Team Dell-Wyse 'weathers' the storm

Semis : The day started with only six of us available to play the semis. In the last 3 years, after playing in lots of tourneys for Wyse, being through all the good and the bad, last thing I wanted was to give away the series with a ‘bye’ I desperately wanted to finish the illustrious innings here with a trophy! Leadership, team management, captaincy, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Alex Ferguson,Louis Vaan Gaal, it was a golden opportunity to experience what these were, so I decided to from a team and try managing and captaining it. Usually we are spoilt for choices and could easily make two teams among us to participate. Today, we were well short of people, we somehow needed to make the magic number 8. The match was to start at 3PM, After making numerous amount of calls and by all means of hook and crook we finally had a team by 1PM! This new team was unique, with everyone claiming to be able to do a little bit of everything. All of us hadn’t played together before, hardly knew what each had to offer. Though, thankfully I didn't have the tough challenge of dropping people, I had a small task of using the resources well, which also meant disappointing and under-using a few.

Fresh from reading an article the day before, which spoke about distinct kind of leadership. First one was the 'LION' kind, where the leader leads from the front and will take all the decisions by instinct and self-confidence. Initially I thought, I’ll adopt this type. I won the toss and decided we’ll bat first. Though common sense suggested as it was heavily overcast and would pour, the chasing team had all the advantages, if the game was shortened. But, I knew in the back of my mind, we were a team which could defend anything.There was a storm coming and we were ready to take it down head-on!

We had a formidable batting line up with skill and experience of Sajith, Gireesh and Tushar. So, I decided I’ll open the innings with Gireesh and slog the team to a flying start. But, that was not to be, the gamble failed and I was out first ball, trying to slog a straight one over the mid-wicket. Soon after Tushar got a good ball and followed, we were 3-2 after the first over. Unfortunately it started pouring heavily and the ball got heavier, almost making it extremely tough to to put away, with our bat designed for softer balls. The feared storm had arrived. But, our batsman were up for it Maddy, Ravee, Natraj, Gautam, all provided an excellent support to our tried and tested batting regiment, reaching a total of 91.

It was defending time now. I opened the bowling, having an intimidating long run up and attempting get the ball as fast as possible past the batsman, with a purpose of exerting fear in their hearts. We started of keeping a standard field and the opposition knowing the total was smallish, started playing with minimal risk.The total was about 17-0 and they were under no pressure,thus cruising towards the target. We needed something very special here to survive n the tournament.

Now, it was time to get to the next type of leadership, the 'TIGER' kind, where you form a pack and attack, take the collective ideas and form a bigger, stronger, wiser force. After a brief discussion with Tushar and deciding to significantly change our present length of bowling, we decided to get all the fielders into the inner circle. The forceful application of pressure affected both the teams, we had a new lease of force, there was chirping going on, the bowling was being done with a new sense of purpose and exactly what we had hoped for, the opposition crumbled. "When the going got tough, the tough got going!" We strangled them and got them all-out for just 26. 

One of the best qualities of this team was they trusted each and every call I took and delivered when required. Tushar as always bowled with military precision and accuracy,and rightfully was awarded the Man of the Match. Literally, we had weathered a storm to rise victorious and play the finals on Sunday.

The Great Indian Developer Summit 2014 #GIDS

First of all I am extremely thankful to Dell Wyse management for giving a day off and sponsoring me (along with three other colleagues)  for the Developer Summit.Though attending these kind of seminars was a common practice in college days and hackdays... hackathons have always been an integral part of my lifestyle, this was the first time we were sent by the company.

The goals were a bit different this time, I was supposed to absorb as much as possible from these grueling sessions and convey it to the rest of the team. To bring a value-add to an ongoing project of conversion of a desktop based app into cutting edge web based one. This was quite new, as the objective during college days and hackathons was to meet like minded and start coding on something new and different, with a lot lesser attention to the speakers.

Did a bit of homework the previous few days by familiarizing myself with AngularJS , coding a scorecard application and trying out a few interesting features highlighted n the AngularJS site and reading the demo version of the popular O'Reiley's AngularJS. Also followed the long forgotten 'Exam-day routine' of waking up early and revising the points. But, this wasn't of much use, as the sessions were entirely different than expected!!!

