God's Ways of helping

I work on Oracle BI (OBIEE). I was working on the project called Portfolio management (PFM) along with MBR channels. Work was overwhelming, I was working late night and over weekends (something I never did all through my career till this point). Aug 29h 2008 was the deadline for me to deliver the reports on the PFM.
I received the data model on Aug 18. I plugged it into the existing data model. It worked. I decided that just few minutes of work is left and I can wind up on the weekend.

Weekend when I started working, I realized that the data model is wrong, I cannot sum the values!!!. And of the 6 reports that have to be completed two reports can't be created in OBIEE. On 25th Aug, I pinged the database team and asked them to give the right data model. Now they were busy and they could give me only by end of day. Now, I was getting scared. :-).

Database team was co-operative and by end of 25th Aug I got the data model on the development environment. I copied the repository file from the production server on to the development server, and then imported the data model. I created the joins and deployed on the development (dev) server, hoping it will work. I brought the UI up and when I tried to add the fields from the data model. It started throwing up errors. The error was straight; it said that tables were not found. I guess I was already worked up, I thought the problem was in the data model. So I went about doing umpteen numbers of trails and errors to fix the data model. It failed. I was at a loss.

Next day, while driving to office I kept thinking on how to bring up the system. I pinged the database team and requested them to look at it. But they were already overloaded. I kept on with my trail and error. At that point, my PFM manager Chandra pinged me. He asked me why was the development server was showing production data. Eureka!! It then hit me; the repository file was pointing to production database, while the new data model was in development environment. I hadn't changed the repository file to point to the development environment after I copied it from the production server. So I was getting the error. I replied to my manager saying he was great and he had helped me debug the problem. He was perplexed. Then I explained to him, I guess he had a good laugh.

Now, I changed the repository file to point to dev and Aaiye La!! It worked!! Phew!!

If my manager hadn't pinged me and asked me about data, I don't know how long I would have taken to debug the problem.

God's ways of helping are really unique.

Coorg - Part 1

Coorg was one of the destinations on our minds for long. Finally we decided to go there for our fourth anniversary.


Beautiful Coorg

Travel
I Booked the KSRTC "Airavatha" buses to and fro from Coorg. We took the last bus to Corrg at 11:30 pm on 15th May 2008. We reached coorg on 16th May, 4 am. I had booked return for 18th May 2008 at 3:30 pm. We could have driven all the way to Coorg, but we decided against it.
We had contacted a kown person at Coorg and had a taxi booked for the 16th and 17th May.

16th May - Morning

We were scheduled to start at 7:30 am on 16th May, but we woke up only at 7:30 am. We asked the taxi to come in at 8:30 am, but the time we boarded the taxi it was 9 am. The taxi driver Sharat was very friendly.

Bhagamandala
We started off to Talakaveri via bahagmandala. Bhagamandala is 33 km from Coorg. At bhagamadala is the confluence of the rivers Kaveri, kanika and an underground spring Sujyothi. There wasn't much water in the rivers. At a very short distnace for mthe Sangama is the Bhagandeshwara temple. Here we have Bhagandeshwara (Ishwara), Maha Vishnu and Lord Subramanya. Hence, this place is called Bhagamandala. The temple wasn't crowded. We took a ticket for Arithi. The temple complex was in the typical Kodagu style. There was no major pujas or commotion in the temple.

Talakaveri
Talakaveri is the place where the river Kaveri originates on the Brahmagiri peaks. It is located 8km from Bhagamandala. There is a small enclosure around the spring, it is called the Gundige. The spring water from here surfaces one kilometer below in the peak. Close to the Gundige is a tank, where devotees can have a bath. The priests there will fill a pot of water from the Gundige and pour it on the devotees head. EVery Tulashakranthi day which is around 17th October the spring overflows from the Gundige. IT is believed that Goddess PAravathi herself apears in the Gundige on that day. During that period devotees throng Talakaveri.

We got kumkuma archane done for the Goddess Kaveri and proceeded to the temples above. There are two temples, one with Shivalinga and other with Ganesha. It is belived that sage Agasthya performed his peanace here in the Brahmagiri peaks. Close to the temple is a Banyan tree, which is belived to be from the root of the Banayan tree underneath which Sage Agasthya perfomed his penance.

From Takakaveri we can climb the peaks of Brahmagiri. We didn't have the energy to climb 400 steps, so we returned to our taxi. We headed for our hotel.

We had lunch at our hotel and started off to see Abbey falls at 3 pm.

