Lack of Opportunity , an Opportunity?

Sounds like a paradox? I beg to differ.

Opportunity is a very subjective term. In simple terms it may mean an access to a particular set of resources which may open a gate with the potential to bring about a positive change in our life. But it’s not always been the case.

If we observe our surroundings carefully we may see that most of the people who are successful either went to top colleges, had a rich background or had access to the right sources when they needed assistance. That is, they always had so many opportunities always available to them. They didn’t struggle much and most of them had a fairly simple path to the top.

But, what about those who did not go to college or even school? those who struggled hard to have food even two times a day? those who didn’t know any bureaucrats or politicians when they needed a work done? What about them? No Opportunities at all.

Infact the reality is, they had an opportunity to excel. An opportunity to defy the common perception and carve a new and an unknown path.
World if full of such examples where people have created opportunities when it didn’t exist. The path to success have never been simple in any of such cases, they had to go through rough patches.

Mahatma Gandhi when faced racism in South Africa did not accept it as his fate and went on to change the system generating new confidence in the hearts of Indians living there, to say the least he created opportunities for them to have equal rights in a depressing system which inculcated racism in its roots. Both Abraham Lincoln and our present prime minister Manmohan Singh studied under street lights at night and had to walk miles to reach the nearest school. They weren’t lucky like us, they did not have the opportunities like library, teachers and transport. But did they accept it as their fate? Despite lack of opportunities they created history.

For instance the king of bollywood Shah Rukh Khan, GOD of cricket Sachin Tendulkar were never as lucky as Saif Ali Khan or Rohan Gavaskar. The formers certainly did not have access to opportunities like the latters did. But this did not stop them, they created ways for them, the world belongs to them now.

People often crib that they didn’t have the best childhood, did not get the best teachers, could not go to best colleges, weren’t born in rich families, didn’t stay in cities. Lets stop criticizing the situation and if opportunities are not available, create them for the better good and excel at something. People who have faced such situations are infact those who have the ability to outperform others and the best part is they don’t carry any baggage of living in a perfect environment.

So, Thank GOD, create opportunities for yourself and EXCEL.

    Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream.

The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned.

The second mouse, wouldn’t quit.

He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out.

Which mouse will you be?

Introspection

Corrupt, Inefficient, Power Hungry, Opportunistic, Egoist, Sycophant and Hypocrite which when associated with a specific profession will surely yield an answer “POLITICIAN”. There have been tons of scams recently and the volume of money involved has been humongous. We have over years so easily criticized our politicians and public servants but have we dared to look into a mirror?

It is so easy to ask questions on inefficiency and credibility but have we not being  following the same principles?

We stand up for Anna Hazarey and Baba Ramdev on issues which we think if resolved will act as a catalyst in making India a Super Power, but it wont be possible until and unless we clean ourselves. Remember Gandhiji’s saying “Be the change you want to see”.

A recent incident made me conscious enough to ask myself a question about my corruptness ? I was travelling on a public bus and did not have enough change to buy a ticket , instead of providing the ticket collector with a note of higher denomination I just parted with a few rupees and without saying a word a mutual agreement was made and he provided me with no receipt. This money has now been added to the personal savings of the conductor and cannot be accounted for. This money does not go to the government which runs such services and has even caused it loss say Rs. 1. But when such losses take place “n” times at “m” places in the country the amount involved can be enormous. We pay the passport verification officer from Rs. 500- Rs. 1000 for his signature, we do not ask for bills at shops as that may include an extra VAT, we address workers at banks, railway ticket counter and postoffices as Sir, Madam to please them and thus get our work done in a comfortable fashion (It’s time we realize they are public SERVANTS and are bound to serve us), get railway tickets booked via agents/dalals by paying extra money ( and then raise concerns over non-availability of tatkal tickets over counters), pay lakhs of rupees to get a child admitted in a socially elite school and eventually pay a million to get an admission into a college, do away with a Hundred rupee note at traffic signals for violation and then again feel pity at the country when one is spectator to a similar incident.Most of us do not even pay our taxes honestly, and then we expect accountability, accountable for what?? How can we expect others to behave differently in similiar situations when we ourselves cannot vouch for living upto the same expectations.

