An Exam Afterthought

There's a nice quotation that i want to start with "Education is what remains when what has been learned has been forgotten." . These last few days I have forgotten a lot of stuff that I have tried to learn and sometimes I have forgotten well before the purpose of learning has been fulfilled .

Its 3:00 in the night and I wake up to the sound of my mobile alarm . While everybody's still sleeping ,  I try to at least complete the selective portions of Entrepreneurship that I have decided to study . My eyelids shut for a split second  at regular intervals as I labour on for the next 10 minutes . I find that I am not able to concentrate on the text .... i find no meaning . 
The weather's so nice as there is a storm brewing outside .  A short nap I think would do not harm  . May be thats the tonic that I need to freshen me  a bit .  My premise for sleeping is proven wrong as when I wake up  , I want to sleep some more :P .
After an hour of sweet slumber I decide that enough is enough . I spur myself to study in order to save face  . So I struggle till 7:00 , trying to remember the points in the xerox note .  I know that my preparation cannot be worse ....  I  just hope that numericals will save my ass.
Its exam time .... and due to God's grace it goes far far better than I had expected.

So in this way I have put a second nail into the exam's coffin . Two more nails to go ......  I may hurt my hand in the process but I am sure that I am not made for them . I just want to get over with it .

I have a weak memory but such is the sorry state of affairs that during the Entrepreneurship exam when I went to the toilet to get some answers .... I asked Sid  the question "What are four stages of advertisement creation " and he must have told me the answer  twice or thrice and still when I went back to the hall to scribble it down I could just recall only one word for the four points .
1)Situational
2)Media
3)Creative
4)Strategic
The remaining part of the points were added by myself to the best of my knowledge . Its really funny .

In the ancient times it was prevalent for the shishya to repeat the slokas in unison after the guru and in this way they would be able to remember humongous number of lines of religious text . But the times were different then ..... now we have google and more emphasis should be made on " learning by doing " . This " learn by rote "  method is obselete in today's world .  The only reason that motivates me now is that I am doing this to get a degree .... some sort of safety net so that when I take risks to achieve my dream  I know  at the back of my mind  that I have something to fall back on .
 

And just to end the post on a more serious note here's a list of things you can do if you do not  feel like studying

• Simply turn on facebook and u can wile away your  time like anything 
• Eat a plate full of Pokhaal and chokha and u shall fall asleep like the great Kumbhakarna
• Get ur friends hard disk , u will surely get a new movie to watch and if there isnt a new movie left  u can surely revise some of the evergreen " Friends " episodes
• If you are a football fan .... start reading up all the football gossip or watch the downloaded videos again and again and bring back those happy memories
• Start gossiping with the guy next room as to how frustrating it is to study  and keep on talking till the task looks so difficult  that u don't even want to  contemplate studying
• Start researching on a abstract topic on the internet like hacking your friends computer , meaning of a poem etc and just get caught in the web of information
• And Best of the lot .....  Start writing a blogpost  :)

PS : Filhaal toh mera form bahut kharab chal raha  but I hope that the  saying  " Form is temporary , class is permanent "  is true in my case 

These 4 years

This is my first post on this blog. Basically, I wrote this post on my own website but Ranjeet asked me to post it here also and so he added me to the author's list today. At first I didn't want to post because of all the apprehensions I had but then dost ki baat kaun taal sakta hai..

Here is the link to the original post: "These 4 years"

The heat of the town is people expressing in all possible ways, how they are going to miss their college years. All the parties, photo sessions, senti status have a promise hidden in them. Do I feel Nostalgic? May be. Will I miss these 4 years? Definitely.

When I come to think about it, these four years have been a random set of events which some might call boring but I enjoyed every single moment of it. The stay has been spectacular in a way as I enjoyed whatever I did. I didn’t do things just for the sake of doing them. I didn’t do things just because I was in an engineering college and I had to do them. I didn’t become the part of the rat race. No one became(agrees to be) a part of it.

When I look in the mirror today I see a geek. Totally engrossed in his own worldly affairs, fascinated by technology, surfing net, reading blogs and xkcd, having a weird sleeping pattern and bathing pattern, careless, narcissist, nihilist and an idealist. These past four years have contributed a lot in moulding the person I am today.

