Gandhigiri – is it still relevant?

“Gandhigiri - is it still relevant?”, is a simple question which you need to ask yourself and find your own answer. (I am trying to do the same here)
Gandhigiri to me is adherence to simple but powerful values of truth and morality. Questioning Gandhigiri is questioning the relevance of these essential values. People (sometimes even me 😉 fail to realize the potential of Satyagraha and non-violent protests (or just prefer to ignore). Blame it on myopia. People want to see favourable results instantly and so tend to use other means (read by hook or by crook). I just hope people regain their belief in the effectiveness of non-violent protests. For me the best part of non-violent protests is that we maintain our composure and compel others to pay heed to our request.
I like the term ‘Gandhigiri’ and in general I do like buzz words (read Web2.0 etc). They give you a fresh perspective to look at things. Its like repackaging of sorts to cater to the tastes of the new generation. Bole toh… Zhaakass !

EQ

Your EQ is 127
50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick!
51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you’d have better luck understanding Chinese.
71-90: You’ve got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely.
91-110: You’re average. It’s easy to predict how you’ll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that.
111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt.
131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin.
150+: Two possibilities - you’ve either out “Dr. Phil-ed” Dr. Phil… or you’re a dirty liar.

What’s Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Career Personality

Your Career Personality: Independent, Insightful, and Ingenious
Your Ideal Careers:Architect
Artist
Business strategist
College professor
Computer programmer
Mathematician
Neurologist
Philosopher
Photographer
Video game developer

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

I guess I have chosen the right career… :p?

Love

Starts unknowingly,

Flourishes skeptically,

Culminates decidedly

and then…

Fades gradually.

– Akky

Does anyone agree?

Pune Ruby Hackathon !

To start with I said to myself, “I have tried the Half Marathon! Why not try the Hackathon too !! - 22nd July”

I was not sure of taking part in the hackathon as i had never treid RoR, there was still a week to go and not many participants had signed up on their wiki. Even then I just happend to put my name there in the list of participants. There was a faint chance of me going for the hackathon if Shweta (intern at my office) would join in as she has been trying out Ruby on Rails (RoR) for over a month now. I asked her and she was going to leave for Hyderabad a day before the hackathon. I had almost left the idea of joining the hackathon as i had to work a lil harder the same week to meet project deadlines. To cut things short I was surely going to miss the hackathon. Later in the day (I guess Tuesday) something happened (I am not sure wat) but I decided I would give it a try. So, here I was having no clue of RoR but wanting to attend the hackathon a core no-frills geek meet. I took a 15 minute tutorial (LoL) from Shweta on RoR and also got the Agile Web Programming with Rails book (thnks to my office). I would read the book while travelling in the bus and late at night. I could only read it for 3 days.

It was around 11am on 29th July and I typed the first command to start a project in RoR… $ rails mars

If I do not discuss the positives from the event then I won’t do justice to the thought behind organising such an event.

To keep things short

People !

- I met quite a few interesting, friendly and like minded people around.

- Vaibhav Domkundwar from Better Labs who was one of the organisers, was really interested in the proceedings and made everyone feel comfortable. One of the things he stressed on was taking this initiative forward. He also discussed the future potential of the applications with each one personally. He even discussed about his latest initiatives like dealplumber.com and how he wanted the Tech community in India to develop and grow.

- Satish Mishra again from Better Labs made sure that everything was in place. Later after the hackathon he also shared his views on what Better Labs was all about and their india2.0 initiative.

- Pratik who also happened to come down for BarCampMumbai was participating. I had read his blog and even commented on the BarCamp posts. Never happened to to know/speak him (didnt happen to start a conversation with him at the BarCamp). He has been actively involed wtih RoR for around 3 months now. BTW he won the hackathon !
Learning !

- Yup, being there was a learning experience. Though I was not sure of how I would fair at the hackathon but I was sure that I would try to experiment with RoR for 24 hours. Everyone present was helpful and alway ready to share what they knew.
IDeas !

- Everyone was working on their own ideas. The positive vibes around were contagious. Being there was really encouraing.

Future !

- I am sure something like this will catch up soon in other cities too like the BarCamp. Looking forward for more of such geeky encounters.

Deliverables !

- I would surely be realeasing Mars soon to the open source community. This is going to be my second initiative after Qikblogger and I am excited.

Thnks !

Yup, thnks to the organisers and congratulations for a super-successful event.

The MaRaThoN has just begun 😉

HaCKaThoN OveR bUt MaRaThoN bEgiNs

Have been following Ruby and Ruby on Rails(RoR) for some time now. Today (in the last 24 hours) I finally treid it out live at the hackathon. Ruby is coOL and Ruby on Rails is even coOLer! Like there is no smoke without fire… RoR really stands up to the hype (wateva) around it.

I also liked the whole concept of a hackathon. Cheers to Better Labs for initiating it and hearty congratulations for its success.
More about it later…

Hey I was selected as the SiLver Hacker at the hackathon after the evaluations ! Cheers !!! I built a planet application using Ruby on Rails in 36 hours and named it Mars (any guesses y ?). You can know more about it here.

I guess I was waiting for a excuse (?) to start using RoR. Now I am sure its going to be a MaRaThoN run with ruby for company.

Now even I can VotE !

Remember my post ‘ iNcLuSiOn of name in VoTeR LisT ‘ a couple of months back ?

Today, i recieved a mail in my inbox saying,

Your online Application no XXXXXXXXXXXX dated 2006/05/16
The name of has been included in 42-Goregaon Assembly Constituency in Part No 88 at Serial Number 958

wOw now even I can vote. By the way whom shall i vote? This is a question I have been asking myself as there is not much choice. Haven’t found a suitable answer yet.

To blog: dilema surrounding voting