Then are we not being hypocrite ourselves? Have we over years not committed crimes and have been saved by the power of money? Have not the most elite educated class of doctors recommended tests and drugs which could have been done without? Have we ourselves not  fabricated bills to organize functions at an institute level? Have we not at many instances paid staff of a corporation to get the tenders or the crucial information?

We have as a whole all acted as a fuel to this problem. The so called corrupt officials are also a part of this society. We at times proudly narrate stories of how we routinely bribe the officers to get the work done smoothly, something which needs to be felt ashamed of. If something needs to be changed it is US. We need to change ourselves at the most basic level and say NO to corruption and even not remain a mute spectator to such an event.

Participating in dharnas and fasts are not going to change the society. Even when proper laws have been drafted thefts, murder, dacoiti, cheating etc takes place. Corruption will not stop unless we awaken as a society and address the issue as a disease. Otherwise after Lokpal bill,we may see a common man getting punished even for bribing a traffic police officer which he earlier considered as a routine affair.

Let’s try to be the change we want to see !!

The Hangover

Hangover, a term coined for post high effect. The high can be a result of getting drunk or intake of drugs which it is for most of the cases OR it can be the outcome of too much happiness and peace.  I have luckily/unluckily as you define it, till date only experienced the later one.

When you are happy, you have peace of mind, love flows from heart, positive energy overflows and the ambience around you is cheerful, a periodic state that may last for hours, days or weeks. This is the time when you enjoy the true bliss of nature, new relationships are developed and stronger bonds are created. This is the time when you solve one of the trickiest mathematical questions, a time when you come up with out of the box solutions to the practical problems, a time when you challenge yourself, a time when you truly feel for the song “ae sala, abhi abhi hua yakin ki aag hai mujme kahin”.

Everything seems so perfect.

But HELLO!!, wake up, this is life.

Life is full of ups and lows, happiness and sorrow, falling and getting up, an amazingly eventful journey (mostly unexpected) from birth to grave. The high is past now, you experience the hatred around you, you see the competition around you, negative energy simply flows around, and you fight for survival. The interest in passion is lost and everything seems hazy. You are in the Hangover mode, you experience the real world, and you live the real LIFE. One searches for pleasure and tries new ways to meet it.

Lack of motivation, deviation from the decided path, change of ambience in terms of people, places or objects can be few among other reasons. As we grow up the percentage of time we experience the hangover increases. We need a constant source of inspiration, a motivation to move ahead and an urge to submerge in positive energy.

We should try to decrease the period of hangover, stay high and try to be happy ; not due to the intake of an external source but as a result of peace within, the love within. We must strengthen the self confidence and have faith in ourselves. Once we generate the equation of happiness, know the source of love, most of the challenges which seemed impossible may now seem reachable. Higher heights can be achieved, true bliss of mother nature can be experienced, stronger bonds can be created, and its possible to now fly, high up in the sky.

Fly, Fly High !!

My Placements Experience

Hello friends. This is the final year of my B.Tech degree program and just like everyone else i had been pursuing my dream job. I stepped into the final year, the placements season arrived and suddenly all the priorities changed.Yes this is how it begins for most of us. We try to make up for lost time as much as possible.

The most important fact that i learned was to never take the whole placements thing seriously. Its true that one failure brings in a lot of disappointment and opportunities are thin on the ground but there is always something better in store for you. It makes sense to see the placement process just as a learning curve, observing the places  that we goofed up and areas that we need to work upon. Placements time are an odd bit of period. Some people just want to end it as soon as possible. But we should never forget our strengths, always know our worth and be patient and should not rush into things. Sometimes we tend to expect a lot. But as freshers we should think with a level head. It is foolish to just go after companies offering the highest packages and limit our opportunities. As freshers it is tough to understand what the industry has to offer and what careers we can build. There are two types of jobs. One with a good name and the other with a good work. Both of them are sensible options. For instance when Deloitte came to visit our campus it wasn’t offering attractive packages as many of the other software companies. But still it makes sense to apply for it because the company as big as Deloitte gives you a very good exposure and a good name on your CV’s.

