Immature to Mature
He has definitely come a long way from being quite an immature and impractical person in the first year to become a more practical human being in final year. Yes, there definitely has been a significant amount of change (for good). At times, he recalls some of those foolish instances himself, and at other times people around help him in recalling those instances. In both cases, he feels happy to have become more understanding and responsible now.
He still remembers those times when he used to believe almost everyone expecting them all to be good. Coming over to this place for engineering is indeed one of the best things that happened in his life. 4 years is a long time period. He's met thousands of people with diverse backgrounds, culture, attitudes and mind-set during all these years. And all of them, I repeat, all of them have taught him some great things - whom to believe, whom not to; whom to help, whom not to; whom to love, whom to hate; a lot of other things too. All these things indicate just one thing - It's not easy to live one's life the way he/she wants to. A lot of factors play a part in deciding his/her destiny.
Time taken to write this post: 15 minutes
A Trip to Kurnool
As mentioned in the
previous post, we went off on an official trip and got back from there just today. I got to say that it was really rememberable..
29th March'061:45 am - Started off from IIIT campus
2:15 am - Reached Mehdipatnam. Had to wait for another bus
3:30 am - Started off from Mehdipatnam
7:45 am - Reached Jogulamba temple at Alampur. One needs to have a special attitude to appreciate such historic temples. They are great but may be I don't enjoy them much. Within around 30 minutes, we started our departure towards the resort where we had to get all freshen up
9:30 am - Reached Punnami Tourist Complex. The dormitory was unbelievably nice. The toilets and baths were really clean and the arrangement was good too
12:00 noon or so - We reached Oravakallu where we had to have our breakfast. It must have been about an hour's journey from those dormitories. We were served Idli, Wada and Pongal
3:00 pm or so - We reached Belum Caves and I have to say that never ever have I sweated more than what I did in those caves. The temperature must have been around 40-45 degrees. May be ever more. Nevertheless, it was fun and adventurous walking about 2 kms in those caves
5:30 pm or so - We had our lunch (that was not edible at all) at Belum Caves itself. No chapaatis, all those curries had such a bad taste. Probably rice and curd was the only eatable thing out there
9:30 pm or so - We reached back to Oravakullu for dinner and campfire. Luckily we were served pooris then and food was eatable. It was great fun at campfire since the weather was really pleasant owing to that cool breeze. Some of us students were asked to give small speeches. We concluded by playing a game where each person spoke about his/her most memorable moment at IIIT. It was fun and things went really cool then
30th March'061:30 am or so - Departure from Oravakallu for IIIT
7:00 am - Reached IIIT campus
All in all it was fun except for the fact that we were travelling and sweating most of the time. And those remote areas didn't even have proper signals for mobile connections. The Oravakallu part at night was the most exciting. Thanks to
Pranav for his efforts that the trip plan got implemented. He indeed acted responsibly at every stage during the trip.
UPDATE: Here are certain pics from the trip:
Time taken to write this post: 28 minutes
Off in 5 minutes
2 Buses are right here. Another bus awaited due to more people getting interested in the batch trip. Yes, we're finally going over for an official trip, 50% of whose money has been contributed by IIIT. I just came over to get my cellphone charger. Thought of updating the blog as well. Details of the trip would come up on 30th March'06, the day of our return.
Time taken to write this post: 3 minutes
Testimonials - 3
Ashish LohiaLohia's been a guide, a teacher and an adviser for every single thing in academics. Had he not been there, I wouldn't have been writing comments for our batch. I probably had been writing them for our juniors. I'm grateful for all his help and would love to be at his service, if at all he ever needs anything. His willingness to help our group has been outstanding. He wouldn't study for himself, rather sit for hours giving us lectures. And mind it, who were the students? It definitely wasn't easy to control us non-serious people. Nevertheless, he managed us quite well. And in that sense, he's been an amazing manager.
He, like few other personalities, is a person who could be successful in any line that he takes up. He would have been successful had he taken management as his career. He would have gotten into the best of those jobs had he been more serious about it. He's got into PHD at a great university. Though, he could have got better. The reason for this, as I believe, is his little carelessness during the third year. He worked amazingly for the first 2 years but somehow that willingness of being 'cool' overpowered him. Had his CGPA been more, he might have reached more heights. Nevertheless, that's not how you become successful. You become successful with that brain that you have above. And he's got lots of them. Believe me. I haven't seen a person who's fundas are more clear than his. Every single thought has such high clarity that I'm a big fan of him.
He's also a very very influential personality. As and when he speaks, people stop to listen his words. And they are mostly full of ideas. All in all, he's been a great person and great friend to be with. There hardly are thigns that I could suggest him to improve upon except may be that he should keep himself away from sex and all, out in US. Or atleast use secure means ;) Good luck buddy!! Way to go..
Suryakant PatidarThis guy is something. I somehow find in him a great friend. We had been in the same group for about a semester but then things changed and new groups were formed. Nevertheless, our friendship continued.
People at times call him a ditch man. I give those people a tag of being stupid and ignorant idiots. The point is that they themselves are weak at heart. One of the best qualities that a person could have is speaking his heart out. He's one of those amazing persons who are not even in the vicinity of being hypocrites. If he doesn't like you, he'd say that on face and that is what people called ditching. I call it his strength. Believe me, it is not easy to be that kinda person. It definitely isn't. It's not easy for one to tell people what he exactly feels about them. He makes it possible all the time.
Apart from that, he's got the best sense of humour that I've ever seen in anybody. All his jokes are worth laughing till you get those cramps in the stomach. You wanna have some good time, go look for Pati. His great smile makes in even more better. He laughs out without caring for anyone, without caring for anything. Not caring for small-small thigns is another thing that I like about him.
