CBZ Xtreme

The king is back ! If you have been watching TV, then the teasers are already on - with the catch line "from the makers of the CBZ". Finally the beast gets its due.

The CBZ had been the bike I always liked. Its still my first love. And it sure feels good to see it is going to come back. If you have not seen the ads then check them out at the new site cbz Xtreme.

As homage, I have changed the backdrop of my desktop with a backdrop of the CBZ. IF you need the wallpaper, just ping me!

Happy Dusshera

Happy Dusshera to all !

Historically Dusshera has been a day which is being celebrated because of the victory of Rama over Ravana. Oft it is shown as a victory of Good over Evil. But, the ramayana by Ashok Bankar has given some food for thought. What if it was not exactly like this ... but was a bit different ? History often is not as it happened but as the winners want to show it happening. (By the way , I strongly recommend this 6 book series of the Ramayana as told by Ashok Bankar).

To all my readers - guys, sorry for no updates, and for the inordinate delay in publishing the comments, I was out of town. Took a vacation and did not want to touch a computer or come online all throughout that time period.

Headhunters please brush up your spellings!

I got the above email about an opening as a kernal developer. Who in the right mind would want to join a company which advertises kernal ??

The sad state of Indian companies is that there are more openings than there are qualified people. And no - I do not mean qualification per se - we all know how little knowledge we get in college. But I am talking about people who know what they are supposed to be.

I take interviews for my project. And man, do I have a big problem. People dont even know the fundamentals of C++ and want to join! And this is I think happening because headhunters like the one above - are flooding the market with substandard resumes. No wonders that inspite of being the hottest outsourcing destination, India is still having very mediocre companies. And this is another reason why MNCs are setting up their own shop here. The indian obsession with head count is really shooting ourselves in our own foot.

If I had a company, this would not be the way I would go about to get good people in my company. I dont look at increasing the headcount . I don't want to be a GE or IBM with thousands of employees (and then layoff them later). I would rather have a few hundred of exceedingly good people ( like Google ) - and I believe that going through these headhunters is not the right way.

Joel has an excellent article on this: Finding great developers . IF you recruit, or interview or are thinking of starting your company, read it.

The roadblock to Windows

I am not a fan of Microsoft. I like Linux. And this example just shows why I am moving more and more away from MS and more and more to linux.

I just wanted to check out Media Player 11 Beta 2 for windows. Its a beta software.

So, you go and download it from their website. Then, 22.5MB of download later, you start the installer.

And what do you see ?

A screen which says, nay orders you, to validate your copy of windows before you can install a beta software.


Genuine advantage ?? Crap ! My copy of windows is an office copy. Running on my office machine. It has already been validated during the 'security update' phase. And still the folks at Microsoft are not trusting me enough to let me install a 'beta' version on a validated install of windows.

Clicked 'cancel'. Thank you very much - but no thanks. I will continue using winamp. I will continue to work on linux at all the opportunities I get. I dont like anyone - especially a company - policing what I do.

BN to Goa

BN is having a big get-together at Goa ! 20 nomadic riders are going to converge at Goa from various locations around India and have a blast in Goa... sun, sand, surf, bikes!

For those who dont know, I had started the group in 2002. We are very low key, don't advertise at all, and yet, we are growing. Awesome ! Kudos to the whole group.

911

Actually quite late in the day to write on this. But got interested after seeing a co-incidence on the TV.

911. What does it remind you of ?

• Most people will be reminded of 9/11 when the planes crashed into the twin towers (sending the ratings of the News channels soaring)
• 911 is the emergency dial no in the US (think of 100, 101, 102 all rolled into one )
• in 1906, Gandhi started the satyagrah movement
• in 1962 , the Beatles recorded their first single "Love me do".
• in 1972, the Munich Summer Olympic ended.
  
• in1954, the Miss America paegent was telecasted live for the first time.
• Birthday of O. Henry

more stuff you can find out from where i found out :

• Today in history (msnbc)
  
• Those were the days
• On this day (new york times)
  

For your desktop

I am not a very good photographer, but sometimes, I amaze myself ! Click on he pic to get the big view and set as your wallpaper :-D

Top 10 cameras on Flickr

Everyone knows about flickr right ? One of the most popular online image storage sites. Upload your images and share with your friends kind of thing, which is quite convenient to use. Yeah, even I use it.

Ever wondered the cameras that are the most popular with people ? What are the top 10 cameras being used by the people ? Now you can know ! Check out :

• Top 10 Cameras on Flickr

My camera is ofcourse not on the listing :( . Its actually now out of production after just 3 years or so, so I cannot even link it here !

Another interesting feature on flickr is that you can now geotag your photos ! What does it mean ? Well, basically if you have taken a pic in some location, you can add the info about the place to the pic and it will show up on the map for that location. Very cool to keep track of the pics from a particular place like say Delhi :-)

Hold on, Don't Fall

Warning : Philosophical Thought

We live in a competitive world. Everyone wants to succeed and not fail. Everyone operates under a constant pressure striving not to fail.

People get stressed out. They are told to be positive and think good etc. But its easy to give advice - even easier when someone does not know what it really means, and I think the 'be positive' is one advice which sounds good, but most people dont know what it means.

I too did not know. Its difficult to be positive when everything is going wrong. And then when someone comes and gives unsolicited advice on 'be positive man' ! you feel like strangulating that @#$@.

So, what the heck is it all about ? How does one succeed ? We see people succeeding and we think - " hey - I can also do that - but I dont succeed ! Why is that?".

It takes some different approach to think positive. And I first realized it when I read an anectodal story some while back. I dont remember where i read it or what was the title, but this is how it went.

A couple of kids were playing on a tree under the watchful eyes of their parents, when all of a sudden, it became windy. The kids were caught unawares and got disbalanced , but somehow managed to cling on to the branches. Both the parents shouted encouragments for them to bear out the gust of wind. However one of them fell down, and the other did not.

The difference was that the one who did not fall heard his parent say "Hold on!" while the other one had shouted "Don't fall". Though both are saying the same thing - the first is a positive statement, the 2nd a negative one. And our mind, to work on a negative statement works the other way round. So, the mind processes the info as 'Fall-dont'.

Ah ! you say ! (At least I did ! )

It makes more sense if you think in hindi. 'Don't fall' becomes 'Girna mat'. So, the mind first thinks of falling and by the time it is through with the translation its sometimes too late to realize that the meaning was just the opposite.

And that is all there is to being positive. It is not about thinking good thoughts. Its about thinking winning thoughts. A person who thinks "I should not fail" is more likely to fail than a person who thinks "I should pass". Its a subtle difference but it works.

On my bike rides, i have had a couple of falls and scores of near misses. Whenever I have fallen the thought process has been something like "Oh shit! I am going to fall" and the next thing I know I am on the ground. And there have been lots of places where the mind says "No" to a fall, and miraculously I dont fall - even though I was in much worse situations than where I had the fall.

Think about it. Remember it. Dont put negative words in postitive statements - you will be more likely to fail.

And that is all that it really is. Its just a mind game you have to master.

Here are a few things to show the comparison

• I am not good enough vs I can be better
• I may not succeed vs I may succeed
• I am going to crash vs I am going to survive ( notice here its a reversal of the thoughts).
  

Amalgam of posts

Wow! I cant believe that I have not written an entry here for such a long time !

I still dont have anything original at this time to write, ;-) , so I am just going to post a few links from around the net. Stuff which is related to work and leisure.

Joel has some great articles on getting the correct people for the job. I dont think old age managers will agree to what he says, but a computer junkie it makes sense. Here are the posts :

• Finding Great Developers
• A Field Guide to Developers
• Sorting Resumes

Now that you are done with some heavy reading and how to interview/be interviewed, we move on to leisure. Right now I live an alternative life as a Night Elf in the World of Warcraft Game. As such I have started another blog on his life, and that also allows me to check out the new beta from blogger. Its neat - but still has a few problems like still not being able to place the images correctly. Anyways, the new link to the new blog is :

• World of Brahmos

And if you think I am nuts about gaming - check this out :

• Living a Virtual Life

On the biking front - not much happened. Hyderabad is one of the most un-happening cities i have lived in - which can be attributed to not having any interesting places around, bad roads , bad traffic sense and a very hot climate. On BN though, we recently created the Hall of Fame - which lists the achivements of some members there. :-D. And no - I dont lead the standings.

• BN HOF

Nagarjuna Sagar

On a day mass hysteria overtook everyone and people were busy drinking sweet polluted water around Mumbai, we went to a sagar of another sorts.

18th I posted on BN about riding out to Nagarjuna Sagar. But did not get any replies by evening. Disappointed, I went home in the evening. Just before leaving office , Swamy asked if anything planned on the weekend. I said, maybe to Nagarjuna Sagar on Sunday (as I was planning to get my bike serviced on Saturday). He said to let him know if I planned anything.

Reached home around 7:30 and got a call from GR "Hey are you going on the ride?". I said probably on Sunday. He said to make it on Saturday as he was to attend some wedding on sunday morning. Called up Swamy and told him I am going next day , he said he will confirm in an hours time ( but confirmed in 20mins). Called up Partha also who was going to a friend's wedding that evening, and was not too sure whether he would be able to come next day as he was planning to get sloshed. Got a call from him at 9pm that he was coming , and to just give a wakeup call next morning.

19th Aug.

Got up at 5:30AM. A feat for me as I was usually getting up at 9 normally. 6:00am got a call from Partha just as I was to call him up. 6:30 was at the Kondapur crossing (epark) for Partha as we were to meet up with the other guys at Paradise ( or Pyradice as GR spells it).

