It's been a long time since I left my carbon footprint on the blogosphere (roughly 9 months, whoa!). So I thought, I'll write something on this virtual piece of the space time continuum. And for once, I attempt to write a serious article, a bit philosophical (if I may) in the hope that I'd be back here again, sooner than I think (hope so!)
The past few months have made me go through almost every kind of emotion I could ever experience - joy, anxiety, agony, dejection, schadenfreude, sympathy, exhilaration.. you name it, I bet it'd be there (not sure of Nirvana though :) ). Taught me a few lessons which I thought I must jot down for my own self, in no particular order. Most might seem cliched, but I believe that until I experience something personally, I'll never understand its true worth :
a) Time flies at a constant rate. Relativity accounts for the rest of what humans feel about it. Kipling must have understood this true worth ,when he wrote those immortal words. I wish I can do so myself. Or if dreams did come true, a time machine would do.
b) Life is like a cryptic crossword. Solving the clues one at a time gives more satisfaction than seeing the answers all at once. Maybe it's another way of looking at other cliched statements on the same subject, but I hope I can accept this part and continue ahead, rather than blaming everything on Murphy.
c) Smiling in times of crises is tougher than I thought. I respect those set of few people whom I've seen do so repeatedly, without the usage of psychidelic shit. I'll be quite happy to emulate them in this respect, if not as often (oh no, I dont want a calamity befalling me to try this out, but in general, would hope to do so)
d) The world respects you if you can do/ever did what you ask them to do. Until then it just listens to you until they're fed up of those 'blank' statements and retort back, to make you realize this truth, if one hasnt still. I thank a friend, who made me realize this quite recently and maybe this is one of the biggest lessons this sem (academic courses nothwithstanding).
e.1) You neednt lead the race at any point of time, but can still end up ahead of them all. Thank you Mr. Vettel for reminding me of a lesson which Mr. Raikonnen had already taught, but I seemed to have forgotten.
e.2) Play this innings like a test match. You might not be an SRT but Rahul 'The Wall' Dravid is still worth an option (no offence to Dravid, who along with Stephen Waugh, are my sources of inspiration, but at times, the eternal skeptic in me makes me wonder whether SRT is human at all.. ). Still not experienced the set of moments to fully justify my findings , but felt the same in bits and pieces, and hence decided to put it down to verify in the future.
f) Karma is a bitch. Not really, our actions are what we are. So if we behave like one, then cant blame Karma can we.. This is another big lesson learnt over the course of the last 3-4 months, out of a nightmare, I never thought I'd ever see in my life. Might be one of the most valuable lessons in my stay in this amazing place called IIT Madras. I still admit, it's a tough nut to crack but keeps me wary of the future, every passing moment.
g) Somehow, I've found the allegory of life and, the making of a piece of art, to be appealing. From my personal experience, no art work seems good until finished (and finished well that too :) ) , and uptil then speculations are always arife, internally or externally, as to how it'll come out to be. This is quite similar to what I've found in my experience while handling Sponsorship activities as well, but considering that it's a subset of life as such, might as well be treated as subset to move along.
h) Living in the present might be good, but reflection into the past is a must according to me. I mean it's a simple closed loop system (of which I detailed karma separately), and without a retrospection, somehow I've never had the courage to look into the future. What one looks for in the past is also a questionable issue, but suffice to say, to each his/her own.
Maybe, if I become famous one day, I could increase my revenues by writing a book on the above '8 Lessons of Life' or '8 things one needs to know in life', et al, adding to the already huge pile of these non-fiction stuff, which to my disbelief are at bestsellers!
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Bas ek aur!!
Well, Schroeter cricket has been yet again, another disappointing moment this season, but this time there was a difference. We played Alak last year in our 2nd group match and played them first up this time. Alak missed the services of their studdest bowler, DB. We missed (not sure if we missed or not) our last year's captain and sports sec in the team. In essence, we were really underdogs but we had a heart and passion to win, something which we lost halfway during our previous encounter thanks to certain misgivings. Cricket is something according to me where statistics cannot tell you why things happened but how they happened, in terms of the scorecard. Of course, it never gives the complete picture but I'll attempt to fill in the blanks wherever necessart. In summary, this is how it was :
Jam lost the toss and were put in to bat :
After 10 overs, 50/2
After 13 overs, 64/6!!
After 18 overs, 102/7 (thanks to a superb batting display in between by our captain this year, Sixty, playing his final schroeter match!)
After 20 overs, 111/8
Well, the question posed by the umpires to us was a valid one "Do you think you guys can defend 111 on this track ? " Frankly, we didnt know it ourself. All we knew was if we gave it our best, we were through to the leagues and would have definitely pulled off what other hostels might call an upset.
Begin Alak's batting :
5 overs : 31/0
9 overs :69/2
10 overs : 80/2 ( this was my only over in the match where my plan to get one of their best batsman out was foiled thanks to a dropped catch when most would agree it was a regulation catch! The guy went on to add another 17 runs after that and maybe he could be in a position to remark in Steve Waugh style "You've dropped the cup mate!")
16 overs : 104/5
18 overs : 109/7
18.5 overs : 112/9!!
The last 4 overs were rivetting to say the least, and the last over drama was comical from a non-biased sense of thinking. It was senseless batting, good captaincy and field sets, and barring the 5th ball of the 18th over, it was definitely good fielding where Alak batsmen committed harakiri. The 5th ball is an interesting thing to be noted : They need 2 runs to win of 8 balls, with one wicket in hand. The batsman played a shot to point-- non-striker calls for a run--fielder picks up and throws over the keeper from a peaceful place-- ball collected by backup who throws it to the bowler's end-- bowler is halfway down the pitch, and misses the ball, which misses the stumps by an inch, -- bowler's end backup fumbles-- Alak completes the second run and there goes the match which we could have won :( It just went on to show how teamwork and great fielding can have the probability of beating even the best of sides although bygones are bygones and I wont continue to discuss about it.
I blogged about this just because of the fact this was very close to my heart; was one of those cases when one was so near and yet so far, and this being cricket and me being a part of the team, I just could not digest this loss. My performance in the match of course was forgettable to say the least, and hopefully, we'll be back next year and even more hopefully, I would be in a position to write about our victory!
Jam lost the toss and were put in to bat :
After 10 overs, 50/2
After 13 overs, 64/6!!
After 18 overs, 102/7 (thanks to a superb batting display in between by our captain this year, Sixty, playing his final schroeter match!)
After 20 overs, 111/8
Well, the question posed by the umpires to us was a valid one "Do you think you guys can defend 111 on this track ? " Frankly, we didnt know it ourself. All we knew was if we gave it our best, we were through to the leagues and would have definitely pulled off what other hostels might call an upset.
Begin Alak's batting :
5 overs : 31/0
9 overs :69/2
10 overs : 80/2 ( this was my only over in the match where my plan to get one of their best batsman out was foiled thanks to a dropped catch when most would agree it was a regulation catch! The guy went on to add another 17 runs after that and maybe he could be in a position to remark in Steve Waugh style "You've dropped the cup mate!")
16 overs : 104/5
18 overs : 109/7
18.5 overs : 112/9!!
The last 4 overs were rivetting to say the least, and the last over drama was comical from a non-biased sense of thinking. It was senseless batting, good captaincy and field sets, and barring the 5th ball of the 18th over, it was definitely good fielding where Alak batsmen committed harakiri. The 5th ball is an interesting thing to be noted : They need 2 runs to win of 8 balls, with one wicket in hand. The batsman played a shot to point-- non-striker calls for a run--fielder picks up and throws over the keeper from a peaceful place-- ball collected by backup who throws it to the bowler's end-- bowler is halfway down the pitch, and misses the ball, which misses the stumps by an inch, -- bowler's end backup fumbles-- Alak completes the second run and there goes the match which we could have won :( It just went on to show how teamwork and great fielding can have the probability of beating even the best of sides although bygones are bygones and I wont continue to discuss about it.
