The display is connected to the keyboard base via 360-degree rotating hinges.5 hours.44GHz 64-bit Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor paired along with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard flash storage. What if your budget is limited — extremely limited — to that of a mid-range smartphone? A Bengaluru-based startup going by the name of RDP has offered some devices that cater to the ultra-budget seeker. The dynamic range is pretty average and contrasts are decent.32kg, it’s light enough to throw it in your backpack for the weekend trip. This one is meant for those looking for a device that can handle basic computing when required, albeit with the luxuries of a touchscreen display and a full-blown version of Windows 10.Performance:The ThinBook 1110 is built around a 1. In real-world scenarios, the claimed figure of 6.The ThinBook 1110 has a fan-less design, so it can be reduced in size. The capacitive Windows key at the bottom is useful for summoning the Start menu from any application.

The laptop utilises a 5V adapter for charging the internal battery. For just Rs 13,999, the device offers a Windows 10 tablet with a permanently attached foldable keyboard. When using it as a laptop, the display’s extremely narrow viewing angles are clearly visible, i. When you keep that in mind while using it, the ThinBook 1110 comes across a surprisingly snappy device. However, the keyboard is disabled automatically once you switch to the tablet mode anyways.Battery:RDP has built in an 8000mAh battery, which is claimed to provide a backup of up to 6. The big touchscreen display also puts noticeable weight on the lid, which restricts its amount of lean angle while using it in the laptop mode.However, you need to consider that the ThinBook 1110 is meant to be used as a multimedia device rather than a productivity-focused Windows laptop.5mm headphone jack and a micro SD card slot (one that’s of prime importance).Display:Since this is a convertible, the display has dual roles to play. However, the lower price tag also means a dip on the specifications chart.At 1.5 hours is achievable, provided the laptop experience with a mixed-usage. Since it also functions as a tablet, there are volume rocker keys as well as a power/lock button, like the one you get on a smartphone. The moderately sized trackpad supports Windows Precision Touchpad, which means one can exercise all the trackpad gestures that Windows 10 offers. There are two regular USB ports, a mini HDMI port, a 3. Use a second browser or any other resource-intensive legacy Windows application and you are bound to experience stutters or random freezes Custom Solid Signs — that’s as much as 2GB of RAM can handle.e. Smartphones have revolutionised the way we look and deal with the world around us.5 hours.Switch to the tablet mode and it becomes easier to wade through the Windows interface — thanks to the touchscreen display.

At first glance then, it seems to be an accumulation of yesteryear’s technology to fit in the stringent price bracket. You will need headphones or an external speaker for entertainment. Therefore, installing too many applications or storing movies isn’t a good idea. The ThinBook 1110 is at ease while playing UWP games installed from the Windows Store — Asphalt Xtreme is as fun to play as it is on an Android tablet or an iPad. Is the RDP ThinBook 1110 worth an option?Build, Design:A budget device usually garners lower expectations in the build department. There’s also a slider switch to disable the keyboard while switching to the tablet mode — great for those accidental keystrokes or touchpad gestures. Since that’s bad for business, PC manufacturers often keep coming up with tempting ‘modern computing’ devices that tend to cater to both, i. And thanks to the keyboard, it’s convenient to watch movies in the tablet mode as the keyboard doubles up as a stand. The keyboard is decently sized, with a well-spaced key layout, but lacks a numeric pad.6-inch touchscreen display that renders pictures at a resolution of 1366 x 768. Swiping through folders and using other Windows 10 touch gestures on this device is remarkable. However, when you consider the price of Rs 13,999, one can make do with all the issues and consider it as a better alternative to similarly-priced Android tablets. The tablet part has an all-glass surface (a necessity for a Windows-powered tablet) with an 11. The storage is expandable up to 128GB via a micro SD card. However, if you are using it to go through your movies collection one-at-a-day, then the ThinBook 1110 will just about last you through a week, which is impressive for a Windows 10 device. With mobile computing getting smarter by the day, the PC’s role has now been reduced to limited activities.If you want the conveniences modern computing to be a part of your life, then big names such as Dell and HP will sell you convertibles, but at a premium. However, the speakers sound tinny and are good enough only if you are using the laptop in a small closed room.

