GOOD BYE

This is my last blog before I leave Indian School of Mine, the place that transformed a school boy into an engineer. Leaving friends is painful.... so its bit senti... hope readers will bear with me...

Tonight I walk past the same tall and imposing gates of ISM for the last time which I entered four years ago with dreams in eyes… but the eyes this time are wet, not with tears to fulfillment of dreams but that of the pain of leaving my friends with whom I shared the best moments of life…
I will miss the days which were spent in dreams and those happening nights full of joy and mirth when you all were around…
I will miss the 5am tea at RD, 2am dinners at station… late night shows at Fame and the long walk back, not because the tea of extra-ordinary or the movie was a super-hit… but because you all were around. The warmth your hearts made the cold food at station the best delicacy and a boring movie more enjoyable than anything u can ask for. 
I will never forgot you all for I am taking back with me the biggest treasure… the memories of you all.

I thank God for being lucky to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

THE CANDY CURRENCY

Having recently paid a visit to not so friendly Topaz canteen, I noticed a change. No the change wasn’t in the variety items available or the cold reception accorded to you, but the change was in the way I was paid back… 5 centre fresh instead of currency!

I was literally taken back! Till now it was acceptable to have a candy or two in case of lack of ‘change’ but candies worth Rs.5 /- is bit difficult to digest. Before I could even argue , pat came the reply “Kya Karen saar, change nahi hai!!” Instead of forgoing my money for later reimbursement ( its rare that it will be returned to you without an argument and even more difficult to keep a record) I simply pocketed what was at hand, not before sharing them among juniors and friends.

Trying to figure out the implications of the candy currency, the first thing that struck me was It’s a damn good business strategy. On average there are 500 customers and even if half of them are paid back in candies that an additional sale of over 200 candies that translates into additional sale of over Rs. 6000 per month. (Not a bad venture I guess!!).

Another aspect that this brings forth is the absence of low denomination currency from the market. Initially, I couldn’t figure out the possible reason but soon it became apparent that this can be at best attributed to the ATM’s. Almost all students depend upon ATMS for their cash requirements, which only dispenses Rs. 100 and 500 denomination notes , so absence of ‘change’ can be explained.

I am not very sure of the legal (those interested in law can definitely help!!) implications of these transactions but for one I am sure that there are certain rights in the Consumer Protection Act that deal with these. More over almost all banks as per RBI directives provide for exchanging money to lower denominations by simply filling a form. So these canteen walas can procure change easily from bank. (But considering additional sales, I doubt they will ever think about it).

As of now I am saving most of these candies and planning to pay the canteen wala in candies the next time and waiting eagerly to see the reaction on this!!!

CSE Summer Workshop-II

This my second blog, where I will try to introduce some of the people whom I missed in the first(especially the girls):

Vikram Parihar: This lad from NIT,Raipur, is one of the most serious people. Follows a strict routine, goes to the lab regularly. One of the only guys to visit Library, seldom goes out.

Nidhi: She has a really good sense of humor, she takes everything in lighter vein. Her favorite passtime is 'Bando ki Band Bajana' waise, she doesnt hesitate to pull legs of girls either. In case you call her anytime, the most probable reply is' Yaar abhi to main doston ke saath bahar hun'.

Malvika: She is a real chatter box, though after she started working on her project, she has been a bit quiet, keeps boredom away from the group.

Gazal: Probably she is the most 'senti' girl around. Always seems to be in worry about something(GOD know's what).

Haseen: She is the studious type, has a really good concentration, doesnt like to fool around. Doesnt like to leave campus after 7:30. Her catch line is 'its getting late.'

Joyeeta: Doesnt know much about her, waise she is not too outgoing, but definitely 'daring'.

This completes the introduction of my friends out here in IIT Delhi. In my next blog(s), will try and describe some of the most funny and amazing incidents out here.

The Art of Saying 'NO'

Sid has mastered it!! DD is not willing to learn!!! I am still a student of it!!!

How difficult is it to master the art of saying ‘NO’.

The first question is obviously whom are you going to say ‘NO’. At times it becomes increasingly difficult to say no to people to whom you are too closely attached, or who are just too good a friend to say no!!

Next, how can you say no and still not hurt someone?

Frankly speaking, I am too bad at this.... At times I am too outward spoken ... If I don’t want to do something, or not like something, I just say that too flatly.... and those who know me are unfortunately have been at receiving end many a time... (Sorry friends!! I can’t help it.... still mastering this art)

Finally, how do you cope up with offending some?

Now, that’s the most difficult part for me.... Probably since I have offended a lot of people because of my ruthlessness and too flat talking I feel this pinch the most. No matter how much I try to overcome this, it always lingers somewhere at the back of mind and it hurts more than anything else. (It’s really painful to when people rightfully change their behavior towards you)

So friend who have mastered this art help me out with your in valuable suggestions...

And not to forget those whom I might have hurt!! Hate mails invited!!

DC++ and Social Life of ISMU

Probably one of the biggest change that I observed in the ISMU is the advent of inter-hostel LAN connectivity, DC++. Now the entire campus is easily accessible to you right on your desktop. No need to roam from wing to wing or hostel to hostel searching for latest movies, songs or other documents, play CS and AOE all the night. DC has definitely placed infinite resources at our disposal.

