Capers, thoughts, bloopers, of a maveric

It's been eons since I typed in this blog and Lo Presto !!! a neat oppurtunity has sprung across. Just as FYI, I have participated and organized many Anthakshari competitions, I have also be a pro MC pertaining to Anthakshari in a couple of get-togethers. I've kick started an initiative to have an Anthakshari competition at my current Company, Its going to be in our National Language Hindi and here are my shots at what the various rounds of Anthaksahri that can be there. (P.S I am not the team that is going to host the show, this is a sincere attempt at different rounds, So in case you know a few different rounds, please do go ahead and add them as comments) 1. Normal Anthakshari... Sing a song, Start a new song with the end-ing letter. 2. Double Anthakshari ... Sing a song, Start a new song with the ending letter, only caveat here is that the word with which you commence the song must be repeated immediately after the first time its uttered. 3. Word Anthakshari ... A word will...

Its been a loooong time since I've added to this blog. And what a day the last day of year 2010 and here I am typing away with gusto. This blog is to bring in the most common mistakes that we software engineers make during our estimation. Be it the normal SDLC or be during Agile, be it while preparing a WBS or be it while preparing a Prioritized backlog estimate, mistakes are bound to creep up. I was searching for some common mistakes and here are a few which appealed to me, Source Jones in the book "Estimating software costs", Got this info thru the pmhut. Some of the most common things that go amiss are as follows: 1. Underestimating the effort of Doc and Code reviews, Code walkthru's, inspections and testing 2. Underestimating the effort to provide documentation 3. Underestimating travel and meeting costs 4. Ignoring scope creep (approx estimate at 1-5 % per month) 5. Exaggerating the effect of tools, languages and methods 6. Missing special testi...

Having had a Samsung D410, which had given me a lot of company for 4 long years, I decided to move onto a newer phone. I was looking for a phone that would have the following features in it: serve as a good quality mobile phone Have a lot of memory so that I could use this instead of an ipod be able to listen to the radio and a lot of songs Have a good battery life Be stylish Have a good camera, 2 mega pixels and above that I could use to take impromptu photos Be good value for money After searching around for a lot of time, I happened to glance into the Nokia Xpress Music 5310 model, And yes before I could say voila I was owning the latest handset in the market, with red bordering :) Now comes the time for listing the pro's and the con's of this mobile phone The con's are as follows : Very un-reliable, tends to reboot often Sudden hang up and reboot when you are in a call The point of inseting the recharge pin, is not convincing, the pin does not go in completly, feels loo...

Kiccha Sudeep in a new avtaar, and I went along to watch his latest offerring Mussanje Maathu, due to wifey's persistence of going to the theater and watching him. After the 1st reel of this film the laughter all but died away, then started my GoLu (for those who are learning kannada it means An evening of sorrow). Thankfully it was just Rs 40 per ticket, would have definately cried if I had watched it in a Multiplex. The story goes like this Sudeep is this Agony Uncle on Radio Mirchi Sakkath Hot maga and runs a daily evening Radio Show, where in people from different walks of life dial in and share their cuppa sorrows. Mr elegant personified Sudeep lends then a supporting shoulder (thru air waves) and suggests a few words of pearly wisdom. This man who provides people with a Ray of Hope suddenly finds that he has fallen head over heels in love, but does not express his feelings to the girl (Ramya). He helps in uniting her with her estrangled dad, and is devastated when she is enga...

Yipee said my mind and body, heart and soul, another Kamal Hassan movie after a loooong time. And off I went, all those mixed reviews in my head, And whats my verdict, Dasatavaram Rocks !!!! Its a Kamal Hassan Fiesta all the way. A concept so finely weaven by the Master himself, that blends ancient day history, present day biological warfare and the devastating events of the Tsunami to hit the shores of Tamilnadu , all in all its a movie worth watching. The film starts off with our protagonist delivering a speech to a packed (albeit computer graphical) crowd about the sequence of events that have occurred in the past. Georgie Bush, yes the president of the US of A has a fund set up for getting a deadly biological weapon, and a University in the states is creating this deadly virus. The person in charge of the project is Govindaraj ( Kamal sans any add ons ). Slowly the effects of the virus is seen and the head of the institution gets greedy and wants to sell the virus out in...

Yes I was there, First day First show of Gaalipata .... Does this "Kite" " Gaalipata " really soar ???? Well to get to the answer to that questions read on. For the folks who wanna jump right to the end, do go onto to the last paragraph. The movie revolves round the normal life of 3 fun loving youngsters, Gani , Doodh and Kitti, one an engineer, the other a aspiring medic and the another a credit card selling marketing executive who wants nothing that his quintessential Rich father has to offer. They live life as if there is no tomorrow, but each has his own set of shadows that they are trying to shake off. Gani wants to forget his family as they ported him off to boarding school for winking at his class teacher at school, Kitti wants to get over that depressing feeling of getting dumped off by his girlfriend of 8 yrs and Doodh wants to grow up in life. An unprecedented turn in their day to day activities leads them to Doodh's ancestral home, where in th...

Today marks the day Mungaaru Male Part II or rather the next movie that has the Yograj Bhat - Ganesh combination part II is released. There has been a lot of eager anticipation and tongue in cheekiness regarding the movie. Will it prove to be a hit or will it die down in a whimper ? This my friends is left to be seen. I hope it is not a hype and will prove to be another bumper in terms of records, I hope for this to happen not only to keep Ganesh's and Yograj Bhat's reputation intact but, also for the careers of the following people I adore. Rajesh Krishnan the singer par excellence, AIR Karnataka's singer of the year, now who has lost out on various singing chances due to the entry of so many Hindi singers. Neethu from Poojari to Gaalipata , hope this movie makes it great for this talented actress- danseuse Diganth is on a roll now a days, Daisy Bopanna , this leggy lass is my lambi race ki ghodi ...watch out she is good. The songs of the movie have come ou...