There’s an Intel HD Graphics 400GPU taking care of the graphics. It is a good backpack companion that can become your media consumption device while travelling and a simple laptop while writing small documents or emails on the move. With the ThinBook 1110 though, RDP has managed to strike a balance — the ThinBook 1110 doesn’t feel cheap. However, there’s a limit to what smartphones can offer, after which computers finally take over — handling tedious tasks such as typing lengthy documents or editing photos and more. It runs on a 32-bit version of Windows 10 Home.6-inch touchscreen display. The hinges, however, are a tad firm and require considerable efforts for transitioning it from the laptop to tablet mode. the RDP ThinBook 1110 is a good backpack companion that can become your media consumption device while travelling and a simple laptop while writing small documents or emails on the move.Conclusion:Is the RDP ThinBook 1110 worth considering? A lot of the answer to that question depends on your requirements. In the laptop mode, it’s reasonably swift to navigate through files and folders as well as browse the Internet with a maximum of 3-4 tabs opened at once.The ThinBook 1110 offers great value with a convertible form factor and full-blown Windows 10; however, performance seekers stay away. They make a range of ultra-affordable Windows laptops and the most premium of their offerings is the ThinBook 1110. The laptop features an all-plastic chassis, which ensures a lighter weight but brings in certain rough edges here and there. If a highly affordable yet productive Windows 10 laptop is what you’re looking for, then the RDP ThinBook 1110 isn’t an ideal device. However, thanks to the microSD card and USB ports, you can store your extras outside.(source). tablets running the usual PC-OS Windows 10 or a convertible device that offers both the conveniences of a laptop and a modern-day tablet. RDP could have considered 128GB of storage as 32GB isn’t even adequate for smartphones these days.Typing medium-sized documents on this one is fairly comfortable, although, a lot of key ghosting is bound to take place considering smaller confines of the compact keyboard. It’s an 11.To sum up the performance, it’s advisable to consider the ThinBook 1110 as an ultra-budget Windows laptop meant to handle tablet-like tasks such as typing documents, watching movies and casual gaming. binge-watching on YouTube will be fun only in solo, not with a group of three. Browsing through photos and other kinds of files is pretty fun too.e. There is scope for improvements with the device —more inbuilt storage along with more RAM and a slightly better build quality.The limited-inbuilt storage of 32GB also means that the primary partition fills up pretty fast, especially after a seasonal Windows 10 update.When in the tablet mode, Windows 10 is reasonable fluid here as well. While connected to the Internet using multiple applications, the battery life drops considerably to an average of 4. The touch sensitivity is surprisingly good for a device in this price range. Rating: As technology becomes an indispensable part of our lives, the demand for smarter devices associated with us 24x7 has risen

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In Rajasthan the chaang or the large single frame drum is the accompaniment for the phaag geet.The Phool Dol festival in Nathdwara too glorifies the Krishna legend. According to one interpretation, the shape and usage of the pichkari too has sexual connotations. Be it Radha’s village Barsana, where the lathamaar Holi is played with gusto by women actually hitting the men, amid singing of traditional songs, who are hard put to defend themselves, or Krishna’s village Nandgaon, whose inhabitants go to Barsana to play Holi with the gopis a la Krishna. And phaag khel is not restricted to a single day in the rural areas but could last as long as two weeks. And who can remain untouched when Birju Maharaj sings and dances Aaj khero shaam sang hori guiyan, can one really remain untouched by the Holi spirit? Or for that matter, Birju Maharaj singing and simultaneously enacting Dekho hori ke khelaiya, kaise ban-ban aaye… rather like the barat of Shiva.com. Dance troupes or palas from all over the Manipur congregate at the Govindji Temple in Imphal for Yaosung and vie with each other to perform raas, sankirtana and cholom.Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj’s father Bindadin Maharaj and uncle Shambhu Maharaj were past masters at enacting Holi related thumris. I also see the way the songs and their picturisation has evolved over the years. The traditional burning of Holika, Prahlad’s aunt is reminiscent of the Vaishnavite tradition as Prahlad was saved by the manifestation of Vishnu as the Narasimha avatar, the bhang and "playing” with the Shivalinga, harks back to the Shavite tradition. Yellow predominates again and it is a sight indeed fit for the Gods!In Gujarat too, the raas performed on Holi is replete with the Krishna theme in both dance and music. Singing and dancing was considered a must for the royals as both part of ritual and culture. On the full moon of Phagun month Krishna and Navneetpriyaji’s silver statues are bedecked in golden yellow flowers — the colours of Phagun and rocked in a flower bedecked swing from which the festival Phool Dol takes its name.Holi or Hori, is intrinsic to the Krishna lore and finds innumerable manifestations in the cultural ethos.In the musical tradition, chaiti and hori idioms have provided the bridge between the little and the great tradition or the folk and the classical, with Hori being akin to the dhrupad genre.In the plastic arts there are any number of Holi scenes depicted in the Pahari, Deccan and Rajasthani miniatures. It almost makes me feel I am in my studio looking at the beautiful rows of jars of colours and as a visual artist, I