MindTree Gnanavriksha - A Learning Program

Today we had people from MindTree @ our campus to initiate their ambitious project called 'Gnanavriskha'. It’s an initiative in collaboration with icalibrator to further strengthen their learning relationship with the MindTree Minds (who are yet to join them). The beneficiaries of this project are around 20% of the total students recruited by MindTree this year. MindTree has chosen those colleges which are close to b'lore and where they can visit quite often. Our college happens to be one amongst those few chosen institutes, who have been included in this learning program.

What's in it for us?

1. Unlike other training programs, this isn't going to be a monotonous and one-way lecture delivery model of educating students. It’s going to be a great self learning program. It is what MindTree wants every MindTree mind to get adapted to, before joining the company. It's an attempt to get them ready to face the challenges in an IT industry.

2.Its a very unique modeling that MindTree has adopted, where in the students under this learning program would be divided in to 2 streams viz C and Java. (I have been allotted the Java stream). We would have access to the course material, which is basically a well tailored syllabus by some of the most eminent people of IT industry. It's going to be a learning-by-doing sort of program.

3. It gives students a golden opportunity to showcase their capabilities of taking up challenging projects and completing them on time.

4. It also gives students an opportunity to interact with some elite mentors, with 15+ years of industry experience. They would help the students in case they get stuck at any point in time. I am sure this is a very unique methodology that MindTree has adopted to ensure that students have an exposure to the toughest problems and also access to the 'best brains' of the IT industry.

5. Students can work from any place, which has an access to internet. They can then submit the assignments when they are done with it. Even though it's clearly stated that one can work at his 'own pace', they still have a projected time of completion for each module. I suppose that's what they want us to meet.

What's expected of us?

1. We are expected to devote at least 14 hrs of 'quality time' to this project every week. We would be asked to complete the assignments as soon as we finish a particular module. That's basically intended to hone one's coding skills and also test how better one can implement what one learns.

2. All those who have registered to this project are expected to be honest with their work and no 'fooling around' is entertained. This is to gauge for yourself, where you stand with respect to others at this nick of time. It's very important to be honest with all the assignments.

3. One can discuss a lot on the problems they faced in solving the assignments or completing a mini project at the discussion forums made available for all the project beneficiaries. So I expect a lot of knowledge sharing to take place here.

4. Students would be updating their mentors about the status of their work on a periodical basis, so that the mentors can review the work of students and also send in their feedbacks for improvement (if any).

Apart from this, we would have a face to face interaction with our mentors, once in two months or so. We would also be provided with the tests to help evaluate ourselves. The students are also free to send in feedbacks for any sort of improvisation in the methodology of imparting concepts or a modification in any module of a course material.

Now, why is this whole 'Gnanavriksha' project so enticing and beneficial for me? Apart from the fact that I would anyway be learning these subjects, I have an added advantage. My final year project is based on Java, so it's going to be of an immense help for me to learn this subject in advance and explore the possibilities for improvement of my project at the same time!

I am really looking forward to make the most out of this learning program.

~IT's My Life

The week before was pretty hectic. I took up one more dream offer in the form of Cypress Semiconductors. I couldn't clear the written test. The written test was okies, and not really that tough though. But the fact remains; I didn’t make it through the written test. Okies forget it!

There were people from Infy who kick started their ambitious project of a 5 day soft skills program in our college for 4th sem students. I had volunteered to this proj alongside 11 others from ECE and 6 from CSE. I have had this sort of interaction with my junior friends of my own stream, but this one was really different, as it involved students from various other branches. It was really an enjoying program, where I got to interact with a lot of my juniors (Bio-medical, IT and Biotechnology) friends. I could see the eagerness in their eyes and their curiosity to learn all that’s required to give them an edge over others, and ultimately get them recruited to good companies. The response was really astounding and I carried back sweet memories of the event along with my friends.

Well if these were what kept me busy all throughout the day, I used to dig in to the pages of some of the books I bought @ B'lore. I had finished Andy Grove's 'Only the paranoid survive'. S' brother had suggested me to read this book. I was keen on finishing this one at the earliest. I really love to read the books that share real life anecdotes or incidents. I derive a lot of inspiration from them.

I am sure u would easily digest all the management lingos of this book. I really appreciate Andy's style of keeping his book pretty simple in language and yet being very effective in communicating his ideas to the fullest. I share below the highlights of the book:

1. Andy describes the Intel's historic decision to take back the defective processor, even if it meant that they would have to bear a $ 0.5 billion loss. The processor was found viable to a floating point error (although its probability of occurrence was unarguably less). Intel took the right decision to withdraw all those defective processors. It was decision taken to retain the credibility of Intel and also their accountability. Andy sites the situation @ Intel during this period. Intel received calls from customers, who would demand that their chips be replaced. Even though they were not Intel's direct customers, Intel still held itself accountable for its products. It was a classic example of what an under prepared and tested product release can do to any company!

2. He introduces a term 'Strategic Inflection Point', a point in your business where the fundamentals of the business change. New rules are established and it’s always good to give others a head start. SIPs are mostly the cause of a technological change, but can mean more than just a technological tweak of your products. Intel's amazing ability to succeed and survive through many such SIPs is attributed to the idea endorsed by Andy, only the paranoid survive. Andy, who keeps in constant touch with, whom he often calls as Cassandras, the people who inform u of a change in the 'winds'. They are usually the people at the periphery of your business, and are exposed to the changes first. He quotes an analogy, of how ice melts from periphery, before it reaches the core. Andy states at one point, 'It's very tough to identify the exact point where an SIP began, even in retrospect, as it usually extends over a period of 2-3 years.'

