After I had travelled to Chennai for a day to give a training on the one and only JSF ( well that is the only subject which my bosses feel I can give training on ... ), I didnt get another chance to travel though TCS to some other locations. The Chennai travel was my first ever flight and hence I was very much looking forward to another travel. However it was in 2nd week of December 2006. Thereafter the IIMsa and other calls happened. Fortunately I came to know that I will be definitely joining a college this monsoon and hence resigned in May.
Now that they knew that I will not be here for long, my bosses decided to utilise my knowledge through various trainings. It was with this in mind that they told me to go to Kolkata to give a training. JSF requires 2 days to have a proper and complete training. The kolkata training was scheduled for 5 days. The reason being that the remaining 3 days were reserved for 2 other topics namely Spring framework and Hibernate ORM tool. (Btw JSF + Spring + Hibernate is considered to be a killer combination for creating web based applications in Java these days). Even though I had resigned and have no plans to continue working in the java space (rather tech space) in the future, I decided to learn the remaining two technologies so that I could atleast know what they are. (the more important reason being that it allowed me to stay in Kolkata and experience the place).
So I am all geared up for the travel. In the next few episodes I will start the actual travel related descriptions
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Kolkata chronicles
I hope the Travels of Gandhinagar were quite interesting. I received very good comments from SV for those posts. I had travelled to one more place for training and that was the city of Joy - Kolkata.
So the next few posts from me will be on my stay at Kolkata. I have decided to name the posts similar to that of SV's chronicles. Hope to cover all kinds of details about the place in the upcoming posts.
So the next few posts from me will be on my stay at Kolkata. I have decided to name the posts similar to that of SV's chronicles. Hope to cover all kinds of details about the place in the upcoming posts.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
My Travels - Gandhinagar - Part 4 - AksharDham
Every person who comes to Gandhinagar must pay a visit to the Akshardham temple.
I could not visit the Akshardham temple of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Sanstha on the first evening of my stay. I felt very disappointed that I could not go there considering the fact that it was open till 8 pm in the evening. So I decided that on the second day, I will definitely try to reach there somehow.
I was able to finish my training by 4 pm on the second day. My flight to Mumbai was at 6:50 pm and hence I had some time with me. Hence I decided to take a risk and go to the temple to seek darshan of Lord Shri Swaminarayan. Fortunately, two trainees -(Lord Swaminarayan bless them) decided to help me out by accompanying me to the temple.
So we picked up a rickshaw and decided to go there. The GNG rickshaws are definitely slower than the petrol rickshaws. We reached after some 15 mins. A few years back there had been a terrorist attack at the temple and hence security has been tight over there. Once you are done with the security formalitites, you can go ahead and view the temple complex. For lack of time, my itenary consisted only of visiting the temple.
The place is very beautiful and well maintained. Huge gardens, amusement parks and rides for chidren, nice washroom facilities, food courts all make it a nice place for the entire family to visit. If you plan to cover each part in detail, then I suggest that you reserve you entire day for it.
I headed straight to the temple. The temple structure is quite modern yet has that old world fine art of Indians. In short, it is a very beautiful structure. Inside the temple, Lord Swaminarayan in the colour of gold sits in a relaxed posture giving his blessings to everyone present over there. The temple also has a first floor where you can read about the history of Lord and his successors - the latest being Lord Pramukhswami Maharaj. To read more about the place, go here
After looking at the Lord and getting satisfied (In Hindi... Gandhinagar aana safal ho gaya :-) ) with my trip, I decided to return. There is no direct transport from Akshardham to the Ahmedabad airport. So that was a big worry for me. But fortunately, I reached the airport well before 5:50 pm.
I could not visit the Akshardham temple of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Sanstha on the first evening of my stay. I felt very disappointed that I could not go there considering the fact that it was open till 8 pm in the evening. So I decided that on the second day, I will definitely try to reach there somehow.
I was able to finish my training by 4 pm on the second day. My flight to Mumbai was at 6:50 pm and hence I had some time with me. Hence I decided to take a risk and go to the temple to seek darshan of Lord Shri Swaminarayan. Fortunately, two trainees -(Lord Swaminarayan bless them) decided to help me out by accompanying me to the temple.
So we picked up a rickshaw and decided to go there. The GNG rickshaws are definitely slower than the petrol rickshaws. We reached after some 15 mins. A few years back there had been a terrorist attack at the temple and hence security has been tight over there. Once you are done with the security formalitites, you can go ahead and view the temple complex. For lack of time, my itenary consisted only of visiting the temple.
