My Adventurous day with PMT

Since last four years I am using PMT to go here and there in Pune. But the experience which I am going to write down here is the worst I ever had and was no more less than an adventure. My day ended up in total frustration after having such a bad experience.

My company location is Next to Ruby Hall and my flat is at located at Niljyoti. So while returning from company in the evening I usually take two PMTs i.e. from Ruby hall to Sadhu Vasvani Chowk and from Sadhu Vasvani to Niljyoti. It usually takes 30-45 min.

But today was something different. Due to Dahi Handi the bus from Pune Station to Niljyoti was cancelled and obviously I was unaware of the fact because it's really funny to expect such prior notice from PMT authorities about the same.

So this is how my journey happened
(Figures in bracket indicate fare)

• Ruby Hall to Sadhu Vasvani Chowk (5)
• Waited for almost 60 min at Sadhu Vasvani Chowk for Niljyoti bus but couldn't get one so decided to go to sasoon stop and inquire about the same.
• Sadhu Vasvani to sassoon (4) (Didn't get ticket too!)
• At Sassoon got to know that due to Dahi Handi most of the buses including Niljyoti were canceled.
• Again waited for 15 min at Sassoon for Aundh bus but couldn't get it too so decided to go to Corporation.
• Sassoon to Corporation (7)
• After 5-10 minutes waiting got Balewadi bus at Corporation
• Corporation to Range Hills (7)
• From Range hills no auto-rickshaw wala was ready to drop me to my flat. Almost 4 of them said straight NO then finally one auto wala got ready.
• Range Hills to Kusalkar Chowk (23) by auto.
• Kusalkar Chowk to My Flat (walking almost 1.5 km).

I left the company at 7:20 p.m. and reached the flat at 9:45 p.m. (costing Rs. 46). Also during the journey had to fight with conductors for bloody change. Had to do my journey standing in bus due to much crowd and on top of it had to walk almost 1.5 km to reach flat because of traffic caused by Dahi handi.

Here is the map link from my company to flat (google map) : http://bit.ly/nikEjC

For this delightful journey my special thanks to : PMT, Dahi Handi, My flat location, Hero Honda*, Auto Wala.

* : due to the pathetic service of PMT I have already booked a bike of Hero Honda and it's on waiting. Each time I call them they just extend the date of delivery :(

माँ-बाप को भूलना नहीं

माँ-बाप को भूलना नहीं
भूलो सभी को मगर, माँ-बाप को भूलना नहीं।
उपकार अगणित हैं उनके, इस बात को भूलना नहीं।।
पत्थर पूजे कई तुम्हारे, जन्म के खातिर अरे।
पत्थर बन माँ-बाप का, दिल कभी कुचलना नहीं।।
मुख का निवाला दे अरे, जिनने तुम्हें बड़ा किया।
अमृत पिलाया तुमको जहर, उनको उगलना नहीं।।
कितने लड़ाए लाड़ सब, अरमान भी पूरे किये।
पूरे करो अरमान उनके, बात यह भूलना नहीं।।
लाखों कमाते हो भले, माँ-बाप से ज्यादा नहीं।
सेवा बिना सब राख है, मद में कभी फूलना नहीं।।
सन्तान से सेवा चाहो, सन्तान बन सेवा करो।
जैसी करनी वैसी भरनी, न्याय यह भूलना नहीं।।
सोकर स्वयं गीले में, सुलाया तुम्हें सूखी जगह।
माँ की अमीमय आँखों को, भूलकर कभी भिगोना नहीं।।
जिसने बिछाये फूल थे, हर दम तुम्हारी राहों में।
उस राहबर के राह के, कंटक कभी बनना नहीं।।
धन तो मिल जायेगा मगर, माँ-बाप क्या मिल पायेंगे?
पल पल पावन उन चरण की, चाह कभी भूलना नहीं।।

How to edit the pdf file?

While filling out some form or while embedding some image into pdf one may need to edit the pdf file. Also many pdf editing tools are not free and for trial version they put their watermarks on the file which looks ugly :(

Well I experimented with this and here is simple but bit lengthy solution.

