Galactic Gibberish

Certificates and Awards

2010-04-29T01:00:00.003+05:30

Going through my old file and found my certificates. For some reason, I want to make a list!
(In chronological order)

Prep - Standing third in her section in 1987-88
I - Standing second in inter house English recitation competition held on 19 Sep 1988
I - Standing second in her section in 1988-89
II - Proficiency in Science in 1989-90
II - Standing third in her section in 1989-90
II - For being adjudged the best turned-out student of II-A section during academic year 1989-90
III - Standing second in all the sections of the class in 1990-91
III - Standing first in her section in annual examination in 1990-91
III - Proficiency in Maths in 1990-91
III - Proficiency in Social Studies in 1990-91
IV - Standing first in her section in final examination in 1991-92
IV - Proficiency in Social Studies
IV - Proficiency in Science
IV - Standing second in all the sections of class IV in 1991-92
IV - For being the monitor in 1991-92
V - Primary school prefect with effect from 1 April 1992 for academic year 1992-93
V - Runners up in Inter House Kho-Kho tournament (girls) held on 25-8-1992 (Ended the long awaites quest for a medal!)
V - Best bus monitor (route no. 7) in 1992-93
V - Standing first in the final examination in the year 1992-93
V - Best monitor of academic year 1992-93
V - Standing second in all the sections of class V in 1992-93
V - Standing first in Inter House GK Quiz Competition held on 20 Aug'92
V - Standing first in Inter House Art Competition held on 9 Oct'92
VI - For being placed in the scholars category on the basis of her academic excellence for the year 1993-94
VI - Standing first in the calligraphy competition
VI - Standing first in the craft exhibition
VI - For standing first with 96.14% in 1993-94
VII - Standing third in Class VII in 1994-95
VII - For being placed in the scholars category on the basis of her academic excellence for the year 1994-95
VIII - Standing third in class VIII in 1995-96 with 95.46%
VIII - For being placed in the scholars category on the basis of her academic excellence for the year 1995-96
VIII - Standing second in the Calligraphy Competition
IX - For being placed in the scholars category on the basis of her academic excellence for the year 1996-97
IX - Standing first in all sections in 1996-97
X - For being placed in the scholars category on the basis of her academic excellence for the year 1997-98
X - 0.1% certificate of merit awarded by CBSE for Mathematics
XII - PCM Topper with 97%
B.Tech. - First class with distinction
MBA - Merit rank 9

Bloody Men

2010-04-08T04:49:00.001+05:30

So, a wonderful friend introduced me to poetry today. I think I am beginning to like it. And obviously, it doesn't need the attention span of reading a book.

Here's one I really liked...

Bloody Men

Bloody men are like bloody buses -
You wait for about a year
And as soon as one approaches your stop
Two or three others appear.

You look at them flashing their indicators
Offering you a ride.
You're trying to read the destinations,
You haven't much time to decide.

If you make a mistake, there is no turning back.
Jump off, and you'll stand there and gaze
While the cars, the taxis and the lorries go by
And the minutes, the hours, the days.

by Wendy Cope

Ludwig Van Beethoven to his 'Immortal Beloved'

2010-02-27T00:26:00.003+05:30

Letter 1

Good Morning, on July 7

My thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved
I can live only wholly with you or not at all -

Be calm my life, my all. Only by calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together. Oh continue to love me, never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

Ever thine.
Ever mine.
Ever ours.

Life Quotes

2010-01-30T05:21:00.002+05:30

"I admit it's tempting to wish for the perfect boss, or the perfect parent or the perfect outfit but maybe the best any of us can do is not quit, play the hand we've been given and accessorize the outfit we've got."
- Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City

I think that is really the bottom line, try to do the best with what we've got. Can't keep wishing for things I just can't have!

Curing PMS

2009-11-11T16:58:00.004+05:30

So many women out there suffer a long week every month reeling under the effects of PMS. Feeling weak-willed, trying to get up and move on but not finding the stamina too. I am one of those women. It is almost as if for about ten days every month I turn into someone else I don't quite know. I want to do things, find energy to get up and actually do it but it is as though something has tied me and I just can't do. Most of the time, I would spend these days procrastinating, sleeping, lying down, doing unproductive thing, watching movies, anything which just blocks the thoughts in my head and doesn't need me to make any effort.

They say you take vitamins, eat well, exercise, etc. and that helps PMS. Well I don't actively exercise but I am active. None of these worked, not even a little. Add to that the stressful lifestyle, and there is no hope!

Recently I read somewhere that PMS is caused by serotonin deficiency. Some people are more prone to it for unknown reason. How to fix the serotonin? Well you could exercise, take anti-depressants or in some cases, it has been found that a deficiency of Omega-3 fatty acids causes serotonin deficiency. So I looked around for supplements, generally too expensive. Then I found ground flax seed supplement. Well, it was worth a try.

I took one spoon of ground flax seed, also called linseed everyday with a glass of juice. Voila! No PMS! Let's just hope it wasn't a temporary fix, that it works consistently every month.

Precautions for taking flax seed:
1. Keep it in an opaque, air tight container.
2. Don't cook them. Sprinkle over not-very-hot soup, add to juice or sprinkle over a cold salad.
3. Drink 2 glasses of water extra per spoon of linseed taken.

Go try it!!! It is liberating!!!

Living Green

2009-03-17T15:14:00.007+05:30

We seldom think about how little actions of ours are harmful for the environment. It does not need big changes, only a slight thought before we just do things the way we have been doing them. I was able to figure out a few:

Keep a handkerchief, as we used to do in the old days. Instead of just asking for a tissue wherever you eat, take out your handkerchief, just as you used to back in school!
In office, just keep a tumbler or coffee mug to get your coffee and water instead of using the million disposable cups.
Take bath the Indian way, bucket and a mug. It saves water.
Fix all the taps that drip.
Take the stairs. Save electricity and get some much-needed exercise.
Run a full load while doing laundry. Saves electricity and water.
Use a detergent such as Surf Excel Quickwash, takes less water.
Turn off the charger once you disconnect your phone or laptop. It keeps using electricity even after the phone or laptop is charged.
Use an insulated electric kettle to boil water. It is designed to be more energy efficient.
Use rechargeable batteries.
Install an economy flush system in your loo. It saves a lot of water.
Use the back of your printouts for rough work. Or take two-sided printouts.
Hibernate your computer before leaving work.
Turn off the power of electronic devices when not in use. The standby mode consumes power.
Turn off the lights when leaving the room.

Oh and throw trash in the bin. It helps trash from not ending up buried in the soil, clogged in a drain and keeps your surroundings clean too!

Rotting here

2008-12-11T21:20:00.004+05:30

This institute leaves a lot to be desired, and that is just putting it mildly. Here are some data points to support my "hypothesis":

We have been charged mammoth fees in the name of facilities and hostel. Facilities such as computer and phone. The document said that there would be a phone in every room. Nada! Nothing at all like that! On top of it, the condition of the hostel is filthy. The paint chips off the walls and ceilings. The lift does not work. In fact the warden and programme director have themselves told us to refrain from using the lift. It is supposed to be replaced and they are aware that it is dangerous. Yet, batches after batches pass out without seeing any real action.
The placements are entirely the business of the students. Students must go out, get companies, entertain them without even so much as cooperation from the powers responsible. The director can be caught unawares... wouldn't even know that a process is going on! Unique!
The course scheduling is horrible. Perhaps they need to take some lessons from the OR guy on project scheduling. For one course, we were supposed to have only five classes. Can anybody guess when those happen? No, wrong. They take place all in the last week of the term when we have a hundred other submissions lined up and we are actually supposed to wind up everything and study for a couple of days before the exams begin, instead of just sitting in one class, learning alien concepts and analyzing cases, pretending that we have nothing better to do in life.
The mess sucks. Unlike all NORMAL places, there is no system of pay-as-you-consume. You have to pay an astronomical amount regardless of whether you eat once a day or once a month. And then you find cockroaches in the food. Of course, the caterer cannot change. There is a tender to be floated and I am sure you can figure out why they like only this one caterer for years and years.
The infrastructure is poor, to say the least. There is no place to entertain companies, play sports. There is an area near the canteen that stinks as though there are some remains decomposing there. God help! Maybe we need to call Dr. Brennan to figure out what it is.
There will be random guest lectures scheduled. Each person coming and talking about the same thing, sometimes. I understand, sometimes it is needed for networking. But imagine this, some guy coming and telling you how he hasn't fallen ill for 40 years and how you must use his methodology in your life.

