Words on Sand...

Miss Sheila Ke-jawani

2010-12-30T19:01:00.002+05:30

For a recent long weekend, went for religious outing with family. The drive was 5+ hrs and we had latest bollywood Muzik for company.

With "Sheila Ki Jawani" running in the card audio system, my Mom is not happy.

Mom : What kind of nonsense, vulgar songs are these. What does it even mean ?
My Brother : Nothing vulgar in it. Its simple question and answer.
She is asking others : "Whats my name? Whats my name ?"
and then answers : "My name is Sheila Kejawani". He insisted its not 'sheila ki jawani' !

In my prime (Happy BirthDay to me)

2010-12-22T15:51:00.003+05:30

I hit my prime : 31

31 years old, thats a little under half of how much time I plan to waste resources on this planet,and is most of my youth.

Last year has been more or less good.

I go back to this and this post and ponder.... long time indeed. Its more than 6 years i started blogging (albeit on and off).

I am officially no longer young. That's a relief in a way, you dont have to keep up with 'young' enthusiasts. On the other hand I dont think i have done much with my life, that I can be proud of and I see my runway ending.

But worry not, I just hit my prime, have the long list waiting to be tick marked.
Till next year....

Euler Problem 304

2010-10-18T15:09:00.005+05:30

Project Euler is a great place to scratch your greycells for the highschool maths you learnt and code them effectively.

The latest problem (not that I have finished all the rest) is,

http://projecteuler.net/index.php?section=problems&id=304

For any positive integer n the function next_prime(n) returns the smallest prime p
such that p > n.

The sequence a(n) is defined by:
a(1)=next_prime(10¹⁴) and a(n)=next_prime(a(n-1)) for n>1.

The fibonacci sequence f(n) is defined by: f(0)=0, f(1)=1 and f(n)=f(n-1)+f(n-2) for n>1.

The sequence b(n) is defined as f(a(n)).

Find b(n) for 1n100 000. Give your answer mod 1234567891011.

Solution:

In short , get summation of consecutive 100000 prime'th fibonacci nos above 10^14.

So,
1) Get a list of all (100000) consecutive primes above 10^14.
2) For large n, fibonacci is given as = phi^n / sqrt(5) .
3) Calculate the summation 'smartly'. probably using A^n = A^(a+b) ... etc.

Well i'm stuck at step 1. anyone knows good place to download all primes ? (I pray no one sends me the list, i'd have to proceed in that case).

Or even better, other approach ?

Inception - The Movie

2010-07-27T19:21:00.002+05:30

Watched the most talked about movie 'Inception'.
Absolutely liked it. Primarily for sheer quality - story, editing, direction and effects.

'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight' and 'Inception'. No its not fluke, I am sold to Christopher Nolan. (Ohk ! I learnt slowly)

Tried google template builder. Still need to put back changes from my earlier template. Looks good though.

India develops 'cheapest tablet'

2010-07-24T16:49:00.002+05:30

Indian HRD ministry and OLPC efforts will probably see fruits by 2011.

For $35 you get open-source, linux based 5/7/9 touch screen, 2G RAM, wifi, bluetooth and digital camera. pretty impressive.

http://mashable.com/2010/07/23/india-cheapest-laptop/

Hopefully they'll deliver before actual consumer tablets are available at that cost.

They should open up specs and API for development and this is bound to be a hit !

App Inventor for Android

2010-07-14T21:58:00.002+05:30

I have been wondering, since reality dawned on me, that I should not have been so smug and condescending towards java in my engineering days. With explosive web growth and more importantly tools like android sdk, I always repent I could have done a lot of good things with java. Anyway its never too late, to do the right thing.

App Inventor for Android

http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

You can build just about any app you can imagine with App Inventor. Often people begin by building games like WhackAMole or games that let you draw funny pictures on your friend's faces. You can even make use of the phone's sensors to move a ball through a maze based on tilting the phone....

New approach to Social networking

2010-07-09T18:03:00.002+05:30

http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2

Probably this is what "google me" will be based on. Interesting thought.
Note how is the presentation is fb centric (against fb) all along.

2010-07-08T12:57:00.002+05:30

I like this article. underlines the basics and puts things in perspective.
Andy Grove, was probably the first business, tech leader, i read a lot about in my college days and have been impressed since then.

How to Make an American Job Before It's Too Late: Andy Grove

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-01/how-to-make-an-american-job-before-it-s-too-late-andy-grove.html

2010-07-07T11:59:00.002+05:30

Success is peace of mind which is direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. - John Wooden.

I have not seen a simpler and better definition of success.
This is very much 'karmanye vadhika raste maa faleshu kadachana'

Manish and the art of FZ-S

2009-06-02T15:53:00.012+05:30

Hey there, a few words appear on MD's space after a long time..somebody else's shells and pebbles on his sand....it was one of those ideas which came up over our endless discussions of evening tea and the promise of one post was decided..but as this blog is fated for quarterly procrastination , the topics for which I should post kept on changing depending on changing events of his life and now its finally settled up on his new love , I hope it gets posted without lot of editorial slashes :P

Though I have known this guy as next-cubicle-guy for a couple of years, its been recently that we happened to be part of a nice group at work, and spent some time together..and one of the first things that you noticed about this guy's worldly possessions was the lack of utter disregard for any respectable means of transportation. He came to office on his pair of well-worn shoes, or a grunting Fiero or an even older but faithful family CT100. When we mocked him about these fine wheels, he regaled us with some tales of an even ancient no-seat-scooter from his Cisco days with perverse glee, I'm sure his B'lore friends will attest to this fact and if those stories are even remotely true, those who traveled on that contraption -- you are his true friends guyz!

So its a huge surprise when one fine day this guy just zooms in a .....waaaaaaaaaait for it.....a sexy stylish yellow-black Yamaha FZ-S. The bike is everything that AutoDrive and other bike magazines drool about. The bike is very sporty with a macho silhouette and Prince MD looks really dashing on his iron horse. :) The front aerodynamic design with two color styling adds to the appeal of the bike. As far as pillion rider (moi) could ascertain, the ride is much smoother city traffic than other 150 cc bikes in this segment. The digital front display is impressive too and the rear view mirrors are back on his bike after a really long time. A girlie bird chirps that taller and well built (Manish,though u look great, get started on the gym thing asap) guyz would suit this bike. ;)

(Interested parties, please contact Manish for full size image. Manish, I get a treat if cute girls ask for it)

While, seriously there is no dearth of better reviews of FZ-S and its finer features, something else strikes me about this particular 1347 FZ-S....this bike isn't just a luxurious point in an upward vehicular trajectory for a regular guy, it is the first real indulgence of a man who feels responsible for everybody's happiness & well-being around him and puts their fancies ahead of his...every time he looks at his girl (I agree with Pratik, bikes are always female, their muscular styling notwithstanding), he looks at her with absolute fondness and grins almost disbelievingly..Wow..and the people around him smile with his smile. :)..buddy you do deserve all these best things in life and many more to come..

So Manish, as your favorite season is on its way....drive safe (its lot easier on slippery rainy roads with that fat tyre) and hit the high winding roads and wide highways with your beauty with the wind on your face and a song on your lips( or headphones, whatever suits you) .
Here's one for your Road from this ferris wheel rider..hope you get to write some diaries of your own :)

P.S. Yay, an emoticon in every paragraph of a post on manish's blog >:)

Fun at a cost...

2009-03-19T21:31:00.002+05:30

Work hard Party harder...

I have been having a lot of fun lately.
Diveagar, Sinhagad Trek, Mahabaleshwar Trip, Friday the 13th & on...

I meetup with my school-gang once a month or so (they all meet much often).
Because of hectic and busy stuff going on recently, I ditched them on a couple of meets and got kicked badly,
The new rules of my group are,

To invite Dusa to the GT is our duty (kartavya)
He is not turning up for the GT is our expectation (apeksha)
and to kick his butt for this it our right (Hakka)

and they are good at implementing this 'right', by turning up at my office and taking my case...

What are friends for .... ? :)

Sundance, Robert Redford, Slumdog Millionaire and Me

2009-02-23T00:31:00.014+05:30

[I scribbled this entry at SLC airport on 29/1/9, could only post it now.]

It is 7:00pm in my watch california time (PST). It is 8:26am (IST) on my laptop. It is 8:00pm local time at Salt Lake City airport.

I am sitting tired at gate B-6, waiting for my 9:00pm flight. Today was hectic (not unlike last week), tiring but fullfilling (unlike last week).

Got up at 7, tried to access office ftp server. The connection was slow, dropped the idea. got ready and had breakfast by 8:30, and was ready to go to the Certification Labs. As I stepped out realized there was frost (?) - a layer of ice on my everywhere on my rented car - windshields, doors, boot, bonet.

It was 9 am and a warm day, but my car was parked in the shadow, scraped some ice using a news paper off the windshield, enough so i can drive and move the car in sun. The lifegiver melt the snow in about 5 mins, when I was burning some lung cells and taking pics.

Fed the office address in GPS. As i expected, it started off with wrong direction (it had older maps). I knew the road though, so ignored GPS. Reached the Lab in about 5 mins. Had some critical images to download. Luckily the bandwidth at the Lab was oc-2/oc-3. The downloads and verification took about 5 mins. (I appreciate such an infrastructure where employee time is valued). Worked with the good guys at the Lab, sometimes probably pushing them to complete the tests. Hmm and we were done by 1:30. Nice... Talked to the mgr there, sorted out a couple of
issues by talking to my office back in SJ and by 1:45 / 2 i was done and out of the Lab.

I was in Lindon and the return flight was at 9pm from SaltLakeCity. I had a lot of time to kill. Thanks to Chris from the Lab, who went out of his way and informed me about a couple of places nearby, even went and got me a map to Sundance Resorts, which were 'up in the mountains'. I said I was skeptical to drive in the snow. He looked up the weather and road conditions online and confirmed its 'dry' and good to go. So there, I decided to check out this Robert Redfords' Sundance Resort in the mountains.

It was about 13 miles away and google said 25 mins. Fed the address in GPS and as expected it misbehaved. I had the printout (w/o detail directions though). So just drove in logical directions. Bought camera batteries (thx to gopa) at a petrol pump and confirmed directions and there I was moving along E 800 N took a left on 189-S, and .... it was beautiful. Had never seen snow in my life and the drive was awesome. I was so engrossed in the scenic drive that I missed the Sundance turn and went ahead 8 miles till Deer Creek Cafe (?). Took a U turn on 189-S and took right into Sundance Resorts. This was even better. The small road went through the valley. There was no sunlight and it was colder (that means i was shivering in my skiing jacket, gloves and cap(all 3 thx to gopa)). Awesome place, could not try snow-boarding/skiing there. Just took a quick 'foot pass' and rode the Ski-lifts up to the mountains and back. It was great to see very small cute kids skiing.
I took a young 4yr old Cambrillas photo. Her mom told me she is skiing from the age 3 and wants to become a model :). The 45 min ride up was 'cold'er again. Took some videos on the way. (thx to gopa for loaning the camera, i should buy one !!! ).

Once I got back from the ride (at around 4:30pm) there was nothing much to do, had lunch at 'Sundance DELY', (why is it Deli and not Daily ?), clicked photos and decided to head to SLC and check out the 'Temple' if I have time. It was cold so was smoking near the car just before leaving, when a facilities dude at SDR said 'would you have another cigarette ?'. I obliged and we got on talking. He was Andrew and asked me if I am from India. I said yes. He : Oh ! I could not have told. Then he mentioned about 'bob', saying we are not supposed to talk about him, but what
the hell, he stays up here, owns these 2 mountains, he is environmentalist, he started the resort. We see him once in a while, more in summer, because we have to ride on horses ensuring hunters dont kill the antelopes which migrate to these sides of the mountain. If you go up the ride you could see his property - the biggest house up there, Bob is a big-deal here. etc etc etc … ... .. . A talkative american, this was little unexpected for me.

I asked about Sundance Film Festival. He informed it used to be here , but now moved to a place nearby.
On hearing that i am into software development. He talked about his love for music and how he wants to get a software designed that will automatically pick up beats and generate music. He composes some music and said music is all mathematical, so a computer AI program (as he called it :)) should be able to generate good music. ( I smiled wondering isn’t music and art in general is all about pouring your heart out).

Then he asked about India. After hearing me for some time, he says, but India is a poor country right ? and before I could finish that’s not completely true, he said, Have you seen Slumdog Millionaire ? I was stumped and went all :)). I said that's just a side of story, there is lot of divide in India - economically, socially and culturally. etc. Then we talked about some movies like 'Life less ordinary' and other absolute timepass stuff. I asked him click a couple of my snaps.

