Mukhtasar si baat hai...

Stairway To Heaven

2006-07-22T11:42:00.000-05:00

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
And you know sometimes words have two meanings
In the tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forest will echo with laughter

And it makes me wonder

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Don't be alarmed now
It's just a spring clean for the May Queen

Yes there are two paths you can go by
but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on

Your head is humming and it won't go because you don't know
The piper's calling you to join him
Dear lady can't you hear the wind blow and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our souls
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for

And she's buying a stairway to heaven, uh uh uh.

Yahoo Mail Beta !

2006-07-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

Try it without an invitation !

1. Login to your Yahoo account.
2. Click on Options.
3. Now go to Account Information (located on left-hand side pane) -at this point, you will be probably again prompted for password.
4. In this page, click the Edit button of Member Information.
5. Under General Preferences you will see Preferred Content. Click on it to change it.
6. Select Yahoo United Kingdom as your preferred content.
7. Click Finished.
8. Now load Yahoo Mail.
9. You will see this message It’s the New Yahoo! Mail Beta… and you’re invited.
10. Click on Try Beta Now.
11. Logout and relogin.

After this, you can revert to your old preferred content again. You will still be able to continue using Yahoo Mail Beta.

Source : http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=129142&tid=2466110293685097675&start=1

Sarfaroshi ki tammana

2006-06-22T04:21:00.001-05:00

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil mein hai

Karta nahin kyun doosra kuch baat cheet,
Dekhta hun main jise voh chup teri mehfil mein hai

Aye shaheed-e-mulk-o-millat main tere oopar nisaar,
Ab teri himmat ka charcha ghair ki mehfil mein hai

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.

Waqt aanay dey bata denge tujhe aye aasman,
Hum abhi se kya batayen kya hamare dil mein hai

Khainch kar layee hai sab ko qatl hone ki ummeed,
Aashiqon ka aaj jumghat koocha-e-qaatil mein hai

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.

Hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar,
Aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar.

Khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai,
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.

Haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se,
Sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se.

Haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se,
Sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se.

Aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai,
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.

Hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe qafan,
Chaahatein liin bhar liye lo bhar chale hain ye qadam.

Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai,
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.

Dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inquilaab,
Hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aaj.

Duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai,
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.

Dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil mein hai.

- Ramprasad 'Bismil '

kashish

2006-06-21T04:48:00.000-05:00

sleepy sleepy in the office, ek sher yaad aaya ;)

kya kashish hai aap mein ,
k hum aap ke hee khyalon mein khoye rahte hein...
yeh soch kar k aap khwabon mein aaogey ,
hum din mein bhee soye rahte hein .......
- Unknown

world music day

2006-06-20T21:38:00.000-05:00

today is world music day and I found there is nothing that excites me about than any other "day" what am I supposed to do, listen to music ? I do that all the times :))

futility of celebration !

worldcup trivia

2006-06-20T12:11:00.000-05:00

Did you notice , the last round of league matches in worldcup are played simultaneously ?

The two matches from the same group are played simultaneously to avoid any "fixing" of matches. In 1982, West Germany and Austria played out a 1-0 win to West Germany to keep out Algeria. Since then the final round of matches are always played simultaneously.

small email attachment size ?

2006-06-20T12:07:00.000-05:00

k , time to forget size restriction while sending email attachments .... well almost ...how does a cap of 100 M sounds for a single upload ?

goto : http://rapidshare.de/

whoever said goto was bad ;)

laziest thing you did recently ?

2006-06-20T12:03:00.000-05:00

well I have installed three web browser so that each of my gmail accounts can have three saved user sessions at the same time ....beat that

How RADIUS works

2006-06-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

A sneak peak on how RADIUS works

client creates an "Access-Request" containing such Attributes as the user's name, the user's password, the ID of the client and the Port ID which the user is accessing.

When a password is present, it is hidden using a method based on the RSA Message Digest Algorithm MD5

If no response is returned within a length of time, the request is re-sent a number of times,

Once the RADIUS server receives the request, it validates the sending client.

A request from a client for which the RADIUS server does not have a shared secret MUST be silently discarded

If the client is valid, the RADIUS server consults a database of users to find the user whose name matches the request

The user entry in the database contains a list of requirements which must be met to allow access for the user. This always includes verification of the password, but can also specify the client(s) or port(s) to which the user is allowed access.

