24th May 13
Three years ago, when I came to Manipal, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to stay here. I am not very receptive to changes, especially when it comes to changes in the social environment. Unfortunately, social interaction is not my strongest quality. When it comes to building relationship with a person, it is a very long process for me, and I take a lot of time to reach that level where I can be comfortable around that person. So naturally, I am a little resistant to change, because I have to invest that time again on rebuilding relationships with new people. And it is a task I do not enjoy so much.
It will not be wrong to say that I am a little intimidated by meeting new people. I will not go as far as saying that I have social anxiety, but it is safe to say that I am shy, specially around new people. So when I came to Manipal, it was a cultural shock for me. I had never met so many different people. They came from different parts of the country, having different lifestyles, different upbringings, everything was so different from Calcutta, it was all too intimidating for me. Too many changes to process at the same time. My first thought, like every other human, was to run away. But, thankfully, better sense prevailed, and I stayed. And, in retrospect, I think that was one of the best decisions I ever took.
Meeting so many different people, just observing them everyday, analyzing their behaviours, it helped me expand my mindset, and it changed my general outlook towards life. I learned to live on my own, there was so much freedom, you get exposed to so many new things, college is a great learning experience. The way they teach in college, the quality and the method, are both debatable. But college is a very important part of growing up. You go to college when you are in your late teens or early twenties. These are very important years of your life. Things you learn during these years, shapes your entire life. And when I say learn, I don’t mean the academics.
Now coming to the title of this post- end of the most amazing semester of college till now. This has been the most amazing semester for me so far. I made a successful rip-off app, managed to get a legal panel set up against me because of that. Thanks to a senior, got an amazing internship at a start-up. Got surprisingly lucky in the sessionals, despite the little effort I put in. Shifted out of the hostels, explored the town, went to some beautiful places. And, finally after five semesters, I finally think I was comfortable around my friends, and thankfully they are all great people. All the late night walks and hangouts, silly bollywood games we played, attending crazy parties, some amazing conversations with people, and other crazy stuff that is too crazy to reveal here.
I will never forget the last four, four and a half months of my life. It really taught me a lot, and after a little introspection, i think it was that period of my life, where I finally took the plunge to unlock the next level of the game called LIFE.
17th March 13
It has been a while since I last blogged. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a manipal version of facemash. It got a few lakh hits, and in the end I had to shut it down because a legal panel had been set up against me. That was a crazy week. Building your product and destroying it in the same week, cannot get more thrilling than that. And in the same week, some fun adventures like trekking, exploring places in manipal, some meaningful conversations with friends, it was the most happening week of this semester. But all good things come to an end. Since that week, i’ve been brainstorming for ideas, and i’ve not found one yet. I have been sleeping all day. I miss waking up everyday in the morning with something to look forward to. When you are occupied with things you love doing, you are doing just fine. But when you have nothing to do, your mind thinks of things you don’t want to think about, and it just fucks itself up. I need to find something to work on as soon as possible. This inactivity is killing me.
19th December 12
The Food Diaries.
2nd November 12
Ever thought how it feels like when you want to write but you have nothing specific going on in your mind and at the same time there are millions of things you are thinking, all simultaneously, mashed together, the summation of which is making no sense at all.
Exams, three in the night and and an excellent breezy weather outside, the combination of the three makes for an excellent time to write, think, dream, procrastinate.
In the zone now, when you get ideas, thoughts, that nice feeling that life is after all very beautiful, the one you create in your thoughts, where in spite of all the problems and tensions and sufferings, you are still happy. You feel there is still hope, there is still a chance that everything will be all right, and you want to cling on to that hope, because some where down inside you, you know everything will be just fine, eventually everything will fall into place, the puzzle will be solved, all the missing pieces will fit in. And then one day you wake up, it is all bright and sunny again, all your demons have vanished, your slate is clean again, no more fear, no more running away, no one to judge you, all your dreams are your again, and with a smile on your face and a sense of accomplishment in your eyes, you just know it. you know you have made it.
To be continued…
19th August 12
I have had a blog since 2006. My first blog was a very cheesy blogspot where I used to write about hacking and related stuff. It was really stupid. And ever since, I knew writng wasn’t really my thing. I clearly don’t have any talent in writing. My vocabulary stopped growing when I was five and grammar hasn’t been very kind to me either.
I really wish I could write well, play with words, come up with clever phrases and lines. I wish I had a pool of words to choose from, everytime I wrote. I wish I could write poetry.
Writing is more important for a person like me because, being an inherently introvert person, all my thoughts remain unsaid and need some outlet. I would any day prefer a piece of paper over a person to share my thoughts. Because, no matter how bad I write, it is no where even close to as bad as my speaking/socializing skills. Writing gives me that creative and personal satisfaction that I really need sometimes.
