MODIfied

The Cal trips

2006-05-15T23:26:00.000+06:00

People have been asking me what have i been doing in KGP days after i have completed my project evaluation and my reply is short and succinct ... "MASTI". Yes, and it includes three awesome trips to calcutta.

The first one and surely the most enjoyable one was the one with the depmates...yes, the bitwise trip. Bitwise (for the uninititated, it is an international online algorithm intensive programming contest, the best in world) ... it gives an excitement to CSE final year which can only be experienced and not expressed. And, one of my friends rightly said "U get to organise BITWISE only once in a lifetime" ... so we went for a masti worth remembering for a lifetime.

And, believe me it was pure fun, we went for Karting and ice-skating to clowntown (yes, not many ppl know there is an ice-skating arena in Kolkata) and I got a chance to experience both of these things for the first time in life.

We ended it with pizzas at pizza hut and ice-cream ... I enjoyed my ice cream very much, electric current was its name.

But, the best part about this trip was that everybody was loadless, no tension ...academic life at IIT was over, all of us never had so much fun together and all this was coming free to us, all expenses to BITWISE treat account.

Cost of trip: 22K (approx.)

Next in line, was the Lehman Lunch at Hotel Hyatt regency. My second lunch at a 5-star (yes, the first one was also by the grace of Lehman Brothers) .. believe there is nothing exotic about the food or service but yes, the ambience of the place, the feeling of just being there is awesome. Again had a fun time, talked to two VPs of the company, nice corporate talk, big career dreams and all .. when we talk abt millions while we do not even have bucks to pay for my coffee, yes i did not have even a penny in my pocket, all my expenses (taxi and all) being paid by others.

In sum, a nice experience ... something tht rich ppl only can have, was being offered to poor fresh grads, filling their eyes with big dreams.

Cost of trip: 23K (approx.)

Now, the third and final one, the cruise party to achievers by TIME ... met few to-be
IIMians... had a nice time, dancing and partying with few babes, on the ship... a summer night on the ship with music, booze and beauty ... not bad indeed. I could even shake my legs with music at times. It was followed by an OK-dinner and awesome Kulfis.

Cost of trip: not known (approx.)

In some, three nice trips, none at my own expense, I just wish there were some more down the way.

One Bedroom flat: An NRI engineer's diary

2006-05-11T00:03:00.000+06:00

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in software
Engineer and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and
opportunity. When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come
true. Here at last I was in the place where I wanted to be. I decided I
would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I
would have earned enough money to settle down in India. My father was a
government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he
could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.. I wanted to do some thing
more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed.
I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap
international phone cards.

Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and
discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy
whenever the Rupee value went down. Finally I decided to get married.

Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must
be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest
flight. Was jubilant an was actually enjoying shopping for gifts for all
my relatives and friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be
talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the
photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to
select one candidate. In-laws told me, to my
surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not
get anymore holidays soon and they cannot wait for long.

After the marriage, it was time to return to USA, after giving some
money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after them, we (I
was lucky and managed to get the visa of my wife early) returned to USA.
My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she
started
feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a
week sometimes 3 times a week as she also has to call her parents. Our
savings started diminishing. After two more years we started to have
kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us by
the
almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked me to come to
India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India. But part work, part monetary
conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant
dream.Then suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were
seriously sick. I tried but I couldn't get any holidays and was stuck
up
in the procedures and thus could not go to India. The next message I got
was my parents were passed away
and as there was no one to do the last rites the society members had
done whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents passed away
without seeing their grand children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and
my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for
a suitable !
property,
but to my dismay my savings were short and the
property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to
the USA. My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to
stay in India. My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my
wife I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my
son was happy living in USA. I decided that enough is enough and
wound-up every thing and returned to India. I had just enough money to
buy a decent Two-be droom flat in a well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is for the
routine visit to the nearby place of worship. My faithful wife has also
left me and gone to the holy abode. Sometimes I wondered was it worth
all this? My father, even after staying in India, had!
a
house
to his name and I too have the same, nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing. This damned
cable TV has spoiled our new generation and the!
se
children are losing
their values and culture because of it. I get occasional cards from my
children asking I am alright.
Well at least they remember me.
Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will be
performing my last rites, God Bless them. But the question still remains
'was all this worth it? I am still searching for an
answer................

PS: This post has been copied from http://www.egiridih.com/Forums.aspx but I did so because I really liked it and wanted it to be here.

NO DUES

2006-05-10T23:12:00.000+06:00

Hi, have you ever passed out of a college, school or any other institution? Whenever you leave an organisation, even your job, it is customary to get a clearance from someone, generally an authority or two .. say your project head, and occassionally someone like a librarian. But, if you pass a gigantic institute like IIT Kharagpur, you will know how tough it is to get a NO DUES certificate.

Believe me, it is like a race ... everytime u feel like the bengali babus of the office are shouting at your face ... span style="font-style:italic;">run lola, run<. This form takes u to unseen and far-flung areas of campus like Rural Development Centre (never heard of it, despite being in KGP for 4 years?) ... isn't it a bit odd for a girl student to need NO DUES clearance from both air and army wings who could never have attended NCC (it is male only in KGP) .. come on, be at least a little logical .. yaar.

This NO DUES form contains only 7 signatures at first glance but the real nightmare is encountered when you take this form to department office and he hands you over another form needing 30 signatures...yes, it seems to grow like a recursion tree ... quite huge and quite frightening. But, this is not the end of the trauma, the real pain is when they ask you to look for the receipts of submitted fees, fees that you submitted around a year ago...Ohh god, I cant find my things which i threw somewhere in my room before sleeping last night and these people expect me to find those slips. I just do not follow why the hell did they ask me to fill six copies of cash receipts every time i submitted my fees .. one for accounts section, one for acads, one for bank, one for hall,one for HMC...and one for myself...so why do u worry what i do with MY COPY?

But, finally, I am done with all that, it took me nearly a week ...ahh, I feel so relieved. IIT KGP rocks, but its slow paced "cholbe na, korbe na, hobe na" sucks.

RESERVED

2006-05-06T22:48:00.000+06:00

How often have u encountered this tag? RESERVED ... may be at some occassion for special dignitaries, some heads at some social functions ...in short for people who have earned it by their hard work. But, what when you apply for a job and return empty-handed because it is reserved. Even worse, when you cannot get education that you deserve just because someone having a caste label (SC/ST) had it reserved for him. This is what we have achieved in 50 years, instead of getting free and compulsory education for all, what we are doing is putting the boards of the few positions of excellence in the name of caste and tribe. Those people who worship Babasaheb Ambedkar (the chairperson of the constitution's drafting committee) often forget that the position and accolades achieved by him were without the crutches of reservation. They also forget that initially, reservation was proposed only for 10 years to undo the wrongs done to our under-privileged brothers and sisters. But, politicians have since then passed resolution unanimously to renew it every 10 years because none of the parties and politicians can bear the grave risk (or shall i say suicide step in this democracy where around 17% poplation is SC/ST and 8% votes can romp u to victory?) of being seen as anti-poor, anti-lowercaste, pro-uppercaste or say the worst of all, party of rich and influential?

I know none is ready to take the acerbic pill of going anti-reservation which is as much necessary for the upgradation of this society as much is a medicine for a patient. We have only two options: either take the medicine and enjoy the ongoing rise on development curve or promote reservation and take this country into wilderness and darkness. If someone has been following papers, he must not have missed how Kapil Sibbal felt the same, though I am sorry to know that he too does not have the guts to defend his statements and has retracted them for cheap popularity. After Murli Manohar joshi who tried tempering with the autonomy of IIT and IIMs, there is Mr. Arjun Singh, the senile man who will impose the burden of OBC reservation on this institutes of prominence. The politicians just seem to be getting worse everyday.

What they do not follow is reservation takes the country in a vicious circle and is eating this nation like a cancer. One person gets reservation, an incompetent engineer/manager from best of institutes like IIT/IIM ... a waste of tax payers' money .. the fellow cannot get himself a job in MNC (still they do not have reservation)..so govt. again comes to rescue, this incompetent fool makes merry with govt. money for no work, makes a mess of every job, still gets promotion (reservation) and his son again (with best of education and no brains) does no hard work because he knows he has a seat reserved in IIT and IIM...I do not blame the guy, did u ever rush to train after having a reserved ticket, just be on time.. the boy also just appears in JEE and CAT and gets in his reserved seat.

The loss is two-fold, what these SC/ST people face in these colleges is a feeling of unwelcomeness, a hatred, a mental and social boycott .. they need to work hard to get themselves accepted .. they feel like they are in a place where they do not belong.
And, then they are left behind in most competitions .. most jobs .. most class ranks... they feel that a label of laggard is being attached to them.

And, a poor deserving high-caste curses himself to death for being denied an equal oppurtunity and we must remember that a nation which does not respect its talent, is condemned to death and destruction.

Ek mamu chahiye

2006-05-01T01:56:00.000+06:00

Do you remember when as a kid, your mummy tried to pamper you and or may be attempted to reconcile with you after the scolding she just gave, she used the age-old trick of refering to Chanda Mama. And, then had anyone asked u, tera mamu kaisa ho? An immediate reply would have come ... "Chanda Mama jaisa ho" ... but not any more, the new kids are already saying humara mamu mahesh bhatt jaisa ho and why not?

A fat lad, with an unshaven face, with an absurd name (some hashmi, khashmi...) gets to push his tongue in the mouth of the every new entrant in the bollywood circuit. And, why does he enjoy this priviledge ... yaar, mahesh bhatt uska mamu hai. This lad has already got a reputation for being the serial kisser, you cannot imagine the number of whistles that you get to hear in a B-class theatre when he makes an entry on the silver screen. I do not know why do people watch his movies. The only good thing in his movies has been music and I do not give any credit for it to the actor. If anyone enjoys to watch the videos of the songs of his movies, it is definitely not due to him but due to his ever-changing gorgeous partners dressed in skimpy clothes (or shall I say barely any clothes). The fellow does not know how to dance (have a look at the movies in which he has shabbily tried to shake his legs a few times), the dialogue delivery is poor and the only role he performs in every movie is same ... duping a mind-blowing beauty to fall in bed with him, whether it is the latest movie Gangsteror the old Murder which shot him to fame along with the legendary Mallika sherawat (she has gained more space in friday coloumns than even Aishwarya Roy), his role remains the same ... give a sleeping scene with the gorgeous female lead. Anyway, it is his fate that he gets a chance of putting the label "Kissed OK" (just like the ISI mark on products, tested OK) on every bollywood beauty from Mallika to Tanushree Dutta. why should we grumble? Sab mamu ka khel hai, isliye bus ek mamu chahiye.

Love u, Brother

2006-04-09T01:38:00.000+06:00

Today is April 9,2006 (second sunday of April) and this is the day when hundreds of young boys and girls will flock to the examination centres all over India, with only one aim, one goal - admission to an IIT. I have experienced the anxiety, the fear and the restlessness and I cannot describe it here as it cannot be sketched in words but only felt. Some people call it exam-phobia, some people take it as the ability to remain cool in taxing situations, whatever it be, it is an awesome experience. I had my share of it four years ago and by the grace of almighty, did not need to feel it again. (Those who are thinking of CAT, believe me CAT is nowhere near JEE, also at the time of CAT you are much more mature and able to cope up with pressures).

But, why did not I write it over all the past four years and what has made me come out of the slumber tonight? It is my younger brother appearing for the examination which changed my life and I wish it to change his life as well. Here I am sitting hundreds of Kms. away from him. And, this is my attempt to wish him luck, I am sure he will do well. A diligent and intelligent boy he is, he will not leave any stones unturned, but fate is unmanageable and to achieve exemplary success, the D-day must be your day.

Hey brother,I wish you all the best to break all barriers and reach the pinnacle of success, and may you start this journey with JEE. So, I request all my readers to wish him luck, the young lad needs your wishes.

Farewell

2006-04-07T20:10:00.000+06:00

These are my last few days on the campus, I did not realise that until I got to see the notice "Final year Farewell". I was so much immersed in the comfortable KGP life that I did not notice that the time has come to bid adieu to all the friends I made during last 4 years. I could not help myself noticing the calligraphed italicised word "Farewell". I asked myself what does that mean? So, I decided to do some research and find out the genesis of the word, Farewell. But, even Google proved to be of little help and I sat myself on the path of making stupid guesses.

When someone was bidding farewell, was he saying "Hey, you fared well here for the last 4 years .. but you lazy bums, enough of it now, leave this place and get your ass moving ... face the real life, the dog-eat-dog world and try learning some useful lessons. Or was it a simple wish to all to fare well in future. I do not know, but what I know is that in a matter of few days I will be coerced to relinquish the cosy environment of KGP and will be thrown in all wilderness to face this cruel world all alone. I will miss my 24-hr internet connection and a LAN with terabytes of movies and tv series waiting to entertain you. I will miss my friends whom I could turn to for any advice and help, at any time of the day (no, I think any time of night would be more appropriate). Where will I get the endless bhaat sessions, the hot discussions on the mess table, short sweet jokes.

But, as they said there is a silver lining with every dark cloud and there is no exception here as well. I would surely not miss the mess food, believe me I cooked for myself a few times while I was in france and I cook better than that....I simply can't feel lucky enough that I am gonna get rid of it. Then, I will not miss all the cholbe na, hobe na and Korbe na, that seems to be a part of KGP life as well. I can never fathom why the tech. market opens only for a few hrs, are not these people interested to work hard to earn more money?

