It doesn't take an Engineer to make one

What do u get when u couple an extremely boring subject and an ingenious lady? A subject tht suddenly becomes interesting ofcourse!! Lets begin at the beginning...

A week back it was 11.30 pm and I sat cross-legged on the sofa, my frustrated head in one hand, a pencil in the other and the MIS book on my lap. Now MIS is Management Information Systems. I'd never had a penchant or even the basic inclination towards these "management type" subjects as i call them. And here I'd to study a thick book of this all in a week leading up to my BE exams!!! My eyelids drooped, my head buzzed with meaningless words like "CRM, procurement management, decision support, etc. etc." And not to mention the new Frederick Forsyth book tht beckoned me and begged to be read!

This is where Mom entered the picture. One look at me and she gently took off the book from my lap and was about to shoo me off to bed when she grasped my frustration and panic. I only needed to be asked once and i began pouring out my tale of woe abt hw BE students were torturted with a boring, meaningless subject!!

Mom listened patiently and nodded. She suggested I try out a new approach to learning it. Since all of MIS was one huge related concept, y not actually design an MIS??? But where the heck wud i get an industry, a manager and all the works to design one?? and in a week?? "Grt idea mom but not feasible!" ('Mom's not an engg' i mused to myself 'so hw can she understand').

Not one to giv up so easily, she suggested i design an MIS to run the house. (its probably the aftermath of tht Opal book tht all of my family read but of late they hav started suggesting crazy ideas for studies!) By this time dad had also joined us to find out wat all the ruckus was abt. So with all the veto power tht two parents vs one child brings, i was forced into designing an MIS for the house.

It began with the "requirement analysis" phase where i talked to mom dad abt things needed for the house. The phase yielded a complete schedule of the timings of milkman, newspaper boy, the kachrewali, and our maid. Mom's tuitions and our meal times completed the schedule. There was also a small "conceptual design" diagram which divided the running into accounting system, personnel management system, inventory control, etc.

So far gr8 I thot i had it all and imdtly launched my designed system the next day. First mistake! The maid didn't turn up. My system didn't have provisions for risk management. Mom the manager needed to make a decision as to wat to do. No decision support system for her!! I hurriedly consulted my neighbours and got their maids promise to work for a day at our place. I found 2 maids...(gr8 always giv the manager a choice)...with diff. per day wages...(decision making criteria). Mom decided for the more waged one...(flop criteria??!!! not really,)... the more waged one works faster...(consider all options)

Miskate 2 happened with the newspaper bill...my new system had bugs...it didnt realise tht months can hav diff days...ended up with wrong amt and i'd to pay the overrun (hmm i'm getting the hang of this!) frm my pocket!! So budget control and thorough testing to weed out bugs.

Since by now i was in the groove of things i decreed tht we use paper plates and glasses to save mom's cleaning up chore after dinner (always improve the system). We ran out of them in 2 days time (bad inventory control!) and neways dad wasn't happy with them (non-acceptance of MIS...lack of proper customer preparation!!)

Alrite so i finally did concede tht mom's system was the best around here but i jolly well began to like this subject. And now i guess with jus a day left for exam i'm good at it (touch wood!!) but i guess i shud wait till the paper's over and results declared to comment on the fruitfulness of the exercise.

All in all i learnt 2 things. Practise what u preach...u learn things tht way. And it doesn't take an engineer to make one!! (B4 i end this post i shud take my hat off to mom...btw shes the ingenious lady i mentioned b4!)

The joys of winning!!!

Lets hav a little flashback for this...remember the TPP and PPT that we wer preparing??!! the paper finally got selected for the final 10 and then came the intensive practise sessions! Reading and re-reading and byhearting some parts of the tpp, understanding others, getting used to the slides, learning each other's part also to synchronize slide clicking...phew its a wonder we actually managed to get thru it all!!

Then there was the part abt printing 2 hard copies of the paper. My tpp partner insisting on professional digital printout only...so wasted good 2 hrs at the printer's. Also another 3 at L'oreal getting myself presentable for the presentation!

A complete dress rehersal later we wer almost ready to face the judges and audience. The first day of Techithon with first 5 papers being presented caused us to re-evaluate our preparations! The next day of Techithon, the day of presenting the next 5 papers, the day we wer to present our paper.....the D-Day!!!!