The place is very beautiful and well maintained. Huge gardens, amusement parks and rides for chidren, nice washroom facilities, food courts all make it a nice place for the entire family to visit. If you plan to cover each part in detail, then I suggest that you reserve you entire day for it.
I headed straight to the temple. The temple structure is quite modern yet has that old world fine art of Indians. In short, it is a very beautiful structure. Inside the temple, Lord Swaminarayan in the colour of gold sits in a relaxed posture giving his blessings to everyone present over there. The temple also has a first floor where you can read about the history of Lord and his successors - the latest being Lord Pramukhswami Maharaj. To read more about the place, go here
After looking at the Lord and getting satisfied (In Hindi... Gandhinagar aana safal ho gaya :-) ) with my trip, I decided to return. There is no direct transport from Akshardham to the Ahmedabad airport. So that was a big worry for me. But fortunately, I reached the airport well before 5:50 pm.
This is the last in the series of my posts related to my stay in Gandhinagar. Please feel free to add comments. Bye for now.
My Travels - Gandhinagar - Part 3
Now that I had reached the office well before time, I decided to explore the area. Good roads, few people roaming around here and there. Once inside the office, you are into the company land. so now newness around. I decided to straight away go to the training room and do some surfing.
Soon, the trainees arrived. Most of them were straight from the ILP and hence it was difficult for me to skip some of the topics. But I nevertheless covered the topics and they were able to comprehend most of it (Or atleast I assume so :-P) The training room over there was quite big as compared to the ones I have seen before : quite spacious with all the latest software. There were more than 30 trainees here and hence some of the machines had to be shared.
An important part of any office is its support infrastructure like coffee machines and canteen,etc. This office had many options at the coffee machines: Lemon Tea, Sugarfree tea/coffee, Masala Tea and IceTea. I was amazed by the options and gleefully had Lemon and Masala Tea. Both tasted very good. The canteen food was also very good and cheap. For Rs 35, you got 2 sabjis, dal, rotis, rice, papad, dahi/buttermilk and salad. The best part was that you could take any or all of this any number of times for the amount you paid initially. The quality of this food was also very good.
My stay was arranged at A6 and A7 bungalows in the same infocity campus. Before you assume something else, let me clarify that I got a room in that bungalow and not the entire bungalow. I must admit that TCS provides very good TQs (Transit Quarters) with all the facilities like an attached bathroom and good food, AC, TV, etc. But I also assume that this must be the case in any Big 5 IT companies. Nevertheless, you must appreciate the fact that your company does care about you when you are on some visit.
The food at the TQ was also good and tasty. I always knew that the food in Gujarat is very good and I was right in that respect. The TQ also had wireless fidelity and hence I was able to access my mails and orkut as well. On the first evening I had to walk the highway to reach my TQ but the next morning the TQ housekeeper showed me another path so that I could reach my office in only 5 mins.
I think I have described quite a lot about my office and TQ and the place in general. In the next and the last part, I will write about Akshardham which is an important highlight of my stay in Gandhinagar.
Soon, the trainees arrived. Most of them were straight from the ILP and hence it was difficult for me to skip some of the topics. But I nevertheless covered the topics and they were able to comprehend most of it (Or atleast I assume so :-P) The training room over there was quite big as compared to the ones I have seen before : quite spacious with all the latest software. There were more than 30 trainees here and hence some of the machines had to be shared.
An important part of any office is its support infrastructure like coffee machines and canteen,etc. This office had many options at the coffee machines: Lemon Tea, Sugarfree tea/coffee, Masala Tea and IceTea. I was amazed by the options and gleefully had Lemon and Masala Tea. Both tasted very good. The canteen food was also very good and cheap. For Rs 35, you got 2 sabjis, dal, rotis, rice, papad, dahi/buttermilk and salad. The best part was that you could take any or all of this any number of times for the amount you paid initially. The quality of this food was also very good.
My stay was arranged at A6 and A7 bungalows in the same infocity campus. Before you assume something else, let me clarify that I got a room in that bungalow and not the entire bungalow. I must admit that TCS provides very good TQs (Transit Quarters) with all the facilities like an attached bathroom and good food, AC, TV, etc. But I also assume that this must be the case in any Big 5 IT companies. Nevertheless, you must appreciate the fact that your company does care about you when you are on some visit.
The food at the TQ was also good and tasty. I always knew that the food in Gujarat is very good and I was right in that respect. The TQ also had wireless fidelity and hence I was able to access my mails and orkut as well. On the first evening I had to walk the highway to reach my TQ but the next morning the TQ housekeeper showed me another path so that I could reach my office in only 5 mins.
