First Anniversary

Its been almost a year since i started blogging - and i realized it today, almost after a month after the acutal First Anniversary date (March 29) . What started as an acitivity to keep myself occupied during my notice period(after submitting the resgination) in my previous organization , has now been quite an often activity. This endeavour has been quite interesting and continues to interest me.

I would like to thank all my readers who have been visiting my blog often and have given their valuable comments.


I hope to continue this acitivity ; and blog on quality issues. I would like to keep this blog free from any personal experiences(diary) and hope to concentrate on Science/Technology/Business/Philosophy/Current-Affairs.

qsdc njkp

Now that's not some funny collection of alphabets ....

Try to type these alphabets by keeping :
For the Left Hand
* Llittle finger on 'q'
* Ring finger on 's'
* Middle finger on 'd'
* Index finger on 'c'


For the RightHand
* Llittle finger on 'p'
* Ring finger on 'k'
* Middle finger on 'j'
* Index finger on 'n'

Try to access the other keys in the QWERTY keyboard using this arrangement; i find this to be far easier than the traditional - "ASDFG - :LKJH". I will try to upload a picture of the same in the near future.

An advantage of this combination (pattern) of fingers is that, the key-board can be separated into 2 separate pieces and can add on ergonomic postures.

However, the above mentioned pattern has not been scientifically proven, but i find it easy in my day-to-day work.

The Google Story

I have just finished this book - " The Google Story" By " David A.Vise.

I must say that its a must-read for a any Google enthusiast/fan who has been following this organization's spectacular growth in the past 7 years. Its also a must-read for all the ardent cribbers in the IT industry who have perfected the art of "How to Crib - the Programmer's Way".

Google's story is a perfect example of how technology drives business. Organizations that thrive on technology have always been successful in business , and Google is a perfect example of this.

The books dwelves into how Google started, the challenges that its faced and how it has burgeoned into a Internet Giant posing threats to the big-wigs like Microsoft and its future expansion plan. The book gives deep inghts into the corporate history of this 'noun' , that has become a 'verb these days.

A few lines from the book :

• "youth + freedom + transparency + new model + the general public's benefit + belief in trust = The Miracle of Google" Context: this is Mr.Lee's ( from MS to Google) definition of Google

• "Every declared war begins with a opening salvo of some kind" Context : Google's vs Microsoft

Munich

I was very much sceptical about spending around 140 INR for the movie "Munich" at Europa Class in PVR Cinemas(The Forum, Bangalore) ; i convinced myself that its not worth it and went for a movie called "Underground evolution" - a gory movie which mainly portrays the war between lycans and vampires. Though initially i thought the plot to be a little different, but the mundaness was something thats to be abhorred. (I had spent 110 INR for the tkt for this movie).

A week later i went for Munich (tkt = 80 INR , @ the same theatre) . I was totally awestruck - a SUPERB movie with an excellant story line and simply great screenplay and direction. Speilberg at his best , Eric Bana playing the role of a Mossad agent (though he wasnt one, actually) who leads a team of 4 to kill all those involved in the Black September attack on Israeli Atheletes during the 1954 Munich Olympics. The movie portrays how the assasinations/murders carried out by the Mossad Agents (after the Black September attack) takes the toll on themselves and affects their psychology. [ for more - go & see the movie ]

I wouldnt dare to review this movie , but would highly appreciate any serious cinema goer to go for this classic and satisfy his hunger for a 'good-movie' , that has been unsatiated for quite some time.

Google and BETA's

( This post is a follow-up to the previous post on Google , wherein i had serious doubts on the way the organization is making inroads into all the Internet-Based-Services)

I did a small sample survey of the existing Google Products/Services (List is here) and came up with the following observation :

Search Products
Alerts : BETA
Blog Search : BETA
Book Search : BETA
Catalogs : BETA
Desktop : BETA
Finance : BETA
Froogle : BETA
Scholar : BETA
Video : BETA
Images : NOT A BETA
Google Maps : NOT A BETA
News : NOT A BETA
Directory : NOT A BETA
Earth : NOT A BETA
Specialized Searches : NOT A BETA
Toolbar : NOT A BETA
Web Search : NOT A BETA ( Thats a Great News !!)

