Chaar Yaar

moi(harsh), madman (madhav), seth (anish), mi10 (miten)

Lunch Time

A pic from yesterday's lunch....

(l to r) Sunil, Madhav, Vibha, Anish, Sujit, Saumil, Kalpesh, Miten, Harsh

Hope..anxiety....prayers!!

Got my infy's date of joining letter(doj) today....The moment I opened the letter...could feel the ground shaking...hear lightning all round......The damn doj is on 13th June at Mysore....!!!

What this means is ....NO VACATIONS....NO BREAKS......NO time to breathe........!!!

Anyways.....even though I knew that moving out of the comforts of my home was nothing but an eventuality one day, the reality of the entire process has slowly started to dawn on me now......
I have never stayed away from home...have never stayed outside mumbai..have never stayed alone ;-(.....
Anxiety, has started to set in....

All I can do is hope and pray for the best....I hope that the transition is smooth....that I take minimal time to settle down..and finally that I enjoy myself in whatever I do in the year to come....

PRAY FOR ME... !!
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What kind of a thinker am I ?

You are a Logical-Mathematical Thinker

Logical-Mathematical thinkers:

• Like to understand patterns and relationships between objects or actions
• Try to understand the world in terms of causes and effects
• Are good at thinking critically, and solving problems creatively

Other Logical-Mathematical Thinkers include

Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Albert Einstein

Careers which suit Logical-Mathematical thinkers include

Physicist, Chemist, Biologist, Lawyer, Computer programmer, Engineer, Inventor

You are an Intrapersonal thinker

Intrapersonal thinkers

• Spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to understand themselves
• Reflect on their thoughts and moods, and work to improve them
• You understand how your behaviour affects your relationships with others

Other Intrapersonal thinkers include

Sigmund Freud, Gandhi, Grahame Greene

Careers which suit Intrapersonal Thinkers include

Psychologist, Teacher, Pilot, Child care worker, Explorer, Drama therapist

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/thinker_quiz/research.shtml

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Down memory lane.........(Part 1)

As we (read spce'ites) all come to the end of yet another chapter in our lives...i.e. the culmination of our lives as students of engineering at S.P.C.E.....I think it is a wonderful opportunity to look back at the last 3-4 years........

(I shall be posting the entire series in 4 parts..)

IST YEAR

I set foot in S.P.C.E. on 13/9/2001 (two days aftr the 11/9)....It being the first day, I didnt expect much to happen...
Oh before I go on....Two days earlier I had come to college (dont rem for wht...)...where I met Madhav for the first time....a very inconsequential meeting......until I came across a person who started shouting at us for no apparent reason...he probably was upset cos we were standing in the middle of the passage...or some such thing......I asked Madhav who he was and just ignored him....
Cut back to 13/9....I am wandering around college with good old pal Bharat (Bj) (by old I mean..I kno him for arnd 7 years...not that he is old ;-))...asking some ppl (read seniors) as to whr our class is located....The ppl were so kind...they take us exactly to where the class was...only difference being it was their class, not ours......and rag the hell out of us... It was time now for the Principal's address....and surprise surprise.....the person in the previous paragraph turns out to be my principal....and if things wernt bad enough..I am sitting in the first row trying to hide my face, as he starts his sad speech.

Well, this was my introduction to SPCE. Was it a sign of things to come? Yes and no....Yes, cos the days, months and years that followed were as unpredictable, exciting and full of ups and downs...No, cos, unlike the first day, I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every moment, good or bad, and would cherish it for a long time to come.

The 1st year, went by, in a flash. Me and Bj were preparing for JEE....and hence cudnt experience much of college....Met a lot of new faces.....made some friends (read Ashrut (ash), Anish (seth), etc), some acquaintances...no enemies tho ;-)....Attended Freshies..Techno...missed out on SPACE...Got introduced to the meaning and usage of terms like 'Hagga','Sadma' 'Triple'......I still remember the great lunch times spent with Ash at either shettys, spjain mess or spce mess...(saala.....got me sick so many times....;-) ).
.....However the highlights of the first year were undoubtedly the profs....each one a character in himself/herself.....Right from Dumpu, Pk, Kapil Bhat and the likes to the poor Maths teachers whose lectures no one ever attended......heheheh

And so the year came to an end...JEE didnt go too well....and I thought I'd be stuck in a place I didnt want to be in.....little did I kno, that I wud be proved completely wrong, in the years to come.........

