New Blog

I've started a new blog and I would be posting in that one mostly from now. The link is


http://beingatb.blogspot.com

The last month of leisure…

There have been some incidents worth writing about since my last post. I finally bid adieu to the college and the hostel taking forward some unforgettable memories. Was very eagerly looking forward to spend some quality time at home ‘gorging’ on some delicacies. My parents were ready with a nice 1-kg cake that said ‘Welcome home Tatai and Congratulations!’. The relaxed atmosphere was disturbed the very next day due a very careless act of mine. I had somehow misplaced a bag containing my important documents during travelling. Tension filled the air, but then I somehow tried to recollect everything, made a few phone calls and was thinking about the steps required to be taken now. Dad and I left for the station to lodge an official complaint and my friends back in Bhubaneswar were helping out in every way possible. On the way back from the station, I got a phone call from a person who said that he had my bag and he took it by mistake. He said he was in a big group and thought that they had left behind this piece of luggage. He was supposed to pass over Visakhapatnam and I told him that I would collect it from him. I was finally relieved when I finally got the bag with all documents in order. Yes, I know it was very stupid of me to be so absent-minded and careless, but then mistakes happen and most importantly they teach you not to repeat it. The support lent by my family is worth mentioning and they were very stable through the whole ordeal. Running around everywhere – that was how the first day at home was spent. Had only one day in between as we were supposed to leave for Chennai on 25^th April. Ran some errands and sold some old books, apart from packing my luggage. The draft with the amount confirming the admission in IIM Calcutta was also sent.

The journey was quite comfortable on AC Chair Car and I spent most of the time watching movies and playing games on my laptop. Before coming here, I thought that I would be brushing up some mathematics which would be required to pass the Qualifying Mathematics exam that I would be having at IIMC. Started jogging daily here after inaugurating my brand new tennis shoes and was looking up the math book that I brought along with me. Though I admit the affair with the math was short-lived and terminated abruptly. Most of time, I watch episodes of Prison Break and Heroes and catch up with the Sensex and the no. of confirmed ‘Swine Flu’ cases all over the world. One fine evening, I wake up from my afternoon siesta and see that I’ve got a few missed calls from a Bangalore no. Just as I was to brush them off as some useless telemarketing calls, I saw a couple of messages which asked me to call IIM Bangalore admission office immediately. I was excited as the only reason I could think of was that the waitlist must have moved and I was to be offered a seat there. My prediction turned out to be true and I was elated. So, with that my GD/PI conversion ratio moves up to 50% and my IIM calls conversion ratio to 100% ! My reaction was of disbelief earlier because my name did not even figure in the first waitlist of IIMB. The lady over the phone said that I was waitlisted at no.12 and they are offering admission to waitlisted people up to no.20 as quite a few people had overlapping converts from IIM-Ahmedabad. I had almost prepared myself mentally to be a part of IIMC and now this sweet little surprise from B. Though not much of a difference between B and C, but nevertheless general perception ranks B above C. Finally made up my mind that I would like to do my MBA from the 2^nd ranked institution in the country and not the 3^rd.

Looking forward to catch up with some friends here in Chennai, but the heat is a strong deterrent in stepping out of the house. Speaking of the IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders have managed to disappoint me in every way possible and their performance has been below par in all aspects of the game. However, Hyderabad, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chennai and Punjab are providing the entertainment and Chennai seems to be in good touch.

Signing off for now … Gracias!

Engineered !

I've been thinking a lot about putting down what has been going through my mind lately. However, to maintain absolutely any sense of continuity from where I'd left it would surely take a herculean effort. To sum it up in as little sentences as possible, I'd say I had a tough time touring the whole country on what seemed like an unending season of group discussions and personal interviews. There was the initial rejection which kind of unsettled me, but then it only made the final selection even more special. I definitely had more belief in myself to have a higher conversion ratio than 33.33%, but then the reality is different and the circumstances are unusual. The best part is that I could convert the one that mattered. My journey through each one of them would take considerable space and I will probably post it when I am in the mood.

While I am elated about being selected into a glorious institution for the next two years of my education, I am in a very strange frame of mind regarding the prospect of saying goodbye to the one where I have spent four very important and unforgettable years of my life. Hell, that's almost a quarter of the time I've spent on this earth My education has been more in terms of knowledge of the vastly contrasting personalities that I've been associated with - my roomies, friends, and many other acquaintances.. Dealing with these people teaches one a lot about life in these 4 years, the extent of which is comparable to what one might learn in half a lifetime. You have selfish people, extremely selfish people, selfless people, the altruists, the egoists, the empty vessels which bang themselves, the full ones who keep shut, the confused ones, the extremely indecisive one, the impulsive ones, the hard-working ones, the geeks and nerds, the psychedelics, the alcoholics, the combination of the two, the honest ones, the meek, the rats.. can go on and on..

To keep it short, I've maintained a pretty low profile these 4 years. Nothing too much out of the ordinary. Was that because laziness got the better of me, or was it that I was too influenced by my surroundings? Nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience of anonymity. Hardly came into either the good or bad books of any of my profs., and it had its own luxuries. Given a lot of exams and I can proudly claim that I've passed all of them without any unfair means. With the exception of Micro Processor Lab maybe, where I had the programs written on that cell phone of mine.