So often I get this great urge to express all my thoughts, but I can never find the right words to translate my thoughts. But, I try. I keep writing, keep reading, because if you are not talented, hard work is your last and only resort. As they say, if you keep doing what you love, and you do lots and lots of it, you inevitably get better at it. Same with my programming skills, I am not gifted at all so I have to slog harder than a better mind than me would. Maybe, i’ll get better at writing too. I really want to. Because my thoughts have always been much more clearer when I have let the pen/keyboard do the talking for me instead of my mouth.
"
On a Friday evening (for most of us), you sit at your computer, with up to three of your closest friends nearby, when suddenly your Twitter stream starts flooding! Your IRC windows start flashing by! Your friends start clicking rapidly on their own machines! “It’s up!” one of them yells.
You have forty-eight hours, up to three friends, a shared Git repository, a remote server, and Rails (or your favorite Rack-based framework). From that point on, it’s up to you - to design, develop, and deploy the greatest web application the world has ever seen!
"
27th July 12
Somewhere from internet. Have to do this very soon.
1st July 12
It is 11:30 in the morning, I didn’t sleep the whole night. But, I am not sleepy. I am happy. I just finished with my first app of this vacation. I know I had taken the sixty days, six app shipments challenge but I am just finished with my first app, and it is already thirty days. More on it later.
Few FAQs on the app now.
Name of the app?
600 seconds.
Screenshot?
What is 600 seconds?
Months ago, I had read an article which said writing everyday for a certain amount of time helps in clearing out your conscious thoughts and bring unconscious clutter to the surface. 600 Seconds app, does exactly that. Try writing as quickly as possible for 600 seconds. Don’t worry about what you are writing and don’t worry if you can read it afterward. Use the speed writing to loosen mental knots as the activity itself becomes a source of release. It really helps you clear your mind. Whenever you are feeling low, or you need to overcome the mental block, try this app. You are not supposed to think while writing, just write whatever that comes to your mind. And, don’t read your posts immediately after writing. Read it after a week or so.
Download link?
600 seconds.apk
How I made it?
Phonegap + JQueryMobile + SQLiite.
Mostly everything is done in JavaScript, the backend is in SQLite. Even though PhoneGap is great, the apps built in PhoneGap still lack the finesse and the feel of a native app. Maybe, it is a little ahead of its time. I am sure, with faster CPUs and better frameworks, apps will get better. Same with JQueryMobile. It still feels like it is in beta, still a lot of issues with it.
Will be uploading the code very soon.
Obviously, there must be a lot of bugs in it. Let me know if you find any. Will try to fix it.
What I learned?
I actually learnt a lot of JavaScript. It is an amazing language. And, I am convinced, as we are moving towards a future with internet being the focal point of everything we do, JavaScript is going to be even more important.
Stackoverflow rocks! And I don’t know how people developed apps before stackoverflow came into existence. If you are stuck anywhere while developing, there is a very high probability that there will be a solution to your problem in stackoverflow. And to folks who spend thousands of rupees in Android App Development workshops, try stackoverflow. You’ll learn more. No better way to learn than try and error method!
Learnt a lot about Android App Development. It is not so difficult. Phonegap makes it very easy. It has good documentation and a great community of users too. Using web technologies feels like home.
This time a gave a lot of importance to good coding practices. Earlier used to get things done by writing ugly but working code, this time much better code.
There is a lot of difference between app development and app shipment. I finished with the most of the logical part of the app about a week ago, but finishing it requires a lot of effort, which is sometimes so annoying. I am happy this time I was able to finish the app.
What Next?
Already a month over and just one more left. I want to work with Python next. Expect more blog posts. :)
Download link again? Okay.
600 seconds.apk
7th June 12
4th June 12
Last day was not very productive. Downloaded Android SDK platforms for all the versions, was more than a GB in size and with my internet speed, it took me all night.
After the download was complete, setting up Android SDK was a real pain in the ass. Six months ago, I had so much trouble in setting it up in Windows, I thought Linux would be better, but it is as much pain as it was in Windows.
I chose command line(Ant) over Eclipse because I really wanted to learn about how to get things done in terminal, also my previous experience with Eclipse wasn’t very pleasant. After some struggle with file permissions and sdk location problem, I finally ran the Hello World app.
After that, everything went very smoothly. Learnt about different layouts in Android. Developed a few basic things, getting used to the grammar and syntax before I start off with my application.
Learnt a thing or two about linux terminal also. The android code is still not completely understandable, but I have 8 more days. Hopefully, by then I will get my way with it.
Blocking Facebook from my system really improved my productivity, and to be honest, I did not get any urge to get back either. Twitter keeps me going when the going is tough.
I am reading from these books. You can get them for free from elsewhere on internet or from torrents.
Still the whole night is left, whole night of coding, learning and hacking. Must admit, getting the output is the best feeling in the world. All the hard work you put in, then you run the code, the few seconds of compiling and building, the tension and excitement, and finally when you see it running successfully, it is pure joy, much like sports.
Oh summer vacation, I love you so much. :)
