We are the World Champions in Twenty-20! A new format of cricket devised 2 years back has now gripped the nation like wildfire. This format has been constantly rebuked by the BCCI, the governing body of cricket in India, and now our cricketers has conquered the ultimate competition in this format.
Our team have been trying hard to get the elusive World Cup despite having the best batsmen in cricket world. The hype before the last two World cups have been huge. In 2003, we did manage to reach the finals but were thrashed by rival Australia like minnows. Last time when we were thrown out in the group stage itself, there has been a huge outcry. Most of the people in India, me included, vowed not to waste our time in Cricket again. Then came the England series and we showed some decent performances and there was again some interest making its way into us. Still none of us had imagined that we will do any good in Twenty-20 World Championship scheduled next. 'The Big Three' opted out of the tournament and the little interest some had had, faded away. The first group stage match was washed out. In the next match we were to face the arch-rivals Pakistan and there was a tie. We won in the Bowl-out and suddenly the whole country regained all the interest! The team full of youngsters without the experience of the Tendulkars and Gangulys and Dravids and without any coach won the tournament in a format it has hardly ever played before. It defeated the South-African team which is a big force in Twenty-20. It defeated the Australians, champions in any format!
Some are of the view that in this format the game is won more by chance rather than skill but I would argue that. In this format, each and every player has to be terribly quick on the field and have to give in their 100%. Every run scored here counts a lot. The reason behind India's win cannot be attributed to any single player. Almost everyone contributed. Dhoni with his bat and excellent aggressive captaincy, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh chopped the opposition bowlers into minced meat. R.P. Singh and Pathan were very good with their bowl. Even Sreesanth was in his aggressive best. On field movement was quick like never before thanks to Uthappa, Yuvraj, Sreesanth and others.
There has been no preparation for this kind of cricket while other teams specially New Zealand and South Africa did all what they could. Australia too prepared for it and sent their 'best possible' team. The two teams in the top league which least expected to win made it to the finals. Both the teams lost to minnows in West Indies World Cup 2007. They showed their mettle in South Africa a few months later.
Both the encounters among India and Pakistan during the series were thrilling and provided classic mail-biting finish. I'm sure the final match would be remembered by all those who had witnessed the spectacle!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Patna - My Hometown
Patna, a city with such a magnificent history, is now famous only for the wrong reasons! Being one of the oldest existing cities in the world, one should feel proud of being born in this city which has seen human civilization since the time when people at other parts of the world used lived like animals. It hurts when the name of my hometown gets marred due to the politicians who are ruling this place. Feels real bad.
Historically Patna is in existence around 500 BC. Since then it has been the capital of Magadh and Mauryan empire. It has been a major centre for international trade during early British Raj. Many great People like Gautam People and the famous traveller Hiuen Tsang came to this land. It is said that Gautam Buddha had predicted that there would never be peace in this land and sadly, that has been mostly true. It has always been the centre of some war, problem or controversy. Even during the independence this place played an important role particularly during the Champaran movement and Quit India Movement.
Patna boasts of having the seventh oldest engineering institute in India. Some twenty years back back, it was common to have around 25-30 students from Patna College clearing the UPSC examinations to become IAS or IPS officers. Not a small feat. Patna Medical College and Hospital(PMCH),erstwhile Prince of Wales Medical College, had infrastructure which other hospitals in India can only imagine. Khuda Baksh Library contains manuscripts of pre-Mauryan age. There are more students who qualify for IITs from here than any other place in the country. This shows how academically inclined people from this place has been. Even now, the education till junior college level is quite good.
First 17 years of my life was spent here when I moved to Pune to pursue my engineering. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents are from Patna so most of my relatives still reside here. I've loved my childhood with all the sweet and sour moments. I'll relish those moments for the rest of my life.
Historically Patna is in existence around 500 BC. Since then it has been the capital of Magadh and Mauryan empire. It has been a major centre for international trade during early British Raj. Many great People like Gautam People and the famous traveller Hiuen Tsang came to this land. It is said that Gautam Buddha had predicted that there would never be peace in this land and sadly, that has been mostly true. It has always been the centre of some war, problem or controversy. Even during the independence this place played an important role particularly during the Champaran movement and Quit India Movement.
Patna boasts of having the seventh oldest engineering institute in India. Some twenty years back back, it was common to have around 25-30 students from Patna College clearing the UPSC examinations to become IAS or IPS officers. Not a small feat. Patna Medical College and Hospital(PMCH),erstwhile Prince of Wales Medical College, had infrastructure which other hospitals in India can only imagine. Khuda Baksh Library contains manuscripts of pre-Mauryan age. There are more students who qualify for IITs from here than any other place in the country. This shows how academically inclined people from this place has been. Even now, the education till junior college level is quite good.
