A Few Good Men....ok....Women too!!

Ok.

2005-09-27T01:56:00.000+05:30

Any one here? I want to be removed from this blog. This is possible only by the Administrator. So, please A Good Man, delete me from this blog.

2004-12-30T02:14:00.000+05:30

[This post is also on my blog - here]

This post might be my attempt to be "intellectual" or something like that, cuz I usually don't pen down such serious thoughts. Most of them are more about specific incidents and not about a general idea or concept.

But anyways, this incident got me thinking... has idealism finished its term. I mean is it passe? Or are we morally/socially so corrupt that we have no ideals, and any sort of moral/ethical act seems to be a burden on us.

Consider this... a student is caught cheating in an end semester examination and he's given an F grade (ie he is failed in that course) PLUS he is also given a "semester drop" (ie suspended for one whole semester)!! Don't you think that giving the F grade was punishment enough? I mean how many times are you supposed to punish a person for one act.

I probably feel that a semester drop is too big a punishment cuz I feel that cheating is not such a big crime. Probably that's cuz of the inherent level of corruption in me. I probably accept corruption to some level. It's like a de-facto standard. It's part of the system. Anyone not corrupt upto that level is a menace for the system.

For example, if, in an exam I ask my neighbour for help - and he denies it. He's breaking the system. I'll be displeased with him. Kya, behen chod, satyawadi harishchand bana firta hai! That's exactly what I'd say.

I won't come back from the examination and think, Fuck man, I was wrong - I should not have asked him for assistance during the exam! I'm certainly not going to do that!!

Now, where am I wrong. How many people can I (or you) find who do not cheat! Hell, I mean how many professors can "cross their hearts and hope to die" and swear that they did not cheat during their student days! What makes them take this path of rigid ideology once they earn their PhD's and become professors. I'm sure even during their PhD thesis they must've machaod some fraud

That somehow bring me back to my "intellectual" point - has ideology lived its life? Is it over? Is it dead?

What do you think?

Right Now!

2004-12-28T14:06:00.000+05:30

I came across this video 'right now'. I am sure many of you have already seen it. This is the stuff our memories are made of. Kudos to the team who made it!

The MMS clip

2004-12-17T17:01:00.000+05:30

Everyone, at least if you're staying in India right now, must know which clip I am talking about. After being the talk of Delhi, and then probably the entire country, it finally managed to shift focus from the school concerned to an IIT. Quite expectedly, the fire which was on its way to die out a much deserved death was provided with a fresh dose of fuel. It was very saddening to find a final-year student (from IIT-Kgp) getting involved in the whole issue. What was even more shocking was the fact that he hadn't even been conscious that what he was doing is a very grave crime according to the penal code. For that matter, I, and I am sure many others in the IIT campuses would find it very disconcerting that a seemingly inconsequential activity that almost all of us indulge in is an offence for which we could be even sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment.

For, though most of us may not share or distribute porn over the internet or not peddle it commercially, we are guilty of having been involved in the distribution of such 'offensive' material on our campus LANs. Many students have also mailed it through the net to their friends outside their campuses. In fact there are computers on the LAN that are known to share just porn and the total amount of it on the LAN at any given time could be in tens of GBs.
And so we have got so numbed by now that somehow the apparent severity of the whole thing fails to register with us.

Of course the first step taken by the college authorities was to expel the student who had just one semester left to complete his course. I am not sure if that was the right thing to do, but in recent times IIT authorities, and I find this happening across all of them, have become very panicky as far as the media is concerned. The first thing they do is to wash their hands off the issue, and the student.

Help Needed

2004-12-13T02:41:00.000+05:30

The reason why I thought of getting this community blog together was that, towards the end of my pre-final year, and after a visit to IIT Bombay (I am an IITD student), I felt that despite having met several great people during the previous four years and having lived an amazing life at IITD, there would still be so many more guys whom I would have missed meeting, and so many great experiences that I would miss...well, experiencing. Many of these guys would have been my batchmates had it not been for the minor issue of our JEE rank and our choice at counselling. I had known this before too, but the visit to IITB during Mood Indigo confirmed my belief, that there is some common characteristic that binds most students of the IITs together. I can't define what it is, and I also don't want to sound elitist, but I am sure of it.

I felt it would serve as a repository, so to speak, of the journals of IITians, past and present - a method to be in touch with friends we had known, or would have wanted to know, but never had.

Needless to say, I met with an encouraging response, and I enjoyed searching for blogs on the net. But partly because of final year woes, and partly because of lethargy, I haven't been regular in maintaining this blog-list. Many of the persons listed in the column to the right have left blogging temporarily, or even for good. Several more from the seven colleges have started blogging afresh, and it's slightly difficult for me to trace all of them and add them here. And that's what I have been driving at. I think this blog needs at least one more person to join as a moderator (for want of a better word) who can add up links, and if possible, think up ways to revive the posts too. Any takers?