I think I have described quite a lot about my office and TQ and the place in general. In the next and the last part, I will write about Akshardham which is an important highlight of my stay in Gandhinagar.
My Travels - Gandhinagar - Part 2
Before reading this post, I suggest you read part 1.
Now that I have landed at the Ahmedabad airport, It was time for me to head to the company office in Gandhinagar. So I picked up a pre-paid taxi for Infocity, Gandhinagar
A few facts before we move ahead.
A. About Gandhinagar :- Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat. It has been named after the father of the nation - M.K. Gandhi. It is a planned city and hence at this place you will find names like sector-1, sector-2 and so on. Further there are very less traffic signals and to compensate for them, you have circles to navigate at various junctures. It is also said to be a green city. I think the reason for this would be: 1. all public transport vehicles like rickshaws and buses use CNG. 2. Planning of the city and 3. Lots of trees and gardens everywhere. Ahmedabad is certainly the biggest city of Gujarat but it is not planned and hence more like Mumbai.
B. About Infocity :- Infocity lies on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. It was an attempt by the Keshubhai Patel government of 2001 to bring IT companies to Gujarat. When I first heard about this place I expected it to be some huge complex with lots of buildings and lots of activities. But I was disappointed. It had only one building called as IT Tower 1. My company has two floors over there and plans to add one more. Besides, it has plan to develop a SEZ in Gujarat. Right now there is only one building but construction has begun for atleast 2 other towers. The infocity however has a residential township as well where people stay and that is a very good thing. It helps to reduce the commuting time. Apart from that, I also observed that since the residential was a part of the complex, there was wireless network present everywhere. That pleased me the most since I was able to access my mails and orkut which I am not able to do normally from office area.
The pre-paid taxi was quite costly (cost me arounf Rs.300) but as long as such costs are reimburesed by the company, I dont mind travelling in them.
People do say that Gujarat has really prospered in the past few years and it is growing even faster than China economically (around 15%). A major contribution to a fast growing economy is that of the roads and infrastructure. The roads in Gujarat are really good and I had a pleasant journey in the taxi as well with less traffic as well. The entire stretch from Ahmedabad to Infocity Gandhinagar was a smooth ride. Plus the rides that I have got once while travelling from Mumbai to Surat makes me believe that Gujarat is definitely doing good as far as roads go.
Well I have reached my office quite early and have a lot of time (around 2 hrs) to while away at the office.
This ends part 2 of the gandhinagar travels. In the next few parts I will describe a few more aspects of my stay.
Now that I have landed at the Ahmedabad airport, It was time for me to head to the company office in Gandhinagar. So I picked up a pre-paid taxi for Infocity, Gandhinagar
A few facts before we move ahead.
A. About Gandhinagar :- Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat. It has been named after the father of the nation - M.K. Gandhi. It is a planned city and hence at this place you will find names like sector-1, sector-2 and so on. Further there are very less traffic signals and to compensate for them, you have circles to navigate at various junctures. It is also said to be a green city. I think the reason for this would be: 1. all public transport vehicles like rickshaws and buses use CNG. 2. Planning of the city and 3. Lots of trees and gardens everywhere. Ahmedabad is certainly the biggest city of Gujarat but it is not planned and hence more like Mumbai.
B. About Infocity :- Infocity lies on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. It was an attempt by the Keshubhai Patel government of 2001 to bring IT companies to Gujarat. When I first heard about this place I expected it to be some huge complex with lots of buildings and lots of activities. But I was disappointed. It had only one building called as IT Tower 1. My company has two floors over there and plans to add one more. Besides, it has plan to develop a SEZ in Gujarat. Right now there is only one building but construction has begun for atleast 2 other towers. The infocity however has a residential township as well where people stay and that is a very good thing. It helps to reduce the commuting time. Apart from that, I also observed that since the residential was a part of the complex, there was wireless network present everywhere. That pleased me the most since I was able to access my mails and orkut which I am not able to do normally from office area.
The pre-paid taxi was quite costly (cost me arounf Rs.300) but as long as such costs are reimburesed by the company, I dont mind travelling in them.
People do say that Gujarat has really prospered in the past few years and it is growing even faster than China economically (around 15%). A major contribution to a fast growing economy is that of the roads and infrastructure. The roads in Gujarat are really good and I had a pleasant journey in the taxi as well with less traffic as well. The entire stretch from Ahmedabad to Infocity Gandhinagar was a smooth ride. Plus the rides that I have got once while travelling from Mumbai to Surat makes me believe that Gujarat is definitely doing good as far as roads go.