First 17 years of my life was spent here when I moved to Pune to pursue my engineering. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents are from Patna so most of my relatives still reside here. I've loved my childhood with all the sweet and sour moments. I'll relish those moments for the rest of my life.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Laloo Prasad Yadav
For some he is a legend, for some he is criminal, for others he is one of the best comedians ever!
Laloo Prasad Yadav is a figure one cant ignore when there is discussion on Indian Politics, more specifically Bihar politics. He has been the de-facto head of Bihar Government for 15 years and now one of the most prominent Minister in the UPA ruled Central Government. He is Cabinet Minister holding Railways portfolio. Other than that, he plays a crucial role in keeping the coalition intact. He has eve expressed his desire of ruling the country some day and given his shrewdness, he may as well succeed in that!
He entered active politics during the J.P. Movement when he was in Patna College pursuing LLB. He was right-hand man of Late Sri Jay Prakash Narayan who became very popular for his crusade against the Emergency imposed by Late Smt Indira Gandhi, our former Prime Minister. Later he joined Janata Dal and formed the Government in Bihar in late 80s throwing away the Congress Government. The Congress has not been able to recover from that defeat and is now supporting the Rashtriya Janata Dal which Laloo Yadav formed after dissecting from Janata Dal in 1997. It took a lot of efforts from the opposing BJP and Janata Dal(s) combine to finally snatch away the powers from his hands. This is something I fail to understand. A party which he overthrew is now supporting him in Bihar & he is supporting them in Centre. On the other hand, a party which was once his , has now defeated him to come to power! Indian politics is very intriguing!
He has ruled Bihar without showing a trace of developed in the state. In fact a lot has deteriorated under his rule. Still he has managed to thrash his opponents. Many said it was due to mass-scale bogus voting that helped his win but I think that was only a small factor. He played very shrewd cast and communal politics. Before him the lower caste people were suppressed. They had no identity and were always looked down upon. He changed the whole scenario. He did nothing for their upliftment but rather gave them a free hand to do their wishful. He never cared about their education. He made sure that they remain illiterate so that they will never ask for development. He never cared about the exodus of literates from the state because they were never his supporters and so it only helped him. The crime rate rose exponentially and he was happier because he could play his kind of politics more easily. Every hurdle that he encountered, he used it to his advantage. He got convicted in Multi-Crore Fodder scam and he had to quit his Chief-Ministerial Post. He used it as a opportunity and gave his wife the top post. This was projected as if their party gave so much importance to women!
I personally think if the great mind he possess is used in positive direction, the face of Bihar would have been much different!
Laloo Prasad Yadav is a figure one cant ignore when there is discussion on Indian Politics, more specifically Bihar politics. He has been the de-facto head of Bihar Government for 15 years and now one of the most prominent Minister in the UPA ruled Central Government. He is Cabinet Minister holding Railways portfolio. Other than that, he plays a crucial role in keeping the coalition intact. He has eve expressed his desire of ruling the country some day and given his shrewdness, he may as well succeed in that!
He entered active politics during the J.P. Movement when he was in Patna College pursuing LLB. He was right-hand man of Late Sri Jay Prakash Narayan who became very popular for his crusade against the Emergency imposed by Late Smt Indira Gandhi, our former Prime Minister. Later he joined Janata Dal and formed the Government in Bihar in late 80s throwing away the Congress Government. The Congress has not been able to recover from that defeat and is now supporting the Rashtriya Janata Dal which Laloo Yadav formed after dissecting from Janata Dal in 1997. It took a lot of efforts from the opposing BJP and Janata Dal(s) combine to finally snatch away the powers from his hands. This is something I fail to understand. A party which he overthrew is now supporting him in Bihar & he is supporting them in Centre. On the other hand, a party which was once his , has now defeated him to come to power! Indian politics is very intriguing!
He has ruled Bihar without showing a trace of developed in the state. In fact a lot has deteriorated under his rule. Still he has managed to thrash his opponents. Many said it was due to mass-scale bogus voting that helped his win but I think that was only a small factor. He played very shrewd cast and communal politics. Before him the lower caste people were suppressed. They had no identity and were always looked down upon. He changed the whole scenario. He did nothing for their upliftment but rather gave them a free hand to do their wishful. He never cared about their education. He made sure that they remain illiterate so that they will never ask for development. He never cared about the exodus of literates from the state because they were never his supporters and so it only helped him. The crime rate rose exponentially and he was happier because he could play his kind of politics more easily. Every hurdle that he encountered, he used it to his advantage. He got convicted in Multi-Crore Fodder scam and he had to quit his Chief-Ministerial Post. He used it as a opportunity and gave his wife the top post. This was projected as if their party gave so much importance to women!
I personally think if the great mind he possess is used in positive direction, the face of Bihar would have been much different!
