Setting up Wireless Router with Airtel modem Beetel 200BX

I just bought myself a Netgear WGR614 wireless router. I have heard that configuring wireless routers are pretty easy these days and any non-techy home user can do it easily. While this is a correct statement for most of the cases, unfortunately setting with a wireless router with Airtel broadband in India isn't straight-forward. Also, Airtel customer care helps you with installation the router only if you buy the router from them, which is of almost double cost of what is available in the market and also not of a standard company like Netgear or Linksys.

Without any further comments, here are the steps to make any DSL wireless router to work with Airtel modem Beetel 220BX.

• Make sure that you know the user name and password for the airtel ISP. This is the username and password that the airtel customer care filled in when configuring your router for the first time and asked you to write it somewhere. The username is your phone no (including the std code).
  
• Setting up Beetel 220BX in bridge mode.
• Open url http://192.168.1.1 in browser.
  
• Login using your airtel modem's username and password. Default login and password are admin and password.
• Click on link LAN in the left screen.
• On the right screen, click on disable DHCP server. Now click on save.
• On the left screen, click on WAN.
• On the right screen, you see a single service listed called PPPoE. Click on Edit.
• Now click on Bridge Mode (the last option). Click Next few times and then save.
• Now you will be back to the first screen with the service listed as bridge. Click on Save/Reboot. This will reboot your modem. Wait for 2 mins for complete reboot to happen.
• This completes the configuration for the modem. Now the regular steps as per the wireless router follows.
  
• Now switch off your modem, your wireless router and your computer.
  
• Connect the LAN wires as described by the wireless router manual. Basically the modem's LAN output goes into the router's input. And router's output goes into your computer's LAN card.
• Switch on the modem. Wait for 2 min until its fully started up. Now power on the router. Wait for it to fully start too. Finally turn on your computer. This order is very important. If you are not able to open the url in the next step, this is where you might be at mistake.
  
• Open the url of your wireless router configuration as specified in its manual. In case of Netgear, it's http://192.168.1.1/basicsetting.htm. Default login and password are admin and password.
  
• It will detect your connection as PPPoE. Put the username and password that you saved in the first step above (the airtel ISP). Keep service name as empty. Keep idle timeout as 0.
• Configure your wireless settings and switch on the wireless service.
  
• Setup is complete. Enjoy :-).  And now that your wireless internet is working, why not check out my venture mustseeindia.com - One stop travel guide to India :-)

For more technical people, the airtel modem acts as router and DHCP server too. Putting the modem in bridge makes it only act as a modem and not as a router and DHCP server. Your wireless router is now the new router and DHCP server. So 192.168.1.1 now points to your wireless router and you will not be able to access the modem's admin screen any more.
Also in case, you have done port forwarding or created any virtual hosts or any such stuff on your modem, you will need to do them in the wireless router now.

Update 12/12/2006: This tutorial and my answer pertaining to setting up wireless router with airtel has been chosen as the best answer on Yahoo Answers.
Update 5/2/2007: In case you get stuck, check out the comments of this post, particularly this and this. I haven't verified these though.
Update 12/6/2007: On popular demand, I have written an article to configure port forwarding on the airtel modem here.

Live for yourself...

Coz if you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of anyone else.

Quote of the night, by Sanjay Goel :-)

Yahoo Messenger nsl school virus

Recently, yahoo messenger is been hit by the W32 Sohanad.B worm. Once it infects a computer, it uses the yahoo messenger of logged in user to send messages to friend list containing a link. Most of these links are for sites nsl-school.org or mytermex.com. If you ever get such a link from any of your friend, don't click on it or your system will be infected too.
As a practice, to safeguard yourself from any of such yahoo messenger viruses, always ask your friend first whether he has sent you any link before clicking on it.
If your system is infected with this virus, you would see frequent sign in/sign off or automatic status change to invisible. I have found few links to help you with removing this.
http://www.geocities.com/avsharath/Removing_W32_Sohana.B_Worm.htm - This seems like the most easy way of removing it. Download and merge the reg file, then delete the offending exe(s).
However, if this does not work for you, you can get a more comprehensive detail for removing it here or here.