It dawned on me finally that certain things need to be tried after all. Had a taste of beer, hated it. Promptly labeled it as a waste of time and money. However, the desire to get a little high was still there. The irony of it all was when I eventually drank enough alternating pegs of whisky and vodka and was almost on the verge of getting high, one of my friends freaked out. Ultimately, had to force myself to focus and help control the situation at hand. Taking positives out of it, I know that I can control myself under tough situations. And on the flip side, will my sense of responsibility ever let me enjoy myself ?

So many more things to write about. Hope I made some sense up there. It hardly ever comes this freely. I'm glad it did and hope it comes more often.

Instances

The article that I've written for the IT Yearbook, Nostalgia :

The memories of the first day in our college would still be fresh in many of our minds, the day we were asked to report and complete the remaining formalities of the admission process. The air was filled with anxiety, which could easily be seen in our faces – curious to find out everything. After settling down in our allotted rooms and the initial round of introductions, new bonds were formed and new friends made. One of the most discussed topics at that time was the anticipation of ragging by our seniors – various instructions were conveyed through messengers like the 90-degree bend, an elaborate salutation and a few unlucky ones did have to complete pages of assignments from another hostel. However, the real thing wasn’t really that bad and didn’t last very long. The grand way in which our seniors welcomed us into the IT family of KIIT, during the Fresher’s Party, UTKARSH was overwhelming and we were thrilled to bits. The boys were seen dishing out red roses to seniors and classmates by the dozen, as instructed by the seniors.

Labs in the first year never ceased to amaze us – be it the physics lab where some of us had experimentally proved that the speed of sound could vary anywhere in the range of 150-850 km/hr, or the Engineering Drawing Lab – which gave most of us a horrid time with our drafters for meager A’s. The Basic Manufacturing Systems lab or the workshop was where the boys had to sweat it out, while girls were lucky to giggle away to glory, not only during the lab, but also when the grades were finally awarded. However, the lab which most of us looked forward to was the Basic Electronics Lab, where the actual experiment took not more than 15 minutes and the remaining time was spent in chatting with each other – it was the place where interactions and conversations flowed freely across the boundaries of the King’s Palace and Queen’s Castle. The true realization of the power of IT came upon us when finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we were granted internet access in our hostels. The IT branch boys were swift enough to use the hostel reception table as a makeshift arrangement and the huddle in the reception became a daily routine after dinner. There were numerous instances when a guy enthusiastically tells his friend that he finally gets a reply from a certain girl, only to see his friend is busy chatting with the same girl. The online group, ‘kiit_dudes’ was a huge hit and everyone was more than eager to post his/her best mails on the forum. We thank Google Inc. and Yahoo! Corp. for their wonderful contributions to mankind.

Our memories of the first year of our engineering would be incomplete without the mention of the famous ‘bathroom incident’! Boys, desperate to run away from another monotonic (read robotic) & torturous physics lecture, holed up in a bathroom, which got locked from outside. What followed when sir himself opened the bolt is something which still manages to make us laugh till it hurts. We also got a feel of how serious college violence could be when a ‘sine die’ was declared for our super-seniors.

The second year started with the season of heartbreaks, with IT being divided into IT1 and IT2. Few of our friends bid us goodbye, some changed their branches but still are as much a part of IT as every one of us. Some new ‘late entry’ friends joined us but were not late to mingle with us and the only regret they have is why they didn’t join a year earlier. We had our first brush with responsibility with the organization of the Freshers’ Party. Nights after night were spent discussing various programs, scripts and other nuances, which finally ensured that all of us and our juniors had a fabulous time during the function. The fact that we bunked our Network Theory lab exam while preparing for the function stands testimony to the effort put in by us. The true spirit of IT was what came forward during the open dance on stage after the party. Uninhibited enjoyment was the flavor of the evening as everyone danced till we were forced to leave. The Dandiya Nite was looking nothing less of a page 3 party with the boys looking dapper in their sherwanis and the girls looking their gorgeous best in lehenga-cholis. After the fun and frolic, we were reminded of the important times to come during the first personality development program we had. Then we had to toil in the summer heat to learn Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, after which the dreaded project evaluation took place, which many of us avoided till it was absolutely inevitable.

The third year of our college was probably the most important one of all, as it brought us the thing we were all waiting for – Placements ! Good things usually don’t come so easy. We understood the word ‘hectic’ in its entirety – apart from regular classes, we had math, English and reasoning aptitude classes, technical aptitude classes, personality development classes and numerous group discussion and personal interview sessions. Finally, we did prove that no challenge is too tough for us and almost all of us got placed successfully. We re-created history when a sine-die was declared for our year. Though it might not be something to be proud of, but nevertheless is a part of our memories. Another important event in the third year was the bold protest by the girls, fed up by the strict rules, regulations, dress code and atyachar of the authorities. The boys were fully in support of their counterparts, however for not entirely selfless reasons and were naturally elated on their success.

