Monday, July 28, 2008

Congrats Sagar

This one's for one of the members of my closest friend group here in Manipal,Sagar.
Yesterday he appeared for the selection procedure of his dream company,Deloitte, as did around 400 other students and all but 39 were eliminated after the first round itself.

Anubhav,another close friend of mine,also got through but he could not get beyond the first round of interview,which left only 20 candidates to compete for final selection.
Sagar was one of them and,as we all expected,his name was there in the final list of 13 shortlisted candidates who were finally to be offered a job.

All of us have always held him in high regard and he lived upto that status by getting through both the companies he's appeared in,i.e. Accenture and Deloitte.

As a celebration, he threw a party for just the four of us(himself being the fifth one) and we've returned about two hours ago after a pretty entertaining treat.

I will include some of the pictures of the treat some time later(as my net connection is too slow right now and it's taking an eternity to add an image to this post) to give you an idea of how it went.And before you jump to conclusions about me,let me clarify that I do not drink and it is so much fun when you go to a restaurant cum bar with a bunch of people who actually do drink.

Omveer,famous amongst all of us for his drinks,has surprisingly(and SHOCKINGLY) given up on it.He preferred to watch with just a bottle of breezer to keep him company.

All in all,it turned out to be a good outing,just the kind you need from time to time to take a break from the college schedule and then to return to the same with a fresh mind from the next day.
I initially wished for a job at the earliest for all the five of us.This wish was fulfilled on 4th of June itself,with myself,Sagar and Anubhav all getting a job,to add to Omveer and APS's jobs with TCS which they got a month earlier than that.

However,now the bar has to be raised and my wish would be that all of us get through our dream comapnies in the near future.It will be quite a life after that and the last few months here at M.I.T. in each other's company would add to the happy memories we've had over the last three years.
Pray for us!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Placements: Season III

So,the so called third round of placements have started in our college and it's quite a scene to go and watch the candidates,especially when you are not actually going in and taking the tests :D

Round one was on 2nd May,when Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) came and recruited 322 of my batchmates. I appeared for it,cleared the written but could not get past the technical-cum-HR interview.Thus,I was left high and dry after it,wondering what the future holds for me.Only I know how hard I prayed to get "One Job Somehow".Even if it is in the IT sector only!

Round two unfolded right after our end semester exams of 6th sem,i.e. on June 2,3 and 4.Three companies in three days and they gave hope to the remainder of students,who could not get into TCS. Accenture,Infosys and Wipro were the three companies and according to me,the chances of getting into Accenture and Wipro were bleak,as the former was famous for its elimination in the GD round(which is where I was eliminated) and the latter was famous for its gruelling technical round. Infosys was my only hope.It's written is supposed to be tough but its HR round is considered to be only a formality.

However,the turn of events didnt exactly follow the script.I got through the written of all the three,got kicked out after the G.D. of accenture but even then,I was confident of getting into Infosys. Even before I was to appear for Wipro technical interview the result of Infosys written round was out and I knew that Wipro would only be a "formality" as I was sure to be kicked out in the tech interview.

That left me in a nothing to lose situation and I went into Wipro full of confidence. The technical interviewer was generous enough to ask the questions which I knew well and I was handed out the form for the H.R. round,which is the last hurdle.Confident of failing that one too, I went into it,answered some general questions and somehow qualified it!
Infosys turned out to be quite an anti climax,as I was kicked out in the interview(the "unthinkable" had happened!!)

And now,since the past one week,SEASON 3 has started,with companies like Mahindra and Mahindra, ABB, Deloitte, Sunguard(plzzz.. it's not a company manufacutring sun screen products),Toshiba,L and T and a host of others queued up to come in.

My interest lies in Cummins India Limited,which is due on 29th of July,around 60 hours from now and I've decided today only that I'll sacrifice GMR as my dream job to give a shot at Cummins.Thus,all the readers,pray for me,coz i need the prayers a loooot!
Once selected, those regular readers who are in Manipal would get an immediate treat :)

Amen!

Happy Birthday Dear Laptop :)

As the title suggests,today my laptop completes one whole year in my company.Its travelled with me from Delhi to Manipal and has been my companion through the good and bad times.It's helped me surf the net for uncountable hours,doing a lot of nonsensical things and a few sensible ones as well.
I've chatted to my friends, fought with them, ignored them, shared my happiness and sorrows with them and have let a few people know that I dont exactly hold them in very high regard.All this would have been impossible without it so I think it deserved a full post dedicated to it.
It's never broken down at any stage,has recovered satisfactorily from one or two software issues that keep creeping in from time to time.Thus,all in all,it's been a worthy companion to me.And lately,it's also helped me make a few hundred dollars :D.

No wonder I care for it so much!

