Remember the Place??

the cancellation of a couple of classes brought out sort of ambivalent feelings-relief,for the obvious reasons and frustration for haivng dragged my butt all the way to ltc when instead it could have rested in peace..stepping out of the ltc,the gigantic structure to its right caught my eye-the place oft neglected,seldom visited and hardly ever talked about..yes the library indeed..i decided to step inside,it would probably be my xth visit in a lil more than 2 years where x is a woefully small natural no...

inside the sight of miniscule no of would be engineers was,well quite expected. i mean even the redy(the evening snack hotspot) possibly attracts more junta than tht proverbial storehouse of knowledge,by no means exaggeratin here specially if u consider the vk n krisha ones..

the library is somewhat of a buzzing place only b4 the exams..a particular group of students find it attractive bcos of the ambience which assists in studying nd other stuff maybe..no,not criticizing here-i've seen this trend yield glorious results so keep up the good work fellas..

apart from tht it cuts a sorry figure reminiscent of a derelict archaeological site(though its anything but tht)

once inside,i found myself sandwiched between solid state semiconductor physics on one side and analog circuit design on the other..it was kind of disturbing to see books yearning to be read in a place that boasts of housing some 3000 of the brightest minds of the country(atleast thts wt the stats tell me)....as i got hold of a book the inside story said it all..last issued sometime last yr(though i understand the point here,the book was kinda scary with microscopic sized data packed pages after pages)..as i went to the issue desk the librarian asked me why i hadnt renewed my library card,i was pretty abashed to realise tht i was completly unaware of any such procedure even now in my 3rd yr..i quickly got the hell out of there..

well i still wonder why its so much of a neglected place-one prime reason being we are all lazy,slothful creatures who need more than a good reason to move our butts...specially after the advent of u know whats.. i mean some would argue saying the innernet(american style) more than satisfies our quest for knowledge but i dont remember the last tym i used it for a constructive purpose whatsoever.. ( that is if u dnt consider checking live scores of matches or crappy blogging as constructive)

another important reason is the social stigma (u heard me right) associated with visiting the library.the fear of being branded a nerd or many of its superlatives thwarts many people from doing so..if the typical kewl dood(read:cool dude) bitsian is found inside its boundaries the news spreads like wildfire..next thing u know ppl r knockin at ur doors nd sendin sms's to check if all's well with u...

usually i refrain from giving any sort of advice(my family doctor has told me 2) but my suggestion is do check out the place once a while..its nt tht bad after all..

P.S-there's another place tht is unanimously abandoned by us bitsians..the museum,my frnds..which by the way reminds me i'm still due my debut visit...

Whatever..

well my rather prolonged hiatus( syn-break,interval,moratorium ,for gre aspirants,others please ignore) from blogger can be attributed to the net connection in bits or more specifically malviya bhawan(subhan allah),the pressure of cdc's and yes most importantly the conspicuous absence of anything worth a description-i mean i would hardly classify myself as an ardent blogger but in the past the posts have been sort of streamlined towards a particular topic-however insignicant it may be-but the last few days counting into weeks have been nothing but "the usual"(no more gre help , do some work urself)..
the hustle bustle of acads has really caught up and lyf has mostly been about the transistors and transformers-not complaining here, not yet atleast.i have even amazed myself by pulling off a 100% attendance feat thus far(though i was only physically present in the last EDIC class,dozed off for half of it nd spent the other half drawing weird shapes in the last page of the notebook),but still its been no mean achievement specially if u look at the track record of previous sems,i mean i've attended more than i did in 1-2 n 2-1,possibly even combined together
the placement season has commenced here nd its sort of amazing nd kind of pitiable tht hw little knowledge i possess abt the companies nd the much talked abt pay packages nd the means n ways to attain the same-i'm practically livin on the hope tht a bunch of generous ppl will find me n the value addition capabilities inside me-or else there is always the plan b nd c(a purely clandestine affair)
the elections are creating a buzz around here though i'm nt remotely concerned with it nd neither understand why so many ppl are-i mean for me the whole process of faking in front of ppl,manupulating thm,the divide n rule games-these intricacies n complexities are way beyond me..
...
...
ya one thing happened, the premier league kicked off last week(its one nd probably the only one thing i'm passionate abt,seriously dude wts wrong with me,but as Chandler rightly said,lets nt open tht door).The Gunners had a decent start-wt with a barely half strength squad one cudnt be complaining till v hv the points in the bag(tht too a couple more thn man united..ha ha) arsenal's signing of a particular silvestre meant i had to tolerate a few more taunts n jibes tht are becoming a part n parcel of being a gunner fan...
thts enough fr tday..i apologise fr wasting ur precious seconds/minutes but the very fact tht u indulged urself in reading this shows u were nt doing anything constructive in the first place..

the one with all the poker

So those propagators of the chaos theory nd the butterfly effect had a point maybe-an occurence tht wud otherwise hv been unnoticeably insignificant turned our routines upside down-all be it fr a single night!!
so it so happened tht while we were mundanely consuming our dinner,a chicken leg from our very own shitij's plate brushed the sides of our "vegetarian" frnd shashwat,nthin special abt it except tht we hd addy(again our very own dear frnd) fr company,those of u who know him i need'nt say wt happened nxt but fr those of u who dnt know him,he gt all wound up n agitated in his own very typical way,which really cant b put to words,but thn this one wsnt all abt wrds...
the veggie-non veggie arguments reignited with the veggie side represented by addy of course n aptly supported by shashy n saraf . the pioneers of the non veggie side were shitij,of course,pd(pravanjan das if short forms flummox u) nd yours truly....
now its impossible to win with addy on arguments..(those who know him would be forcefully nodding thier heads at this point of tym)....so we hd a better way..a more manly way i must say..the fight would be settled over a game of lan poker....jst fr a prelude this game had become somewht of a sensation but the journey to the zenith of excitement had just begun....
now the moment a challenge sort of thing kicks in,it gets people all worked up no matter how utterly irrelevant it may be..the moment the match ws decided it ws followed by loud swearing ,belly shaking n n*****e pinching(last 2 by addy exclusively) which made more than a few heads turn towards us,now cmon we hd given our dull little mess smthin to rejuvenate itself with..
so we started debatin over the consequnces of the results, the details not worth mentionin in a respectable society to be honest,nd more than nethin we jst wanted to play so tht eventually took a backseat..
so the game started..positions were taken..nd it started in the most unceremonious way possible fr us,with me pulling off a disaster in the very first round..the loud and lewd shouting tht followed made students n even authorities to run over n enquire if all of us were being tortured by some hellish pain...but nthin cud dampen the spirits tday..nthin
the game tht started as a disaster ended worse..we lost in a matter of minutes but challenged fr a best of 3-challenge -challenge accepted...but then when u think things cant go worse they actually do,we were massacred,oh so much humiliation we nd the non-veggie community had to suffer..the stories of our defeats were spread loud n wide...but we took everything in our stride n extended the challenge to a best of 5( we always do this nd it alwayys gets accepted bcos the basic aim is to play)
fully aware of the do or die situation,we went with concrete strategies n boy did we put them into effect-the game ws taken to the next level-we played professionally and truly outclassed our opponents though thy never made it easy,but the comeback had begun,the tables had turnd,we cudnt stop here,we simply cudnt..
game 4 ws a roller coaster ride,wt started out as a thoughtfully planned out venture ended on a purely different note-it had become really intense,no one ws prepared to sacrifice an inch,whn suddenly our very own shitij started feelin sleepy...if u were lookin fr a blessing in disguise u cudnt hv found a better one....in a carefree stroke of brilliance(actually brilliance my ass,it ws pure fortune,it always is) he whipped our high flyin opponents,we were back on level terms...now laugh all u want but all of this had been mentally n physically taxing on us..so the GRAND FINALE was postponed fr a later day..
watch this space for more....


P.S.-the title has been borrowed from a frnds season one episode(hope thy dnt sue me)...the episode ws fun but nthin comparable to the fun v had tday...

