My 2 Cents - Vivekananda Kadukuntla

Another brilliant idea to get your kids hooked this summer!

Vivekananda Kadukuntla / March 17, 2020March 17, 2020 / Uncategorized

How does the idea of free audiobooks for kids sound? Storybooks in audio format!

As a parent, if you’re wondering how to engage your kids during this COVID-19 lockdown season, here are 37 ways we shared a little while ago!

Books is yet another idea to get your kids hooked this season!

Free storybooks – audio

Here is a set of 29 free audiobooks for kids to help you get started. All these are short stories (duration less than 10 mins) – interesting enough to generate interest and make it a habit, but short enough to complete one and explore others to feed their curiosity. These work best for children aged 3-7 yrs.

For older kids, you can sign-up for a free trial of audible and get a 30 day trial with one book free – enough to get you through the current troublesome times, hopefully.

Does anything like below look like a good start? Click on any title to create your free trial.

Got a Kindle?

If you have a kindle with you and would like to load books for your kids, you can take a look at the Top 100 free books in Amazon Bestsellers, to begin with.

If you have a favorite book or resource your child likes, please share it in the comments. My daughter is almost done with the audiobooks stories and will come for more anytime now! 🙂

Grab one for yourself!

While you’re there, you can grab a book for yourself too! I strongly recommend you give this one a shot: Leadershift – The 11 Essential Changes Every Leader Must Embrace. Very refreshing and new ways of looking at leadership. I myself am on it as we speak!

Or, probably The Infinite Game: How Great Businesses Achieve Long-lasting Success. I just completed this one a few days ago and recommend to change the mindset with which we make plans and solve problems.

Happy reading and stay safe!

37 Ways to keep kids engaged during this COVID-19 lockdown

Vivekananda Kadukuntla / March 16, 2020March 17, 2020 / Articles

During these difficult times across the globe, many kids will be home considering the lockdown of schools – as part of preventing measures to control the spread of Coronavirus – along with offices, businesses, malls, theaters and pretty much any place with large gatherings. Are you thinking of activities for kids at home to keep them engaged?

Here is a list of online resources to help the parents keep kids busy with good stuff. As they tend to learn fast or get bored easily, the large number of options below will help parents to find something that your child likes, and is useful too.

Before we begin the list, here are some free audiobooks for kids – who doesn’t like stories? While the download is in progress, read on…

1. Brain POP

https://www.brainpop.com/

2. Byju’s Learning

https://byjus.com/

Free access to BYJUS learning program until April-end. News link.

3. Curiosity Stream

https://curiositystream.com/

4. Tynker

https://www.tynker.com/

5. Outschool

https://outschool.com/

6. Beast Academy

https://beastacademy.com/

7. Khan Academy

https://www.khanacademy.org/

8. Creative Bug

https://www.creativebug.com/

9. Discovery Education

https://www.discoveryeducation.com/

10. Crash Course Kids on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcoursekids

11. Science Channel on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/ScienceChannel

12. SciShow Kids on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/scishowkids

13. National Geographic Kids

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXVCgDuD_QCkI7gTKU7-tpg

14. Free School on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/watchfreeschool

15. GEOgraphy Focus on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8HYERScBt-e0kV0fpe0asg

16. The Brain Scoop on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/thebrainscoop

17. SciShow on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/scishow

18. Kids Learning Tube on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7EFWpvc1wYuUwrtZ_BLi9A

19. Geek Gurl Diaries on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/GeekGurlDiaries

20. Mike Likes Science on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/comaniddy

21. Science Max on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbprhISv-0ReKPPyhf7-Dtw

22. SoulPancake on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/soulpancake

23. Scholastic Learn at Home

https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
Scholastic has created a free learn-from-home site with 20+ days of learning and activities.

24. Travel + Leisure

https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours
These 12 Famous Museums Offer Virtual Tours You Can Take on Your Couch (Video)

25. All-in-one Home School

https://allinonehomeschool.com/
This is the awesome free curriculum; everything from preschool activities to 12th grade is here!

