Wednesday, February 24, 2010

An Ode To My Project!

On 15 May '09 i was literally like "did i even finish this project"! But lo...!! We had done it! We had successfully completed our project "Disk Cloning With Badblocks"! Now if i see the work done by us, i feel so proud and at the same time i feel, why the hell did i worry for this project! Things actually seemed ok and manageable in the beginning, but later we realized we are running out of time and we better buck up and start understanding what exactly we needed to do!


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HP isn't the best company in the world but it is the best among those, my college offers for students. The pay was like really good - 4.5 pa! What more do we students need?? Many Computer Science and Information Science students were fascinated by this! Including me! It shattered the hopes of so many aspiring students when it came for recruitment. So when they came in search of project interns we sort of had not much hopes! The stipend of 3k+ was the only motivating factor!

Summarizing the events: {Can't hapazardly explain anything :)}

October 14th: After seeing the "level" of the HP recruitment, i had no hopes about this project! After a ok-ok kinda written round, 14 of us made it to the interview round! 6 of us were selected for THE HP project! Never expected it! God knows how i managed to impress the interviewer! But i remember 2 "good's" from the interviewer :) Plus i was the only girl selected from my class! Few lecturers did praise but few thought "did she really deserve this??"..... Hmm may be i did :)

January 19th: Partners and the respective topics were decided this day! I cried! I can actually write lots about this day.. but i choose not to! But what ever happens, happens for the good! :) In the pic above are the 6 of us who were taken as interns by HP. The teams from IS were "Badblocks", "Resizing" and "Error injection".
February: Literature survey should have been over by now! S~ actually thought meeting up and studying and said that could help us! But i thought reading the necessary stuff and later meeting up and executing is better. Damn i was so wrong! We were reading and searching for more information online and at the same time enhancing our Java knowledge. Initially i thought the pace was good. At this phase my friends had just then found their projects and companies and everyone were questioning us as to how much's done!! We would say Literature Survey was going on.

March: We sort of started the project, i.e. the coding part. But due to inefficient literature survey and absolutely no planning we didn't know how to start this because both were novices in this field! I know this isn't a valid reason but at one point we just didn't know how to proceed further. We used to meet up at my place and all we would end up doing is Google for information on the project. We realized now that we were far behind others and we needed to pace up. March 30th was like the most dreadful day. The Project Manager commented on the our progress in a team meeting! Such a disgrace! Anyways, that showed how well we had done our literature survey. Also, we had just then received our stipend and all the happiness this money gave was washed away by the stares of the managers! We realized the seriousness of this project now!!

April: We started going to the company and that's when we understood how to "think" and "apply" what we thought. As and when we got doubts we would consult our guide and he would either explain or send us material to help us understand it. Things progressed pretty well from now! Every day me and S~ would commute to Mahadevpura stop by bus, usually 500A. Then we would walk for like 15 minutes to reach the campus! Both were not used to work culture and the like, so both would hesitate to call or contact our Project manager Srini Sir or our Project guide Om! I remember, S~ would always sign for me at the entrance, i was so lazy to do that also! The other team, "Resizing XFS" was also with us under the same guide. We all would go have lunch together and sometimes coffee also together. I would have badam milk :) Evenings myself and S~ would return by bus. There are days when we have reached home at 9.30 and 10 and there are days where we missed classes and the fun the others were having at college. So worried we were about the completion of this project!

May: On 5th of may we were done with our 90% of the project,and then the remaining 10%, with Om's help we finished by 15th! What a Relief!! In one month we completed a 4-month project. Instead if we had understood
"How to start a project" and "What we need to do" and "What they expect from us" before itself then we ourselves could have added new functionalities to our project. But, This entire project was a wonderful learning process/experience.
Post May: Now it was our turn for documentation. We both did save save few pages and links but those definitely didn't help in creating a 100 page document/record of this project. We again started the literature survey :P but this time for documenting it! Along with this presentation also had to be prepared, which we managed to do and finally we impressed the HOD and our internal guide too {hmm to a certain extent}! Not-to-forget the animations i had given for the slide show :P Infact i made it too colorful and graphical, but later realized and made it normal types! :)

P.S: 1) Big thanks to Satish!
2)Started writing this post on : 7/2/09
Submitting on : 24/2/10 :P

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Back Button!!