3. The equally conscious decision of Intel to pull themselves off from the memory business. The Japanese based memory products literally enforced an SIP on Intel, and eventually ousted them out of this business. Andy passes through the tough ordeal of convincing people at Intel, that it was no more their area of core competency. He goes on to suggest that they would have to withdraw their resources from memory products, and leverage their resources on building microprocessors, where they were beginning to see a potential market. In doing so, they also forced many biggies out of the mainframe based pc business. They had not been victims of an SIP, but also forced one. As suggested by him, the more established a company you are the more difficult it is for u to change. Today, we all know Intel for their expertise in microprocessors.

4. Another important aspect of this book is what he calls a '10X' force. It’s something that would force other players in the game to change. He has predicts one such force to be the Internet. As we see today, he was absolutely right. The success story of Dell, which is largely because of this wonderful tool, reinforces the prediction. He also stresses the importance on the need to differentiate a 'signal' from 'noise', failing to do which might result have a detrimental effect on a company.

I fully endorse Andy's concept, 'Only the paranoid survive'. It's something that I too believe in. I strongly recommend all of you to read this book. U can get more on this here...

The other book, whose reviews I had read, but hadn't had the opportunity to read it was, Michael Dell's, 'Direct from Dell'. Dell starts his business with a meager $1000 in his dorm room, where he starts off selling custom made PCs. He soon discovers that the traditional model of selling pcs wasn't the best way to do it. It had some inherent flaws. It involved the indirect model, where the PC manufactures would sell their finished product, i.e. pcs to resellers and whole sale dealers. Thus a PC that originally cost around 1000 $ would reach the end customer at a price of $ 3000. Dell thought of eliminating all the middle men in this business, so that he could sell the pcs at a more competitive price, which was impossible with the indirect model.

Michael Dell also discovers, how his direct model would gain him some valuable information about his customers, which other wise wouldn't have been possible. Since Dell sold what customer's demanded, he would know exactly what to deliver!

Dell was amongst the first few companies, which tapped the true potentials of the internet. Their model, took newer dimensions as they could now save a lot of time and also they could get back the sales info about every product within no time. Since Dell had first-hand customer responses and feedbacks, they could use it to share it with the suppliers of their company as well, so that both would be benefited by the info. This largely decided their 'Time to market', which gave them an edge over other competitors. The books also empahsizes on instilling the feeling amongst the employees that they too are the 'owners' the company and are an integral part of various metrics that decide the success of the company. Like he says, 'Complexity kills and proximity pays!' It could be with your customers or with ur suppliers, but proximity always pays.

I find one thing that’s strikingly common about both these people. Both of them showed skills like, they were always there to face the change and they sort of expected what it could be, and what would be the best course of action to counter it. Unlike other sleeping giants, both Dell and Intel have managed to make the most out of their crisis points. At one point Dell says, 'Even the paranoids need friends to survive'. True, very true… All in all, a must read for all those to-be-entrepreneurs of tomorrow!!! More on this book here...

PS: I am currently in to this book. More on this book in days to come...

A perfect ditch! (Technically speaking...)

H and I literally spent the entire evening @ JC*, with a lot my friends (Both A1 and A2, along with 7 of my other classmates were there. We kept cracking some lovely gags!) Laughing (uncontrollably). A1 complained her cheeks were paining at the end! (I never knew that :) Boo!) Okies. I tell u ppl, it was an awesome time with two rounds of juice party sponsored by H, on his success at clearing 2 rounds of interviews @ Cypress Semiconductors today (he has got one more final round, to be held @ b'lore). All through out the 7th and 8th SEM, we've been mini-partying @ JC, for its succha bliss!!! Someone one has rightly said, laughing is good for health! We share a lot of gags and that makes JC, our favorite hide-out. (But believe me, a glass of grape juice, is what drives us crazy to assemble @ JC).

Okies. Now to the crux of the issue. After V1 and V2 left us, and boarded a bus back home, I and H went over to LG service centre in dvg. All the way, we laughed over the indigenous jokes, that K had cracked about color-krisna (more on this guy, in times to come!!!), exclusively for the local audience here in my college. Yes, K has the potential to become a stand-up comedian. We finally reached the LG service centre, only to find it closed. We got back to the bus-stand, to catch a bus back to harihar. It was around 7:45 p.m.

7:50 p.m. by my watch...

We boarded a bus to harihar. We travel on a student pass, and hence it’s legal to use it before 8 p.m. (Mind you, it's the time u board a bus from either harihar or davangere, i.e. the time of departure and not the time u reach the destination, which counts). Finally the conductor came over to us, and he demanded that we buy a ticket. Technically speaking, we had all rights to travel without buying a ticket, since the pass duration was still valid, as it wasn't 8 p.m. yet! But the guy kept insisting us to buy a ticket. H was adamant as well. He had all right to be so. He refused to buy a ticket, instead showed him the pass for cross checking. The guy (actually bloody guy, to be more specific!!) retained the pass with him, and refused to return it back to H. H argued with him that we were correct, and that he wouldn't buy any ticket. Well what was I doing? I was attending a call! The guy walked away with the pass!!! I said, 'Maga I got my next blog post!' (Now don't ask me, if I do such stuff, so that I can write about them here. It's usually the other way round).

