Scraps Stuffs - Random musings from apun ka desh

I came across a very nice email that's been floating around for some time now...

Vivek Pradhan wasn't a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the First Class air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi Express couldn't cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin guy, it was the savings in time. A PM had so many things to do! He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

"Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car. "You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized." 'Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a detailed look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a Railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.
"You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside." Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning not anger. "It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it." For a moment he was
tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. "It is complex, very complex." "It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid," came the reply. This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone. "Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in." "Hard work!" "Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office doesn't mean our brows
don't sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing." He had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point.

"Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database at a given time; concurrency, data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?" The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. "You design and code such things." "I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "But now I am the project manager,"
"Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now."
It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat. "Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I don't do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. And to tell you about the pressures! There is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday." Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realization. What he had said was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the
truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth. "My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't know what it is to be in the line of fire."

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek. "I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire," He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.
"There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolor at the top only 4 of us were alive." "You are a..."

"I am Subedar Sushant Singh from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job
to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety came last, always and every time. He was killed as he shielded that
soldier into the bunker. Every morning now as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire."
Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; a valor and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant Singh picked up his bags to alight. "It was nice meeting you sir." Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This was the hand that had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger and hoisted the tricolor. Suddenly as if by
impulse he stood at attention, and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.
It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS: The incident he narrates during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true life incident during the
Kargil war. Major Vikram Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and his various other acts of bravery he was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra - the nation's highest military award

The Hindu : Farewell sweet prince

Man!!! This ruined what's left of my day :-(

I remember Dilip Kumar Jha as the ever smiling young officer who was participating in the young officers commando course at the MLI center in Belgaum, as shown in the TV series "Commando". For those who followed that series, it would be truly upsetting to know that this young man is no more. For me its like a blow to the gut. The same feeling I felt when I learnt of Capt. Vikram Batra who died in Kargil.

It pains me no end to see young lives full of potential being snuffed out by two bit jihadi scum. It fills me with anger to see that my government cannot end this menace once and for all. Its truly a pity that some of the people that these brave men are protecting with their lives are these two bit politicians.

May you rest in peace, Dilip Kumar Jha.

The Hindu : Front Page : Why was the terror intelligence withheld?

This article by Praveen Swami alleges that Indian intelligence is not getting any actionable intelligence on terrorists and their related activities from the US Intelligence agencies. This allegation is very credible and the greatest mistake that the NDA government seems to have done is to put all their eggs into the American basket. And we haven't got much in return for all the help that we have provided.

I wonder if this kind of co-operation with the Americans is still going on.

The state of the roads in Bangalore is going from bad to worse. Today there was a huge traffic jam on Hosur road in the morning. Lucking I was on my bike and was able to avoid the worst of it. I can only sympathize with the drivers of four wheeled vehicles. They must have reached their destinations stressed out, angry and frustrated. No wonder road rage is becoming a problem in Bangalore.

Dharam Singh can't handle his own weight, how is he going to handle the government! His ministers keep making statement after statement, giving deadlines after deadlines for completing work on filling potholes (note that this is not laying a new tarmac which is essential, just filling potholes). Unfortunately, nothing happens. This government is turning out to be as bad as the J. H. Patel one which was famous for inaction. Not that this is a big surprise, since the JD (S) is part of this government.

A pipeline through Pakistan

The biggest problem that I see in this hare-brained scheme is that Pakistan earns free money every year. Money that will be spent in attacking India by any means possible. Talk about shooting your own foot! :-(

The majority of the truth

Ok, one article from Ashwin Mahesh that I actually agree with. I would certainly welcome more news and reporting on agriculture from our newspapers, except that our journalists will have another area in which to show their ignorance and incompetence :-(

I agree with the fact that not enough testing has been done on genetically modified crops to make a clear statement that they are safe to use. But as is usually the case in India, rules and regulations are flouted with disdain. These GM crops like cotton should have not been widely available (if what is mentioned in the article is true) without extensive testing in controlled conditions.

But I disagree with the fact the a leftist government or leftist support at the centre is the answer. Indian commies have been, remain and will always be bereft of ideas. All they have are sloganeering skills and their slogans are increasingly getting irrelevant in today's world.

Finished reading yet another Dan Brown novel over the weekend. Deception Point is probably his weakest book. The plot if not as interesting as his those in his over books. But its still a good read. I can't seem to put his books down, but this one was easier to.

The BJP seems tired

That's the impression I get too. The BJP looks like a headless chicken, so shell shocked do they seem over the results of the last general elections. They certainly haven't got their act together yet. And the leadership looks tired and jaded. Time to ABV, LKA et al to retire and let the young guns take over.

Primer: The world's highest battlefield

It would indeed be a blunder of monumental proportions if we abandoned Siachen. In fact to refer it to as the battle for the Siachen glacier is incorrect as we already have it, it should correctly be referred to as the battle for Saltoro ridge.

One only needs to think of what would happen if Pakistan comes in and grabs strategic positions on the glacier if India abandons it. And to think that the Pakistanis will not even after the perfidy of Kargil would make one the biggest idiot in India!

The question is what does India gain by being on the glacier. One only needs to look at the map to find that out.

Idiots (and peaceniks, they are all the same) like Amberish K Diwanji don't realize what they are proposing.

Finished reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress over the weekend. Pretty interesting and a racy read, but not as good as The Da Vinci Code. The book concentrated on one part of what makes NSA so formidable. Code breaking using massive brute force. What was not talked about was code breaking using cryptanalysis which is potentially even more useful in breaking most codes.

From reading both these books a pattern of his characters appears. The female protagonist will be beautiful and very intelligent with lots of clout in her profession. The male protagonist will be a very good professor of some liberal art subject. The evil characters do whatever they are doing because of their deep faith in their country or religion. It makes for an interesting read however, so no complains although I feel his characters lack depth.

Another mark of his books are the length of the chapters. Very small.

Today I bought Angels & Demons by Dan Brown, so now I have all four books. Once I'm through reading this one and Deception Point I'm going to decide which one is the best.