My Life and Blogs

The last one

2008-02-10T20:23:00.000+05:30

Almost 2 years and no new posts on the blog. Good job, Procrastination!

I was just going through all my previous posts and I realized how much I've changed. I'm not sure if it's for good or bad, but I've changed.

The best thing is that I realized that this is a great way to know how you were some years back, to live through all the associated memories. It's like a good horcrux, if that's possible.

I'll start blogging again, new place, new content. Soon.

Me, my phone and Python...

2006-02-14T23:07:00.000+05:30

I and Guido van Rossum (creator of Python) use the same phone (Nokia 6630). We both think it's great.

Does that imply something ;-) ..... Nah! Just having fun :-)

Comments system fixed..

2006-01-29T11:15:00.000+05:30

Thanks to stupid #@3825#@ing Blogger my comments system was down and I had no idea about it.
And Thanks to Bandan Das I came to know about it and fixed it. It reminds me of Wikipedia/OSS philosophy - there are equal number of good and bad people in the world :-)

A promise to myself, my new website is coming up in two weeks.

Rang de Basanti is great

2006-01-28T21:23:00.000+05:30

Last week after watching Zinda (an awful copy of Oldboy)I had literally lost all hope in Bollywood. I thought they have somehow mastered the art of making bad movies.

Thankfully it’s not that bad yet. They actually can make good movies. And Rang de Basanti is a fitting example. There are some flaws like the too long and boring movie-auditions in DU scene. But still, it’s a must watch for any serious movie lover.

Thanks to Rashmi for the excellent review which made me watch it in the first case.

Musoorie trip Flickred!

2006-01-20T00:09:00.000+05:30

I (finally!) uploaded some pics from my Musoorie trip to Flickr.

Also these are the first set of pics taken by my Nokia 6630. So check them out if you are planning to buy this phone.

My new Nokia 6630!

2005-12-30T00:18:00.000+05:30

So, after weeks of thoughts and scores of reviews I finally bought my new phone - Nokia 6630.

Yes, I am switching from CDMA to GSM. Well, no particular issues against CDMA but I wanted a Series 60 phone badly and I had no options in CDMA. My new number is coming up soon but right now it's time to open my new phone box!

So here is the phone (pictures courtesy my Palm Zire 72)

Front.

The curve is thankfully not as big as it seems.

Back.
The camera looks cool, doesn't it!

Remaining pics are taken by the phone itself (look a bit sharper than my Palm's)
Standard Nokia charger.
That's the 4th one in my home!

DKU-2 Cable.
This was a surprise change. It's a lot better than DKU-5. No pulling your hair, unlike DKU-5, it works simple and smooth.

Nokia Stereo headset.
They look cool, are sturdy and do their job well.

64 MB DV RS-MMC Card. Yep, Nokia 6630 is no good with macro shots!
It's half the size of a normal MMC card. Comes with an adaptor for normal devices.
And look at the cool case, nothing special but I kinda like it :-)

Well, looks apart I've fallen in love with this phone. Series 60 is almost like a real OS. Imagine running PuTTY right from your phone!

I recommend this phone to every Geek out there.

Yahoo! Answers

2005-12-17T22:26:00.000+05:30

If you are feeling bored, try Yahoo! Answers. It really is addictive (and informative).

Fall in love programming again...

2005-12-16T23:25:00.000+05:30

I have been biased towards C++ ever since I learned it in school. But even after years of using it, I still don't find myself writing C++ programs effortlessly. I tried other languages like C, Java and Visual Basic but found none appealing enough.

In last few months I read a lot about Python. But, I wasn't in any mood to learn a “scripting language”. I am embarrassed to admit that I thought scripting languages like Perl/Python were for kids not real programmers. Also, I hated scripting ever since my undergrad Unix course where I had to write ugly looking, error prone shell scripts.

I started learning Python just to try a book I downloaded - “A Byte of Python” by Swaroop. After reading a few chapters, I was quite impressed. Python worked for me perfectly. Unlike most people, I loved the concept of whitespaces for code blocks. In my belief, It's the perfect way to force people to indent their code.

Also, I am mostly able to write error free Python code in the first go. I don't know whether it's common but I almost always encounter errors on first compile/run in my C++ programs.

Now, after finishing the book, I love Python so much that I have decided to write all new programs in Python. Currently, I am writing a Matrix class to allow matrix manipulation like Matlab. After this, I'll start wxWindows (a GUI Toolkit) and Python Imaging Library.

I must say, If you love (or used to love) programming, give Python a try. It'll remind you of the reason you loved programming originally.

Switching to better stuff.

2005-12-15T21:02:00.000+05:30

Today, I switched from MS Office XP to OpenOffice 2.0. I installed OpenOffice just for fun but it turned out so good that I decided to switch permanently. The best feature is the flawless 'Export as PDF' option. I used PDF Creator to do this but that is too slow and buggy.

Also, I have decided to switch to Wordpress for my blog and website. The basics are already in place. I bought ChiragGupta.com from Yahoo at $6 for 3 years. Isn't that dirt cheap!! Also I got free 100 MB Linux web space courtesy AIPPG and Dr. Mutha. Thanks a lot again, Sir. Now as soon as I find a good theme I'll start the shifting process.