P.S. I have found out that these nsl-school links that the virus spreads do not infect your computer if you open them in firefox. Looks like they exploit some IE vulnerability. I have always found it a good idea to make firefox my default browser :-).

Upgraded to Blogger Beta

Blogger recently launched a new beta version with new features like Labels, New Layout etc. As you might have noticed, this blog is now running on it.

The switching process was a breeze. The whole process including updating to a new layout based template took like 30 min, during which I played around with all the new things I could do with it.

The most important feature that compelled me to switch to this beta is the labels support. Now I can label my posts and clicking on a label takes you to all the posts with the same label. There is a labels box in the left hand sidebar which lists all the labels I have created. Hence readers interested in philosophical posts can find all of them together and need not be bothered with the tech posts. This feature was long overdue as most other popular commercial blog services provide it.
This feature also eliminates the need for me to maintain a separate tech blog. Its really difficult for me to maintain a separate tech blog, and hence I would not update the other blog anymore.

There have also been some changes in the template. There is a hierarchical blog archive on the left sidebar which provides much better navigation to the old posts.

Another change is the change in the feed url. In case you use a rss reader, please subscribe to this new feed url. There is also an option to subscribe to all comments on the blog. Or to comments of this individual post.

Overall, I'll give Blogger thumbs up for incorporating some long due changes which brings it at par with the commercial services out there.

Update 2/11/06: Looks like their is some issue with Blogger Beta feeds. The feeds do not show the date and time of the post when it was published. Instead it shows the last updated time of the post. I don't know whether its a feature or a bug but I liked it the earlier way.
Also, I have migrated my feeds to feedburner and updated the feed url links.

The K Types

A friend of mine once classified me as a K type individual rather than an H type. According to him, K type individuals are people who would come up with great ideas to make your life miserable and they will show off their power by telling you these ideas and scare you off. However, K type people rarely implement these ideas. Showing off the power gives them great fun, actually implementing it takes away the fun. The H type people on the other hand may or may not come up with their own ideas, but they have a higher probability of implementing those they have. They are more of the practical jokes variety.

While I tend to agree with this judgement, I begin to think why is it like that. I believe it all started the college ragging days(healthy interaction period :-D). IIT Delhi has a very different kind of ragging culture as compared to other institutes. Here a freshman has to face ragging for only the first 15 days of his college. During this period, seniors never resort to any physically harming activity as they consider it an insult to their mental torture skills. So ragging in IIT Delhi is all of a K thing. As a freshman, I remember how my seniors would try to scare me telling all the bad things they would do to me and make my life a hell in college. Knowing that they would never do any of such things, I always felt like laughing and let me tell you that its really difficult to maintain a frightened face when you are laughing inside.
Then as a senior, I would do the same to freshers. And this kind of thing continues after the interaction period too, but then its an equal oppurtunity on both sides.

I remember that this same friend of mine, who at that time was my junior in college, had understood me very well and would never get scared no matter what I do. I actually had to move towards the H type once to actually get him scared. But that wasn't much fun.
So friends, feign fright, it keeps me away from being a H ;-)

P.S. for people who are wondering about K and H, I'll quote my friend - Shakti Harami nahi hai, Shakti Kameena hai

Sabka Katega

bodhiTree is talked about either because of "XL ki kudiyan" or for the unconventional lyrics in their songs. However, I feel that they have huge potential as a band and they should not restrict themselves to just another college band. I can understand that these people are MBA students from XLRI and a music career might be a huge risk to take. However, I am a big fan of bodhiTree and the only reason why I am not able to discuss their music with many people is their lyrics. Hence I feel that they should create some songs with conventional lyrics too if they want to get into mainstream music.

Here I write the lyrics of one of their song which I like the most and which preaches the eternal truth of life - Sabka Katega.