P.s:- Coming up....Down memory lane.... (part 2)

C.A.....Sachin v/s Bucknor

Good day at C.A......
After the last week's disaster....we finally are back on track (hopefully...) and are keeping our fingers crossed....and hoping there arnt many roadblocks ahead.....

Shifting topics, to something I like to play, watch, think and talk about --> CRICKET

2nd test between India and Pakistan.......A crucial juncture in the test match....Sachin, after quite awhile, was playing fluently....the Sachin of old.........And then when he is all set for a big score, gets out to a real bad decision by a certain Mr. Bucknor...(incidentally his 100th test as umpire).........

Such incidents as always cause quite a controversy...especially in the country of the affected team........for instance the Pakistani press was not quite happy with the umpiring in the 1st test....likewise the Indian media, which always brings up the issue of the "role of the umpire" whenever such an incident takes place, but however remain quiet...when the "rub of the green" goes our way...for instance when, in the first test, Sachin was given not-out, even though he had clearly edged the ball. ..........

The suspect role of the media, notwithstanding, I feel the issue about the "role of the umpire" is quite an important and relevant one. How far does one equip the umpire with modern technology to assist him in decision making?How does one ensure, by doing so, the pace of the game does not slow down...and at the same time ensuring that there is fair play? Are the neutral umpires really fair?...fair does not just imply neutrality on the part of umpires it implies competence as well......

However, as everyone says, "U WIN SOME, U LOSE SOME"......yea right....... go tell that to Sachin...poor guy once again missed out on an opportunity to prove his critics wrong that he too can play well in the 2nd innings, under pressure....remember Mcgrath trapping him Lbw with a bouncer (another controversial decision)...........

Well all I hope is that "All's well that ends well"....May India go on to win the test and then the series....Amen.

1000 hits

Yey!!....a 1000 hits in around 15 days...!!...Its another thing arnd half have been by me ;-)

What a waste........

Surprise!! surprise.....For the second time in my engineering life, we had a surprise class test today in Distributed Computing.....(da first one was in a subject called Theoretical Computer Science...by a certain female called Swati Kolekar)

For those who donot know abt class tests in our college, atleast in my class. Well it is nothing but a test of survival of the fittest, fastest and meanest......it is a test of who is smart enuff, chalu enuff and kamina enuff to copy, chapo and paste his way through......

Same was the case today.....surprise or no surprise.......everyone cracked the paper. Afterall the test was an "open-book" test (as, if it matters,, every test in the last 4 years have been open-book for me ;-))

As I am typing...I am surprised, that I dont feel guilty...that I dont feel bad talking about it..forget doing it....that I dont even regret it.

I wonder whether it is just a bad habit that would go away with time...or is it tht I have now stopped caring for what is right or wrong....or is it tht I blame the system for being "so wrong" that one cant help but cheat.........

Is it just ok to blame my college...to blame my teachers..(its another thing, that they are really bad...)? I guess not...

Yes it will take a special effort to rise up and make use of whatever is available...to ensure that the learning process is not compromised.... to ensure that you do not fall prey to the system

I guess, better late than never...

P.s: Not that I am goin to stop copyin though....have done it for last 3.5 yrs...might as well for the remaining 0.5 ;-)

C.A. photos

Check out anish (seth), moi (or harry), neh(t)a and madhav(a.k.a madman, maddy & sickguy...) in action

www.geocities.com/hardos83/CA/myphot.html

All down the drain.........

Bad day at C.A.....worst infact....

