'Common' man Admission Test!

It was raining a little and I had to go to Koyambedu as usual, park my two-wheeler and get a bus to the exam venue. On the way the rain gathered momentum, so did I. By the time I reached CMBT, I was totally wet. The route from CMBT to Saveetha Engineering College (my exam centre) was unknown to me and I had to strain my eyes to see the bus numbers. I called my father and he gave some instructions. I was moving back and forth between the town bus stand and route bus stand. I found it hard to retain my focus.
I looked at the sky.

It all looked very familiar. I know I always do well in this weather :) The time was 6 AM and there was no sighting the sun. I couldn't remember the last time I had so much idle time standing in a bus stand. I asked a few local people and they said I had to take some bus number. I went to the said place but couldn't find the bus.
I decided to try one of the all-faithful 'route' buses! I noticed the wordings "Chennai - Dharmapuri" and I immediately went towards it. I asked the conductor
"இந்த பஸ் பூந்தமல்லி ல  நிக்குமா?"

He answered in the affirmative and I went in. In fact, I was the first passenger to board the bus. I was wondering how I would reach the venue, in what shape I would reach. I called my father again and updated the status and cut the call.
He called me back after two minutes.
"Did you say Dharmapuri? Give the phone to the conductor!"
That was all. The two good men knew each other. By God's grace, within a span of two minutes, the bus was transformed to a direct transport to my exam centre, which was well on the way!
"The bus wouldn't have stopped otherwise!"
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I reached the venue well ahead of time, about an hour or so. Fantastic organization in Saveetha, as is often the case in this place, or, so I've heard. No hassles, everything was spot on. The Prometric people had done a wonderful job. These kind of infrastructure rather motivated me to do well!
"When the dressing room infrastructure is good, even a debutant plays well"
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I had a stop in Poonamalle bus stand on the way back. It was this place that gave me immense satisfaction. I haven't been to a township for long. There was everything - a mad rush of people, a samosa+tea shop, citizens carrying wire bags, 'n' number of provisional stores, vegetarian hotels small and big, yellow coloured houses, families travelling together - a rarity in Chennai 'city', there was no 'single' person; it was either large families or a family of three or four - everything that was so close to me! அப்படியே சொந்த ஊருக்கு சென்றது போல் இருந்தது! I asked a person where the CMBT buses come. His reply showed me clearly there are still good people on this earth. "You can walk into the bus stand and get a bus. But they go in a roundabout route. You can even get share autos here, but they take a long time. Do one thing. Stand right here, you will get long distance buses going directly to Chennai. You can have a relaxed ride and reach CMBT quickly!"
And I did just that!

Just about 500 metres from there, I could see a house with a beautiful garden around it, and in the entrance, a bunch of old men waving at the bus.  சென்னையில் இது போன்ற காட்சிகள் காண்பது கொஞ்சம் அபூர்வம் தான்! அந்த ரோஜா பூக்களை பார்த்த போது ஒரு "holiday picnic" சென்ற அனுபவம்!

I tried hard to think about the CAT exam performance, but I was lost in the beauty of Chennai city. Friends called just after the exam. Happy.
Route bus was going fast, no halts. Happy.
Songs in the background.

Everything appeared so perfect for the day.
 All I asked for, was a hassle-free CAT exam. I got more than just 'that'! Including the beautiful people in the exam venue! :D
I knew the exam had gone well!
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Back to Chennai city... traffic...
ak

Life outside the 64 squares!

Life outside the 64 squares!

Hi all! :)
I have ("successfully?") recently joined the list of players in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, of Chess players moving to IT industry after college.

Oh yeah!

AC rooms, Canteen food, travelling, formal attire, sitting with computers, analysis, calculation... Everything looks similar to a gruelling chess tournament of norm standards, but it's not the SAME - but much similar! A month back when the training period started, I was pondering over the possibility of moving in near to my office, but then realized travelling was the only trail left, that I had always loved doing! Not that I don't like the others, I like travelling more; I feel ALIVE doing that - considering the amount of laziness I carry along with me!

The first memorable incident occurred very quickly - I had to solve a problem and I did it correctly. The faculty told me to push harder and optimize the code. I thought to myself "We always look for the easiest possible win in a pawn up situation. Right? Why then go 'Combination for Combination's sake???". I honestly don't know. This is something that is hard to change; but yeah, you have to do analysis 'during' the game - unlike our tournaments when we can win anyway and analyze later!

The second striking coincidence occurred after some time. You can try how much ever prophylaxis you want - but there will always be something for the opponent. Very rarely you win a game without giving any counterplay at all. I am talking about the 'bugs' in programs! There are always many of them AND they do annoy you!

