Dare to Dream?

New Delhi!

(Hopefully) I’ll be reaching Delhi before Midnight Saturday (23rd Aug 08). Very excited and anxious at the same time as I’m traveling via Train

Bon voyage Maku!

Sameer, Sandy and myself - with the Proto.in momento.

ApnaBill.com Team - checkout the slant in the seemingly created skyline

Pictures courtesy Pravin from LifeBlob (one of the 15 finalist at Proto.in)

ApnaBill.com SVN repository has seen some real hard work in past few days. We have had over 300 svn commits and 87 live bugs - 22 of which are still open (in new/assigned/lingering state).

These figures make me feel elated, happy - and confident that our release would be devoid of atleast these 87 bugs

Time and again, people have questioned me about these bugfixes in ApnaBill.com code - “Is your code that buggy?” - erhm, well no.

We track both bugs and new feature requests together (a skill that I picked up while working with Red Hat), thereby giving us a uniform outlook of the pending tasks. Besides, new features when tracked via bug reports produce a quality changelog. What was done, how and why - its important that these changes get documented while the feature is still in development phase. Makes future debugging a whole lot easier…

The road ahead, now has a crystal clear view of the destination!
All what we need to reach there is - “Focus“.
We are planning a special discount program for our Beta registrants (though cannot promise on that yet!) - So please signup for our Beta Launch - if you havn’t done so.

Back to squashing more bugs for now…

I was back on the joggin track today evening and to my surprise - each and everyone was running/walking again in clockwise direction… why did no one even bothered to switch directions? Time and again I’ve seen this strange habit amongst pupil to just follow - cant anyone think different? It isnt written anwwhere that everyone has to move clockwise lol - And when I started running anti-clockwise, people who were getting onto the track started joining my direction???

On top of that, when I was walking around the track for a warm up, the lights suddenly went out. We though its a power cut again. But then suddenly I saw a fire on the ground, picking up flares on the dry grass. It was a short circuit. What’s weird was that people were least bothered - leave alone the short circuit, the fire even didn’t bothered them. Everyone just continued walking around that area - whats happening to everyone? Not bothered atall?

I managed to get hold of a care-taker, who killed the fire with sand.

Sometimes, the general public attitude is soo strange and ugghh…

Just to end the post on a light thought, a great shot I found in my archives - way back from the good time in Atlanta

The ISS Gang at Norcross Jain Temple.

2007 proved to be one of the most important year for my aspirations. The single most important thing that I had envisioned when I was still in college (maybe even before that) - changed state from just being an idea to a business plan and then into a real entity. Yes, my own startup. The legal entity was formed and registered on 20th December ‘07 - I still remember when my Mom called up to give me the good news! It all started with just an idea - when I saw my roomy (Subu) unhappy about the fact that he has to walk a neat 1km to get his mobile phone recharged. The idea struck me like a lightening blow and I instantly called up Sammer & Sandy to get their views. The idea changed forms many times - from being a mobile app to finally being a web app. The team happily settled with the web app plan

Whatever be the idea - I totally enjoyed the churn! Bringing together the best of minds and taking them along to start something profitable gives me an immense kick - something that a job can never offer. Nurturing something from the very start & see it grow is almost like being a parent of a child. Best programming practices is almost comparable to telling your kids what’s good & bad for them. And if your venture is profitable - its almost like experiencing Nirvana - you own your own destiny!

We are still to launch our first product - ApnaBill.com - eventually that will happen! And with my new year resolutions, I plan to make it happen no later than Jan end

Another interesting thing that happened this year was me joining IBM and then travelling to Atlanta. Going to USofA was a unique experience - it just reinforced my decision to stay in India. The opportunities here are immense - specially because we are still a developing nation. US is good if you need quick money - but nothing beats India! Nothing!

Talking of IBM, I cannot leave out Ruby on Rails from this post. RoR has opened a gateway to commercial web applications for me. Ever since I graduated from college, I hated PHP, never liked the way it was used to write web apps (no offence to hundred’s thousands of PHP developers & the PHP community - just a personal dislike) - but getting introduced to RoR changed it all -”in a snap”! Today, I am proud being a RoR developer. Even the startup is spun around Rails.

