What can exams do to you?! and The End

1. What can exams do to you?!

Our faculty have some sense of humour.They conduct exams.The fun though, still continues during exams with added abandon and disdain because these will be the last engineering exams of our lives.Exams are also funny in a different sort of way. People become different. The funny ones become serious, the serious ones become even more serious, desperate ones becomes frustrated, the normally frustrated ones become funny and philosophical.

We're generally pretty much insane, but that extra bit of sanity creeps in during exams which makes life horrible for people around us and for you, because you have to read this nonsense!

Ok,this is what exams can do to you

1. You are so hungry and lost, that you gobble of fistful of white powder offered to you in a glucose pack, only to realise that it was Surf Excel. What the heck, it cle aned my digestive system!

2. You go to all neighbouring rooms, crash into the door and then ask the startled fellow -"Mooh me liya kya?!".
That by the way, is an euphimism for "Khaana khaaya kya?!

3. Try your hand at matchmaking on Orkut. Try pairing a long(he's short!) lost school friend( this hunk with his long(maybe she's long!) long lost school friend. They scrappily lived ever after!(But then, Orkut is a very small aspect of a whole new sweeping revolution called Web 2.0. I have to come out with that post on 'Web 2.0 for dummies' with so many people asking me about my obsession,optimism,excitement and bullishness on Web 2.0. Watch the short flash film on http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/. Then probably you'll concur with me!)

4. Go bonkers about the long long lost friend's long long lost friend . The LLF's LLF happens to be a singer and now that I'm officially a member of a music band named '!Xobile', my interest in her was only natural. Also, we had this subject where we had to study cyber-stalking,cyber-crime et al, I thought some practical preparation would do no harm!!

5. For three hours and twenty seven minutes everyday, your only aim in life is marrying either Roopa Purushotheman or Kaavya Vishwanathan. What is the former has now quit high profile Goldman Sachs and joined Pantaloons or what if the latter has been caught plagiarising. They are South Indians, well-educated and look pretty. What more can anyone ask for?!. But then the hunk mentioned above recommends N R Narayan Murthy's daughter Akshata doing MBA at Stanford. Just perfect, a Kannadiga as well. Too many choices, tough to decide.

6. Listen to Stacy's Mom, What I go to schol for, fashion show videos of our college incessantly to get refreshed and watch Family Guy all through the day with Harsha. The show just suits our humour fine. Senseless, outrageous, yet peculiarly funny. Because that is the only preparation for the exam, use the word 'Quagmire' in the exam, go out to drink water during the exam, laugh your heart out on your achievement, leave the exam hall fifteen minutes early so that you could come back and watch rest of the episodes!

Sample Quagmire(a character from Family Guy):

Brian: Ugh, I can't beileve you're serving a three year sentence, it seems so harsh.
Lois: Well, the only upside is that it's given me time to think about why I ended up in here. I guess I was stealin' because I was so sick of the same old routine. I felt like I had a void in my life, like, like, there was a secret hole in me...
Quagmire: Oh God!
Lois:...and I was tryin' to fill that hole with all kinds of expensive objects, and things...
Quagmire: Oh God!!!
Lois: ...and I felt wonderful with all those things fillin' that hole.
Quagmire: Oh God!!!!!!
Lois: I did this to myself, so I'm just gonna have to lay back and let the penal system teach me a lesson.
Quagmire: That one is also sexual.



7. You being appreciating and applauding(loudly,in a coffee shop) fundas like:
The custom of doing 'cheers' comes from this 16th century practice when warring parties after a cease-fire would make peace and get together for a drink. So clear any suspicions of the other party poisoning your drink, you strike each other's glass so that the liquid spills over and you make the other person drink as well.

8. Have conversations like the one that follows on GTalk with Akshay :
omikron441: the past tense for IPOD, if it isnt the word itself cud be..IPEED?
gud mornin
me:that would be music to a centipede's ears!!
omikron441: or a human with bladder disfunction
me:stop bladdering nonsense..
omikron441: sorry peelease
me: shit up...
omikron441: piss off
me: you're taking this too fart...
omikron441: oh yeah..so u wanna go back to crappin ppl on orkut?
k now i gotta goo
pee u l8r
me: pee you later as well..
omikron441: best of luck for 2morro's (toilet) paper

I still have two more exams to go and then it'll be The End
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2. The End


This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end

- The End
The Doors

No song could be more apt than this one to describe my present state. In a few days, it'll be good bye to engineering and we'll all be jumping into the big bad 'real' world. Nostalgia's abound,silliest of the things find associations with something in the past. I won't go on a harangue on how these were the best days of our lives et al. Yes, we have done pretty well. Hitesh getting into MDI,Bharath into IISc (he will),my decision of not getting into software(more on this coming soon!) have proved that we are definitely a notch or half a notch above the rest. Personally, I would only say that, it's been one hell of a journey from someone who had not heard of Enid Blyton or Age of Empires to someone who today bemoans lack of people around him whom he could discuss about The Last Song of Dusk or talk about Web 2.0. Will definitely write about that someday.

Tomorrow, I won't be having this laptop. Will have to return it to my boyfriend,Jayanth. I don't have any miss to miss here. But apart from a few other things, what I'll miss the most is the LAN and this fanatstic internet connection!!

Ek Sapna Lekar - Our own campus song!!

Listen people, literally!
To this song.

To download,

Username : railneer
Password : laloo

The song has no relation whatsoever with the choice of the username and password!


I have suo moto decided to call our band - !Xobile as a tribute to Russel Peters!!

Credits
Bharath J,EC,BE IV;
Jojan V Jose,ME,BE IV
Mrinabh Dutta,CO,BE IV
Nikhil Kulkarni,CO,BE IV( Me,of course!)
Shubham Srivastav,Btech II.

Produced by 10+3i
Music and Tune.. Bharath and Joji
Lyrics.. Nikhil and Joji(some hindi words from hari)
Synth.. Bharath
Voice.. Joji(some chorus by Nikhil)
Lead guitars.. Mrinabh
Bass Guitar.. Shubham
Recording.. Kenny
Editing.. Bharath and Chinsi


About the song

The song 'Ek Sapna tha' is a typical campus song which echoes the sentiments of us final year students who are about to leave the college in a few days' time. The song talks of the good, bad times we spent together and also looks at the future, about how the money we'll earn is no of value compared to the evenings we spent together.