What's been happening?

2004-09-30T01:18:00.000+05:30

There have been no new posts for a long time on this blog. Is that cause of the mid-sems? I was wondering if there are any mid-sems that are done entirely online in IIT? I am guessing they may be some in Comp Sci.

So what are the current IIT favorite bands. In my time, it used to be Dire Straits, G n' R, Floyd and Deep Purple. Is the obsession with rock still prevalent? Or are people more into ColdPlay and Enimem now?

57

2004-08-15T15:07:00.000+05:30

Hey! Thats not 42, for a change ;-)

Happy Independence Day to us all.

Chalti ka Naam Gadi

2004-08-06T20:19:00.000+05:30

An old post from my previous blog : Here's my new blog

Music, be it in any form, Indian, Western, Oriental or as crude as rythmic sound of water droplets dripping in the sink, always has a connoisseur to appreciate it. Well I am not sure how many of you share your views with me on this very special genre of music, The Public Transport Music should I call it?. In India, most of the public transport vehicles have a Cassette Player fitted in them, and a dozen of very special cassettes having songs which you would have never even heard of. Be them the Deadly City Buses of Indore, Crowded Buses of the DTC(Delhi Transport Corporation) or the Dashing Vikrams of Kanpur, they all cater this very special choice of music to you. Theres one more special thing about their cassette players, normally the speed of their rotor is very high and the songs are played on a little higher frequency, this adds to the uniqueness of these wierd songs. The lyrics are cheap and music too is not very sweet but still its good to listen to at times. Sometimes I found them really funny. Recently DTC has taken this initiative to have Radio Tuners in the CNG Rickshaws. Thats one good move atleast that RPM problem can be sorted out. I dont know how many of you have tasted this music, but if you ever get to use the of public transport in India, you will surely listen to this music. They constitute the largest consumer group of music companies like T-Series.

--- One Trailor (Hindi Only!! English cannot express it that good) ----
A typical Radiowala's voice : Super Cassette industries aur Gulashn Kumar pesh karte hai

A crashing female voice : Aaja*alternate echoes of male and female voice* (If you are in Kanpur you might overhear your neigbors talking wow what gr8 sound effects )

A typical Radiowala's voice : Aaja Meri Jaan* A song starts to play somethign like Julie Julie Julie ... and the female starts to sing: Mai jal rahi hoon tere pyaar mein*

A typical Radiowala's voice : Aur is aag ko bhujhane aa raha hai naya romantic chehra jee haan doston Kishan Kumar

A crashing female voice : in sureele gaano ka romantic sangeet diya hai annu malik ne aur khoobsoorat geet likhe hain xyz ne

I am sure all those who can understand this would be laughing their guts out ... so were me and my friend and the poor rickshaw guy cud only managed to ask us "Bhaiya badal doon kya"

The sem kicks off....

2004-08-06T10:13:00.000+05:30

A new sem began yesterday....

Well, the kind of enthu that accompanies the sort of every semester.... The nice feeling that I'm going to end up cracking all courses this sem... Resolutions to attend all classes, that in a week's time will dwindle into a struggle to keep afloat above the 75 % attendance mark...

Anyway, in this thadaal optimistic mood, I actually shook myself awake so I could attend the first class of this sem.... The female who was to handle the course is supposedly a stickler for punctuality and things like that, so me, ultra-carefully showed up some 10 minutes before class... Was nice standing and walking around in the CRC corridor, so just hung around there...

Time passed, no one showed up... At 9, 5 minutes past class time, 3 others showed up and well, waited out there without a word... We soon had more company, but not in a quantity that would really have made me happy about forgoing my sleep... Some 8-10 of us were now standing in the corridor... Anyway, at 9:20, halfway through what would have been the class, me decided to take a small detour from my stroll on the corridor and passed into the classroom...

There it was... Written on the board in large, friendly letters - AM 566, Signal Processing, course starts Monday. No class on Thursday and Friday

Down the Memory Lane - Part IV

2004-08-01T08:53:00.000+05:30

Going to college is a huge transition step for anybody.
Including me.
The entire cycle of meeting friends everyday, academics, hostel life, cultural and technical festivals are sure to come as a new experience for everybody.
What I am going to try to describe here is only a slice of that.
You have to be IN HERE to get the whole cake.

As first years, we were only headed by the (un)trusty seniors who asked us to go and cheer for the hostel in the Inter-hostel WM finals, or do some layman's job like cycling around for the clues in the Treasure Hunt or volunteer work for the Hostel Fete, etc.
While all this seemed quite a bit boring (to say the list), it is what got many interested into the entire world different from what IIT's are associated with, academically. That interest did seep into me to, but after the first year, I couldn't sustain it for long. I was more inclined towards studies. Sudhon would be a better guide here. (Probably, I should ask him to write a bit here.