I set some self-ground rules for myself  acquired from previous experiences, which were quite simple like :

• Not to sit alongside any of the colleagues.
• Make a real conscious effort to remain active throughout the seminar and absorb as much as possible.
• Use the breaks for Networking ( met people from various prominent companies like Amazon, ThoughtWorks, Sapient, Intel, RedHat, Microsoft  and discussed their work culture and their approach to projects )

The GIDS Day-2 Schedule -  http://www.developermarch.com/developersummit/schedule.html

The keynote session was kick started by Scott Davis, who teaches Groovy and Grails the future of Java development  to fortune 100 companies and has written books on it.

"Make mistakes, make as much as possible while you learn!!! 
Your Hourly rate = No, of years n the industry * Number of unique mistakes made." -  Scott Davis

The main theme of the session was "Message to Young software developers". Regardless on the number of years in the industry, every time we learn a new language, framework or a new library, we become "young" again He mainly stressed on three things.

1. Learn to type - Customize your editor as much as possible use aliases, shortcuts, etc. Don't use the IDE, use command-line coding as much as possible. Keyboard is always much faster than mouse. Time saved in exploring the WIMP ( Windows, icons, Menus and Pointer ) can be better utilized for thinking and actually coding.
   
   
   
2. Learn to think - Don't go by sample- next to useless examples, while learning a new language.Always start with  YOUR domain related complex samples.
3. Predict the future -He later clarified that he actually meant use to be prepared to react to situations. Being an Ice hockey fan, he was describing how a expert players anticipate where the puck is and be there before it reaches. 

Frankly speaking, a motion picture of 'Jonty Rhodes anticipating the trajectory of the shot and reaching the spot before the ball reaches' was running in my mind :)

After the superb keynote given by Scott, the other three keynotes felt like a few videos played and a bit of marketing. I found one of the facts revealed during the presentation quite astounding.

Modularizing JavaScript - By Venkat Subramaniam ( Founder of Agile Developer and author of OReiley Series .NET Gotchas ) We were given an very very brief overview techniques to breakdown JavaScrript code into reusable modules. But, the point was made!!!

Exploring the MEAN Stack - By Scott Davis ( Keynote Speaker ) A brief introduction was given MongoDB, ExpressJS, AngularJS, NodeJS and how these four independent pieces of technology work together to form the "new way" of web development. If 20th century was all about LAMP (  Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl ) this is the MEAN era.

Some of the stuff  picked-up which might not be that easily grasped just by Googling are these:

• Node is not a server like Apache/Tomcat, it is in fact a JavaScript Run-time. It provides a fast and amazingly robust environment. Contrary to popular beliefs Microsoft is a chief contributor. Yahoo, Wall-Mart, Ebay, everybody's using it. Its about time to use it as widely and as confidently as Java.
• Package.json - Friendly way to define server side dependencies.
• Bower.json - Friendly way to define client side dependencies.
• Express is a web application framework for Node. It doesn't need a model, it doesn't need to authenticate, it doesn't need a template engine, it doesn't need a defined directory structure. It is a universal framework with great flexibility.
• Express deals with routes. [ Routes -> Controller-> View -> Templates ]
• MongoDB - its an ORM for NodeJS.
• AngularJS - HTML centered approach, presently the easiest and one of most efficient client side framework.Can reduce about 17000 lines of code to 1200-1500 lines. 

Javascript Design Patterns - ( By Pratik Patel, CTO of TripLingo and has written books on JDBC ) Patterns in general are proven solutions, easily reused and enhance communication. This session was like a brief run though of the O'Reilly book - Learning JavaScript Design Patterns.

The next two session which I was very keen on attending was 'Advanced Tips & Tricks using AngularJS' and 'Automated Web Testing using JavaScript', but both of them were extremely crowded and there wasn't even space to stand let alone sit, so I atteneded the HTML 5 Slide making session. But, a slight silver lining was that the presenter of both sessions happened to be Simon Guest ( named as one of Microsoft Employees key Losses of 2010 ) , who presently works at the upper floor of the same building as I in Neudesic, which makes it quite easy to pick his brain when required :)

HTML5 Slide making - By Scott Davis ( http://thirstyhead.com/  Keynote Speaker ) He seemed to have used a lot of slideshow makers right from PowerPoint 2.0 on Windows 3.0!!! Took us through the history and was quick to remind us that 95% of share still lies with Microsoft and the Alpha geeks still use Apple's keynotes.

