Shreesanth's Dance

Audacity of Hope

In democracy we usually buy in to the picture of hope presented to us but is fairly rare to give in your trust. This is the second time for me when my trust has been reaching out to a political leader. The first was the Ex-prime minister of India - Atal B. Vajpayee and this time is for Sen Obama. He is the most assertive speaker I have seen in the recent times. The thing I like about him is how he does not present any hope but still profoundly engages you as if you are the one who can make the difference. I wish I had a voting right in this country and no question who it would have gone to.

Every thing wrong about Dhoom-II

What a stupid movie and have no clue how come it did $14mil. Simple waste of time. Negatives? Flow, Abhishek and Aishwarya and even the opening scene is too weak. For Abhishek? Being the son of the greatest ever does not make you nothing. You did not learn a single thing from your Dad. Quit Bollywood.. now! And you Aishwarya.. Don't try hard Just get married and leave, please.

Could someone save Saddam please!

The worst sentence for any political prisoner is to humiliate him. Forgiveness is the best humiliation to Saddam. Iraqis today are killing their fellow Iraqis then should they hang them all? Even Jesus forgave Judas then who are we? I am in no way supporting Saddam, he is an evil character but is he the only one? Strip him of all his communications, his contacts, his luxury and give him an exile. If not any Arab country then India should come forward and send him to an Ashram or something and let him serve the HIV+ patients. He should understand how precious the life is before he dies. He is evil enough to deserve his life.

Now shouldn't we?

Send this	To Curb this ?

My top 5 judge's shows

1. Trump's The Apprentice
2. Beauty and the geek
3. ICE-T's Rap Skool
4. Deal or No Deal
5. Who wants to be a millionaire

Now don't curse Coloradons

For buying SUVs... Now you see why?

Did I accidently bpelized myself?

About two years ago when even the word was not out I now think I had bpelized my the then project. I was reading some documents today on BPEL - the big word and find it close to 80% similar to what I did for my "A company" about two years ago. Same exact invocation policy, same process for multienvironment deployment, similar orchestration business policies (my own proprietory though). May be the problem was similar and I took the right track. But Alas! by the time I had submitted it for an internal patent review I was thrown out on streets and never heard anything back since. BTW, I guess the partial codebase is still in production and I feel annoyingly painfully happy.

And where the heck the rest 5% live?

95% of Americans

Justin is no kid no more

As Justin Timberlake now also known as JT ...

10 actors who pause my remote

I am quite annoying TV watcher for folks who watch with me. My habit? Keep changing the channel. But there are a few, actually 10 of them who often pauses my remote. And they are:

1. Clint Eastwood
2. Michael J. Fox
3. Al Pacino
4. Brad Pitt
5. Bruce Li
6. Sylvester Stallone
7. Sean Connery
8. Robert Di Nero
9. Bill Murray
10. Vin Diesel

How to make inners (Thermals) at home?

Take a 100% pure wool sweater. Wear it for a few days. When you think its ready for a wash, take it to your washing machine. Let the wash cycle complete. Then forget what you are doing and put your well washed sweater in the dryer at "more dry" settings. Come back after an hour and you have a ready made inner (thermal) to wear. Enjoy! Cuz, I am too!

The final bout

I am an alien. I don't have a favorite team but I watch finals. NBA, NFL, NHL and what not. What I want to see is the battle of two best (two best?). Same is with the next US presidential elections. I would love to see the final bout between Obama and McCain. After that I would not care who won. And why does English not allow two best(s)?

When to know the team has no work?

1. When there is an effort to standardize logger or building one.
2. When there is an effort to standardize code formatting.
3. When attending brown bag sessions becomes a must.
4. When all the team talks about is the latest technology.
5. When your manager is more inaccessible than usual.

The hostage taker is ready to negotiate now...

It fealt sad, Read More. Mr. Musharraf has recently said that he will give up the claim on Kashmir, as if he had any at the first place. Anyway, its not important anymore. Whats worth the notice now is how the so called moral support has been used for negotiations. If they accept "that" we will relinquish our claim... Actually it should be an eye opener for those folks who thought Pakistan was behind them, Morally. So the drama played by Pakistan over Kashmir for over 20 years was not the support but was the political hostage plan. Do hostage takers have any morality?

The misty Minnesota

He is out, He is in...

Who else? Its Saurav. He has been re-called for the Test series against South Africans. The official theory is that the team needs experienced players after recent dismal shows. I hope he is not being used by the "other" lobby to show Greg Chappel's place may not be that secured. Its also a chance (last?) for Saurav to take the high road and his revenge. The selectors and the coach have created enough ill-wills in the team that re-entry of Saurav may affect Dravid's performance. Some interesting things to come out though. The question is could Saurav prove his mettle or not?

Dor - Nagesh did it again

Nagesh Kukunoor is one of the few movie producers/story writer who solidly thinks about the end of the movie before starting it. His latest creation Dor is another addition to his bag of success which ends remarkably. The movie is long, a little boring in the middle, unbelievable easyness of the set quest but the end changed the theme of the movie. A good watch for those folks who are interested in neo-bollywood style of film making.

Good going Greg!

Here is the Indian record under Greg's mystery coaching before the next cricket world cup:

1. Lost terribly to Australia
2. Lost terribly to West Indies
3. Lost terribly to South Africa
4. Suddenly Indian cricket team has no reliable openers.
5. Suddenly the team has lost the pace and its' pacers.
6. The team now only looks up to aging Sachin and Kumble, again.
7. Dravid has failed miserably as a captain.
8. Sehwag? Is he a threat anymore?
9. Does a middle order exist?

Good going Greg!

Argentinian robs Bush

We have to make this world a safer place... And then,
"ABC News in the US says the robbery went unnoticed by the heavy secret service force protecting the family." Read More

A good read on Dvaita philosophy

A good read for the folks interested in Dvaita philosophy of Hinduism. And an answer to misinterpreted Varna pratha:

Interpretation of the Caste System

* Madhva interprets the concept of VarNa mentioned in the Vedas (Purusha Sooktha) as not being defined by birth, but by the nature of a Soul. For example a Soul having the nature of a Brahmin could have been born as a Shudra and vice versa. The caste system decided by birth is actually Jaati and not VarNa. The VarNas simply define the disposition of the Soul, for example a Soul classified as BrahmaNa VarNa is disposed towards learning, a Kshatriya Soul is dispose towards administration and a Shudra Soul is disploed towards performing Service.

LoE from PoC to production

I am not sure if estimation is an art or science but its tough. Usually the level of effort required to build a production quality application is approximately three to four times (may be more) the effort required for the proof of concept or prototypes. Why?

1. You would need to translate the If-Then-Else in PoC to a proper pattern in prod.
2. You would need to translate the "invoke this" to an independently runnable task.
3. JUnit classes are missing in PoC.
4. for with in for is okay for a small dataset but this won't be true in prod.
5. PoC doesn't have to deal with multiple and heterogeneous systems.
6. That hidden hard coded value won't hide any more.
7. Did you add code reviews and documentation?

One day in the life of a consultant

1. Got the CLA - project approved.
2. Nope I won't be available to help because I am going to a new project.
3. Hey buddy! I got a local project. Cool Man!
4. Sir, could you please send me the documents.
5. Mom! Don't worry I am starting a local project this week. There won't be no travel.
6. Ashish, we are really sorry the project has been canceled.
7. I wanna go on vacation?
8. Do you have enough left?
9. Dirty clothes piling up. May be I will wash them tomorrow.

The vow WestIndies

One game and they are at their best, the other sub-average. One game 80 all out then defeat Aussies in the next. Talk about the uncertainty of Cricket.

The just war going wrong

Men by nature are hunters. This violence is an in built characteristic. Wars are in their blood. And one thing they still do not understand is the nature of war. Don't start one but finish it if you are in. After 9-11 the war against terrorism and the terrorists was necessary. It lost its way and ended up being creating more. But now what? What would it mean to leave it as an unfinished business? Remember what happened to Afghanistan when Russians left? Their presence in Afghanistan was unjust but leaving in the middle left the country reeling under the wave of terrorism. War has another characteristic. It also creates long term friends. It takes a lot of courage to side with someone cuz, staying neutral is the easiest thing to do. Leaving in the middle will also leave your ever shrinking friend base in danger. You protect your war friends by any cost. Leaving Iraq now as is will lead to some major massacres and its the responsibility of the western forces to prevent it. Learn from the British past how they fought wars. Make more friends while you are fighting. Warriors are not those who can start a war and fight one but who can finish it. Lets be good warriors.

Did Iraq change the US regime?

With house going to Dems and Senate a tie it looks like it...

How much is Saddam worth?