We can get a good head-start by proper planning and preparation. Firstly it is very important to start preparing for Aptitude tests as early as possible. If we are not able to clear the apti’s then we don’t give ourselves any chance of clearing the interviews. Secondly we need to have our basics very strong. Every interview starts with the basics and proceeds according to the responses we give. I sincerely believe that we can set the direction of an interview. Its very important to think out aloud during the interviews. Always say out loud what you are thinking and the job becomes much easier for both the interviewer and interviewee. It reflects the thinking process of the candidate and the interviewer gives you more hints. The interviewers always ask about our strong subjects and it is best to play to our strengths instead of trying to bluff. This is as far as it gets where the technical aspects are concerned.

We should work on our communication skills. It is important to express ourselves correctly especially in stress interviews. We should work on some of the basic questions. Tell us about yourself? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What have you done to improve on your weaknesses? What is the reason for joining this company? How do you react in various conflict scenarios? The responses to these questions should be precise and well thought out. It should also be kept in mind that while giving response to such questions it should not look like a speech or something. Its very important to maintain eye contact. We can have interviews among friends to get prepared and it helps to point some of the basic mistakes that we generally make.

Now, I wont bore you with anymore stuff. I just hope this might help anyone reading this in some way or the other. Just remember to stay calm, honest and polite along  the way. Have fun and never take things too seriously.

The author – “Abhinav Rungta” is a 2007-2011 batch of Computer Science Engineering from NIT Warangal and has bagged one of his dream job at ORACLE not loosing hope after applying for around 10 companies and reaching 3 interviews. Oracle was his  third and final .

Try Try until you Succeed.

My Earliest Memory, a childhood lesson learnt for life…

Memories do have a lasting impression and if you are aware there’s a part of learning in each stage of life. I remember an instance from my childhood days. I must be around 5-6 years .

My Side of Story:

I had hurt myself at home and my legs were paining a lot. I was asking my parents to visit a doctor but they always seemed reluctant. I used to talk in third person “aaku ko lag gaya” (I got hurt) ,”aaku ka bhuk laga hai“( I am feeling hungry, aaku is short form of my nickname ankush). What I know now from my elders is that I was very impatient ( which I still am ) and I am sure I may have irritated my parents 24*7  for the visit to doctor but all in vain. Incidentally one day while I was crying ( another aspect I used to cry a lot, kinda feels embarrassing now ) , mom got me some medicine. It was a small amount of white powder . When I enquired  about it and who got it, I was told that dad had visited the doctor on my behalf   and in turn the doctor gave this medicine. I was also informed that the doctor is a renowned one and his medicines are very effective. Alas I was very happy, my prayers were answered and the required medicine was also bought. I took the medicine and instantly a miracle had taken place, within minutes the pain had gone, in fact I was able to run again, play again.

The other side of the story goes as follows :

What I hear later is that I had always been good at “nautanki” (drama) and this pain may have been some another random time pass activity. So they tried to play it down at first but then I was not going to let this fight down easily . My voice ought to be heard and finally my parents had to put their weapons down (at least this was what I thought ). But they knew I had blind faith in them and they used it as a Bhramastra against me. I had been given powdered sugar and was told this was homeopathic medicine. Generally homeopathic medicines are sweet in taste and white in colour so I had believed them and took it, so again within minutes the pain had gone, infact I was able to run again, play again.

So what did I learn from this? The heart can be navigated in any direction on one’s will . How can a muscle pain be gone in few minutes ? the only possibility being if the pain was psychological . I have always blindly believed in my parents and I still do but now I think that just because of the assurance that “you will be alright after taking this” may have hit me hard and was the the reason of my recovery. If the same medicine had been given by the doctor I may have needed the dose a couple of more times. A lesson was learnt early from a small episode to believe in oneself.

If we truly believe all will be right, it surely will be. If you want to be successful ,think strong, think you can, keep the confidence intact , you will no doubt touch heights. As Aamir Khan says in “3 Idiots” just say “All is Well“  and all will be well, a firm belief may help us achieve our goals. As Paulo Coelho states “When you want something with true feelings , all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”.

