The jackal and the java resource – Part I

Mahaguru continued stare in front of him in frank amazement. Mechanically he continued to ticklejackal's tummy and the jackal continued to lie down on it's back with feet in the air. Slowly
Mahaguru came out of his trance.

“So you want to develop this in J2EE ?” asked Mahaguru somewhat suspiciously. “Yes” answered the confident jackal. “What option really do you think we have guruji ?. We cannot have client server. I most certainly don't want to go and install on Sheru Tiger's desktop. He ate Pina rabbit who went to his cave last time. Birds and rabbits do not like the word net in .Net so can't use it either”
Mahaguru had reputation of possessing knowledge about every possible subject that was there on this planet. He had powers that no ordinary human being would have. He could read future by looking at foreheads. If the case was extremely complicated then looking at the forehead would not suffice, he would have to look at other parts of his client's anatomy as well. Unfortunately one such case was queen Uritadevi and thats why Mahaguru was banished to the jungle. Still he hoped to return one day to the kingdom of Uritavati.
“Well, if you want to develop the AWRS using J2EE then you will need to choose a vendor.” said the Mahaguru. “What is AWRS ?” asked the Jackal. Mahaguru gave his saintly smile. “Animal Watersource Reservation System”. Jackal looked suspicious for a second. He then asked “All I want is web based application using which each and every animal should be able to book a slot for drinking water. The available water resource are Niha and Piha revers , two ponds and south-jog lake. If there is a new watersource then the application should allow us to create it. There will be around 40000 users out of which 2000 can be concurrent.” Mahaguru was impressed “You state your requirements extremely well.”
The jackal moaned with pleasure. It might have been because of Mahaguru's praise or simply because he scratched very tender spot on Jackal's tummy. “We have some money as well. Last time when king Lion killed those American tourists, I stole their wallets and credit cards. I have 45,000 USD. I think I should be able to build a grand site and next time get promoted to vice president of the animal IT kingdom.” Mahaguru was a wise one. He may have been banished from the city long ago but his powers allowed him to see into the future and he saw the futility of Jackal's plans. “I suggest you ask for the offers from the vendors. First you document your requirements and then send those to the vendor sales people. They will give you their offers and then you can check out which suits you the most.” The jackal agreed to the plan and spent next 5 days in preparing the requirements document that mentioned each and every requirement in great details. The articulation was concise and up to the point.

He was worried about how to approach any vendor as he had never done that before. Secondly all vendors were human beings and his experience of them was not really good. Once again he approached Mahaguru for consultancy. Mahaguru smiled and said you will be spending in USD. You really don't need to do anything. Their sales teams smell dollars. They will call you soon. The jackal did not believe this but had faith in Mahaguru so quietly returned to his cave and started tidying up his requirements document. True enough, that evening his cell phone rang. The number was from a nearby metro city that was full of human beings. The guy who called up was really nice. He did a lot of small talk and seemed to be very knowledgeable about jungle and the latest happenings. After have 5 mins pleasant chat on the flow of Niha river, the sales lead came to the point. The jackal explained his requirements and promised to share the requirements document on the email id provided by the sales person. Just about when the Jackal was planning to sleep, another vendor called. This time it was a lady and same conversation was repeated except for the fact that river discussed was Gema. The Jackal had not heard about the river at all but was too polite to suggest that during the call.
Next day morning the Jackal sent the requirements document to both the vendors and requested quotation for the work.

Introduction to ITPunchatantra

The Panchatantra is a renowned collection of moral tales and stories. It was created thousands of years ago and has fascinated children and grown ups for generations. This is a similar attempt. Dated attempt but more relevant to the mediocrity of the IT industry that has sprung up like frog colonies near water puddles.