To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield

The last lap of academic life...

2008-05-28T19:49:00.002+05:30

Finally, after a roller coaster ride I have made it to IIM B, one of the premier management schools of the country. So I guess Banerrghatta Road, Bangalore will be my place of residence for the next two years. Being an old man as I am, this will probably be the last time I will stay in a campus. As a result, I plan to derive the maximum during my stay there. Soak in the atmosphere, enjoy the MBA life to the fullest, make some very good friends, tremendous network.......and I dare say learn a lot, or simply survive.

Any specific plans over the next 2 years?
Not exactly. Just enjoy the last two years of my student life. I do have a few plans like getting associated with some coaching organisations for CAT, and also passing on whatever knowledge I have to future aspirants. Giving fundae, is something which I love, and hence i will try to leverage it. Interacting with different people, starting from fellow batchmates to profs is another thing on my agenda.

Will I be missing Mumbai?
Not really, but I shall be definitely missing some of the good friends i have made over here.
I was hoping to get into IIM C so that I can spend some quality time at home too. However, my mathematical abilities let me down during CAT and hence I am going to B and not C.
From now on, I will try to post on this site my real life experiences at IIM B.
Koi nahi to khud hi sahi ........"Three Cheers for becoming the best educational brand ambassador of the country, an IIT-IIM ite!"

2008-05-07T23:37:00.002+05:30

The KPO scene in the country.

What do we exact;y mean by KPO?

We are all aware of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). A layman associates BPO with call centers. However, it is much more than that. Operations or processes which doesnt involve high end skills can be outsourced to low cost countries. The basic motive of these jobs is to cut costs and result in insignificant impact on the parent companies bottomline. The people hired in these BPO jobs are young people just out of college or in some cases even studying in some colleges. Frankly speaking, they are presently unemployable in any field. For them, a BPO job gives them much needed cash and a job gives them somewhat amount of respectibility in the society. Its a win win situation for both the companies and the young, just out of college guy. The companies reduce their costs whereas the guy gets some money. Infusion of some foreign currency in this way helps the Indian economy. Consumption goes up and so does inflation. The mood of the country which is mainly governed by the mood of the youngsters in a relatively young country like ours remains joyous and optimistic. A general feeling of well being encompasses us all.

Now, lets focus on the KPO sector. They employ a bit better skilled people than the BPO firms. In India the KPOs mainly consist of financial firms doing analytical work, equity research etc. Many of the big banks have set up their captive units out here. They typically employ statisticians, economists, lawyers, financial analysts and engineers too. Please note that they pay good to very good remuneration.
Similarly skilled people are a scarcity in the developed world and they also cost a lot more compared to here. They also hire from the elite institutions like IITs and IIMs. The people who get employed with them get a headstart in their career in terms of the salary they command. Moreover, working for a captive unit of a big bank gives them the oppurtunity to add the value of a big brand on their CV.
Everything looks hunky dowry in the above scenario, isnt it?

There is one significant point which was not addressed above. The quality of the work. Please understand that the basic premise of the business model is cost reduction. The best brains havent been hired because they can do a better work compared to their "onshore analyst counterparts", they have been hired because they come at a far lesser cost. In a typical such model you have a onshore analyst to which a team or an offshore analyst gets attached to. The onshore guy is responsible for delegating work to the people out here, who after completing it send it back to them. It is these onshore analysts who interact with the business, understand their needs and then finally try to provide a solution. Look at the thing from the perspective of an onshore analyst. He will want to get rid of the necessary but tedious work. The more tedious and lowgrade it is, the higher is it's probability of getting outsourced. The idea is to standardise and automate the process as far as possible so that chances of manual intervention are minimised. Then this "process" of running the job/ creating the report/ running the process can be sent over to India.

It is sent over to India in the garb of exciting work in so and so domain. Often it is in the garb of "I Banks".
When good quality students get such a job, they are initially lured by good money and brand name. However, once the initial attraction of money goes, people tend to see through this model. They try to find a way to get out of this system. However, what options do they have? Switching jobs will take them from one KPO to another, one process to another. Switching fields means they need to start from scratch in the new field. Here, they would fail to take advantage of the brand name they presently have on their cv. Front end jobs are also beyond their reach as banks dont want people who have been running mere processes irrespective of what they have done before that. This is a strange type of situation which many of the grads from elite institutions are nowadays facing.

In such a situation, the companies dont have too much attrition. Moreover, as the process is almost standardised they can afford to let go of these employees. Often during the initial interview stage the onshore analysts understand that a certain guy may be over qualified for the job and hence will get frustrated in quick time. However, they still hire him as "by the time, the guy realises, that the job was not meant for him, he would have been somemonths into it, set up the entire thing to run smoothly and hence served their purpose." The challenge is the highest whenever a new thing is set up from scratch. It is is during this stage that quality people come in handy. However, once the process matures, you can do away with the expensive elite grad and hire less expensive people from lower wrung schools.

This is entirely from first hand experience with no element of fiction whatsoever in this. All graduates, joining KPOs please be sure of your work profile. The profile of the job is the most important thing and unless you find it interesting there is no point in taking it up.

Reset

2008-01-07T01:58:00.000+05:30

This marks my return to blogging after a hiatus of about a year.
Not much has changed since the last 1 year, but i would like to believe i have become much more matured now.
On the advice of my friend I have decided to change my blogging style. Instead of writing about my life in general, I will henceforth write about my feelings, dreams and thoughts on things which i feel strongly about.

Homecoming

2007-02-15T22:51:00.000+05:30

<>I have finally decided to end my slumber of 10 months and revive my almost lost passion for blogging. Though I wasn’t myself blogging, during this interim period, I have been following my favourite blogs none the less. Why did I take such an extended vacation from blogging? Did I have nothing to write about or was I way too busy?
Neither, it was simple plain unhindered laziness from my end. It is so much easier to speak out your feelings rather than take all the pain and pen down your thoughts.The very thought of sitting for an hour and composing something meaningful out of the gibberish ideas that come to my mind was the sole reason for me staying away for so long. Seeing the multitude of people who are so adept at multitasking and time management, I am really ashamed that I cant even manage the time once a month to blog. <>
Some brief update from my side: <>
Though I had got a software job based out of Bangalore from the campus, I managed to get another offcampus job. However, it was in a different field that of analytics. I took up this job and I am currently working as a Business Analyst in a reputed analtical firm in Kolkata. <>

Life is going on fine, but I sincerely miss my old life in the institute, my old friends and the carefree attitude which I always cherished. It is so much different outside!Earlier I was forever in loan and always bankrupt, this has changed somewhat since I got my first salary (mind you, it is only just). However, something seems to have gone out of life now. The only time I think I am usual old self is when I meet my old batchmates and this is becoming increasingly infrequent. I spoke to several of my friends and all of us had the same feelings. Academic life is so much better than job life! I guess the “grass is always greener on the other side.” <>

Does that mean I will go back to higher studies and pursue my Phd? I don’t think so, Phd studies are always very boring unless you are of an inquisitive type which I am not. Undergraduate days are the best days of your life though I never believed it when I was in the midst of it. <>
So how is life currently going on: <>
Life has definitely become a lot more hectic, specially with a 10.30 to 7.30 job. I am lucky I have this good timing, I am made to believe by my friends that they are worse off.