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

No,i'm not talking about our fav sitcom-though i'm always game for tht-i mean chandler n phoe-no-we'll talk about them some other day.

so it ws friendship day tday-jst another day fr the multiplex age to send cute emoticons and metaphorically imaginative messages-i really dnt see wt the fuss is all abt-but of course its no denying tht friends are an inseparable entity in our lives-but the question is who really is the frnd! no matter hw much we deny friends exist at various levels-lets take a look at them-

level 1- people with whom u go from a "joyful hello" to a "lukewarm smile or a cursory nod" to ultimately "do i know u"..these people come nowhere close to the definition of frnds though ur orkut profile may contradict..but the fact tht u arent close frnds is neither ur fault or his(forgive me fr only refering to "his",its jst tht my association with its counterpart has been limited to negligible)..u jst werent destined to go further

level 2-this is what i wud call the "pretend to be frnd" stage,usually with ppl with whom share smthin in common or hv done so in the past-same batch,same class back in school,same karate class(if u went fr one tht is) but somehow ur compatibility factor remained low-these r ppl with whom u'd merrily chitchat n gossip but an invisible barrier stops u frm openin up-we consciously or intuitively make efforts to conceal our true self from them-this wasnt destiny's fault-it gave u ample time together but maybe jst that the purine in ur dna din't match with pyrimidine in his(pure shitty reason i know)

level 3- now u r talkin..a very simple way to know if u hv moved to this level-when u take the freedom to hurl abuses at the other person without worrying abt any ignominy of awkwardness-thts it-u r nt pretendin anymore-u generally share otherwise censored stuff with these ppl apart frm the usual hangin out n chitchat-of course this may manifest itself differently in different ppl but i'm no management guru who'll explore the subtleties

is there a higher level!!
well lets say tht if all ur thoughts were password protected and smone were to have the access key-then maybe u cud call it the level 4-the pinnacle of frndship...

Show me the money!!

The transfer season in football is one that is keenly anticipated by the fans worldwide.the infinite rumours,the out of the world bidding,the innumerable controversies,the sudden turn of events-hell its sometimes even comaparable to the exploits on the field.

And one story thats been doing the rounds for quite some time now is the Emmanuel Adebayor story.Initially i assumed it to be one of those media(read goal.com) fashioned fantasies but as the saga drags on,it would be irrational to say that there is no truth atttached to it.

So Mr.Adebayor has been demanding-and of late the demands have turned into threats.Like tons of other players around,he seems to be discontented with his wage structure(which would be some tens of thousands of pounds per week) and has been threatning to move to one of the giants of italian or spanish football.

I have been a die hard gunners fan for the last many years now-but lets be pragmatic here...adebayor is definitely nt the deadliest strikers arnd(altough he might be the scariest!!)..i'm not suggesting he's no good because tht would be churlish to say about someone who scored 30 odd goals in a season.yes he was the centre of all attraction but tht was primarily because eduardo(who showed impeccable class all be it briefly) and van persie were sidelined with injury for the major chunk of the season.Adebayor for me is probably overrated by the media and apparently himself..and hence he's under the illusion that he is a big enough hero to be in a bargaining position at Arsenal.

The first question is about ethics and loyalty.u may think i'm naive to suggest loyalty in the face of business,but for me it is the one characteristic that separates the ordinary from the immortal(read:thierry henry).yes,at a time when henry's name would send ripples of fear and anxiety among opposition defences,Roman Abrahmovich(the zillionare of chelsea) had been more than willing to exchange a couple of his oil wells for the signature of the french pioneer.Henry didnt budge an inch and instead swore his loyalty to his club,fans and the manager.Its true that he left eventually for barcelona but that was mutually agreed upon and in all good faith.Even today,arsenal fans have nothing but pure reverence for him.

Okay,for a moment lets keep the loyalty issue aside.Cogently speaking,would it really be in the best interests of adebayor if he makes his much anticipated move to Milan.Very much debatable..for starters their would be a huge responsibilty on his shoulders-a big money arrival to a high profile club would be expected to deliver the goods immediately.its highly unlikely that he would be able to live up to the "expectations" simply because altough he is skilful, he still lacks that accuracy and finese in front of goal.If he fails to turn things around for milan,they would undoubtedly invest in another striker,the result-competition-more time on the bench-frustration-demand for a move away from the club.Maybe i'm being too futuristic but surely if such a time arrives,he would be a rather devalued striker who would be compelled to settle for bits n pieces.(remember scott parker,who begged for a move 2 chelsea only to be lost in the crowd,remember louis saha,who was a frontrunner at fulham till he desperately seeked a move to old trafford and today hardly features in the scheme of things there.)

