Mahboob's Journal

The trigger for the workshop was to have the Computer Society of India chapter inauguration at JNTU - Anantapur, Pulivendula campus. Prof. G. Murali from the computer science department sent an email request to CSI, Hyderabad chapter asking for an advanced Java workshop to be conducted to mark the chapter inauguration. CSI forwarded the request to me and at first I did not respond. He contacted CSI, Hyd chapter again who told him to talk to me directly. On a Saturday, when I was having breakfast, he called me and I agreed. The workshop dates were finalized as 21st - 23rd of September.

Every year we at 4S have a certain intake of trainees. They are asked to do a Java EE course at a training institute during their vacation before they join the company. The students do go to training institutes and come back with certificates. But when asked practical questions, we get blank faces. Despite whatever reputation and revenue they have, the Ameerpet training institutes just cover theory in classroom sessions. In fact, students are not even made aware of simple things like where to put the app files or the war file in the Tomcat container. This happened with the last year’s batch of management trainees too.

As a management committee member of Computer Society of India, Hyderabad chapter, I want to do my bit to bring the academic world and industry closer. I’d be conducting guest lectures at various engineering colleges along with professionals from the corporate world. The first session I could do was on 15-Sep-2012 at St. Peter’s Engineering College. The expert who gave the main talk was Vandana Waghray, Director - Information Technology at United States Pharmacopeia - India.

Back in August, my kids told their mother that, a newspaper will be given to them daily in their school. Mahiba did not show much interest. Later Rayyan told that the principal was listing names of students who will take the newspaper. Rayyan said he told the principal that his mother will decide and inform. The principal knows both Ruwayda and Rayyan well. She said that she will write Rayyan’s name in her list and talk to his mother.

As the dryness of the ground recedes, as the vibes of spirituality peek and as the joyous occasion approached, we tasted different dishes. Chiefly haleem. This year we enjoyed haleem from Hyderabad Restaurant (a local Madhapur eatery not to be confused with Hyderabad House), Paradise and Bawarchi. Sarvi bakery had closed their branch at Madhapur. Last year (or the year before, I don’t remember) I had gone to Sarvi after office hours only to return empty handed. Banjara Hills was a bit far to go just for haleem. But we still wanted to taste Sarvi’s haleem, so what do we do?

Last Saturday, 11-Aug-2012, I watched The Dark Knight Rises with my family at the Cinemax in Inorbit Mall (Screen 2, 10:30 pm). In the movie, as the villain Bane hits the city, a kid is shown singing before a football game. At first I did not realize what he was singing. But when the sub-titles showed star-spangled banner I realized it was the American national anthem. It ends with the words o’er the land of the free and home of the brave. My brain multi-threads. The words are patriotic. People understand those words. And what power they would have on the citizens. Every time they hear it.

I had attended two events in the week gone by. The first one was Lunch with Rashmi Bansal at The Park on 09-Aug-2012 organized by blogadda. I reached ten minutes late but no worries, Rashmi herself came ten minutes after me (delayed flight). The Park is a splendid hotel and through the glass wall, one has a beautiful view of the Hussain Sagar.