The Usual Burden...

Work started to take its toll on me. Well I had some goals set for things to be done, but with a fading group and other polictics it was impossible for me to do anything in all of my daily 10+ hrs of relentless boredom weekdays.

So I sorta deided to take it down to the weekend. Well Saturday I tried to do some stuff but could not- my parents wanted me to buy a house(and this has been going along for loong) and so I followed sheep and just kept accepting evrything they wanted me to with no arguments. They were happy I was content.

Sunday I decided no matter what I will have to goto office and complete a set of tasks that have been rotting on my plate for loong!

Problem 1. There was this issue where in the stuff behaved differently on 2 different architectures. There was no reason for it to do so- but it did! Well why I dunno but for some reason HPUX(IA arch) looks up for specific itched-named libs (THE ROOT PROBLEM) while HPUX(PA arch) does not bother about these itched-names. I was boggled by this and so was everyone who heard of this. If I did not solve this issue soon, I would be like standing naked admist a stadium full of spectators!
So wallah!.. hunting a lot on all possible sites on the web (and taking a lead from one of my MTV collegue -Raghu) it drilled down to the fact, the way the library was generated -some stupid "+h" engraved a specific name into the libarary and that led to all the fuss! So problem solved (Still I dunno why the architecture have to behave so differently!)

Problem 2. Was very easy to solve- it was raised by a TEST team and I could simply wave the issue off for the fact that the machine on which the problem ocured was not appropriately configured(So problem solved!) :-D. I wish everything could be done this way!

Problem 3. Needed some log debugging and code walk throughs before I arrived to the conclusion that the solving this problem was not my cup of tea, since it originated from a source which is coded in a language unknown to me and also for the fact that I am no GUI person. Well so I had the problem pin-pointed and shifted the pointer to the appropriate person!

It was a satisffying day today... Well though rotting my day at office , I atleast got the problems solved. Now I can be at say some +20% rest over the week, provided I am not bogged down again with unwanted clerical work and stupid political offtrack diplomatic sarcastic unenthusiastic (or should I say unwanted overenthusiastic) descussions and meetings!

Well I have a week to look forward to - atleast I can be happy this week that the Big Boss is coming to town and so all the managers will be away doing their own cha-cha around the Boss.

Did they write us in a mail - "be there for the inaugral ceremony at the hands of the boss and be in formals "or something- pleasssee! I have done my bit - let them do theirs. Im no shopkeeper!

Atleast now I have 2 CD drives more and 2 floppy drives less to my comp.. so now it sort of represents a guy working at a robust MNC.. Thanks a lot Andyaa...

Going The Google Way

I purchased this book "The Google Story" just for the heck of it. Daily, as I read it, would get more and more addicted in learning more about the Google guyz and the Google success. So the ~250 page odd book got over too soon....

This google-read made me more addictive towards google sites, their finance stuff, the google - microsoft war. I got more and more attracted towards everything that had the google name associated to it.

Presently am a huge fan of Google Desktop. This tool is really cool, not only does it index all the stuff on your HDD but also it has added a new feature (which now makes google desktop search look like a feture) ,called the Google Panel. This panel sits to the right/left of your desktop and you can have all sorts of little windows(plugins) within them.

The computer monitor started to get boring and thats when this Google panel came along. When idle (or even when one is not!) one can really have fun with this. Yes it does reduce your desktop space but it adds to the look and feel. (And if u hate the panel u can just get rid of it and use the desktop search as earlier).

Just let me describe some handy plugins here:
Email Plugin: This is really cool - it actually gets updated for every mail that arrives at your outlook inbox and u get a preview of the mail and can read it in its own little lightweight window without having to goto Outlook!

Winamp Plugin: With this, u have the basic play stop functionality from the panel it self- so u dont have to have your winamp window maximised for the same. Also u can associate little photos per song (this requires another software called tag-tuner2). Its neat.

Dictionary Plugin: Using this whatever u copy to the clipboard , it looks up at a set of dictionary sites to give u the meaning in the panel.

