Bye bye Hyderabad

12th of March was my last day in Hyderabad, I moved out of Bangalore in february and joined a company based out of hyd. I stayed in the co. for little over than a year though even before joining the co. I knew it wasn't the place where I can survive for long. I still find it tough to understand how can some company be so unprofessional in the way they do their business: starting from managing clients, to managing its own people! but well they're a 10 mln $ company so perhaps that's why no one is complaining. Met few nice guys in this company, no technical studs though: Satish, Amudhan, Sai, and Rao to name a few, hope will meet some of them again in future...even though the work wasn't at all great in the company I got what I joined them for so am not complaining at all and job satisfaction was not one of them. Anyway, I know someone would be unhappy over the fact that my next job is not in bangalore but well that's the way it goes, let's see where life is heading next.

8th of March

People born on 8th of March have their sun in Pisces: which means the person is a dreamer, very compassionate & self-sacrificing: so is it true for every piscean or is it a generalization? Well, I don't know about other pisceans but since past two years(ok not just past two years, I'd first met her around 15 years back). I've been knowing a piscean born on this day and I see all the above qualities in her plus a lot more (no prizes for guessing who she is).
8th of March is not just significant because it's her birthday but also it was the day when we met again after 13 years: still remember standing in front of Laxmi-Narayan temple in delhi at 7 o' clock in the morning & waiting for her to come to meet me....also last year we were together on this day in chicago, so this is the first time in past 3 years that we haven't been together on this day & sure it doesn't feel that great but as they say it's not if it's when!
Very Happy b'day wishes to a person whom I have the privilege to know and be with, wish you good luck & lotsa happiness and sunshine and hope to be with you on 8th of march, 2006 and all the 8th of marchs then after.

Love is on the run

February 24^th was anniversary of two people both of whom are very close to me. They came together 2 years back and have been lost in love & each other since, but twist of fate, circumstances or whatever else you wanna call it, they haven't been together off-late. Knowing them I know they still feel just the same for each other & would love to be together again. I wish them luck and hope they'll come out of their hard times pretty soon even stronger, I see them walking hand in hand in near future, do you?

Why Do I Blog?

(Aside: tried posting this blog via the email that blogger provides, more than 1 hr. and the entry has still not shown, guess it's better to post it via the web interface only!)
Read Eric’s post (http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive/2005/02/08/369506.aspx) about the hazards of writing blogs which is open to public. I’d been thinking about the same thing off-late: why do I blog, do I blog and hope that the “world” would read it or do I blog just for myself as that way I can maintain a web diary and scribble down everything and anything that comes to my mind? Well, I blog for myself and yes though I know that my “diary” is public and can be read by all and sundry I still blog just for myself. If people read it and leave a comment fine, if they don’t still fine with me. I have shared my blog address with very few people whom I know (as of now I can only think of only 3 who are pretty close to me) though a lots of my acquaintances know that I blog.
The one problem that I face while blogging is that at times there is something which is personal enough to be not shared among all the acquaintances, generally in those cases I blog about it obliquely, the ones who know about it understand what I actually meant, and the ones who don’t are free to draw their own conclusions. So why do you blog and what you do in cases where you don’t want all your acquaintances to know about something?

Who is John Galt?

[Update (2/14): Got author of Celestine Prophecy all messed up, it's James Redfield and not Robert Redford as I mentioned in my post!]

Read two books off-late: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand & Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. Both books more or less have a philosophical tinge, Atlas Shrugged is about the "movers" of the world and why they fight their biggest & hardest battle against the people whom they love, Atlas is the greek mythological God on whose shoulder the entire earth's weight rests. Atlas carries the burden of the world unselfishly and the world in return just keeps on adding to the weight. In this book, Ayn Rand suggests that Atlas should shrug the world off his shoulders. Book is pretty crisp in the beginning but meanders a lil' towards the end and gets more or less Bollywood style ending! Net net I would rate this book above average but not something amazing.

Celestine Prophecy is a parable which gives you 9 insights into the life, some of the insights being: Co-incidences don't exist, everyone you meet has a message for you etc. etc. The books draws metaphors from physics and relates our lives to relativity and kinetic model i.e there is no static amt. of energy within this universe, based on our energy level the energy around us also increases or decreases. This book is more or less like Alchemist though Redfield lacks Coehlo's style of writing...again something which I would rate slight better than average.

By the way for those who are wondering, Who is John Galt? is a slang used very often in Atlas Shrugged & is used in situations about which ppl. are helpless or want an alibi.

[No Title]

Have been trying today to change the look and feel of my blog, haven't made any progress yet but found that www.blogskins.com has some nice skins for both Blogger and MovableType. I picked up one template and tried making one on my own but guess don't have any patience/time to do it, so another one goes in my pending list.

