Deepanjan Nag's Magnum Opus

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That's an overstatement! Actually, it's only my name that's thus endowded. Slashdot article: NASA is preparing to send the New Horizons probe to Pluto. It will be the first earth device to get intimate with the icy planet. And you can be there too - or, at least, your name. NASA is asking everyone to send them their names, which will be attached in the space device. The New Horizons probe will be launched in January 2006 to explore Pluto and the Kuiper belt, in the outskirts of the Solar System. It is expected that the probe will return to earth in approximately 50 thousand years.

Last year, Microsoft had sent me an email promising to increase my Hotmail email storage space from 2 mb to 250 mb by the end of August, 2005. Microsoft seems keen on keeping its promise, sluggish though it may be. I was surprised to see the space augmented to 25 mb. This screenshot is the apple of my eye!

Even the pioneering Google didn't veer from firing an employee for his blog! I may be treading a dangerous line by being so liberal in my postings, but I believe the individual easily outstrips the corporate in terms of social value. Individuality should never stifle under the overbearing weight of the organization he subscribes to. Of course, trade secrets should not be infringed. Comments are most welcome. I strongly despise censorship.

It was so wonderful to hear from him, which came as a response to my SMS. It's always a pleasure to hear a familiar voice after a long hiatus.

We finally got the dreaded bond paper. It must be signed & submitted by the 12th of September. Gross Human Rights violation! I hate corporate slavery. Hail Open Source!

I scored 17 in the latest ABAP exam, but my instructor had mistakenly awarded me 19. Remembering an old adage, I informed her of the slip. She promptly made the corrections. What do I gain from the bargain? Will it culminate in a pay hike? Nope!

...but it was not to be. As I left from my new place for office, a passing bus splashed mudwater on me, dirtying my pantaloons & shoes. I reached office filthier than a miner.

I've finally bought my first CD in 4 yrs! I had to browse thru for 2 hrs in Landmark (The Forum) to zero in on this album. If only I had a CD player in Bangalore!

The Forum. This place makes me feel like a destitute...& perhaps that makes me loathe it as much as Osama bin Laden might despise Banaras!

Sittu @ home with Sherlock Holmes

Prateek just before his exam @ Wipro. He cleared it!

Yahoo! has mended an anomaly that was bugging its Firefox Toolbar. I'm relieved. I'm hysterical about flaws in either of these two fine products. I'm doubly hysterical about their symbiosis!

What sort of services these folks mete out can well be imagined. Their site is a nightmare, their servers are occasionally more sluggish than a turtle and helpdesk puts you on hold forever. To add insult to injury, they seem to have overlooked the fact that certain folks use a web-browser called Mozilla Firefox. In short, nothing seems to work!

Jim Reeves has always been my favorite country singer. I first got acquainted with his singing after a trip to Nepal, where Dad had bought a cassette each of his & Cliff Richard's. Of course, Cliff's wild screams appealed more to me then!

...with Santosh. I'll miss Sittu ,Prateek & their daily Wipro anecdotes! The only thing I hate about the new place is the high noise factor.

My first comment on a news article published in Slashdot has received some interesting replies.

Called Uncle Raddi just before I was on my way to the office. Mr.Raddi & family, as usual, were globe-trotting for the past 5 months and had only recently come back to India. When I reflected on Pune being a much better place than Bangalore, he quickly agreed saying that the latter is no longer what it used to be. Traffic, crowd, et al had ruined this once beautiful city. I learnt that Nayantara was now history. In its place a multistoried building is coming up. Many people had tried to dissuade him from razing Nayantara, but pragmatic issues pressed hard upon him and he finally took a decision to the contrary. I have a lot of fond memories associated with Nayantara. It's so sad that Bhandarkar Road has been stripped of one of its landmarks. So impressive was its facade that all passers-by would give it atleast a glance. Uncle, Aunty and his mother-in-law have now temporarily shifted to a flat near Kamala Nehru Park. They will shift to the newly constructed flat in 2 yrs. Uncl...

I'm in my office listening to Felitsa, from Yanni's Dare To Dream. One of my favorite albums, it's no longer available in India. It invariably reminds me of Pune since I used to heavily listen to it during my early days there. That's when I had bought an AIWA walkman.

Who says ABAP is capable of a civilized dialog? For most of the time, it's a monolog. ABAP throws inexplicable windows at me, while I blankly look at them in utter bewilderment. Navigating thru the buffalo laden streets of Ranchi was easier!