A Dozen Ways To Spruce Up Your Summer Vacations

This is the toughest time of the year. 2 and a half months of languor now coming to a full stop. It all started with euphoria, turning to ennui and now ending with a sense of wistful longing.

It has been a wonderful summer for half a dozen reasons.

For one, I could get back to playing Squash after a long long time (Yeah! Kgp has no squash court and half the IITians don't know that such a game exists. One more reason to detest IITs!?).

Secondly, I could get back to doing what I loved doing most. Reading books. And what better way to spend your vacation than in the company of Joseph Keller, J.D. Salinger, Michael Crichton and the like.

Thirdly, I took this as an opportunity to refuel myself with all the good food that I could get my hands on: Chinese, Italian, authentic Mallu fish curry and Bengali Mach Jhol & Posto bhaath.

Fourthly, I discovered that gambling(?) isn't all that bad. An outhouse at Tambola fetched me not just 300 bucks but a flurry of 10 rupee notes so that I could become a bus conductor if I wanted to (Alternate profession?!).

Fifthly, I discovered the joy of meditating on the sea beach with nothing but the waves crashing against the rocks.

Sixthly, I can now do the one legged situps and use the swiss ball to do pushups in the gym (Beat that!).

Those of you who have been wondering what to do all summer and couldn't come up with something to do: there you are. Half a dozen ways to spruce up your summer vacation.

P.S: You might be inclined to think that bloggers like me are incorrigible narcissistic egocentric personalities. But this is just half of the dozen. The other half is yet to come! More in another post.

P.P.S: Ignore the P.S.

P.P.P.S: I love writing post-post-post scripts. [Nested{P}s?]

P.P.P.P.S: On second thoughts, how did you spend your vacations?! Leave your valuable thoughts as comments to this post.

P.P.P.P.P.S: That is 5 Ps!

55er: Was That A Nightmare?

My first attempt at any kind of fiction, let alone 55er. It reminds me of those good old days in Xth when we had 50 words as word limit for notices and messages. Exceed the limit by 1 or 2 words, -1/2. Exceed by more than 2 words, -1. It is 55 now. So let’s see.

***

Ramesh was in a fix. Physics was tomorrow and today is Hindi. Four chapters from literature! But he thought today was Physics! Why do they have Hindi in IITs?! Now only physics could rescue him. He sat down quietly and closed his eyes. As he opened his eyes, he was back in his room!

***

PS: That is what I call true teleportation.

PPS: If only they could use technology for such useful purposes. As an aside, why don’t they simply filter out the vuvuzela frequencies instead of banning it?

PPPS: Thank God they have no Hindi in IITs.

മൂന്നാര്::Munnar

As I looked up from the book, I could see rain all around. Tall trees towering around us. We were moving through the clouds. But no Velociraptors, Dilophosaurus or T.Rex. Thank God.

It seemed we were in for a dampener with the monsoons hitting the coast just as we planned to visit Munnar. The bad weather notwithstanding, we decided to continue.

Persistence always bears sweet fruits. The next day turned out to be much better. (Better weather == better photos && wonderful trip); The tea gardens around Munnar were wonderful. This is where the Kannan Devan brand of Tata comes from. If you happen to visit this place, don’t forget to drop by at the Tata Wholesale Outlet and take all the Tea & spices home.

You would find lots of waterfalls and lots of winding roads as in any other hill station. But what I was really looking for was being atop Anamudi. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be so and we had to settle for a peak that was 200 metres shy of Anamudi.

Apart from that, the echo point was pretty good. Never expected such a good echo with so less effort. I really wonder how the cows in hill stations always look wonderful. Such a contrast to the cows in the plains (Different cultures? Different races? Who knows?!)

Other than the cows, the other animal worth mention is the Nilgiri Tahr. Finding it near the mountain peak grazing in (almost!) herds was quiet a sight.

That was about it. Nice peaceful place to spend some time. No laptop. No TV. Just peace of mind.

As usual, I’ll leave you with some of the highs of the journey.

All photos courtesy Sony Cybershot (Click to enlarge).

	LEGEND 1 Tea Gardens 2 Echo Point 3 Cows 4 Bird’s Eye View 5 Winding Roads 6 Waterfalls 7 Rubber Plantation 8 Nilgiri Tahr 9 Jurassic Park

One Night + Day @ Kgp

OK. That was one of the dumbest post titles that I have come up with lately. But you cannot expect more out of a title a la Chetan Bhagat. Nonetheless, my luck hasn’t be half as good as his.

