fighting with swords in both hands

implementing a revamp of existing feature. there are multitude of technologies involved. the mockup gui itself had taken me a week to put together. actual changes involve not only gui level changes and corresponding backed enhancements, but it's a full-fledged change requiring revamping of around 10% of the whole software, and bringing multiple screens together via ajax.

previously there used to be different pages for each of the functionality, and the pages were served on per-request basis. the original architecture, as a result was simpler and based onsuch individual-page-load mechanism.

introduction of ajax changes whole picture. now I need to order new page via ajax on-click of a button from one screen (mapped to one table cell) and then the response of the ajax call needs to go to a lower div in another table cell.

it doesn't stop there, the dynamics in those divs and table cells will have impact on other cells and divs!

these complex dynamics are making me sweat. especially because the deadline in at most a month from now, if not earlier. whatever way I think of, to implement this, gives rise to self-doubt, with a fear that it might all fail like a house of cards, because I wasn't aware about some minor thing/glitch in the technologies, due to my inexperience in these techs and domains.

I m feeling like I have taken a bite larger than what I can chew. the feeling is making me nervous.

on the personal front, the month of july has its own annual perils like insurance payments and tax returns submission. to add to the mayhem, my cousines' are getting married in this same month, and post-graduation classes on weekends are starting in july itself!

I hope I wont die while standing true on all these fronts simultaneously.

Nightmare at Sudhagad

My knees are sour. Toes are black and blue, and wont let me even touch them. Feet are snow-white and very rough. Hands and fingers are mercilessly scratched, cut, pierced and torn by thorns, so much so that I can't even drive a car or massage my head. Back has taken aback due to the amount of stress of driving as well as climbing; and carrying the camera bag all the time. In short, I am Fucked Up Beyond All Repair.

From starting the journey, till I completed my half descent, everything was fine, apart from some minor hiccups and frustrations. The plan was running as per schedule. And then couple of exotic birds which I spotted, lured me into the dense jungle. I hadn't carried my binocular, so I chased them for couple of minutes and then suddenly realised that I had lost my way, and that there was no way down from there. It was a dense jungle, and despite trying different things like getting down through a running waterfall, to climbing up again to find a route, to crawling under the thorny and strong twigs, to running astray for locating the way, to shouting out for help, and to abusing the clouds; I couldn't find my way for a full one hour. I was in such a location where
retreat was hardly possible since I had committed myself to the route quite some time ago, sun was setting and black thunder clouds were reducing whatever visibility that was left. More importantly, going by the density of the jungle and proliferation of strong intertwining of the shrubs, it was pretty clear no one ever came there and no one ever will. That was the thought that absolutely jolted me. I had to struggle even to find a place to put my next step, staying there was out of question. Finally through some intense and continuous pep-talk and frantic application of brute-force to force my way through the jungle, I could manage out. But the physical and more importantly mental scars of the nightmare are there to stay with me for sometime now. It was a horrendous experience and I still can't believe my luck that I never
stepped on a single venomous snake during the final half an hour ordeal while brute-forcing my way through the dense nets of shrubs without any chance of knowing what might be underneath or how deep the ground is below that net.

Sometime this week, I am going to write these events and the ghastly feelings down. There is a learning from this whole saga - think twice before venturing into the unknown.

EDIT: And now, a day after the trek, and after I wrote about it, I come to know that what I trekked was actually SARASGAD and not Sudhagad! What a revelation! जाना था सुधागड, पोहोच गये सारसगड, समझ गये ना?

भन्नाट रानवारा

सध्या पुण्यात पडत असलेल्या संततधार पावसामुळं अचानक आज "भन्नाट रानवारा" गाणं आठवलं. इंटरनेटवर शोधलं आणि ऐकल्यानंतर ते खूप भावून गेलं.

"भन्नाट रानवारा, मस्तीत शीळ घाली .... मस्तीत शीळ घाली
रानच्या पाखरांची, रानात भेट झाली

एकाच रानामंदी, वाढलो एका ठाई ....
एकाच रानामंदी, वाढलो एका ठाई ...
पूरान्या वळखीला ज्वानीची नवलाई ...
मनीची खूणगाठ SSSSSS ...
मनीची खूणगाठ, लगीनगाठ झाली ... लगीनगाठ झाली
रानच्या पाखरांची, रानात भेट झाली"

किती सुंदर शब्द आणि तरीही किती साधे. आणि त्यातल्या त्यात ती "पूरान्या वळखीला ज्वानीची नवलाई" ओळ. संदर्भ वयात येण्याशी असला तरीही त्यात कसलीही अश्लीलता नाही, बीभत्सता नाही किंवा भडकपणा नाही. फक्त सहजसुंदर शब्द आणि त्यातून व्यक्त केलेली प्रांजळ भावना.

Life in IT: Dealing with Pigs

As you grow old in a corporate, and start coming across various types of people, you start realising how ungrateful, arrogant and rude people can become for their own personal gain. To the extent of not even valuing common courtesy norms of person to person communication. It's so difficult to work with these kinds of people. However you try to keep the conversation civil and decent, they will keep being rude and arrogant, fishing for your 'response' which will allow them to stoop even low. All the while, comfortably uncognisant of the help they received. Lack of tact. Lack of decency. Lack of courtesy. Absolute lack of gratefulness.

They say you shouldn't fight with pigs, because you get dirty and pigs love it. But then you can't help but wonder, in such situations, if developing a thicker skin is the only way to cope up with these types of idiots.

Such situations also highlight the rarity of the kind of people you hold close to you.

Play Misty For Me

Another Clint Eastwood starrer. Another nice thriller without unnecessary crap. Apart from being fine entertainment, it spooked me big time about the marriage stuff.

The only thing that surprised me about this movie was the background music direction - which was terribly out of place. When a character is assassinating another character, the music is supposed to be of rising pitch and intensity; and intemittent - to jolt the viewer at the time of actual action. Here, they play happy-happy guitar and piano music which actually uplifts the mood rather than making the atmosphere tense.

It felt so out of place even on the subconcious level, that I suddenly came out of the story and action, to hear the music and wonder why on earth they were playing merry-time music during tense thrilling action. It partially dampened the thrill during the climax.

Other than that though, another fine Clint Eastwood movie. I am becoming a fan of this guy.

The Eiger Sanctions

Just watched - The Eiger Sanctions; featuring Clint Eastwood. A mainstream movie, about hardcore mountaineering, that was made without any exaggerations. Fantastic movie. Especially considering it was made in early 70's.

I have been reading Eiger Dreams by John Krakaur recently, and due to the way Krakaur dramatically talks about the north face of the mountain, I absolutely enjoyed the filming of the climb and Eiger mountain footage from the movie. They have shown the technicalities involving an intense climb, really well and without any bullshit. Besides, some of the initial rock climbs were also filmed realistically.

It's a must watch for any fellow interested in climbing and mountaineering.

Linux is cool, baby

Everytime I switch my office desktop from Linux to windows7 for sorting out mails and sometimes for booking conference rooms, I cant's help but notice how painful it all gets.

Right from the agonizing startup time, which is upwards of few minutes, to the audible humming of processor fan. Such a blatant indicator of how cool linux runs in comparison with windows. I never ever hear the noisy processor fan when I am working on linux. Linux is cool even in this regard too! ;)