Saddam is sentenced to death. Who cares? Does Iraq care? What will it solve? What message does it give and to who? After all its not the Saddam supporters who are fighting in Iraq. A criminal should not be hanged if the only reason is revenge and not to give any message to other similar criminals. Hanging him would neither give any message to anyone nor will it solve any problem. He has lost his regime, he has lost his commanders and I don't think he has any clout to come back. He should be either sentenced to life imprisonment or exiled.

Why I won't watch Umrao Jaan

For those who did not understand the title of the blog - Umrao Jaan is a remake of an old Bollywood classic of 1980's. The character Umrao Jaan Ada belonged to an Indian city Lucknow which is my birthplace too and anything even distantly related to the city grabs my attention and gets me emotional. With all the bosh-posh happening in other Indian cities, Lucknow has so far successfully kept its character - struggling but trying. The city of Nawabs famous for its' culture, soft natured people, poetic endeavors and "first you" ethos. My friends called me Nawab in my college and my first job for my laid back, lazy, couch potato attitude. What can I say I am from Lucknow and to the dreg proud of it.
Now, why won't I watch the movie? Because I don't want to see it through somebody's else eyes. The classic which the likes of Mujjafar Ali, Khayyam and Shahryar had produced is irreplaceable. My Umrao Jaan Ada can't be replaced - my first love at the age of 7. I saw that movie with my father and his friends. Those irreplaceable Dad-Son moments. I still remember every moment of that day and the dinner after the movie. The nervousness I had when my Uncle asked me what my hobbies were? And I kept drinking a single glass of water forever till my Dad explained what "hobby" means. The day which I still remember as is after 26 years can't be replaced. No I won't watch the new Umrao.

The distance from mind to mouth could be sometime..

..too far	..Or too close

What the heck is Greg Chappel doing?

Since he joined as the coach of Indian cricket team, the controversy has become his second name. With all the support he got it was hoped that the Indian cricket team will be turned around from a bunch of cameos to a winning troop. Nothing of that sort happened. He successfully got rid of Saurav even though the energy and the spirit which was brought to the team attributed to him. Okay! we said. We accepted Saurav's exit and we trusted Chappel more. Since he joined as the coach, India has not won any major tournament. His experiments have back fired. Half of the players don't even know if they are part of the team or not or even confident of their abilities. He has turned a team of fighters to a bunch of insecure chokers. With India being the only challenger to the Aussies two years ago now seems struggling even against the lower ranked teams. With this coach plus an uninspiring captain and an insecure middle order there shouldn't be any guesses where the team is heading to.

Why I know the result of Cricket world cup

For sure it won't be any South Asian country - So relax India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan the world cup is not up for your grasp. Why? Because ICC is supposed to be a mini world cup and even though this game is filled with unpredictability it does give a fair preview of the teams. The way Lankans were thrashed by SA in their group and the way India lost to the determined West Indians, this series got a burial when Pakis were shamelessly thrashed by South Africans, again. Shane Bond and Makhaya Ntini are proving too hot for the batsmen. With the discipline of Bradshaw and the hidden armory of Aussies it doesn't look like if any mighty South Asians are gonna pull it off. And I am not sure if Andy is preparing for Ashes or playing Rugby.

Have you had this feeling before?

That firefox, tomcat, google, gmail and cygwin are one and the same? Weird huh!

IceT's Rap skool rocks!

Just an amazing program. Have never seen someone working so real with a bunch of so precious kids and bringing them out of their fear and anger. Thats some real stuff. Go IceT and the pupils of the RAP skool - you guys rock! And Missy M a message for you - You are the most precious kid in your class, so much talent just don't fear of nothing.

Democracy of Software development

The ever present question of finding the most efficient methodology to run a system. We find some strong ideas to oppose or propose one kind of a system or another. Lets talk about the political system:
First scenario:
Take an utopic kingdom run by a very efficient King. A king who is passionate and powerful and who makes sure that his kingdom is running smooth. A king who makes sure that no one in his kingdom is hungry and deprived of basic human amenities. Now ask anyone in this kingdom if they would like to change the King? The answer would be no. Why would anyone like to change a system which is so efficiently run? Now ask a hungry beggar or homeless in a democratically run country if the democracy in his country is any better than the aforementioned kingdom. Do we have to guess the reply?
Second scenario:
Same kingdom but now the king is corrupt. A king who uses his army to terrorize and impose his own dogma. A kingdom where justice has been hijacked by a few and a kingdom where even basic human amenities are scarce.


Even though the people were happy in the first scenario, they did not have the power to make any difference. It became more evident in the second scenario when being powerless was a peril. The same people who were happy in the first did not have any power to make a change for themselves in the second. The worst case scenario was bad. The order of the algorithm was quadratic.

I am not a politician but a programmer who analyse a system for its behaviour in the best and worst case scenarios. Democracy is not the best system to run a country but is the most efficient in the scenarios where it comes to humanity. People may not be happy but they do have power to make a change. Now why am I talking about a political system when I cannot claim any expertise in it? No I am not. Actually I am talking about the software development. "Phased development does not work". You have heard this from the methodology champions. Thats the reason why DDD and methodologies like eXtreme programming are so popular. Now if the phased development like waterfall was so bad and inefficient why would it exist anyway? The answer to this question lies in the story of the kingdom I narrated. When a system lacks democracy or iterativeness or closed loop revisits the need of managing it skyrockets. The system can be efficient if managed properly but is too fragile to absorb any loose threads or misses. Democracy or the iterativeness provides a platfom to correct things. With fluid goals and the risk of losing team members makes phased programming very difficult to manage. Bring the democracy to software development.

The power of messaging

Am I stupid to keep apps simple?

This is one ever present question in my mind. I talk to people who talk big things. Big technologies and how it can be implemented. Taking easy routes does not make an application simple. I wish I can be a guru but here are a few guidelines if followed can make a system very simple, scalable and highly flexible:

1. Follow the open standards.
2. Shun that design If one layer cannot be separated with another.
3. Use MVC as an umbrella pattern for the application.
4. JSP is the most dangerous (meta) language. It entices you to take short cuts. Handle it with care.
5. If possible XMLify your model layer.
6. Use widely used content structures. How different is an Item description from a blog?
7. Use basic design patterns. Life will become easy.
8. Stay stupid.
9. Look if Apache already has one.
10. Think thrice before using EJBs.

Why not?

If Paris and Nicole can come together why not...
US and Iran?
North Korea and Japan?
India and Pakistan?
Israel and Lebanon?

Paris and Nicole stand for the world peace!

More performance tuners please!

I have worked with some very good architects, some awesome programmers, good database administrators and some very good testers. One category who I missed are some good performace tuners. Most of the performance folks I have worked with knew how to tune the database. We need people who are programmers who know the database, knows the PL/SQL programming to tune the queries and stored procedures, knows the Java programming, a good Java architect to address the design issues and someone who understands the OS and JVM to the teeth. Performance tuning is not a secondary job and only folks at the top of the technology stack can do it. How difficult could it be to find such a guru?

So you are nuclear, now what?

With N Korea conducting a nuclear test it brings back the memories of 1998 when India/Pak conducted theirs. With a few years of sanctions the life went on. India turned its focus on economic prosperiety and Pakistan shunned its' "Open" support for the terrorists. India became more responsible and except AQ Khan's proliferation, Pakistan did not become more dangerous than it already is. So being in the nuclear club does bring more sensibilities. Hope the same prevails in the Korean peninsula too.

The danger is that these technologies are more likely to be passed on to the terrorists from these loose states. With no viable solution, sanctions just alienates them. Lets accept the realities and create an international law to financially burden the nuclear capable countries. Like, mandatory supply of free nuclear energy to its' non-nuclear neighboring nations. For India to provide energy to Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. For Pakistan to provide it to Afghanistan, Iran and other middle eastern countries. For US to do the same to Cuba and other South American countries. China to Taiwan and S Korea and UK/France/Germany and Russia taking care of eastern Europe. These energy pockets may end up creating an International republic to work better under the United Nations.

Chevy Cobalt a no no and Hertz (??)

What a piece of manufacturing it is? Everytime I parked the car the key got stuck in the ignition. Wasted so many hours on this crap. I wish this be the most frustated and annoying it could be. And Hertz? I called them at 7:50 and got a replacement car at 11 when I was only at 15 mins from their airport location. So, Chevy cobalt is a big BIG NO and Hertz? I need to seriously think about them.

Connecting the dots with iStore

I recently completed an iStore implementation for one of our clients. And if you are considering eCommerce engines like InterShop, OpenMarket or Broadvision I would suggest to hold and see if iStore fits in better. iStore is Oracle's e-commerce engine nicely integrared with the advanced pricing and other Order management components. For close to two years I was a passive audience to the talk of integrating content and transactional data with some partial success. I was part of the development team of quoting applications (ground up) and then the content management and portals. These two apps are so closely related but we were unable or rather lacked courage to find the common ground of integration. It was there but so far distant. Oracle's iStore succeeded to connect the missing dots of that integration. I would highly encourage companies with or without an existing Oracle install base for pricing, configurator etc to implement iStore for their web presence.