Heart can be fooled easily and if that’s possible lets do it !!!

So called IAS officer… a talk by the next Kiran Bedi of the INDIA…

A talk with Tanvi Sundriyal was conducted who had secured 6th Rank in UPSC 2010. She’s an alumnus of our college (Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra) a 2006 pass out Electrical and Electronics Engineer, and after deciding to become an IAS officer she pursued Bachelor in Law from Delhi University. She realized her dream in her third attempt but did not loose hope after two consecutive failures and kept working with passion and confidence intact.

We had an amazing response from students ranging from freshers to final year be it from Bachelor’s or Master’s . The talk was designed to focus on the importance to decide a goal, a career path integrated with self belief .With an example of Window she made us analyze an object in different ways. For  “window “one may think of  “the operating system”,”window in a room”,”a connector to the world” or ” window of an opportunity”. Analyzing an object/word in different context helps us get various opinions among ourselves, understand the pros and cons of various situation and thus decide the best choice. She gave examples of great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi , Bill Gates (Microsoft Windows) and Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) who stood by their ideals and principles undeterred by the conventional ways of living a life and thus breaking the barriers. Both the billionaires are surprisingly college drop outs .The very fact to break the conventional barriers can be brought upon once there’s a goal set and we work towards it with passion and dedication. I remember her mentioning

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success..”

~ Swami Vivekananda

All the slides she showed us,the lines spoke made us remind, made us realize the importance of passion, conviction and confidence to realize a dream.

I would like to mention a paragraph of a blog which I found very similar to her talk
“Stop trying to hit me and hit me”

Stop trying to hit me and hit me

Wow. Just. Wow. For every time I am assailed by self-doubt, for every time I feel despair, hopelessness, helplessness and just generally daunted at the sheer impossibility of life, this line has come to my rescue. It is a potent mantra to stop trying, to stop thinking of the level of effort, the difficulties, the costs and risks and just do. I think of this line as a dose of concentrated willpower shot right into the heart. Want to get promoted? get a raise? get a girlfriend? get a Nobel prize? Stop trying and go get it.

If I may carry this line to its ultimate logical conclusion, it would be:

“Stop trying to live and live”

So go live.

This post would be remiss without some credit going to this guy:

Mind your free

This guy once said:

“Do. Or do not. There is no try”

She did mention a few blogs which may help students preparing for UPSC exams:
www.thecivilservicesdream.blogspot.com
www.anaydwivedi.wordpress.com
www.prakashrajpurohit.wordpress.com
www.ghanshyamthori.blogspot.com
www.abhijeetagrawal.blogspot.com

Wake up now, if you want your dreams to come true!!

So called Memories… Part 1… a travelog

“you don’t need good memory to have good memories !! “

5 weeks passed in a whisker. I was in Bangalore , doing my intern at “Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore” which took place by sheer luck (had mentioned in this post) and followed up with some serious dedication. Now i am back to college but besides working from Monday to Saturday what i cherish are the amazing 5 Sundays i experienced. I still remember the minute details of every Sunday. Here are some :

1st Sunday: 13/6/2010 : Innovative Film City

My initial den was my sister’s place. Plans were not finalized till the previous night , I woke up after 10 am after a few not so used to hectic days gone by. I had started making a plan to meet my childhood friend, but suddenly after a few conversations at home we are off to “Innovative Film City”. First of all it’s not a film city , its kind of amusement park with major attractions like mini golf,mirror maze, miniature of “Madam Tussaud’s” museum, go-karting,virtual beach, haunted house (lasted fr half an hour or so !! ) and many more.

It’s a good place to spend a holiday with your friends and relatives. A full day is needed for paisa vasool and you will certainly come out with long-lasting memories. We missed on rock climbing and rope walking and i still regret it. It’s approximately an hour away from Bangalore on Mysore Road and there is no conveyance available while returning, so its better to have your own arrangements before you visit this beautifully built place. I had an amazing time with my jiju,sis and gaurav bhaiya.

