Preface

Sitting Idle on the beach I started ruminating as to how the world has changed in the past few months, for me.

It has not been the way it was before, might never be the same again as well. It was just a few months ago that we used to sit idle in the class, trying hard to concentrate on the soporific lectures, seeing the day pass by, dull and routine with no activity at all .

One day my friend said,” Let’s organize an Event!” Organising was never new to us, but what he was referring to was INTERFACE, Annual Festival of the Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering. This has never been a small festival and we know for sure that it will never be one too, Big, in terms of the number of participants, Big in terms of the budget, Big in every single sense of the word. Though it is an annual fest, it was stalled a couple of years ago, for some reasons.

Reviving an event of its stature was a challenge in itself. We, as a bunch of friends have always been of the opinion that the student life is not all about the three A’s, i.e., Attendance, Academics and Assignments but much more than that, it was time to show people why. So, we made up our minds. We got the official permission in a couple of months, the major part of which went in convincing the authorities that we actually can do this.

Then we got going with the work. We started with the website, the posters, the brochures etc. followed. It was not Easy, to say the least, the response we got in such a short span of time was overwhelming.

For all of us, it was much more than just an annual event, seniors started pouring in their mails, as to how they were missing their version of the ‘Interface’ and how they yearned to come down to the college just to checkout how things were going and the heights we had taken the festival to. That gave us the necessary fillip, all these and a million more good things kept us going all along.

The fun part was the fact that we knew what to do and where to get it done but not exactly how to do it. So, we got help from our friends in other departments, say, for the design and building of the website and the Online events segment, our friends from the Computer Science and IT departments gave us the supporting hand similarly other departments for other segments. For many an event the brain and idea was ours, skill and support was theirs.

A few of my friends and me spent a good part of our Engineering life visiting all the top notch universities in the country and participating in their events. So we had seen it all and it was time to put that into practice. The best thing about this event has always been the fact that, the total department, final, third, second and first years alike work like a team, a few lead and others give total support.

Finally the D-Day arrived .The number of participants that we had was phenomenal by any standards, never before had any departmental event seen so many turning up for a festival. Before the event started we said to ourselves that this should not be a regular festival, so we made sure that everything about this should be new, large and innovative and so it was. Right from the design and dynamics of the entire festival to the canvas, everything was innovative, original and huge. When you paint something on such a huge canvas there bound to be a few shortcomings but they were very few and far spaced and might be because of our inexperience in organizing such a thing, but no major organizational flaw. That is what leaves us with a good taste at the end of it all.

Looking back at it will always leave us with some very sweet memories.

Freshers at the College

Come September and we see a new batch of freshers in college.The college gets a new hue,freshers bring a whiff of fresh air to the college.Rest of the college is also excited about the news.But Hey!There is a caveat!This is the ragging season,these days even a phatic enquiry by a senior makes national news.Better safe than sorry ,stay away!Ask any one of freshers what is that he/she is looking forward to or is excited or scared about in the new college .It's ragging ,they would repartee.It has become such a bugboo that the freshers move in groups of not less than five .Noticeboards across the college,classrooms and canteens flash notices about the punishments if found 'ragging'and newspaper articles featuring the plight of students who got ragged by their seniors.But has anyone stopped over to think if all the seniors the villians that they are projected to be?Is every senior that keen about scaring the living lights out off his juniors?The media has cast such an image in the minds of the fresh admissions that as they think about the seniors an image of a blood sucking vampire might come in first.There are a few myths regarding ragging that got to be busted .The cases that the news channels report are only a few isolated ones,these are the kind of people who donot deserve to study in a civilized society.You may pick up a couple of cases at maximum.Rest of the seniors are not so keen about doing such things nor does any sane individual derive any pleasure out of such acts of babarism.Students planning to get a new admission look at these and lose their nights sleep thinking that they might be next.The second thing is ,it is a suggestion rather,donot do things that you don't like,never;so that the issue ends there and then.So what is the whole fuss about ragging,it is actually a misnomer,what they mean by ragging is an interaction,small meetings or simply schmoozing with the seniors at the canteen or somewhere else.What good will it do to you or your seniors you might ask.It's just like talking to your elder brother or a cousin.Why?because you are new to the place it's like asking a new acquaintance about his place and whereabouts that further gels into a relationship of a lifetime.Furthermore if the course you are into is a professional course.It is not going to be like your school,it's college, you will not find everything you want in the books,there are other resourses including the online ones.Finding all these all alone is not all that easy.Added to that is the fact that it is not all about the curriculum,there are half a million other factors aswell,professors might not always tell you all these.It is your seniors who will tell you which way to head and what is the right way of doing things.Five to six years down the road may be you come back to your alma mater may be you won't ;may be you meet the members of faculty may be you don't but at the end of the day the people who will be there all along will be your seniors at the college,they will help you with your projects,at your work place , in all walks of life .What I am saying is purely out of personal experience.Thanks to the exquisite coverage by certain sections of media,we donot even have an interaction session that we previosly had.The chummy relationship we had with our seniors ,we don't have it with our juniors.For us the relation has been anything but amicable.They sure are missing something so are we , it's a give and take.We cannot match their energy levels,alacrity,passion and ideas.Whatever it is,wherever we might be heading ,we would like to wish the freshers all the very best.May they excel in whatever they do.Just a reminder,any sort of help no matter how silly it might sound,don't hesitate to meet your seniors and discuss.No matter what the college or people around you might say we are always there.

