Deepanjan Nag's Magnum Opus

" ... short fat man with an elephant head " Zoya , that made me laugh real hard!

Gotta register for BillPay to pay my LIC Premium. Gotta edit my postal address for communication with HDFC Bank. Gotta apply for a Pan Card. Gotta get my eyes checked and buy a new frame & glasses. Gotta foot my phone bill and home rent. Gotta consume multi-vitamin tablets everyday. Gotta buy some bedsheets. Gotta get my jeans altered. Gotta plan my taxes. Gotta track my expense report. Gotta get rid of SAP ASAP. Gotta apply for a passport yet again. Gotta get back into the reading habit. Gotta think about life. Gotta recall the other backlogs that I just can't seem to remember...

Today was an auto strike and that left me without a mode of conveyance. I don't take the office bus as it's way too early for me (since I've the luxury of bench), and I'm not aware of the public bus routes. To make matters worse, it was raining. So I reached office totally drenched after a 45 minute walk thru the rain. Office antics reigned supreme. Once again, Artes informed all & sundry to resend their time and expense sheets via their executable file. We were at our wit's end in trying to figure out how to configure the damned thing. My desktop didn't even have Outlook configured. Getting stumped (like so many other folks), I sought the help of a seasoned employee who readily agreed. Clara and I had to fill the expense stats too.

Today's featured article on Wikipedia is Miles Davis . I'm reminded of a cassette of his that Dad had bought long ago. My enthusiasm for Jazz was in its infancy in those days. Apart from the weekly supply of Jazz from our giant radio, we had no other major source. I just loved the first composition that included a certain saxophone passage that was especially pleasing. Dad & I would never tire of rewinding to hear that particular passage. Of course, some other compositions were equally enchanting, especially the slow numbers. Miles was hated by many for trying to experiment too much with Jazz. What he produced in his overenthusiasm was often too funky and not Jazz at all, some might say. Indeed, I found some of his later compositions absolutely revolting. Miles felt the pinch of his detractors and never really forgave them. Nevertheless, no one can deny the lasting impression he left on Jazz. Miles was a legend by the time he breathed his last in 1991. So famous was he that...

Sifting thru my previous posts, I came to the horrible realization that most of them pertain to IT. Yuck! How did this happen? I'll put an end to this humbug once and for all. But if not IT then what? I'm short of ideas. It's impossible to come up with something everyday that's not menial. Seriously, I'll have to cut down on my trivial musings.

Tried Yahoo! Messenger Voice service. I could hear Sameer's voice though he couldn't hear mine. My computer is awkwardly placed, which explains why I had to crane my neck to make myself heard, but to no avail. Well, it was nice to hear Sameera.

Yeah, it sounds really good and I see in it a viable alternative to Yahoo! Music. Not surprisingly, Yahoo! owns it. One major source of irritation: India isn't one of the countries where MusicMatch is licensed to provide music services. The premium radio stations are thus out of bounds. It's a shame.

Hyperoffice was an avant-garde attempt at creating a web-based office productivity suite. Rudimentary in its functionality, it nevertheless managed to grab enough eyeballs because of its beautiful interface. The most striking feature of this site was the complete lack of advertisements, giving it the look of a conventional desktop application. The most beautiful product in this suite was its email. However, like Desktop.com, Hyperoffice too lacked a revenue model, something that made me distance away from it. Hyperoffice practically had to reinvent itself to survive. However, the old charm is lost.

Those were the days! I didn't own a computer, still don't. Year 2000 will go down in history as the year when people exhibited their stupid ideas with unbridled enthusiasm. Desktop.com was the offspring of one such crazy idea. A virtual desktop was created over the Net which could be accessed through any browser. I must concede the product was a stunner to look at! It looked almost exactly like a real desktop with its own taskbar, screen icons, mail client and even a browser! I was so addicted to it that everynight I would visit a cybercafe and surf the Net only via Desktop.com. I was proud of flaunting my 'environment' to all and sundry. However, the dotcom bust had just began and I got to know of something called 'revenue model', something entirely alien to my beloved site! Suddenly, it became an endangered species and I began to count its days. Sure enough, the dreadful day did come. It was the 24th of December, 2000. BTW, the dotcom bust had obliterated so ...