Of course, another aspect where IIT Madras was always famous for Saarang (Mardi Gras, for ol-timers), the biga-mega-giga culfest, and Shaastra - the tech fest.
The first Saarang, I was unfortunate to miss (I was invited to attend the RD parade in New Delhi - at the same time). But the other three, I did put my head there. (U can read my review of the last one in the January Archives).
Saarang was always the grand conglameration of spicey events and high-voltage gigs and, of course, I admit it, a literal Baywatch. The mega quizzes which ran into the wee hours of the morning, the head-banging rock shows, the informal stalls designed to make everybody look like fools, and yet tempt them with prizes, the popular dramatics, choreo and the JAM sessions were all but Masalas in a tasty pickle. The Saarang '04 T-shirt sayings:

Bush around the beat.
Leave no turn unstoned.
Leaf over a new turn.
Live a Saarang

But Saarang was much more than all of that. A quintessential thread of the Spirit of Saarang ran through it, which could only be realised, understood and digested, but never can be taken.

Shaastra, the tech fest, more famous for attracting geeks, and non-geeks into fellow geeks.
Jus Kidding
This techfest, now having recently got the ISO 9001 certificate (which means that all events started and ended on time - a stark contrast to Saarang), is but a conglobation of events tied up to represent a tech fest. I literally wanted my body in many parts so that I could attend the quizzes, the gaming arena, the lectures, the video-conferences, the workshops and many many other events.
But I loved the gameodrome the best. For two Shaastras I had put nite-outs to play some of my fav-games on the LAN with eight other equally enthusiastic people.
This truly unique event, I will miss a lot.

Apart from Saarang and Shaastra, we had events all year round; the points won by the teams being added to hostel points, so that, at the end of the year, it could be decided which was the best hostel. (In fact, that title was taken by my hostel after a very long time).
While these were the more happier aspects of being in IITM, there are, still some placid aspects for the diffident. The innumerable runs to the Academic sections (which I still have to do), ganging up together to go to the outside world, the innumerable treats at swank hotels, the hostel nites everybody's life was turned inside out and where final farewells were given and innumerable events, episodes and debacles that go to form part of the everyday life at IIT, which are too big to describe in words, is what makes it different from other colleges.
Finally, the convocation which got over the day-before, was probably the final time I would meet most of my college. Friendships forged over a long period of time, will now be strained taut with only the emails and messengers saving it. (Ironical, isn't it, as it is Friendship Day today). I will truly miss all the people whom I have had acquaintance with and felt close.

With the getting of the degree, one of the threads holding us to this honorable institution has now been cut. Only the Alumni Association, can hopefully, keep us in contact.
From the first sight of IIT during my early years of life, to now, I have gone through many stages and events, but IIT WILL ALWAYS BE A PART OF MY HEART. A remembrance of who I am and what I am and how much I owe to this noble institution and the country which has it.

That concludes this Mini-series. Hope you had as much fun reading it, as I did, writing it.

Down the memory Lane - Part III

2004-07-28T09:46:00.000+05:30

I was always branded as a pseudo-hostelite. Truth is, I went home only to watch TV, play on the comp, and more importantly: do the laundry. What that little two days spent at home afforded in terms of reducing home-sickness is just trivial. I hardly ever got homesick during the 4 year period, inspite of once staying a month in the hostel during a difficult period of end-sem exams. Thus, while I may not get classified as a true "Hostelite" as I had only stayed on an average 5 days a week in the hostel, it did give me a good perspective on what hostel-life is all about.

My original hostel had been, as mentioned before: Mandakini. But as the leaf turned over, it so happened that not enough seniors left in order to accomodate all the incoming juniors. So some had to invariably shift. That some included me. I was transferred, or rather, asked to be transferred to Alakananda Hostel, where there was a larger proportion of Chennai-ities and a larger proportion of branch-mates in my batch. Was it a change for the better. I suppose it was.

I still remember:

The long nite-outs, spent many times farting (meaningless gossiping, NOT creating an atmosphere of noxius air and pungent smells), discussing events, rumors, anecdotes, stories, news, books, academics, silly profs and their sillier actions and their silliest method of teaching courses; spent sometimes studying for exams; spent many times gaming; and finally spent doing nothing but watching movies.

The sometimes early morning rides I undertook with friends to the nearby Beasant Nagar beach to enjoy the morning sun, and sometimes a cool walk.

The afternoons spent crashing heavily, until someone with some sense decided to wake us up so that he could have company to go the mess for tea.

The evenings sometimes spent playing games, sometimes swimming, sometimes reading books (some new book always found the way into the wingmates - new books ready to be read, reviewed, criticised and then shamelessly passed on).

