Blog Templates My Foot!

To hell with blog templates!!! Wasted two hours on the crap thing.

Well to be more precise, I was stuck to my computer screen since the last 100 minutes or so, trying to change the template of my blog to something that does not exist in blogger. Tried damn lot of things, but alas! crazy sailor back home at last.

Finally got back to blogspot! There was this white elegant template which always used to pull my attention, but I was out searching for something better, which as it appears does not exist! Now I know why blogspot has so few number of templates. Seems they have selected the sober ones from a loooong list. Salaam Blogger!

Its not a single thing thats wrong with templates created for blogspot outside blogspot. Some of them cant respect the links I had given in the title of some posts, some cant just seem to be able to get the alignment right. Some are repulsive to the first blink of the eye. No one matched what I wanted. And the day I get such a template, I would sure want to use it right away.

I would surely love a template which is neat and has headings in some cool handwritten fonts(I love them) or a template which is based on my favourite toons Tom and Jerry and Popeye(but should not look overly childie). Also I wanted a counter on my page to keep track of how often is my blog visited. That is not supported in any template but wasnt a problem since so many free website counter services exist.

(Huh... Finally succeeded in writing about something other than Google(well, not really uh..) :) )

G for GOOGLE!!!

Well well well.. Cant really say whats it. But the more I read and know about Google, the more I end up admiring and adoring it. The looks, the simplicity, the elegance of all Google portals have the ability to win any heart on the first experience.

But I would like to add here that the latest Google services like blogspot, and orkut(recently taken over by google) are not that impressive. The interface of blogspot is not at par with other Google services, and orkut has a silly bug which annoys you big time. If you are a regular orkutter, you must be familiar with the line : "Bad Server, No donut for you". Once in a while is ok, but this thing has started appearing too often that it has started bugging me off.

I was just going through some technical info about Google on their site(Now that I got to intern in google, its good if I am familiar with these things ;) )..

And without doubt, in my opinion, anyone who is learning internet starts its lesson not with A, but with G..

"G for GOOGLE" :)

And the day I made it to Google(Intern)...

Getting through an interview is special.. at least to me, who hasnt experienced success in an interview before. And when its Google, the significance is manifold. I got the great news from a very good friend of mine and could not believe it at the first instant. And did not till I confirmed myself.

Its a feeling hard to explain.. and harder to write! The day before the interview I was browsing Google's site for the intern projects. And going through past internees' experiences and their projects, and visualising myself there!
The feeling that I am one of them now, is just great.

Lets see if its Bangalore or Hyderabad..

Google Dot Com

Google is... different and interesting!

Everywhere you will find stuff like.. "Google spends most of its time in hiring". Thats actually true. A company of this caliber wont and shouldnt compromise at all.. be it interns, be it jobs.. anything.

I have had 75 minutes of telephonic interviewing with Google in 2 days. And if I had to describe Google in one word, I would say "interesting". Though I have little experience interacting with other companies but Google has something different. Thats what I felt.

The first interview, started with the discussion of some project work, and then there came a really really unexpected and interesting question. That was about Google News.

The question : How will you choose the two stories to be displayed on Google News homepage?

The second and more interesting question : After you decide the stories to be displayed, what about its title? A news item has got to have a title No? That was even more interesting to answer. The guy seemed impressed.

That essentially was in all the first interview. The second one started on a similar note. Though the interviewer (this time a Ma'am) seemed more interested in my projects. She chose some projects that appealed to her and asked me to explain in detail about the projects and my contribution in them.

Then came some algorithm questions.

1) How will you implement a C++ STL Vector in C?
2) Given a text file, containing a URL in each line, you have to find out the top 1000 domain names which have the maximum URLs under them.

Interesting questions.. arent they? Well your opinion may differ but it was real nice talking to Googlers..

When and where did the chicken cross the road??

It is absolutely unbelievable that you havent heard the question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" atleast once in your life. My question is why should one care? And where did this question actually originate? Wikipedia says its a joke, some sites say its a philosophical question.. (I am naive in philisophy so cant say anything). This question features under "Animal jokes" at many places. I wonder if animals also make such jokes on humans.. "Why did the human cross the road?".

Now that the question is there, there isnt much point pondering over its origin when the answer seems too elusive. Instead I should try to ask myself the question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" . Well well well... This question has no single answer and hence the answer depends on the mood the person going to answer is..

Whenever I try to figure that out and create a scene of a chicken crossing a road in my mind, the first thing that comes to my mind is that :
When and where did the chicken cross the road? And anyway, he crossed the road because he wanted to! Nothing so unusual about that. Why do we care?

More answers to the stupid question at http://philosophy.eserver.org/chicken.txt

Khalbali in true sense of the word

Now thats what I call a movie!!! I can go on and on and on praising the movie right from the bottom of my heart. Patriotism the way today's world wants it, history depicted the way we would want to see it. One would really like to compare it with Dil Chahta Hai. Both revolve aroung a good friendship, and has a main storyline that the director has managed to tell very well.

