Whats in a walk!!

They say, the first steps are the most valuable memory that you have of your child.. (noooo... I am not talking about my child or anything.. RELAX..). I am referring to my mum's elder child here... he he he.. yup, thats me...

Well then.. I am sure she remembers my first few steps but wait, this post has nothing to do with those. This is more to do with the innumerable second steps that I have taken ever since.
To set the context, a few days back, someone pointed out that I have a peculiar manner of walking and hence, I thought, I'd rather rant away my "walking techniques" right here. So, please "walk along".. pun intended.. :-)

On a normal day - I have springs (with k=0.5 N/m) on my feet.
On a day when I am super excited - I literally jump and run with baby steps..
On a day when I am tired - Its the same as a normal day
When I am lost in thought (& walking simultaneously) - I wander... (my feet move in the most lazy manner)
On ramp - A straight line walk
Wearing sophisticated shoes - A poised walk (that's a quote!!!)
On water - still trying to.. ;-)

Half century...

I had a dozen topics to write about and I chose to discard each of those so that I could babble away about my half-century. With my laptop in my hand, I raise my arm towards the heavens and look at the almighty in an attempt to plead - "Please help me reach the much-awaited century". (Please say that I sound like Tendulkar..!!! )..

Anyway.. on a very random note, I wanted to say... "Thats ohkay!!" and also, loads of thanks to all those who have read these bizarre posts of mine..

I shall keep perplexing and irritating and confusing u guys... :P

PS. I really wanted to make the "I want to thank speech.." but stopped all the flow of emotion... maybe that sometime later...
Oh and also, the 50 is the total count of posts... published + unpublished.. so please don't get confused yet again.. :P

Whats been keeping the gmail team busy!!

Some real cool stuff... :-)

I especially like the emoticons and the fact that I can now send attachments of 20 mb at one go...

am still in the process of checking out the new features and shall update if there's anything really awesome..

Till then read on:-

___________________________________________________________

Gmail Labs: A testing ground for experimental new features
Try out features in development and let us know what you think. To get started with Labs, click the Labs tab under Settings. Learn more

Gmail has a new look on the iPhone browser
Now with auto-complete when composing, automatic refreshing, and faster load times when viewing email. Learn more

More friends are more fun. Gmail welcomes your AIM® friends.
Now you can talk to your AIM® friends using an integrated chat list right inside Gmail. Learn more

AOL and AIM are trademarks of AOL LLC

Colored labels
Better organize your email with new colored labels. Just click the color swatch next to each label to assign a color. Learn more

Group chat
Chat with multiple people without multiple windows. Invite your friends to a group discussion. To start a group chat, click 'Group chat' from the 'Options' menu when chatting. Learn more

New emoticons
Start sending richer expressions to your friends. Learn more

Free IMAP
Sync your inbox across devices instantly and automatically. Whether you read or write your email on your phone or on your desktop, changes you make to Gmail will be seen from anywhere you access your inbox. Another way to use Gmail on your iPhone is through the browser. By going to m.gmail.com you get the full Gmail experience including conversation view, search, and more. Learn how to set up IMAP on other devices.

Set up IMAP on your iPhone. Watch the video

• View as slideshow
  Now you can open PowerPoint attachments as slideshows, without having to download anything. Just click "View as slideshow" next to the .ppt attachment you want to preview. Since you can open .doc and .xls attachments with Google Docs and Spreadsheets too, there's no need to leave your web browser to check out your Gmail attachments. Learn more

• Increased attachment limit-- 20 MB!
  Now you can start sharing more of those home videos, large presentations and files you just can't seem to get smaller. We have doubled the allowable attachment size to 20 MB to make your Gmail space even more useful. Learn more

• It's a Gmail party and everyone is invited!
  You can still invite your friends to enjoy Gmail's spam protection, 5GB free storage and other great features, but now you can also just tell them to visit www.gmail.com and sign up without an invitation.