The messing around in the mess, noon and nites, eating food aka grub (though it could hardly be classified as one) with a heavy heart, discussing abject subjects with an even abject interest. Fussy Lucky ones managed to stay out of the circle of hostel messes completely, feeding solely on the snack crumbs at the nearby bakery in the evenings and a regular "Garden restaurant" in the nite and once again, in the late-nite. The availability of ice-creams in the messes and the opening of a Dhaba really spiced up the last year of hostel-stay.
That was completely offset by the innumerable treats that were given (and shamelessly taken too) in multifarious restaurants around the city. Popular ones being the Sangeetha and Shakes & Creams in Adyar, Residency, Dhaba Express in Beasant Nagar to name a few.
I also contributed by bringing grub from my house which relatives pretentiously left at my place thinking that I lived in a out-of-civilisation tribal area. Grub that included tasty namkeens, washed out chips, cakes, pastries, and some traditional sweets. I just assumed that it was in their best interests. But that did help me in me becoming more popular among the guys because I got good food to offset the measly hostel grub.

The Eating Out that sometimes formed a part of End-Sem completion celebrations, mostly observed by dipping bodily into the waters of the Bay of Bengal, frolicking in the sand and consummated finally by cosuming food at nearby restaurants.

While all this seemed rosy, there were quite a few disadvantages of staying in hostels, especially at IIT Madras; a scenario quite not possible in other IIT's. Problem: Lack of water.
The lack of water which coerced hostel management to get water supply through tankers, which effected the release of water daily to be limited to a period of 2 hours: one in the morning and one in the evening, forcing the billigerant hostelites to catch water every nite so that water would be available in the morning to atleast brush teeth and "Do the Loo", and if possible, take bath, or better yet, stay bath-free for a week. THANK GOD for Deoderants.
This total water scarcity which had forced compression of more than two semesters (from 5 day week to 6 day week so that the sem would close 3 weeks earlier) also caused the non-washing of the BOGS (Bathroom Of Graduate Students, as we always called 'em) resulting in toilets so dirty for weeks that we would have gladly used the public corporation toilets.

Another "Unique" problem to IIT hostels: Monkeys. Actually: the common langur.
Initial observation brands them as:
"Oh, Look at it. Its so cute nibbling on that leaf."
"Wow. Look there. Its so cuddly."
"Hey. There is one grooming the other. Can there be anything sweeter?". Bull s**t. One week of stay in the hostel is enough to change anybody to gun-toting, shotgun riding, ready-to-shoot-any-monkey mood. One week. Thats all it takes.
My first experience with them: First year. I brought a huge load of home-made namkeens and a cake from house. While going to the afternoon session of class, the window was left open by mistake. Come evening. I open the door the a nite-mare. Namkeen spilt and spread all over the floor. Mineral-water-in-a-can tipped over, gurgling slowly, wetting and softening everything. And to complete the party celeberations, columns of red ants that decided to do the cleaning work.
Ended up spending the whole evening cleaning the mess.
Come every afternoon, there is a monkey raid. Apart from tipping over garbage bins and making the corridors dirty, they surreptitiously enter the rooms, make everything dirty, untidy, and untouchable and sometimes entertain us by "making babies". Thw worst part was, just after the BOGS are cleaned, they come over, spoil and soil everything, leave the taps running (wasting the little water that was available for bathing) and sometimes scare innocent hostelmates doing their loo.
Argh. I still hate em.
All this apart, life in hostel was fun, inspite of not having even LAN among the rooms. I must say that the magic of staying in hostels completely took me by surprise. A feeling that shud, rather, ought to be enjoyed by anybody who joins this institution.

Down the Memory Lane - Part II

2004-07-23T09:32:00.000+05:30

I admit. Academics in college IS different from that of a school. But what I didnt expect when I took that leap from school to college is the total stark change in the method of teaching, the system of academics and the intricacies of college education.

First Day. Monday morning (Why does it always have to be a Mon Day?) Me. Cycling furiously in sweltering weather towards the distant classes. (On retrospection, the distance seems to have reduced as the years passed by.) Reaching the Class Room Complex. Confused as to where to go. Asking equally, if not more, confused students where to go. (Remember the dis-orienting orientation?)
First class: Material Sciences. 100 (equally?-)brite students jotting down seriously and sincerely the syllabus, books, prof's names, email id's and room no's followed by the heaving at the overwhelming enormousness of the entire thing, the quizzes, the mid-term exams, the end-sems, the assignments.

Days passed. Courses passed. Snickering remarks behind the back of bad profs, didnt-know-what-they-were-teaching profs, pedantic profs, passed. Exams passed. Assignments successfully passed. End semesters successfully passed. Waiting anxiously for grades, passed.
And then the whole routine, again. Over and over again. 7 more times. The only thing changing: more courses, more tougher courses, more assignments, more difficult exams; and the added project work in the last sem.