The RADIUS server MAY make requests of other servers in order to satisfy the request, in which case it acts as a client.

If any Proxy-State attributes were present in the Access-Request, they MUST be copied unmodified and in order into the response packet.

Other Attributes can be placed before, after, or even between the Proxy-State attributes.

If any condition is not met, the RADIUS server sends an "Access-Reject" response indicating that this user request is invalid.

If all conditions are met and the RADIUS server wishes to issue a challenge to which the user must respond, the RADIUS server sends an "Access-Challenge" response. It MAY include a text message to be displayed by the client to the user prompting for a response to the challenge, and MAY include a State attribute.

If the client receives an Access-Challenge and supports challenge/response it MAY display the text message, if any, to the user, and then prompt the user for a response. The client then re- submits its original Access-Request with a new request ID, with the User-Password Attribute replaced by the response (encrypted)

If all conditions are met, the list of configuration values for the user are placed into an "Access-Accept" response.

These values include the type of service (for example: SLIP, PPP, Login User) and all necessary values to deliver the desired service.

Reference

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2865.html

w.w.w.g.m.a.i.l.c.o.m

2006-06-10T01:45:00.000-05:00

whats your email id sandeepsinghal@gmail.com ? or sandeep.singhal@gmail.com ? Both ! gmail does not care where you put a . in your email id. hence s.a.n.d.e.e.p.s.i.n.g.h.a.l@gmail.com is as valid as the other two !

Character

2006-06-03T08:59:00.000-05:00

Mr Wolf : You see that young lady, respect. Respect for one's elder shows character.

Raquel (the lady) : I have character

Mr Wolf: Because you are a character, doesn't mean you have character

Wrooooooooooooom - the car(Acura NSX) goes away with noise and dust !

Trivia :
When Winston Wolf departs in his Acura, he takes a hard corner, but the sound indicates continuous acceleration in a straight line. While the acceleration is possible, it would sound different going around a corner.

Devil's Advocate

2006-06-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

6/6/6 - 6th June 2006 ! I guess it doesn't happen too frequently. Hail the devil in you !

Calvin on Principles

2006-05-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

SSL and S-HTTP

2006-05-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

What is SSL?
SSL, Short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data - a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message.
It is a low level encryption scheme used to encrypt transactions in higher-level protocols. It can work with multiple higher level protocols such as such as HTTP, NNTP and FTP. The SSL protocol includes provisions for server authentication (verifying the server's identity to the client), encryption of data in transit, and optional client authentication (verifying the client's identity to the server).

What is S-HTTP?
S-HTTP (Secure HTTP) is the scheme proposed by CommerceNet, a coalition of businesses interested in developing the Internet for commercial uses. It is a higher level protocol that only works with the HTTP protocol, but is potentially more extensible than SSL.

What is the difference between them?

SSL creates a secure connection between a client and a server, over which any amount of data can be sent securely

S-HTTP is designed to transmit individual messages securely.

So, are S-HTTP and HTTPS similar ?
Nope, "https" is normal "http" over SSL. By convention, URLs that require an SSL connection start with https: instead of http: . S-HTTP is a protocol as discussed earlier.

What is SSL used for ?
SSL is the de facto standard for e-commerce transaction security and many Web sites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers.

You talked about SSL encryption. What are the key lengths of the certificates ?
SSL certificates come in 40-bit and 128-bit varieties, though 40-bit encryption has been hacked. As such, you definitely should be looking at getting a 128-bit certificate.

So how does it (SSL) work ?

Phew ! You asked for it. Here goes :

A browser requests a secure page (usually https://).
The web server sends its public key, with its certificate, to the browser.
The browser checks the certificate was issued by a trusted party (a trusted CA such as Thawte), that the certificate is still valid and that the certificate is related to the site contacted.
The browser then uses the public key to generate an encryption key and sends it to the server along with the URL required - encrypted.
The web server decrypts the encryption key using its private key, and then uses the key to decrypt the browser's request.
The web server sends back the requested data, encrypted with the key.
The browser then decrypts the data sent using the key, and displays the information.
The encryption using a private key/public key pair ensures that the data can encrypted by one key can only be decrypted by the other key.
The keys are similar in nature and each is based on prime numbers.
Their length in terms of bits ensures the difficulty in decrypting the messages.
It is necessary to keep one key secret (the private key) and to distribute the other key (the public key) to everybody. This ensures that anybody can send you an encrypted message that only you will be able to decrypt - you are the only one to have the other key pair.
In the opposite situation, others can certify that a message is only coming from you, because you have encrypted it with you private key, and only the associated public key will decrypt it correctly.

