Vim rants...

From the time I could remember I did not like the idea of getting to know her. I always felt she is something beyond my reach.
People said she was tough, and that she was the best. Somewhere in my mind I got this feeling, I wanted to know her. As I grew up, that feeling got buried somewhere in my mind, I never got to meet her, lack of oppurtunity and I was too busy with other things.

Now I have grown up, i was reluctant, but I wanted to give a try. "Am I ready" was the question that lurked in my mind. I told myself I am ready...I should be, com'on I am a grown up and a comp tech, I would be able to tackle any unpleasant situation that might arise. I wanted to give it a try.

It took me 5 months to arrange a rendevous. When I started, I had no hope that I would make it to her...i had to face a lotta hurdles!
Eventually it happened... I got a email briefing me on the date, time and venue.
06/11/2006...I started early from my home, I didnt want to be late...it was gonna be a new day, a new begining, and I had made up my mind : if she turns out to be interesting, she is gonna be with me for long! The traffic was heavy, as anticipated and I was late. My heart pounding hard as I neared the venue. I opened the door, and there... She was in all her glory, I loved her at the first sight. I found myself whispering "Been waiting for this day babe"

A couple of days went by and I got to know more about her. I was starting to like her. She wasn't that tough..."Oh babe!"

Wednesday... I thought I should sit next to her, it might help me get to know her more. I dont know if I was lucky, but this was going to be a rather eventful day.

About 2 hrs later, i realised we were alone. I moved closer....my heart was beating faster... I found she her top wasn't fastened... I was feeling lucky! i looked around... and undressed her! I loved what I saw... I was enjoying every bit of it.. beautiful, awsome! I was left dumbstruck... did not utter a word...

Did I stay away for years...to like her like hell ?

I regained my senses after a while, brought out my cell and clicked a few snaps!
I didn't know where to start clicking...i could not find the processor, all I could see were arrays of boards and cables. But I did make out a few parts. AIX! Unix for the RS/6000 machines...IBM eServer...the architecture... extremely beautiful, atleast I felt so!

One sunday evening @ SBZ Blore.

As usual, the four of us sat for a round of Twenty-Eight after dinner.
Umach and Sasi vs Kannan n me. The opposition was in full form...u can c Unmach wearing a make-shift kunukku(earings for the loser)

The stars didn't seem to favour Unmach, as the game proceeded the number of kunnuks increased. Like the song bird awaiting the rains, Unmach sat there trying hard to win a game n remove atleast one of the umpteen kunnuks. While we were preparing to crown Macho (as a rule, we crown the loser after a number of kunnuks)there comes an SMS from Aswin :

"whose number is 09388338388. She called me and asked your fone# i didnt give it.
I told her that I will ask you to call her. "

Aswin is in Hyd, he calls us once in a while, but never smses. With national sms@ Rs.2 and A2A std calls @ Re.1, he prefers a call over sms. So, this sms did make me feel uneasy.
I called him up,
" Dey, wutz dis sms all abt? "
" Da, a gal had called, talked in typical trissur accent, asked for you. "
" And? "
" I told her, u are in b'lore but she wudnt listen, she says someone told her that you wer wid me. Orupadu paranju noki(tried to convince her), but she wudnt litsen. Then I told her I would ask you to call her. I didnt give your number. Neways try calling, aru anennu ariyallo (we cud kno who that is). "

My uneasiness doubled.

"Da Sasi, wat to do"
"Try calling da, wats in it?"
"Ennalum, ee rathri evidunnu vilikana, mobilil ninnu vilikenda" (But, its too late to go out n call, dont call from our mobile)
"OK, let me try, wats the number"
"093...."
"Haa, that's a prank, I have seen that number before"

Well, I won't spoil the fun of that by writing the whole script here. Haha! u need to call that number...its funny.

Ah! Now since this was a prank, I thought of fooling other friends as well (how could I resist that feeling, )

I knew Aswin would have forwarded this sms to many of our friends, so I had to choose intelligently. I picked Philin, Vargheese and Dinu. The responses were terrific!

We didn't get a response until 10PM. At 10, Vargheese calls, seeing his name flash on my fone, i couldn't control my laughter, so Sasi had to pick the call. Sasi puts the fone on loud speaker...

" Hello enthada?"
"Vimal chettai enthiye?"
"He is in the washroom, wassup?"
"Eda Sasi, did he talk about a call for me?"
"Ah! A gal had called, Vareesutti inda, enna chodiche, I guess she is from Trissur"
"Eda thats a big racket, my friend also gave me that number, he says thats of a pro"
"Poda, its nuffin of dat sort"
"Allada I 'm serious, He said dat gurl wud reply to watever u ask? Well, did u guys give her my number"
"Hey, dont be scared, Vimal has handled it well, she asked if you weren't around, He said you are not in Bangalore. She was very stuborn and said we are liers. He convinced her that he would get you to call back."
"Eda, dont give any details, I am sure they wanna trap us."
"Why dont you try to find out who that is, dont be scared da"
"Hey, dont be silly, I dont wanna get into trouble, it'll be a big disgrace if d police finds out"
*Everyone is Giggling, I rush out of the room unable to control my laughter *
"Ok, call from Ernakulam"
"Ok, tomorrow morning I'll call. If possible ask Vimal chettai to call me" *Click*

*All four of us are rolling on the floor laughing *

10 minutes later, Dinesh calls :

"Edo I called that number twice, I was shocked. That gurl's voice is amazing! hahaha! I took sometime to realize that was a prank"

@ 11 , An anxious ASN calls... Again Sasi picks the fone, on loud speaker.

