Reunion @ Lake George. NY

It was the time to meet some old friends. We had planned a reunion; four of us - myself, Margin, Omkar and Mitesh at Lake George, NY. Lake George gets its name from a huge lake of the same name in Adirondack area of upstate New York. A typical upstate NY location, full of water and greenery - wherever your eyes would stop. We had a lot more fun time then we expected. We stayed in cottages in woods; did campfires, played antakshari and damsharads and drank lots of beer. Weather Gods blessed us with a wonderful weather for most of our stay there. We did river rafting in Sagadanka river and jet skiing in Lake George. It was so much fun meeting old pals after such a long time. I met Margin after a period of at least 2 years, Mitesh and Bijal after probably 1.5 years and Omkar after at least 6 years and at least I cherished every moment of it.

Once I was back after the vacation, I was forced to take an extra day off on Tuesday thanks to fatigue and came to know that our release was extended by a month's time. I was kinda expecting it but still didnt feel good upon knowing this. At every major release of your project, you have this feeling - that we all shall we able to make this date and it usually gets extended - but when it does - you know it was going to be extended but still you dont like it. I know that was confusing but I know that whoever is reading this , gets the crux of it so we are good.

I read on Aamir Khan's blog other day that he has started smoking giving into the tense situation he is in thanks to the release of his home production Jaane Tu... I really admire Aamir for being so frank - specially on his blog and being able to communicate this with his fans - I am sure he has won several more fans. However, one piece of advice for Aamir, dont worry about Jaane tu.. ; the music rocks and the movie looks promising as well. Believe me Aamir, we are all set for a huge blockbuster in Jaane Tu... here. Talking about movies, I must mention the movie Aamir - really an inspiring piece of work. Great direction, acting and really a movie with a message. Only one word - Thumbs Up. I cant resist from describing one more movie which I watched recently; the name of the movie is The Illusionist - starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel. I really loved this movie and I can probably rate this one as the most interesting period movie I have ever seen. Its set in 19th century Vienna and the end simply makes me wonder - what a movie !!!! I remember Edward Norton as a great actor from the movie Fight Club and of course - Jessica Biel - do I need to say anything here :). Paul Giamatti is a great actor too and those of you have seen the Shaymalan movie - Lady in the Water - will agree. I am going to rate The Illusionist as one of the best thrillers I have ever seen.

I would like to conclude this post with celebration of US Presidential candidate Barack Obama. I have been reading his book - The Audacity of Hope and read more then 80 odd pages today -specially those on foreign policy - and feel that if I was able to vote - I would have voted for him. To me, he seems like the perfect president - the nation of US should have; the nation of US needs. All the Best Mr. Obama !!!!!

Football Fever and KRA

Bryan told me on Friday that he has started feeling confident about making our July 1st release date. I agreed with him then; but I didnt feel so until today when I got the S2S piece finally working to my satisfaction. During my past 4-5 months in KRA - S2S and Expenses are the 2 modules which had my full involvement. Of course they have connecting pieces like S2S engine and Budget Calculations which are developed by another person in the team. I feel S2S to be specially close to me because it was my first big module in the project and I feel this module is kinda heart of the entire project. I won't talk much about the nitty-gritties of the module here but I feel its a central piece and a very important one. It has several dependencies which delayed its completion. I was more then apprehensive at several points of time during past 3 months about the complete piece and today when I got it working as expected; I am happy and relieved. Expenses on the other hand has been a pretty complex piece and very important one as well. Thus, at this juncture when both of these modules are almost complete; I have started having kinda nostalgic feeling about this entire project - remembering how I started the project in Tempe, AZ and then moved to Ithaca. I have been through some tough times not only within the project; but in my life as well. This is going to be a period of my life which I will remember forever and certainly deserves a post in my blog.


Euro '08 has started in Austria and Switzerland. I believe football is the first game I started liking after cricket. I can say my liking towards football is because of my dad. When I first started watching football with my dad; it was at the time of Italia '98 football world cup. The football games then were being shown on doordarshan; most games would start at midnight because of the time difference. When I was talking with dad over the weekend, I did share this with him and he also fondly remembered the same. It again makes me feel nostalgic; remembering those old times. I used to play football as well when I was a kid and I have some fond memories of those days. Coming back to Euro '08; I believe the stage is set for a healthy tournament; specially after today's games when Romania held France for a draw and Netherlands crushed Italy. I think Italy is my favorite team; not because our dear Congress President is an ex-Italian - but because I think the '90 world cup was played in Italy and somehow when they lost in semi-finals against Argentina and the way home crowd got saddened; they became my favorite team. I still remember how the home crowd rooted for Germany in the final and were happy when Germans defeated Argentina. How can I forget the fan following Roberto Baggio got after he missed the penalty stroke in semi-finals. Hmmm.. Any similarities to Chak De India. :)

There is a corollary here that in 2006 Italians defeated France to become the world champions - the 2006 world cup was played in Germany :). I am hopeful that Italians fight back to win the Euro title and my pending work in KRA gets completed in time. I will conclude today's blog with this famous blackjack line from the movie 21 - "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner"!!! Cheeers !!!!