Diary 33: Day Alone

Yesterday I slept at 6:30 am, after watching the TV episodes and writing a few JAVA programs. Today I woke up at 8:15 am, since my Dad was set to go to Jalpaiguri to join my mom and sister there. The flight was scheduled at 6:30 pm, and so he took the luggage along with him when he left for office. Then, I planned to sleep, but couldn't sleep, so I started multi tasking between JAVA and TV episodes. The first mail that I saw today was from FeastHunt, and with some sample logos attached, so I was very happy that everyone is working. I started with the Day 4 chapter yesterday only, so I was placed comfortably today. The maid was supposed to come in at her usual time, but she didn't. I was feeling a bit hungry then, but I waited. Ultimately I called her up, and she said that she is on her way. I even asked Dad to inquire about her. Anyways, she came in finally, at around 1 pm. She just prepared Tea and the lunch. After I had my lunch, I started searching few logo design making softwares. I came across one, and I even designed a logo. I sent it across to the team, but Akshay didn't like it that much. Akshay's choice is not matching up with mine. His design was very formal and corporate. I want something catchy and different. Anyways, I continued my multi tasking between JAVA and TV episodes till around 7 pm. Meanwhile, I also tried my hands on frying chicken nuggets, but I feel that I fried them too much. Then, I felt very sleepy and so I slept for around 1 hour. When I woke up, I realized that there is no electricity supply, and that the inverter is on instead. Then, today again the residents of the flat just below me complained about the water drop noise on their AC from our AC. I told them that I am shifting to the other room today, so it won't be an issue now. Then, I decided to call up McDonald's for the dinner, but was disappointed when they told me that the home delivery is not available due to some technical reason. I was very hungry, so I decided that I would go there and take a parcel. I took a bath, and left home. I also bought some cakes from Monginis. They would act as small snacks in between meals. I also brought in extra burger so that I can have it as my breakfast tomorrow before going to office. Then, I ate my dinner, and started writing this post. Next, I would watch a few episodes and sleep by 1 am. 

Diary 32: Normal Day

Yesterday I slept at around 6:30 am after watching the CSI:Miami episodes. In one of the episodes Eric was shot was dead for nearly 5 minutes before the doctors could bring him back. It was a shock when I saw Eric being shot. I even searched on Wikipedia whether Eric actually dies or not, but was relieved to find out that he lives. Today I woke up at 11:10 pm, after hearing numerous bell rings from my maid. I was lucky that I woke up finally. After that I ate my breakfast, and then started multi tasking between Feasthunt, JAVA and CSI:Miami episodes. Also, I, Akshay and Dallas had a small chat regarding the license and registration issues of the site, and by the end of the day we figured out that we need a legal advisor and a chartered accountant. We also discussed issues such as cost of website building,  cost of registration and cost of copyright application. Anyways, after my lunch I continued with the same schedule and by 5:30 pm, I nearly completed the Day 3 chapter of the JAVA book. Then I decided to make some Tea for myself. It was long time since I prepared tea, so the result was not up to the mark, but anyways, I was able to fulfill my snack hunger. Then, I continued with JAVA and finally completed the Day 3 part. Also, Dad was going to Jalpaiguri tomorrow, so he was telling me all the details of the daily chores that I was supposed to take care of. I had dinner at around 10:45 pm, and then after watching the tv episodes for a while I started writing this diary. Today I also came to know that the two new hires are coming in on 1st of June, and that Gil is coming to India on 6th June. So, my work from home will come to an end then. But I will try to convince them to allow me to work from home considering that I am living alone right now and that too so far away. Now, I plan to watch some more TV episodes and then sleep by 3:30 am.

Diary 31: Doubting Day

Yesterday I slept at around 5:15 am after watching the TV episodes and having a long and nice chat with Alok after a long time. Today I woke up at 12:00 pm. I started my day by watching TV episodes. In between, I was having a look at the feast hunt documents also. I recalled that today there is a call at 7 pm. I had my lunch at around 3 pm. After that, I was multi-tasking between JAVA and TV episodes. Then at around 5 pm, I started feeling sleepy and thus decided to take some rest. I woke up at 6:45 pm, and logged on to see that both Akshay and Dallas were missing. I messaged both of them, and then realized that both are out. Akshay later called me up and set up a call at 10 pm. I was frustrated the whole time, and so much that I had doubts regarding the whole project. I was even thinking of going solo on this. Meanwhile, I kept watching TV episodes and reading the JAVA book. At around 10 pm, I was online, and our call just started when Dallas said that he had to go somewhere. After that, he never returned. He said that he has some important work, so he cannot attend now. So, we decided that we will have a call tomorrow evening. I sent them the action items for the next week. After that I tried to look into few legal issues such as copyright and trademark etc, but didn't get much help regarding that. I guess I would have to contact some one who knows about all this. Then, I completed the Day 2 of the JAVA book, and again started watching TV episodes. Next I plan to watch the loaded episode and go to sleep at around 5 am.

Diary 30: Average Day

Yesterday I slept at around 5:30 am after watching the TV episodes. Today I woke up at around 12:15 pm. Since, today was a Saturday, and I knew that Dad would be home, I didn't worry about when the maid would come in. I was relieved when I woke up because I had some horrible dreams during the sleep. Anyways, I started my day a bit differently today. Instead of watching the TV episodes, I started looking at the screens I designed for the site, and tried to look in for resources on net. I even tried a bit of raw coding, but realized that it is too time consuming, and would take ages for me to design something significant. I even started with JAVA today. I took the Sams Teach Yourself book from the office, and installed the required softwares - Netbeans, JEdit etc. I almost completed the things for Day 1. Although I was familiar with the Day 1's stuff, I took my time in understanding each concept. I went through basics of OOP, inheritance, Class, Method, etc. During the middle of the day, I started watching the TV episodes amidst slow internet speed. Anyways, I was multi tasking between JAVA and TV episodes till 7:30 pm. After that I took a bath, and started watching the IPL 2011 Final match between CSK and RCB. Well, the match was clearly one sided. CSK were off to a flyer, and Murali Vijay, who didn't click the whole IPL, scored 95 runs in just 55 odd balls. Everyone contributed effectively, and thus CSK reached a mammoth total of 205 in their 20 overs. RCB's weaponry had only one missile - the Gayle storm, and to their misfortune it misfired tonight. Gayle was out for duck in the first over itself. After that, RCB fell like a house of cards. CSK were perfect in each department today, and truly deserved the title. Meanwhile, we had our dinner, and were ready for another big final - UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. It didn't take much time to adjust myself from Cricket to Football. Although Barca started on a low note, but they soon picked up their momentum. Man U, who were looking deadly in the starting minutes, were later struggling to keep possession of the ball. Finally Barca defeated Man U by 3-1. Goal scorers were David Villa, Messi, Pedro and Rooney. After that, I started writing this diary. Next I plan to watch the tv episodes and then complete the rest of the Day 1 requirement of the book, and finally sleep by around 4:30 am.

Diary 29: Sleeping Day

Well, yesterday I didn't sleep at all till 8:00 am. One reason was CSI:Miami, but the other reason was that I had to fill in the water in the buckets and bottles, when the water supply started at around 7:00 am. Also, I was worried that I might not wake up at time for the maid servant, which would result in no breakfast and no lunch. Anyways, I slept anyways against my will at around 8 am, and woke up with the bell rings from the maid servant. Then I ate breakfast, and started watching CSI:Miami episodes. I had slept only few hours, and hence was feeling very sleepy but I kept myself awake for the time the maid was working. After she was gone, I watched the episodes for a while, and then slept. I woke up many times in between. This went on till 7 pm. I had skipped my lunch and thus was feeling very hungry then. At around 7:15 pm, Dad returned home from his Delhi trip. Then, I started waiting for 8 pm, as today MI and RCB were clashing in the second qualifier of the play offs. Well, right from the first over, the game turned into the favor of RCB, when Gayle scored 27 runs in 6 balls. RCB kept on dominating the first innings, and reached a mammoth total of 185 in their 20 overs. MI started off well, but couldn't keep up with the momentum. They lost their way in between, and hence lost the game by a margin of 40 odd runs. Few players such as Rayadu, Pollard  and Rohit Sharma were very disappointing. Anyways, after that one of my friends from US called up to brush up the basics of SQL, and also to understand the algorithm to find the longest common subsequence between two gene sequences. I read the algorithm and explained it to her. Then I started looking for Web development tools, so that I could build a prototype of the site we are trying to build, but couldn't find a programming free software. Anyways, I downloaded Microsoft web developer. Next, I watched the TV episodes and then slept at around 6:30 am.