2nd Sunday 20/6/2010 : Mysore Trip

Yes, its was my b’day and we planned to go on a Mysore Trip. I could manage only few hours of sleepand had to wake up at 5 am to get ready for the trip. We reached Majestic, a place where you get buses for any possible site and loads of travel agent. We were a group of 5 and booked tickets with a travel agent for a Mysore package tour. Initially bus moved with snail’s speed but picked up later. We reached a place with remains of Tipu Sultan’s Palace and also visited a temple near by.

We left for Chamundi temple on a hill-top and got an amazing view of Mysore city. Our guide was just too funny, I remember him telling the details about a palace which had now turned into a five-star hotel “yaha ek cup coffee ya tea ka price only Rs 500 hota, isme cup and saucer ka price nahi include hai” (one cup tea or coffee costs Rs 500 which does not include the price of Cup and Saucer).

Our next destination was the magnificent Mysore Palace .Camera’s were not allowed inside. After examining the interior for sometime it tells you what “Live Life King Size” means , as my friend Nikhil rightly told “Assume you are the KING of the palace while you are roaming inside” and believe me it will really make you feel like all the artistic works were just done for you. I was just amazed to see the hard work  that may have been put in to build this awesome palace.

We then headed to a church and finally to Brindavan Gardens which is known for its fountains. We could see Sea of Heads across the parking area. Built on the backside of a dam, the major attractions lies with the fountain show.  Different patters of water shoot were shown. There’s also an option for a boat ride which was fully used to reach the other part of the park. Again there were loads of fountains with different colors and styles. It’s an apt place to spend time, once the fountains start shedding water.

As we had time constraint we could not wander throughout and had to return. The bus journey was just amazing, I still remember few red faces when we were gossiping at loud voices. We reached back to Bangalore by 1am after a fun-filled experience.

3rd Sunday 27/6/2010 : Banerghata National Park

As earlier Sundays we still had no plans made. We decided late night to visit Banerghata National Park. Hardly an hour away from the city premises this park is known for its grand safari. We reached Banerghata Bus stop which is at a distance of 2km from the premises and decided to walk . Many vendors were to be seen outside the park . Among other attractions included Zoo and a Bird sanctuary. Being a Sunday the crowd was overwhelming. We bought the tickets and stood in queue for the safari ride , excited and ready to be surprised.Our ride was a mini bus with a 20 seat capacity. The journey started with an advice to “not to feed the wild animals”, on the contrary we were hoping that animals do not feed on us . The trip began with instant show and we saw deers at first. As the bus proceeded we saw many big bears , the reaction was much different from what I had expected.

It seemed like they were too used to tourists and did not react to buses stopping near them. We then moved to the lion’s area. The park is built in such a fashion that each creature gets ample space to live in. Lion’s with mane were seen but most of them were very lazy. Then we entered the National Animal’s area and saw many big beasts, a white color tiger was also seen.The ride always came to a standstill when an animal was seen. We turned back and reached the main entrance of the zoo after a 30 min ride. The zoo occupies a decent amount of land with many varieties of birds and animals.

The first 3 weekends were great in terms of what I had learned in IISc as well as the explorations we did in and around Bangalore. I had met amazing new people be it my prof,my colleagues in my department or my new friends. Its friendship day today and what could have been the best time to publish this post. Friends I had an awesome time with you people. Thanks for making my Bangalore trip so memorable.

So called Memories… Part 2… a travelog

“you certainly don’t need good memory to have good memories !!! “

5 weeks passed in a whisker. I was in Bangalore , doing my intern at “Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore” which took place by sheer luck (had mentioned in this post) and followed up with some serious dedication. Now i am back to college but besides working from Monday to Saturday what i cherish are the amazing 5 Sundays i experienced. I still remember all the minute details of my stay. The first 3 weeks helped he understand my work at IISc, finally i had known where i was heading to. Got acquainted to food,amazing weather and a beautiful campus which always gave me a strong feeling of being an part of it.In the following posts I share some of my memories.

4th Sunday: 4/7/2010 : Vellagiri
We had a plan to choose from going to Asia’s biggest amusement park or to Night Trekking at Skandagiri. We had very few people interested for Wonderla so we had decided to go for night trekking at Skandagiri. But call it my bad luck that my friend Nikhil hurt himself while playing football during midnight.These are few pictures of what i missed which makes it a must go for everyone.
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So a few people went forward with the trip and we decided to have a sound sleep that night. It was Spain vs Germany semi-final on 3rd and i was over-exited about it. Finally Spain had knocked out one of the best teams in the world cup. So we woke up late in morning and tickets for a movie were brought. We had to decide what to do in mean time. To choose from various options like Bowling,Brigade road,UB city etc but ended up experimenting in various restaurants. For instance the burger at Ice and Spice was way better than any i have had in Mc-D or KFC.

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Besides there was a sugar cane juice shop which serves in various flavors and later we ended up in an Ice-Cream parlor just opposite to Ice & Spice. It was time and we reached the movie hall but people who had tickets were not to be seen. I remember convincing the watchman that we are 5 and the 4 who are about to come have the tickets. I even told him “bhaiya aapko kya lagata hum log jhut bolega, jinke pass ticket hota unko 10 min lagega , humoko jaane do” and surprisingly he allowed us. We entered into the movie hall and came out disheartened. We reached the IISc campus again in afternoon and had to stay there as the next day was declared National Bandh by political parties. We then decided to sleep once we see the sunrise.


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I remember the lame jokes of my Amit , jogging past mid-night ,the coffee at 2 am, strong cold wind blowing at a time when the country was facing the heat. Then there was a beloved dog who stayed with us throughout wherever we went. We had tea before sunrise and could only see the rays of the sun but not sleeping was worth and had amazing fun.


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5th and last Sunday: 11/7/2010 : Shivasamudram waterfall

We decided to visit a waterfall and had hired a mini bus for it. Waking up early is  a big headache for me but when there’s a wonderful plan waiting for you its worth it.

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We reach Shivasamudram waterfall after an enjoyable three hours bus ride. The falls were a true nature’s beauty but we had to take a look from distance. Later we left for our destination Bharachukki falls to experience high-speed water. It was tough to get down as the rocks were slippery with pointed edges thus turning to be risky and time-consuming .
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After a long slow walk we reached our destination . Boats were available for a short ride and took us to a place where we could experience what a waterfall could mean. The experience was truly mind blasting when it felt like hammer striking at regular intervals . I felt like the rides of Wonderla would not even stand ground when compared to what we felt here. Due to the force of water it was not even possible to turn head at right angles.
I could just stay here for hours and enjoy the fall. As it was Sunday the number of tourists began to increase . Walking up again that rocks were a cumbersome task but cheers to my friends we made it safely.

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Heading back to bus we decided to be have lunch asap as the falls had been tiring. After having lunch in two phases we were now totally full of energy. The bus had a speaker system, and what else did we need. It was turned into a mini disco where Waka-Waka stood out with the most demand . What a better farewell Sunday one would have expected.

Random Stuff:
Be it the ambience of campus, lovely atmosphere of Bangalore ,soothing bus trips back home, amazing people to work with, making new friends , visiting lake or choosing wrong restaurants to eat Parathas ( Btw if you are in Bangalore do have Pizza Paratha and veg-Mousse both of them are going to leave a lasting impression) , reaching brigade road when city sleeps , a near fight with sharing lunch at Prakruthi along with memories , the cake at Tea-board ,sharing memories and then deciding a new plan every moment and wishing we had more time to stay in this lovely place.

Then came my belated birthday party, a dinner the eve I left. My friends brought a cake  from Amma’s Pastry (Another thing you must not miss when you are in bangalore is Amma’s Pastry).The dinner was mouth-watering and we promised to stay in touch after which i headed back home to pack my luggage and get ready to leave for Calcutta… Home Sweet Home!!!….


