They should be conferred Bharat Ratnas

For their exemplary achievement in their field of work.

• Rajani Kanth
  
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Amitabh Bachchan
• Anna Hazare
• Sam Manekshaw

Tribute to a legend we called Jobs

By the time I started my career in Software Industry Apple was no where at the fore front. It was a company that I heard people talking around me with lots of past tenses. For many months I believed it was another SGI - A cool company no one wanted. Only later that I found what it would have been liked to have experienced the storm Macintosh brought in the PC industry. First time in my life I wished I was older. For many years I was so overwhelmed by what Bill Gates had achieved that it overshadowed the aura of Steve Jobs, "Pirates of Silicon Valley" did not help. As I grew I started appreciating what Apple Computers stood for - Quality. Jobs was an icon. He brought in that sense of cool breeze. And he was the one who "Thought Differently" and succeeded. What else could anyone say but to quote this:
"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do"

How to be a successful Software company?

1. Build a rock solid product to keep fewer issues.

2. Hire a few star QA developers and keep them close to product engineers

3. Provide a easy to use web interface to report problems.

4. Respond to email as it is received.

5. Personalize the response.

6. Keep the customer in confidence by updates and describing challenges, if any.

7. Build a repo and build further on top of this relationship.

Barely it matters what your product is but it is going to be successful.

Bharat Ratna for Sachin

Bharat Ratna awardees should show exemplary achievements in the field of Arts, Science, Social service or Literature. Though the word sports does not appear in the statement but it is implicit. Sports is an Art played with in scientific parameters, produces and has one of the most well read literature and if look at Cricket does a great social service to unite the Country and Internationally. So included or not sports personalities achieving exemplary feats should be awarded Bharat Ratna. And what a beginning of it would be with Sachin!

Why I got disenchanted with my Karate Sensei?

Years ago I used to learn Karate, Shotokan Karate to be more precise. It was an easy thing to join. I was looking to learn some self defense and the Office Gym introduced a program on Shotokan Karate. I am not a very physically active guy so my reason to join was not to get exercises that I could do in 24hr fitness. I wanted to learn the art. And bang it started with a flyer. We had a sixth degree blackbelt as our Sensei. In the first few sessions he explained the history of Shotokan and how this is one of the few traditional martial arts still in practice. He also explained how many American Dojos are more into sports Karate and not the traditional ones. He explained Shotokan was about low stances, not so much moving and an art of very high concentration. Traditionally only one blow was thrown by its practitioners and the fight would be over unlike many frequent kicks and punches. It fit very well with a Guy who was slow, did not want to move, could sleep while in one stance and I was in. Sensei did not have to explain the history and give an impression he favored traditional and I could have been happily be doing sports Karate without really knowing its traditional variant. But the pretext set my expectations to a different level. I thought I was learning something more deadly than those romanticized Gym activities. I was enthralled.
The membership grew and more folks started going to his real Dojo. The class in the Gym started to become physical exercises and talks of participating in Tournaments started to become more frequent. Instead of how-to decapitate your opponent, points were given for touching your opponent's ribs during sparring. In no time I figured out I was into Sports Karate. There was no problem as such, I was still enjoying it but my expectations were thrashed and I started to look for reasons to leave. That reason came a few years later when Dojo fees were increased that I thought was too high for me. I was disenchanted with the Sensei and I thought he too became commercially inclined. I respected him. Next few months saw me taking a KravMaga class that I thought was run by some street fighters. I ended up joining Wing Chun paying more than what I thought was expensive and learned more in three months than what I learned almost in four years of Karate. There was nothing in the art itself, Karate is still as deadly as any other art but it was more to the sincerity of its coach that increased my keenness in learning. I left Wing Chun because work load along side my School turned out to be too much to handle. The gist of the story is it is very important to set the expectations right. It matters less what you are really doing what matters is if you are still steered in the same direction that you had set your feet on.

Best and worst of e-newspapers

I read a few news papers and here is my list of my reading pleasure ranking:

Rank (1): http://in.rediff.com - Simple and easy. News are mostly latest. Even though it does have a tendency to lean towards RSS/BJP ideologies but the newspapers simplicity is its greatest strengths. Providing yahoo like email service is an icing on the cake.

Rank (2): http://news.bbc.co.uk - One place to find the latest relevant happenings around the world. News you can call impartial and believable filled with quality English. News are easy to traverse through. A site I can trust with authentic news.

Rank (3): http://www.yahoo.com - Believe it or not, yahoo provides better news reading experience than many news channels and it is not even a news channel.

Rank (4): http://www.cnn.com - If you have to check the hottest news flash it is difficult to beat CNN.

Rank (5): http://www.timesofindia.com - I wanted to rank this last because of its poor reading experience. Unwanted advertisement flashing up over the news you are just starting to read is such an annoyance. It is the worst e-newspaper down right. Whoever leads it has made sure it looks totally non-professional some cheap ad-driven channel. That said still not ranked last because its better news coverage of India and Indian cities. City news are easy to find and can be reached without scrolling the page.

