About me...

Social Networking, Web and the computer

2010-10-03T12:40:00.000+05:30

One will easily associate three big names with each of the above- Facebook, Google and Microsoft- in that order. And I believe each one is doing a fantastic job in that area. The problem is when they try to invade the other territory. There is a saying in Hindi- "Ek jungle mein ek hi sher reh sakta hain." When translated to English, it means- "There can be only one tiger in a forest".

It has now become very clear that Google has been struggling in the Social networking area. With the failure of Google's Buzz and Wave, the web gurus could only just give a "I-told-you-so" look! Read it somewhere that Google is again planning to build something on the lines of Facebook. And one shouldn't write anymore about the colossal failure of Microsoft on all Web fronts.

I don't understand this. Why diversify into a sector in which there already is a great player and doing great work. For Google, there has been no dearth of revenues from the Search engine and Ads market. Why move into Social Networking, where even if it succeeds (which is not something that I am looking forward to), it will gain only a portion of the market share. I don't believe that Google can't come up with new products for the web and move to unexplored territories or to sectors which does not have great players. Why focus on Social Netwroking?

Well, as far as MS goes... I think they have no other option. With people moving away from the computer and to the web, it has to diversify. But Microsoft is again doing the same things which have already been done. Bing for instance. You come up with Bing when Google already has cent percent market share and is still improving at a fantastic rate. Microsoft is great with Office Suite. If it wants the harness the power of Web and Google, they should start looking at Google docs and do better than that which I believe that they can. Google docs is pretty basic and companies are just starting to use it. The market is still open as compared to SE market. It's as naive as that. Heard that MS Office 2010 comes with a rich Web version- but only if you buy Office Suite. On the one hand, MS wants to gain traction in the web world but not ready to give what Google is giving for free. At least a free basic service with upgradation to Premium should not be a problem to MS :)

But still then, Web is still evolving and evolution can take drastic steps. But, according to me, in all probability the biggies in these areas will remain biggies and that the Web will evolve not by overthrowing them but opening up newer arenas where we will see new players.

So what's next?

2010-10-03T02:12:00.000+05:30

It's now over 3 months since I joined a job. Phew, it does sound good.

Everyday we listen to people complaining about their job. Most times it is true. Doing the same thing everyday over and over again gets boring after a while. The remedy is to do different stuff each day.

My experience with Drishti Soft has been good till now. Yes ofcourse I am working much more than what most people are doing right now... sometimes doubting if the remuneration makes justice or not.... But when I think about it, I realize that I knew this would happen. When I ditched a job in a good MNC and decided to join a startup, I knew what I was getting into. The point is I chose it for myself.

Working in Drishti has not been boring at all. You have the freedom to experiment, you keep doing new work each day. But even then there are times you are made to do something which you dont want to do. Or sometimes listen to people who want to do something in a way that you do not approve of. And then you think, what am I doing? This was not what I had in mind.

And then comes the next question, ok, I have been doing a job which I am, at the least, doing well. What next? In the second month, going to office not knowing which new project you would work on was exciting. But human beings want more. Everything becomes passe. And then you start thinking, can I do this forever? And what's the next step?

Personally, I am kind of an impatient person. I want to see beyond today. I want to know where am I heading to. For that matter, any person would or, in my opinion, should. This sort of baffles me... really, what next? Answering that question is not an easy thing to do. You may just say... quit, do something you want... go start something on your own. The thought does seem rosy. The problem is not that you dont want to or you dont have that risk taking ability. The problem is "where do I start? What do I do?" This is the question that has been eating my for the past few weeks.

And thus I have been thinking "What's next?" I wonder if this is the way all entrepreneurs start. Sometimes, I think they do...

Indian beauties- where are they?

2010-08-24T16:31:00.002+05:30

So this time the Miss Universe title goes to Miss Mexico.

I just couldn't help wondering why is India no more figuring in the Miss Universe or Miss World winners. There was a time when I was in school, there were Indian beauties winning these contests every year. And now I can't remember when was the last time a girl from India won these. It was really sad to hear that Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta did not even figure in the top 15 in this year's contest. Not expected from the Bong beauty.

What is the reason behind this? Surely not exposure or financial problems I believe. With so many Miss Indias already having won these contests, I don't think that there is any dearth of people looking to make money out of this business. The problem cannot be that of mentoring as well because Ash and Sush gave birth to whole new industry here. The problem could be that Indian beauties are still doing the same things what their predecessors did and hoping to make the cut.

If this is the case, then I could not help but draw an analogy to Indian hockey. Stop evolving and you stop winning, it is as simple as that. If something is not done fast, then we might have to see the day when young girls stop aspiring to become the next Miss India.

A new life: Back to blogging

2010-08-11T23:12:00.004+05:30

So, I am not a student anymore. I am a working professional. This change took place on June 14th, 2010.

Leaving college was a painful experience. Leaving college also arouses in one the sense of excitement and a sense of the unknown. Joining the mainstream of life- where you stand on your own legs, where you work, do something more meaningful which you know affects other people, where you earn your own money for the first time and where you spend your own money- not knowing when you exhausted your first salary and are now on what you brought from home :)

This new life doesn't seem as rosy as it one thinks it would be when passing out of college. But once we start realizing that this is the life everybody leads and this is what you would be the rest of your life, you start to look beyond the campus and start trying to find out what's in store and the road that is to be taken.

For me personally, this life looks good. The fact that I am now contributing to the Indian economy and society brings a sense of responsibility. When I wake up in the morning, like most people, the thought that comes to mind is "Oh no... office!" After the intital endurance of the hardship of leaving the bed, the thought that comes is this is what one is supposed to do. Men work. Their is no other way of living. We work. We contribute. We do our part- however small. Every small contribution adds up in the final result. We work. I work.

Cheers to the life ahead. Cheers to life and cheers to production.

Dying a natural death?

2010-04-02T01:44:00.002+05:30

Eventually, everything comes to an end. It is written even in the Bhagwad Gita. Is the blogosphere following this path and coming to an end? Has it run its full course? I cannot but muse about this lifecycle of blogging drawing to an end.

Blogs took birth not very far down the memory lane. It was welcomed whole-heartedly by the internet-enabled people of India and the rest of the world. The frenzy of activity in the blogosphere by the youth and businesses and journalists soon made headlines. Blogs were the in thing at that time. Everybody I knew was blogging feverishly- the discussion among people those days was about what the hot thing that the blogosphere is talking about and what will the next big discussion to be put on the altar. Youth blogging about move reviews and the general stuff of everyday lives- college events, breakups etc- the businesses leveraging the power of blogs to reach to the general public to sell their ideas and their brand. Blogging was everywhere.

The main purpose of blogging was to give people the power to fulfill their right to expression. People always had the right to expression but blogging took it to the next level by bringing the whole world together. Now one's views were not only heeded by one's friends' circle but by the whole world- at least by the whole internet fraternity. This power was too much for the common man and he was in no way going to let the opportunity slip. Thus the blogosphere.

Then suddenly some genius who was not in the mood of typing so much for getting his views aired came up with the idea of microblogging. This is where blogging lost out. Strangely, people appreciated this idea of less typing and getting ideas across in tweets which comes packaged with the slaughter of the English language- well there are always side-effects. But the thought that microblogging will almost completely outstrip blogging, and that too this soon, was not something that was not anticipated.

While many would argue that blogging still holds reign, the fact remains that blogging has lost. Remnants remain and journalists still publish blogs on news websites because they don't make it to the print edition but the new age is that of microblogging. Movie stars, businesses, youth and Shashi Tharoor now-a-days tweet. If we have a look at blogs now-a-days, they have become shorter and shorter which is coming to resemble more to microblogging on a blog- a hybrid.

Will the blogging community completely die someday? And will it be a natural death or will it be because of external factors? Something to ponder upon- the similarities between blogging dying due to microblogging (an external event) and the extinction of rain forests due to climate change (again an external event). Ironically, the external agent in the both the cases is the same.

On Pune…

2010-02-11T22:10:00.002+05:30

Life isn't fair. At least that is what we hear most of the times. But sometimes, some things happen when you realize nothing could be more wrong than that. Yes, life is always fair. One should only be ready to appreciate what life gives them and not ponder for too long, far too much, on how much one has to sacrifice to get those short-lived moments when they come. Fleeting as they be, but all the more ever lasting. If you still see a paradox there, you know it is time for speculation.

It all came to me this last weekend. Not a secret, I'd been to Pune to visit my sister and my brother-in-law. And boy! What a great time I had there. I couldn't have asked for more. When most things go wrong and life seems all bleak, a little light shines through. You know you are not alone- there are people who care for you. That the disappointments, the daily monotonous life aren't everything that you are presented with. You go through to all those things day after day and in lieu of that you get that little light, that moment of joy and you know it was completely worth it.

My reason for visiting Pune so suddenly was not exactly what I should discuss. It has become immaterial after all. I'll take it as a price I'd pay for the holiday. For if it hadn't been because of that precise reason, I wouldn't have visited Pune in the first place. Meeting my sisters and my brother-in-law, those moments of laughter and joy stemming out of nothings, those eating out with family, that catching a local bus running for the first time… everything has now become a part of me and I'll always carry it with me for my life. Indeed, I can say that was the best time I had ever had as far back as I can remember.

Lastly, I want to my sister to know that she means a lot to me. She may not be the wisest person I know, she may not be the smartest person I know, she may not be the perfect person I know… but I can say this she is person who loves best her brother. And I can only hope of loving her the way she loves me… I will consider myself lucky if ever I can love anyone in the same amount she loves me and cares for me. Thank you, didi. You're the best.

And in the future when I'll be bogged down by disappointments (which will undoubtedly happen), I will just have to close my eyes and think of the sweet memories and remember a line which a friend of mine always says, "God works in mysterious ways."

26/11

2010-01-31T05:29:00.003+05:30

India is a, indeed, a strange land. And from every point of view-the cultural multi-diversity, the plethora of languages that we speak and, foremost, our diplomats. It's more than a year since the Mumbai attacks. Let's see what has happened since then.

To describe it tersely, one say, it went from outrage to rage to token gestures to a comfortable mellowing down. Nothing's changed after the Mumbai attacks. No tangible action. Nothing, in the least, that could result in some tangible action in the future. The oh-so-interesting case of Kasab, which invariably and with a growing uninteresting episode of events, hasn't yet be concluded, and what we get to encounter are the notorious and funny demands of the terrorist. Clearly, it's not helping. We could as well hang him while I complete this post. Some columns in the newspaper every now and then, with decreasing frequency and even more rapidly decreasing length of those, only suggest that we haven't yet got amnesia.

No one can ever forget what the mood was just after the attacks- it's surely going down the history line. The world at that time was sympathetic to India. The US was just too eager to help India to wipe out terrorism from Afghanistan and the place where it is bred- Pakistan. Pakistan sure had a tough time to deal with. But, I got to say, Pakistan diplomats are far too clever for us to recognize that. They stuck to their old theory that India is a "soft state". And we just proved it with a more concrete proof. Islamabad was keen to buy time and Delhi sold them- at a bargain. Now, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that US, too, thinks that. We are a soft state.

So is everything lost? The lives taken all goes futile? Supposedly, yes. And no one's helping. India took a tough stance by stopping outright the dialogue process with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. Though they should have done that when the Shimla pact was no more respected, but nevertheless, better late than never. Omar Abudallah, the CM of J&K, wants the talks to be revived now. It is no surprise Pakistan seconds that opinion. And the US, given the turn of events, will also want that- maybe it'll also lure India to start the peace talks by showing a lollipop called the "permanent member of the Security Council". Newspaper editorials, which at that time, commended Delhi's move now talk in the same vein. But the question why should the talks be revived? Just because a year has passed and the dead people doesn't matter anymore. Talks were cancelled for a reason- so that some tangible action will be taken by Pakistan. Even after dossier after dossier on the masterminding of the Pakistan terrorists, Pakistan still claims the evidences are inconclusive.

In short, the Mumbai attacks were just another chapter with no real significance. India is known not to have a foreign policy- only a Pakistan policy. It seems Delhi is losing the Pakistan policy as well. War is not the answer. The dilemma is, what is the answer?

If such attacks are meant just to be forgotten, India might well be schizophrenic.

BCCI- A complete business organization

2010-01-14T17:37:00.002+05:30

The Income Tax Department of India has slapped a 120 crore income tax on the BCCI because the BCCI has been reduced to just another business organization. Now, this is not really uncalled for. In recent times, it was but only more than obvious that the BCCI has been doing very brisk business earning huge revenues for every run scored, for every wicket taken, for every boundary hit. We are all aware of how the advertisements just pop out from the bottom of television screen reducing the actual play arena to an even smaller area. I found it disgusting at many times- peculiarly during the T20 matches when the frequency of boundaries is very large.

The I-T department has said that the surpluses which the BCCI generates from the matches and the aggressive advertising policies are spent on the players and not on the further promotion of the game- which is true. We haven't quite seen newer venues for the game, the game being taken so much into the European markets where the game is virtually non-existent. Being the almost-supreme body of cricket management, these ought to be the duties of the BCCI. After all, what's the use of giving so many tax exemptions for the organizing body if its main job is just to organize matches and earn profits rather than doing something for the game per se? Apart from the subcontinent and Australia, the reach of the game is very minimal. Even in England and the West Indies, the game has been suffering so much so that, it'll not be a surprise that we'll get to read editorials on the decline of the game in these regions in a year or two.

One can argue that BCCI gave us the IPL- possibly the biggest and hottest thing in cricket bringing so many people together from various nations and raking up huge revenues. The big question is how is that money being spent? We haven't seen BCCI building new stadiums anywhere in India. Many states doesn't even host a game of cricket is years. The current debacle of the match in Feroz Shah Kotla is another case to argue in favor of the tax exemptions. We want the cricket- as lovely a game as it is- should be accessible to even a larger population- even though the population currently is enough for the game. But that is not the point. Just because we have achieved a certain stage of excellence doesn't mean that we stop striving!

I can only hope that the stringent measure taken by the I-T department be a clarion call to the BCCI and they start thinking on the lines of betterment to the game rather than just betterment of the players and themselves. The audience that watches the game deserver more than just matches.

