Hi All,
I don't know how many people really read this blog ;-) , but if you do, or you somehow stumble upon this place by some freak accident, I have stopped blogging here. From now on, I will be found happily banging the keys at :
http://www.employees.org/~vibhu/blog/
Why ? Cause I have my home page there ! http://www.employees.org/~vibhu is my home page, and I feel it to be more convenient to have everything at one place.
Drop by sometime and leave a message for me :-)
Apr 29, 2005
Apr 18, 2005
Review : The Digital Fortress
Rating : 2 Nukes
A story about how a coder writes an unbreakable program for encryption, which makes an agency known as the NSA go all bonkers trying to get the algorithm so that they can break the encryption - all for the "greater good".
Now, the book is an easy read, and you may even like it. But , if you are technically inclined, keep away from it. Dan Brown should probably keep to art and history at which he excels. But, tech talk is something he is very green at, and does not really understand. So, its a thriller - with a maniacal assasin thrown in for good measure - and a bunch of tech jargon.
Not worth a read ... and not at all upto the standards of The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons.
A story about how a coder writes an unbreakable program for encryption, which makes an agency known as the NSA go all bonkers trying to get the algorithm so that they can break the encryption - all for the "greater good".
Now, the book is an easy read, and you may even like it. But , if you are technically inclined, keep away from it. Dan Brown should probably keep to art and history at which he excels. But, tech talk is something he is very green at, and does not really understand. So, its a thriller - with a maniacal assasin thrown in for good measure - and a bunch of tech jargon.
Not worth a read ... and not at all upto the standards of The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons.
Apr 14, 2005
What is a game?
Let's be blunt. Games are drugs.
After reading the above, you just gotta read this article on the Genere addict !
A game is a pre-packaged set of stimuli and directed player responses that piggy back on existing human risk / reward systems and create a measurable psychological addiction.
After reading the above, you just gotta read this article on the Genere addict !
Apr 13, 2005
The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing
This is a cool writeup on interviewing candidates that a friend forwared to me. Talks about how to interview candidates and what one should look for in candidates. Its not about what they know - its about if they are smart and can get things done.
Makes a lot of sense.
Makes a lot of sense.
Apr 12, 2005
Just a passing Hi !
Gawd, back to work and already I am getting massacred. No, its not my work. Well, let me rephrase it - its not 'just' my work. Now, I am being pushed into the role of a Manager from the role of a Tech lead . However, since the folks I work with think I am good technically (hey ! that's news to me ! ) , I have to do my usual 'bug-fixing' work *and* take care of the team.
Team is pretty good :). The guys are good and work hard. Ummm... too hard at times I feel. But, nowdays I am bugged with small issues that crop up with their work as wlel.
No body said life would be easy - but they did not tell me it would be so hard !
So, I have been unable to write my trip log of my mamoth trip through india. And on top of that I have been thinking of revamping my website - seems like a distant dream now.
The bit of solace that I had was that I went and bought a couple of games - War of the Ring and Cultures.
War of the Ring is set in the Tolkien world , and is based on events which go in parallel to the main story of Lord of the Rings. So, in one mission you are Legolas fighting of Orcs overtaking your country. Well , you get the ideah ? Haven't yet come across Gandalf, but I guess if I keep on playing it a bit more, I will stumble across him too.. and where the heck is the Balrog hiding ? Come on baby ! Light my fire !
Cultures on the other hand is a totally differnt game. Its about city building. You build a city in ancient Viking Land. The graphics is like the Asterix comics and the pace is quite slow. For reading more about the fun story, click here !!!
Nothing much apart from this.
Team is pretty good :). The guys are good and work hard. Ummm... too hard at times I feel. But, nowdays I am bugged with small issues that crop up with their work as wlel.
No body said life would be easy - but they did not tell me it would be so hard !
So, I have been unable to write my trip log of my mamoth trip through india. And on top of that I have been thinking of revamping my website - seems like a distant dream now.
