Ticket to Gainesville

My ticket to Gainsville/FL/USA came in many parts...the UFL admit, the visa and ofcourse the Delta Airlines flight ticket. So it was on 20 Dec at 8.00 p.m. IST tht I set out on the long journey from home.

We'd booked a Qualis to carry my three huge bags and me, mom and dad. We reached Mumbai's international airport at abt 9.00 p.m. IST and I'd a pleasant surprise waiting for me. Amu and Sumit had come to see me off!! Tht felt reallyyy gr8! Check in was a breeze with uncle being in airport security. Infact it happened so fast tht I doubt I can recount what it consisted of.

I took a trolley and wheeled in my bags...passport and flight e-ticket in hand. At the check-in counter they asked me sme questions like "is there any liquid in ur bags", "did u pack them urself", "any electronic/electric items?", etc. and all. Answered them all then got 3 boarding passes - one frm mumbai to JFK/NY, the other to reboard at NY after customs and immigration for onward flight to Atlanta and third for Atlanta to Gainesville. Checked in baggage without any extra charge...Delta was in holiday spirit and kind towards students :)

A quick meet and a round of hugs with parents...handshakes with sumit and amu and a heavy goodbye to everyone and i was back inside filling the immigration form. Yea u need to do it in India too! Submitted it at the immigration counter and got a red stamp on my passport for it.

Then came the very trying task of finding Deepika and Vineesha, my travel mates. They'd already checked in since Uncle to the rescue again...after extensive searching he found them at the immigration counter and we finally met in person. The security check for our flight hadn't opened yet so we'd to wait in the lounge. Had a paneer sandwich and some iced tea while we waited...the last meal paid for in Rupees for a long time!

Security check opened at abt 11.30 p.m. IST and we wer let in after frisking and scanning of cabin bags. Once in there was a wait again till abt 12.45 wen we wer allowed to proceed to the aircraft. Here again Delta personnel screened us for liquids, gels, etc. We'd to even take off our shoes, belts and jackets to be frisked!!! Took off half an hr late at 1.30 a.m. IST.

The 14 hour journey in the aircraft was tiring to say the least. Service was OK...either good nor bad. Had dinner, light meal and breakfast on time, could order juice, cookies, tea, coffee on demand. Slept fitfully in the flight for the seat didn't go too far back. Were provided with pillow and blanket for the flight, also headphones for the TV set at the back of the seat before us and toothbrush, toothpaste. Best part abt the TV set was it allowed us to track the current destination of the flight and gave the time to reach destination.

Landed at JFK at 6.50 a.m. US time referred to as EST here. We wer given priority for immigration since we'd to catch the same flight to Atlanta. Immigration was simple no hassles, I-20 stamped, fingerprints taken, photo taken and passport stamped too. Got the I94 form and we wer done with immigration. In customs form we listed total value of goods with us to less than $500 and customs were done in a flash. The trolley at JFK however cost $3!!! Another thing to miss frm back home as Mumbai airport has free trolleys!

Another round of strict frisking with removing belts,shoes, jacket, etc. Thankfully this time no opening of bags. And we were back in the flight to go to Atlanta. The take off was thankfully quick and the flight was even quicker! We reached Atlanta at 11.30 a.m. EST. Took the train to Concourse D from Concourse E...talk abt hugee airports!! Felt like travelling from Borivali to Kandivali or rather from Rajiv Chowk to Chandni Chowk since the train at Atlanta was like the metro. Spent a longg time at the airport doing nothing. Had a bad headache by then so had to skip reading the book I'd picked. Wasted 2 $...one on coffee and one on phone call...coffee turned out yuck and phone didn't get thru tho the machine swallowed our quarters!!

Then the flight to Gainesville, delayed but not cancelled, left at 3.15 p.m. IST. Such a small plane with hardly any room to sit! I can't describe much abt it bcos I slept for the entire hour of the flight. Gainesville Regional Airport...reached here at 4.30 p.m. IST. From the hugeness of Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson to the smallness of GNV Regional. No trolleys to waste 3$ on here :) Dragged our baggage out ourselves!

Surprises dont end!! Nobody atallll to receive us!! Some waiting, again searching for change, more waiting, more puzzling over local phones and finally few frantic calls to contacts here. Then there came the ISA ppl to pick us up. Crammed suitcases in cars and we wer off to our apartments.

Regency Oaks is a beauuuutifulll place and loved it the moment we arrived. Roomies were those arrived in fall so were very helpful and nice. Dropped bags in a corner, had a shower, changed and chatted home on GTalk. Exhausted from the long journey I slept and how!! from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.!! Thankfully no sickness except bodyache and no jetlag!

Watch this space for more adventures in Gainesville...till then Toodles!!

From Passport to Visa : A memorable journey!

There are times when u feel some things are meant to be and my decision to pursue MS was one such thing for me. The day I decided this...somewhere in 6th sem...it felt like a daunting task. Today, a week b4 the flight to US it all seemed so much fun...not easy by any means but FUN!! So heres a short summary of my experiences. It will ofcourse not be a comprehensive documentation abt Dos and Don'ts of studying in US but it shud serve as a guide for the minutiae of studying in US of A.

The story begins in 7th sem when me, mom and dad snagged a passport agent to get our passports made. Tht was probably the day when my tryst with Xerox Machines began for since then till now i must hav xeroxed zillion documents! So we got ourselves photographed, got hold of all the countless docs and ofcourse got the forms filled by the agent. The only big help the agent provided was putting a fella in the passport office line at 4.00 am...a time so early, it makes me turn blue! We took the fella's place at 7.00 am...a more humane time to get up!

Police verification after 15 days was like the Mastercard ad...getting urself police verified is ofcourse a thing tht money can buy in our country. We wer let off with easy since we looked like good honest folks. Then comes the passport in hand. But it is blank...disappointingly blank. The time to fill it with a Visa is sooo far off!!

After passport there was the GRE to face. Look up my March posts for my cribbings on the endless wordlists and the done-without-calci maths. Managed a better-than-good score and cleared another hurdle in the race to MS. The TOEFL cudnt hav been better...well perhaps it wud be if I didn't hav to juggle it with the Innformation Security viva of 8th sem!!!

Then started the MS application process inaugurated with a debate on which counsellor to take. After meetings with numerous counsellors, we decided on Madhavi Desai...more for the ease on pocket than for the reputation! Then comes the SOP...again with numerous iterations which led to me getting sick of the SOP...bt we managed a good one (wud be putting it up on the blog once I reach my univ!)

In between this there was the raging debate on Spring vs Fall vs Infosys at home. I decided to take a big gamble...or so I perceived it to be back then...and go for Spring term application and giv up Infy joining. This inspite of caution frm frends abt less univ choice, no aid, less ppl apping...As u read further I suppose u'd conclude with me tht it was the best decision I took.

The recommendation letters made my profs sick for I was fully into my mission of making the recos GENUINE...so each prof had a bunch of 12 univ forms to fill and 12 letters to sign and put in envelopes and glue the flap and sign thrice on the envelope and get the college stamp put on it...phew!

Same story for the transcripts and the office staff were harassed for 25 transcripts! The bank letters were parents headache...they'd to literally run from pillar to post in the bank for it bt managed to get them and the affidavit of support made well in time. Oh yes the univ list...by the time I shortlisted my 12 univs, I knew atleast 1000 courses offered in 500 disciplines in 100 univs across the 50 states of US. I knew the map of US with its states, their capitals, climate, ppl, shops, apts, students, etc. etc. like the back of my hand...talk abt being called weak in Geography at school!

The application process was like no other. Being frm Maharashtra Board and Mumbai Univ...I was used to longgg queues to pay fees, get forms, submit them and then fight ur way thru a mob to see the admission decision. Here, thanks to the Net, there wer no queues, instant filling and form submission and quick fee payments thru credit cards! Supplementary materials wer sent by courier to the univ's address. A note of caution here...don't just stuff all ur material in an envelope and courier it. Take time to arrange it well in plastic sheets with labels indicating whats inside the sheet. Also EDULIX deserves a BIG mention here for I got loads of help frm here during my entire apping!

Then began the long long wait for replies. To while away the time and to do sumthing useful in betn I took up position as a Lecturer in my engg college - Atharva College of Engineering. Read up my post "Docendo Discimus" for the teaching experience! I cant forget tht night in July when I got a mail frm UPS tht a packet was on its way to my house! Anxious, I checked all my univ sites for status updates and Lo! I'd 2 admits!!! The third was ofcourse the packet tht arrived home 2 days later.