What else? everything else is same old, same old: have to stay in the office late these days due to almost daily conference call with the client, it's one of the things that I really hate about Onsite-offshore model, other thing that I hate is the communication gap that can arise due to not having a face to face interaction. IMO face to face conversation is far more better than talkin over phone or chatting over IM or just exchanging mails back and forth. One of my teammate over here is planning to move on, got an offer from a big company (A..) The work seems to be nice and hopefully he will learn a lot more than wasting his time over here. Good luck to him in future! it was sure nice working with him.

Finally got myself a birthday present: it's a Fossil leather strap watch, looks nice I guess though I keep on forgetting to put it on as am not used to wearing a watch.

Days of future passed

Haven't been feeling great for some reason today, nothing has changed; things are just as I expected them perhaps that is what is making me feel a little low: that things haven't changed off-late and going on in the same direction where they've been going since past few months which is basically going nowhere. Work life is nearly non-existent, I can't make myself to work these days, if I get some work I fret and try to push it back as much as I can: something which I never did before, maybe it's because I don't like the job that I am into or maybe it's because I don't want to work! I don't know what is the reason but it's screwing me no doubt. After-work life is also non-existent perhaps even more than the work life: in office I feel like going home and when I reach there, I feel like coming back to office.

Looking back at the last one year from 1st Feb to 1st Feb, life has changed so much, perhaps way too much for me to handle. Feb, Mar, Apr, and May were the best months and since then life has been going downhill and even though it's going down consistently but at times thigns have happened way too unexpectantly, the worst of months being June and Dec. and the way Feb 1st has been, perhaps even Feb. Don't know how to handle things maybe I need to stop expecting from people, maybe I need to do some introspection and see what I've been doing wrong, or maybe I just need to shut my mind and stop thinking all together!

Technical mumbo jumbo

Thought will write a small note about few things about .net which are not too obvious.
a) Difference between new and virtual methods:
We all know that new keyword(Shadows in VB.Net) is used to obscure a base method implementaion which is not declared as virtual. This particular functionality is particularly useful when you are inheriting a "third-party" library's class where the original developer didn't find it necessary to declare the method as virtual (Aside: Another flame say we are building a class library which can be used/extended by any set of developers shall we make all possible methods virtual or only those methods which we "think" might need to be overridden: I think it should be the latter). Given the "power" of new why does one have to declare his method virtual when anyway the inheriting class can obscure the base implementation whenever he needs to? Let's take a look at a sample code around new keyword:

class Base
{
public string A()
{
return "base";
}
}

class Child : Base
{
public new string A()
{
return "child";
}
}

public static void Main()
{
Base b = new Child();
Console.WriteLine(b.A());
}

Any OO guy would tell you that in the above code Child's A() should be invoked but that's what sets new apart from virtual. Which particular implementation is invoked in case of new is totally dependent on the variable type and not on the instance type (unlike virtual methods), since the variable type is of Base class, Base.A() would be invoked and "base" would be printed. As you can see "new" breaks a lotsa OO rules so my advice would be to use it only where it is absolutely necessary and perhaps usage of new in an application signifies a bad design.

b) Implementing multiple interfaces:
Another code snippet:
interface I1
{
string A();
}

interface I2
{
string A();
}

class Concrete : I1, I2
{
public string A()
{
return "A()";
}
}

public static void Main(){
I1 i1 = new Concrete();
Console.WriteLine(i1.A);
I2 i2 = new Concrete();
Console.WriteLine(i2.A);
}

Since C# allows implementing multiple interfaces which both define a method with same signature I need to only implement it only once and in both the above case "A()" would be printed. But what if I want different implementation for the A() declared in the two disparate interfaces? Here's how to do it:
class Concrete : I1, I2
{
string I1.A()
{
return "I1.A()";
}
string I2.A(){
return "I2.A()";
}
}

Another thing that never struck my mind was that there is one more way of making a non-inheritable class instead of using the keyword "sealed"...just make the ctor private, the only problem with this approach being that also means that no one can do a "new" on this class, stilll wondering though why would not want to use "sealed" keyword in such a scenario.

Gizmo wishlist

Update 05/26/05:
Update 05/07/05:

1. A laptop (I like the dell model).(got the Dell Inspiron 600m yesterday)
   
2. 20GB IPod.
3. A Sony or Cannon 5Mega Pixel Digi cam (ordered Canon A95 @ Amazon today).
4. Handspring Treo or HP IPaq smartphone.

My birthday is on 1st so please to gift me one of these.

I am bugged!

high time that I should make a move to himalayas, anyone willing to join?

Tuesday afternoon

My songs wishlist:
1) Bless the wings : The Moody Blues (Just can't understand how can this band come with such amazing lyrics).
2) Driftwood : The Moody Blues.
3) Still...you turn me on : Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
4) From the beginning : Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
5) Broken Dream : The Moody Blues.
6) The sun ain't gonna shine anymore : The Walker Brothers.

