Gaurav Bhorkar's Blog

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:04:00 +0000

A very happy and prosperous new year to all the readers of my blog.

WELCOME 2012

PS: Sorry, I am quite busy these days. Hoping to resume blogging soon ;)

PayTM.com -> means lose money! (and get it back after a long time)

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Today unfortunately I decided to recharge my mobile online, and ended up losing hard earned money.

After searching on the internet I preferred PayTM.com to recharge my mobile prepaid online. They have got a nice and simple User Interface to woo potential innocent people (like me) and trap them into their fraudulent mobile recharging website.

They have such a simple process to recharge your talktime:

Register on their site
Select a recharge amount and enter your mobile number
Pay using your credit card
...and NEVER EVER GET TALK TIME ON YOUR PHONE

Such a simple process they have provided, so that you lose your money very very efficiently.

After losing my money I wrote to their customer care but to my amazement, I've not got a single reply from the past 6 hours or so :(

UPDATE - as on Oct 28, 11:15 PM

I got my money back after a long wait of about 11 hours.
(May be PayTM guys read this post, thats why)

What do you think, should I use PayTM again ?

Learning by doing - It always works!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:41:00 +0000

<p>&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;Old</p>

Old video, but always inspiring ;-)

Fan for our God?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:31:00 +0000

Today when I walked into a temple I saw a fan running on full speed in the God's room.

Do you think God needs fans and air conditioners? There is so much electricity crisis going on in Maharashtra.

Steve Jobs passes away, but will live forever

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:34:00 +0000

Steve Jobs is one of the very few people in this world who brought a technology revolution. He is a person who has inspired countless people (including me) with his great style, skills, and charisma. Sadly Steve died yesterday at a very early age of 56 years. We are going to miss him immensely. Steve Jobs is surely going to live in people's hearts.

Apple paid the following tribute on their website,

Image Credits to Apple inc.

Be proud of the place where you belong!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:25:00 +0000

I felt good after listening to this song. Sharing it for all of you!

Chris Daughtry - "Home"

Why do you call yourself a proud engineer?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:50:00 +0000

I am in my final year and I have enough courage to call myself a proud engineer.

Many people though take engineering for granted. They celebrate engineers day with much fervour by listening to inspiring speeches by their principal and teachers citing example of the great engineer, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. But after the show gets over, the inspiration dies down, everybody is back to level 0.

What are the characteristics of a falsely proud engineer?

He has taken up engineering not because he was passionate but to grab up a high paying job.
If he is a CS guy, he calls himself a Hacker, Cracker, or whatever word which sounds cool, but knows nothing about that stuff.
Asking for free stuff online. Sends emails like, "Hey Gaurav!!!....do...you..hav..a..cool..web based..project? I..m in final yr...i need it.. Thnks..in..advance!"
Talking about technical skills, zero! Okay zero, but no urge for knowing techy stuff.
Studying engineering only because their dad was an angry man, and forced them to do so.

... I have a few more points ;)

I don't want to make people sad by writing this. All I want is people to improve. Pride comes internally, right from your heart. You should not be proud just because you have that degree named Bachelor of Engineering. Be proud because you have those engineer skills, that passion for making things right, and that passion for learning new things.
When your principal (or anybody) tells you about some engineering personality, about his inspiring work, his dedication, and passion, don't just sit and listen to it like a boring speech. Instead try to understand what he is telling you, about the expectations from engineers and what the society needs from engineering.

I believe we have great minds. Indian engineers are undoubtedly talented and hardworking. Just that they fail to turn their interest into passion and work. They fail because they succumb to peer and parental pressures. They don't think big, and most of the times have a negative attitude, "mujhse nahi hota" type attitude. My advice - Throw this attitude! If you think you can do something, you will do something!

Now, many people will point at me. They'll say, "Enough talking! Why do you call yourself a proud engineer then?" My answer - Although I have not all the engineering skills, I do have some of them like, being passionate about my area of interest, open to learning new stuff, eager to use my skills to improve something, and "mai kar sakta hu" spirit. That is what makes me proud.

Do you call yourself a proud engineer? If yes, then ask yourself, "Why?"
If you find an appropriate answer, then its good!
If not, then do things which will make you a proud engineer the next time.

With this bang bang, I wish all my proud engineering friends a very Happy Engineers Day! All the best for future!

The same old story. Repeated!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:25:00 +0000

So far so good. Ganpati Bappa Morya!

What the...

Oh God! Please give some brain to our citizens. All have empty pots in their heads.

