Toy cars parked in real parking spaces !!

Visit this page to see what I mean.

Trek to Clean - Shivagange

On 26th September 2004, one day before the world tourism day, I had joined a group called "Trek to Clean" on a trek to Shivagange. Sachin, Asawari some more freinds from Wipro had joined me on the trip. The aim of the trek was to clean the plastic waste lying all around in Shivagange. About 80 people had joined in on that day and it was a pretty, enjoyable and memorable trip. If not more, we in all collected about 50 sacks full of plastic waste from the place. It feels nice that we could be part of a group which is actually doing some positive work instead of just cribbing about things being wrong.

But apart from the fact that it fekt nice to work for a good cause, it was a pretty fun picnic too. All the people in the group were pretty outgoing and people were comfortable with each other almost instantly. We had lots of fun. It was quite a memorable trip. I am sure, I shall be part of the future activities conducted by the 'Trek to Clean' group.
To know more about the 'Trek to Clean' group, you may visit the T2c Yahoo group.

Here are some pictures posted by on the team members, You can find me in the photos numbered 40,41,42. Do not confuse me with some similar looking guy in picture 26.
Thanks Aravind for posting and sharing the pictures.
More pictures here. Thanks Vikas.
Aswari has also posted pictures from her 'typewriter' now. (I shall let that joke be between the guys who actually joined in the trip)

No trip is complete without a fair dose of Pjs. Here is one of the gems.
While we were busy collecting the crap from the hilltop someone said :
"Guys, next time we will go for a T2C to my house, its on the 2nd floor and our maid has not come for 2 weeks. "

Why Your Code Sucks

Nice article, by Dave Astels.
Testability, readability, understandability and simplicity are the key properties of 'good code' according to Dave, I agree.

How to write unmaintainable code !!

Now, believe me, I did not do this intentionally, just after posting the Joel's Test for better code, here is a post pointing to an article which teaches one to write unmaintainable code.

Its a hilarious article, pretty long but very entertaining.

I have been reading it and giggling aloud in office for the past hour or so. I fear my manager, who sits next to me will find out and I will lose the opportunity to use these wonderful tips in my next project :)

The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code

Joel Spolsky, is a famous writer on software devlopment. Read this article, its a good compilation of stuff that goes into making a good software .

Internet is an addiction ?

This slashdot story describes a human experiment when a set of internet hooked people were made to go through for 2 weeks without internet access. By the end of the experiment the participants were frustrated and feeling disconnected.
Funny eh ??
Well it is true, I have been through this sort of feelings when I go back to Bombay, there at my home, I do have an internet connection, but it is snail paced. And I feel uneasy, in just a couple of days. If you have not been through this feeling, try this, for one day, in office, try not to open your mail client, you will see what these guys are talking about.

How to post pictures on blogger using Flickr

This small article provides help on using Flickr.com to post pictures to you blog.

Scheduler_DVT_Team

Scheduler_DVT_Team
Originally uploaded by Chirag Doshi.

This is my first photo post. I am using for hosting the images. Thanks, Selva for the suggestion.

This picture was clicked by Gomathy and that is what, I guess, all of us found so funny :)

People: from right: Maitra, Latha, Nidhi and "guess who ??"
Clicked on : 15th Spetember , 2004
at: Feast Of Asia - Koramangla
Occasion: DVT team treated Maitra and myself on our farewell from Indigo.

"Ek - Anek" - Doordarshan Cartoon

Remember the very popular doordarshan cartoon film "Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiyaa... "? I am sure you do, if you are at least my age. When we were kids Doordarshan was the only channel on TV so people used to watch all that was aired. This particular cartoon along with the “Tree of Unity” cartoon was one of the very fine works on Doordarshan. As a kid, I never got bored from watching this one repeatedly. If you were like me, you would love this post. On this page you can view the video of the cartoon.
Below, I have posted the entire text of the video. It is nice to read.