Din kate na raat kate na subah kate na shaam
dhoop hate na chav hate na gum hate na jaam
Dekho sabka katega, sabka katega raam
yuhin katta rahega, sabka katega raam

teri yaadon main kalki rain bitai thi
meri aankhon main phir se aas bhar aayi thi
shaakon se phoolon toote, raahon main jiske
dil dooba, namm hua pyaar main uske
pyaar ghate na yaad bade, yaad bade har saans
pyas main teri jaane kitne kaat chuka main jaam

jaise sabka katega, sabka katega yaar

phir se subah hogi, kabhi to tere dar par
phir se tere mann main, hum rahe har pal

kya hua jo jhooth kaha ki mujhe na tumse pyar
maan bhi jao kat jayega pyar main jeevan yaar

jaisa sabka katega, sabka katega yaar

So rememeber, you are not alone, sabka katega ;-)

When in doubt, Be Honest

Yup, thats it. Quote of the day(night actually) by Sanjay Goel ;-).
This is what I do, coz this is the safest bet most of the times.
What do you do?

4 years of software engineering

Its that time of the year again when I do a self evaluation on my professional and personal achievements and make goals for ahead. I have been doing it since I completed my 2 years in software engineering.

Last year, I had just landed up in a job where I felt I could get better aligned with the professional goals I have set for myself. Leaving behind the dreaded typical Indian Software Services industry, which I could never thrive on, I went into a product development company, which I always felt was more appropriate for a techy/geeky guy like me.

This year saw a reaffirmation of my beliefs and I have beginning to believe that a complete technical career is possible in India as well if you work for the right company. Which is a good sign as its a must if Indian software industry wants to get out of its coolie valley tag. Also, it gives me a much more clear insight of how I would like to go ahead.

Personally, its been a relatively better year than last one. I have been able to slightly come out of the rat race and able to see things with a broader perspective. That puts me into better control of my life. But trouble with life is that you never get clear insights.

Hence I'll go for a "Not a bad job at all", just need to keep moving ahead.

Rang de Basanti

This one is I-Day Special. It all started quite some time ago when I read this post by greatbong. Do read it first to be in coherence. Since I read this post, I have had some thoughts and I even discussed some of it with few friends. I think its time to put my point of view.

What connects “shooting politicians” with “rubbing against Mallika” is that they are both fantasies. While many a director have realized that the way to make a quick buck is to pander to the second fantasy, there have been comparitively few that have realized the potential of playing up to the first.

I agree. I never thought in these terms before, but yes, movies are about selling emotions and fantasies. And contrary to whatever the elderly has to say about aajkal ke bacche, I believe that patriotism is as strong an emotion as ... say ... love. And solving all problems of India would be a fantasy to a lot of us. No wonder when you see something similar on screen, you are bound to get emotional. So where's the fault in that?

Now for the other part. I ask - What is inspiration? Inspiration is an idea that you see which you never saw before. Its something that makes you start thinking in this new direction. Is there anything I can do to make mine and other lives easier? Its a switch from cribbing about problems to thinking about a solution.

I agree that the movie doesn't provide a solution. It can never, as there is no single problem. There are hundreds of problems, starting from an auto rickshaw driver asking for too much money to bomb blasts in Mumbai. But is there anything I can do about it. Maybe I can't. But atleast I'll think over it.

If a common man watches Rang de Basanti and comes out saying that he'll go and kill all the politicians, I don't think he has been inspired at all. Its just an hysteria that in all probability will die down in a few days. Inspiration would be if he finds out that he might have able to get the road of his colony repaired by filing a Right to Information Application.

When blogspot was blocked in India, I myself consulted a lawyer if there was anything I could do about it. I finally didn't do anything as the ban was lifted in a few days. Even if the ban had not been lifted, I might well have not done anything due to "high lawyer fees, too much trouble, external pressures or whatever excuse". But atleast I took the first step. I became Aware.