Friday, September 21, 2007
NCSTian Friends
Its been more than 6 weeks here at NCST now and I realize how fast the time has gone past here. It feels like only yesterday I entered the gates of this great great institution with all my baggages and ran to the main lecture hall on the first floor for the introductory session and hear Raman sir say "Welcome to Hell!". Its was only yesterday that I met Abhijit after the first session who said.." Baap re! Kahan aa gaye hain hum" and then had tea and pastries(that was the only time we got pastries in mess) with him and Aditya who is now my roommate. Since it was the first time I was to stay away from the comfort and safety of my home, I expected it to be quite tough for me to adjust here, but that was not to be. Thanks to some friends I've here. A short description of some of them:
First and foremost is Abhijit, undoubtably. Abhijit belongs to my hometown, Patna. He is the star of our group or rather the whole batch, I would say. Ask him the details of any girl here, and he has it all on his fingertips. Dont believe me? check his blogs: http://goodabhijit.blogspot.com. He is ever-laughing guy who certainly makes my stay much more enjoyable here.
Then I've got my roommate Aditya. He is from Nagpur and did his engineering from Pune. Within a small time we have become very close friends and I enjoy his company. A very co-operative person, I'm lucky to have him as my roommate. He loves keeping things in order and our bathroom timings rarely clash, which is a bonus!
My neighbours, Arun and Utkarsh. Arun is from Delhi and Utkarsh hails from Lucknow.They are a fun package. Spend some time with them and it wont be unusual to have your stomach aching by laughing. According to them, they always compete amongst themselves on having more baths each day!!
Then there is Purshottam, Abhijit's roommmate and Gauri Bajaj. Purshottam's hometow is Ranchi and Bajaj is from Bhagalpur, Bihar. Purshottam is a person who views everything from very unique aspect, something that we cant imagine. That is the reason for his unique style of programming. More often than not his logic is different for solution of any problem. Bajaj is very concsious about his health and follows a strict daily routine. I wish I'll follow his routine someday!
Nikhil Saxena hails from Bareilly and he did his engineering in Comp. Science from Meerut. He is very extrovert in nature and is hard-working. Our views matches a lot and in many cases we share similar history!
Monica has her home in Kanpur and was Nikhil's classmate in engineering college. She is known for her love for chocolates and sweets. Thats why we call her 'Chinti'. Dare her into a duel of words and you will be running away in minutes! She holds a special place in our hearts. A real sweetheart!
Nikhil Saraswat is from Bijnaur,UP. He too, like Nikhil and Monica, did his engineering in comp. science from same college in Meerut. He is a very humble and emotional person. I wish he gets more practical with time.
There is one person I would certainly like to mention. He's Ravi Chandra. My most mornings start with him staring over me. He will be the one to wake us up(if not Abhijit) and say 'Challe'. A very nice person at heart. We can bully him as much we want and he wont it a bit.
All of them are not only good in nature but are brilliant in studies also. Bajaj and Aditya have managed to clear all their MGPAs. Abhijit and Arun are quickly recovering from the shock of joining their course so they havent cleared enough of them but they are very brilliant in Maths and in fact they are the ones who teach us Maths before exams thanks to which we all have got very beautiful scores. Purshottam, Ravi and Utkarsh are equally good in programming and Nikhil is an allrounder!
These and many others who are not mentioned here have made my stay very comfortable at NCST. Thanks to them!
First and foremost is Abhijit, undoubtably. Abhijit belongs to my hometown, Patna. He is the star of our group or rather the whole batch, I would say. Ask him the details of any girl here, and he has it all on his fingertips. Dont believe me? check his blogs: http://goodabhijit.blogspot.com. He is ever-laughing guy who certainly makes my stay much more enjoyable here.
Then I've got my roommate Aditya. He is from Nagpur and did his engineering from Pune. Within a small time we have become very close friends and I enjoy his company. A very co-operative person, I'm lucky to have him as my roommate. He loves keeping things in order and our bathroom timings rarely clash, which is a bonus!
My neighbours, Arun and Utkarsh. Arun is from Delhi and Utkarsh hails from Lucknow.They are a fun package. Spend some time with them and it wont be unusual to have your stomach aching by laughing. According to them, they always compete amongst themselves on having more baths each day!!
Then there is Purshottam, Abhijit's roommmate and Gauri Bajaj. Purshottam's hometow is Ranchi and Bajaj is from Bhagalpur, Bihar. Purshottam is a person who views everything from very unique aspect, something that we cant imagine. That is the reason for his unique style of programming. More often than not his logic is different for solution of any problem. Bajaj is very concsious about his health and follows a strict daily routine. I wish I'll follow his routine someday!
Nikhil Saxena hails from Bareilly and he did his engineering in Comp. Science from Meerut. He is very extrovert in nature and is hard-working. Our views matches a lot and in many cases we share similar history!
