I adore my grandmother a lot. She is no doubt smarter than anyone of her 90+ age. Everytime I visit her I learn something new. A new angle to one of her stories. A new approach of telling things. Her memories, her pain, her happiness.. The stories never fall short. Time may run out but not the endless tales of her life. Its just amazing that she remembers so much so well.

I visit my grandmother every Sunday who lives with my uncle and his family. She waits for me and I wait for the day to visit her. I am glad that I am having this special bond with her. I am amazed every time with her sharp memory. She knows if I was early or late for the visit compared to last Sunday’s visit..She notices if I had come walking or on my bike. She notices what color are my clothes. She doesn’t like black and asks me to avoid it. She notices if I have shaved or not or if I have put on weight since last week. She knows everything and all this at her 90+ age! I am blessed. I wish I could stay with her for more.. I wish I could take care of her more..

Even with her 90+ age, she can write well. She knows many English words of daily use. She says ‘Fijja’ for Pizza and ‘Lijer’ for Geyser. But she knows how to communicate and does that well indeed. She understands everything right on the first explanation itself, there is no need to explain again. She remembers all her medicines and when they would be finished. Everything is well planned.

Her thoughts are surprisingly modern,  Even than my mother. Completely un-conservative. A very strong lady who has seen ups and downs of life from all angles throughout her life. Many a times she expresses grief of how the world treated her in the past. Of how ungrateful people have been to her. But she is never angry or discontent now, In fact all she wants now is a peaceful and satisfying death. A much noble want than most of our worldly desires.

With such modern thoughts, I have never met anyone else who would be so religious. She remembers almost 1/10 of the Holy Quran in her mind and her speed for recital can give a clergy an inferiority complex. Every 10 days she finishes reciting the whole Quran. Some people cannot finish this over a month even! The only grief she has is that from last two years she has not been able to keep her month long Ramadan fasts due to her health. She would have still kept the fasts even with her old age and health problems if the elders of the family had not refused !

Some years ago, I remember spending the 10th of Moharram with her. We are supposed to fast the entire day as its a day of sadness. My grandmother broke the fast at sunset but never ate there after. Most people of our age would conclude it as the end of the day and event of sadness. But she continued. She kept saying “My lord has died and how can I eat, I just don’t feel like”. This was really touching. There are many more tiny memories of her which cannot be expressed in words rather just to be enjoyed;

My Grandmother is one of the perfect grandmothers one can have. I regret the fact that I want to do more for her and the time I we didn’t spend together which I am slowly trying to make up… I love you, dadima! [grandmother]

I can say that I have consumed meat like no one else. I went hungry on days my mother cooked vegetables and expressed extreme anger on her for doing so. I used to coax her for not taking care of me. Then I used to rush to a near by restaurant to grab minced meat and bread. It was my favorite. I still smell the same Arabian/Mughalai Minced meat when I pass by that restaurant. I consumed meat for the first 16 years of my life and then I quit.

People taunted me with various fallacies, primarily one which I still get from others : “You’re not even a muslim if you don’t eat meat once in 40 days.”. That hurt sometime, but I ignored. At some point it made me feel that I was committing a sin. I only knew that I may be different and may not be right, but I wasn’t wrong and not a sinner. I am a strong believer of God, the one and only one God. This fact is enough for me to still call myself a Muslim.

I had no reasons to quit meat eating, but something happened when there was a Goat sacrifice in our house on the day of Eid-uz-Zoha. Hours after the Goat was sacrificed, I saw the raw meat on the plate still shivering. As if it still had life in it. Islamic way of sacrifice is no doubt the most scientific method of killing with minimal pain, but I just couldn’t tolerate the view of the pieces of meat shivering in front of my eyes. Some more hours passed by, the meat was cooked -A fantastic dish was served. I just couldn’t consume it. I didn’t see any physical movement on the cooked meat but could feel the shivering. I just couldn’t consume that meat.