Lastly, I am planning to switch to del.icio.us from furl. Two reasons for this one.
First, when I heard Yahoo is buying it and when I checked it out again and found that it works great now. Last time, I chose furl over it because I found it better.
Second, today only I realized that it spells delicious! Now isn't that a great name for a bookmark manager.

First exams at IIT.

2005-12-15T20:59:00.000+05:30

My first semester at IIT Roorkee is finally over. The result is out and I got 8.36/10 and I am quite happy with myself because this arguably is the first time I studied decently for exams.

I must say at IIT exams are very different from my undergrad institute. There, unlike here, exams were quite fun. We mostly had open book exams with a few design questions which meant I never studied for exams :-D.

But that also meant I never studied any course book at all. All my knowledge was (and sadly is) limited to what I heard in lectures or read casually (out of interest) from Internet. I guess such exams are best for places like MIT/Stanford or for PG/PhD students who have gone through their course books thoroughly and are interested applying the knowledge to practical applications. For UG students it's best to have theory exams so that they at least read there course books properly once.

Anyways it's better late than never. Now I always make a serious attempt to read my course books whether I am interested or not. And I think it is working out well!

I’m still alive..!

2005-12-15T17:52:00.000+05:30

It’s been a month since I posted. The major reason for that is lack of Internet. Out happy days with Wi-Fi at hostel got over last month due to some unknown reason. Luckily, if rumors are to be believed Wi-Fi will be officially available in our hostel rooms from this January.

A lot happened since the last post. Now that I am home, I will finish all pending work on my Dial-up connection. Instead of writing one huge post I’ve decided to post a small post for everything that is worth writing. So keep waiting if you are interested.

Dilbert and IIT

2005-11-06T18:33:00.000+05:30

This is the third time the cartoon strip Dilbert features IIT.

Previous two cartoon strips featuring IIT

Read Dilbert regularly at my blogroll or if you use Bloglines, subscribe to it.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2005-11-01T11:06:00.000+05:30

Another movie has stormed into my All time favorites - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Do watch it if you haven' t yet. And if you are an Indian, lookout for 3 hindi songs in it's soundtrack!

Now the list (in alphabetical order) is:
American Beauty
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fight Club
The Matrix
The Shawshank Redemption

Animated:
The Incredibles and Shrek 1 & 2

Bloglines is amazing!

2005-10-24T03:10:00.000+05:30

I have been looking for an RSS/ATOM reader that allows me to read various Blogs and posts without going to individual sites.

I hate Desktop RSS Readers and I was never really into online RSS readers (or aggregators).
Today for the first time I opened Mark Jen's Bloglines blogroll and found it real good. Exactly what I was looking for.

Now I don't need to click ten's of favorites every day. I have added all the Blogs I read but my regularly visited tech sites are still not there. I'll add them soon.

My Bloglines blogroll.

Blingo!

2005-10-23T02:24:00.000+05:30

I wonder if it's normal but anything free always sounds good to me :-D

Like this new search website Blingo.
These guys are giving gifts to those (or friends of those) who search for something using Blingo at some particular time (time is different each day)

Most importantly Blingo just redirects Google's results so it's not like I have to use something unnecessarily. Just Search normally and you might win!

Join my friends list. It'll increase both our chances..

Update:
The service is only for citizens of USA :-(

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2005-10-11T23:20:00.000+05:30

Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and WOW, it was the best book in the series.

I am still feeling weird, not sad but weird. And, I have absolutely no words to describe anything more.

A must read for all fans!

MIT Lab's $100 laptop!

2005-10-02T21:05:00.000+05:30

I am awestruck and have no words to say. This may not be an example of some cutting-edge technology but this is an engineering marvel.

Links:
Official website
Cyberia Weblog

IIT Roorkee rocks!

2005-08-18T02:48:00.000+05:30

If somebody had asked me a few days ago how is IIT Roorkee, my reply would've been, "Well it's good but not as good as I expected an IIT to be. The place is kinda old and boring."

Ask me now, and I will say, "IIT Roorkee rocks!"

And what caused the drastic perception makeover? Well, the answer is Internet.

When I came here I had almost no source of accessing Internet except the labs which I feel sick of visiting. Add to it the repetitive courses (similar to my UG curricula) made life hell boring. I began wondering whether the the courses were boring or the professors were bad. At a time I was so sick, I was wondering whether I made the right decision choosing M.Tech (CSE) at IIT R over my job at Infosys.

But now, ever since I have Internet access through WiFi on my new laptop (Compaq M2201TU) all my woes have vanished. Suddenly, I am lacking time to do stuff. It took me 2 days before I got time to write this.
I found IIT Roorkee Intranet website, which is simply amazing. We have local mirrors of all the common software required and, like it should be at any respectable place, most of them are open source.
Also, I found an online notice board with all the notices about last year placements. In short, they rock!
Last thing I saw today was faculty profiles. Well, all the professors I was cribbing about have over 50 research papers published in International journals! I am kinda feeling guilty.