Diary 28: Extreme time pass day

Yesterday I slept at around 4:30 am. Also I came to know that Dad has to go to Delhi next day for some work. So I will be alone the whole day. Also, I came to know that my cousin brother didn't get through the IIT Entrance Exam.Today, I woke up at around 11:00 am, and just in time to hear the bell ring from the maid servant. Then, I had my breakfast, checked mails, and found out that there is nothing to work on today as the deployment is done, and the client has run out of hours for our service. So, after so many tough days, finally I got a day free. Today I did almost nothing. I just slept, watched CSI:Miami episodes all day, and chatted on yahoo. I was appreciated for my singing in these yahoo rooms. I had a late lunch and ordered noodles from Vale for lunch. Although Dallas  and I scheduled a call for today, Dallas couldn't take out time from his schedule,and then disappeared somehow in the latter part of the day. Meanwhile, I was closing in on completing the fourth season of CSI:Miami. I had a late dinner, at around 1 am. After watching few more episodes of CSI:Miami, I started writing this post. Next I plan to complete watching the remaining episodes and then sleep by around 6 am.

Diary 27: Deployment Day Part 2

Yesterday I slept at around 5 am, and woke up today at around 10:30 am. Earlier in the morning, Dad figured out the cause of power failure. It was the fuse of the inverter, it blew off due to power surge. The remaining part of the code deployment was left, and so we had a webex call at 12:30 pm. I had moved a significant part of the code already, only the database set up was pending along with the workflow connections and the DT projects. So, I started with the work during the call. It went on for some time, and I was enjoying the deployment, mainly because I never had a chance earlier to deploy a code, interact with the client and resolve issues at the first hand. In fact, I never went so deep into informatica. I had a lot of freedom while working, and it made me very happy. Anyways, I passed on the control to Ankit in between so that he can set up his part of the code. He was not at all interested in working today. He wanted to put everything on me. But I have learnt that never work extra and that too for no credit. So, after Ankit was done with the code set up, I executed a dry run, and found some errors with the look up data. I rectified those errors, and loaded my part of the data. It was nice to see everything working now. I again passed on the control to Ankit, and he loaded his part of the data. I didn't get the time to have my lunch, so I had a late lunch at around 5 pm. The work was more or less complete by around 7:30 pm. I realized that the water supply will be there till 8 pm, and so I hurriedly took a shower and filled up all the containers possible. After this tiring session, I relaxed a bit by chatting on yahoo. Also, there was the Eliminator match today between Mumbai and Kolkata. Well, it started with Kolkata in deep trouble with their batting. They were reduced to 20/4. But they recovered somehow with the help of Yusuf Pathan and Ten Doeschate, reaching 147 in 20 overs. Mumbai started off to a flyer. Blizzard and Sachin knocked the balls around at all the corners. Mumbai lost a few quick wickets, but ensured that the required run rate never went up too high. Finally, Harbhajan's six brought Mumbai home at their home ground. After the match, I started working on the user interface screens for FeastHunt. I made a prototype of that and mailed it to the other guys. I wanted it to be simple and straightforward so that people don't get too much intimidated by the look and feel. I may have a call tomorrow at around 7 pm, to discuss all the things in detail. Next, I watched the CSI:Miami episodes, and slept at around 5:30 am.

Diary 26: Deployment Day

Yesterday I slept at around 5 am. Today I woke up at around 10:30 am. Yesterday, I came to know that there would be no water supply for three days. I was already frustrated with the AC thing, and then this water problem. Then, the maid servant came in, and made breakfast. I told her that use as much less water as possible. After that, I started working. And my whole mid day went into fixing issues and working on the changes. At around 5:15 pm, we had a client call where Gotham told us that today we need to deploy the code into their server. So, we will set up a webex meeting and share control over the desktop to copy everything. I had never done this before, and it was a very new experience. Anyways, after that I and Ankit started loading the final data for testing. Meanwhile, the first qualifier match started between CSK and RCB. It was one hell of a match. RCB reached a grand target of 175 in their 20 overs. And CSK somehow managed to make that score, where they also made 58 runs in their last 4 overs, just like Mumbai did against KKR. Back to work, we and Ankit started the deployment. I was controlling the desktop of Gotham. Also, today we were introduced to Girija. She had an awesome voice. I was turned on during the call, and was very much attracted to her. Then, I saw her profile on facebook, and the worlds came crashing on me. I was able to concentrate again on the call, and focus on the deployment part. Well, today was a very bad for deployment. Firstly, there was an important IPL match. Secondly, there was some issue with the electricity in our house. Only one of the phase was working, and luckily it was the phase which controlled the ACs. So, after suffering and adjusting for so long without the fans, I switched on the AC in the children's room. I may get a hearing from the residents below, but I am ready to explain the situation. Today was a tiring day, the deployment call went on for more than 2 hours and that too continuously. After the call, I started writing this diary, and now I plan to watch the CSI:Miami episodes and then go to sleep at around 4:30 am. 

Diary 25: Mixed Bag

Yesterday I slept at around 6:30 am, after work, chatting on yahoo and watching TV episodes. But before that, something amazing happened in the match between Mumbai and KKR. As mentioned in my last diary, it was a completely KKR's game. They made a whooping total of 175 in their 20 overs, and Mumbai lost their way in between the chase. In the last 4 overs, they needed 58 runs. Wickets kept falling, Pollard was out, Sachin was gone, Rohit Sharama out. It was the last over, and Mumbai needed 21 runs to win it. James franklin was the batsman, and Balaji was the bowler. The first four balls went for four!, the next ball a single, and then 4 was needed from the last ball, when Balaji bowled a juicy full toss and it was hit for six by Amabati Rayadu. My god, I couldn't believe it. The game was for KKR till the 19th over, but suddenly all things changed. This is 20-20.
Coming back, I woke up at around 10:15 am, after receiving a call from Ankit regarding the tasks. I was low on sleep, but still I started working on the action items. I also started watching the TV episodes. Meanwhile, the maid servant came in and I had my breakfast. I also chatted on yahoo for the latter part of the afternoon. Then, I decided that I will have Burgers for lunch today. So I called up McDonald's and ordered one medium McChicken value meal, two Veg pizza McPuff, one Chicken McGrill and one McVeggie. It arrived at around 4:30 pm. I had a client call at 5:15 pm, so I had to eat up quickly. The call went just fine. I asked my doubts regarding few issues, and Gotham told us about few more issues and requirements. After that, I had another call, but this time it was for FeastHunt. We discussed a few things, and decided on our action items. After this call, I continued with my work for quite a while. Gotham called me up several times to understand something or the other. I also watched the TV episodes on and off. I also posted a new post on the PostBox - the solution to the bulb durability problem. I had my dinner at around 10:30 pm. There was no IPL match today. After the dinner, I continued working on my tasks, and received many calls from Ankit and Gotham. There were some significant changes coming up and so I informed Gil about the action items, and sent a mail to Gotham. Then I took a shower at around 2:30 am, and started writing this post. I wore the Deloitte shirt after a long time. Next, I plan to watch the loaded TV episodes, and then sleep at around 5 am.

Perils of Software Industry

A day in the life of software engineers.

GF: Girl Friend

BF: Her Boy Friend

G: Just another Girl

GF: I don’t feel the same with you anymore.

BF: (Memory Usage: 0%) Ctrl – S

GF: Earlier, you used to care about me so much, but now all that is gone.

BF: (Memory Usage: 43%) F3 !… …, F5 !… …, Enter Ctrl – S

GF: I think we should give ourselves some time to think about our situation.

BF: (Memory Usage: 0%) Ctrl – S

GF: Also, I want all of my stuffs back. Please give it to me.

BF: (Memory Usage: 51%) F3 !, Ctrl – A, Ctrl – X, Ctrl –V, Ctrl – S, Alt-F4!

GF: So, it is a good bye for now. Have a nice life.

BF: (Memory Usage: 0.11%) Ctrl – S, Alt-F4! (Error : The function you are trying to close is already being used by another user)

GF: ESC ! ESC !

BF: (Memory Usage: 100%) Ctrl – Alt – Del, Kill process !

Next Day,

G: Hi, my name is Lisa. Meet me at the corner coffee shop. I will be waiting for you.

BF: (Memory Usage: 100%) Ctrl – T, Page Up, Page Down, Print Screen, Ctrl – S, Scroll Lock

Meanwhile,

G(Lisa): (Memory Usage: 25%) Administrator Console, Terminal Services Manager, Add new user, Grant Privileges,

               Ctrl – S

Diary 24: Nothing much

Yesterday I slept at around 6 am, after watching the CSI:Miami episodes, and after being fully satisfied with the work I did. Today, I woke up at around 12:15 pm. I and my dad tried to figure out how to pull the AC out of the box, but couldn't. We needed to attach the pipe at the rear end, so that the water doesn't drop on the AC below ours. After that, I had my breakfast, and checked my work mail. I worked on my task for a while,and then started watching the CSI:Miami episodes. I also checked with my Feasthunt team, and postponed the call to tomorrow as Akshay had to work and Dallas was with the relatives. So, then we had our lunch. There were two good IPL matches back to back today, and I watched both of them. First one, CSK v/s RCB. Well, to start off Chennai were so inconsistent with their batting. They were never settled. They lost wickets very quickly. Apart from Dhoni, who smashed 70 off 40 balls, no one made any impact. Their batting line up was an impulse signal with peak at Dhoni. CSK managed to get only 128/8 in their 20 overs. RCB chased it down very easily. It was getting so boring that I even had a power nap in between the overs. After this match, I watched the remaining bits of the episodes, and then turned back to the IPL match again. This time, it was Kolkata v/s Mumbai. Kolkata batted very nicely and reached a massive total of 175/7 in their 20 overs. Right now, I am watching the chase by Mumbai, but I am not much hopeful of Mumbai winning it. The Kolkata pitch tends to slow down, and hence it would be tough chasing that score. Let's see where the tide turns. Next I plan to have dinner, and then continue watching the TV episodes. I plan to sleep by 3 am.