But, despite everything, this place has given a new meaning to my life. I learnt here that both success and failure are a part of life, one needs to accept both in the same stride. Finally, I feel I came here as a boy, and I will pass out as a man.

RDB in the air

2006-04-07T00:25:00.000+06:00

RDB, yes none needs to say the full name because in this world of short cuts, RDB has carved a place for itself. Everyone is a fan of the movie (and takes pride in being a fan), some really good acting, nice music but that is all. I think, the movie has been over-hyped. Amir Khan seems to know that in this country, people are crazy only about two things, the country pride and the cricket ... and he has tried to encash their heart-felt sentiments to earn lots of wads of green notes. Did you not see how he implanted the story of cricket with the usual tale of struggle against Britisih empire in "Lagaan"? He was so much successful that even the PM of the nation took out 3 hrs from his busy schedule to watch the movie, those hrs. could have been used to clear so many pending projects needing his approval. But, all that is past.

The issue is why do we raise our cries of patriotism only after some cricket match or after coming out of theatres watching some bollywood drama like RDB? why do not we raise our voice against the still continuing use of MIGs. (we recently had an accident after the release of RDB). How many people remember the contribution of Satyendra Dubey, the IITian who sacrificed his life on the altars of martyrdom while fighting against the prevailing corruption in the system? When there is a wardrobe malfunction (nice term quoted by media indeed), the whole Maharashtra assembly seems to erupt in chaos over the question of moral degradation and the laggard policemen jump into action to complete the enquiry in record time. But, after years, nobody has bothered to ensure that the poor engineer who lost his life, gets the justice. Why are the corrupt thekedaars of Golden Quadrilateral still roaming unpunished?

Next time, you shout after watching a cricket match or RDB, remember it is no patriotism but plain entertainment.

The difference between generations

2006-04-06T23:26:00.000+06:00

Man has been a student of the nature, a curious avid learner. He has sacrimoniously passed his expertise on to the future generations thereby leading to the evolution of culture. And, this improvement over generations has been observed in everything from the computer languages (machine language was 1 GL) to mobile technology (did u miss the 3G techie ?). But, did you ever notice its effect in shaping our careers?

A person who has his parents professionally educated is a 2G educated man and is always at a constant advantage over the naive 1G lad. If your parents are professionally well educated, you are more likely to be in a financially comfort zone (I am not talking of lavish amenities, but comforts of life) where as many small town and rural 1G students have been found to be struggling to get hassle-free necessities of life. Though, I am sure we will also find numerous 1G people who have parents with enough money to shower on their whims. But can these parents provide the social and educational grooming to their children which the 2G people had in plenty? The answer is more likely to be NO. But, if the 1G child was lucky to have very sensible parents who attempted their best to create this environment by seeking professional help (in the form of tuitions and all), they can never inspire their children enough for achieving academic success by presenting themselves as an example. Moreover, at a later stage, when it comes to making career choices and taking decisions, the 1G parents are more likely to be ignorant and in some worse cases, obdurate. So, the poor 1G chap does not compete with his 2G friend on a level platform.

But, the 2G guy is also not without his troubles. His parents always keep on comparing him with themselves. They are not ready to accept his minor mistakes in lower classes. They are very much eager to know about the progress of other friends in his class and many a times, end up making unneeded comparisons. This may lead to a feeling of inferiority in the child right from childhood. Also, if the parents are successful, they are very likely to encourage him to follow their trodden path. And, this encouragement sometimes in its extremity ends up as an attempt of coercing the child, hence restricting his career options.

So, good or bad, but there is a definite difference between generations here.

Merit or Cheat

2006-03-31T14:26:00.000+06:00

Do not be surprised if someone asks you this question someday. If you have enjoyed the priviledge of having studied at a premier institute like IIT, IIM or AIIMS and fail to be at the top (it is possible after all we all are humans) on some occassion, I am sure there will be few sceptics in the crowd, who will promptly jump to the conclusion that people like you entered into these institutes by cheat.

First, IIT JEE paper got leaked in Patna (do not be surprised, some people do take pride in calling it the city of crime). Then, two years ago, the institutes which proclaim to produce world-class managers failed to manage the security of their one of the most vital asset, CAT question paper. And, now AIIMS have proudly joined the list. It provokes everyone to question the credibility of these entrance examinations which call for participation from hundreds of thousands of aspirants who burn the midnight oil to fulfil their dream of entering these coveted institutes. None knows how many lives and careers have been thrown to jeopardy by these scandals and paper leaks. These crimes are tantamount to murder in the degree of their heinousness.

In my childhood days, when I was told about sale of question papers, impersonation etc. I used to dismiss such talks as the excuses perpetrated by the bunch of losers who did not have enough merit. But, these revelations have opened my eyes and now, I can follow that many deserving to-be IITians were thrown to NITs and regional colleges, NITians to private colleges, and some deserving engineers to the streets where nothing but the darkness of unemployment exists.And, all this just to buy high quality subsidised higher education for some undeserving sons and daughters of rich men, who will never put their education to good use.

We need to take immediate action to prevent such malpractices because the ascent of a society depends on the respect it attributes to the quality of its individuals and the way it attempts to foster them to improve them further.

How was ur IIM interview?

2006-03-27T12:24:00.000+06:00

When we meet our friends and acquaintances, we greet them with a casual "Hi", "Hello" ... but this is different for a poor soul undergoing the traumatic process of IIM GD/PI. Every good friend of his does not ask him common courtsey Qs like how are you doing or which movie did you watch? but the big one "How was ur interview?".

It really pleases the young lad to know that he has so many well wishers and good friends but what hurts him the most, is that he cannot answer his friend. The basic truth is you never know how was your interview? Unlike an examination, it is nearly impossible to objectively evaluate your performance in an interview. Moreover, your self-evaluation is meaningless since even after you may have answered all your questions correctly (as per your perception), you may well be rejected since the senile IIM profs did not find you good enough. And, some other day someone with the only answer "I do not know, sir" may be accepted on account of his politeness, behavior, ettiquettes or may be past performances in CAT and acads. what I do not follow is if the guy was sure shot selection, why waste resources in conducting futile GD/PI?

I do not follow many other questions like what were the changes brought in India during Chola dynasty (to an engg. graduate) , which rivers flow in Andhra Pradesh (to someone who has never been to South India)? So, if you ask me how was your IIM interview, the only honest answer can be "I do not know".

Just wish to be there

2006-03-23T21:54:00.000+06:00

Honestly speaking, I have been a confused person almost everytime when it comes to making a choice, whether it is just about petty things like which drink to order in a bar, which restaurant to visit or even what course to take? But, may be this is what someone termed as The Problem of Choice. And, this problem assumes humungous proportions when the matter is something that decides your future, the choice of career.

I had a good CGPA, could have applied for further studies and may be I would have got admitted to some decent US univ. and would have been slated to live a normal graduate student life in the land of dreams called USA. But, I declined the choice and decided not to go for it.

In the meantime, I was lucky to get a job with Lehman Brothers, Mumbai on the second day after the placements began. It took time to sink in that I was offered the job within minutes after my first interview was over. I was really elated that I was out of the trauma of giving tests, interviews, waiting outside TnP for hours and returning alone to the darkness of your room. The most painful part of the experience is when you are required to answer every Tom, Dick and Harry why the hell, the company did not pick you? I just do not know why the stupid friend of mine does not understand how could have I known that?

And, then happens the unexpected. God sends me a gift on my 21st birthday. NO, do not start getting any funny ideas since it was not any sizzling beauty but only interview calls from all 6 IIMs. I gave interviews of IIM L and IIM I, I would be lying if I say that I did not find the process of GD and PI an arduous experience, not to forget the 3-hr long travel in the humid stinking local train, KGP-CAL. But, I bore all those pains. When I could bear it no more, I made a choice and skipped Kozhikode interview, against my good judgement which suggested me to be there if for nothing, then for the sake of GD and PI practice. But, my laziness won over my mind and I stayed.

But, here comes the big one, IIM Ahmedabad. I, for the first time, am feeling that I wish to get an admission offer from this IIM. I visited the institute website, washed my clothes myself, got my friend to get them pressed (I am not a lazy bum, but I am really bad at these chores). And, now I thought to do something to get over my anxiety, what better way to read some blogs. The two blogs, I accidentally reach are both from last year's IIM A students Arvind's The Lord of the things and Suze's Sine Qua Non. Reading their thoughts, it kindled the desire to be at this temple of education, founded in 1961 by the efforts of many visionaries including Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. Personally I feel, he is one of the greatest visionaries independent India ever saw. And, I will write more about my interview experience later.

I request all my readers to leave a comment wishing me good luck, I really need it.

Buy the law

2006-02-24T21:54:00.000+06:00

All 9 accused got acquitted in Jessica lal Murder case.

Salman Khan gets bail in the hit-run incident.

I am sure, none of you would have missed these and many more such headlines in the newspapers. These incidents are just a trailor of the bigger movie running in this society where the rich is the judge and money is the law.

These high-fame politician sons and actors seem to live in a different world. They are always in a euphoria, life is like a bed of roses with all the thorns have been distributed to the poor and the unfortunate. You may have seen things like killing people on petty things like refusing a drink, only in movies but it happened with Jessica and a murder committed in front of a full party before scores of people went unpunished due to the so-called lack of evidence. Is it really credible that the whole machinery of Delhi police could not find the murder weapon? Why does not our judiciary ponder over the intriguing problem of eye-witness turning hostile, whether it is Jessica lal Murder case or Best Bakery case? The whole matter weakens the dying belief of the poor and the downtrodden in the administration and judiciary of the country. For the poor and middle class, the police is perceived to be a bigger criminal than the local dada or bhai. who just demands a regular hafta.

The cruel but simple fact is Money rules. When Salman Khan was delivered a year sentence in the black buck case, the media instead od finding out whether he was guilty or innocent, was busy in calculting that Bollywood will have to suffer losses of crores if he is indicted. So, does that mean that economic power brings you the license of committing heinous crimes and run away unpunished even after breaching the laws of the land? Do these larger than life figures have gone bigger than the laws of the land?

If you believe that criminal trials are a testimony of the power of law then let me try to bring out of this utopia. Remember the DPS R K Puram MMS scandal, only the poor boy Ravi Raj had to bear all the ignominy of trial and nation wide infamy while no one knows the name of the two juveniles enjoying themselves before the camera. In this country, money can make witnesses turn hostile, it can destroy evidence, it can hire lawyers, it can even extort the plaintiff to withdraw the case itself saying Babu, jo beet gayi so baat gayi. as happened in the case when a drunk bollywood hero who plays the compassionate all charming playboy on the silver screen ran his car over some poor man sleeping on the roadside. The life of the poor soul was sold to satisfy the hunger of the devil. He had his driver ready to take the blame, the victim's family too went in his support. Hence, you can even buy life in this country called India. In India, everything is on sale whether it is life, morals, justice or whatever. Hey Mastercard people, are you listening, nothing is priceless.

Speaking English

2006-02-24T17:59:00.000+06:00

Did you know that India has a larger English-literate population than England? And, this huge chunk of individuals wrapped in flesh and blood did not go unnoticed. A new version of English, the Indian English owes its provenance to we, Indians who have popularised it world over. We have also successfully introduced hindi words like raja (king), jungle (forest) in the English vogue. We are acclaimed to be among the best non-native English speakers throughout the world. In fact, the whole BPO industry thrives on this faith entrusted in us by the mighty developed world.

But, have you ever thought why are you speaking English by compulsion or by choice? Neither reason is unworthy but there are instance when we use the language to flaunt our so called well-bred education and power and attempt to hide our weaknesses under it.

Yesterday, I found someone who started blabbering in English after a few drinks, mumbling some order to a waiter (someone who finds it hard to follow English). The person got enraged when asked why did he choose to speak in English? May be he was trying to save his kiddo face under the veil of his competence and fluency in the language of Masters.

You must have observed people shouting abuses at the top of their voice in English. Do they feel the language is more apt to portray the authority and to establish their hegemony? Or is it that English language lends support to their fallacious arguments?

Also people are found to use the language in their attempts to woo the opposite sex. If people think it to be the language of romance, then they seem to have forgotten that Heer-ranjha, soni-Mahiwal were no less immersed in love than Romeo-Juliet. I think it is their lack of confidence which encourages them to use English so that they can at times,conceal their faults under the pretext of linguistic error.

It seems as if though our English masters left us 59 years ago, but we still use their language as the symbol of prominence, power and strength. I am not against the popular usage of the language but rather my attempt is only to question the purpose of its use.

Deepa Mehta's Trilogy

2006-02-22T12:39:00.000+06:00

Yesterday, mid sems got over and I set myself on a movie journey. Unlike most of my friends, I prefer Indian movies and hence I chose Deepa Mehta who makes meaningful movies addressing social issues.

The first one was "Fire". This one disappointed me a little, the lesbian relationship between Nandita and Shabana seems to be exaggerated. The issue of the status of woman in Male-dominated indian society needs to be addressed. But, the character of Nandita seems to be very much rebellious and confused. Why does not she raise a hue and cry when she finds her husband to be cheating on her?? Was she more interested in pursuing a lesbo with Shabana? In fact, the whole movie seems to be filled with creeps who are obsessed about sex. Whether it is Javed Jaffrey about his gf, the servant "Mundu" always busy in searching an oppurtunity to masterbate or the two ladies eager to satisfy their lesbian lust. To sum up, this movie seems to be a cheap ploy to create a furore by Shiv sainiks.