The only savior of this place are the students perhaps. Perhaps their spirit is breaking as well. Mine certainly is. And to think, what all I gave up to come to this place. Sigh.

Worst Rooms at IIFT

2008-12-04T20:50:00.003+05:30

The x7-x8 series of door-less rooms at IIFT are probably the worst ones. Let me explain the architecture of the rooms here in the old hostel. There are two adjacent rooms separated by a gallery that houses a bathroom and a restroom. Usually, each of the two rooms has an independent entrance and a second door that opens into the gallery with the bathroom. This gives a reasonable sense of separation from the washing area and the so-called adjacent room.

However, on each floor the 7-8 pair of rooms are an anomaly. There is only one entrance that goes in via the x8 room. There are no doors between the two rooms and washing area. It is like living in a noisy dormitory with little privacy or peace. Everyone who goes into x7 has to go via x8. The x8 people have to act as doorkeepers all the time. All this becomes much worse when the people in x7 have a proliferating social life and absence of paraphernelia that enables people to speak in a normal human low tone.

Living in x8 is tiring and irritating, especially for someone who needs some quiet time during the day, needs peace to study or sleep. This is extremely testing. Why don't they just put all noisy people in such rooms and let them enjoy each others' company? Why torture peace-loving souls?!

Lastly, exams are around the corner. I hope the noisy events in the adjacent room go down or I might have to resort to some tough talking. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Pain

2008-11-24T03:02:00.002+05:30

On Pain
Kahlil Gibran

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

Love Thyself

2008-10-06T18:27:00.004+05:30

Carrie Bradshaw in final scene of Sex and the City:

"Later that day, I got to thinking about relationships - there are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back; But the most exciting, challenging, and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself, and if you find someone to love the you that you love, well, that's just fabulous!"

Use Browser URL History to Estimate Gender

2008-08-15T23:36:00.002+05:30

An interesting tool to estimate gender based on your browser history. Go here to analyze yours.

My results were:

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 47%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 53%

:P

Hotel Monarch Mussoorie

2008-06-18T10:27:00.002+05:30

I went to Mussorie last weekend with family. We had reservations at Hotel Monarch. Apparently some friend's relative's relative owns the hotel so my parents had booked two rooms there for backup, in case we didn't find any other hotel. The room cost was Rs. 2200. They said that they would give a ten percent discount and breakfast free. On our way, we started getting calls from the hotel to check whether we would be staying at the hotel indeed. My dad bought some time, he thought we could look at couple of other hotels too. We should have really figured that something is wrong with Hotel Monarch, given their desperation.

Anyhow, we reached on the Landour side of Mussoorie and checked the Jain Dharamshala. It is supposed to be good. My aunt is a Jain so she could have gotten rooms but the place was completely full. The rooms cost about Rs. 200 a day. After this, we found a sort of agent who took us to the Himalayan Club. He showed us two kinds of rooms, one kind was for Rs. 1320, but it was small; the other was huge and great and it was for Rs. 1800. However, only one of the bigger rooms was available for two nights, the other one was available for just one night. At that time we thought that we'd stay for two nights. My dad tried to bargain but they wouldn't agree so finally we thought we might as well go to the "good" hotel we had reservations in and take advatage of the free breakfast. Bad decision.

We reached the other side of the Mall Road, climbed a steep slope to get to the hotel and the rooms turn out to be smaller than the small rooms at the Himalayan Club that we were getting for Rs. 1320. The breakfast was not free, apparently he said that they had never said anything like that! Unfortunately, we were way too tired to go back to Landour so we just took those rooms.

Hotel Monarch is probably the WORST hotel in Mussoorie. The rooms are tiny and suffocating. The room service is pathetic. The sheets were dirty. The bathrooms were dirtier. There were no blankets. After much argument, we got a torn blanket. After we checked in, instead of asking if we would like tea or water, their receptionist kept calling to ask us to go and give the advance as though we would just run away. Alas! We should have run away! When we asked for an extra bed in a room, we got a tiny dirty mattress that we sent back. We ended up with three people sleeping on their tiny double bed that so damp, it could have been wet. The next morning, the hotel ran out of hot water. There was no hot water for an entire hour! Our trip got delayed because of this. Worst hotel. Worst infrastructure. Worst service. It doesn't even have 24 hours room service.

Because of the suffocating and discomfort, we decided to check out the next morning, do some tourist things and head back home. So on Saturday night, we were back home after a trip to Mussoorie in less than 24 hours.

My advice - stay clear of this hotel if you ever go to Mussoorie. They have other hotels too - Landour Manor is one of them. It would probably be as bad.

P.S. - I asked them for a feedback book. Obviously, they didn't have this either.

Short and Refreshing Weekend Break!

2008-06-08T23:34:00.002+05:30

I had a great weekend visiting Shakumbhri Devi and Haridwar. It was a nearly flawless trip with the best of weather, traffic, and fortunate setting. We didn't have to wait much anywhere. The air was fresh, the Ganges even better! I took a dip in the Ganga after about 15 years or so. It was extremely refreshing and I feel like my batteries have been recharged and a lot of negativity, including my sins, has literally been washed away. Took two dips in the Ganga. One of those was a very quick one and it was raining! So there was rain from the top and water water everywhere! Amazing experience. Rain water actually felt lukewarm because the water of the Ganga was chilled!

I had two early mornings. Woke up at 4 am on Saturday and 6.30 am on Sunday. I did not mind it at all though. I guess that as long as I have something to do and something to look forward to, I can manage to wake up early. Now I suppose the only thing I need to work out is to find something amazing to do every single day of my life! ;)

Justine Henin announces shock retirement

2008-05-15T14:08:00.003+05:30

After the retirement of Steffi Graf, Justine Henin has been my favourite player in women's tennis. Yesterday she announced her shocking retirement with immediate effect.

In the day and age of modern tennis, she was the only player who not only had power but a great amount of technique in her game. That is precisely why I enjoyed watching her play. Her formidable slice backhand almost reminded me of Steffi.

Women's tennis lost its charm for me. I am not interested in watching over-dressed powerhouses banging away the ball.

Irreparable loss to women's tennis, indeed.

Quotes from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

2008-05-08T19:55:00.002+05:30

Not all who wander are lost. - J.R.R. Tolkien
Luck never gives; it only lends. - Ancient Chinese proverb
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. - Anonymous
Can you make yourself love? Can you make yourself be loved? - Lena Kaligaris
There is no such thing as fun for the whole family. - Jerry Seinfield
Love is like war: easy to begin, hard to end. - Proverb
Rule#1: The customer is always right. Rule#2: If the customer is wrong, please refer to rule#1. - Duncan Howe
When life hands you a lemon, say, "Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else ya got?" - Henry Rollins
I have seen the future and it's like the present, only longer. - Den Quisenberry
Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug. - Mark Knopfler
If you feel like you're under control, you're just not going fast enough. - Mario Andretti
The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Got that? - Coach Brevin
If you don't find it in the index, look very carefully throughout the entire catalog. - Sears Roebuck catalog
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. - Frieda Norris
Time tells the truth. - Fortune Cookie
Of the thirty six ways of avoiding disaster, running away is best. - Anonymous
Life is so... whatever. - Kelly Marquette
You will make all kinds of mistakes: but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. - Winston Churchill
Wish for what you want. Work for what you need. - Carmen's grandmother
My karma ran over my dogma. - Bumper sticker
You can take a road that gets you to the stars. I can take a road that will see me through. - Nick Drake
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
All Moanday, Tearday, Wailsday, Thumpsday, Frightday, Shatterday. - James Joyce
Is there world enough for me? - Jane Frances
In your eyes I am complete. - Peter Gabriel

Friendship and Fiction

2008-05-08T19:39:00.005+05:30

I read a book today - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. A story of four friends Tibby, Carmen, Bridget, and Lena. It is a gripping and well-written book about how close-knit friendship can be, how people who are so different can come to care so much about each other and be bound by the unsaid solemn vow of friendship.