Not many movies we see have been made this way. The director is very very clear in what he wants to say, and does succeed in narrating the story very well, backed by some brilliant performances by all the actors in the movie. Its a youth flick with a message. Amidst all the youth masti, it makes you think, and that too not over a stupid fictional love story, but about a real national issue.

Aamir Khan , British actress Alice Patten , Madhavan , Soha Ali Khan , Kunal Kapoor , Siddharth , Sharman Joshi , Atul Kulkarni and Kiron Kher - all have performed brilliantly.

Soha Ali Khan has really impressed. She has talent. I did not know that this is not her first movie(others are forgettable though). But this is an award winning performance by a newcomer. Full marks to her for taking full advantage of the role and good dialogues(again from Prasoon Joshi :)).

A R Rehman's music, as always, is just too good. Lukka Chuppi is my best(An unforgettable combination of Guitar, Lata Ji' s voice, Rehman's voice and music, and Prasoon's lyrics). Rehman's songs have the ability to "build upon you", as they say. Every song from him sounds ordinary the first time. And then as you listen to it more than once, you come to know the genius of Rehman.

Hats Off to the crew of the film!

A Newfound Admiration!

"Thanda matlab Coca Cola!"

This was among some very different ad slogans I observed (and actually liked). I have always been a great fan of Coca Cola and have preffered Coke brands over all other cold beverages. So it was not something that shifted me from another drink to coke. But the slogan did sound different! And I thought who would have thought of this?

As a matter of fact, that was the time I started watching TV ads more to appreciate the creativity of the ad makers and less to appreciate the product being advertised. This change in my attitude will be attributed to this "ad guru" of India. You must have come to know by now who I am talking about. Needless to mention, none other than Prasoon Joshi.

And incidentally, this man shares my initials! :).

And then came Hum Tum.

I was really really impressed by "Ladki Kyon...", but never really tried to find out the lyricist's name. Now that Rang De Basanti has come up so well, and far beyond expectations(both the movie and the songs), I could not help observing the lyricist's name. And guess what? PJ Again!


This person has impressed! Seems he can create a slogan out of anything. I was researching more about him. This is what I found:

http://www.uttaranchal.org.uk/prasoon.html

A poem I wrote last year on Tsunami

Something somewhere was awfully wrong...

Neither sweet, nor sour

It was bitter all the more.

More than a devil's curse,

Oh God! could it have been worse?

The previous day was a different one,

No other Christmas was so much fun.

Nothing, nowhere seemed to be wrong,

Celebrations all day long.

Fun and frolic everywhere,

With the city up in top gear.

Churches were the place to be,

Nothing was more charming to see.

It was beyond the midnight beep,

That the city happily went to sleep.

Could it have been anyone's foresight?

That he'd not see the morning light!

Suddenly and shockingly, the horrendous waves

Appeared from the calm, turning cozy beds into graves.

The early rising fishermen, however, were on the shores,

To be driven away, out of their life's doors.

For several minutes, the waves did last,

And left a few live faces, aghast.

Debris, corpses everywhere,

Humans turned into earthenware.

Debris, corpses everywhere,

Mother Nature! Is this the way you care?

Is that how you sing the Christmas Carol,

Firing silent bullets through an invisible barrel?

Life has come to a standstill,

Mother Nature, satisfied? Or still someone left to kill?

You danced to your tune before it was long,

Yes! something somewhere was awfully wrong.

A great damage, a huge loss,

Everything did break, except the Jesus cross.

A question comes to my mind, I'm keen

Was it something Scrooge's third ghost could have foreseen?

I am back!

Ok.. so its been around three months since my last post on the page. I have been quite busy these days first with my semester going on, then my holidays(which were busier.. believe me :) ).

Hmm.. as another year draws to a close, I see very less changes in the world around me. Nearly everything is same..

Everything is as always very fine with Delhi.. just that some 3-4 blasts occurred this year, which resulted in great destruction and panic.. and the number of rape cases in the city went beyond imaginations, and some sting operations got some ministers restigated.. otherwise in my view Delhi is much the same(read BAAKI SB THEEK HAI)

In a broader view, a mild earthquake in J & K in October, a gangrape in a Western Railway train, a brutal murder of a girl in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai nearly flooded by rains, nearly humdred deaths owing to the extreme cold conditions.. BAAKI SAB THEEK HAI

The living legend Mr. Amitabh Bachchan spent 19 days in hospital which had the whole country praying for him.. Uh.. Why am I sounding like a year-end issue of a news magazine!

Sorry! May be because I am new to blogging..

Next post : About the Ganguly issue.. I have a lot to say on that

My first post!

Well not much to say rite now.. Shall hopefully have a lot in future