Dolores O'Riordan - Ordinary Day

Dolores, One more legend from Ireland, the other being " Bono and the Gang , U2"

An awesome song, by the former lead singer of " The Cranberries" . Amazing lyrics..

Me a huge huge fan of Dolores, no doubt about it..

Pick of the month for me .

Cheers,
Sandeep

A day to remember - Team outing, 27 July 2007

As I approach the weekend, I find myself amid one of those memorable events, which I would like to remember always. Its outing time for our team. Though I was not interested in the very beginning to be a part of it, but at the end I am eating my own words. Yes, I would have made a big big mistake, if I had missed it.

We started at 7:45 am in the morning, from our office and headed to a resort 40 kms away from Bangalore. After an hour and half drive we reached the resort. The Mount View Resort is on the way to Nandi Hills. Though the resort was comparitively small than what I expected, it provided fun, entertainment, which was indeed unparallel.

We finished our breakfast and at around 9:45 am we headed straight to the cricket pitch. The cricket ground was a small one, where the best of the best bastmen found it difficult to score runs, courtesy the rules which were laid down. I was a part of the team which got eliminated in the very first match.

Thought I dint play much , I did find much interest in something else other than playing cricket. It was commentatiing. Through commentary I was able to crack some of the wild jokes. I assume both the players and the spectators had an awesome time, watching cricket and can I say listening to my commentary? well you have to comment on it.

After cricket it was lunch time. After lunch we proceeded to have a Shuttle Badminton tournament for the ladies. We ended it by the prize distribution ceremony. We left the resort at around 4:45 pm. It was a fun filled day, loads of things did happen. I wish to upload some of the snaps, sometime from now.

Its over and out from my side. I sure will post something this weekend.

Till then , cheers

Tribute to all the men in the armed forces

As I approach my 50th post I wish to dedicate it to all the men in the armed forces.
You have made our country proud and helped us to lead a secure life

Tribute to all the men in the armed forces

You have made the country proud

Queen - A Kind of Magic

Freddie Mercury at his very very best

Kargil Day

On this very day, I would like to remember our Kargil heroes.

It takes tremendous courage to leave a comfortable life, and join the armed forces. Subjected to adverse conditions and never ending enemies, these people do their best, spend sleepless nights so that, the other country men, can have a secure and peaceful sleep.

I salute these men of honour, who have made our country proud..

Regards
Sandeep

Very important story

Click to enlarge

My attitude

Supercool lines , which are absolutely true.

About me - My own so called " Profound Thought "

