Long time no see !!!

Long time no see!!! Well, my last blog entry was somewhere around 15th August, 2007. Yes, and a lot of changes happened in my personal as well as professional life during the time period. To start with, I quit my old job with the Indian company in Hyderabad, and have joined a Swedish Telecom company in Sweden. Reasons were many apart from being able to provide more output as well as do some more meaningful and challenging job. I will elaborate on my reasons to leave the company in some of my future posts.

To go on, I also have bought an apartment in Malmö, Sweden. Then the best part of my life came with the birth of my beautiful, sweet little daughter in November 2007. You can find her pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/payaljobs/Sweety071115. And nowadays, I am busy playing and taking care of her. Life is good on both the fronts.

So thats it for the (re)start. Oh! and I was on a vacation for 10 days (known as Pappa days, which can be taken in Sweden after a child is born). And I had quite an amount of free time in the night (when the baby slept and I was not able to...), so I tried to see if the old things that I used to do when I was studying is still valid and does those superb websites/knowledgebases still exists? Yes am talking about cracking/hacking.

Most of the majority have been removed from general public/search engines. I had quite a challenge to get hold of the material again. But I am glad to say that my search is not a waste. And just to see if I am not rusted, I tried a crackme and I was successful. It makes me feel as if I am again young enough :).

Anyways, if you are those ethical or FBI/CBI guys reading this post, I have done nothing wrong. I am just trying to gather knowledge for learning and follow the proverb, Knowledge is Power. I will, just for fun write a new blog on my other blog (the hidden blog!!!???) about the crackme and a kind of tutorial. Cause I feel that the new generation of computer guys are just too abstract, totally out of reality. Also I feel that there is a need to teach people about the basics of computing.

All these high level languages and abstract concepts have really made todays computer engineers into abstract thinkers. No doubt they don't care about optimization, cpu and memory consumption, etc. as most of their job is done by compilers and linkers. And assembly, the key to everything, the utmost power is in ruins these days. I tried to search for some assembly things and I didn't get that many hits and I used to get when I was in college. So, I am on my mission to bring out the cool stuff and pass on the knowledge.

But you won't find it here on this blogs. It will be in a different blog site. Okay, I will give you a hint. The other blogging site is blogsome. So all you wanna be hackers out there, need to find my blog now. All the best. Believe me, its very easy.

Signing off for the day. Take Care...

Vande Matram - HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Vande Mataram
The National Song of India

"Vande maataraM Vande maataraM
sujalaaM suphalaaM malayaja shiitalaaM
SasyashyaamalaaM maataram

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

Shubhrajyotsnaa pulakitayaaminiiM
pullakusumita drumadala shobhiniiM
suhaasiniiM sumadhura bhaashhiNiiM
sukhadaaM varadaaM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

Koti koti kantha kalakalaninaada karaalekoti koti bhujai.
rdhR^itakharakaravaaleabalaa keno maa eto
balebahubaladhaariNiiM namaami taariNiiMripudalavaariNiiM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

Tumi vidyaa tumi dharmatumi
hR^idi tumi marmatvaM hi praaNaaH shariireBaahute
tumi maa shaktihR^idaye tumi maa bhaktitomaara i pratimaa gaDimandire mandire

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

TvaM hi durgaa dashapraharaNadhaariNiikamalaa kamaladala
vihaariNiivaaNii vidyaadaayinii namaami tvaaM
Namaami kamalaaM amalaaM atulaaM
SujalaaM suphalaaM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM

ShyaamalaaM saralaaM susmitaaM bhuushhitaaM
DharaNiiM bharaNiiM maataraM

Vande maataraM Vande maataraM
Vande maataraM Vande maataraM "

Translation by Shree Aurobindo

Mother, I bow to thee!Rich with thy hurrying streams,bright with orchard gleams,Cool with thy winds of delight,Dark fields waving Mother of might,Mother free.

Glory of moonlight dreams,Over thy branches and lordly streams,Clad in thy blossoming trees,Mother, giver of easeLaughing low and sweet!

Mother I kiss thy feet,Speaker sweet and low!Mother, to thee I bow. Who hath said thou art weak in thy landsWhen the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands And seventy million voices roar Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?