Text:
Films division dwara prastuthi...
Shiksha proudhogiki kendr ki bhent

Lyrics:
mmmm mmmm
hind desh... mmm huhu... hum sabhee.... ek hain... tara ra ra raaa
bhashaa anek hain
mmmm mmmm bhasha anek hain.... mmmm mmmmm


yeh anek kya hain didi ?
anek yani bahut saare....
bahut saare, kya bahut saare?
acha, batatee hoon...
suraj ek...
chanda ek.....
taare anek....
taroN ko anek bhi kehte hain ?????
nahi nahi !!


dekho phir se
suraj ek, chanda ek, ek ek ek karke taare bane anek....


theek se samjhao naa didi
dekho dekho ek gilahari


peeche peeche anek gilahariyan


ek thithli, ..... ek aur thithali......
ek ek ek karke ho gayee ab, anek thithliyaaN...
samajhgaya didi
ek ungli, anek ungliyaan
haaan,
didi didi woh dekho anek chidiyan...
anek chidiyoN ki kahani sunoge ....
haan haan


aa aa aaa,
ek chidiya, ek ek karke anek chidiya....
dana chugne aayee chidiyan .....
chorus : didi humen bhi sunaonaa.......
tho suno phirse...


ek chidiya, anek chidiyaN
dana chugne baith gayee thi .....
hai raam, par wahan byaadh ne ek jaal bhijaya tha...
byaadh, byaadh kaun didi ?
byaadh ... chidiya pakadne wala
"phir kya hua didi, byaadhne unhe pakad liya, maar daala... "
un..huh...
Himmat se gar jute rahe to
chote ho par, mile rahe tho
bada kaam bhi hove bhaiya..
bada kaam bhi hove bhaiya ...
ek..do..theen..
Chaturrr cidiyaaN, sayaani chidiyaaN
miljul kar, jaal le kar, bhaagee chidiyan
furrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
door, ek gaaon ke paas, chidiyon ke dost, chuhe rahte the....
aur unhone, chidiyonkaa jaal, kaat diya.........
tho dekha ki tumne, anek, sirf ek hojate hain tho kaisa mazaa aata hain
didi main bataoon...
HO GAYE EK ...
BAN GAYEE TAKAT..
BAN GAYEE HIMMAT...
didi agar hum ek ho jaayen to bada kaam kar sakte hain?
haan haan, kyon nahi ...
to is ped ke aam bhi thod sakte hain ???
haan, thod sakte hain, par jugat lagani hogi ...


achaa, eh jugat, wah... bada mazaa ayegaa..
hind desh ke niwasi sabhi jana ek hain, -2
rang-roop vesh-bhaasha chaahe anek hain -2
ek-anek... ek-anek...
suraj ek, chanda ek, taare anek,
ek titli, anek titaliyaaN
ek gilhari , anek gilhariyaaN
ek chidiyan, ek ek... anek chidiyaan
bela gulab juhi champa chameli..... -2
phool hain anek kintu mala phir ek hai ...-2


Text:
Sahayak: S.M. Hasan, Mahesh Taavre, Girish Rao
Design animation thadhaa nirmaan: Bheem Sen

Centre for educational technology
N.C.E.R.T

Courtesy:
http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/~bhattiprolu/personal/nostalgia/ - For the text.
http://www.rajiv.com/ - For the video
Asawari – She recently reminded me of the cartoon.

Mozilla Firefox - I'm loving it !!

Mozilla Firefox is the browser I am using for about a year now, ever since Selva introduced it to me. For me, its a sin to continue using the 'neanderthal' Internet Explorer.

The new Firefox Preview Release now also adds support for viewing RSS feeds(called live bookmarks) and a cool Find toolbar. The multitudes of extensions and Themes allow you to customize the browser to suit your needs and preferences.

Still stuck with iexplore, make the shift to Firefox today. You will not go back.. Never, ever, ever.