" I don't work for appraisals,
Because appraisals' don't work for me,

I work to please my heart,
Because my heart works to please me. "


~~~~ Cheers

Air Supply - Goodbye

Another Awesome Retro Pick

Who says I am not a fan of Air Supply ????

Super cool thought

Something which I am copy pasting from ORKUT ....


Here it goes ....


" Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought " .

Day 2 - Sadashivgad, Gokarna, Murudeshwara

On May 20th, we proceeded towards Sadashivgad which is at little distance from Karwar. It was famous for its fort. One more attraction is the bridge which is over the river Kali. One more prominent thing to notice is this road which leads to Panaji. The road passes through a cliff. In other words the cliff has been split to make way for this road. Its just an awesome sight. The Sadashivgad fort is located on this very cliff. As you stand on the fort you get an awesome sight of the river.

From here we moved on to Gokarna. Its famous for the AtmaLinga in the ancient temple. We did offer a puja at the ancient temple. It was indeed a holy place. No doubts about it. It was the first time that I was here. I wish I get more chances to be there. Gokarna beach is also quite prominent. But here there were high tidal waves. Hence it was a short period before we headed on towards Murudeshwara

Murudeshwara is one of the famous tourist places of Karnataka. Its famous for the idol of Lord Shiva which indeed is breathtaking. After visiting the temple we headed towards the beach once again. It was the third beach in 2 days. We spent totally 4 hrs at the beach. It was 8pm in the evening before we retired back to the hotel.

Next morning we headed towards Kudremukh, Agumbe, Sringeri, Hornadu, Kalasa.
Coming up in the next post....

Day 1 - Jog Falls , Sirsi, Yaana , Karwar

We hit the roads on a rainy thursday evening, on a tempo traveller. Its indeed fun to have the company of rain especially while on a highway. We drove through Tumkur, Beerur, Arasikere and we reached Jog Falls early in the morning @ 6:30 am. Though there wasn't much an attraction at Jog falls, due to scanty rainfall during 2006, we did have a good time capturing snaps.

Then we moved on to Sirsi, which is about approximate 3 hrs drive from Jog Falls. Sirsi is famous for Marikamba temple. The temple indeed was an awesome place of visit. I wonder i never had been to that temple all these years. After offering a small prayer at the temple, we had lunch at a hotel in Sirsi. We then proceeded towards Yaana.

Yaana is a place famous for its cliffs. There are about 17 cliffs in total, that is what I heard. You could approach this place by two different routes. We probably took the wrong route and ended up walking 6 kms in total. But it was worth. Trekking is probably something which I enjoy the most on such an occasion. Walking all alone amidst huge tree cover , listening to the chirping of birds, huh, I call myself lucky to have done all these. After a lengthy trek we decided to move on. We headed to Karwar where we planned to halt for the day. The road which leads to Karwar is indeed an awesome one. You can see the Naval Base "Sea Bird" as you approach Karwar.

It was evening 5:45 when we reached Karwar. We decided to visit the Rabindranath Tagore beach. Yes it indeed was an awesome place. Standing on the beach, watching the lighthouse was indeed a special moment. For people from Bangalore, who are void of beaches, this sure was a moment to cherish. Before I could notice, it was already 8:45 pm, as we headed for dinner. It was at Karwar where we made a halt on the first day.

Second day indeed had loads in store. Coming up in the second post
"Day 2 - Sadashivgad, Gokarna, Murudeshwara

3 day trip to Karwar, Gokarna , Murudeshwar - May 19, 2006

Hey there !! I am back. I ve found what I have been looking for, yes its a TOPIC. I wish to present, as a post, what I did on the three days of May 19,20,21 , 2006. Its about a trip which I was part of, something which will always remain fresh in my memory lane. Yes, it was my first trip with some of my cousins, whom I was meeting after a loooong time.

Basically my cousins grew up in different parts of Karnataka. I did not have much an opportunity to interact with them during my childhood days.

It indeed was unique, because the trip was not 1,2 but 3 full days.

I wish to come up with 3 posts, covering briefly about my places of visit.

Nickelback - If Everyone Cared (video)

Awesome song indeed. No doubts. Chad Kroeger at his very very very best. No words to describe how good a song is this. Listen to it, you will sure njoy this one. Rock cant get better than this.

Amazng song.

Updates from my side

Well, its weekend time again, time to blog. But this weekend I have just kind of run out of topics. No clues about what to write. I would rather provide updates from my side, it was kind of good weekend where in I got a much, well deserved hike in salary, phew. It does open a new gate of opportunities.

Other than that I was busy all through the week, as usual coding, debugging. Hence I could not make much progress on the book by Sir Mark Tully, Oops I almost forgot I have the biography of Rahul Dravid queued up next. Hope I find some quality time soon.