I'm probably no one to say this but Adebayor-man,u still hv a long way to go both as a player n individual before u can ask for henry-like wages!!

And if he still continues his "show me the money" rants, i say just show him the door!!

hungry kya???

Have u ever been so hungry that u felt like u could devour anything or anybody for that matter!!
if u have u'll be able to empathize with what happened to me today.
so it was 1 p.m when i get a call from my inner self "Man,get me some food!"
nd i'm like "dude,chill! its only 1pm".
"what do u expect after a meager breakfast,now c'mon get moving." his tantrums start as usual..i pretend to ignore him but 15 mins later he makes such noises i just can't ignore..so i hop my way through the busy bangalore traffic and the monster inside me clearly gives signals sayin that i had breached his limits of patience. i assure him in return that its just a matter of minutes..how wrong i was...

The rush at the fast food centre was comparable to the ones u usually find at metro stations..does everyone feel hungry at the same time as me!!
frustrated i join the queue,and as the man before me contemplates on whether to have masala or onion dosa my hands want nothing but to slap him hard(but of course i dont..)
As i order a plate of noodles,i realise i have just crossed the first hurdle.The person at the delivery counter turns out to be as dumb as one could possibly get.As i repeat my order,he murmurs something back in the local language.Now what is the matter here,doesnt my appearance say that i understand as much kannada as the dog wagging his tail outside,even lesser probably..
If my appearance doesnt my vacant expression should have definitely told him,but no he goes on mumbling.
Helpless,i try saying "noodles..jaldi..fast..",but to no avail. He turns his back on me.Something about the ambience tells me its going to ba a long and hard wait.
Then the omnipresent inner voice screames again"dude,i've sent the juices n hormones for work wts up with u??"
I try pleading for mercy but as my stomach churns i realise its too late..the juices n stuff geared up for digestion start to party at the expense of my empty stomach when they find its a holiday at work.They call more of their fellow bretheren to join in and i feel life sapping from my arms n legs..the frustration mounts when i find that the workers,indifferent to my suffering have just started washing the damn vegetables.
To make matters worse,i find people around me merrily enjoying their lunch..while i stand there feeling like shattering the plates and putting the damn worker's head through the burning oven.
my restlessness takes such proportions that it makes people around throw awkward glances at me..screw them all..what do they know..they have plates of fried rice n chapatis for company..
After about half an hour that felt like an eternity..i think to myself..i can't take this anymore.
I find the manager and express my displeasure at him..not in the politest of ways i must admit.
But his intervention saves me just like dumbledore's intervention at the end of the order of the phoenix did!!(when the order was succumbing to the death eaters remember,well surely u will if u hv read it,u've missed something if u hvnt).Anyways God bless the manager(nd dumbledore too)..
So i pounce upon the plate and in a few minutes(or was it seconds) i'm through...mission accomplished..i pour in a glass of water and give out a explosion like burping sound(yes i'm state level champion at that).
Rejuvenated i mock at my inner self "party over boys..get to work".and as my senses return back to me everything around changes..the demons turn into angels..the world is such a happier place.. i wonder why people keep complaining and whining all the time..