I blogged about this just because of the fact this was very close to my heart; was one of those cases when one was so near and yet so far, and this being cricket and me being a part of the team, I just could not digest this loss. My performance in the match of course was forgettable to say the least, and hopefully, we'll be back next year and even more hopefully, I would be in a position to write about our victory!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
What an idea Sirji ?
Hmm, wanted to write about this for a long time and finally got the time today.
Circa : A month back, when the TN CM Karunanidhi announced a scheme of gifting a gold coin to the family which gives their newborn a Tamil, oops Tamizh name. Now, pop comes the question to my mind. What exactly classifies as a Tamizh name and a non-Tamizh name ?
Let's see 10 examples on what kind of names would be ...er..lucky to get the few gms of gold!
1. Akash -- This will get a score of 1.8 on the Tamizh Scale (a patent pending scale developed by yours truly). Why so ? The TN supremo will claim its etymo from aakasam, which incidentally also means the same in Tam. Well, if Karuna decides to go against what his name implies, this name will get zero or maybe, negative, if he realizes that its origins are actually from Sanskrit.
2. Vikas -- Surely negative. No existence of any linkings to the Tamizh bashai. Of course, this scheme is not meant for those who want to Vikas in their own style (vikas meant progress if I rem my tenth standard Hindi well!)
3. Joseph/Abdul -- Woe betide the followers of Islam/Christianity if this scheme has any value. Poor chaps, they might have to make it Abduzh to even make it count to one extent. No sanskrit origins here might even infuriate the TN supremo, although he doesnt care a damn about Sanskrit. (This was just an example to prove my point and I'm not liable for any religious discrepancies arising from this post!)
4. Mayawati -- Karuna would love to take a gold coin from the family naming their newborn thus. Politically speaking, the newborn would be condemned to Upper Parts of the country, whereby developing narcissistic feelings (read : Too proud to listen to anyone, caste being no barrier here) and erecting statues which will get razed down by the next govt. In fact, Karuna might impose a Mayawati tax on her family so as to generate 1000 cr for the exchequer by the time her Maya is cast! You still interested in finding out the score on the Tamizh scale ? If so, then you're surely Mayawati!
5. Jayalalitha -- Hmm, tough one here. What does Karuna do as the Tamizh scale cant make any shit out of this name ? He uses his veto powers and shuns the name, to be condemned to the Hall of Shame. Anyone crying foul play ? Dont blame the Tamizh Scale, it's apolitical and unbiased!
6. Sonia -- Uh oh! Surely a zero on the Tamizh scale and if Karuna were to strictly follow the recommendations, he would lose out on getting cabinet seats for Maran(which incidentally is the name of a coal block in MP!)
7. Dayanidhi Maran -- Now, dayanidhi is undoubtedly un-Tamizhish but due to Sanskrit mixing(Karuna calls it polluting) with Tam, it might get a 2. Maran ? I thought I mentioned a coal block above with MP origins. Sheesh-- score == Zero!
8. Stalin -- What's that ? Russian right ? All those poor people who voted for the Dont Marry Karunanidhi party to power and hoped that naming their newborns after the CM's son might get them luck are in for bad news. Oh, Friends, Tamizhians, Countrymen, Karuna denied you your rightful gold coin, but Karuna is a noble man. Unleash the dogs of war you idiots!
9. Kannimozhi -- Finally, something which scores above 8.5! Why ?
a) It has the letters 'zh' in it in succession
b) People who have lived outside the venerable Tamizhnathu dunno how to pronounce it properly (including my Geography teacher!)
c) She's Karuna's daughter! (this is not on the basis of the Tamizh scale but coz Karuna forced me into adding an extra 0.3564 points. Ah, if only I had the power!)
10. Seshagiri -- Hmm, this will get 6.5. Why ? It sounds perfectly Tam right and sounds similar to Karuna's son (remember Azhagiri ?)? But didnt you forget, the scores seem to get tampered every now and then by the powers that be. Did I ever mention how the TN supremo prefers upliftment of masses ? And the masses apparently dont have too many Tam Brahms (ob. They are sitting peacefully in Benguluru or US of A!) So to promote populist culture, the name doesnt score above 7.
So, what kind of names should the people of Tam land give to be entitled to the 'elusive gold coin' --
Any name scoring greater than 5 on the Tamizh Scale-- which implies the following :
a) end the name with 'an' or any of the endings suggested below
b) have a 'zh' in any part of the name
c) having 'giri' at the end of the name might help sometimes
d) having 'swamy' at the end of the name is better
e) having 'samy' or 'mani' at the end of it is even better
f) start the name with a tam word for anything. It doesnt matter; it should just be of Tam origins. So, even if you start the name with the tam word for 'bullshit', you are probably the lucky owner of a BIS un-certified gold coin!
So, if my parents had ever made the mistake of settling in TN and had I been born in this year and had my parents made an even bigger mistake of being lured by the 'Gawd of all schemes', I would have probably been named Raghavan (ya, Raghav is a more northy sounding name to the ears of Corona-nidhi!). Luckily, neither of the abovementioned took place and I'm living to tell a happy tale from my keyboard!
If anyone planning to live in TN and is interested in buying the 'Tamizh Scale' in the hopes that their child will shine bright (I say, it depends on the gold quality!), can reach me by mailing to : noqueriesentertained@tamizhscale.co.fu)
PS : All names involved here have no right whatsoever to sue me for using them as this post was intended for purely academic purposes!
Circa : A month back, when the TN CM Karunanidhi announced a scheme of gifting a gold coin to the family which gives their newborn a Tamil, oops Tamizh name. Now, pop comes the question to my mind. What exactly classifies as a Tamizh name and a non-Tamizh name ?
Let's see 10 examples on what kind of names would be ...er..lucky to get the few gms of gold!
1. Akash -- This will get a score of 1.8 on the Tamizh Scale (a patent pending scale developed by yours truly). Why so ? The TN supremo will claim its etymo from aakasam, which incidentally also means the same in Tam. Well, if Karuna decides to go against what his name implies, this name will get zero or maybe, negative, if he realizes that its origins are actually from Sanskrit.
2. Vikas -- Surely negative. No existence of any linkings to the Tamizh bashai. Of course, this scheme is not meant for those who want to Vikas in their own style (vikas meant progress if I rem my tenth standard Hindi well!)
3. Joseph/Abdul -- Woe betide the followers of Islam/Christianity if this scheme has any value. Poor chaps, they might have to make it Abduzh to even make it count to one extent. No sanskrit origins here might even infuriate the TN supremo, although he doesnt care a damn about Sanskrit. (This was just an example to prove my point and I'm not liable for any religious discrepancies arising from this post!)
4. Mayawati -- Karuna would love to take a gold coin from the family naming their newborn thus. Politically speaking, the newborn would be condemned to Upper Parts of the country, whereby developing narcissistic feelings (read : Too proud to listen to anyone, caste being no barrier here) and erecting statues which will get razed down by the next govt. In fact, Karuna might impose a Mayawati tax on her family so as to generate 1000 cr for the exchequer by the time her Maya is cast! You still interested in finding out the score on the Tamizh scale ? If so, then you're surely Mayawati!
5. Jayalalitha -- Hmm, tough one here. What does Karuna do as the Tamizh scale cant make any shit out of this name ? He uses his veto powers and shuns the name, to be condemned to the Hall of Shame. Anyone crying foul play ? Dont blame the Tamizh Scale, it's apolitical and unbiased!
6. Sonia -- Uh oh! Surely a zero on the Tamizh scale and if Karuna were to strictly follow the recommendations, he would lose out on getting cabinet seats for Maran(which incidentally is the name of a coal block in MP!)
7. Dayanidhi Maran -- Now, dayanidhi is undoubtedly un-Tamizhish but due to Sanskrit mixing(Karuna calls it polluting) with Tam, it might get a 2. Maran ? I thought I mentioned a coal block above with MP origins. Sheesh-- score == Zero!