One more important update is that, I will be going out on a team outing coming Friday. "Hope" I have a good time. Its my first team outing since August 2005, and to be frank I am kind of not interested in it, at all. But, but, I am governed by certain rules and regulations which I have to follow, hence cant bunk on that particular day, well lets see what God has in store for me on that day. Sure I would keep you posted about that event.

Well I end this post with a bit of inspirational thought courtesy PRAVSWORLD.com

Cheers !!

To be humble or not

This post is my last post for this weekend. I never thought of writing this as I have already mentioned a Poll on my blog regarding humility. But a post on my friends blog has got me thinking and thinking. Also today I saw a program on NDTV where in I came across something which added to my dilemma. Hence I thought of coming up with this post.

My dilemma is , does being humble and being successful at the same time are contradictory. Does it mean if, I am inclined towards being humble indicate I am away from success. Or if I am successful, am I away from humility.

I did find an answer in my friends blog, saying striking a median does the trick.

Today, I was watching the TV show "Walk the Talk" where in Shekar Gupta, the Editor in chief of The Indian Express was chatting with Sir Mark Tully, former BBC correspondent and writer. Here it was that Sir Mark Tully recalled a quote by Dr Manmohan Singh. I am sorry to say I only heard the quote but not the relevance it made to his conversation. The quote goes like this

" If you follow the middle way you are bound to be hit from the left as well as from the right "

Once again I was in a dilemma, thinking that , if we try to strike a median between humility and success, the above quote indirectly says we are not achieving either of the two.

Well, indeed I am clueless, to be precise at this moment in time, I am aiming to be humble, rest, I will leave it to God, who the almighty decides what next.

Importance of Saturday July 15, 2007 - My Belief

I intended this particular post, to be in Kannada. But somehow I could not do it at this moment of time. I hope to come up with a Kannada version of this post ASAP.

I am here, on a Sunday Morning , writing about the importance of 15 July 2007. I am just back from a temple close to my house. I had been to the temple @ 7 am in the morning, in my " Traditional BRAHMIN attire (Panchey and Shalya) " to attend a "SHANI SHANTI HOMA" peformed at the Sri Shirdi Sai Temple near my house. My mom told me the pujari would help me do a Sankalpa.

I would like to give a brief intro on the "SHANI SHANTI HOMA". Its on this day 15 July 2007 that Saturn (Shani) would enter Leo(Simha). According to English zodiac signs I am a Scorpio. But according to Hindu mythology I am Karka Rashi/Cancer. According to my knowledge, Saturn(Shani) was travelling along Karka Rashi for over a period of 7 and a half years and was now on the 9th Graha and about to move to Leo(Simha).

I believe a lot in mythology and Hindu tradition and above all I believe in and also fear Lord Shani, the most. In other words I am scared of Lord Shani. Hence I had been to the temple to offer a "Sankalpa" , trying to thank him for everything he has taught me over the past 7.5 years.
This post is another attempt to thank Lord Shani .

I attribute everything I am today to Lord Shani. Over the period of last 7.5 years I have learnt many things. I have even transformed from a stubborn, tempered, proud school going kid to a mature individual. I cant say I am humble as of now, but I am trying every attempt to be humble, down to earth. Over this period I have learnt to accept Failure as the stepping stone to success , speak truth and much more.

I would like to recall a quote by the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. It goes like this " The very insistence on truth has taught me to appreciate the beauty of compromise". I have indeed learnt to speak truth.

I end this post by thanking Lord Shani for what ever I am today. I was , am and will continue to fear Lord Shani all my life. But by performing a small Sankalpa today indeed, I did a small bit to impress the great Lord Shani.

To blog or not to blog

As I approach Saturday evening , there is one question which continues to make me think, over and over again. That question is whether to " blog or not to blog". Since past 3-4 months I am blogging.

Today my mother asked me, " what do you write in your blog". I said "Anything and everything". Hearing this my mom asked " Who has the patience to read all your posts?"
I was indeed clueless.

Today I had been to my friends place, I met Kranti Vikram and Nitin. We had a good chat about technology, salary and as usual our good old college days. They know that I blog and I recently had sent them a mail saying I had updated it. I was kind of very happy to know that they had read my posts. They were asking about my recent posts.Vikram asked where I had stolen the poem from ?. After this question can I assume my poem atleast was kind of good ?

Yes sure I can . Well, thank you guys so much. They were also kind of surprised to see many posts from my side and asked where did I gather so much of time to blog, read about technology, write code. I found a kind of answer to my question.

The answer is blogging has become one of my favorite past time activity. I do seek happiness through blogging. On knowing people have read your posts, carries me an extra mile.

