Tell Me Why (Java/J2ee Interview Questions)

Interview : The word itself would draw out different kind of emotions. Some may get excited. Some may get challenged. For first timers it may bring pressure in the form of expectation. And of course their are some who would get scared.
The very fact that I am writing about this should be an indication in itself that my feelings are different from the usual written above. There are few people who are actually left confused by the interviews and I am one of them. After every interview I have given (of course in the software industry) I am always left wondering why the questions which were asked were ever needed to be asked at all. It is not that I knew the answer to all of the questions asked rather they were asked left me baffled. I have never been able to understand and appreciate the psyche of an interviewer. It is because of the respect which I have never been able to give to this form of evaluation, I have managed to flunk every time. I have only managed to scrape through one interview and that was for the company in which I am in right now (My first Job). That was more so because the interviewer (who became my PL later on) was asking questions more so about my project rather than the clichéd general interview stuff. These interviews have always left me with the funny feeling. I will try and elaborate using an example.
Let us say you have been inside the industry for a year and then you start working on a job switch. The arrogance of the knowledge you displayed during the first time interview you gave comes back and you start thinking big of yourself. You never realize that a year in the industry hasn’t given you much experience in the eyes of the interviewer and you would rather be asked the same level of question as you were asked before. The only difference being the language on which you will get evaluated will change from c/c++ to java/j2ee. Hasn’t it happened with you if not then probably I am an exception. Even if I am it doesn’t matter, I would rather prefer thinking otherwise. Giving interview again after a year (rather a few months before) gave me the feeling of déjà vu’. The same frustration which I used to feel starting to come back but their was a difference this time. This time I was much more relaxed and was able to laugh at those frustration. I will try to explain the precarious scenario in which I was with a typical java/j2ee interview question and answers and the feeling which comes along with it.
A typical java/j2ee have a set of clichéd questions. And no matter how much one studies a normal human being will never be able to cover all of them. Java/J2ee is like an ocean and the candidate can easily be floored on the mat at any given point of time. It all depends on the person who is taking the interview. If the packages he like belongs to the set of one you like then probably you are safe. Otherwise you very well know that interviewers love to grind candidates and push them to a corner. I think every interviewer gets a kick out of demeaning the knowledge of the candidate. The knowledge neither the candidate nor the interviewer would have never used nor will ever used in the real world..

1) I have never been able to understand why does anyone ask about different packages and their implementation. How the hell is anyone suppose to know about the classes inside and their implementation. There are thousands of them and which one is your favourite Mr. Interviewer I never knew otherwise I would have studied and not make a fool of myself.

2) Now every class by default extends the object class. While writing the code did you ever care about it and moreover did one ever cared about the methods of the object class. Some of the favourite methods to be asked about are clone(), equals(Object obj), finalize(), hashcode() and a few other thread specific methods. Hashcode() Returns a hash code value for the object by converting the internal address of the object onto an integer. This method is supported for the benefit of hashtables such as those provided by java.util.Hashtable. Some of the properties of this method is that if two object is equal it returns the same hashcode. If not it returns different hashcode (Although not necessary it done to improve the performance of hashtable). The determination of object equality is done during the equal() method of the object class. Tell me one thing who uses object hashcode to create a table. Anyone creating an object will definitely have unique attributes which would form the key for storing them. finalize() another one of the crazy method called by garbage collector but did anyone ever override this method in their own class. If yes then you do tell me why. The purpose of other methods will get clearer later on in the rendition of my grievances.

3) Difference between == and equals another favourite of the interviewers. When two objects are compared using == it returns false whereas what happens if it is done via equals (obj1.equals(obj2)). Well if one hasn’t been using equals that extensively one might go back to strings and say Hey strings are objects , it works over there then it should work for any object. But hold on my friends this where the equals method of the object class needs to be overridden as an object can be made according to programmers whims and wishes so the equals need to be overridden for the method to work on our own customized classes. Well most of the time who cares about the equals method when the comparison needs to be done on a particular attribute only.

4) Collections: Probably one of the most favourite among the interviewer. The questions rather interrogation starts of lightly with interviewer expecting you tell him/her with the classes you are familiar with. Then question will go in the direction of the difference between a linked list and array list and when to use which. You say for that for faster access you will use the later but they have an answer already in their head which they want to hear. Yes they actually want you to say that for linked list you have exact memory allocation whereas an array list is growable array in which the array size increases dynamically by a factor of 1.5 + 1 with an initial size of 10. Tell me one programmer who took this into consideration. Its generally array list everywhere so you also start using the array list or any other storage structure which one is familiar with without thinking about the concept being discussed here . Then their may be other question on Set which cannot have duplicates SortedSet which is the sorted implementation of Set. Then they may ask some question on some legacy classes like vector which are synchronized.