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What more would i have asked for in this short trip ?? Had met the biggest foodie ever “Prerana”, the guy who speaks more than his expressions “AMIT” , the bindaas chillax “Sayani” and yes my friend “Nikhil” without whom the trip would had not been even possible at the first place, but yes i missed out on visiting a few places namely Tirupati which had always been my must visit, there’s a guilt i missed it ,Night-Trekking at Skandagiri , night stay at Isckon temple, the amusement park – Wonderla, Jain temple at Sharvanbelgola or the Hogenakkal Falls in Tamil Nadu. I had got a hand to a book called 52 places to visit near Bangalore and believe me i am dying to stay in Bangalore for a longer period. Bangalore i am coming back soon…!!!

Had learned so many things during this visit got to know many people. Had many mindset changes ,may be even saw a new dimension the way I take things. But still there were some patches which would have otherwise made the stay perfect.
But then who wants a perfect life???

So called Research……

dip a brush into sun and paint a window towards eternity

So finally a dream come true for me, may be an internship but yes am at IISc for 5 weeks which even surprises me. Every student who is associated with science may have heard the name of this institute, one of it’s kind in INDIA. Spread over 443 acres (1.79 square km) this amazing campus reminds me that yes this can be the only heaven fr geeks on whom the country depends highly on research. Amazing campus, good food, brilliant people and for the topping just too awesome weather of Bangalore.

I remember i was just chit chatting with my friend nikhil who was already at the campus through a national programme of IAS(Indian Academy Of Science) which gives student’s internships on basis of their qualification . He advised me to do something academic for the summer and just to pass time i mail few people stating the interest in working with them, which included 2 profs of IISc, and others were institutes and companies that worked in areas related to solar energy.Oh yes, solar energy interests me a lot, it is going to be the savior of the energy crisis the world’s gonna face soon.

So i mail these people talk over phone get exited and expect something or the other. I get two replies, both from profs of IISc one saying he was not in Bangalore for the summer and the other asking me for a writeup… wow i could not believe my eyes after watching the mail because i had earlier included my resume which also had my bad, infact very bad cgpa,but i think intention is what that mattered. Thanks GOD was the instant thought that came up in my head.

I begin to search for a data and information and compile it over phone with the help of my bro Amit. I finally mail him and get a response after 30 hours of anxious waiting. But when i got the reply i had no words to choose from , it was tears i felt with happiness. It had the golden words written asking me to plan my trip to Bangalore as soon as possible as already a lot time had passed this summer.

I search the railway websites for tickets but in vain. I even reach the booking office 6 am in the morning i.e. 2 hours early before the counter even opens but see that my name appears beside number 75. With a heavy heart I return home ,try internet booking but as usual the site goes down at 8am. so what’s the option left? Yes it’s the air-way. I have not been in plane anytime before , this is also going to be my first hand experience, after convincing dad that IISc is a good college and this intern may help me in future i finally get the plane tickets done. A long wait to travel up in the sky has finally finished.

I reach Bangalore in more than 4 hours as it was a stop flight from calcutta and i really enjoyed traveling above the clouds.The take-off and landing experience was just brilliant at both the airports.

So i finally reach Bangalore, with high expectations from the city which even rose after seeing the mind blasting airport and amazing bus service. Finally reach sister’s place take rest and prepare my self for the encounter with the best brain’s of the country the very next day.

I reach campus in the morning to see how the biodiversity can be preserved with building all around, there were different centers for every topic we know and even more. But still the campus looks green and greener as i proceed inside. I reach my center of ecological sciences department , i had to work in solar energy but my prof was from muti departments and had a library in his department. I search shelves and after a long search and get amazing books. I meet my prof first time face to face and he tells me to study the basics for a week sitting in library which did really help me to get the insight. I go through various books and webpages and gain more information than i even get in a semester in college.

As far as filling stomach is concerned this place has lot of options, we generally eat at place “Prakruthi” which runs on self serve basis and has all kinds of food , the coffee served there is breathtaking. I can bet hot coffee of CCD or Barista would loose by miles in front on this 5 rupee coffee. I believe every resident of bangalore should visit this place just for the sake of coffee. The taste will deinitely last a lifetime, I sometimes doubt they mix some taste enhancers… ha ha no offense please.

