The END!!

Something’s that I have learnt in these three years changed me completely as a person.

Make the most of time while you still have it because life is too short wasting on stupid things. Just get up take that life of yours in your hand and play it with all your heart because in the end it’s your instrument to create the music you want to. 

Go all out and do whatever you feel like, sometimes people and sometimes you yourself will be thinking what the hell I am doing but then these are the moments that would be the milestones in time.

Give all your heart to your family and your friends, it does not matter what happens in future at-least you will know that you gave everything and it will set you free.

Friends are a rare gift that you earn. The wealth of person is not only in the bank balance but in the people that he has invested into. Never underestimate the importance of your friends in your life they are the one who define the person that you are.

Acknowledge people for no matter whatever small help they might have rendered it’s your way of counting your blessings.

In the end just be yourself. Do not run behind impressing anyone or proving a point to anyone. Do what you feel like with all your passion that's all you need.

This has become too philosophical for once but then this place will always hold a special place in my heart as it gave me so many beautiful things and made me the person that I am. Thanks IIT-Bombay.

Bye Bye and have fun!!!!!!

Promise of a Season

Placement season is something which needs to be felt to be believed. A season of desperation, frustration, despair, joy and above all a season of promise. A promise to everyone that their dreams will be realized, that the reason for which they joined the institute will be brought to fulfillment. This promise is so over whelming that people become desperate till the season actually starts.

Only talk on the campus in month of November is placements. From campus newsletters to times of India the only talk is about coming placement season. This not only fills students with a promise but also a pressure for they have to actually perform. This is the time they have been waiting for, all POR's, all  extra-currics, all subjects and all grand CPI's find their culmination in this holy grail. Although for some this is just a plan B but then it’s important because your plan B has to be secure so that you can work fully on your plan A.

Once students start applying for jobs they start setting a kind of image in their mind about what type of job they would like to go for in which city and what package and all. As much helpful this is it’s also a sweet trap because you are never sure if the said company will select you for said profile at said location with the package you want. Safest way out is apply for whatever comes your way. This being the shortest way out may not leave you fully satisfied but then you can’t have everything that you desire (true for most of us).

The worst part of this season is to see really good and promising people to be left behind and not getting what they actually deserve. It is just a sad sight not only for friends but for everyone who knows them. 

The best part is to see people get placed and the joy on their face. Their expressions and reactions are something of pure joy. It’s really surreal to see people once they hear the big news. 

As rosy it may look but the other side of this season cannot be ignored because its is not a small number. For the students who carry on longer into the process face really difficult times. The feeling of getting up every morning to go for an interview and returning unplaced, the thought of failing in a written test or not clearing a group discussion are so terrorizing that it leaves few students resigned to the complete process and it becomes a daunting task to push them out of their pessimism.

This season holds as much despair as promise but that’s the way life is you will have ups and downs, the point is to carry on.

Placement Team: IPT

There are two perspectives among general population about being a placement team member.

1- They get the perks and they have personal contact with companies so they get placed easily.

2- They are a group of cranky people who are working for other people for no specific reason.

I would go ahead and endorse the second one but people may have their own version that will fit into one of the two categories. The overall sense is either aw or disgust for an IPT member. 

In this team which slowly turns into a close group of friends there are some talented and super talented who should not only be respected but revered for their passion, dedication, .... several things. It becomes such a good learning experience looking at all this promising people working hard around you, no-one is payed, it’s a voluntary activity still people spend majority of their time on this.

When people start cooperating at every level without any distinction or difference you know that you will deliver, when the overall mood of the team is of trust and jubilant you know you are into something sacred. When you see one team member supporting other to achieve something big and people start taking up responsibilities for which they were never accountable you know it’s turning into something big.

It’s still mid-way and might be a premature but after first few grueling days starting at Day zero you start to see people mature, from subdued to confident and from i to us. They stand up to the challenges because they know that they have people standing behind them who will catch them when the falter. It’s such a great feeling to be a part of something like this. 