This might sound really familiar to all - there's more home preparation than what actually happens 'during' the 'work' hours. In the place of action, there IS a little learning but much of the experience you get pertain to what all you do after work. Probably this is where most people miss out on. I am not making any guesses here! :) We all seek entertainment at work. So true here too! :D

You don't lose a game out of zero tolerance! :) You can come a bit late, no problem! Also, the flag doesn't fall. You WORK overtime to complete a task - something that spoils most of the fun! Projects are not time bound, they are day bound, or, so we can call them! Why not? :) I don't like the word 'deadline' - what are they after all? Possibly people slept in between! I don't know, I might change my verdict after two years! :)

If you don't know the opening - google. If you don't know the idea - google. If you don't know what to code - google. Eating - well, you have to do this one on your own, among a few other things!

Everything I have written and told look cool and great, for a start. As is always the case, I started to feel really rusty in the month of September, around the middle of the month. I knew the reason why - 5 months in Chennai in a row. FIVE MONTHS is a big time you see - without any action or rather, action stories (Yeah, Ashwin, you know what I mean!). It's really frustrating at times! NO "Start your games!" You cannot lose to any unseeded player here; nor can you upset the top seed. No press release; no live telecast. No arbiters - only bosses. Rules. Framework!

Chess is an individual sport. Occasionally team championships happen. IT is more of a team game. Project teams! There will always be people to help; you are not alone. So, no brilliancy prize or board prize! Once you enter into chess world, everything looks Black and White. There's no escape. This is some addiction I love. IT companies look huge and terrific, yes, inside however, it's small. Not much to complain though, I am having fun! "Happiness"
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One month into the game, I had this lazy conversation with a colleague.
Colleague: Where do you stay?
ak: I said my house was far off.
Colleague: Oh, so far! You travel a lot man!
ak: _____ "Travelling differs!"
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A week ago, I spoke to AJ
He said "You also travel. I can travel wherever I want to! You playing Chennai???"
ak: _____ :)
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Until that,
Take care!

ak

Disclaimer: The views expressed are of the individual.

Memory Overload!

It's getting to me guys - the IT industry. Even my thought process, the sense of humour... everything! We think IT, we eat IT...
During the weekdays, we wait for weekends! It's all happening!

and hence this 'classic' mock post!

At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments General Motors issued a press release stating the following: "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. The radio would be computerized, but you'd need to install 64 Meg of RAM, a new sound card, a game card, a new video driver, a CD drive, and type C:\radio\talk\rush*.* to get it to play.
2. The entire engine wouldn't be in the bay at once, and the car would have to keep stopping and starting to load in the relevant parts.
3. The speedometer would read 70 even though you are only doing 50.
4. You would have to have a full service every 500 miles.
5. Your car would refuse to start with a message "Abort, Retry, Fail?"
6. For some reason the engine controller would need a 1G hard disc and would take 5 minutes to boot up.
7. The steering wheel would be replaced with a mouse and you'd need to memorize the keyboard short-cut for "Brake".
8. A particular model year of car wouldn't be available until after that year- instead of before it.
9. They wouldn't build their own engines but form a cartel with their engine supplier. The latest engine would have 16 cylinders, multi-point fuel injection and 4 turbos, but it would be a side-valve design so you could use Model-T Ford parts on it. There would be an "Engium Pro" with bigger turbos, but it would be slower on most existing roads.
10. The air bag system would say "Are you sure?" before going off.
11. New seats would require everyone to have the same butt size.
12. We would all have to switch to Microsoft Gas.
13. The U.S. government would be forced to rebuild all of the roads for Microsoft cars; they will drive on the old roads, but they run very slowly.
14. The oil, alternator, gas and engine warning lights would be replaced by a single 'General Car Fault' warning light.
15. Sun MotorSystems would make a car that was solar-powered, twice as reliable and five times as fast, but would run on only 5% of the roads.
16. You would be constantly pressured to upgrade your car.
17. You could have only one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a Car95 or CarNT -- but then you would have to buy ten more seats and a new engine.
18. Occasionally, your car would die for NO apparent reason and you would have to restart it. Strangely, you would just accept this as normal.
18b. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail to restart and you'd have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you'd just accept this, too.

19. Every time the lines of the road were repainted, you would have to buy a new car.
20. People would get excited about the new features of the latest Microsoft cars, forgetting that these same features had been available from other car makers for years.

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all this because I am trying in vain to install Visual Studio in my XP and Windows 7, IN VAIN! (yawn)

Until next time,
Shut down! :)

ak