His girlfriend came along when I was asking him about return directions. I was planning to go to Lindon and the take I-15 to SLC. But Andrew suggested take the road to Haber city (from where he is) up the mountains, its takes the same amount of time, but is scenic. I was already amazed by the US 189-S and took his advice which i did not repent. Reached SLC at around 6:30pm. was tired (because of the monotonous and focused driving for 1 Hr. I guess doing 70mph on avg looses its fun after first time. ). Decided to drop the SLC Temple visit and returned the Car at SLC airport.

Got 'randomly' selected for screening at the airport. Since then getting bored sitting at B-6. In hindsight probably i should have visited the Temple.

Its 7:45pm in my watch, thats 8:45pm SLC time, and I hope they would start boarding soon. At SJ airport I have to pick up a car, have dinner (alone), go to aptmnt (and post this blog)
before i sleep tonight.

Update:
Great ! They announced the flight is late by 15 mins.

What a Day !

Update: while posting…
I reached SJ late that night, went to Gopas place on his insistence, where renu cooked and I had dinner at 11:30 pm. Left Gopas place at 12:30 ish and reached aptmnt at 1:00am.

Bombay'ed

2009-02-16T19:24:00.003+05:30

Alistair got married on Sunday, 15th Feb to Margaret.
Congratulations and Best wishes to both of them !

After a late night party and broken internet at home on Fri night. Got up early on Saturday, came to office, sent a couple of pending mails and i was on my way to Bombay at 11:00 am.

My first trip on the Expressway and was exited to try it out. Hemant from office suggested to the tyre pressure lower, on Bombay Pune Expressway. I obliged.

On my way to expressway, I realised my WagonR is not co-operating, I thought probably because of my recent exploits with smooth corolla in US, I am finding it difficult. Still decided to check and Murphy shined on me from heavens, there was indeed had a flat (ok, the 'indian' puncture ! ), when i was less than 2 kms from expressway... Good, I said ! . It was 11:30am

By 12:15, the tyre was replaced and I was good to go. Expressway ride was good and as boring as it gets driving on lonely freeways in US. Again I found my car is jumpy and esp at winding turns of Lonavala it difficult to control. Stopped at a food mall and checked the air pressure, in all 4 tyres the airpressure was above 45 psi. The smart dude who changed my tyre, did it. I thanked god the tyre didnt burst when i was doing 100 kmph, earlier. Set it back to 28 psi on all 4 wheels and moved along.

Rest of the ride was uneventful and reached bombay (Vashi) at 1:35 pm. Now I had to go to Malad taking jogeshwari link road over IIT Pawai. Traffic Jams and a few wrong turns later, I reached Alistairs place at 4 pm. Ayush and rest of the gang from Bangalore was already there. Freshed up, had lunch and moved to the guest house.

We - ayush and me - had decided to check out LePold and Taj. So took a fast local train from Malad to Churchgate. Roamed around in Colaba. Gateway of India and Taj Hotel was amazing as always. It was Valentines Day, and there wasn't as much of crowd as we expected... good.

After 2 security checks, entered Taj 2, explored Taj-1, Taj-2 and settled for a hot chocolate at the Coffee shop. They will not serve us any cakes, pastries as they 'd some valentines spl dinner combo. Ayush was disappointed. :).

Nonetheless, next went to Leo Pold Cafe for dinner, jam-packed. We decided to ditch it and find out the Pizzeria on Marine Drive, that we had tried at Rohan's wedding. Ayush decided to try GPS on his 'fundoo' cell phone and ofcourse we failed to locate Pizzeria. After couple of kms of wandering, called up just dial and got the address. Its opposite Ambassador Hotel on Marine Drive.
At pizzeria and most other hotels we tried there was a waiting of 1 Hr. We gave up, had a pizza and salad at Ambassador coffe shop (yes their restaurents were full as well) and walked into Churchgate station, just in time to catch fast local to Malad.

Reached at the guest house (near Inorbit Mall, Malad) at 1am. Got up early the next day. Dropped ayush at his uncles place in Lokhandwals, had nice breakfast, thanks to his Uncle and Aunt and moved to Chembur. On my way back picked up ayush and we reached the Church in time at 5pm.

It was a simple, sweet, quick wedding. We (me, ayush, alistairs parents) picked up 'the' Cake and reached the Reception location near Mad island (the road was bad). Good Fun, good food later, called it a day and left the venue at 12. Dropped bala at Kandivali Station and 4 of us (Sridhar and Gaurav) reached guest-house at 1:30 ish. Got up at around 4 am, dropped Ayush, Sridhar at Airport at 5:30 am and Me and Gaurav were on the way to Pune.
Reached at home by 8:30 and at office by 10:00 am.

A very tiring, 'Bombay'ed 2 day trip.

Last Year...

2009-01-01T13:00:00.002+05:30

giving into the frenzy of new year wishes, here is wishing all a very happy new year !

New year eve are the times we think about last year and see how to go about next year.

My last year has been interesting, not as productive as i would have wanted it though.

Run Run Run

2008-12-08T19:09:00.002+05:30

I participated in 10Km run on 7th Dec 2008, scheduled alongwith Pune International Marathon. After seeing Alistair completing a couple of Marathons across the country, I thought I would give it a try too. The timeline was more like ,

3/12 :- Someone from office posted about Marathon.

4/12 :- I thought I would also participate, and signed in for 10 Km run (more like 10.5 Km). Thought i have 3 days to practice and would make most of it. and I will give a message. I will run for a cause.

5/12 :- Damn forgot to run last night. would do it today for sure. Also what should be the message ?

6/12 :- Damn ! haven't practised, I am not going to be able to make 10Kms if i dont try it today.

Night of 6/12 :- Good I got the message Printed. Its too late and i dont want to fail in test run, so heck lets do it tomorrow morning. I ll buy some electrolyte, just in case. I ll sleep early to wake up early. Got the tag stapled front and the message stapled on the back. My mom says 'you will not run a single km '. Damn ! now i have to.

7/12 6am : Where are my shoes, shorts ? I'd take Ravi's cell- it has FM. Its cold, I'll take car.

Parked Car near Chitale and walked to KhandojiBaba Chowk (thats Deccan Chowk). 'Registered' and got my message (the printout stapled on my back) tored in the rush.Was waiting for the run to start, when I met Pratik, Sonal and Vinay from office.

Vinay : Manish, how much do you run everyday ?
Me : As much as Satish (My Mgr) makes me, which is not much, he he...

chitchatted little more. Topic was ofcourse, will you be able to make it ? I could sense, it was rather if I will be able to make it ?

There were some stupid speeches going on, I took the opportunity to go and get another printout from car. (Smart : backup printout and parked car near chitale), looked around for a couple of safety-pins and Pratik helped me put it on back. Ohk ! The 'message' was :

Running...

HELPLESS,
FRUSTRATED,
& SCARED !

Well, I had to say it ! Dont really care if anyone read it though.

Started at 7:55, (not bad only 25 mins later than scheduled !). Moved at my own pace. Honestly the experience is too wonderful to narrate. and I can now relate why running is addiction to a few of my friends. Every major chowk and corner had people clapping for and cheering up the runners, playing patriotic songs, Students from schools shouting slogans.Kids waiting for your high-fives.

I was skeptical and underestimated my stamina (or overestimated the 10 Kms:) ). I was running really slow to save energy ! First 5 kms were a complete breeze and didn't even realise till saw the mark. Next couple of kms was when i started to get little tired (probably because we were now on the big road and out of crowded and non-sunny lanes of the city center and facing the sun), stopped at a couple of places to get water and electrolyte. After 7kms decided to make it non-stop and wasn't difficult at all, had crossed that initial 'tipping point' I guess. By the time I reached the finish line, where Pratik and Sonal were waiting for me, was not tired. I am sure I could have run another 5 kms. Pratik also shared the same feelings.

Instead of stopping right away we started walking, taking inner road to Madhuban for breakfast, Vinay was there with his friends, for the same noble cause. Sonal, pratik and me took and auto to Deccan said our byes and reached home. Sonal picked up our certificates from Nehru Stadium later !

It is difficult to explain why it feels so euphoric run together with many unknown faces. Everyone with his own reasons and agendas take the same road, generating so much momentum that others who doubt themselves, make it to the end. Others who do not participate turn up to cheer up and help up those who do. I wish life was like that, or isn't it ?
I guess crowd mentality put to good use can do wonders.

I can only imagine how it would be to be a part of movement, where people with the same agenda and goals get together.

To list the winners from AirTight:

Mens 10 Km:
- Vinay (53 min),
- Pratik (59mins),
- Sonal (1Hr, 6mins),
- Manish (1hr, 15min)

Aids charity run: (4.5 Kms)
- Charuta and Vinaya
- Lalit : This dude is a great sport. He got into a serious accident injuring his leg couple of months ago and had to be fitted with some screws. We call him Roddy now (for rods in the leg). He completed the 4.5 km run, thought mostly walking But amazing !

Bottomline : I am running full marathon next year !

We are like that only...

2008-11-26T15:52:00.004+05:30

The things I do in the morning, is get out of bed, pick up my spects, cell (alarm clock) and laptop from my room, leave cell and laptop in the living room, go to wash basin, pick up brush, apply toothpaste, come back to living room and start with newspapers. I _can_not_ do without morning newspapers, unless i have finished the papers and coffee/tea, i don't talk to anyone. No wonder my mood is really bad these days going over all the depressing news first thing in the morning.

I visited US for a small amount of time and the first thing that impressed me most about that country is the concern, sheer concern for the people. The thought that has gone in everything - from roads to reserved parking for firetrucks. Everywhere you go the word concern is written. Let that be reserved parking, special toilets or special access ramps for the disabled. (they are even concerned not to call them handicapped). Everywhere an effort seem to be made to accomodate the less fortunate and make their lives as easy as possible.

Yesterday while going over Pune Mirror (A semi-tabloid), I found a news where a pune-mirror lensman/reporter, watched a blind lady trying to catch a Bus at Bus Stop for about one hr. She can not prepare herself to get into the bus unless she can hear it coming well in advance. By the time she runs at a Bus, it would leave. She apparently started crying trying for an hour, that is when the reporter stopped a Bus and helped her get in.

I am glad the reporter helped her, But I wonder why the he had to wait an hour, watching her suffer like that.

It is a pity how a simple task of catching a public transport is so difficult in this place. I am ashamed I belong here, ashamed at the current status of the things. Can I / Am I going to do anything about it, probably not. or Probably will stop reading PuneMirror and turn my back towards incidents like this.

Being incrementally insensitive to others seem to be a part of growing up in India. Must be the case, no wonder none of the senior members at elected houses seem to be doing anything.

We can not just put a line like this and assume our job is done. Something needs to be done about this. But what ? There have been many times the same question mark had popped up without answers.

Obama wins US Elections,

2008-11-21T13:18:00.001+05:30

So Obama won creating history, being the first black (half-black,partly muslim) President of Amrika ! Though i do not trust stupidity of americans, i still think he was slated to win. Not to discredit Obamas campaign efforts, I strongly believe the anti-bush sentiment helped him a lot. Most votes were against the Bush, than for Obama.

He has a long road ahead, with recession, jobs, terrorism, war of terror issues at hand.

So while watching my fav channel IndiaTV, i was wondering what stupid reporters and pseudo-journos would write in Indias context ?

Probably someone will say we need a muslim president, ...no we already had 2 of them; so we need a minority PM uh.. that we already have now; ok so we should have a muslim PM or backward PM.

A couple of days later i hit on this,

http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20081117&fname=Cover+Story&sid=9.

The Jackass in question is Dipankar Gupta, He says "Obama's success calls for introspection on how we treat minorities". Yeah right. Forget about all the efforts put by countless activists and leaders till now to ensure equality amongst men. But now that Obama is heading the state in US, that should prompt us to do introspection.

Articles like these are wrong at so many levels, it f$#$ing tear-your-intestines-out frustrating.

The sheer need to have a leader from a particular group - religion, region - is plain symbolic and nothing more. If anyone believes Obama in white-house will help blacks raise their status, that is not true. Unless they work their way up. If you think Obama in White house, will help reduce black crimes, Nope. Then why do you need such a person ?

You choose the right person for the job, irrespective of his 'other' credentials like cast, religion, region, skin-colour. That is what US did (or kept the wrong guy out). Obama did not win as a result of some movement, or revolt. Hell nobody had heard his name an year ago.

But jackass journalists/authors do not get this, or they dont want to ?

Americans on average are stupid. After so called War on Terror, all the countries supporting it have had a change of govnment. Tony blair had to go, Spain PM had to go, Australian PM had to go, Even Pakistans Musharraff had to go. But Bush continued the second term !

Ohk... so my ranting is over... dipankar_gupta++, outlook_india++.

lively 'down'date !

2008-11-20T20:55:00.003+05:30

This is something to sob about.
Lively is going down, as per this google-blog entry.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/lively-no-more.html

tchk tchk tchk! this is not right !

