One unknown song and its lyrics...

Singer : Rupam Islam (Lead singer of the bengali band FOSSILS)

The Song :
tumi tomari dhorar e majhe,
more pathale apan kaaje,
ami khela kori pathe, phiri patha hote andharo jibon o sanjhe...

amai daraye chilam taai
bhito nirabo aparadhisamo sudhale jobab naai...

maa tor sneher sashone, khomar adore hridoy giyeche gole,
omaa eije niyecho kole.

aage khub kore more mere dhore
sesh a aai jeno bacha bole
omaa, ei je niyecho kole...

Trip to Amritsar ... Jo bole So Nihal - ਜੋ ਬੋਲੇ ਸੋ ਨਿਹਾਲ

If you are a software engineer, living in NCR and bored of doing same coding day by day then take a break on any weekend and visit Amritsar. You need only one night stay in Amritsar to visit four main attractions of Amritsar - Golden Temple, Wagah Border, Jalianwalah Bag and Great Food Junction- Bhrawan Da Dhaba!!!

One can take +SWARNA SHTBDI from NEW DELHI at 07:20 am and it reaches AMRITSAR JN at 13:25 hrs. Reaching Amritsar just book any hotel, average rate is INR 500 for family room that can accomodate 4 person. Now quickly freshen up yourself, take a lassi and then go out for Wagah Border.

Wagah (Hindi: वाघा, Urdu: واہگہ, Punjabi: ਵਾਘਾ) is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Amritsar, India and Lahore, Pakistan. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn.

The Wagah border often called the 'Berlin wall of Asia', is a ceremonial border on India–Pakistan Border, where each evening, there is a retreat ceremony called 'lowering of the flags'. At that time there is very energetic and thrilling parade done by Border Security Force (B.S.F), India and Pakistan Rangers soldiers. It may seem slightly aggressive and even hostile to foreigners, but it really is just grand entertainment for the crowds with grand stands being built on both sides. Crack troops of each country put on quite an entertaining show in their uniforms.

(Me and Jana with one BSF Personal at Wagah Border)

After the end of the flag lowering ceremony, while returning to the main town, we stopped at Jalianwalah Bagh. Jallaianwala Bagh, situated 400 meters north of the Golden Temple, is where the most notorious massacre under the British rule took place. In the afternoon of 13 April, 1919, thousands of people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh for a peaceful demonstration on the Baisakhi day. The ground is surrounded by high walls on all sides and has only a narrow alley for access.
General Dyer personally led his troops to the site. Standing on the only access way, he ordered his men to open fire without any warning resulting in the death of 337men, 41 boys and one baby and injuring more than 1200. A section of the wall with visible bullet marks is preserved, as is the well that some people jumped into to escape the bullets. 120 bodies were recovered from the well. Today this ground has been changed to a memorial park. At the entrance there is a memorial plaque which recounts the history.

Afterwards you have ample time to spend either in Golden Temple or just walking through the roads of Amritsar. After Jalianwalah Bagh, we visited Harmandir Sahib, also know as the Golden Temple in Amritsar City is the holiest shrine of the Sikh religion. Also known as the Shri Darbar Shaib, it is in the center of the old part of Amritsar. The Golden Temple sits on a rectangular platform, surrounded by a pool of water called the Amrit Sarovar from which the City is named. The entrance to the Golden Temple complex is through an ornate archway with intricate inlay work. During Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign the lower half of the temple was decorated with marble while the entire upper half was inlaid with copper and gold plated. Its four gates symbolically invite everyone from all directions.

(From Left: Ayan(Malik), Abhijit(Jana), Me(Aka), Shuvo(Bihari), Bikash(Biku))

Built in a blend of Hindu and Muslim styles, the Golden Temple is a two story marble structure and the interior of the temple is decorated with semi precious stones, frescoes and glass work. Here, one can buy Halua made up of pure desi ghee to offer it to the shrine. I can bet in your entire life you will not be able to find such delicious Halua!!!

And the last thing, if you are hungry just go to Bhrawan Da Dhaba and make sure at the end you have taken a glass of Lassi.