Apart from the Internet-revealed stuff, this place is really cool to live. Ofcourse, Roorkee is no Delhi but I never got so much freedom in my life before I came here. For one instance, today I went to SnackPoint (near Century Gate, IIT Roorkee) to have my dinner (after I skipped the mess dinner) at 11 PM. And when I was returning, IIT hostel canteens were literally flooded with students. All canteens here open till 2 or 3 at night. Maybe mine is a special case but I never imagined such a thing in my UG institute.

It's hard to stop writing since I am so happy, but I think you have got the essence of the post, IIT Roorkee rocks...

My new life starts tomorrow...

2005-07-22T17:15:00.000+05:30

I am feeling lazy so this post is gonna be real short.

I am going IIT Roorkee for registration tomorrow.
Classes start on Monday, so I will have more than one day to get settled in my new hostel room.
I am not taking my computer and I hope I'll get a hostel with a computer centre inside.
I am busy reading reviews and forum posts to decide upon my new computer. I have 3 options:

Buy a new computer (something high-end) and leave my old one home.
Upgrade my computer and buy a new one (something basic) for home.
Buy a laptop (some desktop replacement model) and leave my old PC home.

That's it. Now the next post will be from an IIT Roorkee IP Address :-)

The Fantastic Keyboard !

2005-07-19T22:02:00.000+05:30

Thejo found the Optimus keyboard somewhere on the Internet that keeps reminding me of the flexibility of Mr. Fantastic. Too bad, it's just an idea yet. But I am sure buying one once it is available, presuming I'll be able to pay for it by then :-)

PS: I saw Fantastic Four this Sunday, it's good. Not as good as Spiderman but still good.

Assamese beauty

2005-07-06T19:05:00.000+05:30

Assamese beauty
Originally uploaded by chirag_gupta.

I bought this beautiful handicraft from my trip to Guwahati.
But only when I reached home, I realized the girl in the picture is made from letters of "Happy New Year"!
Cool eh...

Exhausted, Part 2

2005-07-05T00:17:00.000+05:30

I talked enough about Guwahati yesterday and now it’s time to talk about IIT Guwahati.
IIT is around 20 km away from the main city and the main means of transport is institute’s bus service which is good enough.

It’s just like any other IIT. Huge buildings of various departments and hostels spread over a large area. Big labs full of cool equipment, everything that a to-be-engineer needs.
The feel too, is similar to any other IIT. Everyone is cool about most of the things. The atmosphere like all IITs is - No one gives a damn to what you do with your life. It’s your life and you can bend and twist it in any way you want.

One big problem at IIT Guwahati was that it isn’t very well maintained. The building is quite new (newest among IITs) but it is already having problems. No one seems to look after the minor problems in hostels. Like, all the toilets stink and are full of various kinds of insects making your hygiene and bladder extremely low. (I am playing Sims a lot these days :-))

After the initial impressions, I and my friend (Vivek) decided that we are not going to IIT Guwahati. But we still had two days before the train back home. We spent the first day in IIT with a friend studying there. We had lots of fun IIT-style (rather engineering college style, coz now most of the good engineering college students spend there hostel life similar to IITians). This day made sure that the next two years of my life at IIT Roorkee will be an unforgettable experience.

We spent our last day at Guwahati in a hotel. The old style elevator there was ready to collapse when we entered and it actually did when we were leaving! This day was extremely bad. After having awful lunch in a restaurant, we stood in Rail Ticket cancellation queue for 4 hours to get our unconfirmed AC tickets cancelled. To my relief the day ended well with some good food and sound sleep.

The next two days belonged to my longest train journey. As if 36 hours in a Sleeper compartment in a train traveling in Assam, Bihar and UP were not enough, the train was 4 hours late. I don’t even want to remember how I was stinking badly and trying to kill time in the train.

Well, I am glad I am back and I still have some days before I join IIT Roorkee to enjoy. And in the same breath as I say this, I wish this was my last such trip.

Exhausted, Part 1

2005-07-04T00:47:00.000+05:30

I thought I will stay relaxed for a month when I got admission to IIT Roorkee.
Seems I was wrong. This has been one of the most exhaustive weeks of my life.

The fate of my trip to IIT Guwahati was almost pre-decided. I went there for two reasons. First, I wanted to make sure that my decision (choosing IIT Roorkee over IIT Guwahati) was right, so that I do not repent later. And second, I was in a no-harm-possible situation :-)

The trip started as planned except that Indian Airlines’ food was worse than expected and the plane was half an hour late. No serious issues though.

In Guwahati the first thing that struck me was the extremely high humidity and harsh sunrays. I expected it to be cooler than Delhi as temperature was 5-10 degree lower but the humidity made the atmosphere intolerable. Also, I have a gut feeling that lesser pollution in Guwahati makes the atmosphere thinner hence increasing the intensity of sunrays and number of visible stars in sky.

One thing good about Guwahati is that it is very close to nature. You turn any side and you will either see a mountain or River Brahmaputra (which is majestic). I loved this aspect of this city after spending all my years in flatlands around Delhi.