The best part of being an IPT member is when you finally disclose the result to someone, especially when you already know how much it means to them. This feeling is almost blissful.

Being a part of IPT is not only fulfilling but also an enormous learning experience. You get to experience so much it becomes very very satisfying. 

We still have Phase-II to carry on but I am positive that it would be as good as Phase-I

India Against Corruption!!!!--???

Disclaimer(Alert ) = Serious Post tending towards philosophy.

A great uprising. People say that after freedom fight for the first time such a fervor has been seen in people of our country. Mood was no different in campus. Marches, human-chains and fasts. A great scene of social awakening. To make the stand clear i also am against corruption, well who want. This is converted into fad. So let’s introspect for a minute what exactly is corruption? It is what the politicians and people in government do something like hoarding money, abuse of power and.... all the wrong things. Good definition. Okay so we are the victims, we are the people suffering from corruption so the other person is corrupt and not us. But what really does the "US" consist of. Us is the common man, us is the person who wakes up every morning to work because he knows he just can’t sit and enjoy the day for making the ends meet or may be because his boss will be furious if he does not turn up. ‘Us’ is the person who opens his shop every day and sells good. ‘Us’ is everywhere then who is them. Until a police or a ticket checker does not put on his uniform he is a part of ‘US’ and as soon as he does he has become them. This could be fare but going a bit deeper it does not seem totally correct. Something is wrong... What if we were in the place of that policemen whose salary is less than a fresh graduate from a college and whose daughter is pushing him for buying a new dress and his son wants a new bike, he wants them to have the best of the world but just because he was stuck in a job which he thought would be good he just can no longer afford to provide them a good standard of living. Wait may be i am justifying corruption, no i am not i just want to show the deeper issue in considering a bill passed shall wipe-out all the corruption in the country. Issue is not about our will to act we surely will act and stop paying bribes and do whatever it takes on our part. But it is not an economical issue its more of a social issue and even worst a psychological issue. I throw a question at you, let say you are stuck on a platform without a ticket, no train ticket no platform ticket nothing whatsoever. Your parents, your friends, your girlfriend or say someone important is waiting for you and this is the last train. The queue is long, very long. Train is about to leave in 5 minutes. Will you board it or leave it?? Whatever your answer would be i know the temptation of boarding is something very hard to resist. Eventually some of you may return but you would be heartbroken. For those who boarded the train would tap your own shoulder for pulling off a great adventure of travelling without ticket. One more question, how many of you will present yourself to the Ticket checker on your own and ask him to penalize you for what you have done. Even worst you are short on cash and he tells by law you need to be handed over to police on next station. So you boarding train was a utterly useless and worse decision than returning. How are you feeling now? Seems very real situation, one that would have happen to someone around you. Mostly people would have got off passing down few bucks. Some people have eventually made it a practice to travel this way, leave alone travelling people have made corruption a part of life. This people are common people in and around us, this people are you and me. They are part of this system. Okay so i have proved the cliché point that we are the part of this corrupt system. It’s we who have to change to stop it from happening but what if you knew that the ticket checker needed that extra sum of money from you because he wanted to pay fees for his children school and he has someone seriously ill home and he is low on income. Now what? This is turning out to be a tough test. The issue is not about corruption it’s about the state of affairs. It’s about so many inter connected things that just concentrating on one and leaving others to take care of themselves will result in an utter failure of one system or other. See this is not as simple as it sounds. Now let’s get to one very subtle point which has been harassing me ever since this corruption struggle started.

