Wednesday, December 31, 2008

My Experiments with WordPress

I had never dreamt of working with WordPress. But yeah, you should know not all dreams happen. Humm, I had been working with WP for now more than a months. I was surprised myself when it ranked as one of the popular sites that I visit. Well, this is not a post to compare WordPress with a superior blogging platform like blogger. Just an review in my terms. There were different kinds of users whom I have observed during this experiment (Experienced to Rookie).

Home Page: Why do I need so many things squeezed into one front page. Hot VIP posts, Hot community post, Recommended page and universal tag. I was for a second confused if it was my home page. Cross verified when I saw a small text saying "Welcome back Vijesh".

WordPress is against the policy of "One Click", you at least need two clicks to do any action in WordPress. Only thing that works on one click is to view your blog. That's interesting.

The WYSWYG editor is neat and comprehensive. Few things that stand out are Full screen editing mode (One can always disguise his manager like typing on a editor.), Insert Custom Symbol with a Character map and easy upload of Media varying from image, audio and video. Also an 3GB storage limit is impressive to start with.

Stats: That's a good thing to have inside one's blogger portal. An automatic stats collector is good for beginners to know about it. Also the stats are cheap and simple. Not even near to other powerful stats engine. Anything for free is welcomed.

Privacy and comment moderation: Its usual stuff here were you can hide the blog from search engine and invite users to your blog. But roles like Contributor, Editor and Author are confusing. I wish they define each role in a tool tip. Since I don have time for twenty questions or patience to read the help. Comment moderation has become an important setting with most bloggers. The interface to moderate comment was cool in WordPress. (I loved clicking those 13 moderated comments, It was fun.)

Pages and Category: I got to accept this, Pages is one big feature I miss in Blogger. Its easy to add pages in WordPress. Did not experiment much on them. Category is good to organise the tags. But any real time purpose of it. I can't think of many.

Themes and Custom Header: Too many Thames to select from. When choices increase trouble increase. Custom Header was easy to make and change. It was specifically said the dimension the header has to be so that no cropping or re size is done. Good word there.

But over all on any good day or network, WordPress is heavy and slow. Its not a piece of cake for my Dad or Mom. I wont recommend it for beginners. Either you live in Ireland or India try hard its still not like my love. Now its all said and done, I can sit back and relax...

Here are some of the user testimonials,
- aree whats happening, why is it reacting like this?
- hey wait, be patient and why do you want to click on that so many times.
- Now, what to do?
- Where is it?
- Sorry, I was not able to create a login!

Update: I did not try feature of password protected post. :P Ah! How did I miss that, or rather what will I do doing that.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

A movie review

Technically its a half movie review, Since I entered the theater at half time. I never spoke about why I was late. Its a movie about Dad and his Daughter. The whole movie is a narration by a Dad of how he lived with his Daughter and how he got her married to the guy whom she loved. A typical cottage family in Ooty where the Daughter (trisha) is born and brought up there. Dad (Prakash Raj) is a father who has love for his daughter. The first half of the movie shows how they both share the life together. The adopting a begger at thier home since she liked that guy. Taking her Dad to the center of the lake on a full moon day and celebrate his birthday. Making each others small wishes come true.

The second half of the movie is the phase were trisha tells her love to her parents and marry the guy she loved. Until he gets his Daughter married, Prakash Raj gets butterflies in his stomach. Its every Dad's emotions to get their children married to a nice family. Since the daughter will move away from their home. Also the funny part in the movie is the guy she loves is a Punjabi. Its different tradition, different language, its different food & clothing. Its hilariously portrait how her Dad adopts to the new family and feels the trust of the guy.

Bad Things: Too many senti dialogue!

I would give it a 5 out of 10.

Friday, December 26, 2008

25/12/2008 and boxing day

Thank You! Thanks for all those calls, those sms, those mails, those comments, those scraps, those flashy color chocolates, those b'day songs, those cakes, those blessings, those wonderful goodies and this post. All have made this birthday beautiful and memorable. Again Thx all.

Humm, Its boxing day now. I got to pack them, pack them all without any spill overs. Also need to wrap them with those big brown packing tapes that it does not open again. (Mom said, Keep them some where safe so that you can see it one day). I smiled away. We don have any spectacular clash of titans in the Premier League fixtures. But still it would be an exicting boxing day, since never under estimate Stroke City. Its half time now, I'm happy for reds performance and we are 7 points behind them. Promising year ahead.

Once again Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I'm coming mee :)

Life is moving on.. This year again I will be in Coimbatore. Sorry guys! I miss you! also know how much you would miss me, for all those eggs and those just bake cake.. Whats the deal, You are soo good people! But yeah, I badly wanted to go home. I had been missing her smile and warmth. She also misses me double.. He has been the best for ever.. Also dicussing those small titbits with him that I had known months back is also interesting.. My taste buds are almost in the graveyard with those maggi noodles and fruit bowl.. Its time to give them some life.. I din want to disappoint them.. Paati started making her muruku today.. Amma is all exicted about the menu that she wanted to cook.. Dad as usual would have saved the internet usuage of the month for me.. they are all set for a blast.. 

Also will be hosting two other good friends this time at home.. Would be going to Dhiyanalingam again.. Thats it for now.. God bless!! 

Spinning On...
Vijesh

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Delusion...

He...He took an left turn despite telling himself to turn right...He boiled the milk until it touched the floor...He wanted his brush and toothpaste...But why is he searching it in his camera bag...He forgot to wear his non-marking shoes for Badminton...He ask for some music and mute's it himself...He never drove so slow...He entered the wrong restaurant even after reading the name board...He hear those voices talking again and again...His temperature is high, still he wants to go out...He had five tickets for a music concert and missed to go for it...He loved the song and film so much that he started hating it so much now...No Daddy, He did not go to Monkey falls this time or get those big walls or the huge board game in my dream...He never wanted to write this post...All he needs is his vacation...

Friday, December 19, 2008

How to become a Manager?

I thought I will write the bottom up first. Disclamier: The views expressed here are not related to my Employeer or anyone associted with them in anyways. Everything written are just an imagination no where relates to real time. I would not gaurentee if it does so. 

Well, when you write such a post there has to be dicipline and process. So I guess my first post that I'm writing in a OO Writer.