Another thing about Guwahati, as my friend Vivek quoted was, “It’s a sleeping city.” It really is. It was a Sunday afternoon and streets were empty and shops closed. Three days at Guwahati were enough to prove the sleeping nature of the city. Maybe it is the climate and beautiful surroundings that compel them to sleep all the time.

I’m far from sleeping city but I’m a tired and feeling sleepy. I’ll continue this post tomorrow.

Finally in IIT.

2005-06-24T22:36:00.000+05:30

I got into IIT Roorkee for M.Tech Computer Science.

Now I can go to IIT Guwahati just for fun ;-)

Hiring is Obsolete

2005-06-04T21:35:00.000+05:30

I just read a remarkable essay from Paul Graham about startups.

Read it full, if you are really serious about your dreams.

Phew!

2005-05-17T20:12:00.000+05:30

Last week was quite bad and exhaustive.
I went to Mumbai for KReSIT admission test and got rejected. Adding to my miseries, the return train ticket didn't get confirmed and I had to spend hours running around in search of a seat in some train. Which, I didn't manage to get and had to board a plane back home.

So now I have only 3 options open. M.Tech (CSE) in IIT Guwahati or IIT Roorkee or my job at Infosys. I am not sure which is better but I'll certainly try my best to get a seat in IIT Guwahati or Roorkee. To join or to quit will be decided later.

Seems like I have more busy time ahead.

What's on your Mind?

2005-05-06T10:24:00.000+05:30

An amazing Quiz that finds out what object are you thinking about!!

Check it out. It does work.

ed

2005-04-30T10:17:00.000+05:30

I was searching for a photo-hosting site with enough(?) space ever since I got my Zire72.

I had heard about and seen Flickr many a times but never felt like using it because of the flash-based interface. But after so many good reviews I created my Flickr account yesterday.

It's superb. Adding tags, notes, description, comments and all other features are simple, creative and flawless. The notes feature, in particular, is amazing. Just check this link and hover the mouse over the image. Cool, eh?
As for the "enough space" I got upto 20 MB uploads every month which is good enough for now.

I am truly floored by this new generation of web tools. And I am pretty sure our life in future will be a lot better and easier.

Got my deZire

2005-04-28T10:25:00.000+05:30

Finally, I got my Palm Zire 72s.

It's a great device. I haven't ever used MacOS but I am sure it isn't be better than PalmOS in terms of speed, cool looks and overall functionality.

I'll review my Zire later when I get time. For now, i'm lovin' it :)

furled

2005-04-25T22:12:00.000+05:30

I'll keep it short and simple.
Use furl (an online favorites manager) if you surf the web a lot. You'll love it.

And yes, do check my furl favorites.

PDA woes

2005-04-24T15:24:00.000+05:30

Something strange is going on.
I have the funds for my PDA; I know the exact model I want to buy and above all, I am very excited about getting my PDA. But still, Almost a month to by birthday and I haven’t got my PDA as yet.

I have enquired a lot, a real lot. I have contacted shops in Ghaziabad (my hometown), Noida, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai but either I got a very high price (Rs. 24000 as compared to Rs. 17499 on Palm Website) or I got funny answers. How funny? Just read on.
One of the biggest computer dealers in India (in Nehru Place) said -“Which brand of Palm do you want – HP or Compaq?” I barely managed to hide my teeth :)

Anyways, Now I have decided to buy it online or from some authorized dealer to stay away from such funny replies.

Forrest Gump

2005-04-13T10:02:00.000+05:30

My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.You never know what you're gonna get.

I saw Forrest Gump yesterday. It is SUPERB.
I felt emotional during a lot of movies but this is the only one which put tears in my eyes.

I can’t explain how good and inspiring it is. You must watch it to know.

When I went Offline…

2005-04-07T10:05:00.000+05:30

Almost 3 weeks and no blog post. But the reason this time wasn’t my laziness.

I went to my nani’s (maternal grandmother) place, Chandpur. It’s a small village-like town, quite backward in IT. So, I spent over a week without Internet. There is a cyber-café somewhere in that place (I couldn’t find where!) but it costs a bomb at Rs. 60/hr as compared to Rs. 10/hr in most cities. To make matters worse, my Reliance mobile phon e didn’t work there (I can check my email and do WAP surfing on it). So, I was left completely disconnected.

But contrary to my belief, I actually enjoyed it. I can’t explain the feeling but the urge of checking email faded in a few days and I was free :) This isolation has changed me a bit. Now I don’t feel like staying online on Yahoo Messenger 24x7. I don’t want to check my email 10 times a day. No idea whether it’s good or not, but I like it.

Anyways, I had my birthday on April 2 and my father almost read my mind and offered me to buy a PDA as a birthday gift. I am SUPER excited about this and I have read over 50 reviews in various magazines and websites to choose the perfect one. And, the perfect one is Palm Zire 72. So until and unless, Palm launches a new PDA this week I am all set to buy my first Palm.

Hopefully my next post will be about my new Palm :)

More failure...

2005-03-15T22:35:00.000+05:30

The much awaited result (GATE-2005) was out today. I barely managed to qualify and secured a rank 10 times my last year's rank. It is the worst possible result for me and I stand amidst shattered hopes (mine and my parents').