I have only one word for our citizens - Shamless!
Look what they did last year

Infosys Campus Recruitment - My Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:31:00 +0000

Yesterday I got selected in Infosys. Just thought of sharing my experience here so that students might find it helpful.

Their process of selection was simple - Reasoning Test, English Test, Interview.

The Reasoning test consisted of 30 questions to be solved in 40 minutes. The questions were simple (some of the question were lengthy though). It consisted of questions of type - Data Interpretation, Speed Time & Distance, Profit Loss, Cube Painting problems. There were very few math questions.

The English test comprised of 40 questions to be solved in 35 minutes. The types of questions were - mostly correcting wrong sentences. There were two passages, one was quite long, which was written in slightly difficult English (the context was Biblical - God, Satan, and Jupiter as our future Sun). There were a lot of fill-in-the-blank questions too (pick the correct word based on context).

Out of about 900 people who appeared from 5 colleges, about 145 were shortlisted for interviews.

Then came the interview,

Me : May I come in Sir?

Him : Yes, please come in.

Me : Good afternoon Sir, (told him my name). Here is my resume.

Him : (After going through my resume) What happened in 3rd and 4th semesters, you scored less?

Me : I honestly told him that I could not study well because of (blah blah) problems.

Him : Hmm.. you have to keep your problems aside when it comes to study and work. Did you work hard to improve upon your percentage?

Me : Definitely, if you go through the scores of later semesters, I've scored better than the previous ones.

Him : What about your programming skills? What is the difference between C and C++?

Me : (I thought.. what an easy question!) The major difference is that C++ is an OO language whereas C is a procedural language. Sir, regarding my programming skills, I along with 4 students built a project named Virtual 8085; which is an interpreter for the 8085 assembly language. I played a major role in programming part of that project.

Him : Good. (He saw my aptitude paper and said) Your reasoning part is quite weak. You must improve your logical reasoning, it is a must in programming. Keep on learning...(told me that we should always learn, that he is so old and still learning from we younger people).

Me : Definitely I'll work on that. Sir.

Him : Who is the current CEO, and the current Chairman of Infosys?

Me : (Told him)

Him : What is the punch line of Infosys?

Me : (Told him)

Him : (He asked me about my mom and dad)

Me : (Told him honestly)

Him : Thank you, and all the best (shook hands with me)

Me : Thank you Sir!

Thats all!

From about 145 candidates shortlisted, about 125 were selected.

Remember that before you enter the interviewer's cabin go through all the details of Infosys, its key people, and all other stuff. Expect very easy technical questions (very very easy), and questions based on your project, and scenarios like "what will you do if you have 1 crore rupees?, how will you organize a cultural event?". Those who were very bad in English, scared, not looking confident, ill dressed, were rejected. Interview was quite easy. It is easy to get into Infosys! :)

I hope this is helpful!

And yes, thank you CrazyEngineers for your free mock aptitude tests and interview tips - It helped me a lot :)

Airtel guys, you are pathetic!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:24:00 +0000

Credits : Wikipedia

"Airtel" which was revered as a telecommunication network for the youth, has lost its smooth run. I have used Airtel since my junior college days, but in the recent one year Airtel services have been pathetic. There is absolutely no coverage at my home, I have to walk outside my house for making calls. Their call rates have gone high suddenly, they activate value added services without my confirmation and deduct balance unnecessarily.

Upset by their quality of service I complained many times to the customer service, but to my disappointment they are also too bad. Nowadays you need to pay for calling the customer care service.

So I decided to switch to Uninor. I needed to retain my mobile number so I opted for mobile number portability (MNP). The MNP process takes about 7 days and requires the current operator to release your number.

Two days after this, the Airtel customer service girl called me to know why I am leaving Airtel. I told them about how bad their services are and there is no coverage at my place. In turn she offered my some talktime and some free calls tariff for a period of six months, and literally pleaded me to stay with Airtel. But I was adamant, I didn't budge, because I know how manipulative the customer service people are.

Again the next day a guy from customer service called and pleaded not to leave Airtel. I told him that offering attractive call rates and talktime is of no use unless there is some coverage at my home. You know what he said? He said that Airtel will place a mobile tower near my home within 48 hours. I was like, WHAT? I asked him not to fool me because constructing a mobile tower within 48 hours is impossible. I cannot explain how that guy was talking, he was actually 'begging' me to stay with Airtel. I didn't change my mind, I asked him to forward my port-out request. But before I could say anything more, his behaviour suddenly changed and he hanged up the call.

I thought he had cancelled my port-out request. I complained to their customer service and their nodal officer. The customer service has emailed me saying that my request is currently under process. The nodal officer has not replied my yet.