  1. First thing that strikes me hard when I think of this topic is that one should start using Windows to become a Manager, cut that Linux/Command Prompt and source code when he was a developer. 
  2. One should not change the default wallpaper on the machine or laptop they own. Its like the default blue circuit kind IBM laptop wallpaper or the default windows landscape for Windows XP. :)
  3. One should learn to open "notepad" application from Start->Programs->Accessories->Notepad. 
  4. For (3) you should not use the keyboard. Only the mouse is allowed. 
  5. You should start signing a mail from "--Myname" to "Thanks and Regards, MyName"
  6. Inject lot of adverb, adjective, articles in one's mail.
  7. One should stop wearing those torn jean and those one liner t-shirts that say "Do you mind, I don care". 
  8. Start looking at options of brands like Raymonds, Peter England and Indigo Nation.
  9. Start programming using sophiticated IDE like Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
  10. One need to tell the same thing in 'n' different ways. "England lost the first test match to India", "India made a stunning win at the first test match against England".
  11. Finally, stop working and start talking. :)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Chennai

Well, After 2 long years I came back to Madras city aka Chennai. My last visit was to present a project at a gathering by CII. I still faintly remembered that Tidal park road. This time it happened to be my best planned train travel so far. You know how..

2:40 AM - I don't have any dress pressed. I should go to Santy's place and do it.
3:00 AM - Packing done in a paper bag :).
...
...
8:30 PM - Calling Santy.. I forgot my camera charger bring it.
9:15 PM - Calling Santy again.. Bring my night pant also, I forgot it.
10:15 PM - Calling Santy again.. Bring me a pull over, It would be chill during the travel.
11:15 PM - Still at office, my pickup cab has not yet arrived. (Train at 11:45)
11:45 PM - Reached station..

I should accept it was a different Madras to what I had known and seen. The city has changed a lot. Significant improvement was the Hi tech Chennai Traffic police flying around in their Hyundai Accent. It was a nice sight to watch. One sight that din change is that stopping commuters for checking their License and Insurance papers. It was sorry to watch the police officer stopping vehicles for a check in one lane and the other lane was totally jammed where he should have been at the center to clear it. (Dear Traffic Police Dept: Did you know there is a survey says that enabling device identification in a mobile phone and disabling it when lost will not work out in India. Since it was predicted that around 60% of the mobile that are being used in India are either from the black market or stolen mobiles. Similar way, it applies to vehicles also. Spend your effort on better bigger problem.) In fact saw the Indian cricket team return to their hotel after end of day 3.

29c (Perambur Train Station to Besant Nagar). A travel I enjoyed after a long time. Chennai public transport buses are such a way that Men can sit in RHS of the bus and Ladies can sit on the LHS of the bus. The bus conductor is the only male who is privileged to sit on the LHS. :) It was a long journey from North Chennai to South Chennai. Enjoyed the whole ride in it, esp hanging in the foot board. Just compared to Coimbatore were buses just rally between each other and no guarantee for the person life on foot board. (s29 - Koundampalayam to PSG Tech in 35 mins is just cool, despite stopping in all the stops! Dubai shek will tell tales about this bus) The bus very slow that you can get down have a small walk and get in later. Also loved watching passengers passing money from the font of the bus to rear end asking for a ticket. Interesting travel...

Only thing that scares me of Chennai is the climate. I got to be accept it that I was `Happy` this time. Chennai treated me well this time were I hardly saw the sun and continuous breeze reminded me of my town. Adding to it was the night walk in the beach which was spectacle by the full moon and the glittering water. It was the most beautiful moon I have ever seen. (That night the moon was 30% brighter than usual full moon in 15 years :: read) But how can you go there without a camera. I was an idiot to do it. :-) Ferocious sea and Moon had contradicting nature like the roasted corn and mango we ate.

Finally meet my good old school friend. She has put on lot of weight. You know she calls me and asks, "You write more in your blog than talking to me over phone." She asks where the hell do you get time to write so much nonsense? I know I will blasted now again for writing this. :-) My first travel with no photos!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

02mw02 <3 02mw30

You should interpret that title as `Year` followed by `course code` and followed by `id`. This is how the roll numbers of students would be in PSG Tech. So its 2002 batch (hey I was also the same batch...) MSc software Engineering (yeah, I too graduated with the same degree), 02 thats Arun from my class and 30 that's Shruthi from my class.

Finally the Beauty & Geek decided to lead their life together. This wonderful couple is getting engaged today Dec 14th 2008. I wish them all the blessing and a prosperous beginning ahead. I'm will be present to watch the Bride groom blush and meet all my friends. (Snaps: ASAP) Rather than the usual argument of cutting the hair, this time we agreed on it. Also I have approved a hair cut to Arun this time. He did cut a lot. :)

Best Wishes Arun DK & Shruthi.

Update: Photo Credit Arun Ragh.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

My Letter to Santa

9th December, 
Bangalore. 

Dear Santa, 

Loads of Love and Greetings from me! In spite celebrating my Birthday with Christmas, I have never told you my wish list in this 23 years. May be this year I thought I will.. Hope you have time to read apart from combing your beard and preparing for Christmas. No, I promise I wont make the list running kms, But yeah may be top three. 

  • A Nokia N97. Yeah yeah, I can see you murmuring its not in stores yet. Go to Finland you will have them ready there. 
  • A ticket to Manchester United vs Liverpool at Old Trafford Stadium. 
  •                                                                                        :)

I wrote the third one in invisible ink. Privacy issue santa, I can't help it. :P Also tell me when the Polar Express will stop for me, I don want to miss it this time. Sure will be awake on Christmas eve for it. Take Care, feed those reindeer's and drive your 
 
Happy Christmas!!!
Vijesh


To
Santa Claus,
P.O. Box 56099,
North Pole, 
Alaska 99705-1099.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

After My Death

I remember reading this somewhere. Now that I'm too young to think about it. :) Say, I get married and have kids. I become old and one day will say good bye. After that the beautiful villa I had will be inherited by my daughter. I had thought well and written those papers with those graphics of Ashoka Chakra at the top with clear state of mind & sense. But did I miss something?

What will happen to one's blog after h(is|er) death? Wondering what will happen to this blog after ...? Who will know the key to open the gates of this Secret Garden? Who will maintain it? Who will be my heir for this online mess I have? Is there a law that says someone can? Or will it be shutdown after some dormant period and allow someone to take hsejiv as their blog name. I don't want to. :(

Just in case some one does heir, all I would want you to write a post with one of the photograph's I have taken. Post them on those special days that I would love to remember. One promise I would give is, already I have an archive that would last 2 generations. :)

Tell me: What would you like to do?

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Grany

At 68 she blew her first Birthday candle. Wow! I remember Dec 6th for you.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Win some Lose some

Yay! It was an exiting day when I was shortlisted for the TFN(tourofnilgiris). Yes its official now that I did *not* make it to the last 2. Ah! Did they sneak on the work schedule for the month? Well, congrats to Prashanth @ Random Thoughts (boy he looks like a pro)and Minakshi @ Shilo When I was Young. Would be great that you would be ridding with the TFN team! Happy Blogging folks.

