Anxiety, patience and 20k ...

Earlier I had written about the campus recruitment drives in our college. This one is yet another post where I share my experience during the campus recruitment process of a company called 'Aztec Soft'. This CR drives never seem to never let go of me. So here is one more 'dedication' to it from my side. This time around I was out there playing a different role. I was out there as a volunteer.

It was around 10:30 a.m. when I reached the T&P cell of our college. Aztec Soft had come for campus recruitment. It had a panel of 3 members, 2 technical and 1 HR. (1 of the members of the panel; was an alumnus of B.I.E.T.) I was a bit late so missed out the ppt. I heard from my friends that it was pretty impressive. When I reached there, every one was all set to take the written test.

The test was taken by students from 3 colleges, B.I.E.T., G.M.I.T. and JNNCE. Nearly 105 students took the written test. The eligibility being 64% with no backlogs or 65% with 1 backlog. I just got a chance to glance through the paper and it seemed ok. It had a few verbal stuff, a few apti questions and a program (to reverse a given string). The test was carried out in 3 rooms.

By the time I I got back to college after the luncheon, the results were already out. 40 people were short listed for GD. There were divided in to 4 grps of 10 students each. About 11 students from E&C, B.I.E.T., had made it int to GD round.

The GD started by around 2:00 PM and continued up to nearly 3:00 PM. After that was a break of 20+ minutes. Then we had the results of GD. 28 had missed out leaving behind, 12 ppl to face the 'final battle’. The shorlisted students were asked to fill a resume given by Aztec soft.

The interviews began by around 3:30 PM, it had 2 technical panels. ist panel interviewed students from no 1- 6 in the shortlist and 2nd panel interviewed students from no 7-12, as per the list. My friend attednded the panel 1. Amidst all this I could see those very tense, anxious faces, preparing even until the last minute, (much like I did before my interview @ mindtree).

The interviews followed a pattern where in ppl who had made it through the tech interview only, were asked to attend the HR. So I guess the final results were unofficially proclaimed even before the final verdict was out.

Nevertheless an official declaration came by about 7:45 PM. The selected students were all given T-shirts from Aztec soft... Hurray!!! There was jubilation in them... The company had taken, finally 7 students, 4 - B.I.E.T., 2- G.M.I.T. , and 1- and JNNCE. The selected students seemed to be right on top of the world. Their patience had finally paid off, they now had a job offer from Aztec Soft, an offer worth 2.4 Lac/annum.

But the results also have this 'dark side’, that leaves a few of them still longing for that 'million dollar moment'. I tell them, "Guys every dark cloud has a silver lining! Just be patient and u will soon have ur day :)".

By around 8:15 PM, we were @ 'RB', for a promised treat from my friend.. I could sense,his happiness. It was at its zenith. After those 7 consecutive 'failures' in a row. He had finally made it 'big'. We met the panel from Aztec soft @ 'RB', who also happened to be out there after a long hectic day. I enjoyed with my friends and the party just seemed to prolong. (I had to back myself out after 9:45 P.M. with my friend, since it was getting late.) I left the party half heartedly... I congratulated him again for his success and thanked him for throwing at us, such a wonderful party. It was really a nice treat.

The rest is joy, merry, jubilation and every word that symbolizes happiness and festivity.

PS: The fruits of patience are always sweet, but one only needs to be persevering.

Looking @ the bigger picture

Off late, something has really kept me engaged in thinking or infact re-thinking ... I guess that’s exactly what I have been doing subtly... It’s about 'looking @ the bigger picture'. After all that campus recruitment stuff I wrote about, I intend to write about those who 'chase their dreams' beyond 'just a B.E' stuff. I share with u my personal experiences of interacting with a few ppl, I happened to either meet or talk to in this regard...

Yes, they all had job offers (from very good companies in the professional arena) and a few of them were already in to them. But then something drove them towards an aspiration to scale new altitudes in life. A journey whose destination would guarantee them with a fool proof method of setting their career graph on the rise. Yes, I am talking of those very ppl who managed to 'Bell the CAT' or crack the 'GATE' or 'GRE' or something equivalent in life. It has for sure changed my perception and notion of this whole 'shaping ur career' stuff, we often talk about.

What separates the above from the rest??

They all have successfully chased their dreams, a dream to pursue an MBA or Mtech or MS from one of the premiere institutes in India or abroad, not to restrict themselves in knowledge and opportunity. What is really pleasing, and infact very inspiring, is to know is that they never gave-up until the very end. Till they found success @ their door step. Its this burning desire to achieve something big, that I talk about ... They all looked @ the bigger picture !!!

U know, we often tend to be in the hangover or euphoria of the all complacent idea of "Got placed in campus" stuff... (I make myself very clear, I am not down playing any one's success @ the campus recruitment drives, coz all this is just a part of this whole 'chasing ur dream' stuff). We should stop being too complacent. What I fail to notice is more and more ppl taking this success as their first step towards realizing their 'true dreams'.