Then we finally reached an intermediate stop (just before my place). The guy returned back to us, asking us to buy a ticket, coz it was 8 by then. Wow! That’s what u call manifesting the rules to ur advantage. I knew that guy pretty well. I meet him in the buses, on a regular basis. So when he asked me to buy a ticket, I said, 'Look I don't have any money!". I just flashed my bus pass. The guy actually issued a ticket from that place to harihar, and asked me to pay for it later!!! (Would u believe that. I knew him quite well. I felt he did it more out of the fact that he wanted to show that H, that he will have to pay dearly for not buying the ticket, than bcoz of the fact that he knew me well). The guy literally forced the ticket in to my hands. He walked away.

Now I handed over the ticket to H. It was for his safety, just in case, the guy raised any issues at the bus-stop in harihar, where H would claim back his bus pass. Soon I reached my place. The guy asked me to show my ticket, before I got down, just to ensure that I hadn't given it to H. I told him that I had given it to H. Now, I knew I had triggered off a potential clash!!!

Now the bus halted at my place for a good 5 min. With H reluctant to give back the ticket to me (that’s what the guy now demanded H to do), until he was handed back his pass!!! He he .... I laughed, and was all set to utter, " Good shot maga!!!'. But controlled. That’s was our way of technically tackling him! The hassle went on for a while and I got down at my place. Some outrageous passengers were all set to pounce on H, but here was our furious H, who wouldn't listen to anyone anymore. He looked so invincible. Good job buddy!!!I got down at my place. I heard the guy say, 'Hey, it’s not fair. U ditched me!!!' I was tempted to say, 'Go F urself', but kept quite!!!

I was sure H was right and so was I. Even if I knew the guy for quiet some time now, I feel he wasn't right this time. So when he insisted me to buy a ticket, I was in no mood to pay him. (I had enough money in my purse!) So the bus went on towards harihar. I was extremely happy for H. I had finally managed to ditch the bloody guy, and also ensured that H was legally traveling to harihar with a ticket.

We had taught him a lesson. Tit-For-Tat!!!

PS: H had messaged me, that he finally got back his pass. Kudos!!! Now I know that I might have ditched the guy, in spite of his 'so-called-faith' in me. But folks, I feel I did it simply bcoz, I wanted to help H to ensure that he could back himself up, by showing a ticket, in case the people at the bus stand in harihar, ask him to produce one. All in all it was a lesson well taught and the guy will remember both of us for a long long time!!!
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JC*: A hot fav hide-out of all BIETians, opposite LH.

~IT's My Life

Mobile Message Redundancy (MMR)

Disclaimer: The following article is presented with a balanced approach towards machinating the above mentioned idea in light of both technical intricacies as well as from a lay man's perspective. It’s a compilation of the author's own experience and also of his near and dear ones! However, the author shall bear no responsibility, whatsoever for any unnoticed discrepancy in statistics or validation of facts! So if you still wanna rush through this article, well, do it at your own risk!!! The author reserves all copyrights of the article, and any attempts to reproduce the same for any profitable purposes, shall implicitly become entitled for legal prosecution. Arey! Bas karo yaar... kya din bhar yahi padte rahoge yaa phir aage bhi kuch padoge? Abh itna sab kuch jhel chuke ho to alsi cheez padena ka bhi kasht uthao na. Good Luck!!!

This article has been due for quite a long time now. I think may be from diwali. Diwlai to poore dhamake ke saat khatam hui lekin eh article saala vaisa hi rehgaya. (Plz don't ask me what it means. For all those rashtriya baasha-uninitiated-angrezi-babus, apun ko kripya kshama kar do). Okies. This article inherits it's idea from the fact that all mobile users (both GSM and CDMA), at some point of time or the other, have been haunted and frustrated by those redundant sms, which gets cluttered in to their inbox, as quickly as hutch changes its tariff plans!!!

This article throws light on issues that will help u to clearly understand the actual magnanimity of the problem, and also its impact on not only the users, but also on the service providers as well. The former part of this article elicits the potential sources of redundancy and it's impact, while the latter proposes a few suggestions for users to reduce the congestion levels, which is one of the immediate consequences of an MMR.

To illustrate what exactly is this problem, read the figure below carefully. Its shows potential sms belts s1, s2 and s3, which are the sources of sms (and MMR) for a user, say X.

Fig: Potential sources of an MMR

Note: The variable s1 (yellow), s2 (red) and s2 (orange) signify the potential sms belts and ‘r’ denotes the radial distance in km from user X.

From the concepts of Information Theory, it is known that, the information content of a message signal is proportional to the logarithm (base 2) of inverse of probability of the occurrence of the message. Simply put, the greater is the probability of the occurrence of an event, the lesser is the information it carries.

{I} proportional to {log2 (1/pi)}

For eg: Indian cricket team loses again in the finals of some XYZ tournament against Australia. Now given the fact that it’s been the fate of Indian cricket team for quite a long time now, the message carries very low information.The probability of occurrence of such an event is very low. But if u were to read a news that said, ‘India crush Australia in 2007 world cup final by 150+ runs to clinch the title’, then the latter would carry more information, simply because the probability of occurrence of such an event is smaller compared to the former! (I haven’t grown cynical yet)

Potential causes of an MMR:

1. Now that you understand the probability of introduction of redundancy is inversely proportional to the information content in your message. Applying the same to sms’ I could add one more factor that determines redundancy of messages apart from ‘information content’, it’s the reception of same message from multiple sources (preferably on the same day). It can be exponentially frustrating when u get same message on the same day, from so many of your friends!