Explore and innovate
Co-op : BETA

Communicate, show & share
Calendar : BETA
Gmail : BETA
Groups : BETA
Talk : BETA
Picasa : NOT A BETA
Translate : NOT A BETA
Blogger : NOT A BETA

Go mobile
Maps for mobile : BETA
Mobile : BETA
SMS : BETA

Download the latest software
Pack : BETA


From the Google's Search Products Stables (which is the organization's forte ):
Number of Betas : 9
Number of non-Betas : 8

Most of those products that are "Not in Beta" have come up from the organizations that Google has bought over the past couple of year. Examples include - Picasa, Earth and Blogger. Writely is in the pipeline :-)


All Products:
Number of Betas : 18
Number of non-Betas : 11

Google -- Where is it heading to????

We have seen this org grow from a measely Stan project to a Search-Engine Giant in a span of little over 8 years. Google's market-cap has increased by leaps and bounds and is far ahead of the rivals Yahoo,Ask and MSN. MSN's AdCenter or Yahoo's so-called 'enhanced-ad-placement services' have not affected this Giant. Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Watch (the website is a lot cluttered - hence ahem!!), still ranks Google as Numero-Uno.

But, as this story/article points out - is Google making forays into all the available sectors just for the heck of it, without caring for the excellance in each of the services that they are providing thus far?? Google News came out of the Beta version just months back(after a 'brief' testing period of around 3 years ) ; Gmail is still in Beta. We saw Google trends being launched last week and today i see Google Notebook . This is similar to Microsoft's OneNote, but with a cleaner and 'WIP' interface.

As always, Google Notebook , though still in its infancy has lots of features that are yet to be implemented; we are prompted with a WIP page on some of the features that are yet to be completed.

Try this out in IE: Login to Gmail and click on the "New Features" hyperlink on the top-tight corner of the page.That will lead you to this page. Now, did that work in IE??? Try the same in Mozilla's Firefox -- ?????? Google wake up!

A prudent customer would never settle for an uncompleted(beta) product - though he may use just for the heck of it , if that is offered freely.

I see lots of bloggers blogging about Google Trends and how intelligent it is; but at the same time we fail to see the other pothholes that Google is offering to its 'customers'. I have been a fanatic of Google since 2000, but it's 'Dalmatian-Service' does bother me.

Now on a slighlty different note..We have seen Google News being offered based on the demography of the customer (i.e., country-based)...i was contemplating on Google offering its new services on similar lines....It has already made inraods into radio-advertising in the USofA; I was thinking about Google offering Kiosks in India. (Kiosks in this context are touch based simple screens ,which will take inputs from the user and present results accordingly).These kiosks will be strategically located all across the country and will offer its 'services' to its custmers free-of-cost.

Voila - me Again!

First the Good News : I have started blogging again.There were a couple of things that are happening around that have prompted me to start this activity again and stimulate the intellectual cells of my fellow readers and make them wonder about the bogons that are being hurled against them.

Last Post

I have stopped blogging as I am quite busy with the operations of an NGO and my Quizzing venture : Gyaan.in.

Blurp! (Part - II )

## Are humans(esp men) SLRs? (SLR - Self Loading Rifles)

## If Imraan Hashmi happens to be "Serial Kisser" , Then who is "Parallel Kisser"?? -- (Ravana!!)

## Rock Bottom = Hard Ass

## why dont birds fly backwards ? (then will backwards remain?)

## Triangulated by the circular motion of the square.

## Essentiality does preclude me

## My ignorance amuses me...and will continue to amuse me.

An end to remember

This was a poem written by my pal (Kashyap) sometime back. FULL CREDITS TO HIM.