But the journey, isn't a cake walk. As they say, "Its only in dictionary that success comes before work" And to prove it beyond doubt, I quote what my senior said about her interview exp @ IITB and IISC Bangalore, " I don’t know what other people say or think, but in my opinion its better you get into a company first, get the offer letter. This will be a proof that you decided to take academic path by choice, not by chance or despair. I attended interview both at IITB and IISC Bangalore, since I had decided not to join TCS, it really gave them a good impression." Anyways what matters in interview is the basic fundas, your approach for problem solving. She added, "Its not like the HR interviews in the companies, these people are research scientists and there is no way you can fool them!!!”

Now its something every one of us need to really ask ourselves. "Am I really competent enough to stand up to the expectations of the corporate world??", "What do I have to do, to keep myself updated with the latest technology??", and questions like them, so on and hence forth... I talk about a self revival and a serious retrospection ... We need to really get out of that "why-take-the-risk" mentality of our's and aspire for something 'big'.

Now I am confronted with one more community of ppl, who are already in to this industry for along time and off late have realized the preeminence of 'Mater's degree" stuff, I say to them "Its never too late in life." I quote below what my cousin said in this regard. "U know ppl in US, as old as 30+ register themself to these PG courses, leave behind these 24/25 yr old, 2+ yrs exp guys...". He also talked about the plethora of opportunities avaliable for further studies in US. What one gets to see in US, (going by my cousin's words), "They gain a good 6-8 yrs+ experience in a firm, get to know what is it they want to do for the rest of their life, (It also equips them with adequate knowledge about the subject) and then set out to realize their dreams through an MBA or MS". A whole new approach to 'chase ur dreams' isn't it ??

An Mtech, MS or an MBA, not only empowers u with the skill set, which u require very much @ ur work place, it also gets u climbing the 'corporate ladder' at a quicker pace, (which I am sure is the aspiration of every person in this field), which otherwise would take a long time, by taking the 'conventional' path. There is always an option of getting back to ur 'parent organization', to serve better, just in case u happen to be already working in a firm ... So it becomes more of a necessity than a luxury !!!.

If u haven't given the above a serious thought, plz do it, its just the right time...

After all this, if u ask me whats my personal take on this??

Well, still a bit unclear about the intricacies of my plans, but surely I would make a serious attempt to 'chase my dream'. An MBA for sure seems to be on my cards. As they, "There is no harm in giving it a try"

A job offer on hand is always a sure luxury. So plz don't under-estimate ur campus recruitment drives.

PS: As they say,"Donot consider any success as ur final destination nor any destination as ur final success", What do you wait for ?? Go ahead and chase ur dream. All the very best !!!

Follow your dream...

A very nice poem which I came across..

Before you look for things to change...
look deep inside your soul.
The Lord has given you all the clues...
always follow your dream.

Inviting trouble is so easy to do...
it happens without warning.
Avoiding problems is easier said than done...
always follow your dream.

Sometimes things just turn out bad...
and you don't know where to turn.
The answer is as close as your heart...
always follow your dream.

Hope has always been the key...
it's sometimes our only hope.
When things are darkest and looking bleak...
always follow your dream.

Only the Lord has all the answers...
and he shares them with only a few.
But faith is as close as we sometimes can get...
always follow your dream.

Perhaps you feel the end is near...
and you've done everything you can.
Never give up, anything can happen...
if you always follow your dream.

Being Twenty Something....

This is a very nice write-up, I saw a few days back. I realized that every time I read this, I relate to it more and more... Very thought provoking..

"Being Twenty-Something"

They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when
you stop going along with
the crowd and start realizing that there are many
things about yourself that
you didn't know and may not like. You start
feeling insecure and wonder
where you will be in a year or two, but then get
scared because you barely
know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and
that, maybe, those friends
that you thought you were so close to aren't
exactly the greatest people you
have ever met, and the people you have lost touch
with are some of the most
important ones. What you don't recognize is that
they are realizing that
too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or
insincere, but that they are as
confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close
to what you thought you
would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job
and realizing that you
are going to have to start at the bottom and that
scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what
others are doing and find
yourself judging more than usual because suddenly
you realize that you have
certain boundaries in your life and are constantly
adding things to your
list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One
minute, you are insecure and
then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the
greatest force of your life.

You feel alone and scared and confused.
Suddenly, change is the enemy
and you try and cling on to the past with dear
life, but soon realize that
the past is drifting further and further away, and
there is nothing to do
but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone
you loved could do such
damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why
you can't meet anyone decent
enough that you want to get to know better. Or
maybe you love someone but
love someone else too and cannot figure out why
you are doing this because
you know that you aren't a bad person.
One night stands and random hook ups start to look
cheap. Getting wasted and
acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions
over and over, and talk with
your friends about the same topics because you
cannot seem to make a
decision.