It's of my favourite colour, BLACK and for all of you who are still bothered about reading this post,I'm including a pic of it, taken through my ten day old mobile phone(guess I'll write an entire post on it when it completes at least 6 months) but that's quite a story in itself.The image is taken at the place where my laptop usually resides,with the same cluttered surroundings(to give you people a real feel of what it has gone through ;) )

All the blog readers are invited for the party :P

Thursday, July 24, 2008

How do you blog?

I always wanted to ask all the bloggers this question.And now that I know that a few people have started visiting mine, what better time than this to put this question through?

I HOPE you people are not thinking literally.We all know how to blog,isn't it?

The point I'm trying to bring out is,"How on earth do you retain your idea?"

I am not one who sits for hours, thinks about a topic, gathers ideas related to it and then organises them to give it the shape of a post which is entertainin/meaningful to read.I am one of those bloggers who gets his ideas from nowhere. And sadly, mostly it happens at a time when I'm out of my hostel, on my way to somewhere(where I have no means or mood to write the ideas down).

When I was sitting in a class,I thought about writing a post on the cribbers of my class. The kind of nerds who will go to any extent(and redefine begging) to get that extra half a mark from a teacher on the day papers are shown. While travelling in a train, I listen to people of all shapes and sizes talking about a variety of things,wanting their ideas to be respected more than Mr. George Bush's and I think of writing a post on the kinds of people you encounter in a train. Then I recall the beggar that crossed on the last signal or the waiter who served me food in the restaurant, who was similar to me in age and I think how possible was it that I'd have been born in his family and faced all the hardships...
We never value our resources much and keep on craving for more, like greedy parasites.We fail to understand that there are people who are in a worse position and who would not get to ours even if they work harder than us whole their lives! Isn't it a tragedy?

And then,I read someone's blog with posts like "The Tag Game","Weired Things About Me",etc etc and I think of writing one myself.

So,basically,after reading all this nonsense, you must have understood that the point in questinon is how on earth do you people manage to gather your ideas and organise them so beautifully into a post?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Finally decided on the new mobile handset :)

The last 36 hours have been full of adventure for me,with my mind diving in a sea of varied emotions (joy,sympathy,frustration,etc to name a few).Before you decide to navigate away from this page thinking that there was(or still is) something terribly wrong with my head at the time of writing the post(due to the difference in the topic and the first few lines),please read on,I bet I'll connect the two.
The "adventure" refers to the procedure of selecting a new mobile phone and the emotions largely concerned either myself or the phone manufacturers(Its upto you to decide which emotion was for whom :P).The ordeal started around 10th July,at my home in Delhi(I am writing this post a week later,from my hostel room in Manipal!)when dad finally gave me the freedom to raise my budget to five(yes,FIVE!!!) figures(with the restriction of keeping the digit at ten-thousand's place to PRECISELY "1" and the following digit "BETTER NOT EXCEED" "2").Anyways,I was too happy to think over these things so I agreed instantly.

This is the time when real problem started,i.e. deciding upon the set.I've been going through all sorts of user reviews,website reviews and forums that discuss the top brands currently doing the market rounds and what follows is a brief account of the the kind of confusion I've had to live with over the past week.

"When you buy a phone,it SHOULD be Nokia".This seems to be the mantra that dominates the minds of the cellphone using masses in the present century.I was guided by the same and I had almost instantaneously decided to go for Nokia N73/Nokia N73 Music Edition(priced at 13k,something which was "affordable" if I could deliver a few perfectly timed dialogues, studded with proper emotions to mummy).


Then I thought about giving other brands a "fair chance".I browsed through the Samsung phones and was amazed to know that they've successively launched 3 phones over the last year or so and all of them have beaten the previous one to take the honour of being "The World's Slimmest Phone".And trust me,once you see their design,you DO NOT want to miss a chance to get it.However,the complaint was that Samsung isn't exacty renowned for their battery life and taking a slider phone is always a gamble.I was blown away by their BEAT 450 model,which boasts of virtually everything you can ask for(and some things that you wouldn't even imagine) in a basic multimedia mobile.However,the 2MP camera was the downsider,as when you're paying 13k,you deserve better than it.There's no protection for the camera lens either and besides,it's got an annoying feature of having to take out the speaker and plug in the headset if you want to receive a call which comes while you're enjoying the supreme music quality.There's a general complaint in Samsung phones that you can't even change the message alert tone.Now how annoying are these features!##%$#@!

Next...

In comes the Sony Ericsson "Cybershot" range,with Xenon flash,that can take quality snaps in pitch dark!Its got all the essential music features,3.2MP camera(the highest resolution possible in my budget!)and all kinds of connectivity facilities that I'm least bothered about.
"How can a phone be so perfect?",I thought.I searched for the answer and I was happy to get it.It uses a joystick,hardy reliable.And,SE aren't renowned for their battery life either,are they?The set looks brick like as well....

