i, me, myself

moving to http://puneetgoyal.net/blog/.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

This did not turn out to be as easy as I expected it to be.

Luckily I stumbled upon a brilliant rookie article. The guy has put in a lot of effort to make it as simple as possible, so I am not going to rewrite the whole thing.

For me:

• ISP - MTNL\Airtel. Basically any broadband provider in India.
• Wireless router - Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router
• DSL router - UT-300R2U (drivers). Provided by MTNL
• Wireless device - iPod touch (Yeah, used this for configuration. Kicks ass!)
  

The main point to keep in mind is that your wireless device should be assigned an IP from the DHCP on the DSL router and not the wireless router. It is advisable to turn off DHCP on the wireless router to avoid any confusion.

This might sound really silly to some, but the CAT5 cable from DSL router should go into a normal port (numbered 1-4) of the wireless router. All this while I was putting it in the port marked internet.

All this for hassle free touch and play :)

Yeah, you got me right. After 6 years, 3 countries and some 10 cities later, am back home. Am I here to stay? That is something time will tell. I am not thinking too much about it just yet.

Time: 0510
Place: Indian Airlines counter, Delhi airport

Everything is normal. The staff is working at their normal pace (read: not pleasantly efficient). Right at this moment, the radio sitting idle till now springs to life. I couldn’t really make out what it was (attribute it to my inability to decipher noisy radio messages), but the guy at the counter very well does, and jumps to action as if they just radioed him a spring to be fitted up his, hmmm, foot. He conveys the message over to his colleague. Within a span of 25 seconds everyone knows that there an onset of serious fog.

The whole Indian Airlines staff is up to their full capacity and handles passengers like never before and man! I have not seen a more efficient bunch of 9-10 people before. They prioritize passengers based first, on their destination and second, on how good they look (hehe, only kidding). People traveling to Ahemdabad, Baroda and Bangalore (yay!) get the highest priority.

In the meantime, airport’s Pubic Announcement System crackles. Hamein yeh suchna dete hue khed hai ki Kingfisher ki Mumbai jaa rahi udaan sankhya IT-308 kharaaab mausam ki vajah se 2 ghante aur 40 minute ki deri se udaan bharegi. (Kingfisher flight IT-308 has been delayed by 2 hours 40 minutes due to bad weather.) In 3 minutes, similar announcements were repeated several times for numerous other flights.

I got a bit worried, but my dad put them to bay (well, that’s the Manager, In-Flight Operations for you) by telling me that a flight can take off in fog if:

• The CAT III Bravo system is installed on the runway. (check)
• The CAT III Bravo system is installed in the aircraft.(Check)
• The pilot is trained to operate under heavy fog. (Dad called in to verify, Check)
• Its Indian Airlines. (Check :D)

The last point gave me a kick. Indian Airlines is the only domestic carrier which is allowed to ply under the CAT III B system. This is firstly because of the fact that in the race for recruiting more pilots, other airlines have forgotten to verify if their pilots are trained enough. And secondly, all the fog-enabled bays (parking spots) are allotted to Indian Airlines.

Anyhow, I proceeded through the security check. The scene from the bus which was taking us to the aircraft was absolutely breathtaking. It was as if I have been teleported 65 years back in time, to the world war era. Everything was black and white. Only one aircraft was visible at a time, even though they were standing less than 30 meters apart. The background was all white (fog, remember?) and the aircraft looked blackish gray with a couple of people hastily moving below. The next aircraft came into the picture frame as the bus moved on. This looked exactly the same and totally independent of the previous one. The 2 minute ride was really a journey back in time. Spellbinding, to say the least.

I boarded the plane and occupied my seat. The pilot announced that the flight is going to be a bit delayed due to a fault in Air Traffic Control system. L And, here I am, resting and typing this to kill time.

Stop press: Arm all doors and cabin crew in their places for take-off. Wow! Now, I am going to curl up in my super cool, state-of-the-art reclining massage chair (Business class, of course ;)). Looks like this is going to be the only good part of my otherwise long and tiring day.

Till I am back,

Adios

It feels so wierd. You know people. You may not talk to them often. You may not keep in regular touch. But, nevertheless you have been seeing them for so many years of co-existence.

And then one fine day BAM!! Its all lost. They are gone. In just a flicker. Before you can even wink your eye, you get to know that you will not see them ever again in your life. Because you they have been taken away, from you and from this world.

I see all this and I am face to face with the fact of this life. It is so short. It is so uncertain. It is so precious. It is so lovely. But, it is not yours. Some random guy can end it in no time. May be not your fault, but you lose it. There is nobody you can go and complain to.

This is what happened to one of my college friend. The guy was returning home from work on his bike. Bike skid and a bus overran him. :'( Crazy.