Have you ever felt looking at something, you could have done better with it ? ... (& i am not talking others wives !). I humbly feel some platform like lively has a lot of potential. It should be flexible, easily available (on web). second-life and likes are heavy and need spl treatment preventing a greater audience from participating.

RIP lovely .. err.. lively !

Happy Diwali !

2008-10-29T12:30:00.001+05:30

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Wishing you all a very happy Diwali and a prosperous new year !

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lively update

2008-10-23T15:39:00.000+05:30

Ohk, so i seem to be talking about lively (when apparently there isn't much to) lately.
I came across Metaplace - http://www.metaplace.com/. Till now known as areae.net, this is apparently multiplayer place as i have been talking about in my recent posts.

I have signed up for a limited beta, hopefully they will let me try it. This is Raph Kosters - http://www.raphkoster.com/ - company and virtual worlds can be programmed

Someone mentioned Lua can be used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lua_programming_language.

I have not looked it up yet, but a demo video is here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZiB_JcRH_s.

Jets the way !

2008-10-17T16:36:00.001+05:30

The recent tamasha of Jet airways laying off about 800 workers and reinstating them back in service within 12 hrs after an apparent political pressure, was a typical much sought after breaking news. It almost moved all the viewers to tears when the employees shouted/cried about, how my father paid so much money for my deposit, how am i going to repay my housing loan EMI ? where will i get another job ? what are we to do now ?

( Honestly my answers to these qs - after stress levels knocking on heavens door watching - respectively are,

- your father paid so much deposit money because you were lousy at studies and couldn't get into decent BCom college.
- You are 24 yrs old, who asked you to take 30lakhs of housing loan, Jet airways ? and why are you asking me anyway.
- another job? yeah that's a difficult one, as your only ability is looking good and saying good morning and good day besides looking some screens and offer window/aisle seats.
- what are you to do now ? i dont know man, i dont know what am i going to do this weekend )

Nothing personally against the Jet employees, but besides sympathy there is nothing much anyone can / should do.

Watching all this hoopla, i wondered if i should contact Raj Thakre (or Thackeray) if i ever get laid off, afterall i am apparently taking blame for all the inflation and apparently responsible for the dramatic growth and the disposable income in the middle class.

Everyone gets hyprocritical talking against 'american' way of laying off employees, but these are the same people who want everything american to come their way, from burger-pizzas to live-in relationships. Its only when you jobs are stake you wake up to socialism and get in 'union culture'. Bloody hypocrites.

That's india for you, Still not completely moved on from past and still not completely into next century. Letting go is not exactly our culture anyway, that has become a problem, we have been caressing our history too long. there is another word for it hypocracy.
...diverting from the topic at hand here....

fallen tomato cart by Bagchi is good read, though i dont think thick skinned buggers would care much abt it.

Next 'free free free... this is democracy...'

New igoogle

2008-10-17T14:05:00.001+05:30

As i do everyday, after my office mails, went over igoogle page and bloglines feed. Noticed that igoogle has now changed. I tried it and liked it in first go.
I always wondered why Gmail mail reader does not have simple check boxes and an action menu ? To delete/move mails right there and they have it now.
With chrome as browser or igoogle as a one-stop daily dose (from any browser), google is ensuring to take a chunk of your daily net-attention.
I am yet to try google reader, have been a fan of bloglines for long now. I might try it sometime. and for no particular reason (except to try image uploads from scribefire), here is screenshot from my igoogle:

Google Lively update

2008-10-01T15:15:00.001+05:30

From /., Google Lively To Be an Online Gaming Platform

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/30/1646204&from=rss

... I feel like a big chunk of the games industry out there has a corporate mentality where you're first to be second...

Here is obligatory gudlinkTM (goodlink) from todays post:

[planning to make the obligatory gudlink regular feature..]

good game: http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/hexiom-connect/

New and Improved Blog !

2008-09-26T20:38:00.002+05:30

http://emanish.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.html.

My first blog-post 27th March 2004, more than 4 years ago. With most of my colleagues at office recently starting/started their blogs, its interesting to see their enthusiasm.

'interesting' is a very interesting word, you can practically replace it for any expression. So is the word 'wonderful'. These are the 2 words that will always make your conversation interesting and wonderful, - politically non in-correct at the least.

So i was saying, other than exceptional masterpieces of advice,- like the one above - there is little i have done here... so decided to do sth about it on Fri evening as mm server (later.) is down. With web2.0 trend anything new has to start from different feel and new UI, (and probably end there), I started looking for a good template for my blog. After a little disappointment with the default templates - which are easiest to put up - i concluded web2.0 is sham and to just update the Title and the Description in my emitable sarcastic and fails-miserably-trying-to-be-funny tone.

Ok to point out what i am looking in a template ,
1) In most of the templates I see less than 50% of the screen is used for the any valuable content - its good if one doesn't have scroll so often.
2) The layout has be efficient - Blogroll, Fav sites should be available without scrolling.
3) There should be a dropdown box for archives and long list of items.

Actually the whole idea to update template was to try and add my colleagues blogs to the blog-roll.

As you might have guessed - i am not that good (thats euphemism, i am really bad) at managing/updating templates. I need to sweet talk one of the 'experts' ( <-- sweet talk) at office to help me.

Anyhow I have been contemplating a webhome for myself for sometime and about time i do that and get some real php done alongwith.

and Yes I indeed felt older around the 'kids' (i should get used to saying that).

lively update

2008-09-01T19:27:00.000+05:30

Even though economist says this; I still think, lively is a good idea and way to go.

Bye Bye Beijing

2008-08-27T14:23:00.000+05:30

2008 Beijing Olympics is over.
It was a great event and China executed it to perfection. Extremely amazed at the show china put up, at all levels, the execution, the opening ceremony, and the first place in the medals tally.

It was special for India. First ever gold in individual event. 2 Bronze. As always, the success is on individual merit, without any or insignificant help, input from the 'country'.

came across this video of Boxer Vijendra Kumar, before the olympics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7524181.stm

video enhancement

2008-08-22T17:41:00.000+05:30

This is awesome.

Some great projects at http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/

(1) Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene:

http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/videoenhancement/videoEnhancement.htm

(2) Photo Tourism - Exploring photo collections in 3D.
http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/

Demo at, http://phototour.cs.washington.edu/applet/index.html

My ideas are getting stolen....

2008-07-24T20:12:00.004+05:30

Ohk, so seriously how many times has it happened to you ? With me at least a dozen times till now.

After a thought, I will be damn sure, now thats the next big thing and i should try and do sth about it, as in most cases, only a little action (discussion with friends, evaluations etc) follows and the idea is dropped labelled "infeasible". A little time later, I see someone has come out with this amazing product that is very close to what we shelved.. does that piss you or what ?

I think i should publish all the rubbish ideas - well not as rubbish as the taco-art project at http://henderob.com/ ; or probably even those - and get them copyrighted !

As a cousin of mine once put it,
Having ideas is more counter-productive than not-having, unless you act on them. Because it wastes your cycles without any result. That's one of the best pieces of advice i ever got from a Marketing Exec !

ohk, so the point is i "discovered" lively.com by google recently and absolutely frustrated that they 'stole' my idea which i exchanged and discussed with people on gmail.

I mean yeah, i agree 3-D (2nd life eshtyle) social networking site (I 'd thought vrml/flash would work, now flex), was not a very uncommon idea.

There goes my millions if lively.org is successful !
I wish them luck, boo hoo !

Dropped the stick once again !

2008-07-22T16:55:00.001+05:30

Since i moved to Pune, i had started smoking thats 1 yr, 4 months now. ON and OFF tried to 'reduce' the intake. But nothing worked.
Finally the old-school way, just decided enough is enough and have quit smoking for abt a week now.

No surprises, someone is betting me again to stop smoking for a yr again.

Participate in a Guinness World Record

2008-05-30T12:43:00.001+05:30

Pledge for Firefox 3 Download day

http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/

Inventions in the Air ?

2008-05-07T15:16:00.001+05:30

Came across this interesting article on newyorker ( though unnecessarily long and convoluted for my abilities, nothing against Malcolm Gladwell !)

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_gladwell/?currentPage=all

talks and talks

2008-04-29T20:00:00.001+05:30

Simplicity is a virtue that can not be overemphasized

Mr D said this at his last class about Concurrancy today at office, and it kinda struck me, not in a negative sense, but rather how much i concur with it.

D's lectures have been a great refresher for the OS concepts i learnt in college and in my first job. I guess i have stopped learning now...

I hope there are more lectures to come, this is basically because of my inertia and attempts at dabbling multiple things that prevents me to concentrate and focus.

Thinking about it, is it not too easy these days to get 'anything' you want ? i mean JFGI. I think that takes the charm out of everything one tries to do. To pacify my itch, i started with projecteular problems sometime back, and we end up discussing them in office. It gets irritating sometimes, when jitr4me just pointed out a simpler way by JGI, when i was thinking about if we can map this sub-problem to set-theory and all.

btw what he pointed out was,
Number of divisors for no. N = product of powers of all the primes factors added by 1."
eg
12 = 2^(2) * 3^(1),
so # divisors(12) = (2+1)*(1+1) = 6 {namely 1,2,3,4,6,12}

Basically i gave up on that problem after that, i guess i am getting reasonable and that is not very exciting, as Shaw says,

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Hmph ! Alas dont think ill be contributing to the progress anymore :)

random reading...

2008-04-02T14:41:00.001+05:30

recently have been doing lot of random reading than usual.

found the following quote from this article about google -
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/123/google.html?page=0%2C3&partner=rediff - pretty interesting,

"
...
We set an operational tempo: When in doubt, do something. If you have
two paths and you're not sure which is right, take the fastest path.
What's true in physics about objects in motion is true when you're
creating a product. It's easier to keep moving and change course than
when you're sitting and thinking and thinking.
...
"

I am subscribed to "http://sramanamitra.com/". Makes good reading and one stop place for a lot of info/details that i am on lookout for.

about mobile 'Contacts'...

2008-02-27T13:25:00.001+05:30

We all have cell phones these days. It is interesting how much your address book can reveal about whats going on with you.The other day i was going through my address book, and noticed how my frequent caller ids have changed over last year. The ones that were on speed dials got moved under bangalore folder and new ones took the place, then they got replaced by others and then again by others... since sometime now that list has 'matured'.

There were some, that i have not called since i left Bangalore and i removed them from cell altogether. There were some i gradually stopped calling and some who stopped calling me gradually or altogether...

Some entries still remain on my speed dial and frequently called lists wherever i go and this list is growing slowly.

There were days i was told, 'You should prioritize things in your life, see who and what are most important to you. Sit down. Make a list of items. Set goals etc. etc.'. These days its as easy as going through address-book on your cell phone. Not that i do this.

So what did we learn today ?
Technology can make your life easy but drive and motivation will single handedly help you proceed on your path. With enough of motivation, (is there something like 'enough motivation ?) one would get over trivialities that Technology brings to you.

I guess i started with sth and ending in sth else... anyhow thats all for now.

One year later...

2008-02-25T18:06:00.002+05:30

Its about a year since i moved on from bangalore. This year has been pretty eventful overall... Have not managed to complete all the things i had planned, started some and re-evaluated some - This is not Calvin's 'lower your expectations to the level they are already met' case :). But mostly, like always has been the case, it has been pretty interesting year.

Moving to a new place (workplace) and new environ and new people was not as difficult and sometimes as easy as i had thought. This sounds like politically correct line, not intended though.

Here are kind words from my ex-roomie for sometime and a guru for long Prem when i left bangalore a year ago... :)

Jabse tum gaye ho shanthinagar soona sa ho gaya hei
Ik aalsi jo din bhar sotaa tha, poona chala gaya hei
Kaun kehta hei Bhool gaye, morning ki chay to abhi bhi banti hei
Office se Ghar aane per, raat mein chay bannane wale ki kami khalti hei

Ab to lunch per jaane ke liye koi bhi intejaar nahin karwaata hei
Jo tumhari banai daal chawal mein tha, wo mazaa ab kaha-n aata hei
Tumhari ocean eleven waali chaal kaun bisaar sakta hei
Jeise tum kehte the, veise kaun 'paaji paaji' pukaar sakta hei

Tumhara sanidhye koi pal bhar ka to tha nahin
Aur us daroo paarti ka hangover to utraa hi nahin
Tumhaari khaali wardrobe, tumhaari kami ka roz ehsaas dilati hei
Fir na kehna bhool gaye, tumhari yaad to abhi bhi bahut aati hei

...

sniff sniff :).

PS: This is first post from ScribeFire. I plan to use it for all my further posts...

Back in pune from Bangalore

2007-11-05T19:00:00.000+05:30

I have not been blogging recently. Thanks to my ever growing list of ToDos at work.