The life in the college revolve around friends. The people who know me also know that I am a difficult person to cope up with. The way I openly despise things I don’t like, the way I speak my heart out and the way I always put more stress on logic then on feelings become a strict no-no for many people but few things don’t change. They are their to stay for good. Let me put things straight. I have always had few friends as I have openly despised a good bunch of people. I didn’t care if someone was cool, smart or was my friend, the axe fell if it had to fall. There are tiny few who sustained the blows. Here is the list of them in alphabetical order(to avoid controversies) whom I am going to miss after we part our ways. There is a second sponsored list which is empty now. People can offer me treats to move from General list to sponsored list.

Sponsored List :-
Bid for the top position in the list.

General List :-

1)Abhrajit Ghosh : People call him ‘Teddy’. I am Roll No. 11 and he is Roll No. 12. He has been my lab partner in all the labs and had to bear the brunt in vivas as I was interviewed just before him.The only localite who is my good friend. He party a lot and is very good-natured. Would have been one of my best buddies if he was a hostelite.

2) Arpan Bose: He is a pro gamer and known by the names he uses in games, Zed, CSK, Blood etc. Has been my friend since my stay in Kota during my +2 when we used to roam around together. With my reduced interest in Computer games we have spent lesser time together in college. Who is going to format my windows once I pass out is one of my biggest worries. I seriously want him to become more serious about his life and strictly refrain from playing games.

3) Anshuman Nayak: We call him ‘Ansh’. A great biker with lot of knowledge of general stuffs. A movie buff. Frankly I didn’t used to like him a lot when I didn’t knew him but he is a great guy. Jab tab treat deta rehta hai. A great NFS:Most wanted player. Itni badai ki maine ab treat de bhai.

4) Ashutosh Jha: He is one guy who can go to any extent for friends. People call him CR for obvious reasons. A very care-free attitude.He is also from my hometown. I remember very vividly the day when I was admitted in hospital, down with fever, during the 2nd semester endsems. He was awake complete night, sitting by my bedside , wiping my head with wet towels to keep the temperature down. Way to go man.

5)Debarchan Mitra : This person can’t be defined as there aren’t exact words in english language to describe him. He is random and weird. He can sleep in any possible yoga position. He laughs for an hour more after everyone has stopped laughing on a joke. His first answer to everything I have asked for has been NO but eventually I got him into agreeing to them. He does things at extreme. A true delight to be with and an under-achiever. Just need to focus.

6) Kaushallendra : We call him ‘Kaushal’. One word from him is ‘Altruist’. He can go to any extent to help people. Although he may seem harmless but he takes immense pleasure in making fun of people. He is also from my home town and was my junior in school. Nature-wise he is completely opposite to me.Was a stud before but mediocrity of my college took a bite out of him. Recently he has also started Gyaan sessions. Contact me for appointments.

7) Rahul Ranjan : He is the ‘bubbly’ of first floor. The winner of a controversial poll. A great soccer player. I like the way he swears, it’s really funny. 1 number ka maggu. He has lot of stories to tell and is fun to be around.

8 ) Rahul Singh Samant: One of my roomies. He is a nice person but because of some unavoidable circumstances we are not on talking terms any more. But anyways I will miss the good time we spent together.

9) Rakesh Kumar: Log isey ‘Tyagi’ ke naam se jaantey hai. 8th wonder of the world. He can talk non-stop while staying funny. After all his self-medication, he has been outlawed by the medicine community. They don’t work on him leave alone the side-effects. Yeh mast banda hai. May be the most helping and caring person in the college but very formal at times.

10) Ranjeet Pratap Singh : Some call him ‘BMR’ some call him ‘MP’, you can call him anything unless it begins with ‘ThE’.One of my closest friends in the college. I have dragged him around a lot in scorching sun as I hate eating in the mess. He is a kid who has suddenly overgrown. He dreams a lot and has all the potential to turn most of them to reality. Seems to get impractical and have a ‘holier than the lot’ attitude at times and is very much emotion-driven but is among the most wonderful person I have ever known. I have had many debates with him all ending without any conclusion. Friends come before family for him :O . His favourite time-pass is giving Gyaan. Talks are going on for his shows on Sanskar and Aastha. Revisit the blog for more details. Contact me for special private sessions. Although the price will be high but you won’t need any more gyaan ever.

