Undelete

I was recollecting our computer science projects back in 10^th std. Back then I had created the front end for what eventually became Booking.com while you created what is now Skyscanner.net. I remember both of ours being some of the best projects, topped only by Gopal’s unique Mendeleev’s periodic table. That bugger combined physics with computer science and totally beat us. But ours were not too bad, and a bit too similar in fact. However, when I started comparing our code, I noticed one specific function you had that totally beat what I built. You had ‘undelete’.

I still remember the moment I saw that function. It totally blew my mind how you could recover the details of a user in case they deleted their record by accident. After you explained it to me, it turned out to be such a simple hack All you used was the * symbol. But without that explanation, it seemed an amazing thing to do. And just for that I credited you with the better project.

Coding continued to make you shine. I remember the time in NM when you revamped the entire algorithm behind the placement process. You became an instant hit in college after that. And the fact that you never really attended college only made you even more attractive to the people around. I remember that time you walked into the council room and I called out your name. The entire council room that was buzzing with activity with over 30 people crowded in a tiny 200 sq foot room just froze. All of them in unison craned their neck to take a look at you. The silence was finally broken with one junior saying “oh you are Bala!”

All that fame came from that placement algorithm which revolutionized our placement process, where instant updates of students getting placed would flash in the quadrangle. And that code was written by Bala.

I wonder if they are still using that code. Wonder if your name is still on it.

You and I were both so good at coding. So many of our friends were just vultures to partner with us on coding projects. Hari partnered with me in school and his only contribution was taking a 1000 page print of the entire code I had written. I think you partnered with poor Battery back then. He used to believe the internet can be loaded using a floppy disk, so I can imagine him being just as useless as Hari was.

And then in college Shivram used to feed off me. And look at everyone’s lives now. Hari is in Intel, Shiv is in eBay, and even Tunu that none of us ever gave 2 ounce when it came to coding is now with Microsoft.

I’m selling soaps and soups on the other hand, and you couldn’t even stay friggin alive!

You had come up with the incredible ‘undelete’ at coding once. Wish you could ‘undelete’ what you did with your life.

You were so famous back in school and then at NM. But after that it was just a downward spiral. You became such a pain to me and Sin in Chennai, and continued that same thing with Noel and Bhavya in Dubai. You couldn’t understand why other people were happy because you were just not happy with yourself. And that hate you brought upon yourself brought upon your demise as well.

Wish all those moments since NM could just be undeleted, and we could pick up right from that moment when that junior said “Oh you are Bala!”