Well I have reached my office quite early and have a lot of time (around 2 hrs) to while away at the office.
This ends part 2 of the gandhinagar travels. In the next few parts I will describe a few more aspects of my stay.
My Travels - Gandhinagar - Part 1
Hello everyone,
Ever since I gave my resignation from my company, the bosses seem to have realised that there will be no one to look into the queries, proposals and trainings related to JSF, Java 5 and other seemingly non-preferred technologies within the Java domain. All others in the team are now working on some high end products like IBM e-Commerce or Portals like Vignette and Weblogic.
So my bosses decided to send me to a few places to give training on JSF. Hence I have been to Kolkata and Gandhinagar. While Kolkata was a 6 day affair, Gandhinagar was relatively short for only 2 days. Nonetheless it was a nice trip and I will write about it in this blog
There is a project in Gandhinagar that uses JSF. However, they were facing a lot of problems related to it. So it was decided that I would go there and train them on JSF. Little did they know that I have also never worked on any JSF project and hence even I would be having the same problems that any normal developer would have with JSF. But there is a difference. I do have the concepts of JSF quite clear and hence I do know some of the work-arounds for some of the problems.
The training days were decided to be on 8th and 9th June 2007. I decided to take the morning flight to Ahmedabad by JET Airways. This is the third time I have travelled by a airplane and I am loving every bit of travelling by a plane. Since I was travelling in JET after they went for a makeover, I expected them to sport their new uniforms and new things. But I was disappointed to see the same old dresses and style. However their service is quite good. Since the flight is only of 45 minutes, you can somehow pass the time in eating the snacks and looking out of the window or reading some magazines or newspapers. But if it is some long distance journey like Kolkata, then you will get bored quickly. This is where Kingfisher is really one up against JET.
The food was quite good and the journey also went off quite well. From an airplane, Mumbai looks stunning - Made up of disparate islands held together by some bridges. At night it looks even more beautiful under the lights. Anybody coming to India can easily say that it is the most lighted city in India.
In contrast, Ahmedabad looked no more than a small town from the plane while it was landing. Maybe I was comparing it with Mumbai and that was the mistake. Anyways, the Ahmedabad airport is quite decent and there were no problems in getting out of the Sardar Patel Airport of Ahmedabad.
This is the end of the first part of the series on Gandhinagar travels. In the next few posts I will be be detailing on the remaining part of my stay at the place
Ever since I gave my resignation from my company, the bosses seem to have realised that there will be no one to look into the queries, proposals and trainings related to JSF, Java 5 and other seemingly non-preferred technologies within the Java domain. All others in the team are now working on some high end products like IBM e-Commerce or Portals like Vignette and Weblogic.
So my bosses decided to send me to a few places to give training on JSF. Hence I have been to Kolkata and Gandhinagar. While Kolkata was a 6 day affair, Gandhinagar was relatively short for only 2 days. Nonetheless it was a nice trip and I will write about it in this blog
There is a project in Gandhinagar that uses JSF. However, they were facing a lot of problems related to it. So it was decided that I would go there and train them on JSF. Little did they know that I have also never worked on any JSF project and hence even I would be having the same problems that any normal developer would have with JSF. But there is a difference. I do have the concepts of JSF quite clear and hence I do know some of the work-arounds for some of the problems.
The training days were decided to be on 8th and 9th June 2007. I decided to take the morning flight to Ahmedabad by JET Airways. This is the third time I have travelled by a airplane and I am loving every bit of travelling by a plane. Since I was travelling in JET after they went for a makeover, I expected them to sport their new uniforms and new things. But I was disappointed to see the same old dresses and style. However their service is quite good. Since the flight is only of 45 minutes, you can somehow pass the time in eating the snacks and looking out of the window or reading some magazines or newspapers. But if it is some long distance journey like Kolkata, then you will get bored quickly. This is where Kingfisher is really one up against JET.
The food was quite good and the journey also went off quite well. From an airplane, Mumbai looks stunning - Made up of disparate islands held together by some bridges. At night it looks even more beautiful under the lights. Anybody coming to India can easily say that it is the most lighted city in India.
In contrast, Ahmedabad looked no more than a small town from the plane while it was landing. Maybe I was comparing it with Mumbai and that was the mistake. Anyways, the Ahmedabad airport is quite decent and there were no problems in getting out of the Sardar Patel Airport of Ahmedabad.
This is the end of the first part of the series on Gandhinagar travels. In the next few posts I will be be detailing on the remaining part of my stay at the place
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