Copenhagen- A joke?

2010-01-10T03:55:00.006+05:30

What was that all about? After all the brouhaha, after all those editorial columns and all those ceaseless ranting on television, the Copenhagen summit can aptly be summarized as a joke- a very badly brewed wine which leaves a really bad taste, an ineffective Viagra which just doesn't give an erection…puhhh! The tall claims by politicians all over the world- especially from India and China- were just that-claims!

At the end of summit, the only thing which one would have noticed was that the summit instead of coming up with concrete solutions for reducing the greenhouse effect and somehow keeping the temperature rise below 2 degrees centigrade, only added to the climate and greenhouse woes. Oh, you can't just ignore the planes and jets which pumped more gases into the atmosphere which were used to carry the delegates to a useless summit which was speculated to bring about a huge change in the climate change equations. Mr. Obama and his Obamonomics really is something to be aware of. He is the one person whose contribution to this catastrophe cannot be overlooked. Toeing the line is what all he could conjure up. Not giving into the demands of the developing world (which of course Obama might still be referring to as "the Third World" in his study) and to the demands of the time, the USA, quite typical of itself, was always more interested in its own domestic problems rather than concerning itself with global problems- which it ought to considering the fact that it just loves to play Godfather in every damn thing that happens in the world.

So much for the "USA-Obama" bashing. European nations, which by far, have been the worst contributors to the climate change, were equally reluctant. Well, in the case of European nations the reluctance was understandable. They were never very enthusiastic about the whole affair. What was surprising, but, was the stance of Japan in the whole issue. With the leadership change in Japan, I had thought that the new leadership would be more than keen to display its might in a global platform and take on the challenge which USA seems to stall every time. But so much so for wishes.

India and China, and maybe Brazil, were the only countries which seemed to be enthusiastic to take on the menace at once. They were ready to decrease their carbon footprint subject to the condition that the already developed countries- which incidentally have been the major contributors- should do the same to an even greater magnitude. Now that is not an unrealistic demand- the per capita carbon footprint in India and China is still way lower than USA. Now some would account that to the large population of the two countries but that is baseless argument- energy consumption should be measured on a per-person basis and not country-wise.

The final outcome of the summit was that it was decided that the greenhouse effect needs to be mitigated by the joint efforts of all the countries by mitigation or alternative sources of energy and that the climate change is indeed a grave concern. Like we didn't know that! Seriously, does someone think we need a damn summit to realize the ill-effects the graveness of the situation? No doubt, the climate change experts and scientists say, in a whisper in public and screaming in private, the game is over.

Smelly CAT

2009-12-18T15:58:00.005+05:30

Though this post comes late but the severity of the discussion cannot be undermined. Indeed, CAT 2009- the admission test to the prestigious IIMs- has been a disaster. And no amount of argument will change the fact. Prometric, the organization, which had been given the contract for conducting the first ever computerized CAT, for a whopping $40 million sum, had failed miserably, though not quite understandably, to deliver their promise.

Right from day one of the CAT, news channels had quite a blast covering the server failure at so many centers across India. Students whose exams had got cancelled due to so-called “technical” glitches called foul and had a lot to say about the negligence in conducting CAT and the ignorance of the proctors about their own systems. Indeed, yes, the proctors had no idea whatsoever about how the systems work. And they were there to invigilate the examination! Phew…! Most interestingly, there was no official word from either the IIMs or the Prometric-wallahs. Guess they were themselves in a daze about what went wrong. Nevertheless, it was the just the first day and some problems were excepted. But no, the same “server-problem” again cropped on the second and the third day. Good heavens, what complacency! Were the Prometric guys supposed to work throughout the night and fix the problem on the first day itself? The answer is no, they were not, as it sadly turned out to be.

Some days later, the “server problem” was not the actual reason anymore. Word had it that the server was virus infected and that the anti-virus was unable to detect and clean it. Given the magnitude and importance attached with the CAT exam, this excuse seems nothing but lame. The rest of the days of the CAT went more or less smoothly. But this was not the end of all. Supposedly, the questions on subsequent days were getting allegedly repeated. This enraged the coaching institutes, in particular, and demands for a re-test in the conventional format had cropped up. The IIM directors didn’t take any decision at that moment and deferred it to after the CAT.

Now, some days before the IIM directors had met for a decision but there could have been none. Can this go anymore haywire? The fairness of the test could not be decided as some IIMs wanted the test to be done away with as such while others wanted a conventional re-test. Finally, they have come to a decision that the students who could not appear for the test will be tested in January.

But, this still a lot of questions unanswered. What about the questions getting repeated? What about the waste of time of so many people? And when you are conducting a test again in January, it means that some students are getting a month more for their preparation. Is this not unfair? Why was a mock CAT not conducted before the actual one to dispel of any glitches that could have appeared? The answer is, sadly, whatever be done, CAT 2009 was unfair and was not the CAT exam after all. And people used to say, “Mirror, mirror which is the fairest of all?” Mirror: “The CAT exam!”

But no more.

Someone’s got flu!

2009-08-19T03:36:00.003+05:30

Yes, you guessed it right. This concerns the H1N1 virus outbreak in India and the rest of the world and the hullabaloo it has shown as side-effects mainly in India as not so much in the rest of the world. It's not rare a sight people stepping out of their homes wearing masks or eyeing everyone who sneezes with suspicion, while instantly using their handkerchiefs to cover their nose and mouth. Neither is it rare to hit upon a discussion in hostels regarding the massive spread of the disease. It's actually funny to hear when people don't actually remember their GPA last semester but will describe to you, with marvelous accuracy, all the statistics, with the exact numbers, the mortality rate in percentage, the changes in the daily figures of deaths caused by swine flu, correlation parameters with other kinds of flu, the standard deviation comparison of all other countries affected and what not. Sometimes it just gets onto the nerves.

And the flu-patronizing people have some more reason to give no excuse to that mouth from blabbering. And once again, you guessed it right! A guy from our college has contracted the disease- the reports are now confirmed and official. Panic has struck people on campus and no one is leaving any chance to talk upon the subject and chip in with their expert comments. A sneeze as expected, now, draws a lot of expectations and a lot of actions which, does nothing more, gives a false sense of security. People have left no arena untouched to let people know that the first case of swine flu in the state started from our college. On second thoughts, isn't it great?! Our college will be in news for some days to come till the media doesn't get some other hot news- like Pervez Musharaff getting detained or Mayawati making more statues of her own. Make hay while the sun shines. Gtalk status messages, orkut taglines, tweets all carry the same message: "Swine flu in NIT Rourkela."

But should swine flu really attract so much of attention and panic. For a country like India, yes, it does. The situation, here, in India is different from that in US. Health-care facilities in India are not as good as it is in the US. That means the number of deaths per 10 people who have contracted the disease may be significantly more. And this fact does not go without reason. Taking examples from the home, the guy who has contracted the disease had, reportedly, been showing symptoms for a few days and had been to the hospital as well for checkup. Although, the doctor admitted that he was showing symptoms of the hyped flu let him off after taking his swab to send for tests. Later, it was confirmed yesterday that he had the flu when the test reports came back. The thing that is really baffling is that the hospital, instead of keeping the guy, who has been showing symptoms, let off and not kept under supervision. Secondly, newspaper reports say that hygiene and cleanliness is the way to avoid contracting the disease. If so, then the flu can have serious impacts in our country keeping in mind that the hygiene levels in our nation is far worse than that in western countries. This gives the virus easy means to spread further instead of getting contained. Now, no one can deny that global hygiene standards can be met anytime soon, if we ever meet it. Thirdly, in a country where the population is so great, it is next to inevitable to avoid large gatherings, more so in the case of a residential college. So, the probability graph of people coming in contact with the virus is somewhat skewed.

And thus, we are running out of N95 masks and all the panic results. But many of the precautions we are taking are unfounded and based on self beliefs which give a false sense of security. N95 masks cannot prevent the flu virus from getting in as their size is lesser than 3 microns, which is the size for which the masks are designed. So that implies that not everyone needs to wear the masks. Flu victims must compulsorily use it to avoid their mucous from getting into the air and the virus settling on hard surfaces where it can live for the maximum time. Those who want to avoid the virus should wash hands frequently and avoid large groups where someone might have been infected. And, according to the TOI article, the chances of the virus actually showing catastrophic results are not very high, but not very low as well, and in many cases the flu gets unnoticed and gets cured by itself.

So, there is no reason to panic to the levels of Mount Everest but at the same time take precautions. Hoping that the virus gets contained at NIT Rourkela and does not spread further. And the same for the rest of the nation and the world. Though one regret remains- the director has announced that no holidays will be given because of swine flu. And I had stared making plans!

The fight against Progress

2009-08-06T05:54:00.002+05:30

Ours is a funny country. Funnier are the people of this country, like you and me. But the funniest of all are the people who rule this nation - elected officials who are elected by people like you and me. Everyday we hear about innumerable policies being framed or being put forward by somebody in the House or Assembly for consideration to merge them into the current state of laws and guidelines. But what we encounter is something, which on even vague scrutiny, does not quite conform to what one should normally expect from a nation who is always super zealous for the introduction of new laws for better governance.

Take, for example, the recent spat over the Bundelkhand issue. Bundelkhand, which consists of districts of Jhansi, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Datia, Chattarpur etc. from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which was a prosperous region in the post-British era has been reduced to a region which can be described, without overdoing, as backward. There has been a constant call for a separate Bundelkhand state but all in futility. For the development of this region, and of course for political reasons as well, Rahul Gandhi and co., in their bid to strengthen Congress' hold and influence in UP and MP, drew the PM's attention to this region by demanding a separate Bundelkhand Development Authority (BDA). The role of BDA would be to plan and execute various action schemes for the development of this region. Everything was fine till the hue and cry started by the MP administration who called foul. According to the MP Assembly and the ruling party in the state, this proposal should be viewed as an intervention in state matters by the Centre and that it is nothing more than mere political game. It also stated that though they have been constantly pressing upon the Centre, since the time of UPA-1, for releasing of adequate funds to the state government for the development of this region but no action has been taken.

Now the problem here is, which is leading to the bottle neck, if the state government has always been so concerned about the development of this region then why is it opposing a novel idea that will ultimately achieve the goal- the progress of Bundelkhand. The answer is not difficult to apprehend. If the proposed BDA sees the light of the day and Bundelkhand witnesses some progress, then UPA's stance in MP and UP will become strong and this can prove dangerous in future state elections. Moreover, as BDA will be under the central government, the grant, of nearly Rs 4,900 crore, which the state would have received would have to be forgotten which will mean that the state ministers will not be able to stuff their pockets with as much money as they would have been able to do otherwise. In short, Bundelkhand was never the issue. The issue was, and is, the money. This fight against the formation of BDA by MP is nothing but a means to achieve self interests of the politicians- a fight against progress.

Test Post

2009-08-03T00:41:00.001+05:30

As I am planning to get back to blogging and post some serious stuff and that too regularly, I thought that it'd be great if I can publish my blogs without logging onto blogger and directly from my desktop without having to navigate to the blogger service on the web.

After doing some googling, I found out that this could specifically be done by using the native built-in feature in Microsoft Word 2007. So here I am trying to publish this post directly from MS Word. If this works fine, that is, without any formatting issues then, I think, I have found a great tool to help me keep blogging. I also had found an add-in for word from blogger for Word but that doesn't simply work. Researched that blogger has changed somewhat and no support has been channeled to the blogger add-in. Thus, had to discard it and moreover, it just wasn't even working.

I would find it more useful if someone informs about any such more things to help me blog from MS Word. Here the spell and grammar checks are much much better.

Let's hope that I do post regularly!

The "Sarkaari" prefix

2009-07-31T20:08:00.006+05:30

There is something about the word “Sarkaari” in our nation. Whether it be primary education, high school, college or job- the “saarkari” prefix is everywhere, but maybe implies different connotations in different situations. Even maybe different connotations for different people as well. In some cases, the word adds glamour to the entity in question while in cases, it makes it so derogatory that people shun it away.

The government of India has been, from time immemorial, has been pressing upon the need for compulsory primary education for inclusive and long term growth of the nation. Undoubtedly, this has been on the agenda of every passing government. Making primary education compulsory-way back in I-don’t-know-when- brought up the question of how it should be accomplished. Thus started the sarkaari primary education schools. These addressed the issue of imparting primary education even in remote villages by setting up schools for anyone who wishes to enroll and that too free of cost. But to what effect? Even after so many years, these schools have been maintaining the rather notorious reputation of non-availability of teachers, insufficient classrooms, bad to very bad overall infrastructure and a strict no-no for any parent who can afford any other non-sarkaari school- even it be little better. Even the free education couldn’t attract well-to-do people to send their children to these schools. Thus, at this point of time, the special prefix doesn’t not only work but also presents a grim picture of the whole affair.

The story doesn’t end here. Even sarkaari high schools fails to attract children from families who have the resources to send their wards to private ICSE schools who charge exorbitant fees when compared to the nominal fee of the sarkaari high schools. But the picture improves here a little bit. Some sarkaari high schools have been in vogue and they have been doing well. The scenario gradually moves to the bright light. But any progress is negated by the unavailability to a very great extent of high schools in rural, even in semi-urban areas. Whatever high schools are available in rural areas beat the quality even of primary education resulting, generally, in the closure or a colossal inefficient school governance. It seems that primary education receives much more thrust from the sarkaar as compared to high school. If statistics appearing in magazines and newspaper are to be believed then one gets surprised on finding that more than 60% of the students who go to schools for their primary education drop out and never attend high school. The fact that this percentage includes all the rural, semi-urban and urban population makes it all the more alarming as one can simply do the math by approximation and find out the rather very high and disturbing percentage of drop-outs in rural areas.

Now when we come to the college education, let’s talk about the professional colleges. Not an ounce of doubt here. Sarkaari professional colleges are regarded with utmost respect. They are the best colleges in the nation. This fact cannot be more exemplified when we consider the world’s most tough competition to get into colleges offering courses in technology and medicine.