5) Then there are good old legacy object oriented question but specific to java. Some of them are A) Difference between interface (which can have only abstract methods and static final variables) and abstract classes which may have self implementation of a method besides the usual abstract methods. B) Whether a protected method in base class can be declared as public derived class. The answer for which is no as we can only reduce the scope not increase it. Interviewers generally have the habit of tweaking a little here and a little there of the OOP concept and they feel glad to grill the candidates with them.

6) Of course then their are some basic key word question which interviewers definitely like to grill you with. Falter here then it would be hard to impress them. The key words can be static, final, transient, public, private, protected, default etc. 'static' is for declaring class variables i.e. only one reference is created for static variables for multiple objects. final variables are constants, final methods cannot be overridden and final class does not make any sense for extension. transient variables are not serialized (i.e. when a object copy is created it gets initialized by its default value). private is for class specific variables and methods, protected variables and methods can be used by derived classes, default variables and methods are accessible within a package only and public variable and methods is accessible across packages. Now just one question is on my mind does anyone uses 'default' and unless one come across a scenario while coding that their is a requiremnet of such declaration for the design why would anyone even bother to think about it.

7) Coming to exceptions. Who the hell likes exception in the program. Every programmer would like to exhaustively handle all kind of exception scenarios. So much effort gets spend in identifying and handling those scenarios but any programmer would be able to leave a few. Thankfully we have certain classes to catch them. The Checked (which can be catched,subclass of Exception class)and Unchecked(which only gets caught at runtime, subclass of Runtimeexception class) exceptions are the two kind of exception in java. Now the most generic question to be asked under this category is the usage of finally block along with try and catch. Its basically for calling this block(generally to free resources) irrespective of try block is called or catch block. But this is not enough interviewers have a cruel way of confusing you by asking whether this block gets called if in a try block their is a return statement. The answer is yes but they ask in a way that you will definitely get confused and will struggle to get a reason why and then you try your luck. Their is another thing they ask that is the way to create ones own checked and unchecked exception. One can throw checked exception using throw new Exception() and unchecked exception using throw new RuntimeException(). Yes simple but to that person who generally uses unchecked exception but my guess and experience tell me if I want to throw my own exception I would throw a checked exception why should I require to throw an unchecked exception may be someone can explain. Something which I wont be able to catch within the program is a scenario I haven't come across.

8) Object clone(): Here is another one of the crazy concept if one doesn't not know one is bound to flounder. If one doen't know this concept one generally takes String as a reference and derive conclusion out of it. Here lies the inherant danger of the concepts getting totally screwed up because of the implementations provided in string. When obj1=obj2 is done obj2 reference gets passed to obj1. To create a new copy clone() method of the object class has to be used. Then again clone() can only give shallow copy that is a copy of the object but the references inside the object is not created. To get a complete copy of an object i.e. to do deep copy one has to make the object serializable and write it to (Byte)OutputStream and read it back from there. This is probably the only way to create a total copy of an object including its references. My Oh My ....Somebody save the candidates if they did not know about cloning.

My friends I have a long list following. I was able to write this much only. I will come back and update with a few more as I start recalling the typical clichéd questions.

Dance

The Bible
Ecclesiastes
To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down,
and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
and a time to dance;

The question is Is their anything in your life which has given you pleasure which is unexplainable. The pleasure which gets you into trance. The pleasure which is in its purest of form. The pleasure untouched by the ways of the world. The pleasure which made you happy beyond your expectation. The pleasure which cannot be shared. The pleasure which can only be experienced. The pleasure which makes you feel closer to a higher entity. The pleasure which makes a believer out of an atheist. The pleasure which is actually not a pleasure but a state of your mind in which you have no boundaries. The pleasure which releases you from all the bonds. The pleasure which made you feel free in the actual sense. The pleasure which drove you to ecstasy and the ecstacy is what you have lost. The pleasure which you are always in the lookout for. The pleasure which has become a part of you. The pleasure which you had experienced years before. The pleasure which has now been lost in the world you are living. The pleasure which never fails to bring a smile when you think about it. The pleasure which made you calm and serene. Yes my friends such are the properties of the pleasure I am trying to define.