life@football.euro

I always thought that football was in some ways reminiscent of life. The quarterfinal matches of EURO 2008 have only reaffirmed this fact. All 3 games played so far have produced rather surprising results. The so called favourites have been left biting the dust.
There r lessons to be learnt from all of them-the Germans for instance.They had identified Portugal’s weakness –defending in the air from set piece situations.They had their strategies ready.they exploited this weakness ruthlessly and although the portugeese fought valiantly it wasn’t just enough. surely in life too, we need to recognize the opportunites and make the most of them.
The turks were always underdogs against the in-form Croatians.but they belived-believed that the game is not won or lost till the refree has blown the whistle.the “never say attitude”in life can lead to amazing results as the turks found out later that day.
The Russians were totally unfancied against the might of the dutch.Yes they had been impressive against Sweden but the dutch had beautifully massacred the Italians n the French.but then the past credentials matter for nothing if one cannot perform when it matters.An important lesson for life I believe.a splendid Russia masterminded by the extraordinary Guus Hiddink perilously shocked the Dutch.
As Spain gear up for the Italians the question looms-spain’s free flowing syle or the Italians grit and determination.as the match kicks into gear –we can only guess but then it is that the sweet taste of unpredictability that makes the beautiful game even more beautiful..

The ABC of life..

Gtalk-signing in..
friend buzzes-got ur CG card??
me-no,u?
friend-yes,today itself
s**t,it means i'll get it in some days too...the world of A's B's n C's(no D's so far thankfully)came rushing back to me.the arrival of CG cards is sort of an anti-climax!!All the hyper-animated discussions about av plusses n minusses,the prolonged and never ending guessing games as to where the instructor would draw the vertical line in the histogram that will divide the world into have's n have nots-and in the end they just scribble the letters in a piece of paper and send it to our homes-little dull after all the hooplah if u ask me.

Anyways,that conversation brought back that set of 4 unanswered questions to my mind which i had been trying to supress for over a month.would i have scraped a B in DCN?had i screwed my MUP compree bad enough for a C or will i escape with a respectable B?god knows if the rumours about POM were true!!will the MT instructor show mercy n give A to loads of people,including me!!(i am telling u being a marginal case is worse than anything else)these doubts hijacked my mind completely.the anxiety kept surmounting!
then i started the interrogations,as usual! so av+19 is B,are u sure or have u just heard them as rumours,what do u mean by sac grading,tell me the exact numbers!!this went on for quite some time but failed to quash my apprehensions.
the matter was duly settled by my mom over the phone! 3 of those 4 doubts had been ruled in my favour.not bad i thought!! only POM had screwed me.the endless ghotting before the night of exam went to waste(now some people might say knowledge never goes to waste but the reality is that all the cramming was for the damn elusive grade-i dont remember a word anymore..)Usually i try to pass on the responsiblity of a missed grade by either ridiculing the course,blaming the instructors or whatever i can think of,but this time the fault was wholly and solely mine.very stupidly,i had presumed that my marks were good enough for the desired grade and i didn't bother to submit the re-check when there was visible scope for marks improvement.A harsh lesson for me,but a necessary one nevertheless.My tendency to assume things and leave them to chance had cost me finally.
enough for now ,i'll go back to conjuring fairy tales in my PS diary.take a look at it!!

Official version-i did a SWOT analysis of the fertlizer industry of india.i calculated the financial ratios of fertilizer stocks and analysed them.i researched on the past trends and future growth opprtunities in the agrochemical industry.

pretty productive day-u'd think!!

Actual version-chatted with aneesh,shoaib,cheema,abhishek,tazz,nishith etc.etc.Tried to download a few coldplay songs unsuccessfully.flipped through people's blogs,profiles,albums.

A not so productive day after all..

Surfing the channels...

I switch on the damn T.V hoping against hope that it would help me pass my vela time(from the bitsian dictionary meaning idle time,which i happen to have a lot of),but lets see wht u've got to offer-


channel no.1-the quintesscential "bahu" says something derogatory to her arrogant looking "saas" and there you go-slap!!slap!!slap!!(no she slapped only once but the camera rolls over thrice,add to that the astonished faces of some 20 odd family members shown one by one),this is followed by some shredding of glycerine and then some more,i just wonder if the "makers of this s**t" watch it themselves,i dont think they do and if they do then how dare they inflict such nonsensical,hyper-melodramatic torture on the mind of the viewers!!

anyways lets switch the channel!

no.2-a so called upcoming talent has the mic in his/her hands and is singing some pathetic song in an even more pathetic manner.then the judge with the cap on and the nasal voice comments something which fails to please the other judge-some vehement arguments and table banging follows-yaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnn-lets switch it again!!