Photo cycler: With this the photos keep cycling for all the derictories specified in a random order. It really does nothing great but adds to the looks (and also its cool to realize some of the photos that come up - and u totally forgot about them)

Then u have all these :The calulator/Weather/Google-Chat/Todo list plugins just to name a few.

But boy am I addicted to Google!

True it might fade off soon- and better- it might just get much better.

The Google OS (GooOS) -yeah its scheduled late in 2010 or maybe it would be used internally by Googlers. (But its something to look forward to).

Also they have comeup with this laptop which would be crank powered(OLPC) - Aimed basically for the developing countries where having a stable electric source or basic infra-structure is an issue. So for the betterment of those people MIT in conjunction with google folks have designed this comp priced at just 100$. Sure enough Gates thinks the Google Guyz are nuts.

Talk about info dump: Google Books is an amazing site: U get to search much of the books online. I was surprised when I could actually read the books online and the key-word search drilled into the pages of the book! Then you have all the white papers and the techy papers one wants to find easily - Google Scholar.

Talk about rivalry: Googles new Finance site , though in its beta phase is really cool. U can pan the stock graph and scale along from one time to another using a good graphic light weight interface! At the same time u get relevant finance news searched from blogs and other news sites. Sure its going heads on with Yahoo finance and other brokerage sites!

Talk about thirst for inovation: The google guyz are diverifying the landscape by stepping into the bio-tech scene. Talk about googling for your genes! [2]

Its amazing! A young roughly 10 year old company started by 2 youths and making a bash and boom and sounding the first-step bugle with drum rolls in all sectors : finance(with the company going public in an unconvetional way), technology (the best search engine for its times- sure enough there are emerging 3rd generation search engines making their presence(eg. Lexxe), marketing (no money advertising :just by word of the mouth and at the same time making money in the most unconventional way to advertise on the web : Google Ads). Now thats something really commendable and to look upto!

Sure enough someone might come along and be more prefer'ed, but for now its the Google Guyz!

Holi-Day

It was mid-week (15th March '06) and that was the day of Holi, festival of colors. As a kid I use to play this and another called Rang-Panchami with a lot of enthusiasm.

But now I work and my employer-MNC company does not give us a holiday for Holi-Day, but we do have one off on 14th friday for Good friday !!!! (But seriously I would have found 15th Wednesday much better as a holiday).

Anyways I got off from home at around 11:30 for work (geared in some extra clothes etc. .. u know just in case). The roads were empty and the trafic was very much sluggish (So was I ). Surprisingly the office parking too was empty with ample parking slots even at this late hour! I was really bored to the fact that I had to work on such a colourful holiday! Especially after noticing colored youngsters playing the festival in all delight and high spirits.

Up I came to office. In no less that 30 mins , an office boy came to the cube -all coloured and wet and applied some gullal on my face - so did I to him. He did this for everyone on the floor! After this none in our group were in the mood of work. So up we went for an early lunch at about 12:45.

The 5th floor where the lunch area is, was all wet and and the floor was cloured. Everyone in the admin (receptionists -office boys collegues ) were all wet and colored. Now that got in more juice to the fact that we would eat soon and play holi at the earliest.

Soon we saw others come into the cafeteria a little colored and all.

Back in the cubicle post lunch we were waiting for evening and get off ASAP. But to our bad omen the manager came down and started geting work-related-updates from us individually. So this slogged on till about 6 in the evening!

Afer that no one was in a mood to wait at all! Biraj kept throwing the yellow powder in the cubes it self. I tried contacting Rahul so that we could ride off to Aundh annex and play holi there- but he was in office. We thought we'd play holi at BMC but AJD(who works there) chikkened off.

So by now, every one was partly colored in office and we (Avik/Biraja/Sheetal/Shirish and me) decided to get down to the garden parcking area and play some Holi.

No sooner did we approch that area we started the ordeal- clouring each others faces- thrusting the powder inside the shirts . And colouring everyones faces. It was a dry holi. Initially it was like just a formality going on -that lasted only 5 secs hehehehehe- , then started the 'raanti-giri' (hooligan) holi.