I hardly get time to browse through the newspaper in the morning and by the time, I reach my house in the evening, I am totally drained of energy to do anything worthwhile. Weekends are reserved for occasional randezvous with old friends, and sleeping.

I can attribute another reason why my blogging habbits took a beating. I had decided to concentrate my efforts on the networking site named Orkut. It seems to be a very bad habbit and wastes away a lot of your time. However, it is too addictive to leave it aside.

<>
So what lies in store for me next: <>
I have absolutely no idea, maybe I would like to learn some foreign language or play some musical instrument. I miss my old friends a lot, so a trip to Bangalore is foremost in my mind, sometime in june. As for future plans, I haven’t made up my mind at all, so no point in discussing it. <>
I guess this should be more than enough to signal my comeback from sabbatical. I will try to find some other more interesting topic for my next post.

An experience of a lifetime Part 1

2006-04-22T01:40:00.000+05:30

I never expected my blog to become so very famous that people start demanding posts. Anyways, here it goes….
This is a series of articles based on my IIT experienced starting from the first year onwards. I shall put down all my memorable experiences of the last 5 years.

However before I begin, I would like to congratulate one of my closest pals Rahul Gupta. He got a terrific job yesterday in i2 technologies. This was the last company in the campus and he cracked it. In all probability he will be sent abroad. I wish him all the best and I am sure he is going to go places.

5 years ago, when I landed up in the campus, I was a starry eyed, simple innocent teenager. Coming from a background which had never boasted of an engg leave alone an iitian, I was simply overwhelmed by the fact that I got into the best engg college of India. In school and everywhere else I was a big fish in a very small pond. But here suddenly I was thrown into the ocean teeming with various varieties of fish, sharks and other species. Until I got into IIT ,I always considered iitians to be from a different planet, they were something extraordinary, God’s gift to mankind. They could do what many will not even dream of doing. Today, I have no hesitation in saying that I was afraid to come to IIT. I was afraid of the competition, afraid of the people I would meet, afraid of the profs, afraid of everything here.

My IIT sojourn started on a bad note. I was expecting to get into the Btech course In Energy Engg, however by sheer bad luck I missed it by just 11 AIR ranks and instead landed up in a dual degree course. I had never lived away from my parents barring a few odd cases. It was really tough mentally, to adjust to the fact that I might not see them for months. The day I left for Kgp, I was excited for I was going to a new place, but I had no idea that though my parents were keeping a happy countenance, they were actually crying inside. I am dead sure that it must have been very tough for them.

On reaching the Kharagpur Railway station, there was a bus waiting which took us to IIT Kharagpur which was going to be my second home for the next 5 years.

As we entered the imposing campus, I was awed by the magnificient red coloured main building. In italics “Dedicated to the service of the nation” was written on the building. We were then allocated our rooms. I was expecting to get a single room, but I was shocked when two of us were put into a single room meant for one. My roommate, though a Bengali by birth was as different from me as possible. He was a typical Bihari, with a bihari ascent an extrovert sort of guy while I was an introvert. The very thought that I would have to spend one entire year in the same room as this fellow was traumatizing. Anyways, adjustment was the necessity of the day and I tried to adjust as much as possible.

The first few days of a new semester at IIT is always very hectic. More so if it happens to be the first year of your stay and you don’t know how the system works. You have to run around and by the time you reach the actual office or counter, it is closed by then. The first week was very taxing. More so, as I did not have any cycle and had to walk around the entire campus. Anyways the classes started and each class had strength of around 120. The courses were too many, tough, the profs not very good (surprised??????, well that is a truth). All in all it was a nightmare to get used to the system. The pace of teaching too fast, I hardly used to understand anything in class….thus I gradually stopped attending classes. I was awed by the quality of students and their receptive power. Students were apparently being able to absorb what ever was being taught with ease whereas I was hardly being able to understand them. An inferiority complex did creep into my system. More so when I got a bad SGPA at the end of the first sem.

The second sem was as different from the first sem as possible. It started with the introduction of computers in our hostel rooms and this entirely changed the culture of IIT Kharagpur. The details of it are reserved for another post.

P.S. Had our dept farewell today. It was the last time we were going to have dinner together in our dept. Really feeling very nostalgic at this moment. These last five years have really flown by quickly. In one sentence, the IIT experience is “an experience of a lifetime” and I am privileged to have got it. Thank you God!!!!

A grand treat

2006-04-04T18:37:00.000+05:30

Almost a year ago, in one of the numerous treats I had promised my wingmates that I shall give them a big treat if i get a job with a package of more than 5 lac. I had done this because of two reasons. That year the average salary was pretty low. Moreover, I was sure that getting a big salary job was way beyong my means. But things were very different this year, the salary increased in rapid coordination with the sensex, and thus my wingmates demanded their pound of flesh.
Being a gentleman as I am, I acceded to their request and give them a treat at Mainland China, the best Chinese restaurant of Kolkata.I had never gone their before but had heard a lot about it. And how it lived upto its reputation. We had a sumptuous lunch. The ambience was terrific, the chicken delicious and the deserts mind blowing. I still can not get over the taste of Chilli Prawn that we had. All in all it was a lunch, i am not going to forget in a long long time. We mwt a number of celibrities too. Susham Seth( of Dekh bahi dekh fame), Suhel Seth, Sumit Tandon,June maliyah and the present Indian Football Captain Baichung Bhutia.

However I am not going to bore with the detaisl of the lunch. I am goign to write about two serials i have become addicted to. When i was very small i lived serials like Dekh Bhai Dekh, Zabaan Samalke, Junoon etc etc. However since the KKK serials came up , i have stopped watching all serials. The abundance of free tiem to waste in kgp combined with the presence of a large number of serials on the lan propelled me to restart this bad habbit of watching serials. Not watching any serials in considered a sort of taboo in kgp. It was because of this that i decided to see the first episode of a serial called Twenty Four. Wow! That was the starting point of an addiction that started about two months ago. Till date i have watched around 104 episodes of this serial.

The concept is innovative, the action mindblowing, the ending unpredictable, all in all a thriller the like of which I am sure you have never seen before. I cant understand why our serial makers cant copy these ideas from abroad. If the movie directors can, why cant the serial writers do the same? There are 24 epsiodes in a season synonymous to the 24 hours in a day. The action is completed in a single day i.e. 24 hrs and hence the name od the serial. It is all about how the CTU(Counter Terrorist Organisation) acts in situations where the antional security has been compromised.Though some of the action shown is impossible....it keeps you always on the edge of the seat. For people who love action movies this serial is a must watch. Keifer Sutherland is a revelation in this serial. His movies have been flops but he surely rocks in 24.

The other serial i love is named Hustle. It's a British serial.
It is on the likes of the famous Ocean's Eleven. It's all about con men, and how they target their mark, fix them up and finally dupe them. This serial is pretty hilarious and there is not a single action or violent scene in this....for the rule of the con says that "the conned men should never realise that they have been conned." Each episode is discrete and one can start from any episode.
I am sure u must have been completely bored till now, but u see i did not have any other thing to write about. Next post onwards i shall write something meaningful, i promise. Till then follow the first rule of con which says " Find someone who wants something for nothing and give him nothing for something."

