Weep, for tonight winter begins....

 It is the last day of summer.

The clocks will change over from British Summer Time (BST) to GMT tonight. UK will become one hour further away from India as the time difference between the two countries increases to five and a half hours.

The clocks will switch over from 28th October 2006 11:59PM to 28th October 2006 11:00PM.

I will gain an extra hour in my life.

I am still not sure why they have the concept of Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time in the US). Just because the sun rises at 4am and sets at 11pm does it mean one keeps changing the clocks?

I wonder how much money they would end up saving if BST was removed.

What is one hour in the new world where the business process has become a continuous link that stretches all around the globe.

In my humble opinion BST should be removed even though it does bring me one hour closer to home.

:)

An Evening with the 'Don' (a.k.a. review of Don)

Well after sitting through the first 10 mins of the film I just had one thought in my mind... when would I come to Cineworld for a GOOD movie? My previous movie at Cineworld was Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and since Cineworld is quite far away from my place I don't go there often.

I knew that the movie would be crap and it would mean £8 down the drain (ticket + popcorn), still I went to see it. I needed some amusement at the end of a rainy Sunday and a whole bunch of my friends were going.

BUT the main reason I went to see this film was: Isha Koppikar.     She is one sexy Marathi Mulgi

 

For anyone going to see this movie... DO NOT watch the old Don before going to see this one. Just DO NOT compare the new with the old. Otherwise you will spend the entire movie thinking just two things..

how crappy the new one is and why didnt you just go to be early tonight instead of coming to the cinema.

 

The GOOD THINGS:

Excellent special effects for a Bollywood movie... now they just need a good story and better actors.

Music and dance is good... Especially the song 'Main hoon Don' and the number where both Priyanka and Isha dance together for Singhania.

Seeing Isha dance... in two songs meant my £8 were paid back with interest. It is fasinating to see the flowing symmetry of the female body!

Shooting locations are excellent... I love the last scene on the mountain top. I wonder what place that was.

 

The BAD THINGS:

Crap storyline... even though it was copied from the original Don, had the story been original I am sure the movie would have come out much better. You just cannot fit a square peg in a round hole.

Kareena... Firstly why was she in the movie... ok no probs you keep her in the movie.. but then WHY make her dance! She could have been given the role of 'bystander no.2' or 'policewoman no.1'. Also it is unfair that they gave her Helens role. Helen was an excellent dancer where as Kareena looks like she is trying to break her spine or dislocate her hip.

REAL weak story... someone should have told the director that when you fire a fake bullet thru a glass, the glass DOES NOT shatter since there is no projectile in a fake bullet. This is with reference to the scene where Priyanka enters the car of Don's henchmen with the fake Police behind her. Then she proceeds to shoot the Policemen by firing THRU the glass window of the car. In a later scene we see Priyanka handing over cash to the fake Policemen and  threatening them that if they talk to anyone about this, next time the bullets will be real.

Business class prisoner transport plane... when they were designing a prisoner transport plane the least they could have done was watched Con-Air. But no... they couldn't take even that much effort. In the new Don, the prison plane seats are almost as good (if not better) than business class seats on a passenger plane. All prisoners are FREE TO MOVE ABOUT and there is just a set of bars between the guards and the prisoners. Also all the prisoners still have their personal belonging with them and are wearing their own clothes. The ONLY thing missing from the 'best special effects scene in the movie' was a personal entertainment system in the 'business class' seat of the passengers.

The Parachute Scene '..the best scene..'... copied from Arnie's Eraser right down to the two children playing in the area where the parachutist lands. Of course the scene from Eraser (movie made in 1996) was much better. Guess they couldn't think up any new variations in 10 years time.

 

 

<START OF SPOILER>--------------------------------------------------------

The story is pretty straight forward with a MAJOR twist in the last scene. Everything is set for Don II since the original Don still lives.

<END OF SPOILER>-----------------------------------------------------------

When HSBC came calling...

About a week ago I posted a blog entry about how my HSBC InvestDirect account suddenly showed a balance of £66,000 (approx).
Well yesterday (11th October 2006) HSBC came calling to my humble blog. Not just once or twice but more than six times! In fact not only HSBC but also some bank from New York came to have a look at my blog.
The first hit came from HSBC Banking and Financial Services in Pune, India. Rest of the hits were from HSBC Plc, London, England.

The MAIN thing was all the hits, as you can see below, were directly on the post about the £66,000!