The second one was "Earth". The movie has captivating performances from Amir Khan, Rahul Khanna and Nadita Das. The director succesfully delineates a story capturing the prevalent religious intolerance in the Indian society. Deepa also portrays the age old fact "Love knows no bounds" with a small scene between Rahul and Nandita, no sizzlers. The villain played by Amir in the end shows the cheap selfishness of humans, it also shows the venegeance of a refuted lover, the anger of a lost warrior. The small girl played by Maia Sethna shows that age has nothing to do with acting abilities. Deepa aptly uses her as a narrator and her perspective of the story as a small child seems innocent and impartial. In total, an excellent movie capturing the human emotions in the setting of Indian society.

The last one was "Water". Indeed, the actors in this movie were not the usual Nanditas and Shabanas, so used to playing meaningful roles but John Abraham and Lisa Ray, two famous models who entered the film industry and have often suffered criticism for poor acting. But, in this movie, they seems to be defying every accusation levied on them earlier. John Abraham tries to do justice to the role of Narayana, a passive nationalist quite contrary to his macho playboy image. And, Lisa ray too seems to be anything but a sex doll. She plays the role of a widow, someone who is filled with energy and freshness like a rain. She displays an innocence and enthusiasm of youth with a touch of a child residing in the body of a scintillating beauty. But, the best actor of the movie turns out to be the young prodigy "Sarala" who leaves an indelible imprint in your mind in her role as a young widow. She implores you to question the society for her misfortune, her childish rebel and tantrums make her all the more loveable. This movie urges you to take your foot forward and move ahead to free the woman from the shackles of the society.

With this trilogy of earth, fire and water, Deepa seems to be getting better everyday. Looking forward to see more such movies in future.

Economy BOOM

2006-02-18T19:10:00.000+06:00

I found this great article about rising Indian industries, may be u wanna have a look.
http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/18spec.htm

Are you telling a lie?

2006-02-06T23:42:00.000+06:00

Lies have ingrained so much in our lives that German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche got tempted to quote

"He who cannot lie does not know what the truth is”

. All of us, almost with no exception are found telling lies almost everyday. It has become too omnipresent to be considered a sin, people no longer abstain from telling a lie due to moral or ethical reasons.

Papa instructs Bunty "Verma Uncle aaye to bolna ki papa ghar par nahi hai, lekin sharma uncle aaye to mujhe bula lena."

Teacher asks the student " when the Principal comes to class, tell him all the syllabus is covered, I will teach you half and you will need to study only half for exams".

Most of us would agree these incidents are not uncommon in today's life.And when parents are lying, they can't teach their children to be truthful. So, right from home, children learn lying. Ya, I said learn because lying is an art, and it needs precision and planning like a science. So, no small deal.... just like a game, an apt lier needs to practise it several times a day, may be almost all the time. But, then many people only lie for a purpose, sinister or benign is another question. But, there are habitual purposeless liers, people who have just got into this habit and these people lie even when they do not need to. And, at times, they make it very obvious for the listener to figure out that he is listening to a lie, and when the talker realises that he has been caught, he makes a wasteful attempt of saving himself from the ignominy by saying that "Ohh, you silly fellow, you took it seriously, I was just joking"...next time, remember there is difference between a lie and a joke and your listener knows it.

Haven't you heard of 'bitwise'?

2006-01-24T20:49:00.000+06:00

Are you one of the dumbest beings who have not yet heard of Bitwise?

Bit (binary digit 0 and 1) is the atomic component of the cyber world where software geeks spend their lives dreaming about kernels, compilers and what not. So, in 2001, at IIT Kharagpur, Arindam Chakraborti led a team which decided to have some fun and enjoy with our online worldwide fraternity who are in crazy love with programming and algorithms like us. Here ends the story of inception of Bitwise.

In last six years, this online competition has succeeded in the niche of computer studs. This year, already more than 1500 mad men have registered in this competition, around 10% of them are international participants cvering 37 countries on this globe.
They are going to battle each other for prizes worth Rs. 100,000.....so if you are not a coward, join the war and register yourself before Feb 05.

The monarchy continues....

2006-01-23T20:11:00.000+06:00

Though we have been successful in getting rid of monarchy in most of the governments, we have not yet wiped out the desire of a father leaving the ownership of a state to his son.
The most powerful office on this earth, the occupant of the white house cannot deny having received the benefits of nepotism in his career. Sometimes, capable daughters may get to reap the benefits as in the case of Mrs. Bhutto.
And nonetheless, the current political scene in the country too bears the testimony to this theory.

Today's newspapers were abuzz with two political stories, one regarding the demand for the coronation of Rahul Gandhi,son of Rajiv Gandhi and other regarding the attempts of toppling the Cong. govt. in Karnataka by H.D.Kumaraswamy, the third son of former PM Devegoda. In effect, despite best attempts of crying for the democracy in the country, we have not been able to come far. The democracy is nothing but a farce, the demands of congress party workers of making a young novice like rahul as the country's PM bolsters my arguments. Is honorable PM Mr. Man Mohan Singh nothing more than a keeper for the post? Is this nation a family property which is kept in trust till the time the family heir is ready to take reins?
Why do not people get this simple fact that all the accolades in life need to be earned by merit and not by birth? If there are some heredetiary qualities of an able administrator or a public leader, they will themselves bring the right man to the right position at the right time. The need is for the people to get out of the slave mentality, Only the son of a king can be the king.
Forced attempts will always lead to disruption and chaos, as can be seen in the case of Shiv Sena when Bal Thakre tried to force the leadership of his son, Udhav on his loyalist and had to face the revolt by his most trusted and able lieutenants like Raj Thakre, Narayan Rane and Sanjay Nirupam.

The problem exists because every father wants to give his son the position he has earned in his lifetime, he wants him to start from where he stops. But, we forget that as our age begins from zero, so will our achievements. This is the law of nature and whenever humans will try to disrupt it, nature will retaliate back to settle the score.

Someone everyone loves to hate

2005-12-17T23:05:00.000+06:00

Last night when I was making the best use of remote while watching TV in the common room, my hands suddenly stopped ... I saw two faces together sharing the television screen. Those two are the people whom I personally believe to be the best living icons of success, both these men have revolutionised the world, both of them are leaders in their own field, they are Microsoft Corp. Chairman, Mr. Bill Gates and Infosys founder, Mr. Narayan Murthy. They have figured in the list of World's most admired CEOs/chairman at No.1 and No.8 respectively. And, they were being interviewed together by NDTV India, 24*7.

But, I am not going to waste my words describing the long list of their achievements rather I wish to talk about one line that Mr. Gates said. When he was asked about the anti-US feeling gaining acceptance in many parts of world, his reply was "Everyone loves to hate US, but at the same time, those very people wish to be in US, they love US as well". I think the statement applies in general, "Everyone loves to hate the man at the top, while they love to be at the top".

This feeling is mainly because of the jealousy and envy that one feels, for the reason of not being at the top. They try hard to be at the top, and many a times, due to sheer misfortune (or some people love to term it as lack of passion), they do not reach the pinnacle for which they strived hard. This is not always failure, but more often it is the lack of the lustrous success. Then, these people who cannot achieve success, attempt hard to find faults with the man who has achieved it. They start making movies like "Pirates of the silicon valley" to portray great achievers like Mr. Gates in bad light. But, such attempts to malign the achievers with great publicity do bring some infamy. In fact, it does at most of the times. Because, in a race of 100, one is the winner. So, 99 others start spreading rumors about how it was a bad decision, the winner was taking power capsules, he had violated the rules and what not.

People say that Mr. Gates has little technical contribution, he bought DOS, he copied windows from Macintosh and what not. I wish to ask them, why didn't you do the same at the right oppurtunity? Instead of praising the man for his long-sightedness, for his business mind, for his great vision, for his efforts in bringing computers in daily life to the common man, all are busy accusing that he has bought most of the stuff being sold under Microsoft brand. They do not praise him for seeing the potential of "Presenter" to become Powerpoint. Nobody says that Steve Jobs got the idea of a mouse from Xerox, because Jobs is not as successful as Mr. Gates. I am sure if he had been, he would not have been spared.

Though, it is a fashion to be a linux/unix user, nobody can doubt that Windows still is the most user-friendly operating system ever built. Undobtedly, it is expensive but without that, could anyone have thought that a software can make someone the richest man of the planet?? There are no free lunches in this world.

I do not care what one says, I simply adore the man everyone loves to hate.

India, on sale

2005-12-15T16:35:00.000+06:00

We boast of being the largest democracy in the world, we say that the ultimate power lies in the hands of the people, we say that we are advancing towards a new era where the neglected and downtrodden too will be able to see and realise golden dreams. All this is mere jargon which suits the speeches of political leaders, long texts written in the documents entitled "Vision India" but this is far from the reality. The blatant truth is my motherland, India has been put on sale. The recent MP scandal is just an inkling of the whole corruption industry growing under the blanket of Khadi and Saffron.

It might be noticeable that these MPs who were found selling their morals and ideals for few thousand bucks, did not belong to a single political party but almost all major national parties. This suggests that this malaise of corruption is not limited to few, but has engulfed all like some epidemic. Few days ago, there were newsreports regarding the death anniversary of those who sacrificed their lives during the terrorist attackes on the Parliament. I am sure those patriots of my motherland must be weeping that they sacrificed their precious lives for such MPs who sell their morals for a price lower than the price at which a hi-class whore sells her body. This also sends a message to the rich that the highest body in India, the Parliament can be bought at throw-away prices. The day is not far when rich people will proudly say that they bought the majority in the Indian Parliament for few crores , and this dream democracy will be reduced to an oligarchy.

These MPs won't hesitate to trade even the defence and military secrets of national importance only if they are offered the right price. This, in turn means that allowing such unscrupulous parliamentarians to rule over this country is tantamount to sending all those guarding our borders to death. In fact, this is the time to ask what can be an apt punishment for such corrupt MPs? I am sure, just an expulsion from Parliament and/or a few months imprisonment won't suffice. These people are the culprits who have breached the trust of hundreds of thousands who voted for them, they need to be dealt much more severely.

How can we allow such people to decide the policies of the nation? We have got to think about such problems right from the grass root level. Only people who have done some public welfare work should be allowed to contest for high public offices, and not the ones with numerous criminal charges against them. We do not want our MPs to be seen running from the police gun, nor do we want them selling themselves for few wads of cash.

This country is not just a large chunk of land, it is a culture, a spirit which lives in the heart of every Indian. We have already suffered 100 years of slavery for people like Mir Zafar, we need to learn from history and take the imperative action before it is too late,

IIT: bandi chahiye part III

2005-11-28T20:55:00.000+06:00

Amoebas at the start
Were not complex
They tore themselves apart
Ans started having sex.

Here comes the third and final part, part III. In response to Chintan's query
"5 reasons: Bandi kyon chahiye?". Mind it, it is the IIT which needs Bandis and not IITians.

1. God made two sexes for humans, why?? Man could well have been a hermaphrodite. Why do we say homosexual tendencies as unnatural? So, I think it is unnatural not to have a desire for having a girl, rather than having that desire. What is not so healthy is the state of being desperate for having a bandi. And, believe me this desperation has its roots in the dearth of good looking girls in IIT campus. So, at this age, most of the IITians want a bandi, not necessarily a girl friend, but may be just someone(good looking female) to talk to and be a friend. I just tell you one incident of what this leads to. One of my friends met (just met, no date) one of his (may be good looking) class mate, and he is so happy about it that he keeps on chatting about it. What makes him so happy is the desperation? The desperation he feels at IIT KGP, the desperation he sees in the eyes of his friends. Remember, with the dearth of girls in IITs, girls develop an exorbitantly high "ego", which is not good for them as well. But, it is not their fault, just the rise in price governed by forces of demand and supply (I am just trying to remind myself of learning economics ... a core in management).

2. Moreover, people generally like talking to opposite sex. Why?? The answer can make a research paper entry to many international conferences on social behavior and human psychology. To satisfy this desire, it will be better to have more girls at IIT. I know more bandis at IITs will decrease the general FQ (Frustness Quotient) with a sharp decline in the number of Desperately looking IITians.

3. Having more girls at IIT will give a balanced future to the nation. This argument holds only if you believe that IITians are future leaders of the nation.

4. Girls think differently than boys, generally have more aesthetic sense. Having more girls in technical institutes will give a new dimension to our thinking.

5. Finally, having more girls will reduce the number of hours people spend in chatting and orkutting thereby saving the precious time of IITians. Also, saving a lot of load on network loaded with bhajans (KGP lingo, those who do not follow, mail me). Also, jobless (yes, sum1 called me that) ppl like me will attend to less futile deeds like writing the Btech project report.

As far as I am concerned, remember I am Committed. So, this Bandi chahiye series was for IITs and not for IITians. Next post is going to have something serious, no more funny business here.

IIT: bandi chahiye part II

2005-11-27T10:27:00.000+06:00

As promised, I am back with a sequel to the last post. Have you thought why are these IITians so much bundi-hungry?? Every IITian's head turns in perfect sync with the movement of a beautiful bandi ??? why??? I tried to answer these in a previous post IIT gys with turning heads. But, I would like to go in details about this eye-hunting here.