Well, I did win many things.. :)

Wishing all the TFN riders a beautiful ride with the Nature. Hoping to meet you all guys! Best for Everything. May be another time, I will ride with you champs!

Viewfinder..

Day: Friday
Date: Some date in December 2006

It was very early morning for him, when the mobile alarm broke the silence in the room. He never gets up in the first ring, but today he did. It was a special day for all. The light was never turned off. He looked around, he could see all those bottles that were emptied last night lying on the corner and few decks of cards are lying carefree. Tries waking up one of his friend, with the assurance that he will not be on the firing line for such unearthly hours. His friend never responded. Fine! He stood up and walked to the door and trying putting his head out side, "What, already people have started?" Searches for the geyser switch and pulls it down.

Dressed up with thick sandal wood color pant, white shirt tucked in and was pulsating with those strong aroma. Others almost slugged in the room, some recollecting the previous night, some watching SS music. He picked up his Nikon and those bazooka lens kit and asked to latch the door from inside. He was really lit up for the day! Crossing a glass towards the end of the corridor he freezes for a second to do a quick examine of how he looks. A perfect 10 for him. :) "He smiles..." He sailed further. He makes a sudden u-turn, oops! he din pick up his tripod. Rushes back to the room to pick them. The corridor is small and finds it with heavy human traffic of kids running. (guess they were playing police and thief).

The mandapam was walkable. It was still dark and December mist was still in the air. He could see the air cooling once out of him. He loved every moment of it. The faint sound of the temple bells reach him, he remembers his mother saying that its good to hear them when going out. He walks across a bridge and a could feel the chillness of the stream that's running below. At the horizon he could see nature started painting the sky with his yellow. It was a spectacle to watch. He resisted his urge to mount that Nikon to the tripod. Soon he walk passed that bridge.

At the immediate right finds the Elephant God, Pilliyar lit up with bright light. They are yet to arrive there. Soon he murmurs his usual prayer, rings the bell once and walks around the temple once as he does every day a year back. Soon people notice that he has come there. With warm and smiling face those girls in the entrance, welcome him. With a small streak of sandalwood paste he enters. "Oh! Mapilai periya idam pola.." The hall was almost painted in two colors white and khaki. Soon he finds a seat under a fan to dry the few drops of sweat he got from the morning walk.

It was almost time, He was standing on the center pathway with his camera mounted on the tripod. All it was running in his mind was to take few good shots. Still he felt a small uneasiness within him. The guy on the stage with a similar lens annoyed him with what he was trying with. He wanted an alternate view, an alternate angle. Turned around and felt the first floor near the bridegroom room was a perfect setup he was looking for. Din bother to unmount, he carried it there. It was all set now. The priest said, "Ponna kutitu vaango". Entering with two other women holding her hand, she was barely visible. Soon he adjusted his lens to get a nice shot of couple Too many interference and too little time. Clicked few! Soon adjusted the lens to get a close up shot of her. Freezes his lens and ... fell those last drops for her blurring his vision. Recollecting himself of why she left him. People wished the couple with all happiness and 16 children. He shake'd the holy rice from his head and said to himself, "Hey, I'm not the groom today!..."

:: Now, all that's said.. The photo above is a good friend of mine. He is no way related to this narration. All said was just a imagination and anyway close to real people the author does not gives any guarantee. :) ::

Monday, December 1, 2008

Don read this..


Orkut's fortune teller has been so kind on me today! Wondering how lucky I'm. I did say right, don read it. Now that don tell me those consequences. :-)

Saturday, November 29, 2008

My Last Saturday

I promise. I will not do it again!

I don want an extra '0' on my financial figures,
I don want to see that driver looking at me from the cockpit
and saying "You did a good job!"
I don want to walk that extra mile, so that some one can say this is paradise.

I don want to burn the extra oil and go against green.
I don want to hear those vacuum cleaners again.
I don want to see those men in blue crossing around.

I don want to lose the time, before his flight takes off.
I don want to lose the writings, uploads, comments and conversation.
I don want to be a sucker sitting in this 6x7.

Did they come with the pesticide gun to chase me away?
Whatever, I will not do it again!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Why I should not go to TFN and Why you should go?

Me: Tring Tring... Tring Tring..
She: hi.. hru & whats up..
Me: Well, there is a bicycle ride that's happening in Bangalore, I thought I will go there..
She: Oh! Ok.. But you don have a bicycle there..
Me: (grin...) I will buy a new one! :)
She: When is it?
Me: Starting Dec 25 for 7 days.
She: What 7days? and 25. You said you will be home for your Birthday! No way Vijay!
Me: No maa, not interested in celebrating one this year, I had been doing this all thro' 20+ years.
She: I'm twice the age of you and I still celebrate it. You better talk to dad...... (Enaga...)

This is where my tour started and ended. Also I got one reunion and two special people birthday's to celebrate on this time frame. But I will tell why you should go for TFN.

TFN - Tour oF Nilgiris. Its a special interest group of people who wanted to take an adventurous ride through the flora and fauna of the gorgeous Nilgiris with their bikes. (These guys address bicycles as bikes.) It would be a 910 919kms ride in 7 days, at an average 140kms per day! Its a spectacular route these people have come up with. In brief, Bangalore-Mysore-Madikeri-Sultan Bathery-Ooty-Mysore-Bangalore. If you had missed to see any of these places you just missing something beautiful. Mysore is known for its cultural heritage. Sultan Bathery would be breath taking with its greenery on God's own country. Twisting roads through the tea estates would be an amazing site to watch. Ooty! She is the Queen. A favourite destination during my college days. Imagine drinking a hot chaai (tea) standing on a mist covered road after a nice pedal. (I simply call it heaven!) Oh boy! My camera would be loving it, will I stop clicking?...

Well, that said about TFN. How can you be there in TFN? First register, lets do the talking later. Cool. Pal, I did the home work for you... You have to have your own bike, helmet, clothing, toolkit for a mechanical bug like puncture and break wire failure (its hill regions you know). Most importantly need to pay the participation fee for the organiser(s) to take of your food and accommodation for the 7 days. Its 10K for full event and 1500/900 for a stage (1 day) with/without accommodation. Also read the do's/don and T&C before signing in.

(Mom, this one for your question on safety...) Manipal Hospital will be the official medical assistance partner. They have a fully equipped Ambulance coming along with you during the ride, with sport medicine doctors for any emergency. You know TFN is crazy! Making is more crazier is Radio Indigo, the official radio partners. Yeah, I will be missing those food from Nilgiris

What makes this event more beautiful is the people who are associated with it. Its one unique gang! You should read it for yourself about these maniacs. They include tech geeks, doctors, photographers and even a 6th grade student. Now for the final bad news, the registration is closed. :) But, Still you can register and be part of TFN if someone drops out. So now all you need is passion (mixed with a pinch of craziness), love of nature and a bit of preparation.