The Details of the Visit:

The First Hit


Details of the other Hits






I wonder what they are up to! :D

Marriage is a Multi-objective Problem

Bit of Theory
A multi-objective problem (MOP) is a problem which can be de-composed into multiple objectives that have to be satisfied to solve it. Often all the objectives cannot be met with the same degree of success since they may oppose each other. Therefore there exists a 'trade-off' between these objectives.

A classic trade-off situation is when you are packing for a trip. Assuming you don't want to pay through your nose for extra allowance (and you don't have an army of pack mules to carry your luggage) you will have finite space in which to put everything.
So the trade-off comes with respect to what you put into that finite space. Do you put in more night-clothes or more casual wear? Since the space is finite if you put
in more night-clothes you will have less space for casuals.

There is usually no single solution to a MOP. Instead the problem solver usually takes a look at a set of solutions (i.e. possible trade-offs) and based on their expert knowledge, desires and preferences a single solution is picked out from the set of solutions.

Looking at MARRIAGE from a multi-objective point of view we can figure out what kind of boys/girls would be preferred. I simplified the problem by taking just three main factors which are most commonly looked at while finding a mate (in India atleast).
These factors are:
- Money (income of the boy/girl or family wealth)
- Family (the background of the family)
- Looks (of the boy/girl)

The trade-off between each of these factors is highly dynamic (for example good looks might not always come from a good family and so on). Therefore we cannot do a clear analysis of the situation. But we can show the various options available and how each type of solution can be put into a class (of boys/girls).

Green dots
represent the best solutions within the normal class of boys and girls.
Fairly NORMAL demand for this type.

Grey dots
represent the non-mainstream class.
Demand for this type cannot be defined.

Red dots are LOSERS!
LOW demand for this type.

Blue dots are GODS/GODESSES (the Ideal class)
EVERYONE wants to marry one of these!



Note: Charts shown above were made by me and not copied from anywhere.

So WHICH CLASS do you belong to? :D

OOO and OOAD

OOO = Object Oriented Organization (of code).
OOAD = Object Oriented Analysis and Design (of a system).

Code rushes through my head when I hear people talking about various software projects.. that is the wrong way to think.. if you can think DESIGN before you think CODE that means you are a top class computer engineer (or programmer).

But professional design is a tediuous and often time consuming activity which is as important as it is difficult to do well!

Most small projects or dedicated systems, in my experience, are designed on the basis of 'object oriented organization' rather than full blown OOAD (which involves higher level elements such as Design Patterns).
The system is just represented as a set of interacting classes or objects.
This can be very effective, reducing design times as well as making sure most of the good design features are present in the result. But this requires an implicit understanding of what is good OO and what is bad OO!

If you find yourself stringing together classes like a garland one after the other then you are surely doing something mad.. and trust me.. pretty soon that garland is going to start stinking!

The basis of good OO design is how to keep the interfaces of the classes clean and less prone to change and the number of classes themselves to as few (and thus efficient use of code) as possible. Thus it becomes VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT to understand and keep in your mind AT ALL TIMES the concepts of cohesion and coupling whether you are doing OOO (Object Oriented Organization of your code) or full fledged OOAD.

For those who don't know about Cohesion (Coh.) and Coupling (Cup.):
Coh. means how well organised the code is within a class... how well the code of the class works together to fulfill the functionality of the class. If a class is really bulky and requires access to external code then we say that Coh. is low.

Cup. means the number of connections a class has with other classes.

Usually the best design practice is to INCREASE COHESION and DECREASE COUPLING. This ensures classes remain as stand-alone and re-usable as possible as well as decreasing the 'stringing' effect of dealing with a highly connected set of classes.

The common trick for reducing Coupling is, if you find that two classes have a lot of connections between them, try and merge the two classes together or try and shift the functionality from one class to the other (you can even try merging the functionality from both classes into a third class!).
To reduce cohesion you need to concentrate on the first level analysis of the problem (high level requirements). Often a re-analysis of the problem can lead to a more efficient Class/Object based Design.

MY PhD!

Talking about my PhD with my cousin sis...

XYZ: accha which topics come under ur research......
Kyuzo: earth/sky/water/wind/love/girls/electronics/computers/AI
XYZ: wt is AI....???
XYZ: yaa i knw......
XYZ: ok artificial intelligence'.............???
Kyuzo: wow u smart
XYZ: hmm dont u have ur original intelligence......????
Kyuzo: nope woh i gave to charity

From my mobile...

Making this post from my mobile...

Digging my own grave... Miss A!

Recently me and Vibhore were talking about Miss A and this is how the conversation went..

Vibhore: Any news of Miss A?