On reaching the final year, many of us felt that enough was enough. We have already become 3/4^th engineers, and the remaining part of our college life needs to be spent in the comforts of our cots rather than the benches of the classrooms. Attendance registers saw new lows and didn’t seem very surprised. The terrace started to be used for more ‘innovative’ and ‘indulgent’ purposes, other than becoming the most popular destination for lovebirds who stay glued to the phone all-night long. The feeling of attachment among us grew so strong that many of decided to mourn the loss of our branch in the final of a cricket tournament by bunking a mid semester examination. The hostelites managed to create an indoor cricket arena within the hostel, with elaborate floodlights for day-night matches. We were spared the effort to select our playlists on our laptops as some or the other generous, over-enthusiastic soul usually played the latest chartbusters on his speakers, full volume. Project-reports were completed within a couple of hours – in true engineering style.

It seems like 4 years have just whizzed past in a jiffy, we’ve been together in the ups and downs, ridden together the crests and troughs. Its tough to believe that there wouldn’t be anyone next year to give us the dreaded ‘B-Day bumps’ and no more wild, watery and fun-filled celebrations. We might be parting ways now, but the world is a very small place and we hope to bump into each other as often as possible.

(Anand Biswas) with invaluable inputs from Amrit, Ankit, Smaran, Revant, Tapan, Vineet and of course the whole branch without whom there wouldn’t be anything to write about !

Yahoo !!

Feeling a lot lighter after the 7th semester exams are dealt with. Also, not to forget the mighty CAT, and the stupid IIFT exams. I'm primarily calling IIFT stupid not just because I couldn't do well in it, but the exam was inherently very stupid. Right from the invigilator to the question paper, nothing was proper. The exam was a nightmare.. 150 questions in 120 minutes and that too the level wasn't so low. Anyways, what is gone, is gone. Luckily, CAT went well and expecting a few calls from the big ones. But the next big news is that I'm leaving with my friends to a Sikkim trip for about a week. Hope to have some great time over there. It was fun planning the whole thing, right from the itinerary to the budget, to noting down locations of ATMs and hotels that fit our budget. The tentative itinerary is as given below..

Day 1 - 27/11 - Reach Gangtok by noon. Find out details about changu lake,pelling,lachung(yumthang/zero point),darjeeling trips. Local Sightseeing (Rumtek Monastery,etc.)
Day 2 - 28/11 - Start for Changu lake early morning, Nathula Pass.Return to Gangtok.
Day 3 - 29/11 - Yumthang and zero point. Stay at Lachung/GTK.
Day 4 - 30/11 - Start early morning for Gangtok/Pelling. Lunch at Gangtok and leave for Pelling by 1.30 pm. Stay at Pelling.
Day 5 - 01/12 - See Pelling by noon and leave for Darjeeling. Reach by evening. (or) Start for Darjeeling early morning. Reach by 10-11 am, local sightseeing,nightstay.
Day 6 - 02/12 - See Tiger Hills,early morning. Local sightseeing till time permits. Reach NJP by evening by toy train(0915 hrs) or bus/taxi. Train at 1925 hrs for Howrah.
Day 7 - 03/12 - Reach Howrah at 0510 hrs. Train from howrah 0735 hrs.

Will get back soon.. Goodbye till then..

Proud to be part of the Tata Group

I don’t have to mention the sequence or details of the events that led to the great disaster of Singur. What actually deserves mention and laudatory applause are the ethics, values and principles that make Mr.J.R.D.Tata the gentleman he is. Poor Mamata Bannerjee, little did she know that her move to stand by the farmers in protest against one of the prolific industrialists of the country, who was trying to bring the poster child of Indian innovation in frugal manufacturing and numerous other opportunities to the state of West Bengal, would ultimately not result in any significant enhancement in her vote bank. The Nano, which drew the attention of the world towards India, is now resulting in bent eyebrows about the friction industry faces with vote bank politics in this part of the world. Some western newspaper had a report whose title read “Tata Nano falls in Indian ditch”. The Singur imbroglio will not only scare away huge potential investments in the state of Bengal, but could also force a rethink about foreign investors planning to invest in India’s booming economy. The comments it has drawn from Indian industry stalwarts clearly speak for themselves. Sunil Mittal made it clear enough when he said “If the house of Tatas can face such serious problems, then it is definitely a sorry state of affairs”. Infosys and many other conglomerates have stated that they are closely watching the Singur episode and would take cues from it about their future intent of investing in the state and even their current investments. A Trinamool Congress henchman close to Mamata said on condition of anonymity that Mamata Bannerjee might have to face the stigma of driving off investments from Bengal for a long time.


But Mamata Bannerjee is not new in the game of politics. Her stature might not have grown at the pace with witch UP CM Mayawati’s has, but it is still worth taking note of. She’s always found the protest route the best thing to do. Right from the time she forayed into politics, she was vociferous and also got literally, I mean physically charged at by CPI henchmen, the police and also probably the RAF. But this has never deterred her to keep away from the political bigwigs. She’s slowly and steadily earned a noteworthy status in the Red/Left dominated politics of the state. By now, she’s experienced enough to know opportunity from disaster. Then, where did she go wrong in case of Singur? Simple. She couldn’t comprehend Mr.Tata. In fact, many of us might have done the same mistake if we were at her position. The prospect of relocating the Nano factory would mean incurring a loss of about Rs.500 crore, which is a huge sum by any standards to forgo. Therefore, she thought if she could force/choke the govt. or the Tatas to return the disputed 400 acres of land, she could score a noticeable political victory and significantly increase the size of her vote bank by tilting the farmers in her favor. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn the way she expected them too and she has nothing to do now.