I wish to remember every such day or occasion where I have seen something different , read something different or done something different . Hence I have named my blog " Chapters of My Life" . I post about my life .. What I do, my inspirations , past time, my kind of music.

Its good to get feedback. But I do recollect everyone does not have enough time to go through my lengthy posts. To all those people who read my posts, provide feedback I can say "load of thanks going out to you guys".

Thank you Blogger.

Meerkats

Its 14 July 2007, I am blogging on a saturday morning about my weekend activity. Suddenly I get an idea about one of the TV shows I was once watching. I dont remember which day this show was broadcasted. Thinking its either saturday or sunday I am coming up with this post.

The show is called " Meerkat Manor " on Animal Planet. It showcasts about this wonderful animal. When I was watching this show regularly , it was all about a family or meerkats , how they would live as a part of family, how they would hunt for their food, how they would breed, how they protect themselves and their babies from predators.

Somehow these days I dont find enough time to watch Television, Animal Planet is far away. May be I am myself avoiding watching TV trying to bring in self discipline. I dont know . Anways this post is about Meerkats



Meerkat is a small mammal and a member of mongoose family. It is found in the deserts of South Africa. A meerkat might weigh 725 grams on an average. The meerkat uses its tail to balance while standing upright. The meerkat has small black crescent-shaped ears that can close when digging to keep sand out.

At the end of each of a meerkat's "fingers" is a non-retractable, strong, 2 cm (0.8 inches) long, curved claw used for digging their underground burrows and digging for prey. Claws are also used with muscular hindlegs to help them climb the occasional tree. Meerkats are primarily insectivores , but also eat lizards, spiders, ants eggs and small mammals .They are partially immune to certain venoms, and eat (after removing the stinger)

Meerkats are burrowing animals, living in large underground networks with multiple entrances which they leave only during the day. They are very social, living in colonies of up to about 30. Animals in the same group regularly groom each other to strengthen social bonds.

Weekend Time - A Perfect Hobby / Weekend Activity

A weekend getaway is something which I have always wished. Since its still a distant dream, I look out for other options to de-stress me. The city traffic, work and the travelling distance has its toll on me. I sure am a dull boy at the end of the week. A perfect hobby is what I look to , inorder to pep me up, get me going on a monday.

Off late I have been blogging a lot. It sure helps me a lot. It was Aru who introduced blogging to me. I keep wondering why I did not do this few years ago. To be honest there s nothing like blogging. It indeed is a wonderful hobby.

I also listen to music during weekends. It does give a soothing effect. I do catch my favorite show on Radio Indigo 91.9 FM, every saturday morning @ 7 am. Its called " The Indigo Time Tunnel ".
I get to listen all the awesome chartbusters from the past. Elvis , Simply Red , The Police , Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran , Air Supply, Bangles are some of the artists/bands whose tracks I adore a lot.

Apart from this, I also look to VH1 for some more awesome music. VH1 classic is one program which I would love to watch. All the awesome songs of the past are here. There is also the Vh1 Big Weekend which I think is a unique concept. Every weekend tracks are played on a theme. If I could recollect there was a theme called " Forever Young Weekend ". Songs of all the artists of who started their singing careers one or two decades ago and who were still were rocking were played. I could recollect U2, Bon Jovi , Madonna and many others were there. One more theme was " Concert weekend " . Here all the songs handpicked from live concerts were played. This sure is an awsome way to unwind.

I also visit my friends during the weekends. I have already mentioned more about this under the post " The Necessity for an evening walk ".

Lots of reading is what I also enjoy on weekends. My goal is to complete one book per week [Non technical though]. These days I am quite occupied with work , hence am bit slow, unable to achieve my target. I also enjoy reading technical stuff, mostly pertaining to Microsoft Technologies.

Last but not the least I enjoy programming. I love to code, design. All over the week I do code and debug . But a pinch of programming, debugging , designing on the weekend is always close to my heart.

So these are the activities which keep me occupied over the weekend. Apart from this I do watch television but its restricted.

Weekend Time - A Perfect Weekend Getaway

Weekends never been more dearer to me, as they are now, since I have turned a pro. A perfect weekend getaway is what I have always wished. I would love to work for 5 days, the sixth day I wish to go out of town, have a ride along the country side, then come back on sunday evening , full of energy , raring to go.

I have always felt a drive along Mysore Road would de-stress me. This is very much true. The last time I was travelling along Mysore Road was with my cousins on a trip to Kerala. It did de-stress me a lot.

Though this has been a distant dream, I hope it turns into reality soon. I have two friends, who I assume, have no objections in joining me on a weekend getaway. Its Kranti and Nitin.