Typical first year problems faced by me and everybody, fazed me and everybody.
A course called ID110, Engineering Design Principles, which involved the brains to sow their engineering skills into practical problems: like measuring the length of a 2km long road, without surveying instruments; like measuring the height of a water tower, using trignometry: like developing a cantilever out of broomstik and have the maximum weight held/cantilever weight, (Mine came third at 500gm/8gm) did kindle the interest of all students.
An interest which was never rekindled afterwards.
A course called Engineering drawing. Memories revived everyday by seeing juniors hurrying to classes in their huge drafters, and the even larger chart boxes. It was quite a fun course. 3 hour long sessions of drawing, followed by even more furious rubbing, moving scales around, asking the girls innocently as to what to do next, inspite of having finished it already. The AutoCAD sessions really spiced my day. They made the job of Engineering drawing much more easier. (The S grades I had got in both the Drawing courses did help buoy my spirits).

The dreaded workshop. Especially the fitting workshop. 3 hour workshop Heads made us 3 (sometimes 4) hour drones, shafing the file mindlessly over a stupid iron piece which wouldnt care less if it werent filed and then, miraculously increased in size. The files, with equally ridiculous names, only job was to file away our hands, leaving way to blisters and torn skin to take over the pain that resided for the next week.

For the not so lucky: NCC. A dreaded 3 letter 4 hour gruelling session, that dragged us every weekend day early in the morning, for 20 days a year. Wasting most of the energy saved from eating the thimble sized morsels at the hostel mess into stomping the ground in torn, but yet, still hard boots under a hot sweltering sun; the only consolation being a small creamless cake and a hot puff, which, most of the time went to the mouth of a more hungry dog that promptly and punctiliously came to every NCC session. The 20 day "compulsory" "camp" conducted in one of the hostels was perhaps the last straw.

Somehow, the last 4 years have passed by. 'N' nerve-wracking nite-outs doing assignments, mugging for exams, doing project work. I persevered. I didnt give up, unlike the exceptionally some who did. I survived.
Academically, I was, perhaps, successful. I can't say otherwise. So many other things I had wanted to do, yet couldnt...

Next Post: Hostel Life.
To be continued...

2004-07-19T13:00:00.000+05:30

This is a first of a series of posts: posts which are a conglameration of memories of my college-years, which just got terminated recently. Memories, triggered by the Invitation to my Convocation, signifying the end of all ties with my college, and the recent counselling sessions, the beginnning of any student's entry into IIT.
Besides, these are memories that should be closely treasured by, before they all
Just.
Wither.
Away.
So incoming, a collexion of the recollexion of memories, anecdotes, interesting bits and memorabilia, that just go to make up my college life.

Down the Memory Lane, Part I

I still remember the very first trip I had made into IIT, just to see the rank I had got. Even though it was posted at the entrance, and even though I did not go more than 10 meters into the campus, it just got me a whole lot closer to the dream I had had since my 10th.

I still remember the counselling sessions (mine was on the first day itself) , where we had to choose the branch and the IIT where we had to go. The last minute decision (it was, infact, exactly the last minute) to bump up Mechanical @ IIT Madras over Electrical @ IIT Kharagpur made me what I am today. The thought that my blog mite not even have existed does put a bit of fear. I am happy now that things have headed in a good direction.

I still remember the orientation function afterwards. In my mind, as in everybody else's, it was as dis-orienting as possible. The seniors (including girls, or non-males, as everybody refers to) giggling from the floors above, sneering at the next victims that they could pounce upon as soon as we entered the hostels did not present a pleasant site.

I still remember the day I moved into the hostel - Mandakini, to be exact, on the eve of the day before the classes started. We were bunched up, three in a room (designed for two). It was often said by returning alumni, that the one thing they would remember after leaving IIT, is their hostel room numbers, which almost becomes engraved in one's mind. I cannot just put it in any other better way. Mine was 368 A, the 'A' signifying that I was the first in that room; the other two being a Northie guy in Electrical, and then luckily, a Tam guy in Metallurgical, who had come to the same JEE coaching classes with me. Consolation for me. Sudhon was in the same hostel, 4 rooms from mine.

I still remember the first time I got ragged. A group of quite note-worthy seniors caught me just as my parents left me and then asked me to do some quite wierd stuff. I got through, and IT was quite a mental hell for me. Then on, the decision never to rag others stuck to my mind.

I still remember the first food that I had had at the mess. While, to some, it did cause allergic reactions, constipations, and some vomitting even, I could just manage it. Physically, I could not find anything wrong with it. Apart from the insects, beetles and spiders which occasionally find its way into the huge buckets of sambar, rasam, equally huge vessels competing for size for rice and curry and the dinner plates, or the water that would have made sea water taste like mineral water, there was nothing wrong with it. It was just plain boring, and not tasty either. But, it was just food. And a man needs to eat. I soon ended up competing for the lowest mess bill that month, by not eating any of the extra stuff provided with the basic food (like cool drinks for a hot afternoon, vegetable kurmas, egg curry, puffs and samosas to accompany tea, ice-creams during dinner...). One thing I am glad about is the fact that eating in the mess, immunises anyone against any food and water borne diseases in the future - that ocould come in quite handy.