8. Stalin -- What's that ? Russian right ? All those poor people who voted for the Dont Marry Karunanidhi party to power and hoped that naming their newborns after the CM's son might get them luck are in for bad news. Oh, Friends, Tamizhians, Countrymen, Karuna denied you your rightful gold coin, but Karuna is a noble man. Unleash the dogs of war you idiots!
9. Kannimozhi -- Finally, something which scores above 8.5! Why ?
a) It has the letters 'zh' in it in succession
b) People who have lived outside the venerable Tamizhnathu dunno how to pronounce it properly (including my Geography teacher!)
c) She's Karuna's daughter! (this is not on the basis of the Tamizh scale but coz Karuna forced me into adding an extra 0.3564 points. Ah, if only I had the power!)
10. Seshagiri -- Hmm, this will get 6.5. Why ? It sounds perfectly Tam right and sounds similar to Karuna's son (remember Azhagiri ?)? But didnt you forget, the scores seem to get tampered every now and then by the powers that be. Did I ever mention how the TN supremo prefers upliftment of masses ? And the masses apparently dont have too many Tam Brahms (ob. They are sitting peacefully in Benguluru or US of A!) So to promote populist culture, the name doesnt score above 7.
So, what kind of names should the people of Tam land give to be entitled to the 'elusive gold coin' --
Any name scoring greater than 5 on the Tamizh Scale-- which implies the following :
a) end the name with 'an' or any of the endings suggested below
b) have a 'zh' in any part of the name
c) having 'giri' at the end of the name might help sometimes
d) having 'swamy' at the end of the name is better
e) having 'samy' or 'mani' at the end of it is even better
f) start the name with a tam word for anything. It doesnt matter; it should just be of Tam origins. So, even if you start the name with the tam word for 'bullshit', you are probably the lucky owner of a BIS un-certified gold coin!
So, if my parents had ever made the mistake of settling in TN and had I been born in this year and had my parents made an even bigger mistake of being lured by the 'Gawd of all schemes', I would have probably been named Raghavan (ya, Raghav is a more northy sounding name to the ears of Corona-nidhi!). Luckily, neither of the abovementioned took place and I'm living to tell a happy tale from my keyboard!
If anyone planning to live in TN and is interested in buying the 'Tamizh Scale' in the hopes that their child will shine bright (I say, it depends on the gold quality!), can reach me by mailing to : noqueriesentertained@tamizhscale.co.fu)
PS : All names involved here have no right whatsoever to sue me for using them as this post was intended for purely academic purposes!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Quote of the Month
This is one of the statements which I heard, made by an employee of L & T, Powai where I'm currently interning.
My boss : Arre bhau, kasa aahes ? (Marathi for : How's life bro ? )Bahut din baad dikhe ho. Sab theek na ?
Employee : "Arre, mast hai. Peir theek ho gayen hai. Socha kabhi apna munh yahaan dikha doon. Waise LnT main kaam aur paisa kahaan hai saab. Isse achcha toh bagal ki Kali Maa ki Mandir ke trust ka President banke aur fayda utha raha hoon "
I had to control my laughter in front of my boss and escaped saying that I was going to get tea :)
My boss : Arre bhau, kasa aahes ? (Marathi for : How's life bro ? )Bahut din baad dikhe ho. Sab theek na ?
Employee : "Arre, mast hai. Peir theek ho gayen hai. Socha kabhi apna munh yahaan dikha doon. Waise LnT main kaam aur paisa kahaan hai saab. Isse achcha toh bagal ki Kali Maa ki Mandir ke trust ka President banke aur fayda utha raha hoon "
I had to control my laughter in front of my boss and escaped saying that I was going to get tea :)
My experiments with truth - Part I
Hmm, it was a good outing today at this place called Azzuri in Mumbai. 6 of our close gumbal from school decided to meet up as one of our friends was just going to graudate with a B.Com degree and he had decided to treat us. The chap has aspirations to become a CA and I wish him good luck in his endeavours.
As far as Azzuri's concerned : It's a place which serves alcohol and in good measures and is apparently pretty economical compared to other places they have visited. I stuck to my teetotaller image and had a cooler while the rest downed themselves in Tequila shots or Smrinoffs. The good part about the place : The papad! Aye, the rest - DJ/Music sys/Service pretty much sucks. Wonder how it was carried as a review article in one of Times' weeklies.
Well, why am I writing this post ? I certainly don't intend to describe a more-or-less trivial affair (barring the fact that I got to meet all of my buddies after a gap of 1 whole year!) . I came back home at 11 and prompt comes the question from Mom : "So, where did you go to eat ? " I was hesitant to answer coz my Dad knows about this place but decided to stick with the truth and told her. Then my Dad provides the spoiler "But dont they provide liquor there ?" And I replied "Aye, but they drank. I didnt" . Nothing whatsoever could convince them at first that I went into a place serving alcohol and didnt consume it. Thankfully, a bit of 'trust' prevailed and they agreed that their son has still stuck to the 'teetotaller' image.
This brings me to this very important question : Ever tried telling your parents (or any elder for that matter) that you went to a place serving alcohol/hookah and you didnt consume any ? I would love to know their responses, which I am safely assuming would be in the negative.
Adios
As far as Azzuri's concerned : It's a place which serves alcohol and in good measures and is apparently pretty economical compared to other places they have visited. I stuck to my teetotaller image and had a cooler while the rest downed themselves in Tequila shots or Smrinoffs. The good part about the place : The papad! Aye, the rest - DJ/Music sys/Service pretty much sucks. Wonder how it was carried as a review article in one of Times' weeklies.
Well, why am I writing this post ? I certainly don't intend to describe a more-or-less trivial affair (barring the fact that I got to meet all of my buddies after a gap of 1 whole year!) . I came back home at 11 and prompt comes the question from Mom : "So, where did you go to eat ? " I was hesitant to answer coz my Dad knows about this place but decided to stick with the truth and told her. Then my Dad provides the spoiler "But dont they provide liquor there ?" And I replied "Aye, but they drank. I didnt" . Nothing whatsoever could convince them at first that I went into a place serving alcohol and didnt consume it. Thankfully, a bit of 'trust' prevailed and they agreed that their son has still stuck to the 'teetotaller' image.
This brings me to this very important question : Ever tried telling your parents (or any elder for that matter) that you went to a place serving alcohol/hookah and you didnt consume any ? I would love to know their responses, which I am safely assuming would be in the negative.
Adios
Friday, May 15, 2009
Batak to Matak ?
Ah, a long long time ago, in a Solar system not so far away lived a mortal named X. X's career desire/path kept fluctuating after he entered an institute called '-T'. .... blah, blah..at the end of 6 semesters in this '-T' college, he decides to write again. His sadistic desires were back at play. And forth came out of his keyboard.
Well, what a lazy sem it has been (in terms of acads/blogging). Enjoyed a better Saarang, mech courses didn't seem that painful (the exams on the other hand defied Newton's laws for handpower-required-to-complete-a-paper!!) and yes, a sem in which I saw the least no. of movies (that's irony, coz I was supposed to have more free time compared to my batchmates coz I had postponed one of my electives!)
Anyway, I'm back home for my first full vacation in the last 3 yrs and boy, I sure do wanna make the most of this opportunity! Home-grub is ossum as usual, life without lan and slower net seems a pain but yes, a welcome relief from the searing Chennai heat :)
I enter my matak year next sem with 7 core courses on my palate. Will hopefully be interning at a place where I want to and even more hopefully, will get paid for it. 6 sems have gone by in a whizz but nothing seems like a blur though. Vivid memories of what seem to have happened just a day back. But well, time flies like an arrow. Dunno why it could never fly like a boomerang though. 6th sem, was eventful for me, to say the least! Here's a version of sem 6 ,post Saarang 09, DD-IITM_v6.0.zip
=======================
Acads -- decent. Won't talk much as grades are coming out now. We shall discuss this in the extraaaaaa innnings sans Ms. Bedi, who I guess won't be interested in it as it doesn't feature any pulsating action or her chummy Yuvi baby.