understand that every day is Holi for us in so many ways: It is because we play with colours all the time. Their progeny too do them proud. A classic case of intertwining of two completely diverse streams.I have taken it upon myself to download songs of Holi from Hindi cinema to play at the neighbourhood party and as I do it, I am amazed at the sheer plethora of Bollywood numbers about the festival. While sahitya or literary aspect has been inextricably woven with the sangeet or music, poetry takes a humourous twist on Holi, with poets regaling audiences and vying to evoke laughter at the plethora of hasya kavi sammelans specially organised on the occasion. Custom Three dimensional letter Signs Manufacturers From the rather shy, enticingly lyrical and understated Holi aayee re Kanhai rang chhalke suna de jara bansuri from Mother India to the overt sexuality of Balam pichkari jo tune mujhe maari in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani to the relatively brazen Sholay number Holi ke din dil mil jaate hain and of course the immortal Silsila number Rang barse bheege chunar wali to beautiful Holi Khele Raghuveera in Baghban the entire gamut of film music has dictated how popular culture in the urban milieu will perceive and play the festival. Or for that matter even the Tomatina festival from Spain when tomatoes are the mode of mass destruction rather than colour or the Water Fight festival in Thailand and many others that one may not even have heard of. Having experienced the spirit of the playful cowherd in the people and the ambience, it is no exaggeration that Radha and Krishna seem to lurk just out of sight and in that sense Krishna of Vrindavan epitomises the playful element of childhood and adolescence so dear to Indian motherhood. I have often wondered why visual artists don’t make so much of Holi as the performing artistes — the answer stares me in the face as I look at the piles of enticingly vibrant colours on the thelas in Vrindavan. Holi in Bollywood Holi preparations are afoot in my home with niece insisting that we must make gujiyas and I am sarcastically reminding her of our last year’s gujiyas that resembled weapons of Majnu’s destructions — stones thrown at Majnu for falling in love with Laila — and having to buy gujiyas to eat! Water pipe long enough to reach Timbuktu has been acquired and balloons are already filled and kept ready to demolish the unsuspecting. On one hand is the playful Krishna teasing Radha and the gopis spraying tesu water and on the other is the powerful presence of Shiva mixing his bhang. The complex inter-relation between the two is epitomised with the classical being withdrawn and inward looking and the folk having enough gung-ho to sweep off by sheer force of the earthy spirit. Poetry has been intertwined into the performing arts in an inseparable form. Whereas the classical tradition did not reflect life cycles and major festivals, but was more preoccupied with time, seasons and nayika, with the sole exception of "Hori” as it is known in the Braj region, the folk tradition on the contrary found expression for moods and lifestyles.But then all cultures do have such festivals where they let their hair down — they may be called by other names, might happen during different times of the year but have linkages across cultures: For instance I find Halloween so akin to Holi where people paint their faces and appear almost ghoulish is no different from Holi as we must be appearing to the Westerners. Music and dance replete with literary references to Hori abound.In Vrindavan, the festival itself was known as phaag.In the plastic arts there are any number of Holi scenes depicted in the Pahari, Deccan and Rajasthani miniatures. In fact, it is here that the Holi festivities begin with ladoon ki Holi played with Srinathji. Perhaps this is why the first gulal is smeared on the Shivalinga and only after partaking bhang, his prasa

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"Come on," I hear him shoot over his shoulder, and we step down into the mangroves. He mentions other problems, like locals leaving offal into the waters to attract crabs, natural scavengers, that would rot and smell. He nods in approval at my wellies as he goes over the low promenade wall. Twenty years ago, when the Chinese ship Zheng Dong washed up on Carter Road and was left there while authorities dithered over what to do with it, the currents on the shore changed, easing the battering of nascent mangrove saplings by the tides. He grins. And there was also the problem of human remains, he says, brought in from the nearby crematorium.—By arrangments with thecitystory. Rehan puts his hands in one and washes his face with the water to make a point. The forest grew up quickly. Rehan is animated, intimate with his knowledge of the tides, the force of the monsoon, the way the power of each wave can be channelled. There’s a small chest with spare gumboots, some tools, a lost teddy bear, a huge buoy, what looks like an anchor… "What are these things?" I ask. Their traditional fishing pools, meant to trap crabs and fish, used to fill up instead with sewage. "Maybe. "It sounds bad now," he admits, "but I fell in love with this pretty little girl who lived in the building next door and I needed to spy on her without my mother finding out." It helps that they grew up and got married. But my mother says, keep walking, the caravan will show up, to follow. Rehan laughs as he shows me a tiny machan, high in a tree, where he sits on days he must wait the tide out. I find it hard to keep him in my line of sight. This included 1690 hectares at the end of Thane Creek, which is now a protected flamingo sanctuary home to 10 mangrove species and over 200 species of birds. When I nod, he grins.He rolls up dragging a home-made looking wheelbarrow behind him."Look at my whale," he says excitedly, and