But, I always somehow manage to see only the silver lining amidst all dark clouds :)
I still have some chance and all I want is to make the most out of it. I really hope that I manage to learn from this mistake. Any more mistakes and all my dreams will be doomed.

And, I don’t want that.

Another week...

2005-03-13T17:35:00.000+05:30

Lots of things happened during the last week. I am too lazy to write in detail so will just brief them all.

I went to NITIE, Mumbai for GD/PI. It was a cool place (the first B-school I liked) but I got rejected. Probably, due to my low CAT score (97.54) and lack of work-ex.
It was my first aero-trip and I just loved it. I was literally awestruck by the superb application of science, engineering and design that I saw everywhere, right from entering the airport.
Also it was my first visit to Mumbai and IIT Powai. I didn’t see much of Mumbai to comment but IIT was amazing. I’d LOVE to go there for my M.Tech.

That was for the last week. Just 2 days left for my GATE result. I don’t really have high hopes but also I have no idea what is coming up.

I know this post sounds boring but that’s the state of mind I am currently in. I am bored of everything that’s going around me.

Being Twenty Something...

2005-03-02T23:07:00.000+05:30

Just now a friend sent me a mail and while reading it I felt as if someone read my mind before writing it. Read it for sure if you are in your twenties.

Maybe we all r going through this "Being Twenty-Something". They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis."
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.
One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person.
One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap.
Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

Please do comment and tell me whether you feel the same...

Am I G33K?

2005-03-02T00:51:00.000+05:30

After a bad GATE, I was in a NO-STUDY mode for a few days. But ever since I saw IIT Bombay's syllabi for M.Tech - IT (at KReSIT) I have started believing that the course was designed for me :)

My first target is Programming Aptitude (C only). Nothing new or special but since I want no stones unturned; I started searching for K&R. I found it in my e-book library but I hate to read on computer and I don't have a printer or a PDA. It's probably available in college library but who'll go 15 km to issue a book.

So I started thinking to find the best solution. And I found one soon! Here is my solution.

I have uploaded the book on my website. I use a CDMA phone (Nokia 2280) with a Reliance connection. Reliance offers free internet access on phone (like GPRS in GSM phones). Now I am going to read the book online using my mobile. It isn't the best way but it's the best I can afford right now :) And I really like reading on my mobile, especially single long pages.

So what do you say. Am I geek or not?

Google Movie Search

2005-02-25T22:23:00.000+05:30

Today while surfing my favorite blogs, I came upon a superb post about Google. They have come up with another innovation - Google Movie search.

It’s all about searching your favorite movies by content. I’ll give a few example to explain it.
Try searching the following in Google for a demo:

Isn’t that a brilliant idea! I feel it is.

If Google keeps innovating at this pace, I wonder if we’ll see the word “innovate” being replaced by “google”. Well, we all know about “googling”, Don’t we?

Mozilla Firefox is 25 Million strong!!

2005-02-17T16:48:00.000+05:30

Great news for this great browser!

Frankly speaking it's the only browser I ever liked on Linux. I hate Mozilla and Opera because they are sluggish and Konqueror for it' s buggy rendering.

I always wanted an IE like browser for Linux and now I want MS to replace IE with Firefox in Longhorn (I know I am daydreaming :) )

The best thing about Firefox (apart from simplicity) is that its amazingly customizable. You can make it look/behave exactly like you want.
I don't use any skins but I use an amazing extension. It's called BugMeNot. It's one of the best utilities I've seen on internet and I am sure everyone online needs it some or the other time. Try it and you'll agree.

If you don't use Firefox yet, Download Now.
If you haven't customized your Firefox, Start Now.

Rediscover the Web.

Maybe, I was never made for it.

2005-02-15T21:32:00.000+05:30

I am confused. Actually, I was always confused but I am even more confused now. I guess you'll get a feeling of the state of my mind while reading this.

A day before yesterday i.e. on Sunday, I took the GATE exam. As I've written before, it didn't go too well but I still had some hope.
Yesterday, I got a short-listed for GD/PI for MBA in NITIE, Mumbai. Good enough but as I wrote before I am not interested.
Today, I calculated my marks in GATE exam using solutions from The Hindu. I got less than half marks than my previous attempt. I am doomed.

This is the first time in my life that I am thinking of doing MBA. And I have a good reason for this.

If I can't score well enough in an entrance exam based on basic Computer Science, how in the hell will I cope up with the course at IIT? Maybe it's not the right career path for me. Maybe I am not fit to be a Computer Science geek. Maybe I was never good enough to write computer vision algorithms or develop game engines.

On the contrary and in support of my thought, I performed quite well in MBA entrance exams. Despite the fact that I never even thought of preparing for MBA. I took CAT with ZER0 preparation and scored better than almost all my 230 batchmates, including atleast 20 serious MBA aspirants.

If similar things continue to happen in the coming month, I will probably do MBA, now or after 2-3 years of work-ex at Infosys.

And I'll quit Computer Science forever.
Maybe, I was never made for it.

Why am I like this?

2005-02-13T23:55:00.000+05:30

What am I like?
I am arguably the laziest and most careless guy in this world.