Now, the thing I wonder here is what happens. When we have our minds conditioned against the sarkaar when it comes to education-primary and high school- why is it that we suddenly crave for the sarkaari tag for our professional education. I can’t believe that the private players are incapable to penetrate into this sector and compete and even win against the sarkaar as they have been doing so comfortably in primary and high school education. If we seek the answer, then we get to a very uncomfortable truth. Government has been and probably will be, giving more importance to this sector of education rather than primary education- it doesn’t matter what they write in their election manifestos or argue over in the Parliament and Assembly. The difficult part to understand is why it has been doing this. Even if we see from the election point of view, it will be more rewarding to spend crores of country money on primary education and high schools rather than on world class professional courses. The reach of primary education and high schools will always be more than professional colleges. More people are affected by this and thus a sudden philanthropic spending on this part will lead to eventual rise in the number of people in favour of the ruling party and thus increase the chances of winning the next election. When considered from the utility factor and overall betterment of the nation, more spending and correct spending on primary education is also desirable. This will help bridge the gap between the rich and the poor when it comes to education till class-12. Then such matters as reservations for backward classes due their non-access to quality education will be done away with. As will be the case in the infamous quota system.

I don’t say that the huge spending on world-class professional institutes in India be stopped. But a substantial increase in spending in primary education and high schools in rural and semi-urban areas will eventually also increase the quality of these professional institutes as the quota system will have to be done away with as it will lose all relevance. Then the politicians who do not believe in quota system will have a very strong point on tilting the balance to their side.

Picnic Photos

2009-01-20T21:47:00.004+05:30

Someone intelligent once said- "A picture speaks a thousand words."

Thanks to that supposedly intelligent person, he saved many people much labor of typing the words. With the ever expanding technology, people now can upload photos without going into writing so much stuff. You just upload the pics and ta...da it's done.

After the picnic post, people would really like to see what it exactly looked like and not only rely on my inexact description.

Just click here and you will be redirected.

Enjoy!

A day to be remembered forever...

2009-01-18T19:43:00.003+05:30

Everyone of us CSE guys who started their day at 5:30 in the morning on 17th Jan, 2009 now knows that it was a day which will stay afresh in out hearts for the rest of our lives. For it was our branch picnic!

After a great deal of struggle and several calls and abuses from neighbors and friends, people got out of their rajai with an effort so great as to match that of Everest climbers. For it was an unusually chilly morning and the sun had not shown upon yet. Getting to the toilet was equally painful as the walk on the corridors looked rather unusual and not to forget the thought that most other(non-CSE guys) were still in deep slumber with fascinations running wild in their dreams. Once reaching the wash basin was equally painful. No water and we had to brush our teeth in the bathrooms with the cold water kissing our naked legs.

All done, it was now time to get ready to move to the bus. Groups from Hall-2 moved to Hall-5 where the bus was suppossed to be boarded. We were to start at 6:30 but the loading of amenities required took more time than expected and it was nearly 8 o' clock when we finally started.

The journey from Rourkela to Khandadhara in the bus was kind of slow for most of the guys still had their dreams to complete. For those who were not sleeping, it was a journey which could be briefed as songs-music system-commenting on girls-burning of amplifier-suttas-music on phones and shuffles-bad road-suttas-sceninc view-and more suttas.

Finally we all reached the spot and each one of us was found appreciating the amazing waterfall which could be seen from the distance, listening to the sound of the water, having a look of the forest and bathing their feet in the stream which took away any fatigue which might have persisted even after seeing the waterfall.

After unloading stuff and a light breakfast, the crowd was more than eager to explore places and looking an appropraite place to take a bath in the ice-cold water. It ended after 2kms of mountaineering with short breaks and then reaching a good place. Then diving into the cold and rather little dangerous looking water in underwears and shorts while the girls rested themselves talking among them looking at the semi-naked bodies playing merrily in the stream and smoking on their suttas. The sight of the waterfall was a lovely one and the bath was the best part of all.

After all that, the trip downhill began when after every 5 mins someone was heard shouting... "Careful....Steady!" If anyone slipped, many would exclaim- "Careful idiot. Can't you walk a lil slower beep....beep....beep". Finally the downhill journey ended and a badmiton match awaited it followed by GPLs to the winner. Tasty food was laid out and it was just an excellent lunch.

So the picnic dusked with group pics, dancing and coffee.

The return bus journey was marked with shayaris,Antakshari and more masti. So we reached the hostel thus, and which marked the end of an unforgettable picnic- a once-in-a-lifetime picnic!!!

Long live the CSE masti. Long live friends and friendship!

Cheerfulness...

2008-12-28T23:04:00.004+05:30

It's now many times that I heard people tell me back at home-" Hey! What happened to your cheerfulness?"

Cheerfulness. Being cheerful. It seems to be a very long time when I was last genuinely cheerful. What happened? Have I changed? Dad keeps on saying- "Why so serious, son?"

No I haven't changed. At least I must say that for keeping my confidence boosted enough. The thing is, I think, is that I am now unable to project what's going on inside me or that I have learnt to mask it with a rather stoic look. It is really bad to realise that I have lost my cheerfulness.

Maybe it's the circumstances. Slogging through engineering and living in an environment and getting exposed to various circumstances and various flavors of people changes the way you look around yourself which in turn can affect oneself in some way or the other. There had been a lots of ups and downs in my life in the past 2.5 years(mainly downs,I'll say) and that maybe a reason for the way I behave. Chattering is one quality that I mainly miss now-a-days. One thing that engineering told me is to "shut up"- speak only when necessary or only when demanded. I now find it difficult(in fact very difficult) to start a conversation with somebody with whom I do not share my interests. Anyways, someone had once told me, I remember- "Tum bahaut bolte ho". I really took that(though unknowingly) and now I am sure that I will not, or rather, can not give him any reason to tell me that.

In the meantime, I am working to improve on my cheerfulness and make myself like before... more merry and more cheerful. Anyways, who doesn't like to be cheerful... at least chicks like cheerful guys, or so am I told.

On higher education

2008-10-14T22:33:00.003+05:30

Lately, the buzz word among the students have been "higher-education". I have been facing the same questions from various people many times-"Are you preparing for some exams next year?" By this, they basically mean three things- CAT/GRE/GATE in that order of preference. Though I hate being asked this question repeatedly and again, I still mantain composure and answer frankly- "Not as of now". As of now...hmm, does this mean I may prepare in the near future? I cannot answer this question.

Seriously speaking, seeing a lot many people interested in further education(and not to forget the profs emphasising as well) makes me re-think what I had decided once- No further education. Was this BTech any less that I want to go for more? Although my re-thinking on this topic doesn't generate any fruitful results but it makes me think about what other people might be thinking.

Some obvious reasons can be-

Interest in learning more.
Branding themselves with a higher degree of education.
Increased remuneration expectation. Looking at the current market situation, the starting salaries will be going down by one level.
Parents' pressurising for going for higher studies.

None of these reasons seem to be very lucrative to me. Many people(infact most of us) doesn't think once before making a statement like- Engineering was a waste of time. Most of us think so and voice our feelings that we are learning nothing in college. If this is case and reason to go for higher studies, then what guarantees that we will not say the same thing there as well.

Coming to the salary part, I admit,yes, the starting salaries will no doubt decrease. But it is not only the case here. Even if one goes for higher studies, there as well the starting salaries will be less by one level. Although greater than what one will get as an undergraduate, but there is no reason to beleive that the span of 2 yrs of study will be a proper time-investment and will demand a more hike than the same time spent in industry.

But I do not think that going for higher education is a bad idea-never thought so. This post is all about me and my reasons for re-thinking about it. Even after some musing upon the topic, I could not reach a concrete opinion- I still have to re-think. But for all those going for higher studies all I got to say- Work hard and you will make it!

A bad day!

2008-08-30T01:28:00.002+05:30

The past few days- two to name it- hasnt been good for me. Some very subtle things had happened which really turned out to be sensitive things and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

First thing, I am selected by Microsoft as the Microsoft Student Partner for our institute. As part of the work I am supposed to lead a club which will deal with popularising MS technologies in the campus. There was already a MS club in the college for the past one year. As the student partner I assumed that now it would be my duty to lead that club. But when I had a talk with the student convener of the club, there arose many complications- I prefer to call it administrative hurdles. I was not allowed to lead the club because the student convener tells me that he is supposed to be the head of the club -as discussed with MS last year. That I would be a high priority member of the club but the administrative decisions will be taken by him. As said to me by MS, the student partner is the person who is the most close to MS from a campus-so that should be me. But it was opposed. This not only frustrated me but also gave me an insight that the club was a prime platform for "playing politics". I have lost all respect to this club but I ought to be a member of the club. And so will I. But I will never have any affinity for it.Nonetheless the discussion ended in a peaceful note- I will say that I didnt like the tone of the student convener- and I had written to MS for clear divison of the responsibilities incase the student convener has to be retained as the head of the club.

Second thing, I got inducted into another club, CyberSOFT club which deals with IT advancements of the institute. It was a good thing. But when I saw the list of the people who were selected I realised the induction process was a joke. Good people were chucked away and some people who didnt deserve were selected in place of them. Moreover, I attended the first meeting of the club in which there was an election to decide the position-holders in the club. Again seeing the way it was being held, I would like to call it illogical to me. Some rules were set up which no doubt, was not for the welfare of the club. Clearly, I concluded the club was altogether crap and I lost my interest.

Third thing and the thing that hurt me the most. Something happened-which even I am sure of- in our Sun club which led to the disappointment of one of my closest friends and he is now leaving the club. One thing I would like to say is that of all the clubs I have seen, I can say with certainity that the workings of the Sun club is the best. One reason for this may be that over time all the Sun club members have become best pals and so this promotes transparency and smooth working. Even we are very close to our juniors in the club. But something had happened, which I still have no clear idea of, which disappointed a junior and my friend, Subhankar. We at Sun club had an idea that in no case our juniors should feel left out or disappointed on anything.

Final thing, I will not refrain from saying that I hate this college. Even if you do something which is beneficial for the student community you are being opposed by the administration. As part of Sun club activities, we are conducting Java classes for the first years to bring them soon to mainstream programming leaving the traditional programming using C/C++. But our HOD told me that whatever we are doing is "bullshit"- he used this term and that it is not beneficial to the first years. According to him, we should not be teaching Java but should supplement them by re-teaching them what they are already studying as part of their syllabus. According to me, its the duty of the college to do that and not ours. I told this to him but this got him infuriated and he told many more illogical things and humiliated me. I hated that person from the very beginning but after this incident I hate him so much that I wouldnt give him a drop of water even when he is dying of thirst. I do not understand why incapable people get angry when someone challenges them in their area. But I dont care anymore. He can do no more harm to me and so I dont care.

I hope things get better. And the first thing that I want to fall in place is the matter with Subhankar.

Back here...

2008-07-20T19:53:00.002+05:30

Finally the seemingly never-ending summer vactions drew to an end. Coming back from home after such a long time leaves some nostalgia... home, a place where everything is so cosy that you dont need to do anything. No tension what's cooked today(here we even the thought of thinking what's offered in the mess tonight makes me sick). No tension what will I be wearing today(here what do I have that's clean enough that I can wear today to college).

Anyways there are postives and negatives to everything. At home I get bored coz I dont have anything to do and here I have so much so that I wish a day would be some longer than 24 hours. Now that I have come to hostel and settled my room-had a change of hostel which in itself is such a big task but thats a different post-I am getting back to normal life. The last day was all about masti-all friends after long time and all had so much to say. Everyone narrating not what happened in the holidays but how they missed hostel. I had only one word to describe this -Wow! I love it... All the PJs... the comments on each other... swearing to each other(ofcourse, friendly)... wow...I love the hostel life!!!

Just one word to all my friends... Lets rock on guys as we do!

Skyrocketing of college fees

2008-07-08T20:36:00.002+05:30

Anyone who think that the fee in Government colleges are very nominal...get your facts straight. Our college fees have been increasing every year and this year it just skyrocketed like anything. Seems that the annual grant from the government has been decreased manifold and the burden falls on the pockets of the students' parents or else it is corruption to slice out more money from students fees and use it in visiting honeymoon destinations by the sucking Director.

The fees have just been revised for the third time for this semester. Now its hard to believe that all these revisions are for something useful-coz cropping up of useful things usually takes time- making me believe that this is to fill the deep pockets of the corrupted administration. But TII(This Is India) . And the commoners can do nothing but just be preys to the vultures.

Huh...useless post,doesnt make any difference.

Christening of halls...

2008-07-04T20:55:00.002+05:30

Guess what! The college authorities having nothing to do suddenly decided that they should do something.And after spending lot of time finding to do something(something which is useless and would not require any effort) they...I mean which has got no importance and doing that requires wastage of resources and time,they finally came up with a lifetime idea of renaming the halls of residence. We had good names from Hall-1 to Hall-7,which made it easy to remember and systematic.

But I dont know which demon visited that Director Sarangi at night and whispered in his ears,with a sweet chime,this idea which is not desirable at the first place but also adds to confusion. Now our halls are known by names of eminent scientists and industrialist...half of them I has never heard(and they call them famous)...all Indian...like industrialists from other nations are not worthy of it. Now whenever a notice comes up regarding some hall,it has the name mentioned rather than the number,then I got to ask someone...Abey yeh kaun sa hall hain? He replies- Pata nahin yaar...jake director ki ## ko puuch!

This leads to frustation at times.I tried to remember the names but I get confused. But as for the student community the halls are still 1 to 7 and I think it will be atleast for some 2-3 years to come.

My list of crushes...

2008-06-08T22:20:00.003+05:30

Whao! Its terrible to be back to blogging.I almost forgot what's a blog...he he... Ann now when I am here,some time for confessions. Yeah,I am a serious despo. Now thats not my fault- look, I am 20(uhhh....19!),basically good-natured,not bad looking,in a good college...but still single and you won't beleive it(neither do I) havent had a single girlfriend till date. Had many crushes,some which lasted years and some lasted minutes. Let me recount those...what you not interested??? whats the f-word!