Lit-Soc -- Ah, one of my most memorable ones. I didnt wanna write about it coz there's loads to write to do it justice. But well, here it goes. Jam finished 2nd in Lit-Soc, its best position in 18 yrs (earlier info of 12yrs by a former lit-sec turned out to be wrong! Ironymaxxx ). Well, our team managed to place in all Lit-Soc quizzes finals and that's a high in itself but yes, all-time highs would have been putting 48hrs fight for a inter-hostel creative writing entry and winning it by fair means while others had it all discussed out over 2 weeks on google-groups etc :) Unlike the results of a couple of group events which left a sour taste behind in this wonderful experience as the Soc-Sec of my hostel (yes, including the bumps I got! and of course, for ensuring that we got a hostel t-shirt this year at least after a barren wait of 4yrs !!)
Grub -- Tried out different cuisines in Chennai and wow, must say that they were excellent. That they were expensive is the downside, but when you are part of a treat who doesnt have to shell much except for the travelling part, I aint complaining.
Hostel-Night -- again, undoubtedly my best. Well. goofed it up while trying out the grub here, but everything else was more or less perfect. And yes, I once again resisted the temptation to get sloshed and instead, enjoyed the revelries of my other mates, who gave-in to the hydroxyl group :) Farewells bid to another illustrious batch of seniors and somehow, a sense of emotional void did creep in. Maybe, bonding with ppl for 3 yrs does make a diff.
I think the above 3 segments were what stood out in particular for me. The other highlights -->
1. "Indian coal contains 40% ash! " -- a statement I used to hear at least thrice in every 50 min of our Power Plant course. Obba, that's the only thing I remember distinctly about the course now :)
2. "Chachuration " -- another word etched in our minds, thanks to a certain Refrigeration prof, who also happens to be Chairman, Council of Wardens :( Trust me, if you pay proper attention in this prof's class for one half of the sem, you'll probably sail through the est of the course and also, your english will tend towards the rotten side. My writing will tell you how much attention I paid :)
3. Fiction -- Ah, if there's one person who should not be lectured about anti-feministic thoughts, it's my Fiction prof. And guess what, I happened to do the same for my presentation :( Ah, but then again, the course was appalling in the way she took it and somehow, it didn't satisfy my appetite except for the fact that I read a short story called "Dumma and Dummi" !
4. V-Day -- got bumped maajarly thanks to a prank, which was followed up on my hostel-nite. Got frust a bit, but still enjoyed the fact that people actually put fight to pain me. Well, some are not gifted to pain others on the spot :) V for Vendetta machan, so trust me, I solemnly swear I'm upto no good, when Sem 7 starts i.e.
5. W -- > or how close I came to getting one in each of my courses this sem. Would be surprised to find an attendance grade of 'G' in any course, barring my labs!
6. Elections -- closest I came to following an election, thanks to 4 of my good friends battling it out for the top posts. 3 won, but 1 lost. Got to see the true side of people's faces during this time and yeah, a rich experience as put by one of my friends "Haarne ke baad bahut kuch ssekha yaar!"
7. "JoJo ki maa ka " -- a quote which shall be immortalized in the annals of Jam history. Reason : the guy who made this statement is JoJo' elder sibling. Talk of foot in the mouth! Well, both the bros are Arse-nal fans, so can't expect anything better than this.
=====
That's more like my sem, barring our 2nd round exit in Cricket Schroeter, where I swear, I would have bumped my Captain had the team supported me in holding him!
Post sem trips :
a) I attended a religious ceremony in Trichy in the first week of May. Mercury levels read : 41 degrees. Add to the misery : There are 4 LCD panels telecasting the ceremony, but just 2 standee fans for a gathering of 300 odd junta !! Preposterous. It was a good thing that as per religious norms, the menfolk needed to wear just the traditional dhoti and had to stay topless (aye, naked torsos floating around!), so we didn't have to strip to bear the heat. Just had to carry the extra towel to wipe your brow and back from time-to-time. A few other things of note included a conversation, which I happened to accidentally eavesdrop :
Note :A= Aunty == Maami = M, in Tam slang. The words in brackets are the translated versions of the tam dialogues (I've included Tam for the few readers who could probably relish it that way)
A1 : Maami, ongu pennu ka kalyaanam aidthaa ? ( Aunty, is your daughter married ? )
M1 : Illaiye, ippodhaan jadhagum patindu irrakom ( No, just going through exchange of kundalis and all)
A1: Oh, ho. Seshadri angeyu orru payyan paati vechirukkan. Avantu pesulama ? (Seshadri there, knows a boy eligible for marriage. Should we speak to him ?)
M1 : paakulamein. Engayi irrakan payyan ? ( sure. Where's the boy ? )
And now's the twist. I can hear this although I dunno who these ppl are and I know they are pointing somewhere coz their dialogue had stopped momentarily. Next moment, I get a tap on my shoulder asking me :
A1 : Onnoru peir inna pa ? (What's your name son ?)
Me : Raghav. Yen (Raghav. Why ?) .. at the back of my mind, this voice seems very familiar for some reason.
A1 : Inna padchirkai ? (Educational qualification ?)
Me : IIT Madras la Mechanical padchinda irrakein. ippo 3drd...
She cuts me short and speaks to M1 : Nalla padchirkaanein, IIT aachey (Has studied brilliantly, IIT boy na!)
M1 : Aaama, jadhugam shikrama paakalam (yaya, let's exchange kundalis fast then)
I sensed something wrong here and interrupted : Maami, na 3rd yr leda irrukein. Inno mudiyalei (I'm still in 3rd yr, not yet done!)
And as providence would have it, the guy named Seshadri and takes the embarassed aunties to the "right" guy ! Phew... This was also a pt which irritated me. I mean you come to a religious ceremony and end up gossiping or discussing marriages!!. Cant you do that at homes, at your leisure, under fans and not in this heat, where I had half a mind to go back unless my parents hadnt insisted I come tehre? And these are the same people dictating the orthodox stuff I'm supposed to follow in life. So much for their devotion and all that crap.. Hypocritemax !!!
b) Venue : Aircel shop, Mumbai --> I was on the hunt for a sim/network which would fit my tariff range and I decided to visit this Aircel priority store, which I presumed would give me a better offer. And when I enter, I see a hot chick there, in her minis with a pom-pom, ala an IPL cheerleader girl. Baffled by her presence, I continue with my necessary checking out rates, was happy , bought their SIM and was about to leave, when one of the promoters asks me to play this computer game simulating me as a CSK player in the IPL. I play it only to realize the purpose of the "cheerleader". She started doing all the wiggly-niggly actions made by the actual cheergirls in IPL whenever I hit a boundary on the computerized game!!!! WTF^3.. I thought I had seen enough crap, and now this incident adds to my list of stuff-which-no-one-can-argue-about,-but-can-be-assumed-to-be-stupid all the same.
======
More later. Sayonara. (IPL has caught my attention again while typing, not the cheerleaders though!)
Well, what a lazy sem it has been (in terms of acads/blogging). Enjoyed a better Saarang, mech courses didn't seem that painful (the exams on the other hand defied Newton's laws for handpower-required-to-complete-a-paper!!) and yes, a sem in which I saw the least no. of movies (that's irony, coz I was supposed to have more free time compared to my batchmates coz I had postponed one of my electives!)
Anyway, I'm back home for my first full vacation in the last 3 yrs and boy, I sure do wanna make the most of this opportunity! Home-grub is ossum as usual, life without lan and slower net seems a pain but yes, a welcome relief from the searing Chennai heat :)
I enter my matak year next sem with 7 core courses on my palate. Will hopefully be interning at a place where I want to and even more hopefully, will get paid for it. 6 sems have gone by in a whizz but nothing seems like a blur though. Vivid memories of what seem to have happened just a day back. But well, time flies like an arrow. Dunno why it could never fly like a boomerang though. 6th sem, was eventful for me, to say the least! Here's a version of sem 6 ,post Saarang 09, DD-IITM_v6.0.zip
=======================
Acads -- decent. Won't talk much as grades are coming out now. We shall discuss this in the extraaaaaa innnings sans Ms. Bedi, who I guess won't be interested in it as it doesn't feature any pulsating action or her chummy Yuvi baby.