India is economically very diverse country. Few people live in conditions where getting potable water and one time of food is impossible while others stay in apartments so large to be called as palaces and have sumptuous meals cooked in mineral waters. Wait.... i am talking like a communist here but no i believe in democracy and i trust that’s the way ahead. What my point is that we pay extra money for getting services and comfort while there are fellow beings that are living in a pathetic state. Just because we have money to buy those comforts and it is legal to buy them because it is not called corruption it is called capitalism. What if putting up AC in your house was illegal because it takes up too much electricity and there are areas where we do not have enough power supply. What if maintaining a swimming pool in summer was illegal because there was not enough water for people to drink in some part of country. What if during your birthday bash it was illegal to waste food because someone somewhere was sleeping tonight without having dinner because he could not afford to have it. Just because you can afford to do it does not mean you should. I again seem to be taking up a very rubbish topic in a very different post. But just step back and think. Think about the people below poverty line in our country. For them we are the corrupt people just consuming all the resources and making it difficult for them to sustain every single day. What’s the difference between a politician who wants extra comfort because of his power and us who want to have special treatment because we have extra money? Corruption is not then an issue of them it’s an issue about ‘US’. It’s us who are not just a party to it but a whole and sole part of it. 

Think about it??

Season of Farewell

Its hard but times come when you have to bid farewell for reasons out of your control and all you can do is stand and wonder at this recursive cycle. Its sometimes hard to accept but this is the way of the life. You cannot hold onto things forever, you just have to be happy that you had the chance to spend few great moments together. Moments which were priceless and moments which you would never forget. As friends leave with their hearts heavy in grief and their mind filled with memories it becomes so exceedingly clear that the last two years have just flown by like a gust of wind across your face and all you can do is to try to feel that breeze for one last time. Its not that we are not going to stay in contact or its the last time we meet its just that the life we had of fun, enjoyment and frolic has come to end. People going for job will be lost into the hustle and bustle of their daily lives and then they will get involved in their own small personal world and then their will be times that these memories will only remain the last retreat. Sometimes it seems harsh but you cannot avoid it, its not the first time that i have come across something like this. This has happened before with other friends as well and at that time too it was harsh but these are things which still leave you numb. Only wish and feeling in my heart right now is that they should go and reach great heights in whatever they endeavour to do. For me the student life still continues and have one more year to go before i bid farewell to this campus, but for others.

Happy Journey.....!!!!!

Valfi

Valedictory function as they call is called VALFI in IIT lingo. This is the most important part for someone who is going to leave the campus. This is the time when everyone whom you have harrased or have treated badly is going to come at you all guns blazing and is going to tear you down to pieces to show what you really are. This is where all your friends will grill you for anything that you have done during your stay at institute. This function reveals the true identity of what you are to your friends and to you as well. Everyone chips in to add a detail or two and although it is garnished with lots of spices its underlying theme is to make you aware of what you are as a person. As most of our close friends are going to graduate this year me and my friend who have one more year to go decided to have it this year itself cause they know much about us. May be sometimes more than what we know of ourself. Now you may see this seems a very regular stuff but the details shared here cannot be shared beyond it. Me and my friend had a quote to say about it "Things which are shared and revealed in Valfi remain in Valfi". Certain details are too lewd and personal to share beyond that forum but everybody just let their defences down for that one day and pour their hearts out. Mind you all this is recorded on camera and given to everyone as a token to remember(so you can watch it with special permission). It marks as a reminder to everyone that no matter how much they fool the world outside their are a few people who know their little secrets and what they are. This in a way strengthens your bond with your friends cause you know that you can trust upon them no matter what and that they will be their standing by you on any given day. It is something you should do with your friends from all circles once in a lifetime so that you can share things that you generally wouldn't.

Part of the council: Perks

Being part of the council does not only come with great responsibility, free lunches, free snacks and long meeting their are other perks as well. You need to attend russian presidents speech sitting in the first row, you get to attend very high profile meeting behind the doors which no one have seen (board room) and you get to go for a special dinner at the best hotel in mumbai attended by Indian Prime Minister. Now i know it very well that the perks outweigh the reponsibilities and other parts but this is what has actually happened. First was about the meeting with director of the institute, it was meeting for.... whatever. But the important part was that the meeting was held in the board room of the institute, this i feel is the sanctum sanctorum of the institute where only very few lucky ones get a chance to step inside. Names of all the chairman of Board of Governors are placed up there and the room gives a sense of authority like none other. We had Russian president visiting campus as a part of his tour and being a part of the coordination team i actually got a chance to sit in the first row for that interaction, well i didnt quite ask any question and didnt make a fool of myself but yes it was one event to remember.The icing on the cake of perks was the visit to Taj Hotel, yes the one which was attacked on 26/11. Their was a ceremony for Infosys awards foundation and it was being graced by whos who of the Indian industry along with PM of India, CM of Maharashtra, Governor of Maharashtra and on and on.....