One thing that I somehow tend not to like in him is this - At times, he doesnt care for one's feelings. He'll have his own piece of fun but for others it may not be funny. Though, I haven't come across such situations quite often, they do happen sometime. In contrast, he's been really understanding and cooperative too. We, in particular, share a strong relationship, right from day 1, continuing til those disco days. How can I forget that time (Disco), when we used to cry together or atleast pretend doing that. Oh!! one other thing - he's drinking quite frequently these days. oye, stop doing that. It's good to drink sometimes, but do not make it a habit.
He's a good basketball player too who's helped our batch and our house (Prithvi) win lots of times. Then, he's quite hard-working. His come back from not-so-high cgpa was amazing. Now, he's got it increasing constantly. He's done some of the best projects in CVIT and he's very creative too. Deep inside, he's a really nice lover. I know that from his blog and from the chit-chats that we've had. All in all, he's a great person and he's one of my favorites in this place.
Time taken to write this post: 1 minute(^C,^V)
Parties on high
With just 16 odd days left over, parties are on their full flow. I've been eating out for past 3 days and if this continues, I seriously am going to get the fat (that I did shed) back. As mentioned in the
important list of things, I had to treat certain junior friends. Surprizingly, I ended up counting just the second year guys and treated them. Guess, alternate batches do have certain kind of similarty, atleast in IIIT Hyderabad.
Last night (25th March'06), we had an amazing piece of fun at Aditya Park Inn. This treat (different from the one above) was suppossed to be from a senior group of students to a junior set. 19 of us (mainly the D-grp) hosted a party for some 24 juniors. We got a banquet hall reserved for 43 of us and had food all arranged. It was fun chit-chatting to all those friends from junior batches. The best part happened towards the end. We clicked lots and lots of photographs and it was real fun. People got together for a photograph under all kinds of classifications - housewise, wingwise, groupwise, those who've taken projects under Dr. Venkaiaha, Dr. Kamal, Dr. RamaMurthy and some others, those who've ever developed messengers, parliament members, people who usually go over to play pool, those who play TT, those working in one department, those who've been more close etc etc.. One can get the feel of this amazing party that we had from those photographs. Thanks to Joy for his digital camera. One not-so-good part of the party was that it did cost really high. Nevertheless, it's only once throughout the BTech and that's when you're about to graduate and hence it isn't that bad.
Check the group photograph here:
Time taken to write this post: 18 minutes
Straight-forwardness?
I've preferred it all through. I love people who speak their heart out and that's basically because I hate hypocrites. Being diplomatic is fine (I am) because that's only to make everyone around you happy. It only means that you speak your heart out in a way that people do not mind.
Towards the end of the BTech, we've started writing testimonials for each other. I try to write all good things first, followed by some kind of a suggestion / feedback that might help the person in long run. But, people somehow tend to hate that (This is in no way related to the
previous post). I've written the best possible testimonials for certain people and most of them didn't give me a good feedback for that. There are all kinds of reactions. They like it more when a hypocrtic person writes all goody-goody, cosy-cosy testimonials, be it real or not but not when they get to know the actual things. I would always prefer to have 'real' (may be harsh) comments instead of those unreal but polite things because I believe that this is the last opportunity to make improvements in one-self. It's not easy and rewarding to make mistakes in those tough and competitive corporates.
Time taken to write this post: 16 minutes
Testimonials - 2
With some not so good interpretations that one of my frnds, Rastogi (made
here) from my testimonials for him, I gotta post that on this blog for me to save it forever.
Sagar RastogiHe's one man who's really spread his knowledge domain in every damn field. A person of whom anyone would want to become a fan!! We call him the CEO, we call him shaggy, we call him the 'know-all' guy. He's an amazing person when I look at the dedication and focus that he's got. He's really sincere at his work and does all his tasks in time. I even remember taking assignments' solutions from him during those early years owing to his solving them within the deadline. His CAT scores proves it all. 6 calls are amazing indeed and I'm sure to find him in IIM-A / IIM-B in this following session. Good luck for that buddy!! You've done your part well. Now is the time for them to understand your capabilities and give u the admission.
He's a professional human being. His sense of practicality and mature relationships, proves it all. You don't give a shit about him, he wouldn't give it for you. Even if you give a shit about him, and you're not really worth getting his shit, he wouldn't give that to you. Lot of shit haan.. So, basically what I mean is that he knows how to get work done, he knows how to deal with various people. He knows how to tackle things. Now, this either comes from the great family background that he's come from or it comes from the place that he's lived in. In any case, it has made him a great personality to talk to and deal with. There aren't any foolish talks, there aren't any stupid and non-serious dealings.
But, that's not it. He's a great friend too. Though I hven't really come across instances to check if he'd be there for people in time of need. Nevertheless, he's helped me with various courses etc from time to time. He's been a prospective D-grp member and at times, he's all fun too. He's got such a beautiful smile always on his face that even seniors got annoyed with it in those early ragging days. I remember them all getting frustrated for not being able to make him stop smiling. And that's amazing you know. People have stopped getting happy in this tough world, and Rastogi's a great example for them.
Apart from that, he's got an amazing personality. What height, what stature, what build. Impressive and influential, I must say. Keep everything up buddy.. You have a long successful way to go.. Good luck!!
And certain other clarifications that I later made to him:Prospective D-grp member means regarding drinking.. I am not a prospective D-grp member because i probably wont drink ever.. I wrote that in his testi considering how drunk he was the last time.. He obviously has a gr8 place in that grp that we all form. So, things shudnt be interpreted in a way that they aren't sed.
That ’shit’ thing was actally a complement.. That was a complement because I sed that for he being assertive.. (Would post my testi for pati soon which is on similar tracks of being assertive) Ofcourse, he's given me ’shit’ lots of times ;) and i didnt have nething to say that for our frndship..
'not worth it’ meant stupid people who not only like to waste their time, but waste other’s too.. “There aren’t any stupid and non-serious dealings” in the end of that paragraph shud have made it clear..
Time taken to write this post: 6 minutes
Aura Attraction
I don't generally believe in these things.. ok!! To some extent I do. Afterall, I've taken all those reiky lessons.. Ya, so aura as dictionary says is a particular atmosphere or quality that seems to arise from and surround a person or thing.
Something strange happened last night and for that, I gotta give certain more points to aura. I was walking over to the main building (the academic block) of IIIT. A friend at that moment was coming over on his bike from the opposite direction. Since, it was quite dark and the bike lights were lit, I couldn't actually see who the guy was until he actually passed from along my side. But somehow, when we were jes inches apart, I felt like raising my hand (a sudden urge inside). And as and when he approached, I saw his hand already raised too.. And we did clap with those raised hands.. It later occured to me that it must haev been certain kind of attraction or a telepathy or something on similar tracks that made me do what he wanted to - raise the hand. Amazing indeed!!
Time taken to write this post: 9 minutes
Testimonials - 1
Rajesh Kumar PacharThere are certain people who touch your heart, who come so close in life that it's just not possible for one to forget them ever. He's one of them for me. Such people understand you when most needed. Rajesh is such a guy. He's a great personality in the sense that he's got that listening ability. When required, he'll always be there to console you. He's got that sense of understanding what a person wants and for that he makes a great friend.
An amazing quality that he possesses is 'hardworking'. It's not easy to find anyone with such a level of dedication and sincerity towards work. He takes up a task, and thinks of anything else only when it's done. He's got the 'do or die' attitude in him. He procrastinates as any normal human being but once he gets down to some serious work, you can't beat him up on that. He doesn't leave out things in between. He takes them to the finish and only then does he get relaxed.
Another thing that most people know about him is his habit of going over to Gym each day. Have you ever seen the fitness level that he's got. I have. He's a little short in height, but otherwise he's absolutely fit. His determination of being physically fit made him do some regular and serious work-out in these last 3 years. And the difference is actually visible.
Except this, he's one helluva emotional person. You could make him cry within seconds. Trust me on that one. All you gotta do is pull certain sensitive strings and he's all yours. Though he rarely lets out his secrets, I know he's got lots of them in there. You find him quiet, and you know that he's all sad.
He's one of those guys who'd make really good husbands. Trustworthy, loyal and fun-loving. Ok, except being an emotional person, he's got that funnny attitude too. Though, he's not got a very good sense of humour, he tries his best to crack certain jokes from time to time. But then, noone laughs at them. Does that stop him? Naa!! He doesn't give a shit abt whether ne one likes them or not. If he wants to be funny, he will.
One other and the most important thing that I'd tell you is this - it wouldn't have been possible without him. Trust me. Had he not been there, I wouldn't have been able to get my projects completed and thus the graduation. He's done most of them but never ever as a favour. Never has he ever looked down upon me for that. I've been a bad project partner but he never spoke that to me. I'd always be grateful for that.
He's an amazing guy. He's an amazing friend. He's an amazing human being. Wishing success dood!! For me, it just isn't possible to forget chhota.
Time taken to write this post: 2 minutes (CtrlC - CtrlV)
The end is near
I remember reading such titles last year, same time, when seniors were all about to complete their BTech. It must have been a notalgic and exciting feel for them and with another 20 days to go for my eighth semester to get over, I get a similar feeling. It is in some sense emotional to leave a place that plays a major role to make one a better human being. And it is exciting to enter the new corporate and professional world. With every new start, new dreams are made and new goals set.
Shiben has hosted a yearbook for our batch this year, in a way that was hosted last year for seniors. The concept is that everyone gets to write comments for every other student in the batch and all of those comments would be available for all in the batch to read. There'll be an html file associated with every student where comments that are written for them are appended. I've started writing for those near and dear ones and it really feels great to think of those old good times that most of us have had. Since, I
once wrote about my willingness to post my views on certain people, I'd copy those comments that I write for various people right here in the blog for it to be saved at a safe place.
Time taken to write this post 17 minutes
On drinking and smoking
Owing to the 'not-so-good' taste that those alcoholic drinks have and 'not-really-interested-to-drink' attitude that I possess, the chances of me being a frequent drinker are automatically nullified. It's ok to drink a peg or 2 sometimes, for socializing is what I believe. I got all
tun around this time last year on a party that was suppossed to be a farewell for our seniors and I plan to get
tun sometime in the coming days before I leave this institute.
Cigar is one thing that I really eye upon. Never tried one but it definitely looks great and royal. Morover, owing to my taste for villainous looks, cigar gets some more points. Plans to buy one in recent future. Though, I don't plan to smoke any kind of tobacco after that one trial.
Time taken to write this post: 10 minutes
Appreciation
What is that motivates people? 'Appreciations' and 'Rewards' definitely play the major role in that. Motives get over, interests and enthusiams are lost and things get dull if there aren't any rewards and inspiring words/appreciations for the work.
On musical night, we had IIIT's official band, Insomnia, performing for over an hour and there wasn't any crowd out in the ground. There weren't more than some 15 students banging their head in the ground that has a capacity of over 700-800 people. IIIT students seem to me as a boring lot. People aren't interested to move out of their rooms and check out the world around them. Participation is not what is required. Audience play a major role too. But guess, these students get all deaf at the time of their admissions. This low degree of enthusiasm is one of the most important reasons for Felicity being a 'lesser' success than it should be. Strange people!! Boring people!!
Time taken to write this post: 13 minutes
It all comes back on you
I remember writing a post on similar lines long back. Ok!! check it out
hereAll this time, throughout the BTech, my dad was happy with the small number of 'A' grades that I got. Somehow, I didn't have the courage to tell him that most of those As that I got were in humanities courses. So, basically I played with the information :-). Now, when I tell him about my willingness to have complete fun in these left over days in BTech, he refuses asking me to work hard for the end semester exams. Now, how exactly do I explain him the concept of Humanities courses and the level of hard work that's needed in there. I tried convincing that there isn't much to study for the final end semester exams, but in vain. Shit!! Why did I hide the information at all. I can't even have permitted fun now.
Time taken to write this post: 12 minutes
The Value of an MBA
Check out
this. Wonderful thoughts that are informative in their own way. It really prepares me to work hard in job and plan my future goals (MBA etc) only with time and experience.
Time taken to write this post: 2 minutes
Interview with Inductis
Things change, they end. And so did the on-campus recruitments. I started applying for offcampus then and finally got the first call from Inductis - a management consultancy firm that's towards the Data Mining in a sense that it analyzes data for its clients. I was called up for the post of Programmer Analyst. They hire only IITians as consultants.
The complete recruitment process was telephonic. In all, I had 4 rounds with an employee of higher designation each time. Was fun, it being my first telephonic interview. For now, the post-interview status is
SELECTED. Following are the interview details:
Round 1 - with Mr. Prashant1) 10th percentage and rank
2) 12th percentage and rank
3) Current GPA and rank
This is a kind of elimination round for people who do not cross a certain limit and for those who do not remain consistent with the resume that those people have.
Round 2 - with Mr. Anupam1) Tell me about yourself
Ans: From academic qualifications to extra-curriculars, about parents and their profession, technical and social achievements, leadership skills to people skills, I covered everything.
2) Why Inductis?
Ans: Best place to be in for a long-term goal (4-5 years down the line) of doing an MBA, close to home, large number of Inductis Alumni get MBA admissions, compensation
3) Why not IBM?
Ans: Negation of the above points
4) Cross questioning at various points during the first question such as how do you manage the crowd when you compere on the stage (I told them that I've compered a couple of times)
5)
A puzzle - You have 100 doors in a row that are all initially closed. you make 100 passes by the doors starting with the first door every time. the first time through you visit every door and toggle the door (if the door is closed, you open it, if its open, you close it). the second time you only visit every 2nd door (door #2, #4, #6). the third time, every 3rd door (door #3, #6, #9), etc, until you only visit the 100th door. What state are the doors in after the last pass? which are open which are closed?
Ans:
Solution: You can figure out that for any given door, say door #42, you will visit it for every divisor it has. so 42 has 1 & 42, 2 & 21, 3 & 14, 6 & 7. so on pass 1 i will open the door, pass 2 i will close it, pass 3 open, pass 6 close, pass 7 open, pass 14 close, pass 21 open, pass 42 close. for every pair of divisors the door will just end up back in its initial state. so you might think that every door will end up closed? well what about door #9. 9 has the divisors 1 & 9, 3 & 3. but 3 is repeated because 9 is a perfect square, so you will only visit door #9, on pass 1, 3, and 9... leaving it open at the end. only perfect square doors will be open at the end.
Round 3 - with Mr. Amit Das (IIMB guy)1) HR questions very similar to above with more cross questioning which required better justification of all the skills that I portrayed.
2)
A puzzle - You have 10 lions and 1 sheep on an island. A lion, if it eats the sheep would get converted to sheep and thus could be eaten up by another lion. Lions are intelligent and would eat the sheep only if they're sure of not getting eaten up by other lions on becoming sheep themselves. If this is the case, how many lions would be left in the end?
Ans:
Solution - If in the worst case, there's only 1 lion left, it would eat up the sheep since it doesn't have to get worried about getting eaten up by any other lion. In case of 2 lions, none would eat up the sheep first since it is sured of getting eaten up by the left over lion as explained earlier. In case of 3 lions, one lion would definitely eat up the sheep since 2 lions do not eat the sheep as explained earlier. If the chain continues, lions wouldn't eat the sheep if they are even in number but one of them would eat up the sheep if they're odd in number. This could be understood as follows - there are 10 forces acting on the sheep and each of them in an equal and opposite way. They cancel out the effect of each other and thus do not eat the sheep. The state is in equilibrium.
Round 4 - with Director, Inductis Analytics Department1) HR questions once again. A lot of them to check the consistency and other things
2)
Estimation question - How many cars are there in Ambala (my native place)?
Ans:
Solution:
- Estimate the population
- Remove the people who are below poverty line
- Calculate the number of families out of the remaining since it would be easier to average the number of cars over families. Assume that each family has 4 members on an average
- Divide the families into 4 categories - low income, lower middle-class, upper middle-class and rich class. Divide them such that it forms a pyramid with low income being the largest in number
- Assume the number of cars as 0 in low-income, 0.5 in low middle class families, 1.5 in upper-middle class families, 2.5 in rich class. This would give out the number for private cars
- Next, assume that there are 10 major taxi stands, each with 200 taxis. That makes 2000 as the number of taxis
- Next, assume that there are 10 major organizations who hire cabs etc for their employees. Each of them keeps 100 cars that makes it another 1000
- Total everything up to give a number
Main things that they looked for1) Consistency across various interviews
2) Problem Solving skills
3) Extra-curricular participation. They were keen to know the interests etc
4) Orientation towards MBA
5) Kind of impression and knowledge that one has about the organization. Do go through the recruitment brochures that they have on their website
6) Communication skills, leadership abilities, ethics and integrity
7) How true is an individual? They asked me if I've heard of any Inductis puzzles and I did tell them about the ones that I read over the internet
Some links that might help for puzzles:
http://www.techinterview.org/ http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/riddles/intro.shtml http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/career-discussions/12028-help-puzzles-asked-inductis-interview.html Time taken to write this post: over 1 hour
Interview with SSA Global
For those who don't know - SSA Global is a company that develops ERP solutions and has acquired a company called BAAN recently. Baan, ironically, is still more famous than SSA Global. Ok!! SSA GLobal is the same company about which I wrote some not-so-good words
here and
here. Nevertheless, for now, I won't scribble any personal views since the post-interview status is
SELECTEDAs for the interview - the company wouldn't be interested much into your personal backgrounds, your communication skills (though it helps sometimes), your extra-curricular participations etc. Following up were the various questions that they asked. Since, there wasn't anything new that I came up with in my answers (all bookish stuff), and that they could be easily found in various resources, I'll write just the questions:
1) What is the difference between JSP, Servlets, CGI, PHP?
2) Define a database system
3) What is RDBMS and on what basis is it formed?
4) Tell certain Codd rules that are not followed in Mysql
5) Give certain differences between popular RDBMS such as Oracle and Mysql
6) How good am I in developing ER Diagrams?
7) What are views?
8) How do you update the views and where are the changes made once they are updated?
9) Given a practical situation such as managing inventory at a restaraunt, how would you design a database. Write tables, and give the primary, foreign keys for each. Give the relationships between each tables.
10)What is normalization? Describe the various types
11)Suppose there are certain items, each available in different standards and thus with variable prices. Write a query to find an average price of each item
12)What is indexing and it's use? Types of indexing? How exactly does it help?
13)How exactly is the database stored in memory? Where exactly is the data stored in the tree?
14)What are the key object oriented concepts?
15)What are the types of polymorphism?
16)Difference between interface and abstract classes
17)How and when are interfaces used
18)What department would I want to work for - ERP that requires working on Baan Tool, C++ or Linux something?
I ended up saying that I wish to understand the working on ERP since it's really demanding these days.
Time taken to write this post: 35 minutes
Protecting IIIT Hyderabad Girls Hostel
What?? Are these women a part of the current security team? In times of need, even men aren't able to fight back, how exactly are the women expected to act/react then? It is good that the concerned authority got the security guards changed (to a 'more' reliable team) after the IISc firing. But, putting up female guards in girls hostel looks like a foolish step. If you necessarily wish to keep a woman there, keep atleast one man outside the hostel gates. How can the authority be so careless at this?
Not that those things happen all the time or even frequently for that matter. Not that the IIIT students would do any mischief. But the arrangements should be made so as to handle those kinda issues the very first time itself.
I happened to talk to one of those female guards and came to know that her name's Jhansi and I unintensionally laughed out thinking if that name's gonna protect the girls, something like Jhansi ki rani.. For now, God save them in times of trouble.
Time taken to write this post: 14 minutes
Stupid people
There are lots of them and they act stupid all the time. I mean, what is the problem man!! Why make up an issue for small things, as trivial as posting something on a weblog? Isn't this suppossed to be my web space and am I not allowed to write/post what I wish to, unless ofcourse I write things that are against one's rights?
It's not for the first time, dammit, it happens all the times:
1) Posting comment on someone's blog
2) Putting down your thoughts on YOUR OWN weblog
3) Linking posts to someone else's blog
4) Giving biased thoughts on certain 'important' topics
5) Writing philosophical opinions
6) Tagging certain people
.... ALL THE TIME ....
Believe me or not, I don't care and neither do I want to be good enough to care for those idiotic matters.. In the last month that I have here in this institute, I'll do what I wish to.
Time taken to write this post: 11 minutes
Solitude - a solution to all worries
It really is. Being solitary works unbelievably. Think of a time when you felt really low. Can't think of it? C'mon. Now, what actually helped then? I can't remember even a single such instance when I was tense and got back to normal mindset with the help of others around. For some, it's a great feeling to have others speak good words, sympathizing and feeling pity on their conditions. But what ultimately helps in recovering is collecting all your thoughts together yourself, getting a new inspiration from somwhere down there, and having decided to start all over again.
This is what I need when am sad:
1) No sympathizing statements
2) Humans-free surroundings
3) Music on with some sad tracks
4) Thoughts of a couple of those 'confidense-boosting' situations which must have happened to me in past
5) A piece of paper and a pen. These M$ notepads too work bigtime
and that's it I guess.
Time taken to write this post: 15 minutes
Sex Scandals
A feeling of 'surprize', 'shame' and 'fear' pops up (in that order) when I read about all those sex scandals where school-going students are caught red-handed.
Can you believe it, is the first thing that turns up on this little mind.
Surprize: An obvious expression that would turn up after reading those shocking sex scandals. Why don't you check some for yourself?
1 2Shame: It's shameful to see the upcoming generation act that way. People have started becoming more hep, westernized and more funk, forgetting the backgrounds that they're from. Is that a fault with the parents is the question that blocks up everything in the end.
Fear: By and when it's our time to become parents, would the situation only worsen? I tend to get afraid thinking about the fact that the pace at which it's being carried forward, it'll all end up with a disaster.
Time taken to write this post: 10 minutes
Template Add-ons
Besides the
countdown to graduation that I added on the right hand side of this blog sometime back, there's another addition, that's called the cluster map. This feature puts up marks on the various countries over the world map from where the blog has been accessed and is updated daily. So, basically, more the number of red marks over there, more widely are the readers spread.
Time taken to write this post: 3 minutes
Need Help!!
For all the techie people out there, a small help needed. I have a text file where in there's a list of all the feeds to whom I wish to subscribe. Since they're really large in number, I can't even think of subscribing one by one.
I currently use sharp reader. Is there any way that this text file could be converted to an opml file or any way such that a feed reader could read the text file, line by line and subscribe me to all of them?
Time taken to write this post: 5 minutes
Important things before leaving IIIT
I remember
Ironhide's similar post sometime last year, this time. For me, the list of things in queue are as follows:
1. Get a provisional degree
2. Get lots of certificates/written statements from professors of me being involved in all those extracurricular activities
3. Make sure I get my caution deposit
4. Meet some profs and tell them how much I've appreciated them all through
5. Tip the guards and the housekeeping guys
6. Gift certain professors and staff people for their sincere help
7. Tell some irritating obnoxious and stupid batch mates of mine to "go f&^% themselves"
8. Get the names of books that are a must read. Improving reading skills is one thing that I crave for
9. Collect CAT, GMAT material and other such study materials from friends who are able to convert their calls this time
10.Meet Chari@career_launcher to discuss more about the future goals
11.Collect as much free material as I can from career launcher
12.Donate certain things that I don't plan to carry along
13.Get my mattress back and sell it off to someone who's looking for one
14.Give a treat to some junior friends
15.Get a farewell treat from those junior friends
16.Buy a new 200/250 GB hard disk
17.Get a good hold on French and collect all those online courses that one of my friends has downloaded
18.Get lots of movies (especially Hindi), songs, softwares and 'Enjoy' stuff
19.Tell certain beauties of how long they've been in my crush list
20.Get my eye-sight checked and put on spectacles if I need them
21.Take contact ids, phone no.s, addresses of all those people whom I wish to keep contact with
22.Use all my contacts to get as many referrals as I can
23.Buy some of those books that I've noted down in point 7
24.Create a backup of this blog
25.Get the monetary accounts cleared with all my friends
26.Decide which camera and laptop to buy
27.Create an unknown and non-existing identity for myself
28.Talk to all those crushes of mine and that too in person. Already wrote that but it definetly deserves a second reminder
29.Find out the courier services if I need to carry lots of luggage back home
30.Smoke atleast once, that too a cigar
31.Drink for the third and the last time
32.See Golkonda,Salarjung,Faluknama,Snow World
33.Go-carting
34.Go to that Rajasthani place where we once planned to go
35.Go to sunrise point where seniors had been a regular visitor
36.Go to the secret lake where I haven't visited even once. Shame on me
37.Talk to those crushes
38.Write orkut testiomonials for lots of people
39.Get a slam book or an year book or something to keep some memories alive
40.Work out an effective system of staying in touch with people I want to stay in touch with
41.Work out an even more effective system to prevent those whom I don't wish to stay in touch with
42.Take down the birthdates of all those dear ones so that I have an alternate reminder to orkut
43.Think about contributing in cash/kind to Muskaan or to other such societies
44.Say sorry to all those people whom I haven't been good with
45.Eat the buffet at sheraton and viceroy atleast once
46.Think about an idea which helps people to remember our batch for a long time
47.Distribute all the useful stuff that I've collected all this time especially the placements' stuff
48.Give sincere advices to certain people, mainly juniors
49.Write about interviews, placements and success in my blog
50.Get grades for certain projects and complete FYP
51.Understand various ways of saving taxes
52.Change the sleeping habits and try watching the sunrise atleast 4 days a week
53.Make a note of all the embarassing and rememberable situations that I've faced during my B.Tech and that too without feeling guilty for any of those
54.Keep updating this post as and when I get to remember more important things
55.Reveal an already secret (almost) identity
Time taken to write this post: nearly 1 hour
Certain cruel realities
To support my post on
Guys are bastards , I've recently been finding lots of similar thoughts. It somehow sounds strange but things accidently come on your way if you're thinking too much about them which basically means that you tend to find arguments, posts, articles etc that support your view. And that's exactly being happening in this case.
Amit Varma, a journalist, writes a beautiful blog, named
India Uncut . One of his recent posts talk about nearly the same issue of
guys being bastards . And his writing skills definitely puts across the fact, the reality with more clarity.
This post that he's written about the issue, consists of a link towards the end which says
'train to chennai' . This 'train to chennai' post in particular is so touching that I couldn't resist myself from reading the whole story twice. The fact about women being insecure in this cruel society makes me feel the need of being even more 'courageous' and 'decent'. 'Courageous', basically to be able to face such situations with my near and dear ones and take appropriate actions against the responsible and 'decent', to keep myself away from getting involved or even getting the thoughts of doing any such disastrous things.
Time taken to write this post: 17 minutes
Guys are bastards
Long long back, sometime last year during this month itself, someone wrote
this post dedicated to the battle of sexes. There were statements like men are bastards/dogs and some other more worse than these. I did fight against those allegations in the form of a big comment that was posted anonymously [the first comment there]. Being anonymous was one way of putting forward the actual meaning behind the comment without getting any bias thoughts that might come over due to my 'personal' image. Nevertheless, it's hardly an issue now.
But recently, I came across certain situations where these facts for men got proved in some way. Men are indeed bastards and I can say that from the kind of mentality that is being recently developed in me. But that's not just my fault. That's the fault of those hot babes, those bitches too. You go over to an elite restaraunt and see girls roaming around in clothes as good as being naked, I bet that your mentality would change as well.
The fact is that being from the darker sex, I know that men do look for women, men do develop high sexual thoughts, men do get attracted towards women now and then, they do look out for sexy figures, cute faces, big butts/busts and so men are bastards in that sense. But that is not the beginning of the story. Story begins from the point when women start attracting men for short-term and long-term benefits, it all starts when women wear those hep clothes just to look more sexy. So, the fact is that men do get attracted towards those women but that is only when women initiate. Women are only hyppocritic enough to raise such allegations against us.
Time taken to write this post: 20 minutes
Incomplete men, Incomplete women
In contrast to my post on
male chauvinism , the fact that men and women are so incomplete without each other got proved today.
I was talking to my mom on the cell phone. It must have been a 15 minutes call, I guess. During those short 15 minutes, dad called her up twice. During that first call, he asked her the length of a certain cloth to get a shirt stitched for himself and for the second time, the matter was as trivial as whether he needs a pair of shoes. Besides being so happy to see the strong bond of love that they share, I was surprized to see that men are so incomplete without women. I told mom about that thought immediately and she gave me this reply -
Beta, women and men are so incomplete without each other. They argue on useless things, they get their egos involved but at the same time, in reality, they are really dependent on each other. Consider this - Would any family ever invite a bachelor on socializing parties? They never would. At the same time, is any woman really secure without a man? No, they're not. We talk about women empowerment but in reality women are still insecure in this men-dominated society. There are certain situations where men can't survive without women, but there are equal or more number of situations where women depend on men. I was fully satisfied with her answer and understood the ground reality of the strong relationship that men and women share. And btw, for all the ladies out there -
Happy Women's DayTime taken to write this post: 14 minutes
Countdown to Graduation
Now, there's a clock indicating the countdown to my graduation on the right bar of this blog.
This student at ISB is my source of inspiration for such a countdown feature. It looks cool, and is nostalgic, emotional and exciting at the same time. With the end of this semester on 13th of April, I'll probably complete my graduation. God Bless.
Time taken to write this post: 3 minutes
Male Chauvinism
Women empowerment, though heard of all around, is still not existent in significant proportion. Men are still considered to be the head of the families; they are still considered to be the decision makers; they're still found to be leading in every sphere; they are still the earning hand and that'll continue to remain for a long time. In this men dominant society, women are given a lot of rights to match them up with men. Each day we hear of women reservations and most of them are earned by women's demands themselves. The statement might hurt but such reservations only reflect the inferiorism in them and nothing else.
In various clubs and societies, we find men taking up the memberships and women are given the status of dependents. On invitation cards, we always find the name of a husband written before that of his wife. These are some such day to day examples which even strenghen the point.
Long long back, I was given a status of being a 'Male Chauvinist Pig' by one of my really strong crushes. That was probably her indirect way of indicating the 'love' and 'respect' that she had for me. I didn't know the meaning then and thus couldn't argue back in any way. Nevertheless, the point which I wish to put forward is that there's nothing bad about women rising high in the society; they getting more respect and fame; they earning more than the men; they being the bosses. Nothing at all. But it is definitely conflicting when women fail to accept the truth of they still not being the head of the families, the decision makers. Families break up because of these small arguments. They break up because none of the partners compromise.
Today, I read a touching post
here which basically strenghens the above point in some way or the other. The author is a journalist and maintains a really nice blog.
Note: This post is devoted to that crush of mine who might someday come across this post.
Time taken to write this post: 24 minutes
No locks allowed / required
My dad's planning to visit a place very near to Shirdi [famous for Sai Baba]. This place, called Shingnapur has a well-known Shani temple. Shingnapur is located in Maharashtra and is often heard about for a very strange thing. As per the information, there aren't any locks required in that place. Infact, one wouldn't find even a single lock in the whole area. No locks on shops, no locks on houses, none of the cars are locked, not even the two-wheelers, nothing at all. Till far away, you wouldn't find a lock to buy. Not just that, the houses are built without doors. For privacy, curtains is all that can be used.
People there believe that Shani dev flattens out the tyres of any vehicle that's locked in that place. Some even believe that one who steals in there, goes blind and thus, no one dares to do that. It might sound really backward but such places do exist in our country. And none of these stories are cooked up btw. I can say that because one of my uncles has already visited that temple twice. I am waiting for my dad to visit the Shani temple and provide me with more 'reliable' information.
Check out the location information
hereTime taken to write this post: 16 minutes
All religious with time
We don't realize the importance of being religious at this stage of our life. We're young and energetic, full of enthusiasm and strength. Focussed on our careers, we are committed towards certain things, certain people and our souls are fully motivated. But how about 30-40 years from now? May be then, we need something to keep up the morale, something that instills in us the faith and strength, something that gets back that energy which we have today (in these young days).
I was talking to my mother today and realized that my parents are definitely getting more religious with time. Not that it's bad or unacceptable but it definitely reflects that they're in search of something on which they could have complete faith.
- My mom n dad visited Pashupati in Nepal recently. It is Lord Shivji's biggest temple and media airs the shivratri celeberation of that place across the whole world.
- Mom's the grand master for Reiky now. I could sense the new confidense level that she's gained.
- Dad is visiting Shirdi in a couple of days (yes, the Sai baba's land).
- Today, mom n dad are out for the Nirankari Samagam.
These are only certain examples that strengthens my belief (even more) in the fact that with time, things change so drastically. It's not just about being religious. It's about something else. It's probably about the change in priorities and mind-set.
Time taken to write this post: 22 minutes
Responsibilities towards parents
This struck my mind when I saw one of the students holding his father's hand and helping him move. Their each step towards me was expressive in its own way. That man who couldn't easily walk had his eyes looking down towards the road for long. I just couldn't figure out the reason for that. One of the reasons might have been the shame on himself for not being able to walk properly or may be he was underconfident owing to his disabilities or may be he didn't really appreciate the fact that his son is helping him walk. There could be dozens of such reasons. But if given a calm thought, one would realize that the man should have been even more proud of himself. He should have been proud of his son who's helping him at a stage when most needed.
Parents live all their lives to help us grow, live, study, play, eat and millions of other things (tangible or intangible) that one couldn't ever keep a count of. But the best part is that similar days return; they get back in similar situations again in their lives, the only difference being that the roles are supposed to be switched. In this new period, we owe them that respect and love that they offered us during our childhood days. If during both the periods, respective roles are played with full sincerity, there's nothing to feel ashamed of. These things happen because they are there in our destiny, in every child's and every parent's destiny. And one should be proud of himself for he not being insincere with his responsibilities.
Time taken to write this post: 21 minutes
Absolutely useless
There's no use writing
such posts when finally it all ends up with formalities, not breaking 'so-called' good relationships and being good with people whom I really hate.
It's absolutely fine to have certain set of people whom you can't tolerate basically because those people aren't worth you; basically because in most cases, they are people whom you consider stupid and hence lower in grade than where you consider yourself to be. Hence, inexistense of such people is basically equivalent to absence of relatively stupid people and hence ends up oneself with relatively maximum stupidity. So, it's not at all bad to hate certain people and it's even better to tell them about it. There's a two fold benefit attached with it: They don't waste your time and You don't waste your own time thinking about them.
Time taken to write this post: 12 minutes
On secret identities
It's so damn exciting when things are mysterious. With certain aspects left over, there's always a fun element involved. In the same sense, I love it when people post on blogs through secret names. The best part about it is that readers' thoughts aren't biased at all. At times, I've analyzed this myself. When I comment anonymously, various viewpoints come over but if I do comment in my own name, people seem to react differently. And that's actually not unfair on their parts. Our personalities, our image on one's mind definitely does create an impression on tracks similar to what they've always seen us on.
The only best thing about posting in one's own name is that in case certain people appreciate your thoughts, you get the compliments directly which is not only motivating, it also makes you happy. All said, I plan to make a new secret blog in recent future in a name of someone who's totally unknown, who's a self created personality but at the same time looks real; looks really real.