 Now, since the modern HTML 5 browsers have the power ans the sophistication, its time to ditch PowerPoint and Keynote.

• Slidy.js - framework developed by W3C and runs on every legacy browsers.
• Deck.js - Used this along with AsciiDoc for a wiki-like slide creation experience.
• Reveal.js- Used along with Yeoman to create a fully modern HTML5 web experience that runs on laptops to desktops to smartphones to tablets. It leverages SocketIO which keeps remote browsers n sync with the presenters presentation as he changes slides!!!

Overall, it was day where we  actually opened the blinds of the company's window and took a peek at the world outside. We should be in a position today to use some percentage of the days's learning in our future projects and be beneficial to our own careers as well as the company's. Hoping for more of these kinds of opportunity, which should enable us to be closer to the reality, enhance our thinking,  ultimately making us a quality asset.

SPT Tournament 2013 - The Knockout Stages

Team Dell-Wyse finishes the tournament unbeaten

Quarter-Final : It was the time for the quarter-finals, scheduled in the evening at 430 PM against Motorola. Almost 12 of us turned up on the ground by 3 PM. For all of us Cricket lovers, it was kind of a dilemma, we had to choose between, sitting at home and watching the epic Indo-Pak clash in the champions trophy and coming to the ground to support/play for Dell Wyse. All of us rightly chose the later, winning the quarters and progressing to the semis meant a lot to us.

 

We won the toss, and had no hesitation in chasing. All of us bowled well, taking wickets at regular intervals, and restricting the opposition to just 94. Then, it was a mere cake walk for our in-form batsmen. After, a MAX hit by Vijay and a bright start, the match was completed well within the 10 overs by our batting side, led by Pradeep. He was awarded the man-of-the-match for his all-round performance and we progressed to the semis.

Match Summary
Motorola      :  94 all out ( 11 Overs )
Dell-Wyse   :  95-2 ( 8.2 Overs )
Dell Wyse Win by 6 Wickets

Semi-Final : Today, was the big day, the semi-finals, we were among the top 4 teams of the tournament of 16 teams. This match was scheduled to begin at 1 PM, against a company called Grameen-Koota, they had just won 1 match so far, they had made it into the knockouts by run-rate, and got a walk-over in the quarters. We won the toss and elected to field first. It was a very windy day, which makes a big difference in tennis ball cricket. You ball on the off-stump and the ball goes miles down the leg. Somehow, adjusting the line and length, and bowling the best we could in the conditions, we managed to stop the score at 144-4 in 12 Overs.

It was an innings of high drama and action, I (Prasad) had to leave the field due to a sprained ankle, which got Raveendra in the field. Then in the 12th over, the batsman hit the ball high n the air and both Pradeep and Raveendra went for the catch at extra-cover region. Pradeep was running-in from deep cover, Raveendra from mid-off. Both dived in and had a collision, with Pradeep's feet hitting Raveendra's forehead. Raveendra was unconscious for a few minutes, and Pradeep had injured his leg. 

Now, after a dramatic 1st Innings it was time to chase 144 n 12 Overs. Sajith and Vijay began cautiously, scoring about 22 in 3 Overs. Sajith got out, which brought in Tushar, both of them went blitzkrieg, getting the score to 65 n 6 Overs. Then Vijay was dismissed followed by Santhosh, and the scorecard was motored to 110 in 10 Overs. Tushar was dismissed in the 11th Over, with 22 required and I(Prasad) came to face the last ball of the 11th Over. The ball went to deep midwicket and a single was denied by Pradeep, as he was confident of getting all those runs in the last over. Their captain decided to bowl the last over. The first ball, went for a MAX-6, which meant 12 runs and we needed 9 of 5 balls, Then, the next ball went sailing over the mid-wicket boundary for a Six. Now, it was 3 Runs required of 4 balls. Looked like, we were into the Finals, after the heroics of Pradeep. Then the late twist-of-fate took place, next two balls were well-bowled dot balls. Now, it was down to 3 Runs of 2 Balls. Pradeep struck the ball to mid-wicket and tried to get a quick 2 and Pradeep was run-out whilst taking the second. Now, Luv had to face the last ball and 2 runs were required. He hadn't batted ever before in the tournament and was under tremendous pressure, the wind was blowing at it full pace and the bowler bowled a fullish delivery outside off,  he had a wild swing at the ball, it missed and went to the wicket-keeper, who had a shy at the stumps at the keeper's end. It missed and went to the bowler, we had completed 1 Run by now and we madly sprinted  for a double, and Luv was run-out at the Keeper's end, the scorecard stood at 144-6.