Today was my GATE exam and I messed it up :(
Actually the messing up started 10 days ago when I created the schedule for preparation. Of course, I was never going to follow it. I completed my syllabi, that too from short notes, today morning 8’oclock. The exam started at 9:30.

Today I learnt a lesson – “Hardwork IS Important.”
Now let’s see how long I take to forget it ;)

To be very frank, I still have a little hope that I’ll get a better GATE score than last year.
Here’s my wish, loud and clear, “I wish I get admission into IIT Bombay for M.Tech Computer Science.”

GATE - 2005, Preparation starts..

2005-02-03T10:40:00.000+05:30

Come February 13 and I'll face the most important exam of my life - GATE - 2005. Well, to be very frank, JEE was more important but it's over for me :) But to make myself happy, I can just say that it's better to pursue M.Tech Computer Science from IIT than B.Tech Civil or Chemical or any non CS branch ;)

Now coming to the real point. I started my preparation yesterday (too late, i know). Well, I have designed a schedule to finish the syllabus in 10 days. Now let's hope, I stick to the schedule.

Yesterday's plan was to complete Discrete Mathematics. But, being the lazy, careless guy I am, I managed to finish only half of what I planned :( So now I have 1.5 times the scheduled work for today. Let's see how I manage it.

Signing off, coz I've loads of work to do. I hope I manage to do better today.

Sify Broadband client sucks... No More.

2005-01-28T22:56:00.000+05:30

For those of you don't know, I use Sify Broadband at home. It requires a stupid login client that takes loads of RAM and keeps logging me out every few minutes (now that's real torture for someone with an unlimited internet connection). Adding to my miseries the official Sify Linux client is very bad. It doesn't give any Client/Session info and since a few days it doesn't allow me to login at all :(

After days of torture I remembered Google :) I vaguely searched for "Sify Broadband Linux client" and lo I found a project on sourceforge called EasySify. Putting it up simply, it's fantastic :). Now no more crap. If you are really interested in improving your Sify experience, you can read more at http://easysify.sf.net
I just wish this good guy comes up with a Linux client fast.

Well, I must say something before I finish. I am a final year computer engineering student. Why couldn't I develop it?

Back after a long time...

2005-01-27T20:44:00.000+05:30

It’s been a long time since I posted anything here. Well, I wasn’t really busy, it was my sheer laziness.
A lot of things happened after my last post. Ok, I know it’s obvious :)

Worst things first, I gave CAT and other similar MBA entrance exams. I have NO interest in MBA but I am doing all this to keep my parents happy. Anyways, I scored 97.54 %le in CAT. It’s neither too high, nor too low and I am happy, because this %le gives me no chance to join IIM and I can easily convince my parents (and myself) to chuck other b-schools. Staying with MBA, I went to Gurgaon for MDI’s GD/PI this Tuesday after I got a call from there. It was a decent place but something was lacking, maybe because it’s not an engineering college. Anyways I performed quite well in GD/PI though I don’t give a damn whether I get selected or not. Well enough of MBA, I’ll move to other, more interesting stuff now.

In between all these exams, my Semester 7 exams were over and I got a usual 7 point something GPA (on a scale of 10). I always wonder how my grades always remain same whether I top or bottom the exams. Anyways, I am in the final semester now and B.Tech exams are over forever. I have decided to chuck industrial training and do a college project. Simply because this allows me to stay at home and do whatever I want ;). And hey, this doesn’t mean I won’t be working on my project. It’s a cool project – digital enhancement of dance videos to assist dance scholars and students. So I’ll be busy tweaking RGB pixels all semester :).

Well, lots of other stuff to write about including the all important GATE but I think I’ll do that some other day.

And if you have reached here, you’ve exhibited a great amount of patience, so don’t forget to award yourself with a treat :)

I am IN.

2004-10-15T23:40:00.000+05:30

The wait was over. Yesterday, Infosys (one of India’s largest IT firm and a more importantly one of the best recruiter) came to our campus. Three other colleges were coming to participate in the placement procedure. All the arrangements in my college were perfect and at times I felt I was somewhere else.

The pre-placement talk was scheduled at 9 in the morning and I reached the main gate at around 8.35. I had just moved near the gate and the guard stopped me and said, “No entry from this gate. All college students have to enter from Gate No. 3.” This was the first time I came to know of the presence of “Gate No. 3” in our college. On asking the guard guided me to “Gate No. 3”. At “Gate No. 3” I was stopped again and asked to display an identity card. Now being the careless person I am, I had managed not to take my newly issued identity card (I lost my first identity card last year). After all kind of excuses failed, I called up my friend Setu who came with my Infosys eligibility certification slip. So finally I was allowed to get into my own college. The Infosys team was on time and the pre placement talk was about to start.

Inside the lecture theatre I was told that there was a new formula we had to use to convert our CGPA (relative marks on the scale of 10) to percentage marks. I borrowed a calculator and began with the job. Meanwhile the presenter from Infosys team was on stage. I was literally awestruck by her sheer beauty. She gave a superb presentation and I felt for the first time the urge to perform well in the exam. At the end I realized that I had not calculated my %age marks as yet. We were asked to assemble in our dear old LT1. We were given a huge form to fill in 45 minutes. I finally calculated my %age marks in this time.