Are you aware of your rights? When you crib about a problem, did u ever think if anything can be done? It might well be that there is nothing you can do today, but down the line, there might be a time when you CAN do something, and don't hesitate when that time comes. Be Aware, Be Active. No need to remember how many people died in Jaliawala Bagh, no need to know who Bhagat Singh was, just open your eyes, see around and think if there is anything you can do make your own life easier.

And while the security checks this independence day doesn't make me feel that independent (I know I am cribbing but I know there is nothing I can do about it), I wish you all Happy Independence Day :-)

Coincidences

You are on road on a bike with someone. Suddenly you recognize a person crossing the road. Coincidence. Then you realize, hey this guy was supposed to be in Bangalore, how is he in Noida ?? Bigger Coincidence.
Now you meet him, he tells you that he just came in the morning and will be leaving late evening for his place. So just 24 hrs in Noida, no prior information and me and Nagar met Rajneesh on the roads of Noida. Now what are the odds of that.
Bonus, we met (to be) Bhabhi too :-).

Winning Attitude

I recently was telling someone that when I used to play carom in college, I played it only to win. The obvious response I got was - "So what's new. Who doesn't".

I don't. I don't do things for winning in general. There are only specific instances, like the carom example, when I really want to win. And I used to win pretty frequently at it too because of that.

Even in life, I am content with the loser tag. And its not just that I am okay with losing, I am actually happy losing out. A not so exact but similar example might be that if I am with a group of friends who are pulling my leg just for enjoyment, I might actually give them more fodder for that. I may as well make a complete fool of myself deliberately so that the gang enjoys it and I enjoy alongwith.

As most people I see are ones who need to be taught how to handle failures, I wonder whether there are many people like me.

It might be a good thing as it makes me more content internally than those who always try to achieve everything and get frustated in the process. Or it might be a bad thing as a challenges to win typically make u perform better and hence it is pretty difficult for someone else to make me perform if I don't want too.

Chronic Downloader

Check out this article at downloadsquad. Despite the length of the article, I associate with almost every line of it. Yes, I am a chronic downloader. I also have better names for the same thing - "Freeware Tools Guru" for one ;-)

Back to the unblocked state

So this hasn't been as bad as earlier. Around 2.5-3 years ago, Indian govt. had asked the ISPs to block a certain yahoo group, and the ISPs ended up blocking the whole yahoo groups website itself (deja vu anyone). That block lasted for more than a month. Thankfully this time around, its been only a few days.
While most people do not even remember the above mentioned event, it was good to see that this time around, people used legal ways (one guy asked for clarification under RTI act, another one filed a PIL) to counter this irresponsible step.
Also check out this satirical post by greatbong.

At the same time, another point that one of my friends raises is the indirect effects of terrorism. How many times has it happened that you go to a mall/theatre and get annoyed by the extra security checks. Or talking a walk late at night and constables start questioning you about your intentions. Or this particular case, when thousands of blogs got blocked in India. Several of those blogs would have been revenue sources for their owners. Lots of those blogs had technical articles that help me in my work. This shows how blasts in mumbai can effect work of a software engineer in delhi or revenues of an american guy in California.
I am yet to see terrorism providing any tangible benefits to anyone.

This blog is blocked !!

So here's the story ... Yesterday, I completed 1 year in my current company. I thought about writing a post, but somehow this blog wouldn't open. Then I tried opening gullu's blog but that wouldn't open either. Neither would Anurag's.

Looked like blogger has been down for maintenance. I checked out Blogger Status, but that doesn't show any planned outages/network down for maintenance. Day ends, I come back home, try opening my blog again but it still doesn't open. How big can be an outage?

Today I get to read about this on newspaper (It rarely happens that I get to know technical news via newspapers). But what!!! blogspot is banned in India. What the !@#$%^&. How could this be true???

So India is now in the proud league of Pakistan and Iran. Check out Pkblogs It asks on top

Is your blog blocked in India, Pakistan, Iran or China?

Yes it is. Well, is there a lawyer out there who can tell me how to sue the govt. for its irresponsible actions?

