shahharshal.com

Watched Taare Zameen Par yesterday. I could not stop myself writing a review for the film after watching it. Simply fabulous work by Aamir. He again proved that he is an actor, director and more importantly a human being destined to make a difference.

I almost like everything in the movie. The concept to begin with was awesome. The acting, direction, photography, music everything was truly phenomenal.

It also made me happy to think that India is changing and changing for good. More and more people are not heading out for all the good causes. India needs a lot more of this and as fast as possible.

The scene in the movie where aamir asks Ishaan’s dad to read in chinese and again the scene where his dad comes to him to tell him that Ishaan’s mom read everything about the disease on the internet were really touching.

With increasingly competitive world that we live in today, the need of an hour is to realize the importance of creativity and make all attempts to nurture it. It is just creativity and innovation which will help any developing nation like India to make a mark in the world and not the flowing dollars. Of course flowing dollars will help, however we should not forget that in doing so if we just forget the basics, we will soon face talent shortage like many other nations today.

For e.g. look at the science and commerce graduates today. The number of such graduates is decreasing significantly. Also the number of graduates doing work which suites their profile lacks more significantly.

Look at the quality of overall education. It is degrading day by day in lack of good teachers. Schools have started becoming an institution of making money leading to students not getting base knowledge and moral values which are much more important than making money.

We are now in a race of making money and losing moral. Let us all think, act and do something to change this so that the rich India and Indian culture remains intact.

-H

I was in the US for a project. I had a chance to visit a small park at Sunnyvale during my visit there. While I was sitting with my friend’s 2 year old, there were a lot of other kids enjoying the bright sunny morning. 

There was this small girl of around 2 yrs sitting next to us. The girl was there with his grand-pa. She was enjoying playing in the sand. She had a small kit and she was playing with sand and water making things. 

After a while, her mom, came to pick her up. She was in the parking lot The girl was overjoyed. She was preparing something out of sand. Till then I did not know what was she making. However after a while she herself told me (I was just sitting near to her) that she was preparing a cake for her mom. She was so happy to see her mom here now that her cake was ready. She also had a small stick as candle for her to blow. 

Then came her hurried mom. She came running at her child. I was happy to see, that her mom also so anxious to meet her daughter. However soon I realized that the anxiety is for something else. For the mom, the car was parked in a non-parking zone and she was very worried for the car to be toed away.

She came running at the kid, who was so eager to tell her mom that she made her a b’day cake. The mom, listened to her, quickly, got some smile to please the kid. The kid then asked her mom, to blow and candle and eat the cake and what not. However the mom had the car totally controlling her mind and so she quickly spilled off the mud, got the kid clean and ran away.

The story ends here. I am not writing any conclusions. This is left to everyone’s interpretation.

Extracts from one of the internet literature

CIOs like to grouse about the paltry pickings of job candidates. But experts say instead of grumbling about it, CIOs should go back to school and help beef up the labor pool.

“While CIOs like to complain about the quality of candidates they’ve been getting, they’re not actually involved in shaping the candidates,” said Samuel Bright, an analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc.

Enrollment in computer science programs is waning — down as much as 70% in recent years, according to reports. At the same time, colleges and universities struggle to keep their curricula on par with changes in business.

“CIOs have expressed optimism about the future of the IT career, but they don’t necessarily hire at the entry level,” Bright said. “And those that do complain about the quality of the candidates they’ve been getting.”

Bright said computer science programs often struggle to align with the needs of IT organizations because they focus too much on programming. They also teach students about tools that are obsolete by the time they graduate. Bright said schools need to teach students how to work with multi-platform environments. Often they don’t teach key business skills that IT organizations are seeking, such as project management and negotiation.

In a research survey of 281 IT decision makers, Forrester found that most IT leaders do very little to reach out to local universities. Job fairs were the most common form of engagement between schools and IT organizations, with 57% of large IT organizations (500 or more IT employees) and 36% of small IT organizations participating. Job fairs are an effective recruiting tool, but if quality candidates aren’t graduating from the programs, these fairs do CIOs little good.

The next most common type of engagement between schools and IT organizations was service on a university advisory board, with 28% of large companies and 19% of smaller companies participating. Lecturing in the classroom, sponsoring scholarships, serving on curriculum review committees and donations of technology were all relatively rare.

Real world experience

“One of the CIOs I spoke with actually comes into a local university to lecture,” Bright said. “After he was done lecturing a professor said, ‘We don’t have to do two chapters because of what you just said about the challenges of service-oriented architecture. You covered what I would cover in two chapters with what you provided in real world examples.’

Hello World! I am Shashank. I am 1.5 years of age. I am born on 20^th August 2005. This is my first blog. I would like to thank to my pappa for typing this blog for me and posting this on the internet. I am small na… so I cannot type … but the words and ideas are my own…. so read this blog ok… else I will not speak to you when I meet you next…..