We played there -Naala side Garden parking- for nearly 20 mins. Even the security guards envyed us and so did the locals kids in the near vicinity.

Post this after all of the office gifted color packets were empty, we decided to click some amazing snaps in the mobile-cam and have tea.

By this time we were teribaly coloured! WE really enjoyed the ordeal- Yellow- Blue- Green- Orange- Pink- Red - wowow - it was an amazing 20 mins(it simply fizzed off the whole days boredum in a jiffy).

At the tea stall we had tea followed by lassi. And our voices were loud, ppl at the shop though we were drunk or something. We cared less :-P.

Back at office, everyone was happy to see us in this new colorful old-odd attire :-D. The security guards and the office boyz kept smiling at us. Yes it was a good way to celebrate holi on a working day!

Back home mom dad grandma were all stunned tooking at my tri-coloured face. Mom was gross of the fact that I played color in good clothes and the extra set of holi-clothes made no sense! Well it was a holi day, so to calm them off .. I applied some color to mom 'n dad as well :-)

It took some 1/2 hours hot water scrubbing shower bath to get some color off my skin!

I enjoyed the day.

Checkout the Pics!

Tahmini weekend

Saturday went sluggish ending the day after office and reading at about 2 am.

Sunday:
10am : Call from Ajay : "oye utthh ja yaaar..."
Me: "hmmm..."
Ajay:"Oye utth jaa yaaar..."
Me : "hmmm...."
Ajay "hmmm.... utha jaa yaaar...."
And after some 10 -15 repetations of the same I sleep off again. Basicaly Ajay called me to plan out something for the day something like just simply rest and relax yapping out at some place.

~11am: In my dream: "Oye utth jaaa yaaar...."

I am up and wide-eyed awake, What the! So ok I was all fresh and done by around 1 in the afternoon. Ajay calls me again to plan out something so I said ok and decide to include Andya and Nilu in the deal as well.

So by around 4pm we (Andya Nilu and me) after a loong delay and frustrating SMS's from D (Ajay) we pick him and are off on a drive past Chandani Chowk towards Mulshi.

Driving by we went by a little road that held memories for D n me - An over 80 year old Mr. Marotrao Hagawne 's farm and his cool attitude! We met him on a drive once...

Anyways... the little road -which was under construction at many parts, went by the road bends past Piranguut and other villages and facing heavy traffic jams and following slow 'L' board vehicles at other junctures.

In no time the view opened up and we were crusing along side the back waters of Mulshi with the dam left behind and the Mulshi gaon coming up ahead. From here on at almost regular intervals we would stop the vehicle for clicky monets or just get off for the heck of it to experience the amazing atmosphere and the surrounding area.

Nilu was insistant that we keep driving into the forest ahead -so that we can achieve our basic task of sitting on some kattha and yap a lot!

Ok so Nilu decided to drive and I was enjoying all that others were whilst I was driving :-) (U see at high speeds -which I most of the times am at- one cannot obsorb the surroundings in totality). But again the regular stopages continued with clicky moments, so again switching roles me drove at break-a-neck speeds towards a spot next to a huge pipe.

Just before this we took a brief halt were in the view of the valley was simply superb! Many vehicles came to a halt here and were enjoying the awsome surrounding and the gorgeous deep valley below!

Nilesh was like almost insisitant that we go till this pipe spot. Well so we parked on the turf along the road. From here started the relaxed adventure :-)

We climbed down a set of worn off steps, past a railing on the other side of the road, that went down over the pipe. Here we stood on the huge cylinder and viewed the fantabulous valley and the amazing mountains and the rugged terrain all around us.

The most surprising thing was that even in this summer time the ghat and mountains were very much green. Well so after some TP here we decided to step off the huge pipe. (These pipes by the way supply water all the way from Mulshi to the Konkan (Raigad district) ).