It is said that before any sacrifice, the animal comes to know that its going to be sacrificed.  It has already given up the hope. The animal stops eating from the night before. I have seen in the animal’s eyes. Its deep. Its dark. Its scared. When the time comes there is a ceremony in which the animal should drink a few gulps of water just before the knife is rubbed against the skin. This is the most difficult part. The animal refuses to drink the last drink. Just to extend its life for a few more minutes. And when the animal is forced to drink, just when the water reaches its throat, the slaughter begins with prayers. I shall not go into the details of the processes involved in slaughtering. But its all these hurt me more than anything else in the world. The sight is too frightful for me.

Most Islamic clergymen would outcast me or have a Fatwa on me if I said that every time I see a dead animal, I recite the prayers which muslims recite when they come across death of any human. Such is my faith.

At this point, I must confess that I am a food lover; I live to eat rather than eat to live; During my days of Vegetarianism since the age of 16, the most supportive people are my parents, Specially my mother. I take the opportunity to publicly thank her for all the trouble she has taken to cook separately for me Pure Vegetarian food. I may not trust a veg restaurant, but I would trust her that no matter what, she would cook vegetarian food for me where even a single spoon of Oil wouldn’t be shared between their non-veg cooking and my veg cooking.

I am mostly cut from my cultural foodie events. I do not go because the food is non-veg, and no one is that caring enough (except family) to prepare veg food for me. I don’t expect them to understand either.

Once in a blue moon, my parents would casually say to me “Why don’t you start eating for a change?”. I just chuckle.

I don’t force anyone to be a vegetarian though I advocate it. I never win and neither they lose. They respect my vegetarianism because I am not doing anything against the religion or against Islam. Just like any other ‘ideal’ muslim, I pray daily prayers, I don’t indulge in Usury or Interest on money, I offer charity, I don’t gamble, drink, smoke and most importantly, I believe that there is no god, but God. These are the basic pillars of Islam and I don’t think I am breaking them.

Its time when people should know the fact that in the Holy Quran, it is mentioned that one may eat permissible non-vegetarian food, for God has created animals for human consumption but it is not compulsory. It is also mentioned that Animals such as Pig and Pork meat is strictly prohibited (It has a scientific reason). A muslim can be a good practicing muslim by being a Vegetarian.

I don’t mean to sound rude or bad or foul but I am ashamed of myself to see NIC guys who represent national level Information Technology system come up with such downgraded websites which even my 10-year old neice would design with just common sense.

In my previous posts about Rediff and Bank of India, I have taken out their faults. But for your site, Its just not worth the efforts.

Either you guys don’t get paid well, or you don’t have the technical skills, or you’re the wrong person to represent the country’s Infomatic center. Shame on you guys! You read me? SHAME ON YOU.

Just take a look at the site you guys have put on (Click to enlarge)

Link: http://gurgaon.nic.in/edisha.htm

You call this a web site? A web portal ? Its nothing but a mere shame on the country. I am not just ashamed of you but I am angered. There are so many jobless people who can do much better than that. So the only question I come accross is How the hell do you get recruited in NIC?

Guys, Please take your job seriously. Don’t fool around. If you think you’re not suitable for the job, just quit and do something else. Take this as a piece of advice from an elder brother – With great power comes great responsibility.

Please guys, don’t bring a shame to the country. Code well, check out standards, Internet is a boon, take advantage from it. Read well, implement well. Please bring quality. Don’t run the Informatic Center like just another government office with lazy attitude.

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Now I should start thinking how the UUID project’s infrastructure, technology and output will turn out to be?

Will thousands of crores of rupees be wasted on another set of Idiots like above?

1. It works only on Windows. I gave up windows due to virus & security reasons. I am now on Macintosh. I can’t use any of Bank Of India’s online services. So its a waste for me. There are 20% people like me who are using non-windows operating system.

2. There is not much information about the digital security. The first time I use star token it asks for a PIN. How can I confirm that the information is going out securely from my system? It is not mentioned anywhere on the website.

When we install it says Publisher is Uniken Systems Pvt. Ltd. : Who is this Uniken Systems? How many of you know these guys? How does a lay man know about it? Should Bank of India website give some instructions for this?

