Just finished....reading Adultery!!!

Coelho is a star!! He can understand a woman and her feelings so nicely. A woman, at any age can amazingly associate herself with the stories that he writes!!

I loved the precis the first time I read it. And I bought the book. Of course, I could relate to her. It did not disappoint me. But at the same time, whatever the protagonist does, I don't know if it is possible in real life! Nevertheless, it is just a story! And a good one! Keep going sir, looking forward to more works from you!

Inferno...my review!!!

I bought Inferno with a lot of expectations. I had not read the reviews of the book before buying it.

Alas, I was disappointed. I found the book highly confusing. Though the mystery starts to unfold towards the ending, but there were too many characters to keep track of. And the author was not ready to reveal the secrets until the very end.

Dante, somehow is not a very popular artist, so establishing a connection with his work took some time. 

I found the main cause very interesting. Population explosion is a very good topic and apt for the current scenario in the world. Writing a story around the same topic and clubbing Dante was a good attempt but failed somewhere!!

I am hoping for better work from Brown next time!!

Oh my LOG!!!!

This is exactly my reaction owing to recent encounters with log4j2. I have had the privilege of facing multiple issues which I would like to share so that others can seek help from my experiences.

Scenario: Our application migrated from log4j2-beta9 jars to log4j2 GA version. Also SLF4J version changed from 1.7.5 to 1.7.7.

Issue#1: Log files not getting created in windows-weblogic environment
Root Cause: Windows does not recognize "\" in the path. It should either be escaped by using \\ (double back slash) or use a single forward slash. 
Solution: So after migration, we created a new JAVA OPTION where we changed the log directory by replacing all the back slashes with a forward slash, something like this:
                                 set LOG4J2_DIR_HOME=%MY_APP_PATH:\=/%

Issue#2: In case of a cluster setup, if the admin server and one of the nodes are pointing to the same installation, log files do not rotate in windows-weblogic environment
Root Cause: Log4J has a policy that if the log file size reaches a specified limit, then it is moved to another location and  the current file is emptied. But in case of a cluster set up, this was not happening. This is because, the admin server, which is one JVM and the node, which is another JVM, both of them point to the same log file. Though the admin server may or may not have anything to write to the log file, but it will still hold a lock on the file.
Solution: In our case, since Admin server did not have anything to write to log file, the file was never created. Only in case of a node, a log file was created.

Issue#3: ERROR StatusLogger Error parsing \config\properties\log4j2.xml javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException: Feature 'http://apache.org/xml/features/xincl

ude' is not recognized.ERROR StatusLogger Error parsing \config\properties\log4j2.xml javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException: Feature 'http://apache.org/xml/features/xincl

ude' is not recognized. error occurs on load.

Root Cause: Jar conflict, 2 jars of the same name, but different versions was present in the classpath

Solution: Removed the duplicate jars from the classpath. Usual conflicting jars would be; xmlApis.jar, xerces.jar, xercesImpl.jar

Humanity, I guess!!!

Recent killings in Hyderabad have created some tension among the people in the city.
Whatever the reason may be, I personally do not approve of it. Nevertheless, the killings happened.

My auto wale bhaiyya lives in the same location and he was giving me updates about the issue.
In fact he told me about the fight before it came in the newspapers. So I got the aakhon-dekha haal. Three people died due to the police firing.

One of the persons dead was a distant relative of my auto wale bhaiyya. He told me about the dead person who was called Farid.

Farid was an orphan. His parents were also dead. He was a very hardworking person. With all his hard work, he managed to buy a 200 sq.yard plot. And it was only 2 months since he got married.

It was a very sad thing to hear. But at the same time, what I realized from the conversation was that there are people from all corners of life, who are working real hard and have been able to gather assets.  I did not get the job that he did. But he had bought properties for himself and his family.

Somehow, because of our society and the people we live with, we can't imagine anyone without the software job to gather assets unless you are into some business or something. But here was a lower middle class boy who had worked hard and bought land for himself. Somewhere in my heart, more than sadness, there was a sense of pride after listening about the boy.

I do not know Farid nor have I ever seen him. But I felt proud of him. I think that is humanity!!!!

p.s. Farid, may your soul rest in peace!!!

Goa is not just about the beaches!!!

What I learnt from my trip to Goa was that, it is not just about the beaches. Definitely not!!
There is so much more!!

Greenery: The best part of the places that I visited was the greenery. It was so nice to see so much greenery for my parched eyes. Every house has plants. That is a must, I observed.

Amazing Roads: The roads were hardly bumpy. How it was maintained so well, is beyond my understanding for such a heavy floating population. Beautiful roads was another plus point that I saw in Goa.

Entrepreneurship at its best: It may be a bar but nevertheless, every second house had some shop or some business operating right from their own homes. It was nice to see this culture where people are trying to earn their bread with hard work.

Blend of culture: If I were to picture Goa in my mind before the trip, it would have been only the beaches. But what I saw was different. There were so many temples there. And the rich culture that came oozing out of these temples was mind blowing.

People were pious in temples. Young men aged between 25 and 30 were in dhoti, doing poojas. And there were such men in every temple that I visited. 

And then the churches, how could I not visit them!! I got to see a service and also a wedding!! How lucky am I :). The service, the choir, and all were so soothing to experience. 

By the way, I loved the frocks that the women were wearing. I saw the women wearing them with no age bar :P. I wish, I could have them too :).

Goa trip in a nutshell...

We reached Ponda city, Goa on Saturday morning at around 8:30 a.m. We had brought rains along with us :). It was raining at the time we started from Hyderabad and was raining throughout.
I thought to myself, would I be even able to see and visit any places in this rain!! But God was kind on me, and it stopped raining after some time.

We went to Nageshi temple in Ponda, where the ceremony, that we had actually come to attend, was going on. We were given our room where we freshened up and came down for the thread ceremony.

The customs and traditions were new and different for me. As in our case, the Konkani people also have thread ceremony for young boys. Both the parents of the young boy were dressed up for the occasion. The boy was also dressed up for the occasion. He had flower garlands over his head, around his arms. He was covered with a shining red colored shawl. He was brought to the ceremony carried by his maternal uncles :).

Rest of the ceremony looked more or less the same as in our case.
The temple where the ceremony took place.

The best part about most of the temples that I visited in Goa was the huge area on which it was built. Also every temple has a koneru, the small water body, and pretty much well maintained. 

Every temple had a big hall where people could conduct functions and rooms were also available for stay. There is a small canteen in all temples that people visit for meals when catering is not provided.

So convenient for people to conduct ceremonies. And it costs less also :P.

Our entire stay was in this temple only. A nice and comfortable room was given to us with a beautiful view from the window.

Everything was green, pleasant to my eyes that was tired of looking at the monitor screen!!

In the afternoon, after the lunch we went to Candolim beach in Goa. It was sparsely populated that gave us some place to have some fun. 

In the evening, we went on the cruise, which was okay. After that we came back to our rooms and retired for the day!!!

Goa calling...

My husband planned a very sudden trip to Goa. He asked me, in this condition, if I could go ahead. But Goa , it was...so how could I even say No to it...I shrieked and jumped at the idea. And Yes it was..The trip started on Friday evening and lasted till Monday late afternoon. And what a trip it was...so refreshing!!!