Spoke to my HR Rep. I've been pounding so furiously on switching from SAP to some other technology that even he couldn't escape my plea! And this was the first time I spoke to him! He confirmed that thought it would not be possible for me to switch immediately, it could most certainly be accomplished in a year.

So Yahoo! Music does archive Jim's songs! I'm hearing his golden voice via Yahoo! for the first time. Few people can match his rich baritone. Willis Conover is an exception. But he wasn't a singer!

It has been a few weeks since I shifted with Santosh to our current place of stay. I expected him to be a very provident guy who would use his time & money wisely, especially since he is still unemployed. Contrary to my beliefs, Santosh seems to have taken a special liking for the outdoors here. He is rarely in the house, seldom studies and lacks any motivation for making inroads into the IT industry. Last week, he came home drunk. My stern countenance got the message across! What's doubly irritating is that he often takes the key (instead of leaving it with Manilal & gang) and still returns late, knowing full well that I would be stranded outside. I've lost count of the number of times he has done it. To make matters worse, I can't find any hint of remorse when he comes back, even thought his act has just left me stranded outside my room for more than 3 hrs at a stretch. He has taken a fancy for something, that I'm certain of. But what is it? When quizzed, he ...

Try it: Empty the Hotmail Trash folder via IE. It doesn't work. Empty the Hotmail Trash folder via Firefox. It works!

Listening to Alison Krauss on my office desktop.

We have motion sensors in our office for more economic usage of lighting. Most of my colleagues have left but I haven't had my daily fill of Net surfing. That's why I'm still here. Being motionless most of the time, the sensors often mistake the room as empty (it's happening this very moment...again!) and begins to dim the lights before finally switching them off. Not all the lights are connected to the same sensor, luckily! All I need to do is make some meaningless movements & lo...there's light! There we go again! Gotta do those motions.

Google Desktop Search has finished indexing my workstation & I'm pretty satisfied with the prima facie results. The interface is especially endearing. I firmly believe Google has the power to redirect computer users to the Linux platform by building products for it. This would easily fit into its vision and ambitions. Linux is in desperate need of a benevolent evangalist capable of not overwhelming computer users with tech talk. I think it's great that corporates like IBM & Sun are pushing Linux in a big way, but their high flying disposition can hardly persuade users to try the Open Source platform. IE acts cranky on my machine & I've once again had to download the very reliable Firefox 1.5 (Beta). Works flawlessly. I've lost count of the number of times Firefox has come to my rescue. The fan in my PC seems to be turbo charged. It's more noisy than the exhause of a steam engine! Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (played via Yahoo! Music) sounds like so...

Yeah, it's true! I'll be switching to listening to Jazz or Country. The problem with Jazz is that I always think of Dad when listening to it...& withholding my tears will be difficult. I was subjected to listening to Jazz on our TELERAD Sonetta radio practically from the day I was born! Jazz was always in the air, it now seems. It would never fail to put a smile on Dad's face. No matter how gloomy he was, Jazz would unfailingly pep him up. Herbie Hancock & Charley Pride will be the next additions to my collection.

Anish now has a factory-fresh blog . This guy deserves a special mention in my blog. I'll do so on Monday.

The battle for your desktop is hotting up. While I've traditionally been a Yahoo! fanatic (except for its mail & blogging services), Google seems to have scored over it with the new & improved Desktop Seach Version 2. Version 1 was supposed to be very sloppy, rudimentary & unimpressive. Yahoo!, on the other hand, has played a low profile in trumpeting its Desktop Search features in its own inimitable style. Why it downplays its own strengths is beyond me. I had tried it during its initial days on Ashwini's PC sometime in May...and was deeply impressed. It searched thru more file types than Google and was supposed to be more complete and usable. I've just downloaded Google Desktop Search on my office desktop. Let's not forget MSN Desktop Seach. The Microsoft guys have been unfairly drummed each time someone comes up with a nifty tool. Microsoft, unlike others, is burdened with roping in a lot of additional bag-&-baggage each time it tries to come up with...

