AJAX

This thing is so powerful that you do not even need a server running to make your own RSS Readers.

You require:
- Browser and internet connection
- HTML/JS, which uses Ajax

And Booom!!!... you have a RSS reader which can read any feed you subscribe to.

And the best part is, it is no new technology, just some workaround with JavaScript. Salute to that chap in google who would have figured this out.

M addicted to it!!

Image source: Cover of Yoga Journal (http://www.hlla.com/covers/yoga.jpg)

Culprit or Victim?

One of my friends sent me a link to a post which narrates some incidents of Outrageously Good Customer Service (must read).

My initial reaction was to reply back and like always crib about why such things do not take place in our country. But this time I preferred to be a little boring instead, and thought of how could such a state of accountability be achieved in our society!

The answer to that was simple... Instead of asking all the time, its the time to give!

Unless I can provide an outstanding service to my customer (be it the IT service industry) and become a part of that so called "value addition", I shall not henceforth demand for a similar experience from the seller that I trade with.

The picture says it all, we reap what we sow!! and the rest will all follow...

EDIT

1) July 04, '07: My dhobi (have to find out his name), who irons out my clothes couldn't deliver the clothes in the evening on time, due to electricity problem. As it happened, I too was running short of clothes to wear to office the next morning (as most of the other already washed stuff was still moist due to lack of sunlight).

I leave for office at 7:30 am sharp which means I needed my clothes by 7am the next day. At 6:40am, the door bell rang, with half of my eyes still shut I open the door and see him standing with all clothes well ironed.

From me to you

tere bin / besides you
sanu sohnia / my love
koi hor nahio labhna; / i shan't find another
jo dave / who'll give
ruh nu sakun / peace to my soul
chukke jo nakhra mera; / and indulge me
ve main sare ghumm ke vekhia / i have gone and seen it all
amrika , roos, malaysia / america, russia, malaysiana
kittey vi koi fark si / there wasn't any difference
har kise di koi shart si; / they all had some condition
koi mangda mera si sama / some asked for my time
koi hunda surat te fida / some were fascinated with my face
koi mangda meri si vafa / some demanded my fidelity
na koi mangda merian bala; / none wanted my demons
tere bin / besides you
hor na kise / no one else
mangni merian bala; / wanted my demons
tere bin / besides you
hor na kise / no one else
karni dhup vich chhan; / shall shade me in the sun
jiven rukia / (the) way you paused
si tun zara / slightly
nahion bhulna / i shan't forget
main sari umar / all my life
jiven akhia si akhan chura / you said, looking away
"rovenga sanu yad kar"; / "you shall weep in my memory"
hasia si main hasa ajeeb / i laughed a strange laugh
(par) tu nahi si hasia / but you didn't
dil vich tera jo raaz si / you had a secret in your heart
mainu tu kyon ni dasia; / why didn't you tell me
tere bin / besides you
sanu eh raz / none shall tell this
kise hor nahion dasna; / secret to me
tere bin / besides you
peerh da ilaaj / what druid
kis vaid kolon labhna; / has the cure to my ills
milia si ajj mainu / i found today
tera ik patra / a note of yours
likhia si jis 'te / on which you had scribbeled
tun shayr varey shah da / a varis shah couplet
park ke si osnu / upon reading which
hanjnu ik duliya / a teardrop fell
akhan 'ch band si / what was locked in the eye
seh raaz ajj khulia; / was revealed today
ki tere bin / that other than you
eh mere hanjnu / these tears of mine
kise hor / won't be kissed by
nahio chumna / none else
ki tere bin / that other than you
eh mere hanjhu / these tears of mine
mitti vich rulnha / will wither in the dust

Finallyyy

I have finally got the role/profile I was looking out for. My task over the next 3-4 months is to provide technical consultancy to some of the clients of my company.

My current task is to explore the feasibility of sharing a bunch of technologies (WebSphere Portlet Factory and a proprietary framework) across two applications by investigating the business, technical, risk, financial and governance implications. Not to mention - provide pros & cons, risks and recommendations with regards to high level transition plan, cost and effort required.