Seeing all this, am left perturbed as to how should one live a life? Be cautious and plan every move? Or, just live for the moment, do what you want to do without bothering about anything else, because you never know ....

Skeptic, I am. Dont think am gonna sleep tonight. Just cant get the toughts out of my mind.

Anyhow, AP, dude, may your soul rest in peace. Amen!

There are not many things on this planet that intrigue me as much as The Airport. It is one place where I can go anytime, do nothing and still not get bored.

What do I do there? Hmmm...Good question as I don’t know myself. Guess, I just go, sit and observe people. There is such an obviously striking pattern there.

Go to the departure terminal and you see people pouring in. (Attribute pouring to the fact that Bangalore airport is grossly inadequate given the number of people it is designed to handle and the number of people it actually does.) This reminds me of the fact that it was never supposed to be used by civilians. It is actually an Indian Air Force base. But the sudden population explosion and uncontrollable immigration of computer professionals made the authorities to time share it with civilian airlines. Yeah, so the departure terminal. People come in a frenzy. Get inside in a hurry. Stand in the labyrinthine queues for ages, to get their boarding passes. Run to the aircraft and fly away. All this happens in such a short span of time that nobody realizes. See all this and you are reminded of the fact how fast paced the life in cites has become. I am really surprised that when I am on that side, I don’t realize all this myself.

The international terminal is a little more emotional. Probably because when people depart from there it is for more than a short span of time. Their folks come to drop them off. They tend to get emotional. Goodbyes are exchanged. You can see sad faces.

Move on 20 meters to the other side (arrivals) and the scene is absolutely contrasting. People wait for their friends/family/relatives to come. The moment they see them walking out of the gate, faces lighten up. Hugs and kisses are exchanged.

I see all this and I feel attached. Am really really glad that I moved in to a place that is just a stone’s throw away from the airport. (Ok, if you can shoot it for about 100 meters. I can ;)). The other good deal with this place is that the runway is clearly visible from the terrace. The aircrafts can be seen landing and taking off by the minute. I wish I had a good camera, so that I could post pictures. :( Nevertheless, I will try taking some with my phone.

Wierd as all this may sound, but wierd as I am. :)

putting your laptop in your lap while it is charging, bad idea. :|

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of MY deranged imagination."

Why?
Because I have become productive after a long span of time. :)

It was just last night when I thought it would be cool to have a software that would tell me when one of my blog-friends has posted a new post. Opening all of them wasn't really the best of the ideas. So, I googled for it. Didn't find anything worthy enough. Then, it struck me.

Why don't I write one myself?

Didn't seem like a tough task. It was enough for me to get started. A few hours of !sleeping and here it stands, the pre pre alpha version of the app.

Brief description:

• It takes a normal text file with the blog names to be polled as the input.
• It tells you the last post date on these blogs.
• Works only for blogger, well atleast for now.
• Since it is only one night old, may have bugs.

One thing I observed is that it started off as a simple webpage poller. But now, I can think of so many features that can be added to it. e.g.

• Find the number of new posts after a given date.
• Get all the new posts after a given date.
• Get the comment(s) on the post(s).
• Extend from blogger to other popular ones like LJ.
• Scan the profile and get info like email id, IM, etc.
• Suggestions and comments that I get from friends
  

Apoorv gets his personalized copy and free updates ;). He is the reason why it is there in place.

People interested in getting there hands on it, drop me a mail.

...your life is a mess when:

• your work is not great as you want it to be (read "when it sucks").
• your good friend gets pissed with you too often.
• you do not know the reason for that.
• you want to talk to him, but he doesn't.
  
• your life seems to be going into a dark tunnel.
• your goals, long and short term, are hazy.
  
• you dont want to give flowers to anyone on the Valentine's day.
• your overseas friend calls to ask you to give flowers to his girlfriend, on his behalf.
• you can think of so many unmentionables that can be put here.
  
• you make such a post on a friday evening, at 9.
  

The crowd was sucky. The ambience was not great. The music was not as good as expected. So, basically the Bryan Adams show was a flop show, well atleast for me.

Actually, it was me only. I went in spite of the fact that i didn't like many of his songs, and he didn't play all the ones i liked. 'Here I am' :(

All said and done, credit has to be given to the guy for all the zeal he showed on stage. So many people weren't ready to believe that he is nearing 50. Add to it the fact that he has AIDS and it becomes the perfect non-believeable package.