Monica has her home in Kanpur and was Nikhil's classmate in engineering college. She is known for her love for chocolates and sweets. Thats why we call her 'Chinti'. Dare her into a duel of words and you will be running away in minutes! She holds a special place in our hearts. A real sweetheart!
Nikhil Saraswat is from Bijnaur,UP. He too, like Nikhil and Monica, did his engineering in comp. science from same college in Meerut. He is a very humble and emotional person. I wish he gets more practical with time.
There is one person I would certainly like to mention. He's Ravi Chandra. My most mornings start with him staring over me. He will be the one to wake us up(if not Abhijit) and say 'Challe'. A very nice person at heart. We can bully him as much we want and he wont it a bit.
All of them are not only good in nature but are brilliant in studies also. Bajaj and Aditya have managed to clear all their MGPAs. Abhijit and Arun are quickly recovering from the shock of joining their course so they havent cleared enough of them but they are very brilliant in Maths and in fact they are the ones who teach us Maths before exams thanks to which we all have got very beautiful scores. Purshottam, Ravi and Utkarsh are equally good in programming and Nikhil is an allrounder!
These and many others who are not mentioned here have made my stay very comfortable at NCST. Thanks to them!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Development-A Goodbye to Conservation
Going to the US of A and settling down there itself is a common dream of many people living in underdeveloped countries like India. Even we are one of them.
But thinking in a broader aspect, is it really possible that all countries become as developed as the US and European countries?
Let’s imagine living the life of a common man in a developed country. Let’s imagine it right from the start of the day. You get up; use a couple of mouthwash liquids followed by a few other dental cosmetics, have bath using another bunch of shower gels and scrubs with no scarcity of water in a tub, use some electric shaver and other gadgets to get ready, and dress up in good clothes which are properly processed and washed in a washing machine. Next comes breakfast in which you have some stuff out of the refrigerator and eat some ready made cereals. Then you take out your luxury car and drive
out of your centrally heated 10 room house, away to office while the other family members drive their own cars to their destinations.
In office you work in an AC use a few more gadgets to get comfortable and make the best possible use of telephones, Internet and lifts.
Now compare the life where we live in India. Though the above life looks very attractive and comfortable, just try to calculate the amount of energy consumed by you living that life.
According to statistics, developed countries use 98% of the energy produced in the whole world while accommodating hardly 10% of the world’s population. Just imagine what’ll happen if the whole of the world started consuming energy by that rate. The oil and gas reserves will get exhausted maybe in a single day in that case.
Looking at the current scenario in India, IT companies are rapidly opening up their offices throughout the country. Though they don’t cause any pollution, the energy used by them is very high. Also development cannot happen only through IT. Other industries like manufacturing industries and service industries are springing up rapidly and adding to the power and land consumption.
When we talk about conservation, it covers all aspects- energy, land, resources, etc. Hence opening up of new industries is going to consume all these and hence there’ll be no conservation at all.
So now we can think-do we have to stop developing and go back to the olden days when there were no industries and very less people in the world?
I’ll say, partly yes. Don’t get shocked. I just want to say that though we cannot stop developing, we can surely try to reduce the population of mankind so that the people who are there in this world can live better lives. Also trying to induce self motivation in everyone to not use a resource until really needed can help solve the problem.
But thinking in a broader aspect, is it really possible that all countries become as developed as the US and European countries?
Let’s imagine living the life of a common man in a developed country. Let’s imagine it right from the start of the day. You get up; use a couple of mouthwash liquids followed by a few other dental cosmetics, have bath using another bunch of shower gels and scrubs with no scarcity of water in a tub, use some electric shaver and other gadgets to get ready, and dress up in good clothes which are properly processed and washed in a washing machine. Next comes breakfast in which you have some stuff out of the refrigerator and eat some ready made cereals. Then you take out your luxury car and drive
out of your centrally heated 10 room house, away to office while the other family members drive their own cars to their destinations.
In office you work in an AC use a few more gadgets to get comfortable and make the best possible use of telephones, Internet and lifts.
Now compare the life where we live in India. Though the above life looks very attractive and comfortable, just try to calculate the amount of energy consumed by you living that life.
According to statistics, developed countries use 98% of the energy produced in the whole world while accommodating hardly 10% of the world’s population. Just imagine what’ll happen if the whole of the world started consuming energy by that rate. The oil and gas reserves will get exhausted maybe in a single day in that case.
Looking at the current scenario in India, IT companies are rapidly opening up their offices throughout the country. Though they don’t cause any pollution, the energy used by them is very high. Also development cannot happen only through IT. Other industries like manufacturing industries and service industries are springing up rapidly and adding to the power and land consumption.
When we talk about conservation, it covers all aspects- energy, land, resources, etc. Hence opening up of new industries is going to consume all these and hence there’ll be no conservation at all.