Now, the captains, umpires and the organizers got together and initially decided to have a super- over decider. But, somehow, the opposition came up with the rulebook, stating that there is no mention of Super-Over , which is usually the case with Knockout matches. The team, that had lost the least number of wickets must be declared the winners and would progress to the Final. Unfortunately, we had to go by the rules and it meant curtains for us. We had to live with the nightmares of the last ball tie, until the next tourney. We now know how the South-African Cricket team felt like. Hopefully we can wash away this memory by winning a tournament in the coming days. The pain of the injured leg wasn’t anything close to the pain of coming so near, yet being so far from the trophy we were all trying to get our hands on!!

Match Summary
Grameen-Koota  : 144-4 ( 12 Overs )
Dell-Wyse             : 144-6 ( 12 Overs )
Match Tied ( Grameen-Koota progress to the Final, based on lesser wickets lost )

We had managed to win all the battles, but lost the War. Still, we could go out holding our heads high, and knowing that we had gone down fighting. Another, super exciting Sunday, but this time not the result we all liked. But, One thing is guaranteed like the Terminator “We’ll be back”, definitely more  stronger and wiser for the future tournaments!!

SPT Cricket Tournament 2013

TEAM DELL-WYSE STORMS INTO THE KNOCKOUTS

This tournament was an entirely different experience for team as a whole. There was a pleasant change. Finally, there was healthy competition among the squad to get into the playing team. It wasn’t like the past tourney’s where you just turn up and get a bowl or a bat. You had to make hay of every little chances. It was definitely more exciting and challenging, bit like our very own Wyse turning into Dell Wyse. There was some extra feeling of accountability and responsibility. Everyone of us were aware of our roles, this time it wasn’t about an individual performance or personal heroics, but winning as a team, for the greater cause.

Thanks to the internal Cricket league in Dell-Wyse, we had a good pool to pick from. So, after a lot practice sessions and painful filtering, we decided to go with the following team to the tournament - Ela, Pradeep, Santhosh Kanan, Tushar, Sajith, Gireesh, Raveendra, Baiju, Tamil, Luv, Narayan, Raghunandan, Vijay and myself.

The likes of Ponting and Tendulkar sitting out of the team, leading to the ultimate victory of Mumbai Indians in the recent IPL were fresh in our memories. We had seen enough of Sachin’s career and umpteen amount of interviews, where it was made clear to us that ‘ You play for the name in-front of your jersey, and the name at the back of it, will echo forever! ‘  Expectedly, some of us had to be the men the team deserved, but not needed, we had to be the Dark Knights!!

 

The tournament format was such that, we would be playing 3 matches in a day, each of 12 Overs. All of us reached the ground the SPT grounds by 9:15 AM, had their famous 1-vada only breakfast and headed to play the first match.

Match-1: First match was against EFI. We won the toss and elected to field first. We restricted them to 115 n 12 Overs. Then, the strong batting line up led by Tushar, chased down the target in just 9.1 Overs, earning us the bonus point.

Match Summary
EFI - 115 all out (12)
Dell WYSE 121/4 (9.1) ,
Dell WYSE won by 3 wickets ,
MOM - Tushar for 34 runs & 1 wicket

Match-2: Without any break, we had our 2nd match against TCS. Again, we won the toss and we elected to field first. We restricted them to 108. Due to some good bowling and some tiredness from the previous match, we were in a tough position at 35 runs required from 2 Overs, with Tushar unfortunately run out in the beginning of the innings. This format had a wildcard option, or you can say a boon in our case, we had to sacrifice 10 runs and an already dismissed batsman can come out to bat again after the dismissal of 4 or more wickets. So, making the full use of this wildcard, which turned out to be a masterstroke, we sent Tushar to bat again. The target was revised to 44 runs of 17 balls.