Must admit that the lyrics though are a little on the paler side, but that was the best I could come up with. That I am a South Indian is no excuse, but somehow we were hardpressed for time and that whole project came off in two days flat speaks a lot of our commitment. Seriously! I guess none of us slept for those two days and that morning when we recorded the song on the terrace, everything fell into place so well and the world was suddenly more beautiful. Some sense of acheivement that was!

The song is quite popular in the college. Hope you'll like it as well.

We are open to all kinds of criticism. KIND Criticism we mean:)

Little by Little

This post was not meant to be written, but is still being written.

Had a good last few days.

1. Wrote the lyrics for the farewell song. Shot the video and sang a couple of lines as well.
More on that soon. It's ok, I shake my head a lot.

2. Slept well.(That says a lot!)

3. Cleaned my room(That says even more!).
Plan to charge people for the time they spend in the hygienic comfort of my room!!.

4. Project prelims in two hours' time. I better not talk about it. There are some things which others cannot understand and and a few things I don't and won't. It's better we leave it at that and try not to be too preachy.

5. Meeting parents over the next weekend to discuss something important.

Noel Gallagher was prophetic, philosphical (and high?!) when he wrote this song. The phase I'm going through now and those horrible four hour labs every Friday evening are piling on my misery and I'm afraid it might culminate into something really good for me, getting away from the drudgery of this fake propriety,pretence and imposture. Noelbhai, here's to you!!

Little by little
You have to give it all in all your life
And all the time I just ask myself why
You're really here

By around this time next week, I'd have asked myself why I'm really here and would've found an answer. Crucial times these!! But a few things still bother me!!. Here's to Noelbhai again!!

You know I didn't mean
What I just said
But my God woke up
On the wrong side of his bed
And it just don't matter now

Nikhil ko thoda gussa kyon aata hai!!!

The test went o.k., for I had not studied at all.Then I come out of the test wondering why the hell were my classmates so tense about the test. And I'm not 'peeved' at all today, have calmed down.But since the following post was written yesterday with yours truly, squint in one eye due to the stye stressing his eyes to write it, and I didn't want it to go waste.


Nikhil ko thoda gussa kyon aata hai!!!

I'm really peeved today and Harsha has even a bigger reason to be peeved.There was an auto-fest in our college. so what? there was an auto-quiz in the autofest. so ? Me and Harsha won the quiz. ok,so? Dilip Chhabria was the chief guest.So? Winnners of all other events got to receive their prizes from the man himself or atleast had a photo receiving the prize with him in the background. So, my whine(call that if you may want it to) is that while others got to receive the prizes from him, why were we left out?


I don't know if that was deliberate on the part of the organisers to have conveniently run out of empty envelopes or was it because quizzing was considered too frivolous to be part of such an 'august' gathering. We didn't want the 'here-come-the-great-quizzers-of-all-time' kind of reception and the huge cheer and the hooting that usually follows when anyone among our group is on the stage. Have crossed that stage now! It's ok even if nobody reads this post! I hardly look for appreciation from all and sundry. But having come up with some seriously brilliant answers(no self adulation here, me and Harsha did come up some good ones-firewall,left hand drive to right hand drive, on bulldozer,Murphy,stuttgart and the horse connection- that won the quiz for us),I thought we deserved atleast some 1.2434 seconds on the stage for this quiz. That feeling of exalted elation on having worked out the Murphy question and the firewall one was something inexplicable, something which you won't understand unless you are a quizzer!Jumping out of the chair, the hi-five and the disbelief wondering what stroke of genius had struck us.I'm kinda hyper, so me doing it is ok, but when I see my brother in arms 'Power-e- illa!!' Harsha doing it, it's an unmistakable indication of us having done something really out of the ordinary.

In the end, I made a perfect jack-ass of myself when I asked one of the conveners if we are receiving the prizes, and then an announcement of the winners of the quiz is made after the vote of thanks! Couldn't have got more jack-assish than this, could I?! This post could have been laced with much more sarcasm if people whom we didn't know or we were not familiar with, had done this. But it does hurt when people who are close to you conveniently forget things.

Well, I've participated in all the quizzes conducted in the college and have qualified for the finals of almost all of them and won quite a few of them as well. But this wasn't just another quiz. You invite a profesional quiz-master, paying him a decent amount of cash. Initially, I was skeptic if he seriously deserved such a sum. But after the quiz, we have every reason to believe that he deserved all of it for the effort he put in to make the quiz interesting and at the same time putting in real good questions. I wouldn't be having any grouse if this was again one of those 'just another quiz' we have in the college.I haven't even bothered to get the certificates and prizes of those. The whole point here being, quizzing is seriously considered trivial and is given the go-by.


Quizzing is something which is more than a passion for me, and for Harsha as well. We've been partners in crime of having spent countless nights searching for silly trivia, talking for long hours about things which are of no concern to us at all, discussing things that would probably be of no use at all. Yet there's some inexplicable pleasure in knowing things which generally shouldn't be bothering us.There's a long long post waiting to be written about our quizzing exloits, the highs, the lows, the serious arguments almost leading to us not talking to each other for days!!, the 'sorry macha' for the wrong answer,University Challenge,CERN not getting us to the Mindbend quiz finals. Well,the list is endless. Our styles are complimentary,he's the quiet,reserved one while I'm the vociferous,noisy one.I've mellowed down though now,I guess. Our areas of interest are also complimentary. The best thing being , there's some sort of unstated understanding between us. All we do before a quiz is just inform each other of the timings and that 'connection' is somehow established during the course of the quiz.