Lit-Soc -- Ah, one of my most memorable ones. I didnt wanna write about it coz there's loads to write to do it justice. But well, here it goes. Jam finished 2nd in Lit-Soc, its best position in 18 yrs (earlier info of 12yrs by a former lit-sec turned out to be wrong! Ironymaxxx ). Well, our team managed to place in all Lit-Soc quizzes finals and that's a high in itself but yes, all-time highs would have been putting 48hrs fight for a inter-hostel creative writing entry and winning it by fair means while others had it all discussed out over 2 weeks on google-groups etc :) Unlike the results of a couple of group events which left a sour taste behind in this wonderful experience as the Soc-Sec of my hostel (yes, including the bumps I got! and of course, for ensuring that we got a hostel t-shirt this year at least after a barren wait of 4yrs !!)
Grub -- Tried out different cuisines in Chennai and wow, must say that they were excellent. That they were expensive is the downside, but when you are part of a treat who doesnt have to shell much except for the travelling part, I aint complaining.
Hostel-Night -- again, undoubtedly my best. Well. goofed it up while trying out the grub here, but everything else was more or less perfect. And yes, I once again resisted the temptation to get sloshed and instead, enjoyed the revelries of my other mates, who gave-in to the hydroxyl group :) Farewells bid to another illustrious batch of seniors and somehow, a sense of emotional void did creep in. Maybe, bonding with ppl for 3 yrs does make a diff.
I think the above 3 segments were what stood out in particular for me. The other highlights -->
1. "Indian coal contains 40% ash! " -- a statement I used to hear at least thrice in every 50 min of our Power Plant course. Obba, that's the only thing I remember distinctly about the course now :)
2. "Chachuration " -- another word etched in our minds, thanks to a certain Refrigeration prof, who also happens to be Chairman, Council of Wardens :( Trust me, if you pay proper attention in this prof's class for one half of the sem, you'll probably sail through the est of the course and also, your english will tend towards the rotten side. My writing will tell you how much attention I paid :)
3. Fiction -- Ah, if there's one person who should not be lectured about anti-feministic thoughts, it's my Fiction prof. And guess what, I happened to do the same for my presentation :( Ah, but then again, the course was appalling in the way she took it and somehow, it didn't satisfy my appetite except for the fact that I read a short story called "Dumma and Dummi" !
4. V-Day -- got bumped maajarly thanks to a prank, which was followed up on my hostel-nite. Got frust a bit, but still enjoyed the fact that people actually put fight to pain me. Well, some are not gifted to pain others on the spot :) V for Vendetta machan, so trust me, I solemnly swear I'm upto no good, when Sem 7 starts i.e.
5. W -- > or how close I came to getting one in each of my courses this sem. Would be surprised to find an attendance grade of 'G' in any course, barring my labs!
6. Elections -- closest I came to following an election, thanks to 4 of my good friends battling it out for the top posts. 3 won, but 1 lost. Got to see the true side of people's faces during this time and yeah, a rich experience as put by one of my friends "Haarne ke baad bahut kuch ssekha yaar!"
7. "JoJo ki maa ka " -- a quote which shall be immortalized in the annals of Jam history. Reason : the guy who made this statement is JoJo' elder sibling. Talk of foot in the mouth! Well, both the bros are Arse-nal fans, so can't expect anything better than this.
=====
That's more like my sem, barring our 2nd round exit in Cricket Schroeter, where I swear, I would have bumped my Captain had the team supported me in holding him!
Post sem trips :
a) I attended a religious ceremony in Trichy in the first week of May. Mercury levels read : 41 degrees. Add to the misery : There are 4 LCD panels telecasting the ceremony, but just 2 standee fans for a gathering of 300 odd junta !! Preposterous. It was a good thing that as per religious norms, the menfolk needed to wear just the traditional dhoti and had to stay topless (aye, naked torsos floating around!), so we didn't have to strip to bear the heat. Just had to carry the extra towel to wipe your brow and back from time-to-time. A few other things of note included a conversation, which I happened to accidentally eavesdrop :
Note :A= Aunty == Maami = M, in Tam slang. The words in brackets are the translated versions of the tam dialogues (I've included Tam for the few readers who could probably relish it that way)
A1 : Maami, ongu pennu ka kalyaanam aidthaa ? ( Aunty, is your daughter married ? )
M1 : Illaiye, ippodhaan jadhagum patindu irrakom ( No, just going through exchange of kundalis and all)
A1: Oh, ho. Seshadri angeyu orru payyan paati vechirukkan. Avantu pesulama ? (Seshadri there, knows a boy eligible for marriage. Should we speak to him ?)
M1 : paakulamein. Engayi irrakan payyan ? ( sure. Where's the boy ? )
And now's the twist. I can hear this although I dunno who these ppl are and I know they are pointing somewhere coz their dialogue had stopped momentarily. Next moment, I get a tap on my shoulder asking me :
A1 : Onnoru peir inna pa ? (What's your name son ?)
Me : Raghav. Yen (Raghav. Why ?) .. at the back of my mind, this voice seems very familiar for some reason.
A1 : Inna padchirkai ? (Educational qualification ?)
Me : IIT Madras la Mechanical padchinda irrakein. ippo 3drd...
She cuts me short and speaks to M1 : Nalla padchirkaanein, IIT aachey (Has studied brilliantly, IIT boy na!)
M1 : Aaama, jadhugam shikrama paakalam (yaya, let's exchange kundalis fast then)
I sensed something wrong here and interrupted : Maami, na 3rd yr leda irrukein. Inno mudiyalei (I'm still in 3rd yr, not yet done!)
And as providence would have it, the guy named Seshadri and takes the embarassed aunties to the "right" guy ! Phew... This was also a pt which irritated me. I mean you come to a religious ceremony and end up gossiping or discussing marriages!!. Cant you do that at homes, at your leisure, under fans and not in this heat, where I had half a mind to go back unless my parents hadnt insisted I come tehre? And these are the same people dictating the orthodox stuff I'm supposed to follow in life. So much for their devotion and all that crap.. Hypocritemax !!!
b) Venue : Aircel shop, Mumbai --> I was on the hunt for a sim/network which would fit my tariff range and I decided to visit this Aircel priority store, which I presumed would give me a better offer. And when I enter, I see a hot chick there, in her minis with a pom-pom, ala an IPL cheerleader girl. Baffled by her presence, I continue with my necessary checking out rates, was happy , bought their SIM and was about to leave, when one of the promoters asks me to play this computer game simulating me as a CSK player in the IPL. I play it only to realize the purpose of the "cheerleader". She started doing all the wiggly-niggly actions made by the actual cheergirls in IPL whenever I hit a boundary on the computerized game!!!! WTF^3.. I thought I had seen enough crap, and now this incident adds to my list of stuff-which-no-one-can-argue-about,-but-can-be-assumed-to-be-stupid all the same.
======
More later. Sayonara. (IPL has caught my attention again while typing, not the cheerleaders though!)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Be Afraid, Be very afraid !!
The last week in retrospect has been a very frustrating week in terms of what I expected it to be and what it turned out to be instead ..
1. I set out for a place with high hopes of finding a particular motor which would satisfy my constraints..reach the shop, who raises the bar of hopes by saying that the particular rpm motor is available and then...it simply exceeds the dimensional constraints and hence, rendered useless. This was probably an omen of things to come, I guess.
2. We set out to "conquer" Mood-I Quizzes/WordGames over the weekend. The quotes have been used for conquer coz I know it would probably be too Herculean a task to win all the events in the purview as the competition was actually fantastic, something which I never expected compared to last year's participation, but getting cash back in return would have done an almost bankrupt man like me a favour. Well, we qualified for the Main Quiz finals and apparently topped the prelims ( a bit of C2D was involved, to tell the truth but we did deserve to get till there is our opinion)..only to be steamrolled in the finals. As for the Word Games event, we did quite decently in the prelims and would have even come back home with cash except for one stupid buzzer round which changed the tide of the finals and we ended up missing the top 3 spots by 5 pt ( as to why the buzzer round was crucial : each question was worth 30 pts and we knew the answer all along and forgot to press the buzzer and allowed the team which beat us to sneak ahead. D'uh,I know, but this was yet another instance for me coming so near, and yet so far :( )
3. Never before has it happened that my ticket in the Tatkal quota couldn't be booked..and this has to happen when I wanted my ticket as desperately as possible !
