Another exciting Diwali... !

It's always fantastic to get an opportunity to represent your country in another! So, when such an opportunity knocked my doors, I welcomed it with open arms!

My contribution follows that of John Schwarz (Board Member - SAP AG) at around interval 1:30.



This video was broacasted also on regional TV (Rhine Neckar Fernsehen). For high-res version, click here.


PS: The idea to walk at that leisurely pace wasn't mine.

Just another update... Oh yeah, lets talk about my book too!

Phew! I can't believe it! I have taken such a long, long vacation from blogging - something I thought would never ever happen. Indeed, it did!

It is definitely difficult to recap over 18 months of my life in a few words, so I think I would simply put down the key features (sounds so terribly official, but can't help it!):

• Work: going fine, changed my job within the company I am working in. Changed my departments, and twice!
• Places and countries: Visited Austria, France, Luxembourg, Italy (twice), India (twice - North and South), Croatia, Montenegro (incredible and gorgeous, btw!), Switzerland, the USA (Seattle, NY, and the Niagara Falls), Luxembourg, the Czech Republic (Prague) and umpteen other beautiful places also deserving mention (if it wasn't for the time... ). BTW, photos!
  
• My stand on pollution: still guilty. BTW, I managed to bring down the average consumption of my car to under 6.5 l / 100 km i.e. increased efficiency to over 15 kmpl by some smart driving. It's no mean achievement, given that I have managed to do this reduction over the entire 140,000 kms I have on it!
• A personal milestone: turned a major-decade few weeks back! I had some of my most cherished friends who came from far and wide. Thank you, guys and gals! Hope you had a great time too! The menu was long, and if I put it down here, you'd drool into your keyboard. So, let me save that for another time. :D Oh yes, also served were Prosecco, two different white wines and three different reds.

The most important of all: I spent most of the last few months of 2007 and the early months of 2008 completing my book on C++! So, am very happy to announce that Sams Teach Yourself C++ In One Hour A Day was not only released successfully to eager programmers worldwide in July 2008, but has since collected a good number of 4 and 5-Star reviews on Amazon!


The book sets itself apart from others discussing C++ by focussing on the practical aspects of the language, and teaching concepts that will help the reader be a better programmer in a professional environment i.e. the book explains the basics, and for those who have been there and done that, it explains advanced concepts like templates and STL too.

If you need to learn C++, you know what book you should be buying!