The whole episode brings to the fore the reason why the Tata group is not only a national brand of repute, but internationally acclaimed for its core values and business ethics. This makes me proud as a future member of this group, whose leader is a man who doesn’t believe in compromising his values for anything.

Positive Signs ..

There's this nice feeling when you realize that you can actually do what you think would require a lot of effort and would still not be possible to achieve! Hard work,persistence and perseverance cannot be substituted, but often people tend to ignore or sideline certain other factors which play a part in achieving one's objectives. One of them being the strong, unflinching belief that it can be done and the right frame of mind at the all-important moment. The strong and unconditional belief that I referred to needs to be elucidated further as it simply doesn't mean the burning desire to achieve something, but a comprehensive knowledge of one's strengths, weaknesses and intended course of action-which should be an outcome of thorough research of the situation & the possible strategies, taking into account not only their effectiveness, but also feasibility. What is applicable to someone else might provide you a good idea,but would have to be transformed of customized, based on your requirements. I'm sure all this seems quite obvious, but the problem arises when one faces reality. Prior to that, it seems that all groundwork has been done and everything is ready. However, being prepared for failure should essentially be, and in my opinion be the most important and integral part of the strategy, without which it would be almost ineffective as even the slightest deviation from the plan would lead to a debacle.

I'm elated as Abhinav Bindra has become the first Indian to win an Olympic gold in an individual sporting event. What is depressing is the fact that the credit-snatching game has started back home here in India. What should be noted is the fact that Bindra's father was a businessman, financially secure and thus, wasn't dependent on the government for assistance or aid of any kind. He rightfully converted a farmhouse into a shooting range for his son's practise and could afford all the equipment he needed. Contrast this with the numerous stories of sportsmen who are not so well off, spend most of their time and energy in arranging for funds and makedo with sub-standard equipment,infrastructure and facilities. The sporting scenario in India is a pathetic state and can only improve with greater private enterprise sponsorship. Private sponsorship demands not only results, but also popularity of the sport - which is usually the stumbling block. Cricket fanatic India doesn't give a damn if the Indian Men's hockey team fails to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 8 decades, nor does the fact matters that India is ranked above 130 in the world in football, where small island nations with populations of a few thousand are ranked higher than this country of 1.3 billion people. The major reason being lack of financial incentives in the respective sports at the regional or national level. Cricket is glamorized and it is a known fact that cricketers earn an attractive pay package, apart from numerous advertising contracts. If the governments initiates incentivisation of sports alongside infrastructure development, then private players might find it feasible at a later stage and can be expected to carry on further.

Enough for now, feeling groggy and the fact that I have to attend the first class tomorrow at 7.30 am implies that I should hit the sack now.

Facebook addiction ..

Guys,this is getting serious.. First Vampires,Slayers,Werewolves and Zombies, then 'Who has the biggest brain?', followed by 'Word Challenge' and 'Bowling Buddies', and the latest twin addictions being 'Mob Wars' and 'Mindjolt Games' ! Phew, the list seems endless as one or the other of the million applications on the site manage to hold your attention and sap away one's time. Taking the no. of people getting bitten by the social networking bug,I feel we will soon have terms such as 'orkutting','facebooking', 'orkutomaniac' or facebookophobic' included in the oxford dictionary in the near future. But I guess I've had enough and I feel its time I stop or atleast control the amount of time that I'm spending on these sites, facebook more specifically.

3 down,1 to go !

Feels good to finally finish 3/4th of my graduation. Quite some time passed before my previous post,which means have a few things to write about. Just a few days after my last post, a company called ThoughtWorks had come for recruitment to our campus and was alloted dream staus. Incase any of you are wondering about what having a 'dream status' means for a company, it simply means that students who have already bagged a job can also sit for the recruitment process as it has an attractive pay package. Pay package definitely seemed higher when the company quoted 5.08 Lakhs INR,but then this was given as the CTC figure, or the Cost-To-Company figure,which is generally a lot higher than what will eventually be the take home component. Nevertheless, we expected and assumed to be atleast higher than what TCS (Tata Consultancy Services -i.e the company which I got selected in) had to offer. A list of eligible candidates was taken out by the college based on some very complex criteria,i.e the already recruited students needed a higher cut-off than the still-to-be-placed students. Whatever it was,my name was there on the list and that's what mattered the most to me. Their recruitment process was a different experience altogether - starting with the written test which included flowchart based calculation, was virtually unique and different from most Indian IT companies. Didn't have much difficulty in clearing the paper. Was among the 89 people who made through to the coding round out of the 450 who appeared for the written. The coding round was relatively easy than expected. Two questions were given and we were required to solve any one of them according to our choice. I chose one of them and remembering the point they mentioned in the pre-placement talk about their company looking for good object-oriented programming skills. So, filled my program with all object-oriented concepts that I could think of. Though I must admit that my programming skills was very out of touch. Luckily,that didn't stop me from making it to the list of 19 people who cleared the round. Then comes the technical interview round, where we were grilled on all concepts learned till date and a little more. Was the first to be interviewed. I had a feeling that my interview went fine, if not really well. After they had interviewed all the 19 people, they called me again, which gave me a feeling that I had got past the first round. But I guess I was a little mistaken. Probably, they were a little confused about whether to consider me for the next phase or not and thereby wanted a re-confirmation. The re-confirmation came in the process of a 35-40 minute grilling interview session, which I couldn't do well in,given the fact I was absolutely unprepared for such hardcore technical stuff. After my supposedly 2nd round of interview, a list of 6 names was taken out where I was excluded. Didn't really feel bad as the ones in the list were definitely a niche above me. Wished the others and left for the hostel. Came to know later that the 6 were not allowed to rest in peace and were further grilled and only 2 managed to get through the complete process. The best incentive I was looking for in joining this company was the Mac or the Dell I would get to choose as soon as I join. But then,it became clear- the Mac would have to wait and probably come from my own pocket later.