The crushes are in chronological order.(Names have been changed)
Crush no-1:I still remember that day(I mean that's to tell...now come on,you expecting me to remember the date???).I was then in Std.5...yes u read it correct. It was the recess time. I had finished eating and then suddenly my friend,Deepak asked me-"Do you like a girl?" I was shocked to hear that.This was my first encounter to "that" thing. Never before had I thought like that.I answered-"No one." I thought he would insist but he didnt.He must have thought that I must have been a newbie in the area-and that was true! I brooded over that for quite a few days and my hormones started running wild-I still remember those days. One day in the class from the blue,I noticed Priya I remember it was the Science class)...she was sitting leg over leg(the way girls sit).Her skirt was not in a "very-good" position and her legs(I mean the part of legs which normally isnt) was visible. I felt something and there went the first crush-Priya! I never told her but eventually she came to know and refused-my god!! was that refusal??? The crush didnt last after the refusal and till then it was nearly an year old...not a bad start.A year's continuation was good.

Crush no-2: Her name was Gayatri.This wasnt any eventful.I coudnt realise when and how it happened and never acknowleged it. But it happened. Somewhere around std.8! Lets see the next one.

Crush no-3: Now I am a youngster!I should have a girlfriend...I had thought. Class 11!The ripe time for "things" to happen. I was desperately looking for someone. There she was. Dressed in a black skirt and a red top on which was written "Bebe" in glittering letters. She looked amazing. I had to impress her. I was one of the boys whom everyone had known as just too smart at studies and someone as highly intelligent. No one had thought I could like a girl from out junior college... they thought my expectations were much higher. And so while my friends went around with girls I was left alone. I remember that feeling...uh,why had I to be so smart? But here she was. Her name was Shilpa(I christened her Pari). And within a day, everybody of our section came to know about this. Some exclaimed-What!Siddharth!Girl!Here!!! And whats more-the name Pari became popular as became the girl. I didnt tell her. And after some days her part was over.Maybe 2 weeks. After some days,some friends-who knew her well- told me that she is eyeing.I dismissed the matter. Huh!IIT preparation!

Crush no-4: I was in Kota...have become a complete nerd...nothing apart from studying. And no girls in my batch. After the re-tests my batch was changed from Y2 to X9. It was the month of December. I reached Bansal classes,collected the study material for the day and lined up for waiting to get into the class. Someone passed by. Just for curiousity I turned back. A girl dressed in a rough jeans,a red woolen jacket and a pink mufler.Damn the cold was pinching. She removed her mufler from her face.And I saw her.Oh my god...I couldnt beleive it.She was from my batch.I had seen her before but never seen her.She looked amazing.I didnt know her name. That day,and the day following,and the day following,I sat behind her trying to strike a conversation but failed. Eventually with all the study-pressure I forgot her within a week...but I must say...she was quite a damsel.I feel sorry to lose her.Only remembrance...Vibhuti!

Crush no-5: I was at my brother's place in Delhi. It was May after my IIT and AIEEE exams. Gayatri reappeared in scence. Though we had regular contacts there was nothing between us in particular. Everything was cumulating,I suppose! I won't call this a crush...it was,yes love! I realised it sometime. Had decided to tell her once I get back to my homeplace. But before that she told me she had a boyfriend and there finished my story! The loss was enchanced by my failure at IIT-JEE. The two biggest failures of my life-I call that. I thought of her for the next 1 year as still refresh and then masked it with my false pretentions that "I am so jolly". I still have a soft corner for her and still feel sad when I am writing about her. But I will never ever happen that love to surface.Its buried deep inside...it;ll never out.Gayatri,it will never come out.

Crush no-6: It was my first day in NIT Rourkela.Physics lab.Though heart-brokean after the Gayatri incident but boys will be boys. There she was. Rima.In a suit,trying to decipher what the f-word is the lab about. I was flat at her first sight. But too much competition!!! I lost and there was also the broken heart. Some 3 weeks.

Crush no-7: It was 2nd semester.January.I dont know-but winters make girls more beautiful. Rima again! Dressed in red(a little gliterring) sweater there she stood infront of the department. Flat again.Same story again.Dismissed it.Lack of ability.Some 3 weeks again.

Crush no-8: 3rd semester.Red suit.Sleveless. Flawless skin. Same story.Same girl.Rima-you are just too much.

Crush no-9: Yes,you guessed it right.4th semester.Same story.Same girl.

End of story!
Of all that has happened,Gayatri will be the eternal one.I consider that to be my firt love.Lost! B
But but but...in a month 5th semester.And you never know,maybe this time.Rima are you listening???

Those great days...

2008-03-18T20:52:00.002+05:30

Those great days...when I was away from this place and with my relatives.Yes, it was my sister's engagement and brother's wedding. 10 days of unadulterated masti and fun made the days pass as moments leaving behind another beautiful chapter in my life. I want to thank God 'coz I consider myself to be so lucky to spend sucj wonderful moments and having such great people with me... sitting with me at night doing nothing but simply talking nonsense and laughing at each other's PJs... dancing with me to the tunes of those enchanting and intoxicating days. I am now very tired after those 10 days but all that which will always come to my mind when I think of those days is not the tiredeness but the golden moments spent....

Now I am immensely missing everyone and all my heart craves is that I could turn back time and relive those moments where the only thing which prevailed was pure love! Thank you god for making me so lucky that I had a chance to spend such wonderful time.

Uffff....A break at last!

2008-03-07T19:17:00.002+05:30

Tomorrow I am fleeing away from this place...thank God.After all the mid-sem tensions and the boring,useless classes, it was highly desirable to have a break. And what break can be better than attending the engagement of my sister and cousin's wedding.Thank god,both coincidentally happenned at the same time or else this fucking college would never have allowed me to go twice.

Looking eagerly for pure fun and some other potentialities as well ;)

Are teenage boys really one-dimensional horny liars?

2008-03-02T00:42:00.002+05:30

Hey,I got this "funny" article of NewYork times here. I loved the article from the title to the footnote. Though I am no more a teenager-sad:(-still I can do relate to the subject...atleast I feel like a teenager! "Peeking inside the mind of the boy dating your daughter" goes the title-isn't that makes it compulsively readable for everyone from a teenage boy/girl to moms and dads.

It speaks about a study which revealed that teenage boys(hereafter referred to as horny liars) dont get into a relationship just coz they have "only" sex in their minds exactly-what bastards the subjets of the survey were(kidding!). It says they care about relationships...they "like the other person". And there are also comments from "more responsible and truthful" adults who say that the survey only further "strengthens their conviction about the horny liars".

Well I see!!!Hmmm.... who is correct?? As I am no more a horny liar as well as not the "truthful" adult,I consider myself to be the best person who can give an absolutely unbiased judgement. Are boys really the thought to be stereotype persons and all they have on their mind is sex. I'll say to some extent this is true. Well even after teenage(in India)-basically who I see now-a-days here want to have a girlfriend is coz they wanna get laid. They just wanna experience it and not to forget the ultimate desire of losing virginity before graduation-huh!but we are the unlucky ones,I suppose...

But.But.But.Not everyone is like that.There are boys who care about relationships...I have known them and believe me they are into the relationship coz they like the other person. It may lead to sex but its not the objective(or atleast what I know). And there are also boys who got into a relationship coz of "the" objective but landed into it permanently and in fact,started loving the girl. I remember my room-mate had told me in the first year-"Dude,you get into with a girl coz you wanna get laid but then after some time you get attached to her emotionally and then its no more the same". When he told his, he was into a relation that time and still into it. What will you say to that?

So basically its wrong to make any generalisation. And anyways, whats their to talk about? Everyone has had that phase of hormonal changes and those "testosterone-fueled" days-so whats the big deal to discuss about it...Things will remain the same...So all you horny liars-keep rocking!!!

Yet another Valentine's!

2008-02-13T21:09:00.002+05:30

The chill's still in the air and the whole world is dancing to the immortal and frangrant air of love. The air feels different...along with the warm winds fighting to get in and the last remains of chill trying their best to survive,there is yet another element which gives the X-factor-love! Yes love is unexplained coz it needs no explaination,love just happens coz there is no need for it to justify... yes,it is love!

Everyone rejoicing their love and here is a person sitting and wondering what is so special about this day.Do you need a special day for celebrating your love. Love is eternal-a bliss.Do you need a day to remind or celebrate it?Being in love and loving in itself is the biggest celebration of love. Still then we celebrate love on a particular day-not ruling out the fact that we love each day and thus are celebrating it anyways.

Today after logging into gtalk, I saw a variety of status messages from different ppl.Some include-

sirf tanhaiyan hain...(Obviously loved and lost and still repenting-a species not to be discussed)
I love the one you know who!!! (Couldnt make out what was it all about)
No valentines day at NITRkl...Bharat ki sanskriti kharab kar di hain...(Commented later)
There are thousands of feelings that can be expressed in thousands of words and few which cannot be expressed in thousands of words...(Bad vocabulary I'll say!)
V-day...dihave pe mat jao apni akal lagao(What's this?)
For all those who are single....Happy Independence day!(This was the status msg of the most popular guy of the collg-so no comments!)

I spent quite a time wondering about the "sanskriti" wala status msg. Is that true? Is being in love not in our culture or sanskriti. Does our sanskriti forbid us from loving others. Well I am one of those ppl who beleive that culture is culture.No culture is bad or good-those are just two culture. People talk of "American culture" which I dont like. Just coz you have your own culture that doesnt mean that you have got a license to speak bad about other cultures. I just pity upon the choti soch of Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal who have no work other that troubling people...why cant they mind their own business... Should we conclude that our culture forbids us to love or forbids us from celebratinng love? None of these seem apt to me...

Anyways Valentines in the air and I wish a Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. And as I log off and get along with studies, I write this status msg on gtalk-

"All our young lives we search for someone to love. Someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope. All the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, there's someone perfect who might be searching for us. "

The incredibly strong and "crap" firewall...

2008-02-02T00:24:00.000+05:30

Cyberoam-our insti firewall which monitors all our activities on net whether be it from the college or the hostel. It restricts everything-you name it. It not only monitors how many hours we use the net per week-fucks you if you use more than 30 hours a week-but also blocks nearly 75% of the websites on the web. No not only social networking websites like orkut or websites with objectionable contents but also rapid share or and P2P.

I can understand that P2P can be used for cyber crime but then blocking it means you are not allowed to download ebooks which are either not easily available or else too costly for any student to buy but easily available. i dont know whether the ebooks from rapidshare are legal or not but does it make any difference if we are using that for learning-I mean who doesnt. Cyber crime in India is so prevailing and open that it is almost impossible to curb it.Just look at this- how many of home users have a registered version of Windows?

Today I was trying to download a Data Structure book on Java...so that I can finally study Data Structures...though we had the subject last sem,the prof was crap and we didnt learn anything-we expect one or two people who were sincere enough! But to my surprise and quite to my annoyance I was forbidden to do so.I always thought that an institute is a place where student advancement is placed before everything else but here the processes being in their right place is paid more attention.If I start writing about the non-desirable things that happen here to curb students' enthu then probably I will eat away all the space available on the Web.

I just hope that someone from the administration sees this post and makes necessary and ofcourse desirable changes to the existing firewall-I dont know but I may be rustricated if someone's reads this and oh yeah!punsihing students for little reasons is not alien to our insti...

Till it gets fixed,rock on guys...the insti itself doent want we should study so what's the fuck if we dont?

Aaja Nachle!

2008-01-26T23:02:00.000+05:30

Hey,I saw the movie Aaja Nachle and couldnt stop myself from writing about it...I mean I just loved the movie.I dont know whether people liked it or not but it doesnt make any difference. And I loved Madhuri Dixit-the best dancer,the best actress ever and forever...!!!

I loved the theatre concept in the movie. I mean I havent seen a theatre ever and I had thought that it was boring but after seeing this movie, I am just waiting for such a chance. What dances,what songs and what emotions...sometimes a dance brings out the emotions which would take a lifetime to show by verbal communication... and what an apt title... after seeing the movie I felt like dancing on the title song-and shhh....here's a secret...I did dance!!!-uhh,that was not to be disclosed!!!

I will say whoever has not seen the movie must see it. I cant say whether you will like it or not but yes this movie is a Hindi movie and I love Bollywood. There's dance,love,emotions everything...

So guys,lets rock it...Aaja Nachle!

Resolutions for the new year!

2007-12-25T22:48:00.000+05:30

As Christmas is going to set, here is a person who thinks of the coming year. He dreams of the new year and thinks of all the happy things which could happen.May be he would suddenly become somebody known in the world of technology,maybe he would suddenly emerge as a genius of his age or maybe he would find his love in this new year!Whatever happen with him,that is just a matter of time but to make his world a little bit more disciplined or more adhering to the norms accepted,he is ready to lose his weirdness a little bit and tries to see the world more pratically.He is buderned with this mundane life where he has no choice of his own but to do what others expect him to and not what he wants to.And as a first step in achieving that,he makes some resolutions. Lets listen from him...

I will not sleep in the Maths class.
I will make notes of the class lectures.
I will get up early everyday-that is around 7:30 am.
I will spend lesser time sleeping.
I will not disturb my neighbors with my style of listening music.

But hey wait,didnt this person made the same resolutions last year!

Engineering!

2007-12-15T15:57:00.000+05:30

Hey,I got something really rib-tickling somewhere and I will put it up on my blog.Though there may be some points which only NITRians can understand but still then its fun reading it.Here it goes.....

1. Some Basic definitions....

Engineering College : Place where you're punished for getting good HSC marks.
Senior : Guy who got ragged as junior and wanna get some payback...
Fresher : Guy who has to ask where the canteen is...
Really Dumb Fresher : Guy who asks a senior where the canteen is.
Really Really Dumb fresher : Guy who follows the senior to the canteen.
Ragging : The unfortunate fate of the previous idiot.
Evasive action : Watch the juniors when any seniors come nearby. (No one runs faster than a fresher. NO ONE.)
Lectures : Waste of time. Physical presence is a must...only meant for sleeping, completing assignments & general TP.
Tuitions : What you take when you don't waste enough time....
Professor : Person paid to put students to sleep.
Vernacular Prof : Unusual variant of previous individual who comes packaged with his own brand of English ("Now you check me our journal." "You Out get from class." "Are you Understand, Beta?" ).
Practicals : 60 to 90 minutes in which you watch the girls do your experiment, and usually destroy a considerable array of lab equipment.
Hopeless Practical : The practical in which there are no girls in your group simply look blankly at each other, fiddle with the equipment, and finally copy the readings.(from the girls of course...).