The best part of the show was of course 'summer of 69'. When he started to play that, the whole crowd, including me turned mad. In fact, the only reason I didn't kill him after the show was that he created the ambience around the 69 song. ;)

The next best thing was when he called this one female on stage. God! She was nervous. I can imagine the euphoria that she would have experienced at that moment. Am sure that any girl in the city would kill to be her at that time. She sang a song with B. Then, he hugged her tightly and gave her and her friends some BA goodies. Sure one day to remember for her.

It was really a good weekend. Got time to catch up with friends whom i hadn't met for so so long. One of them had just come down from Hyderabad. We met on saturday noon over lunch at Indie Joe's. Went to their place for a night out.

The afternoon was spent at (some of my best friends from college)'s place. The pics that follow were taken after we were a lil umm hmm. They are of the 'one-of-the-first-pics-of-a-company-started-in-a-garage' genre. hehehe. I'll make sure that these go out to the magazines when the time is ripe.

After dinner the environment turned nostalgic as everybody was on a coupla drinks. We started talking about the good old college days and how much fun we used to have in the hostel. People were picked up one by one and their most funny, embarrassing moments highlighted. All this was followed by a photo session, where all the old pics were opened to re-live those past moments. Man! It was so much fun. More fun was the leg pulling session where all the pranks we played with each other came out in the open. It was impossible to control the insane laughter so much so that the stomach was hurting painfully. Then the vidoes of the mother of all pranks was played. hehe. Pity that the poor guy was subjected to it. Overall, it was nice meeting all the people. Makes me wanna go back to college once more. :)

Came back home before evening and spent it nicely, sleeping. Got up in the middle of the night, rather past the middle of the night, at 3 and din know what to do. So, just plugged in Floyd in the laptop and God knows what a refreshing i had.

How do you feel when you come to know that something you were so excited about has been stolen by someone. And that someone is nobody but a friend of yours who is trying to stab you in your back? And it gets even more painful when you realize the fact that it was your decision to share that killer idea with this friend of yours, partly to discuss its feasibility and partly to establish your intellectual superiority over people. :|

So, the main thought that is bothering me right now is whether it was my fault that i decided to trust a person who was not worthy? huh ... the less i think about the better.

Now, it all boils down to the war of Intellect! I know that he is onto the implementation of that stolen idea. But, little does he know that who is on the other side of the competition. Am i sounding too arrogant and over-confident? I think i am, so i am. :)

Anyway, me going to get my mind on that.

I think i am in my ultra creative phase these days. Why otherwise, not one but two super ideas would strike me in a single day? lol..

OK, seriously speaking, one of them is a pretty interesting thing to work on. Its something that i always wanted and now making it myself would be an amazing experience in itself.

The other one is kinda common knowledge, but, i wonder why people dont think about it more seriously? Fools!

Anyway, me onto them already. No wonder am so happy.

P.S. Don't ask me about the ideas, if you dont know them already, you are not important enough to. :)

Whoa!

WOW! It was a new year bash to remember. So many people, so much booze, so much to eat, so much to do.

So basically, am gonna shut down and let the whatever few pics i have, speak for themselves :)

There are times when you feel the need of that undo button in your life. And when you think about that, you feel sad why Mr. Bill Gates did not design life like he did the Word.

This is the terrible feeling that I am having right now. That undo button is what I can give my little finger for. hehe.

It started with this:

Wow! That is what comes to my mind when i see this creation of mine.

Its shot in the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary, from the foot of a small hill. And, guess what? Its taken from the same phone you saw, or rather will see below.

I did not, till now, thought that i could be this good a photographer. Kudos! lol. The worst thing, i am not in the pic :( But, no regrets.

Ok, all said and done, i think this could have been better if i had gotten the whole tree rather than cutting its topmost branch. And, i wish the tree was on the right side. Dunno how it makes a difference, but have a gut feeling that it would have a lot better in that position.

Hey, what the hell is this picture tryin to show?
Hmmm, TV here with a guy in the foreground.
Hehehe. This is from one of our G days! The time must have been about 2 in the morning or something.

This is fricking hillarious, so decided to post it.
P.S. Its not me :)

Aint it just so damn cool?
Yes, u bet it is :)
The phone IS really good.

The features that i find really cool:

• 1.3 MP c-a-m-e-r-a !! YAY :)
• bluetooth to connect with my laptop.
• 32 Mb mem card, enuf for the moment
• audio player
• video player (kool!)
  
• games! FIFA! wow!
• FM radio

Am i showing off? Oh hell, YES i am. hehehe!

Frankly, i opted for this one as a compromise coz of no-money-in-bank disease people suffer from at the end of the month. That too when the month is December! But, now i think it was really a bargain. :)

With You Gone…


You made me so happy…
Happy at the centre of my heart
No one made me feel like this before
I thought of having a new start.

Your smile made my heart laugh
And made my world brighter
Your eyes made my life shine
And made my soul stronger.