Abbey Falls
Abbey falls is around 2 kilometers from Madkeri and is in a private estate. Taxi took us till the entrance and we walked around 200 meters through a coffee estate, from entrance to view the fall. A hanging bridge is built from where we can view the falls. There wasn't much water when we went, but got to know that during Aug - Dec lot of water in the falls.


Around Coorg - Raja's Tomb
Raja's tomb has royal tombs of Virarajendra and Lingarajendra. Along with the royal tombs are the tombs of Raja's priest and two Commander-in-chiefs. The tombs are in Islamic style.




Around Coorg - OmKareshwara Temple
Omkareshwara temple was built by Lingarajendra in 1820. It is said he got the Shivalinga from Kasi and got it installed here to wash away the sins of killing a Brahmin. There is big tank in front of the temple which is calm and serene. But, we cannot touch the waters of the tank.


Around Coorg - Madkeri Fort
Madkeri fort was renovated by Lingarajendra in 1812. It was disappointing to see that it is converted into a government office. So it is less of a fort and more of a bustling office. There is a small museum outside the fort which closes right at 5:30 pm. There are two life size elephants in the fort. We climbed the fort wall and we could get the view of the Madkeri jail and its inmates.




Around Coorg - Raja's Seat
This place was just 100 meters from our hotel. It is a park, where kings of Coorg would come and spend their evenings watching the spectacular sunset. Park has a breathtaking view point of the valley and mountains. Sight of the Birds returning to the nest in the evening combined the sunset and cool breeze will take us to a magical land.

The park was crowded with people and hawkers. There is toy train in the park. There was a musical fountain show at 7 pm; we weren't much impressed with it though.


From Raja's seat we retired to our hotel as we had a long day waiting the next day.

Comedy of Errors

Ri just leaves her home keys carelessly on the desk at office. One day, I noticed her keys lying on the table unattended. I picked those keys and dropped into Rn's bag. Rn, willingly hid them in his bag.

After a couple of hours, it dawned on Ri that her keys are missing. She went around asking the more notorious people for the keys. Finally Disappointed, she descended at my desk, asking for her keys. "I don't have the keys" is what I kept telling her. She checked my purse and drawer. Finally she asked me to promise, which I did. Well, I wasn't lying. Was I?

Now, her attention turned towards Rn. She asked him for her keys, obviously he said he didn't have them. For some reason, she picked his bag, and started shaking it vigorously. And she could hear the sound of keys. Suspecting them to be hers, much against Rn's wishes she dug his bag. She found her keys and Rn's home keys. As revenge she took away his home keys too, though Rn tried to desperately explain to her that I as the culprit.

Rn just forgot to collect his keys before leaving for the day. He reached his home at BTM layout only to realize that he has no keys. He called his room mates, and they were to return after two hours. So, Rn had to spend two hours on the roads and in the rains. He called me, cursed all of us. All I could do is laugh and laugh. Poor guy!!

Now coming to Ri, fearing that Rn might take away the keys hid her keys and his keys in the drawer. While starting for home, she forgot to collect them. She reached her home and realized no keys. So she had to return to office. When she returned, she had forgotten the place where she had hid the keys and went on searching. Finally, she found them and called me to tell her story.
All I could do was laugh and laugh.

Glass Painting

hmmm.. I resumed glass painting. Well! If you ask when was I even doing it, to have stopped it and then resume it :-). Then, let me tell you, I was doing this when I was at school, hmmm or maybe when I was in my initial years of college. Now, after
saying a "Wow", you are going to ask how many such paintings did I do and for how long did I have this hobby going? Right ???? Well, I just did one painting :-).

Now, a casual conversation with one of my friends prompted me to resume this. She had just completed one glass painting of hers. The conversation bought back into my memory those vivid and bright colours. Now this was all way back in January 2008.

In June 2008, I happened to visit Sapana Book Store and then I bought a set of glass paints. My company had given us photo frames for attending an event. That was just lying on my table. It looked like it was just waiting for me :-). Searched the internet for some good designs on glass paintings and found quite a lot. I chose the one with parrots. I took print of it.
Now I was all set.

Procedure for Glass painting:
1. I stuck the print of the design underneath the glass.
2. Traced the outline of the design with the outliner that comes along with the glass paint.
3. I left the design to dry for an hour.
4. Used a blade to make the outlines even and thin.
5. Then clean the glass with a cloth.
6. Started filling the colors.
7. Left the painting to dry.

Sounds easy, isn't it? Well! It isn't.


First time when I put the outlines, they became really thick. Later scraping those using blade became a pain. So I removed the entire outline and re-did everything. When I put the outlines second time, I did it part by part, so scraping out the lines was easier. When I started filling the colors, I realized that, I shouldn't fill two different colours, adjacent to each other at the same time. It will just mix. I had to scrape out some colours. So I filled in one colour, waited for it to dry and then used the other colour. The whole process took me around one and half months of time.