In the 2 months tht followed there was continuous excitement every other night with some mail frm some univ and mom, dad, V had all taken to asking me everyday "you've got mail??" Come 1st November, the tally stood at 9 admits, 1 reject and 1 still pending! I'd dropped apping to one univ wen i received a higher admit. Then the decision to finalise on UFL marked an entry into the second phase of my story!!

Now started the wait for the I-20. After numerous mails to Joan (The graduate co-ordinator of CISE at UFL) to all of which she replied so patiently, I'd the DHL courier with my I-20 in hand. Then the rush for Visa documents...again zillions of xeroxes for bank loan, IT papers, marksheets, SEVIS, DS forms, etc. etc. etc. etc. I'd a harmonium folder stuffed full and overflowing when I went for the Visa apptment on 30 Nov. Like all those who passed this way b4 me had warned, the VI itself was sooo cool and the VO cooler!

So 9.15 am, 30 Nov I'm legally qualified to enter the US as a student of its fourth largest univ and pretty high ranked one for databases - University of Florida - with an achievement award of 10k $ per yr!!! A moment to say YIPPIEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Ticket confirmed with Delta...leaving India on 20th Dec...will miss home and life here A LOT!!! Immunization done (yea this is also one of the things I did in the 2 mnths long wait!), insurance taken, registered for courses...fees and cash to carry arranged...apt found, pickup arranged and I'm READY. Well not quite since packing is still on in full swing.

As I get ready to say Goodbye to the place I've loved being in for 22 yrs, I did realise tht MS and tht too in Spring was the best decision I took. It gav me a good univ, with aid...probably bcos fewer ppl app in Spring...a good course and a very satisfying experience as a Prof!!!

So all u budding appers...Happy Apping...and drop me a mail anytime u need help!!

Children's Day

The long absence from blogging was bcos of all the running around for my soon-to-take-place exodus. But more abt it later. Today's topic name might sound like sumthing out of a high school essay book bt its actually much more than that.

I've always wanted to be involved in some concrete social service of the kind they always talk abt in moral science books. On one such afternoon two days back while idling around on the net I came across this site www.karmayog.org where I registered myself as a volunteer for NGOs. Soon mails started coming in asking me to join their organisation. One of those which caught my attention was Mobile Creches. For more info on the name and the concept log on to their website.

So here I was on Children's Day in one of their centres at Bhoomi Park construction site. Greeted by a joyous Namaste from all the children at the behest of their teacher. Enjoyed watching an engaging session where they were learning a song together all replete with innocent enthusiasm! Even as I regretted not bringing anything along to give to them, I remembered all the countless birthdays in school where I distributed chocolates, erasers, stylish pencils, glossy geometry boxes, etc. to friends in school who immediately tossed them aside for they had more than enuf of those always! Had I been a 10 yr old today, I'd hav chosen to give those same things to the children in Mobile Creches instead.

Clapping hands with all the kids brought back memories of those Children's days in school where we dressed to the hilt in fancy attire and watched magic shows and ate huge cups of icecreams. For these children, their parents bringing back a day's bread was reason enough to celebrate.

Looking down that list of questions that my counsellor had given me that day to prepare for Visa Interview, one had puzzled me a lot. "Why do you think you will come back to India?". Today I found an answer to it, "So that some more Indian children can have a happier Children's Day" - an answer that unfortunately and ironically will withstand a visa interview!

Will be visiting them again tomorrow laden with gifts this time...a small compensation for big guilt.

The Memories of Small Things

Reading Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things didn't make me distinguish between the Big God and the Little God. Rahel and Estha didn't touch me as much as Amir and Hasan in the Kite Runner did. Bt it all sure brought the memories of small things that they discuss as kids.

One particularly vivid memory is of the moon. The shinning full moon. On those long bus rides to Goa and back...that yearly trip to my native place...when every1 slept at night it kept me company. It travelled with me wherever the bus went and was always there large and luminous in the sky like a huge lamp. In later years of life I grew up to connect it with every aspect of my life.

Like the fact that it walks with u wherever u go and always at ur speed. My head tells me science has an explanation...my heart says its there to listen to u and be with u whenever u want. A friend for the friendless. Like the fact that you can reach higher and higher and try to touch it...it just seems a little farther each time. One such clear night I remember climbing on the water tank of the building terrace to try and touch the moon and failed...thats wat most of us do with life and careers...we climb higher and higher to touch the moon...not knowing its best admired and liked if u sit on the ground and stare peacefully at it.

Then theres tht deer on it...that granny said jumped so high it reached the moon...sometimes its covered by the earth's shadow, sometimes by your hand. Thats how i played hide-and-seek with the deer during the bus rides, covering it with my hand then peeking at it between fingers..Peek a Boo!

Oh and the moon's everywhere...its on the way to Neverland, my fav vacation spot for thats where dreams come true and u stay young forever. Its what Lord Ram wanted as bribe to hav supper one evening and what his dad got him. Ofcourse what even the Lord got was a reflection in a mirror! Its that pebble in the sky where R. Daneel Olivaw stayed. Its what Lupin fears and Dumbledore's put-outer orbs resemble! Forget myth...its in current affairs too, as being symbolic of that first step that advanced civilization and mankind.

For me it represents a person...a person with a mysterious personality that changes everyday. Sometimes it is round happy and full like Moonface in the Faraway Tree and sometimes its sullen and sunken in crescent. At times its a moody and irate and refuses to show itself and at other times its winking between clouds and spilling with moonbeamish laughter. On some days called the lunar eclipse it slowly recedes in dignified exit and then returns in skipping light!

Yes its a person that taught me to hold my head high, to aim further and higher..."citius altius fortius" they call it. A person that makes me smile when unhappy and soothes me when nervous or excited. A person that lends light literally and otherwise to dark nights and makes them silvery and romantic. A person who continues its endless voyage around the Earth...a voyage that involves only giving...giving light, a field for science and a platform for hopes and dreams... a voyage that tells u to do your work and not expect anything back.

A pebble in the sky they call it...an insignificant speck in the Universe...barren and useless. To me its Luna...the lady with oodles of savoir faire...the Shiny One!

Bappa Moraya Re!!!

I'm not a very religious person and certainly not a superstitious person. But where Ganeshji or as I like to call him, Siddhi Vinayak is concerned, all this comes to the forefront. He has been a very strong presence in my life since I have known about the gazillion gods that Hindi mythology has enumerated. Sounding suprstitious? Wait and read on a bit...

Incident 1 : Bad 10 std. results inspite of studying hard. I go to Siddhi Vinayak's temple and dont pray in the conventional sense bt instead demand that I'm asking nothing more than what I worked hard for. I want to study science with Computer Science and that only!!! To Royal College, Mira Road then where a neighbour says I have the best chance of getting CS and a long queue awaits me. Standing there I wonder whether i'll ever make it to the front and its the last day of filling forms. Surprise! a girl walks to me and hands me a form, says she has one extra...suspicious person tht I am, I carefully look it over and satisfied that its genuine I pay her for it. On impulse I ask her name..."Gauri"...Ganeshji's mom as per our mythology!! needless to say i got Cs in Royal and completed my jr. college there.

Incident 2 : Not enough PCM marks in 12th. Dont want a management seat anywhere...its CAP seat or no engineering for me. Again a demand to Siddhi Vinayak. Guess where I got thru CAP?? Atharva College. That's one of the myriad aliases that Ganeshji has.

These were jus 2 major incidents bt there hav been so many such smaller ones that I've connected with this God like none other. The personality that I've conjured for him may not be what mythology preaches bt it helps bring me closer to him. The Siddhi Vinayak i kno is someone who does not grant wishes for material bribes like coconuts and pedhas. He must be given a real sacrifice, a most cherished thing must be given up for sumthing in return for theres always an equilibrium in his world. So my offers mostly are a day without laughter for i cherish laughter, hard work and many more such things. My god knows everything, I need not speak anything out loud and I cannot...must not lie to him. Apart from that he understands Engineering...afterall he did write the longest assignment!! (for the clueless...Ganeshji wrote out the Mahabharata for Vyas Muni!)