Learning to swim in this ocean called "Software Industry" is pretty tough in the beginning i guess... later one mite get used to these: work etiquette, conduct, 9 to 6 management of time+work, balance official n personal life, make some time for recreation! I have joined this company for a period of 4 months... and have decided to pen down small small issues troubling me...!

By the way, am in the development team working on Java! This company deals with e-tickets services but not for the theaters in our city. All its customers are in other countries and mostly concentrated in Netherlands!

The first one's being the "back button issue"! On click of a back button the was supposed to the go to the previous page! Simple isn't it?? I checked online for the "buttons" syntax and used it in the code. Basically i had to search for it amongst the java scripts, java servlets and java server pages.. and then used it in the code. And lo!! on click of it it went to the back page!! just like this:


I had to implement the same for like every jsp page. It worked fine.. but wen the page was in dutch language it didn't work at all! Huh.. Some language bundle problem, so had to look into the database and then it was solved! Yee! All thanks to these 2 girlies next to me! Major help they are to me!

P.S: These posts will be from office and they wont be long and formal! Remember am just penning then down :) Chaio!

Monday, February 8, 2010

S.A.M.S - Wish i never grew old.....(2)

Contd....

Std VI 'B' - Padmaja Ma'am

"Bhaiyya Mere rakhi ke bhandan na mithana"
"Bhaiyya Mere choti behan ko na bhulana..."
Ma'am shouted: "Those who are interested for dance make a quick line". Like an idiot instead of running immediately,,, i packed my bag and then went. So i wasn't chosen for the dance. :'( But while playin in the field, "Jungleee" ma'am called me out and suddenly put me with the 'D' sectionites. I was almost in tears because i was a stranger there, but then Vinay, Pooja, Chaithra, Surabhi were all very nice to me. They were teaching me all the old steps and their class guys too were a fun lot like ours. I had a nice time ther! Unfortunately i don't remember who my Bhaiyya was :P

Deepak, Kuttappa and Murtaza coined new terms called "Magnya" and "Pragnya"! Wateverrr they meant!! But unfortunately everyone started referring to me n gopi with these :(! BTW shwetha was also named "Influenza " Virus! :P He He

The trip to Woodrich resort was the most memorable resort/class trip for Class VI 'B' girls. Not because of the beauty of the resort but due to our senseless/careless/reckless act. We girls fell into the water there to have fun and ended up with ultimate blastings like never before which left a devastating impression in the teachers minds! God knows who even provoked us to do jump into the pool! And the surprising thing is, only the girls were victims.. not the guys! Lucky them!

Std VII 'B' - Uma Ma'am
Rare piece of memory: "Mass disappearances of science classwork's"!!
Padmaja ma'am herself was shocked. Not only this, but anagha received a letter, hmm a threatening letter! Finally we all approached Sundarakantha ma'am. She came up with a plan - She made the entire class write a short essay and compared the handwriting's and finally caught the culprit. No wonder i love mysteries!
Pss..t: I was actually scared while writing the essay {tho i was aware of the plan :)} coz i can write in more than 3/4 styles :P

Tug Of War for Aurobindo students was equivalent to Quidditch for Hogwarts students. What all preparations mannn! I remember taking glucose in 2 bottles. Vaishnavi, Lakshmi, Myself,Priyanka, Soujanya were the strong ones in my class:P This perticular year we won the Girls' title, the Boys' title and we won the class Title also. "VII 'B' v/s VII 'D'" was like "Gryffindor /Slytherin". No offense to 'D' section students.. But it was a wonderful match!

This Arjun alias Ajja was my bench-partner! Yup he was a nice guy but with little attitude problem. He used to call me his "Chela"! I used to fume at that! "hey chela come here ya" "Go ther ya"! Aaargh..!