Steps:

1. Convert the pdf file to image.
One simple online tool is : http://convert.neevia.com/pdfconvert/

2. Edit the image in Microsoft Paint or some image editing tool.
For text you may use Textbox.
For image it can be directly copy pasted.

3. Convert the image file back to pdf.
Using one simple tool doPdf.
Link : Download dopdf here.

And now you are DONE !! :)

Lemme know if there is some free tool for the same.

Code म्हणजे Code म्हणजे code असतो

(कविवर्य मंगेश पाडगांवकर यांची माफी मागून)


Code म्हणजे Code म्हणजे code असतो,
लिहिता आला तर ठीक; नाहीतर उगाचीच डोकेफोड असतो



काय म्हणालात?
code लिहणं तुम्हाला चिल्लर वाटतं,
कविता करण्यापेक्षाही थिल्लर वाटतं,
मग, तुम्ही code कधी लिहिलाच नाही,
मेंदूचा भुगा कधी केलाच नाही,


कारण....

Code म्हणजे Code म्हणजे code असतो,
लिहिता आला तर ठीक; नाहीतर उगाचीच डोकेफोड असतो

first year पासूनच coding चे वारे घुमू लागतात...
C, C++, Java classes च्या वाऱ्या सुरु होतात....
if , for , while चा विचित्र खेळ सुरु होतो....
अजून कळलं नाही go to कशासाठी असतो....
complexity सतावते सतत मनाला....
pointers जीव घेतात क्षणाक्षणाला...

आठवतं ना?
तुमचा-माझा पहिला “hello world” चा code run झाला होता...
मित्रांपासून आईपर्यंत सर्वाना दाखवला होता...
तेव्हा कुठे माहिती होतं?
coding च्या दुनियेत नुकताच प्रवेश झाला आहे...
हा तर फक्त उंबरठा ओलांडला आहे....

पण काहीही असो...
code run झाल्याचा आनंद अजोड असतो,

Code म्हणजे Code म्हणजे code असतो
लिहिता आला तर ठीक; नाहीतर उगाचीच डोकेफोड असतो

काही जण गोडीने code करतात...
तर काही जण जोडीने code करतात...
काही जण इतके गुंतून जातात,
कि दिवस-रात्र code च करतात....
आणि काही copy paste ने भागवतात...
अशातला एक जण मला म्हणाला,
“४ वर्षे सरली पण मी कधी code नाही केला,
माझ कधीच काही बिघडलं नाही,
pen drive मुळे सुरळीत पार पडलं सर्व काही”


पण....
code नेच कुठे तरी नोकरी मिळते...
पोटाची खळगी तेव्हाच तर भरते....
या code मुळेच लोक ओळखतात...
software engineer ची पदवी लावतात...
कुठेही भेटले तर मानाने(?) बघतात.....
असा हा code आपल्या आयुष्याच्या tree मधला root node असतो,

Code म्हणजे Code म्हणजे code असतो
लिहिता आला तर ठीक; नाहीतर उगाचीच डोकेफोड असतो

-- Dheeraj Kasar

माझे आवडते पत्र

अब्राहम लिंकनचे हेडमास्तरांस पत्र

प्रिय गुरूजी,

सगळीच माणसे न्यायप्रिय नसतात; नसतात सगळीच सत्यनिष्ठ
हे शिकेलच माझा मुलगा कधी ना कधी
मात्र त्याला हे देखील शिकवा -
जगात प्रत्येक बदमाशागणिक , असतो एक साधुचरित पुरूषोत्तमही.
स्वार्थी राजकारणी असतात जगात ,
तसे असतात अवघं आयष्य समर्पित करणारे नेतेही.
असतात टपलेले वैरी तसे जपणारे मित्रही.

