Security

A friend of mine...the most brilliant Programmer that i have met/seen/worked with. 

He is just absolutely in love with this coding thing.

He feels disheartened when he sees a data structure being used that you shouldn't have used.

He feels ecstatic when he sees some well designed and well thought out classes .

Algorithms will be studied for the sake of algorithms not for any company.

Design patterns will be studied not because someone told him that they would be asked in a particular company...

but for the simple reason of keeping his code beautiful.

The Child like enthusiasm that he shows for good,challenging...beautiful code is contagious.

He is so sure ,so sound in his knowledge that you can sense the security.

Whenever he is around...you feel like asking for his opinion ...because you know he'll definitely make it better.

Recently he has joined a company in which he was the 5th employee.

He is getting a salary that people get at 2.5 times his experience.

Company might be insecure in comparison to the settled ones..but he just saw a exciting work opportunity.

He knows the company can close any day...he can be fired any day...but he knows his skill better. 

Your skill security covers up for the probable job insecurity....

I have known this person for some time now...and i want to keep knowing him for as long as i can .

As he is the one who helped me understand...

"There are two kind of job seekers  -   secure ones and the insecure ones.

There are two kind of jobs              -   secure ones and the insecure ones.

Match almost always is diagonal."  

Happy

A lot of rickshaw pullers and daily wage workers leave their villages and come to Delhi in search of work. This is probably a story about one of them. 

For most of them,the family is in the village and they are alone in Delhi.....working for a living. 

They do go to their village at times...and at time it is their families who come to Delhi. 

Just like each one of us... 

whenever they are visiting the villages they do take some gifts along.

and just like each one of us... 

whenever their families visit them... 

they do take them out to show the city they have been living in. 

Sometimes i see them on a metro station... 

The head of the family(father) takes a lot of pride in introducing the family to the DELHI METRO. 

He buys them a token each and then surprises them by telling them that this is the Ticket. 

Each one of them is amused as to what kind of ticket is that. 

A small demo follows. 

Touch the token on the gate..the gate flap opens...enter and that's it. 

Kids are usually excited to try this...ladies a bit apprehensive. 

So the elder son gets to go in first. Father prompts him at every step...and in three easy steps he is in. 

Now it's the mother and the infant in her arms.. 

There are a lot of things to be handled...the saree..the ghunghat..the toddler and the token ofcourse. 

She takes some time...as she seems to be short of confidence. 

She might do something wrong. 

The son asks her to come fast as it is too easy...what is it that she doesn't understand?

Father asks him to be quiet and assures his wife to do the three steps..prompting begins again. 

Touch the token on the gate..the gate flap opens...enter and that's it.

She does it this time.

Crossing the gate is followed with a giggle from the lady ,the son and the father ...Toddler is amused too. 

All of them seem Happy. 

Now the father asks them to queue up as everybody does so in Metro. 

He takes a lot of pride in telling them that no body huddles up like they did in the village bus. 

It's so very organized over here. 

The father keeps waiting for the metro as he wants to impress his family even more with this state of the art piece of transport. 

The moment it is visible on the station he looks on to his son and wife as to check if they  are amused enough or not. 

He's happy to see the big wide eyes. 

If they hadn't been amused enough..he had his believe-it-or-not-facts ready about the delhi metro. 

The metro is as usual crowded ...the people are pushing ...fuming...angry at god knows what... 

Amongst all this crowd ...the family gets in ...

The father holding the son tight...the mother holding the infant...and the eye contact holding them both. 

In all this chaos..they are listening to the announcement...they are even more bemused by the fact that the guy making the announcements repeats about the door-opening announcement every 1 minute. 

 At every station the family glanced at the father as he might signal to get off. 

Finally They get off at Huda City center. 

The boy kept telling his father about how a guy was almost stuck in the closing doors at one of the stations... The father dismisses it all very nonchalantly as this happens everyday... 

he even scares him by telling him about an ACCIDENT in which a girl lost both her legs under the metro.

