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Virginia Tech. The university website states,

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while.
We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning.
We are Virginia Tech ...

Yes it was a mourning mornings in Indian news papers. One of the worst shooting rampage has happened across the Globe. Lost souls are the pillars of future. Who would have known that would have been the last German class they would attend. The time line of the incident reported here. Memorial page here.

Today they say, " We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness ... We are the Hokies ..."

Easter Egg

I inherited my affinity towards computers from my Dad. In the early 90's he used to program using Basic with a 386 machine. At times will write a .bat script blinking on the screen saying, "Vijesh go and study!" when I try to run Prince of Persia game. His inquisitiveness made him read lots of computer magazine (both English & Tamil). Once when I peeped into one such magazine, I read a column about "Easter Egg". I was wondering what does nutrition topic doing in a computer magazine. Only then my Dad told the history of Easter and cleared me what an "Easter Egg" in a digital term. Those time Microsoft Office suite is the best place to find one. Wiki says...

Finally today several years after, I guess I found some "Easter Eggs". This time in terms of Google. Today Google is celebrating "Yuri Gagarin" - who on 12 April 1961 became the first person in space and the first person to orbit the Earth. I don know if I can call them as Easter Egg but still I would go about doing so. Instead of telling what each is, I would leave it for you people to try out.

1. Send a mail to your gmail ID but instead of using username[at]gmail[dot]com try using username[at]googlemail[dot]com
2. If you have a [dot] in your user name remove them and try sending a mail. For example user[dot]name[at]gmail[dot]com as username[at]gmail[dot]com
3. In your Gmail/GTalk chat window try putting text within [asterik] *hi Vijesh* see what happens
4. Like the previous ones put text within underscore _Hello GM_ see what happens
5. type this <3 [greater than followed by three]
   
6. try this smiley B-)
7. this smiley x-(
8. this :'( - but don use it often
   
9. this one :(|) [they call it as a monkey]
10. finally this one \m/ - Rocking out
    

Also Google has its own Easter Egg home page here...
P.S: [at] means @ / [dot] means . This post will be frequently updated since its "Easter Egg" :)

Raingalore...

Finally It rained in Bangalore! I was the few odds to be there. Leaving late from office made me catch some drops. The only urge for you is to get out and get wet in rain. All the week long head was swept away. Don know if it was coincidence, only yesterday I had a chance to go to Gym. :-) Seems it has rained in Hyd too, as blogged by Aarthi here. Bangalore is happening always, happening in many ways. The recent thing thats around coder like me is, "The Power Cuts". I stay in Koramangala. You land up in home tired and find yourself in a dark room. Its worser to be in that situation.

Though being a cricket lover, some times I end up knowing whats happening in the Caribbean. Yes, this had been the boring worldcup for the Indian fans. But still cherish the Quality cricket played by Aus, NZL, SA, SL. But I'm following football and F1 upto date. ManU trashed Roma 7-1, Hamilton Heroics in Malaysia.

Wonderla - Novell Cricket - Richmond - மொழி

It was a wonderful week to think and cherish!

Weeks back we kick started the plans for this so called get-together. Internal mail threads hitting record count. Then finally we all set it the journey to wonderla. It was slow due to morning traffic in Bangalore. But reached the junction in mysore road, where we got to take a diversion to the theme park. The first though that came to most of us when we went there was "look at the crowd". Yes, there was children, family and friends pouring out to enjoy their day. Fares were bit on the high end, but easily affordable for any bangalorean. Adults 540/- and children 400/- on weekends. Once we entered we filled things in locker rooms and set out for Land rides. Its a best place for people who love adrenalin rushing fun. There are rides that can turn you from 0-360 degrees. I enjoyed a few too, if not all. Then for some snacks and lunch by the time it was around 2pm. Lunch seems to be good, point was the place was maintained clean inspite of the floating population in and out of the cafeteria.

Then we went for the water rides, Disco rain dance was good, where we had awesome fun. Then water pendulum me and my friend (two heavy weights) had a wonderful run. Then the lazy river, where many cursed me for various reason :). Then the major attraction of them was a water skye, where we splash on water from a high start. The attraction was on the way down, high speed capture our excited descent. Once the ride is over we can get hard/soft copy of the photo. One thing reader, its a pretty crowed place, for every ride you got to stand in the queue for 10-20 min.

One person to be credited here was Damodrakannan (aka dams). He was the transportation organizer for the Wonderla trip, it was neat to go and come by cab. Else our life would have been miserable by boarding BMTC.

Day 2: It was a hot sunny Sunday morning, where myself and some of my team mates gathered to play a cricket match within Novell (currently interning in this company). Funny part was own team did not even have the minimum number of players to play a match. Some how we gathered others and played. Our opponents won the game due to our poor bowling. Then pit stop was Richmond hotel, bangalore for lunch. Though the place was good, the menu was not attractive. Then a small nap. :) By the evening few of us planned to go to மொழி - tamil film.

மொழி - Review:
This is the first time I try something like this in my Scribbling. The film was soft, meaningful and comedy film. The theme chosen there was good. A story about a girl who is deaf and dumb. The first half was loaded with giggles by Prakashraj and Pritivraj. After Azhagiya Theeye or Kanda Naal Mudhal this seems to be again an out of the box theme and low budget hit. Jothika played her part well and also credited by the music. Hence its worth for money!
I give it a 9/10

Men in Blue - Dooms Day

I dedicate this space to the late Bob Woolmer. A fantastic cricketer, coach, commentator and dear person. He has dedicated his life for cricket and now the victim of his very own game. Let his soul Rest in Peace! "We Miss U Bob..."

Composing this post with burning eyes and aching body!