The bit of solace that I had was that I went and bought a couple of games - War of the Ring and Cultures.
War of the Ring is set in the Tolkien world , and is based on events which go in parallel to the main story of Lord of the Rings. So, in one mission you are Legolas fighting of Orcs overtaking your country. Well , you get the ideah ? Haven't yet come across Gandalf, but I guess if I keep on playing it a bit more, I will stumble across him too.. and where the heck is the Balrog hiding ? Come on baby ! Light my fire !
Cultures on the other hand is a totally differnt game. Its about city building. You build a city in ancient Viking Land. The graphics is like the Asterix comics and the pace is quite slow. For reading more about the fun story, click here !!!Nothing much apart from this.
Mar 28, 2005
Trip done
I am now back in my office. After covering 5380kms which took me through quite a big part of india. On my return leg, i visited Pushkar and Mt Abu.
Pushkar is a small town in Rajisthan. It's claim to fame is that it is the only place in India which has a temple to the god Brahma.
Mt Abu, is a hill station , again in Rajishtan, which has Jain Temples , carved from marble. The carving is exquisite, something which is to be seen to be appreciated. Some other pilgrimage sites are there too, but this was the main attraction for which i had gone. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the temple, and I could not get any pics of the amazing karigiri.
The return leg was :
Delhi-> Ajmer ( pushkar is 15kms from here) -> Mt Abu -> Ahmedabad -> Pune.
In all the return leg took me 4 days. The longest distance was covered on the last day, of approximately 650kms which I covered in 11.5 hours. The only issue was that it was getting hotter the more south I came. Finally, reached pune in the evening, feeling tired for the first time in the journey - more from the heat, than from the exertion.
The trip log will be up soon at my website, will blog here once I have done that.
Pushkar is a small town in Rajisthan. It's claim to fame is that it is the only place in India which has a temple to the god Brahma.
Mt Abu, is a hill station , again in Rajishtan, which has Jain Temples , carved from marble. The carving is exquisite, something which is to be seen to be appreciated. Some other pilgrimage sites are there too, but this was the main attraction for which i had gone. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the temple, and I could not get any pics of the amazing karigiri.
The return leg was :
Delhi-> Ajmer ( pushkar is 15kms from here) -> Mt Abu -> Ahmedabad -> Pune.
In all the return leg took me 4 days. The longest distance was covered on the last day, of approximately 650kms which I covered in 11.5 hours. The only issue was that it was getting hotter the more south I came. Finally, reached pune in the evening, feeling tired for the first time in the journey - more from the heat, than from the exertion.
The trip log will be up soon at my website, will blog here once I have done that.
Mar 15, 2005
India on 2 wheels
This blog is being written from Dehradun.
What's different this time around is that i covered the distance from Pune to Dehradun on my bike. In all I passed through 8 states and covered 3000+ kms, and that is only one way. Unfortunately, I can't upload pictures from here as the net speed is quite slow.
The route I followed was :
Pune -> Hyderabad -> Pench National Park (near Sioni, MP ) -> Bhopal -> Darrah National Park (near Kota, rajisthan) -> Jaipur -> New Delhi -> Dehradun.
I will be going back also on bike, the route being a different one. The only concern now is that, the further south I will be going, the hotter it will be, which would make riding a bit of a problem.
A note to all bikers and car enthusiasts - avoid MP as much as possible. There are no road there. They may have been there 20 years back, but now all you have is a landscape worse than a lunar one.
What's different this time around is that i covered the distance from Pune to Dehradun on my bike. In all I passed through 8 states and covered 3000+ kms, and that is only one way. Unfortunately, I can't upload pictures from here as the net speed is quite slow.
The route I followed was :
Pune -> Hyderabad -> Pench National Park (near Sioni, MP ) -> Bhopal -> Darrah National Park (near Kota, rajisthan) -> Jaipur -> New Delhi -> Dehradun.
