Who Am I?

What an embarrassing question to ask for self. On an auspicious day of Makara Sankranthi (14th of Jan 2010) this beautiful question popped up. My dad had some serious talks about my settlement. The talk which took out sleep out of me soon after the wonderful meal in afternoon. “Its 5 yrs of experience for you. You need to marry and settle down. R u ready?” my dad asked me.
This question was a big blow for me. That question was expecting a lot of answers and discussion from me related to my mental preparedness and financial planning. First thing which came to my mind was financial planning. Other than 1lakh a year which government forces me to save I had nothing to tell my dad. No car, no plots, no flat, no proper savings and not even cash in my account. Oops that was freaking. I was taken back a bit and was scared a bit of what I am now compared to days when I used to have enough money to spend without receiving pocket money from my dad. I had few discussions with my dad on the same on that day.
The more scariness for me was awaited when I started thinking about my mental preparedness and readiness that evening. My mind was not alone. I had my friend also with me when I shared my feelings to him. Unfortunately it just doubled my freakiness as he was also in same state and his words just went well synchronized with mine.
Right from my childhood I wanted to be different. And I wanted to portray myself different than others so that I am noticeable. Indeed I was successful. Right from hobbies to extracurricular activities I picked up things which made me different from others. I used to play chess, do debating, do stage dramas and I maintained my studies to competitive mark as a combination I was very different from many around me. I used keep good relation with friends and also was well known among my teachers. My things used to always get done easily because of my image which I had built.
Look at me what I am today. I am just a normal engineer among the other millions of them. May be I am still a different in my team of 20, but this thinking of what I am now brought me flat to ground. I could not sleep the whole night thinking of what have I become today. Right from the day I started my career I have relaxed a lot. If I think about 2008 and 2009, I have absolutely not done anything. There’s nothing I can think about which I can tell proudly.
And believe me its more irritating and frustrating when you do not get anyone else to blame for mistakes happened. Today I have decided to bring my days back. I am confident that I would achieve. To prove myself that I can do if I decide to do; I am posting this blog today which marks my first step of self challenge.

IsNumeric?

Finally a technical blog. J

I had used IsNumeric functions of MSSQL in my stored proc. I was supposed to do some other actions based on the results of IsNumeric function.

If IsNumeric(@var)=1

Select ‘True’

Else

Select ‘False’

Surprising and shockingly I found strange results. Here’s the sample. Note down your answers before you check the output of the below 3 statements.

Select IsNumeric(‘1D’)

Select IsNumeric(‘D1’)

Select IsNumeric(‘1D1’)

Yes, the SQL treats ‘1D1’ as numeric.

This happens with only 2 letters ‘D’ and ‘E’.

If the entire string which is used for check has only one character and that one character is either ‘D’ or ‘E’ then the string is considered as numeric.

I am not very sure about the reason behind this behavior of SQL.

If anyone has answer for this please comment it to my post.

Jabardast January 2009

Every December I see people wishing for a good start of the year. They plan well and execute it so that year does not start with some disaster (exaggerated). And I used to watch these guys and smile ironically.

But this time I was desperate to wish. Almost half a year I waited for 2008 to end. My life was no special to world. The world economy fell, recession, cost cutting, job cuts, hike in prices of everything etc. Same with me personal life, investments, profession, no hike n bonus almost everything got hit. Luckily my job was safe. J

Surprisingly when December came I just left the wish aside. I thought let it happen however it has to. Last week of December came and as it all was about to happen as it used to have for previous several years, planned to have a get-together with friends. If it misses then with family, no third option.

Surprisingly third option bubbled up from no where at the last 2 hr of 2008. J

Unfortunately or may be fortunately friends dint turn up. We roommates (me, nagi and pummy) were standing outside our house planning to leave to home (in tumkur) to join our family. Pummy cracked a joke in between saying “baro kodchadri ge hogbidona”(come lets go to kodachadri). I joined my words with him “nadi maga” (lets go buddy). We 2 were sure that nagi would get surprised. As expected he was shocked to hear us saying that, n for all 3 of us surprise we had got out bag ready n went for trip as just spoke for fun in just 10 min.

4 of us me, nagi, pummy and pummy’s new swift car, started our journey at 10 P.M. J

Again change in the plan on our way. J We decided to halt at home in tumkur take blessings from our parents for new year and start again at 5 A.M. Frankly speaking I wasn’t sure that we will go to trip till we started again at 6 A.M.

We absolutely had no idea where we are going and how many days we are going. On the way we decided to go to kodachadri as we planned. On the way we saw few places and we landed at the base of kodachadri. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles can climb up. Only other option was trek.

I force the other 2 to trek. We parked car, had some food n snacks and started trek. The path was either dust or small rocks nothing else. Then we realized y only 4 wheel drive vehicles. The jeeps were actually climbing the rocks. We started taking short cuts for trek. The entire trek to hill top temple will not be said here, will be kept secret. J

Once we reached top, we went to temple, again climbed top to see other places. Sat there and started thinking WHAT NEXT??? J

“Hosa varshakke, devra aashivada”, lets got to Kollur. Once we reached kollur, we took the first building we saw in our way and rented a room there. Got up in the morning, went to temple, finished our pooja and came back to room. Again the same question, WHAT NEXT??? J

We came up with lot of places, finally decided to go some place which we have not been. Finalized on “MUTTODI Forest”. We called up one of our friend who is ranger. Within 15 min our accommodation was arranged. Thanks to Rakesh. We were supposed to reach there by evening 7.