Diary 23: Normal Day

Yesterday I slept at around 6 am, after completing a part of my tasks and watching one episode of CSI:Miami. Today, I woke up at around 11:00 am. My dad left early to somewhere in CBD for some work, and so no one was home that time. The maid servant came in, made the breakfast for both of us, and then left. Dad also came in meanwhile. The earlier part of the day was spent in watching the latest episodes of Bones and Big bang theory. Then, I focused on my next action item at work. Because of all the issues and problems I faced, I was now adapted to the problems I could face. This time I went step by step, and noted down my observations. So, I was getting the whole picture in addition to the details here and there. Then, I had my lunch with Dad. After the lunch, I continued working for sometime. Meanwhile, I also watched the IPL match between Punjab and Deccan. Hyderabad were awesome with their batting, and hence reached a huge total of 198/2 in their 20 overs. Punjab tried but collapsed very easily. With this loss, Punjab are out of IPL. So now Mumbai and KKR qualify for the play offs. Amit mishra took a hat trick today. After this match, there was another match between Pune and Delhi. Pune started off well, but rain stopped play in between, and then the game never started again. Meanwhile, I started working on my task, and completed major portions of it. There are still some issues left, but those are just minor ones, which I will deal with later. I took a shower after that. And now, after writing this diary, I would start watching the season 4 of CSI:Miami. I plan to sleep at around 4 am. 

Diary 22: Frustrating Day

Well, I slept at around 5:00 am, after fighting with repositories and databases. I woke up at around 11:15 am. I checked my work mail, and general stuffs. In a while, the maid servant came in, so I had my breakfast then. After the fight last day, I was determined to move ahead and look into the issues. So, I started working. Most of the mid day was spent understanding their code and structure. There was an issue with one table, which caused a hell lot of problems later on. Anyways, I ate my lunch in between at around 4:30 pm. I didn't have any appetite till then. After that, we had a call at 5:15 pm. In the call, we explained our situation, and came to know that all the action items are to be finished by today. The deadline was ridiculous, and we already knew that it couldn't be met. Anyways, I started working on my action item. I rectified a few things here and there, but the problem with this one table couldn't be rectified. I tried all means, but every time the data failed to load into that particular table. I checked everything in the source xml files, the Informatica mapping, the DT mapping, but couldn't find anything that would cause this problem. This whole time I was trying to figure out the issue, and hence a lot of time was wasted on this. In addition to this, the person on the client side is too inarticulate to explain the issues or solutions. So, everything was haphazard. Ankit was also getting frustrated with his action items. He was facing a version issue. Gotham, the lead on the client side, was calling me regularly to seek updates, and it was a frustrating task to explain a non-technical guy the reasons for the data coming and not coming. Anyways, after lots of debugger sessions, and log search, I finally concluded that the problem is in the final stage where the data gets written to the database table. Meanwhile, I had a quick dinner and it was then that I found out that Mumbai Indians are losing the match against RR by 10 wickets. I was surprised to see the downfall of Mumbai Indians in the recent times. Returning to the work, we had a call with Gil late at night, where he gave us some direction. Using that, I moved on and figured out the root cause. Then, I proceeded step by step and finally reached the horizon - both in reality and in essence of code. It was around 5:30 am, when I mailed them that the problem has been fixed, and it is working now. After that, I slept after watching the CSI:Miami episode. I completed the season 3 today. 

Diary 21: Informatica Day

Yesterday I slept at around 3:00 am, after watching the TV episodes. Today I woke up at 11 am. Firstly, I panicked because I thought that the maid servant went back from the door itself, but I found out that she has not come yet. Well she came in, made the food, cleaned the house and then went away. Meanwhile, I was confused whether we will start working on US time from today or not. Soon, I got a meeting invite for 5:15 pm, and I figured out that it will be from today. I was very much used to the US timings as I sleep late, so I had no issues. I spent most of the mid day time in watching TV episodes. Then I had my lunch, after preparing some rice for myself. Then, today was a historic day for our business plan because we had our first call, and that too a video call. We discussed strategies, and action items, and I spoke a lot with no problems. It made me happy and content, as I was doing something that is mine. Anyways, immediately after this call, I had the client call. It was an average call, where they gave us an introduction into their system. The next part of the day was fully dedicated to Informatica. Even the IPL match between KKR and Pune (Sourav Ganguly) couldn't get any sneaky stares from me during the whole time. IPL commentary was playing the role of background music as I was working deeply into the administration part of Informatica. I had to replicate the client system in our remote desktop. Although I had no experience with that, I was able to do it, and finally start the work. Ankit was frustrated with the timings, and was on his very low on productivity. Anyways, my dinner was the only break during this time. After that, I took a bath to get recharged. A backache was causing problems the whole day, and took its peak at around 1:00 am. I was helpless then, but I somehow fought it. Another fight was going on the informatica side, where I was trying to make a mapping work. It finally worked, but still has some issues related to input files. My dad came in between, and saw me working late. He suddenly offered me a glass of warm milk, and I accepted. I was already very full, but I managed one glass of milk. Then, Ankit gave up on the work, and went to sleep, so I had to send the status mail to the client. After that, I started writing this, and now I plan to watch the loaded TV episode and then go to sleep.

Diary 20: Rejection Day

Today was an odd day. I slept at around 6:00 am, after coming back from airport. I drove the whole way back. Driving at the dawn was awesome. There was no traffic, there was no sign of urgency. I woke up at around 10:00 am, with a heavy head. I had to wake up so that the maid servant doesn't return from the door. I had been accused of it earlier, so I had to make amends. I sent a mail to Gil, saying that I will start late as I was awake all night, and returned late from the airport. At around 11 am, he sent out another mail asking about our availability, because he had some new work. I was in no mood to work with my heavy head. Anyways, Ankit as usual called me, and informed me about it. I acted as if I was surprised to know about the new work, and somehow managed to skip the topic of "work from home". So, the maid servant arrived, and explained her what I needed for breakfast and lunch. Meanwhile, I came to know that I didn't get through IIM L even in the second list. In a way, it was very good. I never wanted to go to L. I forgot about it, and moved on. The middle part of the day was wasted in Yahoo messenger. The whole day, I evaded work, and gave some logical explanation of why the code is not working. At around 8 pm, I again started working honestly, and figured out the problem in 30 mins, I rectified the code within 10 minutes, and had my first client call in my new company, which I handled very nicely, and was impressed by myself. Ankit, who was supposed to lead the call, was very unsure and fidgety. After that, I sent the project to Ankit, and logged off. Then, I and my Dad managed to handle the dinner without preparing anything new. After my dinner, I continued watching the IPL match between CSK and KTK, and started writing this diary. Right now, the match is in favor of Chennai, and it seems that they will take it home. Next, I plan to watch the latest episode of house, and then continue with the third season of CSI:Miami. I will sleep at around 3:00 am.

Diary 19: Packing Day

Yesterday, after that big fight, I was not in a very good mood, so I distracted myself by watching TV episodes and also took a bath to cool off. I slept at around 3:00 am. I woke up at 10:00 am, and this time my mom didn't mock me for waking up late, but instead asked me politely. This gave a good start to my day. After that, I ate my breakfast, and started watching TV episodes. For the first half of the day, I was pretty much involved in TV episodes. I didn't talk much, but was at peace with myself. I also visited few of the data exchange training materials in between. During the later part of the day, I took my mom and sister to a shop, and waited there till the shopping was done. I could easily see the excitement in the eyes of my sister. She is all set to meet the cousins and grandparents. The whole day everyone was busy with packing and organizing. Anyways, I came back and looked at the score card of the on going IPL match between Kings XI and RCB, and was shocked to see that RCB are taking a beating from Gilchrist and Marsh. Punjab put on a huge score of 232/2 in their 20 overs. RCB were never looking good. Gayle was out for a duck, and no body was stable. Consequently, RCB lost it by a huge margin of 111 runs. I had my dinner by around 10:30 pm. Then, I started working on my business plan and the overall process flow. I made a graphical chart of how the whole process would go about. I sent out a group mail to list down the tasks at hand. I even had a chat with Akshay, who wanted to start with the website work as soon as possible. I agreed with him, and hence decided to meet up on Thursday evening. I felt really good after implementing all this. I felt satisfied, and could feel that this is what I have wanted to do all this time. Now, I plan to watch the latest episodes of HIMYM, Chuck, Gossip girl and House. Then, I will go with my mom, dad and sister to the airport to drop off my mom and sister. We are planned to leave at 3:00 am, the flight is scheduled to depart at 5:40 am. I wish my mother and sister a happy and safe journey. 

