"Practical vs Impractical..."

Its normally agreed that women listen to their hearts whereas men are ruled by their brains (though that doesn't always imply rational thinking). Men won't bargain (atleast not a lot) but women do. That seems practical enough considering that you want to save money. But then again they will bargain for (and buy) stuff that they don't require at all. I have seen scores of females spend fat amounts to buy stylish handbags (hardly large enough to accomodate their wallet and mobile) and then lug around polythene covers to carry their books to college.

Does that mean that men are not impractical? Not at all... Men lust over the latest gizmos and powerful cars. If your primary need is to get from point A to point B then a Maruti 800 will do the job but then we always eye a Porsche 911. (I am still wondering how a motorhead like me can comeup with such a ridiculous sounding statement). Men will never stop and ask for directions while driving but will prefer to drive around till they exhaust their fuel supply (so much for being practical).

I know this post has an abrupt ending but I really have to get back to work...So catch ya later.

"Letter to Dad..."

A father passing by his teenage daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was neat and tidy. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the centre of the pillow. It was addressed "Dad". With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you, but I'm leaving home. I had to elope with my new boyfriend Randy because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Randy and he is so nice to me. I know when you meet him you'll like him too - even with all his piercing, tattoos, and motorcycle clothes.

But it's not only the passion Dad, I'm pregnant and Randy said that he wants me to have the kid and that we can be very happy together. Even though Randy is much older than me (anyway, 42 isn't so old these days is it?), and has no money, really these things shouldn't stand in the way of our relationship, don't you agree?

Randy has a great CD collection; he already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. It's true he has other girlfriends as well but I know he'll be faithful to me in his own way. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Randy taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and he'll be growing it for us and we'll trade it with our friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Randy can get better; he sure deserves it!!

Don't worry Dad, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your loving daughter,
Rosie.

At the bottom of the page were the letters "PTO". Hands still trembling, her father turned the sheet, and read:

PS: Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbour's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk centre drawer. Please sign it and call when it is safe for me to come home. I love you!

I am sure most of you must have come across this mail before. I particularly like the creativity shown by the girl for putting things into perspective for her Dad. Thats why I decided to share it with you all. Try this with your folks, but soley at your own risk.

"A weekend for Infy..."

The day I was selected for Vistaar, after a gruelling process of aptitude tests and 3 personal Interviews (one hour each), I had more surprises in store for me. Just when I had given up hope of getting a call from Infosys to appear for their test (the recent mails of resume sent to them were bouncing off their servers), there it was, a mail from freshers@infosys.com asking me to appear for the test to be held on 10th September. I was given an option of 5 centres out of which Pune was the closest one.

Saturday: I was still not decided on when to leave for Pune. The first bus from Mumbai leaves only by 5 am and it takes almost 4 hours (as opposed to the 2.5 hours I thought) to reach Pune. And I had to report at the test centre by 8:30. As luck would have it I came to know about a cousin of mine who stays in Pune. A phone call later it was decided I would have to leave mumbai by 2 to reach there before dark (it was already 11 am). I hurried about to get my documents xeroxed and pasport sized photos taken (thank God for instant digital prints).

I packed in the bare essentials, threw on a pair of jeans and tshirt and packed in a formal shirt. I thought the interview would be on the same day or else I would convince them to postpone mine to the next weekend (as I had to be in Mumbai on Monday to report for the training on Monday). Mom asked me to pack in an extra pair of trousers just in case (and I thank her for that).

Went to Thane and caught the Asiad Bus for Pune at 2:30. Travel via expressway is a delight but roads in Pune are no better than the ones over here. Anyways I reached Pune by 7 and my cousin had come to pick me up.

Sunday: Being a Mumbaikar I was confident enough to travel anywhere provided I knew the bus numbers. I had obtained information about the bus numbers from the net. But the ground reality in Pune is very different. The PCMT buses don't display the numbers (at least not legibly enough) and one has to rely on the encrypted names written in red on white background (making them very hard to read).

Anyways I caught a bus to Swargate and a ric from there to the test centre in Bibwewadi. I reached there by 7:30 (much before the stipulated time as usual). At 8:30 we were called to form lines for entering the test centre (It was then that I realised the huge number of people who had come there. There were approximately 1500 people present there that morning.)

There is an application form to be filled with your details. Carry your passport along (if you have one) and also names and details of two "professional" references (this excludes family and friends). I didn't carry any of these with me. The test pattern is the same, 1 hr logical reasoning test (almost 7 out of 10 logical puzzles were repeated from previous papers) and 30 mins english test. I don't know the criteria for selection but at the end of the day only 137 were selected.

The results were supposed to be declared by 2:30 but it was 5 pm when it finally came out (so be patient enough for the long wait). The interview was scheduled for the next day at 1 pm at the Infosys campus in Hinjewadi. This put me in a lurch since I had no place to stay (my cousin was going back to Ratnagiri). Luckily I had bumped into a guy who was from mumbai but had done his engg from Pune University. He was staying with his friends at Anand Nagar and invited me to join him. I readily took up the offer.

