A Maharastrian Wedding

Talking about wireless all the time can be quite boring and doing it all day is definitely not happening. Decided to take a break, I went to my friend's wedding in Western Mumbai today.

My friend is a Maharastrian from Mumbai. Maharastra is a Western part of India situated along the coastline of the Arabian sea. India's demography is very diverse. Every state has its own autistic people and language. Sometimes I wonder how these states, widely apart in their identity, glue together and resonate harmoniously to one tune called India.

Nevertheless, ride to the wedding was effortless. I boarded a train from my place, got off at a station, piggy-backed in my colleague's car and headed for the wedding. We lost our way in the middle, but after series of queries with the the side walker and few U turns we reached our place. After diligently parking the car at a risky place we entered into the hotel.

First thing that took my breadth was the agility with which the wedding was pacing. Almost, within two hours of its inception, the wedding entered into its final stage: The Reception.

Maharstrian wedding is generally shorter, lasting only for hours, than the average duration of weddings in India. Strategically organised on weekends to force large attendance, it is constantly hammered with the unavailability of space and cost that sometimes justify its premature ending.

It starts off with Bride and Groom standing in front of each other. A long white cloth separates them. They hold garlands in their hands, made up of handpicked flowers, patiently waiting for the priest to complete his perennial chantings of rituals. Guests, in the meanwhile, shower the couple with the flowers occasionally digressing into their own animated conversations. When the priest finally finishes, the bride and groom exchange garlands and the wedding is complete. There is no time for "Saath Phare" which is quite common in Northern India.

After this the lunch party begins and begins a hustle to get a nice picture with the couple on the stage. The parents of both the party also stand with them. I also walked up to the stage and congratulated the newly weds. Then, after sharing some light moments with my Colleagues and Friends over there, it was the time for me to go back home.

802.16e Network Architecture

First, A question: Who do you think is responsible for IEEE 802.16e Network architecture development? IEEE? No! Ironic to the common belief, Wimax network architecture development is the task of Network Working Group (NWG) of Wimax Forum.

I will cover this topic briefly because I, myself, have a very limited knowledge of this topic. This topic is so vast in itself that it is almost impossible to cover it into one posting or in one Blog. So, I will give you some pointers in the end that will impart deeper knowledge of networking in the Wimax.

Wimax network is an all IP network, supports all usage model(fixed and mobility) and has a provision to support different Quality of Service(QOS). It has open interface for both within the Radio Access Network(RAN) and between the RAN and the core network. It supports all type of Voice, Data and Multimedia services.

Wimax Network, as shown above, consist of two important element: Network Service Provider(NSP) and Network Access Provider (NAP). NAP has two important elements: Base station and Access Network Gateway(ASN). Where as ASN gateways connects and manages different Base stations, NSP provides connectivity to different backhand networks(e.g. IMS). Wimax network supports both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.

Multiple ASN profiles has been provided in the Wimax to manage diversity in ASN implementation and usage.There are three different ASN profiles(A,B,C) that depends upon the location of ASN and BS and also on the status of different interfaces (R1, R2...). Interfaces provides physical and logical connection between various network entities. They can be open(Vendor specific) or closed(NWG specified).

You can find more information about network architecture here

Okay, in the next blog we will be starting introductory Medium Access Control(MAC) of Wimax. Cheers!