This entry is more of an record for myself rather than being a part of the general part of entries.

Part of the council: Free lunch, Free snacks

As they say "Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it". As discussed in great debate me and my friends were discussing about the state of post graduate students in IIT Bombay. Searching for the reasons behind the same and the ways to improve it and what can be done. Here i was selected as the Institute Masters' Representative and my friend was endowed with even a greater reponsibility. This will be covered in a few part series cause their are a few things to share here. I was selected into the academic council as the representative for the master community of IIT-Bombay. This may seem awes-trucking at first or may seem very trivial job depending upon how you want to perceive it but this was the reality. So my job inculded..... wait why do i need to bore you with that stuff, anyone can figure that out. The fun part about being in council was attending the meetings. You were served free lunches and snacks and were treated with lot of respect and mind you it can surely become addictive, but well you need to get your feet back on ground from those high points. The most funny part was the points being discussed. Sometimes the points of discussion seemed so unimportant and so so so...

cant define it but they were something you just dont expect highly intellegent people to discuss. Worst part was that certain important things just got missed out. Sometimes being in the council i feel that what they say about meetings and commitees is really true.. "Its just a bunch of people discussing something about anything, arguing on everything and finally deciding nothing". My belief of an individual making a larger difference working alone or atleast working freely not under a red-tape regime is strengthrened by seeing my friend lead team which was out of the clutches of the council. One more thing which i learned was that if representative of a certain class are in total agreement with the authoritites and have become just a pawn in their hand then the representation is lost. Representative should look at the welfare of the community he is serving and not fall into the trap of pleasing the authorities, may be i myself would be guilty of doing it i am not sure but this was one thing i learnt in my tenure. One more thing is that if you have good intentions and you are ready to make those good intentions your motivation and try to deliver nothing will be able to stop you. Impure intentions no matter how well you try to disguise them will only lead to a state of discomfort and loss of respect. One thing that i am personally satisfied about being a part of council was, that here we were a few months back talking about how we could have brought change and here we were already given an opportunity to deliver that promise.

I am not sure how successful i was but i can say that i worked with my dedication for my satisfaction.

Year gone by

Its been a year since i posted something and their are a few reasons behind that but they are not necessary(Or may be they are). Leave it, will post them if i am in a mental state to do so. Right now a few things come to my mind immediately and they are posted here.

Election season

Institute has election season during April-May and everyday you are bombarded with manifesto of one or another candidate. Basically manifesto's of each candidate seems similar only difference being that it has different construction of the sentence. Some even copy one another’s manifesto and that’s really gross. For the first time I was seeing an election upfront. I had decided that I was not going to side any candidate. Our departmental election was one heck of a political plot. It had all the mix of being a Hindi Movie, regionalism along with show of strength and bitterness among the candidates. It was really interesting to see how people even at student level play political games and do whatever they can to swing the votes in their favor. I was shocked with one thing that even at place like IIT where the most educated lot of our society lives, the votes are decided by loyalties and not merit. Regionalism, like any other place was a deciding factor so this system of “Democracy” although seems good has it flaws and they cannot be rectified as it takes people’s power to think as a basic assumption which is not at all true. Every election in institute is fought with loyalties, for department, for hostels, for regions and for academic programs. Although I fear to say, but this is a sorry state of affairs in student politics, in every university and college across India, and if these are the leaders of tomorrow then we better have Dictatorship. One good thing that we have in place is the Impeachment clause that if someone elected to a post does not fulfill the promises that he has been making, then that person can be removed from the post. Although this seem trivial but plays an important in keeping the elected candidates on track. Also one more thing they have implemented is the negative vote. You can say that you do not want a candidate or you can select whom do you want.