Came back last night from Bangalore. Shankar and Shubha got married on 1st and i was there for the reception same evening. All the Best and Congrulations to them. Met old friends. was staying at alistairs. Bangalore visit always brings back memories. It was a good break.

Having some time at hands, bought a couple of books - been planning to start with 'World is Flat' for sometime now. bought its third edition (out in 1.5 yrs!) - and 23 DVDs !!! - went on a rampage in national market and bought old/new good bad movies. It was a pain to carry all this back in my small rucksack.

The return journey was Blore to Bombay to Pune. Bombay to Pune was in Innova this time. For a little premium you can share a pvt vehicle to Pune. Its a good option and saves about 30mins than riding a Bus. One should be careful though.

-------

There was a rape and murder of a call-center girl in Pune similar to what happened a year back in Bangalore. Sad. I am pretty sure nothing will come out of this. The Police, the cab-owners will continue to work in a risky mode without ensuring end-user safety or benefit. Suxs....

Hyd Blasts / New Office / No Connectivity

2007-08-29T00:21:00.000+05:30

Ravi - my brother - is in Hyderabad for a few months for his office assignment, He left last Thu and two bomb blasts, killing about 50 ppl, rocked Hyd the next day. We called him up asa we got the news and he was already on his way away from the city, towards office. He was watching a movie when his friend alerted him about the blasts, he left the theater immediately.

Police found 20 live bombs elsewhere. By one statistic, from 2004, India is just after Iraq, ahead of Afghanistan and Pakistan, in terms number of terror deaths. And like most other cases I am sure this blasts-case will also end up nowhere. and even if it goes anywhere, our president and human rights activists will make sure the culprits will get away ! We are a lousy 'power' ! ! !

On other note, My office moved to a new place, consolidating both our earlier 'offices' which were basically operating out of a flat and an independent house. New office is sure much more 'professional' and sleek. I have got a decent place now, unlike earlier where i used to sit on a 'highway', a pretty quiet (i.e.pretty and quiet) corner, and i am ready to kill to defend it :). I can see many folks eying that spot.
I am happier because the new office is less than a km from my house, unlike 13kms earlier. I go home for lunch.

Because of all this office transition stuff, there is no net access at office. Internal n/w is up, but the uplink is not functional yet. So no chat/mails/comics/news/blogs from office for last two days. Kind of good as only thing i could do there was work... nothing else.

2007-08-23T11:27:00.000+05:30

Someone sent me this link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/

Now china has apparently banned buddhist monks from reincarnating without government permission.
I find it equally amusing that in Christianity, sainthood is bestowed on by the Vatican. So unless Vatican approves there are no saints.

Religion directly translates to power where the control over people psyche/mindset it crucial.
People (i wont call saints, but religious heads) with good intentions can make this work in greater favour of humanity, making a better harmonious place to live.

We have seen how disoriented and blinded with faith, Mullas have caused havoc all around the world with extremist intentions and attitude, without realising this is affecting even 'their' own people. 'Red Mosque' que(?) is a recent example.

I am glad unlike Christianity (Pope) and Islam (say Khomeni), the Hindu religion (/religious leaders) has stayed away from (resisted the temptation) the politics.

--

I have always been 'interested' in religion. How important it is in the growth, development of an individual. The kind of place it has in one beliefs. It is one topic that has innumerous dimensions and many-folds implications on the daily lives of individual, on society, on generations; in turn on humanity and the world all over.

In this rapidly shrinking world if we do not 'adjust' (if i may) our beliefs, conflict - of/with weapons, beliefs - is evident. Can we make the clashes unnecessary and live in harmony ?
If we are to decide to choose this against religious teachings, is that internal conflict any better than the external ?

just random ranting this.

Not anytime soon, but in distant future i see myself in a cave in Himalayas revealing the fabrics of the ultimate truth.

Independence Day

2007-08-16T23:53:00.000+05:30

15th Aug is Indian independence day. Jai Hind !

It is holiday in India and a lot of celebrations that day, understandably... One more reason for all the marketers to sell their products. One more reason of the chain 'Breaking News' generator for the New Channels. One more day for many folks to visit Sinhagad (a fort) and get drunk. One day to remember the freedom fighters who laid down their lives for the independence. For politicians to give speeches.

I remember the time when i used to be exited to watch the 15th aug, 26th Jan rituals at Vijay-Path in Indian Capital on TV. Used to feel great pride in being a part of this great nation with glorious past. Not anymore...

My thoughts this year ran more like this.
'hmmm its Wed 15th AUG, damn if it was on Thu/Tue, I could have taken a long weekend off, hmm ill do that next year.'.
'Hmm lot of supplements for todays ToI, It is selling Independence Day too... cool.. Hmm whats this lead india campaign ? Maybe i should apply... '
'Which movie is on ? All the theaters are Housefull, and TV is showing all the patriotic movies, boring...'
'Lot of good offers, Damn i should have waited till today, would have got a better deal on my trouser.'.

It is not that i am not proud being an Indian. It is just that i do not care anymore. Anyone thinking about how screwed up this whole place is not going to help unless one can do sth about it. I do not plan to anytime soon, and do not bother myself worrying about it. If you can not beat them, join them. I have decided to do the latter.

I feel better, without any pangs. I guess i am grown up now.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. - George Bernard Shaw

Font Rendering, Microsoft and Apple at it.

2007-06-13T11:07:00.000+05:30

Is it only me ? or has everyone noticed, these days fonts & rendering seem to be in the news.
Came across a few nice articles,

http://spectrum.ieee.org/print/5049

I tried the new fonts mentioned in this article on Vista, and it does look good. Interesting how much thought/effort goes in behind it. End of the day making user experience better is whats imp.

With Safari available on Windows, has sparked another 'debate'. Well any discussion involving Microsoft ends up in debate, I am still not sure why people hate MS so much ? May be they are just jealous of Gates.

Rendering Differences in Apple and Microsoft :
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000884.html

Sub Pixel Rendering: http://www.grc.com/ctwhat.htm

I find Microsoft's approach practical, what percent of stuff i read on screen, i print ? very little. The on-screen reading experience is important.

2007-06-01T01:11:00.000+05:30

Shift to Pune has not been as 'smooth' as i had expected. It was more difficult than i had thought :). Thanks to folks who were there....
Now pretty much adjusted to the setup here...

I can now understand , why it is difficult to quit smoking....
A friend of mine is again ready to bet, 1200Rs this time, for a month if i quit smoking....
I have taken it up and no more smoking from tomorrow !

Had a lot of Fun last weekend, went to Mulashi Dam near Pune, with old gang. Mulashi is beautiful place. Tomorrow leaving for Mahabaleshwar with school gang ! With better roads i hear Mahabaleshwar is 2 and 1/2 hrs from pune now. Lets see tomorrow ! :)

KBC at RTO

2007-05-16T10:19:00.001+05:30

I lost my driving license, got police acknowledgement for the same and went to RTO to get a duplicate. My old license was issued, pre-computerisation times, so RTO was not able to trace my files and i was asked to reapply for a DL. That meant apply for, take a written test for Learners License, get LL, after a month take Driving test and then get a DL. Seemingly easy and clean process was very painful, coz of the redtape and burocracy at RTO, by my last experience (some 10yrs back). I was annoyed and knew have to put in long hrs at RTO for each step.

Preparing myself for the worst went to RTO and it turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. They have a system in place (wow!!) Pretty neat one too.

You get your application/documentory proofs reviewed, Pay your fees (there was a queue, but ofcourse we are 100 cr+ people now). Then get your details fed in the systems - biometrics and all - wonderful. Your fingerprints, photo (webcam based), name, address etc details are fed in and verified. You wait for your turn to take the test.

Like last time i thought this would be a paper based test so would take more than an hr to ans 10qs and get them checked. But...
You are called in batches (of 60) for the test. Once everyone is seated, the OHP (overhead projector) at the test center, first projects your details and seat nos, which you have to verify and is correct 99% of the times. Every seat/chair has 3 buttons(A,B,C) infront of it, enclosed in a wooden box (so noone can cheat). For the test, the questions (objective with 3 options A B C) are displayed on the screen and also played back as an audio to you. You have 10 seconds to answer the question. At the end of the test, the results are displayed quickly on the same screen. Anyone getting more than 6 questions is issued a laminated LL, on the spot, with your photo,signature,blood group etc. details. The whole exercise took me around an hr, the actual test took only,10 * 10 = 100 seconds.

Because of this computerisation of the tests, the RTO processes applications in large multiples than earlier and officials dont have to put in time doing mundane jobs like correcting 1000 papers everyday.
There is a lot that needs to improve in the attitude of the officials. But good part is it doesn't hurt as much as it doesnt affect you directly now.

This system is in place now throughout Maharashtra (apparently). I am impressed with the changes and congratulations to the RTO.

Now next step is, i have to take a driving test at the RTO. I hope they have simulators where different real-life, practical difficulties can be simulated and can test the drivers reactions/responses to the same, rate him based on that. Something like this is needed for the Truck Drivers, Heavy vehicles' drivers who are endangering lives of many on the roads. or am i hoping too much :) ?

Visiting Bangalore

2007-04-26T23:19:00.000+05:30

Coming long weekend (28th-1st), I would be in Bangalore, have quiet a fe folks to visit. I cant seem to stay away from bangalore. :).

Jangal main mor(peacock) nacha ...

2007-04-23T22:15:00.000+05:30

Have you ever seen a peacock in its full glory ? It is beyond words...
I realised I badly need a SLR :( !

My cousins have come down from Nasik to spend their vacations. So went out to Katraj snake-park. Saw snakes, peacocks, wild-animals and a boat-ride. BTW they have a white tiger there too, we were a little late and couldnt see it.

Katraj is just opposite my engineering college, still last time i visited katraj was some 13-14 yrs back. This place has changed a lot since then. There are a lot less snakes now. KAtraj actually was only a snake-park, but peshwe zoo is now moved to Katraj, as its a on the outskirts of the city a little. Also here the animals are been allocated a lot bigger space now.

ToDo:
1) Try to learn/train yourself a little about snakes.
2) Get an SLR.

2007-03-08T23:24:00.000+05:30

its 3 weeks in my new workplace. This place is as informal as earlier. I am getting used to it...

I won my bet with Abhishek and did not smoke for a year; he owes 1200$ to me. can someone pick the same from him for me ?. That was in Jan. I thought would give up in Feb but its March and still not continuing... I think i need another bet now. Anybody ready to bet 1200$s again ?

Thats it for now. Spending most time figuring out things...

Last Day at Cisco

2007-02-06T18:20:00.000+05:30

Sent following mail today

Hi all,

Today is my last day at Cisco.
It has truly been a wonderful and enriching experience. Thanks to all you wonderful people, who made last five and half years an amazing ride. I have learnt a lot here and not only about Networking.

I wish you all, the very best for your future.

I am reachable at dusane@gmail.com.

Best Regards,
Manish

--
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw

Moving on, joining a startup at Pune.

Adieus Bangalore, Pune here I come !

Happy New Year !

2007-01-02T00:53:00.000+05:30

Wishing you all a very happy new year.

Last year was an 'ok' year. I am tired and bored of the monotonicity.

This year i will do everything i have been wanting to do and always thought will do it at the right time !
This year i will start working on my plans which have been only plans for sometime now !
This year is going to be great and important year and i am going to make it count !

2006-11-26T14:10:00.000+05:30

yeah so someone blogged about my blog being horrible and meaningless. I discuss some of my life here ummmm is it meaningless... ?

Btw i have been very busy lately, many issues, things going on in parallel in my personal and professional life (are they really different) ?
My T42 system got corrupt somehow and needd to replace the harddisk, that was pain.. wasted one whole day just getting system back up and running.

Anycase you would like this,very geeky and touchy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYWGCEm2Dc

Back to Bangalore again

2006-11-03T17:32:00.000+05:30

After a week-long vacation in Pune for Diwali, i came back to blore on Sunday 29th.
Diwali break was good. Very productive vacation.
Had two get-togethers with the Garware95 gang (secondary school), saw some folks after about 11-12 years.

Nanowrimo has started : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanowrimo.
Alistair is writing a novel. I would have loved to participate, next year probably. I need to study and research more on the subject i am going to write about ! Believe me its next hhgttg.

Daniela was here, when i was in Pune. She left on Sunday. Missed her this time too. Hopefully, like last time, i'd probably see her in US.

Wednesday was off on the occasion of Rajyotsava Day (Karnataka State Formation Day). Had I synced up with Vaishali, i would probably been at Bheemwshwari. But i was 'busy' a little.

'Hampi Utsava' begins 3rd Nov, will go on for three days. Ayush n Alistair gang is going there, i would be in bangalore because i am 'busy'.