Why does some people sound so sane?

Like,
1. Bill Clinton
2. Tony Blair
3. Colin Powell and
4. John McCain

The repeating story line

A familiar story...
1. A great idea
2. Good funding
3. A few challangers
4. Green signal
5. Optimistic timelines
6. A few contractors
7. Complex design
8. Flawed extrapolated scope
9. Enthusiastic team
10. Ah I forgot that moments
11. Delayed delivery
12. Unhappy business
13. Threats
14. Stressed out developers
15. Botched up codes and short cuts
16. Political maneuvering
17. New fundings
18. Late release
19. Few promotions, few quits
20. Poor performance

Business busy to replace the system.

Don't get too innovative

...Unless you communicate it well. I book my tickets online through my travel agent's website. Recently they made a change to their site to start giving option of alternative airports. So if I book my ticket from LAX to DEN they also offer seats from Orange county or Santa Ana. The innovation bombs on you as only the price is highlighted and not the airport. If I am searching for a flight from LAX to DEN and back I am assuming it to be the exact same when I finalize the trip. Last night I ended up paying extra bucks for the exchange ticket when at the airport the folks could not find me in the list. My experience revolves around web and I know how the alternate routes should have been handled. Please do not pain your users by the stupid innovation.

Woohoo! I am a Sun alumini

Cuz officially I can now participate in Sun's comminity blogs.

US Open coverage sucked

Because they had no interest in covering the US Open doubles/mixed-doubles matches. The Men's doubles finals was not even promptly covered in the "Latest news" section on www.usopen.org when the match was already over for close to 15 minutes. Is Tennis just the single's game?

Please do not dishonor Steve Irwin

He was my favourite and I did not watch his shows for any adrenaline rush. I watched him for his love and the understanding of animals. He has been criticized for holding his baby while feeding a giant crock. I do not understand it why? He showed that he did understand the behaviour of a crocodile. No one risks the life of his own baby. And when he did it he was loud and clear that it was not a risk but a clear understanding of the animal's behaviour. And talking of erratic behaviour? Who can compete with the humans? He was an extension of the animal kingdom. To understand animals one needs to feel part of it and very few can claim that today.

How can you stay uninspired?

[Story of SarathBabu. Scripts taken from Rediff.com]:
...My mother was not aware of institutions like the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, or the Indian Institutes of Technology. She only wanted to educate us so that we got a good job. I didn't know what I wanted to do at that time because in my friend-circle, nobody talked about higher education or preparing for the IIT-JEE.

When you constantly worry about the next square meal, you do not dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer. The only thing that was on my mind was to get a good job because my mother was struggling a lot. Read More

Will Microsoft be successful the third time?

They copied MAC and were successful.
They copied the Netscape and were successful.
Should they be successful the third time with Google?

I won't write any blogs.. today!

So much to write about... Andre's marathon win over Baghdatis. Baghdatis' gallant effort inspite of his pain. Nawab Bugti's cowardice murder. Lage raho Munna bhai's release. Some light hearted exchange with my old colleague. My past manager's endorsement on my linkedin profile. Junk emails in my inbox. A friend buying a Yamaha V-star and not letting me ride it. Thinguy's hilarious blog. A stack of bills in my mailbox. And I still won't write a blog today.

Indo China comparison

Its a talk of this decade - the two new economic and military powerhouses. There are a lot of similarities between these two nations. Foremost these are the two oldest civilizations of the world. Second they were subjected to colonization. Third Budhha himself. Fourth both have a strong middle class driven economies. You get to read a lot of perspectives of people on who would succeed or overtake the other. The reality is they both have to learn a lot from each other and the western world. Lets see how they stand head-to-head?

Why is China better than India?
1. Very strong infrastructure.
2. Strong manufacturing industry.
3. Strong immigrant population in the western world that have been successful to affect the political decisions.
4. Relative peace on its' borders.
5. People look in their history and the civilization for answers for its' future.


Why is India better than China?
1. Strong democratic values.
2. States are relatively independent to encourage their own foreign investments.
3. English speaking people. Because of the culture that has always encouraged multiple languages to co-exist, the acceptance of foreign language like English was never been an issue.
4. Open internet.
5. Strong entrepreneurial mindset of the middleclass.

Lesson for China - Trust your people and your system. Open the internet.
Lesson for India - Invest in the infrastructure and energy, your success rely on them.

The dark side of Hollywood

..Is even more beautiful
Morgan Freeman
Denzel Washington

Samuel L. Jackson

Will Smith

Terrence Howard

[Sequel] Bollywood' top 5 best supporting actors

Naseeruddin Shah
Pankaj Kapoor
Arshad Warsi
Saif Ali Khan

Om Puri

Top 5 bollywood actors

Amitabh Bachchan
Aamir Khan
Shahrukh Khan

Hrithik Roshan

Sanjay Dutt

Which side of ball tampering does Pakis do not understand?

This is atleast the fourth time when Pakistan cricket team were caught tampering with the ball. This time against the English team. This is the known case when they were caught doing it, don't know how many times they have won the games uncaught.

Six sigma to solve terrorism

The division of a problem has proved itself one of the basis for all the high performance algorithms. From all the dos and donts from six sigma one which has stuck to my mind is how it encourages to rate (divide) people. Top 10% - the high performers, 70% - the average performers who you need to run the company, 10% who are misplaced and need serious mentoring and the last 5% who need to go. (BTW, I think six sigma is 20-70-10 and sun sigma is 10-70-10-5 but thats not the point). Can we solve the problem of terrorism with six sigma then? In any community there are only about less than 5% of people who have either the mindset of a terrorist or are physical supporters and who need to be found out and either removed or dealt with strongly. The 10% are the ones who are disillusioned. They are disillusioned of lack of proper leadership and mentoring. If continued, these are the people who are more likely to fall in the last 5% but not necessarily, all they need is a right direction. The majority of any community are the average people who deal with day to day problems and are trying to earn their living with respect and dignity. This 70% of the people needs to be given the right environment to thrive and the leadership which can encourage them to grow positive. And last but not the least the top 10% who are the leaders and need the states' major focus. The perception of a country is driven by these top 10%. They may not be the political leaders of a community but common people of the society who are doing exceptionally well. There are pitfalls but if this division is fair there is no reason why a state cannot be run successfully as the six sigma has run the top companies.

How to blog...

I want to blog about pure technical stuff but usually do not do it. I like writing business sortta blogs and sure do not know how to write them. And my personal blogs end up me being the only one appreciating it. Is there a class I can attend on how to blog? Jonathan?

The pleasure of being iPodless

It started as a rebellion but has now turned into a pleasure I am enjoying - The joy of being iPodless! First I never justified the pricetag on a iPod. Why to pay 300 some bucks for a mp3 player? Haven't I paid $1000+ for my laptop already? Second, I love to be online, connected or if possible try to be infront of my computer. So finding my iPod moment is difficult anyway. My headphone and the realplayer on my computer does that job already. Third, if I decide to ever get a player I would rather choose from other mp3 players. Players with same features and less price. Fourth, I choose to find my own ways. Cults which the iPod owners have started to form are not for me. Oumph I do not belong here - I have a iPod. So I have started feeling different that guy who did not follow the trend.

15 years of web and my entanglement

Saw these sites with details on the last 15 years of web. @BBC and @Sun. Nice to see how a once nascent technology changed the whole world. So what was my progression in this web?

1996 - Graduated as a Computer Engineer. Had heard about such a network but had never seen one.
1996 - Asked to work on my first Java applet. The applet was slow and flaky.
1997 - Created my first HTML page(s) and deployed on a CERN webserver.
1997 - Developed my first ever CGI driven web application.
1998 - Developed first virtual reality driven data acquisition system.
2000 - Developed the Login, Registration and Subscription modules for a start-up dot-com.
2001 - Worked on first large scale web based quoting application.
2002 - Sad with the performance of Netscape4.x and felt happy with Opera
2003 - Moved to external portal group for Sun Microsystems.
2003 - Wrote my first NSAPI plugin.
2003 - Got introduced to webservices.
2004 - Started writing blogs.
2004 - Wrote a critical Webservice API to integrate training.sun.com [look at the dynamic product listing] with sun.com.
2004 - Led a team and developed one of the external portals for Sun Microsystems.
2005 - Saw the portal being EOL'd.
2006 - Welcoming AJAX.
2006 - Still where is my eternity?

The importance of being real..

A wonderful article on yahoo. Could not refuse to reproduce it here...


