Bala – Page 9 – Balamuthu's Blog

Badly hit.

Yesterday was a hard day for me.

I was coming back to chennai from my home town by bus. I got down at madurai for refreshement. After few minutes while returning to the bus, a mental fellow blocked the way and welcomed everybody with some signs. I ignored him and went ahead in a hurry.

It was dark. I tried going through the back side of the bus and when I turned…I felt a sudden attack on my face. I was hit…badly hit by an Iron plate. I was stunned and lost my breathe for few seconds. I looked up by holding the hand kerchief on my face and realized that I was hit on the bus dickey which was open.

Terribly shocked at that moment. I felt a deep pain near the eye and nose. I went ahead in confusion on what happened to me and got in to the bus. With lights ON inside the bus, I could see lot of blood on my kerchief with a bunch of eye lid hair stuck on it.

I used my mobile as mirror and saw two scars on my face. I applied water on that area. I had to travel almost 7 hours and I was not sure how to make it till morning. I even thought of going home back from madurai. but I came to normal after a while.

It was a damn bad day.

Through the bus window, I could see the half moon accompanied by a couple of stars. But I couldn’t enjoy the scene due to the pain and suffering.

It was not a good day after all. But it’s good that I dint hit on my eye. From that perspective I’m lucky. I took rest today and got to go office tomorrow 🙂

Things I would one day like to own

It’s not my birthday to tell my wishes. Still I prefer jotting it down my wish list. when I read this blog some years later, I would either feel happy or not on what I have with me.

Here is the list…

1. Volkswagen Beetle. I fell in love with this tiny little car at first sight when I saw its picture on a newspaper. I wasn’t aware of its price in the beginning but when I came to know… I was blown away 🙂 21 lakhs… I need to find a second job to get this 🙂

2. A three-bed room house. Wood house is fine for me but in India no one prefers it 🙂

3. A Surface computer. I’m fantasized with this Microsoft Surface.

4. My own company. I’m not sure on what kind of company I would start 🙂

5. Last but not least. I would like to own a Nobel Price. I’m not kidding 🙂

These are all may seem impractical, but some day…

Good Luck to me !!

Auto driver and a Software Engineer

It’s a busy evening and I was in a hurry to catch my Bus. I stopped an auto. He asked 150 rupees and then agreed for 140 rupees to koyambedu from T Nagar. I’m not good in bargaining 🙂 so I nodded yes.

Since it’s a Friday evening, the city was full of traffic and the auto had to move inch by inch. He initiated the talk casually by asking which bus to catch, where I’m from etc.… and I answered him one by one.

Auto driver: What is your job?

Me: I’m a software Engineer

Auto driver: oh, are you an IT guy?

Yes, I replied.

Then came the interesting question…

Auto driver: What you guys do?

Me: We develop softwares.

What does that mean? He asked

I was not sure how to explain… then I told him that software is something that runs on hardware.

Say, You have a phone, that phone is a hardware and you need a software to interact with the hardware , to make calls and so and so.

Auto driver: Oh, So you can repair any kind of phones?

Me: No, No. I said that for an example. Just think about the past, we need to stand in a queue in the bank to deposit or withdraw money. But now a days we have ATM. Online transaction, ticket booking, these are all due to IT.

Auto driver: Hmm. I heard that all IT companies would cut down the salaries anytime. Is that true?

Me: Yes, if there is a recession. We may not get a hike this year.

Auto driver: Why, is recession approaching? Will they stop recruiting new people?

Me: Not really, they will recruit for sure. But hikes for us are not certain this year.

Auto driver: You experienced people can strike for that?

Me: Strike? No. It’s a company’s rule/term. You may walk out and move for another job if you are not satisfied.

By the way, forming unions, groups and striking are not a healthy act.

Auto driver: Ok, You came in to this IT without knowing it?

Me: No, I came, because I’m interested. None of the jobs are secured.

Auto driver: But, it is a bit too much in IT industry.

I smiled.

Then we reached the bus stand. I got down and gave him 150 rupees. He said I don’t have a change.

I did not ask for it. I smiled.

He thanked and I left.

My Computers

I feel like writing something whenever I get up early. For some unknown reason I’m thinking about my old PCs and wanted to post a blog.

My first PC was a desktop bought somewhere in 2004-2005. I had to convince my Mom and Periyama very hard to get one for me. My Mom finally said ok and got me a PC with the help of my cousins Arun and Raj. The config was pretty decent. It had a Intel Celeron processor with 40 GB hdd and a 256 MB of RAM. I installed dual OS – Windows 98 and XP.