Somewhere there’s children playing,
Somewhere far away running with open arms to greet me.
Over the hill the sunset dies and fades away.
I turn and I close the door with one last goodbye,
I will return no more, I’ll take my heart and let it fly.
-Justin Hayward (Broken Dream)

Ananya's birthday pic 

heaven only knows...

5PM of a tuesday evening and I am feeling a lil' down, have tried my best to "move on" with my life (that's what chhavi would always tell me to) but I am still missing someone badly. We shared some of the best of our times together and moving on seems to be as tough as it sounds, as they say time moves at different rate for each one of us & sometimes our hearts move even slower so even after about 7 months of our "break-up" I find it hard to let go. Anyway sometimes it's best to leave things the way they are when nothing seems to be working & any attempt to get things better actually makes them go worse. Have an interview in a company which asks you where you want to go today, don't know why I am giving it, perhaps just for the sake of it. Visited delhi this weekend, was missing the delhi winters off late so the visit was a welcome break (it's a different story that the trip itself was one of the most painfull trips that I've ever made!), saw hulchul: nice light movie, can be seen once. Life has been a lil' tough over the last 6 months but hey I am down but not out...see you on the dark side of the moon.

Astrology: astro-logos (study of stars)

Almost everyone of us believes or has interest in astrology, even though we might not believe it we all know our sun signs and read the daily sun sign forecast in the newspaper with curiosity/interest (it's a different story that more often than not the forecast is incorrect!). So, do the planetes located millions & zillions miles away(Pluto for instance is a member of Kuiper Belt) from earth really affect us? It was just this question which drew me to astrology, here are some of my thoughts about the whole thing:
a) Natal Astrology: I think the natal chart (the positions of planet during the time of the birth) or the birth chart helps a lot in getting to know about the psyche of a person, why do people behave differently in a business relationship v.s. personal relationship, what draws them to other person etc. etc. The most important aspect of a birth chart is off-course the sun sign(the sign in the zodiac where the sun was during the birth) as it signifies the person, his vitality, egoes, pride, self-worth or in general "I".
Second most is the ascendant(exact birth time + location is needed to calculate ASC): It's the degree which was rising on the eastern horizon during the birth & it reflects how we project ourselves to others, how we want others to see us as...if the sun signifies "I", ascendant signifies "I AM LIKE".
Third most important being the moon sign (near exact time needed), just like sun radiates all the light & energy during the day, the moon acts like a receptor & radiates the energy back during the night. It reflects our emotions, how we want to be nurtured & nurture others, our caring self etc..
Not that the other planets are not important, but these three together can give a fair idea about the person's psyche.
b) Predictive Astrology: Predicting life events in everyday life based on the current planetary positions & their aspects(geometrical relationship like square, opposition etc.) to natal planets. I have found this to be not the best way of predicting events, in the hindsight yes you can look at the planetary positions for that event and draw some relationship but I feel it's near impossible to predict someone's future by looking at the planets. We all have free will to do what we want to do, planets or no planets.
There are few more areas where astrology is used but they don't interest me much though one area that I would like to know a bit more about is horary. I think astrology is a good tool to learn about someone's psyche and which areas in life a person might face challenges & thus helping him to overcome those challenges by free will.

The power of music..

Was reading Eric's post on music recommendations (http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive/2004/10/07/239412.aspx) so thought will come with my own list of recommended stuff, here it goes:
Pop/Classical/Blues:
1) The Moody Blues : definitely my all time favorite band, amazing lyrics & Justin Hayward' s nice voice, anyone who hasn't listened to them yet, I would recommend starting with their album Sur La Mer (On the sea in spanish).
2) Johnny Hates Jazz : They did only one album in 80s before breaking up but their songs "Foolish Heart" & "Turn back the Clock" are among the very best.
3) OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark): Another not so popular band from 80s with meaninful lyrics and nice music (Do listen to "So In Love", "Secret", "Maid Of Orleans", "Forever live & die" & "Very Close to far away").
4) a-ha : Another of 80s band(I am great fan 0f 8os music, almost everyone would/should have listened to their number: Take on Me).
5) Cliff Richard: The oldies stuff.
6) Pet Shop Boys : 80s stuff, this was the band with which I started listening to english music when I was a kid, their cover version of Always on my Mind is a must listen.
7) Modern Talkin : 80s stuff though they did some cover versions of their older stuff in 2000, some nice nunbers include: You & Me, Slow Motion, Love don't live here anymore, Wild Wild Water & Atlantis is calling.
Rock/Alternate:
1) Pink Floyd: I don't think I need to write anything about this band, do listen to their albums: Division Bell, Final Cut & Dark Side of the Moon.
2) Def Leppard: Hysteria is my favorite number of theirs, followed by Miss You in a heartbeat, Love Bites, Stand up.
3) Mark Knopfler & Dire Straits: If you love guitar, you would love Knopfler! Not to be missed numbers: "Romeo & Juliet", "Darlin' Pretty", "Golden Heart", "Storybook love" & "Walk of Life".
Jazz/Hip Hop(whatever):
I hate both jazz & hip hop so don't have any recommendations under this section!
Misc.:
Here are few numbers by bands/singers whom I haven't heard enough but love them nevertheless:
1) Don Williams: I believe in you (classic).
2) The Twins: Deep within my heart (pop).
3) The Cars: Drive (pop).
4) Sting: Fields of Gold & Why should I cry for you (pop).
5) Babybird: You're gorgeous (alternate).
6) Nick Kamen: Win your love (pop).
7) Nirvana: The man who sold the world (rock).
8) Emmylou Harris: Heaven only knows (pop).
9) Ronan Keating: When you say nothing at all (2003ish i think).
10) Moffatts: If life is so short(2000 stuff).
The list can go on & on so guess will stop here, let me know your recommendations too.