Fun Days of Final year of College

I was looking out of the bus during my daily trip to the college,lucky to get a seat in the regularly jam packed bus,when I overheard a conversation of a couple of girls discussing their 'future' plans.Then I realised something that we knew all along but kept ignoring,we are in the Final Year of our graduation.
It seems like just yesterday when it was my first day of the college and suddenly all the things from the past came storming in,time really flies.But wait,am in the final year and that means there is just one more year,a few more months and we will be out of College.
While many of my friends must have been celebrating,for me the feeling grows pathetic by the day.How often do we miss out on the few small things in life that bring a smile on ourface?Yeah,pretty often!We have been leading such a mechanical life that it is rare when we find sometime to sit back and relax and things are going to get worse once you start working.
College is the place where we forget all pains and feel comfortable.So what is so cool about the college you might ask,starting from morning when there is a wild orgy just to get a toehold in the local bus to the college! or your Professor asking you to get out of the class for coming late withouteven looking at you! is that cool? or those assignments for which you have to go looking for the person who completes it so that you can Xerox it down!
What is it that makes it that interesting?I will say Everything,you are going to miss every single thing.The rush hour,those nightouts before exams ,those ubiquotious Xerox sheets,even what the professor you hate says daily and you seldom heed.Not to forget the gabfests at the canteen,the place that has as interesting history as the college itself!among a million other things.It is these small things that make life at the college interesting.
So folks ! Remember ! may be you have a job may be you don't,may be you will work abroad may be you don't.Even when you reach the highest echelons of your life,no matter how far you go,you will always miss your alma mater.So enjoy everyday of your college life!You will definitely cherish these days.Might not be completely fair or square but by now you deserve to bend a few rules.
Read The Original Article in THE HINDU

I was looking out of the bus during my daily trip to the college,lucky to get a seat in the regularly jam packed bus,when I overheard a conversation of a couple of girls discussing their 'future' plans.Then I realised something that we knew all along but kept ignoring,we are in the Final Year of our graduation.
It seems like just yesterday when it was my first day of the college and suddenly all the things from the past came storming in,time really flies.But wait,am in the final year and that means there is just one more year,a few more months and we will be out of College.
While many of my friends must have been celebrating,for me the feeling grows pathetic by the day.How often do we miss out on the few small things in life that bring a smile on ourface?Yeah,pretty often!We have been leading such a mechanical life that it is rare when we find sometime to sit back and relax and things are going to get worse once you start working.
College is the place where we forget all pains and feel comfortable.So what is so cool about the college you might ask,starting from morning when there is a wild orgy just to get a toehold in the local bus to the college! or your Professor asking you to get out of the class for coming late withouteven looking at you! is that cool? or those assignments for which you have to go looking for the person who completes it so that you can Xerox it down!
What is it that makes it that interesting?I will say Everything,you are going to miss every single thing.The rush hour,those nightouts before exams ,those ubiquotious Xerox sheets,even what the professor you hate says daily and you seldom heed.Not to forget the gabfests at the canteen,the place that has as interesting history as the college itself!among a million other things.It is these small things that make life at the college interesting.
So folks ! Remember ! may be you have a job may be you don't,may be you will work abroad may be you don't.Even when you reach the highest echelons of your life,no matter how far you go,you will always miss your alma mater.So enjoy everyday of your college life!You will definitely cherish these days.Might not be completely fair or square but by now you deserve to bend a few rules.
Read The Original Article in THE HINDU

Aug 22 2006

Another day!
Didn't go to the college in the morning...coz I got up late as usual so could not study anything.
I expected to study something in the morning.So I decided to bunk the morning session.So I did but wasted time as usual.
Went right in time for the Lab class ,to the college .But we have one Asst. Prof She asked all those who had not attended the morning session to go out of the lab.I walked out gracefully.
Many know and some feel strongly tht she is jealous that we got a job.
Now! have u ever heard of a teacher being jealous of her student,no?here's an example.
Our college lacks professionalism .Here teachers get pissed when they see the students in some good clothes,forget about snazzy ones.They are bothered if they see you going out with a girl.They are bothered if they see you've bunked classes and are hanging out in the Canteen.
And the name they give to all this idioticity is that ther are "concerned".
Sick people!