I spend so much time on IMDB and Wikipedia, that if they would've been females, I'd be surely proposing to both of them.(Too difficult to choose, you see!). I think I know a thing or two about quizzing, for my quizzing credentials are decent enough and my knowledge of what I consider to be my strong areas- business,advertising, brands,politics, origins of names of brands and bands,bollywood and word etymologies, is also quite adequate. Rajiv Gandhi was offered the role played by the Big B in Bombay to Goa, imagine what'd have happened if he had accepted and played that role!!I'd have probably written this some 2145 times on my blog that I'd be better off studying Operating Systems,DBMS,Computer Networks than 'wasting' my time on 'silly' things like quizzing,blogging,debating. But that's ok now I guess.There's an O.S. test tomorrow. I was the only dumb-ass from my class(apart from Mrinabh!) running around quizzing,doing this and that.I have no idea of what I'm going to do in the test.I don't believe in doing things just because they are meant to be done. That might sound outlandish and arrogant,but that's what sets me apart from others.Hopefully,will continue blogging regularly from now on.

pre-P.s. In case you are still wondering why such a hue and cry over such an inconsequential thing as quizzing, sorry for you. That's something only a quizzer can understand.



What had i been doing all these days/what's been happening with me. not in chronological order.

1.Went to garba at the A.C dome, couldn't make it to the inDoor stadium.Garba rocks!Sad it's my last time.
2.Came third in an India Quiz, quite good considering mythology and stuff isn't our forte.
2.5 Was a witness to two farces called 'quizzes'. Schools have better stuff.One had a good-looking dumb female reading out questions correctly, the other had a ugly looking,boisterous male reading out questions incorrectly.
3.Won the debate with Hitesh at PT. It was great.We won according to the judges-'on account of better co-ordination'
4.Elections were held in the college. Internet and orkut became the latest weapon of mud-slinging.I was not involed. Mama became the GS and Hitesh, the CS. Some people had their faces deep in mud during the whole mud-slinging thing and it was sad.
5.Kashish- the official welcome for the first-yearites. Lacklustre and boring. Pandit's dance had many males and females drooling. No song dedicated to final yearites. So, we played senti-senti.Details of that to follow in coming posts.
6.Conducted a general quiz. My coming of age as a quizzer, I believe. It had no question from QFI,Quiznet or Kcircle.Fell in love with wikipedia and imdb during this.
7. My seminar on 'IT in rural development' went real well. That might just inspire to listen to 'the call of my heart' and do something for the community.
8.Sugar and Spice had 50% on the total bill.Treated people there.
9.Sugar and Spice had 'buy a burger and get the same free'. Got a treat there.Stomach upset followed
10.Listened to 'High Hopes' some 12084 times and 'Naam ada likhna' 32456 times.
11.The stye in my eye has been bothering me no ends and with that recurring headache with the viral infection doing the rounds in the college, I look like shukracharya, with one eye almost closed and also look like a prison escapee with the dishevelled hair and the strange look with one eye closed.
12. Harsha got placed in Godrej.ALL OF US ARE PLACED NOW.IBM,Cognizant, Wipro,Godrej,Sterlite beware!
12.25Haven't cut my hair for about three months now. Plans are to grow it even longer.Not finding a decent reason to cut my hair.
12.5 Watched around 20 movies.
13.Parents,sister,aunt and kid cousins had come to visit me.Took them around in the college.Surat is one hell of a place for textile-shopping.It can make you go insane.They were happy to know that I'm quite well-known in the college!
14.Yours truly along with Jayanth and Pragnya, as bloggers made it to the papers. TOI actually, its South Gujarat Edition.will take a photo of that and post.
15.Missed the treasure hunt as I was with my folks. Skunk said I din't really miss it!Me and Bharath have won it twice in the last three years.
16. Did the 'Bollywood Auto quiz!' for this Autofest.It's a real good one. Will post here if public demands.
17.Exhausted SMS worth Rs. 2000 in 20 days!Airtel Guj has this offer- sms worth 2000 for 100Rs.Have rechaged again if you want to be pestered with my PJs and live accounts of my labs,seminars and submissions, send me your number!
18.Followed thisregularly.What's your take on that?

**Hari gets placed** and **No response yet for the group blog :( **

Hari is placed with Kanbay. Am vey happy for him. Can talk to him 'normally' now!! Treated us in Pizza Hut yesterday. Had a nice time. Almost all of us in our group are placed except for one, who I'm sure will get placed soon.

As for Hari(now that his name has been revealed!),he gave 3 interviews for IBM,Cognizant and WIPRO and I can(not!) imagine the hell he's been through over the last week. He reached till the HR interview(which follows the technical interview) stage in all the 3 companies. And and it couldn't be more ironical that his name was Hari Ram Prasad( We call him HRP). Ironical?here's why...

If one is through with the technical interview, he's(no she..we hardly have any here)! given a HR form to fill which usually is more of a personal profile kinda thing.(strengths, weaknesses,expectations from the company,short term and long term plans..etcetera ..etcetera). We engineers have this uncanny knack of finding humour in toughest of the situations and Hari,with a smile just before filling his Kanbay HR form said-" These people must have come to know that my name is 'HR'P..that's why they all want me to fill their 'HR' forms'.But one could miss the gleam in his eyes and the wry humour in his voice. He din't jump up and shout in joy after his name was announced. And God alone knows what sinister designs he himself had!!, Hari's name was the last name to be announced and our TPO paused for about 10 seconds before calling out Hari's name. It was us ,surrounding him who jumped,shouted,hugged and shook each other's hands on Hari being placed.And we had all the reasons on this earth to celebrate.

Signing off with the last line of 'The Kids Aren't Right'-

The cruelest dream,reality(How true!)


If anybody has read David Davidar,William Dalrymple,Anita Desai plz share your thoughts on the same.Better still, suggest some books/movies for this summer.(Can't we do such 'useless' things over the group blog??)

**No response yet for the group blog :(..people sleeping?? **

Much ado about ...placements???

Since the semester has come to an end,we don't have internet in the hostels anymore.Am rt now posting from our beloved C center.The next one month might see me posting from the cybercafe nearest to my home or 'wherever I may roam'!!

Jokes apart,here's a serious post.Read on...

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Much ado about.... placements...
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The outright outspoken person I am, I thought why not be a little outwritten.(that's one thing about us neonate 'writers'!, if you can't find an appropriate word to describe something,you either coin one yourself or use 'quotes'!!,how clever!)

