blogging in MaraaThee

This past weekend I discovered something that would let me type in Marathi or any devnagari script. http://www.baraha.com has the software to type using an english keyboard and to convert the text to the language of your choice.

Here is my first attempt at writing my blog in MaraThi.

मला बरेच दिवस मराठीत लिहाव असे वटायचे. पण बहुतेक वेळा मराठीत टाईप करता येत नसल्यमुळे अडचण व्हायची. आता या बरहामुळे

खूपच सोय झाली आहे. मला आता मुक्तपणे मराठीत लिहित येऊ लागेल. आणि माझ्या मराठी मित्रान्ना पण मी जे लिहितो ते वाचता येइल.

 

आत्ता एवढच पुरे. पुन्हा लिहे पर्यन्त ......

 

तुमचाच

 

सुधिन्द्र

Bangalore Traffic is ridiculous

Went to buy one book and got stuck in traffic for 2 hours. Bangalore traffic is getting worse by the day. Also was confronted by a police for crossing the No Entry sign. Felt really good when I convinced him that I was honestly unaware of the new developments since last night and that I would be more careful. Atleast he was understanding.

Successfully installed Ruby on Rails

+++Ruby on Rails
To start with Ruby on rails download rails and then look at this short tutorial http://manuals.rubyonrails.com/export/html/7
Also look at these videos for installing on windows http://www.loudthinking.com/arc/000328.html
Download Mysql jdbc connector from
http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/3.1.html
If MySQL installation or configuration fails and you get an Error: 0 or Error:1067 meaning you are not able to start or stop MySQL service
try deleting the service by typing the following at your dos command prompt
C:\> sc delete serviceName e.g C:\>sc delete MySQL
Also when you uninstall MySQL it does not delete the files and directories. Better go and delete them manually. This will also ensure that the next install does not get messed up and you don't see the above errors.

Version Control Systems - Issues

Version control systems(VCS) are developed to record and retrieve version history of any piece of data. But version control systems often restrict the way we develop software.Unknowlingly for us a version control system has become indespensible. VCS becomes very importantin agile as it gives us the flexibility to track changes and deliver the 'last known good solution'to the customer. Going back to a previous revision is as easy changing the date on your desktop calendar.
But proprietary VCS that are often times a package in combination with an issue and project tracking system are often times a pain to work with. Especially their ever complex(generic?) interfaces makethem hard to use. From the developers perspective this is sometimes a lot of pain since integrating the VCS with continuous integration system and also using it with commandline tools(unices or dos) becomes difficult. Though from a customer's point of view a single point solution is an asset that (s)he does notwant to part with.
This leads us into a trap where it becomes hard to develop when complying to customer's requirement of VCS.
To circumvent this problem one can think of an easy solution. I term it VCSFreek.

VCSFreek

VCSFreek is a system that allows you to use your favourite VCS systemduring development and also allows you to comply with your customer's requirements.VCSFreek is a daemon that kees the two VCS systems in sync. VCSFreek works by periodically(user set) checking out files from one VCS and checking it into another.When doing this VCSFreek will make sure it copies/inserts all the informationrequired to maintain sanctity in both VCS systems.

BnB

Dated when BnB was released.....(accurate enough isn't it)

Life is like Bangalore you can explore it or ask for directions - I ask for
directions!

Watched "Bunty aur Babli" with Arthur and Karan today. We were desparate to see
any movie ... no tickets were available in PVR in classic cinemas. So indulged and
bought tickets for Gold class(500/- a piece with a meal included has lazboy
like "recliners" for 30 and the waiters take orders as u see the movie - only
in Bangalore and Delhi). Have not repented yet .. liked the movie and the
theatre...Watched "Bunty aur Babli" again with Rajeev Singh and Vipul Garg. Liked
Amitabh as the police inspector especially when he enters the scene with a
couple of jokes.

Recommended reading
Guns, Germs and Steel - anyone who knows any history should read it

Note to self - Get some research done.. or you can never get that Phd of urs.