You talked so much about SSL but so little about S-HTTP?
Author's prerogative :p

References:
Webopedia
W3 Security FAQs
SSL-Specification
S-HTTP RFC
How does SSL work ?

Weekend Calvin

2006-05-26T11:29:00.000-05:00

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.

Introduction Line from movies

2006-05-22T11:00:00.000-05:00

some of my fav ones.... drop a comment if you rememer any !

kallu, kallan, kaliya - log dete hain mujhe gaaliyan
main ek chota sa, nanha sa, pyaara sa, baccha hoon
crime master gogo, aankhen nikal ke gotiyaan khelta hoon
main nandu , sabka bandhu

No wonder most of them are shakti kapoor's :p

Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na karo

2006-05-22T10:35:00.000-05:00

Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Yunhi pehloo mein baithe raho
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo

Haay mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Haay mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo

Aaj jaane ki zid na karo

Tum hi socho zara, kyun na roke tumhe
Jaan jaati hai jab uth ke jaate ho tum

Tumko apni qasam jaan-e-jaan
Baat itni meri maan lo

Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Yunhi pehloo mein baithe raho
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Haay mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo

Waqt ki qaid mein zindagi hai magar
Chand ghadiyan yehi hain jo aazad hain

Inko khokar mere jaan-e-jaan
Umr bhar na taraste raho

Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Haay mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo

Kitna maasoom rangeen hai yeh sama
Husn aur ishq ki aaj mein raaj hai
Kal ki kisko khabar jaan-e-jaan
Rok lo aaj ki raat ko

Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Yunhi pehloo mein baithe raho
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo
Haay mar jaayenge, hum to lut jaayenge
Aisi baatein kiya na karo
Aaj jaane ki zid na karo

Calvin - Again

2006-05-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

Monday makes me feel absolutely like calvin

That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

... Reality continues to ruin my life.

Ganging-up for gangster

2006-05-19T23:35:00.000-05:00

Tell someone a movie is good (when it is pathetic) , so that they suffer the same trauma that you did.

I have done this so many times in the past and have no intention of stopping. But a phenomenon which I saw for gangster, when the entire world ganged up against me - and I ended up watching Gangster !

The culprits are :

Good reviews in papers - the same ones that gives kabhi kushi kabhi gham 5 stars, and yet I listen to them - what a sucker :o)
Good reviews on websites (read rediff) - am not going trust the website for anything related to a "view" - facts are ok, but views - noooooooooooooooooooooooooo. (do not read reviews on indiatimes as well)
Almost everyone I met and spoke to them about how the movie is. They said they have not seen the movie but "heard" it is good - am going to follow advice of all thriller movies "trust noone"

Saving grace in the movie

Nice songs
While you are in theatre, the 'audience' - read US

My Advice ? (remember trust noone)

Mahesh Bhatt - bad ( i really like some of his old movies , hum hain rahi pyaar ke ! but as they say, people change. This one has changed for good - turned bad)
Emran hashmi - pathetic (this was the first movie of his I could muster the courage to watch. Yes i did not go to see murder)
Together - Help , mars attacks ! god save the world

Trivia - Internationalization

2006-05-17T06:07:00.000-05:00

why is Internationalization referred to as i18n in short ?

There are 18 letters between the first and last letter ( i and n) of the word internationalization - talk about mnemonic lovers in computer science !

Divine Comedy - Gin Soaked Boy

2006-05-16T05:36:00.000-05:00

Im the darkness in the light
Im the leftness in the right
Im the rightness in the wrong
Im the shortness in the long
Im the goodness in the bad
Im the saneness in the mad
Im the sadness in the joy
Im the gin in the gin-soaked boy

Im the ghost in the machine
Im the genius in the gene
Im the beauty in the beast
Im the sunset in the east
Im the ruby in the dust
Im the trust in the mistrust
Im the trojan horse in troy
Im the gin in the gin-soaked boy

Im the tigers empty cage
Im the mysterys final page
Im the strangers lonely glance
Im the heros only chance
Im the undiscovered land
Im the single grain of sand
Im the christmas morning toy
Im the gin in the gin-soaked boy

Im the world youll never see
Im the slave youll never free
Im the truth youll never know
Im the place youll never go
Im the sound youll never hear
Im the course youll never steer
Im the will youll not destroy
Im the gin in the gin-soaked boy

Im the half-truth in the lie
Im the why not in the why
Im the last roll of the die
Im the old school in the tie
Im the spirit in the sky
Im the catcher in the rye
Im the twinkle in her eye
Im the jeff goldblum in the fly

Who am i?