You know why I made this post? You can also be a lucky blogger to cover this record making milestone event. :) You can also do it, just publish about it and send your entries to contest [ at ] tourofnilgiris [dot] com. Write & Click and enjoy nature.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Did someone slap you?

Did someone slap you? Yes / No! "Yes" They really did. Lucky you are. Go give him a hug. Did they tell everything you wanted to hear and did they tell all? One needs such speed breaks to stop and tell them that its all wrong, that it was never right. You had been leaving your life with assumptions and unsolved equations. You never wished for it. 

He should have walked to him and said, "Hey no, this is not the way to play in the pen-ultimate over on a semifinal". At least the non striker should have told. It was a 41 minutes conversation, after listening he said this is what I read in Monk who sold his Ferrari. Even he too had read it, why din he realise it. He walked into the library and felt the solitude silence for the first time. How had he missed this for such long time? He did waste much of it. Also noted the Cukoo's Egg sandwiched between two big struts. His hand itched. 

Those heavy laughs made his stomach ace! But he was told that it all calls to deep crying. How could he ignored it to cover his thoughts. Well, it came true when the second ring came. He said that he will keep his silence. The beautiful rain can also damp him, when she asked him not to come home over the weekend. It rained badly there.

I just can't continue...
What the hell is happening in Mumbai? Crap! tears and shock... Its bad, worse, worst. 

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Happy Birthday Santy

Happy Birthday Santy.. Wowwie what a beautiful day we had.. Well, if you don know about santy.. He is my beloved roomie in Bangalore for the last 2+ years. In fact did the graduation with me. Actually his parents call him Santosh. But he carries the legacy of santy's in M.Sc Software. Santy is a wonderful person to be with. I got to put this first, a heart throb among girls. :) Also carries the grace of music with him. Nice singer though! (We are even training him for the next super singer) Famous for his jumping hair style. One of best representatives that our class had. (Guess he would also agree that it was his golden period for him too) He has all the patience in the world when you pull his legs. But sill we remember when he chased near C-416 at hostel. Also a lead in our kitchen, famous for his mango sambar. Right now he looks like Subramaniyapuram hero. Yeah he does not gets time for that alone! One more is that he adores cleanliness and keeps things around him. Now that I have trying to keep up with him on this. :) Its fun with him always...

I'm still on the DBC cake hangover. It all started with a game of bowling, after a bad start in the first few throws managed to get around 130. Had a nice dinner and meet some my close buddies. As usual he did not wait for the song to get over to blow the candles. Fun started after applying pastry and gave his an egging bath. The videos have come good! Early morning "Raji" made a surprising (planned) visit home. She woke up santy splashing a glass of water. It was another round of egging by Raji and kiran. It was one of the most funniest video ever recorded, I just laughed out with the style Raji broke those eggs! Girls are expert in breaking them in the kitchen only. It was a record number of times he took bath in 24 hours. Then finally with a nice dinner at Terrace Nation. (we are addicted to that place now-a-days) Also hoping he will now listen to all his favourite numbers. [Pic from left: Me, Santy (nice shirt!) and Peeps age 22]

Well, wishing all the best for him though tout his life. He knows, "What ever happens, life has to move on". Also hoping to see you at Berkeley and searching for a roomie with that guitar! 

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Hibernating again

All my bags are packed
Im ready to go
Im standin here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin
Its early morn
The taxis waitin
Hes blowin his horn
Already Im so lonesome
I could die

Thats "leaving on a jet plane" by John Denver in Rhymes & Reasons. First thanks to Gopal to get me this play list in less than a day and sending it across. Its such a awesome collection of few of our favorite number. But yeah I would again go for an unplanned hibernation. :) My grace period is up. Its actual owners needed it back. Got to return the spare mobile and hold my peace for sometime. Now that I hate Motorola, what buggy code the engineer had accepted to ship. :( Next pit stop is Nokia for sure, but not sure when. But yeah, thanks Big Beautiful Fish. It was one roller coaster ride and I say "Thank You". Only regret is that wished I could backup, din have a choice. Flushing them! Still I have my old online phone list to help me out. Scheduling post for daylight...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Take care of your photographs

Is there a moment that you have thought, Oops I think I deleted that photo and I don have a copy of it or I had all my photos in my laptop! The hard disk crashed. I wrote the photos on the CD but its no more readable. Personally I have learned my lessons. If you are serious about what you shoot you should be serious about how to store them. I was cleaning my reader and came across this excellent post on DPS.

On a personal choice I use Flickr for my personal preference to dump all I take. Share the best I feel. Get a Flickr Pro account for 24$. Its worth the money. To share the photos, I use picasa web. Its really fast and simple interface. But less space. Never mind create multiple accounts to share is the advice I got. Youtube for your video //works well for sharing, but only limited to 25 person :-( // Try writing it on DVD, CD or External HDD all are non reliable. Try replicate your copy to many on line storage. But keep track of it. :)

Happy Clicking...

Beyond this, you are most welcome to voice out...

Project "unnamed"

This is special and to my heart. I have started working on this project starting now. I'm talking less about it. I don have not even brainstormed about this to anyone yet. The requirements doc is not ready even. Ah Let me stop this, enough of those processes and documents. If you ask me how many loc its gonna have I don think there could be any! Also the people I planning to work with have no idea about it. Planning for a closed beta within end of 2009. :) If you have the patience to hang around here, hope you get access. Thats it for now, got to write more.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Sad & Angry

It was a usual weekday morning yesterday at one of my friends house in Bangalore. They are close to 5 bachelors staying around the koramangala area. So its usual thingy that there would be two keys thats shared among the gang. That morning one guy who starts early to office is about to leave home. Gets out of door and asks the rest to close the door. He leaves! The others are lazy and in the midst of their sleep and ignored the message to close the door and left open. (It happens when we code late in the night, you can't really complain)

Then they all woke up around hour or so after the first guy left. One guy finds his purse missing from the cupboard inside the house. Then then other guy searches his, finds it missing to. Damn, 3 purses are missing. :( Between the time the first guy has left and these people inside the house woke up and closed the door. Some idiot has got inside the house and nicked all the purse on the cupboard. Next each one rang up to their respective bank customer care to block the card from any transaction. :( Got it blocked and checked the balance. More sad news, it was already used in a petrol bunk and several thousands were missing. All of them were visa debit cards. Helpless they ended up filling an FIR at the police station after a whole day long wait. Sorry for them.