Actually their is no particular definition so I have tried to list out various properties of the thing which I am talking about. I hope that you are able to relate with the thing which I am trying to point towards. Looking at the things said above one (especially people like me who has just started into professional life)might find it difficult to relate it to any of the thing which one might be doing now . Probably if one will look hard enough into the past then a thing or two might come up. Dancing could be one of those thing as it is for me.
Dance is one of the purest form of expression of ones feeling. It can bring one joy which one is always in the look out for. Oh no Sir I am not talking about dancing just like that in party. I believe the state which I am trying to define is not achievable in those parties. It cannot be achieved by an hour or two of fun. It is not achievable in a party where you are dancing more so because of others than yourself. Rather I am talking about the dance which one enjoys for oneself. It is not driven to impress others nor it is driven to please others. The dance which I am referring to is an expression of freedom. This form of art lets one forget all the troubles in the world and gets one to a place which is unmatched by any in beauty . Have you ever tried dancing for 13-14 hours at a stretch. This state and form of dance was what I was able to achieve after 4-5 hours of continuous dance. This leads one to a state where ones body and the music becomes one in unision. The rhythm and beats is what drives ones movement. Then the music does not remain something which is played on a speaker rather it becomes a way to communicate to an unknown entity. The undercurrent of music then starts flowing through ones body and gets embedded in ones soul. Then even when the music stops one keeps on shaking oneself with the beat which is being emanated from one body. Now one might question that after such long hours of shaking ones body doesn't one gets tired. I say this is what is one of the effects of achieving this state of ecstasy. Instead of getting tired one feels doubly energised. Each beat of music then becomes a source of abundant energy. Such can be the power of the bodily movement called the dance. It has been rightly said by Martha Graham that "Dance is the hidden language of the soul". The artform which can be so passionate, intense and meaningful that it engulfs one with its beauty.

As I said before that their can be other things which actually effect you to get into a state of complete joy. Be whatever it may be, never be hesitant to enjoy it over an over again. Cause then may come the times when one has to regret of not doing that enough. So if it is dancing then let your hair down jive a little and enjoy it to the fullest

Criminal Minds...

Of late I have started to become a big fan of this serial. This crime thriller is very different from others as it tries to concentrate on the criminal rather than the crime. The plots are generally well written and the psycho analysis and profiling of the unsub revealing the insides of the mind which have committed the crime keeps one interested to the last. But the thing which I like most is that the episode starts with a an idiom setting up the context of the whole episode and ends with and idiom summarizing the episode or summarizing the lessons to be learnt from it(be it moral or any other virtue). What I will do is to try and list out all those idioms from each and every episode. A long drawn process but I think it is worth the effort. It has been able to have an influence on my mind and hoping it may have an effect on you to...So keep track of this post as I am going to update it after every episode I see..

Episode 1.1:
Joseph Conrad said, "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."

Emerson said, "All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle."

Winston Churchill said "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see."

Nietzsche once said, "When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you."

Episode 1.2:
Faulkner once said, "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."

Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Episode 1.3:
Samuel Johnson wrote, "Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble."

Episode 1.4:
French poet Jacques Rigaut said, "Don't forget that I cannot see myself. My role is limited to being the one who looks in the mirror."

Rose Kennedy once said, "Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them."

Episode 1.5:
Euripides said, "When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him."

Euripides said, "When love is in excess it brings a man no honor nor worthiness."

Episode 1.6:
Nietzsche wrote, "The irrationality of a thing is not an argument against its existence, rather a condition of it."

Shakespeare wrote, "Nothing is so common as the wish to be remarkable."

Episode 1.7:
Gideon: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Episode 1.8:
Hemingway wrote, "There is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else.”

Carl Jung said, "The healthy man does not torture others. Generally, it is the tortured who turn into torturers.”

Episode 1.9:
Robert Oxton Bolt once wrote, "A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind."

Albert Einstein said, "The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?"

Episode 1.10:
Eugene Ionesco said, "Ideology separates us. Dreams and anguish bring us together."

Sir Peter Ustinov said, "Unfortunately, a super abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares."

Episode 1.11:
Harriet Beecher Stowe once said "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

Episode 1.12:
"Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done," Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

"The poet, W. H. Auden wrote, 'Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table.'"

Episode 1.13:
Roman philosopher Lucretius said, "What is food to one, is to others bitter poison."

Confucius once said, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."

Episode 1.14:
Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. (Genesis 9:6)

Albert Pine said, "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."

Episode 1.15:
Norman Maclean wrote, "It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us."

Episode 1.16:
Nietzsche wrote, "The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe."

Episode 1.17:
Gandhi said, "Better to be violent if there's violence in our hearts than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence."

Gandhi also said, "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent."

W. H. Auden said, "Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness.

Episode 1.18:
Diane Arbus once said, "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know."

Bernard Shaw once said, "An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country."

Episode 1.19:
Anthony Brandt wrote, "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

Mexican proverb, “The house does not rest upon the ground, but upon a woman.”

Episode 1.20:
The author François de la Rochefoucauld wrote, "We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves."