My Interpretation: I am quintessential !

More-on Life

2006-05-13T04:06:00.000-05:00

How does it feel to suddenly reduce your quota of sleep by 3 hours (specially in the world where people are hell bent on increasing quota.)

I feel good - another reason why we should reduce quota!

Sick of having a dreadful and lazy lifestlye, I have started playing badminton again - In a club called city-nest close to my plance.

Hard it might be, to believe (even myself) that I can get up at 5 am in the morning !

you talkin' to me ?

2006-05-12T09:39:00.000-05:00

"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here."

Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver

Michael Schumacher

2006-05-07T08:50:00.000-05:00

you either love him or you hate him - one thing you have to hand out to him - his desire to win. I would imagine after having 86 wins under his belt, he would take it easy, but just to look at him celebrate each one of his victories makes you think otherwise.
They say it's not whether you won or lost , its how you played the game. Well, I think otherwise and If you need a role model for that, watch the next formula-1 race.

Road to Coorg

2006-05-05T05:35:00.000-05:00

Finally ! Got some of the photos uploaded. More at Katty's Page.

Ok, let me first introduce the entity's in the following picture. Standing from the left is a tall tree ( I do not know it's name), then there is a small tree ( this one's called praveer), followed by your's truly and then vipul. The thing sitting is called katty (gourav to some).
Hokay, this was the first leak break that we took on our way from Bangalore to Coorg. On the Mysore Road, just before it, from srirangapatnam, we took a right for a bumpy ride leading us to coorg. First site of tree and wala, here we stop. Just before this, we stopped at a Place called Kamath ( sometimes I wonder whether I know more udupi's or more kamath's and I am not talking about people here) Anyway that was our sandwich/tea break where we switched wheels. vipul took over them while I got down to do what I do best - plan ;). I was worried we will miss the right turn near srirangapatnam. which we did, and took a U turn to find in relief that the right turn was still there. We took it and celebrated that with another stop on a road side chai shop where the tea (again ? how much tea do you guys drink !) and that leads us to the photo below.

Lost in translation would be the words here as I have skipped putting the I zillion photos that we took between the one above and the one that follows. We changed wheels again and the 2nd tree that we met in the first picture took it over. As you can guess there was not enough room for it in the driver's seat and hence the driver's seat was moved backwards to the delight of person sitting behind him (read me).

So we continue with praveer on wheel and the rest of us on edge. Take a cocunut break, pose with cocunuts for yapp ( yet another photograph photograph) . The road to coorg from here on was pretty much of a nomenclature. The roadside was really beautiful. We passed a garden where beetle leaves were grown and then finally made it to coorg and to our "hotel". The quotes surrounding the hotel should say all that needs to be spoken about it. Hence I would not dwell on it any more. We took the keys and moved on to our first spot - the abbi falls

It was a short walk from where we are standing above and where we are fishing below. There was a bridge which took us over to the other side. We christened it shatrughan jhoola, as it appeared to be younger brother of laxman jhoola.

The feet that took me all across the treacherous terrain - yes , I still can take pictures of my feet without my tummy blocking the way.

After a relaxing time under the falls water, we were headed towards to somwarpeth and this time not only the surroundings were great, the road was terrific ( as best they can be in ghats ). The "turns" and "corners" could easily rival some on the formula 1 curcuit :D. we did stick to the racing line and never crossed the pit speed.

k, the photo that you see below is completely fake. I appear to be calm and relaxed and having fun. Truth is that it was just after a long trudge in sun from talacauvery base to the highest point in coorg. the least people can do is put some beach chairs and overhead umberellas there ! it was HOT.

long time since I climbed anywhere ! A machan at nisarga dhamajourney back home. My energy level was following the same graph as the graph which can be drawn against the number of words over each photographs now. I look verrrrrrrrry different without specs ... should I go for contact lenses ?

A hell of a time I had !