On our way we visited Aagumbe (the highest rainfall region of Karnataka). One thing which waters my mouth is the sambar I had in aagumbe hotel. Took snaps from the view point and continued our journey to muttodi. On the way we might have asked around 50 people the route to muttodi. None of us knew where we were. We were surprised to see a coffee day on the way to forest, a very nice location with cool ambiance. The journey over the coffee estates and forest was awesome, no words to express it. It was night 7:30 by the time we reached muttodi forest. We had to wait for Muttodi forest ranger for some time. We came to know there was no cottages available. Oops. But nothing to worry, the ranger took us to his house and we started talking. We discovered that he is my dad’s friend. Cool. The cottage was somehow arranged for us. It was dam cold and dark there. Lights will go off at 10:30. We had dinner by that time and slept.

Woke up in the morning to see the beauty of nature. Wow we actually had the best cottage. It was the last one inside the jungle, river flowing in front of our cottage. I was overjoyed, took my cam and started flashing lights which would last for 10 plus odd snaps. Other 2 of my friend also came out; we went down to the river stood there for some time and took snaps. Ranger sent one of the guard to wake us up. He said to us that we have to go for safari now else we cannot see animals.

Wow.. and even more surprise was we were allowed to take our car to safari. J Its almost 3 hour’s safari we went in our car into deep jungle. Felt the real jungle silence. The natural animal habitat, they keep running around. It was so silent inside forest. The safari was inexpressible. We had done a regression testing on our car by then. We thanked the ranger, had breakfast and left there around 11:30AM. Again a nice return journey, got our car washed and back to tumkur by evening 7PM.

Unbelievable we had 3 days trip which was not planned even for a day. And it was so cool I was rejuvenated. My mind was completely refreshed.

I was back to office the next Monday, to hear a surprise. I was promoted to next level in the company. J And even the complete month went so cool. There was complete change in the way I started working in office and handling my personal things. I was back to form. Hope the entire year pass by the same way it started. Good thing is I recovered faster than the market. J

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/dharshan.ms/2009Blast_At_Kodachadri#

Art of Winning Interview

Hi All. It was my long time wish to express my views about interviews. The wait was to gain more experienced to nail down my words. As I am into technology my words here are limited to technology.

To preface we can find 2 categories of interviewers at the broader level.

Category 1: One who challenges you

These guys always try to dominate and will be thrilled to know what mistakes u do and how well they can trap you.

Category 2: One who wants to know how much you know

They just query to know what u know and will you fit to their requirement.

Though in both cases they will be testing your ability consequences of category one is always negative. And if you’re mild it brings down your morale instead of making you aware of what else you need to learn.

Whatever it is what matters is the result and we always want to win. I am putting down my view which can be worked out at either of the above mentioned cases.

1. Drive your interview

Its always you who drives the interview. Think well where you want to drive the interview. Make sure you fix boundaries to the areas you are strong in.

2. Guesstimate

Be aware of the questions you can be asked. A day before the interview step yourself into interviewer shoe and guess what all questions can be fired at you.

3. Be precise

Do not drag the answers make it clear and concise. Make sure to frame words so that interview is satisfied with your answer. When I say satisfied you just need to make sure your answer remains no doubt or leave more questions in interviewers mind.

4. Do not get irritated

Most of the time you may face questions which may be very simple and some times very tough. Do not panic in either of the cases. Former one they will be testing your common sense and latter case they will be testing your maximum.

5. Analyze

After each interview analyze what went wrong. Be ready for the next interview with corrective steps.

Failure analysis

Category 1: They always challenge you in extremes (either basics or fundo). So that means you should dive deeper into technology.

Category 2: Your skill sets are not up to their requirements. So you need to go wider in technology.

Note: All characters and their behaviors are imaginary. Any resembles with the reader is pure coincidence. J

Bengaluru Grows

Hi all as an opener for blog world I would like to speak about Bengaluru (Called as Bangalore some time back), the place which is coloring many Indian’s career.

Bengaluru so called IT hub of India, silicon city, cultural city etc etc etc is the place targeted by most of the Indian’s to shape up there career. It has provided means of livelihood to people from all categories of industries.

Bengaluru has seen an exponential growth in the recent years. According to TOI comparison chart Bengaluru’s cost of living is more than that of London. Living has become so expensive that survival of middle class family in here will be a nightmare in near future. Growth rate is so fast that we can not only feel or scrutinize but also see it.

Domlur a place in Bangalore was slum couple of years ago which is now a major junction of city. When I came to Bangalore for search of job in year 2004 bus fair from majestic to that place was Rs.5. Now in 2006 its Rs.10. A square foot of land where we can hardly stand is costing >Rs.3500 in some areas. I am staying with my friends in a 3 bedroom house in a good area which costs about Rs.14000!!!!!!. It’s no wonder if we call Bangalore as world’s fastest growing city. If we start dreaming about settling down in Bangalore n future we loose our sleep for couple of days…J.

If we plan to settle our life in Bengaluru being a salaried class how well can we settle? How fast can we settle? Can we settle?????

Keep dreaming guys….:)