Oh… do you want to see me… Here I am little one…. Just entering the world…You know I was born in a hospital and there were a lot of people in white dresses around me….who made me cry when I was born… They were pinching some needles in me and I use to cry a lot… They were not good people. All people around me… use to call them nurses…But yes, they also use to clean me and wash me up when I felt untidy.

Then mummy pappa brought me to my grand-ma’s home…It was a nice place. My mummy and masi told me that the place was called vashi and this was part of Mumbai. I really use to enjoy the time when my grand-pa use to drive me out in some closed home (car) which had real cold air (air condition)… I use to simply love that cold air since it was hot in the home there. And I remember we use to go to some place where there were a lots of people and lots of noise (Center One shopping mall, Vashi)…but the good part was that the cold air was still there and that was enough for my napJ

After some 5-6 months I moved out of vashi and went to other grand-ma’s place. This time they call it Vadodara (Baroda). Here also there were a lots of people and lots of new things that I saw… I could not understand how big is this world since every day I use to see something new and something interesting. Earlier I was always with someone and they were carrying me wherever they go.

After sometime I started realizing that I also have feet like people around me. So I started making a try to move them in different directions….to catch hold of the toys and some food around me… and uuu..lllaa…..llaaa…. I was successful in doing that… Do you want to see how… check it out…..

Days started passing by… I was learning a new thing every day. It is really fun growing. I remember when I first started speaking some word which I do not remember now but it was related to food.

And the next time I went to Vadodara, I had a nice time eating bobo (sweet) that my grand-ma make daily. I use to love that dish and use to really enjoy eating that.

Today I can speak mummy, pappa and also can explain things that I need. I can explain to my mom and dad that I like cars, I love milk and I like little babies too. I love watching famous Hindi number on our TV and half of my day is spent in our balcony playing with different toys and of course my favorite kitchen utensils. I know my eyes, nose, mouth, hands etc. Don’t you believe that…just watch this…My dad also has the proof.

Now that dad has agreed to write on my behalf I would try and keep this blog updated so that you can get to know whatever I do here. But only if I do not need to spend too much time. You know… I am too busy in my day to day toy playing and learning new things.

Je je (Jay Shree Krishna) to everybody. God Bless J

Note :- This message came to me as a e-mail forward. However I was touched with the message behind this mail and thought it could be a blog for a wider audience. Hence this blog

This is sure to make you shed tears.

My question to all of you is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a

question:

“When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is

done with perfection.Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?”

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. “I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realise true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child.”

Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, “Do you think they’ll let me play?”

Shay’s father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay’s father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much! The boy looked around for guidance and few boys nodded approval, why not? So he took matters into his own hands and said, “We’re losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.”

Shay struggled over to the team’s bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father’s joy at his son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was Obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible ’cause Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognising the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, “Shay, run to first! Run to first!”

Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second!” Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher’s intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman’s head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, “Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay”

Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, “Run to third!

Shay, run to third”

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, Shay, run home!”

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the “grand slam” and won the game for his team.

That day,” said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.”

Shay didn’t make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the eMail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you’re thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you’re probably sorting out the people on your address list that aren’for the appropriate ones to receive this type of message.

Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realise the natural order of things.”

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that opportunity, leaving it andmaking the world a little colder in the process? A wise man once said “every society is judged by how it treats it’s least fortunate amongst them”.

Dec 1, 2 – 2006. I was at a Java Conference No; it was neither in the US nor at Europe. Guess what, it was in India at amacha pune.

IndicThreads.com did a fantastic job of hosting a Java Conference for the population which today writes real java code for a lot of fortune 500 companies.

I was also impressed by the objective Harshad had out of the conference. He talked about the fact that although Indian IT industry is a strong force of lacks of IT professionals, we lag in developing world class products or very strong open source contribution. Its time the Indian IT industry and the developers to start taking this seriously and start innovating.

The two day sessions were fun. It included a lot of information, technology, frameworks and discussions. It was interesting to see people bashing and appraising every other technology very hour. If EJB 3.0 was a hit now, you might see someone really hitting it hard the next hour and pitching in for spring. The hour after that you find EJB 3.0 is back in the game… wow!

The session on the first day started with Raghu talking about “Integrating BPEL workflow and business rules”. This also showed Oracle’s SOA capabilities to some extent. Atul kahate explained Enterprise Java Security thereafter. Atul was really clear and simple in explaining basics of security. There was a surprise show by Janaki Ram from Microsoft following that. I must admit that Janaki did a good job of throwing enough light on the .NET 3.0 architecture and salient features in the 45 mins. allocated to him. The next session was from Ramesh. I admired ramesh’s frank thoughts about SOA and web 2.0. The stage was then taken over by Debu. Debu is a real fun to listen to and explained EJB 3.0’s power to the community. Peter demystified spring for us the next. He also showed the JTrac open source project he worked on which was among the top 100 downloads on sourgeforge. Following that there was again an interesting talk about “Apache Geronimo” server by Kishore. Finally the first day session was closed by Harshad showing the fancy power of Groovy and Grails.