Diary 18: Cloudy Day + Bad Interview Day + Big Fight Day...

Yesterday, I slept at around 3:30 am. I spoke with an old friend of mine, and came to know that she is getting engaged. She finally found the perfect match for her, and is very happy about it. Her happiness spread to my life too, and I was smiling the whole time I was talking to her. I didn't watch any TV episodes, instead I was completing my training sessions. Today, I woke up at 10:00 am, and found out that the weather outside was very cloudy. Clouds added an amazing effect to the start of my day. I love this type of weather a lot - just before raining. Well, after that I just checked my work mail, and got ready for the interview. The interview started at 11:00 am. It was going all good, he asked me normal questions on job change etc, but then the puzzle started. It was a simple puzzle, and I solved it in one way, then he asked me for a better answer, so I tried it out, and finally arrived at a solution. The interviewer was not that helpful, and throughout was very unresponsive. Then, it was time for the business case. It was related to an insurance company. He gave me a few bits of information, and then asked me about the profitability of a particular section of insurance agents. I had very less idea about the working of an insurance company, so I struggled, and missed out a major factor of cost in the Revenue equation. The unresponsive nature added to the struggle, and there were many pause or empty moments. Anyways, the interview ended finally, and I was relieved off the pain. After that, I decided to forget about the interview and move forward. Before the interview, I started making an excel sheet about my business idea. So, I decided to keep working on that. After I was done, I shared the file with Dallas, who told me that Akshay is also interested in working on the business plan. I was happy about it, and decided to go ahead with it. Dallas also told me about a business idea which he had thought, and I supported him to go ahead with it. Akshay created a new Gmail account and shared the login details. So our very first mail account was up and running. I shared a Google spreadsheet so that we can add/edit ideas whenever we want and also independent of each other. Akshay also sent us a mail regarding business case competitions. We will look forward to such competitions in future. It will add a lot to our business skills and help us in implementing our main idea. Anyways, after that I had my lunch, and started watching CSI:Miami episodes. At around 4 pm, my mom and my sister went to beauty parlor and tuition respectively. Then, I started chatting on Yahoo, and did that till evening. After that I went on to watch the IPL match between Pune and Deccan. Then, I decided to write my diary entry, and while I was in the middle of it, a big fight started between my mom and me. It was the remaining part of the earlier fight. I tried to explain how I miss the interaction we used to have, how I couldn't play the role of a big brother to my sister, how I still cherish those childhood memories and miss that feeling of togetherness despite being not so well off then. This went on and on, and was reaching a conclusion when my Dad interfered and said that all this discussion is useless. He even commented something related to my musical abilities in childhood. He said that during my school days I didn't understand music. This accusation made me very angry, and I burst out. This resulted in a bigger fight between me and my Dad. He then went on saying things he shouldn't have said, but I remained quite. He even added a prospective of breaking up the relationship. He said that he will continue with his duty of providing money and other materialistic needs I have, but will never interfere again. I kept quite. The fight continued even after Dinner, but I just shut myself and started listening to the song "Forever Reign". It relieved me of the pain, and I started smiling. In the background, I could hear my Dad saying some other things to me, but I didn't pay attention. I know that he cannot understand me, so I just gave up and surrendered. Now, I am ending this diary note. Fear has captured me for a while, but I guess I will recover very soon. I have to live with my Dad alone from 18th May to 31st May. I will adjust myself somehow, and pass through the phase. I wish I got into some B school, then this day would have never came. A change of place and situation is very much necessary. I hope something magical happens, and I escape to some place. Next, I plan to mourn in my sadness, then watch a few episodes of CSI:Miami.

Diary 17: Wasteful Day ...

Yesterday, after I published the post, Mumbai Indians lost the match in chasing a low total of 136. After that, I watched CSI:Miami and chatted on Yahoo until I slept at around 4:30 am. Also, I found out that the AC was not working again. The people who came to repair the AC were just useless, and had no knowledge about the working of an AC. Today, I woke up at 11:15 am, and started watching TV episodes again. I found a new web comic named "Fly you fools", and was enjoying the satire projected in that comic. After that, I had my lunch at around 3:00 pm. I continued with the web comic for some time, and then decided to concentrate on the training material that I was asked to complete by Monday. There was a match going on between Punjab and Delhi, but I was not interested. I went to the other room, where the AC was working, and started with my training assignment. At around 5:30 pm, I had Tea while watching the end of the first innings of the match. Punjab managed to put up a good total of 170 in their 20 overs. Then, I took my laptop to the drawing room, and started multi-tasking (training and IPL). My mom, dad and sister had to go to the Rabindra-Nazrul Jayanti function, where mom was supposed to perform three songs. This time, I decide not to perform for various reasons. Anyways, I continued my training for some time, and then made some changes to the shared blog (subscribe and share buttons). Then, my mom, dad and sister returned from the function. I listened to the songs that my Mom sang, and was very satisfied. I felt that old touch in her voice, the same old melody, and control over voice. I was very happy, but being an introvert I kept all this to myself. Then, I ate the Paani puri which Dad brought. It was fine, but not the best which I had had. Meanwhile, there was a match going on between Kochi and Rajasthan. The match seemed a joke. Rajasthan were bowled out for 97, and Kochi chased it down in some 7-8 overs. After this display of mockery, I went back to complete my training sessions, and decided to complete the diary before I continue any further. Next I plan to continue the training sessions, and then watch any TV episodes if possible. Tomorrow I have the second round of interviews scheduled at 11:00 am with Diamond Consulting. 

Diary 16: Another Day...

Firstly, I would like to thank the blogger.com for restoring my previous post i.e. Diary 14. The post was important to me, and I am happy to get it back. 

Yesterday I slept very late, at around 5:30 am. I watched TV episodes, and chatted in Yahoo messenger after a long time. I woke up at around 12:30 pm, after getting a call from Dallas. He asked me if I am interested in watching the IPL match between MI and RR this friday, as he had an extra ticket for the same. I agreed despite the high ticket price (Rs. 1250). He will let me know the status soon. After that, I watched an episode of CSI:Miami. I had mentioned about the trouble the AC in my room was giving, and hence today we called up the electronics shop to send someone to look into the issue. They figured out that the problem was with the Gas sensor coil. It got tripped as soon as I switched on the AC. So, they removed it from the circuit so that it doesn't get tripped. Although the solution didn't seem right but they said that it would not affect the working of the AC. After that, I decided to list down the songs which I need to record properly. So, I went through the files and videos in my mobile, and shortlisted 17 of them till now. Let's see how many I can record. Also, before I can record anything, I need a mixer and a new acoustic guitar, which has the electric pick up. After that, I had my lunch at around 3:45 pm. Next, I started watching the IPL match between KKR and RCB. The match was going fine until mother nature opened up the clouds. KKR was struggling with the bat but was showing signs of recovery. After that, I just surfed through the net, and waited for the game to begin. Well, the game began pretty late, and KKR had only 2 overs left. In the end, they ended up with a competitive total. D/L method moved the target by 10-15 runs, and the final target was 102 in 13 overs. RCB started off with a flyer. Gayle blasted the bowlers again, by scoring 38 runs in just 12 balls. He even captured the Orange Cap, and that too in just 7 games. Anyways, after that I dropped off my mom at someone's house for her practice session, came back and took a bath. Then I started watching the next match on the cards i.e. Mumbai v/s Deccan. Till now, Mumbai is in control of the game by picking up 5 wickets and giving away just 77 runs. It looks like Mumbai are going to have a cake walk in this match. Next, I plan to watch the rest of the match, eat my dinner, and then watch the TV episodes till I sleep.

Diary 15: Office Day

Well, before writing anything about the day or the previous day, I would like to point out that the title of the blog is not wrong. It is Diary '15'. Today, Friday the 13th, blogger experienced issues with its content which resulted in a large scale confusion and anxiety among the bloggers. Everything that was updated post Tuesday has vanished from every blog. Although they say that it is being restored right now, but I have less hopes. The last post i.e. Diary 14: Fearful Day + Interview Day was one of my lengthiest post, including the interview experience and new business idea discussion. I hope that I get it back.

