Rambling Thoughts...

Inflation Index

2010-09-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

When I joined my first company, I was posted in chennai for initial years. I was staying with some of friends at that time. As you know we all were bachelors so when it comes to cleaning the house were not so up to the mark. Even though we were staying in 3rd floor apartment, it used to gather lot of dust. So, we devised a technique to find out when to clean the house. We kept a reference book, when it gathered dust, we used to clean the house. But after some time, it was if the reference book used to gather the dust, we used to clean the dust from the reference book and say since reference is clean there is no no need to clean the house :-).

Seems the same learning is taken by our UPA sarkar, whenever inflation goes higher, they change the year of inflation index to be calculated, making inflation figures go down while the actual price of commodities still remain the same. Let the price remain high, let the aam admi suffer, but hey look our inflation numbers are not bad. A+ job by UPA. :-)

Heights...

2010-07-29T17:52:00.001-07:00

Today I did something which does not make particularly proud of myself. It feels like my brain cells are dying and I need some make over or some brain excercises regularly. Or may be I am just getting old. Am 32 years old now. One more year passed by yesterday :).

Anyway I am digressing from the topic. So here is what happened.

My phone forgot his phone in the car and went into the office. We work in different buildings. I noticed this when I was going in my building. I took the phone along with me. I then changed my phone's profile to silent and wrote and sms to my friend saying that he has forgotten his phone :). The incoming sms from my friend made a sound. So, I was like what the heck I have my phone on mute... :)...

Sending the sms to the phone which I had is something my sane mind would have never done... may be "mujhe change chahiye" is shouting out loud in my brains now...

Iphone 4 facetime.. Its a game changer..

2010-07-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

So I was having conversation with one of my friend who has bought this all new
shiny iphone 4 with facetime. So the conversation went like this.

me : So, what is so special about facetime when I can use skype to skype video
chat?
iphone owner: Dude it is HD, the picture is crystal clear and look how easy it to call.
(He demoed a call to another iphone 4 user, picture too me was at par with skype).
me: Picture looks as I see in skype, I do not see any difference.
iphone owner : Because the light is low at the other end. But it is HD, it changes the game again.
me (thinking) thats how it is with any other camera.
me : So, why should I buy a iphone for doing video chat. Anyway it does not
support video chat with other people who do not have iphone 4.
iphone owner : skype is outdated technology, this is a game changer your call goes through 3g while video through wireless.
me (thinking) so, if it is going through wireless, then why not send the voice through wireless and do video chat?
iphone owner : skype should have innovated and brought this "game changer" technology.
me (thinking) skype video/chat works on 3g phones with data connection.

Anyway I didnt trouble my friend so much that time as I didnt have much data with me. So, I check out the resolution of the front camera on iphone. It is 640 x 480. Now, on a small form factor like a mobile phone this would look HD any day. Even other comparable phones sport the same resolution of 640 x 480 in most cases. May be apple has added some special ingredient which is upconverting 640 x 480 to 720p or true 1080p hd :-)

And then again I remind my self that "dude it is the game changer again".. :-)

Also, one more thing I have learnt is that it is better not to argue with iphone zealots as they cannot/would not take data points in favour of other phones, they just use iphone "data points" to show their alleged supremacy but would not digest others data point...

Disclaimer: I know I have lot of friends who have iphone, so please do not take it personally

Right or Wrong...

2010-05-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Check out this video, forward to 2:57m...

Arnab seems like congress agent it seems... positive discrimination.. using jing bang language does not make you right...

Right or Wrong...

2010-05-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Check out this video, where Rajdeep is anchor by Hindustan Times. Narendra Modi is the chief guest. Forward the video to 3:21 and see the facial reactions of Rajdeep when he is exposed.

Isse bolte hain muh ki khana...

Gayatri Mantra - Scientific view

2010-04-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

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GAYATRI MANTRA

scientific meaning of Gaytri Mantra

Gayatri mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic dharma.This mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-Mata, the mother of the Vedas.
"Om-bhur bhuvah swah
Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dheemahi;
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. "
The literal meaning of the mantra: O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty. You are all Light. You are all Knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creator of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction. The mantra, however, has a great scientific importance too, which somehow got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash-Ganga contains approximately 100,000 million of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system. We know that the moon moves round the earth and the earth moves round the sun along with the moon. All planets round the sun. Each of the above bodies revolves round at its own axis as well. Our sun along with its family takes one round of the galactic center in 22.5 crore years. All galaxies including ours are moving away at a terrific velocity of 20,000 mile s per second.

And now the alternative scientific meaning of the mantra step by step:

(A) OM BHUR BHUVAH SWAH:

Bhur the earth, bhuvah the planets (solar family), swah the Galaxy. We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900 RPM (rotations Per minute) moves, it makes noise. Then, one can imagine, what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with a speed of 20,000 miles per second. This is what this portion of the mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast-moving earth, planets and galaxies is Om. The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishvamitra, who mentioned it to other colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound Om the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time, hence it is set (permanent). Therefore, it was the first ever revolutionary idea to identify formless God with a specific title (form) called upadhi. Until that time, everybody recognized God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea. In the Gita also, it is said, "Omiti ekaksharam brahma", meaning that the name of the Supreme is Om , which contains only one syllable (8/12). This sound Om heard during samadhi was called by all the seers nada-brahma a very great noise), but not a noise that is normally heard beyond a specific amplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the rishis called this sound Udgith musical sound of the above, i.e., heaven. They also noticed that the infinite mass of galaxies moving with a velocity of 20,000 miles/second was generating a kinetic energy = 1/2 MV2 and this was balancing the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence they named it Pranavah, which means the body (vapu) or store house of energy (prana).

B. TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM:

Tat that (God), savitur the sun (star), varenyam worthy of bowing or respect. Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us, we may locate the specific person.Hence the two titles (upadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God, Vishvamitra suggested. He told us that we could know (realize) the unknowable formless God through the known factors, viz., sound Om and light of suns (stars). A mathematician can solve an equation x2+y2=4; if x=2; then y can be known and so on. An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the riverbank just by drawing a triangle. So was the scientific method suggested by Vishvamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under:-

C) BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI:

Bhargo the light, devasya of the deity, dheemahi we should meditate. The rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of suns) to discover the formless Creator (God). Also he wants us to do japa of the word Om (this is understood in the Mantra). This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realize it, as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the Supreme (Brahma) it cannot be controlled. Hence Vishvamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under:

D) DHIYO YO NAH PRACHODAYAT:

Dhiyo (intellect), yo (who), nah (we all), prachodayat (guide to right Direction). O God! Deploy our intellect on the right path. Full scientific interpretation of the Mantra: The earth (bhur), the planets (bhuvah), and the galaxies (swah) are moving at a very great velocity, the sound produced is Om , (the name of formless God.) That God (tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns (savitur) is worthy of bowing/respect (varenyam). We all, therefore, should meditate (dheemahi) upon the light (bhargo) of that deity (devasya) and also do chanting of Om. May He (yo) guide in right direction (prachodayat) our(nah) intellect dhiyo. So we notice that the important points hinted in the mantra are:

The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranavah (body of energy). This is equal to 1/2 mv2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity2). 2) Realizing the great importance of the syllable OM , the other later date religions adopted this word with a slight change in accent, viz., amen and Ameen.

Hypocracy...

2010-03-02T20:32:00.001-08:00

Currently there is so much fuss about M F Hussain taking citizenship of Qatar. There are lot of debates being hosted by likes of Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesi and others. Now liberals are saying it is against "freedom of speech", and it is national shame.

I wonder why the same liberals were not saying it is against "freedom of speech" when Chyetanya Kunte was sued by Barkha Dutt. Does it sound hypocratic to you? Or is it that "freedom of speech" is for just elite few not for common man or common blogger?

Rajdeep tweets "woman, muslim, bangladeshi, taslima has revelled in playing the 'victimhood' card." Is Hussain not playing the same "victimhood" card? And is the liberal media not supporting this "victimhood" card?

Another instance, Yesterday or day before there was attack on a Kannada news paper for publishing translated articles of Taslima Nasrin. Why is no liberal guys shouting at the top of their lungs against those who ransacked the office of news paper and say it is against "freedom of speech"?

Also, I wonder where is the "Pink Panty" gang now? Why are they not protecting muslim women who are getting abused. Why are they not sending pink panty to the maulana and maulvis? Is it not hypocratic?

Just thinking... thinking alound or thinking and writing...

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Update: Got a tweet from Barkha Dutt BDUTT

@mjrajput nope creative freedom different from lies and defamation

Got me in to thinking, if MF draws naked Sita sitting on Hanuman (who we revere as God), it is counted as creative freddom, those who know history, has this every happened? No. So, to me it is a lie, and also it is to defame Hindu god/goddesses.

If any journalist make snide remarks to any politician say Sonia, Mayawati, Modi, Lalu etc, it is counted as "creative freedom"... sound hypocritical to me...

Hindu Taliban....

2010-02-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

Saw a disgusting article from Vir Sanghavi... my first visit to his site (would be the last one too)... landed on his site from Atanu Dey's blog...

Vir Sanghavi is comparing Hindu organisations with Taliban... may be he needs to left the mercy of Talibans, then probably he would realise the difference... any way hope god gives good sense to him...

All the liberals including Vir, they do not make any iota of a sound when Satanic Verses got banned by Indian government. At that time no one raise hue and cry about freedom of speech... but if something is done to Hussain, people jump the gun... there are thousands of supporters to his rescue... may be they have already experienced Talibans and know what their treatment would be if they support Satanic Verses... hence they take side only when Hindu organisations take objections to something... they know Hindus do not treat like Taliban does... but still they compare them to Taliban...

And to all Hussain and freedom of speech supporters...

In constitution of India there are some fundamental rights given, including Freedom of Speech but it comes with certain "duties" to quote two:

To spread the message of peace and brotherhood amongst all the Indian citizens irrespective of linguistic, religious and regional or sectional diversities

To discontinue practices pertaining to the impairment of the dignity of women

Pray explain me how has the paintings drawn by Hussain fulfilled the duties given above??? For this liberals will not have any answers...

Good Books on Hinduism And Indian History

2009-05-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I came across this site which contains good books on hinduism and indian history. The way in which different attacks/colonolisation and other factors influenced the hindu culture. Hinduism is not a religion, a common misconception people have. It is a way of life, the way in which you treat others/yourself. The way you realise your self or understand others. The way in which you live in total harmony with nature and its belongings.