Azahar: Yes one interesting incident - blah blah blah (the incident!)

Vibhore: guess u r making ur own grave with your own hands, she is not looking very keen i must confess

Azahar: i might be digging my own grave but i will make sure i dont enter it on my own

Digging my own grave is my favourite past-time... the thrill of being so close to complete disaster, flying by the seat of my pants... its just AMAZING!

An unrelated topic...
Diwali is coming up and people ask me whether I would like to spend it at home (India) coz as they say 'home is where the heart is'

I reply:
Yes home is where the heart is... and I always carry my heart around with me. So where-ever I am that is where my heart is. Thus I am happy where-ever I am!

:)

The Night I Got £66,349.98

Here is a story for a long and boring dinner!

Yesterday night I was just going through my HSBC INVESTDIRECT account seeing how my humble investments were doing... and what I saw made my jaw drop out of its socket!
Apparently my INVESTDIRECT ACCOUNT which should have shown a NET WORTH of around £1000 (ya so I am poor!) showed £66,349.98.

For obvious reasons have blacked out the important details!

Being an IT guy I knew that there was some problem up at HSBC so couldn't even dream of being labelled the next Investment WhizKid (turning £1000 into £66k in 1 year without really investing.. that HAS to be magic!).

Who would have expected such a slip up from HSBC!

Heroes

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

Gnarles Barkley - Crazy

I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero- the lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth andjustice. And in my heart of hearts I still track the remnants of that dream wherever I go, in my endless ride into the setting sun.

Bill Hicks - Revelations

The Newest Member of My Gadget Family: Sony Ericsson P990i

An Unbiased Review.. and comparison with P910.

I have had the Sony Ericsson (SE) P910i for the last two years. Got so attached to it that didn't change mobiles last year. So when the next version was announced by SE I knew they would create something special and I also knew that I would want to get my hands on it.Finally by the Grace of God (and bit of my hard work) I was able to get it last Friday (22nd September). This is a review on the usability and not the technical features and specs. of the phone. I think for most people its not the technology but the usability that matters!

So lets have a head to head: P910i vs P990i

Feature: Ease of Use - Flip Closed.

Winner: Debate rages on but my money is on P910i. The 5 way JogDial (reduced to 3 way with a seperate 'BACK' button in p990i) was just too easy to use. While the 'BACK' button takes a bit getting used to and overall it is easy to use, it just doesnt beat the 'all in one place' feel of the 5 way JogDial. (For newcomers to the P series.. the 5 way JogDial allowed you to go back out of menus which has now been converted into a dedicated button just below the (new) 3 way JogDial). Also the old JogDial was easier to get at whereas the new one is encased in the body and a bit smaller..

The metallic keypad of p990i feels much better though! Let see how it lasts the test of time (and use!). BUT the naviagtion key on the numeric keypad is hell to use! The central selection key is so small that I end up pressing one of the direction keys instead!

Flip Closed (p990i on right).

The Tiny selection key!

The JogDial (p990i above, p910i below).




Feature: Ease of Use - Flip Open (including keyboard).

Winner: p990i. The new bigger keyboard is much easier to use especially since it within the main body of the phone and not on the flip. This means you can use the keyboard easily with one hand. Also the new backlight for the keyboard was one of the things I missed the most in p910i. Just like with the p910i the keyboard in p990i is well designed and the key layout is also good.

The Keyboards (note the nice blue backlight on the p990i).

Feature: Display Quality

Winner: p990i. The new display is sharp and vibrant (see next section).



Feature: Look and Feel of the User Interface (Software)

Winner: p990i. The UIQ 3.0 based interface is stunning. The difference in graphics is similar to the difference between Windows 98 and Windows XP. All the icons are textured and really smooth looking. In p910i the menu graphics were good but the lower level graphics were bit flat looking.

Graphics (p990i on the left).

Feature: Look and Feel of the User Interface (Hardware)

Winner: p910i (in my humble opinion)
This is mainly because with p910i the screen was much bigger, memory slot easier to access and the separate bluetooth indicator light was really handy. In p990i there is just one light which starts to blink when you have a missed call or new email.
Style wise the p910i had a much better looking body. Sorry to say, but to me p990i looks like a fat bar of chocolate. Well, didnt buy it for looks..
Also one of the MAJOR issues is the hard to use Memory Slot. I think SE people thought you would 'install and forget' the external memory card 'coz once inserted and locked the Memory card is very difficult to unlock and take out. The main reason is that the Memory card slot is recessed into the body (just like the JogDial!).