2. Special occasions like New Year or Christmas or even Diwlai, are times when MMR is at its peak. I am sure all of u might have unknowingly contributed destructively to it. It’s a common practice to forward the message (a good one) to your entire friend circle (all those who fall in sms belts s1, s2 and s3). The greater is the ‘specialty factor’ of the sms, greater is the possibility that your friend might have received the same sms from some other sms belts! Now any one could question me, ‘Does it mean that I should send PJs to my friends, so that I stand a god chance of reducing redundancy?’ Well not exactly. Identify the source of the sms, and for a while try to trace back to its original source (it requires you to have knowledge of the person’s source of sms), which will help you to guess if the person has already received that message. Again, I would say, since it’s only a guess, you cannot achieve 100% efficiency!

3. This is probably the biggest way one could introduce an MMR. I am sure every mobile user might, at some point of time, tried this. One of the obvious reasons being ‘lack of fresh messages’ (see that is what an MMR will result in. At some point all sms belts will be flooded with sms of same genre. I call such a state as ‘Fresh Message Inadequacy’ or FMI). That’s exactly when the same old message transcends from the day beginner as a ‘Good morning’ and after an extremely intoxicating journey, dies off in one of the sms belts, in a remote subscriber’s cell phone. The worst and probably the most devastating method of introducing an MMR!

4. Given the fact that my sms friend circle or for that matter any ‘decently’ networked mobile user (it excludes all the people who reside @ ‘what-is-a-mobile-nagar’, god help those uninitiated souls, who still communicate via pigeons) have their sms belts spread out in 3 tiers. S1 being the closet which is less than 100km radial distance, s2 ranging between 100 and 200 km and s3 is tier 3 which extends beyond 200 km (yeah that includes ‘Andromeda galaxy’ as well. I am conscious of some ET users as well. Can someone drop in info of such service providers?). Due to the ubiquitous nature of the sms, thanks to the service providers ‘planting’ a tower at even the remotely accessible places in the world (except what-is-a-mobile-nagar), most often people end up sending the same sms to tier 1, tier2 and tier 3 users. Even though it’s a conscious effort by user X to add to the diversity of sms destinations, he is very much oblivious of it's existence already in those tiers! The next time you send an sms to tier 1, 2 and 3, don’t feel elated, that u have contributed seriously in averting an MMR. U might have very well introduced a redundancy!!!


After having looked at the sources of an MMR, I would like to suggest a few tangible solutions to minimize the same.

1. At the time of festivals or special occasions, try not to forward the sms you got from a friend, say A (unless it’s extremely good! I leave it to your discretion to rate the quality of sms) in say tier 1, to some other friend H, either from same sms belt or another (who is a common friend of both A and H). I am sure this will have a huge impact and will help meaningfully in reducing the redundancy and annoyance!

2. Try not to send the same message editing its final tag from ‘gm’ to ‘gn’ and forward it to a friend, just to show that you wanna be in touch with him/her. Mind you, u might very well be adding redundancy quite consciously. I suggest, you better send a new message or simply a plain good night (or morning) would work!!!

3. The biggest trouble with sending long messages is that 7/10 times they fail to reach destination. So let’s exploit the flexibility of English language! Type any message that resembles short-hand (English) and I am sure, not only will it reduce the length, but also will serve the purpose! For all those extremely lazy souls, give your fingers some work, type with dictionary mode off or one can also load those ‘local lingos’ (H knows a few like thoud-shots) in to his/her dictionary to reduce the efforts!

4. This is one of the subtle contributors to the burning problem. All those sooner or later to-be Alzheimerians please make an effort to remember if you have dumped the same sms in to his/her inbox before recently. (By recently, I mean up to the point of time in memory, to which the person can retrace and remember of having read the same sms).

Before I conclude, I would like to extend my special thanks to all those post-paid mobile users, whose hands are tied down to very few sms per month! Poor souls don’t dare to contribute to an MMR. I am extremely thankful to them.

Kuch zyada hua kya? C’mon don’t expect me to drop in a sms to each one you saying, ‘Thank you for contributing meaningfully to our Anti-MMR campaign' . You people add to what I term as ‘Audio Signal Redundancy’ or ASR. I shall write more on that some time later!!! BTW these people consume a larger BW than sms senders, don’t they?

PS: Having been mercilessly victimized on a day-to-day basis, by this sms plagiarism, (Oh come on yaar, there is no harm is copying or passing on a wonderful message, with your name as sender, if that could being on a smile on some one’s face) contributes to an MMR, I have pledged not to send any such sms that would contribute to the growth or introduction of an MMR. I appeal to all my readers as well, try to be a bit smart, in guessing the path traversed by an sms in to your inbox. I am sure you would find out if forwarding that sms would add to the existing redundancy or not! I am sure A will keep a check on this!!!

Strategic Inflection Point in VTU...

In my previous blog entry, I had mentioned about my final year project, that I was doing along with my batch mates @ a consultancy firm @ Bengaluru. I am finally done with it. Our project is titled, 'FM based data transmission to control remote application'. It was a great learning experience. Our project involves both the software coding (in Java and C) as well as hardware part that employs concepts of FM based data transmission. it was truly a nice exposure to the basics of Java, given the fact that I happen to come from E&C background, and we don't have it in our curriculum. There is still a lot of scope for enhancement of features to existing code. The project is basically controlling the Windows application (windows 2000) remotely using a DTMF keypad, using FM.