The French philosopher Voltaire wrote, "There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts."

Episode 1.21:
Albert Einstein said, "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

George Orwell said, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

Episode1.22:
Writer Elbert Hubbard said, "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one."

Episode 2.1:
"The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind." French writer François de la Rochefoucauld.

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone." Rose Kennedy.

Episode 2.2:
Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said "The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children."

Episode 2.3:
Mark Twain wrote "Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it."

Philosopher Kahlil Gibran wrote "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

Episode 2.4:
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth," Oscar Wilde

"The basis of shame is not some personal mistake of ours, but that this humiliation is seen by everyone," Milan Kundera

Episode 2.5:
Helen Keller once said "Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

Episode 2.6:
Plato wrote "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."

Episode 2.7:
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden said: "It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it."
"The ultimate choice for a man, in as much as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate." Erich Fromm

Episode 2.8:
Robespierre wrote "Crime butchers innocence to secure a prize, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime."

Episode 2.9:
Elbert Hubbard once wrote "If men could only know each other, they would never either idolize or hate."

Mahatma Gandhi once said "All through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always."

Episode 2.10:
Dale Turner mused "Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future."

Ralph Waldo Emerson said "In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must, each day, surmount a fear."

Episode 2.11:
T.S. Eliot wrote "Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow."

T.S. Eliot wrote "Between the desire and the spasm, between the potency and the existence, between the essence and the descent, falls the shadow. This is the way the world ends."


Episode 2.12:
All secrets are deep. (sic) All secrets become dark. That's in the nature of secrets — writer Cory Doctorow.

Episode 2.13:
Aristotle said, "Evil brings men together."

Episode 2.14:
Condemned murderer Perry Smith said of his victims, the Clutter family "I didn't have anything against them and they never did anything wrong to me, the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who have to pay for it."

Episode 2.15:
There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20

Episode 2.16:
"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate." Socrates

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." Cicero

Episode 2.17:
"Our life is made by the death of others." Leonardo da Vinci

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." Thomas Paine

Episode 2.18:
Robert Kennedy once said "Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live."

Episode 2.19:
"The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul," John Calvin.

Gandhi said "Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever."

Episode 2.20:
An old Russian proverb reminds us, "There can be no good without evil."

"Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way," Leo Tolstoy.

Episode 2.21:
The British historian James Anthony Froude once said, "Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself."

Episode 2.22:
"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made of the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed." Herman Melville.

"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world— not even our troubles," Charles Chaplin.

Episode 2.23:
"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellect." Oscar Wilde.

For an addict, By an addict

This new post is relevant especially for those who are addicts. I hope that I would be able to connect to them as this post is by an addict for an addict. "Of the people" missed the bus because of my inability to put my thoughts into this category.
I would like to invite all the smokers, alcoholics or people suffering from any other form of drug addiction to read through and tell me whether I was able to throw some form of light on this particular topic or not.
Firstly I will have to confess that I am addicted to cigarettes. I started smoking in the summers of 2004 (3rd year of my college). Before I began smoking the opinion which I had was that drinking alcohol in controlled amount is classy and cool whereas smoking cigarettes is one of the most pathetic thing to do. I simply hated it. Moreover more often than not my folks at home use to suspect "me" of smoking than my friend who had actually smoked. But with me being financially independent for the first time during my summer internship in Bangalore I started to frequent pubs 3-4 times in a week. Hence came the pressure to support my affinity towards pubs and their rocking music and atmosphere with whatever little I was earning. Within a few visits I realized that one can stay in the pub as long as one is consuming something or the other from their menu. It doesn’t matter whether one is drinking the same first for an hour. What matters is you holding on to something or the other. So as to save money and to prolong my stay to enjoy the ambiance, a simple solution was clearly visible. The solution was to bring in a pack of cigarette ...drink less…smoke a lot…and enjoy the music as long the smoke last.

Like any other addict I started off small. Now you will say that a pack of smoke on a pub day is not small. But this routine was only applicable for two months. After that it was back to simpler life of my college. There is a reason why cigarettes, alcohol etc. cause addiction. Once a person has a taste of it then these items find their own reason to ensure their consumption. So back in my college after a small break their was no reason why I needed to smoke but as a mortal I got entangled in the web of temptation woven by the white and brown stick which was always eager to be consumed. Thus the reason was simple to keep myself awake in night and to convince myself that it was the right thing to do all I had to say that it is important for my studies to stay awake and what better way to do it than to smoke away your sleep.
I have come a long way from smoking alone in my hostel room to smoking 10-12 sticks a day. In my last year of college most of my friends and batch mates had started smoking. In the absence of three fourth of my batch mates who were doing 4 year course my cigarettes were able to make their own group of friends. Now I no more had to worry about not getting a smoke. If I did not have any, their were other suicidal cigarettes with my friends who were willing to be burnt alive by not only a single owner but multiple partners at the same. Slowly and steadily these sticks were able to increase their number because I think they prefer mass suicide. All their effort ,be it changing the brain mapping of their owner or making the owner borrow for their sake, goes into ensuring the success of mass suicide concept.