Matrimonial Ad by a Shayar

Badi muddat ke baad ek arzoo jaagi hai,
Ki ab hum bhi shadishuda ho jayen,
Vajah shadi karne ki jo kahen sahi sahi,
To yaaron ab khud se kaam ghar ka hota nahi.

Courtesy: a mail forwarded by Nidhi

Dilbert - On women in offices

Image Courtesy of: www.comics.com


I am wondering whether my feamle colleages identify with this lady's feelings. So ladies, do you go through such situations in our office ?

I think there are some jobs which typically get allocated to females in the project. Arraging for birthday bashes is one of them. In Digital VehComm, Salma was incharge and in Indigo DVT Husha was incharge(although Jagadeesh did help her out at times). But that maybe since girls have a better sense of taste and style than guys. :)

No, jokes apart,
ladies, ever felt discriminated ?

Map My India

Finally, we can look up maps and routes for cities in India. It allows us to look up the map for a particular area in a city, also it provides a route map and driving directions between two cities.
Although the deep street level details are currently not available on the site, it still is a important step in making the lives of travelers in India a lot easier.
In the US, I had noticed that, no one ever needed to ask for directions. Before leaving for any trip, you would make sure the go to Yahoo maps and get the driving directions printed out and 'you are all set'.
Lets hope in some time, our roads too become well planned enough so that such information can be put to good use to help out travelers in India.

Information courtesy: Asawari

Promoting your Blog

This is a nice article on Blogger Knowledge. I need to find some time to try out the suggestions provided in the article.

And you thought, you understood English

Look at the passage, its a narration of a story we have heard thousands of times, can you identify what are we talking about here ?

Two individuals proceeded towards the apex of a natural geologic protuberance,
the purpose of their expedition being the procurement of a sample of fluid hydride of oxygen in a large vessel, the exact size of which was unspecified.
One member of the team precipitously descended, sustaining severe damage to the upper cranial portion of his anatomical structure;
subsequently the second member of the team performed a self rotational translation oriented in the same direction taken by the first team member.

So ? Any Ideas ?
Think hard I am sure you would be able to get it.
No... Then look below.












Jack and jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
and jill came tumbling after!!!

Source: Email froward from Varada

Copernick Desktop Search

Remember a few days ago I had written about the Lookout plugin for outlook which allows for very fast search through mails and through the file system.

Copernick desktop search too allows you to search through files and mails on your pc. I tired it out and it is very fast. Also I found the user interface to be very usable and good looking too.
They are providing a free download currently and on the faq page they say that they plan to always have one free version available.
At last, a set of tools are emerging which would enable to forget about 'Where did I save that file?'. Thanks Copernick guys and Lookout guys, you are making my life easier.

Are there tools like these for Unix/Linux systems already ?

Babbu no boss Pagal thai gayo chhe !!

My sister asked me to announce this fact to the world by any medium. Babbu, this is the best way I can publish it. :)

She says : "He is our miltary officer and we are his cadets. There are only two options to survive in this miltary organization. Either be a coward and quit the jung-e-maidan OR work and work till you die."

I wonder why managers fail to realize that an unhappy employee shall never be able to work well for the organization. To me, what emplyoees need most, even more that the salary, is their self-respect and freedom.

Eclipse2Ant - Plugin

Eclipse2Ant
This Plugin for Eclipse, exports project settings to an ant build file. I have not tried it out yet but it sure seems to be a useful plugin.

Fundoo car parking game

Check this out. This is a fundoo flash game.
I found it to be a tough but enjoyable game, maybe that is because I dont know driving. I guess, people who drive regularly will enjoy it even more.

Rakhi Bomb !!

I have added this page on TheScian Wiki to discuss the collective madness demonstrated by people in Gujarat on this Rakhi day. I am really feeling let down and ashamed of my countrymen today.

You can post your thoughts on the TheScian Wiki about this. If you dont know what a wiki is, visit TheScian Main page