"Eda wers Vimal"
"Sleeping" *Giggles*
"Da I had sent him an sms about a fone call, did he find out who that was"
"No, he was told us he wud call tomorrow"

We didn' want Aswin to sleep in peace either. Hehehe

Next day,

Philin : "Eda, ithentha sambhavam...I am going crazy, who the hell is she?"

Poor fella, I releaved the truth! veruthe adi vangenda ennu karuthi!

In the afternoon we called ASN, dats wen we came to know about the perfect prey!

Suj had called ASN thrice about this sms, the first time he called was to ask wut this sms was abt, ASN told him the same story, "aa trissur kari penne".

The second time Suj called, was to tell him that he was confused.
"Eda, who is this, she is not giving any clues, i asked if she is Reshma or Karthika, etc. I cant make out the sound, she disconnected telling me to call her wen I find out who she is"
"Da, dont worry you try again, u myt get some clue"

Suj called a third time, he was still confused, he was tensed and shivering.
"Hey, she disconnected again and the same dialogue. wtf, who is she"
Again Aswin's re-assuring tone, "Eda she myt be trying to fool you. Call her once more and shout at her"

I am sure Suj tried a forth time. As soon as Aswin disconnected, we got an sms from Suj...

"whose number is 09388338388. She called me and asked your fone# i didnt give it. I told her that I will ask you to call her. "

I am back , after a busy week !!!

Feeling refreshed after 4 days of extreme brain activity!
I am talking about my interview with IBM ISL. It all began with the development discussion with my managers in IBM. Following the discussions, I started to look around for internal job postings... my eyes always on ISL , been drooling abt it for long.

After an exhaustive search I was able to find contacts in ISL. *thats secret * . Heehee, I am not gonna publish it.

Discussed the movement with ze contacts and forwarded my profile. I never expected such a quick response, people I am in India! Hmm, things happened pretty quick, on Friday I got a call from one of the Managers in ISL ,"when can you appear for an interview on c/c++/os/testing ?"
Dis tym I was knocked outta my senses!

Since the excitement would kill me, i decided to take it at the earliest, got the appointment for Monday @ 1700 IST!

Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning were like, I dont know how to describe it, my dormant brain cells sprang to action, helping me read any c/cpp/os stuff that came my way and trying hard to retrieve loads of stuff I had read 5 yrs back...it was painful to clean up the dusted memory and establish proper neural connections. After hours of hardwork I could feel connections falling into place somewhere in my head.

Terror!st and Demolish kept a check on me during the preparation, heehee...they know me too well! Bhailog, hope I'll be able to live upto your expectations
Kickasso sent me some c/cpp faqs and Terros!st helped me a great deal with OS.

Well, after all the excersises, the time came for the interview *sigh* My body temp dropped, I was freezing!

I walked into the meeting room to face 3 panelists - people with 8+ years of experience in IBM!

After a quick intro we entered a tech round, we started with Java, first a Helloworld program! Hey, thats nothing to laugh at, in the last 28 months I have rarely written a line of code! That makes me a fresher
The Shelling lasted for almost 90 minutes and I think I got away with more than 60%!
After the first 90 minutes, there was another 30 minutes with the Manager.
They were looking for a 2yr+ experienced guy, that was another heartbreak.
Hmm, now their concern was whether could pick up the project in a couple of months.
I tried to convince them with my PBC Ratings and "thirst-for-knowledge".
Hmm, if they recognise it, I would be selected...it all depends on the result of the tech round. I am optimistic, lets hope for the best .

I forgot to mention, me blog was honoured, ze Manager peeped in and bookmarked me!

Well, that was my first interview on developement skills!

I still remember my interview with Ashish, for GSDC. The first question shot to me was "How good are you at N/W and OS?", next "Whats a DHCP?", "Lease? Explain how the lease is obtained", "Good, ....." a series of bombs followed, and finally "How much do you earn, and how much do you expect ?", " OK, I'll offer you...., glad?" . Remote Administration! that's the word that made me take the offer and join! lolz

I really wish this one was like that! Taking up this interview was a li'l step, if selected, it would be a giant leap! A dream come true!

Ha! This is another post from the procrastinator. Heehee. But this is just a few days old.

It so happened that our Edmonton Team went for a sky dive last saturday.
People, I can hear my heart beat when I think of jumping from an airplane.

This is an email that Miguel sent out to the team a few days before the skydive:

...The short answer is YES. I am scared, very scared, but nothing is gonna stop me! I will be there to make one of my dreams come true! I do not know what of the above has scared me the most. But after August 5, 2006, I will certainly know which one will have done it . I know that because nothing else has scared me that much with one week in advance. I used to get scared only a few minutes in advance, when it was time for the action!