This is the second incident around me where the prior one they lost gold and cash. Mistakenly they have kept the handbag near the window. Some one took the door keys from it and entered home for a loot when everyone were sleeping.

Do take care...
- If you are leaving the home and wanted others to lock the door inside. Just wait outside until the door is locked. An extra min or two makes the difference.
- People leaving in ground floor. Keep windows shut and don place the keys near the window or some place directly accessible from outside.
- Note down the number of your banks customer care in your mobile to call them and immediately block the card.
- Avoid visa credit/debit cards. Go for mastercard.
- Better keep valuables locked at home.
- Not last but not least, never take anything for granted in this f###ing city.
- If you happen to have a lot of jewelery around @ home, the first thing you must do is to put it away in a bank locker. Its worth the money! (contributed: Nishanth)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Minnale Nee

Song: Minnale Nee Vandhenadi
Movie: May Madham
Music Director: AR Rahman
Singer: SP Balasubramanian
Chorus: Srinivas & Sujatha
Lyrics: Vairamuthu

This song is about a guy who is waiting for his girl to come back. Look at the striking combination of this song with SPB in lead and who on earth would think to put Srinivas and Sujatha in chorus. If it could have been one guy to dare this was Rahman. Vairamuthu just add the depth to it with his awesome lyrics. Wonder how can he write such master piece! Price less combination to cherish for a life time.

Listen here :)

Monday, November 10, 2008

Thanks to Indian Railways

Today Morning I was booking a train ticket read something that got me into big simle. Thanks to Indian Railways for being intelligent and considering this.

One of the passenger booked on an E-ticket is required to present any of the five identity cards noted below in original during the train journey and same will be accepted as a proof of identity failing which all the passengers will be treated as travelling without ticket and shall be dealt as per extant Railway Rules. Valid Ids:- Voter Identity Card / Passport / PAN Card / Driving License / Photo ID card issued by Central / State Govt. for their employees.

This is awesome. At least that we would not have paid all those fines. :) But still I envy those Chennai guys that they have soo so many trains from Bangalore. Just that they get tickets for any weekend at ease.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

git - a stupid content tracker

To start with Source Code Configuration Management is basically tracking your source code with changes made to it. A consistent change will be recorded and can be kept track as a history. In this way there is no single copy of the file. Its maintained as change of change. This is how source code is maintained in any project in both open source and closed source.
"Maintaining code is equally important to writing good code"
Some of the source version control systems that I can think of are CVS, SVN, Perforce and some other commercial ones. I had worked with CVS and SVN extensively. :) In fact was introduced to SVN first and then asked to (cont...)
Cross post: Basics Uncovered

Thursday, November 6, 2008

17

This is the last option I have where there is no soul awake other than those that are right across the globe. Its been hard on the last few days, but happy that my body din complain. Though my brain had some down time. I started to fall in love with this blue seat, which my 'evil' soul tells just don fall in love with it. And you know how good I'm at avoiding evil path. With my neighbors radio running, I don think I need more entertainment. Oh Yeah, thanks to those security who insisted to answer only in Kannada and Hindi despite of knowing my multi lingual skills. What else can I use to fill space? Oh yeah! I heard many people around me say Obama won the US presidential election. I trust them, din go to CNN. Yesterday, Ended up having the funniest conversation with my Dad! This is the last photo I clicked.

Chalo, got to go now! Bye...

Monday, November 3, 2008

Monday Musings / revsjoiedevivre

I was wondering what to blog next, a lazy solution came in the way of these tags. I was tagged twice with in a week. First tag was in office for the weekly magazine Monday Musings. Thats why the week after tagging me, Monday was declared as a holiday. But the sad part of this column is that they wont let out the name of the person who nominated me. I really wished I could know that, to ask "DON YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTION? Ah!. Meanwhile revsjoiedevivre aka revs an future sister in law and my lastest blogger contact tagged me. :) revs tag first.

  • Last Movie You Saw In A Theater Sa-ro-ja for the second time. I jumped out of the seat @ PVR. :)
  • Favorite Board Game Life, Just for the fact that it left me a bachelor for a long time.
  • Favorite Magazine I used to get sportstar for the pictures and its center page poster.
  • Favorite Smells amma samyal
  • Favorite Sound laughing
  • Worst Feeling In The World passing the question, Since I don want to think of one.
  • What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake? Shit! It was a dream, I though she was real.
  • Favorite Fast Food Place Sasi pani poori, Coimbatore
  • Future Child’s Name psdskrbsagaksla (its a concatination of all my girl friend's first character)
  • Finish This Statement. “If I Had A Lot Of Money I’d…” spend it, what else.
  • Do You Drive Fast? No, srihari will speak more about it.
  • Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal? Not got a chance.
  • Storms-Cool Or Scary? My vocabulary is poor enough to understand the question
  • What Was Your First Car? The one I got in ammam kovil festival
  • Favorite Drink I will take the answer that SS gives. :)
  • Finish This Statement, “If I Had The Time I Would …..” sleep (easiest question of the lot)
  • Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli? I eat idly and dosai
  • If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice? rainbow starting from left to right and have an 1:1 with my manager. :)
  • Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In Sydney, Shangai, Utah and New jersy.. (belive it..)
  • Favorite Sports To Watch F1 & EPL To Play street cricket, gilli
  • One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You She is such a kind hearted, caring person. She is one of the best friends whom you can find in a million. She is such a brilliant, studious and clever girl. Provided she is beautiful. :) (I better wash my hands now...) :)
  • What’s Under Your Bed? floor
  • Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again? OMG, Not again!
  • Morning Person Or Night Owl? 24x7
  • Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up? pass
  • Favorite Place To Relax friends house
  • Favorite Pie anything
  • Favorite Ice Cream Flavor Chocolate
  • You pass this tag to - nobody :)
  • Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who’s Most Likely To Respond First? nobody!