I'm thinking of cutting down on the number of posts I make per day. Scribing daily trivia is hardly adding value to my blog.

I don't understand a thing! Somewhere, civilization has gone all wrong. I long for Sparta.

Google finally gels with Orkut in a manner that won't force users to remember multiple ids & passwords. How sweet! Reminds me of the a similar courstship between Yahoo! and Flickr.

Hotmail upgrades storage space from 25MB to 250MB. I can almost feel the tears flooding my eyes!

I was expecting the upgrade from Yahoo! Mail, but Hotmail (which seems to have lost the limelight to Gmail & Yahoo! Mail since long) is preparing to steal some of its lost glory back in the days to come. I'll always remain a Hotmail loyalist!

I'm learning the hard way not to trust anyone. Even the one you revere the most may be scheming your downfall. By no stretch of imagination may this seem logical, but who said imagination is limitless?

At last, my own PC! The mouse moves in jerks & the system is very dirty.

Who should be held responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi? I'm sure most of the overeducated members of our BIT group would say William Shakespeare! Why? Because he coined the term 'assassination.' I've consciously tried to avoid alluding to our group in my blog because the lowly activities that burden it hardly merit a mention. The said group is inundated with people less worthy than a sack of potatoes. However, the recent spate of events has compelled me to break my silence. One of the brighter members of our group (who obviously is of the perverted type) has been having a whale of a time sending spurious mails of the utmost dispeakable type through the ids of innocent members. While this had happened in the past, the full-time job that he seems to be doing at it has set alarm bells ringing. Some bright sparks seem to be so overtly concerned about the names of others being maligned that they have suggested the group be closed for good. However, they don...

Tchaikovsky's grave.

Why ill luck romances me so much, I'll never know. Perhaps it's part of the heavenly scheme of things to drive me crazy, as if I amn't already! Santosh was supposed to meet me at The Forum on Friday evening, as we were to go shopping to Big Bazaar. I've learnt the hard way that he seldom keeps his word, & this time was no exception. I reached The Forum only to be phoned by him & told that he wouldn't be able to make it. Great! Luckily, my instruments of fighting boredom, Sittu & Prateek, were there. I decided to buy 2 Tchaikovsky CDs (Symphonies #5 &6). What's strange about the autos at The Forum or anywhere in its vicinity is that they seldom agree to ply to JP Nagar. It's some sort of colonial discrimination I guess! I decided to walk my way to Dairy Circle & try my luck there to catch an auto. Everything was going according to plan. There's a desolate patch next to Christ College near Dairy Circle. Though the traffic is thick, pede...

Did you know that the Andromeda galaxy is the farthest object visible to the naked eye?

The Net is so addictive, I'm skipping lunch! It was the same story yesterday. Well, there's another reason for skipping. Now that my colleagues have left, I can finally get some peace & quiet. With them hanging around, it's way too noisy for comfort. How do they talk so much?

I remarked being on bench was better than a honeymoon. It sure is. However, it's awfully boring if you aren't assigned a workstation. Then, it's only better than a honeymoon with the spouse missing!

Used AOL Browser for the first time. Looks pretty slick.

Google, after much procrastination, has finally launched a long awaited Blog Search . I simply love it. Unlike Technorati , which, though good, has an ugly interface, Google Blog Search sticks to its signature simplicity. Blogosphere will never be the same again!

Yahoo on Wednesday will begin testing a sleeker version of its free e-mail service, shifting to a more dynamic design that mimics the look and feel of a computer desktop application like Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook. Oddpost will finally make an impression on Yahoo! Mail.