Shubh Deepavali

2006-10-18T23:12:00.000+05:30

|| The Festival of Lights is here ||

|| Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali||

I am leaving for pune tomorrow, will be back on 30th.

Chennai Visit for my L1 Visa.

2006-10-17T19:37:00.000+05:30

I had to visit Chennai, for visa appointment on Tue-10/10 at ungodly hr of 7:15 in the morning. As always at 11th hr, i was still picking up my docs and getting them signed from folks at office.

My flight was at 7pm on Mon-9/10. I left office at 5:30pm, went home, packed my bags, picked up my docs, left home, rached airport at 6:25. This has to a record of some sorts. I am so good at packing my bags in 5-6 minutes and mind well without missing or forgetting anything.

Took King-fisher for the first time. At Chennai airport i could not find my pickup, well there was none. To make it worse airtel had not activated my roaming. ( I notified them 2 days in advance... ? I am suing them damn it ! ). Found a hotel escort at airport, he helped me and i reached hotel.

The VISA interview was cursory. Got the passport back today with 3 yrs L1 stamped ! dont know what for...

Visited Marina beach at Chennai, nice place, except the heat. got back to hotel packed my bags, back to airport and bangalore.
As i landed in bangalore got an sms from airtel that my roaming was activated.. wonderful !!!.

Airport road was as busy as always, the auto ran out of gas halfway. It took me an hr to reach office from airport. From office went home late-night. Really hectic schedule..

Mess at my house

2006-10-13T21:48:00.001+05:30

Ravi - my dear bro - says bye bye to bangalore and returns to the comforts of hometown, Pune. I thought i will be alone now and can reflect on life, see where i am heading, make some strong decisions, plans and work on them hard; but my friends thought othrewise...

Sudeep and Prem got kicked out of their rented aptmnt for nefarious activities. So i gave them shelter at my house for 3 weeks; actually they just landed with all their luggage at my place one fine morning. Then I left pune for Ganapati Festival, when i returned my house looked like Katrina visited it (the storm, dont get ideas); but soon they moved into their apartment, leaving behind a big cleaning job for me.

Good thing was the guys came to my house for a week after they left every morning, we made breakfasts and enjoyed it over some episodes of 'friends'.

So now that the house is all cleaned up, i am all alone now and can do some thinking and reflecting, if i can set my schedule right by sleeping much before 3am...

My Marathon Run, and coverage in ToI

2006-10-10T22:26:00.001+05:30

Alistair, the very enthu buddy of mine, achieved a milestone, completing bangalore marathon - he ran full marathon (42 kms). Congratulations... ( you are still a little fat. bwahahahaha )

Ok so he drops in my house at 5:30 am, hands me 2 packs of electrolyte, and says give me each at regular intervals of 10kms each.
I dropped him at Kantirava stadium, came back and slept. He smss me and asks for the electrolyte after 10kms. I got up and started on my bike, the biggest pain was to reach him, as all the roads were blocked and it was pain driving by crowded roads... I finally managed to catch him at 23km mark and gave him the electrolyte.. at 24kms he looked so tired, he was lying on the median of the road near Outer ring Rd. I was really surprised he made it back all the way. I drove back on my bike took old-madras rd on my way back, had good breakfast on the way. Alistair calls me at around 11:30 saying he has completed the run.

So next day ToI covers alistairs marathon run with his photo too. They also mention me as the one who stood by him when he was lying on median (like a Nero). I am famous.. great..

So i thought i should give this marathon thing a try... hmmm lets see..

Check out his blog at http://alistairdsouza.blogspot.com/ and
his marathon special at http://how-to-run-a-marathon-in-ten-days.blogspot.com/

Back from pune... (sometime back)

2006-10-09T00:00:00.000+05:30

/For one reason or the other was busy and could not update the blog/

So Ravi moved back to Pune with parents and i am all alone in bangalore now...

I went to Pune for Ganapati-Festival for 8 days, a welcome break from the monotonous pain. Ganesh festival Photos at my flickr account - dusane.

Like most times, had a GT with my schoolmates, some are married, some have kids... It is amusing. Rohit was back from UK.

Firdaus was in Pune this time, caught up with him and Shantanu at a bar on MG Road. Met Shantanu almost after 5 yrs. He still has the child-smile.
Some words of wisdom when you combine Two pitchers and three wise men,
"rationality is relative"
"love is faithfulness".
We sobered ourselves over strong coffee at Barista before heading back home.

Tried hunting for a good house/land in Pune this time also. But in vain... :(

DVD Shopping.

2006-08-28T19:12:00.000+05:30

Ok Most of the DVD shopping at home is done by Ravi.

My obsession with Pygmalion continued, went out and bought 'My Fair Lady' DVD.
Really Amazing. 'Rex Harrison' has done a great job. Saw the movie 2-3 till times now.
Also got 'Life is Beautiful' and 'Sound of Music'.

We picked up all the 10 seasons of 'Friends' from the shop. Take my advice Do not buy this, addictive and sheer waste of time and worst it is very effectively reducing my attention span. tck tck...

How to identify a Gay - 101 ?

2006-08-26T04:32:00.000+05:30

How to identify a Gay - 101 ?

He can wear a sky blue shirt, white pants or short sleeved shiny tight Tees;
has hair cropped so short that his neckline resembles that of a girl;
walks as if a lizard walked up his pants;
or uses too many smilies (emoticons) on chat...

Honestly, how many smilies or emoticons does one really need ? Does it not offend you when someone inserts a smiley like #:-S or =P~, that you do not know, and expects you to appreciate it ?

Lets try to understand.. why smilies ? because chats, the plain text, are not very 'communicative' or 'expressive'. Say eg a line 'I love you' can be used totally differently based on the context, and a :) or :( would make it easier to understand. A line 'I can not come for the movie' with :( or :|, is totally different.
So smilies are supposed to help you communicate better.

I like emoticons. They are very helpful (when used within respective application) and can make the conversation entertaining, witty and a lot interesting. I admire the creativity behind it. But...

With yahoo/msn messenger introducing heaps of new emoticons, 'chatters' have really spoilt their vocabulary using too many colons and curly braces. In an application like yahoo/msn messenger, go, freak out, use all the emoticons you want, only because they translate into those tiny cute gifs on receiver's end and thus are very expressive. But why would one use these god damned symbolic codes on mails and text only messengers (like sametime) ?

:) = happy, :( = sad, :| = neutral, ;)= winky .... Simple
:-L = irritated, :p = tongue, :-S = worried .... Simple enough.
#:-S = ?, 8-> = ?, ~x( = ?, >:D< = ? .... whaat.. ? 'Aliens are coming' or 'Your fly is open' ???

I am not a 'chatting' person, neither a 'sms person'. I dont like these, but i agree both are useful and efficient at times.
I am not a sexist, but yes its mostly the fairer sex... its funny they are called fairer sex, when there are so many things unfair about them... So i was saying, i am not a sexist..., but its mostly girls (and some people, i have doubt about their orientation) who use emoticons a lot, and not only on yahoo/msn messengers.

Whenever someone sends any combination of colon, semicolon and braces, i have to start my yahoo messenger and send myself those smileys just to know what is the person whose-orientation-i-know-now is trying to say. Probably i am compulsive, but i just can't ignore these.

Disclosing personal emails is a bad netiquette, but for the noble purposes of study, lets take a real-life example of the following mail i received from a male couple of days back. The complete text of the mail is

/:) .. Was that a joke ? (:|

:D

I believe when two guys are chatting the only smileys they will _ever_ need are :), :(, ;), :p. Thats it, period, finito, end.
(Note - Use :p is restricted and should be used very very very rarely).

I know some 'people' who have damaged their little and ring fingers of right hand (while using 'Shift',':','"' and 'braces' keys) and still cant get enough of it. Believe me, i have yelled out from my cube, 'Are you gay ?' to an (apparent) male colleague for sending me '<):)', (and thats a cowboy hat smiley... yeah right... ).

If one really wants to be clear, why can't the good old action tag be used ? It can be so very expressive than emoticons. see an example below.
...
[Emanish] : So you coming for the dance ?
[Unknown_Hot_Babe] : with you ? I am not that stupid.
*** Emanish hits Unknown_Hot_Babe in head with his Monitor
*** Unknown_Hot_Babe punches Emanish in face and staples his pants to the shirt
*** Emanish stabs Unknown_Hot_Babe with a blunt knife
*** Emanish runs over Unknown_Hot_Babe with a bull-dozer
*** Emanish, being rejected 'countless'th time, kills the girl and goes home
*** One_Pervert curses Emanish for being a loser
*** Other_Chatters praise and thank Emanish for getting rid of Unknown_Hot_Babe
*** Emanish spends Fri night writing this stupid blog-entry
...

See clear as crystal...

In Summary :

(1) Any male who sends more than one smiley per 60 words of text needs a wordrobe and hair-style makeover to come out of the closet.*
(* : This limit is brought down to 10 words if he is chatting to a girl, mainly for two reasons.

First, Because of the skewed gender-ratio at your office, if you are not a little 'whats_the_word', someone more '$1' ('the_same_word') will lure the girl away with his 'chat' (yep, its the Internet generation).

Second, because..., come on, we have our needs, and its women's world afterall, so speak their language. )

(2) People of any/all gender please _DO_NOT_ use smileys in text only places (mails, chats); rather use them only in yahoo/msn messengers.
( Try not show off your emoticony-ness by being emotionally insensitive to others. We really dont want you to damage right 'Shift' of your keyboard, its very useful while playing Quake. )

(3) For you to carry something good from this entry, Visit bash.org, top 100 entries. My fav is #4281.

i Day

2006-08-23T02:25:00.000+05:30

7:30 in the morning, i walk into Brindavan on MG Road for breakfast, very unlikely for me to be up so early. After about half an hour, i am out, with content post-breakfast face. There was not much traffic on the road, it was a different place that day. It was holiday - Independance Day.

Some kids were trying last minute tri-colour sales at the signal. Someone told me the flag hosting ritual was going to be held at Manekshaw grounds, at the hands of CM of Karnataka State. I decided to walk in. The last time i attended any such 15th Aug celebration, was during mid-school.

I bought a tri-colour from one of the kids, put in on my bike and drove around a bit. Parked the bike and walked in the venue after a security check. Well decorated place with lot of shamiyanas and seats. Many seats were already taken; and most surprisingly by 'non-kids'. I took one between an old man and a happy kid.

With a lot of time to while, my impatience was killing me. Within 15 mins i was done thinking about almost everything - what should i do today ? (which movie i can watch); Its great that i am here today, hmm feels good... I should get up early everyday and finish my chores, AIs in time... that reminds me i have to fix my watch... and get bike serviced...; She was particularly sweet the other day... she should wear red more often, it suits her... ; I have to commit that bug before i leave for the trek...; yeah.. and i think she should spend less much time with that jerk..; ...they should have complimentory tea/coffee here.. i mean comeon.. people get up early to come here... and for security reasons they dont let us bring in anything...

I could not sit any longer and thought would be good idea to go around the grounds, but a visibly irritated policeman did not think so. As i got up, he started asking me in kannada - who are you, where are you going, sit at your place, you cant go there, etc etc. I guess he was also not happy that they didn't have any complimentory tea/coffee/biscuits there. I tried mumbling in hinglish "...there are still 40-50 mins to go, i am just going around...", but he was already looking at a female policeman (police-woman). This was good entertainment for the bored crowd around and i am sure they all thanked me. That included a couple of foreigners, they were told about the fabulous independence day functions by their hotel managers. I returned to my seat. After sometime as the policewoman was nomore seen around, the policeman came back to me saying 'politely', "they are getting ready so you can't go, also there is a big crowd outside now, you will lose your seat if you leave". Hmmm.. a rare, welcome though delayed, courtesy response from Karnataka Police - 'happy independence day' i said to myself.

Thinking who were getting ready, i looked at the old-man sitting at my left. He was wearing an old dirty 'dhoti' and had a small black blanket around him. He very much resembled the shephards i used to see in the farm-lands behind my house in Pune. I wondered what was he doing here ? Probably he was a freedom-fighter and comes there every year to see the tricolour unfurl in the air, to see the dreams he fought for come true... tchk.. too melodramatic and stupid thought i said to myself and looked right...( I really needed one more coffee... ).
There were 3 kids in their school-uniforms on my right. They have been all smiling and giggling since my 'dialogue' with the policeman. I was wondering, what were they doing there when they should have been at their school...

Meanwhile, a lot of school kids in their best uniforms, NCC, Homeguards, Police bands and other bands, performers,dancers in their coloured costumes started taking places on the white markings. From where i was sitting, which was farthest from the flag-post, there were about 25-30 blind kids. Their two teachers were getting them to stand in order, with as much or as little effort as their counterparts for non-blind schools. The flag bearer was holding a board that read 'Samartha Pratishthan'. I think i saw one with a triangle, so they were singing probably.