To be continued...
Next Post: College academics.

Confessions of a Tortured Mind

2004-07-17T03:27:00.000+05:30

One of my friends Swaminathan B. has joined IIM Lucknow this semester and here is a mail that he wrote to me:
For reference, Khebus and Venkis are KGPian suppliers for booze.

ANDOLAN HOKE RAHEGA !!!!! JAI KHEBUS !! JAI VENKIES
!!! BHALE ISKE LIYE MUJHE JAAN SABUN SE HAATH HI NA
DHONA PADEY ....ANDOLAN HOKE RAHEGA !!!
anyway ...yahn bahut bura haal hai ...Our orientation
started on the 1st jisme case methodology etc padhaana
shuru kar diye ..plus there were compulsory sessions
by professors of fin,mark, etc etc ...and then the
various committees here made their presentation .. it
all started at 9:00 AM and went on till 2:00 AM (thats
after midnight).And at the end of the day we had 3
assignments ...including an all important case submit
which would be crucial for our summer placements .The
agenda for the next 2 days were the same ..and I
hardly get to sleep more than 3-4 hrs here per day ...
I finally submitted my case yesyterday ..typed around
10 pages of a MS wrod document all on my own ... today
I have to giv a group presentation at 9:30 PM and I
still havent met my group members !!! Plus the info
that arnd 30 odd guys are chucked out of this
institute every year ...the acads rules are very
stringent ..u get 2 F's or 1 F and 2 D's ..u're thrown
out .. I guess I'l be joining infy soon...
cheers,
swami

Swami's characteristics in Kgp can be summed up with one word.. GARFIELD.
So all you people thinking about belling the CAT, think again. And those who are "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT" kinds, guide us.

--My Blog--

Typical IITian?

2004-07-11T20:54:00.000+05:30

I was talking with a friend recently and these questions just popped up.

Is there something like a Typical IITian?

If there is, then who exactly is a Typical IITian?

What are the characterstics of such a person?

Let me clarify right in the beginning that JEE is not something that can be counted as a common characterstic. On similar lines, living in IIT and such superficial things are out.

What I am really interested is, in finding out whether there is a concept of Typical IITian, to which a large majority of IITians would confirm?

Personally, I find it hard to define such a thing because we IITians can be quite a difficult study.

On one hand, you have strong individualistic guys and on the other hand, there are the herd mentality guys. If that was not complicated enough, the very same people who tend to follow the herd in some aspects would turn out to be extremely individualistic in some other traits.

That was just an example. But its true for quite a lot of traits that one might be interested in looking for.

So ultimately, I find it hard to define a Typical IITian. But a lot of people apply that description to a lot of IITians.

Throw some light people!

In TYLER, I Trust!!

2004-07-07T13:37:00.000+05:30

Fight Club!

What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Why 42?

2004-07-01T18:43:00.000+05:30

I must confess, I always thought Why 42?, every time I came across it in Douglas Adams's works. And even otherwise.

It gives me great pleasure to find that Douglas Adams had answered this question:

The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story.

Find the relevant post here.

And take a chill pill now. Rest in peace. The answer is 42.

About Me : Redux

2004-06-30T05:03:00.000+05:30

I'm Joey Tribbiani from Friends!

Take the Friends Quiz here.

created by stomps.

--MY BLOG--

About Me

2004-06-29T01:07:00.000+05:30

Hey people,

Something really good for the About Me section ::

Let me introduce myself, I'm a social disease
I've come for your wealth leave you on your knees
No time for feeling sorry, I got here on my own
I won't ask for mercy, I choose to walk alone

What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine too
If you shake my hand better count your fingers

Courtesy -- Dream Theater.

--My Blog--

Ode to Holden

2004-06-24T12:43:00.001+05:30

Rated: R ( For use of strong language.)

Don’t read any further in this post if you are a goody-good kitsch asshole. I have posted many others for people like you but this one goes out as homage to Holden Caulfield.

If you are reading this then you probably know what a blog is and in all likelihood you'll have one of your own. You often wonder that why your blog isn't as popular as some of the other pretentious bastards on the net who have got nothing else to do but brag about their stupid mundane life or voice their opinions about things that they can do nothing about. Then why do you do it? The simplest reason for this is the fact that as humans you are craving for attention and have a belief that you are the centre of the universe. You give too much importance to yourselves. You are part of a generation that has been raised by television commercials to run after things which do not make much sense but are a status symbol in the society. The whole fuss about a 1 GB GMAIL account all over the tech savvy community proves it. I know that you are lying if you say you never wished for a GMAIL account. In all probability you would have mailed your friends for it, contacted complete strangers requesting for it, posted petitions on various blogs, yahoo groups and orkut communities. Just look inside and try to answer to yourself, "Why do I need a 1 GB email account?" I doubt that the most common answer will be something other than status symbol.

Why is it that you can’t accept the harsh realities of life? Why is it that you are always looking for other people to approve your actions? Why do you give a fuck to what other people say about you?

I reread this post and changed all the WEs and Is to YOUs so that it makes a better impact. I am also a part of the same ostentatious world you live in and think like you do. And if there are some people who are still looking for GMAIL invites, mail me your full name and email address, I have got 5 left.

My Blog

Gmail invites

2004-06-24T00:18:00.000+05:30

I know that by now they have lost their enigma, anyhow I have got 5 Gmail invites. If anyone still needs them, mail me your full name and email address at ravihanda@gmail.com. yahoo is creating some trouble with Gmail invites by sending them in BulkMail folder or treating them as Spam so i request you to give a non-yahoo email address.
Edited -- They are all over
My Blog

the little red devils!!!

2004-06-23T09:31:00.000+05:30

the little red devils come marching upon me
to take my body and claim my soul
they know no limits, know no boundary
they just march in to eat me whole

they march right in when i am sleeping
they have no god apart from need
from every crevice they come out creeping
feeding on death, their only creed

they're everywhere the eye can see
inside my room, upon my bed
they crawl on my skin full of glee
they even crawl inside my head

i cannot run, i cannot hide
cornered thus, i have to fight
they hurt me hard,they wound my pride
crushing my soul with all their might

they have their fill,they take the spoils
they leave me hurt, in deepest sorrow
i make a resolve, my anger boils
i'll kill those goddamned ants tomorrow!!!

this poem was inspired by an attack of red ants in my room(which hasn't been cleaned for ages and is fertile ground for wildlife activity!!!) which left me red-patched and itchy all over...

Is There Hope ?

2004-06-22T23:52:00.000+05:30

Al Pacino once said in an interview, “You are as good as your last movie.” and I think the same concept can be applied to blogs too. If I create the profile of an average visitor to this blog it would be a 20-25 year old male, probably IITian, who never really had an actual opportunity to be in love. The question that I want to raise now is “Is there hope?” Frankly speaking, I don’t think so.

Love, in my opinion, requires a certain amount of stupidity to become a real success. As the time passes by we become mature and finally reach an age when we judge everything rationally. The loss of rational is an extremely necessary prerequisite for love. Considering my personal case, which I presume is of majority of the readers, I was busy with studies in my high school years and I never looked so good that females would drop as I passed by. I had neither the time nor the inclination for the incidental fling in those years and never had the opportunity once I was out of high school. Spending four or five years in a college where the boy : girl ratio is 20 : 1, its human to give up on love. But, I don’t think that even after I pass out from here, I will have the chance to look for my soul mate. I know that I am not Richard Bach who could abandon everything and leave in search for true love. This happens only in books like “The Bridge Across Forever” or some Yash Chopra movie. Two years from now, most probably, I would be doing a 9 in the morning to 10 in the night job at a software firm which would not leave me any time other than weekends. Finding a girl in that time would be extremely hard as, lets face it, I would be out partying with my guy friends.

I remember Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption when he said, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” Well, Mr. Robbins mine is taking its few last breaths.

Free GMail Invites!

2004-06-18T08:05:00.000+05:30

I just found a site called GMail Swap. Their tagline says Because people are nice.

And there was another one that talked about a chain of free GMail invites. Their tagline was Pay It Forward.

Now, Pay It Forward is one of my favourite movies. So, I've decided to be nice and give away the 3 Gmail invites I have for free. The only condition being that you do the same when you get those free invites.

Of course, I have no way of ensuring that you will actually send those invites for free, but I will trust you.

Because people are nice.

Leave a comment here with your e-mail address and name. The first 3 will get the invites. And more when I get more invites to send out.

[Edited on June 21]

I have got more invites now. Send in your request as a comment on this post with Full Name and e-mail id.

What is Hindutva, by the way?

2004-06-14T20:51:00.000+05:30

Considering that this blog has been mostly dormant, apart from serving as a list of links to some great blogs of course (which in itself is no mean deed), I thought of starting a discussion (hoping to start at least). I posted this at my blog a couple of days back, and had a decent enough response. Let's see how you guys react.

--------------------------------

I came across this article by Tavleen Singh via Wonderbug's blog. Moreover, her last post also got me thinking, or rather thinking again, on this topic. I left a long comment too at her post. Funny how some issues never get redundant!

Now I am not a very devout Hindu by any long shot. I never go to temples, attend poojas once in a while only because my parents stress on it (which they rarely ever do). In fact, I have often thought of converting to some other religion, most likely Islam, just to see if it makes the slightest bit of difference to me. But that doesn't mean that I am not aware of my history and heritage. I know more about my religion, and my caste than most people I have come across. I also take avid interest in reading up on the history and evolution of other religions. And all this has taught me one thing - many of us give a hell of a lot of importance to something as personal as one's religion and beliefs, more than what is sanely necessary. This is what politicians, most of them at least, make full use of.