I believe this is more of a research and a collaborative role and hope it also gives good enough visibility. My next step is to delve into the concerned applications and explore the technologies involved (which I have started already) .

One thing for which I have always cribbed about is, that a techie gets the kick out of work only by learning something new which fades away soon once we come to know the nitty gritties of a particular technology (unless your company provides you enough space/opportunity to innovate and experiment). The good thing about the current role is that I need to know only enough to provide the required consultancy (and then hopefully move out to a project and get involved in something different or something that relates to what I have done previously)

Kind of excited about work after a long time.

SPOOOOOOOOOKYYYYYYYYY

It is 2 in the night, and I have just been completely flipped out. I am out of my mind right now. My thoughts have been mashed up to be replaced completely by something inexplicable and bizarre.

I happen to return home tired at around 11pm, thought to switch on the TV and just do some general viewing before hitting the bed. While browsing I come across this movie shown by my cable chap, called THE DESCENT.

Watching it at about midnight all alone, has left me shaken.

It tops my list for a must watch for horror/thrill/goosebumps whatever you want to call it.

These Americans are sooooooooooooo innovative and brilliant to come out with something totallyyyy out of this world.

My recco is to watch it alone late in the night to get the best of experience.

Zero to Hero

A couple of months back when I had decided to switch my job, I wasn't too sure/confident about what all is asked to a 2 + year work ex guy in a technical interview.

It is strange that now I find myself on the other side of the table. Within a month of joining the new firm I am now interviewing guys with more work ex than me coming from all tier 1 companies (Factories as called by Purnima). Somehow I feel that just about anybody with okaish education background could be a software engineer and not even that, but be a software engineer in companies with Rs 50,000 Crore+ market cap. (I am into reading basic finance these days :).

Anyway back to the where I started; I was a little thrilled in the beginning to take up this responsibility, but all of it soon fizzled out when I started interviewing guys with communication skills no better than our local cricketers from Najabgarh trying desperately to speak in English after winning a man of the match or somebody anchoring a show on Sun TV.

I found : -

1) Casual attitude towards answering a question. If you think that you have worked on some technology that you do not remember now, then please go and revise it before you start facing interviews.

2) Lack of basic communication skills. Every sentence constructed had "I mean" ... "you know" ... "means" and the rest were nouns, verbs spoken in an absurd order.

Also, say NO, if you do not know the answer to the question asked. It's better than listening to the trash/crap like in the case below :-

My senior: What are the different types of testing you have performed in your previous project?
Candidate: What testings?
Me (loud enough): Repeating the question..
Candidate: Any testing... hmmm... manual testing!... ya manual testing!!

The current state of IT in India is so sad (or I should say so bright), that anyone with 2+ years work experience with basic communication skills and an average technical skills can crack any of top companies' interview. No wonder I wasn't excited even after having offers from almost all tier 1 companies in Pune.

I had this childish thrill to ask those tricky questions which had confused me once, but still looking out for that elusive candidate who would deserve such questions to be asked!

Watch this space

Mmmmmm...

What I am going to show you now is, highly pleasing to the senses, especially to taste or smell :).

This is one of the very few things experienced during the live in, that can be shared with y'all.

And before you get any ideas...

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On your marks









Get Set









Gone









I named it as Pepper Chicken with Egg Fried Rice.

Gobi Manchurian










Chikkan Biryani with Raita










Planning to start a food blog very soon. Will keep the recipies there.

3 Things

1) Read something really interesting... and it is so true. The average age of a technical person (IT) in India is 26 and an average age of the same in the US is 36.

I lose on about 10yrs of work ex when it comes to learning from the folks around me.

Thought: The (IT) girls fall in the same age group as above in India :D
Second thought: ghhhhh... as if they are any good :(

2) This happened sometime back... thought its a worth mention. I had left the sliding grill in my bedroom (which opens to a garden) open before I slpet for the day. Got a shocker the next morning to find 2 lil cats sleepin by my side on the bed in the cosy blanket. No no, do not get any ideas.