The second day started with Hibernate Guru, Gavin talking about JBoss Seam framework and its advantages. Janak following the session explained about the Rich Internet Technologies and the methodologies to choose them. Gavin and Debu replied to queries regarding Java Persistent API. The session following that was by Sanjeeb who talked about the difference between J2EE and Java EE 5. He also showed a demonstration of Glassfish application server and developing and deploying applications over the same. Jitender Singh from persistent made a surprise entry replacing Jitendra to talk about ruby and rails. All in all the conference covered a whole gamut of technology, frameworks and servers.

There were many things that a lot of them talked about in the entire conference. However the one common thing that I could extract out other than all the good technical stuff was that the IT industry is now showing signs of maturity.

If we look at any traditional engineering stream they have a very strong engineering background. A 2-stroke engine for example is based on all the mechanical engineering fundamentals and the pipelines built do take care of the correct fluid mechanics fundamentals before design. IT applications, although uses some engineering principles were not strongly coupled with the engineering basics. Traditional engineering applications have a lot more process focus. Each and every application has well defined processes and clear flows defined to track the processes. The software applications developed do not guarantee such process focus. Traditional engineering applications are optimized for simplicity in implementation and undergo constant improvements.

With business process managers, coming in a big way (BPM’s are not new, what’s new is the fact that they are getting popular and expanding horizons) there seems to be an alignment with the traditional process focus. The applications being built with processes are much more in sync with the actual business processes. This also gives the domain users understand the flow of the software application much easier then showing them some HTML prototypes of how the system will look like. The heterogeneous systems are getting more standards based which are again what the traditional engineering systems are. Components are becoming more loosely coupled and have clear interfaces. This allows real and easy plug and play support over various heterogeneous environments. This can further allow some components of a big system to be developed by company x whereas company y can develop other component and a company z integrates x and y. Automobile industry for example functions the same way in case of a traditional industry. There is a lot more focus on simplification of development. This gives the implementers an easy way to produce quicker outputs and better productivity.

All this makes me believe that Information technology is maturing. It’s getting more aligned to the traditional engineering stream which is a welcome sign.

Life’s:- Child Philosophy

These days I watch Shashank (my 6 month old kid) grow. I simply love the whole experience. Sometimes it is tiring, sometimes very tiring and sometimes painful. But all this just get washed away by a single gentle, true and pure smile of the little one. The innocent face which smiles when you are on the verge of frustration, in the middle of the night, takes out all the pains and compels you to bow down and serve your little one.

Another amazing thing to watch is the passion they posses. The remote control of our TV set is shashank’s best toy. He has tons of them. Stuffed ones and lighting ones but he just loves the plain remote. He will do whatever it takes to get hold of that remote. He can be located anywhere; his sharp eyes will catch hold of the item and yahoo…! Its time for action. He will put all the intelligence he posses with whatever little movement he is allowed as a 6 month old kid to get to the device. He might lose out on energy in the process. This will not put him down. He waits for sometimes. Takes rest and valla ….back to work. Only when he gets hold of that device will he stop. Not that he will play with the device too long though … but that is altogether a different story.

Whenever he wants something and could not get that, the only weapon he posses is cry. He will shout and force you to attend you to get his things done. He will be happy once the thing that he wanted gets done. He cannot explain then very correctly but he continues to cry till you understand him and he is satisfied with the service.

This brings very simple but useful principles. A little kid teaches some of the very fundamental realities of life.

Be focused

Whatever it takes never let your objective affects that and there is nothing in this world that stops you from achieving the goal.

Keep the end objective in mind

Before beginning any task, think of the end. Once you are clear of the end, proceed to make the task a success. All possible ethical methods to achieve the task should be tried out before giving it up.

More to this follows as I learn more ……….

Njoi

These times remind me of the very old tale that my elders use to tell me in my young age. The story goes like this.

There was a small bridge of wood which had a width to just carry one being at a time. There was a river underneath. Early morning two dogs came over the bridge from opposite ends. They converged at a center of the bridge. Since the width of the bridge did not allow both of them to pass by, they got angry. They started barking over each other. The barking and fighting went for sometime till both of them found themselves drowning in the river. After sometime there were two goats that visited the same bridge. They also faced the same situation that the dogs faced. The clever beasts wisely paused and allowed one of the goats to cross the bridge first and the other one crossed later.

I got reminded of this story by traveling through cross roads of pune. Although we are neither goats nor dog, we are even worse than them when it comes to traffic sense. Look at any cross roads in pune where the signal is not working and there is no traffic police. You will just find people making real non-sense by just crossing anywhere and anyhow. The resultant is a mere mess on the center of the road. Unnecessary noise pollution with loads of horns blowing all ways. This also leads to lots of accidents.

Its high time, people need to remember the old adages of the goats and dogs. Let us be wise and clever goats rather than fighting dogs.