Another of my favourite friendship series is Sex and The City. Samantha, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are as different as four people can be, they disagree and yet, they stick around and be there for each other.

The more I watch and read such books and stories, I wonder where has friendship disappeared from real life. I don't have any close friends in the same city. They've moved, gotten married, moved on, grown out of friendship, stopped caring, or all of the above! The only friends I seem to have now are in distant cities. Thankfully there are a few who are still around (in cyber space or over the phone) and bother if I call them in distress. The rest make me wonder how soon before these ones become scarce too? Is this a quarter-life crisis, friends reduced to pleasant acquaintances? If yes, what is the mid-life crisis?

Is modern friendship just limited to a guest appearance in fiction?

Pleasure

2008-04-18T01:01:00.005+05:30

On Pleasure
Kahlil Gibran

Pleasure is a freedom-song, But it is not freedom.
It is the blossoming of your desires,
But it is not their fruit.
It is a depth calling unto a height, But it is not the deep nor the high. It is the caged taking wing,
But it is not space encompassed.
Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom song.
And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.
I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.
For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone;
Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.
Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.
But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.
They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.
Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;
And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.
But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.
And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.
But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?
Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?
And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?
Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.
Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?
Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.
And your body is the harp of your soul,
And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

Calvin's quotes

2008-03-24T00:52:00.002+05:30

This is the most remarkable thing about life. It is never so bad that it can't get worse.
It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.
I let my mind wander and it didn't come back.
My life needs a rewind/erase button.
Do I need to have an explanation for everything I do?
Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words!
I have got loads of common sense, I just choose not to use it!
There is never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
I've decided to stop caring about things. If you care, you just get disappointed all the time. If you DON'T care, nothing matters, so you're never upset. From now on my rallying cry is 'So WHAT?!'
Calvin: "Why can't I stay up late? You guys can! IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Dad: "The WORLD isn't fair, Calvin."
Calvin: "I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?"
Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.
The strange thing about the past is that it keeps coming back.

Personalized Menstrual Calendar

2008-03-24T00:24:00.002+05:30

The Cycles Page is a personalized online fertility tracking site. It is quite useful even for women who just want to keep track of their menstrual cycles and not necessarily track fertility. Earlier there used to be paid features but now all of their features are open to free users.

The features I find useful are date tracking, reminder of next menstrual date, and ability to download past data to a CSV or excel file.

Joy and Sorrow

2008-03-15T18:46:00.001+05:30

On Joy and Sorrow
Kahlil Gibran

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Iced Tea Recipe

2008-03-15T18:39:00.001+05:30

Now that the summer is around the corner, it is time to revisit the cool and refreshing beverages. Here is one of my favourites...

Lemon Iced Tea
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups water
2 tea bags
2 cups orange juice
5 tsp lemon juice
3-4 mint leaves
Lots of ice

Method:
1. Blend the sugar, mint leaves, orange juice and lemon juice till the sugar dissolves.
2. Boil the water and add the two tea bags and let it stand for a couple of minutes.
3. Let the tea-water cool.
4. Mix the tea water with the orange juice mixture and blend again.
5. Serve chilled with lots of ice.

IT Job Interview Preparation

2008-03-15T16:08:00.008+05:30

A few links:

Data Structures FAQ
JSP Tutorial
Data Structures and Algorithms
Data Structures and Algorithms in Java
Programming Puzzles
Common Interview Questions
C Interview Questions
Free Puzzle Collection
Heaps
Java FAQ
JSP Interview Questions
Microsoft Interview Questions
General Interview Questions
Algorithm Complexity
Binary Trees
Technical Interview Questions

IT Job Interview Questions

2008-03-15T00:20:00.002+05:30

A few of my ex-teammates and I prepared this when we were looking for jobs. C++ and general IT questions. Feel free to add answers below.

What are enumerations?
What are unions?
What do you know about byte alignment in structs?
How can you create objects on the heap?
What are virtual classes?
Find the number of 1's in a number.
There is an array of numbers from 1 to 1000 in which one of the numbers is duplicated. Find the duplicated number.
Create a queue using two stacks.
Write a one-line check for checking whether a given number is a power of 2.
Difference between new and malloc.
What happens on mixing free and new?
What is name mangling?
What is the usage of volatile and mutable keywords?
What happens when you delete a null pointer?
How can you delete void*?
Casting in C++
Safe dynamic casting using static cast.
Are static members allowed in a local class?
What all do threads share?
Difference between thread communication and process communication.
How to construct a tree, given its traversals?
What are smart pointers?
What is Thread Local storage?
How can you get to common ancestors of two nodes in a tree?
What are named constructors?
What is placement new?
What is the difference between char* and char[]?
Delete a node from a linked list, given the pointer to the node.
For a good design, what all should be implemented in a C++ class? E.g. Copy constructor, assignment operator, etc.
Should a constructor throw an exception?
Should a destructor throw an exception?
What are virtual destructors?
Difference between Thread synchronization and process synchronization.
Write code to detect loops in a list.
How to find complexity of recursive functions?
Named parameter idiom.
Design patterns - singleton, factory, visitor, observer.

Educated Ignorants!

2008-03-05T11:55:00.003+05:30

There is a new breed of people around me - every one of them is highly educated, most having professional degrees, some graduates of premier institutes of India. Yet, when it comes to common courtesy, decency, and common sense, I think an uneducated person may sometimes have more sense than them. I call this breed - "Educated Ignorants".

Here are a few symptoms of the people of this species:

They don't throw garbage in the dust bin. For them, if a lot of other people have strewn garbage at a place, it is a legitimate reason for them to not use a dust bin. If you try to educate them about general civic sense, they would mock you or dismiss you as being dumb, idealistic, and purist.
They throw garbage outside their car window. Obviously, the car is not to be dirtied even if it means only keeping an empty wrapper until they get out of the car and throw it in the dustbin. Some of them argue that God has created wind to sweep the garbage away from the roads. Some others contend that if they don't throw garbage out, a lot of cleaning personnel will lose their jobs or worse, it is the job of the municipal authority to keep the roads clean and they will be damned if they do that job.
They do not even blink at jumping red traffic signals or going on the wrong side of the road. If there is a traffic light, it is the police's problem that they installed it and they can't be bothered to respect it. If there is no cut in the median, they have every right to take a shortcut by simply going on the wrong side.
They burp and sneeze unapologetically, without putting a hand on their mouth. Their argument - it is a natural process and they should feel proud at burping loudly in public, it only means that they had a good meal.
They have poor personal hygiene and see nothing wrong with it. Of course, they probably cannot smell their own body odour.
They have no respect for the rights of non-smokers and would simply go and smoke in a public area even when it clearly says "NO SMOKING". It is after all the other people's problem that they don't smoke.
They jump queues without even saying excuse me.
They would bump into you and not even say sorry.
They spit chewing gum without wrapping it in a paper.
They spit on the street without a pause.
They pee by the roadside.

I am sure there are more symptoms but these are all I can think of at the moment. Anybody got any suggestions?

Caution: Do not try to educate this species about anything. You will only fall flat in your face or you may even be converted into one of them!

Friendship

2008-02-29T00:51:00.001+05:30

On Friendship
Kahlil Gibran

Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Selected Columns - Taslima Nasreen

2008-02-27T12:28:00.003+05:30

I just finished reading Selected Columns by Taslima Nasreen. This is the first time I read a book by the author. The book is a collection of some of her columns that appeared in a Bangladeshi newspaper. The columns were translated from Bengali to English by Debjani Sengupta.