• Get mail from other accounts
  Now Gmail can check for the mail you receive at your other email accounts. You can retrieve your mail (new and old) from up to five other email accounts and have them all in Gmail. Then you can even create a customized 'From:' address, which lets you send messages from Gmail, but have them look like they were sent from another one of your email accounts. Please note that you can only retrieve mail from accounts that have POP3 access enabled. Learn more

• Embarrassment-reducing new message notifications
  Ever replied to a message only to find out that someone sent a better, smarter reply right before you? Now, if someone sends a reply while you're in the middle of reading a conversation (or replying to it), you'll get a notification that a new message has arrived. Click "update conversation" to see what you’ve missed.

• Forward all
  When viewing a conversation, use the new “Forward all” link on the right if you want to forward the entire conversation instead of just one message.

• Chat even when your friends are offline
  Chatting in Gmail just keeps getting better. Now, if you're chatting with a friend who goes offline, your friend will be able to see whatever you were typing the next time he or she goes online.

• Get Gmail on your mobile phone
  Download it once, and start accessing Gmail on your phone with just a click or two. To try it for yourself, point your phone to gmail.com/app. Learn more

• Voicemail
  Your friends can leave you a voicemail using Google Talk. The voice message is sent to your Gmail account as an audio file that you can download or play right from your inbox. Learn more

• Reply by chat
  When you're about to (or in the middle of a) reply to someone, and you see that person online, you can just send your reply as a chat message. And if you've chosen to save your chat histories, then your chat even gets threaded with that original email conversation. Learn more

• A picture's worth a thousand words
  With contact pictures in Gmail, you can pick ones for yourself, see which ones your friends have chosen, and set certain pictures to show up for specific people in your Gmail account. Best of all, you can even send picture suggestions to your friends. Learn more

• Gmail Chat
  Get in touch with your friends instantly, from right inside Gmail! It's the biggest thing to happen to Gmail, since well, Gmail. Learn more

• Vacation auto-responder
  Set an auto-response so that if you're lying on a beach or taking a train across Siberia, your friends will know you won't be checking your email. Learn more

• Contact groups
  One of our most-requested features is finally here! Now you can send messages to a group instead of having to pick out the individual addresses every time.Learn more

• View as HTML
  Now you can view Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or .pdf attachments as web pages by clicking the "View as HTML" link instead of downloading. For when you want to see it faster, you're on a mobile device, or you don't want to install software just to view a document. Learn more

• Shortcuts on the right
  Now Gmail automatically detects addresses and tracking numbers, and displays useful information such as directions and package tracking alongside your messages.

• Virus scanning is here!
  For your protection, Gmail now automatically scans for viruses every time you open or send a message with an attachment. We even try our best to remove all the viruses we find. Learn more

• Export contacts
  Export your Gmail Contacts and save them in a file for back-up or to use in another account or service–great if you're using Gmail's free POP access. Learn more

• Auto-save
  Saves to ‘Drafts' as you're composing. Never lose a half-written email again.

• Get to Gmail from any web page
  Download the new Gmail-enabled Google Toolbar. Search your mail or instantly go to your Inbox from any web page with just one click. Learn more

• Gmail on Google.com
  See your new messages directly from your personalized Google.com homepage.

• Google Talk
  IM and make free calls through your computer with Google Talk. Your Gmail contacts are even pre-loaded. Learn more

• Customized 'From:' addresses
  Customize the address on your outgoing messages to display another one of your addresses instead. Learn more

• An application for Macs
  The Gmail Notifier for Mac OS X even supports plug-in development.

• Free POP access and automatic forwarding
  Access your mail the way you want to. Download your messages. Read them offline. Use your Blackberry or Outlook or any POP-enabled device. Or forward new messages to an email account you specify. You can even switch to other email services without having to worry about losing access to your messages. Think of it as email portability Learn more

• Import Contacts
  Move all your contacts from Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and others to Gmail in just a few clicks. Learn more

• Signature options
  From the settings page, create a signature that's automatically added to the end of all your outgoing messages. Learn more

PS. References - gmail.com - Inbox - (New features)

I almost forgot...