At Paradise

7:00AM reached Paradise to find GR and Swamy already there (though at different parts of Paradise). Moved off from there without waiting for tea/coffee as we planned to have it on the way. Reached the outskirts of Hyd where we stopped . Got a call from GR's wife telling about some naxal activity the night before and urging us to be careful - but since we were to go in another dir, it was ok for us. As we were on the call, Partha took off followed by Swamy. We left a good 5 mins later.The road is nothing much to write home about. Broken in most parts , and being broken further in parts to lay huge pipes . The pipes were left on the sides of the road, so it was kind of felt like riding in a tunnel with the tunnel outside ( imagine you have two tunnels and you are riding between them). Wierd kind of experience.

The day was becoming hotter. The day before it had rained but the day had dawned without a single cloud in the sky. A mesh jacket helps as it was really very hot. After riding around 100kms or so, we still had not met up with Partha, though we overtook a group of college guys riding to Sagar on their bikes (2 up). Both me and GR were doing around 80-90 and overtook them. A couple of them got enthu and tried to keep up with us, but soon fell back. Found Partha a few kms away relaxing on the roadside and waiting for us to catch up. The three of us rode on and stopped at the next town for a tea break. Swamy was not to be seen anywhere. Network coverage was flacky and we sent sms to him "where are you da?". As we were having our coffee break which consisted of maaza, the college guys turned up and we introd ourselves. They were quite happy to see us riding also on our way to Sagar.

15 mins we were on our way, while the college guys had just started on their food.

The last 25kms to Sagar are quite nice. nice sweeping curves, and at this time of the morning was without much traffic and we reached Nagarjuna Sagar by 10:15. Swamy was already there... relaxing under the shade of a tree. It seems that all the confusion started as Partha had to take a leak and took off rather in a hurry to find a spot, and Swamy went ahead of him and got confused whether Partha was in front or back ! Anyways, they had a long wait under the shade of a big tree. GR took the lead and we went ahead to the Dam.

BN at N'Sagar

From the bridge

It was a sight to see ( intermittently blocked by the power cables which seem to criss cross India and make it a pain to take good pic) with all the 26 or so gates open. Photo session over we decided to head back to the town and grab some grub. Found an AP tourism place which we thought would be quite good. Nice view of the dam, nice lush green lawns, ample parking space ... but no food ! GR looks at my and quizzilcally said "Our record is still being upheld". We never get lunch at the right time when we travel together ! It seems that this place serves breakfast between 6-9am and lunch from 12-2pm. Nothing in between except for bottled water. Asked if there is anyplace where we can get some grub and they pointed us to GreenVallery resorts ( another AP undertaking). There again they said only meals are available. So Partha and I started talking loudly about going somewhere else... and suddenly idlis and prui-bhaji were available ! ;-)

Having an early lunch, and with the time still just 12:00 we thought we might as well go ahead to the Attipotala Falls. After a short ride of around 20-25kms we came to the falls. Its one of those sub-level falls - where you have to hike down to get to the falls. There is a garden by AP tourism set up beside the falls - but it was full of picknickers - and required an entry fee - so we decided to give that a pass and instead hike to the base of the falls.

Lush green forests

The one thing I find interesting about India is how much it changes even a few meters away from the main roads. As we started down the steps , Partha and other started giving premonitions about how hard it will be to climb back !! :-D . As we hiked towards the falls, the flora changed from dry arid to a lush green forest - and the first view of the falls in the distance was like being in some other country ( which we dubbed Congo !). As we came to the base of the falls , we were met with a grizly sight. Goat legs hanging from between 2 trees ... probably as offerings to the spirits there. No real idea and we could not ask anyone else there.

Goat Legs ... no idea why

Attipotala Falls - up close and personal

Clicked a few pics. Relaxed in the cool shade of the trees and then finally started back the long climb ( well , it was not very long, but in the hot humid afternoon it sure did feel long !). Another long break to gather our breath when we reached the bikes and a discussion on whether to go back or head out towards Sriselam from there. I was not in the mood as last few weeks I had not been well, and already was feeling exhaution catching up (dunno why at this point GR forgot about the marriage he was to attend the next day), and told the guys to go ahead while I will head back to Hyderabad. Finally it was decided it was all or none, and so we headed back to Hyderabad , with another trip to Sriselam as the next trip to do.

As we passed Nagarjuna once again, we saw the college group of bikers just about reaching Nagarjuna . Friendly waves of hands and we were on our way back.

Now it was just a ride back , and all of us moving in a group at around 80-90kmph. The first stop was a cold drink stop. We figured it was less dangerous to drink Sprite (maaza was not availabe at that place) than to drink the groundwater, so downed around 8-9 bottles of sprite between the 5 of us (yeah, this gives you an indication of how hot it was! ). A few petrol filling stops later (petrol is now really more expensive! :( ), and we were back in the outskirts of Hyderabad. Saying our byes we headed out to our respective homes ( took me and Partha another 40mins to cover the remaining distance). Back home by 5:30pm !

Although the ride is nothing much to write home about, it was a good ride with some strange things (goat legs anyone?) thrown in , and a ride after a long long time !

Total Distance : 391kms.
Time: 11hrs. with breaks sight seeing etc.
You can find more pics on my flickr