It starts with every IITian having a sharp brain and this leads him to an innate interest in academics. Result: aspiration to be an IITian. So, he digs his eyes in his thick books when his other batchmates were making plans about female hunt. He misses the fun, works hard and does a mistake --- passes the JEE exam, and comes to an IIT. IIT are co-education centres just in name, there have been batches in IITs where there was just one girl in the whole batch ( for bollywood movie fans, did you see matrubhoomi, a sridevi and boney kapoor production??). So, here you come with a nearly no-female institute, fully residential for 4-5 years. And, these guys are also in an interesting period of their life, 17-22 years of age, an age of hot youth, an age which incites you to experiment, an age when you know no bounds, an age when life changes meanings for you, an age when you start looking for things other than books. At this age, you are thrown in a place like IIT where months pass before you go on a date with a beautiful girl?? Go, look in foreign univs. though it is not the rampant sex shown in low-grade american movies, but yes, people do interact much more freely and confidently with opposite sex. Asking a girl out for a date is no big deal. ( I am sure many IITians are already making plans about going for an MS or at least an internship.) But, yes guys, balance is necessary in each and every walk of life. In IIT, sex balance is missing for sure, the reasons for it may be attributed to the high demands of intellect level required by JEE, which forbids an entry to beautiful girls into IIT (remember, beauty * brain = constant).

So, IITs (our dear profs, so kind of them) thought about getting more girls. Though I agree that reducing the fee of application form is not a big step, it certainly is an insinuation towards the next moves. Regardless of steps, let us try to imagine what will happen if somehow, more girls get admitted in IITs, say sex ratio turns into 1:1.

1. Attendance will increase dramatically, boys will flock to classes to see the beauties. Sanam ke deedar ke liye tarasti hai nigahein

2. More number of people (mostly couples, and a few people doing f-hunt) in library all the time. One of my best friends at IIT was a regular library visitor in first year, seems to have lost tempo these days. Library is always a good place where you are supposed to maitain silence and not disturb others, what else do lovebirds want?? Na humne kuch kaha, na tumne kuch kaha, aankhon hi aankhon main baat ho gayi.

3. Less forbidden stuff on the LAN, surely the demand will decrease (why??) and hence will supply.

4. People will get better grades, attending classes, doing co-study in library is better than playing AOE, CS and UT in dorm rooms.

5. And last but not the least, mess workers will have to cook much less food and the on-campus restaurants will have a feast.

Alas, I won't be here then to enjoy a changed atmosphere in IIT ... finally, I am in final year.

IIT: Bandi chahiye

2005-11-22T08:24:00.000+06:00

It is no secret that the sex ratio (males : non - males) is highly skewed in all the IITs. So, they decided to work out some way to get out of this frust situation. As always, IIT decided to tackle the problem at the source itself, known as JEE. So, here is a list of few steps they have taken:

1. Application for females is 300 and males is 600 , IITs are twice as eager to accept females than males.

2. They have mentioned in notice about separate facilities for recreation and accomodation of females, in other words Jaanam, palkon par rakhenge tumhe, ab to aa jao.

3. To reduce unwanted competition for females, they have prohibited IIT students from appearing in JEE. This will harldy affect girls since after entering IIT, no girl gets time to study, too busy attending to all her romeos. Also, number of attempts limited to 2, will help girls since hardly any parents allowed their daughters more than one year of preparation after std. XII. After all, they want to marry their daughters early. So, IIT made these rules -- Bandi ke liye IIT kuch bhi karega.

Few things that I think might be going behind the doors:

1. A move to decrease tuition fee for girls, allowing them more money to eat at various canteens and cafeterias. Even now, they hardly need to pay for it, thanks to their numerous boyfriends.

2. I won't be surprised if a female reservation policy comes underway.

The effect of these moves on IIT life will be discussed in next blog, two endsem exams tomorrow yaar.

The reign of TERROR

2005-11-15T00:06:00.000+06:00

Have you read the newspapers? If yes, did you find time to notice something other than the electric blues? (Indian cricket team shining all the way covering three four pages everyday. It reminds me of an article which I read about cricket long back Kabhi Jai Jai, Kabhi hai hai.) But, we are here to discuss something else, something alarming, something which presages the dark future lying ahead.

First, two bomb blasts at my hometown,Girdih in the evening took place on the same day. The Maowadi Naxalites (called MCC group) attacked the police, looted 150 rifles, few lakhs of rupees, killed 5-7 people and injured many. These gruesome figures are to draw the attention of the apathetic towards the growing magnitude of the problem.

Second instance took place at Jahanabad where Naxalites attacked on the jail and half of the inmates saw their way to freedom. Where is administration? what is police and govt. doing? Sleeping? They have the responsibility of ensuring security and development, what have we got? Chaos, terrorism , tyranny , hunger, corruption ... the list is endless.

And, this terror breeds terror. No terrorist takes birth from the womb of his mother, it is the exploitation of the society which makes him vulnerable. Then , they are used as a means to create terror and chaos. If this continues, the day is not far when people will fear even to leave their houses, and why that, they will not be safe even in their own houses.

This is a serious issue of national concern grappling the country today and we expect people sitting at the helm of power to rise from their deep slumber and take the appropriate actions before it gets too late.

Never got another chance

2005-10-22T17:51:00.000+06:00

Business Oppurtunities are like buses, if one goes, the other comes
-- Richard Branson

.

It may be true of business oppurtunities but not the oppurtunities in the KGP life, in non-academic as well as academic fields. You have to start it right from the first year of your KGP life. It is a cumulative business.

For example, if you somehow missed the chance to be a sub-head in SF, you do not have the one in a million chance to become a head. In fact, in some way, this is quite justified because someone who was a subhead knows about the way the event was organised last year, and he also worked hard last year to earn this position. But, may be in some cases there are people who can do the work better than last year's subheads, but cannot be elected to the post of Head because it is against the convention.

But, you can also not start from the scratch at a later stage because those positions are meant only for the juniors and if you take them, where will they go? Also, there is the issue of the ego of being a senior.So, where will you go if you woke up from your slumber of inactivity after two long years?

Truly speaking, it happens with quite a many guys, mainly in third year. First year was absorbed in getting adjusted to the KGP life, Mess food, electrical lab, stinking toilets and what not. Second years may be initially frightened of words like OP and all. Also, department load is also quite heavy in many departments in second year, so the poor guy could not get time to pursue his interests.

In fact, this is also the case with CGPA, as one of my senior said once "Law of inertia of CGPA". If you could not perform well in first year and went to becoem a chaggi or satti, 8 out of 10 times, u remain a chaggi or satti. In fact, some of my friends do quip that if nehlis even leave their paper blank, they wont end up with anything less than an A or Ex. So, just because you had a bad time in first year, may be you were not interested to do things like Engineering drawing, had a poor english or something like that, your whole academic transcript should not be spoiled. It is not fair. I believe there needs to be a separate Departmental CGPA, and first year CGPA in IIT curricullum. And, people should be made to use department CGPA for jobs and apping etc. And, first year CG should be taken into account only in dep-C or may be a fraction of first year credits be used in overall CGPA computation.

Truly, one must always be presented with a chance to improve in confirmation with the age old adage "It is never too late to start again".

The virility of the F***

2005-10-17T23:49:00.001+06:00

I urge everyone of you not to use the F*** word; in fact I implore you to refrain from using the f*** word as far as possible. Why??? Am I pretending to be too prude or dogmatic, believing in the decorum and decency? Not at all, in fact I detest any such attempt of proving oneself righteous and noble. Then why this drama?

It is to preserve the virility and the power of the f***. In fact, if u will observe keenly, it will not be hard to notice that the magic of the f*** word is fast vanishing. Have you ever tried to explore the reason behind this? The reason is the indiscriminate use of the f***; even kids (yes, I am saying kids and not teens) have included it as a part of their limited 100-word vocab. And, it is being used by every tom, dick and harry for things as trifling as a candy. Hey guys, this f*** is a legacy given to us by our ancestors and we must pass it on to the posterity without diminishing its strength in any way. Remember the days, when f*** used to have a charisma, an impact , an effect which could not be created by anything else. Those days seem to be a thing of the past, the thing has become so common that I myself committed the blunder of using it before a teacher without any purpose. No, this is really an all-time low for f***.

F*** is not a mere everyday slang, it is meant to have an effect. It is a medium to express your vigor, your anger, your dissatisfaction and though not always, but sometimes your determination. We have got no right to undermine the authority of f*** simply because we have got addicted to using it. We must take a resolve that we will refrain from overuse of f*** and we must pledge to upheld its perennial strength and virility.

If you are interested to see intellectual discussions on the origin of f***, visit http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_268b.html
Also, you can have a look at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck

Proud to be a BIHARI

2005-10-02T02:59:00.000+06:00

One day, while I was chatting with one of my friends, she wrote a word. I asked her what did it mean? She says, do not you know it? Are you a Bihari??. I could not follow the meaning since the word was misspelt.

Another day, one of my friends was caught cheating in the examination, the teacher asked him to leave the examination hall. He requested the teacher for clemency, the teacher retorts "This is no Bihar".

Has Bihari become a synonymn for some invective or insult? Is it the right means to express your contempt? Does not it show your regional bias and chauvinism? How are you any better than those imperial whites who justifies the enslavement of blacks on the pretext of racial superiority? If you do not know what Bihar is, let me tell you.

Bihar, a state in the eastern part of the country. If you wish to go by history, it is the land which gave India great kings like Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka and many historians consider, Patliputra of Magadha was the first capital of India. This land was the birthplace of great religious and spiritual leaders like Mahavira and Buddha whose teachings have made India known as the land of spiritual divinity. This land was the playground of warriors like Veer Babu Kunwar Singh, who immolated his hand in the first war of independence. Mahatma Gandhi too chose Bihar as the place for his first agitation against the British (remember Champaran??). Our first president of India, Rajendra babu too was a bihari.

Bihar people are not stupid, instead they are hard working and intelligent. If you have any doubts, you can check the results of Civil services exam in India, and unfailingly, Biharis have figured on the list in much greater numbers than any other state. Even Bollywood had its share of biharis in the form of stalwarts as Shatrughan Sinha and Prakash Jha. So, the question that props up in every mind is what is wrong with Bihar??

Politics, poverty, casteism, ignorance and lack of education are the diseases which are making Bihar suffer. There has been literally no development during last twenty years. The chief minister of Bihar, Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav is an epitome of corrupt politician. He is among the most famous politicians in the country, but known more for his rustic style, scandals and the ability to rule a state for last 15 years than any philanthropic deed. Casteism is so much deeply ingrained in the society that even one of my IIT friends says he is superior because he is a JHA, a brahmin and we lesser mortals can never equal him. So, till the day, educated people like him will willingly keep their eyes shut, there can be no sunrise. In Bihar, the condition of education is pathetic and almost every Bihari needs to go out of the state to receive quality education. With lack of infrastructure and prevading corruption, any economic boom is a distant dream.

But, even with all these scars marring the face of Bihar, I am proud to be a Bihari. After all no child shuns his mother, because she is no more beautiful.

Sex abuse or abuse of sex

2005-09-27T12:42:00.000+06:00

Today while I was skimming through the morning newspaper, I came across an article concerning the impending legislation, which makes it mandatory for every organisation with a strength of more than 50 employees to establish a committee for addressing Sex Abuse. This committee must be headed by a woman and should have at least one external expert. This is a new move proposed for improvising the condition of working woman and to protect her from marauding scavengers. Have we degraded so much that in a country where woman are worshipped and are called with a suffix "devi" after their name, we need to pass strict legislation to secure them against hungry wolves at their workplace? Is the condition really this pathetic or is this just a ploy by corrupt demagogues to appease woman to gain a huge share of votes from working woman?
Have we considered the fact that such moves seriously injure the camaraderie of a workplace? It coerces every developing organisation to add additional redundant committees to its structure, along with the redundant unproductive expense of an external expert. Have we pondered about the deleterious effects of such a move? Can we not find some easier alternative to address and restrain a few lascivious and licentious fellows? Some of the woman organisations are also demanding that the decisions of such a committe should be binding on the management. Can some ambitious woman not abuse such priviledges to settle her personal scores with innocent co-workers? I am sure bollywood movies like "Aitraaz" foretell us the possibility of such sly moves.
I do not deny that with the increasing number of cases of misbehavior with woman, we need to ponder over the matter seriously. But, instead of legislation, I think this can be better dealt with moral education. Our Indian culture and our values set enough guidelines, which if followed ensure a morally uplifted society. We need to develop respect for woman, we do not need to give them any reservation or priviledge. But, to gain this respect, woman too will need to shun flimsy decollete and short skirts. Mind it, at times your enticing attire too can be a source of potent danger. Do not forget that Woman is a symbol of strength and power in our Hindu mythology, we must not consider them as weak and feeble. Just offer them equal stature and an equal platform, I am sure they will contribute equally to the development of the society in material, social and economic realms.

Emerging Slim Tomboy

2005-09-26T19:01:00.000+06:00

"Be slim, be beautiful" -- this notion has spread among woman like an epidemic. In order to make themselves look slimmer, thay have endured everything from long hours of workout at gyms to fasting and dieting for days, weeks, months ... may be even years. In the thirst of becoming slim, they first give up their most cherished foods like chat, sweets, cold drinks and God knows what not. I know one girl who did not eat rice and wheat as they contain starch and carbohydrate and unused carbohydrates get converted into FAT. Girls today prefer slim looks, with tight jeans and t-shirts. In their quest to prove themselves equal to boys in every respect, they are losing their own identity. Today's girl has relinquished all her favorite dishes, they keep on counting their calories all over the day and end up not as beautiful woman but deprived, starving and emaciated non-entities. Even poets have described the beauty of woman in their proses in terms of enticing curves and full bosoms. They are so much preoccupied with their weight that they even break relationship if her boyfriend inadvertently greets her with a quip insinuating that she is gaining weight. I do not know why are these girls so keen to acquire virility with tomboyish looks? I think they need to realise that a girl can take pride only in her effeminate charm. If the trend continues unchecked, the day is not far when a buxom beauty will become a thing of the past.