Now to the crux of the issue. I was wondering why we had to pursue our final year project at a consultancy firm, paying them a hefty amount. As I look back at the project in entirety, I feel its not that complex at all, both the coding as well as the hardware part of it. But, yes there is always this word, BUT! I stand @ a point in my engineering career, where my curriculum, by now, should have provided me with ample opportunities to carryout projects and gain the hands-on experience by working on projects and executing them. But unfortunately, VTU's unscientific (it pathetically fails in this regard) curriculum, gives students no such opportunities at all. I envy the syllabus of my friends who are pursuing their BE in other streams, like CSE and ISE. At least they got a project in 6th sem and they can apply the concepts they learn and develop projects (with almost zero monitory stakes!) Come to E&C, the story is all different. It involves a lot of investment and u are never sure if u will end up succeeding @ what had set out for. I have largely felt that my curriculum has very little scopes for practical exposure as against my other counterparts. I feel I am crippled when some one comes up to me asks, "Do you know how a circuit is to laid out on a PCB? ", thats the level of lack of exposure, that we have got here! Its hardly a handful of people back here who know about these things. Even though it might be astonishing for people from other streams, to know that we people posses such low levels of practical knowledge in electronics, but the fact is we are literally tied up to a curriculum that forces u remember so many theories and unrelated derivations, that there is hardly any effort to teach students anything in parallel about the practical aspects of the things we learn.

The biggest moment of your engineering career and probably the to-be turning point of your career, the final year project. I was very excited about doing it independently. But at the same time, I was also very skeptical of my abilities to do it independently. I was sure that I wouldn't wanna end up in to a potentially risky situation. Given the fact that I had absolutely nil experience, when it came to the practical experience of carrying out a project, and so were my fellow project mates. It might sound very really awkward that why do people here 'out-source' (thats what some people here consider it as. Its actually equivalent to doing a project in any other company. But the difference is that u end up paying here, as against being paid by the company for doing a project for them. You are fully aware of what you are implementing) their final year projects to a consultancy firm? Don't they have the potential to do it on their own? Is it worthy to pay these so called 'Salvager firms' such hefty amounts to get your job done?

Before you pass out a judgment about my potentialities and mercilessly condemn me for completing my project outside, I would wanna question to all those VTU people who have resorted in to illogical practices of framing syllabus for us. I got a few question to ask the VTU people who have literally forced an us to an SIP (Strategic Inflection Point):

1. I question the objectivity of VTU, which has prescribed 4 subjects for the final sem, along with a project and seminar. With the time stipulated being awfully little (roughly 3 months), I doubt if people who have dared to complete their project work on their own, will succeed to the fullest. Its note worthy to mention that you are not awarded for 'trying' something on your own. They want results!!!

2. The syllabus before revision of our current syllabus had provisions which allowed students to take up company projects. These projects required students to complete them over a period of 2 months or so by working @ their firm. The biggest advantage of doing such projects was, not only did one get to learn latest technologies, but also had a great opportunity to work on his/her domain of interest. But with VTU bringing in 4 subjects and with my college's literally cluttering the schedules, such an opportunity is not open for us. (it excludes bengalurians, who have a very relaxed time table in 8th sem and the feasibility in terms of commuting to the offices of IT firms in bengaluru regularly, gives them an undue advantage over students from other non-begaluru colleges!) Now thats exactly why I was forced to take up a project @ a consultancy firm, paying them a lofty amount, which would at least ensure that I would learn what I liked to, and the project outcome was sure, no matter how complex it was supposed to be. That was an un- avertable issue. Folks, the so called 'Genius Minds' who set up the curriculum for us need look in to this issue!!!

3. Why is it that VTU stresses more in our curriculum to 'remember' too many things, rather than apply what we learn? Our syllabus is more cramming oriented, rather than the one which compels you to think something offbeat and apply what you learn. I can hardly conjure its objectivity of flooding our syllabus with too many theory subjects in each sem. The focus has to shift towards providing more practical exposure to its students. I wonder if any one is listening?

4. Why is it that I am made to literally gobble and puke so many things in the exams, when I know I would never know its actual application in real life? To cite an example how unscientific my curriculum is, lemme quote this situation. We learn DSP as a core subject in 5th sem, but to really know about its applications and appreciate the beauty of the subject, one needs to understand the real life application of concepts like filters, used in sound systems (see the ads of Sony, that says something about 'Noise Cancellation' on its new MP3 player). But to our bad luck, we have the lab in 7th sem. The worst awaits when your profis grumble in the lab about you being so oblivious to concepts you learnt in previous sem. Let me be very pragmatic here, its really a burden for us to re-collect things back in 7th sem, when its best to perform the lab in 5th sem. Its been a very daunting and a terrible experience for me in 7th sem. The lab was full utterly chaotic and none of us knew where were we were heading towards and what were we supposed to do?

SIP, a term coined by Andrew S Grove, in his book 'Only the paranoid survive', stresses on the importance to adopt to the change and hence survive the crisis points. I feel that we too are facing an SIP, we have been hit hard by a 10x force, that has swept many of us off our grounds and caught even the best out here, off guard. Some have been wise enough to know its 'implications' and have suitably 'adopted' to it. Then what is this 10x force? Its the need for students to cope up with the task of completing their final year project amidst the whole fuss of having to learn 4 theory subjects, in an 'exponentially' cluttered time-table (watch out its not gonna be easy folks!). The task gets really arduous if you happen to do it independently. The project obviously needs to be something substantial, considering the fact that its instrumental in deciding very well, your fate when you hunt for a job off campus as a fresher! So I feel pursuing my project at a consultancy firm was not a bad option, even if it meant I was to pay them dearly!!! I have done a project in which I was pretty much interested in. I feel its worth the money I payed.