मला माहीत आहे;
सगळ्या गोष्टी झटपट नाही शिकवता येत…
तरीही जमलं तर त्याच्या मनावर ठसवा ,
घाम गाळून कमावलेला एकच छदाम
आयत्या मिळालेल्या घबाडापेक्षा मौल्यवान आहे.

हार कशी स्वीकारावी ते त्याला शिकवा
आणि शिकवा विजयाचा आनंद संयमाने घ्यायला
तुमच्यात शक्ती असली तर
त्याला द्वेषमत्सरापासून दूर रहायला शिकवा
शिकवा त्याला आपला हर्ष संयमानं व्यक्त करायला
गुंडांना भीत जाऊ नको म्हणावं,
त्यांना नमवणं सर्वात सोपं असतं !

जमेल तेवढं दाखवीत चला त्याला ग्रंथभांडाराचं अदभुत वैभव
मात्र त्याबरोबरच मिळू दे त्याच्या मनाला निवांतपणा
सॄष्टीचं शाश्वत सौंदर्य अनुभवायला
पाहू दे त्याला पक्ष्याची अस्मानभरारी…..
सोनेरी उन्हात भिरभिरणारे भ्रमर…
आणि हिरव्यागार डोंगर उतारावर
डुलणारी चिमुकली फुलं

शाळेत त्याला हा धडा मिळू दे -
फसवून मिळालेल्या यशापेक्षा सरळ आलेलं अपयश श्रेयस्कर आहे.

आपल्या कल्पना, आपले विचार
यांच्यावर दॄढ विश्वास ठेवायला हवा त्यानं
बेहेत्तर आहे सर्वांनी त्याला चूक ठरवलं तरी
त्याला सांगा
त्यानं भल्यांशी भलाईनं वागावं
आणि टग्यांना अद्द्ल घडवावी.

माझ्या मुलाला हे पटवता आलं तर पहा -
जिकडे सरशी तिकडे धावत सुटणा-या भाऊगर्दीत
सामील न होण्याची ताकद त्यानं कमवायला हवी.
पुढे हे ही सांगा त्याला
ऎकावं जनांचं , अगदी सर्वांचं….
पण गाळून घ्यावं ते सत्याच्या चाळणीतून ,
आणि फोलपटं टाकून
निकष सत्व तेवढं स्वीकारावं.
जमलं तर त्याच्य मनावर बिंबवा -
हसत राहावं उरातलं दुःख दाबून
पण म्हणावं त्याला
आसू ढाळायची लाज वाटू देऊ नकोस.
त्याला शिकवा..
तुच्छवाद्यांना तुच्छ मानायला
अन चाटुगिरीपासून सावध रहायला.

त्याला हे पुरेपुर समजावा की
करावी कमाल कमाई त्याने
ताकद आणि अक्कल विकून….
पण कधीही विक्रय करू नये
हॄदयाचा आणि आत्म्याचा !

धिक्कार करणा-यांच्या झुंडी आल्या तर
काणाडोळा करायला शिकवा त्याला, आणि ठसवा त्याच्या मनावर
जे सत्य आणि न्याय्य वाटते
त्याच्यासाठी पाय रोवून लढत रहा.

त्याला ममतेने वागवा पण
लाडावून ठेवू नका.
आगीत तावून सुलाखून निघाल्याशिवाय
लोखंडाचं कणखर पोलाद होत नसतं.
त्याच्या अंगी बाणवा अधीर व्हायचं धैर्य
पण धरला पाहीजे धीर त्यानं
जर गाजवायचं असेल शौर्य.
आणखीही एक सांगत रहा त्याला -
आपला दॄढ विश्वास पाहीजे आपल्यावर
तरच जडेल उदात्त श्रध्दा मानवजातीवर.

माफ करा गुरुजी ! मी फार बोलतो आहे
खूप काही मागतो आहे….
पण पहा…… जमेल तेवढं अवश्य कराचं.

माझा मुलगा -
भलताच गॊड छोकरा आहे हो तो.