For all readers, I will be grateful if you will also express your views with your comments since I will prefer this blogging to be a dialectical interaction rather than a monologue.

Committed ???

2005-09-23T23:10:00.000+06:00

Yes, this is the question many of my friends asked after seeing the change in my status on orkut. But, I have evaded the question for long, but now I am going to answer it. When I found my status on orkut as single, it seemed to me as if I was lonely, a wanderer, a vagabond whose life moves at the whims of every beautiful female who chooses to do so. This led me to contemplate and ponder over the matter, which culminated in a status change to COMMITTED.

Yes, I am committed, but not committed to the troths made to any enticing beauty. Instead, I am committed to myself. I am committed to my dreams; I have promised them that I will realise them. A charming girl with elusive smiles and taunts, seems to be too trivial and insipid a thing for committment, at least to me. I believe a person can be committed to only one thing at a time and I am not going to trade these dreams for anyone. Every success needs your full committment, because if it does not do so, it is not a success. And, I am not going to compromise my dreams for anything in this world. I have cherished them for long and am ready to immolate anything and everything at the altar of success to see these dreams materialised. I have lived with them throughout my life and nothing can dissuade me from this path. I do know that I can only put efforts and success is decided by the fate. But, I believe fate will not be cruel with me and I won't loose the war, few setbacks in battles here and there are nothing but a part of life. . So, do not dedicate your commitment to anyone but your dreams, nothing can be more valuable and important than your dreams.

Kudos to Rahul and KK

2005-09-23T15:52:00.000+06:00

Hi guys, as most of you might be remembering well that Trilogy had given a problem to solve on the day of the drama, Rahul Garg (final year, Chemical engg.) and KK mehra (final year, computer science and engg.) have been anounced as the winners of the contest. They will each be getting an i-pod from Trilogy. Cheers to Rahul and KK, great work indeed.

Why do american universities need GRE scores?

2005-09-21T16:48:00.000+06:00

I have never been able to fathom why do american universities need GRE scores? Being researchers in engineering domain, we do not need to possess such a huge sea of words to express ourselves. In fact, most of the research papers contain only very simple daily use words. The engineers and researchers in science domain like to be laconic and they prefer mathematics instead of english to express their thoughts. And, this is no mysterious secret unknown to the great professors sitting in the admission committees of big universities. I am in fact, very sure that none of the students remember half of the words they mugged for GRE by the time they catch the plane to US of A. I duly agree that English being the most prevalent mode of expression, a minimum proficiency in english is essential. But, GRE puts undue pressure by asking really difficult words, tough comprehension and what not. Why does one need to memorise and mug hundreds of synonymns and antonymns? In fact, I could never fathom why GRE contains analogies? The writting section is more or less justified because everyone is aspected to do a lot of writing in his future research work.
To me, GRE test just seems to be a huge source of revenue for the US univs which have a huge appetite to devour the money from the pockets of poor denizens of developing countries. 140$ each head and thousands of students appearing for the tests at hundreds of test centres all over the world makes few easy millions for ETS. And, as I have heard they are planning to introduce american history in GRE very soon, if this goes true, it will do nothing but aggravate the misery of poor students besides making the test even more ludicrous. And, if by some misfortune, some poor but bright student does not fare well at the GRE test, this serves as an abortion of his premature research career. I know there are going to be few raised eyebrows for this analogy. But, I am ready to bear the heat. And I am very sure sooner or later, these US univs will realise the futility of GRE test and do away with it.

For all to-be IITians

2005-09-19T21:46:00.000+06:00

IIT (Indian Institute of technology) have been called the modern temples of new India and they have well lived upto their fame. Even the best of foreign universities like MIT, Stanford and Princeton respect IITs and offer admission to hundreds of IIT graduates every year. So, in a country of over a billion population, every teenager wishes to be in IIT to secure his future and may be a Green Card some years later. So, the IITs offer admission through JEE, reputedly one of the toughest examinations in India for admission in undergraduate courses. Now, the scramble to clear JEE leads to unseen competiion among the brilliant students all over the country. With increasingly ambitious students (and their parents too), everyone wants to grab the hot seat. And to ensure success, they are ready to do every thing. Students are ready to dig their eyes in books for two years, the parents lose sleep too. So, this led to increasing number of tuitions. Now, these tuition teachers also started working hard, and jard work brought success. And, these tuition houses grew into Big Coaching institutes, so big and famous that even admission in few of coaching institutes needed coaching, really I am not joking. Now, these coaching institutes earn Crores of money from the pocket of poor parents, train their children for the big battle called JEE (mind t the word is train and not teach) and years of preparation culminates in their success in the 9-hr exam (3-hr screening + 6hr mains).

Now, IITs want to end the monopoly of coaching institutes and have introduced following changes in JEE:

No IIT student can appear for JEE This move is very much welcome since it saves one precious IIT seat from being wasted.

N student can appear for JEE more than twice This too appears legtimate to me, it discourages students from wasting their years reading the same stuff, if they really want to enter engineering, there are hundreds of other colleges, do ur B.Tech there and come to IIT for Masters (GATE is another entrance exam).

The minimum percentage of marks in Std. XII: This move is to encourage students to pay attention to their school curricullum. But, we all know much of the content in the curriculla is just data and facts which need to be memorised and not understood. So, if their is a student from some poor college of Bihar (Bihar board is famous for its erratic and unpredictable marking), who gets 42 in english and 45 in Hindi, but arnd 70 in Physics, chemistry and maths... his percentage comes below 60; now you are seriously hurting the future of a bright student because he is poor and his dad could not afford big private schools with their monthly tuition fee in the range of 3k-5k and above. So, I feel this criteria should take into account only marks obtained in Physics, Chemistry and Maths. Also, this should be negotiable by 1-2% in case of exceptional performance in JEE. I, myself had ill luck with board percentage in Std. X.

Changing the exam pattern This really is something I think is unreasonable. The pattern of screening and mains really tested the problem solving skill of students and their ability to apply concepts in real-life situations, checked their ability to be future engineers. Reducing this to an aptitude test including absurd things like comprehension transforms JEE into something like CAT and SAT, a good engineer may not have very good reading speed and comprehension, he is a technical man who knows laws and how to apply them. Our directors and professors are sure to give it a rethought but may be only after it has caused irreparable damage to many students, specially those for whom this JEE 2006 is their last (second) attempt. Wishing all JEE aspirants best of luck.

The author is a student of IIT Kharagpur and did not take any coaching for IIT JEE.

My Butt is Big ...

2005-09-18T17:52:00.000+06:00

My Butt is Big

2005-09-18T17:34:00.000+06:00

My Butt is Big
And round like the letter C
And Ten thousand lunges
Have made it rounder
but not smaller
And that's just fine
It is a space heater
For my side of the bed
It's my ambassador
to those who walk behind me
It's a border collie
That herds skinny women
Away from the best deals
At clothing sales
My Butt is Big
And that's just fine
And those who might scorn it
Are invited to kiss it.
Just Do it.

Above are the sentiments expressed by the average woman whom you see at your next door, in contempt to the much-advertised slim beauty.

The source of the above verses is Nikewoman.com (courtesy The Telegraph, September 18,2005).

The Enigmatic Girl

2005-09-08T00:10:00.000+06:00

I could barely descry the enigmatic girl standing at a large distance. Ahh, she was not standing but was ambling in the most leisurely manner. She was not dancing, she was not roaming, it was definitely not a predestined walk, more of a journey towards the bliss. She was casual, carefree. It seemed as if a gentle breeze was flowing; it was coming with a fragrance. This fragrance was not of rose, not of sandalwood, not wine, it was a fragrance which carried her smell to my nostrils. My olfactory senses seemed to have galvanized and under the command of this enticing smell my feet started moving. I wavered, after all I did not know her, who was she, where had she come from? My mind was not equipped to answer but the palpitating heart seized the authority and dictated my bones and fleshes. There was no flinch, no thinking, it was an attraction, an impulse. Once started, there was no stop. She was the destination, the mystery , the conundrum.

I was moving , she was moving , we were not running away from each other, nor were we approaching each other. There was a sense of haste, an anxiety, an urgency but the distance seemed to be endless. But, the run gave an eternal pleasure, invigorated the desire, the burning heart seemed to have got an endless fuel, an overpowering authority. Now, I was chasing her, hankering after her, running after her ...calling her, shouting at her...pleading to her.........but .........she seemed to have lost , lost in the crowd, lost in the sea of millions of people increasing the burden of this earth. I could not find her.

The Trilogy Drama

2005-08-28T20:21:00.000+06:00

Yesterday, we had a day filled with drama, a recruitment test which transformed itself into a hilarious picnic at a five-star hotel, thanks to our dear professors.

Few days back, a mail propped up in my mailbox announcing the arrival of Trilogy for off-campus selection. Trilogy is known for its lucrative pay package, which surely entices students in huge numbers. This time, they came to our campus made a technical talk and to add to my joys, two of my hall seniors who are currently working at Trilogy, arrived with others. So,we had a great party at night where we ferreted out our secrets, our stories. Then, in the morning, when we reached gymkhana, we found that the four buses which were supposed to take us to "The Park", Calcutta were already stationed there. I also found that the btechs, dual degrees and mtechs had all arrived with equal enthusiasm. But, there was someone else too, someone whom we had not expected.

The mystery man was no alien, but the chairman of HMC himself. He called the DOSA to join him. They demanded us the explanation as to how these buses had arrived, where were we going and why had they not been informed beforehand? They accused Trilogy of misdeed and I do not remember who but someone even came with the notion that Trilogy was attempting to hijack the students. Thereafter, what began was a volley of cellphone calls. DOSA talked to Deputy Director who supposedly instructed him to send us back. He was too furious and even threatened to take mass disciplinary action against us. As a matter of fact, he even took I-cards of some of us, and began jotting down our roll nos. etc. Then, Siddhartha Dutta (a Trilogy employee and IIT Kharagpur alumnus, 2004) entered the scene. I duly remember the expression on the face of HMC, chairman when Dutta offered to shake hands with him. Finally, we all returned "safely" to our hostels.

Truly, speaking I felt offended that we even could not move out of our own discretion, even for a genuine purpose like job interview. I do not know if we duly deserved the gibes DOSA fired at us. But, our seniors made another fighting attempt, contact Prof. Goutam Sinha, sought his permission, stripped off the test part and we simply headed to The Park, Calcutta for a picnic, funded by Trilogy. The journey took longer than our stay at the hotel, but it was all made enjoyable by funny and "innovative" jokes of Sengar, Mukund and Shail, along with many others.

Finally, we returned back safely to our hostel rooms, I even thought of informing DOSA of my safe return so that he could sleep in peace rather than worry about us.

Anonymous comments have been allowed.

The CSE department drama

2005-08-26T00:08:00.000+06:00

For all who know about it, please bear with me in this epilogue. The drama began with a mail from Samir Satpathy informing us about the SRIC projects for which KK Mehra and Ashish Chordia were being considered. The offer was lucrative with a fellowship amount of Rs.50K per semester. Then, instead of congratulating them, we started accusing them with the charges of information hiding. In order to justify their stand, Chordia and KK came up with their versions of the story and tried to gloss over the details. But, still junta did not seem satisfied. In fact, KK came with incredible propositions like the notice was supposed to be of limited circulation, so our faculty advisor did not take the trouble to inform us. So, KK came with the proposition of reevaluation but backed off when sushmit came to take the challenge in a gamely manner. Now, some stupid fellow indulged himself in the fatuous act of writing a mail with an anonymous id to all the concerned professors. I simply feel that the two guys were good at using the oppurtunities to their advantage and we should try to learn from them how to filch the oppurtunites instead of indulging ourselves in bitter criticism.

But, we should request the authorities to automate the system of notifications and make proper arrangements for adequate dispersal of all notices, so that some canny fellow cannot seek the chance to say that only he got it, because the notice was supposed to be of limited circulation as if he belonged to the gentry and we are nothing but shitheads.
These are my final views on the topic and am ready to apologise to anyone who felt hurt by my inadvertent actions.

Omission of Inzamam from World XI

2005-08-25T18:35:00.000+06:00

Omission of legendary Pakistani player,Inzamam ul Haq from the world XI really aches me. In fact, Inzamam figures on my list of all time great Pakistani players, just after Imran khan, Wasim Akram and may be Javed Miandad. He has brought numerous victories to Pakistan, and is among the most shining stars of the galaxy of gifted Asian cricket players. Being an Asian, I feel this Pakistani has been denied the due respect he deserved being a veteran with more than hundred test caps. Though, he maintains a low profile, I feel he is a better captain than Shaun Pollock, and could have even been appointed the captain of the World XI without the slightest of hesitation. If we dare to fulminate the selection board and accuse them with charges of prejudice, we cannot be held guilty. In fact, Inzamam fits both the versions of the game and given, his form in the last year, I may well pick him ahead of the master blaster batsman Tendulkar, who has been out of the game for considerable time due to his fitness problems. I am sure Inzamam who is well known for his laconic attitude will deliver a due reply to the world with his bat, who will repent for having ignored this batting maestro.

I will request all avid cricket fans to pour in their comments in support of Inzamam or with justifications for his denial.

The great Talisman

2005-08-23T21:07:00.000+06:00

Everyone knows that the life is not a bed of roses; and here you find the experience of a denizen of IIT Kharagpur. A final year, who for the last three years always dreamed of reaching the elusive final year when there will be no more classes (or very few classes which you can bunk with the priviledge of being a final year), no further pressure of earning a CGPA and being the seniormost, you move with a consequential air.
But, these are elusive dreams and here I share the truth. When you reach your final year, you fear that you will be thrown out of the protective environment of the institute very soon and you restart your journey towards your career goals after a brief hiatus of three years. You need to seek the answer to the golden question WHAT next?.