But there is another side of the picture too. Under this glitter of gold in the form of so called DC we have lost the social connectivity. Can you recall when was the last time when you all came out as a group from your rooms late at the night (birthday bumps not included) just for BC. Isn’t it not true we stayed glued to our desktops and laptops watching more and more movies than spending time with friends?

I just recall my life in the Opal hostel, where every night there used to be a big BC, people used to sit in balcony and evenings were spent in the badminton court chatting and asking about each other. But somehow all this is now lost! At least earlier we used to go to each other’s room asking for movies that provided some form of social contact but now all this is lost and probably lost forever!!!!

Probably DC is one of those necessary evils that has connected us from outside but at the same time deprived us of the social connectivity!!

Teachers' writing exams?

Foreword: This blog is a purely personal opinion which does not in any way intends to undermine the authority or question any ones capabilities. The blog does not knowingly or unknowingly intend to hurt any ones sentiments.

During the recently concluded mid-sems a very strange question was put up by one of the invigilators as we were about begin writing our exams,

‘While we write our exams, why doesn’t the teacher who made the paper write the exam along with us, under same circumstances?’ .

At that time I was not willing to answer it because I had to write exam without letting the horses of my imagination run wild. (any way I couldn’t have answered it as question paper just has knocked me down and I had to channel my resources towards the joint effort examination, to keep me afloat)

Just think over it for a while..... I realized why not?

Now before I say anything further, I want to make it very clear that my intention is not at all to question the knowledge of the teacher nor do I doubt his capabilities, but wouldn’t it be of great help for the students that they would get to know what exactly was expected from them and at the same time provide an answer to their usual grievances that paper was too lengthy or too difficult etc. Moreover the teacher is their through the entire examination duration as an invigilators.

Another thing that came to my mind was, of late quite a few universities displayed the answer sheets of the toppers in public, so that other can understand what was expected and how different was their answer. Such initiatives can be of great help for the students.

Most of the prestigious universities have mechanisms for the assessment of teachers where, they are assessed by the students, with an intent to enhance teacher student co-ordination so both students as well as the teachers understand each other’s aspiration, compatibility expectations.

The Butterfly Effect

"The flapping of wings of a butterfly in one part of the world can cause a tornado in other!"

Now if you that thought this is impossible thing..... please think again. For this can be made possible by our ever hard working and overzealous media. These torch bearers of the Freedom of Press have simply forgotten the one fundamental fact..'Freedom bestows responsibilities.'

Not long ago, one of the most unfortunate incidents came to light that shook the very foundation of Indian family culture, the Arushi Murder Case, in which even before the judicial system could look into the case, 'free press' carried out a public trial and held an innocent man guilty.

Even more interesting was the recent CERN's Experiment, the sub-atomic particle smasher, where some 24x7 news channels went on the extent to predict the end of the world. For many people this was funny, but for many others it wasn't. After watching this piece of 'crap' news channel, one child committed suicide.

Now one thing that hurt me the most was the way a small quarrel among a group of students from a prestigious institutes was blown out of proportion, even of the leading daily devoting almost 1/8th of the page and with damning headline. These people don't realize that for their small gains they can jeopardize the entire career of students. Apart from bringing a bad name to the institute, their irresponsible, incomplete and spiced up article only added fuel to fire. I fully acknowledge that they wouldn't have known this ever had someone among the students had not passed on the information, but isn't it their responsibility to at least give the administration's stand.

Probably its high time that these people do some intro-inspection and realize freedom alone is doing more harm than good (at least at times). Infringing upon privacy of people can be shoot up their TRP but what about the pain, agony and emotional damage they cause??

SAVE!!SAVE!! My Friends Think They are in LOVE!!!!!

(This blog is dedicated to two of my best friends who think they are in love?? And the most amazing part is that both think that they see no future)

‘I think I am in love’ read the Gtalk quotation of my friend in German. ( I actually had to decode that using German to dictionary.) At first I thought it’s another one of his mood swings since we have been pestering him about his crush for quite some time. (He actually wrote a blog on the same.) Then I realized that things were far too serious. Finally I managed to get the name of the gal but now another peculiar problem. He sees no future in the relationship so won’t tell her and also extracted a promise from me not to tell anyone. So far it was fine, though the reasons he gave me for not seeing any future were ultimately ‘chutiyaap’. Now I got to know that he had told at least 5 more people but not the gal.(though he claims that they tricked him into telling her name). I was wondering that if he can tell others then why not the gal??

Moving on to my next friend, his case is even stranger. He too thinks he is love but won’t tell the gal. His reason, his first love is ‘chicken’ and he can’t let someone take over his first love. (Frankly speaking, he eats the chicken with bones and beak, so I don’t hi word .) But can anyone explain him or even me that can this gal ever part him from chicken though she might be a vegetarian or a non vegetarian.

After reading this blog I sincerely request you to advice me or my friends that love isn’t something that you can escape with. And do write comments so that I can help them out.