... One of the things I loved most about the Marine Corps was that I never had to worry about what anyone was thinking. When I was preparing to be an officer, there was no sensitivity training. When superior officers spoke to you, they didn't have to wrap their words in ribbons and bows, and didn't worry about hurting anyone's feelings.


... When I returned from the war and entered the civilized world of business, I was shocked by the phoniness, the covert hostility (disguised as caring), and the fake smiles that are rampant to this day. It's been over 30 years since I was discharged from the Marines, and I still haven't adjusted.Read More

Sweets and coke are good but...

The excruciating pain during the root canal initiation was enough to make me nervous and this image is not helping me either. Gosh I have to go through it again this wednesday.

Steed or the nobel donkey?

I loved the donkey in shrek. He was not only funny but represented people who strongly believe what they are not. The donkies who feel they are steeds and this donkey lives in all of us. The beliefs of this donkey should not be taken for confidence because what they know is so limited in scope that they assume it is all what exists. Alas these characters are funny and usually good natured but they just can't get the work done and sometime annoying indeed. This donkey is important though because they also represent the the curiosities which if nurtured can lead us to unknown territories. The courage of this donkey alone and a proper mentoring can provide them the direction they need and then the onus will be on them to show how fast they can run.

Thinking AJAX? Think a little more..

AJAX is changing the way web apps are build today. The technology which makes AJAX has been around and we can find gazillion documents on the net about them. So if you are starting to build a webapp and thinking of using AJAX, think a little bit more. Do you need asynchroneity, XML and Javascripts altogether at the same time? Can your users switch off the javascript in their browsers? Whats the volume of data being transferred from the server? Will you get carried away to build a desktop app on web? Or if its all you need is to parse an XML document in JSP? How about XML'izing your processors - servlets, JSP or even your bulky webservices? Can you manage your content as RSS? How much asynchroneity is acceptable to your customer? How slow will be your server? The list does not end here but before signing-off the design, just think a bit more.

One who smiles at the time of crisis...

Is the one who has found one to blame!

Veto on the life sciences

Ethics, morality, religion, development, cure I am not the one to decide. Whatever the reasons were but the Hon. President did use his power of veto. So, no killing embryos atleast at the government's expense huh? There seems to be a compromise though.. Why not telling the "enemy" nations to provide human lives for the embryo research instead? Any way they would have been killed if we went ahead and bombed them? What a waste of precious life would that be! BTW, who invented the sarcasm?

Why should babies be any different?

Why should babies be any different when this earth is for all? Please don't fail the earth.

[Images searched on google]

The five pet peeves of a developer

I have come across these pet peeves often and you might have been too:
1.I am fixing somebody's else crap.
2.I am now asked to do the documentation.
3.I can't even find it in google.
4.When I am doing all of the things why is he asking for the status from him?
5.Same old work man!

Did Agni-3 really fail?

It might be true but the way it failed raises some questions. India and its DRDO is well experienced in space technology. It has a series of launches in its' stride with multi-phase boosters. If Agni would have failed hitting the target after completing its path it would have been understandable but the reported snag in its second stage of the lift is unbelievable. Don't know if they chose a tough trajectory as these missiles accelerates at a much faster rate than the space launchers and a tight trajectory can put a lot of pressure. As per DRDO sources though, they tried to test multiple technologies including fault tolerant avionics, flex nozzle control system and the velocity of the system capable of going 16 to 17 times faster than the speed of sound. But its good that DRDO crossed the political laxman rekha and working on to continue the future tests. Lets hope they fix all the snags soon, its important for India's minimum deterance they have been talking about for years.

Why would successful CEOs fail?

It is seen that very successful CEOs often fail when they move to a bigger company. No I am not a CEO and have never been. I make assumptions, big assumptions and here are some more. I think the following does not happen in a smaller organization, only big ones are infected:

Don't think everyone in your oraganization listens to you. There are a few who have their own agenda.

You are not the best anymore. You have peers who are equally good, in their own silos may be better.

Many in your organization now want you to fail. And they already have figured out where they move when you do.

You now tend to forget the smaller markets.

You are made to believe that you can't start afresh.

Majority of Indians are ugly

No I am not saying that Indians are ugly, its the Bollywood who does. If you watch a typical Bollywood dance number we find the "extras" are deliberately made less beautiful. The other dancers don't look as stunning as the main character. Statistically then out of 15 some dancers only one looks good. Does that mean majority are ugly? Hold on bolly! we are coming after you.

Who will you marry?

Yes that was the question put to me by my juniors at my college farewell night - a tradition when seniors were judged by some random questions. And the question was: If you have to marry C, Fortran, Pascal or Basic who would you marry? "I'll change my religion and marry all the four" was my innocuous reply. It is better to be safe than sorry. I am revisiting my reply. HTML is one such language too. I am using HTML to correspond to a family of UI technologies. Simple as it can be and still so powerful. This is one meta language which keeps transforming itself . With a combination of Javascript, DOM and XML do you see the end of standalone apps? You need to give a serious consideration back to the HTML(web) interface when designing your application. HTML? I do!

Gung ho about India?

CNN recently covered an article on India and how it is transforming itself and changing the world. With every visit to India people find how much it has changed, for good. How Chennai has changed, how unrecognizable Hyderabad has become, or gosh Pune is coming up to the scene or how Delhi is much cleaner than it was not too long ago. Besides some not too good stories too - how Bangalore is losing its edge or how Mumbai's expansion has staled or, how Gujarat lost its' way. Overall pockets of economic regions help the development of the country. But don't get blind by the new lights which has appeared. India is still a developing nation and has a very long way to go. And I mean a very long way. Social evils still persists - Dowry, casteism, communal forces, and terrorism are the biggest threats India is facing today and a very little has been done to eradicate them. I read another article about India in one of the news sites - "10 things I hate about India". I was moved. The ten points mentioned in the article are not the only ones but does cover a broad perspective. I am reproducing its' salient points:
1. Power cuts - India needs energy and a lot of it soon.
2. Indian babus - Running the world's most corrupt bureaucracy. They are the biggest threat to the country.
3. No access to historical documents - Indians are in general good in world's history but are mostly ignorant of their own. They know what the successive governments have told them.
4. Discrimination against the white tourists - They are still considered to be potential targets to make some quick bucks.
5. Paranoia about maps - Indian programmers may be capable to build another google earth but there is very little geographical data available to public. The compass is still the most popular GPS to find your way out.
6. And the photographs - Specially of the places under the archeological survey of India.
7. Politicians - Lesser said the better. If the statistics show lower crime rate it means all of them are in parliament.
8. Neglect of the environment - India is a beautiful country. It has all the possible environments - rain forests, desert, mountains, Snow, Ocean, long beaches, dense forests or open spaces - you name it. Maintenance? Almost zero. Spitting beatle leaves and littering is not even considered an offence.
9. Trafic - No concept of lane driving. Lack of super highways are pressurizing the cities and is one reason why Bangalore has lost its' edge it once had.
10. Corruption - In every aspect of life. Things which are no show in west can entangle you forever in India.

Still, you feel good about the changes happening on the surface. Hope that these changes will eventually trickle down in the life of the middle class. Hope - the biggest asset Indians have.

A tale of two guys...

Best of friends or so appeared on court. Two awesome players. One who transformed himself to a great individual player, and the other who transformed a team. You know who I am talking about. Players don't win - the team wins. Hats off to Shaq for his outstanding fourth and for how he transformed a young gun Dwyane to a winner.

Do I even know you?

This what likes of Bill Joy, Whitfield Diffie, James Gosling and others would say if asked them to endorse my work. And what if they said otherwise? ;-)

Ghana changed the perception..

..of the African footballers. The game against Czechs was a treat to watch simply a stunning win.

What if Vista fails?

Windows Vista is not coming out soon. Now Redhat being the serious threat atleast at the server side, Vista's success is a little doubtful. Why will companies be willing to migrate to Vista is a question to ask. If it fails who will it be good for? Ubuntu is a cadidate to watch. No, no one will use Ubuntu on the server side atleast for now but with Vista failing, its highly likely people with change in their mind will change to other operating systems. Ubuntu is in that position. Why Ubuntu? Redhat is too heavy for desktops. Suse? Its useability is an issue. JDS? Do you even remember what it was? Solaris x86? Let the military use it. Other Linux flavors have more literary importance than anything else. Ubuntu tops the list in its' ease of use, useability, being wireless ready or just the patch updates. I don't want any big companies to buy Ubuntu. An independent community driven Ubuntu is stronger than IBM's, HP's, Novel's or Oracle's Ubuntu. And did I mention it has the coolest name?