Rank (6): http://www.hindustantimes.com - Definitely a better reading experience than timesofindia but still the way news are arranged makes it difficult to traverse through what I am looking for. Many good news articles can not be reached without scrolling down. News content is not remarkable but does stay latest and literary articles are mostly worthless.

Program on BalKrishna Sharma Naveen

So if you happen to listen to All India Radio, Lucknow station do not forget to listen to http://drpratiksha.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post.html on Dec'8th 2010.

Five lessons from the last decade we are likely to forget in the next

1. Terrorism is evil for everyone.
2. Saving has no substitute.
3. War does not solve problems.
4. Political stupidity is shameless.
5. Peace does not mean justice. Its making brokers happy.

Why iRobot is the worst vacuum to own?

I don't think I am a gadget freak but systems that are "self-sustained" do attract my attention. My purchase of iRobot Roomba about four years ago was one such attraction. I had many choices then as I have now when it comes to cleaning your floors, but ease of use always tops my list for what I do and what I own. In just a couple of years I realized something got broke and after rigorous analysis I found it was the in built battery charger that was unable to charge the batteries. I found Roombas being sold in Costco and in Target and neither of these giant stores carried any accessories. What a bummer! This was the first time I was pissed. Anyhow, I looked up on the web and bought one battery and one external charger from Amazon. Amazon continues to amaze me what I can buy there but thats for sometime later. Roomba was back in business. By this time I already had three other working/partially working vacuum cleaners and out of the four I had I was very impressed by the cleaning power of that small Shark. Ease of use remained at the top of my list and I continued to roombatize my floors. I moved and after stuffing part of my basement with my stash I moved to another place and took just my Roomba with me. I could have taken Shark too but I left it there.
With in just a few months my iRobot turns it battery lights red even after the battery is just fully charged. At this time I do not know whats wrong. But still took a round to Costco and Target in hope that at least now I should get its accessories. Instead of buying a new vacuum cleaner I was still inclined to get a new battery. When I love someone my faith sticks there. Nope! Even after these many years while Target continues to keep one or two Roombas around they still do not sell any of its accessories. This time I was really pissed. I saw a good deal on a Dirt Devil and saw its bag completely full with dirt just after cleaning half of my apartment and this being just a fraction of the price I paid for Roomba four years ago. Roomba disappointed me. If you are selling something this pricey you need to make sure that its operating cost is kept to minimum. Its anybody guess why bag-less cleaners are so much popular today compared to bagged ones - it is about TCO. After paying $300 for Roomba I expected it to run for a very looong time by continuing to charge its batteries. And at least expect to get its so critical accessories to be available freely from big stores. I will continue to tell that I owned an intelligent vacuum cleaner but when it comes to cleaning your home I don't think I am going to recommend it to anyone. Its just one very bad toy to own.

Do not touch IIT selection process

For the record I am not an IITian. I wanted to be - a lot but could not be one, neither in Grad or Post Grad. And I do not think folks from the IITs are the only ones smart enough to work on the most complex Engineering problems. A recent panel has proposed to give 70% weightage to 12th grade marks - but I overwhelmingly oppose it. Why?

• There are many students who do not score well in the 12th grade but crack IITs
• There is no common standard for all the 12th grades. ISC is different from CBSC which is different from the state boards.
  
• Do not melt down the brand. IIT is meant to cater only the finest of the brains and is not an institute to produce just Engineers. There will always be plenty of good students who would be successful if they study in IIT but then there are plenty of RECs and State run Engineering Colleges that are not so far behind in their standards.
• IITs do not have resources to handle a huge stream of students and a College in every other city and still keep the same standards it is known for.
  

Five Pakistanis I wish were Indians

These are Five Pakistani celebrities who I respect a lot and would have love to have as Indians:

• Wasim Bhai Akram- He has been more pain in the neck for India than even a well trained Pak SoG soldier. A guy to salute, what an awesome bowler he has been.
• Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - A real maestro. His songs has united more Indians and Pakistanis than a series of CBM meets.
• Shoaib Akhtar - For some reason Bollywood and hence the rest of India loves to see a flamboyant and a little arrogant talent. What if his name sounds "show aib", so be it.
• Shoaib Malik - A guy who took away the heart of someone who the entire India loves. He must be someone.
• Ghulam Ali - He had put Ghazals back on the table in Hindi Cinema. We had more of his cassettes than any Hindi movie's. Don't hear him much these days though.
  

iPhone again - This time it removed an important email

For some reasons Apple iPhone keeps doing something or the other that does not let me settle down and love it. This time it deleted an important email - Just out of the blue. I was reading a yahoo email and accidentally it moved it to one of the other folders from Inbox. After searching a bit I found the email. I opened it and clicked the move icon and moved the email back to Inbox. Nope. Instead of moving back to Inbox it removed it. I spent hours to search on iPhone and email's web interface to find where that email was but could not trace it. No where to find. Thanks iPhone! With all your fancy bells and whistles you are proving to be a junk phone that I have ever bought - at least for me.