I think Airtel should respect their customers decisions, and not 'beg' to stay with them. Airtel, you disappointed me! If you people do not approve my port-out request, then I have no option but to throw your SIM card and change my number. Uninor is much more better than you people.

Anna Hazare's 5 vichar for youth

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:49:00 +0000

First of all and with utmost respect - Congratulations to Anna Hazare. Hats off to your method of protesting!

Anna Hazare's 12 day long fast came to an end at around 10:15 this morning. I was at our usual protest spot, the RBI square, Nagpur.

Scores of people were celebrating the end of Anna's fast

Today in the morning after ending his fast Anna said that "सिर्फ टोपी पहन ने से अण्णा नाही बन जाते" (you don't become an Anna Hazare if you wear his cap). Not many youth who are protesting with Annaji pay attention to what important he says. He says that if anybody wants to become like him has to follow 5 easy fundamentals of life. And he says this is especially for the youth of India (who blindly follow the west everytime).

His vichars are:

शुद्ध विचार (Shuddha Vichar) - Pure Thoughts

Our thoughts should be shuddha, i.e. pure. We should think pure. By pure I guess Annaji means that we should not think bad about others.

शुद्ध आचरण (Shuddha Aacharan) - Pure Karma

Our work or karma should be pure, it should be always good.

निष्कलंक जीवन (Nishkalank Jeevan) - Unblemished Life

We should not have a blemish of a bad past deed on our life. We should lead a life doing good things. One must have a good character.

त्याग (Tyaag) - Sacrifice

If we want to achieve something, we ought to sacrifice something (be it for a while although). Kuch paane k liye kuch khona padta hai.

अपमान सहने की शक्ति (Apaman sahne ki shakti) - Power to face insult

We must have the power to gulp down insult. If we gulp down insult we have the power to face anything, he says.

So these are the five fundamentals one must follow in life according to Anna Hazare.

I wrote this post because I saw many youth 'enjoying' in the name of protest. It hurts me when I see young boys performing stunts on their bikes, hooliganism, men staring at girls, etc. Even on the Independence Day many young people do stuff which is unacceptable.

Do you feel good when people say, "dekho aaj kal k nav javan" ?

Re-post: Still Developing?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Looking at the current political scenario, I just thought of sharing a post I wrote last year.
5 Reasons For India Still Being A Developing Country

Nagpur Against Corruption - Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:36:00 +0000

Today was Sunday, and the support for Annaji was - Overwhelming!

I listened to the mesmerizing and inspiring patriotic songs in the evening at our regular protesting spot, RBI square, Nagpur.

Anna Hazare says to the Indian Government - "Pass the Jan Lokpal Bill OR Step down!"

I appeal my fellow friends and all those who read this blog to support this India Against Corruption movement. Come out on streets and protest peacefully, show your support. Believe me, it feels so great, so proud, and so patriotic. I get goosebumps on every loud call of "Vande Mataram!".

3 years of blogging!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 08:13:00 +0000

This month my blog completed 3 years. Feeling so proud!
...and I'm sure I will will never stop blogging.

Cheers!

Nagpur Against Corruption!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:35:00 +0000

Before you start reading this post, watch this video and get inspired :-

Today I joined a huge crowd of protesters who are supporting Anna Hazare for the Jan Lokpal Bill. I was at the venue, RBI square at Nagpur when Annaji was released from the Tihar Jail. It was such a nice feeling of patriotism. I was there for about 3 hours, shouting,

Vande Mataram!

Inquilab Zindabad!

Anna Hazare aage badho, hum tumhare saath hai!

Bharat Mata ki Jai!

Such a nice feeling it was. Yesterday we urged our college mates to come forward and support Anna Hazare, the man who can change our country, for good! And the response was awesome! many students turned up, even our principal followed. Sharing a few pic and videos here :-

Mother India

Protesters, a lot of them.

Unique style! Skaters protesting

Yeh mehengai maar gayi.

Quote: Mujhe toh samajh gaya jan lokpal bill, sarkar k samajh me kab aayega ?

Me and Piyush

I support Anna Hazare!

मी अण्णा हजारे !

How do you learn something?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:43:00 +0000

A couple of hours ago a classmate asked me how to learn the C language? He said that he could not clear the C exam inspite of trying several times. He asked if I have some "notes" available so that he can get away with quickly learning the C language. I suggested him to buy a C programming book, and just read it away, and that would definitely do to clear the paper.

But the question is, "How do we learn something?"