Its ok to have a vendor do certification for you. But where is the information passed to the users ?

3. The first time Bank of India has mailed a secret PIN number to all their customers.(note the huge postal cost). What If I format my windows? I have to re-install the Star Token which will demand an authentication PIN which is mailed to me via post. It appears that this pin is usable only once! I am stuck! Help me!

4. Not sure if Bank of India thinks long term or not. According to a news, Microsoft windows will be shipped with an option of NOT having Internet Explorer. How will you guys deal with this? The software is heavily dependent on embedded Internet explorer control(Not just heavily, but rather say fully dependent!) which internally connects to BOI website! I am sure the software was heavily invested product. An unplanned investment. Any Answers BOI?

5. The software’s usability is very annoying. It blocks the entire screen. This means I can use only and only one program at a time. I am not sure if it has been tested with other intrusion detection / anti virus programs. Technically speaking, when the program requests for a full screen hook blocking other program, its a virus like activity for many anti-virus programs unless you add a exception to it.  Have you tested it BOI?

6. The whole idea of Internet Banking is ruined. This particular software restricts me to use the services from ONLY and ONLY 1) Windows AND 2) Internet Explorer AND 3) Only single Application at a time as it disallows me to use any other program at other time. I am not sure how this will work with ONLINE payment gateways!

7. According to a news report, French and German government has officially asked everyone *NOT* to use Internet explorer. Indian govt systems were compromised due to usage of Internet Explorer. Time and again it has been proved that Internet Explorer has been more vulnerable towards attack than any other browser/system. Why so much dependency on a single browser and racism towards other browsers? Isn’t Bank of India technically capable of providing services to another operating system?

8. Most of the Internet explorers in *India* are A) IE 6.0 and IE 7.0. Out of them 90% are default with their operating system which are *NEVER* patched to the current security level which Microsoft has to offer. There is always a threat of hackers using existing loopholes in the system.

With this step Bank Of India may publicize that it has added an extra level of security with all these hassles and restrictions, I rather use my old banking way of depositing a cheque/ draft than using such system. Or may be just close an account with them. They don’t care a damn for a single person! Do you BOI?

Security doesn’t mean you will narrow down options for users. It rather means you have to narrow down Hacker’s options and attempts to break into the system.

And yes, its not the end of the world. There are other banks which provide higher and secured system without A) annoying the user or B) Restricting the user for a particular operating system which has time and again proved to be more vulnerable than other operating systems. Any comments on this one, BOI?

Why does Bank of India invest in padding up existing technology and not open to newer options and not giving a though that ultimately the service is going to be used by end users! If you be evil to the the end users and they aren’t happy, it will be inevitable that sooner or later they will close an account with you.. !

Bank of India, I am not going to close the account with you immediately(But with such ‘funny’ services, I will soon). But yes, Its my humble appeal, Please employ better brains to put up a better security system which is easy and user friendly.

1. People spitting on road: I just hate it. I am a biker and I cannot go near a bus. You’ll find people spitting out from the window of the bus and that too without looking if someone is down below. People spit on the road, corners of a building staircase, they empty their nose and stick the material on the walls and practically any place where they don’t find another person’s spit.

2. Getting the garbage out of your property only :  In India people keep their houses clean by dirtying their neighbor’s. It takes enormous amount of effort to just throw your garbage at the right place. Instead people just push it to the place which is out of their property and jurisdiction – To their neighbor’s land. Use of plastic and paper in daily lives has increased the garbage to another level, Not to mention that there isn’t a good recycling system, but all this just spreads out on the streets, sewage or some remote area which contributes to a very bad smell everywhere around the place.

3. Bribe: One may have heard about politicians being corrupted, but corruption at local level is also very common. Giving bribe is very common. Without bribe or tip money, its not that your work wont get done, but definitely not smoothly. Everyone takes a bribe or commission in whatever manner they may get the opportunity for. The term ‘chai-pani’ or tea-snacks is quite famous which means some tip for snacks or sweets. Even after paying service charges + service tax , a person would ask for ‘chai-pani’.