Part 2: (Monday Musings)

  • I belong to State / Place - zion பிறக்க நீனைத்தேன், ஆனால் கோவையில் பிறந்தேன் (I wish I was born to zion, but I was born in Coimbatore.)
  • In my family there is - நானும் என் பெற்றோர் (Mom & Dad and Meee)
  • I Love - தூக்கம், மின் கட்டுரை, புகைப்படக்கலை (Gaming, Sleeping, Blogging and Photography)
  • I Hate - பெருசா ஏதும் இல்லை (Nothing much...)
  • Most Memorable Moment at Novell - தினம் தினம் இருக்கும் காப்பி ப்ரேக் (Every day coffee break)
  • If I could Change something about myself / a habit of mine that I would like to change - குறைவான தூக்கம் (sleeping less)
  • My Favourite Book - Cuckoo's Egg
  • My Favourite Movie - தளபதி, The Matrix
  • My Favourite Dish - அம்மா சமையல் (Mom's Cooking)
  • My most cherished possession - பழைய நண்பர்களின் கடிதம் மற்றும் வாழ்த்து மடல். நான் எடுத்த புகைப்படம் (Old letters, birthday cards and Photographs that I take)
  • Three things about me that my colleagues would not know - சமைக்க,கற்பிக்க பிடிக்கும்.
    மைவிழியோரம் கருமச்சம். (I love cooking, I love teaching and I have a mole on my left pupil)
  • I Fear - going alone to Hospital
  • What do my friends lovingly call me விஜய், வீ (Vijay, V)
  • Happiness to me means நண்பர்களுடன் இருப்பது (Being with friends)
  • If I win 10 crores on Dus Ka Dum, I would... வேற என்ன செலவு செய்வது தான். (spend it)
  • Message for Novellites - அண்ணா சேம மொக்க question அண்ணா இது. Work Hard, Party Harder!
Special thanks to Santy and Dams for helping me out with the tamil stuff.

Update: I was told I can only post in English in MM. But who can stop me here. :) I call this the full version.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Take care when you invite for your wedding

Hey just few things only. At regular intervals I find wedding invites getting to my Mailbox. I love and respest them all. Just that I just hate some of the things I see in the mail. Some time they are personal invites and not as a backup e-invite. So take atmost care of what one is sending to their friends.
- Send the mail with contacts in BCC. People with 'Reply to All' will shoot at thier leg by sending it to all. Some times I find some X contact getting added into my contacts because of this.
- Take some care in making the image! Crop and resize the scanned image to best fit size. Make the orientation fit to page. Rename the file. (Front page.jpg, back cover.jpg...)
- Best would be embedded the image in the mail and send it rather than a mail attachment. Also have a P.S that there is an embedded image.
- Try writing down what is there on the image as mail content. Images are not allowed in all mail servers.
- I would prefer getting a soft copy from the Wedding card printer rather than scanning it.
- Give equal importance like your printed cards is all I ask. :)

Monday, October 27, 2008

Cyber Cooli

I came across this term "Cyber Cooli" recently and was crossing my thought often now. I'm just trying to debate myself of what this could mean to me and my present. Cooli reference in this context.

School education is something that lays the foundation. Platform for ones reasoning, ones intellectual, communicative skills and more. One get to learn various subjects like Maths, Geometry, Atomic Physics, History, Civics & Geography. So its horizontal knowledge. Up to until 10grade one would be reading all irrespective of their choice. Now this is the foundation, I got less complaints here though that some syllabus are not competent with other I guess still they do a good if we get good teachers.

Next one got to choose a specialization in the Bachelors degree. Now whats makes people to make this choice here? They go consult friends and scholars to make this decision. Some parents are smart enough to identify the best of their children and help them realize their dream. (this is happening with the next generation of parents) Here one got to choose various stream of specialization like Electrical and Electronics engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, Aeronautical and many more...

Now what happens! After this you are supposed excel in the stream that you choose. What happens in instead, every graduate has an vacant seat in a software firm to write code. Yes healthy in one way and sick in many ways. Whats healthy, we made global players to shift their focus to India by producing so many software engineers in numbers. When compared to US or UK it was a really big astonishing number for them. So this shifted their focus here. Also the economy was low which made any tom, dick and harry to invest in Indian market for cheap labor. Sick part is, "whats the conversation ratio of the students perusing their own area of specialization". It could be true that one or two in a batch of non-computer science students have extraordinary skills to switch their branch to computer science. But not 60% of the total strength landing up on a software job. We increase in quantity and decrease in quality which is a very bad sign. I call them "Cyber Cooli".

To me a community of good software engineers is directly proportional to the number of commits they have made to OSS. You can judge it for yourself of where India stands.

What brings these "Cyber Cooli's"? First thing that drives an normal Indian is the money that you get in these jobs. Say a Chemistry graduate who wants to do his MPhil and start as a lecturer in college. How much would he earn on a basic scale, it should be around 6k-9k per month. When compared without any prior computing skills today's software industry is in a way ready to pay you around 12k-15k per month with an additional skill. Tell me what would you prefer now? The second set are those bright chaps from non-computer science background and take up a software job. They sailed all the hardship in school and college for this computer science job. No! They got their own plans. Some software firms put in freshers out of college into this bonding where they cannot get out of the company until X months. That's a good time for them to earn some money, write minimal code and aside prepare for their higher studies (MS or MBA). Once their things are done, chuck the company and go in search of their dream. Crap, whats about the employer who has made so much intangible investment on one? I don have to answer it.

Cyber Cooli's risk is the current recession. If not coding whats next? One needs to really thing of it now.

Is the education system to be blamed or the individual to be? It should be a collective responsibility of all. All cannot be Hendry William gates. So let your child pursue his dream, tell him that its not less when compared to any. Let the educational system be non-partial enough to make all courses as important as the other. Let there be so many different jobs that flourish with in the country. Let there be no Cyber Cooli...

Disclaimer: When it says this post is written by kvijesh, Its me and only my opinion. Not in a way directly or indireclty refering to my Employeer.
Update: I know this post is badly written, I myself hated to read it again.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Rava laddu and mom's love

Rava Laddu or put it in a simple way its spherical mixture of rava and powered sugar with cashew jelled together with Ghee! Duhh!!! :) My mom is famous for her rava laddu, she won many hearts at my office on 2006 Diwali. Also I'm an adhered fan for them. I would make sure that she makes them at lest once in a year either for a Diwali or Christmas.

This time, I spy'd around the kitchen to get the recipe.

Ingredients: White Rava (Sooji), Sugar, Cashew, Dry grapes (optional), Badham (optional) and Ghee.
  • Fry the rava in a dry hot pan for some time, so that it becomes crispy. But make sure the color does not change. To be exact it should be at the verge of changing its color.
  • Now, powder the rava and powder the sugar! Yes, powder them in a mixer grinder and mix them well. Keep the mixture as much dry as possible. (my mom made sure this by not allowing me near it)
  • Break the cashew into smaller pieces by hand and mix it with the mixture.
  • Put the ghee in a pan and heat it until its liquid.
  • Now comes the crucial and trickiest part of the recipe. You need to have immense practice to master it. Slowly pour a scoop of ghee in the mixture and roll your fingers over it make a small balls (like a Table tennis ball) Tighten your fist and make it stay in shape. Caution: Its hot molten, ghee don't hurt yourself leave the kitcken experts handle it. That's why I just help in tighten the rounds.
  • Place it on a paper to let it dry! so that the extra ghee is absorbed as well it doesn't stick.
Yeepee! its ready now. Stack them in a vessel and eat one when ever you enter the kitchen.