I hope we all will enjoy it. I do not know if there are any experienced sky jumpers in the team, but I know we all will be at least a little bit scared. That will not be a reason to give up. There are different ways to cope with anxiety. Having written this message and shared it with all of you has been mine. Now I am not as scared as I was when I typed "Welcome to the air everyone". I am confident I will face it much better...

On Monday when I came into the office, Miguel was online. He was on night shift from Edmonton.
Miguel briefed me about the team outing.
Here is the Chat log:

Me : Good Morning Miguel :) !
Miguel :

Miguel : we survived

...

Me : Hey, name all of em... lemme guess

...

Me : Adam in the center

...

Miguel : TIP: only 4 of us work with SP

Me : aw!

Me : kk...u with ur hand raised

Me : red helmet

Miguel : you got it

Me : who are the others with SP?

Miguel : Jasen and Luckron

Me : Jasen the sitting one

...

Me: Luckron? Never seen him b4

Miguel : the last one, right side

...

Miguel : we all had lots of fun

Me : how many times did ya jump?

Miguel : only one, I jumped at 9:30 PM. no time for more jumps

Miguel : lots of people yesterday

Me : night ? :o

Miguel : PM, but still with some Sun light, we are in the North, jejejeje

...

Miguel :

Miguel : so, it was not in large airplanes, ok?

...

Miguel : yeah

Miguel : there were at least 100 jumps yesterday

Miguel : from only 2 small airplanes

Miguel : so, it was a very busy day

Me : 100 people jumping! :o

Me : and u jumped with an instructor ryt?

Miguel : no

Miguel : the instructor was always the last one to jump

Miguel : so, each time 4, 5 or 6 people

Miguel : + the instructor

Me : man, so it was a .....whew!

Miguel : but the instructor would be the last one

Miguel : heheheh

Miguel : the instructor had never reached anyone whose parachute did not open

Me : i can feel myself falling...... aaaaaaaaaaaah

Me : did someones parachute not open?

Miguel : oh no

Miguel : that had finished the day sooner than expected

Miguel : can you believe that in a country that has less than 40 million people we have so many risking their lifes? LOL

...

Me : and was it easy falling guiding the parachute?

Miguel : yes, that is the EZ part

Miguel : I lways knew that

Me : and wen u guys were falling...u fell silently or did ya scream

Miguel : I do not know if anyone screamed

Miguel : I do not think so

Miguel : for first jumpers the parachute has a system that the instructor deploys and the parachute opens in less than 6 seconds

Me : too much of technology, eh?

Miguel : not reallyMiguel : all is mechanical...and based in simple physical laws

Miguel : the deployment system is not electronic or wireless as u might have thought

Miguel : it is like a very small parachute that the instructor pulls as you jump

...

Me : so he pulls the string and ask u to jump

Miguel : no, actually he has it in his hand and when you jump he just stays there in the plane

Me : so u just gotta fall....

Miguel : so, it will release the actual parachute in just a few seconds, and you just fall

Miguel : and if it does not open thaye will spend a long time placing all your pieces together

Me : lol

Miguel : there was only one accident yesterday

Miguel : and it was not from someone we knew

Me : :o accident

Miguel : A guy just broke his ankle in the landing…

Me : uh!

Me : hows the landing, btw?

Miguel : most of the time is EZ

Miguel : but if you make a mistake you can brake your feet, knees or some other bones

Miguel : and if that happens it is also noisy

Miguel : crack

Miguel : you can hear that from several meters away

Me : ah!

Miguel : but that is nothing compared to a parachute that does not open

Miguel : I am finally gone

Miguel : after this line

..........................

Those who never turned up from edmonton, guys u missed the fun!

Being a procrastinator, it took me long to blog this.

Date: 10th June 2006

7:30 PM, Friday 28th April.
I was alone at home, watching T.V. when the doorberll rang. I was expecting Kannan and Unmesh to turn up, I opened the door to find a stranger at the door.
There was a big fat guy smiling at me. He looked familiar, I scanned my memory for a name associated with this face...
A few seconds ticked away before I found an association, Sajith, but is this him? This guy with long hair and a "w " shaped goate with no moustache...no way!

I said, "Hi, what do u want?" and got an unexpected reply,"Da panni, ithu njana!"

Finally, Sajith made it to Bangalore! He rode his TVS Fiero F2 all the way from Mysore.
This guy has changed a lot since I met him last December. I guess he has put on an extra 15 Kgs!!! His long hair look was "Adaaaar". I couldn't bear it any longer and burst out laughing.
Kannan and Unmesh were also dumbstruck. Sharun too joined us for dinner.

We ordered chicken 65 from the new Family Restaurant at Suddaguntapalya, and settled down with Bacardi & Sprite. Sharun had a peg and got drunk! It was a lot of fun... I opened my eyes when the sun shone straight into my face.

Click here to see Sajith's Version of the story