In my previous post I mentioned as to how people change(their behaviour,their attitude,'the sudden increase in their fundooness'..et al). I have seen people change after reading books. Have people here who say their live have changed after reading Ayn Rand,Paulo Coelho.My way of looking at things did change after watching "The Shawshank Redemption" .Can't explain why, but that somehow got the best out of me in my fifth semester where I actually ended up being among the top ten?? of my class.For the 'hopeless' person that people think I am,that's something of more than a personal achievement for me.People do change after meeting new people or visiting new places.

During the placement frenzy at our college, the budding psychologist in me observed how people change during this whole 'horrible' phase.Either ways it is the end of the road for many.Here's how:

* You get a job, it's the culmination of all the 'hardwork' you did throughout one's life(dammit,it's only 20 odd years..still a long way to go..) and there's else left to achieve.

*You don't get a job, peer pressure gets on to you and you start losing confidence in yourself and I believe that's the worst thing that can happen to a person.People who are placed suddenly find a spring in their feet and start professing people on how to face interviews and how one has to be bold and confident. What irks me and irritates me at the same time is that more 'capable
and able' people long for such advice from people who are already placed.Encouragement on its part is ok, but somehow being placed doesn't suddenly make one a 'new' person so that you start needlessly professing people around.Whatever it is, somehow din't like this aspect and so am venting
it all out here.And a collective 'BALLS' to all those show-offs.

It is really sad to see 'real good' people (I know that cannot be defined, but the psychologist(screw him!) in me is a decent enough judge) wilting under this horrible pressure called 'peer pressure'. It's not the parental pressure, but it is peer pressure that is worst of all.One of my real good friends is yet to placed.He has faced three interviews and I guess the fact that he's not been able to make it as yet has shaken his confidence so much that he even spoke once of not taking up a job at all.Even I am in a predicament,talking to him and cheering him up is ok..but then when he gives that wry smile and says..."yeah yeah ..agle(company) mein ho jaayega"...I'm totally lost for words and have serious doubts on the whole process,atleast in his case man,c'mon he's more deserving than most people around.Just because the A/C in the room was not working or that interviewer was not served the cold-drink just before he came in or that the interviewer got a call from his office that supremely pissed him off, my friend doesn't have to go through this trauma.

Thankfully(ah,how wishful),I have a job.While most people around me are gloating about it...(basking in the glory to put it more appropriately for them), I'm left with no sense of achievement(Am I too numb?) .I don't know what's going to become of this idiot in future,but my aims,ambitions or dreams don't include working my ass off in a software company 9-5 in front of the comp(yeah yeah..they did show us dreams of 5 day week,informal work culture,shift of streams and the pay of course..but I guess the reality is much harsher).One of my secret dreams though is to make a movie,a hinglish one probably...may be by the time I'm 35-40. Here's a person who's actually on the verge of realising such a dream.
DO VISIT .Now that would probably give me more 'kick' than anything else.

So, sorry for throwing water on all the excitement about placements.It's plain LUCK and nothing else.This is me not being at my 'outwritten' best, otherwise would have vented out many 'inside stuff'.Atleast Ellie and Anubhav would come to know of it once they come here and for the rest after all this our Placement Officer(one helluva enthu person,will put any of us youngsters to shame) would proudly say that this year saw almost 100% placements(which is almost sure) and still,everybody will not live happily ever after.!

Chances thrown,nothing's free
Longing for what,used to be.
Still it's hard
Hard to see
Fragile lives,shattered dreams.

- The Kids Aren't Right.
OFFSPRING.

P.S. I had one of the most uneventful interviews,the only high point being him asking about my TV appearance on BBC WORLD!! at University Challenge.WTF,he didn't go deeper about my quizzing.

Anyways, that's not something that I'd wish to enthral my grand-children with.I'd rather enthral them like the rest of you with the tale of us gate-crashing at MEGA Gujju weddings and how we had the best food of our lives there.

I got PLACED!!!*** AND***GUJJUS IN ENGINEERING***

Was busy and a bit lazy too throughout the last 7-8 days to post.Have placements going on in our college.I got placed in CTS(Cognizant Technology Solutions)!!!.Visit cognizant.com for details!!Here are the things that I've promised myself that I'd do over the next few days.

1.Create a new blog about the placements at our college.Have lots to share about it.The highs,the lows,the reactions of people and how people change not by travelling places,not by meeting new people,not by reading books,but by getting a job!!!.Details of my tryst with placements too will be there.

2.Upload all photos on placements clicked by Pandit with his digicam.

3.Create a group blog about interesting people we come across,places we visit,books we read,movie reviews...any takers????


Finally,here's something which I wrote amidst our 'hectic' placement schedule.Why did I write the following piece will be made public on June 1st or 2nd.This is not even half as funny,sarcastic,hilarious,humorous I wanted it to be.But since it was written for a 'purpose',I had to toe more of a 'formal' line.Been observing people very closely of late and even this thought of doing a PG in psychology crossed my mind and Bharath almost beat me to death when I told it to him just before my interview for CTS!!!

Looking forward to reactions from you all on this,esp. Gujjus!!
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Gujjus (in) and engineering...

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Where on earth would you find a teacher in a computer engineering class asking students to "work out in the hostel and come"??......if you want an exact geographic location, it is the state of Gujarat in Western India. The teacher might not intended to mean "work out" as in picking up the dumbbells and sweating it out in the hostel, but the impression that it leaves on people is certainly not that one would be very happy about. Perhaps, what is more perplexing is that such a glaring mistake (though very much unintended) went unnoticed by most students also and a person like me, who instead of 'listening' to what the teacher was 'teaching' took notice of it and for a moment felt bad about the kind of 'education' I was receiving.

This probably sums up the higher education scene in Gujarat to me, with the little time I've had to observe it. The scenario is such that everyone thinks everything is rosy as long as at the end of the people get what they want.Students,marks and probably a degree so that they can venture into some business their family might be into and teachers, the fact that students are 'happy' also makes them 'happy'. I might be sounding very cynical and sarcastic, but when I see people here clamouring to improve their 'vocab(e)' or their 'English' or their 'communication skills' in a matter of days so that they can clear their Gds and PIs so as to land jobs, it does bother me to tell that them it takes more than a few mugging up of Barron's GRE wordlist or reading some 'motivational' books to have a good vocabulary and communication skills and also that they are skills needed to clear a job interview, but that they are 'life skills' and would keep a person in good stead through out his/her life.

