The Big 'B' in Bangalore!

Bill Gates visited Bangalore on December 9, 2005 to launch the next generation of integrated computing platform - SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006. It was a great experience for me to be a part of this huge event , seated in the first row watchin Mr.Bill enthrall the crowd with his presence and listenin to him speak bout the new products of Microsoft.
Several ppts and demos were delivered by Microsoft employees like Mr.Gaurav Khanna which left the audience amazed by the cool features Whidbey(VS2005),SQL Server n BizTalk Server2006 provides.
When Developer Evangalist , Sheila Gulati asked Mr.Bill Gates whether he likes 'dose' or 'idli', he replied that he liked the 'upma' which was served to him for breakfast !
When asked about the last time he wrote code, he replied saying that he often often works with Microsoft`s latest products and plays around with them to understand and learn, but the last time he wrote a complete software package was in 1983 !
He addressed young entrepreneurs and developers of India giving them words of advice.When asked about the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which provides funds for various noble causes, he said he always dreamt of two phases in his life, one was to earn money, lots of it ! and the second where he`s gonna give away money which he is doing now.
The day`s event ended with rock band, Parikrama`s queue of songs, who played some of their own compositions. A Microsoft goody bag to take back home, a t-shirt and a waist pouch.

Jan 15th 2008 Update:

This is a video composed and relayed at CES 2008 where Bill Gates addressed his last keynote of how he would spend his last day at Microsoft (sometime in July 2008) starring:
Bill Gates, Brian Williams, Jay Z, Bono, Steven Spielberg, Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Jon Stuart, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore, and from Microsoft: Steve Ballmer, Christine White, Lisa Brummell, Robbie Bach, Kevin Turner, Ray Ozzie, and Craig Mundie...watch!

my bday...!!!

12th November, 2005
Yes, this is my day. Expected it to be just another day, got blasted by my mom the previous day for not buyin anythin for myself. Mom, dad, granma n Sis wished me n gave me a Bday card and a leather wallet. We ate yummy choclate pastries before i left to coll. As always i went late to coll n there again friends wishin me , hugs and handshakes....it was my day indeed!
After classes i stayed in the parkin lot chattin with my buddies for a while n as i reached home i was astonished to see a convoy of bikes ridin towards my house.
My friends invited me inside askin me to make myself at home...in my own house!...my house had been invaded by my buddies.I was so overjoyed to have them all at home and as they settled down in my room, i rushed to get them chips...lots of it and bottles of coke.
As my friends sang the Bday mantra, i blew out the candle n cut through the Choclate cake they got for me.It was too yummy to be wasted in a cake fight, but whats a party without one!
Chips didnt last for more than 10 seconds and all the coke was fizzed out while some had a shower of what was left in it! The room was a total mess with drops of coke dripping down from the roof, splashed on the walls and on everything in the room, which ofcourse includes us!
We sat sticky and dirty as we watched India winning the cricket match against Srilanka.
The Pizza delivery guy delivered the hot pizzas in less than 30mins....damn! We munched on the sticky cheesy pizzas and had yet another reason to party when India won. This time a water fight!!!
I did my best and cleaned as much as i could before we left to play cricket. After a tiring match we had some Soda and i left with Naveen to the temple. Sat in the shopping complex for a while and had some hot chaats.

This was a very special day , filled with a lot of love and joy. As i look back at my incomplete journey of life ,there have been many people in my life who have influenced me and inspired me into becoming what I am today, I wish to thank every person who has been a part of my life and who has made this journey a special one, making me what u see today.
I love you mom and dad, chitu, granma,anna, dolly, moorthy uncle, geeth, bond..I miss u guys, wish u were here. I`m missin out lotsa names here but I have great respect for you and thank u for ur blessings. And ofcourse my friends, i love u all..my life is incomplete without u guys...thank u for being there for me and i`ll always be there for u.

regards,
-kp

A Trip to Waynad, Kerala...