The reason I write this post on my religiousness is because I'll miss the Ganeshutsav, an integral part of my years at Atharva. The highlight of this for me being the aarti that happens every noon while Ganeshji graces the college with his presence. i consider it an honour to hold the aarti thali and to get it without asking for it is even more a pleasure for me. The significant thing about this is the thali is never kept down during the hour long aarti for which the entire college gathers. Its instead passed from one person to another like a well co-ordinated relay race.

Every of those who take the thali for the aarti move it differently. They have their own style, beliefs, viewpoints and ideals. But we all gather there for a common purpose, to say thanks to Ganeshji (ofcourse some do gather bcos they get to bunk lectures and others for the delicious prasad after the aarti!). So then join me and chant as loudly as u can... "Ganpati Bappa Moraya!!!"

Missing Ms. Nevermind!

Its been a month that shes gone to US now...never really got a chance to miss her till now bcos of teaching and renovations at home. But today was Sunday and with renovations at home i was shooed out and told to go sumwhere and entertain myself...instinctively i reached in my bag, pulled out the cell and dialed that one number i always do when I want to hav sme 'giggly, girly outing'.

Only this time I cut the phone even b4 it had a chance to ring...realization dawned that I'd no longer hear "Chaituuu...telll mee!! Howss u??" on the other line this time. Atleast nt ever on this no. So whos Ms. Nevermind?? As a blog policy (which i've violated several times) i like to keep identities secret bt shes the closest i hav to a sis! Shes one of the few ppl i've never lied to (and even wen i hav i've confessed it smetime later!) and sme1 i really enjoy spending time with.

Anyways, the show must go on as they say so I made my way to Inorbit by myself this time...even going so far as to instinctively stop the auto near Charkop Bus Depot where I usually picked up Ms. Nevermind wen we went to Inorbit. Browsing around Crossword was pleasant and leisurely i admit bt i missd her chatter and gossip!! And ofcourse missed discussing with her that one topic that invariably comes up wen we meet...i hope u kno wat this is Ms. Nevermind :D

Even the plate colouring session at The Color Factory didn't begin without a thought to her. Afterall it was her bday prreent given by her bro that introduced me to tht place!! Abt the session itself, sure it was fulfilling...y nt...the plate was a gift (or a punishment??) for Mr. V!

The evening ofcourse was eventful and fun bt dulled without her. I learnt the art of spending time alone and making the most out of it...and as i said b4 life goes on for me bt nt without once in a while (tht means pretty often) wishing tht she was arnd...so heres to our friendship and hope to see u soon Ms. Nevermind!!

Tech Tricks

Techithon - the name means a technical marathon - was a hard name to come up. There were hours and hours of debate over the name for ACE's techfest when my batch had to start its very first. I forgot whom the credit for this particular name goes to bt its stuck and its the name on every1's lips now...Atharva's techfest is in the 'happening' clique now!!

So why mention this now and here?? Bcos Techithon'07 just finished...and ofcourse if ur a regular blog reader you will kno this post isnt to glorify the fest or to giv post-fest comments!! Its to elaborate on the giant step for student-kind and teacher-kind that I took. I'm refering to my progress each Techithon, enumerated below...

Techithon '05 : Getting CSI's permission for the logo, generally helping to organise it, marveling at Mr. Techithon's event management genius, event-head for Programming, escorting committee member, host for inauguration, participant for GD/PI.

Techithon '06 : Presenting the 4G paper and walking away with the first prize...ofcourse this time with Mr. Techithon marveling at my technical genius (i hope!)

Techithon '07 : Judge for GD/PI, TPP, Ad-Mad World and Debate. Spoke at the inauguration about Techithon '05 - ACE's first techfest (phew! that makes me feel old!).

So the million dollar question : How does it feel to move from being an organiser to a judge? Oh very different! Really hard to describe but feels great. Perhaps i'll make more effort to answer with more clarity if i really was offered a million dollars for this :D

All in all its one more reason to add to why the name Techithon is so special...thats simply bcos it holds loads and loads of memories for me!! From convincing and being convinced that we WILL have a techfest to taking PIs as a judge...I guess I've come a long way...Can't say i'll be a part of more Techithons but wherever I am the least i'd do is surely change my orkut pic for it!!

While we are at it...3 cheers for the Techithon'07 team...it was very well organised indeed!!!

Of Dementors and Patronuses

Considering the craze and hype that the boy-who-lived has managed to generate, I'm sure u kno wat are dementors and patronuses. For the uninitiated Muggles, "Dementors are those magical creatures that guard the wizard prison Azakaban" - so quotes Aunt Petunia. And patronuses? "They are something like an anti-dementor that help to drive away dementors - so quotes Prof. Lupin.

Well if ur thinking this is an attempt to start building a HP Encyclopaedia, you are totally off-track. The reason I mention them here is very different. To quote from HP-5 book again, Muggles can't see dementors but they suck all happiness from their surroundings and in their presence u feel as if u'd never be happy again.

So have u experienced that ever? The feeling that life's lost its zing? the feeling that theres defeat and disappointment all around? The feeling that a lot of things u liked aren't happening anymore? I felt that some days back in my vacations. They were the longest boringest vacations ever with nothing exciting happening and no sight of admits, results, anything! Besides them, lots of other gloomy thoughts to bog me down!! Perhaps this means theres a dementor lurking around u sumwhere!

How to beat it all? Just think of pleasant thoughts, things u enjoy doing...do them if u can, think of the happier times to come. In short conjure a Patronus! Its nt sumthing u can succeed at in one go...conjuring a corporeal patronus (one with a definite form) is very very advanced NEWT level magic! Bt its nt all tht hard too...and yea my patronus? well a blog is hardly a place to discuss the form it takes...thats a personal question! And hey if all tht effort to conjure a patronus doesn't work for u...well a big bar of chocolate always drives them away!!

So folks...all those inspired, convinced, fascinated, entranced, motivated...ok u get the pt...by the post, pick up ur wands, concentrate on ur best memory and say EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!

Learning a new Paradigm

Being a lecturer is hard-work...and not the least bcos the job is taxing but more bcos u actually dunno wat to do in the lot of free time in between lectures and pracs. We still aren't allowed the liberty of chit-chatting on phone anywhere anytime!

So it was one such evening at about 4.45 p.m. with 15 mins more to kill b4 i could punch my way out of the college (that refered to the time card i need to punch b4 i leave! sheesh! dont take everything i say so literally!!). Even as I wondered what I could do in those 15 mins without making them seem like eons (remember Einstein's theory of relativity?), theres Poonam ma'am to the rescue!

She walks in the lab, chides me for being so free, cautions me that idling away is a crime for someone as active as me, and whisks me off to a session of Paradigm of Life. My initial reaction? "Er...maam...i aint very interested in Yoga and Meditation!" Second thoughts? Heck if it helps pass 15 mins count me in! So here I am sitting in the very first row in the presentation hall, wondering how I got there and also enjoying being called "ma'am" by the students so busily preparing for the session.

Which is when I get my first, second, third...nth hand info about POL as its members call it! Its a club in college that a group of students have come together to form. Their objective? grooming and educating themselves and others in the finer mannerisms and interpersonal skills of life. I hope I've defined it correctly since that is what I gathered it to be! What impressed me the most what the finesse and co-ordination with which the session was conducted...and coming from a fest veteran like me its a very big compliment!!

They put up a new word every session, with its pronunciation and background. Also perhaps its usage (ofcourse going by Ajay's template usage any word fits in the sentence "Poonam ma'am told me to use ________ word in a sentence"). Each session has some session leaders who take charge of ensuring that the session runs smoothly. And I clap for their punctuality that is correct to the minute. Most appreciated strategy in the club's management would be having an elaborate selection procedure for its members...reason? they get only dedicated members and not defaulters and the "not-very-enthusiastic" variety!

Coming back to the session I attended, it was very informative regarding non-verbal communication, gestures, personality, etiquette and mannerisms and a host of other tips and tricks. To say it was interesting would be more of an insult than a compliment for there was never once a moment when any of the audience dozed off!!

All in all, I ended up leaving college at 7.00 p.m. and was firmly convinced that I'd do so every Thursday bcos I cudnt possibly miss it. Hope to pour in some suggestions for the mgmt next time and hope they are considered too. Blogs too will carry quite a lot about POL sessions frm now on i guess (i wont refrain from criticism when i feel like it ppl!!) Three cheers for all those who are a part of POL!! And ofcourse looking fwd to the next session!!!

Docendo Discimus

That tagline has been on my GTalk for sometime nw. Fetched me the same question from many curious readers..."What does it mean?" Felt that I wasn't doing full justice to it by casually explaining its meaning so decided to blog it out!!

