In a lighter vein

Warning: All the characters presented in this post are NOT fictional. It bears all resemblance it can to any and every person living or dead, even unborn! ;-)

Me, in my good old sunny days, on my way to Mumbai with my buddies!
When, outing was not just going to off the corner katta for lunch. And fresh air was the one only found after 2-3 hours of trekking on some hilltop.



After a few months of 12 hrs per day grueling-n-grinding work...
When having relaxation was a good enough reason to smile, despite being confined to a 10x10 cubicle, only source of light was glowing yellow lights on the ceiling & breathing the so called GOD damned conditioned air (i.e. AC air).

And this is what becomes of you after gulping down 5 cups of tea, endlessly debugging-writing-reading-n-fixing code, taking ToT (Transfer of Technology), all you dream of is while (1) loops, bit operations, short-circuit evaluations, meeting deadlines, data types, and above all crossing that red line of 12 hours of staring at apparently meaningless bytes on your monitor and ruthlessly assaulting the keyboard...


Credits
Concept : myself
Photography : Arun
Costume(???) : myself

Well, this pretty much explains my silence for quiet some time, despite so much to share, like Nevis' momentous victory of 4-0 at inter-IT TMKM tournament against UGS, sad loss or 2-0 against Patni, etc. etc.

So, to everyone's relief, I'm not abducted neither have I gone underground after the disastrous 11/7 blasts in Mumbai (don't let your imagination run too wild, the only connection I had with it was with my innocent fellow citizens who lost their precious lives). But I'm pretty much here & alive (only in different dimension, maybe, ever hear of parallel universes?) kicking a$$ harder than ever ;-)

Cheers! Am trying to enjoy every bit of life, no matter how hard it is!!! For every night is followed by a day, BRIGHT sunny day!
Err... I already missed a meeting today morning, I got to leave now before I'm caught taking a break, catch you later....

Head over Heels

Until recent, my dream car was (err.. still is) Honda Accord. And no other car (let me specify in my country, India) has caught my fancy. But that's about to change...

Curvaceous, sexy and just unbetable by any other car in its league (don't compare it with Toyota Camry, it falls in the league of Accord), she really got me head over heels! Cheaper than Accord and costlier than Honda City, I think Civic will definitely reach new heights of engineering excellence.

It wasn't until I researched about it a little that I place it side-by-side to an Accord now!!!
At the heart is 1.8L SOHC i-VTEC engine delivering the performance (torque) of a 2L engine with fuel efficiency of a 1.5L engine. iVTEC is featured only in higher end Honda City models. But is the only option in Civic.

Wonderful gear shifting ensures minimum movement while changing gears, giving that 'racer-car' feeling. With Tilt & Telescopic Steering Wheel, dashboard loaded with multi-function display, gives you a feeling you are in a plane's cockpit, aptly termed as 'Advanced cockpit design' And I missed the F1-style paddle shift option. Shift lever to S option and you can now control the gear changes with paddles at the back of the steering wheel (see the 2 vertical arrows), just like F1!!! Ain't it cool!

Just above the steering you get an unprecedented amount of information. Integrated Design Instrument Panel ensures you have all controls at your finger tips.

Got to see this interactive Flash demo to understand the gravity of her beauty: http://www.honda.co.uk/civic/

You put this engineering marvels together, rotate the magic wand and Woosh! There you get a Honda Civic!!!

Finally got a motivation to work even harder!!!

Note: Honda paid me no money in producing this post. This post doesn't do justice to Civic she deserves. I'll keep updating this. Come back to read more!

Insat-4C fails, Agni III fails & now serial blasts in Mumbai

Key Indian satellite, Insat-4C, launch fails, then Agni-III missile test fails (link2). And now Serial blasts petrifies Mumbai!!! WTF is going on! Born and brought up in Mumbai, I know what it means to be living in the wake of the infamously famous 1993 Serial blasts in Mumbai. The haunting memories of curfew and everything coming to a grinding halt, we the youngsters throughout the locality of tens of societies, keeping awake round the clock to ensure no rowdys enter the society and create a raucous & hurt loved-n-dear ones. GOD! Looks like those day will grip Mumbai once again :-( And the worst part of all of these is that all those who died, are innocent people who had nothing to do with day-to-day politics! Pray that HIS grace bring peace to the deceased and his family. Once again Indian intelligence fails, that too miserably!

Nevis beats IBM this Sunday

It was a wonderful victory for us against IBM this Sunday. Nevis-n-Ensim beats IBM 1-0, at the inter-IT TMKM tournament! Are we on our way to give a surprising performance at this tournament, may be yes!

With coordination increasing in the attack line, it's becoming more and more exciting to play, since defence was never a problem for us. Once again, it was Amit Singh who was instrumental in scoring, only that he gave the golden touch this time! Wonderful pass was made by Shrirang from the right wing. With our rock solid defence, we managed to hold IBM from scoring a single goal, despite the fact that their through & over-the-head passes were just amazing. What was equally exciting was to see Balya (aka Ranjit) doing his patented regular stunt: single-handedly he took the ball from left corner of our side, diagonally through the ground to the opponents left corner, tackling more than half of the opponent team! But alas, he lost the ball when 4 defenders charged him! But the spectale was worth watching. Glad that it was not pouring during our game, otherwise we would have met the same fate like Symantec, who lost 2-1 only because BMC's goal side had turned into a nice puddle. Despite tens of good passes inside the D, they couldn't score, only because of the puddle, which skewed all the laws of mechanics, well beyond the attackers' understanding and to the defender's advantage!!!

Apart from that, on the professional front, with another release date nearing, we, at Nevis, are under crushing pressure with almost insanely inhuman deadlines thurst upon us :-( Can't help it, have to accept it as a part of life now. No one here fears hard work, but what is sad is that despite 3 years worth of hard work, processes here are not in place to ease this excruciating pain (please note that by processes I DON'T mean CMM-5, CMMI, P-CMM, and the alike BS!) The whole development cycle is still a chaos, wish it changes soon, soon before it does irreversible damage. It was, nonetheless, very heartening to hear that we have exceeded our first sales expectations! Touch Wood, err... the whole of forest (if any is left around ;-) )