I’m not impressed with its performance, so a couple of months later I changed almost all the internal parts. I upgraded it with an AMD processor, gigabit motherboard, 80 GB hdd, 512 MB RAM and a DVD reader. The monitor and CPU case were the same. I spent more than 10,000 rupees from my mom’s wallet 🙂

Having that PC at home, I learned a lot of multimedia software but created nothing out of it 🙂 I used it to the core and experimented in all possible means. After 4-5 years it gave me lot of trouble and it was a burden for me to carry that desktop whenever I change my room. So I sold it for 4500 INR and I did own any computer for the next 1 year.

In 2009 I bought a HP laptop for 46000 INR. This one helped me find a university for my part-time post graduation. I sold it after 2 plus years of hard-core use and now I own a MacBook PRO. I’m planning to upgrade the RAM from 4 to 8 Gig.

I have this habit of upgrading /altering my computer like some people do it for their new bikes and cars 🙂

Everything we own and use will benefit us in some ways and brings change over the period of time!

New Year and My New MacBook Pro

This New Year I gifted myself a MacBook Pro. Buying a new mac wasn’t my resolution but it was my wish for a long time.

My 4 year old HP laptop gets pretty hot these days which made me to buy a new one. I was not satisfied with any of the PCs available in the market other than the MacBook Pro.

The only thing that objected me all these years in buying an Apple computer is its huge price. Then I figured out that its not just the money I’m lacking but the confidence and the guts to spend on what I like.

So I made up my mind just a day before the New Year 2012 and stepped out to nearby stores for enquiring. After a lot of thinking and comparison about the 13 and 15 inch MacBooks I finally chose the 15 inch.

In the morning of New Year’s day I went to temple with my friend (He had forced me to go with him 🙂 ) then I slept for few hours and in the evening I brought this pretty MacBook Pro home 🙂

It’s cool and awesome. Now for the next 6 moths, I need to pay the EMI dues for this thing of beauty 😦 🙂

Happy New Year !!

P.S : I sold my HP laptop for 11 k 🙂

Happenings of my life in 2011?

Year 2011 is almost over. It’s been a fairly good year. A lot had happened during this year. Up and downs, confronted a couple of rejections, travelled to new places befriended colleagues, shifted my living place and a lot more.

Here is short list of happenings of my life in 2011

Career: Job was smooth but wasn’t much interesting.

Saddened moments: I felt so bad when I got rejected in Visa interview but now it appears like ‘I did not miss anything big’ 🙂

Weight gained: 1 KG.

Books read: Rules of life, Inside Steve’s brain and now reading The Fountainhead.

Purchased: Windows phone 7

Enjoyed: lot of 3D animation movies.

Lessons Learnt: Never ever lose hope.

Having learnt that, I’m looking forward to the New Year with lot of hope.

The VideoBee app – My first Windows Phone 7 project

I’m planning to develop an app for my windows phone 7 that streams video from IP cameras and renders. There is a hell lot of apps already available in Market Place that does the same. But I want to create one on my own. I will be posting the updates on my blog frequently.

Here we go !!

What do I need to develop this ? Well here is the list of things I need…

An IP camera – I don’t have one and I’m not buying one either 🙂
Web server – To store the videos from the camera on demand.
AppHub developer ID. – I need to pay $99 for submitting my app in market place. but let me bother about that after completing the project.

I’m going to broadcast my Webcam and use a couple of live public cameras since buying an IP camera is not a good idea :). I need a web server to store those videos and I need to develop a web service and host it on the same server that pushes notifications to my phone whenever a motion event occurs.

Webcam as an IP cam:

There are a lot of tools that broadcasts webcam video over HTTP. I’m using yawcam tool suggested by my friend. It’s really cool and does what exactly I needed. I’m able to stream it to my Phone 🙂

Now I need to FTP the images to the web server.

How can I do that ? I need a web server. I’m not sure how to get this done. I have a free MS azure pass for 7 days but not sure that works. I need to find a best solution for this. Let me go to office and think about it 🙂

Status : Broadcasting the video is almost ready with the help of a tool. 95% of work is left.

Expenses in Chennai, Sky rocketing.

Its a monday morning and I left home early. I mostly don’t use my scooter for office. I used to catch an AC bus and then a share auto to office. It’s always tough to get a seat in the bus. But today it’s unusually free, I wondered and took a seat. When the conductor approached me I handed him 23 rs. He smiled and told me that the price was increased, I gave him extra 2 rs thinking that he asked for 25. He smiled again and said its actually 35 rs.
I was shocked. That’s really too much of money. Now I understood why the bus is super free 🙂
70 rs to and fro is really too much for a single day. My stop has come and I’m puzzled now on how much this auto guys will ask me ???@$

My daily expenses is increasing day by day.

Life at Chennai has become much more costlier.