The first test was an analytical test containing 10 puzzles to be solved in an hour. Most of the puzzles were interesting and of normal complexity (I could solve them without pulling my hair). I was able to solve 9 puzzles successfully. After this was the English test containing 45 questions to be answered in 30 minutes. I left the RC (Reading Comprehension) questions and attempted the rest in around 15 minutes. The RC was an excerpt from a thriller and was really interesting. The questions were a piece of cake. I spent last 7-8 minutes of the time wishing that the passage was longer.

The result was to be announced at 4 so I went to the hostel to discuss the test and gossip. Before going to see the results I found that Australia was all out for 235 (2nd Test Match, India vs. Australia). That was great news and everyone was full of excitement. I was waiting in LT1 when someone announced 48 out of 105 students have been selected. I just wished me and all my friends were in the list. The result was announced and I was the fourth name on the list. All but a few of my friends made it to the second round. My interview was scheduled to start at 6.45 an now it was 4.35. I decided that this time I’ll prepare myself well for the interview and not mess it up like I did the last time (Read “Campus placement begins…”).

It was 6.45 and I was ready to face my interview (Read: I had mugged up the answers to common interview questions). I learnt from the feedback that they were asking very difficult puzzles inside for e.g. “What’s similar between lemon, page and light?” Now there was no way in hell that I could answer this in a tense interview environment. So I closed my ears to any further feedback. And then, I was called. I went in amidst confusion and best wishes. A man escorted me to an open cubicle (I was wondering how I had never been to this part of my college). I was told to wait for sometime. After sitting there watching myself in the glass cabinet door for 5-10 minutes I was called inside.

The interviewer was a middle-aged and graceful lady. After some casual questions like my name, city of birth etc., she asked me the first question, “What kind of person do you think you are?” Oh my God, It was not in my list of my interview questions. I ran around my mind and thought that I should frame my answer around my strengths. I did that and she was impressed. Then I told her about my interest in Computers and how the interest developed into passion. Again I kept embedding lots of strengths of mine in my answer. The second question she asked was, “What do you do to keep yourself updated about technology?” I answered her giving names of websites and computer magazines I regularly read along with the recent articles I read on each of them. The third question was “What are your other interests?” I said Cricket. She asked me different questions like “When is the second match between India and Australia?”, “How do you rate the current Indian team and it’s captain?” and “Have you ever played cricket?” I answered all the questions easily and I could see the balance tilting my side. After this she came to teamwork. She asked me the roles of leader and member in teams and whether I have played any of the roles. I answered the question giving one positive (successful member) and one negative (unsuccessful leader) answer. I supported my answer with the fact that I have learnt a lot from my experience and now I have perfected myself to play any of the roles. Then she asked me something I dreaded, a puzzle. To my relief the puzzle was easy and I managed to solve it quickly. She was done with her quota of questions and asked me if I had any. I asked two questions, “What is the growth tree for an Infoscion?” and “Is a management degree necessary to continue climbing up this tree?” She satisfied me with her answers, wished me all the best and asked me to leave.

I narrated the above interview experience 4-5 times to different people outside and went into the waiting room (Lecture theatre). All the interviews were over by 10.15. We were waiting for the results when a friend came and announced 41 out of 48 students have made it. I felt the height of mixed feelings. Only 7 students had been rejected but who were the unlucky 7 and what if I was one of them. In 5-10 minutes the same astoundingly beautiful lady, who gave the morning presentation, came to announce the results. She requested us to be quite and announced the names quickly. I and most of my friends were IN the list.

The atmosphere was filled with happiness. Everyone was shouting like hell and the news spread like fire. Our college managed 40% success rate in Infosys in the very first year of placements. I went to my friends house as it was too late to go back home.

As of now, I am back to normal self. I am eager to study hard and get admission in one of the IITs for my Post Graduate studies.

I wish that all my classmates who couldn’t make it get better jobs by the end of this semester. In the end I want everyone to have his/her Messenger status saying "I am IN."

GMail = Good Mail.

2004-10-03T18:29:00.000+05:30

GMail is the best. Google is great.
Sounds clichéd? Oh Yea, Now it does.

A few months back my friend Swaroop sent an SMS to me saying that he has sent a GMail invite to me. I ran like hell, booted my PC, typed “mail.yahoo.com” in IE and logged in. Yes, it was there. My heart was beating like anything. Shit! username chirag has already been taken, same with chirag.gupta. Phew! I got gupta.chirag. I thanked Swaroop and went on exploring GMail. I thought it was a big day in my life.

But now, the GMail hype is almost over.
Almost everyone I know has a GMail account and most of them have completely switched over to it (Not me though, I still use Yahoo and Rediff for some mails). Most of us love GMail mainly for the 1GB trend it kicked off. But there is more to GMail than 1GB.

I want to share with you the reasons why I really love GMail.