With many strengths who art mighty and stored, To thee I call Mother and Lord! Though who savest, arise and save!To her I cry who ever her foeman droveBack from plain and SeaAnd shook herself free.

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,Thou art heart, our soul, our breathThough art love divine, the aweIn our hearts that conquers death. Thine the strength that nervs the arm,Thine the beauty, thine the charm. Every image made divineIn our temples is but thine.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,With her hands that strike and herswords of sheen, Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned, And the Muse a hundred-toned, Pure and perfect without peer, Mother lend thine ear, Rich with thy hurrying streams, Bright with thy orchard gleems, Dark of hue O candid-fairIn thy soul, with jewelled hair And thy glorious smile divine, Lovilest of all earthly lands, Showering wealth from well-stored hands!

Mother, mother mine! Mother sweet, I bow to thee,Mother great and free! BHARATMA...

Vande Mataram Bankin Chandra composed the song Vande Mataram in an inspired moment, Rabindranath sang it by setting a glorious tune to it and it was left to the genius of Shri Aurobindo to interpret the deeper meaning of the song out of which India received the philosophy of new Nationalism.

The English translation of Vande Mataram rendered by Shree Aurobindo, is considered as official and best as per the book, Vande Mataram by Moni Bagchee

Resignation Letter!

A nice resignation letter poem in Hindi. Details out a lot on why people leave IT companies in India ;). My Hindi speaking friends ENJOY!!!

Funny Quotes!

Hi All,

Here are some funny quotes that you can use in your profile or make your girlfriend laugh or whatever.

• Every fight is a food fight when you’re a cannibal.-- Demetri Martin
• I think the worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades...or a game of fake heart attack.-- Demetri Martin
• Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.-- Bill Cosby
• If it's sent by ship then it's a cargo, if it's sent by road then it's a shipment.-- Dave Allen.
• The scientific theory I like the best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline baggage.— Max Born
• There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don't know what it's a plan for.— Fred Hoyle
• Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe. Sometimes I think we're not. In both cases the thought is equally shocking.— Arthur C. Clarke
• There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.— Douglas Adams
• In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.— Douglas Adams
• With every passing hour our solar system comes forty-three thousand miles closer to globular cluster 13 in the constellation Hercules, and still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no such thing as progress.— Ransom K. Ferm
• My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.— Christopher Morley
• I'm worried that the universe will soon need replacing. It's not holding a charge.— Edward Chilton
• The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.— Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
• One scientist to another: "I'm beginning to agree with the theory that space is curved — either that or my car is pulling to the left."— Hoest and Reiner
• Scientists have shown that the moon is moving away at a tiny yet measurable distance from the earth every year. If you do the math, you can calculate that 85 million years ago the moon was orbiting the earth at a distance of about 35 feet from the earth's surface. This would explain the death of the dinosaurs. The tallest ones, anyway.
• Scientists have discovered that time is not real, that we only live in the current moment. But then according to that, they haven't done the research, and don't really have anything to back them up, do they?
• Black holes are where God divided by zero.— Steven Wright
• If aliens are smart enough to travel through space, why do they keep abducting the dumbest people on earth?
• Time is an illusion... lunchtime, doubly so.— Douglas Adams, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe"
• What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.— Dave Barry
• Maybe this world is another planet's Hell.— Aldous Huxley
• Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a trip around the sun.— Clay Center Wisdom
• A dreamcatcher works, if your dream is to be gay.-- Demetri Martin
• Over the past 50 years Bob Hope employed 88 joke writers who supplied him with more than one million gags, and he still couldn't make me laugh.-- Eddie Murphy
• He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news.-- Bertolt Brecht
• We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.-- Napoleon Bonaparte
• You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants.-- Stephen King
• Laughter is higher than all pain.-- Elbert Hubbard

Okay, I didn't search the net and collect it for you guys. It was done by some other noble man or some other noble blog. I just made a copy :)

Turkey and Bullshit

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to thetop of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eatingsome more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night,the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Are you suffering from "knowing it all"?

NUMBER ONE LEARNING PROBLEM: KNOWING IT ALL

Do you know someone who knows everything there is to know about something? Do you know someone who believes he or she is the world's greatest expert ina subject? Do you know people who think they know it all?