I cannot believe my eyes. There are varying reports about mangrove cover increasing over the last 20 years or being decimated by the builder-politician nexus, but the fact remains that mangroves, like forests, will always be under threat from the minotaur that is "development" in this space-starved city. He playacts moving the massive rocks with the help of the tide, groaning, "Yer granmudder’s aolas" and is unable to hide how pleased he is with the way it is all taking shape. "You built this entire thing on your own?" I ask.In 2005, the Bombay High Court, citing India’s Forest Conservation Act of 1980 and the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 1991, ruled to prevent destruction of the mangroves. And with the sewage no longer pooling, the water is clean enough to swim in.For the last few months, regulars on the promenade will have noticed two things.We walk out onto a wide, clean, empty, sandy beach. You spot him now and then, between the winding trunks of the mangroves, putting up signs imploring you to save the mangroves or speaking animatedly with passers-by. It is breathtaking. This construction uses the tides to bring in sand and keep the channels clear so the sewage can flow out.As we walk in, Rehan scoffs at my reticence – the aerial roots of the trees are daunting, I’m still expecting sewage, and in the distance, I see large, brightly coloured things scuttling. On either side of the pipe, mismatched planks have been hewn together to support a sand bank that rises a few feet on the right.  To the left, it is lower. A tree trunk, probably weighing tons, forms a part of the bank."Somewhere between ecologist, prophet, and inventor, perhaps part dryad part naiad, this Bandra boy changed an entire beach with his brain and his bare hands. But never because he’s miscalculated the timing of the waves."I imagined I’d be able to dive off, like this," he says, posing."The mangroves form a deep, visually impenetrable "C", protecting what is the real treasure, Rehan’s piece de resistance."We have been in the groves for nearly two hours, and his enthusiasm is intact. Clear pools of water sparkle. He shows me around.com. The scuttling things turn out to be crabs.Rehan is a proper Bandra boy, and when he came back from the UAE a few years ago, he realised the ocean off Carter Road he used to swim in was inaccessible because of the pooling sewage.He explains how the sand in the beach was being eroded because the eddy of each wave that went over rocks created ditches. "This is where I chill when the tide comes in, and this is where I keep my things because it is higher than the tide. Not only do they regulate temperatures and floodwaters, but mangroves are also usually home to a myriad species of flora and fauna and absorb eight times as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than any other ecosystem. Rehan says the mangroves here weren’t always as abundant. He says he only did it because he Wholesale Custom Three dimensional letter Signs wanted to swim. He explains the torque of an eddy that helped move that giant tree right into position. "Whether it’s Jesus, Ram, or Mohammed, or Newton, Einstein, Edison – I look up to ‘doers’. There used to be a subtle temperature drop accompanied by an unmistakable acridity in the air in one particular curve of the corniche for years.Carter Road has fared well though. Rehan takes his signs out of his wheelbarrow and puts them up. The heat and traffic close in. Only because he wanted more time in the ocean. He lights up a clove cigarette and I ask him if his family thinks he’s crazy. His passion for what he is doing is almost overwhelming – his voice arches and, like the ocean, he moves constantly, never still, his arms and face emphasising his words, he crouches, reaches out, walks briskly here and there. But again, it is clean, the forest sucks up the roar of the traffic, and the temperature drops a few degrees. So for the last five years, he has, single-handedly, moved and broken rocks to level the beach. "They’d put some weird talisman stuff up and the idea was to scare people away from the mangroves," he says. More sand has come in, to stay. "That they’d think there was some black magic going on.The area just beyond the wall is surprisingly dry and clean.He is also hilarious. His name is Rehan Merchant. And he’s quite a chap. He shows me the things the tide brings in: rocks, construction debris, and junk (that used to block the ebb, resulting in a stagnant pool of sewage)."The first thing he did invent though, as a teen, was a telescope that looked like a microscope with a singular purpose. So he decided to do something about it. And a man, weathered, eyes twinkling, gum-boots up to his knees has appeared in its stead.We walk back to the promenade. There is much more to be seen and talked about, but it is time to finish for today. Even coastal dwellers, like the Koli fishing community who are native to these shores, have not evolved to keep up with the city. "You from Bandra?" he double-checks. The tide is coming in, and I worry about getting stuck. "Then they’re your grandfadder’s brinjals, men," he retorts in an authentic Bandra patois. Rehan points to a large sewage pipe that has a thin stream of grey water running from it. It has disappeared.Still, every day is a struggle. Rehan said he personally interlinked every pool so now fresh water pours in and out."Growing up, I thought, I’d either be a prophet or an inventor," he says with a smile as he gestures at me to follow him deeper into the mangroves. A heron skips across followed by not fewer than seven chicks. It is a stone whale he has built with literally tons of massive rocks. "Well, the tide helped," he says with a shrug. "You can call it a Chinese conspiracy," Rehan says with a chuckle.The next 20 minutes go by in a blur.

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