Employed!!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-28T00:47:00.000+05:30

The placement season has almost come to a conclusion. After lakhs of gpls n cpls (kgp lingo) I have finally managed to get placed.That’s some big grand news.I got employed in a software product based firm called Six Dee Technologies. The package is six lakhs. WOW!! That’s huge, atleast to a engg fresher like me. After 5 years of engineering studies, getting a good job was my topmost priority. I think I have finally achieved that. After months of struggle and turmoil, there was finally some good news.

The year started on a bad note with my failure in CAT. I got a miserable 97% which was far below my expectation. I wanted to go out of kgp with a bang and hence prove my detractors wrong. I wanted to go out being a blacki and having bagged a great job. However, for the first two months of this year, I was really struggling. Due to some amount of bad luck and in some cases my own fault, I could not find any company which was willing to offer me employment. All big guns came and left and I was left to fend for myself.

The last company which I sat for before getting placed was Quest which was way back in January. For the next one and a half month I did not sit for any company. That was a very risky decision, but I was ready to face the worst. Majority of the companies coming at that time were either paying less or their work profile did not interest me. It was really a very mentally taxing situation seeing all your friends and batch mates getting placed whereas I am going to the tnp section day in and day out. Sneers, taunts everything was there for me. It took all my guts and mental toughness to get out of the imbroglio. Only a handful of friends and my parents were supportive of me. At the end even they too had become jittery along with me. I had already given up hope of getting placed from the campus. In such a circumstance I had planned to go to Bangi after passing out and apply to the companies out there. Previously I had said that luck is the sole most important factor in deciding a job. In my case too, luck favoured but not at the right time, just at the fag end of the placement season. Well, beating my own drum…..i would like to say tht Fortune favours the brave.

I did not like coding since my first year….even now I am a bit hesitant to do it. I always loved analytics and the financial sector. Even both my btech as well Mtech project are in analytical domain. I had mentally prepared myself for a job in either Operations or in Analytics. As luck would have it I have now landed up with a good and high paying software job. The company seems to be good, the work interesting, growth opportunity immense and package high. However, it is completely different to what I have been doing for the last 23 yrs of my life. Now it seems I am going to do a lot of coding for the next 2 -3 years. Thats precisely why I always say that “Circumstances maketh a man”.

Kgp life is almost coming to an end. In one sentence “ it was an experience of a lifetime.”
From the next post onwards I shall be sharing my memorable experiences from first year onwards till date.

I am not exactly jubiliant or ecstatic but just relieved that I landed up with a job. It always feels nice to be on the other side of the bridge, even though the bridge might be just a foot long!

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T22:29:00.000+05:30

I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year.
May all your dreams and aspirations be realized in this new year!
Best of luck for the coming year.

Street Hawk

2005-12-25T01:25:00.000+05:30

STREET HAWK

Street Hawk was my favourite serial when I was a young kid. It epitomizes raw speed and nothing else. 5…4…3…2…1… Gooooo!

Now, u must be thinking as to how Street Hawk is related to this post. Well just like the way street hawk flies past the roads and highways, similarly, the last three months have flown past me. Towards the fag end of November I took CAT. This was immediately followed by a taxing end semester exams. An equally taxing and exhausting project evaluation culminated my ninth semester at this Indian Institute of Torture. I returned home for a few days as my father had to go undergo an operation. Thankfully, there were no complications and he is well on his path to recovery.

I have finally returned to kgp for the placements. No engineering student will disagree that the placement season is the most important as well as nervous time in any engineering course. Almost all come to IIT with the hope of an extraordinary job somewhere deep inside them.

Placement season is the most important phase in a kgpian’s life. If u can get a job in the first few days, then there is nothing like it. They are the most sought after companies similar to the day 0 companies of B schools. The fact is you don’t need to do an MBA if u get such jobs. But alas! Only a lucky few get it.

What plays the most important part in getting a good job from IITs?

Is it CGPA or the extracurricular activities what is the attribute which helps one to bag a good job if not a great one.

If u ask a five yr kgp veteran like me, I will say luck is the sole largest most important deciding factor. Many people have the wrong notion that being good in acads is a gateway to a great job. I completely disagree. Yes, for extremely high profile jobs like Mckinsey etc, cgpa is very important. But not for the rest. of the companies.

What about extra acads?

Well if you are a gymkhana post holder there will be a beeline of companies for you. An interiit is also valuable. However, anything less than that is of negligible importance.
During my stay in kgp I have seen both the extremes. People with pathetically low cgs getting high profile jobs which are always the domain of the toppers, as well as people with zero extra acads walking away with jobs meant for the all rounders.
Usually you get about 15 minutes if you manage to reach the interview process. Any sort of question might be thrown at you. A topper might be asked to define a term he has never heard in his entire life, while the last ranker might be asked a very easy question. The result, the topper is rejected. In other cases, the interviewer might just not like your face and hence reject you. Often having a high cg is a disadvantage, for the companies believe that people with high cgs are all going abroad for higher studies.
For the academically weak ones, they always have the wrong notion that they cannot get shortlisted for the big ones. However, luck can move in any direction. So all engineering students, just pray that when the day of reckoning comes calling, lady luck with all her charm and smile is on your side. As for me, lady luck is as far away as the Indian captaincy is for Sourav Ganguly.
One more thing, I don’t know why girls often walk away with a good job even though, in many cases they do not deserve it. Many readers of the fairer sex will staunchly disagree with me and brand me as a male chauvinist, but ask anyone who has been in an engineering college. The details of it is reserved for another post.

2005-09-22T18:07:00.000+05:30

I am back from my sabbatical. Actually i was extremely busy for the past one month or so. But thts no excuse for failing to write even a single post over the past one month. The mid sems ended today. This was my 85th exam in kgp and by the time i pass out nest summer i would have taken almost hundred exams in kgp.
Actually i dont understand whts the use of so many exams. I don't think anyone learns anything worthwhile in the last two years of the enginnering curricula. Its all about getting hold of the notes a day or two before the exam, cramming them up as much as possible and then some how get a decent grade. Of course there is always a bunch of guys who are very interested in learning and attend all the classes. Such guys are an asset to the entire class.Come rain or snow they are not going to bunk even a single class. They sit in the first bench writing down even the silliest suggestions from the profs. However, its their notes that are the most in demand the day before the exam. I salute them for their perseverance for without them passing each and every course would have been absolutely impossible.
What is the point of reading all such technical subjects when about eighty percent of us would be writing computer codes in an ac office either in Bangalore, Noida or Pune ? It seems all a waste of time. Not that we are very interested in computer programming but the fact remains that there is hardly any department related jobs available nowadays. Majority of us are yet to decide which is their field of choice in the professional world. All of us would like a high paying job irrespective of whether we like the job or not. All of us are governed more by the monetory perspective rather than considering job satisfaction. So, its high time we narrow down our choices, identify an area of interest and then try to get a job in that field. If it is not available we can always fall back on the run of the mill jobs of computer programming.
If u are still reading this boring and monotonous post till now, do waste another minute to give back ur feedback. I am seriously trying to identify some sectors which might be interesting to work in. All types of suggestions are welcome.

Back in kgp.