4. Unnecessary Wastage: What’s the point in cooking for 10 dishes for a family invited over for dinner. Answer: Show off. This results in a major wastage of food, decoration. Lavish marriages, Lavish apartments, Lavish use of Petrol & energy and everything. Its like “Have money, will spend it”.

5. Media & Controversies: Media plays very important role to destroy the real meaning of news. Some news channels present news in a manner which we call “Masala” or spice which just increases viewer’s attention and not awareness. Political controversies, Celebrity controversies juices up everything which is just unnecessary!

6. Traffic. : Everyone in India is in a hurry. Pedestrians and vehicle owners share the same area of road. Foot paths are for Hawkers selling things on road right from junk computer hardware to cheapest food. Traffic congestion is everywhere.

7. Attitude of people and Competition: In India people compete with each other forgetting the common goal. They keep fighting for their own self meaning rather than achieving a common goal. Everyone has a lazy attitude, until poked by higher authorities they don’t start working or improving things on their own. Laziness among the people doesn’t allow them to be creative and even make others lazy. One dirty fish in the pool makes the entire pool dirty.

8. Caste system and Reservations: Everything in India has caste systems, there is hidden discrimination everywhere. I just hate it when a job is denied to a person just because he may be from another state or another culture. I hate it even more when people treat each other as outcast if one is from separate state. They forget that they are from the same country afterall.

9. Reuse until death. The mentality of people in India is to re-use everything until its final death. A new shirt will be a shirt for a year,  A second hand shirt for a poor guy. Then a dusting cloth for a few months, then a further degraded cleaning cloth for a few months and finally it will end up as a unusable rag. I am ok until the last part. The cloth has finally lost all its recyclable value and ends up as a dead end.

10. Cheapest bargain: Indian’s want to get the best deals from the shop owners. They bargain to the level where in a shop owner will have no profit margins. There are something which can’t be bargained and Indian’s will bargain on that as well. Bargaining is good, but the thing I hate most is that’s its not equal. A shop owner may slaughter a newcomer customer with a sticker shock because some previous customer gave him the least profit margin of the day!

But alas, India is pretty pretty better place to live in comparing its neighborhoods…

Here are some of my experiences as an employer in a Metro city which tried to hide away from its siblings when The Software Industry boomed. Thanks to its People and its Government Both!

Recently we posted an advertisement in the largest subscribed newspaper twice. We received some responses which I shall describe. I would treat this as my personal survey for what kind of people exists around Kolkata, West Bengal. Their current pay scales, their expectations, their competency levels, and their adaptability and everything else that a company needs from an employee

1. Almost 90% of all job seekers didn’t know proper English. They somehow managed.

2. Almost 90% were unemployed. 10% were looking for change.

3. 30% were irrelevant job applications. We mentioned requirements of technical people but people even applied for “Any suitable opening”. A CV came in for receptionist post as well.

4. All CVs had TONS  of technologies known but master of NONE. Many CVs were tailored to our requirements mentioning “basic knowledge of XYZ technology”

5. Most funny part was, they CC’ed to other companies’ HR too.

6. Some people didn’t have an email ID, they applied using the cyber parlor or Internet cafe guy’s email ID.

7. We asked for some sample work of their own. We got cut-paste templates from the internet.

8. We received very late responses. These people check emails once or twice a day.

9. Some people applied just for an opportunity.

10. They expectation was quite low. Not sure why, May be lack of confidence. Not many computer software companies in the region, or perhaps they don’t want to fight harder. One person was ready to switch job for a just 12% hike. He was even willing NOT to serve notice period to current employer. This means he could have a ’sudden departure’ with us as well.

11. Freshers are useless unless we train them for at least 6 months. Colleges are least bothered as they get their share. And still the atmosphere in 90% of the software companies in Kolkata is Lazy. Work starts at 10 and finishes at 5. Life is slow here.