Yesterday, I slept at around 1:30 am, but was not able to actually sleep till 2:30 am. I woke up at 7:30 am, and got ready for office. Today, the assembly election results were to be announced for West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. So, my dad switched on the TV as early as possible. This time, there were high speculations of Trinamool Congress winning by a grand margin, and this would mean that communist regime that existed for 34 years in West Bengal would finally come to an end. All the exit polls data suggested the same. Well, after some time we left for office. Today, there was one more person who went with us. After a tiring journey in heat and sweat, I reached office at around 10:40 am. Both Ankit and Sushma were happy to see me as I visited office after a long time. Nothing much happened in office, I felt I was not productive enough due to small office talk and frequent random disturbances. I was sleepy throughout as I didn't sleep properly, the night before. Meanwhile, I tried my best to plan something for today with Dallas and Divyansh, but somehow the plan didn't work. So, I headed back home early at around 4:45 pm, and reached Sion office (11-High) at around 5:40 pm. Then I waited for my Dad for some time, before getting a call from him that I should catch the ONGC bus to kharghar instead of the waiting. So, I did that. I found a few familiar faces in the bus. One of them was the dad of a hot bengali girl, who danced at the function where I sang 4 songs, a few days back. Anyways, it was a good experience as I was travelling in a bus after a long time. It took me back to the Deloitte days. I slept comfortably there, while listening to my i-pod. I reached kharghar at around 7:25 pm. I bought few stationaries and then ate Paani Puri. As I was returning from the shops, Dad called me from behind. He also reached a few minutes back and was walking his way from the corner to the building. So, I reached home at around 7:45 pm, and found out that Trinamool has won. It was a landslide victory. After that I watched one episode of CSI:Miami, and then started watching the IPL Match between Kochi and Punjab. What a fabulous match, Punjab had a huge ask, but they batted perfectly, and won the game in style. They had to win in order to be alive for the play offs. Meanwhile, I was multi-tasking between IPL and brainstorming on my new business idea i.e. Restaurant table booking portal. I enjoyed the brain storming part a lot, and was proud of myself that I didn't waste time on one thought, or road-block. There are obviously many unanswered questions, but solutions will come in time. After that, I started writing this post. Next, I plan to watch CSI:Miami episodes, and sleep when I feel like, since it is a Saturday tomorrow.  

Diary 14: Fearful Day + Interview Day

I don't actually remember when I slept yesterday, but it should be later than 2:30 am. Today, I woke up at around 10:15 am, and went online immediately. As soon as I logged onto my work mail, Gil messaged me and asked me to join a conference call. I hurriedly brushed my teeth and then connected to the meeting. But, as soon as I connected,my internet connection went down. With no hope of conference calling with wireless, I connected directly with hard wire. But still, the internet was far from being fine. After around 10 minutes, I managed to connect finally, and then attended the conference call along with Ankit, who was at office. The connection broke off in between the call too, but got restored soon enough. I tested the speed of the hard wired connection and found it to be very low. There seems to be a problem with the connection every morning. Anyways, after this scary encounter, comes another dreadful encounter when I tried to access this blog. First, it showed me a temporary error message, but after few refresh clicks, the browser said that this blog doesn't exist. I was shocked and drowned in fear. All the posts, videos, write ups vanished. It even said that the blog name is available for registering. I tried opening the other new blog, and the temporary error message was there too. Although it was a huge setback, I didn't try to create the blog again, and decided to wait for some time. I tried various methods of accessing the blog. By some, I was able to see the dashboard, but for some, there was nothing. Finally, after around 30 minutes of bad and scary time, the blogs reappeared. I felt relieved. I even posted new posts in both of them, to check whether they get updated or not. It worked, and hence I was fully relieved now. Next, I had an interview scheduled at 12:00 pm, for Diamond Consulting. I got a call at 12:10 pm. The interview started off with a brief introduction to the work that the company does, its verticals, its horizontals etc. Then, it was my turn, I gave a brief introduction of myself, covering my extra-curricular activities and project experiences. Then, there was a business case which required me to build a strategy to increase the number of visitors to a scientific artifacts museum. I asked a few questions, and within the discussion I proposed a Customer centric strategy i.e. figure out the customer base through a survey on the website, and then give out offers, discounts and other attractive opportunities so that customer visit the museum regularly. Next, he asked me about my leadership experience at my college. I just went on saying whatever came to my mind, and whatever seemed a good answer. After that, there was another business case. This one was more interesting than the one before. It was about an Auto company, based in Canada, and had two lines of business - Rental line and Service line. Rental line consisted of retail shops where car accessories and related things were available. Service line consisted of service centers where the vehicle would be kept for a period of time, and would be given back after repairs and additional services. In Canada, the business was very good, with both lines of businesses working with good margins. The same company tried to expand to US, but in 2-3 years, it realized that it is booking loss. I was the consultant, and was supposed to analyze the reasons for the same. Unlike my other interviews where I was filled with fear in solving the business cases, this time I was not all scared. I just spoke my mind, and asked questions. The interviewer was giving me good feedback, and guided me very well. I moved on from one phase to another, and finally arrived at two points - Competition from some other company, and Customer. Then, he told me that there is indeed a competitor, but focus on the customer part. So, I dig deeper, and tried to categorize the customer profile which came out to be Upper middle class and above. Then finally with some clues and hints, I arrived at the answer i.e. the location of the service shops. He added that the company in order to reduce land costs opened up many shops outside the urban areas, where the customer demographics don't match, and hence these shops recorded loss, and brought down the overall profit of the company. I was happy at least that I reached close, and was going in the right direction. Anyways, after that the interview was over. It was a 40 minutes interview, but I never felt any stress. After that, I returned to my present job, where Ankit was facing some problems with the connections to Data Exchange and Data transformation. I looked into it, and somehow managed to fix it (Started a few services here and there). After this, I rested a bit, and then waited for the next interview call, this time from Accenture. Although, I had no interest in joining it, but I took it as a practice interview. The call came at around 2:40 pm. The person asked me about my job experience, and tool proficiency. He asked a lot of technical questions, some of which I didn't know, some I guessed and some I knew. Overall, an average interview. The call ended at 3:05 pm. Ankit was tried to call me during this interview, so it was a bit scary. I called him up later giving some excuse of the waiting call. Later on, another problem sprung up. The AC was not working again. I cleaned up the filters, banged it here and there, but still it didn't work. I even used vacuum cleaner, but still no result. So, I opened up all my windows and curtains to let the fresh air come in. I slept for a while, and then started writing this blog post although there is a significant part of the day left. Next, I plan to have some Tea, and then watch the IPL match, some episodes, and finally sleep. I will aim to sleep early today as I HAVE to go to office tomorrow otherwise they may fire me. 

Diary 13: Just another day..

Yesterday, Mumbai Indians lost the match to Kings XI Punjab by 76 runs. It was more of a single sided match in the end. Nobody had the patience to make the runs. Anyways, the whole day I refrained myself from watching TV shows online, but after my dinner, I watched all my regular TV shows, and because of the slow nature of the wireless connection, it took longer than expected to complete the whole process of loading and watching. Finally, I slept at around 4:45 am. Today, I woke up at 10:00 am. I connected to the net, so that Ankit and Sushma know that I am at home. There was not much work, just a few training videos and presentations. Today, I didn't control myself and watched as many TV episodes possible. Also, I got calls from Accenture and Diamond Consulting regarding the first round of interviews, which would be conducted through telephone. I confirmed the timings for tomorrow. So, tomorrow I have two interviews back to back. My mom and sister had to go for shopping, and I dropped them off at the market place. At around 2:30 pm, I picked them up from the same market place, and came back home. Then, we had our lunch, and I again started watching the TV episodes. After some time, Gil messaged me. We had a small chat, for which I had to go back to some old training files and presentations. Meanwhile, I found out that the air conditioner of my room isn't working, so I cleaned the filter. After few issues with the start, the air conditioner started working. Then, I was surfing in the net for issues of net speed with wireless routers. I found out that in general the speed drops in case of wireless internet. I tried changing channels in the wireless router and selected the one which gave the highest speed as per speedtest.net . After that, I moved to the drawing room along with the , and started watching the IPL match between RCB and RR. Meanwhile, I set up the wi-fi in my i-pod, and was browsing Youtube videos in that. Also, I tried out something I always wanted to try - getting the audio output of the TV through the home theatre speakers. It worked, and was finally happy. I just need one more cable to implement the whole thing. Next, I started writing this post, but in between I had a business idea - restaurant booking. I wanted to discuss it with Dallas, so I logged on to Gmail and started discussing the idea with him. We started with name, then few revenue opportunities and many more small and crisp ideas. I was feeling confident, and felt like no one can defeat me. Dallas said that we will continue this discussion when we meet. The temporary available domain name is feasthunt.com, but we are looking for better names. After this, I had my dinner, and then again started writing this post. Next I plan to watch the match, and then the loaded episode of CSI:Miami. I plan to sleep by 2:00 am. 

Diary 12: Sourav Ganguly

Yesterday I wrote the Diary a bit early. After that, just a few things happened. One of the major things was that I started a shared blog along with four of my friends (till now three of them have accepted the request). I named the blog "Post Box" for now, and I will share the link to that blog soon. Another news was that of the IPL - "Ganguly going to play tomorrow". I was skeptical this time, as I expected him to play in the last match itself. After the dinner, I tried to sleep early at 12:45 am, but was not able to. I woke up and looked up the train routes  in Harbor line, as I was planning to go to office next day. I slept finally at 2:00 am. I woke up at 9:00 am, and messaged both Sushma and Ankit that I will be coming to office. Then, I went online and had a chat with Gil regarding the salary and also discussed the work for today. It was 10:15 am, and I started feeling lazy. So, I decided that I will not go. Today, I also decided that I will not watch any TV episodes, so I started working immediately. I also posted some blog posts in the new blog, which already has many visitors from India and US. I keep on working on the assignment till lunch, and after that I just waited for the IPL match between Pune and Deccan Chargers to start. Finally, DADA was playing. Pune fielded first and restricted Deccan to 136 in 20 overs. Pune were comfortable in their chase. Sourav came in at number 3, and played a very nice knock of 32 off 32 balls. It was so good to see him play after so long. I like comebacks, and he is the king of comebacks. He hit 3 fours and a six also. Let's see what he does in the coming matches. After that match, I surfed the net for a while, and started writing this post. Right now, there is a match going on between Mumbai and Punjab, and Punjab has had a very good start till now. Let's see how much they can put on the board. Now, I plan to watch the match, and then try to sleep early again, as I need to go to office at least once. I may watch one or two TV episodes of my regular TV series.