Yes, I was one in the billion who watched 70% of the proceedings of yesterdays match. Former World cup runners up, getting virtually eliminated at the first round. Earlier in one of my post I wrote Pakistan's defeat a "Humiliation". But how do I call yesterdays match then. It was worse than that. Who is to be blamed Dravid, Viru, Chappel or me! Everyone, the root cause of failure started way before the actual match itself. First on the list would be Coach - Chappel, his formula was not working at all. He had been shuffling the batting order, who's in who's out. Ultimately it ended up with shameful defeat. Next is idol of many cricket worshipers - Sachin Ramesh Tendular how can he answer himself for such a shot with a batsman of such caliber. It was a regulation cricket shot and pressure was seen earlier 2 balls he faced. The same way he disappointed in the last WC final where he played a poor shot in the very first of Magrath. He played a good role with the ball, with his off cutter and leg cutters. Next was MS Dhoni, you cant play such a poor shot to be caught inside the crease by missing the balls by miles. Rest of the players also didn't play their part well.

Where from here? Better give a long rest to the Indian team, since they might have been busy with the sponsors Ads shotting. My opinion on what can be done!

• Find a better coach.
• Ask Dravid to step down (bring Dada back)

Please, don pray for a "Bangladesh" defeat and increase the Probability of India's chances in the Super 8. Since we don deserve to be there!

Weekend Review

KSRTC Chaos
It was a bad start to the weekend. It was Friday midnight me with my friends were waiting in the Kempagouda bus stand to board the KSRTC bus to Coimbatore. The scheduled 11pm bus came 45 min delayed. The delay was because of the chaos that was in the bus stand due to unregulated traffic in and out of the bus stand. When we boarded the bus there was more bad news. There was a total of 36 seats in the bus. But there were passenger up to seat number 43 waiting for the bus. My friends were holding seats between 36-39. The driver or the conductor was not responsible for this, but they are the only person answerable to this. Few seats were blocked on quota basis, finally after a long argument they were distributed to my friends. Still 2 more person's were asked to take the box for the entire travel (which was unacceptable). Finally 2 passengers did not board the bus, at last everyone where given the travel and we were still in hosur road by 1am. Finally reached Coimbatore by 8:30. So better not take tickets that are beyond seat number 36. :)

World cup 2007
God should bless me with the patience to watch another India match. Its miserable to see so many big names fail. who is to be blamed? every department of the team. You can't drop catches in such a big stage. Give the Indian team a whip at their back. One thing can be said at this point. During the WC 99. India faced Australia in the super six match. Both India and Australia need to secure 3 wins to move on to the next stage. They said who ever wins this battle they will go on to win the world cup. Australia won the match and the cup. Similarly if India beat the lankans they have the fire to take on the world cup. Else better they catch the next flight to India and shoot more ads for money. Also Bangladesh is to be credited with a superb performance by its young guns.
Another subcontinent team, Pakistan. I don't call it a defeat its humiliation. They cant play such poor cricket against the side who are playing their first major tournament. ICC was spoken by the media for making the tournament a boring one by making low grade teams to play against professional sides. But now they are proven wrong. All but cricket is an unpredictable game. I got a funny SMS quoting,
Inzy: Hi Dravid, see you man. We are leaving WI in the next flight.
Dravid: Oh! wait for one more day Inzy we might also join you!

Blues Vs Red Devils
The title race is getting heated as we near the end of this season. Man U were facing bolton. Sir Alex got to start this game without the lights of Scholes (under suspension), Saha & Solskjaer (injury). But still with the magical touch of Ronaldo & Rooney they managed to score 4. Bolton got a late constellation goal. Later that day Chelsea were against Shefield United. They were too much for SHU, goals rained in chelsea's favor sending a strong warning to ManU that they are still in contention for the title. Now 6 points separate the top two. Its going to be tight finish till the end.


Kimi :)
Finally the most awaited F1 2007 season started in Albert part, Melbourne Australia. A season with no shumi. It was a treat to watch all the drivers with their full strength. Teams shuffled, sponsors changed, its all happening out there. This season is going to be exciting. Kimi was at his best in his Ferrari. The Red machine was a master piece of technology tearing the air. Next team to watch was the Maclaren. They have a superb machine and former world champion. Massa made a superb drive starting last in the grid and finishing 6th. This season will be a race between Kimi, Alonso and Massa. Also team's strategy is going to play a big role since rules are changed for example the pit lane speed limit is reduced to 80km/hr from 100.

Apart from them, its a peaceful weekend at home. Will be back again to work on Tuesday morning.
Feel free to post your comment.
Cheers!

Make it a Better Place!

Is the place you live is with better standards? Recently two of my friends Rajiv and Smitha wrote about Bangalore and its nonsense traffic. Even though the Bangalore traffic police take their best efforts to make a smooth and quick journey for the travelers. People are not responsible and infrastructure doesn't support it. For example I travel often in 3 major traffic bottleneck spots. They include Koramangala, Airport Road and Hosur Road. The worst of all would be hosur road, because there are lots of unmonitored road crossings. Also few months back was reposted in news to hold the max accident zone of Bangalore. Next is intermediate ring road koramangala. Bikers at times take the foot path to zoom their bike from the stagnant traffic. But I would bet you Bangalore is always better than Hyderabad (becoz of the discipline in driving)

Next big this in Bangaloren's concern is autos. Think they are the highest paid after s/w jobs. Some meters are hot and run fast. Some demand 1½ (one and a half) of the meter price once it nears 9pm. Some times twice the charge. But there's no check to them. Hyderabad was good in this aspect of getting autos for reasonable price.

Still there are lot of good things in Bangalore! ;-) But when we discuss such things next thing that comes to mind is so whats the IT city thats better of all. So I though we better poll it out. Just make your choice and see what others have an opinion.