The Great Debate

First things first. I will confess that Post Graduate in IIT is like under-rated or say is not as pompous as Under Graduate. Well there are reasons for this and me and two of my friends went on a soul searching spree. We have this garden restaurant in campus where you can sit and enjoy and have tea, lush greenery, morning dew, dim light and a hot cup of tea. What else would you want? Our main topic was why in this whole world are PG’s not recognized in the same manner as UG’s. This issue was a pain in our heart since we entered because we were constantly reminded of this fact. Indeed this is really bad because you won’t expect this kind of difference among IITian’s. For outer world an IITian is an IITian but for us there are two parallel worlds that exist. In IIT itself you can see stark difference between a UG and and PG. One is handling the various activities which IIT’s are famous like the cultural festivals and technical festivals, while the onus of research lies upon the other community. This divide is increasing and is surely a thing which could be noticed once you are here for few months. Our issue was why PG students are not so participative in various activities of the institute and is only interested in being online whole day and making friends in cyberspace? Also when we have so many facilities provided by the institute why aren’t they utilized by them? We tried to reason this out and found various issues which are bogging them down. Although I am not trying to defend this community by giving any alibi it’s just that this problems exist and they need to be looked into before writing them off as someone who is not interested in the institute issues and activities. First thing which affects them most is the duration, the course duration is 2 years which are insufficient and if we are looking at effective time frame then think of this, first six months need to be removed as they are required for settling in the environment, in last six months the only thing which is on their mind is placement and once that is done the story ends. So only effective time they have is a year and in that too we have a break of 3 months so how in the whole world do we expect them to do everything else along with their studies and their projects. Although they should be able to do it cause “WORKLOAD” as they say in IIT is not that much but still the duration is so short that if you miss a chance then you have lost the chance to participate in anything. Second is that they are here for finding a socioeconomic security and to have this they need to study and get good placement. For this they need to concentrate on academics even in second semester. So this is one reason I find which leads to non participation of PG’s but still we decided to take upon us the work to infuse some energy into the PG community so that at least they can be represented well in the institute and they would also be looked upon as someone of importance and not as some third person.

Start of the second semester

The feeling of being an IITian has seeped and we are accustomed with the system by now. So the first humungous task was selection of subjects. Well this sounds a very easy thing but in IIT where you can select any subject from an array of so many subjects it’s really maddening. Figure this, out of 4 subjects I studied one was in Aerospace department, one was in Energy department and only 2 were in my department although the subject in Aerospace department was connected to my course the course in Energy was on how to harness solar energy. I swear this subject did not even have the farthest relation to what I am studying. This subject is like solar power for dummies and I took it just for the sake of grades. Because everyone knows that in the end what matters are grades! But well I studied something and sure it was interesting at the end. Another subject which ripped my mind apart quite literally was “Fracture Mechanics”. Its seems good to hear but the actual theory behind it is something which involved great concepts like singularity and complex mapping and god knows what all. It was really startling to know that to what depth has the science progressed. This subject I swear can really cause madness as can be seen from our faculty. Anyone who can master this is nothing short of an astro-physicist. Last subject was such a bore that I always stood last in all the quizzes including the last exam and barely scored well enough to keep me afloat in that subject. All said and done this finishes the academic part of this semester. (THANKS A LOT THAT THE ACADEMIC PART IS OVER)

Long time no see

Well haven’t been able to post anything since last six month may be I lost the touch. But am back and wish to follow it as long as I can. It has been a eventful six months so have many stories and views to share but slowly and steadily one after another, not an overdose. Lets see how long can I keep my promise.

Reclaim your life!