Then’s there a juice parlor which again serves juice at surprisingly low prices. There’s this milk shake of Butter Fruit, about which i had not heard till now but searching on internet tells me that it contains some kind of good fat which kills the bad fat. They say if you drink it everyday it removes the unnecessary fats and calories from the body.
(Juice Center)

There’s also a Sports Complex also know as GymKhana but i feel proud to say that sports complex of our college seems to be better than that of IISc.

Surprisingly daily trip to library never bored me, because this time i was reading something that really interests me. I meet him again in 5 days and am happy to see the smiling face of his, appreciating my work,and giving me a new task . Searching and compiling the data still continues.

Is this what is called research?? Have seen people running simulation softwares for chemical experiments, computers has really saved the time and money for performing various experiments.But, this is not what i expected in research ,i had a complete different notion as to what research is, if i believe the present definition i am also doing some kind of research , sounds nerdy but my topic is just too enjoyable and facebook and gtalk are the saviours when i get bored and yes there’s my friend nikhil who’s been really helpful throughout, without him i suppose i would have hardly be able to write so highly about my experience here.Have nearly 25 more days and a lots of outing plans which includes my long awaited tirupati visit and for a change i am not missing home. Overall it has been a good experience and will certainly have tough time leaving this place. Research or or whatever i call , am enjoying it and my prof is happy, what else does one need. it makes me remind of a really good quotation:

There are 3 parts of a journey: 1>to have a dream 2>to realize it and 3>then enjoy it…. most of us miss the third part….

NJOY the dream, once it’s fulfilled…!!!!

So called budding engineers…

Its my very first writeup , so i have thought to write on engineering. if you are an engineering student you may relate  it and if not,  I hope you will enjoy reading.

So i finally came to an engineering college, a partial dream come true after 2 years of slogging (+1 for me). What had brought me here, were the high salaries students these days were getting, after getting into IIT’s ,but like most of the exam takers , i ended up in a second grade college. Ya so salaries were a bigger factor, than a urge to become an engineer or i must say  the dream of living a high standard life was the only driving force.

What i immediately noticed after coming to college was that students were here from different parts of the country having constantly very good ranks in their respective schools but what i also noticed was that  like me most of my colleges had very less interest in electrical or mechanical stuff. What we had learnt in higher secondary level was basically done to secure good marks . We hardly knew our attitude would remain with us throughout. Engineering really means playing with or dismantling different types of things around for the ease of humans, but very few among hundreds had that knack.  But whatever happened we have ended up in an engineering college for “four” unforgettable years of our life .

Students were now getting computers and laptops , we had internet connection in each room to stay updated about the latest technologies but  we were using them  to stay  connected to  friends through various social networking sites. Before we knew our exams were knocking the door, we always had this urge to laugh at people who used to study regularly and call them book worms but just before the exam we realize we were wrong, and the most important thing  is that this realization remained only till the exam time. Thus most of the students who were ex-toppers were seen slogging before exam and praying just to clear exams.

We enjoy all other time in our college except the weeks in which exams are held and we seriously do. Staying away from guardians does provide a lot of freedom.  Hanging out with friends in the campus, sleeping in class, giving proxies, mass bunks, taking computer games seriously ,infact very seriously , watching movies through out the day , waking up at noon, we even started watching soap operas, life here is completely different . Here we proudly say that we have not taken a bath for 7  or 10 days and the best part is students who have led a disciplined life throughout  now begin feeling ashamed. I don’t know what we are doing is right or not but we are loving it.

I would like to end it by making every engineering students remember something…..

till class 10 : ” study till boards after that you can do whatever you want.”

class11-12: “its only 2 years more after that it like picnic in the college, believe me its true!!!

after entering into an engineering college and getting average G.P.A. : “you were not like this, what happened to you,  study hard to get placements if you want to live a happy life”

After almost 2 years , i am still not able to reply  to questions which  ask me what engineering is all about, or what have i learnt till now,Good or Bad i don’t know but we are enjoying each and every moment here , and i suppose that is the most important thing, future will ultimately take its own course of action…..