With college getting over and me finally getting the financial freedom these happy go lucky form of sticks were able to ensure that they had even more friends. So now from a smoke or two a day to 5-6 smoke a day in last year of my college I was smoking 12-14 cigarettes a day. With increase in frequency I started to feel its effect on my body. The effect was negative after all against any hope. 7-8 months have passed since then and I have to experiment with amazing results.

The experiments which I keep on doing on myself tests my will power. Sometimes I do not smoke for half a day. The results are amazing. I felt energetic and good about myself with better awareness of my surroundings. So if you want to know why I haven’t quit yet. The answer is simple its hard to quit. When I go back home whether for a week or two I don’t smoke. To me I feel the people around the addict have a bigger responsibility in making an addict quit his/her habit. Its a paradox though. On one hand one expects people who are closest to the addict to support unconditionally but more often than not it is very difficult for such a person. Such a person who has suffered because of his/her closest one addiction will break down at some point of other. So rather being supportive that person may turn accusative towards the addict. It’s a very delicate balance which has to be maintained between an addict and his/her loved ones and if the addiction gets prolonged over greater period of time then the support which may help an addict stand again is doomed to be withdrawn and leave the addict on his/her own fate. My friends these words are applicable to not only a smoker but alcoholics and all other form of addicts. This is not said by me just like that but from my own life experience.

Enough have been said by others responsibility but the first and foremost onus lies on the addict him(her)self. Admitting and accepting the problem is the first step. The second is the willingness to solve the problem. I know its very hard for an addict to do so , thus the requirement for the proper support system. I also feel that the health warnings can never restrict an addict. I can go to the extent and say its always the good which an addict feel about him(her)self can only help in quitting and never these doctors advice. These kind of threats can only work with a newbie but not with a person who have been addicted to a habit for a long time.Sleeping is the best way to quit an addiction and in absence of time it gets even harder to find out a way and rectify oneself. It’s a vicious circle which takes a very hard grip on an addict and its not easy to break free from it. But one day, with each small step it is achievable. I believe that and please you also believe so.

All I want to say is that “O my fellow addicts try quitting for a day and sleep the whole day. The energy and happiness experienced is comparable to none. Do it once, do it again and I know one day I will be able to free myself from this addiction and you will be able to do the same”.

Victoria Boland

One hears Shania Twain, one hears Celene Dion, Tina Turner, Patsy Cline , Buddy Holly, Bruce Springsteen, Mike Jagger, Cher...the list may go on and on... People belonging to my psyche would devour any kind of good music. The side effect being the list of artists and songs of my liking has become infinite...Then I came across Victoria Boland and I realize that I really dont have to remember any of them but her.. With such a strong and versatile voice she is able to justice to all these singers and more at the same time. I am no critique to pass judgement on her performances but I know what I am now. I am a big fan of hers and I would leave you all to see and hear her and decide on your own. http://www.victoriaboland.com/ can be a good place to start your journey and I am convinced that at the end of it you will be fully satisfied.

Who are Good (Blog) Writers...

I don't know why am I writing this but all I can reason out is that I have nothing to do on this beautiful weekend in Bangalore.
Their use to be a time when I was able to write from the heart. If I look back at my previous posts I find them to be lacking in fluency. Their seems to be a lack of flow exposing my limited knowledge of english language. Often when I write I struggle to express myself due to lack of words. Ultimately it gets boiled down to random thougths haphazardly condensed in a single post. My free time made me ponder over the question who are good blog writers. Who are able to web up an engrossing story. Who are able to keep the readers attention to the very last word.
Generally the argument for good writing skills falls in favour of those who have great command over their language. But I would ike to differ.
The opinion which I have is that anyone is able to write a good enough blog depending upon that person's emotional attachment to the subject. So its rather the strength of ones feeling than mastery of a particular language which determines the degree of so called "goodness" of ones blog. This has lead me to the conclusion that these emotions and intensity is where I am lacking at the moment. Sometimes I feel that I have lost not only my intensity and emotions but along with that my ability to dream. Dreams which makes one achieve anything this world. Dreams which keeps one alive and kicking.
Investigating furthur I found out that to have an opinion about anything in life one needs to have focus and a purpose to strive for. The presence of a purpose makes all other aspects and pieces to fall in place. This presence ensures that one enjoys and cherish other aspects of life. Its like a chain reaction. Its like an experience person trying to determine the time of his life which were the happiest and finding out it was those time when he was actually struggling towards a goal were the most satisfying.
Like when I was preparing for JEE I had a purpose. It was during those times I was living life to the fullest whether it was talking and chilling out with friends or watching television or celebrating festival. I use to cherish them all within the tight schedule I had.
But my baptism into the corporate world has sapped all my zeal towards life. I don't know whether it has happened to anyone else but i would like to believe I am not the only one. Since the passion is no more there ,its absence has neutralized any happiness which was obtained by the opinions I had. In the end I have reached a state in which I am excited about almost nothing. Probably thats why I envy those who are able to enjoy their work. Its not that I dont enjoy the technical aspects of work rather its motonous nature has put me off big time.
In the end my simple understanding makes me believe that the purpose and focus in ones life is what drives one to excel in anything one does. Whether its writing a simple blog ...or to excel in sports...In simple words...world then becomes a place for limitless opportunity

