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.