How *not* to organise a picnic

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. - Thomas A. Edison
Here is my confession...

What's this new assignment all about? Well, it was time for me to fill some pages on my personal development plans. Right on time came this new assignment to organize the picnic for a bunch of nerds and geeks with their family. Initial plan was to create a hype among the audience and so we circulated a mail on what they could expect in a month. Then the a small team was formed for each category. I was the first one hired into this team. Other smaller teams were formed for Transportation, Accommodation, Food and Entertainment.

Play the cards in the hands, than the cards in the deck is something that I hymn many a times to myself. This was no good exception. We had a very big crowd to manage. In a worst case there would be around 100-130 people who will be participating in the picnic was the result of the survey. So at the best we should be ready to handle the worst. After ringing up so many resorts there was only one resort (mudumalai) that gave us a head up for accepting an offer. All other resorts din give us multiple reasons to reject us, answer was straight. We cannot handle such a big crowd. So when ever I got an opportunity I spoke good about the resort that we had chosen, Though it was repeated place for few I tried convincing that it would be more exiting this time. Thanks.

You cannot satisfy all. There are bachelors, Married men, Spinsters, married women and kids. (This order is written based on the head count that we got). Each one had their own requirements. But I would say plan an event such that it targets one small group of people. Like the campfire game could be of interest for kids and families. The next day forest walk was well appreciated by young crowd, who dared to enter into the freezing water.

Don plan just execute. I burned the late night oil for preparing the whole set of games for two days. All print outs taken, folded and planned. But nothing worked out since each one had their own plans on both days. Do not try to hold the crowd together for a game, it would rather not impress them. Still I guess people had fun. But the plan was not a waste, I just acted wise when I was in the bus of using those games during the return journey. Did you know? It was a grand success. The crowd just simple enjoyed them. I wish I was on the crowd, still making someone enjoy is a pleasure. The photos speaks it all.

Do not accept, just question. Be it a planning meeting a week before the picnic or high tea towards the end of the journey! Being the youngest member in the organizing committee I had objections and questions. Good that I got out them, we were able to refine those thought and present them well. Breakfast was decided after so many debates and discussions. It came out well. (At least I cherished it. :))

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Remembering Diwali

Its festival time again. Diwali is around the corner. This year its beautifully placed at the beginning of the week so that the vacation can be clubbed along with the weekend. Thankful to my class Raji and Susila who booked tickets for me for the travel. I again the missed the dates 3 months before. I almost dozed on watching the list of programs that's are lined up in the local channels. Humm, I wish I have electricity in Tamilnadu to enjoy these programs.

What else, I need to say "hi" to all my relatives, else I would get a phone call the week after that why you din visit our place. I remember those childhood days where I had to get up very early and burst crackers. Then distribute sweets to all the neighbouring homes. I din have the liberty of delegating these boring and embarrassing job to my younger siblings. Then I can eat lot of sweets (life is short, live it) and should not remember to take the bitter guard juice on the last day to bring back glucose content normal in my blood (Like I had been always).

Also I will not be wasting time with bursting crackers. Even by school days I used to complete all crackers in one shot (I love tying all the atom bombs and lakshmi crackers to a 5000 wala). Also should be alert when driving in road not be surprised with a sudden burst under my tyre, they are very common when too many kids are around. Kids play safe with crackers. Parents/Brother/Sisters/Uncles/Aunts keep an eye on them when they are on field. Esp those crazy rockets in the lighting the night sky. One funny thing, don wait to wish all your friends at the stroke of midnight for Diwali, All mobile networks will go haywire (Already BSNL is experiencing occasional down because of the recent heavy rains)

Long time pending photo shoot for a Diwali. Will try to capture some, absolutely not sure of how it would come. I don have a tripod or expert in shooting fireworks. :)

Btw, a school time friend (arun) flew down from UK for this Diwali. Should try to meet him. Also should be meeting Mr. Unstable (scorcee) and who bunch of friends. Also without fail should for to "sasi panipoori stall" for some mushroom fry, I missed them so much. They were my best dose before sitting down for a long night of studying. Should meet Karthi/Bharath parents that place is the next best place for me to go after my home. What else, planning to clean up all the pending draft blogs and make some update to ScribblinG. Its been long since I did something I like.

A box of dry fruits have arrived as Diwali gifts from my Employer. I say "Thank You". Enough of this blabber! God bless all. Amen...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

You got to live in US to use KSRTC

Look at the time zone these idiots want me to book tickets. :) Damm! Am I promoting these fellows by this.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A post by my readers :)

As a follow up for my post of getting my contact details. I had also put a box for any shouting my readers wanted to do. It was so nice reading them. Here they go.

  • dumbo... enna da achu un mobile.. epadi tholacha?
  • Still you have not changed the habit of losing mobile phones ? - (one of my Professors)
  • My deepest condolences for the loss of your mobile!!! ;)
  • nice way to rebuild your database.
  • pls do call me. i think its been quite a while that we met.
  • get lost :P
  • Rombaa too much ethu ellam! Nyways stud boy proud of u
  • nice idea.. hope this DB wud be there as your backup for ever!!!
  • I understand how difficult it is to loose the mobile.take care .... :)
  • Yeah actually something !!
  • First for that lost mobile, I thought you sit next to Abhirami (may be no more in new building) and in IMHO she is the best security expert in Novell !!
  • brother , no vaangana matum pathathu.. callum pananum.. sariya?
  • pl join my lost mobiles community in orkut (this was best one, I laughed loud..)
  • Overa sight adichukitu mathatha kotta vida koodathu
  • honesty is the best policy(best lame line i cud think of)
Thank You All.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Thank You For Not Smoking

I don have time for twenty questions. From October 2nd Indian Government laid a rule to avoid smoking in public places. The "Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules" states that using tobacco in public places and building is a punishable offense. Huff, now many of us can breathe properly. How many times you have felt, I just want to yell at the fellow sitting at the next table and spoiling your dinner with smoke?

The change is welcome, many (almost all) corporate have changed few sign boards from "smoking zone" to "No smoking". But what is public, can you define public? Yes this one describes better. Also note the list of person who can collect fine. It was interesting to me. But the new trend I'm noticing in Bangalore is smoking when you are driving. Is it really public to sit inside your car and smoke? Does it matter when someone drifts across innering road and smokes? To me, I really don matter. Just that it has reduced almost 70% of smoking in the city. Thank You for Not Smoking.

How is it in your city?