2. The Truth about exams....

Irony : The guy who copied your entire paper passes and you flunk.
Critical Calculation : Summing up the marks you attempted worth in the exam...
Re-verification : A cruel joke. (results of which come after you give the Back exam).

3. An engineer's 10 engineering commandments of Life

1. Thou shalt study only during the preparatory leave.
2. Thou shalt never write thy assignments thyself.
3. Thou shalt begin writing thy journals only on the morning of submission.
4. Thou shalt treat all marks above 40 as bonus.
5. Thou shalt have at least 70 per cent attendance in the canteen.
6. Thou shalt pass GRACEfully.
7. Thou shalt always be an OUTstanding student.
8. Thou shalt give thy attendance without being present...PROXY is a MUST
9. If thou can't convince them , confuse them.10. Thou shalt start every sentence with a four-lettered word.

Engineers Anthem:
Hum Honge All Clear, Honge All Clear, Honge All Clear Ek Din, HO-HO, Mann me hai vishwas, pura hai vishwas, hum honge all clear ek din.

Top two Engineering Rumors:
1."Did you hear the results are being put up today at 5:30pm''
2."Did you hear the exams are postponed by two weeks, its been put up at BACKPOST"

The most important criteria while selecting an engineering college:
Girl to Boy ratio ( if more than0 .025% then that college is engineers dream come true)

Engineers at work:
Assignments solved by one and then carrying out mass transfer operations throughout the class
The most important machine for Engineers:
Xerox Machine (Without which assignment completion wouldn't be possible)
The most important table in an Engineer's House:
The glass table ( to carry out Toppo operations, during Night Duty.)
The only queue an Engineer is familiar with:
Submission Queue
An Engineer's favourite watch:
Bird Watching !
Common Engineering Dialogues after a paper:
'What is this yaar, more than 70% of the paper was out of the syllabus'
'This was the worst paper set in the entire engineering history'

4. Feeling after Completing Engineering:
Survived Engineering !!!!!!!!!!!

Predictions for the coming year!

2007-12-04T21:04:00.000+05:30

Hey,did I write about this earlier...I no longer use MS Office suiteIf you don't know there exists an alternative to it. Open Office!!! Believe me its worth givign a try and what's good is that it's free... Now you have to buy the products or go for pirated products(which is obviously evil!-dont mind I am now-a-days somewhat into the converstaion between Good and Evil!). Try using it.Free download availabe at OpenOfice.org.

What's the best thing I like about OpenOffice is the ODF(open doucument format type)...which means that it could be edited by any product vendor compiling to the open ISO standards.It also allows to save files in the MS format for the people who are religiously adhered to MS products(which are by no standards less-expect if you forget its inability to let you save in the ODF format).The number of downloads of OpenOffice which are increasing clearly shows that OpenOffice will become very popular in a short time. Now here are the predictions for the coming year-

PC manufacturers will put OpenOffice on their machines.
OpenOffice downloads will grow by 50%.
The ODF format will be supported by Microsoft products after continuing industry support.

Whether or not these predictions come true only time will tell. Till then all you fellas just go and try the OpenOffice...Believe me it will not be a bad experince.The comparison for me goes here- In MS Office you pay and get and use it the way Microsoft likes.But in OpenOffice,you do not pay but get and use the way you like.Today the customer knows he is the king-no one needs to tell him!

Why I quit gmail?

2007-12-03T22:58:00.000+05:30

Today if I ask anyone,any dumb person,like you that which is the company today that makes the greatest impact to the online world,then the obvious answer is Google(Did I hear you say Microsoft?-making my conviction even stronger about you). Yes you see it is Google.Everybody now uses gmail,gtalk and you can even find the dead in orkut...fools!

Have you ever used gamil.Your answer probably would-"Oh gmail,thats the best inbox service I have ever seen.I dont pass a single day without logging into it".Some would say-"I feel handicapped without gmail". Some others would say-"Gmail has changed the way I read and send emails today".If you ask me,I will say-"It sucks.And big time."

Over the past few days,I have been irritated by the use of gmail-so much so that I have quit using it.Be patient.This great person will let you know why...Usually the first thing I do when I come online is open hotmail...thats what I use the most.After that I open gmail and after submitting my username and password,I minimize the window and continue my work on hotmail.But as soon as it gets logged on,its window pops...pop!And that is irritation.Why do you think that I have no other more important work than checking my gmail inbox.This always happens and I have sick of it.Arey....I may be at something important at the other website or reading the lovely email from my girlfriend,this bugger bugs me with the pop-up.Its too irritating.I quit gmail.

The next thing I will do after posting this post is to check whether I can redirect emails from my gmail inbox to my hotmail inbox.If I will be successful,then ooh I will be really happy or else I will have to continue using gmail for some more days till I makeshift to my hotmail.

Back at home

2007-12-02T19:57:00.000+05:30

Finally after a century...it really seemed like one this time... 3rd semester is over.To speak about exams,I must say I screwed them up.But I hope I get decent grades if not the big ones.

There has been nothing to write much coz I have something to write only when I am at college.Hey,you know what,time stops at my home...and you thought it never did.Idiot!

Well,nothing to write this time...damn.If something happens I will write about it.Till then please dont bug me...

The WebSpace problem...

2007-11-11T22:07:00.017+05:30

I was just googling through some pages and came along the site for the Sun Club of IIT Kanpur.I just went through their activities.After seeing the activities they have conducted and are conducting I think we are far behind.They have already started a workshop on Java...though this is not a big deal..we will be starting a workshop on Java next semester.

What hurt me was that they have an internal site for the Sun club.We had also been trying to get some space for us in our intranet but it had not worked the way we have thought it would.But I think we will be getting some space soon.

What's great in the IITK website is that they are uploading the lecture notes of their Java workshop.Great news for us as well...we could re-use those for ours...!!!

More news coming up this Wednesday...

The Divali Dhamaka!

2007-11-11T00:42:00.024+05:30

Happy Divali to all of you.I hope you had a blast on this Divali as I had one.

Thi was my first Divali at college(Last year I had gone home for Divali and now I realise I had missed anopther fantastic day at college).

More cannot be said about the celebration...it's kind of private and it will be good for everyone if I dont disclose what things happen on Divali night.The only thing that can be said is that it ended with a lavish dinner at Madhuban which was sponsored by a final year senior.The people who were there were...myself,the final yr senior,Bibhu(Bhai) a third yr guy and three first year guys... well you can now guess where the fun was...

This was the fun part.There was also a dark side of this day which hurt me too much.I came to know the reality of many things and some people whom I had considered dear.I do not want to remind those things all again but I must say I learnt a lesson-One must be very careful while judging people.

But all's well that ends well...and my Divali was a fantastic one...Thanks to Bibhu Bhai...you are the best senior one could ever have!I will miss you throughout my college days and even after that...Be sure to be in contact with me always.

The NetBeans Workshop

2007-11-08T21:01:00.000+05:30

We had a workshop on how to use NetBeans IDE(IDE for Java).The presentation and demo was presented by Prabit and me.While Prabit spoke about some features now and then while I was showing how to use NetBeans.We showed how to make a login applet.

Many other activities has happened during this time which had kept me busy.For details see Prabit's blog.

More news coming up...!

NIT Rourkela's Sun club

2007-10-26T19:02:00.001+05:30

I havent been writing for a long time.The main reason was that I had nothing to write about.Life was just going on with no new surprises.But now I have got something to write and hence forth this blog will be dedicated for that.

Sun microsystems has recently opened many campus clubs in major engineering institutes-ditto in our institute! Ok let me first of all speak about how it was all setup.This,I intend,to do in brief and are listed below as points.

A campus ambassador was selected by the Sun people through a telephonic interview. Result-Prabit Mishra(3rd Year,CSE).
A campus club intended to be set up.
CV submission by students followed by interview of shortlisted ones.
Sun club formation at NIT,Rourkela.

So this way it all happened and me got into this Sun club. Really speaking this has been fantastic and at the same time exhausting as well.We have been intending to conduct tech-demos for awarness about open-source and other Sun technologies.Till now we are in the planning stage and nothing has been started in the true sense but we will be starting in a big way...just we want that the respoonse comes good and the hard work that we have been putting since the last few days pays.

Now we are in the lab which has been assigned to us and trying to install Solaris(OS).It has been showing some problems when some of us tried installing it on our PCs.Lets see what comes out of today's work.

And yes,today was also a workshop by TCS ppl on Information Security which I had attended.It was sort of good,I will say...not much of technical things just thrown to sound hi-fi but at the same time informative.It was kept on a basic level so as everyone to understand and appreciate.It was a new topic for all of us and most of us appreciated the information which was delivered in the presentation.

All this for today.Rest after some days.Expect more on Sun Club!

Note-Please overlook the typo mistakes,I really dont have the courage to go thru the post once again...All pardons for this!

What is the drive...?

2007-07-17T20:40:00.000+05:30

Let me start by making this statment-I am not impressed by grade-points,however high you name... Seriously,it dosen't give me the kick.By this,I ofcourse don't mean to say that they are not important,but it is not at all that I hunt for.And this dosen't push to strive more.

What is it then?The answer right now is:I don't know.I do have a vague idea but if someone says me to pinpoint it,I fall back.I have had lots of arguments many-a-time sometimes with my college-friends or other friends from different colleges.They do ask me(with good intentions ofcourse)what do I consider more worthy and that ought to drive someone more than GPA does...I fumble for answers.Those who know me well,know that I have always had views differnt from others and I always made it a point to voice them-even though they may not taken in a nice way-and think I always make up my mind on a thing very soon and draw conclusions.I say only this that good GPAs are always good to see as laptops are, but they are not as solid as desktops-forgive my comparisons!!All I say them is to do something more meaningful.

But what is it?This is the question that has been haunting me and I am unable to find any answer to this.What is that....is it doing projects,learning more things that what they teach us in college...what is it?

I don't know what is it...but there must be something.Even after a year in college I haven't yet found that thing which really attracts me,is lucrative enough.I don't know what I will be doing after college or even what I want to do?

The only thing that I can figure out about that thing is-It is something more meaningful.

Quote of a lifetime...

2007-07-11T23:53:00.000+05:30

Be a first rate version of yourself,not a second rate version of someone else.

What a shame...

2007-07-01T23:01:00.000+05:30

Just got this article while browsinn through about IITs which was published by JAM Magazine and may be written by a useless person and thankfully in the IITs...I am extremely happy that this person made to the IITs-if making into one is considered a pride-now I thank I didnt made into one.

Just read the story and do come back-
http://www.jammag.com/campus/iit/iitdream.htm#perceive

Now that you may have read it...
I first read this and just this irritated me at first and then at second thought I couldn't stop laughing...here it is....

There are predominantly three categories of non-IITians.
WORSHIPPERS
Those under the misconception that "IIT is heaven and IITians are Gods." Perhaps the only sources of solace to the IITians(!?!), the constant eulogising by these people can nevertheless get on one's nerves sometimes.
PERSECUTORS
The "just missed IIT" types who, at every opportunity, try to prove why they or their college is one step above IIT in some respect or the other. Undoubtedly, a species to be ignored, if not avoided.
ATHEISTS
Those who can’t distinguish between IIT and ITI. Their ignorance provides comic relief to many IITians. The most comfortable group to be around with.

First of all as if being a non-IITian(now I even hate writing IIT in capitals-but I dont want to undermine what mark IITs have made)!!! Well put me in the second group....I missed IIT-JEE narrowly... But after entering NIT,Rkl I never had said-leave alone proving-that my insti is better than any IIT...Fools do that-atleast I havent found anyone in my insti doing that. Yes, we do admit that IITs are undoutedly better than any engineering college in India.

In the other pages there in the article I find ppl boasting coz they use short-cuts...LH(Ladies hall), CC(computer center) etc. Dear IITians there is also a world outside IITs and every college does that-got me right?I think you cant...or you dont want to...

Again,I find ppl boast coz they listen to Pink Floyd,consume drugs and they see Pondy...I dont think these are something to be proud of ...But these things happen in other colleges but they dont think this is something to boast of and so dont make it public... As far as listening to Rock music is concerned, ppl from our insti when had gone to IIT,Kgp they found that there were infact less rock-followers than in our college-it was obvious during the rock-night but we dont consider it to be something to boast of... Liking a particular kind of music depends on individual choice and has nothing to do with aptitude.

Lastly, this surprising fact that was mentioned that the quality of IITians is diminishing and this is visible coz the choice of music is shifting from Pink Floyd to hindi film songs-uhmmm,I dont have to comment on that.... And I think the guy who had written that,perhaps,he knows only about Pink Floyd-maybe too much impressed by Five Point Someone!!

Ha!If this is what represents the general attitude of the IITians then I am so lucky not to be one of these dumb-headed fellows...I find better ppl who are more sensible in our insti.And one thing to the editor of JAM,publishing anything about IITs will not see the magazine more-I think you must know that.

Doesn't seem like holidays!

2007-06-23T17:40:00.000+05:30

I mean this...these holidays no more are like holidays anymore.Let me make a statement -After entering college,I have started despising holidays!Its true...yes,it is!

But after returning from Bhubansewar its no more the same holidays-in the way it had started... I am no more getting bored at home-I have to do something or other...in this way i keep myself busy all day long and so this way I keep boredom a mile away from me.Part of this achivement is attributed to my sister(who have come for a few days) and Nani(my mother's mother) with whom spending time is really wonderful.

But the major time is taken away by Java-I keep studying for long hours-thinking and experimenting-all I have to say that Java is really really interesting...I will keep myself busy this way for the rest of the holidays-I am enjoying this-its fun learning!

I am still planning to do something in Java-thanks to Paavani for advising something-I too have thought of something and lets see how instrumental I can be!!!

Feeling enriched!

2007-06-18T22:50:00.000+05:30

Well this is going to be my first tech blog- and as I write this I feel a bit nervous.I had refrained myself from writing anything about technology(if it is!) but thought to write about it this time.