"Docendo Discimus" is a Latin phrase that means "We learn by teaching". Having made the transition from being a student to a lecturer in a span of just about 2 months, that too in my own college, the taste of the other side of the classroom is rather difficult to put in words. On one side it feels great to have even more power than I did as CSI chair or student council member. Not to mention that various restrictions now no longer hold true...like surfing the net in the labs and going right inside the library to find books for urself!!

Ofcourse uneasy lies the head that wears a crown and so I have to pick up added responsibility as well. I can no longer bunk college and run home at anytime I wish! No more loitering on the stairs and no more participation in fests (oh hw i miss GD/PI, debate, creative writing, etc. etc.!!). Even more than these, I never knew that wielding the red pen would be so much harder than the blue or black pen!

To repeat the same thing over and over again to different batches of students, to remember that all students have different learning levels and to teach so that the fast learners stay interested and the slow learners understand, to teach not for a semester but for a lifetime, to understand and make it understood that education is the kindling of a flame and not the filling of a vessel. Teachers sure don't need anything like the Hippocrates oath, they practise something akin to it everyday!!

And what do I get out of all this? We come back to the topic title to answer that question. Ofcourse the job-satisfaction that a job with attentive listeners, strict 9-5 schedule, weekends off and quite a lot of free time brings. But more than that, uninhibited learning without the tension of completing assignments, meeting submission deadlines or worrying about exams and marks. I have never learnt as much before as I am learning now! As the GTalk status says, 'Docendo Discimus'!!!

My Experiments with Blogs!

U'd hav to clik on the pic to see the whole blog bcos i havent yet figured out a way to put large and clear HRB yet!!

The 'Real' Acknowledgement!!!

The BE project documentation begins with the acknowledgement page. The page is supposed to acknowledge everyone who helped u nt jus thru the project bt thru all 4 years of engineering. My ack. page as its caled contained the usual thanks to my princi, proj guide and HOD (who in my case really did help me unlike most cases when their only help is giving termwork marks!!) and also to the college management, lab asst. etc.

But if i were to truly write an acknowledgement without any restrictions whatsoever it'd read as follows!!

First in true Chetan Bhagat style, a big thankyou to MS Word for helping me edit and re-edit not just my project docs bt also numerous other assignments and practicals. While we are at it i'd need to thank all the applications i've used in engg. right from Turbo C++ to Notepad!! I apologize to all the other applications like Oracle 9i, Rational Rose, etc. whose names i cannot take specifically for lack of space (wow wat a trendy line!!)

Then i'd like to thank my keyboard (jo retire hua kaam se zindagi se nahi!) for helping me type soo much including assignments, blogs and chats! Also for providing the ctrl, c and v keys without which i can't imagine a life! Then to my hp psc 1210 for printing endless pages (and eating up some pages...and trying my patience at times!) and helping with photocopying documents at crucial moments! And here i shudn't 4get to thank my pen drive, the USB slot and net connection all of which helped make transferring information (read copying!) very easy! Basically i extend my thanks to my entire computer for all its help!!

Oh and i must remember to thank RedHat and Mac OS for their support and co-operation during the testing phase. I'd take my hat off to u ppl bt i guess in this case putting on a red hat and eating an apple wud be a better tribute! And ofcourse a special thanks for my pens Cello Finegrip for helping me with all the writing work and my 0.7 lead pencil for doing all the line marofying for me!

Well this whole of last para is dedicated to my genius without whom getting past the last yr of engg wud be totally unthinkable! GRE, TOEFL, MS Apps, every exam, every difficult sum has been suddenly very easy bcos of him. I'll waste a line thanking my cell for connecting me to him and Hutch for their schemes tht let us talk so much! But this is for u Mr. Genius...a big thankyou...and its NOT been put up here bcos u always complain abt being under-acknowledged! Its been put up bcos i really did want to thank u!!!

Say 'Aummmmm'

This post was inspired by a chat conversation and a frend's blog post. We'd a discussion abt yoga, its merits and demerits (well it does hav plenty as u'll kno after u read thru!) and my mind wandered to my first real experience of hard-core yoga!

It all started in my 11th std with granny's insistence tht i shud accompany her to the local park for a breath of fresh air bcos i was becoming 'very bookish and pale'. So my stint with yoga started the next evening...an attempt to get the 'glow' back to my skin!

Now don't get me wrong bcos i aint making fun of the art but i always kinda imagined yoga as done by skinny sadhus who can float in the air or sleep on a bed of nails. Here was a rather plump sadhu who didn't look like he could defy gravity and raise even a millimeter from the ground for even a nanosec! Anyways the saving grace that fit him to my typical sadhu image was his long beard that looked like it could do with some washing. Not to worry Surf Excel hai na!

Anyways to go ahead with my yoga classes, my peers were mostly middle aged or old ladies. We started with some breathing exercises that were fine by me and i actually started feeling refreshed. Then came the part about lying flat on ur tummy and wriggling like a fish. Problem 1 : the lady behind me couldn't or wouldn't move anywhere. I think it was the latter bcos there was plenty of place behind her! So I ended up wriggling like a fish with its tail tied up since i cudnt move my legs!

Next, Problem 2 started with wat was called Parvat-asan. We wer told to stand on one leg with our hands joined in a namaste high above our heads. As soon as sadhu baba announced this, the aunty in front of me got up with surprising speed (considering her age and build!) and pushed every1 away to get to a particular place near a tree. She (aunty no. 1) and another aunty (aunty no. 2) stared daggers at each other till Aunty no. 1 won the staring race and got the spot she wanted.

I realised the significance of this whole exercise when she could support herself with the tree and i'd to play hopscotch where i stood! Finally 21 years of experience of being a bipod won out and my asan ended with me bumping into the lady next to me & with both of us collapsing. Did i mention tht the lady collapsed on me and i'd to squeak my way out frm under her!!

Still fine...then starts Problem 3 when I'm told to sit up and stare with concentration at a red eye-like light. As soon as i start tht, i get a tickling feeling. It becomes more and more unbearable till I burst out in one of those fits of giggles that threaten to be never-ending! The fit is fueled even more by all tht pent-up laughter tht i've bottled up since the start of the session and by nw i'm red in the face by trying to control it! So i let go all at once and start laughing like i've never laughed b4!!!

That was enuf for sadhu baba and he launched into a tirade of hw i don't have my chakras in the right place and hw they have bcome all dusty (or sumthing like tht which i dont remember bcos i was too busy giggling!). All in all the evening ended with me being thrown out of the class and banned from coming bak ever! Also thrown in was a lecture from granny abt hw i dont appreciate ancient heritage. Kuch bhi bolo...the laugh sure refreshed me a lot!!

That totally ended my encounter with yoga (or so i thought!) and I decided to stick to gym and aerobics to get my 'chakras' and 'glow' right! Until now...nw tht my frend has inspired me again for this mysterious yet relaxing form of exercise, I'm up and game for another wriggle on my tummy (or maybe another giggle frm my tummy)!!

Knowing God

"Who is God?" the child asked,
"I wonder God is who?"
"You are the answer" said her mom,
"And I'm the answer too"


"The birds and bees,
the stars and trees,
and every lovely thing you find.


The answer to your question child,
Is still too big for mankind!"

This is a verse from my moral science book of second standard. I remembered it because it reinforced my belief that knowing God in person is impossible. But I was very wrong and its only today I realise that. I did...and still do...know God in person. I can talk to him whenever I want, laugh with him, play...and he loves me a lot too. Yes, God is here with me and I call him Grandpa.

Like my blog's tagline says its abt ppl who inspire me and nobody does more than my Grandpa. To describe him, hes remarkably healthy for his age which is 80 yrs (touch wood!) He can still walk more than a km without tiring and at 65 he'd even hiked up Sinhagad! As a person he's very well read and u can discuss nething with him frm GRE to Abhi-Ash wedding to Economics! Infact it was Grandpa who introduced me to books when he use dto sit with me at jus 3-4 yrs with Chandamama and Tinkle and read aloud to me. Now it's my turn to do tht and hw i enjoy it!! Reading aloud to Grandpa is a lot of fun. Its always laced with lots of interruptions, questions and sometimes heated debates when our viewpoints differ.