To me, your smile meant sunshine
And your eyes sparkled like stars
I felt happy to give up my dreams for you
But you left me, with so many scars.

With you gone, I am back in darkness
My only companion is loneliness
Though I still pray for you to return
But my hopes are lost in this Wilderness.

You came, got the best of me and left
You turned out to be like every human
But the sunshine you showed was different
Also you tore my heart and soul like no one.

With you, the brightness of stars was like never before
With you, the fragrance of flowers was like never before
With you gone, the darkness of night is like never before
With you gone, the pain in this heart is like never before.

Smoked a cigarette – Umm yeah...but no tobacco inside

Crashed a friend's car – yeah, n it was bad

Stolen a car – na na

Been in love – :)

Been dumped – Yes…

Shoplifted – umm...yes..(blushing)..there was a bet on it...

Been fired – not yet..god bless

Snuck out of your parent's house – naah, but got someone in ;).

Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back – no

Been arrested – no

Lied to a friend – Lot of times.

Skipped school – yes...not much though

Seen someone die – no...the thought itself makes me shiver..

Had a crush on one of your Internet friends – yes (blushing
again)..n i ve been lucky

Been to Canada – NO… :(

Been to Mexico – No… :(

Been on a plane – :)

Purposely set a part of yourself on fire – what rubbish...why wud
i???

Eaten Sushi – No

Been jet-skiing – Na

Met someone in person from the Internet – Yes...

Taken pain killers – coupla times maybe …

Loved and missed someone – yes...history tho …

Flown a kite – no...but i have tried so hard to do it..

Built a sand castle – kinda

Gone puddle jumping – yes, all the time… luv it .. my friends hate
me for tat .. hehehe..

Cheated while playing a game – yeah..(wild grin)

Been lonely – Yes…

Fallen asleep at work or school – yes...lots of times in school..at
work…also yes

Used a fake id – hmmm...yes (embarrassed)

Watched a sun set – yes

Felt an earthquake – ya...n it took sometime for the feeling to sink
in

Touched a snake – no way..i hate repltiles...

Slept beneath the stars – Yes…its amazing

Been robbed – no...touch wood

Been misunderstood – a lot of times..

Petted a reindeer/goat – Nopes :(

Won a contest – Yes...quite a few...

Run a red light/stop sign – yeah, n hit a cop on the way … it was
not funny … :|

Been suspended from school – no way...

Been in a car accident – nooooo … but am sure am gonna be in one …

Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night – no..not dat i
cannot...m not just too fond of deserts...

Had déjà vu – so many times..

Danced in the moonlight – Yes..

Witnessed a crime – no...wud not want to do it either

Been obsessed with post-it notes – yeah, hehehe .. is it tat common?

Squished barefoot through the mud – yeah :)

Been lost – Yes… umm..but eventually i find my way..

Been on the opposite side of the country – depends on which side am
on .. :-/

Swam in the ocean – yeah...but m shit scared of water bodies…

Cried yourself to sleep – Yes..sometimes …

Played cops and robbers – ohh yes..

Recently colored with crayons – no, but am gonna do that tonight
when I get home :)

Sung karaoke – Yes…in the bathroom…

Paid for a meal with only coins – yeah, hehe .. it was funny!! ...

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't – Yes...

Made prank phone calls – yes...a lot...even used dial some arbit
number with my friends n ask...'budda ghar pe hai'...hehehe...n now dat i m reminded of it...used to call some arbit
number and ask 'aapka fridge chal raha hai?'...hearing a 'yes'..we used to say 'jaldi jaake pakariye usse..kahin
bhag naa jaaye'...n then played apna KBC also in the middle of the night …. God!!

Caught a snow flake on your tongue – no..but wud do it someday...

Written a letter to Santa Clause – no..

Watched the sun rise with someone you care about – yes...n its such
a nice memory....

Blown bubbles – Yesssss.

Bonfire on the beach – Not on a beach..but just acroos the road..n
also in school … it was funnnnnn!

Laughed so hard you pee your pants – hehhehe...naa

Cheated on a test – not much…am not good at it..alwys have shown my
paper to people...

Been kissed by someone you didn't like – yea...

Gone skinny-dipping in a pool – no....

Been on a blind date – yeah, it was not supposed to be a date, but
turned into one …

Slept beneath the stars – yeah … under the stars n by the river … god! Tat was one nite

hmmm ... as the tradition goes, this is my first post which says that this is my first post to not my first blog? confused? yeah i knw, me too ... hehehe ...

but god! now that blogspot has been around for so much time, finding a name was one hell of a job ...so had to settle with this one ... not too happy wid it, but ish ok !!

Happy Posting!! :)