Death by sleight of the hand
death coming as a marching band
seething foaming at the mouth
marching on, marching south

as civilizations crumble
their march ended in a stumble
filled with destruction and loss
they fall to the call of chaos

one by one they all fell
we now stand at the gates of hell
death comes to hold our hand
death and it's merry marching band

break not your stride my men
let us march into the lion's den
break not your stride and fall
though all the heavens may call

heaven knows our time will come
and ash and dust we will become
but until then we will march on
to meet our doom, till we are gone

our world too will fall at last
to the lightnings the heavens cast
but until then we must hold
the last of the strong and the bold

our woes will come and we will fall
and raging fires will consume us all
but stand and burn we will and must
burn until we are all ash and dust

blood and fire will wash us all
as we go to the mother's call
to return whence we came
and none remember what became

of those who dared to stand and face
the horrors that befell our race
though none may know your name
nor mine, our race will share our fame

our work man one day will find
the ruins which we have left behind
and wonder who we had been
what these strange words could mean

but that day will not be today
so tarry not, lets be on our way
to face the coming tide of death
as long as there is one more breath

the end is coming, know it all
be it today or not we will fall
we will make an end to remember
from now on to the end of forever

and all will know of the time we fell
those from a time when all was well
facing the certainity of their doom
who stood to try defy their nation's tomb

IIMB GD/PI Experience

Firstly...apologies for the sms english in the following post.I am feeling tooo lazy to post the entire set of Q&As...

Secondly, after my IIML GD/PI oon feb 22, 2006 i had decided that i would prepare die-hard for IIMB and would leave no stone unturned. My plan was to dedicate the last week of Feb for acads and the entire March for going through the History of IT industry - i had charted out a neat plan to go through all the Business Journals, Mckinsey reports and other quaterlies.

But alas...here i was without having touched a bit about anything...just took bath in the morning and power-groomed once again and headed towards IIMB.

I had my IIMB int at 9 @ IIMB on 30-March-06.
6 ppl supposed to be in the group.
Well...the profs came at arnd 9:05 and he asked us to wait for the 6th person..we waited for a couple of mins and then the process started without that 6th person ;-).

GD: 6 ppl supposedly in the group, 1 did not turn up.1 preferred not to speak during the course of the GD....resulting in practically 4 members...and u can think of the discussions that could have happened. A case was given about an acquisition move and ......etc etc.It was peace.

We were given 10mins to think. Eventhough the profs said that we would be given 15 mins to discuss, i guess the GD would have hardly lasted for 8-10 mins. then we summarised the GD in the paper given. Kindly note that even though the paper contains lots of lines(30-40), i would have written around 12-15 lines -- splitting them across into 3 paras.

PI:
I was the fourth person to be called in. The previous 3 who came out said that they were properly screwed and it was a FULL STRESS INTERVIEW.I was least bothered and kept my kewl. I knew that INTERVIEWS ARE ALWAYS FUN and ITS UPTO THE INDIVIDUAL TO TERM IT AS A STRESS INTERVIEW OR NOT.

well...here it goes:
2 profs : P1 and P2 and solitary ME!

P1:Kindly take your seat
Me:thanks
P2:You seem to have got an exceptionally great % in you 12th and it seems that it has remarkably drpped in ur grad.
[actually, i haev got 95% in 12th and 88%in BE - am not sure how its low, the eval schemes differ!!!]
Me:>
P1:what hhave you culivated extra during the course?
Me:Sir, you mean hobbies and interests in addition to the course?
P1:yes
Me: I quiz and love watching advertisements.Initially i just used to watch advertisements , but offlate i have started understanding the nuances associated with them. But., i want to know more and am trying to go the depths of it.
P2: Why you need advertisements? whats thier purpose?
Me:<<>>
P1: what is the difference between Directive Principle and Fundamental right?
Me: I dont know the exact differnece Sir, but i would like to take a guess<>
P1:Capital of Tazhakistan
Me:I Dont Know, Sir
P1:Turkmenistan
Me:I Dont Know, Sir
P1:Krygistan
Me:I Dont Know, Sir
P1:Where are the Aravali ranges?
Me:Somweher near Madhya Pradeh :-(
P1: If you dont know say that yu dont know...dont guess
Me:Dont Know
P1:When did Britishers come to India
Me:1600s
P1:what was the significant move taken by them once they arrived here?
Me: they imposed lagaan, that is taxes.
P1: Heard of Permenant Settlement?
Me: Sir, you mean Permenant Settlement Act?
P1:Yes, If you dont know, tell that you dont know- but dont give me a wrong answer.
Me: I Dont know sir.