12. 75% of people are from non technical background who have undergone a diploma from some ’so called’  reputed computer training industry where faculties are faculties there because they’ve not got any other job!

Some other small things:

1. Our HR is female, People kept addressing Sir.
2. No proper cover letter, Just a cv attached.
3. People email twice. First time they forget to attach their CV
4. Many never replied back at all.
5. They just forward their CV without removing previously applied “TO” in the cover letter.

I cannot blame anyone for such a crisis but may be an eye-opener for the government and the people too, that its high time they should change their attitude towards software industry – Only talks wont do.

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• Both countries have outsourced their visa application processes to a company called VFS Global. VFS Global is a commercial company, working in partnership with the border agency & high commission of UK and US to provide Visa services. This company handles Human Resource, paper work.
• UK had outsourced almost 90% of its visa processing whereas US has outsourced around 45%.
• The fee is collected in Indian Rs and most highest price of the exchange rate is taken into account.
• Fee collection is via banks. VSF UK visa has collaboration with a few banks but only some branches. VFS-US-Visa has collaborated with HDFC bank only at many branches throughout the country. Banks charge their own service fees and tax.
• US has their own infrastructure for the Interview inside the consulate office premises but for UK its not. In Calcutta , they have purchased some office and handed over to VFS Global.
• UK biometric takes fingerprints and retina scan.US biometric takes only fingerprints.
• UK visa may have a personal interview but for tourist etc. its not needed if the documents are satisfactory. US visa has a personal interview mandatory for all visa application.
• VFS Global has more control over UK visa. Their interview center has a security check but things like mobiles etc are allowed. For US, no electronics are allowed and no sealed envelops.
• UK visa can provide Photograph on Demand, Photocopies on Demand all good facilities for the applicant. NO such things available in US visa office.
• UK visa center is quite commercial with people selling matrix calling cards and study loans etc. Full of banners everywhere. Nothing allowed at US visa office.

Overall, from my point of view. UK had something extra and missing than US and vice-versa.

Does outsourcing reduce quality? I leave it upto my readers to decide!

Some facts that I have noticed so far:

1. It takes request from doGet or doPost and sends it to another method. So it doesn’t matter if the parameters come from GET or POST, you simple work with them! (Really cool for beginners)

2. It creates a dist directory for each project which means you don’t have to explicitly make any such deployment folder. You’ll never want a WAR file unless really required. Just copy the contents of this folder and paste it to your deployment folder.

3. It has also got this feature of starting and stopping the bundled Apache Tomcat server as and when required. You can even configure server’s port with a GUI which netbeans provides.

4. Netbeans mobility pack is just so awesome. Just drag and drop all basic components(reminds me of VB6).

5. Netbeans generates codes for such UML style drag drop behind the scene. Its got this wonderful feature called as Lazy Initialized. This feature is a coding style where the main thread will not initialize all the form elements instead call methods as an when the form/component is required.
I personally find this very interesting as when I program in J2ME, Its really good to initialize the forms as and when the user needs them. For example: Why would you initialize a form which contains About & Version infomation. It will use up unnecessary space if that form was never visited!

6. Netbeans can also adhere to different Mobile environments and JDKs. For example, If you have a Black Berry’s JDE installed, you can make netbeans to compile/run/use Black Berry’s APIs. Which means you work with your favourite editor even if the platforms differ.
My Netbeans is configured with mobility pack which has configured sun’s WTK 2.2, Black Berry JDE 4.1 & JDE 4.2.

7. If you’re connected to the internet, netbeans’ welcome page displays latest happennings with Blogs, articiles posted daily. I always make a point to check out whats the latest there!

8. The overall look and feel is quite good. I have been using it since v.4.x and it has improved a lot.

Although Netbeans is slow(Tell me which one is not!), I’ll still give it preference over any other IDE available for the complete Java Technology I.e Java SE, Java EE and Java ME platform. I wont give preference to Eclipse (from where netbeans has derived!).

But this time as the new year is coming up, I am planning to keep it alive!