Sept 11

A blog at last!! So here we go...

I was thinking about what to write and just noticed the day: eleventh of September! 

The first thing, most of the people would remember about this day is the deadly attacks on US in the 2001. Exactly 11 years ago, about 3000 people were killed, thousands injured in the suicide attacks when 19 terrorist belonging to Al-Qaeda hijacked 4 civilian jets and crashed into buildings. Both North and South towers of World Trade Center were completely destroyed when each of the towers were hit by a passenger jets each carrying around 40,000 liters of aviation fuel!! The third plane crashed into Pentagon building.The fourth one was intended to crash on the Capitol building in Washington D.C., but the brave passengers fought with the hijackers; the plane eventually crashed into a field near Pennsylvania. In response to the attack, the U.S. lead   coalition launched the war on terror, invading Afghanistan and the Taliban controlled government was overthrown.

Personally I still remember the deadly day. In the evening, after coming from school, I was just scanning the TV channels, I noticed the news on a Indian news channel. I quickly changed to CNN for latest updates. Just as I was trying to figure out what was it all about, I was shocked to see an almost live news: Another plane crashes in WTC south tower. Soon after, there were more reports of attacks, buildings collapsing and growing number of causalities. I still can't forget these images. There was sadness everywhere around; not just on that day, but for weeks after that! Soon the US lead coalition launched the war on Afghanistan, where more innocent civilians were killed. More than that the events had completely changed the way the Western society looked at Asian people!

There was another event on September eleventh which completely changed the way the Western society looked at Asian people(but in a very positive way), exactly in same place (U.S) some 108 years ago before this attack! It was in Chicago at the Parliament of the World's Religions. A young Indian Man, who was not even part of the official delegates from India, looking nervous, was about to speak next; he had already asked for more time when his turn came initially, as he had developed stage fright because he was probably the only one without preparation. Just before his speech, he prayed to goddess Saraswathi and he spoke. Swami Vivekananda's first few words "Sisters and Brothers of America!" received unbelievable response: a full two minutes of standing ovation. It was a short speech but history was written! Full text of speech
He represented India and Hinduism but he spoke more on Universal brotherhood. He made many more speeches and by the time the parliament had come to an end, Swami Vivekananda had created the most impact. He came, he spoke, he conquered!

Swami Vivekananda was indeed one of the greatest people in modern Hinduism. It was because of him western society had developed interest in oriental philosophy, yoga, Hinduism and Indian way of spiritualism.
The whole generation of freedom fighters who came after him were some how inspired by him: Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Arabindo and Bal Gangadar Tilak ; other notable people include Nikola Tesla and Rabindranath Tagore to name a few. He inspired Jamsetji Tata to set up Indian institute of Science for which he was asked to head it. He also received a similar offer from Harvard University. He turned down both the offers saying a wandering Monk and cannot be restricted in one place.

It is indeed shameful that very few people remember this historic day and more importantly know about Swamiji . His teaching especially about awakening youth was in many ways the building block of Indian Independence movement. India again needs such awakened youths to bring it to the glorious position envisaged by our forefathers and indeed Swami's teaching can again work wonders! Jai Hind!
                   

         

The dream run...

29-07-2009, 5:23 PM.... I receive a call... My dream run starts.

It was the first company to come for recruitment in our college. And it was Ashok Leyland. I do not know what that name ment to others but for me it was stupendous. And i believed it was my only chance as no company that came to our college can be compared to it.

All eyes were on the recruitment procedures. The D-day arrived. We all were roaming around in unusual, formal attire with files in our hand. Everything was new. First we were asked to wait in a hall, waiting for the company ppl to come. And the proceedings started as soon as they came. First it was the pre-placement talk. Then it was the tests. A series of 3 tests ,one after the other. It was too much to handle. Finally we all came out, most of them exhausted. Most of us came back to hostel, some confident ppl still waiting for the results at the hall.

As we were trying to figure out how our performance was, my phone rang. It was one of my classmate, telling me that my name was in the list, a list of 17 ppl shortlisted from nearly 130 students. I didn't know what to do. (And one of my friend who did not know whether he was eligible till the day before, was also selected.) It was an unusual feeling. And there ppl around me who were dejected about not getting selected, so really couldn't celebrate as i would have wished( And it was the opposite case after the TCS interview i.e everyone celebrating and was alone watching them. Guess i always remain alone!!). Anyway my interview was only on 14-09-2009 so till that time i was roaming around the college as if i had conquered the world. So many ppl congratulating, it was so nice. And with so much time one could have studied every sbject he has studied before, but only few do that and i wasn't part of that 'few' group.

The next leg of the dream run: 17 of us go to Chennai to attend the interview. I stayed in my friend's (Shriram) house. We all assembled at the Ashok Leyland corporate office, a 14 storied tower. It was fully furnished hi-tech building with all the latest facilities imaginable. And After a short wait at the lobby, we were taken to the 7th floor. My interview was the second last one. It ended to be a pretty good performance. And their tantalizing questions like 'which dept would u like to work' etc gave me bit of too much hope that i was messaging around saying that 'the interview was actually fun!!'