For the time-being, access this blog via this link(I know it's a catch 22 situation, but there is nothing much I can do). I would soon write a complete post on how to circumvent all such situations.

Life moves on

sahi aur galat ka faisla karna to bahut aasan hai, lekin do sahi rasto main behtar chunna, aur do galat rasto main munasib chunna, yahi zindagi ka faisla karte hai.
While I really wouldn't give Fanaa the top rating, philosophical punchlines like these do sometimes get relevance in one's life.

Life never ceases to amaze me, sometimes it crawls at a snail pace and at other times, it become too fast for comfort. The same me can be a hero to some, a villain to few and a ordinary guy for most, depending upon my decisions on various big and small events that life throws at me.

Lot many events happened in past some time, lots of movies, a trip to nainital, squash and football games and some noticeable loss in weight. My blogging frequency doesn't do justice to any of them, but there is one lesson I have learned.

Life Moves On. Take out the +ves and make them your happy memories. Take out the -ves, analyze them and make them your experience. Move On.

Technical Advice

I have always been one of those computer guys out here to help friends with their daily computer problems. I have seen over time that most of these problems are repetitive in nature. And solving the same problem for 20 people giving them the same instruction set isn't my idea of fun. I could make my like easier by writing the instruction set somewhere so that everyone can access it and get help from it.

Hence I have started my own Technical Advice column where I would be writing my advice for various issues people face with regards to computers. I would also be suggesting techniques to improve productivity/make life easier using software.

I can be contacted at goel.shakti+tech@gmail.com for all such queries.

Reservation in Indian Cricket Team

I was reading a news where Makaya Ntini destroyed New Zealand and took South Africa to victory a few days ago. The same Ntini whose first inclusion in the team had raised voices that his selection was based on his being black rather than his performance.
He proved all those people wrong and the SA cricket board right. But what if Indian govt. makes a law of 50% reservation based on caste in the Cricket Team.

Now this isn't a stupid thought without reason. With the govt planning 50% reservation in all engineering and management schools including IITs and IIMs and also in private sector jobs, why should cricket be spared. After all it is also a job that till now only few people get after going through an extremely competitive route. And it also brings pride to the country, just like IITs and IIMs have brought so far. Only so far that is.

I remember during my JEE preparation days how University of Roorkee, despite being the oldest and one of the best universities in India was losing all its reputation as compared to IITs due to almost 50% reservation in its entry system. And I was so pleased when it became IIT Roorkee as that immediately brought it at par with the IITs with similar performance based entry system.

And for all those who think that the govt is helping the poor and oppressed class by increasing reservation quota, let me tell you that being studied, and made friends with a lot many of these guys in college, I know how many actually got helped or even needed this help at the first place. I can count them on fingers.

Building up reputation takes decades, ruining it is just a matter of a couple of years. Sone ki murgi ka pet nahi katna chahiye.

The Ganga Rafting Trip

Last weekend we went for a company trip to Rishikesh for rafting on Ganga river. And what a trip it was. I have been to lots of places in the country, but most of those were sight seeing/small trekking trips. This one, on the contrary, was a truely adventure trip and I enjoyed it to the fullest. The scariest part of the trip was diving from a 25 ft cliff into water. I did it twice, but believe me, I was scared as hell. I have dropped all my bungee jumping plans for now.

If there is a trip I would recommend to everyone atleast once in a lifetime, this is it.

Playing with the sand.

Your majestic

A game of beach volleyball

Raring to go

Trying to be cool

After Rappelling moments

Kayaking in peaceful times.

The Rang de Basanti trip

Once, I and Meetu were to leave for Jaipur for the weekend. Kshitij and Nagar graciously offered to drop us till Bikaner House so that we can catch our bus. The bus tickets were bought but suddenly over talks and persuasion, they decided to drop us till jaipur :-). And after an overnight drive (done completely by Kshitij) and a memorable trip to Nahargarh the second evening, we had what I now call the Rang de Basanti trip.
Chronologically, this happened before the play event that I wrote before but It took me long time to get the pictures together and write this post.
What has this to do with Rang de Basanti? A lot of the amazing stills of the movie have been shot in the Nahragarh fort of Jaipur. We spent our saturday evening at these same spots and tried to recreate the magic that the movie had weaved around us.