You worry about loans, money, the future
and making a life for
yourself... and while winning the race would be
great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading
this relates to it.
We are in our best of times and our worst of
times, trying as hard as we can
to figure this whole thing out.

On an exciting journey called 'Job Hunt' ... part - II

May 15th, 2006 monday (12:25 PM - 5:00 P.M) : (In and around BIET campus)

Well how anxiously was I looking forward for the list of shortlisted students.Soon after my classes were over, me along with a few of friends 'fled', yeah thats exactly what we did, towards the training & placement cell, to know if we had been shortlisted. I tell u what, I dunno if its a coincidence or sheer mockery of my anxiety, that fate always plays these cheap tricks ...

We didn't have the full list yet and my name was missing in the present list. Just can't tell u how much agonizing my lunch break was that day. I literally had lunched half heartedly bcoz time had begun to test my patience. I was waiting eagerly for the 'mystery' to unfold at the earliest. U know for the first time I had refused to join my friends for a juice treat ( U know its cruelly hot during summer and it just exacerbates in May and u can hardly turn down an offer like that ...)

I finally found my name in the list .. Atlast nearly after those long, agonizing 48+ hrs, I had heard something 'positive'. Thank GOD !!!

With a bit of tailoring and fine tuning, I got a few hard copies of my CV for the interview scheduled on 16th may,2006, at BDT college davangere. By 5:00 P.M. I took leave off my friends and quickly hurried home.

May 15th, 2006, monday through tuesday (6:00 P.M. - 1:20 A.M) : (My room)

It was about 6:00 in the evening when I finally got home. I had a few things in my priority list.. I had to attend them... I have always believed that the very first step towards getting in to any company is to know a lot about it. A lot my friends, I have seen pay little heed towards gathering info about the company. I managed to jot down a few questions I planned to ask in the ppt and also I had a couple of articles about mindtree which I had collected from news papers.( I remember, having failed to pay a visit to TCS website before they visited our campus).So I just literally scanned every link in the site.

After this info gathering process, I just managed to quickly rush through a few of my subjects and that was it. The preps ended by around 1:00 A.M, after a few daunting sleepless nights, I had finally managed to creep in to a nice sound sleep, which I needed badly... very badly ...

May 16th,2006, tuesday (7:00 - 8:45 A.M.) : "THE JUDGEMENT DAY"

Well it was one of the most important days of my life.. so I was a bit extra careful and cautious ... I offered my usual prayers, and got blessings from my parents, I set out on my mission !! I tell u what, this day was subtly indicating to prove auspicious u will soon discover...)

I reached BDT college, davangere by around 7:45 A.M. I could already see those uncanny tense faces around me.. but yet the air around me had surprisingly not lost its serenity. I tell u what, on such very 'important' occasions ur hell bent upon to avert any kind of bad OMEN.. and so was I.. Thnx to my friend who offered me his tie (a lucky one, as it proved to me, u would soon discover it..). Now that gave me, what they often call 'Just the perfect look' ...

The panel from mindtree arrived by round 8:00 A.M., and after a small intro, the ppt began. I must tell u it was really an impressive ppt. There was everything u needed to know about mindtree ... but yet I had a few questions to ask.. myself and a few others poured in a few questions ... After that Q&A session, it seemed to me that the panel was impressed to discover our keen interest in the company.. The first good OMEN, that things were right on track ...

May 16th,2006, tuesday (9:30 A.M. - 11:30 A.M.) :(In and around GD hall)

There were about 13+ groups made for GD, each grp having nearly 10 students. Fortunately my grp, had members whom I knew pretty well. (I tell u, it really increases the comfort level to a gr8 extent..). So with the assurance that none would make a mess of it, we got in to the GD hall ..

The topic for discussion was, "Which one would u like to join, an Indian company or an MNC ?". Now I tell thats really a (Dharma sankata), an ethical crisis. A situation that was a perfect example of what could well end in a classic paradox. Bcoz, attending the GD of an MNC (with a sure aspiration to get in to it..) and supporting an Indian company ??? sounds self contradictory.. isn't it ??? besides a remote threat of pushing ur fate in to 'jeopardy'... But fortunately, soon came an assurance from the panel, that nothing would work againts us if we sided the Indian companies... We had a very fruitful discussion. Majority of us favoured an MNC, (including me..) while a couple of them favoured the other. The panel had kept its word, since favouring the 'Indian company factor' had not worked against them..

May 16th,2006, tuesday (12:30 P.M.- 2:00 P.M) :(Lunch break and its aftermath ...)

After what u can hardly call a luncheon, I was back. The results of GD were out by 12:30 P.M., 72 had been shortlisted. Well as guessed, 8/10 from our grp had got through... another good OMEN... There were 3 grps made, with 24 students in each grp. I was in the 3rd grp..We all sat in the same ppt room, rushing through whatever u could evasively call a 'BRUSH-UP'. I must admit, it hardly helped me, but u know that ur mind doesn't listen to u, when u see 71 others around u, seriously doing the same stuff ...