A day in the life

1. Waking up at 5AM to catch a flight.
2. Finding a far distant place to park and then a long walk to the check-in counter.
3. Long line in the security check.
4. Middle seat in the plane.
5. Next to a loud arabic family. Two hours of painful listening to some meaningless conversation (atleast to me).
6. Sending a hello message to an old friend without getting his reply back.
7. Finding that a friend is joining my old company in a group I was part of.
8. Getting a call at 11AM in the middle of a serious session with the ring style of my cell phone set to loud music.
9. Finding I am the only person in the group with no rental car, why?
10. Trying to fix a badly written code with no available javadocs.
11. Being suggested by a "functional lead" to start working on a task so that we can get ahead and finish the tasks sooner, when already three weeks ahead.
12. IM with a friend technical manager who was as pissed off at quality of some products as I was.
13. Dinner with a friend who talked how easy it was to get the greencard in his time.
14. To the hotel and getting a smoking room with a promise to get it changed tomorrow.
15. Seinfeld on TV and clicking "Publish the post".

Did Iran trade Zarqawi?

Thanks to bollywood its another dramatic product of my mind. Any political analyst would tell you that its all about the position of strength and give and takes which has shaped our history. In the Mumbai underworld and as is so depicted in countless bollywood movies its very often that for political mileage leaders are known to give away their foot soldiers. So here is the scenario in middle east - Instability in Iraq is in favor of many of it's neighboring countries. The countries who do not like a democratic state to exist in that region. Even though Zarqawi the most wanted terrorist in Iraq was working to create civil war and against Shiities, he was indeed indirectly helping Iran to foment trouble in Iraq. And then came the bombshell - Iran's own nuclear ambitions. Who knows if Iranian agents were already on trails of zarqawi and to take him out at their own convenience? No question Zarqawi was a thorn in the heart of American forces too and could be of greater risk in future. Then a few weeks ago the most surprising news came. US toning down its' rhetorics against Iran on its' nuclear ambitions. Could this be possible if Iran and US came to an understanding of a give and take which would work in favor of both? A nuclear deal in return of Zarqawi? Whatever it is but two more to go and this world will be a much better place to live in.

Increasing unpopularity of my blogs

I am an avid blogger and have a freaky craze of looking who and from where the readers are visiting me. The mania has grown so much that the google banned me on their adsense thinking I was generating fake hits. No I was not!! BTW, I've added a few regulars but have lost so many too who were the frequents till a few months ago. Then I thank a few who are the real regulars - I mean regulars who visit me atleast once a week. Then there are a few who keep tab on me from other sources but rarely visit my thoughts. Dude(s)! I am right here in my blogs. And there are those who deliberately don't come thinking as if I will win some war. Mixed feelings and mixed reactions. Passion comes in many colors: do you see any on ezsaid?

The Huj I have been missing

I am a Java developer - good, bad or ugly I do not know but have been doing this for quite sometime. Its a dream to go to the JavaOne one day, a mela of the contrarian minds. The bad part is for the years I worked for Sun Microsystems I was never sent to one. The closest I came when my small work was part of two of the tech kiosk/booth(s) but no it was not meant to be. Reading Gosling's blogs soothes me but also increases my cravings for the taste I have always missed. Seems like my tech Huj who very lucky go to.

What makes me uncomfortable when I am not driving

This is for those folks who feel uncomfortable while not in the driver's seat. This is a list which makes me one when the driver does any of these:
1. Controlling car speed with breaks. Don't apply breaks unless it is needed. Control the speed with your car's gas pedal, it makes the ride smooth.
2. First lane on highway and driving @40mph
3. Changing lane and applying breaks.
4. Changing lane and turning your steering wheel wide - Don't do it, it exposes the turning side. Just give a direction, your wheels are very intelligent.
5. Merging at a slow speed.
6. At a junction going slow and thinking whether to turn left or right.
7. Driving in two lanes.
8. Driving slow and try to go fast on yellow.
9. Driving slow and applying sudden breaks on yellow.
10. Telling how uncomfortable you are on a road doing something - at high speed or parallel parking or with those bikers. Believe me you make other folks in the car nervous.

AJAXing your site

It was never a big thing but it was not done. This what branding does - people jump in and start doing it. AJAX is one such brand. Even the hardcore netscape fans knew that its rendering engine was not good and thats why it lost the mighty war. Its not only important how fast your browser renders the page but also how your application does it. The new browsers have invested so much to give you the best possible rendering speed. Thanks to relentless effort by the Microsoft' IE team and then Opera and Mozilla foundation. Now comes your own application's turn and the AJAX gives you that way out. What I like about it is the way it encourages to keep the data separate from its' presentation. So if you are rendering an XML document think of using AJAX. Either its a transactional data or content stored in static XML files (Interwoven teamsite?) AJAX(?) can beautifully read it and give you a perfect user experience. I wish the AJAX was around 5 years ago when most of the web based applications tanked for the lack of it.

Unreliability or a bad unit?

For years I praised the reliability of Sun systems. I did have some good experience too when systems ran for months before being rebooted. That was one reason why I bought so many Sun systems over the years - sparcstations, ultra-5s and then sunfire v100. I was so excited with my v100 that I told pretty much everyone about it who ever discussed Sun systems with me. One day it bailed on me for no reason. First I thought it was the bad harddisk. I tried booting the system with a CD after removing the harddisk from the system but to no avail. I tried quite a few things from the PROM prompt as far as I could know. My belief of the reliability of the Sun system shattered. It shocked me as it was my database server and so was the CVS and also had my web servers running. I forgot what data I lost but they were plenty. I bought a new harddisk to replace the old one and would try to get a brand new build. I have not tried it yet but I don't think it should work. When at Sun we challanged the reliability of PCs, this incidence has raised some serious questions.

Sun will die the next day if Java is opensourced

"You don't give away your assets free" - Donald Trump, reminds me of the talk industry is having to force Sun Microsystems to open source Java. And why should they? Is the JCP not enough? Is the progress Java made in last 10 years not with the right pace? Sun is not financially benefitted with Java either so why to sell (??) the flagship of the company?

How to make Solaris more popular?

Rename its' x86 to Redhot Linux

So who won the Iraq war?

Is it US? Militarily yes, politically not yet. Is it Iraq? Militarily no and politically no either. Looks like it was Iran who won this war or atleast this phase of it. If the news to be trusted then it was the Iran backed Iraqi opposition leaders who spread false information about the WMDs in Iraq. It was Saddam's massive stupid poker bluff too which helped Iran's cause. When the world was preoccupied in the Iraqi affairs, it was Iran who continued to work on it's nuclear establishments. Now what options does the UN have on Iran? A military action is likely but with Iraq politically unstable it will create an explosive situation. Any compromise with Iran's current government will be another stupid idea. It will give an open invitation to other un-democratic governments to choose the same path. Iran's successful exploitation of personal vendetta between Bush and Saddam to its political advantage has created a quagmire which is worse than the cuban crisis. There is no military solution in sight. The only amicable solution is to lend hands to the democratic forces in Iran who can by vote overthrow this government and then be allowed to continue the peaceful uses of its' nuclear energy under an internationally audited agency.

Why is the color important?

I had the opportunity to be involved with world's atleast two most well known and practiced martial arts - Karate and WingChun. I did Shotokan Karate where my goal was to have a black belt which demonstrates a mastery on an art or a new phase of learning which ever way you wanna see it. On the other hand I wore black pants and shirt during our Wingchun practice and the goal was to get white shirts as we progress. The choice of colors and it's relation to ones progress has strong bonds with it's traditions. In Karate, where the color white corresponds to nascency or a blank slate which will get the color of knowledge, black relates to the color of maturity where all colors eventually meet - a state of empowerment. Wingchun starts with black showing a state of darkness or no knowledge and white the color of light which brings an ability to see i.e, to gain knowledge and understand the truth. Two completely opposite traditions and the way of learning, but the goal remains the same - to achieve an ability to understand the truth. The ultimate goal is not to defeat an enemy in a combat but to avoid the combat itself. The goal is peace and harmony which Yoga has taught us for thousands of years and has filtered out in the various forms of martial arts practiced today. So the color does matter or may be totally irrelevent depending on the goal of your chosen path to the ultimate truth.

Anti gravity, free energy and NASA

This is an interesting story, an interview with Gary McKinnon - the hacker who hacked NASA computers. He talks about possible reengineering of alien' anti-gravity aircrafts and research on free energy. Not sure how much truth this content has but I do believe in the alien technology. If an 8000 old known (Indian) civilization can have such depictions of the technology which can't be one man's imagination then there is no reason not to believe it. Something does exist which is not completely known to the today's human race or only to very few. The conditions which prevailed on Earth millions of years ago could exist or have existed in other parts of the galaxy or beyond. Just I am not part of such research or if it is even found say thousand years in future, I won't be alive to feel good about it. Or who knows I might be travelling in one of those UFOs :-)

A wireless cable television

There is a potential of this product. A cable coming in and hooked to a miniature router. And the TVs having antennas tuned to the frequency of the local "router". Similar to the wireless internet but for the cable television.