I will be going back also on bike, the route being a different one. The only concern now is that, the further south I will be going, the hotter it will be, which would make riding a bit of a problem.
A note to all bikers and car enthusiasts - avoid MP as much as possible. There are no road there. They may have been there 20 years back, but now all you have is a landscape worse than a lunar one.
Feb 9, 2005
Black
Its been quite some time since I have posted here. Work was killing me, and I have just not had time for myself of late.
Finally, yesterday night I went for a movie after around 4 months. The movie is called 'Black' and stars Amitabh Bacchan. To say that the movie is good would be an understatement. Its a serious movie. A movie about a girl who is deaf and blind. That makes her life Black. Its a frightening thought - not to see anything and not to hear anything. But most of us, even with eyes and ears still don't see or hear.
The movie has given a different perspective on life. I know life is tough sometimes, and I have been going through such a phase for the last few months, but even then , life is better than so many other people's.
The movie has made me real sad. There was little else i could think about but the girl in the movie, and her teacher. Not a movie you would want to see, but you nevertheless should see it.
some more links for reading aout the movie :
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1233347,00110003.htm
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/050205/24/2jflh.html
Finally, yesterday night I went for a movie after around 4 months. The movie is called 'Black' and stars Amitabh Bacchan. To say that the movie is good would be an understatement. Its a serious movie. A movie about a girl who is deaf and blind. That makes her life Black. Its a frightening thought - not to see anything and not to hear anything. But most of us, even with eyes and ears still don't see or hear.
The movie has given a different perspective on life. I know life is tough sometimes, and I have been going through such a phase for the last few months, but even then , life is better than so many other people's.
The movie has made me real sad. There was little else i could think about but the girl in the movie, and her teacher. Not a movie you would want to see, but you nevertheless should see it.
some more links for reading aout the movie :
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1233347,00110003.htm
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/050205/24/2jflh.html
Jan 22, 2005
The 'Dhoom' Bike !
Now, I don't know how many of you have seen Dhoom. And If you saw Dhoom after seeing Torque ... well, you would have been crying (or laughing - depending on how you take it) all throughout the movie at how the bikes were mistreated by going at 80 or so and being told later on "Mein 220 pe tha. Woh to 300 pe ja raha hoga!" .
Well, the good thing is that it has made people sit up and notice bikes. Though they still have no idea about what these bikes and speeds mean... How can someone stand up at 220kmph is beyond me. I have been at 210kmph and it was tough to keep your head from shaking, even though I was
tucked behind the guy riding the CBR1100xx. Guess If I was also Abhishek bacchann ... naaah ! i would probably be taking some twisties under the rubbers ;)
The flip side now...
The 'so called' hero's bike is a yellow bike. And since I own a yellow zma, which can be seen from a mile away, all the kids think any yellow zma is the yellow bike in Dhoom. So - suddenly, after hitting Pune roads again after 3 months, I got a few shocks.
At the bridge near sancheti hostpital I stopped at the Signal. The beggar kids - who usually are begging by trying to 'clean' your bike with a really dirty rag, started to argue with me. He says - this is a dhoom bike. After being zapped for a few seconds, I say, no the Dhoom bike is bigger than this . Unfortunately, he would have no such thing - "nahi. yeh he dhoom wali bike hai' !!!!
And other such reports are pouring in from other parts of the city.
Another friend says that his bike is being called Ali's bike !!!
Another kid in my society cycles over to my bike in the evening and says - Karizmaaaaa !!! ( he actually said karizma and not karishma! ) . Man i was impressed. So started talking to him ( 5-6 yrs old kid). "Do you want to ride the bike?" . "Yes". "But it is too big for you". "So what.
I will remove the wheels - put my cycle wheels. knock of the silencer. and put pedals". Oh boy - kids today are too smart ;) . Managed to fend of the impending *doom* of my bike by agreeing not to sell it off but give it to him when he grows up ! Phew ! That was a close one ;)
Hillarious !!!