So now we can think-do we have to stop developing and go back to the olden days when there were no industries and very less people in the world?
I’ll say, partly yes. Don’t get shocked. I just want to say that though we cannot stop developing, we can surely try to reduce the population of mankind so that the people who are there in this world can live better lives. Also trying to induce self motivation in everyone to not use a resource until really needed can help solve the problem.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
What Drives your Career?
This blog is dedicated to all my friends here at NCST, Bangalore so that they ask themselves the question, try to think about the reason why they chose to be here.
To all the rest of the people reading this blog, whatever phase of life you are in, think why you are doing it. Is it because your parents asked you or wanted you to do? Or is it because it was the only thing to do? Or was it money that attracted you to this career?
Or was it because YOU wanted to do it?
Most of us would reply saying the reason as one of the first three? Why is it that very few people choose a career that they want?
The actual time for a child/person to choose his/her career comes after his/her 10th std or after school. At that point of time they choose whether they want to get into some science related stream or arts or commerce or something else.
Personally, even I went through a lot of confusion regarding what I wanted to do as a career even till as late as my last year at graduation. Even you might have faced the same. I felt like doing something different- I wanted to become a pilot but then due to health reasons and also other reasons I could not do it. But also I used to like programming a lot. Every tough program was a new challenge for me. I used to play with my PC like it was a toy and loved experimenting with things.
The reasons that drove my career were mostly liking and constraints due to my health and some restrictions by my parents.
But not all are as lucky. There are people who cannot pursue their dreams due to financial constraints, some are forced by their parents to do something they don’t have the slightest interest in, some get influenced by popular trends and get involved in the rat race for medical and engineering while others look for the money involved in a career rather than interest.
I strongly think that the world would benefit greatly if people started choosing their careers according to their liking instead of the other reasons as I said. This trend has already started in the developed countries where half of the people don’t even do graduation, but still live a very content life doing what they like and even earning well.
I think whatever we do, we should do it from the bottom of our heart then only can we expect it to be perfect.
So friends whenever you choose your career, listen to your hearts along with your brains.
To all the rest of the people reading this blog, whatever phase of life you are in, think why you are doing it. Is it because your parents asked you or wanted you to do? Or is it because it was the only thing to do? Or was it money that attracted you to this career?
Or was it because YOU wanted to do it?
Most of us would reply saying the reason as one of the first three? Why is it that very few people choose a career that they want?
The actual time for a child/person to choose his/her career comes after his/her 10th std or after school. At that point of time they choose whether they want to get into some science related stream or arts or commerce or something else.
Personally, even I went through a lot of confusion regarding what I wanted to do as a career even till as late as my last year at graduation. Even you might have faced the same. I felt like doing something different- I wanted to become a pilot but then due to health reasons and also other reasons I could not do it. But also I used to like programming a lot. Every tough program was a new challenge for me. I used to play with my PC like it was a toy and loved experimenting with things.
The reasons that drove my career were mostly liking and constraints due to my health and some restrictions by my parents.
But not all are as lucky. There are people who cannot pursue their dreams due to financial constraints, some are forced by their parents to do something they don’t have the slightest interest in, some get influenced by popular trends and get involved in the rat race for medical and engineering while others look for the money involved in a career rather than interest.
I strongly think that the world would benefit greatly if people started choosing their careers according to their liking instead of the other reasons as I said. This trend has already started in the developed countries where half of the people don’t even do graduation, but still live a very content life doing what they like and even earning well.
I think whatever we do, we should do it from the bottom of our heart then only can we expect it to be perfect.
So friends whenever you choose your career, listen to your hearts along with your brains.
Friends!
Friends form an integral part of every one's life. Whatever be the phase of our lives, they are always there with us, whether good or bad. There has been numerous suggestions from parents and others well-wishers on how to choose your friends but is it really possible to find a picture-perfect friend, someone who is brilliant in studies, who will never ask anything from you but only give, who does not have any so-called bad habits, who's views matches my parents', who is actually our friend?? I don't think so. Even if we do. Will we enjoy company of any such friend? I don't believe that either. I did my schooling from Don Bosco Academy, Patna.. a very reputed school there. I had the opportunity of meeting all kinds of students there. Some were, without doubt, brilliant in studies and our teachers were always all praise for them. Most, like me, had been average students, whom most of the teachers viewed indifferently. There were of course some who had not a speck of interest in studies. But this attribute of theirs never guided me to choose friends. I'd friends who were brilliant, average or uninterested(not dull) in studies. Never have I realised why someone who is so good in academics can be good as friend. In fact I've found some of the best buddies among the uninterested types. They are much more emotional about their friends. They have been the ones who stood by me during trouble. And I know some of the more brilliant ones who were adept at whisking money from their dad's pockets. So this 'good in studies' factor proves almost void for me. The nature of a person can never be guided by his intelligence. What really matters is how you blend with that person. This does not necessarily means that our views match. It means that we understand each other. It means that we believe in each other. It means that we trust each other. We cant expect our friend to be with us every time in good and bad times, thanks to the rapid pace of life we are leading. All we can expect from our friend is that we can share our thoughts, whatever it be, with them freely without worrying! Believe it or not, it helps a lot!