After a good penultimate over, we required 23 of 6 Balls. Narayan glanced the first ball to 4 and the next ball the strike was rotated back to the go-to man, the man who had all kinds of pressure from opposition as well as our own team to delivery a boundary, and he delivered and delivered n style. Sent the ball right through the MAX zone flag posts, which meant the runs scored would be doubled! The target now reduced to 6 runs of 3 Balls, this was clinically finished with a four and 2 singles. We had clenched a victory from the jaws of defeat!

The man of the match was awarded to Sajith for a good bowling performance and stabling the batting in the middle overs.

Match Summary
TCS - 108 all out (12)
Dell WYSE 109/5 (12)
Dell WYSE won by 2 wickets
MOM - Sajith for 52 runs & 1 wicket

Match-3: After a memorable match we had a good lunch break, and now with a reputation as great chasers and confidence sky-high, we were off to face the former champions, Infinite in the final match. The had kicked us out of the tournaments previously, so a bit of vengeance was in the heart. Due to overcast conditions and time constraints , it was reduced to a 10 over per side game. We lost the toss and were asked to bat. We had a new combo of openers this time, it was Sajith and Gireesh, they gave us the best possible start, belting each and every ball to all corners of the ground. Gireesh was at his best, middling just about everything and sending not only loose balls, but even some good deliveries out of the fence! We ended up setting up a Target of 110 in 10 overs, which was defended easily by some excellent catching and good bowling, restricting them to just 65 and gaining a bonus point once again. The man of the match was awarded to Girish.

Match Summary
Dell WYSE 109/7 (9.3)
INFINITE 65 all out (7.2)
Dell WYSE won by 44 runs
MOM - Girish for 51 runs

We did have a Super-Sunday, where we enjoyed each and every moment. I'm sure each and every one of us, on and off the field cherished the moments both the ups and downs, to the fullest!

This is how the group table reads :)

In two weeks time we'll be playing the knockouts, and this time probably as the table toppers and maybe the favorites!

FLX Cup 2011

14th October 2011: WYSE cricket team started of with a comprehensive win in the tournament. Exemplary all round performance by the team saw COORG MUSKETEERS out of the tournament.This being the first match in the knockout tournament, the nervousness was very much visible. The flamboyance exhibited by our batsmen in the last tournament had to be restricted, thanks to the rules of the tournament. This meant the batsmen had to play well within themselves, and any urge to clear the boundary had to be controlled by them. The batsmen would be declared out if he hits out of the fence on the ground twice in his innings. Also only 7 over per innings meant, the outcome of the match could turn on its head in just a matter of few balls. Hence, What would be an ideal score was very much debatable.

COORG MUSKETEERS won the toss and elected to bowl first. Satyam and Madhok opened the innings. It was a disastrous start for WYSE as Madhok was caught by short mid wicket in the 2 ball of the 1st over. Satyam and Tushar batted out the 1st 2 overs sensibly, scoring at a brisk pace. The score was 16 by the end of 2nd over. Batting power play was opted for.

Batting powerplay was for 3 overs. During batting powerplay 3 of the four fielders had to be inside the circle. Only 1 fielder was allowed to guard the straight boundary.2 wickets fell in the first over of the powerplay without any runs conceded. Satyam hit out of the fence and got out. Sajith got out without adding any runs to the score. With 3 wickets down, the upper hand gained by WYSE looked to be lost. But then, Tushar came good, partnering with Ramanujam and Prashanth, added another 20 runs to the score.Ramanujam got run out trying to sneak a run. Prashanth was caught in the boundary. Tushar remained unbeaten. The target was set. 37 runs to win. Given the conditions, 37 is really a good score.

Disciplined bowling was all needed to ensure a win.Madhok, Prasad and Tushar hit the line and length very early in the innings. COORG Musketeers batsmen found our bowlers very difficult to handle. Wickets fell at frequent intervals. Madhok, Prasad and Tushar each got one wicket. The rest two got out trying to steal a run. COORG Musketeers were all out for 12 runs in just 4 overs. Emphatic win for WYSE Team. The star performer of the day, with no doubts, is Tushar. Performed really well with bat and bowl.