Though I haven't read Taslima's controversial book - Lajja, after reading this book, I could not understand why there is such hue and cry about her writing. From my experiences, her writings accurately depict what every woman in the Indian subcontinent feels and faces in her life. Taslima raises questions that perhaps every educated woman tries to ignore everyday. She transcribes what perhaps every woman felt and felt ashamed to share. I suppose she is right, in a patriarchal society, even the voice of a woman needs to squashed for the men to continue to "rule", especially the voice against these very men.

The book makes me wonder once again why I still stay in this region and put up with all this. Perhaps one day I shall be free.

GMAT AWA Analysis of IssueTemplate

2008-02-12T23:55:00.000+05:30

The template I used for my GMAT AWA Analysis of Issue essay is below. Another one that played a part in my getting a 6 on AWA. :)

*****************

Para 1:

The issue of..... provides number of contentious areas. An examination of it provides many positive aspects such as .... Though these are counter-pointed by negatives as well which include... . My personal position is that.....

Para 2:
In support of my thesis (argument/position), .....

Para 3:
Furthermore I am confident that....

Para 4:
Equally important....

Para 5:

In a nutshell ..... (List what ever is in paras 2 3 4 and link them)

GMAT AWA Analysis of Argument Template

2008-02-12T23:51:00.000+05:30

Here is the template I used for my GMAT AWA. It worked well and I got a 6 on AWA :)

*****************

The argument concludes that... (restate the conclusion of the statement)... . However, on analysis this is not altogether persuasive since it ignores substantive conjectures.

First the author gratuitously presumes that....

Second the argument (superfluously assumes)/(ignores) that...

Finally the argument overlooks that...

Hence, the argument is not completely sound. The facts in supports of the conclusion x,y,z fail to account for the aforementioned assumptions. Accordingly, the argument might have been bolstered by... . With these facts, the argument might actually have been convincing.

Love

2008-02-07T01:33:00.000+05:30

Kahlil Gibran on Love

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

The Prophet

2008-02-07T01:19:00.000+05:30

The Prophet is a collection of poems written by Kahlil Gibran. It was first published in 1923. I first heard about this book in 2004. A couple of quotations and I decided it does warrant a reading.

Luckily, I was not disappointed. The book is a collection of poems each of which can be taken as spiritual guides in corresponding situations. I forgot all about the book and how powerful it could be. Couple of days ago, one of my friends mentioned Kahlil Gibran and I found her the URL of a web-based version of the book. It took five minutes and she and I were both utterly involved in the book, pasting excerpts back and forth. Words that made sense, words that calmed us, words that seemed to justify our lives.

When you feel lost, I'd recommend reading this book and it would fill you with enough thoughts that you would probably be able to find your way. When you are happy, you would be able to appreciate the simplicity of this book. The best part is that though it is poetry, it is very easily understandable. One may not even realise that he or she is reading poetry.

Tomorrow onwards I would begin a series where I would post each chapter of this book one by one. I hope it helps me remember to use the book when I feel lost again. I hope it helps find others find themselves.

ISB in global top 20!

2008-01-28T14:29:00.000+05:30

The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad has been ranked 20 in the global business school rankings by Financial Times. This makes ISB perhaps the youngest institution to be ranked in top 20. As a cherry on the cake, this was the first time the ISB participated in any kind of rankings!

Started in 2001, the ISB is India's first world class B-school. Privately-funded and independent are the key attributes of this school. This enables the ISB to choose the best of the lot without any pressure from the government. In fact, the ISB awards a certificate at the end of MBA rather than a degree or diploma. In India, awarding a degree or diploma requires that the institute adhere to the reservation norms. To do so would be to deviate from the world-class tenets against which the school would be competing.

Of course, the ISB was possible because of help from Chandrababu Naidu, the then CM of Andhra Pradesh. He expedited the process of getting the required approvals and allotments to help the efforts to create a world-class B-school in India.

This is a proud moment for me as an Indian. I hope the school continues to attain great heights in the future!

Grey Share Markets - How they work

2008-01-27T15:37:00.000+05:30

The past few days I read about grey market premiums on Reliance Power IPO shares, how they went up, how they went down, and how they have been driving speculation about the listing prices. Last night I set about trying to understand what exactly this "grey market" is and how it works.

Grey market premium (or grey market price) is a premium amount at which IPO shares are being traded in Grey Market. This premium amount can be positive or negative depending on the demand and supply, i.e., the grey market price could be more than or less than the issue price. Generally there are two ways the grey market works:

Trading IPO allocated shares
An invester applied in the IPO and does not want to risk facing a listing price lower than the issue price. He decides to make a deal with a person who is ready to buy – a buyer at a fixed price. This price is the listing price +/- the grey market premium. E.g., Say issue price is Rs. 100. And premium is Rs. 40. Then the grey market price is Rs. 140. The seller is ready to sell his share for 140. Now when it gets listed, say it gets listed at Rs. 170 - seller makes profit of Rs. 30 per share. Now say the seller did not get any shares at all but he has already made a commitment so he will have to buy those shares from the market and give to the buyer.

Trading IPO applications
Another way is trading IPO applications. Here, the seller need not worry about the shares allotted to him in the IPO and the extent of gains. The retail investor is guaranteed a fixed rate of gain or Koshtak in exchange of selling their applications to the grey market operator. So, regardless of the listing price, the investor would get their application money plus the Koshtak. 'Kostak' is especially for people who do not want to take risk with IPO allotment or listing gains. Koshtak is usually very less than the grey market premium because grey market traders assume that the issue will be highly oversubscribed and not everyone will get allotment. So they pay less premium in expectation for that. Say maybe if the grey market premium is Rs. 300 for 20 shares lot size, they will give a premium of 2000 only thinking that only 1 in three applications will actually get shares.

The grey market has a big hub in Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad. The grey market is often used by companies to increase speculation about their IPO offerings. Increased grey market premiums are taken as a sign that the listing price will be high and therefore, it increases the investors' interest and often leads to oversubscription. Grey markets are also not regulated, all transactions are based on trust, there is no paper work. It is like a parallel stock market.

Benazir Bhutto Assasinated

2007-12-27T22:37:00.000+05:30

In an incident that has shocked the entire world, Benazir Bhutto was shot dead in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. She was just leaving a huge rally and getting into the car when two unknown assailants shot her in the head and neck by AK-47 guns. She ducked but the bullets still got to her. She was rushed to the hospital but soon succumbed to her injuries.

This is the complete death of people-will and democracy in Pakistan. Elections are supposed to be held in Pakistan in the first week of January. It was hoped that democracy would be restored in the nation after 8 years of army rule under General Pervez Musharraf. Now it seems that is not going to happen. Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto provided the two democratic alternatives to the Musharraf regime. Arguably Benazir was the more popular one. Now with her gone, it is hardly going to be a fair election.

The incident has put further questions on how a country so tightly gripped under extremism or lack of security can hold free and fair elections. Apparently Benazir repeatedly requested for security and investigations into death threats. Of course, Musharraf's security services did not take the required action. I was shocked to learn that she did not even have a bulletproof car! The failed attack on Nawaz Sharif, also today, and the thoughts of a former adviser to Benazir strongly indicate that a brilliant plan to eliminate the democratic threat was chalked out. Even with Nawaz Sharif escaping the bid on his life might not be enough to overcome the loss of Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf might argue that a nation in so obvious unrest needs the stability he can provide with his military regime.

Here is to a strong woman who continued to stand up for Pakistani people even in face of grave danger to her life. May God bless her soul and revive the spirit of her actions. Amen.

Indichix @ Linuxchix

2007-12-24T17:01:00.000+05:30

A new mailing list has been setup for the Linuxchix India chapter. Earlier there was a yahoo group and everyone got tired of the clutter and spam. The new mailing list is mailman-based and hosted on Linuxchix.org.

It looks and feels better already. :)

Only bad thing

2007-12-24T02:27:00.000+05:30

I got an interesting thought from a friend today. We were talking about something and I said, "... that is the only good thing...". He said that is was the good thing, not the only good thing.