n0.3-the exact same thing but only with different host,judges n contestants!!moving on!!



no.4-ahh!!this brand new show ,some digit ka dum hosted by our very own favourite who never wore a shirt!the question goes"india me kitne % log apni wife ka photo wallet mein lekar ghoomte hain"??question of the century!!the contestant is baffled,gives an expression as if he's using some high funda regression analysis to arrive at the answer!c'mon guys u can do better!!



no.5-another khan with another set of ridiculous questions testing if u are smarter than the kids of some class!!



no.6-time for stand up comedians,now this used to be good some while back until they allowed every tom,dick and harry(literally)to come and perform.the guy goes on jabbering incesantly with jokes and anecdotes(all of which u've heard countless times before),he tries so hard to move your 14 odd muscles in a co-ordinated fashion(to make u laugh that is) but hopelessly fails and i even feel a sense of pity for him and the judges who have to laugh w.r.t some clause in their contract.enough is enough!!



no.7-now its the turn of firangi or amriki channels.now these r good but no use watchin a movie that started like an hour ago or a series that started like a year ago!!now my last hope!!



no.8-ESPN!!Yes!!!repeat telecast of yesterday's football match but much better than anything else!!Football rocks n so do fernando torres and david villa!!

THE FUTURE

So, what do you plan to do with your future? This question has been hurled at me many times now in the recent past.I don’t know yet,haven’t thought it through,or just a shrug of the shoulders or a blank expression. That’s all I have been able to come up with as replies-if u can call it that. These conversations about my plans for the future or the lack of them tend to make me extremely uncomfortable.what usually follows is a saga of suggestions and advice(yes u get them for free and they are not affected by inflation or anything)-I think you should go into research-interruption-there’s no point doing research from india,I think you should go abroad-a conflict of advice and an argument follows with each one listing the pros and cons of their argument while I stare blankly probably thinking about the euro match later that night. Then another new dimension comes up-go for an MBA,its what everyone does-start preparing as early as you can and you can get into the top notch colleges!! Bla bla and more bla…

To get some relief from this I try to find solace among my friends but it really freaks me out when I find that some of them have got solid plans ready-they know exactly what they want to do,from where they want to do and how to get there.they know the exact details of everything-which degree from which university is most renowned,which one is not so renowned;hell!!they even know the six figure salary they will be drawing after a few years.if u ask me,I bet they have a fair idea of their retirement plans too.

But my story goes somewhat like this-recently while doing a microprocessor based project i think to myself-it would be cool to go for some fundoo electronics research.then after being somewhat sucessful in business plan competitons(yes we defeated IIM-A grads in one of them and its okay to show off sometimes),i decide-i dont wanna get a job-i wanna give away jobs-entrepreneurship was the order of the day.Then i hear my friends talk about the CAT and i wonder,it would be nice to bell the cat and get a fundooo mba degree and an equally fundoo job,then sometimes i think my real interest is towards finance maybe,then i spend some 2000 bucks doing a GRE course-god help me!!
But I’ve decided I wont let all of this bother me.I mean most of the decisions I have made so far have been impulsive-like the decision to study in a particular school in delhi(I wont go into the details of my time at the school because there aren’t any) or the decision to study in bits-pilani(a good choice probably).so I’ll leave it to time to decide it for me- but if I dare say so to someone they’ll probably laugh and what will follow is a string of more advice(yes they are free and unlimited).
For now,all i know is that the next year is the EEE-CDC year. Yes the dreaded year is almost here. If u have ever been to Bits Pilani-u’ll probably be sympathizing with me at this point.Yes the cdc’s have become synonymous with pain,anguish,frustration,depression and anything else if you can think of and last semester we had a pretty good glimpse of it with tests,more tests,even more tests,lab tests,assignments,projects-one rough ride it was.But with so much hype about the cdc’s I can ‘t help but feel a sense of excitement(read fear and frustration if u’re reading after august).
But I’ll enjoy the vacations till then(oh actually its not a vacation, practice school is going on-you know an industry exposure programme but then as we say in bits-its lite raaa…)