Today, I was sitting in my room with my GRE date approaching with the velocity of light; in fact time seems to be the only thing that moves faster than that (Do not take me wrong, I still have due respect for Einstein and his theory of relativity). Also, I have been appearing for few mock CATs and my dismal performance serves to increase my woes further.

Not to mention, to aggravate my agonies, my department has scheduled a class test tomorrow in Graph Theory, undoubtedly not among the easiest subjects by any standards. If this was not enough, I see a mail today in my mailbox reminding me that I did some summer training which needs to be presented within a fortnight.

And, finally the thing which eludes every IITian...a dream job with a lucrative package, Trilogy is visiting us this weekend to see if we deserve to serve on their pay-roll. Not to mention, in this semester, I am supposed to some research work which is known as B.Tech Project. With all these worries in my head, I was desperately looking for a talisman, which I will like to share with all my brothers and sisters and it is

Whenever in doubt, quit.

My summer internship, not yet over...

2005-07-10T15:12:00.000+06:00

Is it over, not really. Ya, I am talking about my summer internship. It started with my first visit to a foreign country, France and hence, with a load of problems like food, kitchen , language, customs etc. But, I must say the people at this place, ENS Lyon are very co-operative and good hosts. So, the problem eased and I must say thanks to Saurabh Raina and Pushpinder Chouhan.

Regarding the work, my mentor Tanguy Risset was very patient and co-operative. He gave me time initially to settle down and then to get introduced to the work environment. There were initially many problems, getting the server logins, learning the CAD tools etc. And, I am really sorry to say that I could not finish the work that was entrusted to me, despite all the help extended to me from all corners. but, still I believe I have given a decent effort from my side and have contributed in my own way, to the task entrusted to me. I will also like to extend my thanks to all the members of the Compsys team and my friendEdouard in particular.

But, it is not yet over since I need to prepare a detailed report of my work so that it is easy for the next guy who comes to finish this project, I hope I will be able to make a good report.

What to do now

2005-07-07T23:15:00.000+06:00

Ya, I have been thinking about it for few years now,but have reached no, conclusion, so finally I decided to put it here,seeking public advice.
So, first let me introduce you to the problem. Some years ago, there was a boy, who was studying in some school. He passed std. X and faced a choice of stream..science, commerce and arts(it never was an option anyway). But, then his board results were not as per his expectations and he blindly followed his friends, took science, in mathemtics stream. Then, just like his friends, he appeared for some exam called IIT JEE, luckily got through it and entered some place called,IIT Kharagpur.

Then, now for last three years, while thinking "what to do now", he slept peacefully at Department of computer science and engineering. but, now this department too seems to have got bored of him, has notified him that he is left with one more year, just one more year to decide WHAT TO DO. He has a few options, one is CAT. right from the childhood, this guy has been a little afraid of cats, and believe me this CAT is the most frightening of all you would have heard of. Out of hundreds of thousands of aspirants willing to bell this CAT, only a few handful succeed. So, leave this simple and weak guy out of this option. then, comes ph.d; do you think this guy will ever be able to finish a ph.d degree and put a Dr. before his name, ohh so nice of you. but, he lacks patience, and does not have the originality and innovativeness they say, a ph.d would need. Moreover, this guy does not know enough about computer science to boast of having any interest in any branch of computer science, the poor soul is hardly 16 months ( 4 sems of 4 months each) in CSE. So, we come to yet another option of doing a job, he appeared for an interview, conducted by a famous IT companyTrilogy. Needlessly, to say he was shamelessly kicked out within minutes of his entering the interview room. So, I leave it to you to find the answer to this question What to do, while sending the solutions through your valuable comments, please leave your name and please think about the means of livelihood of this poor guy.

leaving france......

2005-07-07T02:13:00.000+06:00

Hey, I will be going back to my country, will leave lyon on 13, paris on 15 and then back to our own kgp

Missing home........

2005-07-04T03:09:00.000+06:00

Indians have a craze of going abroad, most of the Indians have an believe me, I was no exception. So, I was really excited at the prospect of coming to France. Having come here, I found it different, very different. And, I like it as well. But, now two months are over and I am very near to go back to my country, yes today I feel whole of India as mine, every Indian as my brother..the fact is you know the price of anything only when you do not have it. I never valued the peace in the environment of Giridih. Today, sitting at thousands of miles away, I am missing it the most. I am missing the gupchup wala (i still remember his name was Parmesar) who stood before my house. I miss the staff of my shop, shankar who used to bring water when i was thirsty. I miss the temple, kutiya mandir where I was taken since the time I knew walking.

I miss my school, but like me, most of my friens have easy access to internet and we are in contact. Ya, I do miss the evening hours I used to spen in their company.
but, apart from these things, I am missing my family and home the most. I am missing the stairs and roofs in my house which I can traverse even in the darkest of nights, without any help. I am missing my brother's kids, their faces are before my eyes now, I can see my grandma doing household chores and everyone asking her to rest...but, I miss the two people, the most...They are my parents.

Godaan...relevant even today

2005-07-04T02:13:00.000+06:00

Godaan, as you may be knowing is a classic novel in hindi by Munshi Premchand. It gives an insight into the life of a poor Indian farmer uner the zamindari system under British India. Indian farmer gets born into debt, lives in debt and dies in debt. Munshiji makes no attempt to idealise his central character, Hori. He presents him as he should be, with his simplicity, selfishness, greed, wishes and his troubles. He shows him fearing all big men, beating his wife, telling lies and with his hearty wish of having a cow at his doorside. In fact, I am not going to tell you the whole story here, for that I suggest you to buy a copy. I will elucidate how this story is relevant even today after so many years, after the abolition of zamindari, not only in villages but also in towns. It is the story of every man who needs to fight for feeding the bellies of his family. Even today, there are people who fight all their life, quarrel with their brothers, get separated and get suppressed by the big and powerful of society like Datadeen of this story. Then, they come home and fight with their wives for petty things; beat them just like Hori beats Dhania. They think about their children just as hori thinks of Gobar and in the end, these children talk to their father about their money. Does it not happen today, did not we see Baghbaan...it happens in all sections of society with rai bahadur as well as hori. Everyone has his wishes, for a poor farmer, he dies with them. The best part of the novel is the irony of the society which he presents at the end, for a man like Hori who could not get a cow throughout his life, society suggests his wife to make a "Godaan" (donation of a cow is called Godaan) at his demise for his poor soul..this is Indian society which strangles the individuals not only during their life, but tries to suck their blood even after they are dead.

What should we know

2005-07-04T01:51:00.000+06:00

This is a question that all of us should ponder over, before it is too late. Most of us may not have forgotten the often cited line "rights and duties go hand in hand". I feel that anyone who knos how to eat, should know how to cook, who knows how to sit in a car shoul know how to drive, who knows how to drink water should know how to draw water and like that. All of us who know how to eat, must learn how to cook and should not leave it as a duty only for woman. I am sure most of the Indian males who consider "not doing household chores" as a male privelege, must get out of this misconception. If they are looking for working wives to share their economic burden, they should be ready to lighten the household load as well. In fact, it is a simple rule, if u know how to consume, u should know how to produce ? In india, this thing is less visible, since there is a lot of poverty and u hire hands for peanuts, but with the growing awareness, this thing is bound to vanish soon. We must get over this attitude that cleaning, washing, cooking are menial jobs, not for men...not for educated men. With the development of the nation, the thing that should grow astronomically in price is human labour, in fact I feel the standard of living of a place can be known by only one index....How costly is the men?

photos in france

2005-06-24T13:50:00.000+06:00

I am enjoying in france and here are a few
Photos
. Waiting for ur comments

2005-06-06T02:42:00.000+06:00

Myself at Park de Gerland

2005-06-06T02:39:00.000+06:00

A view from my room, it is really pleasant

2005-06-06T02:38:00.000+06:00

My friend from IITK, Mohit mangal working on his laptop

2005-06-06T02:36:00.000+06:00

ENS LYON

Pain

2005-05-27T19:42:00.000+06:00

Here is a nice poem by one of my friends, Shashwat Mahaseth.

PAIN

cant you see this...

pain is what keeps us all going,

no matter how hard we run,

it never fails from showing.

ever cared from where it comes??

pain is what we breathe..

ever cared for the beauty of it??

it cries for the infant's need.

pain gifts us the desire,

the desire to succeed..

it tests the mettle in everyone,

breeding its own creed.

never thought of pain like this..?

thinking it just lets us die.

pain stands alone to face the truth,

it's the only recourse from life's lie.

coz life is like a barless prison ,

where all are sentenced to time.

from infancy to oblivian ,

it speaks every word of solitary rhyme.

just for pics

2005-05-24T18:51:00.000+06:00

The first set of pics is posted on http:// www.photos.yahoo.com/kapil_modi001. and I am waiting for your comments

A visit to Park De La Tete D'Or

2005-05-22T22:40:00.000+06:00

Hi guys, so I am back with another weekend in lyon, in fact, initially I planned to visit the beaches of south france this weekend, but then with the advice of my firends that one should go to beaches when it gets a lil hotter , I suspended my visit. And, then we (a bunch of three, saurabh, mohit and myself) decided to take a tour of the city this weekend.

To know a place the best, one needs to roam on foot, and next comes the bicycle. Yes, a bicycle puts you in real touch with the place where you feel to roam free just like a localite. So, we abandoned all modes of city transport( buses, trams, cars etc.) and decided to ride a bicycle by the riverside. In fact, last weekend when I saw few guys and gals going on bicycle while I was returning on foot, I felt jealous of them. So, we move on and rent two bicycles for me and mohit, saurav had his own (lucky fellow, a bike with twenty one gears, lights and an air-pump....).

So, we started and our destination was "park de la tete d'or"; there I saw all sorts of animals, from tiger, lion, elephant, giraffe to smaller ones like monkeys and tortoise. Then, to add to the animal kingdom; there was a big botanical garden, a lake with motor boats and in total a really nice place. In fact, I took some pics, but the pics did not came very well, but will try to put some of them later.

after this visit, the turn was for the fun of cycling, we decided to visit another park around 8km from there, mind it we had already cycled for about 8km. But, we decided to take a shot to "PARC NATUREL DE MIRIBEL JONAGE", a place with an artificial beach. We went through a rough rocky way because the straight route is an auto-route where cars ran at speeds more than 120-140 kmph. So, there we were exploring the terrain of lyon, we had to seek the help of many a fellow cycle-riders at times, to get the route right and when we were exhausted, we bought water at 1.80 € (500 ml), it is nearly nearly Rs. 180 per litre, costliest of all water I have ever drunk, but at that time, it was like "amrit", anyway a good thing to remember.

So, finally we reach the place swarming with boatdivers but since the sun was about to set and the weather was getting colder, the beach was not full with people, we returned back and in total we cycled about 45km, yes and that was a great fun, I will supplement it with lots of pics soon.

What burns a lonely woman

2005-05-16T20:01:00.000+06:00

Have you ever thought of it, in a man-ruled society like ours, what burns a lonely woman? Huh, we hardly ever care about it, we have never really cared about it anyway, not now, never before as well. And, believe me it is alike in every part of the world. Last week, I saw a movie, "Chokher Bali", besides the breath-taking performance by the beauty-queen, the heart of the story depicted the plight of a widow in the man-dominated classical bengali society. And, then I read a novel by D.H.Lawrence "Lady Chatterley's lover" and there too, I found how unsympathising have been the behaviour of human males towards the woman? And, believe me these works may have been written in the last century but nothing much has changed now. We are still not ready to accept the simple fact that the desire of sex burns man and woman alike, and females should have equal rights as a man in asserting their free-will for sex.
Sex is just like any other need of the human body like food, respiration, emotion. We must remove the taboo of considering it as different. Nobody can follow the plight of a woman who does not get sufficient physical love from her husband, and I am sure she is bound to fall into the arms of "the other man", who is just serving to feel the blank in her, may it be a high-class zamindar Mahendra of chokher bali or a low-class gamekeeper, Mellors of Lady Chatterley. It hardly makes a difference, he is just a tool to sattisfy her desires, just like when you are thirsty, really thirsty......you just care for water and not if it comes from a well, a pond or river. She is burning, burning in her own fire, burning owing to this cruel society, and she is bound to find a way to contain her lascivious desires, otherwise she will just burn to ashes, I am sure she will.

A weekend in LYOn, a great city to roam in

2005-05-16T19:17:00.000+06:00

I was really getting frustrated, I had no work and in a place where everyone is busy working, a man with no work has no bounds for his sorrows. So, there I was waiting for the weekend and it started on Friday evening.

I got hold of a new friend of mine, Saurabh who knows and speaks french well. Take my words, you need to know a little french, if you want to enjoy france well. So, we (I, saurabh and my IITK friend Mohit,another intern) started our weekend with a nice dinner at a french restaurant, there comes the menu and I am again reminded of my vegetarian food habits, alas in the starters, I had no choice but the salads, so I order "salad de Tomat", it contained onions, tomatoes, olive and green leaves but it was delicious and a good appetiser. Then, for the main course, I saw the menu and finally decided on "Mozarella", which was a fine cheese pizza with olive and tomato. It was good, and big, more than enough for one man. There begins the real show: a famous bar in Lyon, Ninkasi is our next destination. It being a friday night, the place is beeming with young guys and gals, teh place is aheaven for beer lovers..........the pub had its own brewery.........and a discotheque. So, there I was, drinking soft drink, (I do not like alcohol........) and dancing all night............till 2:30 am in the morning. But, I was not done, and when my friends went to sleep, I just watched a movie of Aishwarya.........."chokher bali" till the time, I met the early sun-rays at 5am lulling me to deep sleep.