Crutches to hop around

Come the counselling sessions for admission into post graduate or undergraduate courses and the bright and hardworking students have to face "the ground realities". A friend or classmate of his manages to get into a better college and stream.

How? He has reservation, on social grounds.

In my college I see and meet scores of bright students, who cannot afford even the bare minimum amenities a student needs, and their families toil hard just to pay their semester fees.

And there are students who would spend an equivalent or even a few times more the same amount just on `ordinary outings'.

Let me remind u that the latter are the same people for whom our government reserved a certain percentage of seats and the former category of students, in most cases, are among those who have been burning the proverbial midnight oil till now and have worked out of their skins.

Some have toiled for more than a couple of years, just to get into a college and study with the people whom he has seen wasting time and money, roaming around and having a gala time till now.

Just imagine how depressing it can be!

These students get a seat into the most preferred stream in the most preferred college or somewhere near that, still way lot better than the seat he would have ordinarily got.

No wonder they continue the same wayward attitude here as well.

As in any other case, there are still many backward classes, which need reservation, and it was for this section of people that the system of reservation was initially launched and is still in place because many of these people need an opportunity to progress.

But I strongly feel that there should be reservation on Economic grounds.

Contrary to popular perception, the so-called socially backward class is in most cases economically better of than most of the socially forward class people and vice versa.

As one person aptly put it -India is perhaps the only country where the rich enjoy the fruits of socialism while the poor are fully exposed to the vagaries of capitalism.

But people cannot be blamed for this it is just the politicians who cannot let go of a valuable tool to get the votes in their favour.

But again the government should not forget that the knowledge is the cutting edge of development and social reservation just blunts it.

Original Article Published in THE HINDU

Campus Recruitment Blues

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times….

It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair…”

These opening lines of The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens best sums up the current situation and scenario of the campus recruitments.

While a lot has been said and written about the campus recruitments by the people who got roped in, they write hordes about how they managed to get in and how they assiduously planned and executed their “ideas” and got a job. Narrating in a tone that wants to tell you that their recruitment board went all around the globe looking for this particular person and finally they found him in this college. For a job only this person can do and he is not interested .Common Guys! Get a life!

Amidst all this does anyone even bother about the people who could not get placed in the first phase? None.For them, Life remains the same, nothing new to celebrate, no success stories to narrate and no people to congratulate. Once touted as one of the most eligible people to get a job, they have now slipped to darkness. But for them life still goes on.

For others who got in, they have no serious intensions of going for it (may be a GRE/CAT/GATE but not a job at this stage, they might retort), but for scores students who did not feature on the list it means a lot.

So, does it hurt if you do not get a job now? Sure it does and real bad!

The feeling is not all that easy to assimilate. Getting ready every other day in crisp formals, clean shaved and coming back in the evening, devasted.The feeling is miserable, to say the least.

There are many other things that make matters worse and first on the list are, the Pressure. It is pressure from all sides, people start popping in from all the three axes (even an acquaintance!) to get an update, every other minute you bump into a person who is inquisitive to know if you got through.You, who just managed to get over this slump, reply in negative and the person on the other side throws in a sympathetic smile. Another thing that irks you furthermore is that many who got in weren’t expecting it themselves and people with sound academic record and excellent interpersonal skills don’t, you feature in the second category and the former decides to give you a crash course in “How to get a Job”!

Coming to the obnoxious three most popular things of a Campus Interview. A common rumor to start with; on the day of the exam someone says that they are going to recruit students just from one branch and not from a select other branch of Engineering and furthermore that the exam is just a formality. Worse yet ,he comes up with some weird statistics that the same company selected seven from BITS and five from an NIT , going by the pattern they might select just a couple of candidates from the college!

Second one is the interesting way in which the supporting staff decides to call the names of candidates selected in a round. They either call the candidates who got through or the candidates who did not, depending on their whims and fancies. Students sit there with their hearts in their mouths and you feel like playing the-mock-reality-show over here!

And finally, topping the charts this season is the remark, “Don’t worry! You might have something better in store for you”. The tone is generally either sarcastic or sympathetic. Sarcasm can be quite bothersome and a feeling of sympathy is uncalled for. Simply because, the person you are talking to has attended half a dozen more job interviews than you did and is far more experienced than you are, so he is a better judge than you are! It is just that things did not quite work for him as they did for you, lady luck smiled on you that day she might be ‘frowning’ at him right now. So please! Leave him alone!

This goes out for all you guys who did not get through. Don’t lose heart, you need not. Many feel that it’s either Software or Nowhere.No, You have ample avenues and a myriad of opportunities so just shoo that theory away. Ignore all the bagatelle comments, take note of all the constructive criticism. Learn from your mistakes. Things might look a bit nebulous now but sure they will clear up pretty soon. No one who gave his hundred percent ever lost. The path to success is beset with pitfalls that test character and spirit, stay calm and you will come out victorious.

The Original Article got published in THE HINDU