Gosh, just one event took up so much space ! Reading more crap will not be appreciated I guess, for the time being. Promise to get back shortly.

Gracias

My Opinion Matters... well atleast to me, it does !

Issues,incidents and 'kands' are what the news channels have been feeding us non-stop. I happened to get an overdose of them during the sine die vacation.. yes that's what I've decided to call it finally(read my previous post for details). The fact that bothers me most is that these channels, which claim that 'enlightening' the masses is their responsibility, cross all limits and make a mockery of all unwritten ethics of the reporting profession in the race to score better TRPs. Creating absolutely unrelated and over sensationalized headlines to a normal incident and projecting it as a matter of great importance is a very deplorable act in my opinion. Whether it is the rising inflation,the Aarushi murder case or absolutely unimportant events like 'The Great Khali' on his visit to India, the electronic media,especially the news channels made it seem like the event in question is the defining moment for entire humankind and have been telecasting the same innumerable times. A few months back there was this Rizwanur case in West Bengal and at the same time a singer from Bengal had won a singing reality show. The insensitivity of the news channel was clearly reflected when they brought the victim's mother and the winner's mother together to a public function and were trying to establish some vague connection. The reporter contrasts the jubilant mood at the winner's residence to the gloomy atmosphere at the victim's home forcibly bringing tears to his mothers eye who is still in shock of her son's untimely death. Instead of leaving the victim's family alone, the channel keeps interviewing them and this according to me acts like rubbing salt on their wounds.

'Character Assassination', which came into focus during the Aarushi murder case when her friends took out a protest was being done more by the media than by the police department. The media should be made to realize that their job is to inform the people about the happenings in the country and outside with a neutral tone and not by sensationalizing tid-bits of information which they feel will arouse the 'curiosity glands' of the public. The incident happens, police reaches the spot and looks for clues, meanwhile the news editors are already engaged at pointing fingers and reaching a baseless, but 'sensational' conclusion. If this is what private news channels have to offer, I would prefer to listen to Doordarshan's monotonic newsreader who gives news as it comes to him. One expects competition to improve standards, whereas in the case of news channels, the result has been pretty much the reverse. I find absolutely no reason as to why 'The Great Khali' needs to be given so much coverage on prime time when more important matters are at hand. I have no personal dislike for the wrestler. In fact, I am proud that he represents India in the WWE, even though I am very well aware of the fact that its all fixed up, but atleast he's equipped with the right physique which justifies his presence there. But, I would like to watch him in an entertainment channel and not a news channel, but I guess in this age of all-rounders the news channels are trying their best to keep us entertained. This surely doesn't qualify as infotainment. This is simply the lack of content or rather the lack of the willingness to show it.

Usually, when issues need attention, the media is the most effective tool of spreading the word around. But what can be done when the media itself is an issue? Any answers, I am eager to hear some...

Here I am, This is me(obvious,isn't it?)!

The credit of this post goes to one of my classmates whose words of encouragement have given me the necessary push to go ahead and post some more 'pseudo-intellectual' crap! Could start by writing about how I spent my summer... coz nothing else more suitable and apt to write after one comes back from a month and half of vacations! Speaking of the 'vacation' reminds me of why it started at such an early date. In fact what was later officially declared as a vacation by the college management had initially started off as a 'sine die'. No,u've not misread anything.. what started off as a sine die for 'students engaging in in-disciplinary activities and violence' had been later declared as a premature summer vacations. If I sit to contemplate as to what actually caused the violence by considering the information I have from various sources as true,then I can rebuild in my mind a hilarious sequence of events. Well, hilarious would be an appropriate word had the outcome not been so gory. But going by the absence of common sense and the presence of an excessive sense of 'pride' in the people who were directly involved, the violence seems pretty childish,immature and absolutely unnecessary.

Well,whatever happened had happened.. the result was that all the boarders of 6th semester had to vacate the hostels within 10 AM the next morning. On my suggestion, some of my friends decided to come with me for a short trip to vizag, naturally encouraged by the fact that my parents were out of station and we would get the flat and the car all to ourselves. And a good decision did it turn out to be, as we had a wonderful time together in vizag. Enjoying the sun,sand,sea and hills with absolutely nothing in mind except the sole aim of having a great time. All good things come to an end, so did this trip. Friends dispersed to their respective destinations and I headed to my brother's place - Chennai.