Grandpa's been the source of lots of my memories right from early morning walks to secret gardens around Dadar to playing hide and seek. Its his inspiration thts kept up the writer and artist in me alive for even while the whole family stifled laughs at my amateur art, he openly admired it for its 'ability to make the receiver feel special'. But these all r hardly the reasons I call him God.

He's my God bcos he has lots of those other qualities that I think God must have. Patience for one...Once some1 tells him that he/she will meet him at so-and-so place at a certain time, Grandpa will go there at tht time and wait and wait for tht person. He simply has unshakeable belief that nobody will ever ditch him. I'll never forget tht one rainy day - my birthday many years ago - when I'd promised to meet him for an icecream and forgot all abt it when I went to enjoy with friends. Even reaching 2 and half hours late, I found him half soaked yet greeting me with a smile. No icecream ever tasted so bitter as it did that day!!

Forgiveness is another of his qualities. The above incident is not just bcos I'm his grand daughter, it stretches to anyone and everyone. Once Grandpa trusts u, he'll trust u forever and forgive u forever! Then theres his complete loyalty and devotion to Grandma, at 80 he still waits for her to join him at the dinner table and still makes the morning tea for her - something he's been doing since the first day of their marriage!

These and lots more of his qualities and memories make me call him God. Its just so hard to describe him in words. Perhaps not being able to paint someone's vignette also qualifies them to being called God. His one big desire is to see me as an engineer...and one big reason I'm waiting so eagerly for 5th June. The day I can tell him so proudly that I'm an Er.

Pls get well soon b4 tht day Grandpa...I miss u. When I want something for myself or anyone else I can ask God...but whom do I ask to get my God hale and hearty again??

'Park'ing

No, no! The post doesn't refer to the fine art of wedging ur car precisely between two others without bumping into either of them! Rather it refers to the other lesser known art of enjoying yourself in a park.

It all started when the jogging bug bit me recently and i took up to going jogging in the evening (yes i said evening! i'm one of those ppl whose eyes refuse to open at 6 am!!). My evening begins with walking 10 of my feet to the park frm my home. Then a ticket of Rs. 2 which the nice gatekeeper allows u to skip if ur nice to him. (bt bcos i'm such a good citizen i always pay up! psst since i gav up lollipops i can spend tht Rs. 2 here!!)

Once inside, mom sits on a bench to enjoy the cool breeze and i start jogging. Listening to radio if there r good songs playing and to my saved songs on the phone if not, its very refreshing to jog around. Yesterday though my jog was cut short after just a round. Reason? A little gal of 2 yrs and some mnths who was squirming and fidgeting too much beside her grandfather! So I took her on a round of the park.

We bent down to see a very benign doggie solemnly loking at us as he relaxed on the jogging track edge. That was till Mia (nw i dnt remember her real name bt she looked so much like Amelia Mionet Thermopolis Renauldi or Princess Mia frm Princess Diaries!!) slapped him on the nose!! Then he stood up and growled at us and my jogging resumed with Mia in my arms!!!

Thankfully doggie uncle decided relaxing was more imp than chasing us in the park. So we headed to the sandbox...tried building castles in the sand bt bcos it wasnt the wet sand of the beach, Princess "don't want" Mia got bored! Then some young boys of her age interested her (bcos they had lots of coloured rings to play!! wat wer u thinking???) and she went up to say Hi. Bt i thot continuing our educational walk wud be more fruitful and neways i didn't want her grandpa thinking i kidnapped her!

So saying Bye to those young men we started walking off...guess wat? All 5 of those young men followed us!! Boys will be the same at all ages...ladki dikhi nahi ki bhaago peeche!!! Neways nw we come to the other side of the park where the flower shrubs are. Mia wanted to touch the flowers. Ok. She wanted me to pick her up for this. Ok. She wanted to eat them and even put one straight in her mouth wen i lifted her! Not Ok atall!!! So deprived of apparently tasty food, my efforts to convince her tht she isn't a honey bee or a butterfly were futile.

Ha fortunately Mr. Frog is at hand. So what if i don't intend to touch him or go near him (no those tales of frogs turning to prince r for movies!!) I can always say Hi. Bt Mia thought she was a real princess, the kind tht kisses frogs!! So Mr. Frog finds himself chased by an enthusiastic gal till he disappears in some shrubs. Poor fella must be so relieved and gasping for breath!! Hmm there is grandpa waving to us.

So walk concluded. Mia back to grandpa and headed home. I'm supposed to resume jogging bt am afraid of being spotted by doggie uncle who might hav changed his mind abt chasing by nw. I also decide to head back home. Forgot mom at the bench so risked crossing doggie uncle's path to get to her. All in all a typical yet not so typical day at the park. Reminds me of my childhood days at Shivaji Park when I always came home laden with lots of stuff. Candy sticks, amazing looking stones, leaves of all shapes and sizes, sometimes flowers (when my granny could dodge the watchful eye of the park watchman!) and ofcourse raw mangoes and tamarind (deelicious!)!!!

So like they say in that kids bicycles ad...**knock knock on the computer screen**..."Still sitting here?? go and do some 'park'ing!!"

Random Ramblings

Lately and mainly bcos i've been giving so many exams; i've had lots of little anecdotes happening around me leading to many small thoughts. Since they individually don't merit a separate post each, i decided to put them in a single post! So here they r.

1. Call foiled

Did u ever receive any of those very irritating marketing calls? The ones that try to sell u everything from a post-paid connection to a loan? And have u banged the phone on them in frustration? Well my dad got one such call from some bank the other day. The caller enthusiastically described hw good their bank was in giving loans and asked if dad was interested in taking one. Dad promptly replied he was...since we are looking at best options of education loans for me currently! Guess wat...the caller himself hurridly kept the phone citing lack of information available with him currently as the reason!!! Have we hit on a better way of foiling marketing calls or wat??

2. What foreign language?

Hav u read the story of a scholar coming in to Akbar Badshah's court and challenging Birbal to finding out his native language? Well Birbal just threw cold water on him in the middle of the night when he was asleep and he cried out in Bengali...which was his native language after all!! My point is if some1 throws cold water on me this way I'm more likely to cry out "What the hell!!" in English than something in Marathi which is my native language. So hw come I've to giv TOEFL?? Maybe ETS shud change their testing procedures??

3. User Friendly

I always thot all tht Software Engineering was a load of theory that u'd to yawn ur way thru for exams. Bt wen it came to doing the BE project it turned out true! Not being able to get others to work ur project is acceptable bt getting frustrated at ur own project for not being user friendly is atrocious!! So thinking abt the USER as all those text bks advise, I included a user manual in my documentation. Any non-engineer cares to certify my project as user friendly??

4. No paste, just cut!

My undergraduate life was 4 years long. Agreed I didn't do any earth shaking stuff in this but still it was long enuf. Long enuf to cover 3 pages of SOP (for the uninitiated its Statement of Purpose) and perhaps more if i'd written abt all those things I enjoyed in engg which good SOPS dont carry (i'm talking abt the cultural fests and all!). Bt then came the small box on univ app forms and I'd to stick to mu porpose. Cut a 'the' and another 'a' and and even the part abt Bubble Gums (thts for those who read my SOP!) even while keeping up that la-di-da language and then success!! Word Limit Achieved!! Maybe I shud hav made AutoSum a little better, wud sure hav saved me a lot of work (or added to the SOP tht this sop was summarized with my undergrad thesis report)!!!

5. Already missing life!

By nw every1's blog posts must be flooded with nostalgic thots...yea yea i liked Atharva enjoyed life here bt I'm gonna miss the little things most. Like standing in line for filling sem forms. And eating vada pav in break near Vidyalankar (tht duznt make me a petu!). Also sitting on the steps to study and xeroxing assignments to copy! I guess this list will be more detailed and complete this time next yr bcos i'll kno all tht i've missed till then...so check bak!

Pictures speak 1000 words but...

Every once in a while my mom's overtaken by the "cleaning bug" and she raids my cupboards and drawers to clean them out. And everytime that happens I gather bits and pieces of the "garbage" tht she finds to be put away as memories!!

When this occasion came up yesterday, I chanced upon a copy of Marian Notes, the school magazine on whose editorial team I was. The picture of us, the editorial team smiling at the camera reminded me of tht day when it was taken. We were unable to decide where exactly to take the pic...indoors in the library or outdoors 'underneath the mango tree' (only Marians of my batch will understand this pun)! So...getting back to the pic...we were the first editorial team that ended up with 3-4 pics of ourselves in different moods i.e. serious in the library...giggly in the garden and straightfaced on the school ground!!