Chevy Malibu shares the Arjun Tank story

A little history - India in mid-70's realized a need of an indigenous MBT and embarked upon once seemed a never ending path. Today after three decades of ups and downs the development of Arjun has been completed as it now competes with world's other Main battle tanks. It will not be an exaggeration to say Arjun is one menacing beast but to no avail because its user has already taken a love route to Russian T-90s that India had purchased in mid 90's more so in panic. Today even though Arjun is a better tank its not going anywhere because folks it was built for have already made up their minds.
This story sounds so similar to what Chevy Malibu is today. I have rented so many cars in past many years and I can say for sure Malibu is one that has impressed me the most. But where does it stand against Toyota Camry and Honda Accord? Even with problems of Toyota if I have to buy one I would rather buy a Camry than a Malibu, renting could be another story. Its called a proven platform in the changing world. I will be ready to give Toyota a pass for its problems because I believe they are serious in delivering the same quality that it once was known for. With GM, no.

A week with Six companies

This has been a week where directly or indirectly I interacted with six companies for the services I use. Here is my rating out of 10 with 10 being highest:

• Costco - Went to buy a Sleep Science mattress. Costco only carries them with online orders. Ordered one online with tentative shipping day between 2-4 weeks. Seemed a lot. The next day I receive an email that the order has been fulfilled and Mattress has been shipped. Rating - 8
• Sleep Science - A manufacturer of memory foam mattress. I have used NovaFoam toppers before but this 10" mattress is just awesome. Not as good as Tempurpedic but the cost difference vs quality is just too close. Rating - 9.5
• UPS - Costco shipped the bed with UPS who gave me shipping time between Morning 8AM to Evening 7PM. Not something you can plan your day around. Because of this vague time slot I had to work from home all day. A shorter slot could have been much better. Mattress arrived around 3PM. Rating - 7
• Comcast - A company slowly that is getting difficult to pass by these days. I had to transfer my services to this location. They were good to give me a time slot between 4-6PM. The technician arrived at 6:30 - so not good. Looked friendly but he found he needed an amplifier as signal was too low. He was not carrying an amplifier which I would think should be part of their installation package in case required. He plugged some basic cable with a promise to come tomorrow between 12-1PM to install the rest. Rating - 6
• Apple - A company that boasts itself an epitome of perfection. I have an iPhone so this has become an ongoing thing. I had bought an iPhone compatible data cable because of repeated issues with one given by Apple. This cable worked with my iPhone for close to two months and I carry either this or Apple's when I travel. Last night I suddenly get a message that cable is not compatible and cannot be used. With USB being the only option to charge this phone, my iPhone discharged over the day. I wanted to give Apple a big zero for the premium they charge and pain I am having but giving a benefit of doubt over using a cable not from Apple. Rating - 1.5
• Sprint - I have a Sprint data card that has been a key to my productivity because the nature of my job where I cannot expect a Cat5 around all the time. In December'09 Sprint offered me a complementary upgrade to their 3g/4g device. Soon I found it was not a complementary upgrade but a Test Bed of it's new technology. I am sitting at the heart of bay area and this device has trouble finding the signal. It connects and disconnects intermittently severely affecting my work. Spent close to 30mins with their technical support who could not fix it and asked me to go to a near by store. I feel cheated by Sprint. With no phone and this flaky internet has put me almost isolated. Rating - 0
  

Could someone please shutdown zillow.com

Attached snapshot says it all.. With illogical zestimates, this site is not only confusing buyers but also depriving sellers of the fair value. How could a condo in an area where prices have dropped and recently sold for $129K now is zestimated a hopping $300K? I am pretty sure the owner has not replaced its walls with golden bricks.

My Name with ditaa

Why should I pay a single penny for Windows 7 upgrade from Vista?

I bought a Sony Vaio with Vista Home premium edition about a year ago. It looked good with new Apple-type interface and I brought it home. It did not take me long to find this was the worst OS Microsoft has ever produced. The most irks I got to find out that I could not VPN to my work network as it failed to connect. With no Vista support offered by my Company I was stuck and had to continue with my other very bulky Dell with XP. This weekend I had a chance to look at Windows(7) at a local BestBuy. It did not feel even a little different from Vista. Now Microsoft is asking for $129 upgrade fee for it. Why? When did I ever use my Vista properly at the first place? You sell me a buggy, practically non-working OS and then asking for a fee to get it fixed, if they have? Isn't this keeping Vista users hostage? Unless I shelve another $129 on top of a costly purchase that we already had made they do not have any other options. For me Windows(7) has already failed in the first week of its launch.

This much snow in Denver in October

Majestic Bird behind the window

Season's first snow