I could not stop thinking about the kids. For their performances, march, song or dance, they had worked hard, they have been waiting on the grounds well before everyone else, were 'standing' at their places much before the Chief Minister came in.

All those bands, reminded me of my school days. I was a good 'drummer' in the school band, also tried my hands at the flute. But was taken out from the flute team by my teacher, as i was too 'naughty' and hence 'fit only for drums'. I really wanted to learn flute back then. But with so many students to go for so few places, the criteria can get a little quirky.

Then the teacher for blinds took out a carton and fed each of the kids with glucose. It was early morning, kids have been standing for long, and she did not want the any of kids to faint, for one reason or the other.

It was well past (5 or so min.) the time for the flag-hosting, and everyone was waiting for it. I was not bored anymore, was looking around. Suddenly everything went quiet. The flag was unfurled, national anthem started. At the end, flowers were dropped on the national flag from two chetak(?) helicopters of indian army. None of the flowers could make it to the flag and were lying on the the ground.

I got up and was on my way out. The same policeman told me 'there is a 'phunction' now'. Without mumbling and stopping i said 'i think i have seen it all'. He probably thought i was rude, i didnt care, it was 'independance day' afterall. I walked out, the flag i had bought was still on the bike. I got home, took off the flag, folded and kept it in the my cupboard and went straight to bed...

That was two years ago, Not touched that flag since.

Happy Independence day. !

Talk 'Innovation' ,

2006-07-06T02:29:00.000+05:30

At office, as a start to 'Tea with leaders' sessions, Subroto Bagchi delivered a wonderful talk on 'Innovation'. He is a great story teller and i was impressed. Can i be as good a speaker by 49 ?

Gopaand Sudeep had strong reservations about the colleagues laughing out on Bagchi's comparison of Bangalore and (Singapore) Changi Airport. I am not sure why exactly, but didnt want to continue with it. It is our problem, not enough thought (innovation) is put in many infrastructure projects, when there should be more of it because the scale at which roads, airports are tested daily.

--

France wins the semi-final against Portugal, not at all an impressive match. The only goal scored of the penalty-kick was for an incorrect decision.

France and Italy in finals now. Italy should win.

There is a God...

2006-07-03T16:12:00.000+05:30

... thy name is Zizou.
You should have seen him in the game, He comes out of his retirement, and is a perfect entertainer. France beats Brazil, to enter semifinals. 2nd half is totally dominated by France and Brazilians were all helpless. 1998 repeats !

I have bet on Germany with Aunty Annette (Alistair's Mom). She is supporting Brazil. Brazil is out of the championship, i have already half-won the bet.
Honestly Argentina should have won the match against Germany, they were playing better.

English were good with their 10 players against Portugal, but penalty shoot-out sealed their fate. Though i dont think they should have reached semis.

Anycase Germany has better chances to win. I would like to see Germany and France in the finals.

"Congratulations on your Anniversary!"

2006-06-26T21:26:00.000+05:30

...I complete 5 yrs in my first job Today - with mixed feelings...

My Fair Lady - with wonderful songs like, 'Why can't a woman be a like a man' :-). has been on my hitlist for sometime now. Not seen the movie yet. Gave in and started with Pygmalion by 'George Bernard Shaw', can be found here - http://www.literaturepage.com/read/pygmalion.html.

One of my most favorite quotes ,

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
- George Bernard Shaw

Daku's Rule

2006-06-21T01:13:00.000+05:30

I am minding my own business one day at office one day(reading comics, cartoons), when my phone rings..

Me : Hello
Phone : Hi, I am V, Daku's friend !
Me : Vaishalee? hey how are you ? ofcourse i know you.
Phone : yeah, referred Daku, so you wont get confused.
Me : Hail Dakurani !
Phone : Dakurani ki jai bolo !

...
(ok so i took some liberty here..)

For a czech girl working in US, Dakurani your empire is spanning half the globe :) already. and how old was Naepolean when his conquests got over?

Welcome Vaishalee !

On Reading...

2006-06-19T23:43:00.000+05:30

I was missing for sometime now...
.. and i now am back..
.. Ta.. daaa...

Since i last talked about reading, there have been only so much progress on that....

Going against what i decided, I completed DVC, and saw the movie too. Movie is average. Book is a good read. Other than temporary excitement the book had nothing much to offer. As i had decided earlier i should have stuck to more 'reasonable' books.

Read another book 'Memories of a Father'. The author Professor T.V.Eachara Varier passed away recently. The book, a sorry tale of a father's fight for justice after 'losing' his son during Emergency (1975-77), is available online at the Asian Human Rights Commission web site. - (http://www.ahrchk.net/pub/mainfile.php/mof/).
Thanks to Promode for blogging about this.

'Straight from the gut' by Jack Welch (with John A. Byrne) was a good read. Though the book explained a lot of managerial behavior to me, i dont agree with some of his ideas. Am I still a 'socialist'* inside. (*: more abt this later).

After the great 'Animal Farm', i started with '1984' three times and stopped. I thought i am not doing justice to the book. All the three times i got interrupted. I dont like that. I mean reading a novel like that is ok. Anycase, Its that uneasy feeling that you have an unfinished job... I need to find a relatively free weekend soon... damn soon.

I dont think i would like 'Graham Green', I stared with one 'Twenty one stories' and could not finish the third one.

Then there was one adventure (second one) from Jeeves Omnibus Vol-I.

On technical side, i am ashamed to admit other than Doyle (vol I) there have not been any serious reading for a long time.

Ok so I am a Systems Engineer... duh !
I started with 'Advanced 80386 Programming Techniques' by James Turley. This is one my most fav books. We had two types of students at my Engg college. Ones who used 80386 manual and others - mortals like me - who referred books. I am not 'comfortable' with abstract ideas. I mean i understand very well what OOP and all but... (c++, java, bye bye). I just _need_ to know why, how, when.. to a reasonable extent, to... unleash. So anyways this is one good book. Best thing is now i am going over it w/o any 'obligation' and its a beauty. _Do_ read it once.

Alongwith 80386 i am also reading a good book 'See MIPS Run' by Dominic Sweetman. I hope this is a Turley for MIPS processors, and i will fall in love again. I borrowed this one from office. AFAIK we have only 2 copies of this and somebody or the other needs it all the time. I always gave it up for others, but not giving this up till i am done, this time. Sorry folks !

Thats it as of now..

The books in todo list are :
- 1984
- Winning - Jack Welch

Started and stopped Gandhi's and Nehru's autobiographies umpteen times till now. Never could move past chapter 7-8. My prejudices are just too strong. When you are too young you get influenced, when you are too (?) old you are 'unconcerned'...

Been a long time i wanted to lay my hands on 'A long walk to freedom', Nelson Mandela's Autobiography...

..my backlog never seems to be ending... I need to bl***y well get disciplined...

---

Oh ! thats a big post. pardon this one...
BTW, like mridul, I am also using 'Google Analytics' for my blog. I am a little concenrned about 5 million hits per day limit of theirs, :p lets see how it goes.
Of course will take it out later...
On another thought.. google is scary, - one story on that later...

Back in Bangalore

2006-06-03T11:47:00.000+05:30

8 days, 4 people, one qualis :

Bangalore- Trichi - Tanjavur - Paddukottil - TutiKorin - Rameswaram - KanyaKumari - Madhurai - KodaiKanal - Ooty - Bangalore.

Went around south visiting holy shrines for parents.

grrrr....

2006-05-17T12:34:00.000+05:30

This is not what i wanted to put up in this post, but really needed to vent this out..

We are a fucked up democracy and fucked up secular government !
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=67778

I really dont care much about the movie as such, its the attitude of piece of sh*t ministers at delhi that pisses me off.

If the govn leave all the 'non-existent sensitive issues' at people's discretion and concentrate of stepping up where it matters we would be a much better place.

Honestly yours,
-MD

Since i blogged last...

2006-05-03T01:20:00.000+05:30

Nepal agitation continues demanding 'full' democracy.

Elections in Kerala - about 70% voter turnout.

There is another deadly Terrorist attack in Kashmir - 22 hindus killed. Goverment condemns the attack.

In Vadodara (Baroda), a 300 yr old darga is demolished by municipal corp. for widening of roads (WT..??), causing tension and religious riots.

Pramod Mahajan is shot by his brother.

2006-04-22T00:37:00.000+05:30

The King of Nepal gives up his power for 'peoples rule'. Asks seven political parties to choose a leader; but not before the state of affairs were about to go out of control. Nearly 100,000 people defied the curfew and came out on the streets in protest. The King is revered as an incarnation of God Vishnu in Nepal. The same people were out on streets against the king.

(NBA) Narmada Bachao Andolan (save narmada movement), Medha Patkar goes on a fast, Aamir Khan supports her. Media canvases it in big way. Mr Modi is a little bit irritated and we see BJP members burning down Aamir Khan posters, stoping RDB shows.

Elections and Bombblasts

2006-04-15T01:42:00.001+05:30

Assam assembly elections recorded 70% voter turnout,this is braving the naxal threats and heavy rains. Salmaan khan in Jail, Interview with the jail superintedant, 'exclusive' footage from the jail, the bed on which he slept, what he had for breakfast and lunch, what he used for mosquitos was obviously what the nation needed to see.
The dirt seeking media should grow up a little.

2 blasts rocked Delhi's Jama Masjid at 5:30 pm, at the time of namaaj.

In another series of blasts, 5 died and 33 injured in Srinagar in seven grenade attacks by Militants. This is ahead of the upcoming assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir.

Two Movie Stars

2006-04-14T00:30:00.000+05:30

Salman Khan was released on bail from Jodhpur Prison after 3 days, for an old case where he killed an endangered species - chinkara.

Manu Sharma - son of union minister and related to ex president of India - was acquitted from a murder, where he shot a model - Jessica Lal - from ponint blank range and walked out of a party some 8yrs back.

The Karnataka movie star, a legend, Dr Rajkumar passed away yesterday and was buried today. There were state wide 'protests' for this. All the shops, showrooms were closed today. Angry, frenzied fans created a keos in the city. 5 died including a policeman in the clashs all over bangalore. We were adviced to 'work from home' and dare not venture outside. Some of my frineds were in trouble and could not have a proper lunch, breakfast or dinner whole day.. as none of the restaurents or shops, market were open.

Seriosuly suffered were those who earn their living everyday.

50% Reservation

2006-04-11T00:32:00.000+05:30

Indian government has recently approved (unanimously by all political parties) additional 27% reservation for seats in premier institutes including IITs and IIMs.

This makes 49.5% of the seats reserved.
For the upper casts its time to pay the price for being upper casts. For the SC/ST/OBCs, they can relax as their next generation will be born with a silver spoon.

A thought from Fountainhead "Enshrine the mediocracy and you have razed the Shrines" Heck i say what a way to be Secular...

I say it is fair enough on part of the Government, if you can't take the country to future, take it to the glorious past.

Animal Farm

2006-04-01T21:09:00.000+05:30

A colleague of mine is leaving pursuing his MBA at ISB. Wishing all the best to him. So he came to my cube yesterday to return my Animal Farm, i had bought 2 yrs back and he picked it up from me that same day.

Leaving lot many pending activities pending, i started with 'Animal Farm'.
One of the best books i read recent times. '1984' will be the next book.

Also finally finished 'Fountainhead' a couple of weeks back. I am not very impressed with idea of individualism and objectivism so much. But Ayn Rand sure is a powerful writer. 'Atlas Shrugged' is also in line.

US-3 : Lord of Rink, Calif Adventures and Universal

2006-03-26T18:36:00.001+05:30

SJ Downtown, had an ice-rink put up for Xmas. Tried my hands (rather legs) at ice-skating. I was a bit too exited and almost got my bones broken. I was the hands down winner for most number of falls in the rink and a lot of entertainment for the kids in the rink. Ice-skating was one great experience.

Universal Studios and California Adventures were on the plans for a long weekend. We rented a Land Cruiser, for the six of us.

Calif Adventures was a lot Fun and lot of adv. The only second thing i liked in US after ice-skating. Next Day it was Universal Studios. Another great experince. I was a volunteer for a sound-recording demo and was butt of a prank there. I had my share of fame; but nobody believed me that it was not me who was shown to be scared behind the curtains in silhoutte.

Sanjay and Shankar did a splendid job driving 6 long hours, both ways, in the early morning onwards and late in the night for the backward journey.

There is nothing like listening to 'Hotel California', on an empty I-5 late night, in California. This is the fourth thing i will miss about US.