There are some misconceptions which are perpetrated by the media of India. That makes some western journalist wonder what is wrong with them that they are not appreciating the greatness of the hindu culture, its past, its present. Why they want to bring down the pilliars on which secularism of India is built. Like the other day one of my good friend said you are all soaked in hindutva (the remarks sounded sarcastic to me) hence I had to quote François Gautier here.. a western journalist working in india...

why does the Indian press always reflect a westernised point of view ? Why does India's intellectual "elite", the majority of which happens to be Hindu, always come down so hard on their own culture, their own religion, their own brothers and sisters ? Is it because of an eternal feeling of inferiority, which itself is a legacy of British colonisation ? Is it because they considers Hindus to be inferior beings - remember the words of Claudius Buccchanan, a chaplain attached to the East India Company : "...Neither truth, nor honesty, honour, gratitude, nor charity, is to be found in the breast of a Hindoo"! Is it because the Indian Press is still deeply influenced by Marxist and communist thoughts planted by Nehruvianism

Most of the hindus do not appreciate their culture, their way of life. They always looks towards west for inspiration. (May be that is what god wants else how will kalyug come... just kidding here :-)...). I believe as a hindu I should and I must spread the knowledge of hinduism's greatness to others. Like it is truly said in sanskrit.

न चोर हर्यम न राजहर्यम न भत्रुभाज्यम न च भारकारी
व्यवये कृत्यम एवमे वर्ध्यम विद्याधनं सर्वधन प्रध्नाम

अर्थार्त, ना चोर चोरी कर सकता हैं ना राजा जीत सकता हैं, ना भाइयों में बँटा जा सकता हैं और जो बोझ भी नही हैं । खर्च करने पर जो बढ़ता हैं, विद्या धन सभी धनो में सर्वोत्तम हैं।

In English it means, burglur cannot steal it, king cannot win it, it cannot be divided between brothers, neither it is heavy. If you spend it, it increases, knowledge is the best wealth then any kind of wealth.

Thats it for today... do take time out to read the books...

यह क्या हो रहा हैं????

2009-03-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

मैं सच में हेरान और परेसान हो रहा हूँ...

मैं यहाँ USA में तक़रीबन ६ साल के आस पास रह चुका हूँ, और अभी मुझे लग रहा हैं यह क्या हो रहा हैं... यह सोच मुझे तब आय्ही जब में अपना पिछला ब्लॉग हिन्दी में लिखने की कोशिश कर रहा था... मेरा दिमाग भी हिन्दी में सोचता नही हैं... वह अभी अंग्रेजी में ज्यादा सोचने लगा हैं...

उसी बात पैर अगर ज्यादा गौर करता हूँ तो मुझे समझ में यह आता हैं की हिन्दी में तो मैं कभी सोचता ही नही था... या तो वह गुजराती में होता था (तक़रीबन मेरे जीवन के २१ साल)... फिर इन्फोस्य्स में आने के बाद वह अंग्रेजी में सोचने लगा... फिर भी मुझे गुजराती में लिखने का इतना मन नही करता जितना की हिन्दी में... और एक बात अभी भी मैं जब भी कुछ गणित करता हूँ जैसे की भागकर, गुनाकर, जोडो वगेरा वगेरा तोह मेरा दिमाग उसे सिर्फ़ गुजराती में ही करता हैं पता नही क्यों... अगर में वह अंग्रेजी में करना चाहता हूँ तो बहुत देर लगती हैं...

तो मेरे दिमाग का जो cpu हैं वह हर बार आंकडो को फेले गुजराती में परिवर्तित करता हैं और उसेक बाद वह जो भी गणित करना होता हैं वह करता हैं और फिर वह जवाब को फिर से अंग्रेजी में परिवर्तित करता हैं.... कितने अचम्भे की बात हैं की मेरा दिमाग क्या क्या नही करता हैं सिर्फ़ एक 1 + 1 करने के लिए...

चलो अभी फिर से अलविदा... लगता हैं आज कुछ जायदा ही वेल्ला बैठा हूँ॥ :-)....

क्या आप यह जानते हैं?

2009-03-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

मुझे हिन्दी अतिप्रिय हैं और मुझे हिन्दी में लिखना भी बहुत अछा लगता हैं... आप सोच रहे होंगे के यह भाई को क्या हो गया की अचानक आज वह हिन्दी की बात कर रहा हैं :-)...

मुझे कुछ नही हुआ, मैं सिर्फ़ यह गूगल ब्लॉग का यह हिन्दी में लिखाई करने की कोशिश कर रहा हूँ... यह बहुत ही बढ़िया चीज़ बनाई हैं गूगल नैन... तुम लिखो अंग्रेजी में और वह उसको परिवर्तित करके हिन्दी में लिख देता हैं... वह क्या बात हैं...

तो इस प्रकार आप हिन्दी में लिख सकते हूँ अपना ब्लॉग... हिन्दी के इलावा वह और भी भासा इस्तमाल करने देता हैं जैसे की तेलगु, तमिल, मलयालम... आपको सिर्फ़ उसको चुनना हैं अपने ब्लॉग के सेत्तिंग्स में...