a few mins on my Bplan....answered all the Qs with CORRECT answers :-)

some more Qs showered by P2 for which i answered:

P2:Which were the OODBs?
P2:Give me the first 2 OODBs.
P2:Name 2 Open Source Databases.
P2:What was the tussle between Oracle and MySQl recently that was in news?
P1: Is this your 2nd or 3rd attempt?
Me: This is my First.

Whoa!!! IT WAS FUN. :-)

I wanted the panel to talk about:
(1) Quizzing
(2) Advertisements
(3) My Bplan and
(4) Some fundae w.r.t Oracle
and the panel asked me what all i wanted...though there were lots of other Qs in addition to the solicited ones. I would say it was a decent interview , but cant guess my chances of getting through - but God Willing , i should be IN!

Lots to learn. Am gonna start reading Indian Independence Struggle.

a lil' busy

shall be back to form from April-1.


Found the following gyaan from one of my friend's signatures:

"Labels seem to give satisfaction. We accept the category to which we are supposed to belong as a satisfying explanation of life. We are worshippers of words and labels; we never seem to go beyond the symbol, to comprehend the worth of the symbol. By calling ourselves this or that, we ensure ourselves against further disturbance, and settle back. One of the curses of ideologies and organized beliefs is the comfort, the deadly gratification they offer." -- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Note : gyaan =knowledge

What more do i say?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1449688.cms

Progressive Searches

After I coined the phrase "Isolated Frog Syndrome", probably this is the next nomenclature introduced by me, though the former is more concerned with the Interpersonal relationships in an organization and the correponding observations at some mangerial levels, the latter is more concerened with the technical aspects of searches.

In Google SearchBox, when you type in a search phrase, a count of the availble results that might be fetched is displayed in the drop down list. Numerous search enthusiasts have concluded that the number of duplicates is large in the count that is specified.

When one visits Clusty and does a search , the searches are categorized into various heading(termed 'Categories' or 'Dimensions'), and a count is specified next to the Categories; when the user clicks on a Category only that many number of hits are displayed. I find this to be a serious flaw, in the sense that we are not making use of the available search facility , and this prompted me to coin Progressive searches.

Probably, when the user clicks on the Dimensions/Categories, a subsequent search should be initiated which can fetch more results than the count that is originally specified.One may argue that this can confuse the user, as he/she is going to see more results than the count that is originally specified in the previous page, but technically speaking, if the user knows that the Search Engine supports a functionality of Progressive Searches , then he doesnt have to worry about the counts not matching. The Subsequent search while peroforming a progressive search will not fetch results less than the count that is specified.

Mental Borborygmi - Is it the Air that I breathe?

It was one of those mornings again.....i woke up to see myself sleeping again.

The usual Qs kept hovering in my mind, trying to titillate me and sometimes make me go deep into the uncharted waters of human emotions and associated reactions.

What am I doing? Am I doing something that I shouldnt be doing? Am i doing justice to myself and to what I have learnt? Am I following the herd? WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?? more Qs...and still more Qs...

I was speaking about these to my pal Shravan about a couple of days back; whether are we really following our dreams or are we succumbing to external pressures and constraints.Is it necessary that people who have left their mark in History necessary be outlaws - out of the heard - revolutionaries? cant a common-man do something really simple and get accolades? Is the world too busy with appreciating wierd and idiosyncratic behaviours that it fails to admire and appreciate the nitty-gritties of life?"

He replied back saying that "this is the Matrix dud- enter it". But is this really the Matrix and is it really getting me in? Am i ready to enter the Real World? Am I presently in the Real World? Where is the Matrix?

I do want to make the keys; to open the locked and dusty rooms - to make myself free.

[
When i am blogging this , my pal shravan pings me this Q:
Shravan : what does an dyslexic agnostic and insomniac always do?
Shravan : he stays up all night, worrying about whether there really is a dog :-)
]

10 ways in which Earth can meet its END

some more Blurps...