2005-08-02T11:31:00.000+05:30

I have returned to kgp for my super final year. The first thing I noticed when I entered my hall of residence i.e hostel is that i could hardly recognise any face. All the people around seemed unknown to me. Nevertheless the sight of some my old friends in the wing rejuvinated me. There are hardly any 5 th yr students in our hostel. So, in order to free ourselves frm boredom, we try to interact as much as possible with our juniors especially the 4 th yr ones.
After the intial cleaning of rooms and ablutions it was time for lunch. As i entered the mess, a sea of unknown faces greeted me. I had a quiet lunch in a remote corner of the mess. The food was pathetic as usual, specially so after the enjoying the delicacies at home for over a month. The beginning of the first day had been pretty disappointing and by the afternoon i was completely frust. Watched the widely acclaimed Parineeta tht day. Vidya Balan looked stunning, but in a different way, compared to other actresses of this era. I hope she has a bright future ahead. The film was pretty entertaining irrespective of the fact that the quality of the print was appaling.
The first week of a new semester is always very hectic. One has to meet the facalty advisor, choose frm the electives offered, see tht there in no time clashes and so on and so forth. This semester was no different. The chaos was hightened by the fact that you have to also meet your guide and explain to him the progress made. I think more time is wasted in trying to meet the guide than in the actual meeting with him. I have a guide as well as a co guide. Arranging a meeting between the two is an arduous task which i have failed to accomplish till now. However on the project front things are now moving a bit smoothly.
I appeared for the free Mock Cat of TIME. Well it was disastrous to say the least. I completed the Basic Reference Material(BRM) and then took some sectional tests as well. So, I was hoping to do well in this free test and get an understanding as to whr i am viz a viz the rest of the country. However I find that I am at the bottom heap, atleast in kgp. I think that it is now better to drop all grand dreams abt CAT and instead concentrate on brushing up my programming skills in order to get a job. Hopefully C parne pe Infy ya TCS me to job lag hi jayega .
The second years have come and they have started their initial interaction with us, the seniors. You know what i mean!
Well, just the other day I asked a 2nd yr to guess my yr and he replied 3rd yr. I was shocked.
On another occasion on the mess table, an unknown third yr sat beside me and suddenly shouted "Kya be tu ne mereko wish nahi kiya?"
I was too stunned to say anything so i never responded. I think he realised his folly (or someone told him) and he sat down quietly for his lunch.
Now why did this happen to me not once but twice? Is it their mistake or am I to be blamed for this perceived image of mine?
Do i look very young or do I lack the personality of a final year?
Well, I need to do something about this urgently.

Super Final Year beckons

2005-07-16T14:39:00.000+05:30

The new session starts from 20 july. I have to get back to kgp by then. Now I am in my final year, oops, superfinal year in kharagpur. I am in my 5th year of this dual degree programme. Someone asked me as to how i felt being a final year student. I think it was long overdue. The only realisation, u have, once u r in ur final year is that there is only one more year left. When a person joins an engg college he thinks, chalo chaar saal ke liye life me peace ho gaya. Whatever happens he is going to stay at that place for the next 4 or 5 yrs as the case may be. However at this juncture in life I am not sure where I shall be after a year. The only thing certain is that I am going to stay at kgp for the next one year and try to enjoy as much as possible. One year hence, I might be working in some firm or if I work hard I might land up in some B school.
What I want to say is that once u come in ur final year you realise that you cannot stay at this same place forever. You have to take stock of your life and move on.People start asking u what are your future plans as ur engg days are coming to an end. You have to understand what you want and work towards it. You cannot be as carefree as u used to be.
If one wants to go for a job, Cat or for a Phd programme, one has to start in his final year. This is the time u have to take a decision and stand by it in future. In future, it shall be foollish to say that i missed an oppurtunity. This is the time to act . The final year of the engg curriculum is the most important year. This is because of the sole reason that the placements usually tale place in this year. The culmination of these four years of torture is the offer letter u get. It might not be, and is usually not upto one's expectation but nevertheless it is your first job.
With a mind full of such big thoughts and a little bit of apprehension somewhere, some remote place deep within my mind, I am about to start my 9 th semester at kgp.

Marriage Ceremonies

2005-06-30T22:47:00.000+05:30

I don't like to go to marriage ceremonies. Shocked?
Well, read on. I have always felt bored in marriage ceremonies. I feel it's nothing but a waste of time. I can't put up an artificial smile on my face and pretend to be happy when I am not.
The common question one comes across in marriage ceremonies is "Aap kaise hai?"
Are, if I wasn't well would i have come ? No way. People might think that I am a a complete egoist. Let them think what they want. This is my space and I shall write what i feel.
I am not saying that I am always correct. No I am often wrong as well.
Till now I have attended a number of marriage ceremonies. I frankly admit I did not enjoy any of them. I had to go just to maintain our position in the society. "Log kya sochenge", has been the single factor because of which I had to go, even though it was totally against my wishes. In majority of the cases my mother used to go and sit beside the bride chatting with other elderly members of the family. It was usually totally full of ladies. I often accompanied my mother inside and sit with her. But I always felt very uneasy. I felt totally out of place looking like an idiot. So a 5-6 years back I stopped going inside along with my mother. Instead I used to stay with my father whenever we went grace a marriage.
However my father used to talk with fellow elderly members about various things starting from the state of Indian politics to the well being of the next door neighbour. After a few days I became totally disenchanted. So now whenever I go to a marriage ceremony I occupy a good chair( infront of the fan of course), grab a cold drink and sit in solitude. I prefer that to the constant babble going on around. Now, u might ask as to wht abt my cousins and ohter relatives of my age. Well, I happen to be the youngest member of my family. All my cousins are much elder than me, married and well settled. I dont have any brothers or sisters. Hence there is no chance of coming across someone of my age. The immediate elder to me is 12 yrs older than me, while the next youngest is 15 yrs junior to me.
So u see, what a precarious position I am in.
In the last marriage I had gone to attend, my mother found me after 2 hrs sitting in a veranda all alone. See, I am not a very gregarious person by nature. I am an introvert, and I cant just go and start talking to an unknown person as if he is my long lost friend. Sorry, I simply cant do that. I think that every person has a role to play in this drama called life. So no one should despise me just because I am an introvert and speak much less than many other people. The very fact that they speak more than me doesn't mean that they are better than me.
Today I had to go to another marriage. I hope this one is the last for a long long time to come. My mother said that unless I go she would not go. So i acquiesced.
It was another boring two hours wasted which could have been spent watching the Wimbledon semifinals. So whenever u happen to grace a marriage lookout for the most desolate place in the house. For u might come across me, happily sitting there and sipping a cold drink without a care of the world!

2005-06-12T14:09:00.000+05:30

Came across this quiz while surfing. It tries to show a true picture of the respondent. Apart from the bit about "girlfriends and romantic partners", the rest of them are all true. The first and last line are not applicable as I dont have any girlfriends or partners.

The True You

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to dress well and take care of him / herself.

With respect to money, you spend as little as possible.

You think good luck is something you won't attain - you expect bad luck.

The hidden side of your personality tends to be satisfied to care for things with a minimal amount of effort.

You are tend to think about others' feelings a lot, perhaps because you are so eager to be liked.

When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you base your search on information from your friends.

Who's" the True You?