Reached Chennai the day after my parents departed for Singapore to join the vessel on a semi-world tour. Decided promptly that I can't waste all the time pretending to be doing something and actually doing nothing. Had joined a networking course - N+(Networking+) and CCNA(Cisco Certified Network Associate) in an institute there. And this is how my afternoons would pass for the remaining holidays. Mornings consisted of reading "The Hindu", breakfast,lazying around,reading books or playing GTA :San Andreas.. yes,I played it again.. right from the start. Evenings included taking rest,snacks and watching T.V. In similar fashion the day ends and before one knows, its time to hit the sack again ! Time literally flies when you want it to stay that way, doesn't it ? Atleast one thing I am glad about is that I paid attention in the classes I attended and used the travel time in the bus to go through the course material. Had been to Queensland one day on the occasion of Dada's birthday.. tried out all the rides that can be in a day's span.. ended up having a wonderful time.

That's nearly summed up my sine die vacation for you... See.. I fooled u guys by promising 'pseudo intellectual' stuff in the beginning ! Not really my fault, will surely get some in the posts to come.. Don't get disheartened guys !

The hate affair continues ...

It appears that its not going to be easy to end the hate affair with Quantitative Aptitude so easily. The results of my first AIMCAT confirmed the same. Not that its the final verdict on my abilities, but its an indicator that Quant isn't Verbal, which comes a lot more easily to me. Remedial measure has started, but needs to be continued seriously if any realistic hopes of making the cut are to be kept alive.

Unsure about the summer to come, whether I'll be interning somewhere(minute probability) or will be doing a course somewhere and where will that be.. everything is uncertain.. lol.. as a TCS associate, I'm supposed to experience certainty ! The certain thing is wherever I am, can't afford to lose sight of my goal..

Adios..

Employed, yet unemplyed ..

Well, technically speaking from now on I wouldn't be able to use the phrase 'I'm unemployed' to describe a period of leisure, boredom or restlessness.. Not that I'm sad about it, in fact its a huge relief that I'm placed in the first IT company that visited our campus, TCS. Not an achievement by any standards of the word, but something which would have got me tensed had it not come my way or was delayed. There are tons of things one can write about the 'placements' or the 'recruitment process' which has been going on in our college for sometime now, but I guess I've already had an overdose of listening about stories and incidents where luck mattered more over intellect and the like that I'm no more in a mood to elucidate further.

The break after the placement was more than welcome as it provided a much needed respite from the grueling schedule we were forced to put up with. Headed off to Chennai and then for a small trip to Coorg, a small and beautiful hill station some 6 hours from Bangalore. Quite interestingly, it is the birthplace of the river Cauvery, over whose water people and politicians of two states are fighting with each other, and it is also the birthplace of Aishwarya Rai - over whom needless to say, many men have had arguments and disputes.

Now that I'm back here in college, there will be a routine to follow, a schedule of some sort to put an end to meaningless wandering of the mind in trying to find out innovative ways to kill time. Now that there is a job, I have the mental security to pursue the next target i.e CAT 2008 with greater zeal and commitment. Signing off for now.

Gracias ..

Yes, I still can write and I do have the time !

Thanks to an inquisitive friend who wanted to enter the ‘pseudo intellectual’ world of blogging that I realized the fact that its quite some time and I haven’t been posting anything. Well, the fact that I know that not many people are actually enthusiastically waiting to comment on my next post isn’t very encouraging either. ‘Pseudo intellectual’ is perhaps not the best phrase to describe the blogging community, but didn’t really mean to offend anyone. Frankly speaking, I came across the phrase in the flick ‘Dil, Dosti, etc.’ and somehow it has registered on my mind for no explainable reason as such and I was looking for an opportunity to use it somewhere.

Meanwhile, a lot has been happening from the last post. Probably, one of the things that matter to me was becoming a ‘9-pointer’ for the first time in college. Though its not really a significant achievement considering the fact that this time marks were awarded as magnanimously as one can think of doing it. Many people indeed ended up getting a lot more than they expected, but as far as I am concerned, the marks are not really a shock as I was quite confident of doing better than my last semester, which was my best so far. The biggest joke probably is the fact that there also exist a couple of people who have scored a ‘perfect 10’ ! Of course, it was never impossible here, but then it has never happened before and according to my opinion, shouldn’t really happen. Scoring 9’s and 10’s couldn’t have been easier and more useless like it has become here. Nevertheless, I take pride in my achievement as I think I did cross a barrier and I now believe that I can do better. The spirit needs moral boosts and this definitely qualifies for one. The issue to top it all was the ‘mass hacking’ of the college server over which security seems to be unimaginably thin. Just with a few strokes on the keyboard, a student can effortlessly view the files on the college server. Hope the situation improves once e-IMS, the online Information system is operational again.

Some more news is that I am featured on the ‘Information Brochure’ of my college’s entrance exam this year. Not for ant specific achievement or laurel I received, just the fact that we had a computer lab when the photo session was going on and I was seated at a vantage point in the front row. It did come as a pleasant surprise when one of my friends bought the application form for his sister and saw us featured on it !