Might seem directly out of the commercial but this is something i feel from the depth of my heart! I am finally feeling i have reclaimed my life, now someone may ask when did i lose it. Well i had been working for one year and they try to kill your life in every single aspect that they can, your ambitions, your wishes, your enjoyments and your happiness. Well its like using a fire hydrant on your inner fire. It surely cannot be felt when you are working its like "You cannot see the picture when you are in the frame" and it cannot also be felt when you are studying cause you never know what you are going to face on the other side. But trust me i have seen both the sides of life and i am thankful to whatever force control's the events of this universe that he gave me the courage to step out of the conventional and be free from what i was been dragged into. When we were children or for that young we use to think of all the things we might do when we become adults or 'big for that case', but what has happened we have lost that dream along the way. We have become fearful of acting foolishly, of letting ourselves lose, doing what we feel. This thing needs to be unlearned this creates limit's inside our minds sets limitations for us and all this is but stunting our growth. If your spark is still fluttering and burning you can think more creatively be more confident and do what you feel. Its like you are on high, i have personally never ever had dope, but doing what my heart says and acting foolishly (in a manner that i feel is correct not worrying much about others) gets me on a high of another kind. I literally feel that i am on skates and can put the whole world on fire, that feeling in itself is so satiating and so good you would like to have that kick again and again. The day you can have that kind of feeling and kick throughout trust me you can accomplish anything, just any damn thing. But for that you need to get out of the set method of thinking get out of the conventional and do what your heart beats for. Now i really feel the essence of the saying that "When your passion becomes your job it isn't work anymore its like a lifetime of love and the love deepens with passing time". I surely have reclaimed my life its just that i have to concentrate it on something but one thing is sure. Please never lose your inner spark, that life its all you got. If thats lost you do not have much to salvage then.

Nerd!

Finally back from Bombay after an excruciating exam, which was like going on forever. For the first time in my life i was reading like this, ten hours a day regularly for one month. Now i understood what a nerd is. And its not an easy task to become one, but surely i would not like to become one. It requires lots of patience and lots of hard work. Its like you should have the patience to sit at one place for atleast 5 hours (at one go) and then you have to read that book (which you do not like that much) for so many hours and then over that you also need to think about what the author might have been thinking while writing all those glorious words(crap). And when finally you have a flash of light somewhere in your head which says yes! Finally the "Aha!" moment then you know that you have understood why in the whole world were you reading some differential equations which resembled the notes of music arranged in rather a precarious way. Its really the best moment, its as if you have won the world, its in this moment that you feel everything is worth it. But i must admit that those who think that being nerdy is uncool are totally wrong. It takes lots of planning and sacrifice's to become one, you have to give up your social life, you have to leave aside every single thought of your mind and then you have to be totally determined. Also you have to keep your mind kicking all the time its as difficult as keeping your body kicking if you are a athlete. You have to be mentally alert and fit for say ten hours a day or may be more. That's not a piece of cake. It takes lots of determination to become one. I also used to think that being nerdy is uncool, but now i rather respect them then disregard them cause i know it takes lot to become one. And now in my dictionary nerd is rather a good word then being a disgrace. But still i would not like to become one cause i do not have the patience to become one.

Amphetamine called Mumbai

Mumbai the city of dream's the city where everything else comes true, this city i must say has a peculiar thing in itself, its quite fast. Not quite fast lets say its very fast, speaking truly it runs at maddening speed, i have been there only for 3 months now and been out only a few time but some how this city has got into my blood, or can say got onto my nerves. Few signs of this, I walk unusually fast and get irritated at being late and now i like standing it does not worry, walking a distance of 15 minutes is not too difficult for me and that's usual part of my day. I do not know why everyone is Mumbai runs but they run somewhere, and they are always in some hurry. It's something you might get frustrated with at first and will get accustomed as time passes. It feels as if you have amphetamine and you are high. Cause suddenly you feel more lively and feel more energetic you like to pick up a fight and would feel like putting the whole world on fire (in positive sense of course). The confidence level of a person changes cause you are on your own out there. This city surely has got a personality of its own, its different, you have to get accustomed to it. The most stark difference of this can be felt on the main gate of the campus as soon as you step inside the atmosphere its quite serene and calm, the main gate is as if the boundary between two cities, you have to shift your gears quite literally if you wanna get out in the city. But that is something that some people may like and few many not, but that is the way this city runs.