As I had written before that I was to go for doing my course in Java to Bhubaneswar....that turned out to be good.Though the stay in Bhubaneswar was not that good-or to say that wasn't any good either....it was a lot boring.But the Java classes was definitely good and helpful-the teacher was good,the teaching was good,the examples taken up were fantastic,the assignments given were challenging and above all the classes were not boring-like the we have in colleges!!!Thank goodness!!

I really feel enriched today and this was what I had always craved for during the last one year in college...Java was really interesting with its various powerful feature-which the former languages lacked-interfaces,applets,anonimity of classes,objects... In short this was what I wanted to learn since when I entered engineering-to learn something which can be used to make real-time applications.C and C++ gave us an exposure to modern programming but there was no GUI component in it which made it somewhat boring sort of and not suitable for applications...I don't say they were useless-they had their own plus-points-but lacked the features which Java has.

The next thing I plan to do in these holidays is to make some application using Java...but I am still giving a finishing touch to my prepartion for that.Anybody having any idea about making something in Java,please let me know.I will be very grateful for that.

The next aspiration is to learn HTML(in detail-I know only the basics) and Oracle/Database so then I can use JDBC and make better things out of that-oh,god its so much fun learning good and new things.

I hope the next 3 years goes well and I feel more enriched as each semester unfoldds itself!

Master of the Game:A review

2007-05-12T14:55:00.000+05:30

I just completed reading this book by Sidney Sheldon and I thought about writing something about it.Let me start by telling that this is compulsively readable.Though the book is some 500 pages but then,at no point do you feel that the story is unnecessarily drawn.

The story is about 4 generartions...the characters are fictional but the bakground is real...and each generation is decribed in detail and has been done fulll justice.

I would not like to tell you anything much about the story but that this story is about acquisition of power and retention of the same thing.It vividly pictures the ruthlessness of the men in bussiness and a woman making her way through to expand and save the dynasty.The story is about the dirty game of power and the murders and deceptions by the protagonist Kate Blackwell and her grand-daughter Eve.In short its about the McGregor's building "it" and the Blackwell's preserving "it".

In short,a must must read.For more info about the book click here.

Holidays visited!

2007-05-10T22:29:00.000+05:30

Blogging,for me,has taken a back seat for me now-a-days and could not think anything to blog about.This had caused some trouble to me because I always had so much to blog but no time and energy to do so...But suddenly when I have met all the requirements,I am falling short of things to blog about.Whatever may be the case but I will still try to blog best.

Let me put some points rather than making it descriptive(easier for you,easier for me!)

Vacations are spent by sleeping all day and waking up all night-reading novels.Well I pretty satisfied this time-I am finishing off novels at a much faster rate(on an average one is taking 2 days!).I am pretty faster as compared to what I was in December when it was taking some 5 days per novel.Currenlty reading Master of the game by Sidney Sheldon.I have read many novels of this author but I think this will be the masterpiece....Hope it turns out to be.
I always think very much-about myself,about the situation and about things I am involved with.I am known to be one who critically analyses everything and have been told by many as not satisfied by anything.Well,this thing is slowly diminishing and I am taking things more casually.
Blog bug has hit one of my friend as well and he has starting blogging. Click here to view his blog.He writes about things more subtle and complicated(out of my understanding!)but many may like.
I am going to Bhubaneswar to do my course(rather I should say curse!) and that will be starting from 14th May.
Chatting is all what I do all evening...ha ha!

Well this was it from my side...I am trying to return to normal state and start thinking-coz some told me that I have changed! and I didnt like listening it!

Huh...how boring!

2007-05-02T22:31:00.000+05:30

Everything seems to be boring to me in this vacations...The final match of the world-cup,seeing television,orkutting(opening orkut through proxy sites was so much fun in college),chatting and everything....

It is just five days since I have come home and it feels as if I have been in one place for a decade or so...Hostel days are so enjoyable...atleast we have something to do,to pass our time...

I will be going to Bhubaneswar soon(dont know when that "soon" be coming).Anyways,I can only hope that it must be better there...How I wish I could have gone to Delhi to pass holidays.It would be more fun to goto some place for spending holidays like Manali...how miserable I feel being unable to do so!

Anyways still passing days...trying to sleep as much I can...but still that cannot be done beyond a limit...

The story so far...

2007-04-28T20:40:00.000+05:30

Its been a year now since I had joined NIT,Rourkela and till now the experience had been fanatatic(yes, some bad times too...but those are negligible). 2nd sem exams are over and we are no longer the "first years".

Now that first year is over and we are to enter the second year,let me describe this very short year...

I still remember the first day we were to goto college...ready by 7:15...dressed in formals...in funda...going in a line to college...the seniors all ready with their sweet words to welcome us as we pass through Hall-1...getting to the academic building and quietly sitting in the class till the teacher came and told about the system...

Then the ragging sessions where some freshers were open and frank while some were introvert and would cry as soon as a senior keeps his hand on his shoulders...The first sem just passed by...the ragging subsequenlty died and seniors became friends...

Then we were welcomed by the start of the 2nd sem...with the spirits high,2nd sem saw the best one could ever see...Kshitij,Confluence,NITRUtsav,Hall Day,Inter NIT,DJ night,Welfare parties,Branch Welfare and many more things...Basically the 2nd sem literally flew away before we could even notice...

A strange feeling swept among all of us on the last day,that is,one day before the last exam.There expressions commonly used were...1st yr ka last dinner,1st yr ki last padai,1st yr ka last gana....yes,when I think now,it was funny but at that time it was like the emotions flowing...Leaving first year and getting into second year doesn't change much but that we are no more the young blood of the insti...

For the sake of it!

2007-03-31T15:05:00.000+05:30

This post dosen't have anything specific.Truly,speaking I am not in a mood to blog or to do anything else...was sitting idle and just to kill time thought to blog at last...

First of all let me start by stating that Orkut is blocked in our campus.Now this is absolute injustice to students...Just when Orkut had reached the zenith of its popularity among students,the authorities blocked it.But we do mange to open it through proxy sites...though most of them are blocked...but we have found one and I will not disclose it here or else it will also be blocked!

Now-a-days the week days are like hell...the heat is increasing and in this heat its really painful to attend classes specially after lunch...Going to the insti in the heat in itself is a Herculean task and then listening(or not listening) to the lectures is equally painful....Weekends are relaxing when you need not go anywhere in the heat.

The time is of "Welfare"(welcome+farewell) of various zones are going on...waiting for ours...its to be held in the first week of April...the exact date and venue are not declared.But most of the zones are having it in Mayfair.

So,it's the time of masti....with some work as well!

8th April,2007

2007-03-23T19:52:00.000+05:30

It may be a ordinary day for most of the people but for nearly 3 lakhs students all around the nation,it's a the most important day of their life...last year 9th April was for me.You are right...its the day of IIT-JEE.

Whenever this exam approaches,various websites are filled with many articles talking about the exams and tips and query solving problems...see this.I simply dont understand why these articles come up which are totally crap and of no use.

By the way,this time(as usual) JEE is going to be different...This time 2 papers instead of 3...and objective(I still am in doubt what the JEE-wallas call objective-see last year papers....that was also objective...uhmm...no criticisms for the prestigious JEE!).

One simple advice for the aspirants...keep cool,don't panic if you see a surprise-that is going to happen,never predict any particular pattern or type of questions,don't discuss questions after a particular paper with freinds,take the first paper very carefully-do that very coolly even if its going bad,its better to leave a particular question than to invite negative marking,do the easier ones first not the ones that have more weightage and all the best!

Once again its IIT,Kgp

2007-03-18T17:14:00.000+05:30

Yes,your guess is right! Its once again the IIT,Kgp guys that came to our hostel today with their new fest Manzar '07-this time its the literary fest and whats more-its being held for the first time...!

Lots of intersting competitions and events and I think its going to be another huge hit for IIT,Kgp.Some online events like Blogger's park,Kathakaar,Vichaar sonds quite exciting.Hey,you need more!Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lalloo Yadav for guest lectures.

But I am not sure about going to IIT once agian ,the probability is somewhat less but I wnat to be there.It will be good fun I know but afet the mid-sems not going that great(mechancis ufff...) I think I should be more concerned with studies now rather than these things...Hey did I mention the Kavi Samellan to be held....It was held here in our NITRUtsav and it was great and so it will be in IIT as well...

Oh,god! This system sucks!

2007-03-15T00:47:00.000+05:30

Exams!Class tests!Classes!Assignments!

Frankly speaking....This is now too much! And this is just the 2nd semester...!What's more to come??

This whole system is just not rocking!Today we had our OOP with C++ exam...and mid sem have ended just now and then one more exam-what's this yaar!

After a long time,I had gone to restaurant today...thank god!Thank god-but again after returning to hostel had to get back to work with MD-uff!!Have a submission tomorrow....here it goes once again!

Does this system only checks how patient you are and good at submitting assignments,having a good attendance in those boring classes and sleeping in classes!Does this checks genuinely if a student learns anything really or not-I mean there can be other ways-interesting ways-other than these things and judges in a better way.

Oh god....I can just wish this gets better....

Coming up more blogs on NITRUtsav!BTW I must say it was somewhat rocking...

So many things,yet so little time!

2007-03-05T17:49:00.000+05:30

Although the caption may not be completely true(or may be even partially true),I wrote it on the context that I am not at all blogging now-a-days...this inability to blog sometimes leads to frustration but I have now developed immunity against this frustration!

I always have many things to blog about...let me start!

Kshitij 2007(IIT Kharagpur)
This was just great...just fantastic...just awesome and all other adjectives as well goes with this...This 3 and half days were the days(or should I call moments) that I enjoyed like anything!Those guest lectures by Ken Perlin,Alquee Padamsee and the Ornithopter workshop were the best.I think this tech-fest is the India's best...it really quenches anyone's technical desires!
And I loved IIT...its correctly said- "IIT ka tempo high hain!" I dont know why but I felt a sudden very strange feeling when I was coming back from IIT,Kgp...dunno know what was it? I just wanted to be there....
Let me tell this....IIT,Kgp Rocks!!!

Confluence 2007(NIT Rourkela)
Another tech-fest! This one's ours! This was more close to me rather I should say for us...because it was our's and yes we too did work for this...the volunteering thing! In a way I can tell,without emphasising it,that it was better than Kshitij-not on the terms of the arrangements and programmes but if you see in terms of masti-"The Elsewhere" Stage was a real masti...
I must tell...NITR is not far behind...IITs get ready for the competition....Yes,I do believe that our tech fest can be made more appealing if some more details are considered before-hand and the managment be made better!

This much for this time...actually I had thought to write something about each day of Confluence but couldn't...Well its NITRUTSAV that's coming fast...on 8th March! Looking forward!

Beacons!

2007-01-22T15:54:00.001+05:30

Yes,this Beacons was the prelude to NITRUTSAV. It was a four day event....the fourth day was DJ nite....

We were really very excited as for the first time we felt the fest fever! It was to start at 6 pm sharp(uhmm...!). We reached the quadrangle at 6:30(some technical problems!) but then we were the early birds....it was not started...

Some more first yr guys arrived and it start...Its DJ Sony...Rock Guys!

The participation was really depressing...the number of first yr guys outnumbered the total of sophomore,pre-final and final...Huh! And my god,girls were separated...we didnt dance together...what's this??

But still then it was good fun....I enjoyed...if only girls were allowed...I mean we were allowed to dance with them!

More posts following soon-it is NOT a promise ;-)

What a new year....great!

2006-12-31T20:57:00.000+05:30

Ho ho ho... today is New year's eve!

Well this evening was special...met my best friend,Deepak.... he came home today itself... Oh!How much I missed him in this holidays! No fun in this holidays,no roving in bikes as he was not here....

And when there was the guarantee that I would really enjoy,ha,I am leaving tommorow morning at 5:30...will not even see this midnite to bid farewell to a not-so-bad year and welcome the new year....This is what I call celebrations!!

Happy new year to all of those who reads this post(ok..to those as well who doesnt).

What do I want to do?

2006-12-30T13:19:00.000+05:30

This vacation has brought some changes in me-more in the negative sense-and I blame no-one for this change-not even myself!

Many a-times when at night I dont get sleep(that's coz I sleep the whole day),I keep thinking- dont know what crap do I think-bloody me! Among all those crap thoughts this one comes to my mind- "What do I want to do in this life?" At first, this seemed strange to me as I had never before thought of this and I had neglected this for days. But it started happening on a daily basis and then there was no way out- damn!

Sometimes I think what do I to do with this degree... how does studying Phy and Chem,other those subjects, and that cramming up,getting 8.5 or 9.5 or whatever it may be....gonna be of what use? Frankly speaking, we dont do much in college...studying before exams and writing exams and writing some programs. What is this? What kinda thing is this.... writing
#include something.h
main()
{
//something crap
}
then cc and run.... what has someone to do with printing Fibonnaci series or entering details,searching,sorting and those those.... what f*****g things!

When I used to hear of engg coleges before,it always fascinated me and I beleived engineers gonna change the world.... I dont see that now... nor does anyone else changes.

Now what I wanna do? Earning 4 lakhs or 8 lakhs or 14 lakhs per year... 9 to 5 office toad-work... marry, have children and then you are gone? What have you done....

I thought to do something to keep these away..some project kinda thing... but I soon realised I am going to be an engineer... The unwilling,led by the unknowing who does the impossible for the ungrateful. 'Ungrateful?'- yes! I have seen many people now-a-days thinking comp.sc. enggs as nothing!

We do nothing... stare at each girl we find outside campus(inside as well,though the quality differs)- and the girls even play... they think the NITians are dying to take any girl out-damn!

Ha ha...if you are emotionally numbed,creatively starved and socially outcasted...congrats for being in an engg college!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T11:27:00.000+05:30

Its christmas and the whole world is in a festive mood. TV news shows all the fun and in spite of the fact that I am not partying or at the least doing anything ,but still then today I am feeling light... I dont know but this feeling has come to me after a long time..Dont even remember when I last felt this way.

Getting SMSes late night yesterday was heartening! Cakes always fascinates me and the TV channels shows all types! But what is all the more pleasing are the gifts and 'gifts' reminded me of a story.......

Jim and Della.Oh! God,Jim was only twenty three and to be burdened by a family. $15 a week dosent go long.