Then I also happened upon a copy of Aavishkar...the magazine I edited for CSI's regional convention, Innovate'06. It was fun to read through it all over again. And surprisingly I couldn't solve the crossword I set in it...tho i'd made it myself!! (Some would say 'kya idiot hai' to this!) But it felt nice and satisfying to know that I still liked the articles I chose for it! And relief perhaps at knowing my taste hadnt changed drastically over the year!!

Apart from these I found a bunch of Rhythm brochures, my first sheet of Engineering Drawing and other odds and ends. What did i do with these u'll ask? No, I didnt stuff them back in the cupboard. Its here that I shud mention my 'memory album'. An idea that hit me in 10th std when I realised that everything about milestones in my life cannot be captured in photos. Sometimes u dont even have a camera to do tht!!

So i started collecting and storing other stuff like restaurant bills autographed by frends with whom I went there, bus and train tickets, birthday candles, movie tickets, entry tickets of places like Esselworld and Planetarium, i-cards of various conventions, friendship day ribbons, brochures of festivals, magazines like Marian Notes & Aavishkar and lots of other bits and pieces of different ocassions. There's even a friend's assignment I tore in a fit of rage and a broken plastic knife...a remnant of a friendly 'battle' at a friend's place [:D]

It sometimes makes me feel like a clairvoyant, who puts her hand on those things whenever she wants to remember that time, and can clearly recall the event in her mind then!! Like the title says...a picture may speak 1000 words...but my memory album speaks 1000*1000 words!!

Hyperlinks

It was a very engrossing reading of Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake' (the book and not the movie!!) that prompted me to write this. Oh no, it doesn't refer to those blue coloured links you click on webpages to take you to some other pages. Long before Mr. Tim Berners Lee brought in the concept of hyperlinks on the WWW, they already existed in the real world. This I realised from the book I just read.

Perhaps this phenomenon is common to all avid readers. After a reading of a particularly enthralling book that incorporates another book in its plotline; you feel the itch to read that too. Its happened with me. After completing The Namesake, I immediately googled for "The short stories of Nikolai Gogol" and am still beset with the desire to browse through "The Overcoat". Same happened with Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. I cant wait to get my hands on the Shahnamah and know more about Rostam and Sohrab!

Always all the works mentioned in novels don't turn out to be true. For example I searched for Fermeculi Formula for many fruitless hours disappointed to know that it existed only in Opal's universe. It was too much to expect that Harry Potter's "Quiddich through the ages" and "The Standard Book of Spells" would be found in a Muggle bookshop like ours. JKR fortunately catered partly to this whim by bringing out a copy of "Quiddich through the ages".

The hyperlink connection doesn't stretch only to books. Sherlock Holmes's 221-B Baker Street has been sought by many and again HP fans will find themselves wishing they could also roam through Diagon Alley or visit Hogwarts. Dan Brown's picturesque description of the Louvre in Angels & Demons led me to find more about it online.

On a more serious note this is present in research papers and journals as well where we jump to references to find more information. This, I'm referring to the paper version! And oh while we are at mentioning Dan Brown, his book hyperlinked me to ambigrams and their creations; something I never knew existed or was possible!!

Come to think of it, hyperlinks exist in people's conversations, in newspapers and in letters, greetings or postcards as well. You only have to notice them. Perhaps this is a case of reverse history and hyperlinks were invented as a WWW analogy to the situations I just mentioned. I guess my blog's given you a hyperlink - to find out hw they were invented - hope to pursue it and tell me if anyone does find the answer. Till then happy treasure hunt!!!

Tagged!!

I recently got a mail from a friend that said "XYZ has tagged you". It turned out to be a social network site like Orkut. No! I ain't writing this post to review the site or extol its virtues. Heck, I havent even visited it or joined it yet. But I just remembered a game from the mail.

It seems so long ago in class IV when my class teacher started a game of "Tag" for us. One day she announced in class that we would be playing this game for the rest of the week. She explained that she would begin the game by tagging one person in the class. That person must do some good deed for another in order to tag her and so on. She added that she hoped everyone in class was tagged and had passed on the tag atleast once in that week.

Our ma'am added that she'd got the idea of the game from Benjamin Franklin. He'd once given $20 to a poor student to pay his fees. When the student completed his education and became wealthy, he came to Mr. Franklin to return the money. But instead of taking it, Mr. Franklin told the young man to pass on the money to some other needy person and continue the chain this way. They say that even today the amount continues to be passed on.

Anyways,to get back to my story, it was a memorable week for us all. I don't really remember who was the first one tagged but we all tried our best to keep the tag chain. Picking up dropped tiffin boxes, lending pencils to each other, helping in studies, helping on the playground when someone fell down...the number of ways we came up with to pass on the tag were remarkable.

One of my friends who had the tag on her for a whole day finally brought a rose home for my mom who was unwell with fever that time. And ofcourse once she gave mom the rose and mom smiled her thanks, she'd tagged me!

I don't know if it was a very effective way to get us to do good deeds because they say you must do good deeds because you want to...and here we were just doing them to pass off our tags. But it certainly worked. At the end of the week when we'd to giv ma'am our feedback, we said we didn't have enough scope for doing good deeds just among ourselves. She told us we could continue the game outside school also and to other people also. The tag could be passed on to other friends, family and even any stranger we helped. the only criteria was doing some good deed for tht person.

In my so-very-busy schedule i'd forgotten the game till i got the mail. So I've decided to renew it and play it again. Lets see how many tags I can pass out. And maybe if we all passed on tags of good deeds, we'd really hav a gr8 world around us!...Ready to play a game of Tag anyone??

Infinite Loop!

So its a well-known cliche that "History repeats itself". But this history is one of a kind. It repeats itself once every 4 years. It doesn't have a name as such but I call it the "Cricket Worldcup vs. Board Exams" tug of war. Its more difficult than writing the board papers themselves. And if you are caught in the middle of it (like I was!) then God save you!!!

This unusual post was actually triggered by Dilip Vengsarkar's comment in the 'Mumbai Mirror' today. The worldcup starts 13th March and Maharashtra board's SSC exams start 8th March. So Mr. V urged students to study and do their best while Team India does its best in WI. If the current students are anything like me, I dont think they'll pay any heed to his oh-so-practical advice!!!

I remember tht day very clearly, it was the first of March, 2003. India-Pakistan's Worldcup match and 2 days to go for my HSC Maths paper - my nemesis! I was plonked b4 the TV, A pack of Lays on one side, a bottle of Pepsi on the other and the maths textbook in front. The initial plan here was to context switch between match and calculus.

But the moment the match began all thoughts of maths vanished!! Clapping at cheering at every wicket (India bowled first) and later rejoicing at every run that brought us closer to a daunting target that India chased. The maths book that I was supposed to solve from was used as a flag of triumph to wave for every four and six!!

Match over...India won!!!...Pepsi spilt...Lays packets floating around...and a sharp descent back to earth and the world of board exams. 2 days later the showdown to the tug of war and guess wat...both were winners!!! Good maths paper and good match as well!! Hope all the current board exam givers are as lucky too!!! All the best folks!!

What is IT??

With the HSC board exams round the corner, I'll cut corners on descriptions of the anxieties and pressures of the exams itself and come to the crux of the post.

This started a few days back when one of my neighbours who is appearing for the HSC exams came to me. She wanted to do engineering but wasn't clear if she wanted to do it (err did u understand tht??). So she came to me with a twofold program (1) Tell me about engineering (2) Tell me about IT engineering.

The first part was easy. I told her about the pride and prejudice that comes with being Er. XYZ (I discovered that prefix recently and hope to attach it to my name in few months!!). Among the benefits are recognition as a 'rational' and 'intelligent' person. You learn to work fast and take shortcuts where needed (like learning from notes instead of books and compressing assignments). You get to learn and have fun too if you can walk the tightrope between acads and partying. It makes you realise what "learning for learning's sake" means.

On the flipside its a lot of pressures every 3-4 months with submissions, vivas and exams. There are those distressing times when u get low marks or bad grades or even when u feel u just cant cope up with the studies!! But u learn to handle it bcos afterall that's how real life will be. I touched upon the campus placements and festivals part for her so that she understood degree college life but I guess it's a part of any degree course not just engineering.