Since the last two weeks....we had made quite a few breakthroughs in our second module...we atleast thought we did......but as it turned out Ashok rejected almost the entire thing....apparently we had, yet again,misunderstood the requirements (first time such a thing happened was durin the first module....whr v had to start again from scratch...)

Anyways....we all are now determined not to give up...and we will try our best to do what we can......even CLEAN THE DRAIN IF POSSIBLE ;-)

Idle mind.....Devil's worksop??

Been really idle in this sem...Especially after the interview, have had nothing to do. Nothing on my mind, nothing to work for, nothing to study....NOTHING!!!

As I was blogging this...was also chatting to a friend of mine (Saumil).....he was complaining that even he had been free lately and that he "felt uncomfortable when nothing is occupying his mind"

I couldnt help, but wonder at the irony. Whenever I was loaded with work.... all i did was yearn for a break....a time when I would do nothing....and when i finally get one I feel miserable...... now I want to occupy myself in something, I want some work...I want "something on my mind....not nothing!!"

And I am so sure, that once I get loaded with work again...I'll start yearning for that elusive (or not so elusive) break again.

I guess the trick to get out of this cycle.. is to get involved in something one enjoys doing...for instance I really like working for our final yr project.....However, when work starts becoming a burden..one starts hoping to break free.

Computer Ass(es)ociates

As usual and as always, another eventful day at C.A.(officially :- our company for our final year project ; unofficially :- our getaway from the boring and sick lectures of our college;-))

We reach early (9 am) knowing a lot had to be done....finishing the first module (never seems to get over
:-( )...documentation....starting the second module.....
We start off well, deciding the agenda, delegating work....we even get a presentation from Ansih regarding the database schema ;-)

But now things take a turn for the bad.....

It is past lunch time...and all we have done is exhaust the vast ocean of information, knowledge, data and a host of other things.....GOOGLE ;-)... And to make matters worse....the three computers that we are workin on are rendered useless....one has the software but not ASP...other has ASP but not our software...and the third one has neither....urghhh!!!! (software:- is the product we are workin on...ASP:- we are using it to develop our solution)
I finally decide to install ACCESS on one of the machines which had ASP workin..so that we can atleast do somethin....others warn me( read Neha)...that Ashok (our guide...and may i add the best guide ever) was very skeptical of ours even using the 'production' machines, let alone installing something on them....

We however decide to install and if things wernt bad enough..this is what happens
I insert the CD...and WHAM!!!!.. The drive gets stuck...The cd could not be read...and even the eject button stops functionin.....We press and press...but the goddam cd wouldnt come out.....We even get hold of some lever to try and manually eject the drive.......The sight of Anish trying his best to open the drive...reminded us of someone trying to push a car.....it was hilarious............
Finally, one of the person working there...came to our rescue...As it turned out nothing was wrong with the drive...just that...linux was also on on the same machine...and the cd-drive was mounted.....whatever the case..we really looked like fools..(read Computer Asses) when the person ejected the CD with just a click of the mouse...........

It was evening now...and still no progress......then finally as a bolt of lightening.....we found some method that would be helpful...We implemented it...(by now we had installed ACCESS ;-)...and most of it ran...There were of course a few bugs and there still are....and of course there are still some issues which need to be resolved.....however, when we finally left the C.A. office...we, as always, felt a feeling of having done somethin..of having achieved something..no matter how small......a feeling that had been missing for the past three years

MY FIRST POST

At last,.... I have decided to plunge myself into the world of blogging.....

It has taken me quite sometime to understand fully what? how and why blogging?.....And I think I still havent.

Anyway in the days, months and years to come, (hopefully I would still be bloggin ;-)) I plan to use my blog to express my feelings, my desires, my anger, my frustrations, my happiness, my agony, my moments of pleasure.....
I want to talk about issues, about daily happenings in my life, my solitude, my friends, my peers, my hobbies...

Most importantly, I want to use my blog as a mirror to look at myself, to judge myself, and to look back in time.

Finally, I hope I shall be honest and loyal to my blog .