I am not apologetic about being a Hindu. Just as I am not apologetic about being an Indian, Bihari, 22-year old, male, human being. I was born into it, and it is what I make of it, not what some ignorant western journalist projects it to be. That is why, it really offends me to my core when I hear the word 'Hindu' being mentioned in the media as something with orthodox, millitant, intolerant, despicable connotations. And that happens quite a lot to have missed your senses. I really don't care much about what BBC or CNN thinks of Hindus, which translates to a majority of Indians, apart from the fact that these are also inadvertently shaping the average foreigner's opinion about me. This is not very different form the picture that Hollywood portrayed of India as a land of loin-cloth clad, snake-charming, elephant-riding, mantras-chanting, black magic-practising, Kali-worshipping, idiots, for a very long time. But, what takes my goose is that even our own politicians are misusing 'secular' to mean 'anti-Hindu'.

BJP's been branded a Hindu nationalist party for eternity. There are people, and a substantial number at that, who might be dangerous to the idea of 'secularism', but there are saner people too, who just happen to be simply proud of being Hindus. It will be very naive on our part if we just get blinded by the media hype, and utterances by 'secular' parties' leaders, to believe that every single BJP worker is sharpening his knife to stab the next innocent minority community member that passes by. Come on, let's use our brains too, for once. Respect for another person is not possible in the true sense if you don't respect your own self. Similarly, you can't really respect another man's religion unless you respect your own religion too.

Actually, there are too many aspects to this and with all the thoughts erupting in my mind, I am afraid I might lose coherence. Any person with a basic sense of logic, an average memory, and some knowledge of our recent history can judge that no party today in our polity is really secular. There are some persons in every party who are, others who aren't. And so, judging an entire political party that is made up of so many brilliant individuals with their own individual traits and personalities as non-secular and fundamentalist smacks of ignorance. I could go on and on talking about the 'secular' credentials of other parties, but I am sure we are all knowledgable people here, and are already aware. The point is that public memory, as they say, is very short and very soon Gujarat riots would be forgotten. Just as Delhi re-elected Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. Political parties, and the public, don't really care about how many people died in the riots, or who perpetrated them. Right now Gujarat is being cited by BJP baiters because it's fresh in our memory, fresh enough to extract political gains.

So to sum up there are two points that I want people to consider seriously. One, don't judge any party on the basis of whether it is secular or not, as none truly is. Two, and more importantly, don't get influenced by the media, and start believing that every thing Hindu is bad. Most of it is not. As with any religion. And that is my interpretation of Hindutva.

Dalhousie anyone?

2004-06-07T08:31:00.000+05:30

Have you ever been to Dalhousie? I plan to go there over the coming weekend. If you have been there and can give me some fundaes (we can never give up IIT lingo, can we?).. that would be great!

What are the places around that one can see? I've checked a few things on the net, but a first-hand idea would probably be better.

Anyone in Delhi willing to take a break and visit Dalhousie?

IITians and blogging

2004-06-02T06:09:00.000+05:30

These IIT blogs are good fun. I am slowly getting pretty addicted to reading them on a regular basis. It gives me enthu to blog as well. Though, I am guessing, I am a little over the hill for blogging (seems like the average age of the blogger is below 25).

Also, seems like the Tag board/Doodle board is a permanent fixture on most blogs. Am wondering if anyone knows the approx % of current students in IIT who blog? Are they from a specific insti, dept, hostel etc. Or is the phenomena widespread?

Also all you bloggers beware. NY Times is calling it a serious addiction :)

On another note, We have a feature which provides a script that allows bloggers to recommend favorites.

You can check it out here: AiYo favorites

Sorry for the shameless self-promotional plug... But thought that it was relevant to blogging and may even be fun for ppl.

Opportunity

2004-05-29T10:19:00.000+05:30

I read parts from Douglas Adams' books fairly regularly even though I have read most of his books several times over. I frequently come across stuff that I somehow did not pay adequate attention to. Today, I came across this:

Everybody has their moment of great opportunity in life. If you happen to miss the one you care about, then everything else in life becomes eerily easy.

- Douglas Adams (Mostly Harmless)

I think I missed this one because it had an SEP field around it ;-)

Five point someone

2004-05-24T13:48:00.000+05:30

Guess you must have heard about Chetan Bhagat's book 'Five Point Someone'. The book is the story of IIT from the insider's perspective. Chetan is IIT Delhi and IIM A passout. The book was launched in Bangalore over the weekend. Do check out a review.

Disclaimer: I don't have any vested interest in the book and I haven't read it myself. However, I have heard rave reviews from friends, so thought of recommending it to you guys, before I go and pick up a copy for myself.

A (New) Beginning

2004-05-20T00:06:00.000+05:30

So, I have finally managed to let go of my lethargy and shift bag and baggage to Blogger. I am testing if the team-blog thingie works properly and then I'll invite all the guys listed on the previous site to join the team.