I feel its high time that the people @ VTU realize their blunders and set right their wrong doings. I just jot this one down with a shimmering hope, that some day they will awaken to reality, before something distasteful happens!

PS: I think that we have been deprived of a wonderful opportunity to take up company projects, by cluttering our syllabus with 4 theory subjects. While the majority of my resources in 8th sem should have been devoted to my final year project, am left with an arduous task of having to learn 4 theory subjects and along with my project (which requires me to learn Java in addition) and a seminar. There will surely be a shift in the focus of resources, thats bound to take place as the sem kicks off. Things are gonna get really tough to manage!!!

Bhagam Bhaaag amidst the Bheed Baad!!!

This one comes straight from the keypads of a cyber cafe @ Marthahalli, where I am currently staying @ K's place. Its a good 1.5hrs from BCS, a consultancy firm near MSRIT, where I am doing my final year proj. Sad to see majorty of the ppl conversing in all languages except kannada (very few souls whole who haven't been infected with the non-kannda endemic, manage to speak kannada). Adding a bit of linguistic diversity eh?

As I had written abt this in my prev post, I have come over to b'lore and my goodness, the city's pace is rocking! Ek dum F1 race ki tharah hai!!! But I am loving it. It is a scheduled stay of 12 days, for my final year project. Hope to make the most out of my stay here. The room in which we stay, also is pretty close to the b'lore airport, so u can manage to catch a glimpse of, and listen to the sounds of crusing planes, literally every 20 min.

Commuting in BMTC buses has been a phenomenal experience, with a fab flavour of its over crowdedness and my need to switch buses to reach my destinations. Thnx to the ringroad that connects marathahalli to New BEL circle, which is just a short distance away from the consultancy firm. An alternate path would otherwise have been an exhausting and painful 3+hrs of commutation.

Given the fact that I am complete newbie here in b'lore, I am really developing new techniques make a note of node points, that happen to pass in the way of my commutation, so that I really don't lose track of my route! Today was a real exp, coz I just happened to get down @ a wrong place and it was a painful walk of 3-4 Kms back to my desti. My cell phone has really helped me overcome this problem as it shows the area that I am curently in. Just in case I lose track, I am always made known abt my location!

I am planning to have a hangout with s, m, k and others who would be joining me shortly. Hope to have real blast. Just got a few plans to explore the silicon city a bit! Its an awesome exp being here!

The proj schedule is also pretty hectic (along with the commutation). It is really taking a toll of me. But I just wanna c this all, coz I need to adopt to it sooner or later!

Its quarter past 9 in the night and time for some dinner. K's cooking something back in his room... I will update u more on my stay here in the silicon sity, bengaluru shortly. Bye...

Check 1 2 3... Is this a reality show?

Off late the electronic media has exaggerated the so called reality shows. Almost every other channel airs a reality show today. It has proved to be sure shot method of manifolding the number of audiences. As I googled the net to get a rough estimate of its figures, I was literally caught off guard. Boy! One can enlist a gazillion such shows, providing scrumptious fodder to nibble to all its athirst viewers. What amazes me even more, is the kind of response it often gets from its targeted audience, who largely decide the TRP ratings of such shows and decide if should be hitting the television charts at the prime time.

At the end of 90s, there was the need for a change in what the tv shows had to offer to its viewers. It was time for a total make over. The same old saas-bahu saga, wasn't gonna be holding back the audiences who were desperate to see something 'REAL' and something 'ORIGINAL', that was never screened before. The indication was clear, they called for the reality shows to hit the drawing rooms.

If one can trace back, to the origin of such shows in India, one discovers that they have morphed themselves from time to time, and have been packaged and re-packaged and sold back to its audiences. It all began with the so called 'Talent Hunt' shows, which included the famous, the then TVS SAREGAMA, aired by ZEE network. With the instant popularity of these kinda shows, the tv channels had found out a new formula for success, they termed them, 'The Reality Show'.

BIG B' Salvager, The KBC.

As time progressed the same 'Talent Hunt' shows acquired broader dimensions and succeeded to attract the masses. The biggest landmark amongst such shows, was the KBC, the Indian avatar of 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'. With Mr. Bacchan's career on a record low, the show proved a real boon, to salvage his otherwise doomed career and also laid down conducive environment to gravitate many more shows of the same genre. Boy! star plus was minting money then! It was a phase when every other private channel tried to catch up with KBC, and how miserable were their attempts? Literally every other channel aired a show similar to KBC, but none came close to its fame, needless to say who made the difference.

Shan, the real shaan of Zee's SAREGAMAPA challenge.

Sony's Talent Hunt show.

Soon Zee hit back with its SAREGAMAPA challenge 200x (that includes both for kids and couple and solo singer's competition). It was aiming to recapture its 'lost' audience, who were now under the clutches of Star plus and Sony entertainment television. The other shows included Fame Gurukul of sony and Indian Idol of the same channel. The shows came out with the concept of voting via sms , e-mails and landlines. These shows registered new landmarks, by having millions of messages via e-mail, sms and phone calls from their audience, who voted their favorites. Dude what a season for Airtel, Hutch and others, unki to chandi nahi heera lag chuki hogi!!!

MTV's Rodies, youth's shortcut to fame!

