Nana sent me a SMS at around 6.30 PM (IST). It read this "A bad news for u and us". Reading it shocked me. I was stunned for a minute. Hesitantly I SMSed back "What man ?". I was so much under shock that I stopped all work and was waiting seriously for his reply !!

Then after about 10 minutes, he SMS' back saying "Ineme RIN SUPREME BAR kedaikathu….SURF EXCEL BARa mariduchu..Ha ha ha !!!!" (means that Rin Supreme bar will not be available here after, since it has become Surf Excel bar (And for those who don't know what Rin Supreme and Surf Excel are – well you just don't watch TV, and how stuid is that !!)). This was meant to be a mimicry of the ad that is played in TV on the same subject.

It was funny alright, but the nervous moments that it gave me was of galactic proportions. I had never felt so nervous, so jittery, so shocked and so stunned ever in my life. I then re-couped and the humour in that made me forget the shock. Even Shyam was very appreciative of the humour that was on show. And I, well I felt like a Bakra !!

And then, I tried to make Bakra of a few more people using this trick. So I SMSed Jean, Raghib, Rajab, Sai, Sampath, Sriram, Sudharshini and Vinthya. I was waiting eager to get their responses !! Rajab was the first to reply back asking what happened. And I sent the second SMS. And then no more reply from him (I gues he should have used the baddest possible words in tamil to "praise" me !!). Then it was Sampath's turn. He did not SMS me back – but in his very own style, he gave me a couple of missed calls. Rajeev Nair called him back and we made a Bakra out of him.

Next was Sai's turn. He SMSed me and just like Rajab asked what had happened. I sent back the second SMS and then no reply from him. Knowing Sai very well, he would have certainly done what Rajab would have done !! Next it was Vinthya. She called me and asked me what happened. And I told her to check her mobile for the second SMS. Well, she started to blast the hell out of me. I had to keep the reciever some 2 to 3 inches far from my ear as it war raining words out of her mouth.

But the best of the lot was Sriram. He must have made atleast 5 calls to my mobile and when I finally called him back, he screamed his head off at me !! He had called up Jean, made her nervous and in turn became even more nervous in the process.
Now finally, all this was done with no intentions of causing any harm. It was great fun indeed, and yes it did involve dark humour. But, it also reminded me that there are quite a few people who do really care about me. Well, thanks guys, and trust me I'll never play such a trick again on you guys (no, I did not keep my fingers crossed while writing this. Well, actually I did !!)

Krugle has started to send out invitations to those who had registered for beta testing. I was waiting for this for about a coupe of months now, ever since Mano had sent me a mail on Krugle.

Krugle is a search engine for programmers like me. A search engine which makes Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V - the two essential know-hows of the programming world – very simple. I checked out their demo video, and must say was very imressed. The actual testing will begin only tomorrow (April the 5^th), when Krugle will open its gates for the thirty four odd thousand enthusiastic (or should I say over enthusiastic) programmers like me. Wow, can't wait to get my hands dirty on this.

I will post a full review of Krugle in my next post.

Two posts of pessimism is enough for one week. So here is something non-pessimistic !!

Well if you

• live in Chennai

• a bit savvy about technology

• read Decccan Chronicle this Sunday

then you must surely have heard about BarCamp hitting Chennai. Yes the next BarCamp is going to take place in Chennai on April 8th and 9th.

If you haven’t heard or still wondering what is BarCamp then here is the text straight from the official site

BarCamp is an unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. The BarCampChennai focusses on Web 2.0, Social Media and Next Generation Internet. BARCamp is an open, welcoming, once-a-year event for geeks to camp out for a couple days with wifi and smash their brains together. It’s about love and geekery and having a focal point for great ideas, like FOOcamp but open. The event will be free or very close to free. But there’s a catch! Partipants are expected to contribute back to the conference by participating actively. “Active participation” might mean giving a presentation, helping with a presentation, blogging or podcasting the event, or whatever other creative ways to contribute people can come up with. There is no audience. Only participants! This is unlike any conference you have been to before. It’s new, it’s different and it’s going to happen in our city. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

Wanna participate ? no registration, no fees, no need to send email nothing, just go the BarCampChennai page and add your name to the confirmed Participants list. It’s a Wiki so you can directly edit the page.

Wanna present a topic? Just select your topic from this list and add your name to the Confirmed Participants list. Again it’s a Wiki so just edit it.

Wanna organize? Here is the list of things to do. Select one and continue working on it.

Happy BarCamping..

P.S: Sudar, thanks a ton for the text !!

Yup, this is how I feel right now !! First I had to work on a Sunday, and now, I am working over night. Man this is frustrating, stupid, idiotic. I feel like as if I am on the verge of insanity !!

God, please help me out of this mess !! Please, pretty please…….

Me drinking a BEER……..na, I'm too young for that

This is just Apple Juice !!

Sriram proposed a wonderful plan. Nine of us (Sriram plus six of his friends, myself and Jean) were supposed to be going to Mayajaal for a well deserved Sunday bash. We had a huge list of to-do's there. We wanted to watch movies, play a game or two of snooker, pool, bowling etc. Basically the idea was to have fun. And I was looking forward for it with much vigour.

But, I will not be making it. The reason – well I am supposed to be at my office to finish my project to meet a Tuesday deadline!!

All work and no play makes Rajiv a dull boy. How irritating and how frustrating !!

Sriram has plans of going to MGM next weekend – I hope I'll make it atleast then.

The first program I wrote gave me these two glorious words as it output. From there started my journey in this mysterious yet intriguing world called programming. And just as I wrote a Hello World as my first program, here I am writing Hello World again, in my blog. After about 13 years, history repeats itself.

Hello World I have started to blog !!