US-2 Dakurani Encounter

2006-03-16T15:10:00.000+05:30

I was in US when Daniela visited india and blogger gang had a get-together in bangalore. We had decided to meet once she's back in US. So there i was driving to Pete's Cafe - Palo Alto, humbly following the GPS. Though she had lot of work pending and had not recoverd from her Circadian Dischronism, she was kind enough to take some time out. She tried her best to scare me with her photo, but that didnt work. So we meet at Pete's cafe at 8pm. The shy guy that i am (..ok ...ok ...enough.. stop laughing now...), was kinda nervous initially, but once the ice was broken we had good talk about everything. She also showed me Stanford University too after dinner.

I had expected a phulan-devi incarnate... Well unlike what i thought she appears to be a good girl (unlike most girls, (or most girls i have met)). Nice meeting you Daniela.

-Gaddar

Mohammad Cartoons...

2006-02-26T01:24:00.000+05:30

Here is what the editor of Jyllands-Posten has to say about the Mohammad cartoons and religious outcry (thats a milder word) thereafter. (http://www.jp.dk/english_news/artikel:aid=3566642/)

Some minister in a UP State govn has offered 51 crores (510 million) to one who gets him the danish cartoonists head. After the wide protests someone back home in India remembered Mr. Husain's paintings with goddess Saraswati drawn naked and demanded his head too.

The article above reflects most of what i feel about the issue, in a milder tone probably because this is a clarification or explaination.

Self analysis-1

2006-02-09T19:55:00.000+05:30

On some self-analysis i concluded,

"I have problem with authority."

What shld i do ?
i plan to stick up a poster on my ceiling in bedroom saying : "Good morning, start licking to hierarchy" or "Suck your way up"..

(bad) jokes apart,

what would one do ?
...

mood - :/

When in US - 1

2006-02-09T00:30:00.000+05:30

Yeah so one small episode from US,came up during lunch discussions today...

The safeway on north first street, santa clara, has a korean guy at billing counter. This guy apparently speaks Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, I had heard. When it was my turn our conversation went like this,

K_Guy : Namaste, Naya Saal Mubarak. (Happy New year)
Me : Happy New year to you too.
K_Guy : Kaise ho? Achche ho na ? (how are you ? doing fine ?)
Me : (to test him out) Nahi yaar. (nope)
K_Guy : Kyon ? Kaam Jiyada hai ? (Why ? work load ?)
Me : (smiled) yeah sth like that :).

prolly it was good timing for him, but i was surprised. I thought ( and which will be the case) he would have mugged up a few lines and can catch him easily, But he shocked me.
The discusion on lunch table was, indianisation (asianisation) of SanJose. You'll find umpteen indian restaurents in SJ. Every fourth (if not third) guy will be an india. One fella even says its a goolt-land (goolt - slang for telugu). You will see many chinese, indians around you.

Sakaleshpur Trek (Dhonigal-Yedikumeri)

2006-02-03T00:25:00.000+05:30

Last Friday, Alistair and I were discussing about Sakaleshpur trek, I wasnt very sure till 9 pm, when alistair called me from Majestic, we are waiting for you here... Finally just got out of office, went home, packed bags, reached Majestic and got into a bus heading Mangalore.

We got down after dhonigal, very near to the train tracks. It was dark, so we decided to wait for some light before moving on and had a campfire. Lakshmi,Raoul,Sandeep and Alistair knew each other already, i was the new guy in the group, but wasnt a problem getting along with the cool gang.

I am leaving the detailed travel-log to alistair. The trek is basically a walk along an abandoned (untill now) railway-track. The complete track is repaired, we saw test runs for the railway-engines going on. The trek is just a succession of tunnels and bridges. Great Fun. We got off the trek at Yedikumeri Station, took a route through jungle and reached high-way. Took a truck till Hassan. Learnt this the harder way, if you ever hitch a ride in a truck do not sit at the backside; but if you have to (like us) sit as 'inside', as close to the driver as possible. Took a Bus from Hassan to Bangalore and reached home safely at 4:30am.

We did only half of the trek, it wasnt any tiring or exhausting. Walking along the tracks gets a bit monotonous, but nothing a great company cannot fix.
Btw did i mention that we lost our way once and lost a fellow hiker Sandeep (who went clicking some snaps) too once; and of course, the refreshing bath in one of the streams. I am not sure with upcoming resurrection of the railway-track, how long will the trek be feasible, but it is a must do thing for sure. Carry enough food (you wont get anything to eat anywhere), torch(with tunnels as long as 700mtrs, you need them), and you should be more of less fine.

Back in india.

2006-02-01T13:45:00.000+05:30

Came back in india on Sun 22nd. Long flights are very very painful.
This time on flight, i managed to sit next to a talkative lady from Switzerland.
very sweet and jovial lady, talkd a lot about her husband who was gonna pick her up a the airport,about her house in spain, how she makes marmalaides. Her daughter and grand-daughter in US. She wasnt very comfortable with english, but still we managed to have a good dialogue. She got off at Frnkfurt and then was to go to Zurich.

BTW,
Which is the most difficult day when you decide to quit smoking ?
-> I have a bet with old-collegue Abhishek who has moved to US now - 1200$s. Starting 17th january, 4:30 pm, if i dont touch cigarette for a year, i get 1200$ from him; else i have to cough up the same to him.
Just 11and a 1/2 more months to go...

A Running Start for 2006 :

2006-01-05T00:20:00.000+05:30

1st Jan 2006, 12:40 AM, I start running down First Street in SFO and stop only at the Caltrain Station on fourth. I had a train to catch in 20mins.

Reached US safe and sound on 30th at abt 1 at SFO airport. Shankar, Rohan and Puja were nice enough to pick us up at the airport.

On 31st we lazed for most time of the morning, had lunch at Applebees at McCarthy Ranch. SFO Bay Bridge was where we planned to go for New Year Eve. Took a caltrain from SanJose Diridon to SFO, Fourth Street, from there walked to Pier39, roamed around, had dinner at Fisherman Wharf. You get good seafood at the roadside stalls there.

Moved on towards the bay bridge for the main attraction - the splendid fireworks started at 12 and went on for about 15-20 mins. We wanted to avoid the last train at 2, so ran to the station to catch the one at 1.Though the train started at 1:30, we had seats for the long journey. Reached SJ, Diridon at about 3:00 AM. Drove to Rohans place, watched Shawshank Redemption, while enjoying pan cakes. Thanks a lot to Puja for the pancakes at the 3:30-4 AM in the morning. Then left for our aptmnts, reached and slept at about 6 AM . I wanted to see the new year sunrise; but nobody was ready to give me company at 5:30am to *$s (thats starbucks) :(...

I have not yet got used to the weather, the jet lag and sunset at 4:30.
First impression of US, its a different place.

* * * Happy New year to you all * * *

...

2005-12-28T16:36:00.000+05:30

Sitting in the 3rd presentation/meeting for today. Have one more to go.
Got following mail...

--

"How to Keep a Woman Happy"
---------------------------

It's not difficult!

All you have to do is to be:

1. A friend
2. A companion
3. A lover
4. A brother
5. A father
6. A master
7. A chef
8. An electrician
9. A carpenter
10. A plumber
11. A mechanic
12. A decorator
13. A stylist
14. A sexologist
15. A gynecologist
16. A psychologist
17. A pest exterminator
18. A psychiatrist
19. A healer
20. A good listener
21. An organizer
22. A good father
23. Very clean
24. Sympathetic
25. Athletic
26. Warm
27. Attentive
28. Gallant
29. Intelligent
30. Funny
31. Creative
32. Tender
33. Strong
34. Understanding
35. Tolerant
36. Prudent
37. Ambitious
38. Capable
39. Courageous
40. Determined
41. True
42. Dependable
43. Passionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:

44. Give her compliments regularly
45. Love shopping
46. Be honest
47. Be very rich
48. Not stress her out
49. Not look at other girls

AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:

50. Give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
51. Give her lots of time, especially time for herself
52. Give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:

53. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes

----------------------------
HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY!!! :
----------------------------

1. Leave him in peace
2. Feed him well.
3. Let him have the remote control.

--

I am good at about 50 of 53 characteristics... so is there anyone ready to feed me and have remote and not just leave me in peace like now... ?

ok back to meeting...

..sth about field trials... console port hanging.. high is cpu utilisation.. autonegotiation... ok all eng terms ...

2005-12-25T19:32:00.000+05:30

Without being politically correct, using the same old phrase,

!!! Merry Christmas to all !!!

Heartiest Wishes and Best Regards.

--
Started changing the template. Have added links to blogs i frequent. Some other changes later/soon.

Happy BirthDay to me.

2005-12-22T17:46:00.000+05:30

22nd Dec 2005..
Happy Birthday to me.

Last night, Gopa and Prem come to my house with cake. We joke, sing, play guitar, booze blacklabel till 2 pm. Got up a bit late. The cake says "Happy Bday Muniya" - thats my new name...

I had a small preso to deliver at office. Then there was cake-cutting ceremony, which has now became some sort of a ritual.

I am a lazy person, but can very religiously work-on my resolutions. I have some resolutions this time. Lets see how they go...

went back to this post... hmm lot many things have changed since then...

welcome ... walk all over me.

2005-12-18T22:44:00.000+05:30

What the xyzw is this ? why me ?

- now what ?

what do you mean now what... ? you... you saw what happened..

- hmmm, so ?

... so ?

- yeah, so what ? It never used to bother you earlier; you never gave a damn, they are not worth it anyways.

...

- Why does all this trouble you _now_ ? Its not that this is happening for the first time.

yeah... but... but its different this time. Why do i have to take it, when i can just make them shut the xyzw up ?

- you dont have to. But you never had to. Its just you chose it that way.

...

- No point fuming about it. Go over it again, change it if you want.. but i guess it'll be fine...

what the...

- ... and yeah just collect yourself. you are a mess.

Thanks, and what do you do in meantime ?

.... smoke, i guess...

huh ?

typos, spellings, corrections - 2

2005-12-13T01:30:00.000+05:30

Why i wont use spell-checkers ?
A real life story,
A friend of mine visiting US, wrote a congratulatory email to a US colleague (who was an indian), for her first baby.

Hi Xyz,
xxxxxxxxxxx how is ur baby doing ?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx .

Before sending the mail, spellchecker ran automatically, and 'corrected', the word ur above to our. This friend was lucky enough to notice it and corrected the correction.

Till that time I religiously ran spell-checker and always used to passively ignore the suggestions/corrections, (for the engineering mails have too many technical terms that dont classify as normal english - yeah you can 'learn' the terms and build your dictionary, but ...). I have stopped using it now, and not exactly for the above episode.

I am being a bit more careful and assertive, correcting the errors now.

Now two other episodes,
I was chatting with a friend of mine, who happened to be a girl, I wanted to say "I was kidding..." mistyped it as "I was kissing...".

Today a friend of mine, chatting with another friend (another girl), mistyped "full stack length..." as "fukk stack length..."

finally all that keyboard pattern makes sense now...

Humour Formula

2005-12-11T14:24:00.000+05:30

I liked this post from (Dilberts Creator) Scott Adams Blog.
(http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2005/12/humor_formula.html)

When you analise ( this word has anal in it ) and dissect humour, thats not fun. (like Calvin says, when you build character having fun, its not fun anymore).
But this post made a lot of sense. I have this dream to run a comic strip one day, and this should help getting audience, then i can probably leave my job and make money by drawing simple pictures and making fun of miserable lives of minions.... oops !

Talking of comics, this post would not be complete without mentioning,
Calvin and Hobbes is the best comic strip ever...

typos, spellings, corrections..

2005-12-06T20:10:00.000+05:30

ohk, lets make if official.
I suck on emails. Any written (typen) communication, i am very bad at it.
I have this amazing ability of screwing up exactly the important sentences, words in mail, comments and sending before rereading it...
Grrrr...
eg,
I type, '... i changed the slippers though...' then i want to change this to , '... i did change the slippers..', but finally end up in, ' ... i did changed the slippers though.. '
Grrr...

another one,
I send a mail to this big alias informing about a good tool. I wanted to type the e-engineering tools are 'plug-and-play', but ended up typing the e-engineering tools are 'plug-and-pay'... with plug-and-'pay' in quotes. I get mails from managers inquiring about the cost to the BU...
"sigh"

On blogs, public posts, even if i can see the comment/blog i just posted has a typo i just ignore it...
Grrr..

Enough is enough... This ends today ...
and no i dont want to use spell checkers ( why ? in next post... )

absent minded

2005-12-01T14:23:00.000+05:30

Got up in the morning, dropped Ravi to his Busstop.
Got ready for office - put on a Jeans and a Khaadi Kurta. Picked up cell, wallet, bike keys, house keys, laptop etc etc.
drove and rea hed office in 5 mins, parked bike then went up. It is when i was in the lift i realised I was still swearing my bathrrom sleepers...
By that time i had reached my floor. Got off the lift decided to continue like that...

Just before the lunch break went back home and changed to normal chappals.