Regular news includes placement training going on in full swing along with mba prep. Nothing interesting to write about the things which manage to screw your daily life to such an extent when one looses all remnants of a rational mind. After attending various classes for 14 hours a day, the probability of loosing sanity increases by a considerable degree. Frequent mock tests have started with the frequency being too much of a botheration as there isn’t even the time to reveal the scores or discuss the answers. Have so much more bullshit to fill up virtual space, but signing off for now as I wouldn’t like to scare away the few readers who still go through my posts.

Another one passes...

The most important thing worthwhile mentioning is that another sem.,the 5th has passed. So, technically speaking more than half(5/8) of my engg. college life has passed ! Much like everything that I come across in life, these years were a breeze. Knowing so many different kinds of people, interacting with them, staying 24 x 7 with them, time seems just another dimension. All this confirms one fact, a person's take on life is clearly dependent on the different type of people he meets, knows and understands.

The picture in the blog is a tribute to the brilliant novel by Ayn Rand, which unsurprisingly remains one of the bestsellers even after 54 years of being published and will probably continue to remain so as the vivid descriptions of 'the ideal human' are intriguing and thought provoking. One begins to feel dual emotions of sympathy and pride for the protagonist who faces numerous hardships as he decides to live a life on his own terms, no matter what the outcome. His unperturbed attitude is something which might seem out-of-the-world, because it really is.. I mean one cannot help but wonder if a such a person does exist in reality. Can't wait to read ahead about how such a person values the emotion of love, is it just something that happens to him or does it bring some change in him? The pages of the classic which answer these questions are yet to read and grasped by me and just saying that I am eager would be an understatement.

Things of personal interest which need immediate attention is my growing mane (I'd like to call it that, though I know it doesn't even remotely qualify to be called one) which is not only uncomfortable but also gives me a 'weirdo' kind of a look which I'm not sure I can carry off properly. My cupboard beckons immediate re-arrangement, but as a matter of habit, being insolent towards it suits my personality, or rather comes to me naturally than heeding to its irrational demands. Conditioned myself for some grueling ppt.(pre-placement training) sessions and the standard mba prep. That's it folks, signing off for now.

Atleast the weather is pleasant ...

I've started reading Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" when I should have been reading Operating Systems and Microprocessors ! Supposed to have a lab. sessional on 'Advanced Programming' tomorrow.. the intent to study is defintely there, but the drive seems amiss. Apart from these trivial issues, my major concern is something of a larger proportion - No, its not the troubling situation in Pakistan or the terror in Nandigram - its more grotesque - its my protruding tummy. Looks like its destined to manifest itself into a more sizable portion of my anatomy. There is no dearth as far as the initiatives of change are concerned, the persistence is lacking - just as it is with millions of people of the 'about to be obese' brotherhood. Have plans of materializing more on my plans, but nothing is easier done than said.

Meanwhile, I took time from my supposedly busy schedule and saw OSO(Om Shanti Om for the few who are wondering) yesterday. Actually, entertainment is a very high priority activity and Farah Khan shares this line of thought with me. Ok, if you think I am going a little over the top, then it might be the other way round i.e. I'm convinced when Farah Khan wants me to convince that a package containing everything from comedy to reincarnation is entertaining.

Something very interesting that happened recently during my microprocessor lab. sessional exam a couple of days back. I resorted to (traditionally) unfair means of taking the programs with me in my cell and could successfully finish what I was supposed to write. So, my egoist half taken care of, I was ready to let the altruist in me take over and help those in need. Did help a couple of guys, and one of them actually gave me a gift in the evening. Now, this is what I call a true expression of gratitude. I'll treasure the pen as a souvenir of his nature and as a token of his appreciation.

Even if I don't do so well in tomorrow's exam, I'll have one reason to be cheerful... atleast the weather is great !!!

Totally "De-Quantified"

Had a class in 'Quantitative Aptitude' which went on as all the Q.A classes which preceeded it. Seems like my affinity towards numbers, or rather the lack of it is taking its toll on me. These ghosts of the past which I try to leave behind seem to be too stubborn for my liking. None of the problems appear solvable to me. And once solved, I keep wondering on how would such approaches strike me. Even though calling the optimist in me to the rescue does help to calm down the frustration, the realist in me knows its not enough. I've starting doubting the priority I've assigned to different things and contemplating if changed need to be made to my long-term plans. Giving up is never an option. The next better thing seems to be trying harder.

Class was a small affair as I didn't feel like sitting through the rest of the classes after the first one. The time was properly utilized in the form of a sound siesta. Second half was quite ordinary in the lab. Evening was spent in learning the basics of Flash for TGMC. Plans for checking out Q.A seems to need another procastination.

Looks like its got me ...

Lots of things to write about ... lets start with the recent ones ...

Conjunctivitis - guess it was almost inevitable. With the virus spreading at an unbeleivable pace, its tough to keep up those high standards of hygeine, especially in a hostel. Though it would be wrong to say that I didn't take any precautions, but I guess they weren't really enough. Guess I caught it yesterday at a friend's party... Anyways, not much of a concern, will get over it in a couple of days. ( don't let the pic. fool u, it was taken before I got infected, strictly for purposes of showing off )

There was a workshop by IBM which was supposed to teach us the tools required for TGMC, but it started and ended with 'Tivoli' - a backup utility software which seemed as an optional addition to our project. A slight info. regarding DB2, Eclipse or WebSphere might have been more helpful, but doesn't matter.