Arshad warsi, anchor of BIG BOSS

The most striking feature of all these shows, were that they were all 'inspired' by international shows. The off late avatars of Big Boss (Sony entertainment television), MTV Roadies, Fame X etc all the re-incarnations of the international shows like Big brother and so on... I closely follow the above 3 shows, and I am proved beyond any doubt that their sole purpose is to rob the audiences of their money in the name reality shows, while they actually look so very scripted and meticulously edited to feed the audiences with just the flavor they need! I strongly raise objections on the ingenuity of such shows and their purpose, for they seem simply bizzare! The recent racism episode in 'Big Brother' involving the victimized shilpa shetty, simply disgusts me. I mean why the f**K should one be taking such things, staking one's dignity! Shilpa shetty doesn't deserve it. The same is the case here with its sibling, Big Boss, where Rakhi Sawant's vociferation is intolerable. People fight over petty things and it all looks so funny! (Carol's hindi can make anyone puke effortlessly).

Oops forgot this show on Zee, its called The Idea Zee Cine Star Contest, with a slogan, 'Ab Bollywood door nahin'. I must say, u gotta pity those poor souls, who shell out all their energy in front of the so called jury, who can hardly change the course of their life and provide opportunity to these real talents. I am sure none would show the courage to invest on these so called budding talents! Even if they do, I doubt their sustainance levels.

I got a few basic questions to be asked to all these so called reality show owners:

1. Most of the so called talent hunt shows have been, literally of the type, 'Look mommie I made it big kinda ones!'. I wonder what happened to the equally talented Vineets, Amith saanas and many more. What have these shows done to ensure these talents sustained in the industry! How many of them actually endure a successful career in this entertainment industry?

2. Its hard for me comprehend the idea of shows like 'Fear Factor' (although its Indian version is more mild). I don't see any sense in testing the courage of a person by having him gulp a cocktail of lizards, crickets or cockroaches. Yak! C'mon people u can't get so insane. I am okies with other stunts they are asked to do.

3. Its the Big Boss again. It fails to even remotely convince me of its objectivity. I am truly amazed to see the different shades of its participants! They behave so childishly, especially the Raghinis, Ravi, carols and Rakhis really so sucking! Is this some formal training academy for politicians or what?

4. I also question the integrity of shows like Fame X, where Palash is often seen slashing back @ the jury, whenever the jury highlights a shortcoming in the performance of any participant! I mean you gotta make sense somewhere dude! If they aren't given at least that much of an authority, go F**k yourself, why do you need them?

PS: The day I find convincing answers to the above would be surely the Doom's day! I am sure these shows fail to hold the credibility and also lack the basic objectivity to provide justice to talents. Its high time we wake up to reality and really question their credibility. Is someone listening?

In search of objectivity...

I was supposed to take a break! The movie I watched yesterday, for sure gave me the much needed break.

I came across these set of Qs and thought I should be giving it a try and c if I can truly substantiate my existence in the blogosphere. S, V1 and V2 have constantly been doubting the objectivity of my blogging! Here I have tried to answer those very questions...

1. Do you like the looks and content of your blog?
I feel that they are a part of the package that u r offering to your blog readers, along with the content.

2. Does your family know about your blog?
Yep! My dad knows about it and my bro also knows that I am a passionate blogger! The rest of my family members are pretty much unaware of this tool!

3. Can you tell your friends about your blog?
Yes. I have made it known to a lot of my friends. For me blogging gives a sense of liberation. Its a wonderful tool to share my thoughts, ideas and have a say on almost everything, right from the cat jumped over my table stuff to who is US to hang saddam?

4. Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog?
I mostly read the blogs I have blog rolled regularly and try to comment as well. It has sort of helped me build a rapport and make new friends in the blogosphere. But having said that I also read other blogs every now and then, mostly via other's blog roll.

5. Did your blog positively affect your mind?
9/10 times it has a positive impact on me. It has changed my perspective and also I have realized that it’s not suchha different world altogether. I can mostly relate to other stories of other ppl with that of mine.

6. What does the number of visitors to your blog mean?
To be frank, I was initially allured by this stats stuff, which was centered around the figures like how many hits per day and so on. But off late diversity in blog readers is what matters to me more than their mere number. To reach a wider audience is more important!

7. Do you imagine what other bloggers look like?
If they happen to post their pic, the I guess I can figure out! I suppose most of them belong to this milky way galaxy!!! Are there any ETs blogging? Lemme know :)

8. Do you think blogging has any real benefit?
Absolutely. I firmly believe that not only does this help u review yourself from time to time, but also improve your thought process by having an opportunity to read about people whose exp are real and not cooked up!

9. Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?
Not really. It’s just a part and parcel of this internet. I think they have evolved as a strong platform to showcase your voice aptly to the world outside. In India it’s yet to scale greater heights. I am sure the days are not far, when u will be looked up on as an ET if u don't blog!!!

10. Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them?
I firmly believe in freedom of thought and expression. What better can be a tool to publicize your political stance than a blog? I am not really scared of any such blogs!

11. Do you think criticizing your blog is useful?
I feel that my blog is dynamic and any system that is dynamic needs a feed back. It need not always be a praise; it could be criticism as well. I feel constructive criticism is always helpful for improvement.

12. Have you ever thought what would happen to your blog in case you died?
Hmmm.... Not really! I wonder that it would stay there at some corner in the blogosphere, holding back all my memories in text and graphic, always reminding people of what I thought and believed in.

13. Which blogger has had the greatest impression on you?
I wouldn't call it as impressed but rather call it as impact. A lot have done it. I really appreciate bloggers for the originality of their content, their ability to separate fact from fiction, with utter distinction. I truly admire a few bloggers! (Just scroll down my blog roll for confirmation)

14. Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?
I haven't really met anyone of my wavelength yet! But I feel each blog is unique in its own way as every Bollywood movie is unique, in spite of the same old romantic saga. LOL.