He told me that is how he sometimes gets by with life. Even if he is in the middle of a disaster, he would look at everything and say that that is the only bad thing and for a tiny little nice thing he would say that that is the good thing.

I am going to try to see if it works. Perhaps that is the good thing.

Welcome is Unwelcome

2007-12-23T17:18:00.000+05:30

I went to watch Welcome yesterday. I hoped for it to be a tickling comedy while it turned out to be a boring commercial piece of crap.

Akshay Kumar doesn't have much of a role. The movie mostly revolves around the eccentricities of the two underworld dons - Uday Shetty and Majnu Bhai and their quest for finding a groom belonging to a "respectable" family. The other prominent character is that of Dr. Ghungroo, Akshay Kumar's uncle, who is even more finicky about finding a bride for his nephew. He would employ an undercover tactic to reveal the true nature of the family and the prospective bride.

There isn't much of a story or script. The myriad of characters get little time to play their part. There is just a lot of commercial content poured in to get the front-row rickshaw-wallahs to watch the film. Dipping necklines, extras dancing in bikinis, misfit item number by Malaika Arora, the innocent look of Katrina Kaif, the dumbness of Paresh Rawal, foreign locations, Mallika Sherawat's antics etc. Even with all the elements, a lack of proper direction, story, and plot just renders the movie unwatchable.

My suggestion - watch it only if you have three hours to waste. It certainly not worth the time or money.

Dance show

2007-12-16T18:32:00.000+05:30

Today was my first ever public stage performance, i.e. outside school or college. The Danceworx winter workshop finally came to an end. There were several performances, ours was just one batch that was a part of it too.

The day was really long and boring. They made us sit for hours before we had our tech run. In a tech run we get to perform on stage just before the actual performance. We mark out our positions etc. since the studios we usually practice in are not so big. After the tech run, we waited another couple of hours before our performance came. The performance was three minutes long and it was a lot of fun! Everyone put on glittery make up. We put on shiny jackets and all the girls tied them in a fancy way. I just wish they let us take photos!

I think I messed up in a couple of places but it wasn't too bad at all. The show, on the whole, was a drag. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law came to see the show. The announcer goofed-up while introducing our performance. He announced the batch number incorrectly. I was glad my family recognized me anyway.

I would be back to the normal tech classes in late January. After much deliberation, I did decide to take a month's break. My sore muscles need some rest in this cold weather ;). I have already registered for those classes, so I am certainly going back. Yipee!

All in all a great, but tiring, day.

Foss.in and Linuxchix

2007-12-11T22:02:00.000+05:30

I went to Foss.in last week. I had heard a lot about it from friends and wanted to see what such a conference is like. It was big! There were people all around and it was bustling with activity.

I attended a few talks. The most noteworthy were the Firefox talks - Mozilla Foundation talk and How to Hack Firefox. I realized that I would have probably enjoyed the Mozilla project days than the main conference. In the second Firefox talk, Myk, a Mozilla developer, showed a small sample bug fix. I got to know the technologies Firefox uses. The core engine is in C++ but a lot of browser-side code is javascript, XML, and CSS. After my MBA stuff is done I would see if I can play around with it and fix anything.

The lovely Linuxchix got together and had a BoF. For the uninitiated, it is a Birds of a Feather session where people just brainstorm ideas about a common idea. There was a lot of discussion on how to take the Indian Chapter of Linuxchix forward. The complete notes are available at the Linuxchix India wiki here.

PS - I got a load of goodies from the conference. I now have a Linuxchix India T-shirt, an original Mozilla Firefox T-shirt, lots of stickers, a Foss.in mug. W00t!!!!

Danceworx update

2007-11-23T00:38:00.000+05:30

So we've learnt most of the steps. Today was a finishing session. The first half of the dance was "cleaned up". Each person's movements are perfected and they are taught every little thing, how the hands are to be positioned etc. This comes after everyone has learnt the steps.
Surprisingly, I remember the steps now. Couple of steps take a split second to recall but overall it was great. The final show will be in the mid of December. A date hasn't been finalized yet. How exciting!

The instructor tried hard to convince me I should stay and continue with the regular classes. I wanted to take a one month break while I take care of some other stuff. I want to continue but commuting in the fog will be a problem. I think I will still do it. It is great fun and I do feel great being able to pick up new steps. Moreover, I get to meet more people. How I will manage it is yet to be seen.

If only one didn't have to juggle so many things. :-)

Dance. Dance. Dance.

2007-11-06T22:11:00.000+05:30

I joined Ashley Lobo's dance classes sometime back. It is not the usual beginner-level class. Instead it is a workshop. So there is a particular jazz choreography that a group practises and learns for a month and then there is a stage performance. Yay!

We have two great instructors and it is great great fun. I have learnt dancing before, kathak as a child and salsa more recently but none of those were as exhilarating as this class. It is extremely difficult too. I used to think I could shake a leg but now I realize I am nowhere close! Even the exercise routine is enjoyable in this class. They try to teach you to use every part of the body. My muscles still ache after each class. I have started practising regularly nowadays so that my body gets accustomed to it.

Today I did about 30 mins of exercise/warm-up followed up some steps practice. I realized I have forgotten about a quarter of the new stuff we were taught yesterday!

I will join the regular classes after the workshop! Yipee!!!

September Reading

2007-10-09T20:18:00.000+05:30

I read two books last month.

A Twist in the Tale - By Jeffrey Archer

This book is a collection of short stories. Intriguing and captivating, I really enjoyed reading this collection. Jeffrey Archer indeed has a knack for putting twists in seemingly simple stories. The book is a must read for anyone who enjoys short stories.

A Thousand Splendid Suns – By Khaled Hosseini

This is the second book by the author of award-winning book – the Kiterunner. I liked the newer book better than the old one. Perhaps a female perspective and feminist undertones make it more interesting. I wouldn’t want to give the plot details away but the book is less depressing than what the Kiterunner was. For once, I felt grateful that I did not live in a war torn country such as Afghanistan. How miserable lives women live in oppressed nations. How hopes are shattered over and over again. How people still want to return to their roots. It is a heart-wrenching story, one that you should not miss. Of course it is not entirely light reading. I could not put it down until I finished reading it. Perhaps, you wouldn’t be able to put it down either.

Breast Cancer Awareness Walkathon

2007-10-09T20:07:00.000+05:30

Meow 104.8 FM is organizing a breast cancer awareness walkathon at the India Gate, Delhi on 14 October.

Eminent women such as Kiran Bedi, Sheila Dixit will be there. There will be a one-hour walk around the India Gate followed by seminars for breast cancer awareness.

To register call at 011-39881048. Registration charges - Rs. 100. This amount will be donated to Cancer Patients' Society. You will get a receipt and a t-shirt that you would have to wear at the event.

I am going to be there, are you?

Law and Order SVU: Season 9

2007-10-05T16:26:00.000+05:30

Law and Order SVU is back on air with a brand new season! I watched the first episode yesterday. What a rocking inauguration! The episode was every bit as intriguing as the season 8 finale.

Mariska is completely back in shape with a great new hairdo. Chris is as dashing as ever. Captain Craig is back in the unit. I was just a bit surprised to see Miranda Hobbes of Sex and the City as the guest star. Cynthia Nixon has acted really well, very different from her character in Sex and the City.

Can't wait for more!

Doors that don't slam in your face!

2007-10-05T16:16:00.000+05:30

Often a person is upset when a door closes on them. It symbolizes lost opportunities and much heartache. However, ironically, this morning a door that refused to close caused me much heartache.

I reached office only, parked my car, got off, closed the door and tried to lock it - only to realize that the door was in fact open. After a few futile attempts to close it, I declared that something was indeed faulty. The car is now at the mechanic's and I have to figure some mode of transport for this evening. What I could not understand was what went wrong from home to office, it closed perfectly fine when I left!

I am beginning to wonder if Maruti Swift is indeed a reliable car after all. Not to mention the "oh my car is now a lake" incident!