Meanwhile, life ticking as usual. Had the leftover microprocessor exam day before yesterday. Went off as expected, actually slightly better than expected. Had a slew of celebrations before and after the exam. Also, my team's TGMC synopsis seems to be almost over. Actually, it was complete, but as the last date for submission has been extended, we've taken the liberty to spend some more time on it for improvements. Whatever be the case, I'm more than keen for the coding to start as I have a lot to learn from this project as do some of my team mates.

Signing off for now.. hope to be back soon !

One Man, Many Missions ...

1425 hours : September 18, 2007

No apologies, no excuses.. it just always seems so cliché, only thing I can say that I was supposed to be busy with writing my mid-semester exams, registering for TGMC – The Great Mind Challenge, thinking about the advertising event to be held in our tech. fest, besides trying to cope up with mba prep. ! It happens with almost everything.. once you start to ignore something and put it in the back shelf, then you tend to postpone it for ever. And thats exactly the reason the blogs have not been coming. It seems like eons have passed since I have posted the last one. The exams went almost as expected, nothing extra-ordinary, very mediocre. TGMC work is supposed to be progressing, and I am sure the synopsis will be complete by the deadline – a typical engineer's statement as I would like to put it. The use-case diagrams have to be discussed with the rest of my team and have to be given a concrete shape. Does seem like a gigantic task at this point of time, but if it has to be done, then it is going to be done – 'by hook or by crook'. Advertising work is also progressing at its own pace. I have referred to a couple of sites for studying the trends in the advertising industry and all kinds of related shit. Also had a couple of meetings with the senior who is supposed to be in-charge of organizing the event. The only thing left to be done, and probably the only the only thing that needs to be done is framing the problem statement. Big deal, huh ? Nopes, when I know I can do it, its never going to be a big deal, just a matter of time and the right effort at the right places.

Meanwhile, I seem to have become an admirer of Deepak Chopra, the spiritual guru. His open-ended statements are the type whose meanings are obvious, but the sentences are brilliantly phrased and cannot easily be debatable. One of the statements goes like this “The level of enlightenment of a person can be judged by how comfortable he is with contradiction, ambiguity and paradox”. Now all paradoxical concepts have always been very appealing to me, whether scientific or general. According to me, every spiritual or religious text or phrase is ambiguous and can be interpreted in a no. of different ways. Its only limited to the no. of people who are willing to take the initiative to interpret it their own way and spread it to a larger no. of people. If his interpretation finds favor with a large no. of people, he is hailed and respected and his following increases exponentially. One more reason why I liked Deepak Chopra is he doesn't forget to show his humility at the end of the article. At the end he states that he has yet not achieved that state. Quoting my own paradox, it would be something like “If someone says that they are perfect, that is the first and the best evidence of their imperfection ...”

Hey Babyy !

0042 hours : August 27, 2007

This Sunday was not a typical one. Can't remember the last time I woke up as early as 7 am on a Sunday ! But then, this is probably going to be the norm now.. no more dozing till late as GD is going to be a regular weekly affair hereafter. As I am currently not overflowing with a dozen or so interesting topics, lets start with a dissection of my first 'GD training class'. The teacher, a 'smarty' who did his MBA from XIM-Bhubaneswar, now working in a financial firm was unable to make a healthy impression on me and most of my fellow batch-mates. He was definitely smart, confident, probably also knew a lot about GD's, but that in no way justifies his ridiculing of certain students, apart from trying to act as 'Mr. Know-it-All' about engineers. Some students were a part of the mock-GD which didn't even remotely qualify as a discussion. It was more of a series of verbal blasts of oddly-framed, mostly irrelevant sentences, often phrases directed at each other with tons of aggression thrown in. The instructor's not to be blamed in this case, he wanted to show what possibly can go wrong in such situations. His critical analysis of the situation started out on a good note, but was left without a proper conclusion, which again didn't seem OK with me. Finally, by the time I was on the way back, I had made up my mind to focus on how can I extract the best out of this resource available at my disposal. He definitely had certain desirable qualities and attributes. The onus is on us to derive the maximum benefit out of him.

The later part of the day was spent in an equally disappointing venture – `Hey Babyy`. Grossly below expectations. I hardly criticize a flick this harshly, but this one deserves worst. Ignoring the fact that I have a personal dislike for Sajid Khan, I find the direction absolutely direction-less. The star cast, especially Ritesh Deshmukh and Vidya Balan must have been out of their minds to have signed to a script which is so pathetically predictable. I haven't mentioned Akshay Kumar because he is an established actor and one mistake won't cost him much. Fardeen Khan never seemed of any use to me in the celluloid frame, so I am excluding him from the list too. Even if the story and script were given even a fraction of attention that the title track was given, Akshay could have managed the rest of the show. Typical cliché bollywood dialogues, predictable storyline, hapless repetitive comedy – I don't remember the last time I made such a bad investment ! 'Aap Ka Suroor' was a lot better compared to this shit which is supposed to be a rib-tickling entertainer. If this is all left of originality left in the industry, I would prefer lift-offs from other cinemas worldwide.

Two things that went right today was the Lassi we had at Ligaraj, Shahidnagar and the 'methi ke parathe' at the mess.

“Good food is the best anti-depressant and stress buster” - Anand Biswas