Tomcat

One interesting book I am reading these days is How Tomcat Works by Budi Kurniawan and Paul Deck. Unlike other books on the topic, this book concentrates on Tomcat internals, making it a very attractive reading for developers interested in behind the scenes working. Instead of user centric, the book is developer centric. It assumes a fair knowledge of Java and the Servlet API, and creates sample applications to unravel the details. It starts with building a simple Java based client and server, and takes on from there to describe the Tomcat connector architecture, main classes and their interaction.

Good days, bad days..

There are some periods in everyone's life where everything is going either as smooth or as silk, or so bad that one hopes it cant get worse! Over the last month, I have had strange computer viruses, bad broadband connections, dead telephone lines, tap leaks, tv faults, stabilizer problems......Seems no amount of backup planning and checks can save me from the maintenence of household items! I think I need a break from the continuous device maintenence and running after sales reps.

Reservation: Sitaram Yechury's Column in HT on 18/05

In his article LEFT HAND DRIVE - Brand equity : Reservations are a part of affirmative action. In this lies India’s future" Sitaram Yechury says

That the same sections today oppose reservations in education speaks volumes
of their inherent upper-caste bias. This is further attested by the fact
that currently, in an overwhelmingly large number of private educational
institutions, there exists the system of admission by paying capitation fee.
What else is this but reservation for the rich.
The only ‘merit’ required in this scheme is to have enough money to, literally, buy
admission. In some cases (quite large in number), private institutions offer
seats to NRIs through what is virtually an auction process. The highest
bidder wins. The complete absence of any consideration of merit in these
cases is never questioned. Merit, however, becomes an issue when it comes to
providing access to those who have been denied education for centuries.

The point made here is that the rich always try to buy their way out, whereas the poor are left to fend for themselves. And in the education sector this disparity shows more than anywhere else.

I would like to use this analogy in the sector where Mr. Yechury earns his livelihood. Politics. Elections. We all know the kind of muscle power and money used during election time. Parties form coalitions, buying out elected representatives. By his own admission, this should be stopped too.

Also, the cabinet should comprise of ministers in the same ratio, and so should state cabinets. After all, it is all but fair that due representation be given to people of the so called opressed classes, and what better way than to provide them the power to run the government machinery and carve a government of the people, by the people and for the people, right Mr Yechury?

It is amazing that the people who are advocating reservations this time in IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other prestigious colleges are not crying hoarse over the same amount of reservations in administrative services, IAS, PCS, IRS etc. Why not, does it hurt?

It is tragic that time and again, the poor are put synonymous with the backward and schedules classes, and it is assumed that the so called high class is made up of the rich and the super rich. Petty politicians will not shy away from dividing the youth of the nation to serve their own vested interests and vote banks.

Followup: The basics of housing loans

Followup: The basics of housing loans
An addition to my last post on housing loan.
When researching on floating rate loans the general feedback we got was take the loan from any bank, you will end up paying a higher rate of interest once your loan starts. The banks always increase the rate of interest on any existing account, but somehow manage to still give new loans at a lower rate.
The catch here is to understand the concept of a PLR (Prime Lending Rate) that every bank maintains. The PLR is known by differnt names in different banks, but the use is still the same. Whenever a loan is taken the banks give a discount on the PLR. This discount is kept constant throughout the loan tenure. However what most banks do is to keep chanding the PLR and the discount from the PLR that is given.
So there is the answer to one question that I always wondered. How do new loans are still given at a lower rate of interest, even when the rate of interests in general have gone up. The trick lies in the discount given by the banks. The PLR is hiked, whenever the RBI changes any of the finanacial rates. But to keep the competition away, what banks do is to increase the discount from the PLR. Thus still offering the new loans at a lower rate.
The result of a change in PLR is that the rate of interest for existing loan account goes up, as the discount is constant. However, new loan accounts are still being offered at the same rate of interest, although with a higher discount.
So, if you are lucky, try to take the loan when the discounts are high and the PLR is low. That way you can minimize the interest outgo on your loan account.

Nandini arrives