At least say HI !

Don't be shy, at least say HI to people around you...watch this video to know why !

You never know.

I don't know what to title it !

It's been almost 7 months since I have written my last post. In fact it's been 7 months that since I have done many things. I haven't written a code for months now. I have even been irregular in checking my emails. I haven't read even a fraction of as much as I used to do earlier. I haven't worked on any startup projects for months now. I have not done anything in past months that people around me or even I will call my work or my duty or my job or may be my life at one point in time. But I do not regret. I am very happy (well not exactly !!! ). 7 months ago I took a decision to go on a year long sabbatical from and live a life that I had always wanted to apart from my work. I took up a testing job that would pay me "OK" and also won't be very strenuous (I was a bit wrong on that part though. A tester's job in software industry might not be mentally challenging but given the deadlines and making up for developers' lousiness is indeed very hard ... more on pros and cons of a tester's life later), I made new friends...very good friends, I finally took out time to apply for grad school, I also started going to gym again (I haven't lost much of my weight but I haven't gained it also :) ), I watched many movies, met so many interesting and diverse people, learnt many things about management practically, experienced things for the first time and started dressing better than before.
After 7 months, I may not have improved as a hacker but I certainly did improve as a human being. I have certainly broadened the horizons of my thinking. I hope that remaining 5 months of my sabattical will be as fruitful as the past 7 months and then probably I can get back to my work or my life (in a grad school may be !!!) ...

I just realized, I did not take a break from hacking... I am not hacking computers for now but I am hacking my life ... WOW

Kaminey !

I rarely pay attention to a song's lyrics - I just like it or don't like it on the basis of its music - but this song from the forthcoming bollywood movie "Kaminey" has somehow caught my attention and I simply love its lyrics. In fact this is the first time I am posting a song's lyrics on my blog.

Here it is ....

Movie: Kaminey (2009)
Music Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics: Gulzar
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Song Title: Kaminey
Kaminey Lyrics

[Kya kare zindagi isko hum jo mile,
Iski jaan kha gaye, raat din ke gile]- 2 times
Raat din gile…
Meri aarzoo kamini,
Mere khwab bhi kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey,
Kya kare zindagi isko hum jo mile,
Iski jaan kha gaye, raat din ke gile…

[Kabhi zindagi se maanga, pinjre mein chaand la do,
Kabhi laanten deke, kaha aasmaa pe taango] – 2 times
Jeene ke sab kareene the hamesha se kaminey,
Kaminey kaminey kaminey kaminey,
Meri daastaan kamini, mere raasten kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey…

Jiska bhi chehra chheela, andar se aur nikla,
Masoom sa kabootar naacha to more nikla,
Kabhi hum kaminey nikle, kabhi doosre kaminey,
Kaminey kaminey kaminey kaminey,
Meri dosti kamini, mere yaar bhi kaminey,
Ek dil se dosti thi, yeh huzoor bhi kaminey…

What's the problem ?

Finally after months I feel like feeling good and writing something nice.

"What's the problem?" - This came out during a discussion about SEO with my brother a few days ago.
Ten years ago there was information but nothing good to search it - the problem was that you were not able to search the information for what you need. Well , as we all know , with advanced software (with complex mathematical back-end and seemingly childish names like google, yahoo and bing ) called search engines, this problem is solved.
But today there's a slightly different problem - There's an information overload and the problem is to search what you want or what's relevant to you.
Let's take an analogy - Earlier there was an iron nail lost in a small heap of trash. All you needed was a magnet to find it. Today the heap is very huge and has lots of iron nails lost in it. You have a magnet but it's still very difficult to find your nail.

What's the solution?

I feel there are two solutions to this. First, make a super-genius search engine that can figure out what you want. Going by the analogy - an intelligent magnet that can differentiate between different ferric objects and even different nails.
The second solution is when you create the information and put it on the Internet, then and there mark it , tag it or put it in some order - basically make it searchable at the time of creation. Again going by the analogy - mark your nail with some colour or a tag before it gets lost in the huge heap.
meta tags in HTML do help in tagging stuff upto some extent but certainly it's not enough. There has to be something more concrete.
I guess this will be one of the biggest problems of coming years.

SUNny memories

I was just browsing for something and came across this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CpP4ix5PQY) video (Actually a photo collection) of the Sun University Day that we celebrated back in 2007...26th September, 2007 to be precise when I was a Student Tech lead with Sun. I will never forget that day. It was the best talk I had ever given till now and even if some day I give a better show, that day's show will always be special.
It's such a great experience to have about 350 people listen attentively to each and every word you speak and respond in a way you want them to respond...A dream for any speaker on stage. I wish such a day comes again in my life.
Thanks a lot to Vasanth for making a collection of the snaps and putting up on youtube.

Idling away

Lots had happened in last few days. I finished the training in Mainframes also though I won't say I know anything about mainframes. Finally I succeeded in my attempt to fail in a test at Infy but again I passed in the retest. I know it sounds crazy but it's a fact ... I won't say whether trying to fail is good or bad.
I cleared my concepts of Dynamic programming. Something that I was afraid of till some time back ... Now I love it.
Was happy to get a request for writing a article for Cypher (My college's CS department magazine). It's good to know that you are remembered even after a year for your work.
TATA launched Nano. I am so inspired. First of all TATA has done a really noble thing by launching a INR 100,000 car.
Lot of people criticize it for their own reasons. But I feel it's a real good thing. If you can feel the pain of people who have to travel on a two-wheeler with the whole family ... yes I mean a family of four on one two-wheeler... whether it's rain or summers, you will know why it is good ..... I feel I will write a separate post on Nano.
TV also seems so boring now.
For past 5 days, I have slept more than I had ever done in five days.
Finally, after six long months of training, Infosys gave me a posting at Pune.
I feel sad that I won't be able to vote this time. Next week I am moving to Pune. It won't be six months in Pune before elections. But I wish that India has higher voting percentage this time. Wish all the best to "Jaago Re" campaign.
I wish I keep running....I want to lose more weight...
Not feeling sleepy .... Will think of something else to pass my time ...

13 Funny Software Quotes

Just came through this post and simply loved it .... Great quotes.