A name by any spelling …

My non-tamil speaking friends often take a dig at me regarding typical tamil spellings of non-tamil words.

Tamil does not distinguish phonologically between voiced and unvoiced consonants;
phonetically, voice is assigned depending on a consonant’s position in a word.
Of all the 18 or so official languages in India, only tamil has this peculiarity of not being able to represent all the sounds.

Let us take an example,
The name Padma is pronounce ‘Pad’ as in pud-dle and ma as in Ma-ll.
Typical tamil pronounciations range from padma -> padhma -> badhma -> bathma -> badma.

This is because, tamil has just one letter to represent ‘Pa’, ‘Pha’, ‘Ba’, ‘Bha’.
So, it is not surprising to find the name Brinda transformed into

Brinda -> Birundha -> Pirundha -> Piruntha.

But wait, though the spellings are indeed different, isnt the sound “more-or-less” the same ?

If we can associate some value to the “phonetics” then we can perhaps determine if Brinda and Piruntha indeed sound the same !

Here is where soundex comes in !

Let us look at the names and their soundex values. The first letter represents the starting letter of the name.
The rest gives the sound a number. Closer the two numbers, similar they sound.

Brinda = B653
Birundha = B653
Pirundha = P653
Piruntha = P653

padhma = P350
badma = B350
bathma = B350
badhma = B350

Here is the javascript implementation of soundex.

Lets us take names from different cultures

(1) Kuhlmann and Kulamagal

Kuhlmann = K450
Kulamagal = K452

(2) Thurman and Duraimurugan

Thurman = T650
Duraimurugan = D656

A name by any spelling, sounds as much sweet isnt it ?

But there are some variations that too much to ask for
like Lakshmi -> Letchumi

Lakshmi = L250
Letchumi = L325

Applications use soundex to overcome spelling differences in names etc. To find if an applicant has any previous insurance policy, the search on the database is often performed using soundex to get the possible matches. Most Databases provide this function out of the box.

Hands full

Its been quite a while since my last blog.
My laptop crashed. Perhaps RAM got corrupt. Yet to hear from Acer service.
But this isnt the reason for not writing for a while.

I am into quite a few things now and I dont know whether it is good or bad.
Here are a few
1. Co-design the common UI metamodel. From there on the rest the of Metamodel for the new full configurability approach.
2. Evaluation of XForms based on the UI metamodel.
3. Offline synchronization framework design (actually I dont do the design but take part in the discussions).
4. Building the team – Interviews, team meetings and plan for the future.
5. Complete planning and execution of the Offline flavour. I am yet to start planning though
6. Other Organizational Obligations.

Though I am enjoying it, I need to move bit more faster to stay on top of things. This is kind of pushing me to run faster. Its all a great experience. Lets see how the journey goes.

The Unlearning starts

It is 5 days into my new job. It is all different. Different people, different culture, different management styles, different problems to solve – in all a different environment.

The last 2 years, I had been working on a hosted solutions kind of environment. The rules are different there.
Now, it is an installed solutions kind of environment and the forces are quite different here.

So what does one do to begin with ?

Unlearn what one has learnt previously. Unlearning is a fascinating, challenging mental exercise.

When I asked some of my friends what they understand by unlearn, most of them tell me “..to forget the old ways of doing things …”. This is not true. Each experience is valuable. Why forget them ? Shouldn’t it enrich us rather than deprive ? Unlearning is about being aware and thus changing the way we look at things. Thought processes that work previously, may no longer work. The awareness that the thought process is not suited in the new context IS unlearning in my opinion.

Once again, I would like to emphasis that Unlearning isn’t forgetting things. It is about adding newer items to the pile of stuff u’ve learnt already.

Lets keep (un)learning …

Seventh time lucky !

This is a post of different nature. Nothing technical and everything personal.

The last 30 days or so had been a very hectic phase of my life. What started as a simple hospitalization for a innocent looking back pain steroid injection ended up in a life or death coma during the sixth hospitalization.
The whole episode tested my patience, my affection to M, our family bonding and faith. In the end M triumphed.