हाँ एक और चीज़, अगर आप को घर बैठे कुछ पैसे कमाने हैं तो आप बस google adsense को चुन लीजिये... फिर अपने ब्लॉग को थोड़ा बदल फेर कीजये और adsense को आप अपने ब्लॉग में रख दिज्ये... फिर जब भी कोई आपके ब्लॉग से कुछ क्लिक करके किसी और वेबसाइट पैर जाएगा तो आपको कुछ पैसे मिलेंगे.... आप करके तो देखिये आपको पता चलेगा के यह कितना लाभ दायक हैं...

फिर आपसे अलविदा लेता हूँ.... सुक्रिया... थोड़ा लिंक्स भी क्लिक कर दीजयेगा ;-)...

I have learnt swimming...

2009-02-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

I can now say that I have learnt swimming... earlier I used to know how to swim.. but I was never able to take my head or mouth out and breath in... and those who swim can appreciate how difficult it is to take mouth out and breath in.. it took me over a year (well I was not swimming that often that is the main reason here) for learning this... now that I have got in some kind of haphazard movement which I call as rhythm :-) that I am able to stick my neck out for breathing.. I feel elated but not satiated with the my swimming...

I need to learn more... may be practice for some more time... before I try out different hues of swimming like back stroke, breast stroke, butterfly stroke etc etc... it will take time but some day I am sure I would be able to do it...

Right now my current focus is on losing some extra pounds of fat in all unnecessary regions of my body ... I know swimming can do that but I want to do some running and cross ramping to quickly loose as I am still not able to continuously swim for more than one lap...

So far so long... I am able to shed some couple of pounds.. will keep posting my progress...

Yog and Pranayam

2009-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

Many of you would have wondered why it is not "Yoga" and "Pranayama"... well the reason is I am an Indian and I know how to pronounce "Yog" and "Pranayam" without the adjunct "a" as the suffix. To cut a long story short Englishmen tried very hard to pronounce Yog as Yog but were not finding it easy so they conveniently added a "a" after it. Now since it has become such a hot culture in west that every one now thinks it is "Yoga" but in pure sanskrit and hindi it is "Yog". Even I do say it as "Yoga" and not "Yog" some time but now I am consciously make effort to pronounce it correctly.

OK lets leave that aside for now, the reason I posted this is as I have again started doing yog. By yog I mean mostly paranayam and little bit of asans (see a below) also.

I was aware of the pranayam from the days when I did the "Art of Living" basic course. From that time I am aware of how to do pranayam. I do sudarshan kriya (see b below) on Saturday and/or Sunday. The reason being it takes atleast 30 to 45 minutes to do the kriya.

I saw some videos from Baba Ramdevji and tried to put that in my routine, I just do kapalbhati, bhastrika, AnolomVilom pranayam. And yes the best one I like is Bhramari pranayam. The kind of quietness and clarity which Bhramari gives daily I have never experienced except for after doing long sudarshan kriya.

I think it is starting to have its calming/soothing effects on me already in 3 days... I will let you know about the details later when I have followed for couple of weeks atleast just to make that it is not my new found love for Bhramari is having its effect.

Coming to asans, I do suryanamaskar, sirsasan, sarvangasan, viprit karni and ardhmatsyasan with bhujangasan as the finishing asana in the order. I used to do them regularly and do not remember from where I got this knowledge to do various asan, may be it is something in my gene or may be I have seen my dad doing it in the house during my childhood.

Hopefully this enthusiasm of doing yog and asan goes for some months if not years... I would prefer it to do it continuously for years to come but who knows what is instore for tomorrow... :-)

___________________________________________________________
a - Note the use of "asan" instead of "asanas" again same reason.
b - sudarshan kriya is also one kind of pranayam which was taught in Art Of Living classes.

Khaman is NOT Dhokla

2008-11-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

I am from gujarat and I am proud gujarati like millions around the world. Every gujarati would have eaten khaman and dhokla at some point of time in their lives. For those who are not aware what is Khaman and Dhokla, you can visualise the same from the picture given on the side. The one top (white in colour) is dhokla and Khaman is on the bottom picture ( yellow in colour).

I have lot of friends who are from India outside of gujarat who also love khaman and dhokla. While they love it, I only have one request not to say Khaman as Khaman Dhokla as Khaman is Khaman and IT IS NOT DHOKLA. It is the wrong packaging done by Gits and likes of those companies who have created this misconception by printing Khaman as Khaman Dhokla on their package.

So, please next time you are savouring your taste buds with these two delicious dishes, please do remember which one is what... Happy hogging khaman and dhokla...

After 3 years....

2008-10-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have been using linux for over 3 years. Now that I look back at it, I have mixed feelings of using linux. On one hand I am happy about things which I have found, learnt and over a period of time experienced. My first install of kubuntu 6.06 on my amd64 laptop to my current install of ubuntu 8.10, I can see so much maturity in linux desktop/laptop whatever you want t say. I sure feel happy that linux system has matured and has become very userfriendly. The other day I was at my friend's place installing linux on his laptop, and I was pleased with how linux (might be a ubuntu usability feature) recognized the printer and configured it for me even without touching anything, no add hardware, no cd required. That was one of the most wow moments of my life where in I could see my friend appreciating the usability features of linux. I am also happy looking at the number of software updates I do not have to keep. I being a geek and always experimenting with latest and greatest I used to keep downloading winamp, firefox and tons of other softwares and installing them to keep the updated. This is no longer the case, well atleast not searching independently. I just update the ubuntu version and I kind of get latest and greatest of all the software. I do not have to hunt down the net for latesst version, I just type some command (I prefer that) or open up synaptic and I am all set. So, over all I am very happy with my system.