When it stood ready all painted, it looked beautiful.

I was proud of myself.

Trip to Nanjangud

Nanjangud was one of the pilgrim places I always wanted to visit.

Temple:

Temple is the abode of lord Nanjundeshwara. The temple is said to built during the 9th century the Ganga period. Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan both had close association with the temple. Legend goes that, one of Tipu Sultan's favrourite elephant lost its eye sight. Its eye sight was restored after Tipu Sultan made a vow to the lord. In return he made a Shiva Lingam of jade with emrald necklace. He also gave the title Hakim Nanjundeswara to the lord.



Journey:
Nanajungud is 24km south of Mysore on the Mysore-Ooty road. So the best approach to Nanjangud is via Mysore. April 5th 2008 we started off from Bangalore to Nanjungud. We took a train from Bangalore to Mysore at 2:30 pm. We reached Mysore by 4:45 pm. The journey was peaceful and easy as Dad had already reserved tickets. From Mysore there are manybuses to Nanjangud. As soon as we entered the bus stand we had a partially filled bus waiting to leave. We reached Nanjangud by 7 pm.

Stay:
Dad had booked for 3 rooms in a guest house Eshwar bhavan. This guest house is about 200 meters from the temple. The guest house was neat and clean. There is a Arya Vysa choultry just 2 buildings away. We went for dinner there at 8:30 pm. Dinner was tasty and well prepared.

Puja at the river:
We woke up by 4:45 am next day, 6th April. We headed for the Kapila river for a scared bath. Water was warm. It was fun bathing in the river. I was glad that there were rooms where women could change. We poured that many mugs of water on our head which is equivalent to our age. It is supposed to clear out sins till date. We Left the wet clothes on the steps of the river. Mom had packed all the puja articles. We made Gowris in Turmeric and placed it on the steps, lit mud lamps. We worshipped Gowri and the river with flowers / incense sticks and camphor. We offered rasins and bananas to the Goddess Gowri and Kapila.Puja at the temple:We reached temple by 7 am. We took tickets for Rudra Abhisheka. We could go into the inner sanatorium of the temple and watch the abhisheka. It was a quick one. We were given Pongal / Kesaribath / Laddus as prasada. Each one of us lit mud lamps in the temple, Mom had packed them from Bangalore. My Sister-in-law and me gave two bananas / betel leaves and nuts / blouse pieces / bangles to five married women. We then fed the elephant with bananas and idlis, equivalent to our age.

Raghavendra Swami Mutt:

On the way back from the temple to the Guest house we went to Raghavendra swami mutt. The mutt doesn't have a brindhavan but actual statue of Raghavendra Swami. The legend goes that, a dhobi was using that stone for washing. One day Raghavendra Swami appeared in the dreams of one of the Wodeyar Kings and asked him to install the statue in Nanjangud. Along with Raghavendra Swami we have Vaayu Devaru too.

Return:

We took a bus from Nanjangud and started off to Mysore. At mysore we went to Mysore palace "Varah Dwara". A temple to Lord Varaha is inside the compund of the palace. It is the only temple in Karnataka.We had a return train to Bangalore at 2:30 pm.
Regretting not taking enough photos :-(.

Fun at work

I work in a IT firm. So how the office looks and how people sit can be easily imagined. We all sit in cubes of four. At my office the placement of people changed, to bring people in same project together.

My whole cube was occupied by P (she) and me. Two other seats were vacant. Since R worked in my project, he was relocated to the cube adjacent to me. He is known to have a good sense of humor and also to crack many wacky jokes.

Now we were two girls against a guy. So the day he moved, we started our campaign of irritating him :-). Firstly, P and I decorated his cube with stickys bright pinks and yellows. Those stickys were noticed by one and all that passed the cube. R went crazy with all this. But...... But........ He didn't remove the stickys. So we went ahead added some lines on the white board "Welcome to the cube warming - R". This attached more people to his cube. We had our office admin put up two bright orange stickys and a note "Whenz the Party".

R kept THREATING us, saying that he would talk to our manager to change his place, which he never did.

We had an ultimate laugh when one of our senior colleagues, sitting in the adjacent cube walked by and requested "R can I have a sticky please. I need one and you have so many".

But, R preferred to take out his sticky book and give him a sticky, instead of pulling out one from the board. Senior colleague a little puzzled, and then said "oh, I see that stickys have a pattern". All of us were rolling with laughter.

Over a period of time, the board looked more creative.