Kudos to the team for winning the first match. And the all the very best for the next matches. :) :) :)





- By Sajith

Build up to the Match Day

11th November 2011 : As soon as the Engineering days were over , I thought the Cricket Playing days were virtually over ! Thanks to Wyse , I can put to rest all such thoughts. The passion for the game was very much alive and bubbling , especially with India winning the World Cup and the IPL teams doing so well in Champions league. Watching the Malinga's and Tait's bowling super fast toe crushers and after watching the video :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjZdaVmz_kg

and also watching the frustrating defensive bowling by the Indian team in England. I always had an urge to bowl quick and attack the stumps. Hearing about the practice session yesterday from Anand , just went home and packed my track pants into the bag.

At about 3 Pm today .. Sajith opens the drawer and shows the box of tennis ball which was used last time the guys played .. This was it ! it set my adrenaline pumping ! .. Luckily, we had just finished releasing the build to SQA ! .. The pain of missing practice yesterday and the hunger to go out in the middle and bowl fast was unbelievable !...Slowly , the time Crawled to 4 PM , the GENTLE reminder from Sajith pooped up and soon we were in the car and soon out of it..ripping the kit bag off...getting the stumps in place ..batsmen wielding the bats and the bowlers rushing to their run up... and thus began the long awaited Practice Session of the day !

Had quite an eventful and pacy Practice session for about an hour , hour and an half ! With everybody getting their hands on to bowl and bat !... With small practice sessions being such fun and enjoyable ...can't imagine how good the bigger one tomorrow in the ground will be ...and how great the Match will turn out to be !

Even after the Match Days are over , hope we can continue the trend of playing the game , maybe in the evenings once or twice a week ! Would be great for fitness and also bonding of the Wyse'ans!

The "Bhaiyas" Vs "Machas" Match

11:15 AM , March 9th 2010 : Suddenly a thought struck us , “Why not bunk the last two boring File Structure Class and , play a game of cricket ? “ . But, due to strict PESSE rules we were not allowed on the Cricket Field during the class hours. So, we told the “MACHAS” ( The Kannadigas ) that we got a team and we want to play against their team in their “HOME” field . They politely agreed to our challenge and told us they have a place in front of the Infosys and have got all the basic equipments. All of us were delighted and the finally most awaited match since 3 long years between the “BHAIYAS” ( Rest of India) and the “MACHAS” was on !! Rajesh and I , since we have been hostilities throughout our life in PESSE and more closer to the “BHAIYAS” than “MACHAS” decided to play for the former. Not only that , the team unanimously asked me to lead the side . Ya , was a bit awkward but definitely accepted the task with both hands. Rest of the” Management Information System” hour went off in deciding the batting order ,who will field where?, who will bowl when?, etc.

2:00 PM, March 9th 2010: Soon after the lunch we set off to the “Battlefield” . Rajesh, Aakash, Amit , Tula , Vikas and I boarded , the team car ( Vikas’s Car ) , while Noor and Hardik came by the bike. As soon as we reached the ground , we were told its not a bilateral series anymore but a tri-series , as the EC guys joined in. The first match was played between “MACHAS” and “EC” , it was of 6 Overs and the losers of that match were slated to play with our team. Since, there was a lot of time left we decided to have some Sugarcane juice , we went to Cane-Fresh and had Lime-Cane Juice and Mint-Cane Juice .We also ordered Jumbo-Cheese Sandwich and Aloo-Chatpat Sandwich . We got a call that the first innings was over and the 2nd Over of 2nd Innings was on and were asked to hurry back .So, we paked the sandwichs and raced off to the ground. By this time the previous match was over and as hoped we were to play the “MACHAS” and the winners would qualify for the finals.

THE MATCH

3:00 PM , March 9th 2010: It was time for the toss and Vishal tossed the coin and I called heads and Heads it was !! Now I was in a dilemma , we hadn’t decided what we would do if we won the toss ! After a lot of thought and given that this was our Debut match and none of us had any contact with a cricket ball or bat for the last 2-3 years , we decided to chase.