3) Purnima has been cracking interviews like crazy... 3 in 2 days.

They did everything except for missing the goal!! Didn't they?

I was with the French coz I love Zizooo (will talk about him later), first let me comment on the mind set of the Brazillians and some of their fans.

It's simple, as per Brazil, the opponents do not have the right to score a goal against them! I messaged a friend (obv a Brazillian supporter) about Zidane being at his best and the reply that came was in agreement with me but arrogantly stating that Brazil will still win. I think this was the same mind set which the Brazillian players carried into this match. How?

When watching the highlights (don't know if the samba fans will watch), check the ball which was volleyed home by Thierry Henry! The moment Zidane pushed the ball in the air, there were a couple of major defence disasters which Brazil made : -

1) 5 white shirts with only 3 yellow ones checking them in the danger zone! WHyyyyy?
2) Shocking that it was, to clearly see all other 4 yellow markers simply standing next to the D's line doing nothing but just waiting for the party which they could be a part of after the match.
3) Amongst those 4, was Roberto Carlos (supposed to mark Henry), with his hands on the hips and probably catching up on his breath for his next unsuccesful run with the ball towards the french goal.

Les Blues, who were again brilliant in their study of the attackers which Brazil had. I wouldn't blame Kaka for not being part of any of the moves but would compliment French on checking him throughout. It was Malouda if I am not wrong, who just wouldn't let him master a move in the mid-field.

Okay, enough of ittt!! Let me talk about the Maestro.

Some how felt that he carried the composoure of Steve Waugh, skill of Lara and passion of Leander Paes when he played for his country.

Zizoo was at the heart of almost every French breakaway.

Just one word for him Finesse..

Grrrrrrr....

I can't love them and can never hate them!!

Reflection of My Mood Nowadays

I feel drunk but I'm sober

I'm young and I'm underpaid

I'm tired but I'm working, yeah

I care but I'm restless

I'm here but I'm really gone

I'm broke but I'm happy

I'm poor but I'm kind

I'm high but I'm grounded

I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed

I'm lost but I'm hopeful baby

And what it all comes down to my friends

Is that everything's just fine fine fine

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is giving the finger.

7 +or- 2

Imagine when you are putting the pieces together in your mind, to come up with a solution while you analyze the problem. Problem could be to come up with a business strategy, or to come up with the Domain Analysis classes for a given Business Domain, might be to come up with the list of methods in a class.

Well, could be just to come up with a brilliant dish, given the recipe, or to fix your love life in a way where you keep everybody happy except yourself ;). For a mum it could be to bring up her son well enough, considering the given external environments.

Life is all about putting the pieces together while considering the so called time axis. Aint it?

To cut the crap and come straight to the point, we have the fastest machine in the world to solve all our problems as per the given constraints. Yup the BRAIN.

But isn't there a point when we get mentally confused or are at an erratic stage or when things go hay-wire in mind? And we feel that the given problem/situation is too complex to be solved.

What is this intricacy? This COMPLEXITY? How to unravel?

The answer is simple. Even this machine has a maximum capacity to run a number of parallel processes. To be precise it is 8. The brain can only run 8 parallel processes at a time. Whenever we try to exceed this number, we face problems or difficulty to solve any problem.

Hence the concept of decomposition, so that we deal with no more than 8 things at a time. The Europeans call it a 7+or-2 problem.

We could use this theory to keep things simple and thus answer some unanswered questions.

Some of them applied in the Software industry could be : -
Q. Max no. of blocks in a block diagram?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of PLs under a PM?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of TLs under PL?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of team members under TL?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of methods in a class?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of objects in a sequence diagram?
A. 7 +or- 2

Q. Max no. of departments in an organization?
A. 7 +or- 2

I have a feeling though, that it is not a Mars/Venus issue, but the female brain's capacity is much more than male's anyway. Though a man would still not use the whole and the woman might still exceed her maximum :).