On the whole being an "engineer" to me doesn't mean ur technically proficient in general and in your discipline in particular. To me it means you've come a long way as a person since u wer in school or jr. college. It means u've learned to cope with the vagaries of life. It means that you apply the same rationale and analysis that engineering subjects require to everything in life and not let emotions get the better of you even at the worst moments.

Perhaps I can best sum this up by the statement mom dad make at home everytime they feel I'm gonna throw a tantrum. No they don't say "You are grown up now" or "Stop acting childish". Instead they say "You are an engineer". That has the effect of clearing the layer of strong emotion in my mind at that minute - be it anger, resentment or dejection - and throwing my rational self into gear.

By now you must be wondering y the post carries such an irrelevant title when something like "An engineer speaks" would be more apt. But it is a question that I asked myself before I answered the second part of my neighbour's query. What is IT or Information Technology???

You would think 4 years of studying IT engineering would have let me answer the question in a jiffy. But the more I pondered over it the more I wondered why I didn't know the answer. Is IT about writing programs?? By its definition IT means "all methods of storage, retrieval and modification of information." Then if I am competent enough to arrange an array of clerks and filing cabinets in such a way that I facilitate easy storage, retrieval and modification of information; do I qualify as an IT engineer? Even if I don't know 'P' of Programming??

Is my definition incomplete or inaccurate? Or is IT just a collection of subjects prescribed under IT engineering? I know its shameful coming from an almost full-fledged IT engineer but - Will someone tell me "What is IT??"

Sabzi Mandi

This is specially for all those who hav qualms about flying off to the States. Perhaps I can suggest a small algorithm to boost up your resolve to do well in GREs and GMATs and run off!!!

1. Take up an 8.00 am class at Dadar (Vidyalankar, Excellent, Kalpana...doesn't matter!!).
2. See to it that the class has over 100 students in it and still counting.
3. Go late by train and reach Dadar station at 7.45 am.
4. Walk from there as fast as you can to the class taking the sabzi mandi road.

What will happen is you will hav to run a hurdles race. Your hurdles? People unloading carrots and radishes from trucks, females carrying big tokris of tomatoes, buses honking their way behind u and taxis blocking your way in front of you!!

What could go wrong here?? I mean how hard is it to dodge all these when we are champions at braving the local trains!! Well you just might slip and fall flat in the swamp that wasted vegetables create on the road. Or maybe if you irritate a vendor with too much profanity she'll throw a rotten tomato at you. Ofcourse you might still survive right till Vidyalankar's building and then a bird will shit on you!!

If you are against a hurdles race you can try the marathon instead. Sprint across straight from Dadar station. Then outrun vehicles coming at you at supersonic speed on Tilak Bridge. Again run down the stairs on the other side of the bridge. You only hav to encounter a little of the Sabzi Mandi then. Did I mention that part sells all types mirchi, masalas, pudina and ginger garlic?? You just hav to endure that violent bout of sneezes!!!

After all this what's the prize you ask?? Why its the coveted seat in your class which otherwise wud be overflowing with students!! You get to choose one that's not too near to the AC or fan nor too far from it and which is near to the sir (if he's cute) or far from him (if his lectures are soporific).

Do this for 1 or 2 classes if you havent experienced it already. Beliv me you'll work like crazy for ur exam if only to get to a more clean environment!!!

Disclaimer : This post by no means indicates that I'm unpatriotic and it is for entertainment purposes only. All methods described here must be followed at individual's own risk and I do not take any responsibility for any injury or loss of sanity caused by following them.

Juxtaposed!

Learning the GRE wordlist is a daunting task (feels like trying to download Guru on dial-up!!)! But for us lesser mortals who can't load the list in their heads like Trinity, we have to struggle and slog our way through it. Some words are easy to register and others need some legerdemain (see i'm even using them in daily conversation!!) but there are always some words that are elusive to say the least!! Turn your back to them and they are immediately lost in oblivion.

It makes me feel like Dorothy, the girl who

"learnt her tables to and fro
and backward and forward too
but couldn't remember what was six times nine
and didn't know what to do!!"

Atleast she had a sister who told her to call her Mary-Ann (her doll!) 54 for a while so she could remember it. Oh didn't you know what happened when her teacher asked her wat was 6 times 9? She answered 'Mary Ann'!!!

Anyways to get to the point, I cudn't apply this technique to words. So I resorted to applying the words I learnt to everyday situations, characters from TV serials, movies and books and even to people around me. I learnt most words that way but one word that I just cudn't grasp was "juxtapose". Maybe it was because I wasn't able to fit it to any known situation or thing or maybe it was just a strange word but I failed to fix it in my memory.

That was till a new class of mine began just a few days back. On the first day of class due to acute shortage of space (as is the case with Mumbai engineering classes) a girl I didn't know atall sat next to me. Not that I'm averse to strangers but I'm not so gregarious that I make friends like Maggi Noodles!

To get back to her, the minute she sat down, she started telling me how, why and when she took the class. In hardly the time it takes to blink a dozen times, I knew all her academic background and she had moved onto her family history! 'Expatiate' suddenly became crystal clear (I even put a reminder in my cell to write down this clue on the flashcard!). And by the time sir arrived I knew she hated her CSM prof last sem and her sister's friend's cousin's daughter had returned from the States!!!

I had hoped to seek solace in the fact that she would keep quiet in the lecture. But that was a misconception. She soon proved that her knowledge of DWM surpassed sir's and that she could seamlessly merge it with her gyan of other subjects! When it was time for a break I had lost sight of the subject I was supposed to be learning though I'd a clear idea of previous sem subjects!! After the break the story repeated itself. While she continued her parallel lecture to me, I wondered idly how many gigahertz her processor operated at to allow her to talk so fast!!

The lecture ended (THANK GOD!!!) and I rushed out fo the class happily. Solemnly vowed never to have anything to do with Ms. err-what-did she-say-her-name-was!! Ate a huge Jumbo King vada pav in celebration of being emancipated. Ran home to review the real lecture that I was supposed to listen to.

Next day I peered around cautiously before taking my seat in class. I didn't see her anywhere and heaved a sigh of relief. 15 minutes passed since sir started the lecture and no sign of her yet. I began to breathe easily and was even laughing at sir's joke when...

...the class door opened and there was my nemesis!! No prizes for guessing where she sat down!! And she had the audacity to even say an excited 'Hi'! As I resigned myself to another day of parallel lectures, I scribbled in my notebook...

..."juxtaposed yet again by fate!!!"

Circa 2000

Just some days back i'd to babysit some of the neighbourhood kids while their moms celebrated Makar Sankranti. I decided to pass the time giving them some 'gyan' from Panchatantra, Aesop's Fables and all such stories with a moral (What's happened to me??).

Here is a succinct summary of the storytelling session I had. To cut long stories short (pun intended) I have only mentioned the various fables I told them while detailing their comments. You must remember that all of my audience was between 4-7 years of age.

The story of the hare and tortoise

"We've heard of this story before. Its so idiotic! Y didn't the tortoise wear skates like in Dhoom2??"

"I don't know dear. Ok I'll tell u all another story."

The story of the thirsty crow

"Yuck who wants to drink water with stones in it?? He should have used a straw, shouldn't he didi??"

"Well yea maybe he shud hav. Donno y he did't. Ok this story I bet u dont know atall."

The story of the talkative tortoise

"But y did they hold the tortoise on a stick?? They could have made a swing from some big leaves like banana leaves and the tortoise could sit in it!"

"I guess they could have done that. Um ok listen to this one its a very good story."

The story of the fox and the grapes

"Shee!! He could have brought grapes from Food Bazar! My mom always gets grapes there in any season!"

"There wasnt Food Bazar in the jungle idiot. But he could have stood up on a big stone na didi?"

"I suppose so. I wasn't there to find out y he didn't! Ok i'll tell u one more story!"

The story of hidden treasure

"Kya didi??! Didn't those ppl have metal detectors to find treasure? They wudn't have to dig up the field then!"

"What year did u say the stories wer written?"

"Very very long ago dear. When animals could talk."

"Then they are very old now. We should have new exciting stories with computers and mobile phones in it! Can u tell us some of those?"

"Not today. I'll find u some like those and tell u some other time"

End of storytelling session. Confused me (Should I become more techno-savyy or should Aesop brush up on his tech-skills??). Excited Kids ("Didi tells even older stories than granny!"). Maybe I'll tell them a spoofed version of Merchant of Venice or Cinderella suitable for 21st century. Maybe they r ready for Sidney Sheldon already!!