This was my first taste of bachelor life and it made my decision of not leaving Mumbai seem even more wiser (but still I guess I need this experience to be more mature and independent. If Infy happens I'll definitely take it up). We made some enquiries about the best mode of transport and decided to leave next morning at 10:30.

Monday: My jeans were totally soiled and my hopes of wearing it for the interview were crushed. Thankfully I had a pair of trousers with me. Strangely Pune was much more humind than Mumbai this time and I was sweating like a pig. This was the third day for my tshirt and it had began to stink (thankfully I still got the luxury of a bath everyday) but still I decided to wear it under my formal shirt (so as not to ruin the shirt with sweat) put on an ample quantity of colonge and dashed off.

The first 8-seater rick dropped us off on the Satara-Mumbai Highway. From there we caught another one for Chandni Chowk (no its not the one in Delhi) and from there another one to Wakad. I was keeping an eye out for roadsigns and had also asked the driver to inform us when we reach our destination. Fortunately when he stopped at one place I happend to see the signboard on the flyover directing us to Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park (our destination). We got down there thanking our luck and cursing the driver.

Now Infy Campus is a mere 1.5 Km from where we got down but the fares are decided based on which firm you are going to. So we ended up paying 40 bucks to reach there (compared to the less than 10 bucks fare we paid for each of the 8-seaters). The campus is huge and well maintained. The interviews had started at the stipulated time and the delay from the alloted time was not much to be impatient about. The interview lasts for hardly 15-20 mins and mostly consists of HR stuff and maybe a puzzle. I was not asked a puzzle (I don't know whether that is a good thing or bad).

I waited for my friend outside and he was finished by 3:30. His interview was the best one any fresher could give. We walked back to the highway. He was going back to his friends place and I had to catch a bus to Mumbai. I was approached by an agent and was about to book a ticket when I caught sight of an Asiad Bus with Pune-Mulund written on it. I couldn't believe my luck. I quickly bade good bye to my friend (I can never thank him enough for all the help provided) and boarded the bus.

Two vada pavs at the next stop stopped the growls coming from my stomach. The stretch comprising of the ghats were a lovely sight with mist everywhere. Next time if I have to travel to Pune, I am hoping to drive all the way. I hope this rather lengthy entry would make my friends, who have the Infy test on 24th here in Mumbai, realise how lucky they are. You have plenty of time so prepare well and hope to meet you all again but this time as Infy Employees.

"Java for me..."

As most of you all know Java is a hugely popular programming langauge and very much in demand in the industry for quite some time now. You must be under the impression that, being a computer engineer who spent 4 years (in normal cases) of his life studying technical stuff, one must be knowing java very well since it must have been an essential part of the syllabus. But Mumbai University begs to differ. It did include Java but only as a lab subject, which means there are no exams (or grades that matter significantly) and hence the students don't pay much attention to it.

There are lots of programming assignments involved over the course of 4 years which can be (or rather should be) done in Java, but alas the students (and even the teachers) prefer C or C++. I was determined to learn java on my own and on several occassions even got down to browsing through the numerous resources available over the net. But then there is so much happening in java that I didn't know where to start. Eventually the college assignments would catch up with me and I ended putting java on the back burner. Still the desire to learn never went out.

Now I've got the perfect oppurtunity. Since the past one week I've been going to office and I've got absolutely nothing to do (since the actual training will start only from coming monday, as there are some more guys coming in). I've been put into the development team which uses C++ and J2EE. So now it has become a necessity for me to be knowledgeable in java and I've stumbled across just the right tutorial. For all you guys who want to learn java I would strongly recommend this one. Its called Java Lecture Notes by Elliotte Rusty Harold. Its divided into 13 weeks, written in plain english with enough examples and excercises to try your hands on.

"Lessons for the teacher..."

My neighbour just bought a second hand car and since he has recently obtained his license, he asked me to give him some driving lessons. I gladly accepted the offer (what better way to spend my usually dull mornings). Now I've been driving since I was 16 (that gives me 8yrs of experience behind the wheel) and I must say I am pretty good. In fact driving has become like a reflex action for me.

The parking space around our apartment building is narrow and hence it takes very precise driving manoeuvres to get the car into its slot. Considering my expertise in this matter, he gladly handed over the keys to me (thinking his car is in safe hands). Now I am pretty careful (most of the times) but who knows what happened. I was negotiating this turn (taking care not to crash into the vehicle parked up front ), when all of a sudden I heard the sound of metal scraping.

Luckily for him (and unluckily for me) it was just a minor scrape and the paint had been scratched (nothing that a touch-up job can't fix). There was no dent or any metal damage. Sadly the only damage was to my reputation. I think its God's way of telling me not to get ahead of myself, to take it easy, never be over confident and always be cautious.