Praveen’s Magic Quill

Last week, I saw a huge bunch of posters around my area advertising some SnowBall event to be organised by a Chennai-based Dance company, Spellbound, under a commercial tie-up with the TamilNadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), here at hot hot Chennai. The next day, The Hindu had reported that the venue not only had a visual treat, but a cool shower of ice to beat the summer heat. Driven by curiosity, we decided to hire an Air-Conditioned van (because my cousins and relatives were here as well) and then embarked on a visit to the Island Grounds near the Marina.

The entry fee for the adults was Rs.150 and children below 4 feet were charged Rs.100 each. So, by the look of the rates, I had begun to have an impression that this is gonna be a mini-amusement park or something. After some stupid band was tied on all our hands (for which there was absolutely no use inside), we went inside the entrance. The very moment I was inside, I could sense a feeling of dampness at the bottom of stomach.

There was a small toy train taking visitors around making a hell lot of noise. I was rooted to the ground gazing at the dumb scene all around me, when I sensed out of the corner of my eye that someone taller than me was standing next to me. Only when I turned around did notice that a Camel nearly double my height was trying to limp past me with another visitor mounting it. Damn the organizers! Don’t they have the common sense that camels are for commuting at soft earthy desserts and not on hard grounds? Poor creatures!

Then, we went inside an arch which was made of plastic snow, hoping that it would lead into the SnowBall Arena. But alas, it didn’t! Instead, we had seemed to enter a massive air-conditioned hall filled with a series of stalls dealing in consumer durables, souvenirs and food court, filled with mostly women pretending to be interested in the products of the sponsors which they never have the intention of buying anyway. It looked more like a Trade Fair than a Snow Arena.

Finally, we managed to rush past the crowd to enter the actual so-called Snow Arena. Once inside, standing on massive ice-bars, I watched dumb-struck at the scene in front of me. A shower of ice-crystals dropping out of ice-crushers positioned at a particular height at the sides of the enclosure. Some people were just grinding ice cubes and throwing the pieces on the innocent people within the enclosure, and they were also very happy to experience “Snow” falling on them. It was such a pity to watch the scene and more than that, I was angry at myself for becoming one among the victims of being taken for a ride.

I totally fail to understand how official agencies like MetroWater, TamilNadu Tourism Board, TN Pollution Control Board and others could have given permission for such a terribly damaging scheme of water use. I would definitely not recommend anyone to visit this event. If you feel you have enough time to waste and too much money in your wallet, I suggest you go to the movie Kuruvi. From Hari’s review, I feel you would feel much better to watch the movie than to visit the SnowBall event.

The first thing I did after getting my monitor fixed was to upgrade from WordPress 2.3.3 to WordPress 2.5.1. Of course, the “old-fashioned” way is to follow the 4 steps that WordPress have given. I was feeling too lazy perform those operations manually and that’s when I came across the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin. It makes our work simpler because it takes us through a systematic approach in updating to the latest version of WordPress software. I got 2.5.1 and it looks really good with a neat User Interface. There are quite a few new features too like media options to include videos to be embedded in your posts.

Here is what the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin does:

1. Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
2. Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
3. Downloads the latest files from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
4. Puts the blog in maintenance mode.
5. De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
6. Upgrades WordPress files.
7. Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
8. Re-activates the plugins.

Simple na? I would definitely recommend this plugin to everyone at ampli5 and others who use self-hosted WordPress blogs. Go ahead and try this out, right away! I’d love to hear about your Wordpress upgrade experience!

For more info, check the official page of the plugin at Techie Buzz

One might have noticed that I haven’t update my blog for half a month or so. The number of regular visitors to the blog have taken a steep nosedive as is evident from the my blog statistics and the Feedjit Widget in the sidebar (which shows recent visitors over the past 2 weeks). My readers had begun to think I was too busy studying and preparing hard for my final semester examinations without having any time to spare half hour for a blog update. It’s just that I had one problem after another with accessing the Internet, and all the problems ended synchronous with the end of my last exam. Might be, some invisible spirit thought that’s the best way to make me spend some time on technical books.

First, the guys constructing the toll-booth at Perungudi along the IT Highway (No way, I am not gonna call it Rajiv Gandhi Salai by any chance) mistook a few BSNL phone cables of my area to be the roots of a nearby banyan tree and decided to chop it off while drilling bores. The result was that the entire area of Thoraipakkam had to temporarily part with the most important instrument for connecting with the outside world. So, I took to playing Counter Strike with expert bots and the last two versions of Prince of Persia. A week later, however, they managed to clear the lines slowly and I was overjoyed that my good old companion was back.