Std VIII 'B' - Sudha Ma'am
Me n Gops won 2nd place in Gopi sir's quiz. Guess what we called ourselves "the Whiz Kids". Murtaza's team was "Concorde"! They came 3rd. It was a wonderful feeling to come 2nd. But we were targeted with questions like "Influence huh??". Gopi sir is one whom Auro students wil never forget! I had once told him, Sir you please participate in "Kaun banega Crorepathi"!! He just laughed! :)

I started the concept of taking everyone's duppata's n tying them together and making a really loong rope during the lunch hour. And we used to play about and trouble everyone with that! Aww.. how innocent {rather dumb} was i..:P

Tom n Jerry chase between Vaishnavi and Murtaza, was like the best episode. The entire corridor and neighboring class rooms weren't spared. I actually don remember the reason behind this chase!

I was the class leader, the class prefect in today's terms. :P. I used to love to moniter the class :). I would count to "three" showing my fingers at the class and they had to maintain pin-drop silence after that. First few days it went very well! Later this guy,Kuttapa realized that my fingers r lil' bent and abnormal-types. Since then everytime i count to three, he too would mimic me and the class would burst out laughing instead of being silent. I myself hav gigled several times.

Party at vishnu's house, almost 20 of us had gathered there including Sudha ma'am! It was more like a farewell party for me n gopi :'( I missed this class so much!

Std IX 'B' - Geetha Rastogi Ma'am
I found a new friend! Shwetha was always there, But Tisha was my "Partner-in-Crime". We have interrupted/disturbed/troubled so many classes. All we would do was "bang" on a door and RUN!! The class which was most victimized was my brother's class. There r occasions where i escaped and tisha would still be seen, But she was soo tactful that she would act as though nothing happened and walk leisurely and say "No ma'am i didn see anyone here." I couldn't and can't fake so much!

This feels dumb/stupid now, but i was happy then. It was some parents teachers meeting and Shubha ma'am, the biology lecturer was talking to my mom. Apart from the usual "She is talkative", "She asks soo many questions" she said something which i never expected and that was "If shruthi has understood the concept, then everyone in the class would have understood!" No wonder every period she would ask "Shruthi understood..???".

Almost in every Kanaka ma'am class i have cried. I don't know why she would target only me, but have cried too much. She even asked gopi, how is she handling such a friend since 8 years. But not to forget, she herself chose me for the prayer group and used to like the "base tone" in my voice and twice, she has keep her hand on my head n told me "baba will do good to you"!

"Rama devi" Ma'am and her jokes! I wudn wanna go detail into these! Hee Haa Haa!

Std X 'B' - Sheela Ma'am
The very first English class "A for Attitude, B for Bravery, C for Courage" by Sheila ma'am cannot be forgotten by any student of our batch! Ravi actually bent on his knees and gave a rose to ma'am on the Teachers day!

Sunderakantha Ma'am loved me and Shwetha. :) She took us to the meditation hall and made us pray for good results! Sweet of her!

Wooo wat days!! I didn't wanna forget all these! And wanted something to cheer me up wen am bored with this Professional; in other words Boring life :P! Am damn sure it will cheer up many more frens of mine! Cheers! Keep Smiling!

S.A.M.S - Wish i never grew old.....(1)

"Good Moooorning Aunty.
Namaste Suprabhatham,
Bonjour Dobreuthra!"

"Standing at thy alter ooo our lord supreme
We renew our pledge to labor for thy dream"

"We the new,We the young
Marchin on hand in hand,
Smile on lips, rosy cheeks,
Hopes in heart merry band"

"Om Jai Jagdeesh Hare,
Swami jai Jagdeesh Hare"

"Hum panchi unmukth Gagan ke,
Pinjar badh na gapayenge" {Only shwe knows this! The Song we sang for AIR!}

School was so much fun. I had equal fun in engineering too, but the innocence which was in school was lacking :P {Shudn't complain tho, Need to GROW UP! Don we?? :P} The class i studied in till 8th was so entertaining, with all the drama's, skits, dances {organized by me n gopi..} and not to forget those fashion shows. I feel like slippering myself wen i think of those fashion shows. He He.. it was fun tho! Sometimes i suddenly remember few incidents and feel like jotting them down so that i never forget them, but that usually happens wen am like almost dozzing off!