On the other hand, I miss out those games which are windows only... I know I know there is wine but still it is not capable enough to play all the games. I loved playing Age of Empires, Caesar etc... while I am able to play Caesar with wine, I was not able to make AOE work. Also, the company that I work for has all its internal application drenched with MS stuff. This does not allow me the flexibility to work on my linux computer in office. Also, I do hate linux some times when things go all messy, and I am not able to figure out wtf I did wrong or what has messed it up... but I do feeel happy when I do a clean install and I am all set with some minor tweaks...

Overall it has saved me time ... I would say naahh due to my company policies of using properietary softwares... but I have learnt a lot... so much so that I always try to spread the word of using open source eg. ubuntu, open office etc to my friends and there are some friends who are pretty darn satisfied with ubuntu installs I have done for them...

Why I do not use Chrome and Stick to Firefox

2008-09-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

I tried out google chrome, it is slick, minimalistic however I still stick to firefox for many reasons some of them I am giving here.

1. It does not have adblock, this one is no bummer as google wont block its main source of revenue ;-).
2. No stumble upon, I am one of them who is now addicted to it and there no such thing for chrome yet.
3. No keyword or tagging of bookmarks. I use keyword shortcuts to go to pages quickly, chrom does not have such provision.
4. New process for new tab is memory hog, try opening 14+ tab in chrome and it crashes my computer while firefox crash around 25 or so tab. I know not all will open so many tabs :-).
5. Mouse gesture, I love them esp when I have mouse connected to my laptop.
6. No extension framework or I am not aware of. This does not allow things to be added to chrome.
7. I have used 3.1 version of firefox with new javascript engine it seems much faster compared to chrome in processing the sites like gmail, docs etc.
8. It does not have bookmark syncing between computers. I use foxmark to sync my two laptops and work pc with the same bookmarks.

So, all in all I will stick to firefox :-).

A note in the men's room... quite funny...

2007-08-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Just saw a note in the men's room

AIM

Whoever missed twice this week

1. Get a vision test
2. Open your eyes
3. Aim at the Urinal
4. Sit down on the toilet

I was not able to control my laugh... hope this put atleast a smile on your face...

And the stint continues....

2007-06-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well well... my stint with penguin continues and I seem to like it very much... this Ubuntu thing is really catching up... the more and more i use it... more and more i think that people should start using linux and make it their primary OS... I know there are apprehensions and misconception in mind of people about linux that it is not user friendly and everything has to be command line and what not...

Trust me i have been using linux as my primary OS for around 6 month or so... I do go into M$ for my vpn connection and downloading emails to my box.

I too used to think that linux is all about command line... but not any more... linux is evolving... i know it still has long way to go... but then it has all the features that a common person would expect from an OS....

1. media players.
2. web browsers
3. chat client
4. voice chat clients
5. software installers
6. themes and other customization (this i think is cool as it allows you to customize almost every aspect of the UI)
7. No antivirus (well technically every OS can have virus but I havent been infected... but then it is always good to have antivirus installed even in UNIX/LINUX OS)

OK I will not harp much on this... but those who do want to try ... check out http://ubuntu.com and download a CD. Burn it and run it directly from your comp.. you can experience and see if you like it... and if you then go ahead and install... if you do not then let the CD remain with you.. :-).. may be some day... some day....

My stint with the penguin

2006-10-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

For some time I have been playing with this penguin... if I tell you that I am in chennai, India... it will make you wonder where and how this guy played with penguin... OK no PJ but cannot help it...

The penguin I am talking about is LINUX... I being too much tech experimenting fellow... I was getting this itch in my hand to use the full power of my 64 bit AMD turion process... The windows 32 bit which came pre-installed was using half its potential... Like typical manager I wanted to extract full power and make it peak productive... so, I explored the net to get a version which can utilize the power... of 64 bit...

I went to one of the linux site and found something there are so many distros... (refer to the wikipedia and you will find it is a linux distribution).... I was searching for the best and linux site stated currently something called as ubuntu is on top... I went to their site and there where more flavors of ubuntu... (now this is what I call as full menu... there are so many choices...)... I choose Kubuntu compared to Ubuntu... may be because Kubuntu was sweet sounding...

I downloaded the CD and installed the 64 version... my first impresession was that it was good but was taking long time (compared to M$) to boot... Now, I have got used to the ususal time but still am experimenting with the boot time... being curious (like curiosity killed the crow...) I like it best ... do stuff, break something and then patch it up and the satisfaction you derive by getting it right by your own (with help from linux community) is very satisfying... and makes me happy...

OK the sore part, my acer laptop is containing graphic card from SiS and wireless card from broadcom... both these companies do not believe in open source it seems and they do not publish their drivers for linux... in the world of convergence and globalisation I cannot believe there are companies like this... damn them... my next laptop will not have any product from them...

So, to get these two working was a huge task... I have got the wireless card now working but the SiS graphic card would not render 3D acceleration and the software 3D acceleration sucks big time...

What is most I liked about Linux is...