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PussyCat Dolls

What worse could follow after such a caption to this post. I better not write anything uncultured or profane considering the audience that I have to my blog (nor do I have the skill to write such stuff).

No, its not the name of the last X-rated film that I saw. (Btw, anyone having a blue movie with that name is surely running out of good porn). It's also not any of those (so very direct) exotic cocktails which are consumed these days.

Well, some of my snooty friends might just discard my existence after reading this post.

APPARENTLY, this is the name of some (one woman) band/group which grabbed my attention sometime back with their new (super hit) track called "Don't Cha..."

I am hiding my face while writing this, but I don't believe that there'll be any guy who will disagree with the lyrics of this song, some of it goes like...

Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me...
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me... Dont cha, dont cha

Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me...
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me Dont cha, dont cha

A pefect no. to hip hop with a Hottie (of course dat can't be your gf here).

I heard it the first time at the most appropriate place (as far as the lyrics are concerned) -> a STRIP BAR in the US. (I can see the ladies nodding with agreement now)

Do not miss the video of this song. Btw, I should start writing some meaningful posts now :(.

Before Palolem - At Baga

Could have got a better tattoo, but decided to go for the dolphin as I was wearing one too...

After Goa Blues

The pic reflects my mood, not because I had to come back to the jungle after a brilliant vacation in Goa but because I came back earlier than I had expected.

X had to fly back on the 2nd so the rest being fond of x, decided to go back that same evening. I could have always stayed there alone (which I wanted after he left) but me declaring to stay alone would have made others think twice to stay back (which I did not want). Thus followed the crowd who had followed Mr. X and landed back in pune sooner than expected.

Felt sick after a day of coming back, I mean who the f*** wouldn't visit Arambol with all that time in hand. I can just say that company matters a lot, in this case may be for everybodyelse as they decided to wind up from Goa when a friend left.

Anyway I could really unwind with this break from work and had the most lazy, laid back, tranquilizing vacation with my good friends.

SPIC-&-SPAN

I was traveling in the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) of Singapore, when someone, hesitatingly pointed at my shoe.

I, for a flash of a second thought that he liked my blue ID shoes before I saw this piece of paper which possibly belonged to him. So rightly knowing that he was pointing at that crushed paper, I picked it up and gave it to him. He too quietly (crushed it even more) and put it back in his bag.

I did not know where to look and started relating to those stories which people/teachers tell you about how aware and dutiful these chinks are about keeping there city absolutely clean.

The snap shows this chap cleaning one of the big aquariums in Sentosa's under water park.

Unaccustomed Driving

This ain't about the smooth drives at 90mph on the freeways of the US. It's not about the Buick Le Sabre that I drove. Neither about the so easy to follow driving-rules/directions. Also not about the religiously followed lane driving (which apparently if followed in India, might cause an accident).

This actually, is about something which was quite strange for the natives and a pretty normal thing for me to do when I am driving back in India. Infact some people might have been amused or prolly could have enjoyed the moment.

I stop at a red light confused whether to go straight, take a left/right. Pretty obvious for me to just pull down the glass and glance across inside the car halted next to mine. The person gives me this strange look but then in a flash gets back to what he/she was doing i.e. listening to the music or simply wait for the light to turn green. Next second, that person sees from the corner of his eye "me waving desperately..", becomes pretty obvious by now that I need help.

Next thing I do is quite casually enquire about the exit (or the way) to take for some xyz road.

I used to find it quite amusing when my team lead in the US (an Indian) would go out of his way to even sometimes draw the maps on a bloody tissue paper or on the white board in the conference room, but would make sure to always give us the correct directions in writing.

It did not take me long to realize that any person, new to the place and driving, would just need a detailed map of the city to reach to the destination. Of course why shouldn't they, when there no paan walas, auto drivers or x y z to be seen hanging around at every corner of the street.
There are just roads and zooming cars.

Yes, the MAPS are something absolutely invaluable for anyone driving in the US.

I still remember the looks I used to get at those red lights. I guess after a while I actually started enjoying irritating those firangs :).