Oh poor Jim! Della's Jim! Her Jim Dillingham! She cant live through Christmas without giving her Jim a present. Now there are two possessions of the Dillingham's...one was Jim gold watch and the other was Della's beautiful hair.

'Jim's gold watch is worthy of a platinum chain...not a leather strap',Della thought. She looked herself in the glass for a second....off went her brown jacket and she was out on the street. Where she stopped was a merchant who traded in hair.She went inside and let her hair fall to its length... here went the brown cascade. $30!!

She was ransacking the stores... atlast she found it..worthy of The Watch!

Jim returned and was shocked. After sometime he came out of the trance...they kissed and wished Christmas. Jim brought out the gift he had bought for Della...hair pins,pure tortoise shell which Della had craved. But now the hair which would have adorned them are gone. "My hair goes so fast,Jim".

Oh,Della had not shown her gift...There she brought out the platinum chain! Jim said-" Dell, lets put away our christmas gifts for a moment,they are just too good to be used now. I sold my watch to get your present. And now I suppose you better put the chops on".

The Magi were wise people who bought gifts for the christ child-they invented the art of giving christmas gifts...But of all those who give gifts,these are the wisest...They are the Magi!!

The wise are the wise because they only love,
The foolish are the foolish who think they understand love!

Dhoom machale!

2006-12-21T18:42:00.000+05:30

Yes, after a long time finally I saw Dhoom:2 (the movie). Quite liked the first part,that is, before the interval....I was amazed at the stunts-Hrithik was cool! I believed it could be a movie to be compared to some Hollywood action!

But the second part was bizzare.The story moved really slow and at one point it had reached the saturation point-no action!

But again the movie seemed to take its grip and Hrithik was cool! Again, I thought it was a movie after a long time-a relief. I could not,but,grasp the ending...when Hrithik said-"Koi kisise itna pyar kar sakta hain ki use maar de?" and Ash shot him thrice...I thought the movie ended and I was really pleased-it was the perfect ending to a movie of this sort...But after all,it's a Hindi movie...movies can't end like that!

If the movie had ended there, I would say that it was one of finest new-kind-a movie... But dissapointed!

Its the time to disco!

2006-12-12T23:08:00.000+05:30

uhmm....Disco here doesn't refer to "Disciplinary committee".

The website of spring fest Nitrutsav is ready and believe me it's coooool!! Very unconventional- it is as cool as Iris. The first page is a symbol of this....

"They call it a ceremony.Hey!But it aint no cermony.We're a creed gone berserk and we'll have it the wild way.Stampedes and slipping terrains.You still tethered?Repeat message.INSANITY is in.This one's a jungle out here and its ephemeral.....Have a blast till it lasts..!!
Come UNbelong"

We have events like Unveil,Rapture,hard-talk,Gudgudee,Unison, Nrityutsav and many more... Not to forget LIVEWIRE.(Euphoria has done it, Jal has done that too.... Who's next?? Keep Guessing!)

It will be great..just great! Looking forward for 8th March!

Why should NIT,Rourkela become an IIT?

2006-12-06T20:12:00.000+05:30

I found this link(click here) when searching for something on Google and was amazingly pleased at this. It talks about why should NITR(the best NIT in India- that's according to me and our Director) be upgraded to an IIT?

NITR fullfils all requirements for being an IIT(infact much better than other institutes). Our institute has an amazingly 650 acres land with fantastic infrastructure and all other things that an IIT should have. Only one disadvantage I see is the lack of an airport in the city(an occasionally functional air-strip is available though) but then even IIT Kharagpur dosen't have one.

Intially when RECs were being set-up(two RECs were being planned) and the contenders were Jamshedpur,Rourkela and Durgapur(The links point to respective NITs)and Rourkela was denied a REC. But after a visit to the city by the education minister of that time, they admitted that Rourkela should have a REC. And now its an established fact that NITR is much better than the other two.

Similarly,in this case also I want to say that NITR needs and deserves to be upgraded to an IIT- if not done so,it will again be a decision to be regretted. Though this decision matters the most to NITRians but then it also means a correct decision for India!

Back Home... What a relief!!

2006-12-02T19:26:00.000+05:30

After those hard days back at NIT with all those class-tests and quizzes, lesser no. of films ;-) and then the End-Sem exams, it was not a happening time at all as the hostel life dropped down hugely- it was no more rocking! Well about exams.... let's not talk about it!

Now back home, its time to rest completely and my first day epitomizes "rest". I reached home at 6:15 AM- slept at about 9 Am,got up at 1:30 and after having my lunch(yes- there was custard ;-) again went back to sleep and finally got up at 6:30 in the evening- now this what I call 'resting'!

But cannot do this for the entire winter holidays- have to learn C++ as we have this in the next sem- so some work also needs to be done. Also want to do something for our Tech Fest Confluence 2K7 but any idea havent struck. Mainly interested in Softscape but still now dont have any idea how to do that... Guys(and Gals as well) out there reading this post-any suggestions? I have already registered for The Vinci Code though I have slight chances of winning coz competing against the pre-final guys in programming is really a tough thing to do.

There is also the Tech Fest of IIT Kharagpur named Kshitij(the site of Kshitij is currenlty not working) and I am thinking to join this as well. I have also registered for Tech Kriti( IIT Kanpur's Tech Fest) but dont think will be able to join that one. So its the Tech Fest season in the world of engineering colleges! Expecting a great time! Do expect more on this subject and my prepartion for that.

(Any engineering student from any part of India can register for Confluence on-line. Please so that so that the tech-fest becomes a huge hit as it was last year.)

Update- The site of Kshitij is now working. Click here.

A subtle thought

2006-10-25T14:25:00.000+05:30

After mid-sem exams, a very subtle thought came to me and had thought to discuss that with ppl. But unfortunately that didn't happen for some reason and then I thought to write about it. Though now-a-days I rarely do blog and at one point this activity was on the verge of extinction due to many reasons- the primary being lack of free time.

Just think we have some 8 courses of study- English,Maths,Physics, Chem, BET(Basic Electrical Technology), Programming in C, ED(Engg Drawing) and W/S(Worshop) and not to forget a Phy sessinal class as well... that makes it 9. 9 subjects in four and half months! It is but natural that one cannot learn all these perfectly as one wishes to do- with all those class hours and other activities as well.

Clearly, we have to give priority to some subjects over others but then is a even more difficult task to do and a dangerous thing . On what basis should one choose subjects- on the basis of interest, neccesity in future sems or according to grades- coz these do not always correspond to one particular subject. For instance, I love programming(in that way I am unique ;-) and most of the time being sighted studying C or in computer lab)- but according to getting grades this is one of the easiest subject- one easily scores full marks as the evaluation pattern is not so robust for this subject but yes in future sems we do need it.

Let us see another example. Chemistry! The least liked subject and most ppl(including me) open the book only when we have sem or class-tests... even in class-test we do manage to take copies with us. But it has 4 credits- the highest a subject can have! And I doubt if we do ever need it? And yes, I can say for sure, studying chem, dosent improve your problem-solving skills.

In this way, we have to choose subjects and the entire idea to learn various things-termed as "general study" in the first year is completely lost. No one learns ED,Phy is also managed somehow(though personally I like this subject),W/S and eventually sometimes to be an expert in everything ,everything is in doldrums.

What I think is that we should not be burdened with so many things... Instead less subjects, more learning. And I support this beleif fully that department-wise study should be started from the first day itself and we should not wait till 2nd year. I think atleast engg. students can understand my view-point!

Blogging- A rare event

2006-10-21T23:08:00.000+05:30

Ever since I returned back to Rourkela after Durga Puja,I was so busy that couldn't find time for blogging...ok, ok not that busy but yes, I made myself busy and sometimes unnecessarily. Then there were many assignments…this “assignment thing” has become a real headache-or should I call migraine!
Then there were too many classes and I had been busy doing some studies- after midsem went “not that good”- I am seen in the library often-as friends tell!

Again this blog is from home as was the last one!

Divali!!! Nothing exciting happened today-not the least. I was bored today as I had never been since the last month- life at home without didi and friends is really boring.

Anyways, now-as-days I am too much into reading books. I read some 3 books in a very span of time- Alchemist, Bill Gates way and Veronika decides to die. All three were fantastic but I had thought to blog my views upon Bill Gates way-which as usual was only “published” in my grey cells.

I will be returning to Rourkela on Thursday- bunking classes ;-) and will agin become busy with bloody assignments- hell to do with these and those profs!

But I love my college and am attaching a picture of our college-it's beautiful.....

At home

2006-09-30T23:00:00.000+05:30

Hoo...Back at home is a real pleasure- lazying around with a book in my hand,eating custard everyday,getting up at 11 in the morning(I call that morning!) is not what we get to do when at hostel!

It's good to get a break from the hectic schedule and boring classes.But this time I am very unlucky because I have no contacts with most of my friends and I even don't know whether they are at home or haven't yet come.But feeling good that my sisters have come so spending a good time with them.

I will be leaving soon,that is on 2nd night as I have got classes on 3rd-this bloody system doesn't even allow a 5 day holiday!!

Exams went well except for Physics as it was the toughest part as as I had written earlier that I was not at all prepared.After the exams I come to know how much study needs to be done for getting good marks.Regarding marks-I still don't know that what GPA need to be secured as to be enough-well that can be subjective one but I would like Mr. Ashish to comment on this ;-)

After the exams I have decided to be more sincere regarding studies or else if this continues then the end sem exams will be still worse!

Exam fever!

2006-09-09T22:28:00.000+05:30

Exams-the most hated word in the whole world. According to me and many, whoever loves exams must be from Mars!

Exams from 21st September and no preparation till now. I don't undersatnd what's wrong with this crap system! Studies,studies and only studies! Classes-8 to 5,NSS classes and functions. And then we need to sleep, to gossip, to spend time on the internet, see movies- when do we get time to study!

Well, yes this is funny. Though we have a hectic schedule here but one find time to study so as to suffice but somehow we didn't get it for the first month. Now we do study and have to study hard inorder to compensate but still then things are sailing that smoothly. Everyone is trying to cope and fight back but still there is always a backlog. And yes, someone had said- "Time milta nahin hain,nikal naa padta hain". (One dosen't get time,one has to fing it).

English Class Test

2006-09-02T22:08:00.000+05:30

Now-a-days we are given many class tests now and then. Though I hate these, we have to give those. We also had a english class test-the subject is Communicative Englsih. As such I like this class-the only class in which I don't feel sleepy(besides Maths).

We were given a comphrehension and based on it there was a question.We knew the pattern in advance and I was expecting a passage on the ways of communications and that it would be intersting to write the answer-filled with my views.

But the passage was about Infosys and its rise named "Narayan Murthy and Infosys". The tilte quite impressed me and I thought to learn much from this. The passage was about how is Infosys "different" from other companies-all about employee-mangament interaction and their views being counted. Then there was a question-"Do you think Infosys adopted a new method and do you think this accounted for the rapid progress of the company?"

Though my answer was yes,frankly I was not at all impressed with the passage about the growth of Infosys. I mean every company does so and every company. I don't think that Infosys was any different(what I concluded from the comprehension). But I do think that Infosys must have had adopted something new but am unaware of what it is! Right now, I am searching for the history of Infosys and try to see if I can fing something new!

We also had class tests of BET & Maths-both were fine. We also have tests of Chemistry- on Monday,Wednesday & Thursday-not at all prepared as this subject is the most boring subject!

Ganesh Puja celebrations

2006-08-27T12:36:00.000+05:30

It's the day of Lord Ganesh and it's celebrated with real pomp and show in various parts of the country. Hers this festival is mainly popular among students and it's the students who worship Lord Ganesh on this day in their schools/colleges.

We too arranged for the Puja in our hostel's common room-it was great! The preparations for the Puja had started two days before-collecting money from the boarders of our hostel and planning out things such as what would be the expenditure and at what time the Puja is to be done. There was a group consisting of some 5 people who were in-charge of all the things but anyone suggestions were most welcome and everyone had an equal say in all the matters-this is the spirit of NITians freshers!

The Puja was done at 7 in the morning and though it's always a real pain to get up early in the morning and have a bath but there was an amazing enthu today and eveyone was ready and we got collected in the common room and the Puja was held very nicely and peacefully.

There is also a Puja in the AV Hall of our college but had not been there till now-because we had a cricket match after the Puja and I was the captain of the team- well we lost it ;-))) Not good at playing cricket nor at captianing a team! Will be most probably going to the AV Hall in the evening if I don't feel too lazy;-)

In this respect,our Hall was the the unique one as it was the only Hall to organise the Ganesh Puja in the Hall itself- the other Hall members had to attend the Puja in the AV Hall- ya,ya freshers are the best in this college ;-)

IIT and NIT

2006-08-24T09:24:00.000+05:30

(Disclaimer- The information about IITs and foreign universities given here are collected from various sources and no work has been done to check the authenticity of these.)

Lately, I heard that there is a proposal of upgrading our college NIT,Rkl to an IIT-which is indeed a great news for all of us. It brought a mixed feeling in me- both happiness as well as the past forgotten wounds of not getting into an IIT came alive once again.

Yesterday night from some sources I got to know about the atmosphere in an IIT and compared that to with that of a NIT- and concluded why are IITs "the IITs"and a NIT just a NIT and thought of writing about that today. So am I doing!

There are a lot of differences between IIT and NIT. It goes as follows-
Attitude difference. A very important aspect as such. There is a difference between students at the IITs and that in NITs. From the first day itself IITians are said to believe that they are the best unlike that in NIT. Infact we really do believe that we are inferior to the IITians and no one tells us not to believe that-the atmosphere is really very differnet here. Yesterday night,infact, we were discussing about our scores in JEE and most of the students missed by some very less marks-some getting the cut-off in total but missing it in a particular subject. So if one sees that way the people in IITs are not really the best ones-but are believed to be so-some smarter ones may be somewhere else. But what makes the difference is their attitude.

Faculty-student interaction. I heard that in IITs,the student-faculty interaction is excellent. Professors move to the hostels to interact with the students and help them in any way possible way leaving aside syllabus-but also with other forms of education-projects,and other things- which is much unlike in the NITS. Professors here are hesistant to move to hostels.