1. uses my 64 bit computer :-)
2. there are thousands of softwares and yes all of them are free... free as in "free beer"... now what that term means I do not know... am too lazy right now to find it out...
3. if there is a software upgrade available it will notify you that a new version is available and again being curious and keeping myself using latest and greatest I find it cool... windows you have to buy software to manage your software... :P
4. the software you install falls in its appropriate bucket and you do not have to organize the start menu or whatever you call it in M$... This is another cool feature.
5. you can customize it like anything... for UI itself you have so many choices... KDE/GNOME/XFCE being the main... I prefer KDE... and no I do not want to start the GNOME/KDE war...
6. you make your own kernel... if you want you can compile your own OS... sounds interesting right... this will make your system respond at peak ... again my idiosyncrasies ;-)...
7. No virus and no threats... there is virtually no risk of any viruses... for modifying any of the system files you require a super user privilege and the at the most you can loose would be your home folder...
8. From home folder ... Linux gives you capability of installing your home folder in a separate drive... so even if you reinstall or format your OS and reinstall all your customization and setting will be preserved and you will not waste your precious time in making your OS like it was previously...
9. No registry ... you can install all your applications in a separate partition and reinstall your OS still your applications will work provided required libraries are kept correctly... i think that too can be configured... but haven't tried so much... :-)

Over all I am starting to like Linux for its free nature and too much customization... if only my graphic card was not SiS...

Please do not take this as my word for jumping into Linux... if you are ready to invest some time for free software then do jump in... :-)...

for those noob who want everything to work out of the box and do not want to use their precious grey cells... wait for another 5/10 years before you are cured of something called as M$

Wheels Apart...

2006-06-14T05:01:00.000-07:00

After returning to India, I got a car as I developed a mind set that car is one of the basic necessity. Well its quite true, the only problem is in India not all can afford it unlike US where every tom dick and harry has a car.

Till now I was driving toyota corolla (1995 model), now I am driving Maruti 800... no where close to even a 1995 model car... there are totally wheels apart...

Consider this... I sold my corolla for $2400 (Rs 108K)... I got my 800 for $ 3933

Now let us consider their features...

Feature: Corolla | 800

Dimension : Mid Size | Mini Size if there is one :-)... am too lazy to measure it ...
Engine : V4 | V2
Transmission : Automatic | Manual (good for India)
Features : Fully loaded - power locks, windows, AC, rear defrost | hardly anything except that I got a steering wheel, AC :-)...

won't bring down my sweet little maruti so much... but makes me wonder how is that a country of 1 billion not able to make a good quality product at a cheaper price... the labour is cheap ... so are the raw material... probably some intricacies which I do not understand...

Brain is intelligent camcoder :-)

2006-03-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well... I got this new camecoder as I am wrapping up my stay in US of A... I recorded some stuff and then edited them....

And it occured to me that brain is such an intelligent camcoder... you keep on recording everything from your child hood... and you actively keep on editing your recording... you keep whatever you feel is significant to retain in your limited GB of memory available in your brain... and you actively keep on removing which is trivial or insignificant or will not be of any use to you in future...

the point is mootable whether the memory available is limited... can we measure it... I believe it is limited... there might be poeple who will strongly agree to disagree on this point... but they will violently agree that brain is a intelligent camcoder... :-)...

well it depends on person to person what to retain... if you are very religious you will probably keep in your mind trip to scared place... you will not recall a trip to disc...(why the heck did you go to the place first of all??? ;-))... if you are very fond of friends... you will cherish those sweet memories spent with friends... if you are selfish like me... you will keep only things you which you want to... but who is not selfish...

seems i have digressed from the topic... for me brain is intelligent camcoder... do not know what other thinks... but who cares... i always do what i want to do :-) ... and i am proud of it...

Sudh Hindi Ka Prayog Kijiye...

2006-02-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

Time and again I get this craving to start translating english words to pure hindi just to bring some change to this monotonous life of mine... Here are some of the words... some coined by me... some by my friends... some are genuine hindi words but not used normally in our day to day conversation... well no credits given and none are taken... only some humour is given.

Actually currently there are hardly any words in the list... you can count on your fingers... even if you have four of them on your hand... but as usual I am thinking of long term when this post will contain a long list of words....

I will keep on adding to this list so watch out... if you understand hindi I bet you will have fun!!!!

sukhsm laher - microwave
karn dakhi swarn yantr - head phone
karn ghusi swarn yantr - ear phone
kimkartavyvimudh - vacillating mind

following is contribution from Raj Beniwal
Lowh path gamini - train
Lamb dand gol pind dhar pakad pratiyogita - Cricket

~MJR

PS:note haven't used a suffix of 'a' after each word as it is done like in "yoga"... it is actually yog... sticking to sudh hindi again :-)

I am sure my south indian friends will beg to differ... they even put an 'a' after proper english words too... lefta... righta... no offense please... :-)

Handicap Parking...

2006-01-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

"Handicap parking is the mirage of the parking lot" Sienfeld in one of his episodes...

How true... You are running late for a meeting you desparately need a parking spot... you circle around the whole parking lot once ... twice yet you do not find a parking spot near to gate.... so sad... then you see there are 5 parking spots free but alas.... THEY ARE HANDICAP PARKING ... what the ... You then circle around and find a spot which is nearest possible to the gate ...

Then you walk towards the building... in a hurry... you see those free parking spots and curse them ... or pray to god... please make me handicap... atleast I do won't have to walk this much...