11)Siddharth Das: He is the celebrity of my branch. People call him ‘Uncle’. A real gem. Sid tu to Hira hai Hira . My second roomy. He is great fun to be around and is a total narcissist. One of the most popular guy in my branch, known for his helping nature and random remarks. Was a ‘besingh ka gau’ when came to college today he is a cult.

12) Sukhram Manda: We call him ‘GB’ (reason is a secret). He is from a very small village in Rajasthan but he didn’t let it come in his path. One of the best programmer of my year and is very much hard-working. A bit introvert but is very helping once you get along.

13) Sunny Kumar: Pyaar se badey isey ‘Chotu’ bulatey hai. He is the King. Not in real life but in AOE. Another one of my closest friends. I have dragged him also around a lot. A very lazy guy , takes bath once a week or even lesser but I get things done by him because of my godly convincing powers and senti-maaring. He is the bank for mango man. We have a lot of debates and his expected answer to most of the things is ‘NO’. He is also one big under-achiever. A very talented guy and on of the best AOE player in my college apart from Ranjeet. One shortcoming, gets easily convinced and impressed by things.

14)Vishal Anand: People call him ‘Bajrangi’. He is a different kind of guy. His talks are of different dimension, a true Bihari. I have had a lot of feasts on all the edibles he brings from home after vacation. A very helping guy and a wonderful person to spend time with. He is the one who coined the name ‘Beti Pushpa’ for me, inspired somehow from Bhool Bhulaiya but I don’t know how!!

15) Vishal Jalan : “ours lovely VJ” aka ‘**** Face’. This guy could have been a millionaire if he had sponsored his body for medical research. A true mystery. Each part of his body has its own intelligence and can move on its own without his knowledge. Mr. Fresher of my branch. Victim of Juice point incident. His great attitude will take him places.

The list ends here. Some might think it is huge but in a batch of 150 students it qualifies as just the 10% of the total batch size. With the college getting over I will try to be in contact with all of you but you all know that it won’t happen until the effort is taken by both the parties. Aur kuch nahi to atleast sab apni shaadi mein to jaroor bulana dosto.

I adore many of the other guys and hate many more other guys but this is life. In the end I would say that, there are people who buck the trend and go against the flow. There are people who are fierce individualists and believe in blazing a trail for the future to follow. There are people who don’t care about the race and focus on maximizing themselves, for their own sake. These are few and far between. We don’t encourage them. They are virtual outcasts. We envy them the most. And yet, we aspire to be them.

Hum rahe ya na rahe kal.......Yaad aayenge ye pal

Starting with a word of advice,if u havent yet listened to Kites music.Go Get IT !!!!
Rajesh Roshan, has again come up with some great refreshing music, probably recreating the magic he did with 'Kaho na Pyaar hai'.I have just heard the songs once and i already forgot the laughing "panauti" Of Akhshay in 'Housefull' which i just returned after the night show.

Well yesterday was one of the days which i am going to cherish all my lyf. It was our computer science 'F'arewell celebration and it was those few days which will be remembered everytime the friends reunite.The party started with dance and nothing else happened after that till our legs died. Luckily, we decided to walk through 8 kms while returning (as we usually do these days) and we witnessed the first heavy rain of the season and it was perfect end of the day as we danced in the rain and walked through it.

Well the koleg started for us with the 'F'reshers party, so it ended the 'F to F' journey spanning 4 years . The years we shivered, be it from seniors or teachers or in many cases The Hostel staff....none of us can forget the first days in hostel when every person in sky blue uniform seemed to have a crack down on us. Then came the days of liberation which came in the form of, or probably, in a revolutionary form of hostel Hunger Strike.