Life beyond Internet

2007-10-05T16:12:00.000+05:30

See - Bored with the Internet

It rings so true, humorously so! A lot of net savvy people with their own journals and communities would identify with this. A different part of the world.

Pest Control or Productivity Control?

2007-10-01T20:10:00.000+05:30

The weirdest things happened at work today. The whole office had a terrible stench. With no ventilation and only circulate-the-air air conditioning, the smell just would not get better. After 5 minutes of sitting there, I wanted to puke. I went to drink some water, the paper cups smelt too!

After a couple of intoxicating hours enough was enough. I went to catch a breath of fresh air. I chit chatted with the security guard and it turned out that some pest control activity had been performed in the building yesterday. Obviously, they did not even bother to open the doors later. The building has no windows so the cruel smell was trapped inside. I was outraged that what I had been inhaling for couple of hours was actually pesticide and insecticide.

Finally, I went up to the facilities administration and asked for a remedy. The guy had the gall to say that there had been no pest control and actually the smell was of carpet shampoo. Deadly shampoo!!!!!! (Pun intended). Post half an hour of waiting and no solution later, I went to my seat to find out that they had actually sprayed room freshener on top of pesticide. Killer combination! (Pun intended, again!)

By then, I was starting to feel dizzy and queasy. I just could not sit there, let alone do any work. Moreover, I am severely allergic to pesticides, dust, etc. It triggers allergic bronchitis. I dropped an email to my boss, the boss' boss, and the boss' boss' boss that I am leaving for the day. I spoke to my boss and explained to him as well. It didn't seem like he was really convinced but I could not risk my health. Though I suppose this was a trifle too late. I have got a bad cough now and I will start with the medicines tonight, lest it get any worse. My throat feels choked.

Anyhow, I figure it is better than getting pesticide poisoning. I could not sit there for a minute more after I looked up information about the potential hazards of inhaling pesticides. There were more than fifty people sitting there and perhaps only a couple of them really complained, others just went about their work as usual.

Bless their souls.

Traffic rules

2007-09-20T19:23:00.000+05:30

As I was on my way home this evening, driving during the peak traffic hours, I began asking myself the same question, yet again. Am I a freak because I believe in adhering to traffic rules and not just because there is a traffic policeman right around the corner?

I stopped on a red light, all the people I had just left behind did not stop and I ended up having to drive after them since they don't see it fit to stop on an unmanned red light crossing. I was the only one standing and waiting for the light to turn green.

On the next red light, the traffic suddenly started moving even though the light hadn't turned green. I drove forward and stopped before the STOP line. There was a motorcyclist behind me, apparently disgusted with my act. He started honking and, as usual, I turned a deaf ear to it. He kept screaming for a while then found a corner and went ahead. Not before telling me - "Madam! What is wrong with you?!". Obviously, he didn't wait to listen to the answer. There were two small children on his motorcycle, looking at me with obvious bewilderment at my stupidity. I pointed to the kid and said "Red light". He looked at the light that was red indeed.

The motorcycle sped away. However, I was left wondering what this child would do once he grows up. Clearly, like the adult with him, he is likely to think people don't need to stop on a red light. And oh there are freaks around that just keep braking. I shuddered to think of the new generation. I firmly believe that the young people of this country are capable of bringing about change, change that makes lives better for the masses. They are the ones who would finally drag the country out of the jaws of corruption and callousness. Perhaps I am wrong. They might just grow into people who brought them up, doing the same thing, probably worse since they would be armed with the new technologies.

Ironically, it turned out that the signal was indeed faulty, all lights were red at the same time. I waited 2-3 more minutes and drove ahead. Sigh. I lost a speck of my conviction.

How I prepared for GMAT - Tips and Tricks

2007-09-14T16:04:00.000+05:30

I started preparing for GMAT towards the end of June. I wanted to appear for GMAT in the end of August or the beginning of September but the only date I could get was 13 September.

Someone recommended that I use Kaplan Premier Program for studies but I could not find it in India. I bought the Princeton Review textbook. It has a book companion section on its website that has 4 full-length CATs. I would recommend reading the CR section of this book. It is the only thing I consulted for CR and I found that it was quite helpful. The AWA section of Princeton Review is also very good. My essay templates were based on the sample templates given in the book. Of course, I changed wording to make them look original but the general structure of my essays came from this book.

I also bought OG 11th Edition and Kaplan Premier Program 2008 Edition. I got the latter from someone in Canada!!! Oh my God, to what lengths I went to get this book thinking it is the sure-shot way to get a great score. Of course, that is not the case. Kaplan does have a lot of questions and this helps in getting more practice. I found it easier to time questions when I did from a book instead of sitting on the computer and browsing through sites. I did questions in the form of section tests. 22 PS + 15 DS for quant, 16 SC + 14 CR + 11 RC in the verbal section.

I did not do strategy from Kaplan. Somebody had advised me to not do strategy from multiple books because that tends to confuse us in the middle of doing a test. After finishing the questions from Kaplan, I did a full-length paper test given in the book. I did not write essays in this one but only took the verbal and quant sections. The book gives a 6-month membership to use the material on the website. This has several questions, one full-length test (Not a CAT) and review information.

After Kaplan, I took over OG. I read the theory given for quant and then started with questions. Again I did the questions in the form of section tests.

Meanwhile I took a full length CAT every weekend or every other weekend. To gauge my level before preparing, I took a PowerPrep test. Scored 660.

I practised AWA using random topics from the list of topics available on the GMAT website. I did AWA also as a timed exercise and used only a plain text editor similar to notepad to write essays.

Towards the end of my preparation, after finishing all the books, I started practising verbal by making tests from 1000SC, 1000CR and 1000RC with 15 SC + 15 CR + 2 RC passages. This used to be around 50 question which I did in 90 mins. Accordingly if it is 48 questions, take 86 minutes etc.

The tests I took were -
Princeton Review CAT 1 - 720
Kaplan online test - 720
Kaplan paper test - 700
Powerprep CAT 1 - 660
Powerprep CAT 2 - 750
Crack GMAT diagnostic test - 605
Kaplan CAT - 1 (CD) - 640
Kaplan CAT - 2 (CD) - 620
GMATPrep CAT 1 - 750
GMATPrep CAT 2 - 750

I found Kaplan CD tests to be a bit obscure, and as I was already very close to G-Day, I stopped taking any more Kaplan tests. I would suggest their usage only for building stamina and not much else.

My performance in RC was going down, I read the MLIC reading comprehension module and it really helped. It provides a mechanical way to do RC and just works!

Last but not the least, I cannot adequately stress the importance of taking CATs seriously. Do the test just as you would do GMAT. No pauses. Write AWA. No long breaks beyond the stipulated time. No telephone conversations. In my opinion, GMAT is the test of your stamina whether your brain can still process information after having to deal with a gamut of obscure things. And always write AWA in full-length tests.

GMAT is done!

2007-09-14T16:00:00.000+05:30

Took GMAT last Saturday.

Got a 750. Quant - 50, Verbal - 42. AWA - 6.

Whoa! :)

GMAT preparation kick-off

2007-07-14T23:46:00.000+05:30

I took my first mock GMAT in CAT format today. Got a score of 660 with pathetic performance in verbal. The complete score report looked like this:

Section	Scaled score	Percentile
Quantitative aptitude	50	97
Verbal	29	87
Total	660	87

The analysis is as follows:

Section	Type of questions	Incorrect	Comments
Verbal	SC	9	Idiom problems!
	CR	1	Silly mistake
	RC	1	Silly mistake
Quantitative	PS	3	2-silly mistakes
	DS	2	1-silly mistake

The sentence correction mistakes screwed my whole score. I need to really work on it. I can't figure out all the god-forsaken idioms! Most of the questions seemed to be idiom-based.

Furthermore, I need to completely eliminate the silly mistakes. On a couple of questions, I got the correct answer but marked the wrong one. This appears to happen more often than not on the data sufficiency questions.

Equally important, I need to learn the essay templates I wrote for myself. In the middle of it, I realized I did not remember them. Anyway I still wrote the essays. Let's see if I can convince someone to review them for me. :)

Here's hoping I can do this better after putting in some more effort!