Life is a lemon

Off late I've been really bugged with life, nothing "unusual" has happened but I think I have run a little out of steam. Physically am not feeling too great, perhaps am not able to get a nice sleep at night, I generally get a nice sleep between 7 to 9 in the morning! rest of the time I am more or less twisting and turning in the bed. Couple of weeks back saw Naach at theatres, a utterly boring movie just got a head-ache in return. These days have got myself busy with reading up on astrology, it's something that always interested me but looking at my own chart got me a little psyched, don't see any *good* things in it, so guess will need to give it a break too. The weather over here has been a little bit more chillier so taking shower with cold water is something not very funny. All in all nothing substantial has happened over these days & it has got me bitching more & more.

October rants

Another month of another year is over..thought will write a small recap for the month.
I have got absolutely no work in the office, I am a stage where I am bored of doing nothing! Saw one movie over a weekend: "Dhoom", no story a complete nonsense movie, the only thing is that the movie is very fast paced so one doesn't feel bored of the nonsense...actually had plans to see VastuShastra but could not get the tickets hence went for this movie. Also moved to a house(if it can be called a house), its a single room with bathroom and am paying a whopping 3.5K for it! (didn't have a choice, had to move out as I had already payed around 17.5K for overstaying in the guesthouse). Two things suck: one there is no hot water for taking shower (I've been taking hot shower bath for past 5 years now) and secondly I have to mostly eat out all alone, which ppl. who know me will know is something that I hate. Personal front more or less the same, nothing to write home about. Yesterday got a voltage converter for my speakers so finally I can atleast do some jamming at home, it cost me 275 bucks but I think it worth the moolah, actually all depends on how long it works. One good thing(hopefuly) happened at the end of the month but I am still keeping my fingers crossed till the time it completly falls into place, lets hope for the best.

End Of Chapter II...

Guess right now I am lost for words, so many thoughts are coming to my mind but I don't know how to put them in words. My mind is too cluttered these days, I know I;ve always asked others not to clutter their mind but even I haven't been able to clear my mind of all the weird thoughts that I get. Everytime I think I am at my lowest things go from worse to even more worse. I know somewhere there is a reason, there is a reason why things are the way they are but even that doesnt answer all the questions that coem to my mind. The chapter II of our book didn't have a good ending, but I know its not the last chapter, there are many more chapters to come, many more dreams to be shared, many more lifetimes to go...as I have always believed in.."its not if, its when...". Till then I will wait for beginning of chapter III.

Its raining again....

It was raining over here since morning, it still is clouldy so the weather is pretty decent today, got up pretty late today (around 9!), so had to rush to the office. After reaching office figured out that the client had some hardware upgrade over the weekend hence all the servers are still down, so basically no work as usual. I guess I am getting really lazy & clumsy these days, don't feel like working at all(not that I enjoyed working before either). Manish & Sumit along with their families went to Mysore this weekend & apparently had a nice time over there, they visited the Vrindavan Garden at night, which I guess looks pretty beautiful at night. Am planning to wind up early today, have to send two emails before leaving but procrastination has ensured that I won't be sending it till the last moment.

Sept. 23rd 1:44PM

Back in hyderabad, have been staying at the same guest house as of now but I will have to find an accomodation for myself pretty soon, firstly I know I can't stay there for too long as I have already over-stayed than the relocation time that the co. provides, secondly the place sux big time! Work wise I havent done anything since I've been back to India, don't feel like working anyway, not that I don't have any work but I just don't feel like doing it. Rest all is same on the personal front, honestly the personal life is nearly non-existent right now. The daily routine is: get up by 5AM(somehow I am getting up early ever since I have come back to India), kill time..goto office at around 10..kill time, come back to home at around 8:30, kill time & then goto sleep when I am tired of doing nothing.