Are the animals of Panchatantra forests listening? Pls apply to me next time u r in some difficulty. I know some very smart kids who'll email u the solution or scrap it to u on Orkut!!!

Pen or Sword??

Std I : "You should have written a simple essay on dogs. Who told you to write about Janjeer the police dog who discovered RDX??"

Std IV : "Dear you must write only a 15 line essay. Don't write more than the printed lines on the paper"

Std VII : "Your unforgettable journey was a walk in your building?? Write this again please"

Std IX : "Please choose some universally acceptable person for the person you admire the most. Peter Pan is hardly someone to write about"

SSC Board Exams : "You write very well but remember you are giving your board exam. Stick to the pattern. Don't write like you are writing a thriller story."

HSC Board Exams : "I think you should read some essay books and pick up their style. Yours is...rebellious"

Engineering Communication Skills (CS) : "Write briefly and to the point. Use minimum words and dont describe more than you have to."

GRE Writing : "You aren't writing a blog for them. Write in the established pattern and template."

Does this look like I've been suppressed in my writing throughout my academic career? Oh no, these were the comments I got before every major exam. The year-end finals, the boards, the sem exams and now the GRE. Listen to what these same people said otherwise when I wrote for pleasure.

Std I : "I'm gonna send your review about Enid Blyton's books to the school magazine"

Std IV : "Everyone please listen to me. I have a short story from Chaitali here that won the first prize at a story writing competition. Its really good."

Std VII : "Chaitali's won the first prize in an essay writing competition! The essay is very well written and very different!"

Std IX : "So many articles in Marian Notes??!! All the English teachers like your writing!"

SSC : "You will be on the editorial team for Marian Notes this year."

HSC : "Will you be editor for the science-club's newsletter?"

Engineering : "You will head the magazine committee for Innovate'06."

Preparing for GRE : "Chait your writing style is excellent! I really like it!"

Don't think I'm boasting or complaining will you? But it makes me wonder sometimes. If without the pressures of an examination everyone likes and appreciates my writing then why don't the examiners do the same?

Why do I have to suppress my thoughts and stifle my creativity? Why must I don a dowdy cloak of tried and tested writing when I know that beneath it I wear a resplendent original gown? Is something wrong with my writing or is it the examination system at fault?

Perhaps its the way in which we look at exams that is at fault. If only I were allowed to write without caring for marks there too perhaps I'd be able to retain my individuality and character. Nevertheless I wonder...should I have picked a sword instead of the pen early in life??

I settled for a keyboard instead and turned to blogging!!

Time turner...to the past and back!

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Today was the day when I thought I'd be a worthy citizen of India!! I went to get my name enrolled in the voting list. This is where you can play 'passing the parcel' for hours!! The first trip was to the local post office. 2 aunties were chatting in there about latest happenings in the life of Jassi. Angry at being interrupted they directed me to another counter. Here the man was slower than the action replays they show for cricket. Anyways I managed to get my form.

Next back home I rushed to get the form filled and collect the required documents. Surprise!! Surprise!! I'm still 2 years old on our ration card. Mom & Dad's election cards show their pics like someone on India's Most Wanted! Anyways I manage to get everything ready and its off to the municipal school to submit the form.

Ohh Oh!! I have landed in a class full of students singing 'Hum ko man ki shakti de na!!' Where the hell do I give this form?? Its been an hr since I'm in this school trying to find where to submit this. Atlast a Good Samaritan to the rescue!! I meet a man who directs me to the right class to submit my form.

And after all this running around the form-taker tells me 'Tumchya ghari aale aaste na naav ghayla' - We would have come to your house to take your name!! As if he's talking about Pizza Hut's home delivery. Talk about door-to-door service! And a look at the post office and the form submission office makes me wonder ... what happened to paperless offices? and is india shinning with shelves of dusty files??

So till my name really comes in the voting list...its a long wait...will keep you all posted.

An entry from my old blog. The day I first registered myself for voting! The day holds a lot of significance for me ofcourse but today I'll also mark it as the day my disillusionment with India's political system began. The black dot that all voters get on their forefinger was what I'd eagerly waited to get since I started studying civics. Today it doesn't hold that much significance!

This post is not to discredit our politicians (they are past that level!) . Rather I posted it only after I realised the power of blogs to influence netizens. It was only recently that i discovered that you can still vote with an option equivalent to "none of the above" in multiple choice tests.

Since I'm averse to plagiarism (except when it applies to assignments and projects...hehe) I'll jus post a link to a detailed article explaining Section 49-O. Do use it if you think none of the candidates in an election you vote are worthy of your vote!!

Article explaining Section 49-O

Do disregard the comments on the link since the information about the right of not voting is accurate to the best of my knowledge!

FWD::

I'm wary of any email that contains this as part of its subject! Hey I didn't say I delete all those in this kind! Most of them r irritating like asking for donations for some child suffering from a rare disease like 'exam fever' or claiming to share Bill Gate's fortune with u (pls how naive can ppl be!!). But some r good...i mean really good.

Planning to make a collection of some good fwds i've received. Will keep putting them up on this post as they come. So all those who read this pls contribute for my collection with good fwds. P.S. I mean GOOD fwds only...i dont hav time to make 100s of wishes b4 sending chain emails!!!

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1. What is confidence????

A hypothetical situation where 20 CEOs board an airplane and are told that the flight that they are about to take is the first-ever to feature pilotless technology: It is an uncrewed aircraft.

Each one of the CEOs is then told, privately, that their company's software is running the aircraft's automatic pilot system. Nineteen of the CEOs promptly leave the aircraft, each offering a different type of excuse.

One CEO alone remains on board the jet, seeming very calm indeed. Asked why he is so confident in this first uncrewed flight, he replies : "If it is the same software that runs my company's IT systems, this plane won't even take off." !!!!

That is called Confidence!!!

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2. Life is like Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university Professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the Prof. went to the kitchen and returned
with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain,
plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the Prof. said "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal
for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your
problems and stress. That all of you really wanted was coffee, not the
cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So friend, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.

'e' vs. me!

The world is going electronic with a capital 'E' (the caps is jus to 'e'mphasize the 'e'mergence of this trend. Otherwise we write it small)!! And every word in 'E'nglish is scrambling to get the coveted letter b4 itself. We have e-mail, e-shopping, e-cards, e-books...and some 'e- ' words not suitable to be listed here :)

In between all this melee are 'e-games'. U name the real thing and there is an e-game for it in cyberspace! From chess to scrabble to tetris and even the humble tic tac toe! No, no don't get me wrong!! I'm not against computer games. I've had my share of playing Solitaire and many other games on the comp and I even agree that some of these are easier played on the comp (wat with the strength indicator and direction pointer in yahoo pool!).

Even so I cannot forget my childhood summer and diwali vacations at granny's place. Seated on the house terrace in the afternoons with a jug of homemade lemonade and a bowl of popcorns (not microwaved!) we matched wits on chess or scrabble or wooed lady luck at blackjack or rummy.

I still remember the squeals of excitement at climbing a ladder in snakes & ladders or reaching HOME in ludo and the cries of dismay at becoming bankrupt or landing in jail at monopoly. It was a different feeling to hold the dice in your hands and give them a good hard shake b4 casting them. The click of a mouse to cast dice in an e-game is not the same. Same goes for shuffling cards (its fun to show off if u r a deft shuffler!)

The disparity doesn't stop here. Sure its easier to keep time in e-chess but there its just u vs. the computer or a faceless unknown person. It lacks the enthusiasm that a band of cheering supporting cousins can offer and also the criticism and jeering that the opponent's supporters give. When we played chess it was never a one-to-one game. One 'real' game turned itself into a group game due to the sheer experience touching the pieces before u moved them. Dont think I'm violent will u...but i cant describe the satisfaction of 'knocking' off the opponent's knight (or any other chess piece) when u captured it!

It wasn't only the thrill of winning or the fun of playing with friends or cousins. The cheating in card games and the sulking when losing a game and abandoning it was also unique. There were moments of extreme frustration when someone overturned the carrom board or tore away the tic tac toe paperbcos defeat was too much for them! But they serve to support my stance!!

And my stance here is it is not always profitable to add an 'e' to everything. Some things are best enjoyed the way they are!! Sit for a game of dumb charades or trivia with ur family once and u'll kno wat i mean. Btw did i mention that the winner's prize was almost always a nice chocolatey Cornetto or a large bar of Fruit & Nut??