Back on the road, Ajay started droping some raw-mangoes(kairis) off a tree. Later we saw this rock face types along side the road and decided to climb that. So every one except Andya tried fruitless atempts to get up. Basically no one was really that enthu of geting up -well we were here, had nothing special to do so lets get special, or so we thought.

Post this we relaxed along a kattha on the road and werelater politely asked to leave by on of the
forest rangers(security guard - since this area was the private property for TATA). The ranger was a simple nice, kind, cool Rajasthani guy, and was a buddy to talk to. So we yapped a little with him before bidding our good byes.

It was about 7pm by the time we left from here.

The drive back was cool... we drove past the same roads and finally reached this dhabba (Riverview hotel) that Nilu always kept apraising in his talks. The place was coool... it had a very quaint enterance and a littel hut raised up some 15 feet above the ground(basically a machaan). So we sat there and relished on amazing bhajjis,pohe and tea (2 rounds of tea infact).

It was almost past 8:30 pm by the time we departed from here.

In no time we were back in the hustle bustle of the city, leaving back the serene oxygen filled untouched (almost) env behind.

It was an amazing drive- basically pretty much an impulsive descision. U see driving from Pune to the Raigad district and back (over 170kms) just for the heck of it in 6 hrs :-) . So I tried to wrap up my trip in a few words to some of my friends in a mail, it went something like this:

It was an out-of-the-blue amazing drive and TP down the serine ghats of Mulshi and Tahmani along side the back waters and the shade laden green curvy roads of the deep valley mountain roads!

<> So much said in a few words... words cant express the TP.. the photography... the huge water pipe walks.. the floppy rock climbs .. making new Rajasthani friends.. Eating in the machaan.. and a fatanbulous ride and shierks on the way back!

Njoy the snaps .

Bookie weekend!

Sat and Sunday both started at 1pm (afternoon). On Saturday did not do much just sat at home the whole day. I had these gift coupons from crosswords worth 5K and dad mom were after me to spend it off. So ok in the evening decided to goto Crosswords -Saurab hall and grab some books.

I had no intention of spending too much in one shot, but again I am unpredictable.

Well in the course of the next 2-3 hours I got me hands on the following books:

1. The Monk Who sold his ferrari
2. The Alchemist
I had heard a lot of these 2 books and definitely wanted to get me hands on them for a long time. I dunno much of what the 2 are based on , but are something pursue your dream types.

3. The Rough Guide to Nepal
4. Trekking in Nepal - Lonely Planet
These books I purchased , since for the last couple of years I have been obsessed with trekking and having done a trek to Everest Base camp, always wanted to get me hands on these books. (Both are comprehensive in every aspect!)

5. The Google Story:
The is one of the new comers, I saw this book and just picked it up. Its a fascinating story of how the 2 founders Larry and Sergey setup one of the biggest company of modern times! Truly inspirational!

Also the following DVD's
1. Sarkar : Always wanted to buy it
2. Tora Tora Tora :Always liked the movie and was impulsive in getting my hands on it.
3. Cracking The DaVinci Code : I liked the novel so figured this should be a good watch.

Also a CD:
1. Rang De Basanti :I loved this movie and also its songs , so decided to buy the original.

Dad got his hands on a couple of Classical cassettes and CD's and a map of Pune book.
Mom picked a Sanjeev Kapoor cookery book :).

Well we left the store paying a bill (gift coupons) worth ~4700/- :) something I never anticipated!

Though I got my hands on good books I was not very content since I could not get a couple of books I wanted (The Sahyadri Companion -YZ trekkers and The Climb - Anatoli Boukreev)

Anyways Saturday evening and night was spent reading "The Google Story". On Sunday late in the evening I decided to try searching for "The Sahyadri Companion" at ABC. Called up Andya, later left with him at around 6:30 to ABC.

HE bought some books on RHCE (Red Hat Certification) from Computer Hut, post that we started the hike up and down all the shops for the trekking book. After a lot of ups and downs we came to this little shop at the begining of ABC (forgot the name :( ) and asked for this book. He said yes and also showed me some other nice illustrative and descriptive Marati books on Sahyadri trekking. I was impressed! At last My book came in - and I was all content!