(1) A giant meteor strikes Earth and causes a Giant Ripple -- and phusssssh...Earth is gone..
(2) Cluster of Meteorites strike Earth
(3) An alien ship [ CDS 666 - Complete Destruction Ship] enters our atmosphere and strikes a Death ray..r something like Independance Day.
(4) .....
(5) ........
(6) ...............
(7) Aish marries Bappi Lahiri
(8) Commies of the World get united
(9) Someone farts real badly and atmosphere is filled with deadly gas and someone then switches ON the gas-stove-- and boooooooooooooooooomb - Earth is reduced to ashes!
(10) TR, Ramarajan, Captain act in a movie and it gets an Oscar (along with Satyaraj, Sarath Kumar, Namita et al).

"Asatho ma sad gamaya - tamaso ma jyotirgamaya" [simply put --> Enter light..Exit Night]

Amen!

Blurp!

I could see the blood oozing from his eyes...slowly trickling along his cheeks and dripping on the marble floor. [ I could see the red-blood flowing as if , it was trying to give moksha to all the beings along its course - as if this was the great Ganges invoked by the King Bhagirat, flowing down from Gangotri...all the way through and bisecting India and finally merging with the bay-of-Bengal becoming Padma! ] There was the the .3mm pistol and the kalashnikov lying to the right of him, on the bench. An unopened-sealed TIME magazine dating back to the Feb-1980s was to his left , on the floor. There was general Pinochet's potrait hanging on the wall to the right of him - the potrait was beautifully studded with Indian Gems and diamonds.

I Dream

These days i hardly sleep for 5-6 hours. In fact, in the last 5-6 years I can hardly recollect of instances where wherein I had slept for more than 10 hours. Things keep happening at my end. First it was the board exams during 10th standard, then it was the IIT prep during 11th and again Boards during 12th. College days were filled with Symposiums ; was for most of the time either preparing for my exams/assignments or was researching on my UG projects and International Conferences. I was thrown into the IT Industry and have been quite busy with my coding endeavours here too. The last 5-6 months were again a roller-coster ride- with prep for CAT and again for GD/PI. I have to know each and every significant event happening around the world.

But, have all these years sucked out my juice??? Have i lost anything? Am i repenting on what i have done or what i want to do??

As I lookback(which i dont do generally), I see that i have judiciously used each and every moment in my life. All my decisions have been correct. I AM NOT REPENTING ON WHAT I HAVE DONE OR WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE. When i see my palz telling me that they should have done something else, I am really confused. The human mind does have the power to make conscious decisions, then why is that some people keep cribbing about things that happened/or are about to happen?

We do have a control as to what we do and what we want to do.The present does not have a meaning if we are unaware of the aura surrounding us. [ Defn Aura :A distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing; An indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint. ] Every person has a aura surrounding him/her.It is for us to dig the qualities within us and make it appear to the world.

I hear people saying "machii...the grass is always green on the other side da".

Explanations:
#1 Arent we watering our grass?
#2 Is the grass really green on the other side or is it illusion?
#3 Are we failing to see the greener-grass on our side?

My Rendezvous with Bangalore Roads

Yesterday was the first time that i hit the B'lore roads in a bike(Honda Activa).Due credits should be given to one of my colleagues who happened to leave for vacation and wanted me to 'take' of the bike. Hence, I was thrust upon the responsibility of taking 'care' of the bike.As always with great powers, comes great responsibilities - and i did take care of the bike by taking it out on a 23+km ride.

I had to attend the ET Brand Equity Quiz at 6pm and had to go from Dairy Circle to Chowdaiah Hall(near Sankey Road). I got a flavour of how 'bad'the roads are.My pillion rider(Punit) was my navigator , as I was totally illiterate about the maze-of-roads in Bangalore. I must say the roads are 'decorated' with pothholes and bumps. You hit upon unexpected speed-breakers and hitler's trenches(yet to fing the bunkers).There was a particular speed-breaker that had a 'trench' in it.Punit got a big-shot in his ass :-).But, not all roads are bad - a particular stretch near MG road is good; but i feel due to the prescence of the army cantonment near by and the other offices, the Govt cant afford to ignore its state.(I miss chennai roads[esp ECR] and the beasant nagar beach like hell)

I was totally flabbergasted on my return 'journey'. The roads were completely different and i could hardly understand the topography of the region.The funda behind 'One-ways' amuses me a lot.