What went wrong in Sun?

This was the question asked to Jonathan recently. I do not recall what he said but my perception is a little different. I get furious when someone questions the relevance of Sun or tells me as if it is gone forever. Earlier I despised the question for my blind love for the company and now for the direction it is taking. So what went wrong in Sun? In 2001 it needed a big cut off in the employee number. Sun took the decision a little late. Second, for long it kept (fat) people in the decision making positions. By fat I mean the people who could not see where the industry was going - those immobile managers. Third, it tried too many things on different fronts. It was not taking decisions it was gambling with ideas. Fourth, it could not keep the right people in the company - Ed Zander for one. Fifth, when water gets stagnant you stir it up. It played around with different organizational changes but did not bring the new leadership (middle management) up the channel. It was the same group of people moving around as the leads and they failed in all of them. So, what did they do right? They kept the R&D going. You lose when you follow. Sun is not similar to anyother company because it runs on the new ideas and new technologies. Sun never lost its relevance in the industry. The programmers community stood behind it. The Java community grew and so did the Solaris' and the "network is a computer" concept. This is a company of brilliant engineers and stupid sales force. And who knows? 9000 less employees and there might be someone looking for an Operating system to add in their stack.

Interesting reading on ancient Indian aircraft industry

Ancient Indian aircraft technology from the historic scripts and books which most indians are not even taught about.

So I was at Sun today

...To inquire about my past employment verification. I did not have any contact number handy so thought lets go to the office and see if I can meet with an HR rep or my old manager. One of my old friends tried to find if my manager was there but I guess I went at the wrong hour and he was out. He could not let me in as I needed a contact to talk to and I did not have one. So I went to the frontdesk and there was no one there. Found a lady and she told me about a kiosk which was all I needed. As I had no prior meeting setup, it could not find me. I asked her for the assistance and the response was rather rude. I know she works at the badge office and used to sometime sit at the frontdesk. It used to be so simple before. Just give the name of a person to meet, the person used to come upfront, you get the temp badge and thats all you needed. 15 mins wasted with no progress. I felt as if it was a rude reminder that I do not work in Sun anymore and as if I was no more welcome there either. Then I went to the main building and found a person at the front desk. I asked her why I was there and to my amazement she could remember my face. It has been more than 6 months now but she could remember me specially someone who I did not have day to day interaction with. She not only found me the 1-800 number to call with the correct company code but also gave me her number in case it does not work. Suddenly in a span of 3 mins I felt so welcome in my old company. I guess the people matter. In case a Sun employee is reading this blog, I want to send some very positive feedback for this person Nancy - a frontdesk employee (admin?) (Broomfield, CO). Right people at the right places is all what Sun needs today.

Politics of reservation is back

I love my country. This is a land of biggest fake democracy and world's worst politicians. Yes I am talking about India. And today I am pissed off because after a silence of a decade the governing parties have reintroduced the politics of caste and reservation. In the name of social justice some leaders have sown the seeds of discontent and injustice. In some states the total seat reservation for the jobs and admissions in the professional institutes are close to 70%. The pressure on the general candidates were eased after the involvement of the private institutes to open up professional colleges. The success of IT also contributed in a big way. When we felt the menace is over the political establishment has now proposed quotas in the privately held organizations. Is this a social justice?

1. Reservations given to some not only in the college admissions but in the jobs and then in promotions for the rest of their life - Is this a social justice?

2. General student candidates not getting selected in colleges for just few marks and some getting the seats for just appearing in the exams - Is this a social justice?

3. Empty reserved seats not filled in but not given to a general candidate - Is this a social justice?

4. The purpose of reserved quotas is the economic upliftment of the families. But then the father gets it and so does his rest of the generation. Families getting richer and richer and even then there is no denial of the quota to their creamy layer - Is this a social justice?

5. If a family is economically sound and his children have all the amenities as far their education and other comforts are concerned, then why should they be given reserved seats? Is this a social justice?

Where is the solution?

1. Allow maximum of two opportunities in a life time to exercise the quota.
2. With every request a certificate of economic condition should be required.
3. Women should be given the preference over men. An educated mother is more powerful than a educated father.
4. The well off families should voluntarily relinquish the right to reserved seats.
5. A survey of economic and political upliftment should be done every 10 years. The list of communities should be fluid. Removal and new additions should be part of the process.
6. There should be no reservations in the armed forces, high tech jobs, legal system, the life saving jobs (not the education) and in the privately held organizations.
7. There should be more investments in opening up schools at the basic levels so that the education system is strengthened.

Bye bye Scott

So atlast the rumors were true. Scott McNealy is stepping down and Jonathan will be the new CEO of Sun Microsystems. As he is staying as the chairman of the board and the president of the company, it is yet to see how significant this move would be. But the stocks were up and quickly closing in to $6. Lets see where does Jonathan sail this ship to. The questions if this move is too late, or what if he had done it earlier to keep Ed Zander in will remain unanswered. But he will be missed though.

Hello gorgeous!

Now if an Airlines treats you like this, who won't look at it one more time?

Not a glutton but do not diet

For me a good food is a channel to enjoy the company of my friends.

A poacher is a poacher

It seems people are rallying for and against Salman - a loved-bollywood actor in a poaching case of a black buck. Black buck is an endangered species and is protected by the Indian law. Salman has been sentenced a 5yr jail term by an Indian court in the state of Rajasthan. From many interesting comments a few which I encountered most are: "In India organized poaching happens everyday and nobody does anything but he is being sentenced for one black buck because he is a celebrity." Or, "He should be penalized with money" Or, "He should be asked to give lakhs of Rupees and should not be sent to jail" and so on. The fact of the matter is that any poacher if "caught" is sent to jail according to the Indian penal system. In certain kind of cases, the court never gives any monetary penalties to anyone accused. Only a bail is granted against a sum of money but not the final ruling. Also, giving monetary sentences opens up a channel of discrimination. I expect people atleast those educated ones to first understand the Indian penal system a little better before making such discriminatory comments.

Want to see India?

Choose your side of view!

My five childhood who will win questions

As kids we all ask questions, a lot of them. Here are my five childhood who will win curiosities:
1. Who will win? A tiger or a lion?
2. A cobra or a python?
3. An Eagle or a falcon?
4. A whale or a shark?
5. A fat cow or a water buffalo?

Top five (computer) technology companies

No I did not create the list based on where they stand now or what their market cap is. The list is based on what their historic contributions have been. Feel free to challange the list:

Xerox PARC - The hidden revolutionary

IBM - If you want to win, they need to be behind it

Cisco - The internet transformer

Apple - Getting younger by the day

Sun Microsystems - A Swashbuckler but you need them

Don't be surprised not to see Microsoft or Netscape or Google in there.

You've got mail

One of the success stories in the human civilization is the postal network. In some form or the other, it has existed for thousands of years. Reason? It addresses one of the core necessities i.e, communication. The success of the modern postal system also attributes to its simplicity, pay as you use, relatively free basic service and a decent reliability - Four features which most of the other services lack. These four features of any application or service are the grand rules of success. So the next time you get mails, think if your service need any refactoring?

Happy Mars welcoming us

Why Lenny was ineffective..

Yes I am talking about Donald Trump's apprentice. From the day one I thought Lenny had something which takes to be the champion. Towards the end he ended up being an ineffective leader. Being cool or looking cool about things can take you to some extent but not all the way. Even though I hated him go but agree with Mr. Trump's decision of firing him for the following reasons:
1. He was not a team player. He quite often mentioned fire everybody in his team.
2. He tried to divide the team to make his position safe.
3. No question that he does the job if assigned but sucked as a project manager.
4. He is the man who does not know how to accept his faults.
5. He was given hints and chances to step up, but he did not.

The gang in Boeing

The guidance:	The Rest:

Thats a big news indeed

It is indeed a big news Red hat buying jBoss. For a very long time Oracle was rumored to buy jBoss. I always thought Redhat could be up for acquisition too. But its' purchase of jBoss makes it even more interesting.

My most watched movies

Here is a list of the movies I have watched atleast ten or more times. They deserve a mention in my list as I can get another round anyday.
God Father Everything good about this movie.
The Training Day Danzel is a gem, The wise guys were not.
Sehar The real set up.
Pretty Woman Richard Gere couldn't have been this lonely.
Satya Satya himself was bad but the rest wow!
Ab tak chhappan The villain looked like a joker.
Back to the future Could not imagine this movie without Michael J Fox.
Bruce Lee's Game of death Only if they could have dubbed this movie and made it a foreign film.
Enter the dragon Only Bruce Lee could have done it.
And how could I forget? Office Space.