A star status

Once you are into IIT one thing you get for free is attention and a star status, this term star status is the only thing which can define what is the feeling once you are into IIT, there are several privileges. I got a feel of this once when i was in train, there came a police constable for regular check up round and asked everyone to open up their bags, he asked what was their professions and all details, i was sleeping he woke me up and asked what did i do, i said i was a student and he asked from which college i replied IIT, he said sleep no need to open your bag. I said well this is something i have not felt ever before, it was quite astounding to me, but it was real. This got me to thinking means all right we have the privilege but along with that comes responsibility if people are giving us this status its because we mean something more we have the onus open us to prove to the world, we have to contribute and also to give back something to the society and country as a whole. The other day i was joking with my friend and we drew a conclusion "We can talk utter rubbish but still people will atleast give it a thought." Well that statement as a prima facie is quite humorous but underneath it has a sense of privilege along with responsibility attached to it. We now have the privilege of speaking things and expressing thoughts which people will listen to and would follow, its not that we did not have this thoughts before, its just that now it has a sense of authenticity and credibility because of the institution we are affiliated to. So whatever we convey should be with a sense of responsibility. We had this excellent professor, whenever we would ask him a question he said you are now designers you are going to design things you are going to decide in what manner the thing works and you are the god for that product or whatever it might me. Whenever he use to say that it use to get me thinking cause in a way he was right. It was the privilege for us to decide the manner something would work and the manner in which people or the end user is going to use it and the facilities we would be giving him it was some sort of a power you have but it brings responsibility cause now people trust that you are going to design things and products which are not only going to be reliable but are also going to make their live more comfortable. So along with having the power to decide how will people use a product you also have the responsibility of fulfilling all their needs from that product. Last experience i had was when i attended this Pre-Placement Talk by BCG. Well although i have two years to go before i attend one i just attended it for having some experience of what a PPT is like and the company is all about, one of their senior executives started in a quite peculiar way, he said that "right now their is no room in the entire world which has more potential than this room here" then he went to explain that "this room has atleast 10-15 CEO of mnc's 10-15 people who are going to lead some NGO and atleast 15-20 people who are going to be senior executives in BCG itself" this was quite an experience for me. Well those people out their have a perception that we are the best minds in the country and also in the world. With this privilege we have the responsibility to make it count, we have to prove that whatever perception they have has to maintained and enhanced further, its upto us now to prove that we really are the best minds in the world.

Proving you are worth it(IIT)

Well surviving IIT is one thing but proving you are worth is something you achieve not so simply. Even though you may have given the toughest technical exam but that's not just enough to earn the respect from the IIT faculties and also from the Under Grad students. You have to be exceptional along with being earthy, you have to keep aside your ego under the hood until and unless you are accepted as being one among them. Well this according to me is not that simple a task, you suffer from various feelings like inferiority complex, defensiveness or simply denial. One suffering from inferiority complex would have accepted that he is not as worthy of being into IIT as those who had cleared JEE and taken admission and when that happens as an defense mechanism he starts taunting them if they are not capable of doing something that he feels is easy. That is something which develops some kind of rudeness in your behavior and that keeps on increasing. Some people out-right deny that they are not as good as the Under Grad students, as per them they are either better-off or on par with them, but this as per me might not be true for everyone. Some people who have great achievements to their credit might proclaim that they are not as bad but many of us have not done what this people do here so its quite true that we might not be as good as many of them, i have used "many of them" intentionally because there are so many things done here that everyone has done some or other thing and the attitude that this guys have comes from there. I feel attitude is the thing which differentiates an IITian from other people, he is confident that he can achieve anything, this thing is fed into their brain since they enter, they are constantly told that because they are into IIT they should be acting so. They are conditioned in a manner wherein they are prepared to succeed i find this missing in the state level college's where you are constantly bogged down or else you are not provided with enough opportunity or else you are not shown the path to create opportunities, this people here are so much into extra-curricular activities that its obvious they will have different attitude and will have some arrogance cause its required if you have to lead or execute something which you feel is great. I feel the attitude they have is something which one should develop to succeed but it should not get to your head then you can do wonders. The Under Grad student's stay on the campus longer and their brain's are still receptive when they enter so they can be conditioned in the manner you want them to, but with post grad its completely different they are atleast 4 years older and already been through college so much of the part of their growing up is over, now its upto them to unlearn what is fixed in their mind and start learning new things. That is something which many of the student might not be comfortable with but that is the truth, other way being that at least open up your mind to new things and along with old ideas learn new things and new attitude that would help you to go a long way. I wish to prove down the line that "I am worth it(IIT)".