This book "The Sahyadri Companion / Sangati Sahyadricha" ,I had always heard from my co-trekkers and every one was gaga googoo over this book. They had all the rights to be as well... the book is simply so well written! It has one main book -very discriptive of all treks and routes with wonderful color pictures. Also it has 3 supplements : RockClimbing/Medical Aid Emergencies and Bus/Train timetable!

The other book I liked was "Durge" - it was in Marati though, maybe I would buy it soon!

So in and all the weekend passed by in books - trekking Nepal then trekking in the Sahyadris and wandering around the innovative ways of Larry and Brin!

Was a lazy couch potato weekend :).

Kattha Public...

Well the heading is not just for a bunch of Software engineers working for one of the most respected organizations (atleast from Public view :) )!

I joined Veritas some 2 years back and it was just Utpal Ravi and Me then. Right from setting up the labs to recruiting people we were there. Slowly and steadily the group shot up from 3 emp to a good 15 member team in 1 year all this with 1 casualty. All members are unique in their own way!

Definately one of the most closely knit groups I have ever worked with! But again casualty rate struck high and now after about 6 months from the 15 member high we are down to about 8 members (with 3 new additions). Tensions were high and people were still leaving.

Lots of work pressure and less developers to work on the same! Last week we closed enough bugs to have some breathing room, and reopen the floodgates to TP and fun 'n frolic!

This week was fun, had fun virtually everyday. Monday (I dunno or remember what I did) .. Tuesday we finished up with the work soon and left early ...Wednesday left at 6pm for the movie 'Taxi No 9211' and yes kicked enough B'day bumps for Muluk's successful (supposedly) 27 years! Today(2nd March '06) again with my promotion being announced, walked down to the little red tea stall and had a lot of cold drinks and tea after having death-defying meetings all day!

Sitting at the tea stall, we decided all the parties in line (Shirish to get married - Biraja and Sanjay to become daddy's soon - Sujit to quit soon and goto US - Avik to get promoted soon - Me on my promotion - Muluk just for the heck of it and Sheetal for enjoying all our parties :)) hahahaaa ) . Next weekend we might back our bags to RajguruNagar to Muluk's place and also visit Bhimashankar at the same time (everyone is looking forward to this trip!)

Amazing, every afternoon after lunch we stroll down behind Mayfair tower-2 and sit in the shade and have all sorts of discussions. Most of the times it would be about party times and where we could goto celebrate to chill off this summer. Sheetal would get tensed at times (due to the low working strategy and start some work related discussion - and all would jump into it, the TP discussion suddenly transforms into a workrelated meeting - but still casual and crisp!).

One thing is for sure no matter what - I know one day(sooner or later) this group is going to loose all of its existing members (each one unique chapters in themselves). If I wait till that day - it would be one of my most uncomfortable, nerve-recking times esp. after living through the Utpal's ,Vikash's, Sujata's,Jayashree's, Ashish's, Rahul's,Gul's,Yogesh's, Ravi's,Pavan's .. ... casualties! Sigh .... ...

Someone told me once. Its something you got to get used to, its a software company and people move on to better opportunities- You just got to live through it - That's life.

Yup - Life goes on and you loose someone just to find him/her again sometime. Okie I have barked off enough philosophy - does not suite me. Well all those who have left (from this kattha group ) do keep meeting us at parties and general meetups!

So no repents and hard-feelings...
But definitely : The Goa trip - The Lonavala-Kumar resort trip amongst various other outings surely are some I shall cherish in the times to come!

And yes as Sanjay says 'Saaalla.. pura College ka public lagta hai yaar hum... kisi katthe pe jaake baithe hue... lagta hi nahi hai ki kisi Software company ke hain!' :) ...

I am truly a fortunate person to always land up with such closely knit people and make such close- affable - lovable friends for life!

Phir Philosophy - Bahut Ho Gaya Yaar !