Behind Proxy Lines !!!

" I want to grow up, but netmon won't let me!"

Quite a famous quote this one - on the T-shirts of many IITians. Apart from the pretension and humor in the quote - sometimes 'netmon' - the IITB proxy really pisses you off!

It tags along a whole bunch of extra work!

There is the ritual of setting up the proxy for all applications accessing the internet, the extra hit of Enter/OK to authenticate the proxy each time you fire up the browser, and then with the Aakash tablets - rooting them and installing ProxyDroid to make the wi-fi device usable(plus Connectify Me on laptop for sharing the ethernet connection as wi-fi).

But you get stumped when there is a software you are installing that demands internet connection, but does not have proxy authentication feature!

So coming to the background for this post - A bunch of my school friends started a Group chat on WhatsApp - and asked me to join. Here lies the problem - I dont have a smartphone!(and for incompatibility reasons, I couldn't install it on the tablet..)

A quick search on the met came out with a workaround - run the BlueStacks android emulator and install WhatsApp on it. Here is Hurdle 1 - Bluestack downloads some binaries online - termed 'runtime data'; and well - no proxy support yet as it is still in beta. Also, by the virtue of its beta status - the installer just freezes at this point!

To pass this hurdle, I had to use ccproxy - which is kind of a proxy in front of the netmon proxy for the computer. So there I spent around half an hour getting the settings right so that Bluestacks continued installation; and then revert back the network settings to the old ones(I personally feel ccproxy is kind of a messy business!)

Now things seemed well and good, but wait - The native application of Bluestacks cannot access internet, and as it is already established - No proxy support. One of the forums suggests the use of ProxyCap - another application that lets you specify those applications that use proxies. So - one more precursor was met - installed ProxyCap and added a 'rule' to allow the network access executable of Bluestacks to have a proxy redirection!

Things were not over yet - as ProxyCap allows setting of HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4 and SOCKS5  proxies. I wasn't sure what goes for what kind of requests - so had to do a trial and error - there went another hour.

The end result was this - To load the initial Top Charts apps in the home screen(well, there is the Retry or Cancel popup, but the Cancel button almost never works!), it uses HTTP connection, but to install apps, run network dependent apps or surf the internet via the browser, it uses HTTPS. This translates to me starting ProxyCap in HTTP mode for the startup of Bluestacks, and then switching to HTTPS mode for running Whatsapp(Standard non-marketplace installation; download .apk file and run it via Bluestacks application installer).

Oh yeah, there is that standard trick of installing WhatsApp on non-phone devices - Wait for the SMS verification to time-out, and then get the call with the activation code and use it. 

For some reason, Bluestacks refuses to use the HTTPS proxy during startup; so I have to do the start in HTTP mode and then switch to HTTPS mode to view Whatsapp messages all over again!

Anyway, did find out a few things - you can run WhatsApp on PC, although not in the most elegant way, and also I just found out that Whatsapp did not install on the tablet earlier due to space running out - so process repeat now :D!

3 Idiots - A Double Bluff message??

I usually watch repeats of one or two movies on my laptop - so I thought: Why not review one of my favorite movies that I watched tonight, in a new found light....

No doubt it is one entertaining movie - the earning figures spoke well for that claim. Its one perfect Bollywood recipe with all the tadka: comedy, songs, emotion, romance, message, alas - no fist fights - but still great. But ultimately - its no different than a fantasy themed film like Iron Man; which I also love by the way - in providing unrealistic yet gripping scenarios that keeps you captivated:

From delivering a baby using a vaccum cleaner run on car batteries(and god knows how the internet worked - assuming it was part of the LAN that also needs power), being lucky that the heroine is getting married the same day, driving a sick man on scooter directly into the operation theater, fultu honesty and nothing else getting a job - and many many more! 

The story - witty, great, funny and motivational and all that (I can go as far to say that it improves upon the Chetan Bhagat novel that it is based upon)  - gives a lot of know-how on the creepy things a person can do: Fake a heart attack, electrocute a guy's weak spot(ouch!), screw up a language-unaware guy's speech and make him a laughing stock, gatecrash a wedding and more...

That being said - its out and out hilarious - whether its Chatur's speech, the fake Chanchad confession, Farhanitrate and Prerajulization, Raju's home that looks like the 50s, showing the Gadhapan of Suhas, drunken adventure at Virus' home, and starting of an induction motor !

Finally, the point I wanted to make: The Double Bluff...

The Bluffs: The film goes in lengths to drive the idea, in the protagonist's words : "Baccha, Kabil bano, Kamyabi jhakh marke tere peeche aayegi". It shows the flaws in the educational system, that the futility and arrogance of characters like Chatur and Virus shall meet their match and all that typical Bollywood funda(actually, the funda of most movies).

The Double Bluff: But then, one cannot fail to notice that it is the Chaturs, Virus' and Suhas' that are successful, be it materialistic; and Ranchos are but an idealism that everyone adores but nobody intends to be. Whether it is Chatur's way of determining success by how well-off he is, or Virus striving to keep his institute number one: Its just the way the world works - Kab tak Kabil banta rahega Baccha ??

One also has to sympathize with Chatur in the end - who tries to prove himself better all the way through; but is outdone by the 'A faar Apple, B faar Bal' yet 400 patentee Scientist :D

To list or not to list - Thats also the question!

Its a funny circle of events - You make a list of things to do, then do some of them and leave out a lot, then make a list of things remaining and start with them, then scrap them out and back to creating the new list!

Over the past few months - thats what has been happening in my life. The above pic is a snapshot of the exact thing. Made the list of To Dos - and didnt follow up with any one of them in the right sense. Made a list of things to study - just glanced through few of them, left out a lot...

The whole thing makes you question the credibility of the process and yourself - why make lists when you dont follow up ? Let things stay chaotic - atleast you have something to lay the blame on! But again, you cannot let anarchy of things decide for you either!

Consciously or otherwise - you list out things to do and start working towards them - Thats one way to look at life... 

So here is my refined list, that I don't intend to keep: