Monday, February 27, 2006

Technical future

For me, those 2 words - technical (as in CSE) and future, do not really seem to go together. There have been lots of trials all through the B.Tech but I just do not feel interested and inquisitive about IT problems. The upcoming professional days might change the current state of mind. But getting a geeky feeling towards these IT technologies isn't at all possible at this stage of my life. One just cannot be successful in a field of disinterest. Such cases only lead to commoners and average people.

Especially after looking at the projects that were kept during the 2-days ExoR event organized at IIIT , I felt so ashamed and low, thinking of the fact that the past 4 years seem to have been wasted like hell. People, on the other hand, work so hard and they wud definitely reap the benefits. Best wishes.

For those who didn't even feel inquisitive enough to go over and look at them, I'll say that learning things is just not possible without interest and inquisitiveness. And if in case, you were LAZY enough to go over, nothing more shameful would ever happen. Missing over on these projects and some others during R&D showcase would be one of the most stupid acts. So, do not miss on the opportunity next weekend.

Three projects are worth mentioning:
- Giridhar and Saurav from MTech 2nd year had such a 'cool' project that streamed audio from a laptop to cellphones through Bluetooth connectivity. That ways, even if the memory isn't enough on ur cell phone, u cud hear the song.
- Rakesh from MTech 2nd year demonstrated an oustanding project in the field of Robotics. A mechanical robot got commands through a computer using wireless connectivity. It could move from one position to another without hitting any obstructions in between and to check on that, I did keep my foot in front of it. I was told that Dr. Madhav Krishna designed the complete algorithm for that.
- A military rescue project that wasn't developed by IIITians. Through lasers, cameras, PDAs and other electronic equipments, it could find out the temperature, distance of objects and could do other 'hi-fi', technically fundu things.

Amazing is the word.

False Pretensions

Recently found the following image here and realized that how true is the fact:



At times, people pretend to be someone that they actually aren't. Some others pretend to be different personalities all the time. When at one moment, they're fun-loving and cool, they're completely frustrated the very next moment. These people not only complicate their relations with people around but at some stage or the other in life, they definitely get all confused themselves; confused to make simple decisions; confused with the thoughts of who to be at what time. Being original is far easy than any of those illusions that ppl wish to create around them. Afterall, originality doesn't require you to think abt how and when to 'act'.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Its hot..

.. And that got proved today with my bleeding nose. It doesn't happen to me frequently but it did happen today. And for that, there have to be precautionary steps:

- Sleeping in the library during afternoons could be one way of keeping away from the upcoming hot summers
- Get the cooler back in working conditions
- Not moving out in those peak hours from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm
- Just stay calm for next one month and then anyways you'll (atleast the final year students) be gone home baby. I'm going to become an engineer maa

PS: And with this 100th post, filosofico typings completes its century

Friday, February 24, 2006

An aam aadmi's life

I had been realizing one thing the whole day today - Life for an aam aadmi isn't that easy and is full of struggles. Either he lives his whole life doing just one thing; one kind of job, or he ends up losing. At every stage of his life, wish-lists and dreams are compromised.

While attending the first off-campus recruitment process with SSA Globals today, I for the first time got a feel of being a 'loser'. Somehow, that wasn't the place where I wanted to see myself ever. GOD bless, I hope to land up in a better company. However, while my visit to the Vanenburg IT Park in Phase 2, HiTech City, Hyderabad, I went over to their common cafeteria to have lunch. The place was jam packed with employees from all kinds of IT companies having meals. One could see all of them there - young minds, boys and girls, married couples, and aged men and women. Except some of the freshers, most of them must have been working for quite a long time now. Is that what they'll end up doing in their lives? I was really discouraged to see those people who'd been working under bosses for long and might as well end up working under the same or different bosses.

Thinking about living a commoner's life shudders me from top to bottom. One never knows the final destination where he/she lands up but working hard to make that destination amongst one of the highest is definitely what one could do. Fight maar lo yaar.. zindagi bahut nachayegi nahin to.. . There's a famous quote that says - 'People aren't great. Challenging opportunities are what make them great'. So, look for those opportunities. There's no room for the average janta in this challenging world that's full of struggles.

Some of the IIIT alumni have been trying to startup their own companies and I really wish them the best of luck. That's how you become great in lives. Risk-less lives could be thought of as use-less lives.

TaxiNo. 9211

This movie definitely wasn't amongst one of the 'most-awaited' ones. Nevertheless, some of us final year students feel it to be our duty to watch each and every movie or atleast those with a good star cast.

As for the reviews, I'll say that the movie is worth watching in a theater. Nana Patekar is brilliant as always. For a change, John Abraham acted well too. Movie goes really fast and is really gripping too.. Not once would one get a feeling of getting bored. Story gets quite obvious in the end but otherwise goes really well and most importantly, is clearly focussed on us Indians who really need a happy ending..

Just to give you a broad view of the story line - John Abraham (a billionaire's son) happens to meet Nana Patekar (a taxi-driver) accidently. Now, that first meeting doesn't come out to be friendly. Infact, they both finally turn out to become enemies. John Abraham's father left a will in his son's name which John needs to present in a court and the key of the safe where that file's kept lands up with Nana Patekar.

Having said all that, I'll give it a 3+ on 5 and would definitely watch it again once it's on the IIIT network.

Ph.D.

Some universities offer PhDs on the basis of the application that aspiring students submit. Some others offer only on the basis of one's work during an internship that the students are offered by the same university.. For these second kind of universities, Kiran once said something to me:

These PhDs are like marriages and those internships are like the dating periods. Without a successful dating period, marriages cannot be carried forward.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Tired

He's fking tired of not getting thru the written exams in placements. They (Companies) generally have the craziest of the patterns but nevertheless one is expected to clear the cutoff before reaching the final step of interviews. How the hell would the interview preparation help unless one really gets interviewed? So, ppl do not be careless at that and do prepare well whenever there are preliminary requirements - writing an exam, getting through GDs, giving a presentation etc. One cannot win unless there's an all-round preparation.

From the point of placements in IT companies, do improve on the general aptitude and objective technical questions (lots of resources available on Freshers World ). Solve aptitude questions and improve the speed and accuracy. Failing that, you fail to get placed in a dream company.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Great Achievements

With reference to my earlier post , nearly each day, I feel a sweet smell of success all around. Though that success isn't yet achieved in his life.

Anyways, so some more achievements here in IIIT include:

- A friend who's been a teacher for most of the D-grp ppl gets admission in PHD at Stony Brooks, NY
- My co - class representative gets MS in SUNY, Buffalo
- Another batchmate gets admission in PHD at CMU, Pittsburg
- A third year B.Tech student at IIIT Hyderabad gets internship at M$, Redmond.. I find this to be most impressive.
- Dr. PJN becomes the only Indian professor to get a research funding for M$'s Virtual Earth Project. Check here

Undoubtedly, IIIT will earn a big name sometime in recent future. Hey IITians, prepare yourself as you're going to get tough time for sure.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Killer Instinct..

He's definitely found out one thing that has added on to various failures upto now.. Self-Analysis does help.. Killer Instinct is what he needs.. He gotta go after things; keep on going after things till he achieves the goals. One just can't win without that attacking kinda feeling.. ah c'mon man.. You gotta fight, fight for your life, fight for your goals, fight for success, fight for every achievement.. You just can't be a winner without that kinda attitude..

In case of confusion, one has to talk to people, even analyze oneself and find out where lies the problem.. One needs to sit down, note down every fking thing (on paper) that could be considered to be moving one away from the goal, put that sheet of paper somewhere within the sight and try cutting down the list with time.. That's just one way.. That's probably his way..

Start fighting for your goals beginning right from the day when you get the above kinda realization.. Else, just living a life isn't that difficult too.. Everyone does.. The only difference being in the amount of compromises that one might have to make in life:

1) Maruti instead of a Merc
2) Flat instead of a Fort
3) Simla as a honeymoon spot instead of Switzerland
4) "9 to 5" instead of being the boss
.
.

The list is endless.. Every moment throughout the life, one might have to compromise, compromise for things as small as buying a toy for a child.. To reduce the number of compromises, one needs to increase the hard and smart work.. So, basically -

Compromises and Smart Work are inversely proportional to each other

Not that bad, huh!!

Was analyzing the current status of ug4.. Sounds quite good..

- 9 students got IIM calls
- 2 students already got admission in PHD abroad with full scholarship
- 25+ students have dream offers including those from M$, Yahoo, Google, Nvidia, Sarnoff etc. Big names haan
- 3 students got an opportunity to apply for M$ Redmond and MSR Bangalore.. Results awaited
- 2 students, continuing for MSBR, got some scholarship from GE.. Heard that they're getting some 1 lac plus cash and stipends for the future months
- Most of the batch placed.. [Me being one of them]

Mere commoner, an average student, just another part of the crowd are some perfect definitions for him.. Does it really sound rude? But then that's the truth and he needs to accept that..

At times, people are found speaking - "This chap's hardworking.. He'll do something big in life" ; "This person is gifted with all the intelligence.. He has to win" ; "This person is fking lucky.. He jes wudnt be left behind" ; "This person's made to lead" etc etc.. Where does he fit in? Where does the success come from then? It's time.. He needs to find a perfect path for himself..

Is he waiting for something drastic to happen in his life? Is he expecting some kind of a dramatic situation to come up just as most of us see one in movies? Ah!! That changed my life.. Ah!! This would change my life.. Ah!! I got together all my power only after that happened .. Fking crazy

Monday, February 13, 2006

Neki kar, neki paa

That's a famous quote in punjabi.. It says that you do get back goodness for all the goodness that you give.. And that's actually a proven fact.. Ever action has an equal and opposite reaction is another law that proves the quote.. You reap what you sow is another quote confirming the fact.. Never realized that there are so many things to say a same thing.