Does Sun talk a similar language?

On airport I met an ex-Sun employee who was laid-off recently. Our conversation changed as if we were talking to a long last friend. Our body language unknowingly changed too as we continued to use the same typical slangs. And then we shared goodbyes as if we were at some point in love with the same girl and hurt. An awesome ex-Sun bonding!

My pet peeves

Time and again I bring in some strong reactions which after a while I feel I should not have put. Mostly my reactions turn out to be irrational, opinionaned and emotional. I still believe we are what we are and that makes all of us unique. Following are my pet peeves which triggers my emotions in a rather strong way:

Sun Microsystems

Immigration

Indian cricket and,

A few folks

I am trying to avoid writing and speaking about these vexations or atleast be cautious about it.

One man show - Congratulate the Turbunator

Its the heroics of one man - The Turbunator, India had snatched a sure victory off of England. 37 with bat and a menacing 5-31 proved too hot for England when they tumbled to a 39 run defeat in their first ODI against India in Delhi. There is a lot to be done in the Indian batting camp as it gets hard to defend low scoring games. Its good to see Bhajji back - It was a long due.

All decisions going wrong for Indian cricket

I don't know if there is any other better word than bleak for the current Indian cricket team. United they stand but they slump together. Nothing is getting right to whats happening to them. Decision to bat first in the third test against England turned out to be a fatal one. Even a college captain would opt to bat first in Mumbai but not so for Rahul. Sehwag continue to falter and so is Dhoni. We can see the cracks in the wall, back to square one Yuvraj and unimpressive Kaif are now a repeatable phenomenon. Not including Munaf Patel as the fourth seamer for the first ODI is proving another insane decision. Yet to see what gem is Mr Chappel in process of inventing with his continuous failed experiments. Shameless and pathetic!

US a Brahmin state?

No there is nothing casteism about it. Have been listening a lot about the immigration reforms and some of the comments made by the senators and other influencial people of the society. It seems time and again it has been said that the US need migrant workers for the work Americans do not want to do. That struck the cord. Is that something how centuries ago a caste system was introduced in India? The division of labor and the emergence of a labor class? The labor class later being increasingly alienated and ended up changing the political equations. I do not like "classes". The empires which spread it were doomed and I hope it does not come back in the free world again.

Then why was Saurav removed?

Indian cricket board is full of controversies. When Saurav was removed from the team on the basis of his age and his recent performance, Sachin is kept for no reason. There is no question that we all love Sachin. He is a great cricketer who is going through a rough patch - a long one though. We all know when he comes back, he will come back big. But the Indian team can not indefinitely wait for it. Saurav is an extraordinary player too who was going through a rough patch. But if Saurav has been asked to prove himself in the domestic cricket to get a place in the national team then why shouldn't this be applied to Sachin too? And for that matter Virender Sehwag and everybody else who remain in the team without performing? You can not be complacent just because you were something sometime. Learn from Kumble - the real genius. He fights and performs again and again even though his place in the team is never assured. Its funny to see that with the so many stalwart batsmen in the Indian team, Kumble ended up being the third highest scorer. If a depleted English team can sqaure the test series in Indian conditions then its a shame on Sachin, Sehwag, Dhoni and even Rahul for not rallying the team to success.

What Sun grid is not

This is my understanding:

Its a on demand processing space. It is not the application portal.

The application should be self contained. The application should not use other networked resources

It does not guarantee high performance. The application is responsible to use proper algorithms to implement the logic. Grid is as efficient as the application is.

Grid does not provide web containers for the servlets or EJBs.

The grid is not OS agnostic. It has to be a Solaris or Java app

Twenty nine is not 209

I woke up one day when I was in class 6th I guess. I had forgotten to complete my homework the other night. I asked for help from my Papa and I was asked to write 29 for something. I kept writing 209 again and again when I was reminded rather in a way that I was I think awake all day. Concatenation doesn't do maths and phonics can be deceptive. Even though 29 and 209 are both prime numbers but for sure twenty nine is not 209.

Frameworkitis - A funny word

Taken from http://www.artima.com/lejava/articles/reuse3.html

Erich Gamma: Frameworkitis is the disease that a framework wants to do too much for you or it does it in a way that you don't want but you can't change it.

Erich Gamma: Because the bigger the framework becomes, the greater the chances that it will want to do too much, the bigger the learning curves become, and the more difficult it becomes to maintain it. If you really want to take the risk of doing frameworks, you want to have small and focused frameworks that you can also probably make optional. If you really want to, you can use the framework, but you can also use the toolkit. That's a good position that avoids this frameworkitis problem, where you get really frustrated because you have to use the framework.

What eXtreme Programming is NOT:

Over a period of time I encountered people who said they follow the eXtreme Programming practices. With more analysis what I found was startling as Its quite often misused. xP is simple to implement and complex to understand its' essence. What XP is not is:

An excuse to not follow any process

To not apply design patterns

Collective ownership? Aha! Now I can change what I think the way it should be.

Lets scratch each others back and we will be alright

Scalability? We do not care.

The place I am leaving the bricks and walls behind of

Must have been a historic game

Cricket is a game of uncertainity. Be it 5-day tests or 100 overs one dayers. SriLankan's 398 against Kenyans were at one time seemed to be an unacheivable target. Lankans then were at the top of their game and Kenya had just started. Such a high score was understandable. What happened yesterday between Australia and South Africa was nothing much but a history. Sometimes a change in a rule changes the game. When 200/220 were considered a high score in '80s, the 15-over restriction rule made 300 acheivable, but 400? nah! Aussies made 434/4 and it seemed an unassailable target in 50 overs. Most of the teams will get bundled in less than 280 to try to acheive it. But what South Africans did is beyond the words - reaching this humongous target with just one ball to spare. And this contest was not between the two extremes of the teams but between two strong contenders of the next world cup.

Filling the vacuum with emptiness

I want to blog, to write something but do not know what? Its like trying to listen the sound of the silence or to fill the vacuum with emptiness. But I have to write so lets see what is happening around? The blogs.sun.com is down as it does quite often these days. And I can't get nostalgic reading what the sun bloggers are thinking. Conan O'brian is clowning and I can't imagine how can he replace Jay Leno in three years. My complex XSD eventually got compiled. The bunch of letters are sitting on top of my table waiting to be either shredded or being replied. But it feels good that I ended up writing this blog even though with an agnostic content.

Please love Scott McNealy

I would hate him leave Sun. People hate him, people despise him. I love him and is so many other Sun and ex-Sun employees for what he is - A fiery figure.

Blog link nuisance(s)

Blogs are supposed to be the reflection of the blogger. Its mine and only mine, my personal space. What I write is what I think and believe in. Then who do I invite? Who do I keep in my links? Should the blogroll reflect changes in my own thought process? Some of the nuisance are:

1. Damn! my manager blogs too. Now I have to link him on my page.
2. I don't know how to delete this person's link. I never liked him but I linked him once and now he's there.
3. His contents rarely change. Shall I remove him?
4. By linking him will I maintain my network?
5. He blogs about things I don't believe in.

Couldn't stop laughing

[courtsey: www.dilbert.com]

Politics going bad if..

If we do not manage it properly. Here is one fictious scenario:

1. Indo-US deal is ratified by the US congress.
2. US denies similar agreement with Pakistan.
3. China criticizes US.
4. Pakistan turns to China.
5. China signs similar nuclear deal with Pakistan.
6. Situation in north western province worsens.
7. Top terrorist killed in Pakistan.
8. Iran does its' first nuclear tests.
9. Iraq splits.
10. Iran assisted terrorists from Palestenian land attack Israel
11. Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facility.
12. Failed military coup in Pakistan.
13. US lands its' first military attache in Pakistan
14. Civil war breaks out in Pakistan.

The world can prevent this from happening If:

1. Pakistan signs a nuclear deal with China
2. US ratifies it.
3. Russia reaches an agreement with Iran to supply the nuclear energy.
4. Democracy is established in Iraq
5. Hamas changes to a political front.
6. A sovereign Palestine nation is born.
7. Top terrorist dies in Afghanistan
8. Government in lebanon changes.
9. US pulls out of Iraq

I wish I was 90

Cuz, I hate preaching at my age. But there are things which do matter to me and how I judge people. Five things which makes me uncomfortable:

1. If you can't laugh at yourself.
2. If you can't listen to the criticism.
3. If the intentions of the discussion are hidden.
4. If you are thinking something else and saying something different.
5. Arrogance

5 good things for Unix

1. Ubuntu
2. GNOME
3. No more releases of HP-UX
4. Open sourcing Solaris
5. x86isizing it

The significance of Indo-US nuclear deal

Even if the US congress does not ratify the Indo-US nuclear deal promised by George Bush during his first India visit, it has a lot of symbolic significance. The Indo-US relations are important for the following reasons :

• India's largest opposition party [N]ational [D]emocratic [A]lliance led by the Hindu nationalist BJP was known to be the key architect in working towards the Indo-US relations. The ruling Indian National Congress didn't deviate from this path. NDA in the past had not changed the decision of the then congress government in opening up the economy. What it means to US is that the relationship is not bound to one person or one party, Its with the nation and where its headed.


