deccan Herald's School.(Ph:26393704) It is in Padbhanabha Nagar around 8 kms form South City. Near Komala Brigade Residency
ICSE Syllabus,They have big campus( 10 acre) . It is a new school started 5 yrs back.
Sep to nov .
Fees is around 18 K per annum Capitation was 25 K last year
Fees is around 18 K per annum
Better to send to high school, otherwise you have to repeat the same process again


New Born Birth Certificate
This depends on which hospital the baby is born and not where you are staying. Like all babies born at Sagar Apollo will have to collect the birth cirtificate from Madiwala registration center. Typically the hospital will issue you a certificate which you have to take to the center and fill up a form there and they will issue you the certificate in 1-2 weeks time. You will have to pay some amount for this (could not get the breakup), but the lady in madiwal took Rs. 100 for 5 certificates.


Ration Card
Read the FAQ at this site.

Online Map
If youlived in US and were used to yahoo maps and wondering if something like that we have in India, you will be pleased to see something which is coming up

MayMyInida


Choosing the Right Geyser in High Rise Building
Sapna >> We had purchased Venus geysers for our bathrooms. At the time of purchase, the dealer in 4th block told us that by using a pressure valve with the geyser, we
will be able to take care high water pressure issue in L&T South City ( he has many customers from L&T South city).

Things worked fine for the last year and a half before one of our geysers started leaking heavily last week. Upon calling a Venus technician, we were informed
that we have pruchased the wrong model! Apparently L&T South City, all Mantris and Brigades etc communities have/are bing advised by Venus that they need to use a
heavy gauge Venus model and not the type that we had bought.

They gave us two options- one was to buy the right model and the second was to change the inner tank (which had cracked because of high water pressure last
week, hence the leak) to a heavy gauge one. Since our outer shell and the rest was working just fine, we went for the second option by paying for it.

Auto Rickshaw helpline of Bangalore Police
To lodge a complaint
Auto Complain Unit phone no(Bangalore),
22253500
22260554
22207750
And the id is:
dcptrafficeast@gmail.com

Got a baby abroad?
If you had your bady abroad in US or other countries where he/she got the citizenship of that country by birth and then now if you are returning to India, one option for you is to acquire PIO card. However, in this case your baby continues to be a foriegner in India and need to be resgisted at Foriegners's registrar office.

Some details of FRO and registration process is here:
Foreign Registration
The Foreigners' Registration Office (FRO) is a branch of the police department.
The FRO is located at:
Commissioner of Police Office, Queen's Road, Bangalore 560001.
Tel: 2294 2215
All foreigners coming into India with a non-tourist visa, intending to stay beyond 90 days, must register within seven days of arrival into India.
At the time of registration, prescribed forms have to be filled in duplicate or triplicate. Carry passports of each arriving member of the family. Several (3 or 4) copiesof passport size photographs are needed for each person.
Carry all supporting documentation regarding your stay in India, such as a letter from the employer.
All members of the family are required to be present at the time of registration. However, the Foreign Registration Officer himself can sometimes make exceptions for special circumstances of disability or illness.

Foreigners must pass an AIDS test to register.
Once you have been registered, each person is given some pages - "Residential Permit". It is a valuable document for your stay in India. In it, the FRO records your visa status, extensions and permission to exit from India.
AIDS TEST

When you have residency status in India, you are required to get an AIDS test within three weeks of arrival. You are given a list of recognised hospitals and must use those only.

Exit and Re-entry Permit and Tax Clearance

As a registered resident, one must have permission to leave from and return to India.

If your are here on a long term contract, you should apply for a multiple exit and re-entry visa. This can be done before you arrive in India. This is generally valid until the expiration of one's work permit. With proof of an extended work permit, the renewal of the multiple entry visa is simple. Initial application for the multiple entry visa should be made with your registration to avoid loss of time should you need to leave India unexpectedly.

(Source: In and Out of Bangalore)

Documents
Passport
PIO card
$40
Infantry Road
Coffee house
10:5:30
Working on Saturday except 2nd saturday