The mother asks them to slow down as the infant was troubling her and she was not able to keep up with them. 

They wait for her and from IFFCO chowk they take a Auto... 

The father had planned to show them the Airplanes take off. 

He had kept it a surprise...no one knew after the Metro what would it be. 

They were already awestruck after the Metro thing...he knew the airplane take off would just blow them away. 

There is this road which is parallel to IGI Airport's runway and many a times i have seen people standing and watching the planes take off...the observing distance is less than 50 mtrs. 

The family reaches there and the father announces the surprise. 

The sons excitement holds no bound as this may be the biggest and the most exciting story he was taking back to his village. 

A plane taking off and that too at walkabale distance. 

The wife was happy as well.... 

The husband......Proud. 

After some moments of wait A huge Kingfisher A380 started moving back.... 

The kid starts jumping...the toddler has his eyes wide open 

The father puts his arm on his wife's shoulder.. 

The family totally engaged in the forward backward maneuvers of the plane....

Infact there are around 100 more groups like these..all standing in a queue.. 

In next two minutes...plane is right in front of them. 

Father takes the boy in his arms...points towards the rising plane. 

Mother does the same with the infant. 

so do the other groups... 

They whistle...They clap... 

Someone feels proud to have shown this to his family... 

Some feel proud to be wife to a person who everyday sees this... 

While the plane is taking off there might be a similar family inside the plane that is going through the same emotions......may be they are excited for their first flight. 

Or May be they are amused at the people who are shouting ..clapping and pointing towards them while they take off. 

Whatever it is ..both sides of the plane had a proud father...a excited mother..an extremely happy child. 

Everyone looked so same ... Happy for a reason ...that was completely their own.

RUN Forrest RUN

I have been running /cycling for some time now...somedays i go for short short trips...sometimes i opt for monster trips...A 120 km CYCLING requires as much physical and mental endurance as is required for a 12 km RUN.

The longer trips are done more for the mental toughness than for the physical aspect of it.
I have seen a particular pattern in these longer rides....
The ride can be broken into three phases

Phase1: Destination-too-far phase
This is the phase when you have just started and you are really excited about the new journey.
Excitement very often results in a burst of energy (too much action) and that may lead to a rise in fatigue level and possibly a premature burnout and that may end your journey much before the anticipated timeline.

You have to get into a nice consistent rhythm to be in the race for a longer run.
In this phase Focusing on the journey and not on the destination helps you stay for a longer period.

Phase 3 :Destination-too-close phase
I came to phase three before going to phase two...just for the striking similarity in the destruction capability of this phase with phase 1.

This is the phase when the destination is visible and you are exhausted to the core.
Your fatigued mind asks you to quit as you are almost there....
In this phase complacency and fatigue...can prove fatal for the entire journey.
You did all the hard work but gave it all away in the end.

If you want to complete the journey and pass this phase ..just remember....
There is a lot of difference in "You were almost there" and "You were there."

Now we come to phase 2.

Phase 2: No-idea-how-far-or-how-close phase
This is the phase when you have no clue how far have you come and absolutely no idea how far you still have to go.

This happens mostly when you are running on the roads you have never ran before...
as opposite to..
Running on a road that you are familiar with....the thrill and the unexpectedness would always be lesser.

So in this phase you have no clue how much more physical and mental toughness is required...
You are done with the initial excitement of the journey...
You don't see the destination either...the only option you have is to HANG IN there .

Hang in...and believe .
You seem lost...out of clue...aimless
but just understand that any moment you may see your destination.
Whenever you think of giving up..it is very much possible that the destination was just a few paces away.

After you have hung in long enough...you will suddenly start seeing the destination and that's when phase 3 comes into play.

Don't let the Phase 3 ruin all your effort.
Make sure you have crossed the line before you begin with the celebrations.

Keep the celebrations mild as this race was probably a Phase 1 to some longer race.

Keep Running. :)

N8 for Rs 2000

I was really excited for my first cycle trip to india gate.
We had to leave early morning so i made one last call to one my friends for the journey.