What was most touching to see was the overwhelming crowd of supporters tht had gathered exclusively for us. Armed with atleast half a dozen digicams and camera cells they wer waiting as if we'd unveil 4G itself! Ofcourse the Millipede paper by SP team was too good and our hopes of winning dampened a bit!

But my tpp partner really does perform well under pressure and i got hold of my confidence and courage too out of thin air....it went 'like a dream' as the saying goes and we even fielded all questions successfully!!!

The results wer declared and the 1st prize goes to......4G : THE FUTURE OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS!!!!!!!

Putting together a TPP and a PPT

So ACE's techfest Techithon'06 is around the corner. Was in the organizing gang last yr so couldnt really participate in anything worthwhile! This time around one TPP is a must. (Technical Paper Presentation!!).

So decided the search begins for a topic. Unfortunately I have a rather erudite TPP partner who can be irksome at times. Specially when he takes the HOWGIH & HOWGAL approach to detailing every move with regard to paper preparations. Someone should tell him the freedom and creativity that the unkempt mind experiences! Still its preferable to have some1 u can bounce ideas off than someone whos a super mugger!

Anyways so the topic is set! Cant really disclose it in a blog for fear of copyright violation! And research is on in full swing (read ctrl+c & ctrl+v). Google earns slightly more hits per day. And MS Word usage percentage in the world has gone up a little more too. The paper has to be written by ourselves ofcourse for fear of rejection from the judges!

For now working to get the paper and its PPT (power-point presentation!) organized and ready! Checking my mailbox daily for an approval frm the TPP ppl! Lets hope we get to see the light of the D-Day!!

A tale of 2 books

Its been a rather dull time recently with no great movies releasing atall (lets not count KANK as a movie for obvious reasons!). So decided to shop on Dadar bridge for books after class on Sunday. Its always a gr8 place to dig up banned or forgotten books. I came up with two i.e. 'How Opal Mehta got kissed, got wild and got a life' by Kaavya Vishwanathan and 'The Google Story' by David Vise.

The book by Kaavya was something i was searching around for a long time mainly because of ban on it. I wanted to read it myself and decide whether it was copied or not. And as i had instinctively felt, i didnt believe for a moment that it was a story not made by Kaavya herself. The book blended and held together so well! No copied book assembled from parts of other books would be able to do that. Personally as a student who has had to fight her way through mounds of competition all her academic life, I really warmed up to Opal and her troubles. An amazing read if you can lay your hands on it!

The Google Story attracted me because I hav a soft corner for anything remotely 'Google'. Well mainly bcos I'm a huge fan of Sergey Brin. But I didnt regret picking it for a minute. It outlines Google's accomplishments, both business and technical in a very story-like way. Makes you really want to dash off on the next flight and run to Googleplex right away! I'm not detailing everything here but Sergey and Larry's lives at Stanford, Google's beginning, its money-making strategies, its principles, everything abt the book is a treat for Google fans and not-so-attached Google users too. After all its changed English by making 'googling' synonymous with 'searching'!

All in all spending 200 bucks on both books was completely justified if compared to spending 150+ on KANK. Read it thru and let me kno ur reviews too!

Handover!

I remember the day only too well. I wish I'd remembered the date too but unfortunately I dont! the day was actually a memorable day, the kind that blogs record and it was a kaleidoscope of emotions - pride, elation, nervousness, anxiety, happiness, ponderous,... - i felt it all atonce! It wad the day i was selected as CSI Chair in my college!!! The day my council was formed!

Its been a year since then. And a memorable year at that! The campaigning for memberships. Listening to grumbles and complaints abt wat CSI hasnt done! The fight to start something different and creative. The struggle to hold members' interest. Its all as fresh as if it happened yesterday. Even those jokes cracked are fondly remembered and the thrill of bunking lectures just to sit at the registration desk is memorable yet.

Then there was Techithon'05, a really well-organised festival if there was one. I know (and hope) future councils will give it as an example of good organisation. 6th sem brought with it the time I had to live up to my post the most! Innovate'06 got us inventing and imagining to ensure that we came up with a regional convention that was truly done 'dil se' by each and every person working for it. The late night meetings, calls and more calls, yahoo group msgs and a lot of new frends! I wish i could turn back time!