Last night as I went to the canteen for some midnight refreshment, I stumbled upon “Country” who after staring at me for some time finally commented, “Are you staying back for the VLSI course?”. “Yes.” “Lots of girls from outside?”. “Not really, it is the same scenario. Nothing different”. “Oh! (Lot of stress on the oh!) Your bad. People in our time judged the scenario in the first two or three days. If the scene was good, they stayed back. Else, swoosh back home.” (It really sounded like those conditionals constructs in C when he was saying it!).

Anyway, I did land up at a Professor’s home a few days back. But there I said. Life isn’t fiction. The nearest I came to “the man on what not to do at IIT” was flipping across some of his books @ Professor’s residence. “Sir, have you read his books?” “Oh yeah! read it after seeing the movie. Interesting. Contrary point of view.”

Vodka at Insti top? The closest I came to the insti-top was a padlocked door that stood between me and history/Chetan Bhagat, closed allegedly for security reasons. Smuggling question papers out of the Professor’s office? “You can copy if you want to, but do not talk” was how our Maths Professor put it when we were taking a test.

OK. So does Chetan Bhagat represent the picture of an IIT which is extinct and only exists in his dreams? Not really. It is difficult to imagine Chetan Bhagat conjure up such novels out of thin air if not for the vibrant campus life at IIT (That reminds me. Signets! Oh, my Signets!). But it is also equally difficult to equate campus life at IIT with 5ps/imagination of Chetan Bhagat.

It is really interesting how novels capture the imagination of the masses. How one might think of the real world and the imaginary world as running in parallel. One drawing the other along but never meeting each other.

Disclaimer (in the end as opposed to Mr. CB): This post isn’t meant to help you choose which college to join. This is just about: what not to read before you get into IIT.

1/2 Engineer

1/2 Engineer /noun/ An engineering student who has successfully completed his sophomore year at college.

OK. That wasn’t from the Merriam Webster. But there had to some way to commemorate 2 years in IIT Kharagpur. To tell the world, there you are: I am (half) ready.

From … To

For me, it has been quiet a journey. From the first day in Bhatnagar Auditorium where we attentively listened to our Maths Professor blurting out a 50 OKs/minute to the Signets exam when I discovered that taking Electrical Engineering was possibly the worst decision of my life. From the day when I used to crib about grades to the day when I had to fight for grades. From being a freshman in MMM hall to a sophomore in Nehru hall (The much dreaded PAN loop!). From the euphoria of student activity in IITKgp to disillusionment of the poltu in Kharagpur.

Mr. 1/2 Engineer, how is it like to be a 1/2 engineer? 

And now as I enter my third year in college, a strange feeling creeps in me. A kind of responsibility shoved into my hands. The feeling that we are going to be the ones our juniors will look up to. That we were no longer going to be the ones seeking for advice but the ones giving advice. (Frankly, I don’t believe much in this advice/funda business. But nonetheless, I can feel a change). And although I cannot claim to know the A of Instrumentation after 2 years of engineering, I can proudly tell anyone: look, I am 1/2 engineer. You don’t know what that means, do you?

d/dx (e^x) = e^x

But some things never change. Sleeping in the class?! Copying assignments? Or sneaking into the class when half of the class was already dozing off! Or messaging your friend: 08XY1234. Proxy Please. These have stood the test of time! What 3rd year beckons, nobody knows. What it has in store is a mystery. But all that matters is we are 1/2 engineers. Here is some food for thought for you before I sign off.

DCE => DTU => IIT. How Justified?

I was a DCEite once. That was 2 years ago before I cleared JEE and made my way to IIT. That was when DCE was the college where nothing ever happened. Except mass bunks. You could graduate out of DCE and yet you wouldn’t know that you had an engineering degree under your belt. It was all calm out there. But then this happened some time back. DCE got converted into DTU: Delhi Technology University.

Small Fish in A Big Pond

It didn’t sound very good. But well, I thought: it must be for the better. If not, it was possibly a publicity gimmick before the Commonwealth Games. That is all. After all, Indians have an affliction towards changing names. Bombay –> Mumbai, Calcutta –> Kolkata, Madras –> Chennai… the list goes on. If this could be the fate of 3 of the 4 metro cities of India (and that of DIT NSIT too!), then I guess DCE is just a small fish in a big pond. And how did it matter anyway?