So, after the last night, I was rejuvenated and determined to enjoy the weekend at full throttle, so I wake up early (11am or so) and then got my lunch in haste............(nothing but maggi yaar........2 minutes ). I come to know that there is a fest in some engineering college, INSA ( the biggest in LYON).........so what next, catch the metro and reach INSA. INSA was beeming with french beauties giving lots of pleasure to my eyes..........and the place was overflowing with music and quite a lot of it in English, I cannot comprehend French, though I find it more romantic and soothing.

So, since saurabh was unavailable, the first thing I needed was a friend who could show me the place and obviously follow french. But, I had no choice, since mohit's knowledge of french is as poor as mine, if not more.........so, we found mohit's mentor there, Antoinne.........a really cool guy........more of a friend, less of a teacher........he showed us around the place and took us to show a robotix competition going there. And, we show really ood robots working there, it once again ignited the deep burning desire in my heart to design some good autonomous robot someday.........I must do it someday.........I wish I do it sooner than I pass out of KGP. It was really good competition, involved a lot of skill, colour recognition, self protection, attck, error-recovery and much more, really complex thing to design, but believe the feeling ofaccomplishment on the faces of winners was worth the effort, they showed a video of their work, and all the beers drank while working on lathe seemed to have been put to really good use.

Then, I started roaming the place, all by myself. They had all three activities, cultural, sports and technical going together. There was a skit, depicting old french battles, with a really good set,costumes and actors.....(sorry I did not follow the language, only the expressions)........I am sure it would have involved lots of hard work behind it. There was cycling competition, a long race, football, volley and what not. In cultural, there was a quiz (but in french, I could not participate) and a large number of student groups performing western music..........and a brazilian group all in a frenzy of music and beer.

But, the thing which amazed me most was that there was a free-wall painting going on and the theme was "Gods of India"........somebody had painted a really good picture of Ganesha, and they respected the Indian God. I really liked it and felt sorry for my poor skills in art. Then, there were star nights and discotheques, which I could not attend since Antoinne had to leave.........I again felt sorry for not knowing French.

So, we came back from INSA and we were exhausted, so just went to sleep. But, next morning is a new day and after the breakfast, I thought I must not waste this day, sitting in my room in such a beautiful city.

So, the next destination is St. Fourvier, the most famous tourist destination in LYON, a place at a great height........from where you can view the whole of LYON. Basically, LYON is divied into two parts, uphill and downhill. IT is at the tip of the uphill region. We went to Vieux YOn by metro and then visited St. Jean, another famous church in LYON. Then, I started taking the arduous route to St. Fourvier, .......it is quite a slope. Once, I reached there I visited the virgin chapel, the panorama, the ville de lyon etc. I could not go to museum, and the observatory since I was late. I saw the breathtaking view of the LYON city, I roamed in the gardens around.And, when I was exhausted, I came walking slowly by the side of the Rhone. Two things I really missed were a bicycle, and a camera. A cycle-journey on the riverside on a cool evening cherishes one's heart to no bounds, and you can see lots of people, young and old bicycling on the riverside as a testimony to the statement. And, the camera because I could not capture such beauty, such architecture, such paintings for my meories.........for my friends. So, the decision is I will visit the place, again but not without both these things, so wait for a more vivid breathtaking description.......I am not on an internship, I am on a two month long summer holiday of France,yes this is the spirit with which I am gonna rock the next two months.

Why celebrate V-day

2005-02-14T20:22:00.000+06:00

As you must be knowing, today is Feb 14, Valentine day.This is the day which is awaited most eagerly by all love-birds alike. The boys waiting for yet another kiss from their beloved and girls dreaming to get yet another expensive gift from their foolish boyfriends. This day signals the begining of the hot love season, arrival of spring fills a melody in the air but it has reverse effects in this zone of earth known as IIT KHARAGPUR. If you have not heard about IIT kharagpur, it is the zone of earth with intelligence quotient among the highest in world and beauty quotient th worst. And to add to the plight, the sex ratio is around 0.01. So, 99% people find their hearts burning when they see other 0.5% lip-locked in the corners of the institute at night. So, this Feb 14 is worse than any other day.........just a crap, why not let us forget it altogether.........believe me it is easier said than done......

IIT guys with turning heads

2004-12-12T23:32:00.000+06:00

If there is an iitian in a cafe, you can find his head moving in perfect synchronisation with the movement of the best looking girl there. What makes these geniuses so shameless? Have you ever wondered why? Being an iitian, I can tell you that.

Most of the boys start making girl friends only after high school. And, these brilliant minds have to dig their eyes in thick books for a period of two years. So, they generally fail to notice when the girls studying with them turned from pretty to beautiful, when their breasts grew large enough to give birth to tempting looks in the eyes of fellow boys. So, in short, these guys generally miss those golden oppurtunities, but then worse fate awaits for them in iits, temples of education but nothing and only dust-bin of beauty.

IITs have the worst sex-ratio compared to any other college, and to add to their woes, the females in iits are better known as "non-males". So, when these guys move out, they are like hunters searching for beautiful girls and even a decent babe looks no less than aishwarya for them. Now, I suppose you will like to sympathise with iitians for their deplorable plight, at least one must get a feast for the eyes in lieu of all the troubles they have taken.

Engineers in India

2004-12-12T16:02:00.001+06:00

Do you know that India produces 350,000 engineers every year and just to give an idea of the whooping figure, it is five times the number of engineers produced in USA. So, you must be feeling proud of it, but you will feel it no more when you will find that majority of them do not get the right technical education and are not ready to face the challenges which awaits them in the industry. The amount of money spent on higher technical education in India is only 3% of the total R and D money where as it is as high as 30% for many developed economies. We do not have the best faculty n most of the colleges. One can find engineering colleges in small buildings in the states of south India. To give you an idea of how uneven is the distribution of engineering colleges in India is, states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, kerela and Tamil nadu account for only 30% of Indian population but 70% of engineers while the states like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, account for 49% of population and 14% of engineers. The condition of private engineering colleges in the south is really deplorable. They have become the cheap shops which trade in the future of young minds, they take large sums of money and offer nothing but a degree. The result is massive unemployment, youths having b.tech degree in hand but fighting for jobs. The result comes as the numerous suicide reports which have become a part of life just like the morning tea. But, one must not forget that he will not enjoy the tea that happily if one of them is your son. I am sure none of us will doubt that a good historian or physicist is more useful to the society and the nation than a bad engineer. So, why put unnecessary pressure on your ward instead we should try to help the young minds achieve what they want and not impose our own wishes on them. With this message, I will like to say that one should get out of this mad rat race for the welfare of the individual, society and the nation as well.

Where are we heading????????

2004-11-29T09:32:00.000+06:00

This blog should have come earlier but a recent shameful incident at DPS R K Puram reiterated the need for this blog. I am sure all of us have read the headlines of leading dailies. And, the action taken by the authorities... do not allow kids to bring cellphones. Do we fail to understand that the mobiles are only a means to attain the end and we should attempt to change the end itself, not the means.

We need to fathom the reasons which led to a girl of class eleven indulge in sex with the boy of same class. In India, where we believe having sex with many people at the same time is immoral and sex before marriage is nothing but crime, what has entered into the young minds which has culminated into this alarming situation. Is it the increasing westernisation of the society, effect of sizzling movies like "Tauba Tauba" (I am sure many of u must not have watched th mobie and I do not recommend it) and videos like "kabhi aar kabhi paar"? Whatever it is , we have to get rid of it before it goes aar-paar of the heart of indian civilisation....these moral values and ethics are our identity , we must not loose them ,come what may.

End of end sems but it is not yet over

2004-11-25T23:22:00.000+06:00

The end sems ended today, bringing with itself a relief from the intrinsic tension of fifth sem which comprises of giants like OS, compiler in one GO. If this is not sufficient, they offer us ( in exchange of CAOS, I suppose) to the EE department profs who massacre us not only with boring lectures, tiring Lab hours, unberable tutorials and an unending End sem paper.

Thanks to my decision of having taken peaceful breadth (financial management and accounting) which never accounted for my precious time which could be well distributed amongst movies like Veer Zara, True romance and not to forget, The Apprentice series. Of course, they were interleaved with orkutting, chatting and web browsing sessions. Sometimes, a hatred of living in this boring place for a few extra days (in case I get a fucca) pushed me to magai sessions as well.

Exams started in a typical way with signals making me realise that I must study if I wanna pass, FMA and german giving me enough time to relax, Compiler and OS seemed to have come and gone away like a wind......... I do not know how I actually fared in each paper but the biggest relief is it's all over.

NO, I was wrong.
The big one

is yet to take its toll on us and we all will toil hard to finish it in time and then we will be set free to fly back to our homes. But, dreams seem to know no bounds and I am already planning innovative ways to enjoy my month long vacation.

find your chances of going to US

2004-11-07T15:40:00.000+06:00

story

lost again to HIM

2004-11-07T14:51:00.000+06:00

Yes, I again lost to him. Undoubtedly, I have been continually losing to him since the very day I enetered the department. Everyday, he defeated me in small measures. Everytime, he reasserted the fact that he is the uncrowned king of this jungle called CSE and I too gave in my best attempts to fight against all the odds. But, last few days saw two big battles in which unlike previous skirmishes, I lost heavily with nothing to cover my face. One was loss of my desired BTP and the next was loss of a much coveted lucrative internship offer and at both times, he outsmarted me by a huge margin.

But, believe me it is not a shame losing to him, he is one of the all time best I have seen or heard about, he is genuinely a gifted mind working hard with sincerity. To add to it, he possesses excellent managerial skills where I am a big zero. I just wish some day by the grace of almighty I will be able to get past him since the nature is dynamic and equations keep on changing may be nexttime it may be me, who knows? But, you must be wondering who is
HE

A good day of my life

2004-11-07T14:30:00.000+06:00

Trilogy
visited our campus on friday, took a test and somehow I got selected for the interview.

Initially, I was a bit unsure whether to take it or leave it, but finally decided for it and went for the interview, which I makhaoed so badly that even a dumb ass from the department would have fared far better, why it happened this way is not know to me.........I am not that bad at programming, I was not nervous........but nothing helped.

Then also, I enjoyed the bhatting initially wth anuja, HR person ofTrilogy and then there was a grand treat from generous kawde. Incidentally, CFM too was in GIH at the same time and it added more fun except for waiters who messed all the time delivering our orders to CFM and vice versa. I danced, sang and was overjoyed.....because I do not know why I felt I am gonna get selected for this internship. But, again life is full of surprises and it was bad one for me.........nonetheless, we will overcome one day.

Indian cricket

2004-11-04T22:42:00.000+06:00

Are you also a die-hard fan of Indian team, if yes, I know that you will be in no less distress than me. Have you ever noticed that all this trouble is due to ever degrading performance of our star batsmen, who are said to be among so called the best in the world ..... the best who make the best of their innings not when the team needs them, but when the pitch plays damn easy.........the bowlers are struggling.... there is no discipline in the bowling of the opposition, our team is in high confidence but not many Indian players have showed their determination like Damien Martyn...Rahul dravid used to be one but he hardly receives any support from his teammates these days.... I do not know why only on past record the burden of Laxman and others is being carried if I am not wrong, Laxman has been in much worse form than even Saurav ganguly whom people have even started suggesting that the time has come for him to quit captaincy, even greats like sunny and kapil dev have advocated it but I am vehemently opposed to it, Dada has worked well to develop this team and this team needs more than anything a confidence whic only a leader like Ganguly can give. So, let us pray that these lions will come out of their slumber to hunt the aussies tomorrow morning to save our pride in the end.

When he dig his teeth in my flesh

2004-11-04T22:01:00.000+06:00

He dig his teth in my flesh, why is not yet known to me and I hope he too does not know why he did it. I feel that it was not rational, was not it? who am I talking about? that is not much important, is it? I tell you I felt the pain only much later since I was flabbergasted and dumbfounded at his sudden animosity, This action has left some imprints on my body which will vanish soon but the memories will continue to reside in my head for a longer time to come. But, the memories are not that sweet mainly due to the pain which too has not left me yet.

Jeffrey archer kane and abel

2004-10-30T18:48:00.000+06:00

Hi friends, a short review of a great novel by JA suggested to me by shashwat, one of my dear friends...the novel is good, nothing is suspense -a good story of two people of ideal nature faced with diverse situations but the best qualities of both of them make them reach the pinnacle of success. A good time pass but more important is I read all 1319 pages on microsoft reader, those who have read even ten pages on reader can know my plight and my paining eyes, I would suggest you to read it only if a hard copy is available with you.

Now something about me as well.Today was a good day for me as I got my passport after a long wait of nearly eleven months, (5 december to 27 october,hence ten months and twenty two days to be precise). But, all is well that ends well and I hoped it ended. But, again today evening there was a verification officer and god knows when will it end??