Some say when you memorize something, you learn it! Some have other takes on this topic. I guess, learning is a 3 step process:

Desire
Understand
Do

The first and foremost thing is the 'desire'. If you don't have the desire to learn something, you are never going to learn that thing. I had the desire to learn what goes behind the computers, hence I took the Computer Science course. Similarly, in the case of my classmate, if he has a desire to program computers then he will definitely learn C.

The second step is 'understanding'. When you have the desire to learn something, you are automatically attracted towards it (well that's human nature).Then starts the cycle of understanding the topic or the subject or whatever that is of interest to you. You see, desire is linked to understanding, that is, if you have desire then you start understanding.

The final step is 'doing'. Unless and until you apply what you have understood in practical, you don't learn stuff. If you take the example of a keen child looking at his friends riding bicycles, he is actually understanding how to ride a bicycle by looking at his friends. And unless and until he actually rides the vehicle, he just doesn't learn how to ride. So he takes his elder brothers cycle and tries to ride it. Although he fails initially, but eventually he figures out by doing, i.e., by practically riding the bike.

So, if you want to learn the C language, or the Chinese language, or any stuff in this world, all you have to do is just desire. Desire to learn it. You will eventually understand, and then learn it by doing stuff.

The positive side

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:29:00 +0000

credits: Wikipedia

Every thing in the world has a positive side. Didn't get it? Okay, electric current flows from positive to negative terminal, or the magnet has a north pole which can be considered as positive. Even our body has positive and a negative side, that is, the right and the left side.

So, enough of this boring text, let's start off. A few hours ago a friend of mine posted her status as "How to control your anger?" Controlling anger can be one of the most difficult tasks. Everyone has faced situations where they get angry, but some can control the situation and some cannot. Many people get away from the scene to prevent 'disasters'. Many try to overpower the opposite person to win the argument, and many get aggressive and hit people.

I am no psychologist but there is one think that surely works and I have experienced it. Thinking positive about the opposite person. By positive thinking I mean thinking good about someone. For example, if you are fighting with your girlfriend and the argument is leading nowhere, then think good about her, like, think that how beautiful she is or she has so many good qualities (okay, I do that!). Girlfriend examples are boring, take another example of a petty quarrel with your sibling. Think about the days you used to play together, had a lot of fun, and did so many exciting things. There are a lot of thoughts that you can bring into your minds. Bring in good thoughts not the bad ones.

But the biggest problem is, such thoughts never come into your mind in an ongoing quarrel. YOU will have to bring in those thoughts deliberately. For that you must have an attitude of forgiving people, or the "its okay chalta hai" attitude, atleast in such cases. Let go off the person, remember that even you yourself is not a perfect person. Also stop expecting from loved ones. A lot of differences occur when your expectations are not met. Apply some Gandhigiri here.

You know I am an angry bird. But not to that extent when a person starts yelling, hitting, abusing, et cetera et cetera. And yes, this technique works best for me, at least. Have a nice fighting next time :)

Programmer or Computer Science Engineer?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:01:00 +0000

There are a lot of misconceptions amongst engineers of computer science (or computer tech or information technology or what ever aliases you give). Or should I say Indian CS engineers? Many of them think that Computer Science and Engineering is all about programming and creating software. In my opinion it is NOT the case.

Programming is just a tool. Anyone can create programs, it is so easy. Isn't it? Learn a programming language like C or Java, then start coding. No engineering is applied at all. Programming is a tool which is used by different professionals to solve THEIR problems. Although a computer science engineer must know how to program, otherwise it will be the case like, a farmer who does not know what is a tractor. Here is a list of statements about why one should not consider "programming" the ultimate aim of doing computer science engineering.

CS engineers must not only know how to program, but know how a program runs inside a computer. What is going inside when you run your program, that is, the internal working of a processor, random access memory, etc.
Software Engineering, heard about it? Apply it even on a smallest program you write. Don't directly jump to coding, it is a bad engineering practice. We learn this subject but always fail to apply it.
You should not only be able to fire SQL or database queries but know how the query gets executed. What is there inside a database. How the databases resolve issues like atomicity, isolation, consistency, etc?
You should be able to know how an operating system works, the process scheduling, deadlock handling, and all about OSes. Not just how to create programs using the API (Application Programming Interface) provided by the OS.
High level languages are damn easy to learn. Just learn the syntax. What about the assembly language? You should have at least the experience of slightly complex programming on a microprocessor kit.
Not only you should know how to write internet applications, but it is always better to know how the internet works. Know how the packets are switched from one router to another, or how the TCP/IP protocol works internally.
If you are a .NET programmer, then know all about .net and the internal working of the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Wiring the library provided classes can be done by a child also.