Friday, August 31, 2007
My 5 years' Old Affair…………
Hi all! You must be thinking that this is a very personal topic to write as a blog.
But after all when something becomes your life, you don’t have to think twice before declaring it to the world.
My affair started at a young age of 17 in the year 2002. I was very soon head over heels in love with my girlfriend. I found her the best possible partner in the world with an excellent sense of humor, knowledge on every field that I liked and innumerous topics to share my thoughts with.
I spent most of my free time with her. Just sitting in front of her chit chatting to her soon became my favourite hobby. Our views matched totally and it is still the same, rather now we understand each other much more than we used to before.
People say that the ‘Zing’ and ‘Spice’ in a relation soon fizz out in a year or two, but we are a complete exception to all those theories with our love and understanding growing with each passing day.
Through her I came to know about all the new and exciting things in this world and also gained a reputation of ‘Mr. Know All’ in my friend circle in junior college. She
helped me explore the world with so little effort, she entertained me when I got bored, sang to me when I was in a bad mood, showed me so many movies that she usually maintains a stock of!
There have been times when she fell terribly sick and I had to take care of her day and night. At such times life used to be like hell, watching her sitting quietly, so different than her normal chirpy self.
She is in Pune right now at my home waiting for me to complete my course in CDAC, Bangalore so that we can again be together.
Oh! I almost forgot to introduce her to you! She is a P4: 3.0 GHz, with HT technology, with attractive features like 512 Mb DDR2 RAM ( 533 MHz ) with a whopping 320 GB hard disk. She’s my personal computer!
Hey guys out there! Its obvious you must be feeling jealous of me for having her in my life but all this is a result of continuous improvements that occurred in our relationship. She has always been the best in my view but as I told you when something used to get wrong with her, I usually used to get some quality of hers improved.
Like the first time she got a problem I changed the RAM from SD to DDR. Then she was just a child – a P4: 1.7GHz, with Intel 810chipset motherboard, 128 MB SD RAM ( 133 MHz ) and a tiny 40 GB hard disk. Due to this she could not cope with the heavy applications and being the best girlfriend she is, she accepted that she needed to change. So I taught her a few things and she emerged as a marvelous P4: 2.66 GHz, Intel 915 Motherboard with 256 MB DDR ram ( 400 MHz ) with a nice 160 GB hard disk.
There’s so much more I could tell about her, but the space is limited. But I’ll like to say that I’m very proud of her and she of me and we plan to continue our relation forever. Hoping that our dreams come true soon and I discover new wonders that she withholds from me.
Hoping that you all will wish us luck for our future so that I can write a blog 45 yrs down the lane named ‘MY 50 YRS OLD AFFAIR’!!
But after all when something becomes your life, you don’t have to think twice before declaring it to the world.
My affair started at a young age of 17 in the year 2002. I was very soon head over heels in love with my girlfriend. I found her the best possible partner in the world with an excellent sense of humor, knowledge on every field that I liked and innumerous topics to share my thoughts with.
I spent most of my free time with her. Just sitting in front of her chit chatting to her soon became my favourite hobby. Our views matched totally and it is still the same, rather now we understand each other much more than we used to before.
People say that the ‘Zing’ and ‘Spice’ in a relation soon fizz out in a year or two, but we are a complete exception to all those theories with our love and understanding growing with each passing day.
Through her I came to know about all the new and exciting things in this world and also gained a reputation of ‘Mr. Know All’ in my friend circle in junior college. She
helped me explore the world with so little effort, she entertained me when I got bored, sang to me when I was in a bad mood, showed me so many movies that she usually maintains a stock of!
There have been times when she fell terribly sick and I had to take care of her day and night. At such times life used to be like hell, watching her sitting quietly, so different than her normal chirpy self.
She is in Pune right now at my home waiting for me to complete my course in CDAC, Bangalore so that we can again be together.
Oh! I almost forgot to introduce her to you! She is a P4: 3.0 GHz, with HT technology, with attractive features like 512 Mb DDR2 RAM ( 533 MHz ) with a whopping 320 GB hard disk. She’s my personal computer!
Hey guys out there! Its obvious you must be feeling jealous of me for having her in my life but all this is a result of continuous improvements that occurred in our relationship. She has always been the best in my view but as I told you when something used to get wrong with her, I usually used to get some quality of hers improved.