Books

2005-11-30T20:55:00.000+05:30

TIMEs All time 100 novels list, from 1923 to present is here, (http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/).

I am not particular/a fan of these all time xyz lists. Just coz somebody thinks so i refuse to accept, even if that somebody is 'somebody'. Still in this case the list will be useful.

A link to Talk about Friedman's The World is Flat at MIT :
http://mfile.akamai.com/12800/rm/mitworld.download.akamai.com/12800/mitw-ocw-friedman-flat-16may2005-80k.ram

Thanks to ocw. This is really a good effort by MIT.
"World is Flat" is new BestSeller btw.

2005-11-28T15:52:00.000+05:30

I am planing to be here,

Thx to gopa who registered me on the last day, i reached office past 12 today. Returned from kerala last night.

2005-11-28T14:36:00.000+05:30

came across "yahoo and google visual timeline" at Jeremy's blog.
hmmm... intersting :)

http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/nonflickr/05_yahoogle.html

Has it ever happened to you ?

2005-11-22T15:09:00.000+05:30

You get up one day, get ready and realise sth is wrong. You are not comfortable; it is not every morning peace of mind situation. It is like you are forgetting sth. You check cell? hankerchief? house keys? bike keys? badge? wallet?- all check. Subconsciously you know something is wrong. No... it is just that feeling that sth is not right. It is something you did, or you didnt... unknowingly...

Then somehow it comes back to you... telling you what you did or what you did not do, the way reacted in a particular situation was .... not correct(?).

_not_correct_ here means, 'not correct' as it appeared to you in hindsight'. But i never thought about it in hindsight. so lets rephrase it as '_not_correct_ as it appeared to your subconscious in hindsight'.

Now this action of yours - thats causing you this why_i_didn't_do_it pain - is not what you would have done or had chose to do, in normal course of action.You being the person you are you would have done it exactly the otherway. But then , you didn't ... [ had i known; would i have changed it ? would that not have been such a boring life; you knowing what is right for you to do at every crucial moment in your life ?, retrospection would not have had a meaning /]. I have heard the phrase 'ghosts of the past'. Does it reflect these decisions/errors at subconscious.

Ok.. enough vagueness... to define the problem...
What i am talking about is, a small incident sometime back. I am thinking, minding my business, running my processes; there is a sudden interrupt, i misread the priority (or index wrongly into IDT) and process it with different (many wont classify it as wrong**) ISR, and move on with my processing. This ISR execution set some variables in my subconscious, that has activated some heavy processes causing CPU_HOGs at conscious level now. These demons coming to fg from bg, cause loss in productive time.

** : This is the critical region. Different processors, motherboards would have behaved differently. I know my firmware and i know, i would have handled the interrupt in way - 'x'. Now 'this' is right/correct for me.

Based on some globals this behavior may or may not change, this is where the bug is. At that time, with the given globals, i thought the way, say 'y', i handled the interrupt was right. But in hindsight (in subconscious) this doesnt seem right, as that is straining my CPU. My firmware, PALs and PLAs are programmed to process the way my system wants, (be careful not to strain/overload it) unless i am troubling sbd else on LAN. I try to be a responsible host on LAN.

We all know, the only thing to be done for exposed flaw or bad code in the production, is a new release or a patch. But what we do for the grey areas in the PRD and specs ? ... anybody ?

This depends heavily on the extern globals and values they are carrying at the given time. A better way is to check the compatibility matrix and review interop specs with these systems/hosts, before changing the default behavior, which results in heavy processes in the foreground and pain in the serial port.

2005-10-21T20:29:00.000+05:30

Shook hands with John Chambers, CEO Cisco Systems, twice today :).
I had opportunity to listen him in person for the first time. Pretty impressive.
He inaugurated Proposed Cisco Campus. The inauguration was indian way, He broke a coconut, using a spade dug the ground.

Cisco plans $1 billion investment in India over next three years.

2005-10-18T13:29:00.000+05:30

This is too good to miss,

an hr back, at lunch table in cafeteria, where typical, dnaga, hungama, leg-pulling was on, a _girl_ colleague says

Gopa is such a girl, keeps bitching about everybody all the time

...We were laughing.

----

Returned yesterday from a weeklong vacation from Delhi. Maintained a travel-log in a small diary, will try to put it up. Felt the need for a palmtop kinda device for seamless data xfer for things like this. This trip has been pretty exciting..

---- Update ----

Same gang, same day, for evening snacks, same people, Gopa and the girl are arguing about some bills. The argument is who is correct in the calculations. The girl wins and says to gopa,

You can't understand this simple thing, you are worst than a girl

...

2005-09-29T23:37:00.000+05:30

[offtopic:] will talk abt part two from earlier post after this...

This happened to a (malayalee) friend of mine.
So he went to buy some vcds,dvds of malayalee movies to National Market.

Friend : Do you have any malayalee movies ?
Shopkeeper : You want double X or triple X ?

Believe me this is not made up and also that i have nothing against mallus.
All my mallu friends know one of the above is not true ;-).

BTW this friend was 'hung' for sometime ( i mean imagine (the XXL size)Mohanlal in... .. just imagine..), later blasted the Shopkeeper left n right.

WOMEN buy MEN for SEX

2005-09-24T00:56:00.000+05:30

Thats 'The weekly "news"-magazine Outlook', dated September 26th'05. In top right corner there is small mention of 'PM in US' report. The soaring stock market doesnt seem to be in the weekly news.

I do not like India Today for I distaste the stupid content, so i went for 3 yr subscription of Outlook ( and also because they had a good offer).(On a sidestep : My opinion is same for ToI, and prefer Indian Expressover it). I get these delivered in my office. As soon as the SW engineers (read frustrated collegues), dropping in my cube, saw the heading 'women buy men for sex' in bold letters on the frontpage, pounced on the magazine. I guess outlook has it its way and sure would have boosted sales this week, with some absolutely stupid statistics*, and 'those' kinda pictures inside.

Gopa in his blog echoes some of my opinions. I wont waste efforts repeating the same here; and would rather try to take a more 'logical' approach.

Just would like to point out the Methodology. In gist has been :

The Survey was - conducted by Cfore - done in 8 cities in a period of 10 days, amongst candidates - 20 to 45 yrs age - belonging to SEC A and SEC B catagories. A total of 2000 people were surveyed of which 800 (53% Male, 47% Female) were chosen for final statistics.

(wonder why 800 only were 'chosen' from 2000 ? ).

Frontpage says, 'Nationwide survey on forbidden sex'. A sample of 800 people from 8 cities, thats on an avg 100 per city, spread over an age group of 20-45, isn't 'Nationwide'.

Just fyi, the population of eight cities surveyed is as follows,
[ Ref : www.censusindia.net and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ ]
Delhi : 13,782,976
Mumbai : 12,691,836
Calcutta : As per the census of 2001, the urban agglomeration's population was 13,216,546 while that of the city (Municipal Corporation of Kolkata) was 4,580,544
Bangalore : 6,062,577
Chennai : 6.7 million
Kochi : 1,355,000
Ahmedabad : 4,970,200
Guwahati : 2,515,030

And surveying 100 people from these isnt good enough to claim.

77 percent of women from Ahmedabad say they enjoy having sex with younger men.

Even if out of the 100 people from Ahmedabad, if 37 (36.19) females (out of 47) you surveyed, agree to the above statement, - (where did you go to survey ? to red-light areas ?. I mean anybody claiming this, is accepting to have 'experience' with at least more than one partner, with at least one being younger right ?) - Why attribute it to 4,970,200/2 females in Ahmedabad ?

Now am i sounding an orthodox (add 'frustrated and virgin' or 'sw engr') indian male ?
("No,i am not orthodox, i am ready to have sex with anyone and anywhere, bring it on." hahahaha .. )
Another answer would be...

(...i am tired now... gotta sleep... if you really give a damn, wait for next post.)

Media is a business, giving people what they want, that is not what exactly 'news' means. There is a now a thin line in tabloid and a newsmagazine, and everyone seems to like to walk it.

*Next session more about SEX, so stay tuned...* (Sorry ! but i too need more readers)
(Contd.)

--

btw, The cool browser Opera - which introduced tabbed browsing, mouse gestures (right?)- is free (no ads) now.

pandora.com, Salaaam-Namaste,

2005-09-18T23:04:00.000+05:30

Check out pandora.com.
It will play you songs of your type. Just create a station and listen away.
Good concept, I cant seem to remember, where i had heard this similar idea being implemented earlier...

--

Saw movie Salaam-Namaste on Fri with office gang. Nothing new in the story, old wine in a new Australian bottle. But the mocktail has come out well, though easily predictable, you dont get bored in the movie.

Javed Jafri is good with his 'Egzactly' dialogues. One of his dialogues...

" When in rome do the romans... "

Thank you, WodeHouse

2005-09-14T23:04:00.000+05:30

For last two days I sleep very late and blame it on Jeeves.
I bought Jeeves omnibus vol-1, some 6 months back at Sapna Book Stall Exhibition. Never had chance to lay hands on it till a day before. I was very much disturbed that day, picked up the tome (550pages) and could not stop till 2 O'clock in the night, had to leave the book only because had to get up for office the following morning.
I have read P. G. Wodehouse, Psmith adventures and a couple of others, earlier. Obviously had heard a lot abt Jeeves and thus i meet him. Wonderful book. The british way of speaking is what i enjoy the most in his books. I mean..

"If you want to say yes , just say yes, why do you have to sing a song for that ? "

I have hardly completed the book, Bertie Wooster is already my fav.

The land of Brave and the free

2005-09-10T20:21:00.000+05:30

What happened to a friend of mine in America.

http://joydutta.com/blog/index.php/2005/08/28/american-airlines-what-the-hell/

I say sue their ass Joy !

|| गणपति बाप्पा मोरया ||

2005-09-10T00:10:00.001+05:30

॥ श्री ॥

ज्या भाषेत बोलायला, लिहायला शिकलो, जिने 'शिकवल'...
विद्याधीश्वर गणपतिच्या आशिर्वादाने,
त्याच मराठीत लिहिण्याचा हा माझा पहिलाच प्रयत्न

--

॥ माझा मराठाचि बोलू कौतुके, अमृतातेहि पैजा जिंके ॥

Marriages are made in Heaven ; they cost Heavenly too.

2005-09-02T18:40:00.000+05:30

A dinner at Fri night, to meet A's parents. A, his fiancee Pl , his uncle, R-Pj(happily (ie, newly) married couple), and M (yours truly) were there . A was sharing his griefs with M, about a torture called wedding-shopping he as to go through. A ring worth 20k, sarees worth xk, this thing worth yk. M - who had been convincing A, dowry isnt exactly a bad idea - is sympathetic. A concurs M you were right afterall.

Now R and Pj got married recently. R was busy eating and Pj giving tips to Pl, on how to kill your to be husband.
Pj : Shaadi ka dress naa ? Sandeep Khosla isnt worth the price actually, i think Ritu Berry (or whatzhernameis) is ok relatively... dont go for xyz.. go for this design... gold weaving naa... etc... etc...
R : 'A', 6 figure ready rakh...
This is when A and M were discussing how A can save some money by renting a suit for the marriage.
Got home post dinner.

++n; one more down...

my_bank, iskon, janmashtami

2005-08-26T18:57:00.000+05:30

I am not at all happy with my_bank. To get solution for some case, i had to write emails 5 to 6 times, fax the same two times and explain it to call-center executives (as there will be a new one everytime), countless times. They are very very bad on tracking a case. (It remembers me of the email joke, of a person levaing some soup in his hotel room and mail-exchange afte that)
(I really dont understand why doihave to fax it once i have emailed it)

I have found a better method to get their attention now, dont pay the bills, they get back to you and are ready to listen too.

Dear my_bank,

This is second time i have to resort to not paying the bills for the late payment charges. I have had a not very plesant experience of your customer care and followups thereafter in a related case (RefNo:[#xyzabcxyz]). So before i have to elaborate the same problem to 10 callcenter executives and write numerous emails explaining the problem, just to get started; I would like to talk to a person ( _in authority_ who will _not_ under any circumstances forward my case to anybody else and is capable of handling it all by himself/herself).

If you want me to start paying the pending bills, and out of sheer frustration not commit a suicide and blame it on your bank, please get me a person i can talk to (i would suggest a female - its difficult for me to be rude to a female).

Quoting reason for my frustration again here for your reference case num - RefNo:[#xyzabcxyz] -. This will make a good case-study (and a humorous one as well), so she can go through it, so i dont ahve to waste time explaining the same 100th time.

Please contact me so i can pay your bills once i talk to her about my doubts, concerns, problems, (and if she has time, my girlfriend, boss and life in general).

Good day to you, wish the same for me !

Regards,
-Manish (mycellnum.)

--

Today is Janmashtami, Birthday of god krishna. Took mom, dad and granny to Iskon.