Scoring well. In NITs,the main emphasis is on getting grades and cramming up things rather than really understanding how can one use that in real life and enginnering-unlike the IITs.

So if really NITR is to be brought up to the level of an IIT,there is a long way to go.

This is purely my own thinking and there is no outside influence governing this. But I don't say that NITs are not at all worth studying in- it's really a good college if a comaprison is made with other colleges-the student quality is amazing here as well,which otherwise is thought to be just okay.

And yes,I completed one month in the NIT today and really it is a fantastic place!

In the NIT

2006-08-17T14:52:00.000+05:30

Its 23 days now since my classes begin and have already been fed up-classes are all crap! Its been long time since I have posted-I think I last posted on 21st July-missed blogging as I was so much in to this. I think I would have made some marvellous posts if I got an oppurtunity to do so...I am sorry people missed some of the fantastic posts which were etched in my mind.

Life here is quite monotonous-going to class at 8 in the morning and coming back to hostel on 5 in the evening. Ragging period is over- ragging was very minimal in our college. Yes,Paavani- ragging was like a social interaction here as well as you had told me.

Apart from the academics, too many cultural programmes are held here-almost everyday-mainly the orientation program of various clubs and I have attended almost all. Had thought to write about these in detail as and when they were held but didnt had access to the internet.

Yes, coming to NIT,Rourkela has aroused in me a mixed feeling-at one time it is really boring with all its classes,sessionals,assignments and at the same time really great with its cultural life here.

Leaving for Rourkela

2006-07-21T18:15:00.000+05:30

I am leaving for Rourkela tomorrow morning and I must admit it that though I am excited but today, for the first time, I got the feeling inside me that I am going to miss home once again. Though this time, the magnitude of nostalgia will be of course less but still that will persist for some time.

Yes, one more thing is that I don’t know if I would be able to blog from Rourkela. Though Internet connection has been provided for each student in his or her rooms, but I am not taking a computer this time as I will not be needing it intensely this year. I don’t think that we would be allowed to blog from our lab-it’s for studying not for blogging! I will be taking a computer next year and then I can continue posting-but still will try to post whenever I get an opportunity.

I came to know from one of my senior that classes will be from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening with just a one-hour lunch break! God! But yes, there will be a 15 minutes break after each class. Well, for the first I did shop for some formals to wear to college- I hate wearing formals- I am always in my favorite jeans ;-) I wonder if we have to wear formals to college for 4 years or it is just a rule for freshers made by the seniors!

A Wild Post!

2006-07-18T16:52:00.000+05:30

This post is about nothing specific. It’s about many things at the same time. Basically it's about the events happening.

24th July is nearing and my excitement heightens as approaches! College life will be commencing soon. But somewhere there is also a nervousness-ragging! Want to see what this “ragging” is all about that it’s so much talked about during the pre-college days.

Learning C! Studies begun before the college has started. I always thought that learning a programming language was boring but learning C is really interesting- though not very easy!

Missing friends! My friends who had come during their vacation are now back as their classes have started. And I am getting bored alone at home. No more roving on bikes till late nights, no more masti hanging around. Sometimes I feel I am alone in I this world. Especially missing Deepak who is now in Bangalore. Deeps, I miss you!

Very few days left for staying at home and then a new life-lets see how it goes!

Mumbai- the rudest city?

2006-07-12T22:00:00.000+05:30

I was going to Rourkela in train when I grabbed a copy of Reader’s Digest (July edition) and turned to read the article about politeness and according to Reader’s Digest (RD), Mumbai is the rudest city in the world! It had conducted a survey in some of the major cities in the world and had concluded that Mumbai is the rudest city.

It tested about politeness in three different aspects- a “thank you” said by the shopkeepers when they bought something, helped by someone on dropping a folder of papers and keeping a door open for someone entering a shop by the workers. And they complained about everything in Mumbai.

When being asked by a sales-man why he didn’t say a “thank you” when the man bought something, he had replied that he smiled and asked if that was not enough? Not enough for RD. For you? For me a smile is worth more than a “thank you”- a person giving you a smile is more polite than someone saying “thank you” without feeling it-at least for me this holds true. I have encountered both the situations and I am likely to visit the shop again which returns me with a smile- I do so! But RD has “strict rules” and doesn’t count it for politeness. But RD doesn’t report how many people in New York (labelled as the most polite city) said “thank you” with actually meaning it!

RD doesn’t stop here. It went on. More on labeling Mumbai the rudest city with all sorts of examples.

Now after the Mumbai blasts, I think RD should re-consider what it had written. The way people helped others was really awe-inspiring. After the blasts instead of being in their homes in safety, the people were geared up to help in any way possible. Now this is what is the spirit, the real picture of Mumbai- not what the RD had portrayed and put into words.

Then after this, RD had also written about the brighter side of Mumbai- and had written that the young were found to be more polite than the elders and so the future is bright. RD claims that Mumbai is the rudest city in the world and why can't it take as it had written? What does writing about the brighter side mean? Just to appease the people? No need of that, RD! You have done much favour. Thank you. I was just polite.

I think that RD instead of publishing an article has done more a “lawyer” kind of job and “played” with words.

The Reservation Saga Continues...

2006-07-04T23:00:00.000+05:30

During my counselling at NIT, Rourkela this reservation thing again popped up among the qualified students who had attended the counselling. This was because we came to know about the students (the SC & ST candidates) who were allotted seats the previous day. We saw the list of students who were allotted seats in the various institutes along with their All India Rank (AIR). Clearly it was totally obvious that these students were the under performers in the AIEEE exam as was apparent by their AIR.

The starting rank for the ST candidates was 56241(at this rank a general candidate is ineligible for counselling but the ST candidate secured a seat in NIT, Rkl in Electronics and Communication Engineering-the most sought after branch) and the highest rank for the SC was 18446(he secured a seat for Computer Science in NIT, Surathkal and a general candidate can’t think of securing any branch in NIT, Surathkal).

The next day when our admission list was released, it left many students fuming and speaking abuses against the system and it was totally justified. The starting rank was 615 and the last rank was 9939 and all good branches in all the good NITs were filled up in the first day itself and counselling will be continuing till 6th July! As on 4th July, I have found out that nearly all the seats have been filled up and the students who will be counselled further can only expect to get a seat in any college-or I must say not even that!

[Anyone wishing to check about the correctness of these figures, click here.]

There were discussions among students concerning this thing and separate discussion among the guardians as well relating to the same issue. I also got to meet some reserved category students, who had come to collect their admission letters, but didn’t had a chat with them-or I must say didn’t wanted to. Nor for that matter did anyone else! I was just thinking that how is it possible to cheat students so openly and no one even opposing the system!

Discussions were going on in small groups and I was also in one of these groups. Someone said that what was the guilt that we have done that we receive such treatment? At this, I said the guilt is that we are born in a family who does not belong to reserved category. At this someone else said that this reservation system is similar to the situation as giving a “four runs” on hitting a boundary while to some other hitting the same shot is awarded with “six runs”. We laughed with gusto at this joke!

Now is this system itself not a joke? Should we laugh at this system? Or should we laugh at ourselves? Has the quota protests died forever? And are we contented as to what will happen?

Travel,NIT,Rourkela...

2006-07-02T22:43:00.000+05:30

I had my seat allotment procedure (counselling) which was conducted by the Central Counselling Board (CCB) this Friday and Saturday. It turned out to be great as I got a seat allotted for studying Computer Science and Engineering in NIT, Rourkela (NIT, Rkl)

I had my counselling in NIT, Rkl itself and reaching the place from my hometown, in itself, is an enormous endeavor indeed! No direct train at a proper time of a day (trains available only at late nights for both to and from journey) and the ten-hour bus journey is a Herculean task because of the hilly terrain throughout the journey.

But once you reach Rourkela it’s fantastic! Clean roads, greenery everywhere, well planned town planning and no traffic problem, no dust and pollution in spite of being the steel city. The city is divided into two parts by a hill-range. On one side is the steel plant with all the pollution, dust, and bustling city life and on the other side just the opposite- pollution free environment, well planned roads, much less traffic and above all greenery-I loved it! The hills dividing the city into two parts blocks all the dust and pollution and so this side is paradise! Anyone wanting to get rid of the busy city life and wants peace has a fantastic option to live for a few days in the residential area of Rourkela.

The National Institute of Technology(NIT) is situated away from the city and so its vast campus provides a serene look and a decent life at the NIT. I was totally amazed by the beauty of the campus- incredible!

The counselling procedure was long and boring but found some of the Bansalites(students of Bansal Classes) whom I knew and so it was not that bad. Also made some new friends who would with me in college-it was a good experience meeting so many students sharing a common temperament. I was pretty sure that I would be allotted a seat in NIT,Rkl in Computer Science, so there wasn’t any sort of thrill regarding this. But there was the excitement of seeing my future college but I had not thought that the campus would be such a pleasure to see and Rourkela such a fantastic place.

I have again to visit Rourkela on 10th July for the college admission and the classes will be starting on 24th July-want to visit Rourkela again but the journeying……

Is the entrance exam system fair?

2006-06-24T15:10:00.000+05:30

Exam season is over-a relief for students! This issue about the entrance exams being fair just came to me wildly and I became a bit amused at this thought. I always thought that entrance exams really tests students' ability to the fullest extent. But some wild thoughts came to my mind and on close examining these issues; I discovered some negative sides about the exam thing as well.

First of all there is only one paper covering all the subjects being conducted over a few hours. A matter of few hours and then it’s all over. Can a student’s ability be judged in just 3 hours? Everyday is not Sunday! The performance of a student largely depends on the conditions around and to a large extent on the mood of the student on that particular day. A student is not expected to deliver his best on a particular day- this brings about the first difference among the competitors.

The next thing is that exams are conducted at different centers and the role-played by the authorities at a particular center matters a lot. I have heard from many students about the wastage of time by the invigilators during the exam hours during the AIEEE examination- giving instructions after the exam started and completing the formalities when the exam is in progress. This snatches away at the least 5 precious minutes from the student for no fault of his- usually termed by the students as “criminal wastage of time”. This greatly affects a students’ performance as 5 minutes means 2 questions- good enough to make a large difference owing to fierce competition.

I think something needs to be done regarding these. Rules should be properly implemented at the exam centers and not left to the whims of the invigilators. Moreover, instead of a single day exam, it should be conducted in week’s time. Though it would mean more work for the students but it will reduce such cases as a “bad” day or ill luck- though that complain will still persist by some students who are not that smart for clearing the exam- but that will be appreciated by those students who are in the race.

I know people hold different opinions and many would not agree to this and I say that this is my personal opinion. But I would surely want to know what people think about my point of view.

My stay at Gurgaon

2006-06-20T17:52:00.000+05:30

Gurgaon-Delhi’s NCR-is a wonderful place-the skyscrapers, wonderful malls, exquisite food and above all beauty (what I mean are beautiful girls-a treat for eyes!).

I had been in Gurgaon for nearly 2 months after the nine months in Kota. I had been in Gurgaon with my cousin; Mr. Ashish Kumar-who is a director in Tekriti Software- to write my various engineering tests. Initially I was very busy because of the tests but gradually I found more time and visited places-mainly malls.

Back at home, I really miss the malls at Gurgaon and also the new dishes that I had tried there-something which I had never tasted before- Thai food, Italian platter, Subway sandwiches and above all I miss the dominoes spicy chicken pizza.

What made my stay all the more pleasant was the company of my cousin-he is the best! I always want to be like him and for me his every detail- his way of walking, his style, his mobile phone and even his Axe deodorant- all seems unique to me. I always imitate his ways and try to be like him-that’s my fight to idealism. Only one thing that I can complain about him is his irregularity in hitting the gym!

Really my stay was a fantastic one and I look forward to visit Gurgaon again.

9 months in Kota

2006-06-18T12:03:00.000+05:30

Those nine months in Kota during which I did nothing but studied all day long. As I had written earlier that I was preparing for my engineering entrance tests in Kota at Bansal Classes. There was nothing else to be done expect going to the institute,coming back and studying- I did this for 9 long months.I hate Kota!

I had been away from home for the first time and frankly during the first month,I immensely missed home and my friends. I wanted to get away from this place where no one knew me and I didn't knew anyone.Intially,I felt very shy-as many others did-during my class lectures as I had never seen so many bright students at the same place. New place,new people, the "newest" kind of classes I had ever attended!During the first few months, I made very less friends-mainly those students with I lived and no more.

But then as time passed,I became more open to things and life-my mentality and my way of looking towards things changed vastly and even rapidly.I became more optimistic and sensible- I have started looking at the positive side of all that happens-in contrast to what I was- looking the negative side of things.

Time flied. And time came to part from Kota and then when I had actually started to love the life at the institute.

And now when I am at my home after 9 long months,I miss Kota. I miss the classes,the chairs,the rush to get the first seat in the class,the jokes cracked by teachers, the usual "Maro Maro" or "Party Party" which we used to shout during the classes at every little confusion that occurred, the TTS(Tina Tea Stall),the nights I spent with my friends studying together, our looking at the girls as if they were some endangered species(girls were few- I hate Kota), the song "Woh Lamhe" which we often used to listen at nights and above all my friends-Pratik,Shashank and Nitish.

I say that I did nothing more than studying during my stay at Kota, but I can say that was fabulous time I would always remember.

I love Kota and I miss it!

Introduction

2006-06-17T11:46:00.000+05:30

For quite a few days,I have been reading blogs and was always tempted to start one but could not understand where to start! Now after reading many blogs of different people,I have given to the temptation to writing blogs. And I find this intersting! I had written some random blogs now and then but wanted to write something for myself and continue with it.

I will start by introducing myself. Hi! I am Siddharth Saha, going to be a 1st year BTech student soon(in July) most probably taking admission in an NIT. I had dropped a year after my class 12th examination for preparing exclusively for engineering entrance examinations. Had been in Kota for 9 months at Bansal Classes. I must say the teaching was really good. Any engineering aspirant have a fantastic option to join Bansal Classes.

I have started this blog to write about my view point and feelings about the events occuring in my life and my ides on various issues concerning India... but all this from the next post onwards.