Well, the good thing is that it has made people sit up and notice bikes. Though they still have no idea about what these bikes and speeds mean... How can someone stand up at 220kmph is beyond me. I have been at 210kmph and it was tough to keep your head from shaking, even though I was
tucked behind the guy riding the CBR1100xx. Guess If I was also Abhishek bacchann ... naaah ! i would probably be taking some twisties under the rubbers ;)
The flip side now...
The 'so called' hero's bike is a yellow bike. And since I own a yellow zma, which can be seen from a mile away, all the kids think any yellow zma is the yellow bike in Dhoom. So - suddenly, after hitting Pune roads again after 3 months, I got a few shocks.
At the bridge near sancheti hostpital I stopped at the Signal. The beggar kids - who usually are begging by trying to 'clean' your bike with a really dirty rag, started to argue with me. He says - this is a dhoom bike. After being zapped for a few seconds, I say, no the Dhoom bike is bigger than this . Unfortunately, he would have no such thing - "nahi. yeh he dhoom wali bike hai' !!!!
And other such reports are pouring in from other parts of the city.
Another friend says that his bike is being called Ali's bike !!!
Another kid in my society cycles over to my bike in the evening and says - Karizmaaaaa !!! ( he actually said karizma and not karishma! ) . Man i was impressed. So started talking to him ( 5-6 yrs old kid). "Do you want to ride the bike?" . "Yes". "But it is too big for you". "So what.
I will remove the wheels - put my cycle wheels. knock of the silencer. and put pedals". Oh boy - kids today are too smart ;) . Managed to fend of the impending *doom* of my bike by agreeing not to sell it off but give it to him when he grows up ! Phew ! That was a close one ;)
Hillarious !!!
Jan 4, 2005
Then and Now (NatGeo)
National Geographic has a photo feature on then and now. The pics taken as early as 1930 and compared with the pics taken now of the same places. You can access it at the link :
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/0501/photo_gallery.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/0501/photo_gallery.html
Dec 30, 2004
Touch base in Pune
I am back now in Pune. The journey was a 40hr torture from the time I left the hotel to when I reached back in Pune. The saving grace was that I was travelling by Singapore Airlines. I saw the following pics there :
* Shark Tale
* Rrrrrr -> This was a french movie which is about a couple of tribes from the prehistoric era . Total timepass.
* Kal Ho Na Ho -> was shortened to 120mins. No kantaben scenes :(
* Catwoman
* Autin Powers - the Spy who Shagged me -> Yeah Baby !
Reached Seol after 17hrs 25 mins of journey, where there was a 1 hr stopover.
Reached Singapore after 6rs flight from Seol. Called up shashvat as the local calls from the airport was free and chatted for an hour atleast. Roamed around the airport and bought a few chocolates and MAD magazine.
38hrs of travel and I was in Mumbai. There was someone from KK travels supposed to come and pick me up , but he did not turn up. In frustration I took a cab to Pune - who got me into pune in 1.5 hrs !!! That chappie was driving quite fast on the expressway.
* Shark Tale
* Rrrrrr -> This was a french movie which is about a couple of tribes from the prehistoric era . Total timepass.
* Kal Ho Na Ho -> was shortened to 120mins. No kantaben scenes :(
* Catwoman
* Autin Powers - the Spy who Shagged me -> Yeah Baby !
Reached Seol after 17hrs 25 mins of journey, where there was a 1 hr stopover.
Reached Singapore after 6rs flight from Seol. Called up shashvat as the local calls from the airport was free and chatted for an hour atleast. Roamed around the airport and bought a few chocolates and MAD magazine.
38hrs of travel and I was in Mumbai. There was someone from KK travels supposed to come and pick me up , but he did not turn up. In frustration I took a cab to Pune - who got me into pune in 1.5 hrs !!! That chappie was driving quite fast on the expressway.
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