If so, you know the first reason why someone cannot learn."You cannot study a subject if you think you know all about it to begin with."A student who thinks he knows all there is to know about a subject will not be able to learn anything in it."A person might already be familiar with a subject from previous experience and, having had success in that field, now has the idea that he knows all aboutit."

"With that obstacle in the way, one can become completely bogged down in his studies and not make forward progress."This is true for a student of any subject." -- L. Ron Hubbard (bogged: hindered or slowed).

SYMPTOMS OF "KNOWING IT ALL"

• When you think you know all about a subject, you cannot learn anything else about it. Instead of learning, you say things like:"I don't need to take this class. I know all about this. I'm getting out of here."
• "I could give a better lecture than that guy! What a waste of my time. I'm taking a nap.""Whoever wrote this article should have asked me for my opinion; I know more than her!"
• However, if you come to realize that no one knows everything about a topic, you can then learn something new. If you admit to yourself that you do not knowit all, you can improve your knowledge and skill in that subject. You open a door to new knowledge.

HOW TO HANDLE "KNOWING IT ALL"

Try this exercise in a subject about which you feel you know everything there is to know.

• Find an article you have not read on that subject.
• Before reading the article, say to yourself, "I already know everything about this subject."
• Read a few sentences of the article. Are you learning anything?

Next, change your attitude so you can agree with one of these statements:

• "I'd better read this to make sure I already know everything."
• "Maybe I can actually learn something new in this article."
• "If there's anything new in this field, I'd better hurry and learn it."
• "To make sure I know more than everyone else, I'll read this article."
• "My mind actually has room for more knowledge!"

Try reading the article now. Are you learning anything?Ask anyone who is wildly successful and they will confirm they do not know it all. But they do know a thirst for knowledge is essential to success.

Be thirsty this week!

PS: I didn't write this article. I found it in an email and I thought it would be great to share with you all.

Denial of a problem!

"Denial by definition is a psychological defence system by which people protect themselves from things that threaten them or make them feel uncomfortable. People do this by refusing to acknowledge the awkward person, thing or event, or by attacking any allegation of the existence of such difficulties".


I came across this detailed definition of "DENIAL" and some analysis into day to day life and work, I realize that almost all of us are more or less inflicted by "DENIAL". Most of the people do not take "CRITICISM" in a normal manner. The first reaction to a single bit of "CRITICISM" is to go into a state of "DENIAL". And as rightly said in the beginning, the reactions vary from refusing the allegations to attacking the critic in a variety of different manners. The former is the approach taken by most people wherein the "CRITICISM" has arrived from superiors or co-workers. The later approach of attacking the critic generally happens when the "CRITICISM" comes from a critic who is at a position lower then the person being criticized.

Today in this global world software market, there are instances where a person from a company is sent to a client's site for work. Lets take an example. Suppose person P works for Company A. Company A has got a project (probably the same one or another one) ongoing on a site S from a Company B. Now the person P is working with the customers directly (i.e. people from Company B on Site S). Customers are very particular about deliveries from Company A.


This is where the "DILEMMA" jumps in. If something is wrong with the deliveries from Company A, then the customers will come and directly contact person P. They believe in P and P also knows the truth that something is wrong with the delivery. In this case, what would P do? Simply speaking he has 3 options:


1. Reject the truth and say nothing is wrong with the deliveries.


2. Partially accept that something is wrong with the deliveries and that to is because of a third unconnected factor. It can be anyting varying from IRAQ War to a fight with your wife or your neighbours' wife :D to wearing the wrong pants. In other words, give out stupid excuses for the wrong things with the deliveries.


3. Accept the truth and boldly say that something is wrong with the deliveries and propose steps for improvement so that the same mistakes will not happen again.


Any good company/person ideally should follow the 3rd (third) approach. If that be the case, then the customer has more reasons to believe in your work and deliveries and it will definitely in the long term increase the business exchange between the client and customer. This approach is known as "Constructive Criticism" which if followed properly can generally reduce frustration, make the work environment more lively and enjoyable, improve the working culture by setting a policy, improve trust and reduce communication errors.