James Princep and Kolkata - Love@Silence

This is a picture of Princep Ghat on the banks of the river Ganga in Kolkata. Situated near the Vidyasagar Setu, it is one of the restored heritage buildings in Kolkata.Ghat in Bengali/Hindi would mean a jetty for small ships and boats.Sir James Princep was a renowned researcher, and was a real prodigy in his field. He served as the secretary of 'The Asiatic Society' from 1832-1838. He did prolonged, tenacious research on meteorology, chemistry, Indian scriptures, numismatics, archaeology, mineral resources etc. His greatest achievement in life has been to decipher the doctrines of Emperor Ashoka, from the inscriptions in rocks and boulders. He was also the acting Asst. Master of the mint at Calcutta. This rare genius passed away on 22nd April, 1840 at a mere age of 41. He had probably been the victim of excessive mental tormentation and overstrain.After his death, the Calcuttans collected fund and built the 'Princep Ghat' in 1843 on the south of Chandpal Ghat to commemorate their beloved man. The Viceroy Lord Attenborough aboarded the ship from Princep Ghat in 1844 before abandoning this country. Before this, Chandpal Ghat was used by the British to aboard on ships. However, all the princes and the royal emissaries who came to Calcutta after Lord Attenborough, used the Princep Ghat and not Chandpal Ghat.The Workshop captures the interior of the building.What can be seen on the background is the Vidyasagar Setu a.k.a "The second Hooghly bridge", on which I will provide details in my next post.During the construction of this bridge, the Princep Ghat sufferred some damage. The Kolkata Port trust and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation joined hands for the restoration of this heritage building, and this was how it looks before restoration.

Attitude matters ... Never say die !!

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before. Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built. Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling (Picture given below)

Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move. "We told them so.""Crazy men and their crazy dreams.""It`s foolish to chase wild visions."Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment. It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Akshardham (Delhi) - World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple

On 17 December 2007, Michael Whitty, an official world record adjudicator for Guinness World Records, traveled to Ahmedabad, India to present a new world record to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual leader of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, for the Akshardham complex. The record was presented for Akshardham as the World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple (see certificate here).

Akshardham (Gujarati: દિલ્હી અક્ષરધામ, Devnagari: दिल्ली आक्षरधाम) is a Hindu temple complex in Delhi, India. Also referred to as Delhi Akshardham or Swaminarayan Akshardham, the complex displays centuries of traditional Indian and Hindu culture, spirituality, and architecture. The building was inspired and moderated by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual head of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, whose 3,000 volunteers helped 7,000 artisans construct Akshardham.

The main monument, at the center of the complex, is 141-foot (43 m) high, 316-foot (96 m) wide, and 370-foot (110 m) long, and is covered top to bottom with carved details of flora, fauna, dancers, musicians, and deities.
Designed in accordance with ancient Vedic text known as the Sthapatya Shastra, it features a blend of architectural styles from across India. It is constructed entirely from Rajasthani pink sandstone and Italian Carrara marble, and has no support from steel or concrete. The monument also consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, nine domes, and 20,000 murtis and statues of Hinduism’s sadhus, devotees, and acharyas. The monument also features the Gajendra Pith at its base, a plinth paying tribute to the elephant for its importance in Hindu culture and India's history. It contains 148 scale sized elephants in total and weighs a total of 3000 tons.

Narayan Sarovar
The Narayan Sarovar is a lake that surrounds the main monument. The lake contains holy waters from 151 rivers and lakes that are believed to have been sanctified by Bhagwan Swaminarayan, including Mansarovar. Surrounding the Narayan Sarovar are 108 gaumukhs, symbolizing Janmangal Namavali or the 108 names for god, from which holy water issues forth.

Within the monument, under the central dome, lies a murti or statue of Bhagwan Swaminarayan which is 11-foot (3.4 m) high. The murti is surrounded by similar statues of the gurus of the sect. Each murti is made of paanch daatu or five metals in accordance to Hindu tradition. Also within the central monument lie the murits of other Hindu deities, including Sita Ram, Radha Krishna, Shiv Parvati, and Lakshmi Narayan.

Musical fountain
Known as the Yagnapurush Kund, it is India's largest step well. It features a very large series of steps down to a traditional yagna kund. During the day, these steps provide rest for the visitors to the complex and at night, a musical fountain show representing the circle of life is played to an audience which is seated on the same steps. The fountain is named after the founder of the Hindu organization, Shastriji Maharaj. The fountain measures 300 feet (91 m) by 300 feet (91 m) with 2,870 steps and 108 small shrines. In its center lies an 8-petaled lotus shaped yagna kund designed according to the Jayaakhya Samhita of the Panchratra shastra.

The Yogi Hraday Kamal
A sunken garden, shaped like a lotus when viewed from above, features large stones engraved with quotes from world luminaries ranging from Shakespeare and Martin Luther King to Swami Vivekananda and Bhagwan Swaminarayan

Hall of Values
Also known as Sahajanand Pradarshan, the Hall of Values features life-like robotics and dioramas which display incidents from Bhagwan Swaminarayan's life, portraying his message about the importance of peace, harmony, humility, service to others and devotion to God. The hall features the world's smallest animatronic robot in the form of Ghanshyam Maharaj, the child form of Bhagwan Swaminarayan.