May 16th,2006, tuesday (2:00 P.M.- 4:20 P.M) :(In and around ppt hall)

We had all gathered in the ppt room, all anxiously waiting to face unforeseen danger, they popularly call 'Interview'...I could slightly sense the atmosphere 'heating-up' ... Soon the reality began to unfold ... and my myth that "All is going well", proved to be wrong beyond doubt, as many of friends who went to 3rd panel returned. I tell u what, u could easily figure out, that they had confronted with something they often describe interviews as, "It was grilling yaar !!"...The Tech and HR interview were taken by a single panel. I tell you, even the bravest of the brave heart, skips a beat, after listening to a testimonial like that and so did mine..Boy, I also was to be interviewed by the same panel ...

I dunno why for the first time in the day, I felt the chillest of the chills, run down my spine... I began to refigure if my calculations of all that "OMEN" stuff was a mere folly. As they the say, 'A candle burns brighter before it burns-off'. I was in a fix.. Yes! Now I had begun to feel the heat ... A vague chance of losing it all, suddenly seemed to be a possible reality !!!

May 16th,2006, tuesday (4:20 P.M.- 4:35P.M) : (Outside the interview room)

Admist all this, time was taking a toll of my anxiety... I approached the co-ordinators near the interview room and enquired when was my turn.. they just asked me to wait for a while... They sacnned through the list of students ... After a short while, I was finally asked to be seated in a chair outside the room.

May 16th,2006, tuesday (4:35 P.M.- 4:45P.M) : (In the chair outside the interview room)

By this time my heart had begun to pound with the fear of having to face the toughest panel (atleast that was what I was told my friends..) The 5 minutes of waiting, seemed to unsually drag to eternity.. In the meanwhile I managed to take a glance, for one last time before the "Final battle". Boy !!! what I saw, made me still more nervous... they looked at me, asthough to quote with mercy "Poor chap, ek our shaheed !!!", yes, thats what their looks revealed ...

May 16th,2006, tuesday (4:45 P.M.- 5:05 P.M) : (In the interview room)

With all the courage, and with a crack of a smile (I tell u guys, its so hard to maintain composure when u r that nervous), I made my way to the interviewer.. I greeted him "GOOD AFTERNOON". I was asked to take my seat. I felt everything suddenly so silent... I could hear my heartbeat like the sound from a 450W Dolby digital stereo..

The interviewer had a glance or two @ my CV, he curiously enquired about my branch.. Then I realized my mistake, I had nowhere mentioned about it... (I cursed myself, "How could I have missed it???") I relpied "Sir, Electronics and Communication ...". After a few routine questions, the real 'play' began...

Then came my first ever interview question (technical).. I quote it here, "How do u interface two 64k memory chips and 17 I/O devices to an 8085 microprocessor ?" ... he just gave me my CV itself to work on .. I tell u really I didn't revise, the topic "Memory Interfacing in 8085", now here I was with my maiden question on a topic I remotely remembered.. (We had it 4th sem).. (I began to sublty think of that "OMEN" stuff all over again...) I some how tried to get it answered, but I seldom found success... then came an exclaimation from the interviewer "Ok, let's switch gears..." I knew by now, I had made it loud and clear that I was in no way, remotely having any idea of how to slove it...

Then the rest of the interviewer was all about things I could answer with very little effort.. But I tell u that "Interfacing stuff" had an impeccable impression of failure on me .. Soon the interviewer said, "Well we come to the end of this interview, do u have any questions ???" I said to myself "Hey suri, the ball is in ur court man.. ask my boy... ask all that u couldn't ask in the ppt..." I saw this as a golden oppurtunity to make an impression and mask off that failure of "Interfacing stuff".. I enquired about, a few things like, what do they do in their domain "cellular networks", a domain I aspire to work.. I also asked if they had any projects on CDMA, a few questions of blue tooth stuff, etc.. I was answered satisfactorily.. I had a few more to ask but I refrained from doing so, I feared just in case that made the interviewer feel that I was asking questions 'just for the heck of it'... I thanked him for the oppurtunity...

Well the intimidating interview was finally over... I came out of the room.. I could see many eager face ready to pounce on me with their inquisitive questions.. I dunno what I answered, coz my mind was still in the hang over of that lilltle hiccup in the interview,. such was the magnitude of its impact on me !!! I tell u what, fate had once again given indications of swtiching sides.. needless to say, it wasn't my side for sure ...