I even had a plan to go for a Jeep [I would not like to mention the MAKE] , which would perfectly fit in the budget and also a vehicle meant for country roads. However I could not convince my parents. They told it was a diesel vehicle and unfit for city roads. I am uwilling to buy any car other than a Jeep. Hence I am waiting for some more time before I could turn my dream of a weekend getaway to reality

Weekend Time

Its weekend time yet again. I get an opportunity and plenty of time to write something. I have no words to describe how much happy I feel when I post something. So everytime I get a chance, I rope in something new over here. This time I wish to talk about weekends. How big the role of a weekend, has been in my life , esp after I turned pro.

I would like to mention all those things I have done on weekends , since my childhood days , to this day when I am a pro and also all those things which I would love to do during the coming weekends

Excerpt

Its a Monday, 09/July/2007. I have got enough time to rope in a new post before I start snooooring, grrrrrr!!!!!!!!! . This time its a pick from one of the books which I am currently reading. Infact I forgot to mention, about this in my previous post. The past weekend I not only watched the Live Earth Concert but also started reading a new book.

Its "India's unending journey" by Sir Mark Tully. I have hardly completed one chapter, that I notice some awesome, unique quotes. I wish to do a copy paste of few of those lines. So here it goes...

" I start with my school days because it was at school that I learnt much of what I later had to unlearn in India.

I came to believe there was only one way, that life was all about winning and that academic ability was the only index of intelligence. Humility was not a virtue that was encouraged. "

Such a powerful line from a person educated in Britain, makes me say only one thing.

" PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN "

The way to Success

Click to enlarge

The Live Earth Concert - 7/7/07

The Live Earth Concert is a 7 continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07. Its assumed that 100 artists are to perform as a part of this concert all for one cause, unity against global warming. i was watching many artist perform at this very day, but one band stole the show with awsome drumming and fabulous guitar play.

It was " The Police ". The Police is a three piece outfit formed in 1977 and which split in 1986. But in 2007 they re-united to mark the 30th anniversary of the band.

I was totally impressed by their live performance especially the song "Roxanne" and "So Lonely" . I ve made most of my weekend, ie 7th july 2007, had a wonderful time watching the concert which was telecasted on Vh1.

I hope my post about global warming, did bring in some serious truth about our own planet earth. So its time everyone played a part in reducing the emission of green house gases. I end this post on a happy note ,as on this very day " The Taj Mahal " has found its place among the seven wonders of the world.

Waah Taj, Proud to be an INDIAN ...

Global Warming - A threat to mankind

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the earth.

As a result glaciers are melting, sea levels are increasing, there is destruction to wildlife.It's clear that humans are responsible for the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. These gases are called the greenhouse gases.

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse.

First, sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed and then radiates back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, “greenhouse” gases trap some of this heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped.

Carbon dioxide is the most important green house gas. It takes 100 years for CO2 emission to disperse. Driving your vehicle and leaving house lights adds on CO2 quickly.

Regarding my bit to avoid global warming, I ve involved myself in planting lots of saplings over the past 7 years some of them have grown into trees. There are lots of trees in my locality courtesy the Forest Department. There are lots of nurseries close by where in I could get some of the best saplings. Apart from this I do have a solar water heating system and have avoided the use of incandescent lamps where ever possible.

Global Warming , Live earth concert , 7/7/07

Its the 7th of July, the year being 2007, i am witnessing one of the biggest concerts ever to fight the climate crisis. Its a unique concert and a unique concept, intended to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming.

I wish to come up with a 2 post series where in the first post I give a brief intro to global warming and my bit of action against global warming . The second post is about the concert and one of the bands which re-united for a cause and indeed stole the show with their awesome performance. Then band is none other than " The Police " , yes Sting and the gang.

Here it goes....

My GURUS' of .NET

This post is dedicated to all those people who have taught me .NET , helped me to get a better picture of OOP, and above all helped me grow in this IT industry.

I would like to thank to Chandrashekar SK , N Prashanth , Rajesh Seth , Salil Kumar for their tremendous support and encouragement. Its because of you people that I am completing two successful years.