2nd yr gifted us a light weight Senior's tag ,suddenly we were the hosts and 1sr yrs with the uniforms were the guests.I experimented with dancing during the hosting of fresher party and discovered yet again that "pappu cant dance sala" . Doesnt matter, our skit was a laughing riot.
It was the tym wen cries of "GO GO GO" ,"Bomb Planted", "arey mere base pe tower ban rha hai","ARMY BHEJ", " Roger that", and my favourate "abey gold hai kya" gained prominance in the hostel corridors and books were replaced by Xerox notes during xms. 2nd yr ended with the trip to Kharagpur and the parathe at 3 in the chilly night canteen in Kgp campus.
when we slept so hard in the train that we had to jump from running Purushottam exp with pants and slippers in hand while returning from Kgp.

3rd yr comes and came Mr. Shastry with his Morning Raga song "Gudmoooooorning KP3!!!!! its PPT classes time". when we slept with the doors locked from outside.It was the time when we had a 12 hr conflict with the IST ,becoz when India was preparing to wake up we were hanging out with Maggi and tea cups on the KIIT streets. when Breakfast replaced dinner and attendance in the class was, ironically, better than that for Lunch.when we left Midsems just because one of the friends did so. When world was trying to save American banks, the only thing which mattered us was whether the Anand's piggy bank ( which he used to keep coins) could support the morning Atmaram tea party. Placement was uncertain but fear and tension were kept quite far from the hostel premises.

4th yr started with a bang,,,not that we got placement offers the first day,,,but something different happened. A mess problem caught fire and in an hour 50 hostelites were breaking tables and glasses and literally broke the reception. Result!!!!!! 6 in morning and we were at the railway station waiting for the train to home.koleg shut down for 2 weeks. Nyways we returned after Dussehra and gud news, finally placements were ON, atleast the scenario had turned positive. January was the month which finally saw companies visiting the campus and the trend is still on. Though many are still unplaced but there is no dearth of ability and spirit and hope each one will have an offer very soon.

There are so many memories which cant be penned down in one blog. Every day shared with such beautiful friends is a memory, every mischief done in class, every cup of tea,
every walk down to the Shikharchandi temple, every black ticket bought for the 1st day 1st show, those teasing and leg pulling, when it took 3 pockets to pay for a coffee and we paid debt taking debt from other, those fights for the empty water bottle, moments i hurt someone and those when i got hurt,when the heart broke,when Ansh broke his hand, when the purse never lasted more than 15 days a month.

Woh Tyagi-manda yudh, woh tuesday ko Anand ke Mandir ke prashad ka intezaar, Ranjeet ki generosity aur uska dialogue "Aaj se padhai karenge", Biresh chacha ki smile, Chotu ka bachpana, Shobhit ki classes, woh Ansh ki Bike, Rahul aka Bubly ke sath *****, Uncle ka ashirwad, Patidar ka figure , Abhimanyu ki talli angrezi , aur bahut kuch!!!!!!!!!

Well the countdown has begun and very soon we will bid Adieu to this koleg and as its said that "Every good thing has to end someday", but this good will make way for a much better future. I wish that each one of us has something much better in store for the rest of our lives.

Journey @ KIIT

Hi Cuys!!!(read CSE Guys)

Being a part and parcel of KIIT cse 2010 batch, I should have contributed long back on this but you all know how lazy I am.Along with laziness, I was a bit apprehensive if I would be able to match the standard set by various bloggers here.But it's always better to try at least than never. Therefore! I gave a whole-hearted try but still I do feel that it requires a lot of corrections.It will be great if you suggest me on my trial Journey@KIIT. This will help me to improve myself and come on this platform with a bang!!!

It was great to share these 4 years with each one of you.
Regards,
Shubham

A lil piece of insight...

Here is some information for people planning for higher studies(MS) in USA at some point in their life....

First and foremost thing that you should do even before giving exams is to THINK why u want to go for MS?....What exactly you want 2 study in your masters because all these play an important role and infact they make your SOP(Dont get mad at me...ill get back to this soon..).

Now, along with pondering on the issues raised above, start preparing for GRE(Graduate Record Examination). It is an year round test conducted in many prometric centers across india. You can book the time,date and center on your convienience provided availability. The score validity of this test is 5 years (i.e) u can submit these scores to the universities for upto 5 years.

Another test which u have to give is TOEFL(Test Of English as Foriegn Language) which is also an year round test and its validity is upto 2 years.