Official Site : http://www.akshardham.com/

Falak pakad ke utho, aur hawa pakad ke chalo...

It’s one of the various promotional ads for the Lead India initiative by the Times of India group. It’s written by Gulzar Saab, music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and sung by Shankar Mahadevan. It’s being termed as the new anthem. An amazing number of people find it inspiring including myself.

To appreciate the video even more, I thought it’d be good if people could understand the lyrics.

Falak pakad ke utho, aur hawa pakad ke chalo, –2
Tum chalo, to hindustan chale –4

Lagao haath ke suraj subah nikala karein,
Hatheliyon bhare dhoop aur uchhala karein, –2
Ufaq pe paav rakho, aur chalo akad ke chalo,
Falak pakad ke utho, aur hawa pakad ke chalo, –2
Tum chalo, to hindustan chale –4

Although the song has only too pretty uncommon urdu words -Falak (Sky), and Ufaq (Horizon), yet the video is so gripping that a number of people just ignore the magical web of words that Gulzar saab has created.

The video attempts to convey a very simple message -stop complaining and be the change.
It reminds me of Majrooh Sultanpuri’s lines:

Main akeyla hi chala tha Jaanib-e-mazil magar,
Log saath aate gaye, Kaarvan banta gaya!

Similarly, the lyrics of the song convey a very simple message -have a pride in your existence and your actions. Nothing is “big” enough for you.

If it doesn’t shake you up, just imagine yourself doing all this literally. Imagine yourself pushing the Sun and being the reason for the sunrise. Imagine yourself walking with your leg on the horizon, as you walk holding the gusty winds like a rope.
That’s the kind of pride and courage needed if ones wishes to change and challenge the world. So lets Lead the change...

Deploying MOSS 07 to create Server Firm

Last month, suddenly our client started demanding to host their existing solution in a mid scale server farm. So, we started doing a little bit of RnD on configuring server farm and at that time we found that there is no step by step approach is present in the net. Though Microsoft provided installation document, that was a bit lengthy... So, I thought to share a precise approach to set up a server farm.
Sample Scenario: We have 1 Database Server, 1 Web Server, 1 Index Server
Step I
First install MS SQL Server in Mixed Mode in one server and after successful installation leave that server. This server now becomes Database Server.
Step II
Pick second server which is going to act as an Index Server.
Click on MOSS 07 set up execution file. Once you validated your product, select Advanced as shown in the below picture -


Next, Select Complete Server type installation and then click on Install now.

Installation goes on, just wait and watch.

Select the checkbox and proceed to the next screen by selecting Close.

Here comes configuration wizard first page, select Next.

Selecting Next in the previous screen will results in an Alert message as shown below. Select Yes in that.

Select No radio button to create a new Server Farm.

Now in this screen, in database server name textbox put the name of the database server that we have prepared in Step I. Give some appropriate name of the database that is going to be created for handling of content and configuration by MOSS. Give username and password (must be a member of Admin group) and select Next.

Give unique port number and select authentication mechanism as per project requirement. In our case we have selected NTLM windows based authentication.

Next what we get an informative screen as shown below. Select Next to start installing and configuring database.

Configuration starts.

After successful configuration you will find the following screen.

Select Finish to complete installing MOSS 07 in Index Server.

Step III
Let us pick the last server that we have in our hand – yes the Web Server.Start installing MOSS 07 in it by selecting execution file and put correct key to activate the product.

Select the check box to accept the agreement and select continue to proceed.

Again select Advanced Mode of Installation.

Here select Web Front End Server type and select Install now.

Next installation goes on for next a few minutes.

After successful installation of MOSS 2007, select the checkbox and click on Close to run the configuration wizard.

Select Next to proceed to the next screen.

Clicking on Next will result in an alert message to be shown. Select Yes to continue.

Now, Select Yes to connect the web front end server to the server farm.

Enter the name of the database server that we already prepared in the database server text box and select Retrieve Database Names.It will retrieve name of all the database present in that database server and and will fill the Database Name dropdown with these names. Select the appropriate database name (Select name of the database that you have created when configuring Index Server). Give user name and password and click on Advanced Settings.

In this screen, select ‘Do not use this machine to host websites’ radio button. This will results in hosting Central Admin in Index server. Select Next to continue/back to the previous screen.

Slect Next to continue.

Next, share point starts configuring the web server.

After successful instalation following screen appears. Select Finish to complete the deployment of MOSS 07 in three server architecture.

So, end of the set up process... Now you can add extra web server(s) to load balance your web application, you can add extra app server to shift Indexing, Searching, Excel etc services to that server. So whats next??? Next is celebrating the server farm creation with Smirnoff and Lime Cordial!!! Till next Post, Cheers...