Blogging is also an art - You should be able to tell short and sweet stories.

Marathon in Bangalore

Marathon in bangalore pictures

Banging in Bangalore

Guinea Pig speaking

I am glad to call myself a guinea pig. Especially after having read the Hitchhiker's guide.I have a few reasons to do that. I was selected to be a fresher at the first and only Bootcamp organizedby ThoughtWorks.It all started when I was recruited back in Oct. The recruitment itself took a while but nevertheless ithas been exciting to be with this company.
I was being considered for a fresher developer position. It all worked out well in the end (after a set ofa rather long interviewing process - though the interviews were crisp and short). After doing better than I expectedI joined TW in November 04. I was then informed that I was visiting my home(India) for a bootcamp in Bangalore.The bootcamp was to last for 12-16 weeks where I was to be trained on the technologies like Agile and xp for the first fewweeks. Later I was to work on a project based in India.
It was nice to see some thoughtworkers on flight (Melissa, Jake and Warren)I was very much excited about this trip to India and the people I was to meet.We landed on Feb 12 2005 and were greeted by Neena and Kerri our facilitators and babysitters for the bootcamp.It was nice to meet Shane Ian and Peter. Nice of them to recieve us even though they had arrived the previous nite.
We had an introductory lunch at TGIF's(yes we have them in India now and one of them is just across from the office).Met a few more bootcampers.Was a little confused with who was what. That same day we had a visit planned to the airshowbeing held in Bangalore. The 2.5 hour bus ride more than tiring. We reached just in time before the end of the airshow. Couldsee a few acrobatics in the air. Not really exciting but got to meet and chat with few interesting bootcampers(Chris, Shane,Michelle and Tom(who was my flatmate)).
Rest of the bootcampers from abroad arrived Saturday and we had a chorum breakfast planned for them Sunday morning. We also met afew of the India office recruits(Srushti, Sharath and Vipul). Met KP(Kraig) for the first time. Found out what the hand sign meant(o///).We had TWI office dinner and a gift exchange in the evening. Gift exchange was really innovatively done.All of were asked to bring one gift peculiar to our home country and all of those gifts were collected on a table.Everyone of us were given a token number which was to be our turn on the gift selection. The rule was that anyone with a higher number couldsnatch a gift from anyone with a smaller token number. The one who loses his/her gift could choose another one from the table(which couldagain be snatched). Neill managed to get a set of elephants the first time. But they were so cute and typical of an Indian giftthat everyone after him wanted the same and were snatching them. But everytime Neill lost a set of elephants and he selected another giftfrom the table.. it turned out to be another set of elephants. And this happened so many times that in the end people stopped snatching them fromhim. He was just destined to get one of those.It was nice to see so many people after being the Chicago office and working from home for a couple of months.Now I knew ThoughtWorks really was made of people. And everyone of those was as exciting as the other one.
Bootcamp was to start on Monday at the Leela Palace. This was to be my first time to go into a Leela hotel. It was such a nice place - well decorated..and very prestigious. I could have only dreamt of going there.Bootcamp started with a lot of excitement. I remember even now the look on Ninna's face. She was a little scared but more excited about the fact thebootcamp was starting. I could see that the facilitators were jittery at the start and may be worried but things started on a realgood note and the kick off session went really well


Please pardon my laziness. This post has seen the light of the day with a lot of effort (and beating my procastination is a 'lot' of effort). Also be patientwith this blog if u are following this closely(why are u doing that? obviously you have nothing better to do.. so I think u can be patient...U could try to bug me about it... which if I realize early enough will be ignored.. so will be a waste anyway)

signed on 15th June 2005

Just Read and recommended
Blink and The Tipping Point - Malcolm Galdwell
The purple cow - Seth Godin
Good to Great - Jim Collins
same words different language - Barbara Annis

Reading
Advanced .NET Remoting
Jini -
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond