Life and we

An attempt!

2007-01-04T23:32:00.000-08:00

Alright then! I finally have decided to try my hand at blogging: something I thought I would never do. Not because it was bad, or boring, but I somehow had always felt it was not worthwhile. "Why the hell are you writing then?" one might ask. My only response to that would be: The US of A. Confusing? well yes, it is!

I guess I had written enough about it in the mails. Let us get into some "more serious" stuff now. The last post was a real good one; though I saw it only today. I do not know who wrote it, but I guess it might be a girl, for three reasons:

1. "I remeber myself.. late teens .. thousands of strong ideas.. some hundreds of values, a strong plan.": I cant think of a guy who is so determined!
2. "I have my technical career chartered out": Most guys dont plan that far ahead!
3. "emotionally, it is a 20 something chrisis." : There are very few emotional guys and almost none of them have a 20 something crisis :)

Well, ok. That much for my FBI (I am in the US of A, u know ;)) work. Was I correct? as in any detective story, it is always the culprit who confesses: Lets see if that happens! (its not a "culprit" here, of course!!) Its very possible that this self proclaimed FBI agent (me! me!) might turn out to be a pathetic failure! But yes, of course, I must say that the issue raised is very relevant. I have gone through the same sort of confused emotions, and I still do occasionally (yeah, u guessed it: I am one of those "few emotional guys" :)). After thinking quite a bit about why this happens, I have come to the conclusion that I get to this kind of a mood when I am left all to myself for long periods of time. "Man is a social animal and I am a man", (or atleast surely a future man ;)). I leave the logical deduction to all ye fellow compsceez!

I do also feel, that there are these times of "depression", when everything in this world seems to go wrong! There are times when one feels that the whole world is conspiring against him/her. I cannot tell you a remedy to this, but yes, I sure can tell you what I do when I feel like this: I sleep off! It might sound funny, but it helps, really! I get up, and its a whole new world altogether. Your world is what you think it is!

And talking about goals, and taking responsibilities, all of us are at a critical point of our lives where we are moving from being the wild, careless, free soul to a more timid, careful and restricted soul! The transition is not easy, but surprisingly, not difficult too. Just live. Live like you always have. The beauty of the human mind is that it cannot stop learning. You will learn as you live. And even before you know, you will be ready to take up all the responsibilities and challenges, which at this point in time may seem far fetched.

Shattered plans! Oh Yes! there have been a lot of those. If somebody asked me what I wanted to do, my response would be spontaneous: I want to eat tandoori roti, paneer butter masala, hyderabad chicken biryani, 3 times a day, 7 days a week, sleep for 10 hours a day and play aoe for the rest of the time! But then, thats the not the way it works, aint it? This is exactly where the "responsibility" part comes in. I have been told many a time to get more focused. Hmm.. Focused: a word that dictionary.com explains as "To direct toward a particular point or purpose"; a word thats so abstract; a word that I have tried hard to understand, and given up!

But nonetheless, I am trying to get more "focused" and I continue to convince myself that I am doing something for my "future", my "long-term-goal"!. And I presume that is what most people are doing (People who think otherwise, please forgive this fool for such lowly thoughts!) .

Finally, what was I trying to convey by all the crap that I wrote above? Ashok had already said part of it in his comment to the previous post. Its plain and simple:

Live Life King Size! Live life as if you are going to die tomorrow! Think of tomorrow, Plan for tomorrow, but do not worry about it! And do not think beyond tomorrow, never!!

Midnight

2006-10-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Another night, as I sit on my bed, beside the window. I can hear the still busy street below me. It is October 06. Where did all the days go?

I remeber myself.. late teens .. thousands of strong ideas.. some hundreds of values, a strong plan.

Now, in my early twenties, just a few years have elapsed, but those thousands of ideas have gone. The bubbles have burst. A few values remain. The strong plan has vanished. I have my technical career charted out, but emotionally, it is a 20 something chrisis.

People around me are accepting commitments, taking up responsibilities, while I still feel wild. and free. and happy. and lonely.

Anyone feel the same?

Thousands of changes in just three years. Why don't you share a piece of it? Successful ideas? Shattered plans? Has anything changed your definitions of good/bad?

Waiting to hear from some of you..

Don't think this blog is dead...

2006-05-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Know it is!

Guess this place is dead..

2006-03-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

So,

Where did all the people go? Is everyone busy caught up with their lives? Or is everyone job hopping? Whats happening folks?

In true compsci style may I ask, with very little knowledge, what do you think is the future for IT? Whats in it for us as Indians? Will another country bite a larger share of the offshoring/outsourcing? Will the technology change? What about the brain gain happening? Is higher studies going to get much more importance in the future?

Ramble, ramble you lazy folks, over here. Lets stop a minute to think in this frenzy of life. It may very well sort the road ahead..

the birthday, the coffee and the (d-uh) pickle!

2006-02-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Feb 14th is coming up and a bangalore guy doesn't want to be seen as so much of a loser that he actually is. This desparate man (read posts below to find out who) was thinking of help and just then the yahoo groups post came in: its someone's birthday on 11th!! Nothing could be so aptly timed than this one! So not missing the chance, this person known for his timing calls up the hotline number (Chids) and gets the coveted phone number. And now, well armed, the man is ready to make the call. After bowing to the cupid-lord, he calls up. Luckily the connection gets him through. And in a flustering jiffy, he is through with the wishing(or-so. the wires weren't properly tapped to find more out)! Now he asks for the treat (read valentines day out!). Since this guy aint really a man to ask the person out alone, he asks for a 'group' treat. Well, its no more like in the college where you could catch hold of somebody to accompany you to the juicy eh! So he searches around and there in the corner he finds an unsuspecting victim - Agent Zero!! He asks the bday gal to treat them both!! how sly :)

Well, we've named agent zero oorgai (pickle in tamil) - on request due to this incident :)

Now thats a cover report on the page 3 gossip that's been running around bangalore lately. First witness reports are expected any time soon. Or do we really have to wait for Feb14th? I'll bet whose waiting to reply !!

p.s: this post takes a dig at a lot of people. Though it was intended, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously!

21 THINGS COMMON TO ALL ENGG COLLEGES

2006-02-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

1). The lecturers dont teach.The students dont
study.The only guy who benefits is the one who owns
the 'dhaba' next to the college.

2).Rules are made to be broken.

3).Promises are made to be broken.

4).Deadlines are made to be extended...ALWAYS!

5).Guys always think the chics in the college next
lane are more beautiful.

6).The lab assistants are the most respected
people(during the lab exams i.e)

7).The watchmen are the people most bribed.

8).The HOD is the person most respected(heights of
sycophancy here).

9).The principal is the person most abused and
insulted(behind the back i.e)

10).Dropping subjects is 'cool'.(arre yaar..drop the
idea of dropping subjects plzz).

11).There is always a lecturer in the college who cant
speak proper 'english'.

12).Night-out is the second most important tool to ace
the exams.

13).All time u will be in debate with students of other
branch as their branch is d BEST.

14).The most important tool..the bhramastra..is the
'chit' in which the words can be understood only by
the person who wrote them(in most of the cases i.e)

15).The freshers are the most sought after..be it in
the canteen,the 'free' periods or for completing the
records,assignments.

16).One has to live in constant fear of a DROP all
through the engg carrier as according to new revised
stringent RULES any thing can happen to ANYONE.

17).The second-years are the ones with the 'I am the
don-of-the-college' feeling iff one not has MECHANICS KT of
1st sem.....( BAP of all papers of ENGG).

18).The third years are the ones with the
'so-many-backlogs' feeling and the poor souls get down
to studying after bossing around in the college
for so long.but the fun still continues.

19).The fourth years have no connection with the
college whatsoever...with no interest in
ragging,pulling each other`s legs,the bday parties,the
bday bums et al which they enjoyed so much till
now.All they want is a good placement and a
'1st-class' tag attached to their memo.

20).The first three years are spent in cursing the
college,the people there,the system et al.

21).But towards the end of the fourth year,people tend
to feel nostalgic abt the pure unadulterated fun they
have had for 4 years.Now the very system they
disliked,the very canteen they cursed,the time that
they spent there,the bday bums they suffered..all
these seem like heaven to them.

......................THIS IS HOW OUR ENGINEERING
COMPLETES.................

Wht say guys?

Anonymous postage

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

2006-02-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

I do not know how many of you have heard this song by Green Day. It's my favorite, and I really like the lyrics:

"Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What's ****** up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I walk alone
I walk a...

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone...

http://www.mp3.com/tracks/5502794/dl_streams.html

Btw, 'hot' does not apply to girls alone, I know a few guys whom 'id classify that way and if you think Single women have a great time as opposed to single men, think again.

Compsceez 24x7....... blogger exposed !!

2006-02-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

It feels great to act as a reporter for compsceez for the first time. It seems there is something to the anonymity comment Mithra made about one of our class-mates after all. I don't want to spoil the fun of discovery , so here's the link for you all to explore. And according to reliable sources, there are others of the same genre which remain unrevealed. So coming back to the question of ....... Why the mask of anonymity !!

http://infinite-circle.blogspot.com/

Preetha,
Acting reporter ....Compsceez 24x7.

happiness

2006-02-03T04:55:00.000-08:00

Understanding happiness

Taming happiness has been the biggest aim of mankind I suppose. A bunch of scientists tried to analyse happiness. If they can why can't I?Heres my little attempt -
Factors determining happiness -
Genetic determination - People are genetically predistosed to being happy or otherwise. So blame it all on your genes. If your ancestors were more prosperous than you and you just live a hand-to-mouth existence still you can be as happy as they are. Afterall they have passed it through the gene pool. This is a non-modifiable factor so it cant be used to alter your happiness.

Conditions around you - This includes what most people belive where happiness actually lies. This category includes money, stable relationship, recreation, discos, movies and all. Though in america the per capita income has drastically risen why hasn't the level of happiness? The conclusion was - Man anyway gets adjusted quickly to the conditions around him. So what determines his happiness is not having better living conditions but just the transition from low to high. Not staying at that upper end. The novelty weans off soon. So he is no more happy as before. Ummm... thats the reason why they say money cannot buy happiness!

Attitude - Now heres it. You have to redefine happiness for yourself. Redefine it conveniently according to you. Set your goals according to your capacity and let it be within your reach. Do not over expect. Know your limits. The one who said "Low aim and not failure is a crime" probably stressed more on success. I would give more priority to my happiness than success. My own theory seems to be working for me. I don't bother a bit of compromise on success if I am happy!

courtesy : http://cubesix.blogspot.com/

Career Options - Nag's version

2006-02-01T04:33:00.000-08:00

This is my version of the Career Options blog from our beloved poor soul (for the non believers of it, Hari). Remember there was a movie “Virummandi” where in we have 3 different versions of the same story. Ya this is the 2nd version. from me.

Here it goes:

I was desperate to come to bangalore coz of 2 reasons
1) TCS job sucked
2) The pay sucked more than TCS itself.

Agreed everyone wants commitments. I am NO exception. But then at times COMMITMENTS ARE OF PAIN. May be Einstein is right. whn he was asked abt what relativity is he said:

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."

Damn.. poor guy.. He didn’t understand that both lead to the same. Problems… and PAIN at the end..

(Guys, dnt pull me in to the court for the controversial statements I have made, as the conservatives did it to the south Indian actress KHUSBOO… its just an opinion with a little experience.)

But then Problems are the ones which drive human world. Life wud be disinteresting.. (OOPS.. sorry prasanna) uninteresting without problems… dats y I asked god for more problems.. the biggest problem for me now is, it seems he heard me dis time…

(Why is it that : 9. Why did God didn’t hear whn I asked him for some nice toys, better crackers, not so boring classes, fairer gender, a job that doesn’t suck...)

So much for my philosophy:

Coming back to career options.. as i said GOD gave me problems.. made my job boring, since he thought i am just lazying arnd here (my equivalent to the ToNMOAS).. then i happened to meet my friend who came up from the US for his hols.. he is doing his Ms over there.. the guy is learning wht life is and is living it. He is doing a supermarket job.. studies.. does all pracs himself.. and had ended up in a gud intern too… this guy I m talking abt here, has flunked 3 papers in his engineering degree.. if this guy can do y not me.. dats wht I thot at that time.. I m clear here “AT THAT TIME”… I am normal now :-)

And it was this desperation that led to this significant discussion in our lives on that day.

There ends my version.

s/w buddies do a diff between the last post and this.. and u can clearly find out whr peppy masala is added..

Its up 2 u to believe in the poor soul or the true soul…

Btw kula is coming up with his 3rd version.. Run guys...

Career options

2006-01-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

The other day we (yours truly, "Cocky and funny" Naag, Kula and Venkat) were discussing about the career options we had/have in our hand. In the quintessential Indian films tradition, the discussion was, of course, interspersed with enough masala for the junta who need entertainment. like a superr time-pass padam/phillum.

On what has happenned to the guys till now:-

Naag
shifted from Chennai to Bangalore for two reasons. One was that he got a better job here. The second reason was apparent only after he challenged us last year (on May 30th, his birthday) that he will get a girlfriend within a year. We agreed for the challenge, as we were more jobless than him. He started his bangalore life by furiously visiting pubs that played desi music and searching for girlfriends, real hard. He joined an online course to learn and be a "cocky and funny" dude. His quest for being the quintessential cool dude still continues. He might just get his soul mate one of these days. But, he wants to do the next big thing in his career; an M.S. or M.B.A, that is. And it was his desperation that led to this significant discussion in our lives.

Kula
He is going places and doesn't really need external help to screw himself up in the name of career development. Kula has already written 16 java certification exams (believes unconditionally that job consultants respect these certificates) and is in the process of completing 13 more, which will take him to 29. And when he writes his 30th test, the folks from SUN have promised to felicitate him with a lifetime achievement award. Yeah, Kula will then die in peace.
If he survives, he might also try to write rest of the 20 tests on how to write short stories using Java, with which he will also complete a half-century and also simulataneously develop his writing and coding skills.

Venkat
Well, he is just Venkat, whether he was in rectiana or here. He surprised us when he said that he is going to write CAT this year. Later he expressed himself elaborately saying that he really doesn't mind flunking. He is going to write it every year from now on so that he has something to do (apart from slogging in the office) and also doesn't lose his computational skills.

Srihari
I have rambled enough about what I have been doing. I was/is and will always be a nut. The various options that I came up for myself were as follows (and shrugged it off within minutes).

1. GRE, M.S., Ransack money, Back home
2. Prostratiing before my distant uncle in the U.S., Ransack money, Back home
3. [Heart attack alert] CAT, MBA, Keep Ransacking, Give the long-pending death it's due
5. GATE, [Heart attack alert] IISc, No possible Ransacking, Die one fine day
4. Join TIFR, grow long hair, die sooner
6. ToNMOAss, nuff said!

Well, options 1 and 2 have a probability of 0.000001 each. which leaves me with options 3, 4, 5 and 6 in which the 6th option takes a probability of 0.999999.

A Couple of new series that this blog will feature:-
There is this new series that will feature in this blog about what happenned to all the muted rest on the masala fronts.
Probables next:
1. Oks. {Don't miss the sizzling story of he kissing someone during the new year celebrations!}
2. Chid. {Again, don't miss the sizzling story of he being kissed during the new year celebrations!}

Not to be left far behind, Prasanna will also be starting a new series shortly, which will be titled, A Word a Day - for the betterment of this blog.

Fun post for the day (01/25)

2006-01-25T04:05:00.000-08:00

Off-topic:

Ever since I heard of Google Videos, I loved it! Now here's something I'm posting just for the fun of it.. nothing really very interesting, but hey thinking about it, would you ever dare to do such a thing however 'high' you get ;-)

These guys ARE daring; dunno what really drives them to do such stunts - we strive all life to avoid such situations :-)

Check out the video here..

Finally got Mama!

2006-01-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

Today's only (stupid) statement I got to welcome him:

"thats one small step for man (maybe another for some woman), but a Giant step for Mama" :D

Total individual contributors on our blog so far: 7 (Adwait, Bush, Chid, Girish, Hari, Mithra, Preetha)
Newest member: Mama!

Can we expect some fundoo ramifications & discussions by our expert panel on those.. (some spice from the member who knows neither shall be dutifully added :p)

Good day, folks!

Analyse this

2006-01-20T02:08:00.000-08:00

Know what? Top companies which were once considered core-compsci are also opening up for non-circuit branches in some colleges from the coming year!! All they look for are some programming language knowledge and good analytic skills. It doesn't matter if you know Dijsktra's algo or not, if you can solve a given problem interestingly, then you're in!!

Have we all wasted our time, energy and money? We could have very well goofed in our high school got lower entrance rank and taken up non-circuit branch and enjoyed - we'd have ended up in the same place here!!

Hope this trend wouldn't depress the MS folks and aspirants though..you would definitely have your own interests..don't scream at yours truly :D

On a lighter note..talking to some of our college seniors out here (which there are plenty in number in my company), we discussed about batch gettogethers and stuff. Coming to the topic of keeping in touch, I think we are the first batch&branch having a blog?! Well others may have yahoo groups, but we have a blog eh?

Why is it that..

2006-01-19T17:34:00.000-08:00

1. The bus always leaves the stop just as we are about to get there?
2. The things we work so hard for never give the best results?
3. The one dress that you so badly want is never available in your size?
4. The one person you care the most about is the one whom you barely greet or talk to in monosyllables?
5. The cleanliness & concern we show for our surroundings in another place is lost once we are back home?
6. We fight more with our closer ones than with strangers?
7. The most delicious things in this world are the ones with the highest fat content?
8. The conversation on this blog is limited to around ten members when our class size was more than sixty?

What's up with cs10041? - in less than 800 words

2006-01-17T03:31:00.000-08:00

There are two rules which I tried to follow when I wrote this:
1. No bad jokes. Whatever follows doesn't have much of my characteristic bad humour. In short, "No funny stuff", as one of those characters in a Wodehouse novel would have put it.
2. Try to make some sense. Yeah, simple and clear.
Some folks may find what follows to be an extremely cynical blabber. On the contrary, I think life is beautiful; but, in it's own way. I am very much aware that this will be classified as a high-end drivel, supposedly achievable only after a few shots of Tequila. Except for a few of the handful of people who will actually read it, all the rest will shrug it off since it might make very little sense to them. But, I don't seem to mind! Or, do I?

Some things are destined to happen just the way they eventually happen. No rationale, no reasoning. You just feel like doing some things at certain times. Like this. Honestly, I didn't pay much heed to Chid's accusation that I, who happenned to be the initiator of this thread about the 1 1/2 years of our life and all that jazz, was absconding after I initiated it. But now, I am back to write about it.
But there is a simple problem. I have nothing much to write. Except for a few theories I keep churning (quite spontaneously); like, how I keep rediscovering the beauty in eternal cynicism; how I still manage to be incorrigibly optimistic in "certain things" at the same time. This line of description will apply to every damn soul in this world, to various degrees. That's exactly the reason why it applies to me as well.
Last June, I joined the company in which I am working now. From then on, work here has been very satisfying; on the flip side, for so long that I gues the satisfactory angle doesn't exist any more. Chid complained about how "[n]obody in this professional world wants to help anyone else. Nobody wants to participate, nobody wants to learn and nobody even wants to talk with you" in the "professional" world. Also, Mithra replied back saying that it's not the case everywhere. In my case, my work atmosphere is very convenient. But, if I got Chid right, I guess he was pointing to the "professional" attitude of keeping one's interaction usually to work-related issues and not being one of those quintessential enthu-types. I somehow like this idea of professionalism and its deadpan way of viewing the company-related issues with a sense of cool detachment. You do your work; take the money home. I don't mean to say that all interactions need to be within the technical limits and suchlike; only that not having a great emotional rapport with your fellow employees is equally cool. So much for us becoming the "professionals".
If I decide to put a time-chart, like the other guys did, I will end up with a shortage of items to fill up the chart. I goto the office in the morning soon after I wake up. come back home. have dinner on the way. watch TV and after the roomies sleep off, settle for a movie. Apart from movies being a mainstay, I tried different things and got disillusioned with every goddamn thing. booze, blogs, and thinking on the lines of doing a post-graduation. But, as they say, a disillusionment is just another illusion!
Weekends are mostly spent on token visits to the Landmarks, Music Worlds, Crosswords etc., the major effort exerted in finding good hotels to do what is the noblest thing in life; to eat. Before we exhaust ourselves on our mini-vacation of 2 days, the big bad monday stares at us. And then the whole cycle repeats each time giving us a different notion of how similar the previous week was.

I was on a bus travelling from Chennai to Bangalore on 31st Dec. 2005, when the clock struck twelve and the new year dawned. In the middle of some timbuctoo-place in the National Highway 4, I saw a lone rocket flying up the sky celebrating the new year. At that moment, I felt that I was just like that rocket myself!
Long story short, I have reached a stage in which I am mostly objectiveless (for all practical purposes) and am not sure how far I can go on like this with a smile on my face intact. But, something (perhaps, my intuition) tells me that I can do exactly that from here to eternity... :)

hari.

Another note on the doomed blog :)

2006-01-13T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hi all.....
Yes, Mithra ..just to add to your blog update, I too couldn't resist writing after Hari's comment. :)(no offense meant). And just a wish, hope the rest of the girls pipe in real soon too, if not for anything else but to show that cs girls always have had higher enthu than the cs guys.:p

My life in the past 1.5 years.... well its not taken a multitude of turns but each of the decisions which had to be taken were pretty hard. But I hope that each decision in its small way is taking me where I want to be.

The worst thing after the college farewell, and a great but extremely short time at home, was leaving for Hyderabad to join Oracle. (Just to add, it seemed like the worst thing then... but I have really cried for those days later.) As always with all my new adventures, I was pretty sure I would be there for only a few months if not less, and would escape at the first opportunity that I got. With such a mentality, Oracle was a difficult place to make friends, except those I already had from NITT. And the first few training months were great....with the NITT (majority CS) gang always hanging out together. Once training got over, I actually came into the so-called software engineer life. And I can assert that the email forwards do not exaggerate a bit when they talk about the countless times that we check our emails. Thats the only thing which seemed interesting in the whole day. As the months went by, I grew more frustrated by the ample time but no work at hand. Hence decided that I could utilise the free time to try my luck at applying.
The problem arose when the design stage (so-called idle stage) of the project ended and the coding stage started right when I had all the deadlines. That was some experience....and there are many auto-drivers who, I am sure will remember me not very fondly, for having made them wait while I took print-outs and then made them wait again outside the DHL shop while I couriered, all in one trip :).
Somehow, and I am cutting this part short... I meanwhile made a lot of friends in Oracle and old friends got transferred to Hyderabad .....and we started having a great time hanging out together. And just when we got into this mode of meeting on weekends, watching movies and hogging at IMAX and having some freaky times together and paying random visits to and from Bangalore to Hyderabad, I decided to go for my Masters.
:) May 27th I had stepped into Oracle. June 7th I think (but forget) was the day I left Oracle. It was heart-breaking to hand over my ID card and bid goodbye to a building which I had hated as much before, as I had grown to love later.

Then I spent a whole month and a half at home, having a great time just spending time with my family. And then I had to fly....alone, across the Pacific to some other country. :) I wonder why I didn't freak out then.
I would have enjoyed the flight more and probably have been jet-lagged more if I had stayed awake the whole journey. I had thought train journeys in sleeper classes from Trichy to Calcutta were the most seemingly unending journeys before I undertook this one.

(Cutting short again...) Tucson, the place where I landed was not quite liek rest of USA. It still does not seem like it. Its this laid back city with very few people, and people who love the sun. I should say the sun never sets on Tucson....(summers are one of the worst you can imagine). The first few months were terrible. I was dreadfuly home-sick though I called it something else. The only comforts were memories of home, Hyderabad and Trichy.... and teh thought that I would surely leave the place by the end of the semester. :)

Well since I am sitting here in an apartment in Tucson, beginning a new semester, blogging on cs100s proves that idea wrong. No, I still haven't fallen in love with this place. But I do like it here. This is where I actually started learning and starting to love Computer Science, I used to wonder before what makes people love something so much that they can do a night out for it.....I guess I got the answer.......here, knowing and understanding made a difference. Learning was fun and slowly but surely, you got addicted.

Thanks to all the ftps in NITT, I really really had to slog it out. I did mess up my grades but what of it.... I went ahead and signed up for tougher courses this semester only because I knew the professor was great. (That too theory of computation ...).

Well all in all , its given me what working in Oracle didn't. But at the same time, its been tough to progress from getting hefty salaries to going back to being a student and searching for jobs.

But in the last month, I have been to these places I never thought I would ever go to. Universal Studios, and Sea World and Hollywood ... and well...its not so bad here after all. And maybe thats what changed things.

But having said all that, I am waiting to go back home....still! :)

A new year wish..

2006-01-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hi people,

As one of the "design & functional spec" ladies, I'm here with my update. I know Srihari can't resist talking a dig at us :-). But the story is, i'm once again a student after my return to Boston. Along with my courses, my current interests include Jewelry making & a provoking thought of learning to Ski.. Will update with my "great falls".
Student life is fun, in its way. No responsibilities, no deadlines (Ah who cares about assignments), no long waits for a flash weekend.. life moves on slowly & yet so fast. But hey, I miss those bulky bi- weekly checks! Well, it will not be a long wait for me (I hope).

I will add some flavour to this Blog by fulfilling one of Girish's requests; A quintessential picture of My favourite local spot, on a winters' day, very much like today, but exactly a year ago.

So here goes. It was (and is) my favorite rumination spot; (There's a relection pool under all that snow).

The second picture is the same place in fall!

Here's where I feel reborn, when I hear the church bells chime & look at the blue sky above & the water below. It feels like starting all over again. Everyone I guess has a place like this, where the mind feels no boundaries & the soul smiles through your eyes (oops, sorry :0) ).

Wishing all of you a very happy new year.
Keep logging,
Mithra (No anonymity here)

Why this blog?

2006-01-13T00:18:00.000-08:00

Well, this blog is still in its diaper stage and we are in the process of identifying a baby-sitter. All its members are yet to come out of their shells to start off..including yours truly...until this happened:

Chithu pro-actively questioned me about this place's relevance. He mailed this to our group:

hey Mr. Guyrock (well now from where did he find that name, 'twas supposed to be my secret internet name d-uh!) and all,

The blog is a great initiative.. yes.. definitely.. but then there are ppl like me.. (sorry for adding more ppl to my group :-P.. I hate to be alone ;)) who are not exactly in favor of blogging.. mainly because it requires a lot of attention, daily updates etc which we (plural again :)) cant do.. I would prefer to login as CS100S :).. But yes.. people who are decent/good/great bloggers.. please do blog and notify all of us too.. We surely will read even if we cant write (Thats one more reason for our not-blogging attitude :-D)

And, btw, this mail is for a different purpose.. there are a few guys who start off things, but disappear later.. If I remember, there this guy called hari ... a.k.a. RP (you can ask him what that means :-P) who started off this thing of writing the experiences in 1.5 years or whatever.. may I ask where that great reviver is? When are we expecting the write up from him?? and there are lots of others who were promising to write.. Girish.. why dont you start off too?? (You can post the same in your blog too.. that saves you one update on your blog, doesnt it?? ;)) Lets see who starts this time around!

And finally, before I sign off.. here's me wishing you all a very happy pongal and yes.. as nag said in one of his mails... happy mattu pongal too!!

Luv,

Chidambaram.

Happy Pongal folks and Nag - Happy Mattu Pongal...How's your 'Save the Cattle Campaign' going? :p

Now back to the mail, here's what I thought of as an answer!

1. Who's asking for daily updates, attention and all? :-) Its an informal activity. Besides with 64 people contributing as and when they like, it'd be easier to have an up-todate blog!

2. The more interesting aspect with the blog is it chronicles our communication well and can be interspersed with pictures and other multi-media to enhance or better describe our experiences, don't you think so? It tells the story of one class, which 50 years down the line would still have photographs being put up..and when we look back at older photos, we would still be able to identify others..lol!

Well, now coming to starters and droppers, I have no comments cos I am in the latter league - I very well know, but folks have some sympathy on me - I am trying :-D I would also try my best at the blog.

Now, the ball (Hari -the 'ball' that you asked :D ) is in my court haha..ok I shall start off..dunno what..maybe the above points itself..but I shall. Keep checking it out.

What say folks..??

Have a super Pongal folks from Down South..!

Fate, it seems...

2006-01-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
- Morpheus

Here I am left with some idle time to spend in my office before I go to catch my train which is uncannily scheduled as late as 2345 hours.
After google-rambling for some time, I settle down to do what I am very good at. Ramble.
And, where? Our very own cs100s blog. Created by Preetha who generously spent good amount of her time to do something which we are all good at. copy and paste, that is.
This is pure unedited piece of words that flow without me hitting the backspace even once. Yeah, I am lying.
Good start folks. Do keep posting. Many of you are already blogging, I hear (not to forget that I google ;)).
Oks will come up with his year-and-half-bio soon, according to his promise to me. But you ask, "From when did Oks start keeping his promises?".
Some days ago, Prashant (also fondly referred as "Swamiji" by one noble soul) comes up with a mail in which he details about his experiments with the act of chivalry and his various stints with different "relationships" in the United States. I wonder if I can publish that in this blog.
Mylappan is contemplating marriage. Basically, he has two options.
One, Pursue higher studies (MBA, that is).
Or, the second and more attractive option is to marry a pretty girl.
There are enough girls waiting up there to tie the knot with the man among the men, Mylappan (and he is no more has the email-id-name Mylappan@Dinesh Kumar. He chose to strip off the "hip" name that followed his original name).
Do you feel that I have left some such important turns life had taken for some important folks, thanks to my ignorance? Well, your cause of anger is understandable. Do write them in here; like the various anecdotes we have associated to every possible cs100?? till now!

And btw, is this blog rated "A"? At least "U/A"?

Yours,
you-know-who

Ever since ppl got busy...

2006-01-05T05:08:00.001-08:00

Ever since I (cs10026) had got busy.. ya u r rite whn i started working (read slogging), i was wondering wht else i do in my life. A real social life...for cool dudes (i m no way, near) out there i m nt talking abt page 3, India times.

Lets go on the list of a typical guy.

Friends: They really help u know, atleast in b'lore for the height of house rents we need to pay. Thinking of room mates chk this AD for a roommate i came through..

I just feel day by day ppl are just vanishing out of contacts.. A recent being venkatesan R, a 24 yr hold big (or huge) mass just vanished away.. no where to be seen in and arnd b'lore..

TOPIC SKILLS: Kula, dont think of some JAVA struts is wht i m talking abt. I just hope i m pulling him in with his favourite "i dont care but i will still explain the situation" kind of expression. This is abt my or may be our favourite passtime in the col or anywhere for that matter. Talking abt topics totally irrelevant to me or on things nothing i can do abt it, like do we have to celebrate fathers day or is the government right in restructuring the tax slabs. Ppl mite think u can have opinions abt it.. but is it ok to have a GD with friends (or mostly opponents in that topic) on ur opinions at 2 in the nite.. Guess wht cycle tests in the col, really brought out a lot of our talkin skills.. NO wonder IDOKRADUS talks gr8. BTW i luv palindromes...

RELATIVES: for the level of my visits to them, even my grandpa and grandma have started introducing me to others as a distant relative.. or did they really mean the distance between paramakudi and bangalore.. hmmm..

Frustrated singles are adviced to skip the next highly sensitive part.

Galfriend: The very word which pours in oil into burning stomach of singles out there, whn some COOL dude starts saying "i got to meet my gal friend".. i hate to say this.. i have stopped luking arnd.. if u dnt trust me chk my yahoo msger status "Not Available".

Lies: I have restricted myself to tell only one lie per day.. i think i just got exhausted of it too.. and ya readers are not recommended to reread the post, even if u find this very much interesting.

So far so gud..So lets come to some daily stuff...

Food and WINE: b'lore is the best.. keeps me alive whn i m damn frustrated.. And if u know any fat guys (its not u barrel, i mean ppl with surplus cash) who wants to set up a pub in b'lore.. lemme know.. I (borrowing patents from hari) have decided everything from the name ("Mapu") to the ambience (Thevavin kuthu padalgal)...

Its been a long time i had washed my clothes.. wait a minute, dnt get me wrong here... i just use a washing machine..throw everything in.. press the switch.. and there yu go.. ur dresses are al ready..

Its been a long time i had cycled..for that case even a walk seem to be too bad now.. one self starter (whts a kick?) and a accelerator does all things for me... Thanx to rahul BAJAJ..

If u ppl can help me get this stuff in this pic, i will be out of workout also.. so nice..

There by I end up doin only 2 things i my life:
Every day i throw up all my finished work at the face of my boss and end of month he is gonna throw the cheque at my face. Easy deal.

P.s: All the names are real and are retained in the post, just to bring them in to the picture. And all comments abt my first official blog are welcome.

Sudha cheers

2005-12-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

hi -to all !
well, found the proceeds interesting and hence wanted to share my part also.

After 10 days at iflex, i confuse and trouble Venki at Blore about my plans of going to BIM. Venki laughs and suggests many options.

I take a decision to join BIM - which i dont regret now at all.
Life here at BIM is filled with a lot of learning for me.
A hostel life filled with nice people around and a great place to have group work and make hundreds of friends. This place apart from giving me a nice job has taught me how to attend classes round the clock at any time and all 7 days a week.(the worst being a HR sessions from 4 pm to 3 am the next day!) and be awake also :-)

6 trimesters and 5 down now.
I get a decent rank in first trim and almost flunk in law paper in the second and come back with a bang on third. It works that way here... But still manage a 3.5/4 finally before placements.(3 being min required). We are around 5 rectians here now.

Won many competitions and learnt a lot of "PROFESSONALISM" at HCL during summers. Well, Chithu... ppl are different everywhere... but u can make a difference. i worked with 3 project managers and believe me 2 of then were really nice. Visited every possible "outing" in Chennai during summers.

i eat out at REC Dhaba every week, and visit Kallanai (only picnic spot nearby)often.
Have a nice time at night parties in BIM and try finding a place in the dance flooor for myself.

In family... i became an aunt. (my sis gave birth to a boy baby-Vedh) and we had mom's 50th Bday celebrations.We moved to a new house B5-215 in the same township.....my new no. 9865865874.
As for me i had a taste of life with a difference in the past 1.5 years and am glad about it.
lets Keep in touch..Cheers
Sudha..

Mithra - around the world in 15 months

2005-12-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

This Email is about my life over the past 15 months or so; a most eventful period about which I reminisce even now, though it’s kinda early for it.
I am not a good story teller, in fact I’m quite bad at it; hence I’m going to put down my scintillating experiences in points, just as I used to jot down stuff for exam prep in REC (Ha, ok I admit that was a bad one).

B4 that,

>>>hmm... Blue moon or otherwise, is it really sinful to agree with this poor soul? There are 2 contradictions here -à
Poor soul? I dare any rectian (nittian) to agree with this opinion!
Sinful – No I don’t think its’ sinful, hence the agreement; however you must agree that we do not resonate exactly at the same frequencies ;-)

And Chithu, I think it has a lot to do with where u work; I was just a co-op at EMC, but my work involved development (incl. Database pgmg for their clariion arrays)
>> Nobody in this professional world wants to help anyone else. Nobody wants to participate, nobody wants to learn and nobody even wants to talk with you!!! That is what "Professionalism" is all about.. People who think otherwise please forgive me.. coz these are only "MY" thoughts.
Again, I had a very different experience; every one is helpful, everyone wants to talk to you! I have never had problems walking in to my manager’s office to ask for help. But again, these are just my experiences, and they may be different from yours.
So here goes, the highlights in my life over the past 15 months and some special “firsts”

The long flight over the Atlantic and my initial awe and wonder over the first glimpse of the American mainland.
The first confusion over an American _expression, “Are you all set?”
The first taste of pizza; Yum!
My first class starting at 6 PM
The agony of the first assignment and the equally agonizing grades L
Roomie teething problems!
My first international student trip to Maine. The Cliffside walk is something that I can never forget!
The apple picking experience, a fresh glimpse at New Hampshire’s apple orchards.
My first try at canoeing.
My first open book examination (Hell, none of the answers were in that goddamn book!)
Watching the “lion king” Broadway show at the opera house.
The first of several hundred shopping expeditions.
The first experience of a culture shock ;-)
Wearing an Indonesian costume for the first time ever.
Taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon at Reykjavik, Iceland.
Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen! I managed to see even the hippie, drug dealing district of Christiania in my five days there;
The Principles of programming languages course, which I loved; but everyone else hated.
My first experience of “staying out” till 4 AM.
The midnight cruise abroad the “Odyssey”.
Quite a number of “first tastes” ;-)
Watching Troy for n power infinity times, just for Achilles.
Reading every tabloid on Brad Pitt’s divorce
Seeing Chandramukhi in Somerville theatres and cheering Rajini’s first appearance alone with thousand other desis!
My one-week trip to India for my brother’s wedding.
Starbucks coffees (How I wish I had never tried it; I must have spent quite a fortune on star bucks every day)
My Co-op at EMC Corporation.
Those thousand conversations about my tranquil Indian life to my carpool partner, Joe.
My huge group of friends, both Indian and international; at school.
My trip to India for the holidays J; I’m in my home right now, typing this mail!
Well, that’s about it. As you can guess, each line has a longer story behind it but I guess you must be already pretty bored. If you need explanations, contact me J

Regards,

Mithra

Chid strikes

2005-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

So... here I am.. with one more of those looooong chaaaaaaaaaat mails. Hari, fyi, no girl sits next to me.. (there is one girl, two seats away from mine though ;)).
And she does not know what Djikstra's algo is. For that matter, I even I have forgot what Djikstra's algo is , I guess it has to do with something like the shortest path from my seat to hers??!! The buddhas (enlightened ones) of our class.. can you please tell me who/what was Djikstra??

ok.. that pretty much sums up my life for the past 1.5 years or so.. I have an empirical formula which works for me atleast... "With evey passing year after graduation, your subject knowledge reduces by 50%".. It is 1.5 years since I left college and you can calculate where I am now..

Unlike many of you, I did not even get enough time to stay at home after college.. I guess I left college on 18th may and joined work on 27th may... 27th April - Student.. 27th May - employee !!! Was a bit odd for me to find people behaving in a very "Professional" way. And yes, for the first time in my life I realised how immature (if I can call myself so) I was. Nobody in this professional world wants to help anyone else. Nobody wants to participate, nobody wants to learn and nobody even wants to talk with you!!! That is what "Professionalism" is all about.. People who think otherwise please forgive me.. coz these are only "MY" thoughts.

That was the starter.. Now onto the main course.. I am going to focus more on the more "relevant" things that happened to me, and yes.. with my daily routine at the end. My initial 3 months or so went in some training for my job and at the end of it, they took us to some resort for 2 days..

Kula the great left to Blore around june this year and Diva followed soon after.. So only me and Bush were left out and we shifted to a very small house with one more colleague with us.. and two months later we three again shifted with Prasanna to Banjara Hills.. the ex-most-costly place in Hyderabad.. this is where many actors, politicians etc live.. It was only now that I realised that we were also somewhere close to them (atleast in the physical distance ;))

But by now I had lost most of my good habits, to say so.. even those little things which I used to do (though only a little bit) in college.. I dont get to dumb-c or crossy or for that matter not even roam around in a gang like we used to do in college.. hmm.. how i wished the outside world was like college

that was my 1.5 years of my life.. now coming to my daily routine.. it was different when I came here, when even 10 in the morning seemed late to office (because of our 8:30 habit in college), but now, even noon looks like early morning.. so here's my routine...

9:30 : get up with great difficulty to answer my mom's wake up call.. sleep gone..
9:40 : roam around the house with brush in hand.. channel surfing..
9:50 : brush teeth.. wait for water to heat up.. (it is very cold here!)
10:00 : breakfast
10-11 : tv tv tv
11:00 : take bath, get ready for office
11:30 : start for office
12:15 : into office (atlaaast)
12:30 : finish checking yahoo mail, start official mail check
1:15 : lunch
2:00 : work work work
4:00 : tea break
4:15 : work work work
6:00 : work work work
8:00 : work work work (dont even think I am working sooo much.. I am just writing it here, to let u all know that I do work)
9:00 : take a cab and go home
9:30 : TV + dinner
10-12 : TV + arguments (or topic as we used to call it in college).. no need to worry when i have someone like mr.scene.. with who i have never agreed on a single issue.. so no lack of arguments.
12-1:00 : some reading..
1:00-3:00 - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
3 - 7 : zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
7-9:30 : zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
9:30 : get up with great difficulty to answer my mom's wake up call.. sleep gone..

Thats all folks!! That completes my Sob story, as Hari put it.. I hope the mail was long enough

Now that three of us have given our updates, how abt a few more?? hari.. stop replying to mails, and write urs.. tv.. what abt u?? how abt others?? sandy, sudarkodi, gupta, sujith .. ppl.. are you hearing??? pour in!!!!!!

Luv,
CS10009

Nag's thots

2005-12-23T07:56:00.000-08:00

hey (thotti) zaks....
i m (i hope every 1 is) impressed man.. btw did u forgot 2 tel us dat u r married?
u seem 2 hav become more of a married guy, doing alot of things frm dawn 2 dusk....
man i cudnt believe u r cooking....huh...
anyways....here we go frm my end...

I have always felt and continue to feel everyday
"whr did all the time i had in col go"... one thing i want in life nowadays...

6.59 "Another day starts"
7.00 get up ... switch on TV.. some music, workout (off late the former keeeps me much busy)
7.55 fight with kula (for some thing)
8.00 the so called brushing, bathing .....
8.45 whts a breakfast?
9.05 Rush 2 office in the bik on the footpaths of airport road..
(Trust me.. they r much better than the packed potholed roads)
9.35 Sign the register with 9.25 as the check-in time ...
10.00 check mails, rediff, coffee at the desk..
10.25 finally start some work....
12.15 think whr to go for lunch
12.45 finalise the place of lunch
13.00 actually go for lunch
14.00 bak to work
14.45 drowsy
15.00 coffee at the desk = "u idiot wake up"
15.05 fine lemme wrk
17.00 chk for any new released movie..
19.50 say "Gud night John" whn boss rushes home.. (name has been changed)
20.30 check out time: 20.30
21.00 --- dinner------ reach home....
21.20 ya right there kula.. fight with him.. (its a gud time pass, u know)
21.35 stop fighting whn he says "I dnt care abt u or any 1.. but i wil stil explain things 2 prove i m nt wrong"
22.00 see tv or join hari with his 11 pm movie sessions or read some book.. "5 pt some 1" kept this time busy for some days...
23.00 finnally rest my soul

weekends:
hmmm... not much.. other than hang out in the streets of b'lore for some fresh air.....and ya coffee is gud for health...:-)

Nag

Zaki factor

2005-12-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hey PPL,

It's time the group needed some zak factor in it.Hmmm I am just amazed to see some of the write ups or arguments between prasanna n hari... Impressed by the
vocabulary !!! Hmmm i guess u really got to pass or prepare for GRE to understand some of the words. By the way I believe tht Mr. Hari shud give his experience first as he is de 1 one who came up wit de idea. Still i just have one line to describe the
change i felt after leaving college ----->>
"I eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a middle class man and dinner like a begger". In college i guess it was the otherway round.

For the past one n a half months my time table has been as follows:

for(;;)
{
5:30 = alarm for waking up at 6
6:00 = wake up + pray + fag
6:30 = play basket ball + fag
7:00 = swimming
7:40 = Cook breakfast + fag.
8:00 = Take a mughal bath + fag

if (day == weekday)
{
8:30 = Fight with lorry wala's (whaaat locals) who park their vehicle in front of my car.
8:45 = Start from home to office.
9:20 = Reach office.
WORK WORK WORK
10:30 = tea brk
WORK WORK WORK
12:30 = lunch + fag
Teach new joinees. (i can never beat the Thuvakudi loin cloth alias baffoon KVI,the Silent Swami NRS or N/W Driver (white n white) Selva kumar in this)
15:30 = tea brk + snacks + fag
WORK WORK WORK
20:00 = Start from office.
Buy food stuff + fags.
21:00 = Reach home + fag
21:30 = Start cooking dinner Side by side have two pegs n 1 Mary jane + fag.
22:00 = Eat and watch TV.
23:00 = One last fag then Sleep
}
else
{
8:30 to 20:00 = Sleep, play counter strike, NFS-2,age of empires, read EDN mag + fags.
20:00 till sunrise = Party, blast music, go for long drive, have more pegs n more Mary janes + fags.
}

}

So i respect those who dont comment on the programme above... he he. Today is one chaaat day n thot i will chaaat u ppl.

Urs Thoti (Country fellow)
Zaki

P.S : Dei Manmadan prasanna thoti jaya padam epidi iruku da??

The beginning.........

2005-12-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

It's official, ppl. December is the month of birthdays!

I have been virtually receiving an alert everyday (to be taken with all those characteristic exaggerations; whoever comes up with a counter-proof will be hailed as the next jobless guy).I wish you all a wonderful year ahead of you and one hell of a turn of life from 22 to 23 / 23 to 24 / 24 to 25!

Now, coming to the point. I have been musing about life in a lot of places. Its cs100s' turn now. To add to your woes, now I suggest a turn for this groups now.Basically, one which will give enough material for *all* of you to post in this group. {apart from total jobless folks like me, a soon-to-be-part-of-the-M.S.-brigade hyderabadi, one "cocky-and-funny" dude with a penchant for plagiarized quotes and a screeching lady whose name I am not allowed to disclose here (i.e., to fill in the usual 33.33% quota with a pinch of masala ; another reason being those delightfully incomprehensible poems). The quintessential bengali Mr. Venguly'ji and TV (how I wish we had some nice names for this guy) seem to be absconding nowadays. But, I am digressing.}How about posting about how you and your life have been doing since you left the college? This is a sincere request. I request you all folks to come up with a really long mail (after a dozen drafts and all, ) about how it has all been going since the May of 2004. Anything ranging from that girl/guy who was sitting next to your cube, the new city you were in, your exploring of other places, your professional antics () etc. are all equally welcome.

P.S.:- Now that I am getting sincere and all, and that it's time for confessions, there is a li'l bit of risk I am taking doing this. Generally when we start such threads, we make sure we get replies based on pre-conceived follow-ups (yeah! it's all fixed.. ) from other folks. I am by-passing this organized-crime-thing with this thread. As the saying goes, we always have a Chid. Don't we? So, are we starting with cs10009 yet again? Or, do we really have some surprise entry this time?

Yours truly,
Hari.