Like the first time she got a problem I changed the RAM from SD to DDR. Then she was just a child – a P4: 1.7GHz, with Intel 810chipset motherboard, 128 MB SD RAM ( 133 MHz ) and a tiny 40 GB hard disk. Due to this she could not cope with the heavy applications and being the best girlfriend she is, she accepted that she needed to change. So I taught her a few things and she emerged as a marvelous P4: 2.66 GHz, Intel 915 Motherboard with 256 MB DDR ram ( 400 MHz ) with a nice 160 GB hard disk.
There’s so much more I could tell about her, but the space is limited. But I’ll like to say that I’m very proud of her and she of me and we plan to continue our relation forever. Hoping that our dreams come true soon and I discover new wonders that she withholds from me.
Hoping that you all will wish us luck for our future so that I can write a blog 45 yrs down the lane named ‘MY 50 YRS OLD AFFAIR’!!
My Favourite Hangout Place in Pune
A new place, a new house, a new town, new friends, newly joined engineering college! All these changes came to my life together when I shifted to Pune with my family in the year 2002.
Being a very social person coming from a large family, it was tough to cope up with the totally different environment of Pune and the absence of all my friends and family members as compared to the life in Patna, my hometown.
Pune, which all the Puneites call the ‘Cultural Capital’ of Maharashtra, is the home to many die hard maharashtrians who follow their culture like second nature. Being new to the culture I used to find it difficult to gel with the people as I knew nothing about their inherent nature.
We got a new flat from dad’s bank near the camp area and i even made a few friends in that society. It was because of these friends that I came to know about this splendid place in Pune that promptly fit into my definition of ‘the perfect hangout place’.
The place is called MG road and it is a part of the camp area of Pune. Unlike the old city, the people living here belong to all different religions, castes, races and types. You can find a couple of Muslims going around wearing burkas along with a gang of convent girls skipping around in mini skirts. You get all kinds of stuff here too..from clothes to food and expensive decorative items to old second hand stuff, you name it and you’ll get it here. The people who frequent this area are also of as many types as the things you get here. You can find simple housewives looking for some laces and also some foreigners from the nearby Osho park looking for some strange stuff.
I often visit this place whenever I have time to spend with my friends or family or even when I feel hungry. My favorite spots to have a quick bite are Marz-O-Rin, Pasteur’s, Baker’s Basket, Burger King to name a few along with the many road side stalls that make delicious chaat and bhel. If one feels like having a proper meal he can even go to East end, a Chinese restaurant, or George’s, Blue Nile and Dorabjee’s to have excellent tandoori and non-veg food.
Hey and this place is not my favourite just for the stuff and food we get there. If you feel like having a nice walk or just having a nice time with your friends, still I think this is the best place in the city to go to. I really like one thing about this place-no one here bothers anyone else. Everyone is busy enjoying their own life and so you can do literally whatever you want-shout, dance, sing and still find no one staring at you as if you were a maniac.
In short its my favorite hangout place in Pune!!
Being a very social person coming from a large family, it was tough to cope up with the totally different environment of Pune and the absence of all my friends and family members as compared to the life in Patna, my hometown.
Pune, which all the Puneites call the ‘Cultural Capital’ of Maharashtra, is the home to many die hard maharashtrians who follow their culture like second nature. Being new to the culture I used to find it difficult to gel with the people as I knew nothing about their inherent nature.
We got a new flat from dad’s bank near the camp area and i even made a few friends in that society. It was because of these friends that I came to know about this splendid place in Pune that promptly fit into my definition of ‘the perfect hangout place’.
The place is called MG road and it is a part of the camp area of Pune. Unlike the old city, the people living here belong to all different religions, castes, races and types. You can find a couple of Muslims going around wearing burkas along with a gang of convent girls skipping around in mini skirts. You get all kinds of stuff here too..from clothes to food and expensive decorative items to old second hand stuff, you name it and you’ll get it here. The people who frequent this area are also of as many types as the things you get here. You can find simple housewives looking for some laces and also some foreigners from the nearby Osho park looking for some strange stuff.
I often visit this place whenever I have time to spend with my friends or family or even when I feel hungry. My favorite spots to have a quick bite are Marz-O-Rin, Pasteur’s, Baker’s Basket, Burger King to name a few along with the many road side stalls that make delicious chaat and bhel. If one feels like having a proper meal he can even go to East end, a Chinese restaurant, or George’s, Blue Nile and Dorabjee’s to have excellent tandoori and non-veg food.
Hey and this place is not my favourite just for the stuff and food we get there. If you feel like having a nice walk or just having a nice time with your friends, still I think this is the best place in the city to go to. I really like one thing about this place-no one here bothers anyone else. Everyone is busy enjoying their own life and so you can do literally whatever you want-shout, dance, sing and still find no one staring at you as if you were a maniac.