May 16th,2006, tuesday (5:10 P.M.- 9:35 P.M) : (In and around BDT campus)

By the time the entire process was over we had managed to munch something, with my friend, at a food stall, near BDT college. I was all the time being haunted by the "OMEN" stuff, it never seemed to let go off me..I felt, I was starting to sound very insane.. I dunno ... Finally we returned to the campus at about 9:00 in the night (yes it really had grown dark by then..) I talked to my friend who had just finished his interview, "He said, that it was a cake walk !!!" He happened to have been interviewd by the other panel.. After hearing to that, the little left over courage and hope in me, of succeeding, literally 'dessicated'.

May 16th,2006, tuesday ( 9:35 P.M - 10:05 P.M): (The final verdict)

All the 72 of us were asked to gather in the same room, where the final 'verdict' i.e our fate would be revealed. I still remember how anxious everybody looked. I saw the faces of several of my friends who attended 3rd panel for the interview ... I tell u, those where the most intimidating faces in the room.. The air suddenly seemed to have lost even the slightest of serenity it had, I had talked about, it had in the morning.. every thing was dead calm as a graveyard, asthough a huge tornado would soon sweep us off our feet !!! There was tension surmounting from all sides.. I literally felt the victim of a dreadful scourge ..But the only person who seemed all the more confident and ever smiling, was my friend (vivek). He was trying to reassure me that I would make it.. But I some how was not so convinced.. I remembered of the aftermath of a failure in case I happen to mess it again.. I told u about all the ignominy I had gone through, I assure u beyond doubt that it feels just like, 'Hell' ...

Finally the moment arrived.. yeah we had the panel from mindtree and all the co-ordinators in the room. On of the interviewer asked us just to guess how many had mindtree finally selected.. there were plenty answers, but my mind was not listening to any such stuff.. Finally they began calling out the names of all those who were selected... the waiting continued. Finally I heard my name "Suresh S"

I must admit, never before had my name sounded so pleasant and pleasing to my ears.. The anxiety soon turned in jubiliation.. the first thing I remeber, was my friend hugged me and said, in his typical style "I told u suri ..." After this I hardly listened to anything else.. as my name was still echoing in my ears.. I didn't know when they finished reading the list.. my friend vivek also had got placed, along side 10 others from EC & a total of 25 from our college had made it big that day...

The fate suddenly seemed to have switched sides cluelessly... fortunately it had sided mine this time ...

What nxt?? the interview planel congragulated all those who got selected ... and didn't forget to extend sincere commiserations to those who failed to make it till the end that day..One of the interviewers asked "who's partying 2night ???" All had suddenly changed ... I had survived the 'TORNADO'...The panel bestowed us with the title 'MINDTREE MINDS' yes we had become part of an elite grp ... I loved to hear that !!!

Then I called home to inform my parents about my selection.They were very happy to hear that and congratulated me on my success ... It was the call of a life time friends... I could sense, the upbeat right from their voice, finally they had heard what they had expected out of me..

Mission accomplished !!! (I felt like heralding this victory as loudly as I could, but controlled myself, u know my happiness was at its zenith)

May 16th,2006, tuesday ( 10:05 P.M - dunno when): (jubiliation...)

It was nearly 10+ in the night.. We had thanked the panel for selecting us.. they were really helpful and encouraging.. I decided to spend that night in the hostel with my friends... when we stepped in to the hostel there were celebrations all around... I dunno how much we 'shouted' and cheered... it seemed as though we had conquered something big...

The jubiliation seemed to extend all the way through the night... and how I longed to continue it for ever... I remembered, an old adage, "The fear of losing may take the joy out of winning." I was careful not fall prey of it.

I was on 'cloud No 9' ...

PS: Like they say, "All is well that ends well". My vouyage this time around had been a success. I hope u enjoyed it as much as I did ...

On an exciting journey called 'Job Hunt' ... part - I

I still remember those very hesitant footsteps of mine with which I had stepped in to my college, B.I.E.T, a fascinating world they call ENGINEERING. It had brought in me feeling of 'grown-up', bcoz I hardly had oppurtunities to freak out with my friends, late in the evenings and do all those typical activites a guy otherwise in any metro would get to do, during my pre-univeristy days. As is the case with many who manage (even out of blissful ignorance) to score off well, in the pre-university and in the entrance exams, I was naturally shouldering huge expectations from my family and piled up speculations from my family, friends and realtives on how my engineering career graph would look like.

I was not to sit back and relax after what I can presumably call a comendable pre-univeristy track record (along with my CET).Things had just begun to unravel and a new world had been waiting for me out there. It was all very new to me here in engineering.A new place and that I needed to build it all right from scrap. Guys no matter how glorious ur past academic profile may be, u need to put ur head down and study, or else u r bound to get screwed up. U can have my word on this.

A lot of my peers had managed to do pretty well in engineering, so that naturally had fuelled me with a strong desire to do something, something really comendable. I don't know exaclty when or what is it that triggered my mind to fancy myself getting placed in a good company.(It was probably in my 2nd year of engineering, I had managed to get a closer feel of all this campus stuff) It certainly didn't mean that I had totally set myself aloof from these kind of stuffs, it was just that my knowledge regarding them was pretty superficial.But certainly there was a burning desire and a strong belief in myself that I would definitely succeed in my endeavour.

I must mention here that, by now I had become an active member of our EC forum.It had succesfully provided me with ample oppurtunities to enhance my soft skills aswell as my technical skills. Besides this, I also had the privilege to attend several programs on personality development. U know I just was in no mood to take chances with regards to my preps for campus. We also had self initated mock GDs & interview sessions after class hours.

February 2006,my vacations, after my 5th sem exams.Time was really closing in and I had to intensify my campus preps. But what was happening was just the opposite, I just seemed to loose control and I had to some how remain focussed. By this time I had realized I really had to enhance my aptitude abilites, just in case I could fancy any chance of me, smelling even a remote success in the campus recruitment drives, that were to start later on in May 2006.Well I forgot to tell u, I also was in to a small hobby project with two of my EC friends. We somehow managed to complete it. Thank god it worked.

March - April 2006, I was in my 6th sem. I tell you what, i dunno what happens to students when they enter this sem, they seem to do all kinds of weird things in this world.(even i had done something like ... ok lets not get deep in to that).U know people who seem to have never ever missed a class all throughout their enginering career suddenly become regularly irregular. They also do those freaky things like get back in to one of those last benches and start solving one of those shakuntala devi's puzzles or RS agarwal or whatever...(that includes me at times). While only a few real nerds still remained to be suprisingly obidient and regular.

The big day finally arrived, may 8th,2006, I took the written test of Mind Tree, alongside 300+ students from BIET & BDT, at BDT college davangere.There were people from PAC (personal aptitude council) who conducted the written test on behalf of mindtree. I had given my best shot at it. But I personally fancied bleak chances of success.Nevetheless, I was hoping for the best.

12th may, 2006: We were eagerly waiting for taking the written test of another IT company TCS. As many of u are aware, they conduct written test online.They arrived by a good 4+ hrs late than scheduled time. After listening to an exhaustive ppt, I took the online test with around 250 students. Throughout the test I had answered pretty well except the critical reasoning (phew some of them were just overhead). But the worst awaited me in the form of the result. I just managed to end my self with something like "Sorry u haven't cleared the test, better luck ...blah blah blah blah... whatever". For a split second I sat there staring at the monitor in utter disbelief. Yes ur right i had screwed it up royally... I had let go a "golden" chance begging.

The rest of it is a bitter memory, which I found it almost impossible to digest.For the first time after a long time I had a bitter rendezvous with 'failure'. (that's what I felt at that point in time.) How much I cursed myself that day, for having made a mess of it. It seemed that the world around me was mocking at me, an air of inferiority had engulfed me and it seemed to extend mercilesly to eternity.The world to me seemed to have come to a stand still. I still remember my journey back home (a good 45+ minutes to my place) from my college. Boy! how awful it was. I was seemingly trying not force myself in to depression, a state of agony seemed to hover over my mind eternally. All sorts of bad and frightful thoughts passed through my mind .. But thats not what mind 'wept' for, it was certainly something different, what was it ??? I guess i had begun to feel I had lost it hopelessly and disgarcefully this time without even a slightest effort to show some resistance... and above all I hated to say this when I reached back home , "Dad I messed it up, sorry.." Even though I was fully aware that every day was not ur day, it was getting really tough for me be pragmatic, probably the results a bit too much for me to digest.

May 13, 2006: I attended the classes next day. No matter how hard I tried conceal my feelings and tried to look & sound normal... I was failing pathetically.U know thats when u put up one those hopeless sheepish smiles to mask off the ignominy ( I don't know if its the word to best describe my feelings at that point of time..).I tried a zillion times to reassure myself everyting was ok.. but u could tell outright looking at me, all was not OK. Days really seemed to drag longer than ususal or atleast seemed to me like that they did.

may 14 - may 15, 2006 : (till 2:30 P.M.) Now i was in to a new 'wait state', yes I was awaiting for the results of my written test of MindTree... I dunno why suddenly i had remotely begun to sense it as my rescuer. Probably I wanted something postive in life badly... Yes I needed it badly... very badly.

What happened to my results?? Did I manage to make the most of what destiny (to an extent my efforts) had offered ?? Was it to turn out in to my dream destination ?? Everything was pretty evenly poised.

I will leave it here, as I describe the rest of my journey in my next article.

"... Ki aag hai mujh main kahi ... ???"

I am sure it reminds u of the lines of the famous number from RDB. Its been lingering at the back of my mind for quite a long time now, ever since i saw the movie. It has always been a million dollar question to me? "Do we have the spirit in us to protest injustice?". Every time I try to reassure myself that we've got it in us, I am left confounded with innumerable incidents around us providing me with testimonials to prove time and again that any such act of protests have either been ephemeral or lacked that force or so called "Never say die attitude".

Issue 1:

TERRORISM a menace to humanity !!!!

A very recent testimonial was the mumbai blasts (taken a toll of nearly 200+) , blasts in srinagar and its aftermath. No matter how much our PM tried to assure the nation that we r not going to succumb under pressure and will not get destabalized by their attacks, and the biggest blunder, a statement from him like , "I appreciate the spirit of mumbaiians, good to c mumbai back on track so soon".

What nonsense !!! I am not convinced. Sorry to say this, I am utterly dissapointed to say that it sounds nothing more than an act of cowardice. A sheer display of impotence !!! (sorry if am sounding very harsh and obsene). Let me make myself very clear,I really appreciate the jazba of the people of mumbai, thats what rocks mumbai.

The attacks have left us with a bitter aroma of being in captivity and engulfed us with an unspoken culture of sounding unperturbed even at times of utter atrocitites.

I say this bcoz it forces me to look at this whole issue with a new dimension.

* Does it mean that we indians in general and (mumbaiians in particular) have got so thick skinned that we really don't care for those precious innocent lives of our fellow indians???

* Don't we have the potential to revert back and smoke the terrorists out of their caves ???


Come on, u can't preach peace to those terrorists, who r not governed by any rule or law. who don't see race or religion nor any country.Their sole purpose is to force acts of brutality on humanity and to ensure the sheer debacle of peace and propserity of the whole world. But thats not whats irking me, whats bugging me from within is why do we always tend to react to it this way!!! How long do we need to put up with this ugly nuisance called "Terrorism". I mean we, over the years have been very calm, patient and peace loving nation. Its high time that we realize that mere condemning the act as a massacre, would send a wrong message across the border to the terrorsists, who have mistaken us to be naive and docile.

No country in this world would have reacted so lethargically and "casually" to this burning issue of terrorism. An attack of on WTC , 7/11 can force a war on Taliban and alqaeda by US (ofcourse it has got its own implications and sublte connotations).

An attack in Central London where 4 suicide bombers on 7th July, killed 52 people and injured more than 770,can escalate and intensify the attacks on terrorism.

The Russian hostage crisis, where president Vladimir Putin denounced the massacre as "an attack on our country."(323 hostages, including 156 children, died in the siege ). Russians didn't hesitate to show the terrorists their destiny for such acts of brutality. They deserve no mercy.

Forget about these giants.. take example of Israel, a small country in middle east (can't say this interms of its military strengths), a threat by lebanon to capture just 2 of its soldiers could force a war.I mean its bcoz Israel doesn't put up with terrorism, it doesn't show any sort lineance. What really is noteworthy is that its power and determination to fight terrorism and injustice.

Issue 2:

The Jessica Lal murder case, priyadarshini motto and thousands of many such cases where justice still is an awaited reality !!! We people sort of have got akin to all these, so a delay in justice, (infact a denial) bcoz there is an adage, "Justice delayed is justice denied", would hardly make a difference in our lives. I apreciate an off-late atempt by a few young ppl to come out with these protests ... as i said in the begining they got to be incessant, atleast till the accused are brought to justice and any such attempts shouldn't sound ephemeral.

These were just to quote a few... We got several such issues where we have turned a blind eye towards the isssue or shown very little interest to protest or fasely tried to look resilient.

If countires like the US, Britain, Russia can deal with terror sevearly, why can't INDIA do it.. I am sure we don't lack the ability... Then why do we have to bare with this??? Here I am confronted with the question, "Is there enough driving force in us to incessantly fight against it or any such injustice".The answer to these, still an awaited reality.

Last punch: It reminds me of Atalji's quote after watching the movie RDB, ".. Ki aag hai mujh main kahi.." do we... ???

Strange and Unusual Dictonaries

On a complete, whole person.

You see, the problem with this completed person, this O, that both people think they have reached, is that it has taken two people to make this one whole person, one supplying the female energy and one supplying the male. —James Redfield, The Celestine Prophecy.>

Testimonials:

One of the Web's best sites!" —Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Recommended by John Walkenbach, author of Excel 2003 Bible

"ALL LITERATE PEOPLE (hint, that includes you) need the Strange and Unusual Dictionaries" —Clark Humphrey, author of Loser: The Real Seattle Music Story

"Why not take a look at Conley's One-Letter Words Dictionary? It's crazy and useful. Isn't that what we all aspire to?" —Matt Getty, author of You Will Behave
"I'm a smart guy, but I must confess that I could not have come up with thirty-four definitions for the letter G. So thank goodness for Craig Conley, the ultimate man of letters. His 230-page joyride through the English alphabet reads like a Scrabble dictionary on steroids. Giving due deference to every building block of our language, Conley does for letters what James Merrill's Body did for words. This book provides for fascinating reading from A (To not know "A from B" is to be ignorant) to Z (A hypothetical explosive, more powerful than an A or H bomb).
—Dave C., Harvard Book Store

Find them here:
http://www.blueray.com/dictionary/

Lateral thinking

There is a man who lives on the top floor of a very tall building. Everyday he gets the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the building to go to work. Upon returning from work though, he can only travel half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way unless it's raining!An interesting quiz for ur Lateral Thinking abilities --- Think !