P910i (note that is the normal locked position of the memory card - it has NOT been unlocked!)

P990i memory slot (note the recessed slot)

Would like to mention one thing though, even though the p990i is heavier than p910i (by 5 grams) it feels lighter. Maybe SE has done something about the distribution of mass within the phone.

Finally I wish they had given a 3.5mm headphone jack in p990i since it is much easier to just switch headphones rather than carrying around the handsfree.


Other issues:

CONNECTIVITY

BLUETOOTH (including A2DP), INFRARED, WiFi (802.11b only), USB

Left to Right Icons: Cellphone signal bars, 3G connected, WiFi connected, Globe: Connection Established (on WiFi), the Battery Indicator, Task Manager.

One of the strongest selling points of the p990i (if it had been launched in First Quarter of 2006 like planned!). But I was quite surprised that the WiFi was not upgraded to 802.11g especially since other devices (such as imate JASJAM) already offer it.
One good thing is that within the USB option you can enable 'charging thru USB' so you dont have to cart around the adapter everywhere, nor invest in a seperate USB charger. Very useful for people who hardly ever travel without their laptops. The USB data cable of course is provided with the phone!

WiFi connectivity is quite good for a device this size even though the WiFi indicator gives no indication of the connection strength! The only problem is that the browser restricts the full usage of WiFi. The phone should have come with an inbuilt streming media player so that one can access Internet Radio Stations thru WiFi or 3G.

The SE people just have not given enough software along with the phone to utilise the advanced connectivity options. The software included is the usual selection you can find in any good phone such as Document Readers and (being a game freak) just 2 lousy games! One good piece of software (though not unique to P990i) is the RSS Feed Reader. Great for people who want to catch up on the news.

Main Menu

Multimedia (note the RSS Feed Reader - also found in K800i)

'Entertainment' CRAP GAMES! P910i had Chess!

'Office' No special PDA software in there!

Tools.

The inclusion of A2DP means you can use Bluetooth enabled headphones with the p990i to listen to music (like a normal headphone!) and at the same time use it like a handsfree. The only problem is that dual mode Bluetooth headphones (stereo music + handsfree) cost about 100 pounds a piece!


THE TASK MANAGER

Quite a deadly piece of enhancement this one. Unlike the old p910i, most programs on p990i don't exit when you receive a call or an sms. In fact most programs (like the Web browser) don't have an exit option! So you have no other option except to use the Back button to go to the main menu. This leaves the program open and if you keep doing this it will leave you with a long trail of programs in the task manager which you need to go and 'End' one by one, kind of like in Windows when a program hangs you can end it thru Task Manager.
This not only slows down the phone but also makes the whole UIQ 3.0 experience weird.
Maybe I am doing something stupid (if YES then please do let me know!) or else SE need to come up with a solution for this.


THE FINAL WORD

So all in all there are lots of good as well as bad things about p990i. While discovering each new feature made me squeal with pleasure (like a small farm animal I admit!) at the same time certain glaring mistakes made me groan with pain (especially the Memory Stick slot and the tiny select key!)
In making this phone SE designers seem to have gone 10 steps forward but they have also taken 1 step back which will keep it from becoming the best PDA phone of its time (atleast in my books!).

This phone is selling like anything, but that is mainly due to:
1) Hype generated by SE (drawing upon the success of the previous P series phones).

2) Delayed launch (by more than 6 months!).

3) Limited supply of hansets.

A Comment By Bhuvan...

Bhuvan wrote a very revealing and clear comment on my post 'Indians are In and I am Out'
I thought I should convert it into a full post to do it justice, so here goes...

Humans by nature are short sighted and not to mention 'greedy'; often the latter is exposed through the former. KPO, BPO, call it any name, it is some 'smarty pant' thinking and driving this capitalist economy, and such smarty pants can be found anywhere, in US, UK, India, literally anywhere. The way job market works, I can draw some parallels from the economics of the world. The whole idea of a good economy is to promote consumerism which they believe is good for some reason, for example it shall keep the money in ciruclation, which has two key benefits:

-> Equitable distribution of money
-> Competitivenes, and creation of more jobs

and some drawbacks

-> 'exploitation' of the less educated by smarty pants
-> Selfishness and individuality taking precedence over 'higher' values in life

BPO, KPO any goddam job going to east is a way to expand the horizon and help the capitalist achieve their goal. The society in east becomes materialistic, and above all has the purchasing power which will help keep the money in circulation and ...this is a big question...who benefits from this money circulation. Few other goddam capitalists i.e. global brands.