Marriage - the biggest gamble?

2007-05-16T22:15:00.000+05:30

Isn't marriage the biggest gamble of one's life? I certainly feel so. I find myself lonely, loved, funny, happy, sad, etc. but never feel like I should get married. When I see other people getting married and leading happy lives I wonder if it is genuine or is it a facade they have built for the outside world? A married person can never really be happy. I know of so many who are not.

Most of them seem to be just going on with everything because it's a way of life. Because they had to get married and now they have to live with it. Is it really so necessary to get married and have babies? Getting married to have someone to hold onto in one's old age is probably the only logical reason I can think of. Is it abnormal to not want to contribute to this world's ever-growing population? Can't there be another way of life instead of just getting married and having babies?

All you married people out there, got any answers?

When you choose a person to get married to, how do you know it will work? How do you know if you are willing to put everything at stake for it to work and that it is worth it? What is the way out if it doesn't work? Isn't there an easy way of just being sure about what we want and just sticking with it?

I find myself wanting this, that and everything else in this world. Alas! Reality is different.

Adlabs multiplexes suck!

2007-05-13T22:43:00.000+05:30

I went to watch a movie at one of the Adlabs multiplexes today. I have been to an IMAX dome theatre earlier and that was great, completely unlike today's experience. Before we landed inside, I kept wondering why everyone just goes to PVR to watch movies and that they aren't all that great. Well I am not going to Adlabs again, even if means missing a movie and watching it on TV after two years. A few reasons worth mentioning are:

The restrooms were DIRTY.
The seats would not recline. The backs were fixed and really high and uncomfortable.
The volume was enough to make you deaf after a couple of movies.
The movie wasn't even shown on the complete screen. It was like one has come to a drive-in projector theatre.

Probably the only thing better than PVR was the smooth online booking. Maybe that is because they don't get much traffic. However, this reason is certainly not enough to make me watch a movie at Adlabs Cinemas ever again!

Repairing Windows XP Installation

2007-04-27T21:42:00.000+05:30

A couple of days back my Windows XP installation got corrupted. It would not even boot in the safe mode and would just hang after Mup.sys and then reboot. Thank heavens for my ulta-reliable Ubuntu installation. I booted into it and did not even bother to fix the Windows XP for 3-4 days.

Yesterday, I did a back-up of my disks to free up some space for a clean install. I did some research on if this is a common problem. Turned out it is a rampant issue. I booted with a Windows Xp installation CD and went to the recovery console that appears on choosing to repair an existing installation.

C:\> chkdsk /r

It took more than half and hour to finish but after this when I rebooted, Windows works! In my delight of not having to do a clean install, I started thinking, this is neat. Then I realized, I shouldn't have had to fix it in the first place if it hadn't occurred!

Now I am planning to upgrade to Ubuntu 7.04 - Feisty Fawn next week. There is no direct upgrade path from 6.06 to 7.04 so it might turn out to be a long process. Hope all goes well!

Linux rocks!

2007-04-11T22:46:00.000+05:30

PC, Mac... meet Linux.

This is so bloody cheeky and nice. ;)

Exemplification more effective than work itself?

2007-03-31T19:57:00.000+05:30

About a couple of weeks back a teammate of mine and I worked on a kind of PoC on PAM for MySQL, Postgres and other services. It was two days of boring searches and brainstorming to get everything working. Afterwards, we took half a day's break and then sat down to summarizing our findings. Soon I realized that my very intelligent and techie colleague is lost when it comes to word processors. So I took over.

We made a document detailing each step of configuration and execution. I tried to make it with the perspective of what if my colleague resigns and I am suddenly asked to work on this. Or what if this comes up in the next release six months or so later. We wouldn't remember a thing and would have to start again from scratch. After 2-3 hours of working and verifying every word we wrote in it, the document was ready. It was sent and we got back to the usual threads of work.

Today we got an email from the person on the client side, to whom we sent the document, saying that the document was really well written. I saw the email this morning and it just made my day a lot happier. Usually we work without any appreciation or feedback unless we have screwed something huge so this was a pleasant surprise.

My colleague is a fresher and he watches a lot how I work or do such things. Not technically but otherwise. I suppose he is picking up his lessons of the corporate world - Exemplify work, even if you haven't done as much as it looks. I know it always works. Just proves how important presentation is. Do nothing. Present it like you have done loads. It would usually work.

Phoney world.

Stressed? Grow older!

2007-03-28T13:59:00.000+05:30

Came across an article while surfing news - The top ten ways to beat stress.

It doesn't have too many new tips though. One of the interesting things that I found out was that teenagers are the worst stressed age group. This is surprising as they have the least responsibility. As one gets older, the acceptance of things we cannot change increases and therefore contentment grows.

Some useful tips that need to be reiterated yet again:

People need to talk about the stress and anxieties they have, not hide them.
Try to avoid abrupt changes. Let them be gradual. Abrupt changes, even if for the better are stressful.
Go out to work. Women suffer from stress more than women, especially the ones at home with children not having another outlet or distraction.
Exercise

Get going. Stress the stress. :)

Intimidation of women in the technical community?

2007-03-27T11:40:00.000+05:30

Haven't we heard how successful women who pose a threat to men in their fields are intimidated and threatened to pull out.. or else? The Internet has given wackos a new way to protect themselves and just attribute it to free speech.

I was very disturbed to read this about Kathy Sierra. Much is written about her, she is a great speaker and trainer. I know that is true. I have read her books on SCJP exam. The books are still what I refer to when I find myself wanting to know the right thing explained in the simplest of ways.

When will women get what is rightfully theirs instead of being repressed and threatened?

Society decides values?

2007-03-24T23:37:00.000+05:30

I was talking to one of my friends last night. Somehow the subject got steered to homosexuality and it turned out he was against it. He said that it was unnatural and that is not how God made it. A man and a woman are supposed to be together, there is no place for same-sex love. And that it is just wrong. He was adamant to the point of not even discussing it.

I asked him what if his own child turns out to be a homosexual. He said that he doesn't know about twenty years later but right now in the current society, he thinks it is wrong and he won't accept it.

In my opinion, it is the equivalent of ditching one's child for society. How does it matter whether it is an inter-caste marriage or homosexuality? Just because the society thinks it is wrong, we decide that it is wrong and we do not support our own children for it. Inter-caste marriage is deemed to be generation gap while homosexuality is genuinely wrong. Yeah right. Who is the judge of that?

Views?

As about homosexuality being unnatural? See these:

Useful javascript snippets

2007-02-23T11:53:00.000+05:30

How to retrieve the text of the selected value of a drop-down?

var selectedIndex = document.formname.dropdownname.selectedIndex;
var text = document.formname.dropdownname.options[selectedIndex].text;
var value = document.formname.dropdownname.options[selectedIndex].value;

How to set a hidden form field?
formname.hiddenfieldname.value = 'some text';

How to run JBoss in debug mode?

2007-02-09T11:23:00.000+05:30

Change the $JBOSS_HOME/bin/run.conf file.

Uncomment the JAVA_OPTS line.
Towards the end change suspend=y to suspend=n

To debug remotely from Eclipse IDE-

Open Debug configurations.
Under Remote Java application add the IP of the machine on which JBoss is running and debug port (8787 by default. Can also be configured in run.conf file of JBoss referred above).
Click on debug. You're ready to go!

16th century marriages?

2007-02-03T11:25:00.000+05:30

Marriages are made in heaven, so people say. The trend for arranged marriages in India makes me wonder if the powers of heaven have been bestowed upon the parents and relatives of this country. They would try matchmaking and sheer force too. Just what makes them think they have the right to decide who I should get married to and that now is the right time to get married. Of course, parents' happiness and consent is important but only if they are reasonable. What would one do about parents who simply refuse to see reason and it seems to be just a matter of force?