• Its a reward to the democracy.


• Even though India has not signed the NPT it has a very strong safeguards against it and very good track record.


• India is a country of religions. It has a Muslim president, a Sikh Prime minister, the chair of the ruling congress party is a Christian and her two kids are Hindus. Its easy said but the fabric is hard to acheive. When we find in other regions with two communities of the same religion having highted tensions, India lives with 150 million Muslim population, 80% hindus and 5% Sikhs.


• Its a well known statement by some US official : "150 million muslims and no Al-Qaeda".


• Peaceful left party and muslim demonstrations greeted Bush to India. It demonstrates the freedom of speech in the country. These demonstrations were louder than the sound of two suicide bombings at the US consulate in Karachi in the neighboring Pakistan.


• Clinton's visit to India were as historic as Bush's. India doesn't look upto one political party in US but as a nation.


• India does not want to rely on the unstable regions of the world for its' energy needs.


• We need more energy dammit!

The split second awakening

My TV was on, my alarm clock just went off and I was still sleeping. NBC was running the news when I heard India and [...]. In the split second my brain filled in the gap - India and Pakistan. But the word was wrong and the training my brain took over the years needed a new dictionary. It was India and US. The context "India" appeared in the US news in was different. I was awake by now.

Does thought have any language?

I know you can take this topic in any direction. Practical, philosophical or somewhere in between. The reason of me blogging is the constraints the Indians face in India on the career choices they have to make. I have rarely seen any professional books or atleast the quality ones which are written in any native language. Most of the Engineering (I can speak of Computers), medicine and management books are written in English (or not written in any other native language of the country). So, if you do not know English (?by Indian standards) or lack the capacity to learn it, its close to impossible to make such career choices. Management is the worst among these. I don't think in India you can get a management degree without knowing English. I am not an educationist and do not know what practical reasons there could be to apply such constraints. I do know though that a language itself (not its' literature) has no role to play how we think, we manage or make decisions. Then why should the Indian education system put such restrictions? Professional degrees should be agnostic to any certain language. If thats true with other countries then why not India?

The best cops

So there was a competition one day to find which country has the best police force. Four finalists were selected : Americans, Russians, Israelis and the Indians. The task was to find an elusive tiger in the dense forest of sunderban. Americans were the first. With all the high-tech gadgets and global positioning devices they figured out the tiger was possibly near a den towards the west. The time taken was 10 days. Good, but not better than the Russians who found the tiger's location somewhere close to a corses' of a deer. With the help of some satellite imaging they did it in just 8 days. That was tough but fell short to the well connected Israelis. Israelis were good to put listening devices all over the forest and monitored the tiger's movements. It took them just 5 days to mark the exact position of the tiger. It was too good to beat before the mighty Indian's went in. No communication for 5 days. Looked they lost to the Israelis. None of 8 either. Huh! third place? No! they were gone for 15, then 20 and then 30 days. Everyone was worried. Looked like as if they lost the way back or the tiger ate them alive. American's, Russians and the Israelies got together. After some searching, they found the Indian team all excitedly yelling near a tree. They had tied up a big bear to a tree and shouting "kabool tu sher hai.. kabool ki tu sher hai" (Admit you are a tiger.. Just admit you are a tiger).

10 things to say to make an Indian happy

10. World has so much to learn from India
9. I want to play Cricket, Can you teach me?
8. The next century belongs to India
7. China can't beat India in the long run
6. Yeah, you can get the visa very easily
5. Materialism is killing the west and yoga is the answer to every peril.
4. Indians have achieved all the technical advancements on their own.
3. Sukhois are the best fighter jets
2. The corruption will go away in few years
1. Pakistan sucks.

The bread and the cat

Old grandma stories never seem to lose their value. One of those is the story of a piece of bread and the shrewed cat. One day two monkeys stole a piece of bread from a shop and were fiercely fighting over it. A shrewed cat kept watching at first then went to help them out. She took the bread, cut it in two pieces - one bigger than the other. One monkey objected to see the other getting the bigger piece. Cat ate the smaller one and did the same for the bigger piece again. She kept doing it till she ate it all. Whatever the era is it seems some monkeys never understand this story.

Conversation of an inmate in 2030

Inmate : What can I do? I was trapped in greed. Afterall I am fedup eating veggies and things I don't like. From who knows where I saw it and my hunger took me over. Yes I killed it and ate it. I forgot that it was an endangered species. Had the people in early 21st century not culled these birds in millions I would not have been in jail today. For some reasons or the other the humans are notorious to make birds extinct. First the dodos and then the chickens.

Don't build the Moon

Don't build the moon, build the path to reach it. The failure rate of building huge projects is always very high. Small projects and small teams are always likely to succeed. Quick meetings, quick decisions and grabable goals are the essence of success. So, how do you build a huge bridge? You don't build bricks and steel you buy them and assemble to build it. You create components with straight forward scope and simple interfaces and then hook them together to perform. Growth is good when its either straight vertical or plain horizontal. Slanted buildings are doomed to collapse.

The French connection

[The blog is based on some readings and not intuitive]
France was one of the very few countries which did not ban nuclear and other military cooperation with India in the wake of nuclear tests in 1998. For any military a reliable supplier is very important than anything else. Even though India is getting closer and closer by day to the US but the past sanctions on the Indian military establishments and 1971's aggressive and threatning political games are still some of the wounds which time needs to heal. No army wants to get its' supplies dried out in the midst of a confrontation. Even though a distant one now but with the US suppliers vis-a-vis Pakistan its a possibility. Relations with France is important to India. Indian airforce operates a good number of Mirages as one of the frontline fighters. India also needs an interim submarine and French Scorpene is the top contender, till it completes its own nuclear ATV. The relations though have not been very smooth lately. The payouts to the middlemen in the Scorpene deal, scavanging Clamenceau and its recent submarine deliveries to Pakistan have raised some concerns. But more or less India and France need each other and it will take some dramatic and stupid actions for India to start disliking the French fries.

There was a king...

So there was a king. He went hunting and in search of a gazelle went deep inside the dense forest. His troops lost him and worried as he left his food and water behind. Suddenly in an abrupt storm he lost his way back home. The situation worsened when a tree branch fell over his legs. Unable to walk with a broken leg, frustated, depressed and hungry the king was in a dire need of help. A group of squirrels were watching him as he fell and broke his legs. They knew he needed food to survive. It was their territory and they knew where to find it as it was hidden beneath the dead leaves at a stones throw from where the king fell. One kind squirrel decided to help him out. Went to him and ran towards the food and came back. Did it again and again to help the king find the food. Already dying with hunger, amazed and quite annoyed with this gesture the king could not figure out what this commotion was. But the king was intelligent and the real survivor. He took his sword and threw it on the squirrel. The king thanked his angels as he ate the dead squirrel. The king survived and the next morning his troops found him. Way back in his kingdom, he narrated the story and thanked the squirrel for his sacrifice to save his life. He made Squirrel the national animal.

Why don't Australians read my blogs?

The map speaks for itself. I know there is a huge ocean between us but see others have crossed it too :-)

Could soldiers feel the same?

"But the image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind. I fired, and there's Harry falling. And it was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life, at that moment." - Vice President Dick Cheney

By Mr Cheney's interview it looks like he was a little depressed. Could the soldiers feel the same when they shoot an innocent person? I am glad there are some feelings which a common person like us and our leaders share.

And now yahoo...

Disturbing(?) news : "The statement came as Yahoo faces increasing criticism about it giving the Chinese
government personal information about two of its users - actions that activists say resulted in the imprisonment of two Chinese dissidents."


Not sure if these companies give any informations on paedophiles and other offenders but political activists? Oh yeah they are game.

Do it yourself - sequel

If you can do it, do it yourself. This is a sequel to my old blogs Is vendor support a myth? and Will you buy a free product? but this time with a real story. The sump pump at my house was not working and I had no knowledge of how its installed or what it takes to get it fixed. Called a plumber who sensed my gullibility and gave an estimate of $604 with a coupon of $25 (what a help!). I had been in this situation before and I knew there was something wrong. Went to Home depot and found a sump pump for $75. Talked to some help and came back to get it done myself. With taxes $87 and 15 mins of my own labor. Is it not similar to the software development too? If you can build the expertise by partenering with the open source communities I am sure teams/companies can build there own applications. Money saved? I will leave the extrapolation to your imagination.