A Reason To Protest

There was a catch though. When DCE got upgraded(?) to DTU, the fees got hiked and the student intake increased. Now, disturbing as it may sound, I am sure this wasn’t the only reason for the disturbance. Such events always build up. I could draw an analogy with the Rohit Kumar case. Although everyone at IIT knew of the poor state of affairs of B.C. Roy, nobody really cared as much till the incident. The incident gave them a reason to protest.

The Events

What followed (in fact what generally follows) is a string of protests in support of their cause: candlelight marches, rallies, exam-bunks (as a mark of protest!) and the demands. As an outsider now, all of this seemed a little irrational to me. Why did they want themselves to upgraded to IITs? Didn’t we have 14 IITs already which were struggling to cope up with the existing infrastructure. (Ever tried sharing a room meant for a single person?) If they thought becoming IITs would alleviate their condition, couldn’t they be more mistaken. (And yeah, IITs have proposed a fee hike to Rs 4 lakh a year. Beat that.)

A Pattern

You could protest against the administration in DCE/DTU. Try that in IIT. And IIT without JEE? It may sound very romantic. But let me tell you my dear friends, JEE exists for a reason. And CGPA? Hah! as if it is going to really make a difference. Why decorate the demands with all these when all you want is better infrastructure? Oh, this might also be a nice chance to settle a few personal scores: The Director, the Sports Director and the rest of them. Didn’t we do that in Kgp as well? Who is the present Director of IITKgp now?

Coming to a Consensus

I could really see frightening parallels. This was how students protested the world over. And this was how the administration reacted: almost always. It is almost a pattern. And yet those protesting failed to see it.

I have been a part of DCE. And possibly a part of me is still in DCE yearning for the college life that I had there. But possibly my experience at IIT has made me look at things from a slightly different perspective. And as I write this post, I wonder if the protests could serve their purpose without drowning in the irrational? Could there be a genuine attempt to come to a consensus rather than just being a part of the mob? Could DCEites display a certain amount of maturity in dealing with such matters. After all, they consider themselves the crown in the crown of Delhi.

P.S.1: I am aware that this post might draw some sharp reactions from certain corners. However, I would ask you to ponder on what I have written above before jumping to conclusions.

P.S.2: I changed over from DCE to IIT. Mixed feelings. DCE becomes IIT. Feels a little strange.

Why I Hate Telephonic Interviews

It is not just the weather, but the atmosphere in general. With constant urging from all directions to fix something for the summer so that things can be finalised and the end-semester exam (almost) knocking on the doors, the heat surely is getting to me.

To make matters worse, I have had to deal with this (new to me) format of interviews – telephonic interviews. And I have started to hate telephonic interviews. Here are my reasons:

#1. You’re Immersed in A Movie and the protagonist is going to kill the antagonist when the mobile rings. Tidi-Tidi-ti-ti-Tidi-Tidi-ti-ti. And then the caller-id shows an unknown number. You wonder if it is worth it pausing the movie at the climax and receiving the call. You hope it is not one of those “useless kind of calls which you really regret receiving” and press the green button.

#2. It happens All of A Sudden. A booming voice ready to take an interview informs you that he is going to have a little tete-a- tete with you for 10-15 minutes and that’ll be about it.

#3. Having Taken It For Granted That You Had been Rejected you had completely forgotten about it. Now as the questions start bombing in, you wonder what to do.

#4. You Weren’t Ready For It

#5. A Silence Is a Silence on A Telephone. You can’t show the interviewer that you are thinking. So, you start drawling out answers slowly and (almost as if) from memory. The interviewer listens calmly. Then you feel you are too slow and then you mess up further. You are almost feeling like a helpless lamb being slaughtered not because the interviewer was saying anything but because the silence was killing you.

#6. There Is no Eye Contact. So there is no way for you to tell the interviewer: Hey look at me. Look at the gleam in my eyes. Look at the enthusiasm in me. Can’t you see kitna tempo hai mujhme.

#7. It isn’t as Long as You Think It is. You look at the watch. You have been 5 minutes into the interview and you’re already saying your goodbyes. That sure isn’t 10-15 minutes!

You know that your fate is sealed. You give in to your fate, set a status message on GTalk: “Why do I suck at interviews?” and decide that it is going to be your next blog post. And then you hit the spacebar.