Surviving IIT!

Finally i settled down at IIT Bombay Design, although its been alomst two months since my last post but it can be justified by the title itself. Well getting into IIT is one part but staying and surviving it is quite different. Its like the famous quotation "after the winner is announced you can quite not differentiate between the winner and the runner's up". After getting here i realized the pain i would have to go through to prove that i can survive for 3 years. It was quite something, i will ask you few questions to give a feel of what i went through, Take 50 best nerd's from around the country and place them in one place what would you have? Then add to that the senior's who frighten them to study? I think now you can understand what i had to go through. It was one real experience but then it help's to push the bar upwards which is all that matters, so it was not as bad it was fun but also painful. The first thing you should remember after taking admission in IIT is that you are there for studies, well thats important because there is so much to do, so much extra that you could get involved that you might forget that you also have to study, so many competitions so many clubs so many groups so many sport activities. But then thats why its so famous the campus is always upbeat with one or the other activity its your volition when to step in and where to stop. One more reason why its so important to take care is because its a relative marking system and you have to be at least around the average to survive and in the initial days you are not sure of your position so it becomes difficult to judge how much study is enough, everyone is studying for 6 to 8 hours and then it becomes necessity instead of requirement that you study. So surviving IIT is also more about choices you make along with the amount of study you do.

Life tossed

Well me and my friends decided at about 3 in the noon that we are leaving whatever happens, and we have given the written test for energy sciences, i was quite confident of clearing it still i was not at all in a physical and mental state to prolong my stay at the campus. So we called up the travel agent and to our surprise we got tickets. So in an hour we leave the campus and reach the agents shop to find our booking confirmed. And as luck would have it, i receive a call from campus from one of my friend that i have cleared the test, actually me and my friend both cleared it. So here we stand on the road physically and on cross-road mentally. Should we go back? Should we give it a try? Is it worth it? This questions crossed the mind a million times. The feeling cannot be compared with anything else, in middle of road having a ticket to back home and thinking of turning back to campus for interview. I was never before in such condition, never ever before but nothing can be done. We consulted our parents our friends and put to test all our analytical and logical thinking but the confusion only multiplied. To increase the frustration the bus getting late, cell's battery was getting low and a feeling of guilt for missing and opportunity was rising. Had to find a solution to this cause this was getting over the nerves. Returning to campus was evidently becoming a possible solution. The darkness loomed over and the traffic zoomed about, here we stood with a fork stuck in the road. My friend pulled out his last resort, he said lets toss a coin if heads we head home, if tails we return. It was quite odd for me, i never decided my future on a toss but at that given moment it looked absolutely logical. Imagine this, in middle of road deciding about your future you toss a coin and decide according to me nothing can be as daring as this. He tossed it and i still do not know which force worked on that coin but it had heads. We were returning home, the regrets were dying out and the frustration easing, in mean time the bus came and we left for home. But i will never forget that moment the decision of a life time decided on a toss. At that moment in time my friend taught me a very important lesson, he said that the coin was just a means it is fair to both the chances. You can have heads or tails but whatever you have got you have to stand by it and live it positively to the fullest never hold regrets for decision once made. Regretting for decision does not help only increases your agony and wastes time, instead just accept it and go out all guns blazing in that direction you are sure to find success. This truth was just so hard hitting, i still find it really hair raising.