I do not have a digi-cam or a cam in my phone, or else i would have photo-blogged this experience.

I am quite optimistic about the new Govt's policies and am looking forward to a better looking Bangalore with much better roads.


Aptly, Bangalore : Beware - "Dangerous Curves Ahead" (no pun intended)!

Budget 2006-07

Our FM presented the Budget for the fiscal year 2006-07.

In this effort I have tried to expatiate on certain factors in the Budget that I found interesting and understandable(from my perspective). I am not sure how valid/invalid my opinions are , but this is an honest attempt at understanding / crticizing / appreciating the various nuances and subleties associated with this activity.

As I am writing this, SENSEX is at 10370.24 with a raise of 88.15 pts over the previous day close.

With the SENSEX becoming TENSEX ,the economic boom ( in China & India), the continuous uproar by the commies towards the reforms and scams all around the country, FM had a very delicate task of presenting the Budget for this fiscal(as always -- cliched).Any drastic step suggested would see negative reactions from various industry segments [ associated with TENSEX becoming ONESEX - poor PJ!!].

Health :
The Govt has already done significant improvements w.r.t Polio eradication and its pledge to eradicate it by Dec'07 is commendable. The allocation for NHM(National Health Mission) has also been increased. I was expecting some sort of a Health Insurance scheme to be announced for workers in 'special' sectors and small scale industries.Along with Polio eradication, I was expeting some policy/allocation for diseases like chickenpox,smallpox, and the new Avian-flu.Setting up of a Cental Monitoring Committee to address any pandemic was also expected. Animal husbandary should also have had a mention.

Education:
I have a strong inclination towards the betterment of education in this great country of ours and was expecting something substantial w.r.t IITs/IIMs/ITIs and some allocations for children from BPL(Below Poverty Line) families.

Eventhough, FM has increased the allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day Meal Scheme , I am not sure how much of this will be reflected at the grass-roots level; as the Govt is already sitting on a huge pile of unspent cash w.r.t Education.

The constuction of Five lakh additional class rooms and appointment of 150,000 additional teachers is worthy of praise - but I really doubt the quality w.r.t the same.Along the same lines, the mentioning of setting up of 1000 schools for SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities sends a clear signal to Congresse's commitment towards the 'so-called' minority segment.

Industry and Market:
The FM's commitment towards Power sector was visible with the announcement of Five mega power projects at the cost of Rs 4000 crore. Similary, setting up of a deep draft port in West Bengal , reconstitution of NHAI and raising of FII investment limit in stock markets have sent positive signals.I am not able to understand what the FM is referring to when he announced
"New towns to be established on specific themes" -- is this in anyway related to tourism or special status to some states.

Miscellaneous:
"Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) allocated for preparatory work for celebrating the 150th anniversary of the First War of Independence of 1857 in a befitting manner." - Let us see how we celebrate it!!

"Old age pension to be increased to Rs 200 per month for above 75 years of age." -- Cant understand the funda behind this.

"A girl child will get Rs 3,000 deposited in a bank account after she enrolls for eighth class examination and the amount would be given when she becomes a major." -- does 3000INR really matter in this world. I mean, what can you get in 3k bucks??

Contentions:
Doubling the corpus for Maulana Azad Educational Foundation and increasing the allocation of national Urdu education programme would raise comments from Hindu organizations. At the same time, this reflects the Govt's initiative to cache in on the Muslim-Vote-Bank.

To appease the Hindus , FM has announced the declaration of Vedic chanting and Ram Lila under UNESCO heritage and has granted 5Crore INR for the same. This again is going to make the Communists and some factors in the UPA to turn hysterical.