As every dream run, it had to come to an end. Probably they had already selected the ppl before they took my interview. Or i should have understood when they said 'why your mark is so low'.
Or they did not wanted any one from mechatronics. Anyway i did not know what made the a 5.5 lakh job into a mere corporate visit!! In the end only 5 of them were selected and all of them Mechanical engineering!!

Well there is no use feeling bad about it and that event has give me a chance to write this blog as an INFOCIAN!! All iz well!!

The Exam Feeling(s)

Finally a blog post. It has been almost a semi-year or semester since i have written something. At last i find time to sit before this magical-notebook, establishing connection to a server about whose location i barely have any idea, through a magical wireless internet service. And in this magical world i find more magical things happening. And the magic doesn't end here. At the present moment i am supposed to be writing my mid-semester exams. Just before the exam i find i have magically got 19 on 20 in the previous mid-sem. Even more magical is the fact that i got exactly the same mark in the first mid-sem, an exam which reminded me of the deadly maths exam of the first year (in which i got 10 on 50!). Of course there is a lot of difference between this magic and the previous one. So this gives me pretty good internals and and technically reaching the optimum threshold level of 45. So i bunk the exam!

So instead of writing exam i writing about exams. Well, i have been writing exams for the past 16 years. I have written all types of exams: ranging from the normal Q&A exam, the one in which we have to fill the answers in question paper, the one in which i make some meaningless design by shading on a special sheet ,which a computer reads and decides my fate and finally the one in which i sit in an AC room and keep selecting various options given by the computer and after 3 hours of playing this game the computer displays a random number(and that is supposed to be my score!).

So many types of exam but the one i have been doing for 'looooong' time is the normal question-paper-and-answer-sheet exam. So how do i write exams? Anyone who knows me would say i am a slow writer. In most cases i finish the paper at T-ZERO and in some unfortunate cases i helplessly try to complete the paper only for the invigilator grab the answer sheet from me. I hardly remember any instance in which i had finished the exam very early and left the exam hall before my class mates.

So does it mean i am a slow writer? Well lets see. There have been instance in which i had finished the paper. Note the phrase 'finished the paper'. For instance i had my social studied quarterly exam and first-grade keyboard exam conducted by Trinity college of London on same day. Obviously I couldn't miss either of exams, so I had to complete the keyboard exam first then travel from Mount road to Adyar to the write my school exam. I managed to enter the exam hall but i was already late by 45min. Though i was granted some extra time to compensate my delayed start, i managed to finish before most of my friends.

The second instance is when i was writing Basic electronics III mid semester exam. I had to score marks cos i managed to screw up the first 2 mid-sems. I started the exam and as usual i took my own time to write the first 10 mark question. Suddenly i realized that there was just a fraction over half an hour left and i had to answer question worth 40 marks. It was a do or die situation. For a second i thought i was doomed but managed regroup myself and in the end finished the exam.

Third instance was when i was writing the III midsem of Electrical Machines paper. Same do or die situation. I was sitting happily and writing the exam. Half an hour gone, I completed half of the first 10 mark question. Then the invigilator asks for my I D card. I open my purse, petrified to find that the I D card is missing. I go to the ppl in-charge of exam-wing, they say i cant write unless i have my I D card. Surprisingly, i was allowed run back to my hostel, get the card. I showed it to the ppl in exam-wing, magically got their permission to continue the exam, came back to my class. The equation was more than 50 min over, still around 45 marks worth questions to be answered. And i complete the paper.

So lets get back to the question. Am i a slow writer? Well i find my writing speed as a function of time. Usually i start with a big-question, keep writing with for almost 45 min, then realize that half of the time is over, then speed up things. Some how i am automatically tuned to the available time and manage to complete the exam on-the-dot. But as long as i complete the exam i am happy and there is nothing to worry about.

Some of the exams are really interesting in which you enjoy writing the exam. You really feel the question and answering that question makes you content. There are some question that really tests you and answering it makes you really proud and knowing that others were scratching their head for the question you have answered, you feel happier.And while writing such a exam i get so involved in answering them that i even fail to notice even the basic things like who is the person next to me or how many of my classmates are writing the exam.

But there are some questions that are really boring. It may either be because the subject is boring or because you do not know anything. In such a situation i suddenly start thing about some crazy things, something like 'why am i writing this exam...'. Sometimes i wish i could throw away the exam sheets, and just go away from everything as Swami Sivananda did, but i hope i at least become a doctor like him... well i can become a Phd type doctor na!(for those of you who do not know, he was a Dr in Malaysia before he became a monk.) But i feel god has given me lot of creativity and i prefer to use them first. Well thoughts are thoughts and they come and go within a fraction of second. And such thoughts gives you a nice little break. And after this i "wake up", i look at my watch and i continue to do what i am supposed to do: answer the questions.

By this time i should have completed the last technical mid-sem exam of my bachelor degree because next semester we will be studying only management papers. Nice way to bid adieu na:-)

[Well this blog should have been published on 31/09, but i wasn't able to do it because of some Wi-Fi problem. Well today was the penultimate Lab of my B-Tech program and i'll be wearing khaki for the last time tomorrow i.e my last lab.... well what shall i say.]