4. An ambitious project we are working on suddenly goes into Plan-C/D/whatever_the_letter mode due to employees of a certain motor mfg. firm being on holiday. And this news comes right after the firm seemed possible to deliver us the goods, in probably as early as 2 weeks when compared to the normal 1 month standard expected. We must be damned, I must say.
The above 4 sets of events have all seemed as promising to deliver and yet failing. Is this a sign of things to come or has the storm passed ? Have I failed yet again to read the omens or have I read it correctly finally ? I guess only time shall tell me the answer which makes me very scared coz I never trust the surprises, pleasant or unpleasant that the future holds for me. All I can do is pray that the good times have begun (and I certainly don't intend to fly by Kingfisher to Fly the "good times", unless they are offering me a free ticket! ) coz what lies ahead of me is as good as a make or break situation for whatever I'd set out to achieve at the onset of the current academic year.
I have a Dream ..And I bloody well want it to come true !!
P.S. The only set of events expected which I didnt mention earlier were my grades, which for now also seem to give me a ray of hope and expectation and I hope they don't end up the way the earlier set did !
1. I set out for a place with high hopes of finding a particular motor which would satisfy my constraints..reach the shop, who raises the bar of hopes by saying that the particular rpm motor is available and then...it simply exceeds the dimensional constraints and hence, rendered useless. This was probably an omen of things to come, I guess.
2. We set out to "conquer" Mood-I Quizzes/WordGames over the weekend. The quotes have been used for conquer coz I know it would probably be too Herculean a task to win all the events in the purview as the competition was actually fantastic, something which I never expected compared to last year's participation, but getting cash back in return would have done an almost bankrupt man like me a favour. Well, we qualified for the Main Quiz finals and apparently topped the prelims ( a bit of C2D was involved, to tell the truth but we did deserve to get till there is our opinion)..only to be steamrolled in the finals. As for the Word Games event, we did quite decently in the prelims and would have even come back home with cash except for one stupid buzzer round which changed the tide of the finals and we ended up missing the top 3 spots by 5 pt ( as to why the buzzer round was crucial : each question was worth 30 pts and we knew the answer all along and forgot to press the buzzer and allowed the team which beat us to sneak ahead. D'uh,I know, but this was yet another instance for me coming so near, and yet so far :( )
3. Never before has it happened that my ticket in the Tatkal quota couldn't be booked..and this has to happen when I wanted my ticket as desperately as possible !
4. An ambitious project we are working on suddenly goes into Plan-C/D/whatever_the_letter mode due to employees of a certain motor mfg. firm being on holiday. And this news comes right after the firm seemed possible to deliver us the goods, in probably as early as 2 weeks when compared to the normal 1 month standard expected. We must be damned, I must say.
The above 4 sets of events have all seemed as promising to deliver and yet failing. Is this a sign of things to come or has the storm passed ? Have I failed yet again to read the omens or have I read it correctly finally ? I guess only time shall tell me the answer which makes me very scared coz I never trust the surprises, pleasant or unpleasant that the future holds for me. All I can do is pray that the good times have begun (and I certainly don't intend to fly by Kingfisher to Fly the "good times", unless they are offering me a free ticket! ) coz what lies ahead of me is as good as a make or break situation for whatever I'd set out to achieve at the onset of the current academic year.
I have a Dream ..And I bloody well want it to come true !!
P.S. The only set of events expected which I didnt mention earlier were my grades, which for now also seem to give me a ray of hope and expectation and I hope they don't end up the way the earlier set did !
Sunday, December 7, 2008
To B.E. or not to B.E. ?
Hmm, I was going through a certain book on word etymos and something which surprised me was the term, Bachelor -- meaning an unmarried male, in common parlance. Now, I have been pondering on this term for a while coz I have never been able to figure out why is someone is awarded a degree stating " Bachelor of Engineering " , so on and so forth..Do they mean that the poor chap who's awarded the degree is unmarried to engineering,when ironically, he's spent 4 precious years trying to figure out the nitty-gritties of the same and in all likelihood has failed to grasp them!
Now, it's surprising that the Forum for International Feminine Associations (FIFA in short) hasn't launched a scathing attack on the powers that be, to find the Bachelors degree to be disappointingly sexist and thereby launch a Spinsters degree for the females who would have been otherwise awarded the Bachelors degree. But the fact that they won't crib over the Masters degree is evident coz after all, its Mistresses who anyway rule over the Masters in most prevailing conditions. Anyway, here ends the reference to the title of this post. On to more serious issues..
Getting an admit into IIT (not the Illinois one) is a matter of prestige for most of the wanna-be engineers and their parents in the nation. But has anyone wondered about the situation of the fellow post-entry into IIT ? It has become an awkward state of mind for the lad when he returns home (especially, if he is not studying in an IIT in his place of residence, if there exists one). Any allegation on me bearing charges of anti-feminism can be mailed to : thisismankindnotwomankind@grantmeawebsite.org and for those without allegations, can continue reading this post, if they are interested to..Now this guy who comes back has a burden of the IIT tag on him. Yes, I call it a burden coz every move of his is scrutinized by the dastardly elements of the society wishing to prove that IITians are human in as palpable a manner as possible. The funny part is this - IITians never claimed they were superhuman, but have always maintained the fact that they are human. So what's the need to prove someone down in this process ? The problem is, this tag stays with him forever until he retires and comes back as a prof in an IIT coz then, he's living with people of similar backgrounds.
Another embarassing situation arrives when this lad is introduced to some friend of his parents as " My son studies in IIT-X*" and there falls the sky on his head. And God save the poor chap if this Mister whom he's introduced to, has a son/daughter aspiring to be an IITian and is probably preparing for the famed JEE ! It's not that he doesnt wish to help out but it's just the fact that he wouldn't want to be pestered with people asking for advice. After all, coaching classes are meant to be there for the same reason. They too have ex-IITians as some of the faculty members. Well, my interaction with students of other IITs has been limited but from what I have gathered, life at almost all IITs, remain the same, except for a bit of grading differences and maybe certain facilities and probably, ragging. But this fact just doesn't sink into other aspirants, moreso their parents I would say. It's good to be concerned about one's ward's future but excessive advice seeking never did anyone good unless they were going to start up their own firm with a database of these advices.
Now, it's the time for this IITian ( let's call him XY, poor fellow will have a name ot identify with his chromosome at least )--ok XY goes to a nearby mart whose owner (O) has known him for the past 6 years. Seeing XY after a long hiatus, he enquires about his education and the conversation is as follows :
O : So XY, coming back from a long vacation huh ?
XY : No sethji, just came back on a vacation from college.
O : College ? waah, badhiya hai. Which college ?
XY (with a sense of pride) : IIT - Delhi ji..
O : Arrey, ek ITI toh apne Mulund mein bhi hai na, yeh dilli-willi kyun jaana ! (Mulund- a suburb on the outskirts of Mumbai)
XY : /*Damn, this fellow doesn't know difference between IIT and ITI*/
XY : Arrey nahin, IIT , like the one in Powai..IIT Bombay..suna hai na ?
O : Oh achcha, like that bolo na..toh why Delhi beta ? Powai mein donation dena tha kya ?
XY : /*Damn, no point explaining him. Next he'll ask me my CET score and tell me that I could have got in VJTI itself( VJTI-- is the "best" engineering college in Mumbai, if IITB is not considered into picture) */
XY : Haan, that was the case. Chalo, I've work to do. Will come later.
O to another customer : Poor fellow..was a brilliant chap but couldn't get a seat in Mumbai itself. Had to go to Delhi of all the places !
This above conversation is not a myth but a morphed version of the real one which I encountered last summer. And I thought IITians were famous. No wonder, the political party floated by a certain group of IITians ( I think it's called Lok Paritran ) is a disaster !
Above all this, there's always the fact that your friends,( those who are fortunately/unfortunately not in IITs despite deserving to be so) will view any statement made by you with a prejudiced attitude, unlike the times before you cleared JEE. It's a part and parcel of this process called life that you move on from one time period to another and in this process, I think it's humanely impossible to keep in touch with anyone and everyone you knew well prior to joining IIT. And once you come back to your residential town and if you dont call up these bum-chums, they would think of you as "another IITian who doesn't care about us now that we aren't fellows in his league ". A popular misconception, I must say. I agree that it's a bit difficult to maintain the same bonhomie prevalent earlier and getting that spark back again does take time; added to the fact that every damned person has some expectation or the other from this XY that he's totally confused as to what to do and gets pained by trying to please everyone ( but in the process, ends up pleasing none coz he's worried about the statements he makes which become a bit formal over a period of time as he's unsure as to how the world shall react to them--once again leading to the Pre-IITian and Post-IITian schools of thought :( )
All said and done, I guess the only way to sort this thing out would probably not consider IITians as geniuses; at least don't be prejudiced in judging a person's statements, whether he's an IITian or not, coz we are all human after all, and mistakes or correct decisions are never decided whether a person is an IITian or not.
** There do exist female IITians but I have never been in their shoes to corraborate the same into my post.
## I hope this post is not considered with prejudice as an IITian's post or else, my whole purpose would be dissolved !
Now, it's surprising that the Forum for International Feminine Associations (FIFA in short) hasn't launched a scathing attack on the powers that be, to find the Bachelors degree to be disappointingly sexist and thereby launch a Spinsters degree for the females who would have been otherwise awarded the Bachelors degree. But the fact that they won't crib over the Masters degree is evident coz after all, its Mistresses who anyway rule over the Masters in most prevailing conditions. Anyway, here ends the reference to the title of this post. On to more serious issues..
Getting an admit into IIT (not the Illinois one) is a matter of prestige for most of the wanna-be engineers and their parents in the nation. But has anyone wondered about the situation of the fellow post-entry into IIT ? It has become an awkward state of mind for the lad when he returns home (especially, if he is not studying in an IIT in his place of residence, if there exists one). Any allegation on me bearing charges of anti-feminism can be mailed to : thisismankindnotwomankind@grantmeawebsite.org and for those without allegations, can continue reading this post, if they are interested to..Now this guy who comes back has a burden of the IIT tag on him. Yes, I call it a burden coz every move of his is scrutinized by the dastardly elements of the society wishing to prove that IITians are human in as palpable a manner as possible. The funny part is this - IITians never claimed they were superhuman, but have always maintained the fact that they are human. So what's the need to prove someone down in this process ? The problem is, this tag stays with him forever until he retires and comes back as a prof in an IIT coz then, he's living with people of similar backgrounds.
Another embarassing situation arrives when this lad is introduced to some friend of his parents as " My son studies in IIT-X*" and there falls the sky on his head. And God save the poor chap if this Mister whom he's introduced to, has a son/daughter aspiring to be an IITian and is probably preparing for the famed JEE ! It's not that he doesnt wish to help out but it's just the fact that he wouldn't want to be pestered with people asking for advice. After all, coaching classes are meant to be there for the same reason. They too have ex-IITians as some of the faculty members. Well, my interaction with students of other IITs has been limited but from what I have gathered, life at almost all IITs, remain the same, except for a bit of grading differences and maybe certain facilities and probably, ragging. But this fact just doesn't sink into other aspirants, moreso their parents I would say. It's good to be concerned about one's ward's future but excessive advice seeking never did anyone good unless they were going to start up their own firm with a database of these advices.
Now, it's the time for this IITian ( let's call him XY, poor fellow will have a name ot identify with his chromosome at least )--ok XY goes to a nearby mart whose owner (O) has known him for the past 6 years. Seeing XY after a long hiatus, he enquires about his education and the conversation is as follows :
O : So XY, coming back from a long vacation huh ?
XY : No sethji, just came back on a vacation from college.
O : College ? waah, badhiya hai. Which college ?
XY (with a sense of pride) : IIT - Delhi ji..
O : Arrey, ek ITI toh apne Mulund mein bhi hai na, yeh dilli-willi kyun jaana ! (Mulund- a suburb on the outskirts of Mumbai)
XY : /*Damn, this fellow doesn't know difference between IIT and ITI*/
XY : Arrey nahin, IIT , like the one in Powai..IIT Bombay..suna hai na ?
O : Oh achcha, like that bolo na..toh why Delhi beta ? Powai mein donation dena tha kya ?
XY : /*Damn, no point explaining him. Next he'll ask me my CET score and tell me that I could have got in VJTI itself( VJTI-- is the "best" engineering college in Mumbai, if IITB is not considered into picture) */
XY : Haan, that was the case. Chalo, I've work to do. Will come later.
O to another customer : Poor fellow..was a brilliant chap but couldn't get a seat in Mumbai itself. Had to go to Delhi of all the places !
This above conversation is not a myth but a morphed version of the real one which I encountered last summer. And I thought IITians were famous. No wonder, the political party floated by a certain group of IITians ( I think it's called Lok Paritran ) is a disaster !
Above all this, there's always the fact that your friends,( those who are fortunately/unfortunately not in IITs despite deserving to be so) will view any statement made by you with a prejudiced attitude, unlike the times before you cleared JEE. It's a part and parcel of this process called life that you move on from one time period to another and in this process, I think it's humanely impossible to keep in touch with anyone and everyone you knew well prior to joining IIT. And once you come back to your residential town and if you dont call up these bum-chums, they would think of you as "another IITian who doesn't care about us now that we aren't fellows in his league ". A popular misconception, I must say. I agree that it's a bit difficult to maintain the same bonhomie prevalent earlier and getting that spark back again does take time; added to the fact that every damned person has some expectation or the other from this XY that he's totally confused as to what to do and gets pained by trying to please everyone ( but in the process, ends up pleasing none coz he's worried about the statements he makes which become a bit formal over a period of time as he's unsure as to how the world shall react to them--once again leading to the Pre-IITian and Post-IITian schools of thought :( )
All said and done, I guess the only way to sort this thing out would probably not consider IITians as geniuses; at least don't be prejudiced in judging a person's statements, whether he's an IITian or not, coz we are all human after all, and mistakes or correct decisions are never decided whether a person is an IITian or not.
** There do exist female IITians but I have never been in their shoes to corraborate the same into my post.
## I hope this post is not considered with prejudice as an IITian's post or else, my whole purpose would be dissolved !
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
1111111 / 12 O' clock
Well, it's been a long time since I posted here and hence got the feel to write something but at the same time, I was too lazy to write as well.
Lots of things to write about, but where to start is the question. So this is what I plan to do :- Write a blog-post every weekend covering the 'highlights' in fortnights that have passed by in the last 2 months.
And yes, if you didn't understand my title of this post,it means " Once upon a time " (Depends whether you understand rebuses or not :0 ).
To be contd .....
Lots of things to write about, but where to start is the question. So this is what I plan to do :- Write a blog-post every weekend covering the 'highlights' in fortnights that have passed by in the last 2 months.
And yes, if you didn't understand my title of this post,it means " Once upon a time " (Depends whether you understand rebuses or not :0 ).
To be contd .....
Friday, May 9, 2008
The Chronicles of Fart-nia
Well, I'm back. Sounds cliched, I agree, but let me remind you that I've survived(or at least hope I have) the longest of semesters ever possible at IIT M. 26 credits,Period.
A lot has happened between the last post and the time at which this post will go to the press. Lots of stuff to chronicle and lots of stuff to be censored. And what I am to do in the next few days (and hopefully complete the tasks assigned for myself for the next 3 months) will possible be the most crucial phase of my life at IITM.
Some unique things which I would like to first talk (type) about.
a) Put all nighters for 3 of my 6 end-sems.well this may not be unique but what follows may possibly be. I happened to sleep for half an hour at least in 2 of the three-hour exams that followed. Was woken up thankfully by the invigilators on both the occasions (on one occasion, the invigilator thought that I had put my head down and was in Deep Thought ; pun unintended, and if you didn't understand the pun, get yourself a copy of The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You may or may not understand the pun after that, but you'll definitely understand the importance of a towel in the Universe :P)
b)I don't know why I didnt do this, but I DID NOT APPLY for any summer internship programmes(while EVERY person I knew in the institute had applied) during this period except in one case where I accidentally mailed my resume to one of the companies, even though I didn't wish to apply (that's coz I felt that it wouldn't suit my needs. After seeing the kind of people it's taken up for work, I regret it and still feel I could've done a better job and had put the dough to some better use) . I'm wondering yet whether or not I did the most stupidest thing in the world.
c)Got rejected twice after proposing, that too on consecutive days.....Hold it, these weren't marriage proposals, but propoosals to companies regarding Sponsorship for a particular something which I'll describe at an appropriate period of time.
d)Got kicked out of class (well not kicked,that's just for the effect, which I dunnno was effective or not) for sleeping. And the worst is that I went back to ask the prof for attendance at the end of the class, and he gave me since I was honest enough to leave the class. I guess I'm able to feel the situation of the students in my school-days who routinely went through such stuff (except getting their attendance back !) and I think of how much trouble I've got them into. Well, the truth is that half the pranks played in my school had my hand but I was well-hidden due to the "sincere student" tag and the "naughty junta" got caught always.
e)I saw the Lit-Soc shield being presented to Godav Lit-Soc secs and swore that by the end of next year, the same shield shall reside in Jam (oh, yes, I forgot to mention that I was "elected" as the Social Secretary of Jam in between. To those, who do not understand the previous statement, I'm sorry you shall never understand and I wont take the pains of making you understand; unless of cousre, we get the shield to Jam next year ! )
f)Saw a Hostel-Nite marred by 'n' hiccups (well, there were quite a lot who boozed enough to have hiccups too, but rest assured, I was NOT a part of that gang. I stuck to my total teetotaller image and even refused offers of sleeping with someone that night. To clear any confusions, the offer was from a drunk senior and HE was a Male. SO obba, I had to refuse :P). Apart from the hiccups and other cups, it was altogether an almost fitting farewell to an illustrious batch of seniors when the night ended at 5am and the Morning Raga started at 12 am.
g)I saw my plate of Bhel being pounced upoon by a cat, who I guess thought it was chicken (which was imposs, coz I'm pure veg). Maybe the cat had a cold that night or probably it could not think clearly and hence, required 'food for thought'.
h) Yes. I finally made use of the pool in IITM and started to learn swimming the day before this post gets puiblished. Was an amazing experience and a much awaited relief from the Chennai-Heat. One of the local radio stations has somehow managed to get Chennai right with its tagline, "Itha Sammu Hot Machi " aka "This is very very hot, mate". He may probably have referred to the "hit" songs being played but somehow those songs dont 'hit' well on my ears.
i) Finally, I managed to sleep for 11 straight hours in this sem. Don't ask me how, but never before had I slept for so long in IITM. This again may not be unique,but considering the tasks I had to finish that day, no guy (or girl) could have possibly dared to sleep that long. And I seriously thank GOD for somehow saving me that day by getting more than half the work postponed to the next week. And as is usual for a normal fellow in this insti, I hadn't done my work by then either, and put an all nighter to complete that work.
So, I hope you had a not-so-good time going through the life of another abnormal guy, coz if you did have a good time, I'm pretty sure you are abnoral as well.(That's good , join the gang !!) To avail a free copy of my complete chronicles, mail your requests immediately to : paymeforwritingorgetlostdude@nofartsnoarts.co.tv
A lot has happened between the last post and the time at which this post will go to the press. Lots of stuff to chronicle and lots of stuff to be censored. And what I am to do in the next few days (and hopefully complete the tasks assigned for myself for the next 3 months) will possible be the most crucial phase of my life at IITM.
Some unique things which I would like to first talk (type) about.
a) Put all nighters for 3 of my 6 end-sems.well this may not be unique but what follows may possibly be. I happened to sleep for half an hour at least in 2 of the three-hour exams that followed. Was woken up thankfully by the invigilators on both the occasions (on one occasion, the invigilator thought that I had put my head down and was in Deep Thought ; pun unintended, and if you didn't understand the pun, get yourself a copy of The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You may or may not understand the pun after that, but you'll definitely understand the importance of a towel in the Universe :P)
b)I don't know why I didnt do this, but I DID NOT APPLY for any summer internship programmes(while EVERY person I knew in the institute had applied) during this period except in one case where I accidentally mailed my resume to one of the companies, even though I didn't wish to apply (that's coz I felt that it wouldn't suit my needs. After seeing the kind of people it's taken up for work, I regret it and still feel I could've done a better job and had put the dough to some better use) . I'm wondering yet whether or not I did the most stupidest thing in the world.
c)Got rejected twice after proposing, that too on consecutive days.....Hold it, these weren't marriage proposals, but propoosals to companies regarding Sponsorship for a particular something which I'll describe at an appropriate period of time.
d)Got kicked out of class (well not kicked,that's just for the effect, which I dunnno was effective or not) for sleeping. And the worst is that I went back to ask the prof for attendance at the end of the class, and he gave me since I was honest enough to leave the class. I guess I'm able to feel the situation of the students in my school-days who routinely went through such stuff (except getting their attendance back !) and I think of how much trouble I've got them into. Well, the truth is that half the pranks played in my school had my hand but I was well-hidden due to the "sincere student" tag and the "naughty junta" got caught always.
e)I saw the Lit-Soc shield being presented to Godav Lit-Soc secs and swore that by the end of next year, the same shield shall reside in Jam (oh, yes, I forgot to mention that I was "elected" as the Social Secretary of Jam in between. To those, who do not understand the previous statement, I'm sorry you shall never understand and I wont take the pains of making you understand; unless of cousre, we get the shield to Jam next year ! )
f)Saw a Hostel-Nite marred by 'n' hiccups (well, there were quite a lot who boozed enough to have hiccups too, but rest assured, I was NOT a part of that gang. I stuck to my total teetotaller image and even refused offers of sleeping with someone that night. To clear any confusions, the offer was from a drunk senior and HE was a Male. SO obba, I had to refuse :P). Apart from the hiccups and other cups, it was altogether an almost fitting farewell to an illustrious batch of seniors when the night ended at 5am and the Morning Raga started at 12 am.
g)I saw my plate of Bhel being pounced upoon by a cat, who I guess thought it was chicken (which was imposs, coz I'm pure veg). Maybe the cat had a cold that night or probably it could not think clearly and hence, required 'food for thought'.
h) Yes. I finally made use of the pool in IITM and started to learn swimming the day before this post gets puiblished. Was an amazing experience and a much awaited relief from the Chennai-Heat. One of the local radio stations has somehow managed to get Chennai right with its tagline, "Itha Sammu Hot Machi " aka "This is very very hot, mate". He may probably have referred to the "hit" songs being played but somehow those songs dont 'hit' well on my ears.
i) Finally, I managed to sleep for 11 straight hours in this sem. Don't ask me how, but never before had I slept for so long in IITM. This again may not be unique,but considering the tasks I had to finish that day, no guy (or girl) could have possibly dared to sleep that long. And I seriously thank GOD for somehow saving me that day by getting more than half the work postponed to the next week. And as is usual for a normal fellow in this insti, I hadn't done my work by then either, and put an all nighter to complete that work.
So, I hope you had a not-so-good time going through the life of another abnormal guy, coz if you did have a good time, I'm pretty sure you are abnoral as well.(That's good , join the gang !!) To avail a free copy of my complete chronicles, mail your requests immediately to : paymeforwritingorgetlostdude@nofartsnoarts.co.tv
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