Thursday, October 9, 2008

She Hates Me

Met a girl, thought she was grand
fell in love, found out first hand
went well for a week or two
then it all came unglued

In a trap, trip I can't grip
never thought I'd be the one who'd slip
then I started to realize
I was living one big lie

She fucking hates me
trust
she fucking hates me
la la la love
I tried too hard
and she tore my feelings like I had none
and ripped them away

She was queen for about an hour
after that shit got sour
she took all I ever had
no sign of guilt
no feeling of bad, no

In a trap, trip I can't grip
never thought I'd be the one who'd slip
then I started to realize
I was living one big lie

that's my story, as you see
learned my lesson and so did she
now it's over and I'm glad
'cause I'm a fool for all I've said

la la la la la la la la la love
Trust
la la la la la la la la la love
Trust
and she tore my feelings like I had none
she fucking hates me...

Listen it here.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Congratulations 16.01.26.07

If you are wondering what this IP address has to do! I would explain its not an Internet protocol, and its Arthi born 16th January followed by Sethu born 26th July.

The beautiful pair is getting engaged today Oct 6th 2008. I wish them a very best for the days to come. In fact he is one of the first guys wicket in my class. But I'll not able to make to the occasion for making that shutter sound. But promise that I would be there on the wedding. :) (Yehaa, one more wedding shoot on the line). You can follow Sethu here and his preparations for his wedding. First on his TODO list is to apply leave in office. I would be keenly looking at his space and learning from them. There are also quite a few of other wickets to fall on the line, more sooner.

Time to hit bed... Congratulations Again...

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Ctrl + Alt + Del

I'm restarting. Restarting from the scratch. Well, if you had known. I lost my mobile while walking somewhere in my office. I was not able to trace it back and hence I declared it as lost. (My old number still holds good, have got a duplicate SIM to it). So now, as I'm trying to rebuild my contacts. Do contribute by filling the following if you think I can call you and disturb. :)

Thank a Ton in Advance. :-)

Friday, October 3, 2008

Unplugged (Karwar Goa Trip)

How does it feel to not think about whats next on the pipeline in the project, How does it feel to not check email, How does it feel to get totally unplugged, that you don even have a backup power. Yes! It was an awesome vacation after a long time. We six of us plugged out from the routine for a most needed vacation. I don know if I would meet the other travelogue :P But I will try to do justice.


How we started:
It all started in 6th floor pantry at Bagmane laurel building. We were sipping our coffee sitting in those long legged chair. I don remember how the converstation started, or it happened to all of us that we needed a vacation (its magic after that thought). Soon, we ran to the desk and looked for free dates for all seven. Being in the picnic committee I made sure that those dates did not clash with our department picnic. Karwar & Goa were the shortlisted route. Soon after the dates where decided, the same evening we blocked tickets for the journey (I learned how important its to remember one's PAN card number). Now the tickets are booked we were all set to go.


How did a US cyclone delay our trip:
But the plans din work out of for few reasons. One of the flight was a delayed from Provo, Utah to Bangalore, India due to a cyclone that crossed. Since it got delayed a transition plan few of them had got extended and we postponed the trips for a week. We had to shift all tickets and resorts for a week. Indian Railways were sure winners with those cancelled tickets. :) After a week and few mails floating we got all things packed and ready. But, I was not ready. With a stiff neck and mild fever, pulling out at the end was even lingering in my mind even till the last minute. But the Friday afternoon rest at home gave me some strength atleast to carry my luggage.


Hubli, Boat ride and Karwar:
Soon we boarded the train and after a few games of Uno we decided to hit bed soon after some early sleepers in the boogie. Shit! only now I remembered that I din bring any pull overs. :) Good. It was a shivering morning with chill air flowing in all directions, I had to pull extra pants and tee's from my bag and made me look fat (lucky others, they had a sound sleep). We reached Hubli and spotted "Welcome Vijesh". Soon after breakfast we hit the road to Karwar town. It was a long 2+ hour journey by car from Hubli to Karwar. We had only time to sleep after the giant story from our grandma. Soon after reaching the Great Outdoors resort and got the papers ready we had some refreshing coconut. Then its a boat ride from the Kali river bridge to the island.


Warm and magical Karwar:
Great Outdoors is a very small resort situated in the island of a tortoise shape. Soon after we reached we refreshed and sat down for the first meal in karwar. The food was awesome. Seafood at its best. We got to taste Chicken, Fish and oysters. It was so delicious. If you had missed it due to a holy month of Hindus (I better advice plan another trip to karwar soon). Then we hit to the small shore at the other end of island for some games. It was good from the resort that they had a send a personal care taker with us to the water. Evening onion pakkoda and tea was great. Soon followed by memory game and barbecue. (dance, fun, fire, cat, dog...) Dolphins, Silence, Swing, Tent, Sunset, water ride and little tortoise that we meet were great. Finally some silent poetry.

How does it feel to get married and have kids:
On a sunny Sunday afternoon after a great meal and a small sleep. I got married, all others who were with me got married and had children too. Kids include Nishanth, Chintu, Pintu, etc. I graduated as a physio and invented a large quantity of radio active material and climbed the mount Everest. After some heavy gambling I ended up second richest. But as John Nash said, this game is flawed, I wanted to re-write the rules. But catching a lion at such young age is heroics from Rokumar. We never stopped laughing after, "Aree, everyone is getting a degree and I'm busy catching the Lion."

Palolem De Ja Vu:
This was my second trip to Palolem after January with my friends. This time too the expectations were meet than expected in the retreating Goan beaches. A 45 mins drive from Karwar got us to Palolem through the interstate border check post. But soon Mr. Charlie (an asshole Manager from Chatai resort) promised to help us. Finally its us who ended up walking up and down the streets for accommodations. (Sorry: If you are reading this, I should have planned better!) We then got hold of Flavia home stay for a night and played Truth or Dare (s/Dare/Truth). Next day soon we shifted to Palolem Beach resort and had a wonderful time playing cards, dumb-C (god! she is a movie name directory) and the gorgeous beach. It was fun and old fellows in the group were the ones who played like they wanted to vent out all the stress. Also I learned how does it make to shop with women. :) Better start liking it, or you be in hot soup.

Photo Shoot & Next Gen Kids:
Oh! Yeah where are the photos, I'm lazy to upload all and share all. :) But I have some interesting shots if you are following my flickr. Soon we bid farewell to Goa and drove to Margo. Those girls proved they are better than filling bugs, fixing them and writing blogs. They sang some of the beautiful number with sweet voice. Then we boarded the train back to Bangalore. Uno again with some tough opponents aged 8 years, 6 years and 4 years. Then some paper magic from one of the talented house wife. :) She made wonderful paper folding for us like Parrot, basket, strawberry and a camera. Oct 2nd, 30 passed 7 we landed in Bangalore.