Isn't it paradoxical that Gujaratis known for their entrepreneurial zeal and undying spirit to do better in life pay little heed to finer but very important things like good English, vocabulary buliding,inter-personal skills e.t.c. To me it is from the school stage where the rot stems from. From the little I've gathered from the local news and my 'localite' friends, people are very happy with getting good marks at school level and do bachelors in commerce or arts and set out to do business. Those wanting to pursue science-oriented courses like engineering or medicine have it easy. Seats in such colleges are allotted on the basis of 12th marks, which everybody knows aren't all that hard to score after spending so much money and time in the innumerable tuition classes that have mushroomed all over. No wonder then that introduction of entrance exams like AIEEE for admission to engineering colleges led to a lot of hue and cry and the 'worried' parents had to knock at the door of the courts to provide 'relief' to their children. Contrast this to the situation in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka where there was hardly any such and hue and cry and the parents and more importantly the students had no qualms in adapting to the new system. If such uncomfortable noises are heard about introduction of exams of the standard of AIEEE, which by all means is an exam lot easier than the JEE for entrance into the IITs, then wouldn't it be too wishful of us to expect sizeable number of students from Gujarat to get into the IITs.Again cynical as it may sound, but one must surely ask this question-'How long will people run away from competition?'.

Let me add a bit of my own experiences to this. We have a Gujarati friend of ours who attends tuition classes (tuition classes in engineering?? you might ask...let's leave that for a moment).It happens sometimes (well, many times!) that I have not completed my programs and have to copy from him. And again it happens all the time! That I happen to explain the program better to the teacher and he, the person who wrote the program is left wondering how on earth I could do that just by looking at the program once. Mean as it may sound, I end up getting more marks than him. I’m sure the law of averages would catch up with me and I'd have to repent not being regular, the point I wanted to highlight is that with whatever resources I had at my disposal, I could together with my ability to convince managed to get out of that tricky situation and my friend still wonder how could I manage that!!!

Talking of ability to convince people, it reminds me of one of my seniors working with McKinsey & Co. When asked what does he look for people when he recruits them, he said tersely-"If that girl or guy is convincing enough to sell me the sun for 100 rupees, I’d hire him without any hesitation”. Not that he didn’t value the academic qualifications of a person, but we all know what he was hinting at.

Ending this 'controversial' topic on a 'controversial' note, I’d want to share another incident where the teacher again made a hilarious blooper (unintended of course!).We had to make presentation on an allotted topic with slides and at the same time submit the printout of the material in a file to the teacher.The teacher happened to find out that the content in the slides and the file were not matching. She stopped the person midway and said-"What is this? The material in the slide and the printout are so different. I don't want people to make such ‘controversial’ presentations from now on”. Controversial--what the h*&l??It wasn't a presentation on the Godhra riots or the Best Bakery case. How can a presentation on 'Different types of Cathode Ray Tube monitors’ be controversial.

Then it dawned on to me that she meant 'contradictory'.!!

Am Back....quirkymurmur resumes...

Today,I am happy on two counts.

One, my exams got over and I don't have the fear of failing in any of the subjects.(Though I haven't failed in any subject till now,that feeling that you might fail in a subject is HORRIBLE.This feeling ruined three of my semester vacations..more on that in the next blog...).

Two,I had promised myself that I would not blog till my exams get over and I'm proud to say that I have kept that promise.Though I did sneak in once and inserted the hitmeter.I did though go through lots of other blogs,about which I'd be sharing details in a short while,I did not post anything on my blog.How's that for a promise of not 'blogging'!!!

Now that my exams are over and am feeling good..and suddenly I find myself in final year!!I thought of going back and take a look at how three years of engineering have passed through the six semester exams I have given till now.Believe me,each of them(not the whole exam,but each subject exam) has a story associated with it.Promise that it'll be an interesting read.


P.S. The hit meter count reads 197..well it's been something like 20 days since i inserted it and there have hardy been any comments and did 197 people actually read my blog???Or is it a case similar to Sonia Gandhi's??People turn up in hordes and hordes to her election rallies, but their numbers don't get converted to votes!!!Can somebody please explain that to me??:)..

Who the hell wants to do engineering???

OK,Me and Shashank are like the most jobless people around(with our group, of course).We are literally jobless too,yet to be placed you see!!.

Following is the entire transcript of the conversation we had over yahoo messenger.It might make no sense at all, but I'm sure shashank and me had a very good time whacking our brains. Actually coming up with things like this gives me more joy than being a topper in exams.(More joy than second in technical,eh Skunk??..n me third..what say??balls to that:))

Exams fast approaching and NEO asking me to sleep??

The next few days might see me not blogging at all or coming with a flurry of posts as to how engineering sucks...that'll also make for good reading,don't worry!