A hot n humid summer

2005-06-11T18:14:00.000+05:30

I have been away for a pretty long time. Actually I did not have anything to write about. Not that i have something now. The summer in Kolkata as well as Kharagpur is too damn hot and humid. At the end of the day I have no energy left to sit infront of the comp and write something. However i have been closely following many of my favourite blogs as well as some new ones. The articles especially of abhinav has been enthralling and thought provoking. Life is going on as usual. The next sem starts from 19 july, which is pretty far away. However I am supposed to do my mtech dual degree project now. Presently I am doing the literature survey for the project. This is the most boring part of any project(not tht the other portions of a project are very interesting). I have already been threatened by my guide that unless i produce something substantial i'll be given an F.Anyways I am lucky to stay at home n njoy the home made chutneys in this hot weather.

An old friend comes calling

2005-05-19T19:34:00.000+05:30

An old friend of mine wants to meet me. We were in the same school and were good friends. Later on he moved on and did well for himself. Unlike me he is a multifaceted person having various interests which were and are absolutely different from mine. Though he had never
misbehaved with me ever in school i feel as if he had just "endured" me. Though he never enjoyed chaating with me, I dont know why he persisited in doing so throughout the school days. Anyways he has moved on and is now enjoying his professional life. Now he has come back
to the city and wants to meet me. Should i meet him? People will generally think that this is a obnoxious question which shows my snobbish attitude.
However I have my own far different reasons. I would be very glad to meet him and discuss the good old school days. However i feel that once the nostalgic reminiscences of school days come to an end, we shall be left with no topic to talk about. Our interest are totally different and there is hardly any common interest. As a result he will get bored within an hour.........infact he will rue that he wasted his time talking to me.
He wants to enjoy his vacation as he has come back home after a long time. I feel that he shall enjoy more if he goes to a pub or a movie instead of meeting him. What do I do? Should i make up some lame excuse and avoid him? I am a straight forward person, so I cant discuss abt topics I am disinterested in. So no point in pretending like a person I am not. On the other hand whether he likes it or not I can meet him and talk about the past. What should I do?

Today one of my closest pals Manas left kgp for greener pastures. I bid him adieu with a heavy heart and wish him all the best.

Goodbye btechs!

2005-05-17T18:11:00.001+05:30

I am now a btech though unofficially. All formalities including eval, viva etc is complete.The last year of my stint at kgp has started and by this time next year i shall be an alumni. My btech batchmates are slowly leaving this place and the evenings are full of last get togethers n farewells. Every1 is very sento at leaving this place. It was indeed a gr8 four years and it was a lifetime experience meeting so many new ppl comong frm so diverse backgrounds. I think I have met all types of people possible. From people having razor sharp minds, desperate workaholics, lazy geniuses,computer gaming freaks, programming studs, maggus,studs,drug addicts, great athletes........they are all unique characters unique in their own way.
I bid all my fiends adieu and wish them all the best for the rest of their lives. Yeh zindaagi bahut lambi hai kabhi na kabhi mulaakaat ho jayegi.
On a lighter note watched " Main Aisa hi hoon" today. After a long time i came across a sensible hindi film in the true sense of the word. I dont think it is going to be a hit with the masses for there is no " masaala", no action as such. However it potrays the wonderful relationship which an autistic father has with his daughter and an extremely busy and successful lawyer has with her son. Ajay Devgan as the autistic father has been equally matched by the brilliant lawyer Sushmita Sen. I think both Ajay Devgun and Sushmita Sen will come in the top 3 actors and actresses today. Sushmita Sen might not have the looks of Aishwarya Rai, but her personality and sheer screen presence is unmatched. She is not suited for dances around trees but serious meaningful roles are her forte. Here too she plays her role with elan. What can be said of Ajay Devgun? He is just too good n barring SRK none can match him. All in all it was good relevant, senti movie which the "average" moviegoer will dislike.

After a long time

2005-04-24T01:05:00.000+05:30

Ages have passed since I last blogged. Sorry for such a long delay.
I just dont know how the past 25 days passed. Only a few days ago I had appeared for
the mid sems, now I have already taken two end sem papers. The past few weeks were pretty gloomy for me in every front.There was only one happy moment. My wingmate Arindam Mukherjee who is my department junior as well has become the V.P of IIT Kharagpur. For the uninitiated V.P is the highest post that a student can hold in IIT Kharagpur. This called for a gala celebration, cakes, rasgollas and finally a treat at Khana Khazana. It was a nail biting finish as he won by a slender margin of 27 votes. Usually a V.P is a highly talented guy who has to be an expert at time management. Arindam or Alu as he is fondly called is no exception.
I wish him all the best and I am sure he will do a wonderfuljob (considering the fact that IIT Kharagpur is in the news these days for all the wrong reasons).
I dont know what is happening in my life nowadays. It just seems that I am not in control of my life. I have a vast amount of pending work which need to be completed as soon as possible. It is untrue that I am not working hard. However I feel my efficiency has gone down so much that at the end of the day it seems I have done nothing concrete. All effort is gone in vain and I end up achieving nothing.
When I got admission into IIT i was a stary eyed teenager having grand plans of doing well in engg. I had no special liking for any branch of engg as I knew so little about any branch. I was just happy to study engg in one of India's most prestigious institute. After four years of toiling on technical subjects I still have no special liking for my branch of engg (remember i am an industrial engg).
In our school days there were many subjects which we had to "endure".......none had any liking for the subject but still we had to study them. The same applies to engg studies. Majority of the subjects I took in these last 4 years I had to "endure". I had to somehow pass these courses and hope that the next course was dissimilar from the earlier one. I found only 1 or 2 courses which really appealed to me. However the initial enthusiasim for the subject used to fizzled out by the the end of the course. Sometime I think that the problem lies with me for I am still to find out what I like and where my interests lie.
In life I have always been given alternatives to choose from . It doesn't matter that I think all the alternatives are pathetic but I stillchose the least bad one.
Now things have come to such a point that I cant even take a guide of my own choice even though he is very interested to take me. I dread to think of what will happen to the mtech project for which I have already lost all tempo in the very beginning itself.( Dont forget tht I am in a dual degree course).
The departmental farewell was held today. My btech batchmates were presented mementos and we all enjoyed a lovely dinner. A sense of despondency took over me after the ceremony. I wish I had passed out his year. I sorely repent being a dual degree student.
People say that student life is always better than professional life. I fully agree with this viewpoint, However it is not at all a great feeling to see your own batchmates getting jobs and passing out. Whereas u have to stay here for a year more..........do some more rubbish courses and get almost the same jobs as the btechs. Yes we get an additional degree Mtech but what is the point of an additional degree?
Dont u think having job experience is more important than getting more and more degrees?
majority of my friends are going out. It shall be an ordeal to stay at this place for another year.
I know there is nothing good in this post and if u have read till now u must have become sick. Sorry for wasting ur precious time.

Is Ganguly a good captain?