List of thinking games by grade: https://allinonehomeschool.com/thinking/

26. Starfall (Free)

https://www.starfall.com/h/

27. FunBrain (Free)

https://www.funbrain.com/

28. SplashLearn

https://www.splashlearn.com/

29. Storyline Online (Free)

https://www.storylineonline.net/

30. PBS Kids

https://pbskids.org/

31. Highlights Kids

https://www.highlightskids.com/

32. National Geographic Kids

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

33. Cool math 4 kids

https://www.coolmath4kids.com/

34. Math Game Time

http://www.mathgametime.com/

35. Seuss Ville

https://www.seussville.com/

36. Turtle Diary

https://www.turtlediary.com/

37. e-learning for kids

https://www.e-learningforkids.org/in/home

Do you have any other resources or activities for kids at home you’d like to append to this list? Share in the comments and will be glad to add them to the article.

HawkEye: Use Telangana Police App to report violations

Vivekananda Kadukuntla / June 24, 2018 / Utilities

HawkEye is an app by Telangana police to empower common man to become Citizen Police for better governance. This citizen friendly mobile app lets you be in touch with Police always!

You can also report violations using WhatsApp – click here to read about it.

HawkEye Features

The app has several features in addition to women’s safety while on travel and SOS button for accessing help in Emergencies. It encourages and facilitates the Citizen Police to report:

Traffic violations
Happening Crimes, Criminal information
Crime against woman
Violations by Police
Suggestions for Improved policing
Report Good Work done by Police
Register details of Servant/Worker/Tenant with Police
Enrolment for Community Policing
Access to all Contact Numbers of Telangana State Police at one place.
Status Report on Information furnished.

Download and Sign Up

The HawkEye app is available for android as well as iOS users.

Download for Android.

Download for iPhone.

Here are a few screenshots from an android device showing the sign up process. It should be very similar on the iPhones too.

Existing users can directly sign in. These screenshots are taking while signing up for a new account. There are options to sign in with Facebook or TAPP as well.

Hawk Eye Login Screen

The app needs basic details like the name, email address, phone number and a password to sign up.

A few prompts for permissions to use phone or camera will pop up. To upload photos, record video or make calls, you should “allow” the actions.

You then choose the commissionerate. In addition to the expected Hyderabad/ Cyberabad, there are few others listed.

Reporting Violations using HawkEye

This is the HawkEye home screen once the sign up and login activities are complete. You can see 11 options available on this screen. The first option to “report a violation” is used in the screenshots that follow to peek into the menu items.

You can see the photo, video and gallery provisions on the top. In my experience, the app crashed when I tried the photo or video options (to take pictures or video from within the app). However, the third option to upload images from the gallery worked fine. You can upload up to 5 images per report as proof of violation.

There are multiple categories listed in the first menu. Choose the appropriate one to reach the right team. We chose the “Traffic Violations” here to take a look at the sub-menu.

These are all the options availabe for you to choose and report. The list is long and therefore is displayed in two screenshots.

You now have the easiest and convenient means to play your role as Citizen Police to ensure safety, security and good governance for our society. After all, it’s everyone’s responsibility!

Have you reported any violations through the app? How was your experience?

How to report traffic violations through WhatsApp

Vivekananda Kadukuntla / June 23, 2018June 23, 2018 / Uncategorized

Think twice before violating traffic rules when the police are not around. A fellow citizen might click a picture of you jumping a signal or riding without a helmet and send it to the traffic police. Afterall, if there is an option to use WhatsApp to report violations, we all know people would love to use it to the fullest!

Of late, Hyderabad traffic police have been getting information about traffic violations ‘with evidence’ from the public on social media.

You can report traffic violations to Hyderabad & Cyberabad Police through WhatsApp. Launched in 2015, many citizens actively use it to complain, report, suggest and update by sending information. It can be messages, images, and videos relating to Crime, Women Harassment, Eve teasing, Traffic, Law & Order, etc.