Oh yeah, how can I miss my dance performance at Foot Loose - IBM - I broke a 3 year long jinx that I cannot dance. I still remember how my friends used to laugh at me. We practiced hard for a full week before getting onto the stage - messed up our music CD in the first run - fought the judges, got another chance & performed again at our best! We never got past the judges - but I am happy! We all were! And above all that, now nobody can say that I cannot dance

Ok, so cutting the chase - Here are the resolutions for dear ‘08

• Launch ApnaBill.com on or before 31st January
• Be back with family
• Pizza holiday in January (more months to be decided laters)
• Dedicate 1 hour, 5 days a week to fitness - jogging (gym maybe)
• Play Tennis once a week atleast - keep bugging Ratish/Kapil/etc

हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऎसी की हर ख्वाइश पे दम निकले

Riding on Rails - day & night!

Get out from the bed in morning thinking about Rails, spend 7-8 hours in the office making the official Rails app better, get back to hotel & then again start working on Rails - this time making your personal project a better place for its potential users, catch a “just enough” 7 hours sleep - before this cycle repeats itself! Even the “loo” has become my workplace

I have cut down heavily on my extra-curricular activities to make this happen - means no movies, no tennis, even no gymming (though I seriously plan to get it back into the schedule), no Unreal Tournament even! Just imagine, I am sitting on a 3MBps fat pipe but still I do not download any entertainment stuff - as compared to those daily downloads (on a mere 512 kbps connection) we used to do in Pune - just 3 months ago! Anything that makes me focus away from my projects - is on hold!

Sometimes, I remember Devizen’s Programming can ruin your life - but I guess, its the way of life. If you choose some, you loose some!

Life always gives you choices… what you reap is what you sow!

Just before I end this post, a moment to remember - when I shot a 9mm Semi automatic and a .38 caliber revolver (150 bullets in all) - something that I could never even imagine in India

Don’t mess with me! - my shooting target pinned outside my cube says that loud and clear!

It all started with a simple cut after 8 long months… and ended with a hairstyle I always wanted to sport
I’m feeling soo light & airy and…

I finally bought the jacket I had my eyes on from past 1 month. I saw it for USD 100, bought it for USD 65

Thanks to Anand for this photo-shoot - i’m a bugg’er lol

Yesterday night, after watching Vaccancy @ Adlabs, as I entered the parking area of Mariplex to pickup my bike, I saw a small kitten getting into Chauhan uncle’s scooter. The vehicles’s hood was big enough for the tiny kitten to sleep there (with all the vehicles roaring past it & all the dogs barking at each other in the parking lot).

I had an instant thought - what if Chauhan uncle came down & drove straight to home? He would never ever know what happened inside the hood of his scooter - the kitten would be crushed in just one sec!

I stood there for about 15 minutes, trying to get the kitten out - tried to shoo him out, tried to hush him out, tried to poke him out with a makeshift stick but nothing doing! But I knew he was in there as he was meowing back at me…

Finally the shift changed & Chauhan uncle came down & I asked him to turn the scooter to one side without moving the wheel - he did as carefully as possible & I rotated the wheel slowly & there - I could see the kitten’s head popping out - I tried a few times & I saw his tail - which I pulled as hard as I could.

I did managed to get him out but the dude dug his front teeth right into my left hand’s index finger ouch!

Knowing nothing, what to do with him - had I left him there, he would have went inside another car (Mickey always used to hide inside cars! & that always used to scare me alot!) & had we let him on the ground, the nearby dogs would have tore him apart! We (me & Subu - who had joined me till then) decided to let him go free in the lawns where he would have ample places to hide.

I could have let him stay there in the hood of that scooter thinking - to each, his own destiny - but then I would have never forgiven myself for doing nothing when my actions could have mattered!

The vet has suggested me to go for a Tetanus shot - what more weird a birthday gift can be But I would be glad when I’ll take it in the evening!

Yesterday, I was at this small shop - almost half the size of the space needed to park a car, having tea with one of my freinds. Good tea, but they had nothing to eat at that time…

Just besides this small shop is a bigger eating joint - well, not very modern - but the place where all the bachelors hang out for lunch & dinner. Both, the tea shop & the eating joint are sun by the same family. We always used to go to this bigger shop & ask the aunty there that if she has tea - but since their main focus used to be pupil who were there for food (& not snacks), we almost always used to get a negative resonse (& back then, this small shop didn’t existed). But I suppose, the demand for tea went on to be so huge that the family (who runs the big eating joint) started this small shop - an incremental venture - to tap into the customers who just want tea & nothing more! Nice!