Timeless Songs

Here are few songs - both English and Hindi, which I consider as timeless. For some the lyrics standout, and for some the music.

English:

- Dream On (Aerosmith)

- Fade to Black (Metallica)

- Hotel California (Eagles)

- Winds of Change (The Scorpions)

- Beat It (Michael Jackson)

- Hallowed be thy name (Iron Maiden)

- Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Hindi

- Pyaar hua ikraar hua hai (Shree 420)

- Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya (Mughal-e-azam)

- Jeena yahan marna yahan (Mera naam Joker)

- Tujhse naraz nahi zindagi (Masoom)

- Aane wala pal (Golmaal)

- Jeevan se bhari teri aakhen (Anand)

- Jaane jaa dhundta (Jawani Deewani)

This list is not an extensive list. People are free to suggest more.

Diary 11: Wireless Day

Yesterday I slept at around 3:00 am after completing the CSI:Miami episodes. Before that, I went online with my new yahoo id and randomly wrote on chat rooms about how I am frustrated in life. Somehow, one person named Imran from Kolkata pinged me and started consoling me. In this process, he said that he has also faced the same type of problems, but is still hanging in there. I added him to my friends list and then went offline. Today I woke up at 11:15 am, and messaged Sushma that I am not coming to office as I am not feeling well. Then, I went online and told the same to Ankit. After that I started watching CSI:Miami, and watched it till the lunch time. Today also, I was not in a good mood considering the events of yesterday but was just fine. Then, my sister asked for the internet and I gave it without any hesitation otherwise it would start another argument. So, I just watched the loaded episode and then went to the other room and slept for a while as I had nothing to do. Then, I had my lunch at around 3:30 pm. I found out that my sister still needs the internet for chatting, so I decided that we need a wireless router, so that this situation doesn't occur anymore. So, I just went to the nearest mall (Little world) and bought a wireless router (Belkin). I came back, and started setting it up. It went fine for my office laptop, but was causing problems for the home laptop. Finally I gave up and called the Belkin customer support. They helped me figure out the problem, and hence both the laptops were now connected. If this would not have happened, then there was no point of a wireless router. Well, I handed over the home laptop to my sister and started watching CSI:Miami on my laptop. I watched it till 7:50 pm, and then went on to watch the IPL match between CSK and RR. This is an important match as both teams are in race to be in the top 4. Right now, I am watching the match, and as I see CSK lost its first wicket (Mike Hussey). Next, I plan to watch the match and then the CSI:Miami episodes. I want to sleep early today as I need to go to office. Also, I may not go with my father from now on as the driver has been sacked due to high fuel costs - the car had to travel some extra in a heavy traffic for me. So, I don't want to cause problems again. Train is the best option after all, and I will try to stick to that. Signing off now.

Diary 10: Terrible Day

Yesterday I slept at around 3:30 am. Today I woke up at around 11:00 am. I checked my mails, facebook and all. Then, I started watching CSI:Miami. I had to pick up my sister from tuition by 12:30 pm, so I left home and then came back by around 1:30 pm. After that I again watched CSI:Miami for a while. Then, I went to the drawing room to have lunch. Now, something happened, a small fight between my sister and my mother escalated and I lost my temper. I left the table, and went to my room and threw my bag at the door. I was angry because my mother said that someone else wished her mother's day and we didn't, and she started crying. Personally I don't believe in wishing, I believe that everyday is a mother's day, everyday is important, every moment I spend together with my mother is important. But, no one would understand this. I try to teach few things to my mother, rectify those, but the result is that I get the red eye of everyone. Well, I have decided once in for all that I will stop interfering and rectifying others, and just focus on myself. I have many errors to correct. So, the rest of the day I just stayed in my room, and came out only for two occasions - evening Tea and dinner. Lets see how it turns out. My way of interacting and creating memories is not acceptable in this house, so be it. I will just live alone, aloof and take whatever comes my way. Unfortunately, this has become the only truth of my life. No one to talk to, no one to look forward, just me and my brain. Today, I watched the IPL matches on my laptop. First match was RCB v/s Kochi. RCB changed there jersey to green as they are promoting the "Go Green" campaign. Anyways, The match was pretty much one sided, and once again Gayle was explosive. Now, for the next match I expected Saurav Ganguly to play, but Pune didn't pick him for the playing eleven. I was utterly disappointed. I guess the events of the day just brought this up. Nothing went right today. I just wasted my whole day watching CSI:Miami, and thinking about my life at present. Presently, I am watching the match between Pune and Punjab, and it looks that Pune will win easily, as Punjab didn't put up scoring much (just 119). And as I am writing this post, Pune has won it. Now, I plan to watch the loaded episodes of CSI:Miami and then go to sleep at around 1:15 am. 

Diary 9: Nothing much

Yesterday I slept at around 5 am, after watching CSI:Miami. Today I woke up at around 10:45 am. I had no particular tasks to complete. I remembered then that I have to send some documents to NuMantra Technologies for verification purposes. So, I collected the documents from different sources and sent them by 12:15 pm. After that, I started watching CSI:Miami season 2, and continued that till lunch. After I had my lunch at around 3 pm, I continued watching CSI:Miami till 4 pm, when the match between KKR and Chennai was supposed to begin. But I found out that rain has delayed the start, and the match will start at 5. So, I just surfed net, and watched CSI:Miami till 5. Then I started watching the match (I was wearing the KKR T-Shirt I bought yesterday). The match was totally one sided. Chennai started batting but were never able to let loose. They ended up with a mere 114 in their 20 overs. KKR's chase was very comfortable and they were going on nicely, when rains started again. Finally KKR won by D/L method, and ended up with 14 points on the points table. Well, as soons as this match ended, the other was on its way. My mom and dad went out for shopping, and also to bring my sister from the tuition. I started watching the Mumbai v/s Delhi match. Mumbai started off in an amazing fashion, with Blizzard living up to his name, but soon Mumbai lost Tendulkar to a nice in-swinger by Irfan Pathan. I wanted him to play well today to close the gap between him and the orange cap, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Mumbai ended up with a huge score of 178. Delhi's chase was a shame. Sehwag lost his patience as usual. Anyways, Mumbai won the game by 32 runs, and ended up with 16 points on the points table. At dinner, we had pani puri today, and then we dispersed to our rooms at around 11 pm. I also found out that I have been rejected by IIM Indore too, which didn't affect me much. I will inform my parents tomorrow. Next, I watched another episode of CSI:Miami, and then found out that Ganguly will be playing tomorrow for Pune Warriors at Mohali. I am excited about it, although I have no high hopes from him. Now, I plan to watch another episode of CSI:Miami and then sleep at around 2:30 am.