I - What all should i carry?
My friend - Just a water bottle wat else?

I was in a confused state as to if i should be carrying my phone or not.
Atlast i decided to carry my phone ,my camera and my wallet and put it all in a small backpack.

In the morning i started at 5:30 from noida and asked Gaurav to be ready by 6:00am.

I reached mayur vihar around 5:50 and called up Gaurav to the main road...he asked me to wait for 2 minutes.

I parked my cycle and as that part of delhi is on the greener side..i thought of taking a few clicks.
I was thinking about the clicks and the camera...two guys came on a scooter and stopped right in front of me.

One of them got off and shook hands with me.
Then he showed me a N8 and asked me if i wanted to buy it.

I refused and told them that i am not carrying any money and moreover i didn't want to buy that phone.
The guy on listening to my reply turned hostile and asked me to show him my mobile.

I reluctantly took it out...he grabbed it from me and started sitting back on scooter,
I tried to snatch it back...but in a very hostile haryanwi tone he asks me...

"Jaan se Pyaari koi cheej"
I thought for a while .

The guy driving driving the scooter also tried to scare me..
"Nikalooon kya??"

I was thinking whether to put up a fight or let go.
I was not sure if they had any weapon or not...but i didn't have the guts to confirm it.

I decided against the fight thing and agreed to their first question.
Jaan se pyari koi cheej nahi.

While leaving they gave me a black mobile pouch...
I was relieved somewhat as it was probably the second hand N8(or may be third hand)  they were trying to sell me earlier.

Once they left the scene i could also see my friend crossing the road and coming towards me.
I opened to see the black mobile pouch and check the condition of the N8.

The thieves were damn professional in their work..they not only gave you the theft shock.
They cared about the customer experience after the transaction also.

The black pouch didn't contain a N8.
It had a RIN Bar.(Rin ki tikki)
-------------------------------------------------------
I = Bivek Kaushal
My Friend = Gaurav Vashist

Just think what would you do in such a scenario?
and please share as this may be helpful to other people living in delhi.

Why do we do the things we do?

On our way back from office me and Ovais were discussing...

Why do we do the things we do?
Or For that matter....
Why does any one does what he does?

So the Initial answers were like for Survival..for food..for a better life etc etc.
Then we discussed a bit more deeply and came to the following result...

Each one of us enjoys being different.

Earlier people used to stay in villages and do farming..feed cattle..raise children.
Everyone did the same thing.
At that time if someone got a job in the city...he was considered kind of special.
Now the guy who got a job did something different from what his brothers were doing
and this way he got himself to be felt special.

Now this trend continued and almost all the families now had a child in the city doing a job.
This continued for few decades ...then a person got bored of that lifestyle also.

Everyone is in city doing the same damn coding job .So he decided to pack his bags and go back to the village.
Now this person did something different and was considered special by his brethren.
People staying in the cities...now felt like they should also lead a life style like that.

So in this discussion we found out that we always look to do something different and ....
more the uniqueness of that thing,
the more we enjoy doing it.

A person always looks to have some uniqueness about him...which sets him apart from the people
he knows or has some connection with them.

Now a person can look different with two different mindsets..

We'll take an example
A Person may leave his comfortable car and become a cyclist because of two reasons...
1)Reason one is there are a very few cyclists around and a lot of car owners...being a cyclist will set him apart.
2)Second reason is curiosity...he would want to challenge his comfort zone and see how his body reacts on a cycle?

In the first reason if all the people around him start riding a cycle the person may opt for a car.
Because the point is not enjoying the cycle..but the point is being different.

In the second reason the person won't give a thought to what the people in his closest promoxity are driving...
He'll ride a cyle just for the sake of riding it.

In both cases you look different....just that in one you are indifferent.

At this point of discussion i immediately started relating things with myself...and the people around me...
A few questions that came to my mind...

Would i keep on enjoying playing Flute if i don't put those videos on facebook?
The very fact that i put them on facebook is that i want people to notice that i am different and see how well i can play the Flute.