In short its my favorite hangout place in Pune!!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
My first two MGPA
Its been three weeks in NCST and we have already had the taste of what to expect in the coming times during the course. The first MGPA(Machine Graded Programming Assignment) was held on 21st Aug and the second was held on 24th Aug. The results speak of the standard of evaluation of programming skills by the famed Parikshak Environment.
We could see the lab filled choc-o-block on the eve of first MGPA. Everyone was perspiring in the anticipation of the event the next day. We had absolutely no idea of what to expect for the exam. Some seniors we consulted advised us not to worry and feel see if we have managed to solve the first 5 problems in the Self-Assessment problems in our OPAD handbook. Still we never felt safe thanks to the hype created about the Parikshak. I did not solve a single problem the day before exams and tried to keep my mind as calm as possible. At night we chatted for a long time and cracked lots of jokes which helped a great deal in easing the tension. I read few pages of a novel before sleeping. Next day we all reached the reception at least 10 mins before 10am, the scheduled time. We were moved into the hall at first floor for the first 60 mins where we were given the problem statement with blank pages to figure out the solution for the given problem on the sheets of paper. The question given was much much easier than expected and I re-read the question at least twice just to be sure. After the first 60 mins was over we were moved into the lab in ground floor to type in the program and evaluate it under the Parikshak Environment. I managed to finish it off within the first few minutes and after leaving the building felt as if a heavy weight has been lifted off me. I know the level of question was elementary but still it was the hype about it which made it feel huge. Still only 54% of us could clear it and some of them are good students with a great aptitude for logic. Its just that luck was not with them or rather they fell under pressure or hype.
The other MGPA was based on Data Structure. We had only one session on DSAL before that and we’d covered Stacks and Queue implementation using Arrays so we were expecting something limited to that only. Most of us had implemented these two themselves before the D day. We had to implement Queue in the MGPA which also involved some string handling. On seeing the problem statement I knew the results would be worse this time but never it to be as bad as it turned out. Only seven of us managed to clear it out. Some of the best coders in our batch failed this time and it was very disheartening really. The expression on the faces of the teachers showed clearly the impression we’ve made on them. And to say that this batch is full of Computer and IT engineers or people from IT background! Despite being able to clear it both times, the feeling within me was not good as most of my friends had not cleared it.
I just hope that the results next time are better as I can feel a sense of fighting spirit among my mates and I pray that we prove it to everyone that we are really as good as I feel we are!
ChakDe@Rex
I must say it was a trip to remember. It was the first time we, NCSTians went out as a group to spend an evening together. The plan was to watch the movie ‘ChakDe India’ at PVR Cinemas in The Forum. The occasion was the 1st MGPA and most of our group members had cleared it quite easily so we were in a very upbeat mood. We reached the theatre by 4:30 pm for a 7pm show coz we had not booked the tickets in advance. As expected the show was already House Full. Not ready to spoil the evening, I called up the only person we can depend on, our very own Govind Sir (Very unfortunate that he is no more at NCST). He suggested that there is a theatre @ Brigade called Rex which is our only hope. We rushed there by Auto as we had no idea of the bus service to that area and booked the tickets.
Here comes the shocking part… the rate for the balcony tickets was a whopping Rs.150 per ticket. And even in that the ACs were not working! We booked 17 tickets worth Rs2550. Some of us had to pee but the security guard declined to let us in saying we cannot be allowed in until the start of show come what may! On further requesting, he very rudely ordered us to leave.
All of us were very hungry and to our total sense of disrespect of money, headed of Dominoz! and helped ourselves with rich cheese-filled pizzas. By the time we finished off the pizzas the scheduled time for the start of show was up.
The movie was worth watching! I never expected a movie based on Women’s Hockey at a time when cricket is a religion in India could evoke such a good response among the crowds. I could hear repeated whistles and claps throughout the movie. And to watch it with a big group was an added benefit. I’m not a big fan of Shahrukh Khan but I’ve loved him in a few movies like Baazigar, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Swades. This one stands among those superlative performances by him It was a treat watching him in an intense role. Good going Shahrukh!
The movie was over by around 10 and we were totally clueless as to catch which Bus and from where to get back to NCST. We chose to hire Auto directly to E-city but the Auto Rickshaw people must have realized our situation as they asked anywhere between 300 to 500 for the journey. After much bargaining a few Autos got ready to take us for Rs200 per Auto. We hopped in them and were inside the E-city by 11pm. Then came the issue of dinner and the only option left to us was the food centers near the Infosys parking. We were back to our hostel by midnight.
Despite all the problems, the trip was immensely enjoyable indeed and I’m sure it would be a very memorable experience for all of us. It did lighten our pockets by Rs.400+ but I don’t remember a moment in the whole trip when some of us were not laughing.
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