15. Name a song you want to listen to.
Ah! That depends mostly on my mood! I am more inclined to listening to Hindi music of all genres. I really admire Kishore Kumar and SPB.

PS: I feel a lot more assured of the purpose and my passion seems to be quite strong. I shalt blog until I lose both!

Taking a break!

Thats exactly what I needed after those hectic 7th sem exams. They had literally rendered me sleepless and of the little naps that I could get to catch, were haunted by those exotic subjects prescribed by VTU. Phew! I finally am done with it. The biggest irritation of the sem was the crap subject called CIP (constitution of India and professional ethics). I wonder which noble soul proposed this to be added to our curriculum. It was suchha yak subject!

Having talked about taking a break, it wouldn't have been complete without a hangout with my friends for a nice time-pass movie. I watched 'Mungaru male' (for those of u who are not from milky way galaxy, its one of the new kannada flicks, running @ one of the theaters here). S had mentioned that Times had rated this movie with 4stars. I felt it was slightly apart from the breed, zara hatke stuff. Apart for some good Kannada music, some lively acting by Ganesh, & a few hatke dialogues, the movie tries to deliver some heavy jargons like tyaga (sacrifice), preeti (love) etc etc... Most of them were really OHPs (over-head-protocols), so don't freak out, just enjoy and drop them @ ur seats as u leave the theater. All in all it was worth 27 bucks for a balcony with a DTS.

The biggest task that I am due to complete in this holidays is my final year project. I would be heading to B'lore on 17th of this month for the same. I am looking forward to having some good time out there and get a flavor of the formula1 pace of the silicon city! That might mean I would miss my blog for nearly 20 odd days (:

I really am fed up with the slow paced life in Davangere. I tell u its not for ppl who wanna hit live wires as sun takes leave off the horizon! Something that u call, "Dude its for ppl who wanna lead a retired life!".

I need a break! Is it mandatory to have a kit-kat?

They call it the FCD algorithm in VTU...

Over the years, I have discovered (or rather devised) a flawless algorithm, that can fetch u an FCD, even when the sem exams are the toughest. I call it as the FCD algorithm.

Ever since I have been in to engineering, my study routines have been disturbed and game-plans completely changed. I have been thinking a bit more rationally. I am convinced beyond doubt that mere application of 'brute force' will not fetch me the desired results! So that naturally calls for a tangential thought process and something offbeat. Thats exactly when I worked out the so called FCD algorithm. Boy! What a discovery it has been. I can claim quite confidently that the algorithm is very robust and at the same time requires minimal 'execution' time.

So how do we go about formulating the algorithm?

Note:
A vital initial condition for my algorithm to work is that one needs to love his/her IA marks! Dude u gotta make the most out of ur IAs. After all u need to take the advantage of playing at ur 'home pitch'. Isn't?

Okies, Lets begin with the algorithm.

step1: Make the most out of ur IAs.

I recommend that u shoot ur IAs to anywhere close to 185M (or even more).

Let us assume that u are attending for a total of 900 Marks. The break up which is as below:

IA marks - 200 [6 x 25M (Theory) and 2 x 25M(labs)]
External labs - 100 [2 X 50M]
External theory - 600 [6 x 100M]

Total = 900M

So ur first task is to ensure that u 'earn' (yes dudes, you gotta earn it. Kabhi to paseena bahana seekho besharam!).

Given the tight schedule of VTU terms, I am sure u wouldn't be asked to literally execute lab programs in lab internals (this is the case here in most of the colleges). So with duly submitted records and a sufficient lab attendance, you should be fetching at least a total of 45 out of 50M, alloted for lab internals.

Account details after step1: T1=140+ 45 = 185M.

step2: Give your best in lab externals.

Given the fact that ur are attending 2 lab exams in externals for 100M, it should be ideal if u can earn approximately; T2= 43+42 = 85M.

Dude, its a cake walk if u can get the o/p of both the experiments or lab programs and do a fairly good job at viva.

Account details after step2: T1 + T2 = 185 + 85 = 270M.

step3: Grab as much as u can in theory externals!

Well this is the most trickiest part of the algorithm and often makes or breaks the result! The current account details of ur marks is 270, which means u still need around 360M to cross the LOC (the FCD mark of 630).

Now thats pretty much of an easy task considering the fact that those marks are to be scored from 6 theory subjects, roughly 60M per subject!!! Hey, u can breathe a sigh of relief bcoz u have already made the most of ur scoring on the 'Home Pitch' itself. So just play safe in the external exams and I am sure that even if u have to face a few googlies and bouncers, u will survive on even the most khatarrnaak pitches. U can have my word on that!!!

Let us assume that u managed to pull off a total of 360M. Thats just about 60+M per subject, not a herculean task by any standards. Isn't it?

Account details after step3: T1 + T2+T3 = 185 + 85 + 360 = 630M.


Grand Total = 630M.

Note:

The above stated algorithm is not only robust but also very flexible. One can account for compensation in steps 1, 2 or 3 to ensure that the final result is the same.

Mission is accomplished!!! U have successfully scored an FCD. The marks that u score beyond a 60+ in each subject is a bonus and will help u boost ur total percentage!

Now isn't that a simple and an efficient algorithm to score an FCD in literally every semester?

PS: Now that I have unleashed and unfolded a golden algorithm to score an FCD, what do u wait for? Go ahead and give it a try. I am sure u will smell success!!!


Update: A major bug has been fixed!!! Folks no need to freak! Its just a small change! Thnx to harish:)