6 months back B.E== Best is Engineering(IIMA SPIC trip)
4 months back B.E== Best is Engineering (IIMA CHAOS trip)
3 months back B.E== Best is Engineering (SPIC week)
2-1 months back B.E== Best is Engineering(MINDBEND - informals,COCKTAIL)
15 days back B.E== Still,Best is Engineering
5 days back B.E== Bereft of Emotions(schedule announced!)
3 days back B.E== BASTARD ENGINEERING
now......... k.. enuf of bullshitting... BACK TO ENGINEERING...
*********************************************************************
sha_100_100: u there?
getnikhil2002: yeah...
sha_100_100: tht 4th april was a trap.... technical rap....u walked into it
getnikhil2002: will u please crap.........cut the crap?
sha_100_100: btw i came second in our test today.... got 22 in technical.... one of the highest
sha_100_100:
getnikhil2002: that is sash(ay)ing............ simply smashing....
getnikhil2002: calls for a greet---------grand treat
getnikhil2002: if a cat has had a good meal... will it say it was a purrfect meal?
sha_100_100: if a dog chases a leopard instead of a cat... wont u say its barking up the wrong tree?
getnikhil2002: are good females supposed to use sane(i)tary napkins?
sha_100_100: how do girls throw away the sane(i)tary napkins?
sha_100_100: ti-shoo
getnikhil2002: why are there no females in your cLASS?
sha_100_100: becos LSASS VULNERABLE
sha_100_100: .exe
getnikhil2002: isn't it a bit missleading....this word called cASStratred??
sha_100_100: ya i think it should rather hv been cass'TREATED'!
getnikhil2002: the university vice chancellor has become inVCble
sha_100_100: wud u take incest in zest?
sha_100_100: speaking of miss leading .... what do u think abt the word 'AWAY'lable?
getnikhil2002: this novel HARD times by charles DICKens...
getnikhil2002: somebody passed away... he went to paraDIES..
sha_100_100: and this character master bates in oliver twist.... this DICK(ens) really knew how to twist and screw things
getnikhil2002: guess he had an UNCANNY KNACK of screwing things..... probably was a meCANNYcal engineer..
sha_100_100: god doesnt play dice.... he just makes sure the guy dies
getnikhil2002: if you proposed a girl from electrical... will she reFUSE?
sha_100_100: rather a ME-CANNY-KAL engr...one from the past
getnikhil2002: will pumelo get a FAIRwell??
sha_100_100: oh my god .... that trical girl is 'circuit'
sha_100_100: can an impotent guy get a wel'cum'?
getnikhil2002: who's a gujju guy who is sexually inactive?? cum less === kamlesh...
sha_100_100: what do u call a fat wedded couple
sha_100_100: what do u call a fat wedded GUJJU couple
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: MARRY GO ROUND
sha_100_100: did u hear abt the screeching prostitute>?
sha_100_100: did u hear abt the screeching prostitutes?
getnikhil2002: no...
sha_100_100: the WHORES were HOARSE
getnikhil2002: ok u r talking abt the that one prosTITute...
sha_100_100: do u know what el'L'e can do to u?
getnikhil2002: if prostitutes had a school... how would they be evaluated..
sha_100_100: she can change u from affable to 'L'affable
sha_100_100: how
getnikhil2002: they would be evaluated on the basis on prostutorials,,,PT in short
sha_100_100: what is the answer?
getnikhil2002: they would be evaluated on the basis on prostutorials,,,PT in short
getnikhil2002: even in deFEAT ... a person achieves a FEAT
sha_100_100: and that person is also EATing
sha_100_100: btw how did u upload htose photos>
getnikhil2002: how will a female customer walking to a gigolo ask two questions in one sentence?
getnikhil2002: www.photobucket.com
getnikhil2002: are you stRATE?
getnikhil2002: www.flickr.com is better i guess...
sha_100_100: what is a male prostitute playing in a band called>? ...this ones a sitter.....
sha_100_100: a jigole
sha_100_100: a 'jig'olo
sha_100_100: sorry its a 'gig'olo
getnikhil2002: how will the lead singer scold the guitarist??
sha_100_100: how
getnikhil2002: you BASStard..............
getnikhil2002: type in here ,,,,guess HERsha's left....continue here,,,
getnikhil2002: yeah even ppl have been telling me abt this,,,but seriously it does take some brains to thINK this way......
sha_100_100: my sha?
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: some BRA IN wat>
getnikhil2002: i'm blind.... i know BRA ILLA(e) ...
sha_100_100: a blind tamil girl is ????
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: BRA ILLAD
sha_100_100: i think ive reached SATURation point.....its 4 am on a saturday
getnikhil2002: and we still haven't sLEFT...
getnikhil2002: ok.. we'll stop after i sEND you this message...
sha_100_100: and ill give you some bYES
*************************************************************************

10 ways to irritate your hostelmates!

Here are 10 ways to irritate your hostelmates.

Statutory Warning: Using any of the below means might lead to .. many things!!Try and see!

10.The classic: Lock them up inside their rooms or in the bathrooms when they are bathing!

9. Take their buckets and mugs and don't return them for days, weeks or even months.

8. Barge into their rooms, stand idle for 5 mins and come back.

7. After 5 mins again do no.8

6. Just go to the mike and shout " AS-3 Bharath phone hold hai --ghar se phone hai." .Mr.Bharath is fast asleep,wakes up runs to the mike and finds out that there was no phone call.The next morning you tell him that was probabaly a dream!

5. Diwali time,knock on the door,the bechara opens the door and before he realises DHUM, the cracker bursts right infront of him!

4. If your hostels are all wired up with LAN,spam them asking their opinions on spamming!

3. Cold winter nights, go infront of the mess with a plate and spoon sound a bell, people assemble thinking it was a tea-bell. And when they realise that was a hoax join them in abusing the culprit and leave!!

2.Old one but still,use their tooth paste,hair oil, shoe polish,vaseline,.. most importantly water which they take all the trouble to fill. Better still empty the bottle.



1.Play songs like KYUNKI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI on full volume on your computer, lock your room and go out of the hostel on Sundays!and rejoice you've just disturbed their hafte bhar ka sleep!!

My Class!!!!

I commited a grave, unpardonable sin yesterday.Not only did i bunk all theory classes but also bunked the lab of the most "feared" lecturer in our department. The reason was simple ..I found no convincing reason to attend apart from the mere perfunctory physical presence. One might wonder what difference would it make if I spend 2 hours sitting in the lab, but the simple reason is that when something doesn't convince me, I don't venture into it.And what difference is it going to make on "paper"??.. I might probably get 34 if not 36 out of 50 in that practical. Now should I go on about how i have lost faith in the system.......I guess not!

What was most interesting was the reactions that my actions generated.A few who were genuinely concerned "gyaan"ed me on the negative fallouts of such actions...few looked up to me as a hero achieving the impossible.....[they'd probably have never done such a thing and must be craving for such an "achievement"!!].Most of my classmates though have given up all hopes on me because:

1.I'm the only one of the four or five who bunk(YES ONLY FOUR OR FIVE!)
2.Do "useless" things like attending quizzes, SPIC(again!!!),"committee" work in the college
3. I talk in the class !!!!
4.While the learned ones teach , I write things like this!!!

Some people never look beyond the textbooks and in our case programs and computers(yeah the monitor obscures their view i guess!!)

