Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

Hello,
I am having a wierd problem.
I have mysql running on a server and am writing java code that uses JDBC connector J drivers to connect to it froma local machine.
However, the sqlConnection object that I obtain is null so I am not getting connected.
I created a user who can access the mysql server from anywhere by doing
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO username@"%" IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass' WITH GRANT OPTION;

When i use command prompt to connect with this user , then it works. So i can connect from the local machine to this remote server with the command prompt on the local machine , but the java code running on this same local machine doesn't like it.
Here is what I do:
Connection sqlConnection=null; //host is is ritika.gmr.com
String url = "jdbc:mysql//ritika.gmr.com/audio"; //database name-audio
try{
try{
Class.forName(driver).newInstance();
}
catch (Exception ioe)
{
System.out.println("unable to load drivers");
}
sqlConnection = DriverManager.getConnection(url,"username","some_pass");

}
catch (Exception E) {
System.out.println("No Connection");}
if (sqlConnection==null)
System.out.println("its null");


I alwaysget "its null" as the output.

Another strange thing is that when I logged on to the actual host machine using ssh and then tried to connect to the mysql server running on it with this same username and some_pass, it did not work. It said access denied.
Why is this because i created the username to conenct from "%". Doesn't this include localhost itself. And why does it let me connect from command prompt of my local machine.
Thanks
Please let me know whats going on.