The Team :

(C) Prasad Pai [Karnataka]

Rajesh Neelannavar [Karnataka]

Aakash Bapna [ Madhya Pradesh ]

(W )Amit Kumar [Bihar]

Hardik Kotecha [Gujrat ]

Vikas Jaiswal [Delhi]

Anshul Tula [Jarkhand]

Noor Elahi [ West Bengal ]

As you can see , it was pretty much a team from all parts of India. This is what we call “ Unity in diversity “. The match was 6-Overs a side. All of us were very excited and wanted to win this one at all costs. In the first few Overs our lack of experience did show and we got slaughtered all over the ground. The batsmen were quite awesome playing one great shot after another. After 4 overs we came to our senses and pushed all the fielders to the deep and bowled brilliantly in the death to restrict the “MACHAS” to just 55 in 6 Overs.

3:40 PM , March 9th 2010: During the short 2-Minutes break we decided our batting strategy and we asked Raju to bat the whole 6 Overs and the other side to keep Slogging. The first over went as planned , the openers Noor and Rajesh were watchful , we got about 5 runs. But , as soon as the 2nd over started , Raju decided enough is enough and went after the bowlers, the opposition and we were totally dumbstruck ( in a pleasant way) after two towering sixes over long on. Then it was just “Blitzkrieg” for the next 2-3 Overs by Rajesh. I was reminded of Manish Pandey’s fastest IPL hundred. Boy !! He’s got some talent !! Amit to arrived in the middle order and struck two Dhoni Style boundraries. Unfortunately , we lost wickets and momentum and were left with 8 runs to get of 6 balls. Sandesh was the bowler from the opposition , he maintained a cool-head and kept beating the bat of the batsmen , there was also an unfortunate runout inbetween. At last it was 2 to get of the last ball. Hardik was on strike. Just three words were ringing in his head “AAL IZ WELL “ !! It was a good length delivery , Kotecha wielded his bat like the Ninja’s sword and the ball took some part of the bat and raced to long on , we raced to two in a jiffy ! Just as we started the Celebrations , Kotecha used his Logic once more and called for three just to be on the safer side . Lo and Behold , we beat the “MACHAS” on their home turf and qualified to play the finals with the “EC” guys ………………

Make a USB Bootable

I assume that you are using either Vista or Windows 7 to create a bootable USB.

1. Insert your USB stick to the system and backup all the data from the USB as we are going to format the USB to make it as bootable.

2. Open elevated Command Prompt. To do this, type in CMD in Start menu search field and hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Alternatively, navigate to Start > All programs >Accessories > right click on Command Prompt and select run as administrator.

3. When the Command Prompt opens, enter the following command:

DISKPART and hit enter.

LIST DISK and hit enter.

Once you enter the LIST DISK command, it will show the disk number of your USB drive. In the below image my USB drive disk no is Disk 1.

4. In this step you need to enter all the below commands one by one and hit enter. As these commands are self explanatory, you can easily guess what these commands do.

SELECT DISK 1 (Replace DISK 1 with your disk number)

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)
ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

5. Insert your Windows DVD in the optical drive and note down the drive letter of the optical drive and USB media. Here I use “D” as my optical (DVD) drive letter and “H” as my USB drive letter.

6. Go back to command prompt and execute the following commands:

D:CD BOOT and hit enter. Where “D” is your DVD drive letter.

Or Go to the path where Win-7 setup files exist.

Eg: CD E:\SOFT\WIN7\BOOT

Type BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H:

(Where “H” is your USB drive letter)

7. Copy Windows DVD contents to USB.

You are done with your bootable USB. You can now use this bootable USB as bootable DVD on any computer that comes with USB boot feature (most of the current motherboards support this feature).

Microsoft Boot Camp 2009

Day - I

Microsoft All India Boot Camp was on from March 6-8 2009 @ Microsoft IDC, Hyderabad. The eligibility criteria for this camp was that you had to be confrimed as a permanent MSP , by completimg all the eligibility criteria like taking sessions , spreading the word about Imagine Cup , Submitting a project for Imagine Cup , etc, which we the new Bangalore MSPs were able to do in time by taking some technical sessions in Microsoft Signature Building and Passionately spreading the word about Imagine Cup 2009 to our College mates . So, we got our most deserving invitation to this wonderful completely sponsored trip to Hydrebad by Microsoft.

Once we got the invitation we booked our train tickets to Hydrebad . Left Bangalore @ 7;00 PM on 5th March 2009, reached the Kacheguda station at 5:00 AM on 6th March 2009 . Once we set our foot in Hydrebad, the cameras were out and started clicking endlessly till we reached the station again. So, here is our first photo of Boot Camp 2009 .

Thanks to Pavan , he had got two high quality rooms booked for us in the Railway Sation to get refreshed.The Chennai MSP's arrived here about an hour later. Then we had breakfast at some kind of Andhra Darshini near the railway station. Abishek had arranged some kind of Mini-Bus for all of us to move about Hydrabad! Some how the 15 Banglore MSPs and 15 Chennai MSPs got inside the Bus and visited the historic Charminar !


After spending almost an hour at the Charminar , exploring it from corner to corner, Climbing all the way to top and checking out the view from all the angles. Taking photos and videos , we were back on the Bus to continue our site seeing. From Charminar , we went to Snow-World where Laxman , Raveesh and Anil made a surprising appearance who added much more fun ,frolic and glamor to our trip. It was a different kinda Camp altogether when the THREE MUSKETEERS joined us :) Then all of us took a 3 in 1package to Snoworld , Living Dead and Rainforest.

Snow-World was gr8 fun was like being in a different Planet all together . Outside it was steaming hot with 38 deg and Inside it was almost or maybe below freezing point. There were slides , Igloo , Ice-Cream and Soup restaurant , Softballs, Basketball, Polar Bear, The Yeti ( Abominable Snowman ) ,etc . The other two packages Rainforest n The Scary house weren't as good as expected , but they did try to Scare us !

By 2 PM , we had Lunch at Kamat Hotel , lost our way a bit and reached Ella Suites at about 4 PM . The Seniors had internship test and had to refresh and rush to The Microsoft IDC building by 5 PM .Once the Keynote by Pratima ( Director of Microfot Acadamia ) was over , we were taken to the open theatre outside and asked to prepare a MAD-AD on any technolgy and present it before the crowd. We were divided into 4 groups, One group consisting of the experienced MSPs which eventually went on to steal the show , The other three groups divided among the new MSPs with a good mixture of MSPs from all around India. Our group had a brilliant Idea of combining Photo-Synth , Surface-Technolgy and Robotics but we couldn't execute the idea well, but could put up a decent show !

Once the Skit was over , it was time for Dinner. I called up Nandanna ( My cousin who is a Microsoft employee @ Microsoft Hydrabad ) and he took me to a field trip and showed me the whole Microsoft Campus . The we went to his office , had Hot Chocolate there and had a great game of Snooker. Then we had a look around the sports arena and walked all the way back to the Microsoft Building - I form Microsoft Building - II, which is a quite a good distance and u got to corss a hill to reach the other side. After this all of us walked back to Ella Suites !!

This was the first time I got to see my room. My roomie was Puneet from Delhi. We spent about an hour exploring all the utilities provided in the room like the two huge Plasma TV's with cable, A huge vathroom with a bath-tub and shower room. There were complementory cookies and Cold drink kept for us in the refrigerator.We had gr8 fun in the room then we spilitted to meet our fellow MSPs and expand our network.

All the Bangalore MSPs met in one of the rooms where Raveesh , Laxman and Anil had arranged for a cake for Sahitya as it was her Birthday that day, we clebrated it and all of us decided to watch a comedy movie of Jim Carey called "YES MAN !!!" , as the movie progressed we all left the room one by one and rested our tired bodies in our respective room at about 2:00 Am . Yes, it was finally the End of Day-1 of Boot Camp 2009 !


DAY-II

We were all dressed up and ready to go to Microsoft Building by 7:00 AM . This day was filled with some great technical sessions by the Microsoft Employees like Windows Embedded , SQL Server , Live Azure , Cloud Programming, Live@EDU , etc. These sessions went on till evening and in the evening the Disco Dance floor was open and we Pool Side Dinner after which we played Dumb-Charades where the Mumbai, MP and Chennai MSPs joined us.

Later , till late night all of us decided to explore the whole of " ELLA SUITES" . It was a huge area and took us a lot of time to explore it !


TO BE CONTINUED ........................