….अब्राहम लिंकन
रूपांतर – वसंत बापट

Original Letter in English :

Abraham Lincoln's letter to his son's teacher

Lincoln’s Letter to his Son’s Teacher

He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician,
there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend,

Steer him away from envy,
if you can,
teach him the secret of
quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him
it is far honourable to fail
than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him
they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle
with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good
that comes through.

Teach him if you can,
how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn
and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag
on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears
to a howling mob
and to stand and fight
if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently,
but do not cuddle him,
because only the test
of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage
to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always
to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will have
sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order,
but see what you can do…
He is such a fine little fellow,
my son!

~ Abraham Lincoln

WhatNeXT

Well in this post I am going to write about how idea of WhatNeXT came into our mind, how we executed it and what are the reactions of people after launching our first site.

I really feel great and excited after launching our first site.
Few days back my younger bro who is studying in 12th was asking me about engineering colleges and he was asking me what is the cutoff for CoEP and VJTI so idea was just flashed into my mind "why not to help many such 12th students out there?" and then we started thinking on it more seriously. I still remember four years back when I came to CoEP for admission round, I was under impression that I'll get any branch for sure because my score was 189/200 and I wanted EnTC or Computer. But then I couldn't get into both of the branches and so chose IT. Funny thing was I was assuming PICT and PIET to be same college. And I didn't even know any college in Pune except CoEP.

So I decided to go with this website idea as people in 12th don't know much about colleges, available branches and then I started looking for partners. I got really good partners Pradeep Chaudhari and Gaurish Chaudhari, my batch mates! One interesting thing about Pradeep is he was getting admission into Computer at CoEP but due to lack of information he ended up taking IT. Also Gaurish did lot of servey (:P) whether he would be getting admission to CoEP. And finally he got into IT and later changed his branch to Computer after being topped in first year.

Working for this site was never an easy job. We really had nightmare while collecting all the data, designing our database schema, writing the algo for suggesting colleges. We had to learn all the technologies from scratch. So I got to learn many such things while working on this project.
I think only idea is not important, executing that idea is more important because every day many ideas keep coming into our mind but we just think that whether I will able to do it? What people will say about it? Will it be useful? So at such times you just need to have faith in your abilities. And I think I chose best people of our batch while working on this site.

We launched the site two days back and we have around 1000 hits on the site. Still there are many more bugs to be fixed lot of things to be done. As prdaeep rightly says deployment seems much difficult than coding.

It's really fun working on such real time project.

It feels great when people appreciate your effort and give you positive feedback. Many people liked the idea and helped us really well in these days. I would like to thank Suyog Kotecha,Bhagyashree Kothari, Tareq, Anand Hegde, Mohini Patil, Akshay Nikam, Rohan Prabhu and all those who gave us the feedback. We would love to hear any suggestions/feedback/comments from y ou.

Check out the site at : http://www.whatnextplus.com
and fb page at : www.facebook.com/whatnextpune

Just mail the suggestions to support@whatnext.org.in and please share the link.

Thanks for taking interest into WhatNeXT :)

final year project (few tips for juniors)

I am writing this post at the time when I am just moving towards final module of our final year project. The memories before one year are still vivid in my mind when I was hell confused about what to do about my project? which company to go for? which technology? Also at that time I was confused between IBM-ISL and Symantec. I went for second option and I still don't know whether it was correct or wrong decision. But to avoid confusion here are some tips especially for the juniors at CoEP regarding how one should go for B.Tech project.

1. Does project really matter at the time of placement in college?
Ans : It doesn't matter a lot as companies come in 1st semester of final year for placements. We ourselves are not much clear about the project title and overall scope of project. But companies coming in post Jan-Feb definitely ask for it. But one should not choose project for placement kind of perspective.

2. What is a good combination for a group? Should I form group with technically sound people or friends?
Ans : Two boys and two girls forms the best team for the project. As girls are sincere there should be at least two girls in the team. Also as you have to be with your project mates for 6 months you should choose mixture of technically sound people and your friends as your project mates. If you choose geeks as your team mate then they'll complete the project themselves and you have nothing to do. Also one more thing very few companies select students individually and later selected students have to form the group. So here you'll have to choose amongst selected people. So approach other people as soon as result is out so that you can get good project mates.