& whats the best part - they are so much focussed on their customers - When we were sipping tea, I asked them if we could get something to eat - the lady there told me that though there were no snacks yet, she had freshly cooked dal/rice plate which she could offer. My next obvious question was - “Aunty, does it contains Kandha?” (Kandha is maharashtrian for Onions) - as I’m a Jain & onions are strict nono for me. She asked me in return - “Why dont you eat Kandha? & if you dont, would you like to come over for dinner? I will cook something for you without Kandha” - check out the lady’s inclination to care for her customers, each & every one of them & offer them personalised service - to increase her customer base in any way she can. Had I not been cooking at my home, I would have certainly went to her joint yesternight for food - even if I would have got it someplace else for half the price! Now compare this to “My experience at a Mobile Shop” - see the difference in atitude!

Lets learn something from this! Learn to put customers first or they’ll put you out of business!

Yesterday morning was unusually strange - first I got up so late (subconciously thinking that Good Friday is a holiday - which actually was not!) that I reached office late (pretty late!) & then I had this strange dream about my bike being stolen - & damn! it looked so real… & I was feeling all those things around me - I was standing on the right side of a road - which seemed a mix of Madhuban chowk & Yerawda chowk. I had parked the bike somewhere in front of a shop & had went to meet a friend - who seemingly was a female friend - dont remember who she was, never saw her face. She was accompanied by another male friend - I just knew the female, not her friend. & we planned to get to a place, crossed the road to pick up my bike & that was it when I realized that it wasnt there - holy shit! I was scared to hell - loosing my most precious thing! It was so damn real!

But then the bell ranged & it was the sweeper, asking for the trash - & boy… I was so releived that I knew my bike was still parked in the parking. The sight of Mickey & that sweeper felt so nice & releiving - I instantly realized that I’m still in Pune & Delhi is far… so my bike *should* be safe!

Contrary to the title of my blog - i just hope this never comes true!

It was just 10:25 AM when I logged on to my Office PC - unusually early for a lazy fellow like me & dont know why, but am feeling unusually highly energetic today - was running all around at my place in the morning after Mickey…. so much so - even Rahul & Subu were surprised - “Maku, are you alright… teri tabiyat to theek hai?” lol

…looking forward to a great day ahead!

AFAIR, its been more than 6 months since I had a haircut… last remembered, I visited the babrber in Mundhwa - & that was wayyy back, even before I came to stay with D-25

So this weekend, Me & Rama finally headed to the barber’s & managed to get the trim!

Then… - they perfectly qualified for a pony tail… infact I even sported one for a couple of days before geting tired of managing it everytime… boy! - that was a huge task in itself!

Better… The length’s been shortened a bit - from my chin length to my nose, but still sporting long(ish) hair… (pictures taken @ the barber’s shop!)

As usual - the larger versions are at my Zoto
…thanks to Rama for the pictures

This weekend, i’ll be in Bangalore - going there to collect my N800. I’ll be reachable on my usual cell number - +919850976749 but i’d prefer a mail instead as my gprs should be working in b’lore too…

Hoping to make my next entry through my N800

Oh, just to chip in, Raj National Travels rock! The bus is superbly spacious, specially my A1 seat! Though i might have to share my seat with the bus helper (B1) instead of a *chick*… But who cares, atleast I can stretch my legs fully! In a 16 hours journey, being able to stretch one’s legs is far more important than anything [wink wink]

Long ago, …cant remember the year/month/date - It was approx 8:30 in the morning, usual time to leave for the college. I was standing at the bus-stop, waiting for 114 (Grameen Mudrika) to come. Just then two ladies stepped down a bus - we had a small institute nearby (maybe for some vocational studies) for which many female students used to come in the morning via local busses.

But just when the ladies were stepping down the bus, a guy just happened to come in front of them & they almost collided - it was neither’s fault. The guy was hit a bit - but nothing major. Though the ladies apologised (even when it was neither’s fault), the guy started abusing them… All this time I was there, standing at the bus-stand. But when he started abusing, I could not stop myself & decided to step in. I managed to get inbetween the ladies & the guy, turned towards the ladies, requested them to leave - telling them that I’ll take care of the guy! & then I turned towards him, who was now almost frowning & gave him a good stare. Though I was in a no mood to fight, but was ready to tell him sternly that what he was doing was not atall civilized! But I think that he himself understood that when I started staring at him - he turned around & went his way.

Nothing heroic - But it takes just a little to stop someone from being harrased. Stand up for it when the need be!