Take One
Nov 8 – Nov 9 (Chennai Kaliappa Hospital) :
A steroid injection in the spinal cord to combat back pain (disc prolapse).
It was a painless process. No tension. All went well and came back home relieved.

Take Two
Nov 17 – Nov 21 (Chennai Kaliappa Hospital) :
M complained of very frequent urination (20 times in 5 hrs). Got admitted. Diagnosed of Urinary Infection.
Treatment started. M is diabetic and hypertensive as well. We couldnt strike the right vibes with the doc.
Treatment dint have any effect. M now complained of frequent vomitting with headache. Becomes very weak.
So decided to shift the hospital.

Take Three
Nov 21 – Nov 23 (Ranga Nursing Home) :
Docs here were kind folks. Gave the right treatment. M’s complaints subsided. Came home relived.
But the next day, the complaints resumed. M started vomitting again.

Take Four
Nov 26 – Nov 30 (Ranga Nursing Home):
A more intensive treatment started. A general physician, A neuro, An ENT, An eye specialist and a gyno ALL examined M and gave their share of medicines. Around 15 tabs in the night, apart from the drips and IV injections.
This is when Nisha strikes Chennai. Weather is at the unkindest. I have to take M for Brain CT scan and M could not even walk with support. With lot of difficulty we get the scan done. The scan results are negative. We heave a sigh.
All tests turn negative. So docs are puzzled. By now M vomits more and is put on IV fluids. no oral intake. Is discharged after the symptoms subside.

Take Five
Dec 2 – Dec 5 (Apollo Hospitals):
M vomits again. No respite. By now she is scared. She is mentally tired and weak. Starts losing hope.
Here they start nasal feeding. Docs find out that due to repeated vomitting vitals salts are lost.
This condition along with continued medication for diabetics lowers sugar levels. However, vomitting stops.
Is discharged again. Now docs advise M not to feel depressed about health and all vital parameters are OK.

Take Six
Dec 6 – Dec 9 (Apollo Hospitals):
M starts behaving abnormally. Does not talk properly. We are now scared. M complains of palpitation and a feeling of uneasiness that M cannot explain. This does not seem totally physiological. We rush to Apollo Emergency. Once again the docs say all params are normal and Refer to Neuro. It is already night and a sunday and NO experts are available. By now she loses memory fast. Cannot recognize me and slowly … slips into … a state of being unresponsive (like coma). Eyes open but cannot see. cannot hear. does not feel pain. Docs are now tensed as well. When she is moved from emergency to ward it is 3 am in the morning. I am drained. Tired physically and mentally. I am alone with her. Not many options I can think of. Thinking of the future scared me further. Tried to gain some sleep in vain. The next day the docs say that things arent looking good and need to move her to critical care unit(CCU).
CCU has this eerie atmosphere. It could make a healthy guy fall sick. Now, only one attendant is allowed and can visit the patient only twice a day. Things get worse now. We await the test reports. Docs say we need to be ready for “anything”.
The main tests of the brain show no problems. Docs are now a little relieved. They now say that she needs to regain consciousness on her own and it has to happen “just like that”. It could take anywhere between 2 days to 3 weeks.

Take Seven
Dec 9 – Dec 15 (St Isabel’s Hospitals) :
I am advised to take M to Isabel’s. This hospital is closer to my home. Mom finally regains consciousness. But talks to us only 2 days after gaining consciousness. She slowly limps back to normal. And on 15th She is back home.

The whole episode has made me mentally stronger, has reinforced my faith in people and god, has been a good chance to prove my maturity to myself and looking back I am happy the way I handled it all. Now all are happy that M is back in action.

Sixer !

After saurav and kumble, guess it is my turn to give some news.

Having played for the HM! club since Feb 2007, few Tests (big projects) and many
ODIs (bug fixes, small features), I have decided to declare my innings with the HM! club.
I would play my last ODI on the tenth day of Dec 2008.

I would like to thank my Captain (A) and the boys (Team) for their support.
It was great playing for this club and I wish HM! all the very best.

I am looking forward to play for another club and hopefully improve my Test record.

Though a decent batsman, I have been bowled over many times by the camaraderie and fun loving spirit of HM! club folks.