Just the very next morning, when my brother Prashant was working on the computer, my recently bought Samsung TFT Monitor decided to take a break from its heavy work schedule, gave a bit of a flicker and went OFF. Damn! I tried switching it back ON, but it just opened its eyes for one second, then, OFF again! I called Vansan Systems, Adyar, from where I had bought the new computer system in January (they first tried to give me an Acer Monitor which was more of a mirror than a monitor – I had given it back to them and got this one) and asked for a solution, but they so very coolly gave me the Customer Care number of Samsung and asked me to talk to them directly! Wtf??? Finally, after a few phone calls to Samsung Customer Care (their service was quite good), they came home this Monday and changed the power board of the monitor, and hurray, the computer is fixed right in time when holidays start!

But, I have already lost time by now, as long as 2 weeks, by which I would have liked to make a lots of posts, especially on Indian Premier League (IPL - or by the look of how things or going on, should I say Australian Premier League???) and the controversies surrounding it. Anyway, from today, I guess I will be posting thrice a week or so, do keep having a peep and discuss…

Well, I’ve been kinda too busy over the past week typing and formatting my Project Report, and well, I kinda started preparing for the final semester exam with a technical subject, so din’t find time enough to update my blog

And yes, coming to the topic, About 10 days back, I received my Appointment Letter (Apointment Email, rather) from my company - MphasiS (an EDS Company) asking me to report at their Mangalore Training Facility - codenamed ELLA (EDS Learning & Leadership Academy) on June 2nd itself!

Phew… Just last month we were debating at the Unofficial MphasiS 2008 Community, about how late the IT Companies are planning to call their recruits, and then suddenly, here comes the call! At the first look of it, I was quite surprised and thrilled at having to join the company in the first batch (that we have actually booked Train Tickets), but then, we started to ponder whether it is too early to join?

Exams would have ended by May 5th, but then I guess results would take atleast a month to be out! Which means, we won’t have our 8th Semester Marksheets to submit (which is in any case ,an imprtant document for a fresher joining a company). A couple of guys in college are debating whether to ask for a postponment. Though, I am kinda confused as to how much I am prepared to become a full fledged professional within a very short time from being a typical engineering student, I am quite eager and feel confident to enter the Lion’s Den and view the path ahead with a strong mindset…

How about you people? When are you’re joining dates expected? Or are you planning to take up higher studies? And if so, which college/university have you decided upon?

I feel as if it was just last year when I went along with my Grandpa, hunting for a Mechanical Engineering seat in some “Good Engineering College” and finally settled with the one situated less than a kilometer from home – MNM Jain Engineering College. But now, in exactly one month from now, College Life would have ended once and for all (Classroom life will end this week itself). Somehow, I have waded my way through to the final semester, cleared the papers so far, came across through a huge number of hurdles, jumping most of them and stumbling upon a few.

Needless to say, as many people already know, the Anna University Syllabus pattern is similar to a buffet system wherein there are many varieties of food but that should be eaten within a very short available time. And therefore, within that short span, I have been able to just get a hold of a single piece of every cake, just to taste how it would be, but then, never had the opportunity of digging in and gobbling it completely! In short, we all know something of everything in Mechanical Engineering, but not everything of anything! Thereby, when I finish the course, I dunno whether I would actually be full fledged Engineer!

The best part of college life probably is the Bonding with Friends out there! The ones that I laughed with, partied with, chatted with, struggled with, enjoyed with, adventured with etc etc… Looking back at the life I had at college, I just dunno whether to feel happy about it or to shed a few silent tears. I just thought I’d better list down the positives and negatives that I feel about leaving college.

Things that I feel Sad About:

Ø No more Classroom Atmosphere Forever!!! :(

Ø No more College Kalaais. (Teasers)

Ø No more Cement Bench Conferences.

Ø No more Post – Lunch Chats with Friends from All Departments. :(

Ø No more Gazing at My Essh Baby!!! :(

Ø No more Random Bird Watching. :(

Ø No more Friendly Fights.

Ø No more Open Book Tests.

Ø No more 11^th Hour Exam Preparations.

Ø No more Carrom and Pen Fight Championships… :(

Ø No more Maan Karate (Running & Catching between Staff and Student).

Things that I feel Happy About:

Ø No more having to eat compulsory Tasteless Lunch at college.

Ø No more restrictions on usage of Mobile Phones.

Ø No more restrictions on what I have to Wear.

Ø No more restrictions on my Hairstyles.

Ø No more Assignments to Boost Internal Marks.

(I can feel I have left out a lot in the above list, I shall update whenever I remember things, and if you feel I have left something that I should have added to the above, do let me know in the comments section!)

Clearly, the sad feelings overweigh my happy feelings. These days are never gonna come back and the nostalgia of going through the final few days in my Educational Career has begun to sink in! I can see the door open wide, leading to a Highly Challenging and Competitive World just a few steps ahead of me! Now, its time for me to start my Professional Career with all that I have learnt over the past 21 years and Stand on my Own Legs!

All the best to everyone reading this post, for a bright future!