Well this is OK... on top of this let us add snow with wind speed which is blowing directly in to you face... if you haven't experienced this come to Detroit, MI in peak winter ... you will curse even more ...

I have known people who go and park in the handicap parking just for the heck of it ... my ex-account manager is one of them...

I have known people who go and park in the handicap parking spot as the handicap parking spot lines (usually they are blue in color) were not visible ... well thats the reason I got ... I too was driving my corolla and parked my car in proper normal parking spot (read NON HANDICAP PARKING)... well that was quite a reason ... anyway who want to argue on that...

Some time I think I will get my leg amputated or probably slightly cracked or with connections in DMV or SOS get the handicap parking number plate ... a fracture would be ideal as I will get the plate temporarily ... though...

Handicap parking murdabad... murdabad.... !!!

Journey to Chennai ...

2005-12-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

Continuation to how i got into infy....

Well... where do i start from... lets see... just a quick recap like our hindi sitcoms ...

I went to baroda for infosys interview... got selected... asked to be reported at chennai... first time to leave my family...

recap over...

so, my dad with help from my mama (who had contacts in indian railways) to get me tickets to chennai in Navjeevan Express (the only train between chennai and ahmedabad directly)... I still remeber that they got tickets which were to make me land in chennai 2 days earlier than the joining date i.e. 3rd October. So, I were to reach on 1st October. With some more settings I was able to get accomodation in gujarati samaj located at Broadway, Chennai...

So, I started on 29th September at 9:30 pm from Ahmedabad. All my family members dad, mom, my sisters, brother, mama, bua, uncle, my best friends Naman and Narendra... were there to bid adieu to me. First time ever I was going to leave gujarat and go outside. I remember I took blessing from my dad by touching his feets... a belief which I still follow. I believe that whatever I am today is because of him. I can go on elaborating on that but I do not want to digress. There would be a separate blog dedicated to him. Love you dad...

I started the journey on a sad note... with small invisible tear droplets coming from eyes... my heart was very heavy... as if some tons and kilos of heavy stuff is kept on it...

Train soon reached baroda and I jumped out to meet one more best friend of mine... Rachit... had a quick hug with him and good bye... again the same heaviness engulfed me... I was not able to recover for some days... time and again the faces of my beloved family and friends... the stolen moments with them... were flying through my head like a film trailer... their face seemed so near to me that I will go and touch them...yet so far...

Traveling hasn't been my habit... so I soon fell ill in the 2nd class sleeper... I got fever... so I took some tablets... the journey was 36 hours... so it was going to take quite some time for me to reach chennai...

I tried to put my thoughts on a book (do not remember which one...) but failed miserably... I was simply not able to concentrate... the separation was taking its toll on me...

It was not that I was travelling to chennai for the first time... I had been there to give my interview in IIT chennai for MS in computers... I had seen very good part of chennai at that time... as from Airport to IIT Chennai the campus is roads are good and the locality is very posh... so to me chennai was like a clean and honest city... though this impression was going to break shortly when I was to land and go through the experiences... which probably lot of hindi speaking junta would have gone through...

as soon as the train was going to arrive in chennai... my clean city was turning out to be quite dirty... like every city has suburbs which are filthy and dirty... chennai too had its fair share i would say... my train was going through one such suburb and then I realised... sir... welcome to reality... your destiny or destination... chennai has arrived!!!!

ps: coming in this series... my first few experiences in chennai...

No Strings Attached !!!!

2005-11-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

How about a life with no strings attached... no need to make money... no need to report statuses... no need to fullfill your desires... no need to find defects... no need to fix them... no need to succumb to client demands... no need for building applications... no need to improve performance... no need to improve UI... no need to write SRS... no need to review SRS... no need to work life a mule... no need to spend long hours in night in office... no need to send emails to offshore team... no need to spend weekends in office... no need to attend calls in the night...no need to think like software professional...no need act like one... no need to relate to people... no obligations... no responsibilities... no attachments... no worries about money...

just you, yourself and the way god want to guide you with the strings which he uses to controls the world... may be some day... may be some day...

Dark Side...

2005-11-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

Every body has a dark side (liked this dialogue in the movie "Company")... I agree to it cent percent... I have a dark side too... Lot of you won't agree to this though... But does me or my darker side care about it... nah....

How does my darker side look... It is pretty dark I would say...Can I share it??? Well... here is where my good side assumes the role of the janitor and does not allow the dark side within me to come out in open from any of the gates...and by god it has played this roles extremely well... It is extremely powerful, it can cut wings of the dark side...it can send that dark side far into the abyss...it can suppress the dark side... but still it is not that much powerful that it can annihilate it completely...exterminate my dark side from its root... I think I would prefer it to continue to play the same role of sentry for some time... I am still hopeful that I will conjure up enough strength to completely sink that dark side or totally eradicate it from me... probably I will become a sadhu and go to himalayas :-)...

The very thought of my dark side coming out and assuming control over me is so scary that it sends shivers through my spine... but I wonder whether the darker side of others too be able to accost it in a friendly way???

I will surely note about it when the beast comes out... till then let the beast rest in peace or piece... which ever way....

By Heart...

2005-11-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

In the training today, the trainer said "I am not good at remembering definitions by heart"...

I was not able to understand why it is called "by heart". I strongly believe this is a gross mistake on the part of the english speaking world. It should be termed as "by brain" or "by mind". As far as my fertile mind recalls it is your mind which retains all the information which is gathered from your child hood.