The aim of this long post is not to say that programming is a child's play. But if you say you are an engineer and know only programming, then there is a big problem, because even a non engineering student can program. Being an engineer you at least know how things work inside. Apply that engineering mind everywhere. Do you know how and engineering mind thinks? An engineers mind always thinks of how to plan, design, and then execute. To think like that you will need to clear your basics by getting into the core.

Even I am not a perfect engineer according to the above text, but a better engineer for sure.

Is terrorism now like a natural disaster?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Terrorism in India is like a "natural disaster"

* cannot be stopped
* cannot be controlled
* give money to the affected after it ends
* comes suddenly without intimation (intelligence failure)

... and the Indian Government follows Gandhian principles,
"keep on accepting terrorists bombs on your face until the perpetrators are tired", "thou shalt not take vengeance"

Isn't it?

Corruption? Not for me!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:37:00 +0000

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see".

I got inspired by this quote the very first time I read it.

So here goes the story,
Today while returning from my tuition class a traffic policeman stopped me. I don't know why, but I was just waiting for our signal to turn green. All of a sudden this policeman came to me, removed my vehicle's keys and arrogantly asked me to come by the side of the way. I was already out of my mind today, for the tuition class was very boring.

I gave him all the so called 'papers' he wanted. He discovered that the insurance of my vehicle has lapsed.
"600 rupees fine bharna padega"

I said, "Sir, insurance is not necessary to be carried by the vehicle owner, it is optional"

I don't know whether he was drunk or what. He got annoyed with me and rudely said, "Aae.. woh mujhe mat bata... abhi tuhe fine bharna padega yahi pe"

I said, "Okay, give me the details .. and I will pay fine at your office, not here"
"But before that show me the offenses and the fine slab which you people have been provided"
"And yes! let me write down your names too"

There were two of them around me. And pow! they got scared! and led me to their senior officer at the square. The officer showed me the fine and offenses slap and I got them there! The fine for not carrying insurance was 300 and not 600.

The officer then calmed down and said, "Beta I am letting you off with a simple offense of jumping the red signal"

I said, "I didn't do that! I want a 'challan' of 600 rupees and showing the offense as "Not carrying insurance""
I knew it was impossible for him to hand me that 'challan' because fine was 300 not 600.

He then said, "beta ab jaane do woh sab, please yeh 100 rupees wala simple 'challan' le lo aur jao"
I thought, "Okay! let us close this chapter, this one is not asking for a bribe"

So this was how I did not bribe any policeman. And the funny thing, two of them got frightened.

I strongly believe that we are the ones who can stop corruption by taking simple steps like not bribing policemen, babus. Instead there are other ways of accomplishing our tasks, like "scaring" them. He he...

Oh.. are you talking about caste ?

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:20:00 +0000

You know, one thing I hate the most is a discussion based on caste. I'm just pissed of when people say "oh Brahmins are kanjoos, they just think of saving money, blah blah". I used to think that I'm unlucky because I come under OPEN category. I'm talented yet I don't get admission in a college I deserve because most of the seats are reserved. People say, "I get a scholarship of so and so Rupees, oh.. you are open .. ". Now I'm a changed man. I don't care what people say about Brahmins, and RESERVATION because:

I don't want to be educated grabbing someone Else's seat.
I don't want the so called scholarships because I have enough money to pay fees. I'd rather donate money to poor people to get education.
I'm not rich but I don't want free money in the name of scholarship.
I'm good without reservation because I can still get to the top. I have guts to prove myself
Those who talk of casteism are fools (This means that half of our population is 'pagal')

If you know me, then don't dare to talk to me on these issues. Because I cannot stand criticisms regarding things that belong to me and those things include my country, my family, and other belongings.

If someone encounters a bad brahmin then they say all brahmins are bad. Totally illogical I think this is. In my opinion it is the PERSON who can be judged, not his CASTE.

I'm not liking this post but still I have to write it to vent out my anger.

Created a blog for "Project Virtual 8085"

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:05:00 +0000

I thought it would not be nicer if I publish posts about my college project on my personal blog. Hence I created a separate blog for it,

PROJECT VIRTUAL 8085

I will post all the information on that blog as this project progresses.

Virtual 8085 introductory presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:24:00 +0000

Another Interview!

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:50:00 +0000

on Mayur's blog...
check out here

WikiLeaks

noreply@blogger.com (Gaurav) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 07:22:00 +0000

There should be a WikiLeaks type website which reveals Indian Government's secret documents. A lot of scams and scandals would be unearthed. Huh?