LOST in a CONCERT

Bangalore is a city which more often than not gets to host some kind of international concert (This way this city is far better than Delhi and just behind Mumbai). This city is blessed with a rock culture groomed over a long period. For rock lovers this a place to be for the probability of seeing their demi-GODS is very high.
In a sense Bangalore has given me a double treat. First with Deep Purple and then with Iron Maiden. Unfortunately I hardly listen to either of them. But the very fact that an international band was performing was too good to be true ,thus not going as a choice was ruled out long before. The concert brings in the pressure of familiarizing oneself with the songs so that one doesn't stand there as a fool. A whole week was spend by my friend for its preparation. But I think I belong to a different breed. My abnormality doesn't make me feel like listening to the band which I am going to listen. Rather its after the concert I feel like listening to them . When everything is over. When I could have done without listening to those bands as before. But thats the way I am.

Any ways both the concert were great treats. Deep Purple were great in its presence. Great in visibility . Visibility is important because of my short height, in a standing concert ,I could hardly see anything. But in my first concert I ensured to be in queue hours before along with a few bottles of beer inside my system. This in turn ensured my good mood and an advantage view point in the front. However unknown were the songs my spirits did not die down. In concerts of unfamiliar bands more often than not one just try mime the lyrics of the song being played so as to look like belonging to the group. And I had no qualms in doing just that. The recipe is simple ,have alcohol in your system and you can belong to any group and mimic anyone. Sky is the limit indeed.

Iron Maiden concert was a little different. I worked till 7 in the morning to ensure that I did not get disturbed during the concert. With a few hours of sleep ,the inevitable happened ,I was not able to wake up on time to ensure my presence in the concert venue hours before. Adding to my woes was the fact that I was now going to an unfamiliar bands concert with no alcohol inside my system. Anyways along with my friend I managed to get there by 4pm (the gate opened at 3). In between Bangalore summer has gone crazy. The day are too hot to stand for hours in it and fortunately we managed to get ourself in shade inside the venue. Inside one thing I realized that if one is going to any concert its better to take the costliest ticket and be in the front rather than being infinitely away from the stage to save a few bucks. However the bands which started the show were so bad that I do not regret being unable to listen to them from the front. The reason for poor permonce of FTN(Campus Rock Idol Winner) and Lauren Harris were multiple. Their unfamiliarity was compounded by the unfamiliar songs they were playing along with a 3rd rate audio set up. So all these thing summed up to give a crap. The third starting band Parikrama were at their normal self. In between one of the crazy guys jumped over the barricade between 900ticket guys and 1500 ticket guys and ran to the top of speaker system. Like a dude he smoked a ciggarate on the top and later on ran from the authorities.
Finally with the arrival of Iron Maiden and after suffering for 3 whole songs of pathetic music system the barricade got broken and we ran to the front. After that things started to look up. We were able to listen and see maiden and finally able to do something for which we had come i.e. enjoy. Maidens prop and stage presence are simply too great to be missed. Not only that they started to play few of their classics like Number of beast,Fear of the dark,Run to the hills,Hallowed be thy name. What more could I have asked for, almost front row, songs in which in I did not had to pretend that I know them,great atmosphere, overall an amazing environment. This show taught me that I do not need to have alcoholic support to enjoy rock. The reason for not listening to Maiden was that it was neither on the heavy side nor on the lighter side. I did not know where to put them But their live performance was simply too appealing to ignore them anymore. Later going through their lyrics I found out that their songs have been written with such poetic zeal and meaning that they form a good enough reason to listen to them over and over again. Every good thing comes with a catch and after the show was over I had to walk almost 8 km to get an auto but who cares when in Maiden's word "I could tell my kids :
You think you are cool ,what the hell ,did you ever hear Maiden Live"

My True Identity

Recently one of my flatmate/batchmate "Atish" forwarded a mail to the new joinees of my company. Although the mail was suppose to be humorous but if one looks back and think over it the saddest truth of my life shouts straight into my ear . The mail goes like this .....