2005-03-28T22:03:00.001+05:30

Just had a heated discussion with a friend of mine as to whether Ganguly is a good or bad captain.After today's debacle the performance of the captain will definitely come under much scrutiny.His performance with the bat in recent times has been woeful to say the least.
In the recently concluded test series the two captains were a stark contrast to each other in terms of batting performance. Inzy lead from the front decimating the bowling with clinical precision. On the other hand our "Prince of Calcutta" always struggled to reach double figures. It was a pathetic sight watching a baffled Ganguly trying to somehow open his account. Even a few years back he was considered one of the best bestman who could go after the spinners with gay abandon.
Has the time come for a change at the helm of Indian cricket?
However that is not the topic of today's post.
Is Ganguly a good captain?
See his record as a captain. He is India's most successful captain ever. No other captain even the great Pataudi can boast of such records.Winning a test series in pakistan is no mean achievement.Not losing a series in Australia was unheard of in Indian Cricket.
" A captain should lead from the front", is a cliche often heard.
Many like my friend argue that Ganguly has got a very good team which boasts of
India's best batting line up ever. With such a good team at his disposal he is bound to win matches. However ppl do forget the fact that it was he who transformed the team from a bunch of high profile individual performers to a cohesive unit. Earlier there were many factions within the dressing room. kapil dev faction, the gavaskar faction were very well known during their hey days. However thankfully now we do not have such factions anymore. During Azhar's time barring some individual brilliant performance from tendulkar the team never showed any
fighting spirit. The killer instinct or that zing in the steps to finish off the opponent was simply not there.
However many a time under ganguly's captaincy we have seen India make a fight out of nowhere. For example, the memorable Natwest trophy.India was down and almost out.
But out of nowhere Kaif and Yuvarj fought back and we won. So ppl will ask how is Ganguly linked with this. I believe that he along with Wright and Dravid has been responsible in imbibing the fighting spirit to the new young guns like Sehwag,Yuvraj etc.
Don't get me wrong. After seeing today's match it seems that the team is back to Azhar's days, where, just by seeing the large total to be chased the team used to give up. Some say that being a Bong(bengali) and that too from Kolkata I have a soft corner for Ganguly. I firmly disagree, infact like many others I am a Tendualkar fan. But i stronlgy believe that u should give a person wht he deserves. The present Indian captain certainly deserves some applause for the way he has handled the team over the past few years.
See, I have no problem in admitting that Ganguly is a burden on the team in terms of his batting but can India get a better captain? Some say that we should try out Dravid atleast in the tests. It is not a bad idea at all. The selectors should ask Ganguly to play some more domestic matches and regain his form. However his one day record automatically selects him into the team.
Though his reputation has suffered tremendouslydue to his batting none can argue tht he is a good captain. Ask rival captains like Steve Waugh for a change. Earlier we used to be undone by the sledging and the ferocious body language of the aussies. Now we dont flinch and often carry the battle into the rival camp.( i believe this series was an exception.)
All great cricket pundits leaving some like Bedi have remarked that Ganguly is a very good captain. The body language and the demeanour of the entire team has undergone a metamorphosis from the days of azhar. That can and should be rightly attributed to ganguly's attitude.Though i strongly believe tht ganguly should be dropped from the test team it does not take away the fact tht he is or should i say was " the best and most successful Indian Captain in the history of Indian Cricket."

Post Eval

2005-03-20T00:42:00.000+05:30

Well the eval got postponed a bit and that definitely prolonged the misery.
My panel was pretty peaceful. It comprised of my guide and two other profs.As I am in the goodbooks of my guide he did not ask a single question.While i was giving my presentation 2 of the profs were bhaating and the other kept looking at his watch. I thought of stopping in order to attract their attention, but instead continued. I was asked a single question which i satisfactorily answered after which i was given some suggestions. The eval was over in no time. End sems are a month away.
So now, I have lots of free time on my hand.There are lots of extracurricular activities that can be done in IITkgp. But i plan to sleep, bhaat, watch cricket and just enjoy life. I am a voracious reader,so i plan to finish a couple of novels. Infact i have started " The Last Juror" by John Grisham. It seems to have a gripping story line and a has a fast paced action. After Maxim Gorky's Mother i wanted an action oriented novel or a thriller. I think Last Juror fulfills the above criteria.
The interviews for the IIMs are going on. So, best of luck to all
IIM aspirants.
As the cricket season is in full swing I leave with u some of Sidhu's famous quotes

1. That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it.

2. There is light at the end of the tunnel for India, but it's that of an incoming train which will run them over.

3. Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald.

4. This quote was made after Ganguly called Dravid for a run and midway sent him back and Dravid was run out in the third test against the West Indies at Barbados. "Ganguly has thrown a drowning man both ends of the rope."

5. Sri Lankan score is running like an Indian taximeter.

6. Statistics are like miniskirts,what they hide is more important than what they reveal.

7. Wickets are like wives - you never know which way they will turn!

8. He is like Indian three-wheeler which will suck a lot of diesel but cannot go beyond 30!

9. The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis! Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world which does not have wings!

10. As uncomfortable as a bum on a porcupine.

11. The ball whizzes past like a bumble bee and the Indians are in the sea.

12. The Indians are finding the gaps like a pinn a haystack.

13.The pitch is as dead as a dodo.

14. The way Indian wickets are falling reminds of the cycle stand at Rajendra Talkies in Patiala, one falls and everything else falls!

15. You cannot make Omlets without breaking the eggs.

16. Deep Dasgupta is not a Wicket Keeper, he is a goal keeper. He must be given a free transfer to Manchester United.

17. He will fight a rattlesnake and give it the first two bites too.

18. One, who doesn't throw the dice, can never expect to score a six.>

19. This quote was made after Eddie Nichols, the third umpire; ruled Shivnarine Chanderpaul 'NOT OUT' in the second test at Port of Spain T&T. "Eddie Nichols is a man who cannot find his own buttocks with his two hands."

20. Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm.

21. Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two.

22. You got to choose between tightening your belt or losing your pants.

23. The cat with gloves catches no mice.

24. Age has been perfect fire extinguisher for flaming youth.

25. You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard-boiled egg.

An enigma called final year project

2005-03-09T11:32:00.000+05:30

I guess all engineering students face this problem. It is unfortunately a compulsory part of all engineering curriculum and a student is supposed to devote atleast two semesters for it.Juniors often come to know that a certain senior has done a very fundoo project as a result of which he has got a hu ha job and so on and so forth. An air of mystery hangs around the term called " project" when one is in his initial years of engineering.One is not sure as to what it is all about. Hence, many or infact most of the students take up some sort of project in their second year. Hardly 10% successfully completes it though it might not be to the prof's expectations.All myths about " projects" are shattered and the student becomes reluctant to take up any such projects in future. I am talking about the common engineer not the " apping" types and the fundoo ones who are naturally inclined towards projects.
I have hardly come across an would be engineer who devotes regular hours of work on his project. People tend to wake up from their slumber a few days before their evaluation or report submission. The remaining days are full of night outs, tensions and what not. Using all type of search engines to find the best web page from whr u can copy the entire stuff,manually changing the results so as to satisfy the profs..........the days leading up to an evaluation are full of load. The culmination of this entire fiasco is the evaluation. Here a panel of profs awaits you to present whatever work u have done. A student is in real trouble if lands up infront of a dangerous panel. All types of
questions from the most relevant ones to questions like " How did u clear class 10?" can come up. The profs can genuinely praise one's work or they can screw u up badly. Often it depends on their moods. If one is very unlucky he might get an extension which means he has to work for 2-3 months after the end sem to complete their project. Nothing can be more horrendous than staying in the campus and doing ur extended project while ur friends njoy at home. A cool and confident approach along with some nice presentation should see one through unless he is
very unlucky.
Lets see how my first eval goes which is only a day away.