To congratulate the guy I mentioned in the post below... he has finally made it into the army..
CONGRATS!!!
The junoon shall continue...

And now is treat time... :-)

Ji shreemaan!!! ;-)

In my 23 years of existence, I've had the opportunity of meeting 2 really interesting people.
Surprisingly, one of them is my bro and the other is a good friend.
The one thing both of them have in common - "Junoon to serve the country". Man you need to see the devotion and dedication. Amazes me.
While one keeps narrating his one hour long parades to me over the phone the other one runs in the heat with a jacket on. Gosh... both of you inspire me..
Wish both of you loads of success. Hope to see the CNS baton pass from one to the other..

JAI HIND..

What I mean.... !!!!

* Chaya, Afghanistan, a place in Afghanistan.
* In Hebrew, Chaya is a girl's name, derived from the Hebrew word chai (חי), meaning "life".

o Chaya is also the name of a font used to type English letters in a style which looks like the Hebrew alphabet.
* Chaya (film), a film from the cinema of Karnataka, a region of India.
* Chaya (brothel), chaya (茶屋), literally meaning "teahouse", is a common euphemism for Edo period bordellos in Japan.

o chashitsu (茶室, "tea room"), rooms or small buildings used for the Japanese tea ceremony
o Chaya family, a wealthy family of textile merchants based in Kyoto from the 16th century into the Edo period.
o Chaya Shirōjirō, merchants within that family, wealthy and influential traders with the official patronage of the Tokugawa shogunate.
* Chaya (plant), also known as tree spinach, a vegetable grown and eaten primarily in Mexico
* Chaya tequila, a brand of tequila produced by Interco Brands Inc
* Chaya River, rivers in Russia and Bulgaria.
* Chaya County, county in Tibet

Record!!!!

I just couldn't not write about this. That has been the fate of quite a few things in my life, but I just have to pour out my heart's contents into this one. Yes! We have a world record now.. and that too an official one.. Never meant to start out with this in mind and towards the end the result was beautiful.. and I mean it. Life is and was BEAUTIFUL.

So, it started out with this mail that someone from office had floated across quite sometime back and was about some puzzle thing. Within a few mins registrations were closed. I was the one who turned out to be slow you see and so I couldn't crib. Anyway, then came another mail after more than a month and this time I did not wait for a sec and replied. Yes! I was in the team...finally.
Tragedy struck. Next day, I was hospitalized for the next 12 days with the typhoid bacteria running in my blood stream. Now that's a separate story altogether and should not, in any case, eat the lime light here.

Once out of the hospital, I was not allowed to exert at all and hence could not travel all the way to office for the practice sessions and I, at one point in time, actually thought that I may not be in the final team. But these guys were pretty accommodating. (I guess they don't even know that I was unwell..)

So, that's about the background of the entire thing -how I got the opportunity and stuff. My first engagement with the entire team was the "Practice session" wherein I was, for the first time in my life, puzzling over a puzzle with 3k pieces. That was a real learning experience. We were 17 ppl present and decided to work on 2 puzzles simultaneously. I was a part of the 5-member group solving the 3k puzzle. It was a working day when this marathon began and by the time I reached, the animals section seemed pretty much complete. So, I took up the hot-air balloons. Aaahh.. they were beautiful. And btw, there were 4 penguins in the animal section. They looked sooo cute...

The entire 3k team worked for 13 hours flat and that too non-stop and finished the task assigned. The 3k baby looked pretty and this was 1/8th the final one. We understood the difficulty of LIFE. But hopes were not deterred. Instead we waited eagerly for the challenge. Oh and the highlight of the entire night was the amazing playlist that somehow always played the song "Tala Tum"... <> and how all of us would practically start shouting as soon as it started.

For Namrata and I, Saturday morning spelt more work - on the office front. Without sleeping, we carried on with Monza and Jyoti and somehow managed to pull through..

And now I am feeling sleepy so I'l write about the journey enroute LIFE in the next post..

Keep reading... :-)