Diary 8: Eventful Day

Today I woke up at 7:10 am, and got ready to go for my interview with Numantra Technologies at Powai. I reached at the place at around 9:45 am. The office was small, and seemed as a meeting point for few individuals. The first interview started at around 10:20 am. The panel consisted of two members, both of them were pass out from IIT Bombay, and one of them was also an alumni of IIM Calcutta. They gave an introduction of themselves and asked some general questions about me and my experience. They asked a lot of questions on team dynamics, leadership instances, situations of conflict with team members or client and similar types. I tried relating them to my work experience, and gave out examples. Then they moved to the business analysis section where they asked me a guesstimate - "What could be the approximate population of Powai ?". I am not good at guesstimates, and hence the next few moments were awkward and frustrating. They told me that you know the number of buildings here. So, I answered by assuming an average family size of 4, and average building floors with number of flats per floor. All this can provide me the data for population. But, they were skeptical on my assumptions, and I didn't sound very convincing. They asked me whether I can figure out any other metric apart from building data to find out the population. I thought for a little while, they gave me a hint on the number of cars, and then they said that we can figure it out using the tags of residential building on the cars. They gave me one more chance, and then I answered that we can look into the electricity consumption. A corporate building will have a single account at the electricity bill and the residential building will have individual bills for residents. Then they told me that electricity measurement meters would have been a better choice. After all this, one of them started explaining the kind of work they do, and how team dynamics play a major role and all. I found out that they are particularly focused on clients in India, primarily in Mumbai, and work on the client location. The interview ended at around 11:15 am. After the first round, there was a break of around 5 minutes, and the second round started. It was supposedly a technical round. In this round, I was much more confident and articulate in my answers than in the previous interview. Here, I found out that they work primarily on the SAP - BI side, of which I have only 2 months experience. They asked me about my motivation to work on SAP, specific details on data model designing, custom development and so on. It ended at around 11:40 am, after which I gave in the details of my compensation and notice period to the HR executive and left. I was free at 12 pm, and hence decided to call up old friends from Deloitte to join in for Lunch and catch up. Dallas unfortunately was working from home. So I called up Shashank, and he called up others to plan the lunch. He said that they would be free within an hour, so I decided to just roam around the Galleria. I did some window shopping, went inside random shops and asked for prices of wireless routers, and even bought a KKR T-Shirt. After that, I finally met them (Shaurin, Shashank, Rukmini, Deepak, Amlan, Sandy and Tanvi). We had a great time, reminded me of those times. I, Sandy and Amlan decided to give the treat for our own reasons. After that great time, I came back home by Train. I reached at around 4:15 pm, and was very tired. I had few chats with my mother regarding the interview and all. Then I checked my mail, whether any new work has come up, but there was none. After that, I just switched on the AC, and slept as a baby. I woke up at around 8:20 pm, and started watching the IPL match between RCB and Punjab. It seemed like a repeat telecast of yesterday's knock by Virender Sehwag. But this time, it was Chris Gayle. He made 107 in just 49 balls. RCB reached 205 in their 20 overs. Punjab were hopeless in their chase and fell apart like house of cards. RCB won the match by 85 runs, a huge margin. After that I was watching the news regarding the reactions of people to Osama Bin Laden being dead, and the role of Pakistan in guarding Osama for so many years. A debate started at out dinner table also, where my father was blaming everything on Pakistan, and I was blaming US for all the miseries it has caused in general. I tried to convince him that 9/11 was not an attack by Al-Qaeda, but was an internal affair of the US government itself. I focused on the evidence available to us, and the various other facts that would explain my defense, but he was adamant. My mother was very supportive of me, as she was able to understand the deeper details. I went on giving instances of how US manipulated the opinions of people etc. I felt very happy that I was able to put them in a very articulate way. Anyways, after all this, I went back to my room and searched for the moon landing controversy on Youtube. I watched it for a while, and later watched the latest episode of Big Bang theory. After that I wrote this post, and now I plan to watch the latest episode of Bones, followed by next 2 episodes of CSI:Miami. I plan to sleep by 3:30 am.

Diary 7: Peaceful Day

Yesterday night, after I wrote the post in the blog, I watched two episodes of CSI:Miami and hence completed the season 1. After that, I just opened up Guitar Pro after a long time, and started composing something which was running in my head. I created only two tracks - Keyboard and Drums, and then slept at around 4:30 am. Today, I woke up at around 9:20 am, to attend the scheduled call at 9:30 am. But there was no call, I guess Gil thought it was better to mail the work than waste time in calls. So, I received a mail at around 10:00 am regarding a new task, which was only assigned to me. Ankit was still struggling with his task that time. I started with my task, cleared few doubts from Gil through chat, and finished the work around 1:00 pm. I was free then, but I didn't send the new task back yet. I planned the delivery in a way so that it seemed that I worked hard today also. So, I decided that I will send one task at 2 pm, and the other at 4 pm. By this time, Ankit had mailed his task. I remembered then that I had to send my resume to Raj as there were openings in Diamond Consulting. So, I just edited the resume to add my present job experience and sent it. After that, I sent the first task at exactly 2 pm. Meanwhile, I had already started watching the season 2's first episode. I had my lunch at around 3 pm, and then at around 4 pm, I sent the next task. I was now really relaxed, and hence watched latest episodes of HIMYM and Gossip Girl. Although there was a match going on between KKR and Kochi, I didn't feel like watching it, and just the scorecard few times in between. At around 6:00 pm, I was feeling really sleepy and so I took a power nap at woke up at 7 pm. I found out that Dad is already home, he has come from his Delhi trip. I checked my mails and found out that there are few changes required, and also Ankit is facing some new issue. So, I looked into both of them, rectified them and then sent a mail to Gil that I won't be available tomorrow morning from 9:30 to 11:30 (I have an interview with Numantra Technologies). He then replied that it's fine, and in fact even offered that we can relax now as most of the work has been done. I was happy to hear that, I really needed some break. Well, after that I started watching the IPL match between Delhi and Deccan. Also, my sister took the internet from me, so I took the laptop to the drawing room where I was watching the match. I took a glimpse of my resume, and then started working on the guitar pro file I had made yesterday. I found out it sounds better without the drums, so I added a bass line and a overdriven guitar track. It sounds good now. The real sound engine of the guitar pro was not working properly anyways with the drum track. Well, about the match, it was probably the  best match of IPL 2011. Deccan were awesome with their batting and made a very good total of 175 in their 20 overs. Delhi started terribly, losing wicket in their first over and soon they were 30/3. It was evident that they were going towards another defeat, but apparently Sehwag had other plans. His strike rate was below 100 at the start and also till the 7th over. Then there was a over bowled by Malhotra, who was playing his first IPL match. His over went for 23 runs. After this, there was no looking back, Sehwag hit sixes at will, and  rode his luck to bring down the required run rate from 13 point something to 6 by the end of 16th over. He got out finally but after a 56 ball 119. After this, he became the orange cap holder also. It was a magnificent knock, even Dale Steyn, who finally got him, personally went and applauded him for his knock. It was like a dream come true. I always wanted to experience such a chase, and who else other than Sehwag would have made it possible. Post match, I started watching the latest episodes of Chuck and House. After finishing those, I started writing this post. I wanted to get my resume printed but there is not a single white paper in the house. So, I will take the older version of the resume with me. Next I plan to just surf the net a bit, and then sleep at around 3:15 am. 

Diary 6: Good Day.. and Life is always about a Good day...

Yesterday, I didn't sleep at 2:30 am as planned. Instead I worked extra so that I can have a comfortable day today. Gil sent a late mail, to give us the information about the morning call, and also tell us about the next tasks on our plate. I was awake and hence started working as soon as I got the mail. I finished a considerable part of that task, and then slept at around 3:30 am. I woke up at around 9:20 am, connected to the internet and straightaway told Ankit that I won't be coming today as I was too tired from yesterday's work. After this, we attended the call with Gil, in which he just re-iterated the contents of the mail and thanked us for our efforts and hard work. The call ended at around 10:15 am. I started where I left off yesterday night, and neither Ankit nor Gil had any idea that I can finish my task off in just few hours. Today, I was relaxed and working at a steady pace, with no hiccups or issues. My brain cells were also firing the synapses in a superb way. I figured out a lot of optimum ways to implements many parts of the solution. I was happy to see how deep I was able to think, and how I have captured the software well, just within few weeks of training, which was primarily on a self-trained basis. In between work, I had lunch at around 2:45 pm and also watched an episode of CSI:Miami. Also, my Dad had to stay an extra day at Delhi because the work was not complete yet. He asked me to pay his SBI Credit Card bill, and so I did. I haven't got the salary for the last month yet, may be because Gil is too busy with the project work that he forgot to transfer the money. On another front, I got my Ad-sense account activated for my earlier blog, but will have to look into details of how it works. Anyways,I completed my task at around 3 pm. But, I didn't stop. I had a quick peek at what was Ankit's task, and I realized that he will surely have a long day ahead, mainly because it would take a lot of time to understand the complex sections which were earlier not his part of the task, and which made yesterday a hell for me. I had already figured out ways around it, but it would certainly take some time for him to acclimatize. Anyways, I knew that there was one more task, so I had a look at it, and started working on it. It was similar to the earlier ones, expect for one part, and so I decided that I would keep the rest of the parts ready. Meanwhile, there was an IPL match going on between RR and CSK. It was an important match for both of them, considering the new format of Qualifiers and Eliminators for the top four teams. 1st and 2nd team play a qualifier, the winner goes to the final, and the loser plays with the winner of the eliminator between 3rd and 4th. It is a good way to ensure that the consistent teams get more chances. Anyways, the match was won by CSK comfortably at the end. Mike hussey tied with Sachin as a contender for the Orange Cap. But later in the day, Sachin takes a lead of 24 runs. I stopped working at around 7:30 pm, and then suddenly I got a call from Shaurin, my ex-colleague. We had a nice chat, and came to know that Amlan is going to Paris to pursue Masters in management course (MIM), which is not a MBA, and is valid only in Europe. We cursed the B Schools for their gruesome admission processes. It was nice talking to him after a long time. After that, I started watching the IPL match between Mumbai and Pune. The match was taking place at DY Patil Stadium, just few kilometers away from my home. DADA was not playing, although he was sitting in the dug out of the team. Well, Mumbai batted first, and although they didn't start off well, they somehow managed to score 160, with some hitting by Keiron Pollard and T Suman at the death. Pune lost a wicket of the first ball of their innings, and they never were convincing enough. Mumbai won the match by 21 runs, and they are again back at the top of the table with 14 points. Today, again for the third consecutive day, we didn't eat home food. Today we ordered the food from a dhaba, which opened recently in our society premises. The food was good, but the quantity was a bit on the lesser side. After that, I logged in to my work mail, and found out that Ankit had not yet completed his task. I was saying to myself - What goes around, comes around. Then I watched few videos on Youtube, and then started writing this post. Meanwhile, I got a message from Gil that tomorrow's call will also be at 9:30 am and also that there is more work on the way, but now I am not that worried as my work is already ahead of what was required. Now, I plan to watch 2 or 3 online episodes of CSI:Miami, and then sleep at around 3:30 am.