But as everything good fails in this age of "KALI" (Kaliyuga, thats a different story which I will take up in my blog sometime later), the first reaction to anything like that would be No.1 and then laterly No.2. The 2nd (second) approach is generally taken after making sure that the customers cannot be fooled in the matter. Otherwise it is generally approach number 1 (one). I will in some other blog also show you the general tactics used in order to use approach 1 and 2. But this blog discusses in detail another issue known as "DENIAL" which would be explained pretty good when the approach 3 is followed.


So, coming back to the example, lets say person P follows the 3rd approach and accepts the mistake done by his company (Company A) and gives a critic feedback to his company (Company A). If the manager is pretty good and moral, he will take the critic feedback positively and will try to improve. But thats an ideal world and will not have any fun part ;). So we take a manager M (I would call him AHM, AssHole Manager), whose first reaction is always "DENIAL". Believe me 90% of managers come in this category. Its not by chance that Managers and Damagers rhythm so very good :D.


Back to example, now AHM will go to P and deny the existence of problem. But P is a very capable guy and shows AHM the mistakes in the deliveries (either pointed out by customers Company B, or if he is proactive then by himself). Hence the AHM now shifts to the 2nd approach. Everything is fine with the 2nd approach except for the unconnected factor. Because we are a bunch of nerds (who are generally termed as intelligent guys), the AHM will definitely not link it to IRAQ War :D.


Because person P is not in a position of AHM (atleast not in a position to say anything against AHM), AHM in his state of "DENIAL", will take the approach of attacking the critic (refer the 2nd para of this post). In this case, AHM can come out and say all sorts of things about P, right from P being critical of the company he is working for upto P carrying out his own personal agenda of undermining company A. P is in a soup because if he tries to do something right, Company A kicks his "ASS", if he tries to do it otherwise Company B kicks his "ASS".


Both the cases directly affects P in a variety of ways ranging from emtional and mental demeanour to professional and sentimental weakness. The obvious question is that is there a way out for P? If P has any moral values, the answer is NO. And as AHM is an exact opposite of P, P can't have a sound working environment. The easiest and finest solution available is to leave the Company A.

Many of you reading this post has experienced this kind of situation and I would like if you all elaborate on this issue. There is one more post I came across which cited the reasons an individual jumps companies. That would be my next topic as well :). Till then keep writing your comments and your experiences, your solutions and how you approached similar situations. It would be a great learning ahead.

Blogging and start of an IDEA!!!

There are many important events happening around in my life both on the professional as well as the personal front. Ofcourse we will be talking professionally on this blog :). Many a times it so happens that some events occur which in the whole context of either the project or the program being executed, is pretty much unnoticeable in the beginning, but turns out to have a huge impact on the final outcome.

Looking back we all learn a lot from those so called unnoticeable events which definitely if analysed properly gives us new insights, ideas, solutions, values, etc. I find my brain to be a logic analyser or a logic probe as it better be called ;). In the night when I go to bed, my brain goes around all the events that happened for that particular day and then tries to build up a logical train or series of trains to justify the happening of that event.

Most of the times, it comes out with ideas on a variety of subjects apart from computing. These range from astrology, astronomy, philology, philosophy, anthropology, human behavior, project management (yeah... now comes the fun part), program management, software architecture and design, security, requirement analysis, project/program/issue/resource closure, FAA rules (don't be surprised!!!), etc.

But as is the case with most lessons learned ":)", the next night I forget all of them and my brain start thinking a lot more. If some of you my friends have been watching "Dexter's Laboratory", you will understand what I mean. These ideas can be termed as unfinished projects which then end up to haunt you later (and then comes the wish for a time machine).

So I thought of using this excellent technology concept known as blogging to start writing down my ideas, their origins, analysis, past and present. Most of the times they are relevant to the field of computing (as thats what we nerds do) but many also deal with a lot of logis (the ones mentioned 2 paras above). And nerd and logis when they mix, it is known as "Nerdology" :).

Damn good way to set down the IDEAs and exchange more. So here it is folks, I will try to remain regular and write all the junk I have got in my head. Hopefully most of my fellow nerds can also put down their junk and we can start with this junk exchange program :D.

So here goes nothing...