30th September,2005
Loads of excitement and expectations for the class trip to Waynad, Kerala. Remember waiting at Pavan MW`s house for the bus. The bus arrived late and was far from what was promised. My classmates got into the bus with high spirits and enthsiasm but curses heard midway because of the sad state of the bus we were in. It was rainin heavily outside , the seats were wet and water dripped on our heads.I sat at the foot board of the bus with naveen listening to my classmates playing antakshari.
I managed to get a dry seat later just to wake up in the mornin with a bad knee pain coz of less room for my legs.It was murky at that time as we strolled through the fog. We checked in Hotel Haritagiri Heritage at around 7am.We couldnt resist but to dive into the swimming pool..brr.. it was darn cold! We enjoyed ourselves throughly in the water.A quick shower n breakfast and we left to Edakkal caves.
We had to walk a kilometre on road and further uphill to get to the mouth of the caves.The caves were illuminated by the little light which managed to creep through the gaps between the massive stones overwhelming us.We gazed at the carvings on the rocks with awe.As the guide explained about the carvings, we took snaps and it was then Maddy and I decided to trek further up and explore more caves if any.It was a rocky terrain, We leaped between rocks, crawled through gaps between big boulders,rope climbed on a hill.We then gave a Tarzan call and waited for the rest to catch up.We helped each other climb the sliperry rocks.We climbed uphill till a point where the view was mesmerizing and some dint dare to climb further.
On the way back, Maddy n I decided to go on another adventure and we ended up in a dark cave. We had to make a vertical climb to get to the top.I followed Maddy`s lead in climbing as i dared myself to not look down.We let out a loud cry of jubilation when we made it to the top.As I sat there trying to work my way down, Maddy started to climb down and was half way when I made my move.A sudden thought "What if I..." and OMG i lost my grip and slipped!!! I lay hanging on the rock for my life when Maddy rushed up and supported my weight on his right thigh.It took me sometime to get my senses back and while Maddy struggled with pain I found my grip and we made it down - An incident I cant forget. (In the pic-> Maddy climbing his way up)

Yet another incident as we trekked back when my bracelet fell between some rocks deep down and some localites came to my rescue. Caught up with the gang after a splash of cold water from a well at the entrance to the caves and we had some tender coconuts and lime soda on the way back, still regret leavin my shades at the telephone booth :(
The day had almost come to an end and we played shuttle and bball as the sun set. It was almost dark when we decided not to end the day so soon and to visit another place. It was a long ride to Pookat lake, we could barely see anything there and we ended up dancing to the beats of Sharath`s drums.Returned to the hotel to test our strength at the gym. After a tiring workout we had our dinner and played card games till 3am before crashin to bed.

We set out early in the mornin to the supposedly Asia`s 3rd largest dam...ya right!! Had breakfast there gazing at the HUGE dam! The other side of the dam was a treat to our eyes.We sat numb at the bank gazing at the lake held between hills as some hurled stones into the water.With complaints of have had early lunch at the hotel we left for Soochipara waterfalls. Enroute to the falls we had our heads poppin out of the windows looking at the picturesque tea hills. The chant "Maddy nodu aisaa.." should bring back joyous memories to those who were there ;)



.... to be continued.....

a talk with Joe Wilson...

29th september,2005
The Microsoft Student partners and Ambassadors welcomed Mr.Joe Wilson on this day at Hotel Grand Ashok as i played the role of both a Student Partner and an MC for the evening. Last minute preparations with my co-host Garima and we started out with the spoof of Steve Balmer screamin on stage enacted by Sunil. Was nervous at the begining as that was the first time i hosted a show but then i settled down and delivered my lines with a smooth flow.
One blooper midway where i spoke my lines when i wasnt supposed to but kinda patched it up.
Mr.Joe Wilson as any other Microsoft employee spoke with so much ease and content with clever answers to all our whacky and Student partner program and Microsoft Academic Program related questions.
We threw some more questions towards Microsoft Evangalists Mr.Ashwani,Ms.Pratibha and Mr.Kevin. their witty answers leaving the audience laughing out loud.
The event was accompanied by Awards named the .NUT awards. I was presented with a Ineta shirt - International .Net Association, for hosting the event. Personally, it was a great experience for me.The shooting of the video for the event that sunday was a memorable day too. A shoot at Cubbon Park meant to be a serious shoot with scripts ended up being a video of bloopers.And how can i not mention the part where the innocent me walking by the pool in my shorts was sent diving into the pool by Sunil in the making of the Steve Balmer spoof!
The event at Grand Ashok ended with a photo shoot and delicious food . A bite of fish fry was like a piece of heaven.Has been quite some time since i have tasted fish after my mom got allergic to it. It was a great day and a memorable one too...