I never thot i'd look thru that kaleidoscope of emotions again. That was until today. The day the new CSI committee was made and given the responsibility. Those interviews to select the new committee, handing over the responsibility to Disha, brought back all those emotions! "Ai waqt ruk jaa tham jaa theher jaa...waapis zara daud peeche"...but then perhaps its more fun to just live your memorable moments once.

Before I end the blog, and close the curtain over 'CSI & me' i should roll out the credits. To my committee who listened to my shouts, obeyed me, bore with my bullying and bossing, supported me, helped me, covered up for me, attended endless meetings, put up notices and posters, collected regn, tallied accounts, went to far-off places, put aside their studies... three cheers!! Specially to my co-chair, secretary and treasurer...3*3 cheers for u ppl!!

So its back to studies now. No excuses to bunk lects, no more meetings to miss classes for! Its jus me, studies and BE project (and perhaps a little advice here and there!). One last yr to be BE...

Me Mumbaikar!!

I was born here. I have grown up in this city. Its my identity and my pride too. And it hurts me wen my city is hurt. But hey, yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan!

Let me describe my city so you know just why every of its citizens is proud of it. I hav travelled in its symbolic lifeline - the local trains - just like every1 else. I have roamed through its AC malls and seen them twinkling with glittering lights and silently gliding escalators. But I have also walked through its long winding streets, some of which lead through slums. I have shopped at Shopper's Stop talking softly to their ever-present staff. But I have also haggled with vendors on Fashion Street. I have brought books at Crosswords but I have also picked up novels at Flora Fountain. I have tasted McDonald's Burgers and Pizza Hut's Pizzas but I have also relished Chowpatty's Ragda Pattice and Vada Pav.

This then is my city of many paradoxes. It is so full of life and colour that you could stand at Churchgate station alone for hours doing nothing and yet you would thoroughly enjoy yourself. A maze of flyovers, highways and little bylanes, I am told that my city is just a group of islands joined together. They take tourists around the city in buses and point out the heritage buildings like Rajabai Tower & interesting places like Amitji's bungalow. But that's not Mumbai! No that's not Mumbai at all.

Mumbai is truly Mumbai when there is a strong issue that touches every1's hearts like reservations, or when it is submerged under a deluge of rainwater or even when some good-for-nothing people try to clamp shut its surging pulse with riots and bombs. Then we all hold hands together and help in any way we can. It could be as simple as sharing tiffins with other stuck fellow passengers in a train stopped in a flood of water or as complex as helping to clear the remnants of a terrible blast. Our papers are always flooded with stories of such Good Samaritans and sometimes there are too many of them (like today when all the hospitals had to declare that the blood banks were overflowing and they needed no more blood!!)

Yes, we are a city of individuals who won't care a damn if you try to trick us in helping u by dropping a bunch of papers in a crowded street. Sure, 99% you would have your pocket picked if you are a first timer here. No, our trains don't carry hi-tech security. But ofcourse you'll receive a lift if ur stranded somewhere far off on a rainy night. Certainly you can hope for help if you are lost and need directions to your destination. Yes, you can have a seat even in a crowded train if you are old or sick.

So then this is my very unique and very different city. It holds a diversity in its populace, its infrastructure and its lifestyle too! But hey, isnt that what the 'spirit of Mumbai' is all about? Mumbai certainly doesn't need a superhero (though one would be welcome!) to fight through its troubles. I'm sure proud to be a Mumbaikar! And it would do editors of leading publications a load of good to remember 26/7 and 11/7 b4 publishing the findings of weak unresearched surveys!!

Keep it up Mumbai we r proud of you. Salaam Mumbai!!

Life's a game...and some are bad losers!

As a school girl, every lunch break we used to play this game that all school-kids like. It involved us standing in a circle with one starting the count in a sing-song manner (she usually was the class monitor!). It went something like "Eeny meeny myney mo, Eeny meeny myney mo, when I touch you, out u go!" and so on till just one remained.

I remember some of us being bad losers at this. As soon as they were out of the circle, some burst out crying, some more used to say it was cheating and throw a tantrum and some others sulked around. As I grew up I thought I'd only see this spectacle in books (its the Josephus Problem in DSA!) or when I saw other kids playing.