Size.
Clean interface and keyboard shortcuts.
No Advertisements.
I know text based ads are there but they are rarely as bad as banners/pop-ups.
Speed.
AutoComplete enabled address book.
It enforces security.
All the new accounts are required to have a non obvious password. Some people might feel it’s useless but it is really good as it enforces some kind of precaution that will be a must in the coming digital age.
Uniqueness in Email Ids.
This one needs explanation. Let’s take an example. Say your GMail Id is first[dot]last. At the time you register, GMail reserves firstlast (without [dot]) and fir[dot]st[dot]last and all other Ids formed by the combination of [dot]s in your Email Id. So if someone misreads your Email Id and adds/removes a [dot], you need not worry. You will still get the mail. Try this if you haven’t, it’s a great feature.
Search. It's quite obvious.
Let's think about near future. You’ll have a Google search client on your system. It will first search for the query in your local disk, then your GMail account and then go to the web. Good for guys like me who tend to forget there recent search queries.
It’s from Google.
Google is one company I really trust. If they do something, they leave no stones unturned. More importantly everything they create is designed to make your life better and easier. Expect the same from GMail.
All we have seen is the Beta version. I am sure all user demands will be incorporated into the final version to make GMail the best email service.

And yes in case you are one of the rare species who does not have a GMail account, mail to me at echirag [at] gmail [dot] com.

I have a few GMail invites that might make your email experience a bit better.

Campus placement begins...

2004-08-28T01:36:00.000+05:30

I entered my college (JIIT Noida) at 9 in the morning, looking forward to what could be the best day of the semester. It was drizzling. All of a sudden a voice whispered in my mind, “It’s raining fortunes for us final year students”.

It had to be. It was the first time a recruiting organization (Infogain) was coming to our college (No, our college isn’t that bad, actually we are the first batch of the college). And as if it was not enough we had the final UGC inspection scheduled for today (if they liked the college we would get a deemed-to-be university status).

It was 10 and we were pushing our way through the door of the lecture theatre where Pre-placement talk was scheduled. It was raining heavily. Everything went on as usual (Read boring) until the guy on stage mentioned the compensation, Rs. 280,000 p.a. (approx. $6250). All of us like woke up from sleep. The pay package was way higher than average pay offered by other such IT companies. Everyone (around 150 students) geared up for the test. There were two tests – aptitude and technical. Also, we were supposed to write a small paragraph on our hobby. I performed fairly well in the tests and was particularly good in the paragraph (I chose computer gaming as my hobby:-)).

It was 6 in the evening and we were anxiously waiting for the list of candidates selected for interview round. It was still raining heavily. As we were waiting, a rumor spread from somewhere that we had been awarded a deemed-to-be university status. Before we could check whether it was a truth, the Infogain team arrived with the results. 27 students were selected for the next level (Oh yes, I was there). We were told to fill in a form and be ready with our resumes.The interviews started at 8. I was sixth on the list. A few people went in and out and lo, the coordinator announced “Chirag Gupta”. I rushed in nervously, accepting all the good wishes in the way. It was still raining. There were two guys sitting on a conference table waiting for me. The first guy asked me some general questions about my family, hobbies and areas of interests. All these questions did little but increase my confidence. Now the other guy asked some technical question (Basically, he asked me to utter something about my areas of interests and skill set). It was a long interview and to worsen the situation he asked me to wait for next round. It was already 10 and I wondered how long and boring this would be.

It was 1.30 and the night was pitch black. We had spent hours listening to essentially similar interview feedbacks with some white Gaussian noise added here and there. Finally I was called for the second round. Late night 2 isn’t particularly a good time to give an interview that could earn you a good job, but I had to do my best. I went in and was very cordially welcomed by a gentleman. He asked me all the same questions but they were better framed and expected a more precise answer. I was answering everything perfectly before he threw the ace - “Mr. Chirag, you have got such good marks in GATE (a GRE like exam to pursue higher engineering studies in India. Why would you come and join our company?” I tried to do everything to show my inclination towards job, especially a job in his company but I couldn’t impress him with any reason. Ironically it was a truth that I would have probably left the job if I got an opportunity for higher studies. He changed the topic and I performed well in the rest of the interview. Finally it got over and I came outside.

It was 3.30 and we were all speculating each others chances and waiting for the results. The results were finally out and 6 of us were selected (No, not me:-(). I went outside and saw it wasn’t raining anymore. The pleasant voice in my mind had been subdued by loud congratulations. I went to my friend’s room (I am a non-hosteller) had a long sleep and bunked college the next day.

As of now everyone is waiting for a huge party from the selected candidates – Anshuman, Gaurav, Abhishek, Ankita, Shikha and Aakansha. Sadly, we still haven’t found whether the deemed-to-be university news was a rumor or not. And yes, the pleasant voice in my mind is back and I am sure it’ll be raining fortunes for all of us final year students.

My first technical article.

2004-08-22T23:44:00.000+05:30

I have been reading and admiring computer magazines since 3 years but today was the day when I got inspired and wrote my first article. Some credit must also goto Google for ~~supporting~~ Blogger, the coolest way to publish articles on the Internet.

My first article contains my thoughts on the future of computing. Read it to know more...
And Keep watching http://guptachirag.blogspot.com/and http://futureofcomputing.blogspot.com/