Profile of a Software Engineer(Orkut)...Do read. You have to read the part highlighted in the end ?.its our story:
About me : I think I am changing the world, but I am not. I think I am contributing to the Indian economy, but I guess I am not. I think I love my work, but I do not. I think I hate all people who made me earn my engineering degree, and I do. I think I am living, but and most importantly, I am LOOKING for someone!! Ok...I won't be funny anymore. I am a cool guy with a zeal to enjoy life (If you know me--> "Just stop
laughing!!")
Relationship status : what?
Birthday : The day my PL is about to fire me
Age : 10111
Here for: web browsing in company hours
Children : can't be (hey, don't get me wrong here!!)
Ethnicity : Programmer
Languages I speak : Java, C/C++, 010101110101
Religion: I get holidays on all religious festivals, so I love all religions.
Political view : the guy sitting beside me is a pig!!
Humor : weekly
Fashion: Ask my company HR. Btw, I like jeans, t-shirt and a cross-bag.
Smoking: The second greatest pleasure on the earth
Drinking: The first is this.
Pets: Yeah, my PL looks like a dog.
Living: Cummon, this is a stupid one. How can this be asked to a software engineer? Believe me, I am living!!
Hometown : My company (Oh God! Please bring my appraiser to this page)
Webpage: http://naukri.com , http://jobsahead.com
Passions: searching for the cheapest pub around, cursing my company, looking for other company, remembering my good old college days, worrying about my future
Sports: quake, CS (Counter Strike), computer chess
Activities: Are you crazy?
Books: "How to lose weight in 20 days?", "How to live a happy life?", "101 ways to attract a girl", "Java Unleashed", "C++ at your footsteps", Others censored
Music: Metallica, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, ACDC, and anything depressing
Tv shows : can't afford one
Cuisines : Bread Butter, Maggi, anything available within 200 metres of home

Yeah the truth , a joke ...but they say truth is always bitter. And I am living a life which has no meaning so in a sense I have simply lost in my so called life. Can I ever be happy and enjoy what I am doing is the question which pops up every time to irritate me cause it knows I will never be able to find an answer to that.

Great Chutiyapa Day

15 August,2006: The day when India celebrated independence I had one of the greatest chutiyapa day of freedom. Don't get me wrong , I am one among millions to whom this independence came as an inheritance and its hard for me to imagine times under foreign rule. Still I may dare to promise to my motherland that whatever limited talent has been bestowed upon me I'll try to live an honest living and will do something or contribute in making the world a better place o live in.

Anyways the day started in Sethiya's home(one of my frenz.. from IIT). Previous evening was a day of work as we had balloons and papers with which we made his home themed on I-Day. Going forward we woke around 8 and got ready by 9 but the hard work of previous day took a toll on us and we went back into hibernation for 4 more hrs so finally we got ready by 12 pm . Then we started with the photo session and finally instead of unfurling a flag we celebrated I-Day with a cake and national anthem. Thereafter came the lunch in Chung-Wah Jayanagar. But the food gave us the lesson to never go back . Anyways we had an encounter with "hijras" which was handled by sethiya's bro cause he was with a girl :d. One positive of not haven a GF :d. That was it with sethiya and I went back to my home.
My home sweet home for the first time looked lively with 7 people in there including myself. Atish ,Naman my flat mates were there , Pangti has started living with us till he take possession of his own house , Siddartha(popularly Dalla ) came for the vodka, and we had visitors like Pushyant and Suhas . We all belong to the same IIT. We had another session of sleep till 5-6 pm and then went the 3 musketeers (Atish ,Dalla n myself) in hunt for a TV stand. A shop we entered had stands wich was worth more than our tv. In another shop Atish read the price tab of a beautiful dining table as 6000 later he realized that he had missed one of the zeros.
So we went back to our sweet shelter and there was great Smirnoff . Lovely vodka indeed. And we all had a a drink or two or more( i.e. Pushyant, Dalla n myself). Now we were totally able to appreciate the beauty of Marilyn Monroe in our dim lighted house .
We then strolled towards the juice shop where supposedly Suhas n Pangti two non-drinkers were suppose to have something. Instead became a place for dinner/ appetizer for all of us. Now came the craving for a sweet and what better place that Corner House. Then we took our drunk Dandi march (no offense to Gandhi , I am one of his greatest fan) towards corner house where we had our death by chocolate and so on....
Now was the time to return and thus started the non stop chutiyapa show after we returned to our house. 5 beds and 7 people we had and we all were in our drawing room and their were stories of chutiyapa flying around at random. If their was Pushyant with his great drunk stories of craziness , so was there Naman with great stories of our IIT 1st year life , stories of saini,chauhan,sukha,mantri,majji,funki,akka,shaila,chaubey,bhatinda,dingra,kauwa. Al came one after another and it story turned out to be so hilarious that our stomach started aching. Or probably one can call it "The Vodka Effect"." The Vodka Effect" was at its prime when all of us decided that we will sleep on terrace. And anyone who has been in bangalore can call us crazy for doing that without anything warm to cover ourselves with. But once an idea is proposed all is done and achievable in a crazy chutiyapa atmosphere. And there we were under the skies. Since Pangti backed out we were six and 5 bed. It was so cold that all six of us could have easily got inside 2 beds. Then we carried on with our chutiyapa session...with our creative thought trying to find out why mosquitoes do bhinn bhinn in our ears or why the bats have to fly at night ,,,or why the clouds are moving...or the fear of pushyant that a coconut will fall on him....
Slowly and steadily we dozed of sticking together in the cold...
And their came the end of the Great Chutiyapa Session