It is very easy to get into an US University because there are thousands of them....but getting into real good ones like in top 20 is a tuff job...for that...you need to keep ur scores like this:
GRE: 1400-1600(out of 1600), AWA:doesnt really matter but to be on safe side keep it above 3.5
TOEFL: 105-120(out of 120)
and good academic grades too..

Next step is University Selection. It is generally advisable to come to this section after you give the exams because you will get a rough idea which universities u can get into. REMEMBER: NEVER GO TO CONSULTANCIES..they just misguide you..especially when your scores are high. Do some research on the universities, their student profiles, courses offered, intake rates, employment opportunities, location and narrow down the universities list to atleast 7(3 safe, 2 moderate, 2 ambi : all these terms are w.r.t ur chances of getting in and 7 is not a fixed number!!). Spend some good time in this step so that you wont end up in a unversity which is too low for ur profile or having no admit.

Most of the colleges in US has two intakes per year. Fall(starts in august) and Spring(starts in d end of jan) and applications are available almost a year ahead. The best part is the entire apllication process is online except that you have to send some supporting documents.Now , start working with your application.

Here comes the important and difficult part of application : SOP(Statement Of Purpose). Is is an essay which clearly, succintly explains 3 things:
1> Why you want to go for MS?
2> Why MS in THIS particular field?(suppose u mention MS in computer science with specialization in intelligent machines...u have to answer why computer science and why intelligent machines...dont just write b'coz i did my bachelor's in CS....think y did u do ur bachelors in CS in first place...is there something abt it which interested u..??...if there is something what is it??...and what did u do abt it in ur bachelors..?...give supportive examples...can mention related projects or research done)
3>Why THIS University(say u choose UCLA...u have 2 write why UCLA of all)
NOTE: DONOT BLUFF.BE HONEST.
SOP's are reviewed by selected faculty of the universities who reads hundreds of them in a day...so...make sure your SOP stands out..u need not really be a nerd to do that..mention some good work that you have done regarding ur interests...dey dont really expect a real research work frm freshers!!..even reading books or journals related to ur interests can b called as research....and they can easily catch plagairism so..DONOT EVEN TRY THAT.
Sometimes, a good SOP can get you an admit even though your scores n grades are lil low.
So...by d end of writing SOP you will know what u really are and what u want to be!!

Another important section in your application is Recommendations.
Universities wants to know what your teachers think of u...dey give more credibility to teachers opinion on u rather than urs(SOP).
The universities need atleast 3 recommendations(2 from undergraduate profs , 1 frm your employer if you r employed/had training/internship/again a prof if u havent done any). Choose recommenders who actually know u...and who actually thinks high of u...and contact them much ahead if dey could giv u a recommendation.
MYTH: Recommendation from an IIT professor who barely knows u can fetch u an admit...
wrong!!
TRUTH: Recommendation from any professor who can actually write about you...who knows you well will do.

Rest of the application is all about your educational, personal ,employment background which can be filled in easily.
Sending some documents like GRE,TOEFL score cards, academic transcripts,resume,work done(if asked),financial documents completes the application process.
Before submission, check the application over n over as there will b too many sections and u dont want to miss one by mistake.
Early submission is advised..it shows ur sincerity and determination to get into dat university.
And you have to devote an entire year if u want to do it perfectly well.

Last but not least, dont mess with your final year grades(which i already did), for some universities may reject ur admit for inconsistency in grades!!

oh i almost forgot....there are some things which TOP universities would love to see in your profile:
* Bachelors degree from IIT/NIT
* National or International level paper presentations
* Real good projects/training/internships
The above mentioned is not a NECESSITY...all they want to see is your potential and motivation towards graduate studies...if they can see that from the rest of your application , admit from a top world class university is in your hands. GOOD LUCK!!

Hope this is informative.
If there are any whats and what ifs going on in your head..please feel free to ask..ill make sure they are answered.

METAMORPHOSIS…Transformation from a timid caterpillar to sans soucy butterfly

My first day of college….i entered the class dressed up in chudidar with chunni pinned up,oiled plaited hair,wearing thick specs .I felt like odd man out seeing other people, as I was the only proper south Indian among the girls .I wasn’t sure where to sit as I was worried how other girls would receive me.The only girl I knew by that time was Vani and I preferred sitting beside her and mamta sinha .I was very excited to meet new people of different cultures,languages which I was totally unaware of at that time. Slowly people came to know I was good with my academics and they started taking help from me regarding studies.