I joined Sobha Renaissance as a fresher in 2005. There sure is loads of difference between college an industry. There is a gap which needs to be filled up. I was indeed lucky to have found seniors who sure helped me out during my tough times.

Chandrashekar SK is one person whom I will mention first in the list. He too joined SRIT almost at the same time as me. He joined as a lateral. There have been many such instances where amidst his tight schedule he has helped me. Its from him I ve learned loads of technical stuff. Its he who helped with my overall technical skills, be it C# or database or coding or patterns. I owe it to Chandrashekar. Apart from being my senior and a person with loads of experience, Chandrashekar SK is a easy to approach person. I still cherish the days when we used to go out for a walk after lunch, on the roads of AECS Layout, Kundalahalli. Even today though we work for different organizations we still discuss loads of technical stuff over the telephone and on few occasions we do hook up @ Jayanagar 4th Block.

N Prashanth is the next person whom I want to mention. He too was my senior. It is Prashanth to whom I used to ask all my dumb questions. He is the person who helped me nuture my basics. I have asked almost all the basic questions and still continue to ask silly questions but his calm reply coupled with a smile does clear my doubts.

Rajesh Kumar aka Seth is the next person whom I want to thank a lot. Seth is the person who helped me write clean code. Its was my habit to write shabby code since college. Making a code work was my first goal. Cleanliness, readability of code was secondary. But it was till I met Seth. There were many such occasions after I joined SRIT when I wrote shabby code and approached Seth. It was on one such instances he taught me the importance of clean code , the spacing provided , the naming convention followed , the documentation provided. Its something which I am following since that day and will follow during the coming years. Even when I program @ home on sample projects, I do write very clean code these days. Thanks Seth , ur words have done their trick.

Salil Kumar, is another person whom I have to thank a lot. Salil is from a different technology. But he offered me loads of knowledge and inspired me a lot. He is the person who has inspired me to cultivate the reading habit. I still continue to read loads of technical books. I do a lot of coding from my home and also in office. Its very important to read a lot and keep yourself updated with latest technology. Thanks Salil for your inspiring words. It sure did the trick

I wish all the above mentioned people loads of success in their respective careers too. I thank God for helping me to get in touch with such wonderfull people. They sure are my GURUS' of .NET. I wish God grants me a wish , where in I work for a team handled by them in the near future.

Way to go guys, U rock !!!

Anniversary Special

Its the month of July and the year being 2007. July will always remain a special month to me. Its during this month of the year 2005 that I turned a pro. Its also the month when i graduated.

I am about to complete to successful awesome years in the IT industry, amidst the every so wonderful awesome Microsoft Technologies. I regret making a choice of switching to Linux during my early days in this industry. But now its Microsoft Technologies all the way, thats for sure. Linux has indeed taken a backseat.

As I approach July 12, I thought of bringing in a new post, saying thanks to all those people who have taught me, who have stood by me, who have helped me grow technically and all those people who have spent their valuable time, mentoring me, when i was a fresher. They continue to provide me loads of courage even today, but we have parted ways, in other words we work for different organizations today.

When I thought of thanking all those people, I came up with the idea of bringing it up as a 2 post series, where in I thank all my seniors ie all my GURUS of .NET . In the second post I try to thank all my friends @ SRIT in particular freshers whose career kickstarted on the same day as mine.

The year 2005-06 will go down as one of the bestest years. I sure turned from a amateur college graduate to a thorough pro ( I hope I can call myself a pro ,, critics please comment ).

Here it goes....

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Its a Wednesday morning, I feel I have enough time to come up with a new post. This time its about something which I had recently read. Its about Ku Klux Klan.

I came to know about Ku Klux Klan for the first time when I was reading the book " Gone With the Wind " by Margaret Mitchell. I thought of putting it up in the blog. But somehow forgot.
It was in one of the Sherlock Holmes adventure stories that I once again read about Ku Klux Klan. (I think it was in the case of The Red Headed League)

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of several past and present organizations in the United States These organizations have often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation to oppress African Americans and other groups.

The First KKK group was formed in 1866. Formed by veterans of the Confederate Army it used to resist reconstruction. It also focused on turning down freed slaves. It often used violent methods and it was turned down in 1870.