I'm in such a class where things like bunk, proxy or even the mention of these generates an alien feeling!! All that is supposed to happen in movies rt???. My class is more "funny" than "fun". Of course every class on this earth has its share of nerds and geeks, but when most people feign sincerity and self-righteousness, it does get a bit irritating.Though I must admit(I'm being very frank here) that initailly I had nothing but utter disdain for my class, I
did try and open up myself to their views and opinions, and how much ever i try our frequencies don't seem to match .. and I'm still trying..!!

What I cannot fathom is that none(except 2 or 3 .. I can count!) of my classmates participate in any extra-currics and neither does any of them come up with some hi-funda Project or a program! Then,what is the use of going through the motions of attending classes for mere “academic” interest and ironically enough we do not get marks . So my funda is, When you are going to get screwed anyway, why not!!

I might be taking a high(or is it low) moral ground here and just looking through my “spectacles” , but for a person who’s been never quiet in a class in my school and 11th , 12th days, this lull and inactivity seems a bit unsettling!!!

P.S. As luck would have it, the teacher whose lab I bunked took a surprise test today and needless to say, got screwed.Perhaps, I deserved that!!!!!

a(MUSE)ing Valentines' Day

"20 years and still no 'girlfriend'"…when someone in the canteen remarked casually, only then did I realize the "gravity" of the situation. I might sound naive(maybe) and ignorant (I’m not), but I'm still not very clear with this funda of 'girlfriend'.

Are they someone whom you consider as one more of your conquests and parade them
as your victory spoils or as it happens here, go out to movies and dinners and scamper back to the hostel by 9:30 in the night and everyone at the gate hoots at the couples.!!
[ I must confess that those are still uncharted territories for me and any info given might just be at the face value] .But i guess(my guesses are mostly true, quizzer you see!!), that is mostly what happens.

Perhaps i spelled out my idea of a 'girlfriend' while we were returning from our daily late night coffee jaunts and i broached this subject of boyfriends and girlfriends being objects of show and was actually surprised when they asked me,” What more do you want?!” When I told them that i 'wanted' someone who likes and does the same things as me and them and that the only difference would probably be in the gender, they all went into a collective gasp giving me a feeling that i was demanding too much. I guess I’m justified in being that ‘demanding’.

I probably do not have my way with girls, not being that overly courteous, sweet-talking chivalrous person. I also cannot get the hang of these symbolic expressions, gestures and these so-called 'undercurrents'. On Valentine’s Day, I wore a black shirt which I later came to know meant asking girls 'not to dare' to come near me.[green==already booked, White= available, yellow==space for two???!!!] . Now tell me, when I wake up at 10 and my classes start at 10:30, i don't think of what colour I wear. Now I wonder did me wearing the black shirt that day "shoo" away any girls?? I think not, because i hardly expected any to come up to me and.....

Now,I guess( again!!) that probably has something to do with the way people are branded in the college , similar to typecasting in C or C++...!!!. once you are categorized and irrespective of whatever you do(good or bad), you remain branded forever. This used to affect me earlier, but have broken free of that now. NEVERMIND--Cobain comes to my rescue .So who am i??( Again a guess!) I am that head-shaking guy who fools around cracking poor jokes. I've been called many more things on the same lines, and I definitely enjoy all this because I know there's much to me than just this.

What people here don't realise or know is that one cannot humour the corporates, the media people, the artists(SPIC!!!), people at quizzes, judges at various debates and public speaking contests with just poor jokes , it takes something more than that!!!Ofcourse being humorous and funny comes naturally to me, but there's also a serious, thoughtful, analytical side to me.

But , Why am i writing all this now???

Too serious????, lets tone down the rhetoric a bit. I did indeed miss having a girlfriend coz we couldn’t win the treasure hunt in the college because there were two clues near the girls’ hostel.. Now that is one area where we rarely venture towards.....Now did I miss having one just for the treasure hunt or..........??!!!!

Whatever people may think and say... this is what i think

BETTER BE A CLOWN THAN BE A CLONE!!!

BUT..BUT... I have a hunch which tells me I'm going to meet another clown someday and THAT.. will be serendipity!!!!

SPEC MACAY...

I have a confession to make....now don't expect me to get all sentimental...even valentine's day is drawing closer!!!


Whenever in the past I've said that I've been busy, 98.25%of the time I was lying. But now when i say i've been really busy for the last 10 days or so, i really mean it.Was busy working for an organisation called SPIC MACAY ( for those of you who have no idea what that is.. visit www.spicmacay.org)

And read this after you've visited the site..

I am involved in it since my first year(am in third year now),actually my seniors drew me into this and i'd be ever thankful to them for that.(how seniors and ragging have contributed in me being the way i am will probably require another blog!)

Ok,so yours truly is the PRO(Public Relations Officer!!,sounds too fancy??).I'm supposed to take care of the press,media,publicity ,the public... . OK the TIMES OF INDIA correspondent here didnot print a word about our event, but what the heck, he gave me free passes to watch BLACK in the best possible seats in the best multiplex in the city!!!!!

But since we are just a handful of people doing this we end up doing up all things from cleaning chairs in the auditorium to hosting the show!!(done both this time!)

In addition ,went to people to give invitations, went to the corporates for sponsorship,took care of the sound system, mike ...uff so many things....and i wasn't lying when i said i was busy.

So we condut concerts by eminent artists on a mini-marriage scale perhaps what is missing is the pair to be married and the food served after it!!!

I can't put into words the things that i learnt and the experiences that i had after these events ,things ranging from convincing the corporates to sponsor your events(best possible practice for an interview!!!), taking care of the artists and putting up with their demands and just managing in the nick of time to meet them......The confidence that it brings in you is immense and am sure will keep in good stead in future.

And finally ,SPIC MACAY and my spectacles seem to have a strange relationship. They break whenever something related to SPIC MACAY comes up . October last year we had been to ahmedabad for the SPIC MACAY annual convention my eyes!! broke just before we boarded the train..and it was a sunday the next day...so virtually went blank for that day!!!

And even this time around, i was just trying to tghten a screw and the frame gave up. Had to get a new frame done and that marks the end of this blog titled SPEC MACAY!!!!!