One of my dear friends got beaten up and had to run for her life from her family when she refused to marry a jerk. After trying to make them see reason for ages, she told them that if they are hell-bent on not trying to understand, she doesn't have to try to convince them. It is her life and she knows that she is doing the right thing for herself. No prizes for guessing how they reacted to that. They beat her up, called her names, locked her up in the house. Thankfully she managed to escape. I shudder to think of her predicament had she not been able to escape. It is outrageous. I haven't been able to diminish the anger and get over it. If I feel such outrage, I can't even begin to imagine how hurt she must be.

Forcing marriages on adult, independent children.. BLEH. I thought parents just want their children to be happy, not wash their hands off it.

Blissful Happiness...

2007-01-22T14:33:00.000+05:30

There are some rare days when I feel blissfully happy. Like I've reached a strange state of contentment and it is invincible. Like no matter what happens, it cannot be shattered. I know what it means to be on cloud nine, literally.

It is a wonder to be feeling it. Of course, the bliss doesn't last too long, I am loving it, while it lasts.

What makes you blissfully happy?

IE Sucks!

2007-01-13T20:17:00.000+05:30

Lately, I have been working on developing a web-based framework for displaying and filtering on tables. Microsoft Internet Explorer has been making my life miserable. The other person coding, my manager, develops on Windows and uses Internet Explorer for testing. Now almost all the stuff doesn't work later, as it is supposed to on Mozilla Firefox. He doesn't bother to make it work with Firefox and ultimately, I have to spend lots of time cleaning up the code, make it standards-compliant.

IE does nothing the standard way. At work, I develop on Linux and have to work with Firefox. If they expect me to worth with IE, they should provide me with a separate Windows machine. For a couple of weeks, I was debugging with having a virtual machine running Windows on the Linux box and switching back and forth between Linux and VM. My system was dragging slow and it was a real pain! Finally, I decided to fix the code. Turns out the original code was not working on Firefox because it was written in a very dirty way and that works on.. you guessed it.. Internet Explorer!

Yesterday, after another painful session of trying to get things working, I have concluded that web applications should be developed in Firefox or any other standards-compliant browser. Then they will work everywhere, maybe need only a couple of "hacks" for bugs in IE.

IE is the suck. Hail Firefox!

Cancer and fate

2007-01-04T11:04:00.000+05:30

In a health news item published on BBC, a survey says more than 25% people believe that getting cancer is up to fate and nothing they do can change it.

I have read news items before that said that we should eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and antioxidants help prevent cancer. Somehow, I never took it seriously. I just say cancer as something that can happen to anyone at all, out of the blue. I do not like fruits much and there never seems to be time to eat them. I do eat a lot of vegetables though.

How do I know how much is good enough? It just seems like a never-ending quest. A complete lifestyle change.

I suppose I have reason to try harder now. Sigh.

Summer or Winter?

2006-12-26T14:15:00.000+05:30

When I was a kid, I liked the summer season much better than the winter. Probably because, waking up was easier, I did not have to dress up in layers of clothing. Also, in winter, I usually got this really bad cough that would last almost all winter. Going to school in this cold wearing a skirt is no joke. I still shudder when I think of it. It was such a torture just because you are a female! It is nice that the schools now allow trousers for girls as well.

This year, I think I have a preference for winter. Because of global warming, the winter has shrunk. It isn't as long or as severe. I don't have to wake up early to go to school anymore. Work is significantly better. I drive a car and work in an air-conditioned office so it is significantly better. Not to mention all the power cuts in summer. Every night you would keep waiting for electricity to show up so that the AC turns on and you can sleep. Winter is ok, as long as the curtains are drawn early in the morning and I can't see the dark and foggy weather outside. It is why I got late this morning, could not drag myself out to face the fog. Ah well, ignorance is bliss.

Now, I dread the summer.

Types of personalities

2006-12-24T22:02:00.000+05:30

I did an analysis on the fly while talking to a friend over the phone today. There are three types of people in this world:

People who have opportunity and desire to explore everything in their life. They will keep raring for opportunity and when they get it, they will make the most of it and live their life to the fullest.
People who are living a nice, comfortable life. They don't want much fun from it. They are happy living in the same routine. They hate anything that needs them to make even a speck of effort more than the ordinary. They aren't really living their life to the fullest but do not care. They are happy and that is all they want.
People who want to be like type 1 but do not have an opportunity. They keep looking for opportunities but become increasingly frustrated and detached when they can't end up with any.

I would say type 3 would be very happy with a type 1, provided they have at least a few common recreational interests. In my opinion, type 2 and type 3 aren't compatible. It would always be a tug of war between these two.

Which type are you?

Who's gonna drive you home, tonight?

2006-12-21T14:19:00.000+05:30

Ever since I was a kid, I had a deep desire to be able to drive well. I would always insist it to anybody I could find to teach me how to drive. I suppose it meant freedom and mobility and female drivers were a novelty around here back then. There weren't nice cars with power steering and other convenient things and driving seemed to be essentially a manly task. That with quick reflexes, confidence and daring was unheard of.

I started learning how to drive when I turned eighteen, the official age when one can get a driving licence. Six months later, I was shaky but knew the basics and got a driving licence. I was still far from being able to drive independently.

At twenty one, I started working and my driving skills had improved considerably. I would drive to work all alone and that built the confidence and daring. It became a pleasure and then passion. Though there are still skills I need to learn. I cannot drive in the hills and have never driven a sedan. But on the whole, I am happy.

I don't think highly of people who are too lazy to learn to drive. I think they don't understand it is worth the time and investment. Anyhow, I suppose to each their own.

When could I have dreamt that one day I would have a car of my own and would drive to work everyday! I suppose one of my greatest wishes has come true. Amen.

P.S. - The title of this post is an excerpt from this song.

First flying experience

2006-12-19T16:12:00.000+05:30

I think the first journey in a flight is one of the landmark memorable experiences of one's life. I still remember mine. I even saved the air ticket. Little did I know that one day air travel would be affordable even though I don't travel on those kind of tickets anymore. It is just e-tickets and e-bookings.

In retrospect, I am glad that I have travelled in the premium airlines on occasion as opposed to just low-cost carriers. Like so many other important first experiences, I think, one's first flight should always be a premium airline. Makes the experience a good one, instead of waiting and delays and what not.

A friend of mine, is going to have his first, soon. I am glad it is probably going to be well worth the wait. :)

Psychoanalysis

2006-12-17T22:42:00.000+05:30

I was chatting with one of my friends last night. She and I have a lot of similar experiences with life. Though we are very different in terms of how we interact with people and behave socially, yesterday I discovered maybe we aren't so different after all. We had a psycho-analytic discussion on some of my feelings and some of hers. It turns out, we haven't been feeling so different after all.

Being of different ages, cultures, religions and even basic nature, we could attribute it all to one thing we had common in our pasts. The only thing is, we just ended up discussing a lot of issues and why we were probably having them. It has taken months for each of us to discover them. Surprisingly they are so similar. We never had a discussion about how we are trying to figure out our lives. None of us knew that the other is introspecting and retrospecting. It just turned out so!

After months of problem-finding, I am not sure where to start at problem-solving. I suppose identifying and realising that there is indeed a problem is some sort of a start. Let's see where it takes us.

The conclusion is, sometimes one's life's experiences alters one in such a way that we do not know or realise, for a long time, if at all. Overcoming them and being a part of the crowd is even tougher.

Healthy living

2006-12-16T23:57:00.000+05:30

My parents bought a treadmill. I might be able to have a healthier lifestyle now. I just have evenings free and it isn't all too safe to get out after dark on streets that aren't well-lit, have ditches, roadside-romeos and even petty thieves.

Now I don't need to get out in the heat (or cold). I can exercise while watching TV, listening to music, in the comfort of my own home. I love this. :)

Living at home is becoming like living in a place with all facilities, companionship and most of all, love and care. Well, one day I have to make my own. Until then I can enjoy!

First Post

2006-12-16T22:51:00.000+05:30

Finally, I have a public blog. Half an hour to choose a URL, five minutes to choose a title.

I stumbled upon my namesake on blogger.

Let a new chapter begin.