Dante's Inferno Test

2005-02-21T03:23:00.000+05:30

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Third Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Moderate
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

I am back

2005-02-21T02:49:00.000+05:30

I am back. I was away for a long long time. I feel it is very difficult to maintain one's blog.Often there is nothing to write about while on other occasions the urge to pen down one's thoughts issimply not there. Blogging is a dificult hobby to maintain!
The last few weeks were pretty boring and monotonous. However some events occurred which made an indelible impression on my mind and memory. One of my close friends and wingmate Mulukutla Bhanu Chandra got scholarship scholarship to study in U.S. Infact he has got two schols.
I was in my room wasting away my time on the computer. Suddenly I heard a scream, Manas( another wingmate and close friend)came running to inform ki " Bhanu ka app lag giya." All the wingmates came running to his room, where he was reading the mail from the University of Delaware. The amount of schol was a whooping $24,000. I never had much idea about schols and apps but I came to knowthat the schol amount is one of the highest one can get for pursuing post graduate studies in U.S. The University of Delaware is ranked 8th in Bhanu's field which happens to be Computational Fluid Dynamics.( he is in Chemical engg by the way).After a grand round of GPL's we all proceeded to the eternal Chedis where Bhanu gave a treat of Maggi and streaming coffee.
Now, I happen to know this chap for a long time. Infact we met on our very first day at IIT during the registration process. He was my wingmate in first year too. At that time he was not in Chemical but in Exploration Geophysics. However through sheer dedication and hardwork he manged to get a coveted
dept change. Before coming to kgp i had never seen any person working so hard. I was mesmerised by the sheer amount of labour and dedication he put in. It seemed as if entire left depended on it and he had " no boat to return".
Even i harboured dreams of a dept change in the first sem. However all such dreams and aspirations vanished as soon as I got a computer in the second semester. The entire atmosphere dramatically changed as soon as computerswere introduced. Games like NFS( Need For Speed), AOE( Age of Empires) and FIFA became the order of the day. However Bhanu remained totally unmoved with this whoopla going on around at that time. He simply stuck to his work.Myself gave up studies and dedicated my waking hours to learning the tricks of computer games. As a result my sgpa reached its
nadir........the lowest of my career uptill now.
Some days similar shouts of euphoria was heard from Bhanu's room again.This time he had got another schol from none other than the University of Minessota( Rank No: 1 in CFD).Now he has also got a 4 lac job in EIL. This was a real life success story which I have viewed from close quarters.
He did not do that well in GRE and was very frustrated in the last semester. But he never lost hope and continued his workwith renewed vigour and zeal. I believe one should always try to inbibe and learn the good points from everyone.
I learnt a number of things from my friend.
1)Never to lose hope when things are not going right for you. Always keep a smiling face though it is easier said than done.
2)Hard work and hard work alone ( in the right direction obviously) is the only key to success.
3)Always try your level best and leave the rest to God. This way you will never repent for any missed chances.
4)Always have a backup plan in case your primary plan does not live upto expectations.
5)The 3D's (discipline,dedication,devotion) along with proper self motivation goes into the making of a winner.

Though I learnt many a valuable lesson only time will be able to tell whether I can actually put
them into practice.

I congratulate Bhanu Chandra and wish him all the best !

The party is over!

2005-01-24T13:16:00.000+05:30

Life is back to normal. Spring Fest is over and the professors are on the rampage once again( no offence meant).Spring Fest was over on sunday night.I also had to complete my assignments on sunday night after coming back from the arena. To make matters worse I had my classes from 7.30 today. Four hours of lectures! It was virtually a battle to keep my eyes open throughout the class. On top of that we have been submerged by a huge bunch of assignments which we have to submit by next week. And I have still no clue of the topics. I guess we have to resort to our old habbits of co-operation and co-ordination in order to survive this ordeal. I think that the profs are bent on driving us insane.You must be thinking how did the Spring Fest go?That is reserved for another post.

A lovely time ahead!

2005-01-20T10:56:00.000+05:30

Well I guess I am becoming pretty irregular in posting new messages. However I am still getting used to the idea of typing down my feelings and experiences. A new week has started and the weekend is already around the corner. This time we have an extended weekend which is due to the Spring Fest which starts from thursday evening. Friday being a holiday we have no classes till monday.
Myself not being particularly addicted to english rock,metallic or in a more generic sense English music at all, this Spring Fest will be a low key affair for me. In all probabilty bands like Indian Ocean, Parikrama and Srings will be arriving. I plan to restrict myself to the quizzes and the Guest Lecture series. Apart from this the usual sight seeing goes without mention. Staying in a place like Kharagpur our eyes are starved of beautiful faces of the opposite sex. This is the only time of the year when the students get an oppurtunity to do so. This is mainly because of the fact that many outstation participants come to kgp during the fest. The usually deserted roads of kgp become clogged with students of different colleges.
What we kgpians rue during our entire stint at kgp is the lack of city life within the campus. Night bhaattings often revolve around the central theme that our fellow brothers in the other IIT's get to enjoy life much more than us. Barring Roorkee which has recently acquired the status of IIT the rest are all located within or in the vicinity of a major town. The student community feels that we have been segregated from the mainstream. For example take the case of IIT Delhi. It is located in the heart of Delhi, bordered by JNU on one side ISI Delhi on the other. Even the Delhi University is not far from the IIT campus. The students not only enjoy their hostel life but they can also avail of the facilities of the nation's capital.
The one question that repeatedly comes up in such discussions is why IIT Kharagpur was started in Kharagpur. About fifty years back when the first IIT was set up there was plenty of land available in both Calcutta and Bhubaneshwar( these are the nearest cities of some national significance barring Jamshedpur). So why was IIT not set up in either of these two places. Instead an old detention camp near the Hijli station was chosen as the site of independent India's first IIT. All the theories that it symbolises the emergence of a new and self dependent India rising like a phoenix from the ashes of colonialism do not much interest the students. The idea of a Gurukul type of learning as we have seen in the blockbuster movie Mohabbatein is pretty impractical in today's world.
From the academic point of view too, the location of Kharagpur is a major disadvantage. Many eminent researchers and teachers often shirk at the idea of coming to kgp. The same might be applicable to many companies which do not visit the campus. The idea of taking a flight to Calcutta, catching a train from the eternally crowded Howrah station and then taking a taxi from the station to the campus can scare any person out of his wits. Instead dont you think that it is far less cumbersome to go to IIT Chennai when it is only an hour's drive from the main airport? Atleast I would have chosen to go to the IIT which would offer me the least cumbersome travelling experience.
IITKgpians miss out on the city life. There can be no doubt about this statement. Yes, there a number of extracurricular events which are regularly held in order to keep the students busy. This leads to the all round development of the individual. All these points are acknowledged and accepted but it remains a fact that the junta out here is very frustrated. I have often heard many of my friends and seniors saying they will never return to kgp, leave kgp, they are so upset that they are not willing to come back to eastern India at any cost. The reasons for such comments are diverse but the the village like atmosphere in and around this lovely campus plays a certain( might be minor ) role in this. As a result the average kgpian is a pretty frustrated lot. As has been rightly pointed out by Mr. Sandipan Deb in his book " The iitians" students in Kgp are desperate to somehow get a degree and leave this place for good. Hardly any of us would like to stay here after completing our courses. However, there are plenty of good things about IIT Kgp as well, which makes it one of the best enginnering colleges of the country. I guess every coin has two opposite faces and one can not do anything about it apart from accepting it.
Spring Fest is the only time when we get a feel of the actual college life so typical of a city. It brings cheers to the faces of all and the students( myself included) forget our petty frustrations of assignments,seminars and enjoy to the hilt. Many go home, specially those hailing from Calcutta or Jamshedpur. But even they enjoy , don't they? Their source of enjoyment is from meeting there near and dear ones.
Even I have also gone home during the spring fest last time. However as I am unfortunately in a dual degree course( 5 yrs duration) and my friends in a btech course I shall be missing them next year. So my plans are to roam around with my friends as much as possible.
Hoping this Spring Fest will be a grand success!!!