Sri Aurobindo Memorial School = Grey-Blue Uniform+ Jiji + Papaji + Adithi aunty + the best staff in the world + the umpteen number of invocations+ prayers + laddoo's + the talking-at-cycle-stand + eatin "yummies" from that small canteen + TT in that small TT room + Kho-Kho + Badminton, Throw ball, Volleyball, Basketball + Tug-of-war{Nothing can beat this!} + Skipping with that loooooong rope + Ultimate utilization of half an hour lunch breaks + Bunking class to cheer the guys team at matches + Fun-filled sports day in the concrete-school-field and National Grounds + Murali sir + Taking glucose and extra lemons to make lemon juice + Repeatedly enacting and yet not getting bored of "Snifty's Lamp Post" + the recitations + impromptu's + Christmas carols + trips to resorts + last but not the least the friendly watchmen,ayyamma's!! :)

LKG/UKG
I actually don't remember anything much, except this: it was a corner in the small field in the primary building and myself, Shwetha N and Vijayalakshmi were having a chat. And the topic was "love". Guess we were talking about some movie, but at the age of 4/5, talking abt love is too much. :P

Std I 'B' - Smitha Ma'am
It was craft class and we had to make somethin out of color-aper and coconut. Mine was done{Mom had prepared it :P} and this gal Nivedita tells me i'll take yours home coz i don't know how to make one and get it back the next day. Apparently her bro throws my toy and breaks it. On the day of submission everyone has their toy except me and am sincerely crying and mean while i get a brain wave and go up to the teacher and say, we both are sisters, so can we submit one?? Nivedita too feels bad for me and joins me sayin, yes ma'am we r sisters. " I donno wat happened next. But i don remember kneeling down nor being sent out of the class. Aal Izz Well!

Std II 'B' - Aarthi Ma'am
Aarthi ma'am was our class teacher and she used to handle English for us. She was too strict but i liked her very much. Apparently this incident changed my life i guess, coz it was after this that i started topping the class n stuff! {Proved myself rather!} " It was socials test that day. While writing the test i just suddenly happened to see my socials text in my desk{i had forgotten to keep it in my bag!}. The invigilator too isn't near me so i try my hand in "COPYING". I just take the book and flip 2 pages and i get caught. Aarthi ma'am came n yelled at me!I cried cried and cried so much that day. I got so freaked that i never ever copied again. {Umm.. except in engineering :P n hmm 8th std Kannada and Computers paper!}

Std III 'B' - Yashodha Ma'am
Some cooking sessions were going on! Guess we made sandwich's! Mass sandwich making was fun! We took vegetables and bread and sauce from home and at the end of the day the result was a messed up kitchen which had turned into a fish market :p

Std IV 'B' - Razia Sultana Ma'am
We were playing "Catch-Catch" in the classroom. The guys, to exhibit their monkey-behaviour start climbing on benches and running on them. The it was my turn to be the denner. I target Gops and she too climbs on the benches and while running she slips n falls. Godd! Her fore head was bleeding. Nandini ma'am came immediately and carried her for the first aid. Am not aware of what happened next. But i didn't eat for 2 days. I remember Vijayalakshmi and Vaishnavi consoling and comforting me!

Std V 'B' - Alka Ma'am
The complaint against Murtaza coz he was too dominant and haughty. Soo many raised their hands in union against him. How sad were we. And i pity him!

"Maa Tujhe Salaam" ka dance! It came out so well! I represented "White"= Purity :) Priyanka and Shilpa represented Orange and Green resp. The guys who took part in this dance were Srinivas, Ravi and Mr. Third guy! {Sorry don remember!} Naveen. Pooja and Deepak entered the stage separately too. We 8 occupied the centre! Felt too good, That too such an amazin song! Thanks to Rehman!

I was seated next to the window and my partner was Sathvik. I happened to pull the coconut tree's leaf and immediately Sathvik pulled my hair and said "Its hurting right?? When you did that to that tree, it would have felt the same!!". He He.