my first step to learning C#...

Saturday 10th september was another day which boosted my learning curve. The alumini of KSIT were supposed to conduct an aptitude n a tech test for us on this day. Also i had my GRE classes from 3 to 8pm and to give me more choices to leave me in a dilemma I had to attend the Microsoft Student partner training at Ramaiah at 9.The agency cancelled out on the training and the sessions were now gonna be held by the senior student partners.Now the decision had to be made .... didnt take me much time to decide and i packed my bags and left to Ramaiah.
Was worried i wud be lost in the huge city of Ramaiah, luckily i met Abhinav(my ol school buddy) to lead.Was nice talkin to Rishab(Senior partner) after a long time.Session started late as how every session starts.
Sabarish(Microsoft ambassador) delivered the first session on the basics of C# and some features of it which make the language so powerful.I jotted down some points which i will have to cover when i deliver the same to my frnz in coll.He and Sunil are speakers who inspire.They speak with so much confidence and content, seeing them i hope to get some pointers and gather my courage when i deliver my sessions.Sunil`s session was on the basics of .NET which ive heard for the nth time now and yet there`s so much to know.
The lunch was followed by the hands on lab.I`ve always enjoyed coding and coding with Visual studio .NET makes the experience much more fun.It was the day where i had my first exposure to C# and ASP.net. Never realised that working with ASP.net was so much fun. Sunil and Sharath helped us program with them and they gave demos on programming for a mobile device - An applicaton which detects any bluetooth enabled device within its range.
It had rained all the while and i had a long way to ride back home. Bid my small family of champs adieu and left with Pavan(partner of APS). I knew the day wouldnt end so soon without a lil more fun.We missed a turn and ended up touring that part of Bangalore. Thanx to all those auto drivers who led us to familiar roads and i drove back home safe n dry to listen to some great songs on Radio City. Thank god for bringing back english songs on radio.
Sunday 11th september was just another day. Attended my Gre classes from 2:30 to 7:30. Learnt a cple of geometry formulae and lotsa words which i can barely remember now.

hey, hows u doin...???
keepin my spirits soarin high...lemme tell you a little about myself and the people around me....
I`m Karthik P , a.k.a KP. I stay with my parents, sister and granma. My looks..well u can see my pic...not much of a stud...but cool. Otherwise I`m a fun loving, calm guy. I would call myself an observer....of what...be anything...when people converse(do talk a lot sometimes!), the still life and the moving, the way people react and behave, how fast or how slow life is moving but ofcourse be a part of it...and not left behind watching life run away... and most of all...nature...nothing like it.

I can just gaze at the sky n clouds for hours without any knowledge of the time speeding by. The green leaves of trees leaves me mesmerized while cruising on my Yamaha. Yeah...a yamaha...not a big sports bike if you are imagining me on it.I would call it a 135cc framework ...dont ask why...

In class u`ll find my drawings and abstract designs on the last desk where I , the king rule and is responsible with my benchmates for all the tantrum created. I used to sketch and paint, feels bad to say 'used to', and they remain as one of my prized assets. I had great fun workin with my coll fashion team and most of all tattooing. I love music of all genre and possess CDs of several artists and bands.Have hummed n danced to the tunes of MJ, Celine,Michael Bolton n several others as a kid with my aunts...

...to be continued...