Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Everything is always okay in the end, if it's not okay, then it's not the end.

Begin It Now

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy.
The chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation).
There is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills
Countless ideas and splendid plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
Then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would
Never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
Raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents
And meetings and material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Press On

Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.

Talent will not;
Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.

Genius will not;
Unrewarded genius is almost legendary;

Education will not;
The world is full of educated derelicts.

Perseverance and Determination alone are omnipotent.

- President Calvin Coolidge

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Don’t Quit!

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
when he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst, that
You Must Not Quit.

- C. W. Longenecker

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Winners

Winners take chances like everyone else,
They fear failing, but they refuse to let fear control them.

Winners don’t give up,
When life gets tough, they hang in until the going gets better

Winners are flexible.
They realise there is more than one way and they are willing to try others.

Winners know they are not perfect.
They respect their weaknesses while making the most of their strengths.

Winners fall, but they don’t stay down.
They stubbornly refuse to let a fall keep them from climbing.

Winners don’t blame fate for their failures,
Nor luck for their successes.

Winners accept responsibility for their lives.

Winners are positive thinkers who see good in all things.
From the ordinary, they make the extraordinary.

Winners believe in the path they have chosen even when it’s hard,
Even when others can’t see where they are going.

Winners are patient.
They know a goal is only as worthy as the effort that’s required to achieve it.

Winners are people like you.
They make this world a better place to be.

- Nancye Sims

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Think

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don't;

If you'd like to win but you think you can't,

You can almost be certain you won't.

If you think that you'll lose, you are lost,

For out in the world you will find

Success begins with a person's will;

It's all in the state of the mind.

If you think you're outclassed you are;

You've got to think high to rise.

You've just got to be sure of yourself

Before you can win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To a stronger or faster man;

But sooner or later the person who wins

Is the person that THINKS they can.


The above have been taken from - http://www.servicentric.com/matt/quotes.html

Friday, May 18, 2007

My experiences at the Microsoft Imagine Cup National Finals


The date was 4th of May 2007 and the venue was Air Force Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi. We were one the 11 finalist teams at the National Finals of Imagine Cup '07. What a day it was! It was one of those days that change your perspective and leave you with so much to cherish. I gained a lot and also lost something (read marks in the exam) but it was overall a very fulfilling experience being there.

We won the 3rd prize and a cool 50k rupees. We did not expect to win and the way things started wasn't even encouraging.

We reached Delhi on 4th morning and called the MS rep to enquire about the Hotel where we were supposed to stay. "What Hotel, come straight to the venue of the finals", he said. That was just the beginning of the series of unfortunate events. Disheveled as were, we reached Subroto park, complete with our baggage. Our first impression of the exhibition was very discouraging. We looked like bumpkinly country boys in comparison to the more professional looking participants. Anyhow we decided to look for a place to change. On asking, we were told to use the restroom downstairs adjoining the conference room.

We thought this to be the end of our troubles but alas, troubles have a habit of never leaving you. They keep pestering you. So, after we put on more civilised clothes, we decided to go upstairs but as soon as we stepped out, we found ourselves in the midst of a discussion between the panelists. Now let me list the panelists first so that the reader can have an accurate picture of our feelings -:

Anil Bakht
Chairman & Managing Director
Eastern Software Systems

Prof. B H Jajoo
Chairman - IT Modernization
IIM Ahmedabad

Dr. C R Muthukrishnan
Advisor – TCS & former Deputy Director & Director-in-charge at IIT Madras
(Chief Guest at Imagine Cup India Finals)

Prof. Damodar Acharya
Chairman, AICTE

Durgesh Nadkarni
Head - Usability and Design, Tata Interactive System, Mumbai

Rajdeep Sahrawat
Vice President, NASSCOM

Rohit Agarwal
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
techTribe Networks

Sanjeev Aggarwal
Managing Director - Investment Advisor
Helion Venture Capital

Sujit Bhattacharyya
Director – Technology and Strategic Alliances
Career Launcher Ltd

Tarun Gulati
GM-DPE, Microsoft Corporation

Venki Nishtala
CTO
Rediff.com

Vivek Agarwal
CEO
eGurucool.com

So, as can be gauged, they were all learned people from the academia as well as the industry. Now, imagine us walking right through the room, tucking our shirts, tying our ties and carrying our bags. The panelists and the MS people all looking intently at us. We looked apologetically at the judges and rushed out of the room. It was embarrassing!

We finally reached our stall and tried to get things in order. We put up the posters and tried to set up the computer allotted. We had brought dvds of VS 2005 but the computer only had a cd writer. We started hunting for a VS 2005 cd and it was only after a thorough combing that we were able to find it. Finally having installed it we decided to test our application on the system. Although the system used to hang every few minutes and did not have the fonts for Indian languages, it ran pretty well. But, our system also had a web based service. So we needed 2 systems and decided to use the laptop we had brought. But then the search began for a cross cable but even after getting one, we were not able to connect the two till the very end. So, we had to manag with only one computer

Still, we started our show and prepared for the judges. They came, they saw, they appreciated! We couldn't believe our ears when they said that they liked our project. Okay, our project was innovative and research based but we never believed we could make it to the top three. The feeling of getting in the top three can't be described. It was simply great. It was like a huge load had been removed from our shoulders. A feeling of relief and exhilaration.

But, the best part comes now. After the announcement of the top three teams, one member from each team was taken for a press conference to the conference hall. It was the very first conference I had ever given. It was a unique experience. I also gave a TV interview later, though never saw it on TV but still an interview is an interview :p

After the press conference we had lunch and then proceeded to the auditorium for the final presentation. But, before that there was a Panel Discussion by Experts - “What is required to spur Innovation across Indian Students”. After that we gave our presentations, which was followed by the prize distribution and it was all over for the day!

P.S. - This has been a rather long blog so will post about the project later.

Monday, April 9, 2007

An Ode to Koders

They stare at the bleak screen all day
Coding the problems one by one
Their eyes deep inside their sockets
Reading the code again and again till it is done.

People consider them worthless
Saying they are not fun, they lack
But, you need to be a coder
To know how pleasurable it is to hack.

Coding is a skill, an art
That is learnt through hard work and labor
Don’t think you can be a coder
Simply because you have a habit to belabor

Without coders, the world would be but medieval
There will be no computer games
Business would be done on paper
And computers would merely be plastic frames.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

My first Blog

Hello world!!

My name is Vaibhav Rastogi. This is my very first blog......lets cut the crap and get down to some business.

I wanted to maintain a blog for so long that I don't even remember but somehow I never had one but today one of my friends started a new blog and posted some really ossum stuff on it and maybe that is what got me into blogging. I hope to post something interesting every once in a while for people to read. Neways as I don't have much to write about, I will share some interesting piece of information I read in BT today -:

- ADIDAS was named after its founder Adi Dassler and its rival company PUMA was started by his estranged brother.

- BMW initially made areoplanes and it is said that its logo symbolizes a spinning white propeller on a blue-sky background.

adieu


P.S. - It is customary to take your first steps in computer programming with "Hello world!!" and I being a self-proclaimed geek had to honour that.