I enjoyed neither of these compositions, although the 3rd movement from the 2nd symphony was great.

Module Pool (we BITians were responsible for it) worked without a glitch. Today was also our last day with our instructor, Sree Latha. We had grown increasingly fond of her. We'll surely miss her.

I am! That's the personal opinion of my trainer.

It's our last day of technical training. It's the big day when project presentation has to be made.

Entrance to The Forum

We have our project presentation on the 13th.

It happened when I was a 6th grader. I had suddenly hit the artistic curve and in no time managed to became the toast of my class. Let me elaborate. I was always an avid reader and dad didn't seem to mind the tantrums I threw each time I wanted to persuade him to buy me a magazine. I had discovered that this was a convenient way of procuring the factory-fresh magazines that used to flood the local newsstand. It was thru this tried-and-tested method (which was entirely unnecessary) that I managed to lay my hands on a particular issue of Tinkle, a magazineI considered not on an even-parity with my intellectual prowess ( I had a very high opinion about myself). Little did I know that the road to ephemeral fame but no fortune lay just ahead. I came across this do-it-yourself article on making paper frogs. I considered these articles very girlie; but since I had nothing better to do, I decided to kill some time by learning the trick. It was a piece of cake. You simply had to begin with ...

It's not that I can't see How busy others can be But I wanna be free From ABAP & SAP/R3

The ultra-expen$ive mobile phone that I recently bought has been rendered impotent...at least as long as I'm on the streets of Bangalore, thanks to the deafening traffic noise. Each time I reach my destination & check my mobile, I get a long list of missed calls, mostly from unknown numbers. One of these could have been a wrong number from a very pretty lady. Maybe I could have engaged her in an interesting conversation. Maybe she would conclude that it was destiny that was bringing us together. Maybe she would be so charmed, she would readily agree to a rendezvous with me in a hotel. Maybe it would be love @ first sight for us. Maybe our romance would take us places. Maybe her dad would be a paranoid business tycoon who wouldn't approve of our camaraderie. Maybe she would transfer all her funds into my account as proof of her unending love for me. Maybe we would elope to Europe to escape her father's wrath. Maybe my daring deeds would finally ring a bell & he would...

Uploaded some original photos taken via my mobile to my blog. I'm satisfied.

Our dummy project on SAP has begun. I remain true to the spirit of the project by sitting like a dummy.

Transferred some images to Rajat's mobile via Bluetooth. Expect some original photos soon!

Sony Portable CD Player D-NE720

Sameer now faces the music on account of some clown sending a very graphic mail to our BIT group purportedly from his id. The poor chap protestedly meekly and turned to me for advice.

A cartoonist @ work @ The Forum.

Purchased this album from Landmark. It's almost 10 years since Dad had bought me this album (cassette) for me. Over the years, I have bought many of Yanni's albums, the best being In My Time & Dare To Dream . In My Time is a neo-classical album. Very soft & sentimental. I remember listening to it on my very last night in N-22. Dare To Dream was perhaps the fisrt cassette I had bought in Pune. Simply loved it.

SAPped guys in all their nudel glory! Perched & ready to storm the world. Vaibhav strikes a pose Crossing a river in a boat Nilotpal & Vaibhav Nothing out of the ordinary about the way I remained a mute spectator! However, I relished the trip. The experience, however, left me thoroughly enervated. Sunday was used in rejuvenating myself.

Bought my first Sodexho Pass for Rs 500. So much of antics I have to suffer to evade paying taxes!

Yodlee finally supports Indian bank accounts. This shouldn't be surprising since its creators are from India. They have won innumerable patents for the technologies they invented for this site. However, I have reason to believe these guy lack business acumen.

DHTML Demos

Google Earth now has a competitor .

How often do you meet a person who forgets to drink water? I come across one each time I look at the mirror! I make up for it by regularly drinking tomato soup in the office.