Very surprising when I got to see this game played on a wide scale, at the graduate level with a Prof throwing a tantrum and sulking around for being out of a competition! And he did not one but all of what we used to do as school kids as mentioned above!! Tantrums at his level are too bad bcos students suffer from them. Bursting out crying is worst when its done publicly on a blog. And sulking without a word of congrats to the winner just goes to show that being old doesn't make you act ur age!

Makes me remember a gal again from school time, who used to smile everytime she was counted out and say "Oh well theres always another game! You win some and u lose some!" If only she wud repeat those words to this Prof!

If only you were listening Mr. Prof, sometimes you just hav to accept things you cant change ("Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai!") and show some sportiveness. If only you had congratulated those winners you would hav been a winner in your own right. And "Haarkar jeetne waale ko Baazigar kehte hai" right everyone?

The cost of a Fairy God-Mother

So everyone knows the classic tale where a Fairy God-Mother transforms Cinderella, a plain ordinary gal into a stunning babe (not quite the wordings used in the original tale :D ). That was "once upon a time long long ago". Welcome to Circa-2006 where you find Fairy God-Mothers at every corner in a city like Mumbai. Good guess! Ofcourse I'm talking abt those beauty parlours that drive u bankrupt!!

Facials, laser reductions, slimming programs, hair colouring, hair styling, etc. etc. and you dont need a magic wand for it too. Just an array of creams and a roomfull of hi-tech gadgets. So I'd to go to a friend's party today and visited one of these instant make-over centres.

Look good I did but a little introspection later I jus had a thought. Where did natural beauty lose the race to such cosmetics? Why do we count as 'beautiful' after we have plastered ourselves with powders and creams and painted ourselves like china dolls? Doesn't beauty lie in the eye of the beholder?

To conclude the blog, I went to the party minus a lot of the makeover I'd planned for myself. Any takers for my glass slipper?

India Shinning or India Burning??

Ok so everyone I meet who is doing something "important" like engineering (this comes first obvi!!) or medical or MBA, etc. etc. is only talking about reservations!! Some for it and some against it!! I guess the blog's title makes it more than clear as to which side I am!!

Its an age-old fact tht the far-away gleam of a forest fire at first seems like the place is glowing but once you go near u realise tht the place is actually burning and withering away into nothingness. That is the state of our country today with frustrated, angry students leaving the country as soon as they throw those black caps up in the air (sometimes even b4 tht...who cares abt the graduation ceremony anyways!!). And not to mention the protests that spark up from anyone and everyone these days be it from law students for the Jessica Lal case or from Medha Patkar and Co. for the Narmada Project.

Well who listens to the protests other than the protesters themselves? is the cliched question we usually as ourselves and each other as we casually toss the newspaper carrying sensational tales aside.

Oh no ur quite wrong!! This time it seems to be different. With so many protests and the entire student community questioning the credentials of the men who decide the fate of some of the most brilliant minds in the country, it seems to be the kind of revolution that we hav as of now read abt only in history books.

But wait a min aren't we forgetting something? Our country is even today counted as a 'developing' nation. There really are ppl who need help in getting quality education. Hey dont think I'm changing my stand bcos I'm not! Reservations are not the answer to uplifting the SC/ST/OBC.

What we need to do is setup a system of scholarships, facilities like libraries and free study materials in the remote areas of our country. All this will not be accomplished immediately (Rome was also not built in a day!!) but eventually we will weed out all distinctions and leave only a system based on merit.

If all this is actually implemented, these underpriviledged will benefit from it at school level and be able to compete at higher level in a system "powered by intellect and driven by values!!" (I'm an Infoscion afterall :) )

The pill of success

Today i read thru blogs that an old friend from jr college had written. They were depressing...very depressing if you ask me. How can anyone be so sad all the time? Isn't it only in movies that you are bombarded with soo many misfortunes and never given an opportunity to smile? Thank god I'm never upset for long was my first reaction...but then wait a min...y don't i remember the last time i cried a lot? what is that thing that lets me hold my head up high in a group? why do so many envy me...sometimes outright envy that drips from snide remarks or peeks out from unwilling compliments.

Yes i realise now...its the pill of success! From winning prizes to holding posts of responsibility. From being showered with oodles parental affection (the kind that an only a single girl child can claim!) to always having many many caring, trusting and interesting friends. I have been lucky, yes very lucky all the way.

But uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Will this Midas touch wear off someday? Then what? Will i also be reduced to trying to call friends who never respond or spend time writing depressing blogs? I need you Lady Luck even more now because I'm so used to your presence. Because it is hard to give up the addiction to the pill of success.

But then as quoted in 'The Alchemist', if you really and badly want something, the whole universe conspires to give it to you. And one good turn deserves another. I believe in these quotes, and yet...I reach out to Touch Wood.

AI : Artificial Intelligence or All Imagination

Writing two blogs on the same day is probably a blogger's taboo but when there is a lot to write and you have skipped writing a blog for more than a week, I guess it is permissible!

Today I met an old friend of mine from jr. college days after a long time. We went to a shopping mall nearby and had fun window shopping (the kind of fun only girls can have together!). These lines would seem rather boring and worthless to write in a blog had it not been for an interesting discussion that we had.

My friend too is an engineer and as we move into our final year of engineering we both have to choose our optional subjects. She has chosen 'Neural Networks', a subject that comes under Artificial Intelligence (AI). that is what spurred our heated discussion over lunch.

One of the most famous personalities in AI is Alan Turing. His Turing Test gives the basis to determine how human a computer is. Our discussion raised many questions in my mind over this very controversial topic. Can machines really be taught to be human? If yes then is intelligence limited to speaking natural language and looking human? What about ethics and judgement?

Computers find tasks like playing chess or solving mathematics very easy. We find those difficult to do but computers cannot make a relative judgement like which colour is best for a room or which dish tastes better. So who is more intelligent? Can we quantatively define intelligence? The same problem that we face while measuring IQ is faced here. A child may be brilliant at maths and another good at painting. So which of the two is more intelligent?

The Loebner prize competition is held every year to give the prize for the program most exhibiting artificial intelligence. One year two of the judges made the mistake of judging a human as a computer. What does this signify? Will computers ever be human-like? Or will we end up being machines?

Computers are our future, they will certainly become smarter and smaller as the years pass by. But the smartest and most amazing computer is organic and it is packed in a cabinet that is approximately your height. If you dont believe me, have a look in the mirror!

Gaining some GK

Perhaps my blog seems to be most about blogging but I guess that is what comes to mind when I sit b4 this blog-editor, fingers poised on keyboard.

Right upto 10th std I had diverse interests, a classic case of trying to be jack of all trades. From painting to dancing and from scholarship exams to managing events, I have tried it all. Till ofcourse the board exams and engineering took it all away.

Suddenly I found myself among friends who were only willing to discuss science, science and more science (not that I'm bitching about my friends...but it does get boring sometimes). I felt as if all those Shakespearean plays, those classics I'd read, even those origimi techniques and ikebana lessons would be locked away forever in some far closet of my mind.

That was till my blog-friend (the one I've written about b4) came up with a 'constructive' idea to utilize the time we 'waste' chatting online. We started a 'knowledge blog'. Each of us posted one post on any topic of our choice so long as it was not strictly technical on the blog. The other read it and commented on it.

This exercise has opened up the closed treasure chest in my mind again. I look forward to searching Wikipedia for more information about my favourite topics and writing about them. So can I learn some law and medicine? What about counting some pounds? Hello Jane Austin! Wake up Marco Polo, Peter Pan and Alladin...its morning again!!

You've got blog

Today renowned music composer Naushad passed away. He has undoubtedly left behind a rich legacy of songs for us. One of those melodious songs rings in my ears today as I write my first post on Blogger. And that song is "Yuhi koi mil gaya tha sarh raha chalte chalte..."

Yup i found a friend too and in a rather unexpected way. I made friends with him while I was walking thru the long lanes of blogs. A rather strange coincidence that I chanced on his blog one-day and left a comment on it. Almost a year later he replied to it thanking me for the comment.

Then on there was no looking back (or should i say blog?). We chatted on messenger, e-mailed and generally got to know that we'd a lot of similar interests (and disinterests) too. Today I turn to him many a times when i'm in some difficulty to ask for advice. And trust him to always come up with some advice (be it practical or moral).

Like he said once, talking to someone you met thru a blog comment is like talking to your reflection in the mirror. But hey who cares as long as you have a grt friend like him? Move over Meg Ryan, u may hav got mail but i've got a blog!!