Dr. Kaul deserves a mention in this blog. He's been such a kind-hearted man.. He was the first professor to teach us in IIIT.. Yes, I did attend the first maths class at 8:30 am.. Though, I couldn't get up for most of them in future.. Recently, he wasn't well and was hospitalized at CARE hospital.. People were really worried about he being healthy enough to teach future batches.. But, prayers did work and he's all fit and fine.. He's even currently taking first years' maths course.. You gotta believe in things.. When in hospital, he had lost all hopes of getting recovered.. He asked his relatives to get all the important documents to the hospital and get his signatures.. But then doctors didn't really let him lose hopes.. They told him that he'll be perfectly fine, may be even better than earlier.. Most of the times, people lose because they do not really believe in their strength.. Coach Carter has a famous dialogue -

What is your deepest fear?
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Tonight, some of us had the honour of having dinner with Dr. Kaul and his wife at his home.. All informal gappen were on for hours.. It was fun and the dessert was exceptionally yummy.. I took 3 servings and didn't worry about any kind of diet control.. God bless him and his family

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Thought-provoking dialogues

Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) - sexy movie .. Do see it, if you haven't..

- I love getting up in the morning. I clap my hands and I say that this is going to be a great day..
- What you do have is my whole word, and it's stronger than oak..
- You don't win when you play from head, you win when you get your heart involved..


Transported-2 - unreal action .. See it when you don't wish to concenterate much..

- I live my life with rules..
- LIVE your life.. You never know the time limit..


Hum Tum - sexy movie .. I've seen it lots of times..

- Sach kehte hain ki bhagwan har jagah nahin ho sakta, isliye to usne maa banayi..
- Humein unki (females ki) zaroorat zada hai aur unhein humari (males) kam..
- Har ladke ko ladkiyon se sirf ek hi cheez chahiye hoti hai..

All philosophical

Day by day, he has been realizing that every person on this earth is a two-faced person (atleast?) who's every action is planned very skillfully which mostly emerges out of self-interest especially at the expense of others. The fact is that there's no one else to help him around except himself. But there are dependencies. Why does he feel himself dependent on others? If he makes friends without any dependencies on them (dependencies are mostly mutual), then the result is a just a friendship out of self-interest. This is so crazy.

He doesn't appreciate the fact that most people around aren't original. Either the case is that they act smart (knowingly) in the real world when they are actually not or they are victims of a false realization that they're smart and behave with that original but wrong feeling. Only rarely does he find people who are actually gifted 'real' smartness.

He doesn't feel comfortable in the company of those 'not-so-smart' but 'acting-smartly' people, especially when they argue on something. He wouldn't mind listening and agreeing to 'real' smart people but the other kind makes him sick especially in cases when he can't tell them his feelings on their smartness. Why can't people exude humility? Why do they have to tell others about their smartness?

Friday, February 03, 2006

Creative Writing - Felicity'06

The topic was 'The Thinking Man' . Wrote something on that:

I love women. I really do. They are such wonderful and powerful creatures. But to me, such topics – “The Thinking Man” imply that either there are no women with ‘thinking ability’ or they do exist, but are negligible in number. After all, girls really do ask the stupidest questions; questions that a ‘Man’ really doesn't want the answer to.

We speak all about women empowerment but in reality only such topics are found being brought forward. And women are certainly involved in the topic evolving process. Does this prove that they are ‘un-thinkable’? Or would women want to debate that they are generous in giving respect to the men? Debating is in reality one place where women aren’t that bad because, one of the things that they are genuinely good at is - arguing.

Another buzz word (except Man) involved in here is ‘Thinking’. With man associated with thinking, it definitely implies rational thinking. When on the other hand, other creatures might have an irrational aspect involved. Why have men always been considered the head of the families? A clear answer to that is - Heads cannot afford to be unreasonable, or in this context, ‘un-thinkable’.

Another thing that one might want to consider is that opposites attract each other. Why do you think men and women (in most cases) are attracted towards each other? It’s a direct relation between – reasonable and un-reasonable, beast and beauty, physical and emotional etc. Nevertheless, it isn’t that bad as it sounds. After all, men are always (exceptions aside) in search of women.

With all the arguments put above, I would still say that women are definitely the best creatures on this earth. After all, how would one respect being reasonable when there isn’t a complementary un-reasonable existence? Wouldn’t it be too competitive to have all the intelligent men around? In several Hollywood and Bollywood hits, we’re made to realize that behind every successful man, there is a woman. Does that imply that women are behind because they’re unsuccessful? Why isn’t it put in the following way – “along every successful man, there is a woman”?

This battle of sexes seems to be never ending. Will peace treaty ever be signed?

********ENDS HERE********


Later, I came to know that the topic was given with 'The Thinking Man Statue' in mind.. Neways, that was a creative writing contest.. and i did write my interpretation of the topic..