Let me digress a little here. State of a body always carries a inertia and changes are slow and painful. Who said exercising / running on a treadmill would ever be easy, building that perfectly appealing body would be easy. The process is very painful, but one should have a vision, a long sighted vision of beautiful things that would come as a result of the effort put in now.
Coming back to east, I must say that a big chunk of responsibilty lies in the hands of the 'government' to manage the changes that are happening due to influx of BPO, KPO etc goddam jobs.

I am sure they as final arbitrator get huge chunks of money, in terms of cash reserve in their Banks, or in terms of tax paid by the companies. What my point is that this money could be used to create a just and social governance system, not only in terms of addressing current needs of subjects, but also managing the societal acceptance of such jobs by educating the mass.
Last but not the least, use the money to provide a culture of entrepreneurship (forget the bollywood for a change) so as to create more home grown smarty pants. This may sound contradictory as these smarty pants will kick of another chain of exploitation but sorry to say I am a proponent of capitalist system, and these smarty pants are required to drive the system. All I care about is an equitable distribution of smarty pants across the globe so as to achieve 'REAL COMPETITIVENESS', and 'REAL EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION' of money and goodwill.

'Indians are In and I am Out'

Recently I was watching a program on TV about the response in England to the recent shift of a large number of call center (BPO) jobs to India. During the program they asked an ex-employee of Norwich Union (who shifted 2500 call center jobs to India) how he felt after loosing his job to an Indian call center.

He replied (rather calmly) 'Indians are In and I am Out, that's the way the world works'.

 This, I found to be, a stunning acceptance of the new world order. The BPO business is firmly shifting east-wards. But again and again we are forced to question the hand that feeds us. Debates still rage on about the BPO industry (and its respectable sister the KPO / LPO industry) and how good/bad is it for people working in it.

Companies like 'e-serve' with their 'ad-campaigns' do try and throw a positive light on working the graveyard shift. But I wonder again what would happen if the call center business was to start leaving India. What will happen to those people who have spent their formative years working into the wee hours of the night serving people half-way across the world.

Is the BPO industry also creating a generation of people who to make money have sacrificed their future? 

 What is the use of such growth if it is not self-sustaining?

What use is this growth if to achieve it one has to sacrifice the well being of our youth?

Speaking with a friend of mine who used to work for Norwich Union in India further opened my eyes. People do hate the fact that Indians are taking away their jobs. At the same time they enjoy the savings that they get because their insurance provider has outsourced operations.

We come back to the age old question of whether being a source of cheap labour is a good thing or bad. Should we put a positive spin on things like the e-serve people are trying?

Back home this new found business opportunity (i.e. BPO/KPO/LPO) are not seen in a positive light. I think BPOs etc. are respectable lines of work. Any form of work in which you can earn money without doing anything illegal is perfectly ok and respectable for me.

But looking at the intensity of the ad-campaing made me think that the Indian BPOs are not only having a tough time finding acceptance among people outside India, but within India as well.

Case in point being that if you are a call center employee you would find it difficult to get a good marriage proposal. Most people just wouldnt want to live with someone who works at night. Other factors like money and type of work also influence people a lot.

Many people still react negatively if they know you are working at a call center.

So for the call center people it seems they are trapped between a society that doesnt give them the true respect that they deserve (as the bringers of new-found wealth) and often difficult clients who blame them for taking away their jobs.

Some More Pictures

Closeup of the Clifton Bridge (Bristol, UK)


Clifton Bridge and Bristol (on the right bank)
The muddy Avon River flowing through the Avon Gorge


Strange clouds

Sunset over Western Europe...

Photographs of twilight taken by me while on the Amsterdam-Bristol flight. Camera used: Canon S2-IS.

Some Spectacular Pics.... (1 of 4)

What follows are some of the pics I took while travelling thru Canada. Here I am posting the pictures that I found to be spectacular.

Some Spectacular Pics.... (2 of 4)

What follows are some of the pics I took while travelling thru Canada. Here I am posting the pictures that I found to be spectacular.

Some Spectacular Pics.... (3 of 4)

What follows are some of the pics I took while travelling thru Canada. Here I am posting the pictures that I found to be spectacular.

Some Spectacular Pics.... (4 of 4)

What follows are some of the pics I took while travelling thru Canada. Here I am posting the pictures that I found to be spectacular.

Thoughts at 5 AM

On a random Sunday morning it comes to me:
A breakup is like an accident of the heart. After the accident you might recover fully the use of your heart but the scars never really go away.