A terrific beginning

2005-01-10T13:05:00.000+05:30

Well what a start to the week!
Classes on monday start from 7:30 in the morning.
Usually i dont have a very deep sleep. I wake up almost as soon as the alarm starts ringing irresepective of the time I go to bed the previous night. Alas it was not to be.
Though I slept at about 2 in the morning I fully planned to attend the next days early morning class. However I dont know how I overslept by about 2 hours. I was shell shocked after waking up, so I checked my alarm. I could not even remember when I switched it off! I checked the watch again and I found that I was just on time for the third class. Somehow after completing all my ablutions and a hurried breakfast, I managed to enter the class on time.
To make matters worse I came to know that attendance was taken in the class I missed. Usually attendance is not taken. However sometimes when I guess the prof is really in a very foul mood he takes attendance just to instill fear in out hearts.
This was not the end of my ordeal.
A statistic test was held in my first class of the morning and as usual I failed to answer any question satisfactorily.
And now having no more classes for the day I am blogging my way to glory!
I guess I have to pull up my socks in time if I want to survive all the courses.
Well, this is just the start of the week!

An Introspection

2005-01-09T22:25:00.000+05:30

Classes for the eight semester have just started.
This semester we have a depth subject named " Optimization and Heuristic Methods".
The contents of this course are mainly Genetic Algorithms, Neural Networks,Simulated Anealing
and Data Envelopment Analysis. The main is focus is on Genetic Algorithms. Some of my fellow
classmates have already done a course on Genetic Algorithms. So i guess it would be a cakewalk
for them atleast in the inital stages. Everything the professor taught looked like greek and
latin to me. I expected the same of the other students who were dealing with the subject for
the first time. However to my utter surprise i discovered that this was not the case. They were not only picking up lightning fast but they were also arguing with the prof. When the prof finally decided to call it a day a feeling of despondence had already overtaken me.
On a slight bit of introspection i came across these possibilites.
class
1) The students were really brilliant.Moreover, I am not good enough and hence I was not
being able to grasp the concepts being explained in
2) They had already studied the subject( before coming to the class) so as to impress the prof.

Now knowing the students and the very nature of IITians I can safely rule out the second option.
That leaves us with the first option.
There is no doubt that all the students are exceptionally bright and meritorious.
When one stays in a highly competitive and meritorious environment one often comes across a question ( atleast thats what happens to me). Whether I am good enough to make a mark or in some cases atleast survive among such highly intelligent and motivated people. One's self esteem takes a heavy beating and one starts doubting his own capabilities. This becomes one of the most depressing thoughts which starts troubling one throughout the waking hours. In extreme cases one loses his or her self confidence and then he is doomed.
Under such circumstances loooking back at past achievements might restore one's mood. However for many people the question comes back to haunt you again and again.
I am not impying that I am facing such serious problems but the fact remains that no one can disagree with the fact that atleast once in his lifetime a person faces the ephemeral question
" Am I Good enough?"

A boring day!!

2005-01-08T01:58:00.000+05:30

Well only two things of some minor importance happened in an otherwise a boring day.
For the first time in my career i have decided to take an additional subject.
I have always believed in the saying that one should always take the minimum
necessary number of courses to obtain a degree unless, one is really interested in a particular subject. I never dared to take any additional subject with the fear of overburdening myself. Moreover i have never developed any special liking for any of the subjects I have encounterd so far.
So you must be asking then how come I took an additional. that too in my 8th sem.
Well the course I am taking is named "Market Research". Actually this course has many topics
which come under the purview of my fourth year Btech project. So i thought that it is better
to attend some classes and understand the concepts rather than going through some thick books
which are pretty hard to fathom. This will also reduce my anxiety, tension and some amount of work just before the submission of my project report. Moreover I dare say it might enhance my knowledge base.

The other notable thing is that i finished the book " The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho.
I had read a number of critical reviews of this book in many sites. This book is the most famous
work of PAulo Coelho.Very frankly speaking I did not like it much. It was too small to my liking.
Though the concept was good, the book finished much too quickly. I felt that there should have been some more narrations about the adventures while crossing the desert. However this a widely acclaimed book and the opinion is purely personal. The reader might not agree with me but I believe in the freedom speech. No offence meant.

On a lighter note a weekend has just started and I plan to play lots of table tennis and watch a couple of movies. On the academic front I would have to catch up with some long pending project work.
Signing Off!!

Life is life, fight for it!

2005-01-07T04:10:00.000+05:30

I came across a wonderful passage written by Mother Teresa and quoted in the book " The City of Joy" by eminent French author Dominique Lapierre.
Thought i should share it with you all.

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is a beauty, admire it.

Life is bliss, taste it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is costly, care for it.

Life is wealth, keep it.

Life is love, enjoy it.

Life is mystery, know it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, confront it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is too precious, do not destroy it.

Life is life, fight for it!

- Mother Teresa

Dont you think that life is precious enough so that you should fight fot it?

Hotel

2005-01-07T02:06:00.000+05:30

I came across a book named Hotel by Arthur Hailey.
This book describes the intricacies of managing a big hotel. The author brings out the personalities and sometimes erratic behaviour of the various customers who come to the hotel, with aplomb.Various types of malpractices prevalent within a hotel system have also been dealt with masterly.
The book has a lucid free flowing style.All in all it's a good book.
However the book is not thought provoking.It's a feel good book which seems to lack the deepness of thought.
It will not have an everlasting impression on the reader's mind.

An Introduction

2005-01-07T01:02:00.000+05:30

Well, this is the first message I am posting which i guess will mark the beginning of a lot more to come.
I think i should first tell a bit more about myself than the profile.
My name is Debprotim Dutta
I am presently pursuing an undergraduate engineering course from The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur(IITKGP).
I am at present in my fourth year of the Mtech Dual Degree course offered by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management.
Apart from the interests mentioned in the profile i keep a close watch on the recent socio economic developments in the country as well as throughout the world. I am an avid follower of not only cricket but also football,hockey and tennis. I love playing and watching the game of table tennis.
My interests include reading novels and other articles on relevant topics, chatting with friends,quizzing and surfing.
I do watch both English as well as Hindi films quite regularly.
I am in love with only one girl. Her parents named her Aishwarya Rai.
I have created this blog in order to express my thoughts and feeelings about the various things which i come across my life. This will include my opinions about the books which I read, some political developments, sports and many other topics.
I hope the readers will love to browse through my experiences as well as my opinions.
Comments and constructive critiscisms are always invited.
I expect to make a number of friends through this habbit of blogging.
Though i had been reading a number of blogs for a long time, i never got time to write one of my own.
I guess i can attribute that to my lazzy and lethargic nature.
Anyway better late than never.
I hope to post messages pretty regularly.