Why? (This is probably the best known and most celebrated of all lateral thinking puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there are many possible solutions which fit the initial conditions, only the canonical answer is truly satisfying. )

....

....

....



SOLUTION

The man is very, very short and can only reach halfway up the elevator buttons. However,if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with him and can press the higher buttons with it.

Find more on lateral thinking at:

http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/lateral.htm

Whats the funda behind this?

Just for curiosity can u people tell me how this works?

" TRY THIS OUT "

Open a Microsoft Word File and type

=rand (200,99)

and then HIT ENTER and wait ...

This is something pretty cool!

Worth a check! Try it!

Art of Making Enemies !!!

Well i am not here in to starting a tutorial on the above. This was something i read a few days back. It really fascinated me, and put me in to some serious thinking. I wondered if anybody could have ever made an attempt to write something like this.

The book was actually published in 1890 !!!! now thats quite a long time u know. The article i read mentioned that the original author's name was not published, but if we go by the words of publisher, the author who penned down such a work was whisler, I guess even before the book was published the author had managed to make good number of enemies (including the publisher)

The book titled "The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies", could be found at Blossoms, church street, Bangalore.. (080-25320400) (as per the article).. so if u happen to give a visit try this one..

Also u could read, "How to win friends and influence people", by Dale Carnegie

Last Punch: In todays world of cut-throat competition u always have enemies around you, so u don't need to make any "special efforts".

Do you say No ???

Hi friends before u get in to reading this blog, ask urself the same question??? did u answer "NO", well may be u managed to say a "NO" at the wrong time. If u happened to answer it in affirmative, I am sure u would agree with me on several intances i have quoted below where its required to say a "NO".

Well i have been thinking abt this for quiet some time now ... how often do we manage to say, this word "NO".To all those people out there who insist on being "postive", i would make it pretty clear that by the end of this blog u would agree with me on this, "Ah this word NO after all is not that negative..."

Well enough of this prelude let me come to the point, as i said it gets pretty necessary at times to use this word "NO". Here are certain occasions where a flat "NO" would be a gud choice rather than saying u know, "Its ok but.... bla bla..".

1. Imagine that ur best friend asks u to join him for a movie late in the evening, but ur comminted to ur gf (guys ofcourse) on a date, now that puts u in a fix.Shud i go to the movie or shud i be with my gf on a date ???

>> Well guys the best thing to do is before u get commited to anything or anybody c if u can deliver the expected.. else say a flat "NO"

2.More often we do care for the so called "IMAGE" of ours in society. So knowingly or unknowingly, we can get hypocrtic at times (probably a less elegant way to admit it).In due course, people around us get to know abt us, (the real truth ofcourse).. Then we repent for having projected ourself as someone who we never were in reality... what to do???

>> Well guys just say a flat "NO" when asked to be someone u r not from within.. rather than projecting ur self as somebody else.. (friends it doesnot mean that u curtail all oppurtunites to prove ur ingenuity)

3.Well one more question?? how many of u out there have questioned to urself, what in life is that u always wanted to be / wanted to do and how is ur current job/ course has helped u to do that?? (This came to me as a bouncer a few days back when one of my frnd asked me the same ???)

>> Guys the bottom line is its better to say a flat "NO" right at the begining, if ur not in favour of a decision, rather than nagging about it afterwards..

4.One more, u join ur friends to a pub, where ur best friend offers u a drink or an offer to smoke, but u personally don't prefer to have a drink/smoke.. what do u do ???

>> Beleive me friends 90% of all cases of habitual drinking begin with this small failure to bring that magical word, a flat "NO". Guys say a flat "NO", if u donot like it.. no matter how close he/she is to you..

Friends, these were just a few instances to quote, how important it becomes at times to use this word "NO", so make sure u use it effectively in right situations, so that u never may have to regret for not having said a small flat "NO".

Moral: Its not always about sounding positive, coz it might invite trouble !!!

Presence of mind

Take a look at this marvelous answer:

A mechanic was removing the cylinder heads from the motor of a car when he spotted the famous heart surgeon in his shop, who was standing off to the side, waiting for the service manager to come to take a look at his car. The mechanic shouted across the garage,"Hello Doctor! Please come over here for a minute."

The famous surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked argumentatively, "So doctor, look at this. I also open hearts, take valves out, grind 'em, put in new parts, and when I finish this will work as a new one. So how come you get the big money, when you and me is doing basically the same work? " The doctor leaned over and whispered to the mechanic .....

What did he say ???

Guess???
.
..
...
....

He said : "Try to do it when the engine is running".

~IT's My Life