Mastery In Nothingness

Could have carried on with the more and more self revealing titles...But the fact a title should only summarize instead of revealing the whole story...So I thought I am bound by this rule...As the title suggest "Bangalore Oh Dear Bangalore" has polished and refined my capability of doing nothing. A weekend passed by and I did nothing..So what do I do is the question I ask myself...And the only positive answer which come along "Read Novels". I have read plenty of novels actually 7 (I only remember 5 of them)..Lance Armstrongs autobiography,Taslima Nasreen's Lajja, How Opel Mehta got got kissed and had a life, Ken Follet's Whiteout, Robin Sharma's The Monk who sold hi Ferrari, Life of Pi. Apart from the books and wasting my time in front of tv or net. Their is nothing much I do. If its weekday I wait for the weekend and if it is weekend the wait for the weekday is on..This vicious loop has gripped me with it tentacles with all its might and I have no means to get out of it. So the question what should be done...What should I do....Oh why am I so shy...Its hard to make new friends and harder to do something meaningful with my life....In between I sometimes dare to venture out alone . The probability of this happening is very rare...Cause no matter where you want to go ....Surfing all alone is more boring than being alone and doing nothing in my house..Oh I just wish I could do something..

ABYSS

Still alive in Bangalore. Not an over exaggerated concept but with each passing day I am realizing that this is slowly becoming the weird fact of my life. With only a few friends ,bangalore traffic and a lot and lots of idle time has not been able to help make the situation better. Having used to the concept of enjoying each and every moment in IIT, the graveyard like silence of bangalore is deafining. I live in a great locality having great houses but where the hell are the people. The only voices are ours (me n 3 of my frens living together in a 3bhk) echoing day in and day out. Oh and the time is like the biggest enemy of mine. The only hope was to have my work stand out as a shining armor but unfortunately my great expectation from this IT industry turned out to be too disappointing. The only hope I have is that I am an exception.

One thought which keeps on recurring is that Bangalore and its people are same as those of the city described by Camu in "The Plague". Depressing but each day I hope I am wrong. The formidable opponent to these thoughts were the positives created by Robin Sharma's The Monk who sold His Ferrari. But the aperture is getting smaller day by day..

Astalavista
Rohan
A soul on an island but not a drop of water to drink

My First

I have a long startup time but as they say better late than never...Of Course after completing my full quota of stay in IIT Delhi of 5 years. The tired bones required something refreshing. And thus I came to Bangalore to join "QWEST" . Well you guessed it right , it is a software firm. Hoping that a new city would rejuvinate the long dead desire to compete and be on the top. But the rigors of establishing oneself in a new city was more harassing that I ever imagined. Took a whole month to get a place to stay. Wish I could say to the LandLords that Hey I know I am a bachelor but still just want a roof under my head. So give me the house and get off my nerves. Wished I could have been no more dependent on others to provide me with the so called "10 months deposit" . Wished someone can someday do something about this crazy notion.
Nevertheless I am battling on with the series of unfortunate incidents which gets interrupted time to time with a great 2-3 hrs of booze in styx. I now happen to understand why I need the loud metal noise and the booze. It is simply to purify myself from this crazy city which keeps on proving that my talents (if any) is of no use...

See you later wih the next episode...