How to Report

As reported in the news by The Hindu here, Hyderabad Citizens can report the violation by posting the photographs of law-breakers on their official Facebook page and Twitter handle ‘HYDTP’. You can also send it on WhatsApp to the traffic police on 9010203626. WhatsApp Cyberabad number 9490617444 is listed here.

“While uploading the photographs of the violators, they must mention the type of violation, location, date and time, so that we can forward the same to official concerned for issuing e-challans with evidence,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said, adding that registration number of the vehicle must be visible in the photographs.

How to Check Your Violations and Pay Fines Online

Do you know you can check online to see if there are any challans agains your vehicles? You can also pay the fines and clear those online. Detailed instructions are provided here.

There are videos making rounds about earning points and converting those into cash deposits, but am not sure if that’s true in Hyderabad. The Award-winning initiative in Goa rewards the contributors with a two-wheeler and has received much appreciation and accolades.

Have you reported any violations so far? How was your experience?

How to change address on Aadhaar card online in 5 steps

Vivekananda Kadukuntla / June 11, 2018 / Uncategorized

It’s great to have self-service options for tasks like these! Here is how you can update your address details in Aadhaar.

Step 1: Portal

Go to Aadhaar Self Service Update Portal. You can also go to https://www.uidai.gov.in/ and click Address Update Request (Online) in the Aadhaar Update section.

Read the instructions and click Proceed.

Step 2: Login

You will need the Aadhaar number and mobile linked with it for the OTP to login. There is also a CAPTCHA text verification to verify it’s a human logging in. There is an option to use TOTP as well.

On the next screen, select “Address” checkbox and click Submit.

Select "Address" to update the details — Select “Address” to update the details

Step 3: Enter new address details

You now have an option to enter the contact details. As you enter the information in each field, you can see the transliteration in the local language as well. If something doesn’t convert right, you can directly click in the local language text box and try variations in English to get it right – once you type in and click in a different field, the text will appear in local language.

On the next screen, review the information entered and check the box to “confirm” all is well to Proceed.

Step 4: Upload proof of address

You will then need to provide the proof of address as required. There are many options supported for proof of address. Below is the list.

Supported Proof of Address (PoA) Documents Containing Name and Address

Passport
Bank Statement/ Passbook
Post Office Account Statement/Passbook
Ration Card
Voter ID
Driving License
Government Photo ID cards/ service photo identity card issued by PSU
Electricity Bill (not older than 3 months)
Water bill (not older than 3 months)
Telephone Landline Bill (not older than 3 months)
Property Tax Receipt (not older than 1 year)
Credit Card Statement (not older than 3 months)
Insurance Policy
Signed Letter having Photo from Bank on letterhead
Signed Letter having Photo issued by registered Company on letterhead
Signed Letter having Photo issued by Recognized Educational Instruction on letterhead
NREGS Job Card
Arms License
Pensioner Card
Freedom Fighter Card
Kissan Passbook
CGHS / ECHS Card
Certificate of Address having photo issued by MP or MLA or Gazetted Officer or Tehsildar on letterhead
Certificate of Address issued by Village Panchayat head or its equivalent authority (for rural areas)
Income Tax Assessment Order
Vehicle Registration Certificate
Registered Sale / Lease / Rent Agreement
Address Card having Photo issued by Department of Posts
Caste and Domicile Certificate having Photo issued by State Govt.
Disability ID Card/handicapped medical certificate issued by the respective State/UT Governments/Administrations
Gas Connection Bill (not older than 3 months)
Passport of Spouse
Passport of Parents(in case of Minor)
Allotment letter of accomodation issued by Central/State Govt. of not more than three years old
Marriage Certificate issued by the Govt, containing address

On the next screen, you can confirm that the proof of address uploaded is according to the recommendation above.

Step 5: Select BPO

Depending on your location, you might have multiple vendors/ BPOs listed. You have to select one to continue.

The final confirmation is diaplayed with a reference number. It normally takes about 5 days to hear from the BPO. They send an email with the update.

Note: Ensure the address details you enter are EXACTLY the same! I added one extra word the first time to add clarity and they rejected quoting mismatch.