Time taken to write this post: 16 minutes
Totally strange indeed
Continuing
this , it's so sad that things never go the way they should. When I didn't have a good enough project for display in the last R&D showcase, I was still asked to put it. And there were so many visitors then. But today when I kept 2 good enough projects on display, none of them were to be found. Certain local students did come over but that wasn't the motivation for demonstrating something.
All my projects are along with
this guy without whom none of them would have been completed. He's not only technically sound, he's hardworking too. And it must have been more demotivating for him. Life's anyways bitchy most of the times.
Time taken to write this post: 11 minutes
Straight-forwardness appreciated
As raised in my
previous posts too, why do some people lack the sense of being straight-forward? Loss of originality is to be seen everywhere and the result is artificial people, hypocrytic people who because of being loaded with questions like "who-to-be", "when-to-be", forget their real identity.
It's good to be diplomatic at times but using that in daily life wouldn't fetch rewards at all. I confess of being diplomatic myself but am trying my best to fknig change the habit because that is something that I have stopped appreciating. At times, it spoils relations with your own near and dear ones. Infact once your straight-forwardness is intimated to people around, it isn't difficult and complicated at all. I know a few straight-forward people, especially
this guy and I really-2 appreciate him for the same. There are few others on whom I'd like to devote some of my posts in time to come and that'll definitely be before I complete my engineering.
It might take time for one to change, but it has to start someday. Start now and the world would be a more easier place to live in. As I see, with straight-forwardness - practicality, assertiveness and expressiveness come as add-ons.
But there's an alternative argument too that says - Why not be diplomatic (smart?) enough to make people believe that you're not diplomatic when you actually are? Why not act differently at different times in different situations? Why not keep people in total mystery? Why disclose the real you at all? I once had a long discussion on - "Whether to be expressive and react at situations for others to know your feelings or to keep calm and let people be confused with the mystery in you" with someone whose really close to my heart. Insights on this topic too to come in future posts.
Time taken to write this post: 40 minutes
Totally Strange
Things, which one craves for, do not come easy and others for which one is basically indifferent unexpectedly happen in favour. Will things ever occur the way we want them to? No, for now, they don't seem to.
So many companies came over to visit the campus. I played it so safe by sitting only in ones, that had their work profiles most similar to the work that I did in my B.Tech, so that the chances of getting selected are high. But,
kambakht, in all of them, written itself got screwed, and hence getting a chance to sit for interviews got eradicated. Couldn't get an interview opportunity for even a single dream company.
Now, when on-campus placements are reaching its end, i get an interview call. SSAGlobals, for which I wrote a 'beautiful' post
here, short lists me for interview. Not that I'd definitely make it to the final selections but why didn't HE give me such a chance with some better company? Now, that I've got an opportunity, I do not feel like availing that. Interview experience is all I'm thinking of at this stage. I've been seeing ppl going for interviews and making all kinds of blunders, getting unlucky with the questions which those interviewers ask, getting selected unexpectedly blah blah.. I wish to check it out for myself this time. How does a tech interview really look like? The experience with IBM wasn't really on an IT track. They had been all blind at the time of recruiting students and so didn't miss out (selecting) even a single person among those who appeared for interviews.
Daniel Vasella's speech
Amazing speech delivered by Daniel Vasella - MD, Chairman and CEO of Novartis AG, on the graduation day of ISB's '05 batch:
You are entering a wonderful land full of pastures, creeks, fields of crops and fruit trees, and in some places one may – with some luck - even find some minerals and gold. What you discover and learn and how you master the terrain will depend on you. It is a hilly region and the horizon often limits the view, so when you cross the bridge today, you will not be able to see it all, and the best may be neither visible nor close. Some of you may find your personal field close by and you will spend a life time on it. Others among you may have to walk and search for a long time, working on the way, improving your skills and gaining experience.
As you continue on your path, start to work and you will discover and learn how to best cut the grain, your arms will become stronger and your movements more agile and faster.
When you chose a place look to the sky and check the elements, as this will influence your performance. Work will be easier when the conditions are right – more productive during mild days, more limited when it is hot and humid. There are days and weeks with glaring sun at which time vulgar stones may shine like diamonds. Hours and money may be spent to get a claim -- just to find out in the evening, after a hectic day that you have filled your pockets with gravel.
As Nehru said, “Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you is determinism, the way you play it is free will…There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
But what are your views on ethics and values? With all the corporate scandals ranging from Enron to Worldcom, Tyco and so many others, every business school today must also talk about laws, regulations, ethics and integrity, personal values, right and wrong. I am sure that you have developed a perspective of your own about these matters.
As you know there is often a lack of clarity in life, and a tension which pulls into opposing directions. Ambiguity is something we have to learn to live with, without its creating discomfort for us. Be comfortable with seemingly contradictory situations, feelings and actions. You will of course encounter many people who can not deal with ambiguity, people who always want simplicity and clarity. So, you as leaders will have to create the clear direction for them. This is an act of will and part of leadership. Your instinct and judgment will indicate the right actions and timing for you, as Alexander the Great knew when he cut the Gordon Knot, finding a stunningly simple solution for a complex problem.
Finally, I’d like to share with you some thoughts that are very important, but which you probably won’t hear a lot about in your career. There will be days when you feel the pleasure of accomplishment. But the truth is, there will be times when you are disappointed, angry or sad. This is normal. Have the confidence to accept these feelings, trust your self, be genuine, and also transparent with others. Be yourself and don’t try to play a role. Tough days never last forever and after follow the good days. Your family and friends will support you in difficult times, therefore understand and respect also their needs and strike the right balance for yourself and for them.
The new land is yours – at least for some time – make the best out of it, it’s up to you. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world. Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty, it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.
More responsibilities
With competitions such as
this coming up, I certainly feel more responsible towards writing better posts and not just put down every single stupid thought that comes to my mind. Good going Cmdr Buzz