P.S. I seem to have forgotten the fact that I am studying engineering, but let me confess i enjoy doing such things rather than stare at the blue screen in my computer lab and write programs!!!!!! Somebody please make me realise that I need to do a bit of engineering also!!

ThE LasTBencherS' SOng!!(incomplete!)

Sitting in the last bench,
Far away from the hostel stench,
Our knowledge thirst we are here to quench,
Sitting in the last bench!!

This teacher makes our guts wrench,
This period seems like a never ending trench.
But,our knowledge thirst we are here to quench,
Sitting in the last bench.!

Away from all this, in heavy rains we want to drench
Dancing with girls Brit,American and French!!
But, dreaming of all this our knowledge thirst we quench,
Sitting in the last bench!!!!

My CoLLegE(written for JAM magazine!)

http://www.jammag.com/campus/index.php?sectionid=7&article_id=129

(YOU'LL FIND THE SAME THING THERE--BUT READ THE COMMENTS THERE, THEY ARE INTERESTING!!)

GUYS AT JAM WIELDED THEIR EDITORIAL POWER TO CUT OUT THE GIRLS' PART.THAT YOU'LL FIND HERE!

SO HERE WE GO!

SVNIT -unofficial prospectus….

COLLEGE::

SVNIT….(Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology) Conferred the status
of a deemed university 2 years back (REC to NIT). But for the local public it was, is and will be SVR. Perhaps they’ll never know the value of such an institution in their city, this is what irked the
College public earlier, but now even they don’t care.

LOCATION:::Some 10 kms from the railway station, in one of “the posh”est areas in Surat. Say SVNIT and you are sure to find some raised eyebrows… say SVR and you’ll see the faces relieved. For the locals it is still “Just another engineering college”.

CAMPUS::Vast is an understatement. During summer, students have to literally sweat it out to reach college from the hostels. Resembles a jungle, the local public flocks the campus for their morning and evening walks (perhaps, one more reason people know about the college!) .a huge lung space amidst a dense concrete jungle, surrounded by high-rises. With the departments situated quite far from each other, people find it difficult to catch up with folks from other departments. People generally “bump into” each other in the canteen or the C-Center (The Internet Center-great). Had six boys' hostels and an "h-7". With a new boys' hostel already up and basketball courts (two, flood lit), things are slowly but surely looking up.( the floodlights are very tall!!)


FACULTY:::mostly natives. try their level best to make the students "gate" whatever they teach. . By far mechanical has the best faculty( A -grade NAAC accreditation). With lots of phds,doctorates,articles in international journals , it boasts of being one of the best in western India. The mech HOD even has a constant named after him(Channiwala constant). The other departments are also equally competent. Civil has an A grade too. Some grumbles are heard in the electronics department about the lack of permanent faculty, but it is made up with the placements. Some blooper jewels… “work(it) out in the hostel and come ”. Overall, students are happy and so is the faculty.

CROWD:::
From the hi-five yo-man to bhaag bh%#*d types. From mallus to sikkimese, bongs to gultis, presents a true picture of national integration. Mostly bakar crowd ...can spend the entire day doing bakar in the canteen or near the gate. Mostly north Indian, has a southie G.S. Has lots of “fundoos”along with the usual quota of padhaakoos. You won’t get bored here on the campus that’s for sure. Gate, ichchhanath school, senti bridge , canteen . .few of the places to find the crowd.. or ask Sunil chaiwalla for that matter!.(See there was no mention the fairer sex, was there??).

INFRASTRUCTURE::
The new boy’s hostel is heaven (except for the mosquitoes!). Departments are also being refurbished with a.c seminar halls complete with multimedia projectors. With hostels being connected to the world wide web… no qualms at all for now… maybe the junta will start thinking about the library “building”, hostels.. And well, it can go on. But as said earlier things are changing for the good.

Hangouts :::::

For the “I’m –always- short- of –cash” crowd here, thelas(carts serving food on roads) are just what their pockets are happy with. Patiala shahi, lakhnavi, lovely are some names you’ll get to hear. Otherwise there are places like Priya, Classic, sugar and spice(bada),woodlands…there are quite a few of decent ones .then there always a Pizza Hut or a Smokin’ joe’s for the occasional treat. Valentine , city pulse -multiplexes for movies , rajhans, kinnari are the other halls. For the coffee pastry types there’s always cup-o-coffee or a sugar-n spice (chhota). But no place better than the gate or jaywalking on god -dhod road!

CANTEEN::
Perhaps the best thing to JAM about! Cheap and decent food. With a TV to boot, atmosphere resembles a carnival during cricket matches. “Do mein teen masala” is the most heard shout. Popular choices can change from time to time.. the canteenwallah tells me now it is “sambar samosa”(national integration eh??)

EXTRA CURRICS:::


Has a rock band “ sonic mayhemz”. Many committees like ISTE, SPIC MACAY, CHRD, L&D, DRISHTI(tech) organise events through out the year. But the same crowd turns up for every event. MINDBEND (tech fest) and SPARSH (cul fest) are major crowdpullers. Has one budding canteen quiz club too named “Su chhe”.

Placements::
Those eligible invariably get placed. All top-notch IT companies, mech. companies come for placements. Comp, tronix, mech. lead the way with others not far behind. Current figure around 200 and in the coming years it can only go up.

Latest news.::: With AIEEE, the “quality”(yeah ,your guess is right) of the crowd is improving and can only get better in the coming years. And yes the hostels are all wired up with LAN and internet connections, but “h-7” is not connected to the boys’ hostel!

………………………………………………….. A “shake”ing SVNITian. (that's me !why i'm called so is another shaky story!)

An oDe To EnGiNEeRiNg

For people like me so profane,
Hope engineering doesn’t go in vain.
These thoughts I must entertain,
So as to remain sane!

The days I’ve spent are umpteen;
Thinking what does engineering mean.
From what I’ve heard and seen,
It’s not all shine and green.

Is it all circuits and study kits?
Or is it all machines and tests unforeseen?
Or is it studying all night,so that is not
Dust that we bite.

Then how were the computers invented?
Not to mention , the internet.
And the mobiles too and, god only knows,
What’s coming next!

For those who think the same too,
Maybe we’re missing a point or two!
Maybe we should look beyond the class lectures
At the big picture!