Slowly my friendship improved as I was very friendly and good to my co students and many of my friends like shikha ,vani,shivi helped me with hindi which made my staying here a lot easier.I learned many things regarding dressing ,talking to boys etc etc .

I used think that for making friends with boys gals shud have great looks , smart talking skills blah blah…

Coz of few comments I used to get from some boys,and in my B.ETC lab group I was the only girl and no boy used to talk to me initially.

But once I started talking to my 1^st few frnds among boys ricky ,thapa,termi …my opinion changed.They treated me twith much respect and I really felt very great and comfortable in their company. I felt confident that luks,language all these don’t matter for being gud frnds with any person..it’s all ur genuineness dat matters.

With the change in my attitude my wardrobe also changed.Now it included new pair of lenses, jeans & T s(which I nvr used to wear when I was down south),proper chudidars……

Once I became confident ,I used to interact with all the people in the class, used to help everyone in which ever way possible….especially my helping thapa with exams made me pretty famous among other branches .

During freshers I was actively involved in many jobs and made friends with almost all the branch including Le’s, branch changers. This experience earned me great friends like puja,sony,amrish,kaushal,ajay,roshan,sunny....

With my spending many hrs in reading room to help my nepali frnd with his exams , I made many new frdns like romi,nidhi,jiggi,payal,nish,anki……….

Initially I was so regular to classes but once after this transformation my seriousness towards studies also changed . I used to bunk classes or run away in between the class,put proxy ,became a back bencher and used to make “halla” in d class.My interest towards sports increased as my friends play football. I attend every match they play.

My attitude towards life changed after seeing my friends. Initially I used to panic for very small probs but later on I took any kind of problem easily and my belief became life without problems is boring and every problem has a solution ..the thing is jst have to find the solution.Once this attitude came into me ,everything around me seemed so beautiful and lively.I njoyed each n every moment of my life and understood the importance of self confidence and independence.

Now I am not wrried about my appearence or wat people speak about me or wat life has in store for me.i am ready to take any new challenge .My college experience In these 4 yrs prepared me to step into the world and make it a sky for my wings to fly.

TOP 5

Since we are moving towards the end of our college life n we all will be fresh graduates within few months from now , i feel proud to let u know the best 5 students in different aspect of our college life in these 4 yrs, but its completely my view , u can post your own if u disagree with it . But please let me tell u its just my view it cant be reality so don 't take it srsly anyhow....
As we proudly call ourself computer engineers , let me start with programming in first:


Coding- Rajesh patidar,Sukhram manda,Anurag sharma,Abhishek bose n Mamta sinha
Walking encyclopedia-Anurag mishra,Siddarth das,Ranjeet pratap singh,Ashutosh jha,Prashant singh
Sports- Sunny chauhan,Abhinash thapa,Abhishek bose,Romeo ranjan parida,Jignesh patel (it shud hav been leaded by alok but kya karoon bechare ka leg hi saath nhi deta)
CG champs-Sudhanshu,Shreyansh,Kaushallendra,Ransingh,Anurag(both)
Proxy leader-Ajay,Manisha,Kaushallendra,Siddarth das,Ashutosh nath
Management guru- Ranjeet,Sunny,Shubham,Kaushal,Abhishek
Technical leaders- Ankita,Sreyansh,Rahul,Anitesh,......
Teachers-Neeraj,Kaushal,Puja,Siddarth,Jaya
Speakers-Nidhi,Shobhit,Abhijeet(indo),Ranjeet,Shivi
Creativity-Abhishek azad,Ankita mawandia,Ashutosh nath,Vishal jalan,sreevani
C.S- Vinay(he can b conisdered in many of the above among best),Alok,Arpit,Ajay,Abhishek aka hardy
AOE-Ranjeet,Rahul,Sunny,Deepak,Abhishek sharma
p.s:Siddarth das is manager of aoe and coach of CS


The list is endless as our activity had changed from time to time..hope u increase the list further ...