ITPL Ho!

Ever wonder what to do on a Saturday afternoon when you just have a couple of hours [and no money :-)] and have to be home before dark... there's tons you can do.

Well, what my buddy Vish and I did, a couple of Saturdays ago, was ride to ITPL via Marathahalli. It had rained very light the previous night and the air still had moisture in it. The sun was up but not hurting. We capitalised on it. It was fun. Though all the factory outlets in Marathahalli were very inviting with the sale season still not over [pssst... some shops are offering buy 3 get 4!!!], we did not stop over [reason's in the previous para].

We went straight to ITPL. India Technology Park Ltd. is a tech park [obviously, what else :-) ]. Any number of national and multinational organisations feel proud to have a presence in ITPL. Construction is still in progress. Be prepared for trucks.

Some of the buildings are worth taking a look. To us, the Sri Satya Sai Baba Medical Institute was interesting not only for the good work that is being done there but also because of the beauty of the structure. Personally, I felt that it is inspired by the Vidhan Soudha. But I could be wrong. Whether inspired by Vidhan Soudha or not it is a beautiful structure. If I were a medical student or a doctor working in that building, that building would be reason enough to get up everyday and go to work.

There are quite a few glass buildings screaming "IT". Then there are others that are quiet pretend no one exists around them. What struck me was that each building has character.

There was one more place that interested us [a lot!]. San Engineering & Locomotive's building may not be considered a work of art but what they have outside the building is very interesting. They have... actually have... a steam engine!!!

We're not sure of her age. Not even as to how long she worked, or the trains she pulled, or the people she helped reach their destinations. But she stands there. Her beauty augumented by the flowering bougainvilla behind her.

We took pictures of her and us on her :-) [My ambition as a kid was to be a driver on a steam engine !! Well... I got only this far] One more interesting thing about her is a snake. Probably a water snake but a snake nevertheless. I took a picture of the snake but at Vish's suggestion I took a small video. Some day my kids are going to be soooooo proud of me.

In less than two hours we had a smashing time. I've been told you carry your own party, so true :-)

Dizwell

One of my favourite sites on Oracle - Dizwell Informatics - has been shut out for visitors. This post is not to crib about the "whys" and "oh my Gods!". This post is an attempt to reach the site owner and tell him --

Sir,

Your reason to shut out visitors is valid [though I'm not aware of what happened to result in this and despite reading about it on your site I'm not able to understand it fully]. It's your personal website and the rest of us should have the maturity to respect that.

I want you to know that your site gave me some very good articles to read. Thank you for posting such interesting/informative articles.

Though I tried to reach you to let you know this, there was no way I could. There's not even a page to say thanks.

I hope that some day you will once again share with us your researches on Oracle related matters. I'm not sure if this post will ever reach you, but if it does, I shall be very glad of at least having had the opportunity to thank you.