Increasing womanisation in sports and life

2004-10-29T19:40:00.000+06:00

How do you think about the changing trends in almost all sports - starting with cricket since i am an afficionado of the game adored by everyone in India, I am sure none of us would be blind to ignore the changes in commentary teams these days which have been unnecessarily expanded to include voluptous beauties, may be to sooth the eyes of audience and to provide warmth to our aging cricketors who have to toil hard and sit for our hours at a stretch. At the top of it, Mandira bedi, an unsuccessful small screen actress who shot to high fame riding on cricket mania in this nation. But, as we all know these charming women talk anything but cricket on the panel, I won't count it as their fault because they hardly know anything about the game. But, this has distracted even legends like K. srikanth who have started babbling all nonsense and I do not know how his hairs and beard are getting blacker day by day. This problem is not of cricket alone as can be ascertained by much hyped replacement of ball-boys by teen ball-girls clad in mini skirts and short bikinis. So, the time has come for us to either stop it or be prepared to watch MTV shows on ESPN.

CTW back in action

2004-10-29T19:27:00.000+06:00

CTW was back in action and what occassion can be better than the birthday of our P3....pyara pinky pndy, some idiots do call him Gaurav garg at times. Yes, yesterday was his birthday and though he got very few GPLs and was feeling lucky, he never knew what fate waited for him next. We dressed him with cake and ribbons and then came our GIRIDIH.com (a second year named Kumar saurav), who undressed him and did things which suited to pervert behaviour of both of them, but decencey of my blog forbids me to mention further. Had we been absent "GOD ONLY KNOWS" (name of last movie I saw) what would have happened to our pyara pinky pondy on his 21st birthday, as giridih.com was exploring his bare shoulders and chest with lascivious looks. I do not know if anything happened after 11:00 pm that night as I was asleep after that and their rooms are too near to rule out any possibility of a clandestine gay affair.

Banjara Auditions

2004-10-26T20:48:00.000+06:00

I was sitting there like an alien.......inside the campus of Vikramshila, the new building where I have never done a single lecture which added to the effect. But, I was captivated by the command, discipline, care and confidence of someone, someone whose voice tells you she is right and she is to be followed. Someone who knows well who you are, whatever you try to do....She was the director of Banjara group( a famous theatre group in kgp), Mrs. Rajshri Bhargava.

I know I cannot act, I know I am a useless junk when it comes to these matters, but somehow I felt I should go to audition and I went. And, when she asked me, why have you come here, I replied, "people say I am bad at expressing myself, and your banner says "Express yourself". She did not say anything. When it came to my turn, I was horrible, simply because I cannot act and she recognised it immediately. She asked me to act like a cleaner, I acted and somehow I felt I am doing really bad and then I brought my hanky to use as dustcloth, she said "no need to waste it for nothing"--I knew it was over. It was a pleasure watching others act, Shantanu a second year from my wing acted really well. I was pleased to hear from her that my dear wingy, Sanket Kawde is the best actor of the campus according to her, a living legend among Dramatists of kgp.She is really candid and frank. She asked for a pen and I forwarded, she put it in register for everyone to sign and asked me to collect at the end as it was not her responsibility --------very much clear. And, at the end, I lost the pen to add to my losing spree ---third of the day. She followed with good exercises at the end. I know I am not going to be selected but indeed, the evening was enjoyable, to say the least. And, in the end, I felt I am very much a part of the group, though I am not going to be selected.

did veerappan actually die

2004-10-19T16:36:00.000+06:00

Did veerappan actually die??? The man who gave the worst horrors to the state governments of karnataka and Tamil nadu died in a minor skirmish with the Tamil Nadu Task force. I really doubt did he actually die?? the man seemed to have become larger than the total govt., a man who can dare to keep state govt. of karnataka on its toes for a complete 100 days (remember the kidnapping of Raj kumar, the south Indian actor.). Indeed the man was no more a forest bandit or a poacher but it really felt nice to get rid of him and I take this oppurtunity to congratulate the STF on its success. Wish police succeed in all its future endeavours as well.

All is well that ends well but did it end????

2004-10-18T21:46:00.000+06:00

Ya, it did not end really but was brought to its end untimely by the cruel downpour which filled the cheaupak stadium with water and the hearts of afficionados with grief and sorrow as they were deprived from seeing a classic. I was sure Indians would have romped to victory to level the series with mighty aussies and this win would have helped them a long way to rediscover the lost confidence. But, alas none of this happened as rain stopped us from watching even a single bowl on the D-day. Anyways, this match should give a lot of confidence to sehwag along with the veteran spinner Kumble who seems to be getting better like shane and murali with growing age.

Second day in India's name too

2004-10-15T22:56:00.000+06:00

The second day went in name of India as well, there were a few interesting points to watch out for like Sehwag regaining his form after much boisterous criticism by many, Irfan sent as a night watchman fulfilled his duties sacrosanctly. I would have liked Dravid to stay for some more time, at least to please some of his ardent fans including myself. Dada once again rewarded the Kangaroos with an edge and Laxman, the person with the magic wand in the last series ( I hope none would ever forget the Kolkata test though aussies will try their best to wipe such memories...) too did not show his prowess. But, again the last batting pair in the form of Patel and Kaif is still there and let us hope that they help us to secure a mighty lead. Let me also take an oppurtunity to congratulate the new highest wicket taker in teh world, the spin GOD shane warne, now two ahead of Murali.....at the end of the day, Once again cheers to blues.

Changing Fashion trends and our children

2004-10-15T00:40:00.000+06:00

Hi friends, I do not know how many of us have ever thought about it, but if you examinge the world around you, it will not be difficult to find what fashion has done to us and it has not spared even the innocent children. Today, children want to look sexy rather than cute .... they wish to wear mini skirts and have Salman khan Jacket rather than the old style of pink dress. They know what sexy mean and they also know that looking fashionable is necessary to allure the opposite sex.

It is not difficult to find hundreds of minis, sleeveless and backless garments for your children which was not the case a few years ago even when we were in that age. The question at the moment is Has commercialisation eaten away the innocence of childhood??? Market leaders like Shoppers' stop say that they have not contributed to it, their response of flooding the child stores with sexy looking dresses is just the usual result of the forces of demand and supply, it is the customers who want "sexy " dresses for their children. Is it due to the changing preferences of the young mothers or due to ubiquitious electronic media making britney spears and enrique looks, with Beckham cuts nothing household affairs. So, supplement this blog with your valuable comments.

Astounding performance : Yo kumble

2004-10-15T00:21:00.000+06:00

Ya, the twentififth five wicket haul by the veteran spinnner has placed India in a situation where it has become difficult for us to think of anything but crushing the Kangaroos once again. The loss of ten wickets in less than a 100 runs by so called the best team of cricket in all times clearly proves their fragility befor ethe might of spin duo of bhajji and kumble, yo guys keep it up and win the test for us.

Trauma of CSE third year - I

2004-10-13T00:54:00.000+06:00

This post is written by a kgp CSE third year who has been tormented by the continual assignments. We have three labs, a week and nearly two submissions every week. The biggest reason behind our sleepless nights and paining eyes, fast heartbeat and all nightouts before the submission day (D- DAY) is Compiler construction.

Compiler for tiny-C.........believe ask any of us "TINY-C" seems to be behemoth by any standards. Do you know the fear of compiler is not new to CSE, so the most popular book of the course by Aho, Ullmann,... is called the DRAGON book all over the world. Whosoever made this contribution of nomenclature is sure to have undergone this agony, the course is no less frightening than a dragon. In fact, for us they have not limited themselves to just a dragon, in fact we are in no better place than dense african forests with OX, YACC, TIGER and ....hihihi . The true workload is 4-0-24 rather than 4-0-3.

The next weapon in their armour is signals and networks, in next post.

Debacle of Indian cricket.

2004-10-13T00:37:00.000+06:00

India lost to australia!!!! Nothing new, nothing to surprise a sane man but really something which compels us to broach the age-old topic "Can India win without Sachin"----- the success of the Indian cricket team last year with as well as without significant contributions from the bat of 'Little master' made many including myself to belive that India can indeed win without sachin. In fact, some people were dumb enough to say that Indian team is full of many young sachins like sehwag and yuvraj. But, as I have always said one should not hurry in arriving at conclusions so fast and the dismal batting performance of Indian tigers (including The ROYAL BENGAL TIGER) adds authenticity to my statement. The need of the hour is to reinvent the confidence in the team, some senior players need to take a serious responsibility and need to spend some time in the middle. At the same time, the youngsters like sehwag need to regain thelost confidence. You can not say him at this hour that your technique is flawed or you need better hand eye co-ordination etc. This is mere rhetoric and we all know that he is a class stroke player.

Let us not blame the umpires for the debacle we all witnessed in this first test since we all know that such umpiring mistakes are a part of the game and need to be taken in spirit. Bhajji was the only one who proved his might well. Let us hope next match, we wont be disappointed to say 'we wasted five days of our life'. sorry, the post is delayed by a few days.

Pop corn khao mast ho jao

2004-10-04T21:28:00.001+06:00

Pop corn khao mast ho jao

2004-10-04T21:28:00.000+06:00

This is no review of this bakwaas stereotype hindi movie instead it is a sincere advice to all junta not to waste the precious three hours with this boring piece....no startling performance, no voluptuous beauties, no sizzling scenes and neither it is a music paradise by any standards. So, junta DO NOT SEE this movie.

had Mahatma been just Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

2004-10-03T02:48:00.000+06:00

Just think, had there been no Mahatma...no Mohan das who gave the weapons of truth and non violence to the masses of India, who lead the Independence Movement.

Some people (mostly those ostentatiously publicising their patriotism) would say without him, we would just not have got independence. India would have remain enslaved till date and many such scrap. I do not believe any of those because I believe the movement was not a one man effort, and had we not had Mahatma, someone else would have led us...may be subhash chandra bose, may be Patel, may be Bhagat singh may be someone whom we do not know as we do not know Mohandas...we only know Mahatma.

In fact, I believe there were a few mistakes committed by Mahatma...like calling off non cooperation movement after chauri chaura...such violent incidences kept happening in later movements like civil disobedience, quit India etc. but he never called off them. May be he knew he had made a mistake, but was not audacious enough to accept it in public to tarnish his unblemished image.

Undoubtedly, he made a lot of self sacrifice but the statements like "Thanappa ki haar meri haar hai" made after thanappa supported by him lost in congress president's election to netaji, do display a bit of his arrogance.
So, I do not think that he was a GOD or he did everything right but nevertheless I accept the fact that he was one of the largest mass leaders world ever saw and a dedicated son of the nation who toiled hard to get her mother freed from the chains of British rule.

I think Mohandas was an honest man and who knows except for the fortuituos circumstances, this Mahatma might have just lived like a common Indian........a very common roadside walker whom leave history, even his neighbours do not remember. And, I feel that somewhere inside his heart, Mahatma too knew it well that he was no special.....not a gifted man in any sense. and, his samadhi is rightly dedicated to the unknown martyrs of the nation...Hats off to Mahatma

Five point someone MODIfied

2004-10-01T19:18:00.000+06:00

yes, here comes the MODIfied version of the book, for the original chetan bhagat deserves Rs. 95, visit www.fivepointsomeone.com.

Here, first some clarifications, I do not know fortunately or unfortunately I am no five pointer and i believe at least life is easy at IITKGP and one can easily stuff his grade card with not very hard to get Exs.

There are three characters in the story- alok, hari and ryan and I am gonna envisage would I like to be either of them.

Now, myself and five point someone, I want a job soon but I am in no predicament like Alok. I will like to manage my friends like Hari and I wish like hari I too had a gf, to sleep with while in IIT....just joking, na I am damn serious. I am no maverick with rich parents like Ryan. The author says that asking a girl for date and a viva, both are equally strenous but I must say I have been through the latter enough times to lose any fear of it but the former is still to come my way. In fact, I feel getting a really beautiful girl is even tougher that topping the Insti, though I have not done either of them. Why am I boring you.....just to implore you to read the stuff, a good timepass for every IITian.

Ravi agrawal's birthday

2004-10-01T14:31:00.000+06:00

Today was ravi agrawal's birthday....my room partner and we only shared the room. Leave that and let me say it was one of the days when the whole CTW enjoyed and we enjoyed a lot. Ravi agrawal, better known as Champak lal these days got so hungry that the cake was all over his face and to capture the golden moments, I do have pics which I will put on my webpage (http://www.kapil.50megs.com) very soon. And to add joys to the moment, our dear chunnu chaupatty alias Sanket kawde has made to the final round of schlums.....thanks to a voluptuous beauty called Manjari Mathur...details of what happened next, in next post

SUPER PAWAR crashed

2004-09-30T21:03:00.000+06:00

Sharad pawar is strong enough to be called super PAWAR and yesterday saw him crashing before another giant,Dalmiya who practically rules BCCI, a behemoth personality in influence who rightly proved his might.......by defeating PAWAR without even contesting the election. This man has set a new example of "one man rule" in BCCI, got himself appointed as the first ever patron in chief of BCCI. He has been ostentatiously displaying his power first in allocation of telecast rights and then in these elections....this is not good for Indian cricket and any organisation in general.

First blog on this page

2004-09-29T23:19:00.000+06:00

I blatantly and shamelessly admit this fact that I had registered on many blog-posting sites but I forgot logins to all of them and hence decided to create a new one and the result is before you.
These days are going quite eventful with no work and all leisure. I am very busy sleeping and listening to music, so DO DISTURB as and when you wish.
Today there were two events: one a great show organised by SPICMACAY in IIT kharagpur, do not ask me any more as I did not bother myself to watch something as boring as BHARATNATYAM, not my bit truly. And, the second was a visit to CALCUTTA to hear RAVI SHANKAR organised by AOL and I did not go there either. In short, I am marooing ulti peace.....I hope life to always go this way in peaceeeeeeee. So, peace for all except of course, Mr. Gearge W. Bush.....more about him tomorrow.