I bet if you take your heart out and ask it to speak...will it??? For that matter even your brain won't as it will require a mouth :-)...

If there exists (I am not sure about it...) or in future a technology comes up which can extract information from your organs then probably the dictionaries across the world will change this... even in schools they will start teaching "Please repeat it by your mind!!!" or "learn by mind"...what you say???

ps: just thought will put some light stuff too :-)...

Sadness...

2005-11-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

Some times I wonder, why do people hate being sad or looking at some body who is sad? Can we not accept sadness being one of those ebbs which comes along with tides of life? If we can accept sea shores to recede back after deluge, why not sadness... I keep on pondering about this many time.

There host of reason for being sad
1. Loss of a loved one... believe me it is one of toughest one to handle... their sweet memories will linger with you till you meet your own end.
2. Loss of job
3. Failure in exam...
4. Not able to make to your favorite university/school...

and the list goes on and on.....

The best way to stay away from sadness is not get too much emotional about anything. I know it is difficult, I have been through that... till date I am not able to make myself immune to emotions. I also become sad and feel like staying alone in my room for hours...days... or may be months.

What should you do when you see somebody sad??? Try to cheer them up??? Try to share their burden (being philanthrophists??? I too am culprit of doing this)... I will agree to a certain extent that these are good ways to make some body come out of sadness for a moment... but they will again relapse in their sadness... will it be forever??? I do not think so...

I would suggest to leave them alone with their sadness... let them recover by themselves... let them recover their strength... the strength to fight and come out of the hang over and face the world in its eternity!!!

Does it help being sad??? I feel yes...though people might differ on this... I feel that sadness brings down your brain impulses and soothes your agitated mind!!!

Let me be sad for some time...

How I got into Infy ...

2005-10-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Those days I was preparing for CAT (entrance exam for prestigous management institutes of India). One of my friend told me that Infosys is going to conduct interview for recruiting graduate fresh out of college. The interview was supposed to be in Baroda, 200 kms. from my place Gandhinagar (Capital of Gujarat, India). I thought I will try my luck and in that way I can visit my friend's house in Baroda.

So, we (Japan, Mauktik and I) took a train to Baroda in the early morning around 6:00am and we were in Baroda at 8:00am. On the Baroda station we met one of our college mate, Fatima if I recollect. She too willingly accepted invitation from Mauktik to stay in his out. So off we went to Mauktik's house from the station. The written test was at 4:00pm in the evening so we had some time to do prepration. Our preparation material included some books from Sakuntla devi and one english author whose name I am not able to recollect. We cracked some of the puzzles without help and some with hints/peeking at answers. Mauktik's mom gave us a good lunch which we had along with our brain teasers. It was in no time we realised that it was 1:30. Another 2 odd hours remaining for the test. Around 2:00pm we started for MSU campus where our written test was to be conducted.

We reached the place in autorikshaw without much ado (unlike other part of India). We searched for the room and finally found it from one of notice boards. There were some 400 odd people who had gathered. All were anxious to get through the test. There were couple of known faces in the gathering. And there were some whom I had seen the first time. Later on, three of these faces were to become my room mate in chennai. More of that in my next posting.

The test was conducted in two class room with old style benches were you can hardly get in. Some how we all sat there for around 1 hour after which some HR folks (as young as we were) came and gave papers to us. Since I was preparing for CAT, I felt that the play ground was quite familiar. The only difference was we were to give step by step how we arrived at the result.

Around 6:00pm or so the test got over and all of us returned our sheet for evaluation. They anounced that results should be out in another 1 hour. So, we had around 1 hour to roam round the MSU campus. At 8:00pm after one hour delay the results were anounced. To my bad luck none of my friend's name was there in the short list else it would have been a different story. I was asked to come for interview the next day as it too late. My time for interview was 10:30am.

I think the blog is becoming too big.. may be i should cut short.

I went to the interview. He asked me some couple of puzzles which yours truly was able to solve with left hand (no i am not left hander :-)). One question I liked the most was how many moves can be played in the first step in chess? Being a fairly knowledgable in chess I was able to give it correctly... Others please help yourself...

During the interview I made a grave mistake which I will never ever forget in my life. He asked me do I have locational preference. I being a moron blurted out "No locational prefrences!!". I still do not recall why the heck did I made such statement. I could have opted for Pune. But no I had to say "No locational prefrences!!"... what the...

After interview I was back in gandhingar studying for CAT in the same good old library.

One evening my father came to library (I thought he came to see if I am really studying or not...:-)). He came to my desk and took me out. I thought something serious thing has happened. Then he pulled out a telegram notifying that I have been selected by Infosys and would be required to report at Infosys Chennai on October 3rd, 2000 (how can I forget this date!!!). My salary was around INR 16,000/per month. I said I will have to think. I had decided after coming out of college I would not do a job if my salary was not INR 10,000/per month. The salary was meeting the criteria... The only problem was I had to leave my family for first time ever in my life... It was going to be difficult...

But I was ready for my destiny .....

Coming up next: My chennai trip...

404 Error

2005-10-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

I tried the following link before putting this blog and guess what I got "404 Error". To avoid that I am putting this in the blog. But rest assured I will be adding a lot to them.

http://mehulrajput.blogspot.com