I want people to appreciate the videos..what if nobody likes them?  Will i stop playing ?...

Am i different out of curiosity or out of a need to look different.
If a lot of people learn flute...will i try and learn a new instrument?
 or...
Will i learn a new instrument when i feel that ...Flute is done now and what next?

I was confused and i am still confused as to why do i do the things that i do.

Infact why did i write this blog....

I wrote this blog out of curiosty and by the sheer enthusiasm and the excitement of the thought that came to my mind...
but the very point that i am going to share it on my blogspot right now ..and hoping for a few likes.....feeds my apetite .....

...as i think i have thought something different that people in my closest reference haven't thought of.

Living - By Default or by Design

Recently i read a small Article on Lance Armstrong(The cycling guru).
...Infact not just the cycling Guru but there is a lot more to learn from him.
He is a champion while on cycle and a bigger champion for the cancer fighting cause.

In this article he had mentioned the way he would want to die...
He Quoted

"When i am 100 years old.....
I want to come screaming down an Alpine descent on my bicycle at 75 miles per hour. 
I want to cross one last finish line as my wife and my ten children applaud, 
and then I want to lie down in a field of those famous French sunflowers and gracefully expire."

This line struck somewhere...i read it again...and again and again.

Just think of it...a person is excited about his death...he is planning the way he is going to die.
I mean come on...there are days i am not even excited about the way i live..

I know Lance is a kind of person who doesn't take things as they come but the things come as he wants them to come.
That's how effective people live .....they don't live by default.....they live by design.

....but this was something different ...Lance not only lives by design...he wants to design the way he dies too.

Death will not happen to him...
he will die in a way that ensures he has lived till the very last moment.




Jai Guru Dev :)

Match Fixing

Mr Gupta just retired as the Chief Engineer from State Electricity Board after a service of 36 years.
His son Utsav has just completed his engineering and has a job offer with him...it is with the same organisation that his father served(HPSEB).
Everyone in the family is so happy for the son as life seems well settled for him.

Following is one trivial  dialogue between them .
Mr Gupta and Utsav are having dinner.

Son "Papa most of my friends are joining the Private companies..some are becoming full time painters,musicians. i also like dancing but i am not sure of the future. How far will i go? I have a fear of the unknown. what do you suggest? "

Father "Beta there is no comparison of Govt jobs with all these manias..or whatever you call them...Here you have your future secured..even after retirement you will be enjoying pension. You need not worry about your house..car,servants anything. after all you have to live a life that is free of tension."

Son "...but papa.."

Father "Listen ...you have got to make a choice..
you have entered as a SDO,
in 3 years you'll be promoted to Executive engineer(X.en)...
in another 5 years you will be Senior executive engineer...
and by the time you'll retire you'll be secretary To CM for electricity Board...
at worst you will be chief engineer."

During this conversation ..news channel started with a news alleging some senior cricket player of Match fixing.
Being a serious cricket enthusiast Mr Gupta was flabbergasted at this match fixing thing.

Mr Gupta "This is really sad how these cricketers do injustice to so many genuine cricket followers across the country.This is a crime. What fun is it to see a cricket match where you know the outcome already. To enjoy a cricket match the outcome should be unknown..it should be full of excitement and suspense.I think these cricketers don't believe there abilities and fix matches just to have a safe and settled life. They are commiting a sin to themselves and to the nation. Cricket will lose all it's craze if it is played this way."


Utsav was sad at the fixing thing but a stunning analogy dawned on him.
Match fixing was considered bad but there was something very similar he was about to do with his life.
He didn't contradict his father but he got his answer.

What fun it would be to live a life where at 23 you know what you would be doing at 58.

He understood that the
"Fear of the Unknown"
is a just an imposter and can easily be replaced by
"The Thrill of the Unexplored".

That day and this conversation...Utsav has not looked back.
He has danced..sang...travelled..painted...wrote poems...

moreover he has "lived".

He has lived a life that was not fixed.