On top of the world.

Socrates and Plato. Don't ask who's who ;-)

These two can replace Amir Khan and Sharman Joshi in the drinking competition that took place on the small platform in the backdrop. Again, don't ask who's Amir ;-)

Beautiful collage created by Meetu. He created another one as well but I didn't have enough space here for both.

Panaroma image created with mulitple pictures taken from my mobilecam and stitched using free software AutoStitch. It fell short a few pictures, but its amazing what technology can do these days.

Update 16-03-06: Changed the caption of the first image. The earlier caption was "Me taking on the city." This one looks better.

Accidental death of an Anarchist

Watched this play on saturday. All the actors are IITD students, 3 of them being the alumni. I have seen this play being performed twice during the college days, once as my hostel's entry in the interhostel competition and once as IITD entry in rendezvous. Pankaj had performed the lead role in those 2 performaces as well.
However, it was the first time I saw this play being performed commercially (for that matter, I haven't seen any commercial plays with all IITD actors, I wonder if there are many such plays). The performance was at a different level altogether this time around. The amount of effort that went into this was clearly visible and this hilarious satirical play had all the audience laughing their bellies out.
Congratulations to the whole crew for a commendable performance and I hope that you people do more plays in future.

P.S. Photography was not allowed during the show, but I hope no one minds these 2 photographs as my mobile camera didn't have flash/sound.

Jodi No. 1

Guys this is official. Now that Govinda is into politics, David decided to be the hero himself ;-). "Dha wan and only one" is now "Jodi No. 1". Congrats to Anuj and Riha on their engagement.
I just can't wait for another dance in front of the horse :-)
Update 20/3/06 : Added another picture courtesy David. Me, Nagar and Singla with the couple.

PS: I hope Anuj will now have better pictures to put on his blog.

Some narcissism

Its been a long time since I uploaded my pic in my profile. Hence I uploaded pics of myself for each of last 4 years. I changed a lot between 2002 to 2004, no more changes these days.

2001/2002 - Final Year in College	2003 - In Bangalore
2004 - In Noida	2005 - Still in Noida

I am using the latest one as my pic in the profile. It was shot using my Nokia 6255 mobile camera.

Computer Guys

"Shakti, my network card isn't working, please fix it."
"Sorry man, I don't know much about hardware."
"kya kahe raha hai Shakti, tu to compu stud hai, theek kar de"

If you are familiar with such conversation, chances are that you are one of those people proclaimed computer guys out there. I was reading this article today and found this real good corollary.

"Did you watch the Raiders game?"

"No, I don't follow football ------"

"What do you think of the new quarterback?"

"Really, football's not my thing. I don't know."

"I thought that you said that you're a sports fan?"

"No, I said that I watched tennis."

"Right, so what did you think of the penalty called in the Raiders game?"

"I watch tennis."

"Why would they call a penalty like that?"

Um.

Interesting Read.

Update 01/02/2006: Check out today's dilbert.

Yahoo opens dot addresses

Yahoo email addresses, like gmail, can finally have dots. Even better is the fact is that you can create an alias to the existing account. So all you 2001, 2002, _delhi, _iitd people out there, grab one here. I already grabbed one you can guess.

Happy New Year

So many thoughts, so less words and even less time. Last year was a pretty balanced one, delivering the best of professional life experiences and the worst of personal life experiences at the same time. But hasn't life always been like that.

I want my life to be a decaying sinusoidal curve, slowing moving towards a stable equilibrium. Ever since I started writing there, I feel that I have been constantly moving closer to it. This is enough reason for me to be satisfied and hopefully that future will be good.

Hope all you people reading this never lose hope. Happy New Year.