3. Which all domains are there? Which should I go for?
Ans : Well, one should think upon his/her interests. Domain could be like application development, System level project, Open source project, RnD kind of project, Web or automation. And choosing the domain totally depends on your interest.

4. How is the mentoring done in industry projects?
Ans : Don't expect that you'll get good mentoring in companies. That depends on mentor. Some mentors just ask you to do various things and expect a lot but don't guide you at all. So don't choose company hoping that you'll have good mentors for sure. But in on-site projects (kinda internship) you have to go to company every day and your project track is kept so you have to work sincerely.

5. Internship(on-site project) vs Industry project vs In-house projects.

Internship :

You can go for :

CRL (Tata's Computer research lab.) : This is the best company for internship and project. But they select only 2-3 best people from the whole comp-IT batch.

Nvidia : 8 months internship. Rs. 8000 p.m. stipend. Also projects are good. But getting selected at Nvidia requires preparation and some luck :)

Tibco : offers project in application domain. Mostly work in java related technologies. It does not come to CoEP for project recruitment but you can apply externally. One more thing is you have to apply as a group. So here is a good chance for keeping you group intact.

Amura : Amura is startup by CoEPians. You'll get to learn many things if you opt for internship here. If you want to work on web based technologies or java related technologies then this is the best opportunity but keep one thing in mind that you'll have to work very hard if you join amura for project cum internship.

Industry projects :

Syamantec : Some projects offered at symantec are really good. If you want to do work in system domain, security or automation then you should go for symantec.

TRDDC : They offer very good project in R & D domain. Also you can do your project work at company. On completion of project there is project competition amongst TRTDC project groups. This is really sad but in our college you have to struggle for resources like availability of lab, PCs, internet connection while doing your project work. Also laptops are not allowed in labs except SnV lab which is much crowded.

Also this year three project groups from COEP got prizes in categories like Best Design (Rs. 15k), Best Research (Rs. 15k) and Best Presentation (Rs. 10k).

Calsoft : Here you can implement your own ideas and have mentoring from calsoft people. So if you have any ideas in mind just turn them into reality with the help of calsoft.

Few other companies : John Deere, IBM-ISL (Remote Mentoring), Persistent.

In house projects:

- For open source or linux related projects, project offered by Abhijit Sir are really good.
- Attar madam offers really good projects in Data Mining and database field.
- If you want to work in Natural language processing then go for project offered by Lehkar madam.

- Inamdar(Joshi) madam offers project in Image processing domain.

REMEMBER : Don't keep in-house projects as last option.
If you are really interested then in-house projects are way better than company projects. You may publish paper out of it.

6. Selection procedure.
Ans : Some companies like symantec conduct aptitude test consisting of sections C,CPP, Data Structure, Java, Quant. If you crack apti then just form group with selected people.
Some companies conduct test followed by group interviews. e.g. nvidia
Some companies directly take group interviews. e.g. calsoft.

7. Few suggestions.

If you want to go for MS then do your project seriously, sincerely and try to publish paper on your work.
Try for on-site project if you are really serious about project stuff. (CRL, Nvidia, Tibco)
First meet faculties about in house projects and then decide whether to go for industry projects or not.
One more advantage of industry project is company may offer you the job after successful completion of your project. So you can have backup for placement and you can sit for selected companies in college.

Also try to attend B.E. project contests in and around Pune. You may get some ideas of projects there. Interact with seniors about project title. And while doing project in final semester do participate in various project contests because this helps you identifying flaws in your project and judges at project contests are experienced industry people so their suggestions helps you making your project better and better.

One final note : Things explained above are just my personal views. Before appearing for any company just ask the corresponding senior working with that company. I'll not be responsible for any of your decisions taken based on this blog. This blog is just to avoid your confusion. Do take advice from 3-4 more seniors.

You may contact me on my email id for more details.