Diary 5: Bad Day ! But life is not about a bad day..

Yesterday I slept at around 2:30 am, and woke up today at around 9:15 am to attend the conference call with Gil and Ankit. Today my sister didn't go to school, for no specific reason as such. The call started at around 9:45 am, and we discussed the issues around the code delivered yesterday. There were several mistakes small and irritating, and there were some changes also, which made my day close to Hell later on. The call ended at around 11:00 am. I started with the changes, and then decided that I will keep working from home. I sent a mail this time to Gil to inform about this, as he had mailed Ankit earlier about work from home issues, although I never faced any issue with him in this regard till now. As I went on making changes, I realized that there has been some major changes, which required us to go through each line of code. Those changes led to new kind of problems, and hence I was stuck big time. Also, my sections of code were the complex ones and hence took a lot of time to debug and change. There was supposed to be a call at 4:30 pm, after which I was to mail the updated project, but at around 2 pm I could clearly perceive that I won't be able to complete it. I had a quick lunch at 2:15 pm, and went back to my room. Ankit, with the smaller and easier portion of the code, sent me his part of the project at around 3 pm. I told Ankit then that I won't be able to complete as there are too many changes, and asked him to check whether the quarterly tab is fine as per requirements. To this he said that his part of the code is fine. I was very frustrated already and became more agitated on hearing this, but what could I have done- he is the director after all. At around 4 pm, I took a clever decision, and implemented the smaller portions of the code quickly, without getting stuck at the faulty parts. I did this so that I can tell Gil that only one part of the code is left. Gil came in at around 5 pm, and we had a quick status call, where I explained Gil the situation. He asked me to send him whatever I have done, and so after integrating the project I sent it. I was skeptical about the integration but it went well. After this, I started working with a peaceful mind, as I had no time limitations now. The tides turned the other way, and I figured out a way to deal with the problems ( A marker with marking as begin position was the savior ). I started implementing the solution at around 8:30 pm, and completed it at around 9:30 pm. Meanwhile, I also started watching the IPL match between KKR and DC, and before I speak more about this match, I would like to inform everyone that our very own DADA is finally back. He has been given the offer by Pune Warriors in replacement of injured Ashish Nehra. I can forgive Ashish Nehra finally. Well, we will have to wait and watch when he will be back in action, but let's hope that it is tomorrow. Pune will play Mumbai tomorrow. Back to the match, KKR didn't start that well, but awesome hitting at the death by Yusuf and Manoj Tiwari helped KKR post a competitive total of 169. DC started off very well, but lost wickets in quick succession, and hence were never really stable. KKR won the match by 20 runs, and moved to the first position with 12 points based on the net run rate. Today my sister wanted to order from McDonald's. Given my father has been on an official trip to Delhi, she feels it is safe to assume no one would oppose that. I had few second thoughts about it, but ultimately ordered our usual ( 2 McChicken medium meals,  2 veg pizza mcPuff, 2 Chicken McGrill with cheese - 364 Rs ). So, finally after a tough day with updates and alterations, I was free. I started watching the  next episode of CSI:Miami. I got the confirmation mail regarding the interview for NuMantra technologies on Friday, 10:00 am. I was just looking through the status updates and posts on my facebook page, when I came across this video:

It is just amazing to see that how a video of a Racer in some corner of the world, and at the some other time can inspire you so much. Being the emotional fool, I started crying, well, at least my eyes filled with tears. Given the recent events in my life, I was truly very inspired by this. The background music was so appropriate for this video, I search for it specifically and found out that it was a song named "Forever Reign" by HillSong. I listened to it many times after that. This small event made me change the title of the post from just -"Bad Day !" to the one at the top. My conscious resonated with the thoughts presented in the video, and I learned the same lesson again - the one in the Gita - Do your work, don't expect rewards. Well, after that I started writing this post, and now I plan to watch another episode of CSI:Miami and then sleep at around 2:30 am.

Diary 4: Osama Bin Laden dead? Really ? I am not that sure about it.

Yesterday I slept at around 2:30 am, and today I woke up at around 10:15 am, to attend a conference call with Gil and Ankit. I had already told Gil that I will attend the call from home as I was too tired from yesterday's heavy work. Anyways, the call was just a half an hour call and ended at 11:00 am. In the call, we were assigned some new work which was pretty much simple and straightforward. After the call ended, Ankit told me that we will meet in office. I said that I will leave in a while, after starting the work. Somehow, I got stuck in the starting itself due to faulty schema definition files. I figured out the main problem and told Gil about it. He advised that I make a new project for now, and we can deal with the version problem later. So, I started working on the new project and was on full flow, so I decided that I will continue working from home and not waste any time. Time was flying by and soon it was 2 pm. Ankit had already reached office by 1 pm, but the internet connection at office was giving some problems. Sushma was also online today, since she was back from her one week holiday. Anyways, before Ankit could say anything I told him that I ran into an issue with some files, and hence had to clarify them with Gil, and since I didn't want to waste 2 hours, I stayed back. He understood the point, and afterwards took the updates from me regarding the new task. I had already divided the work between us, again assigning him the lesser portion of the pie (since I want to reap the maximum benefits of the task). I had a quick lunch at around 2:45 pm, and again started working. I completed my part of the new task around 4:30 pm, but then Gil came along with some other task, which unfortunately I had to do, since Ankit had not yet finished his part. So, I again started working. Meanwhile, I also started watching the ongoing IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Punjab online. I was eager to watch this, because it had Sachin Tendulkar. Mumbai was the first to bat, and started off slow, losing the wicket of David Jacobs in the first few overs. But then, Sachin and Rayadu introduced some stability and accelerated the run flow. The commentators today were criticizing Sachin because he was playing slowly, but in my opinion he played very nicely, understanding the slowness of the wicket, and also understanding the importance of his presence on the crease. He also regained the Orange Cap, and made a 45 ball fifty. Mumbai lost few wickets in the middle, but managed to get to 159 their 20 overs, which many people said is not enough as the wicket was good for batting conditions. I had my doubts regarding that. Anyways, somehow multi tasking between work and IPL, I saw the second half right through. Punjab didn't start well, they lost Gilchrist early, and Valthathy was on an all time low, with strike rates nearing 30-40. Punjab was also finding it difficult to make runs, and lost wickets in the middle overs. In the end, Mumbai won by 23 runs, and won back the first position from Rajashthan Royals with 12 points from their 8 games. Meanwhile, Ankit was facing some problems integrating my code with his, and so he sent it over to me to verify, and few manipulations, I was successful in doing that. So, I sent it over to both Gil and Ankit at around 7:15 pm. I was now free, finally, with all action items closed. So, I went to the drawing room and started watching the news. Well, today there was a huge announcement made at an international level by the president of US - Barrack Obama. At 8:30 am IST, he announced that Osama Bin Laden has been killed at Abbottabad, a place in Pakistan, some 50-60 kilometers north of Islamabad. Everyone reacted - the international press, the world political leaders, Pakistan government, Indian government, Indian media, Pakistan media. Most of them focused mainly on two points - Credibility of Pakistan on issues of Terrorism and Praise of US president in capturing the "most deadly" terrorist of the present times. When I saw the news, I was practically laughing at the ignorance and US biased nature of discussion. Very few, I mean, limited to numbers which can be counted by a kid studying in nursery, were actually asking the right questions - Where is the proof that Osama Bin Laden is dead ? Nobody saw any video or photograph. Why was his body buried at sea ? (may be to conceal evidence of DNA etc). Why this happened just in time, when Obama's popularity was on the decline, and was on his way to run for president for the second time?. Well, I need not tell myself why. I pity on those who cannot understand the real motive. People still think Osama Bin laden was the 9/11 mastermind, without asking any questions. This is not just the 10 years from 9/11 to today, the disease has been here for a much longer duration, more than anyone can imagine now. Good luck to the citizens of United States, but they have fooled yet again. Well apart from all this, tonight my mother said that she is tired of cooking. Hence, we ordered food from outside - veg noodles, veg machurian, chicken fried rice and chicken in barbeque sauce. I liked every item other than veg manchurian. Well, I was not much interested in the second match which was being played today between Delhi and Kochi. The epitome is that Delhi performed badly yet again and Kochi were fabulous. I returned to my room, to check my mails etc at around 10:30 pm. I also had a small chat with Gil, who fixed 9:30 am as tomorrow's call timing. I was fine with it, and I informed Ankit also. Then, started writing this post, and now I plan to watch two episodes of CSI:Miami, before I sleep at around 2 am.