Next...
Motorola..... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Ok,Ok.. then let me get back to the good old Nokia itself.. I searched on for possible problems in the famous N73s and I found one,to my satisfaction,i.e. the phone hangs at times and the software is relatively slow.It takes time to get the camera started.



But then,it ships with all the gadgets that you can possibly plug into the various slots avaialble in a mobile so who cares?Add to that a 3.2 MP camera with Carl Zeisses Lens(supposed to be the BEST) and 20X digital zoom(perfect for shooting girls from a non-hazardous distance) and the tonnes of other applications,you can hardly ask for anything else.

The lesson I learnt was that no matter how hard you search and what your budget is,you will ALWAYS find a mobile phone lacking in something or the other.Thus,it's the best to go with your heart and that's what I'm going to do.
I had always dreamt of a N-Series phone when I looked at the ad.And their punchline was catchy too(which I surprisingly remember even though I've not seen their ad for more than an year now),i.e. "Meet the new Nokia N-Series".

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Ready for the final Hurrah!

My vacations are almost over.Am leaving the comforts of my home(for the comforts of my hostel :) ) tomorrow morning and hopefully this is going to be the last semester full of classes,tests and all there in Manipal.I'm done with 3 years of engineering and its needless to say,I've practically learnt nothing to be of much importance to the Industrial people.That's one of the reasons I am still amazed at what the Wipro Technologies people saw in me that prompted them to select me in their campus interviews and pay me from next year onwards!

Anyways,the point is that this is basically the last semester of my engineering life and all my seniors/teachers/professors have advised me to enjoy it to the fullest because "You will not get these times back in future."Now let me tell them very frankly that that's exactly what I've done in the preceding 3 years!People say that this semester should be "different" and in my case,being that would advice me to study(for a change!), which really sounds nerdy,doesn't it?

However,now I'm starting to worry about the future after B.E. I have the security of a job and that has actually confused my thought process.I always wanted to go for GRE as this seems to be the exam best suited to my style of learning.I even went to the USEFI office here in Delhi to gather as much information about the Universities/courses/scholarships as I could and it was a useful visit.I've also found a very supportive senior to guide me along so I guess I'm ready for it now.I will hopefully decide over the next week whether I really WILL GO FOR GRE or not and that would determine how I spend the last sem in my college..

Have to go off now as mom's been shouting at me for a while to take my breakfast..
bye!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Movie Review:Jaane Tu...ya jaane na

I watched the movie today,exactly a week after its release,at PVR Priya and I feel like writing about it(unlike Love Story 2050 which was way too predictable,combined with ordinary acting and dialogue delivery).

Jaane Tu.. doesn't have any extraordinary script.If you look back at the movies that have released(especially with actors making their debut) you'll find a lot of similarity.Its a typical college romance but what makes the movie worth every penny you spend on it is the way in which a simple story has been narrated.All the characters fit in their roles naturally.Genelia has got a refreshing break from the childish image she used to have and I'm sure she must already have got more offers!


Imran Khan is this simple,sweet, typical chocolate boy many girls would be drooling over by now.He looks as if he had got his name written all over that role.The casting of the movie starts in a rather unusual way,with images of couples of all ages.Honestly,I couldnt get what exactly they tried to show,can only guess..
Anyways,once the movie starts, you get glued to your seats.Never once during the movie did I feel like running out, though the script was somewhat predictable.
It's got everything except fight sequences, i.e. emotional scenes,college romance and an adequate dose of quality,situational humour.

After all,if Aamir Khan decided to produce this one so he must have been convinced by the quality.

The movie isn't perfect,as is the case with all the Hindi movies,as it defies logic a few times,one of it was: For majority of first half the story was based in college but I can't remember any classroom scenes or for that matter,any prof!!

But then, you wouldn't like any Hindi movie if you start searching for logic in each one of them,would you?

To cap it off, Jaane Tu.. is running full four shows at PVR Priya for second successive week and if I remember correctly, the last movie to have achieved this was Kal Ho Naa Ho.. so that should tell you something about the response of the audience.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

How is it to travel with old people?

All of us like to travel,don't we?Personally,I've travelled across the breadth of India in the last ten days.The most interesting part was that I got to travel in all kinds of vehicles with people belonging to a varied class of society.It is really interesting to travel with such a diverse group,hear what they have to say and then to add to their discussion if you can.

The most common discussing while travelling in train is the kind the middle aged men indulge in,usually in the mornings,but then it can be at any time of the day.They will pick up any politician from the day's newspaper and start criticising him/her.This will slowly spread to the person's political party and in no time it will cover everyone in the political field.The older men have one major misconception that "these youngsters" cant do the job as well as the older people,let alone do it better than them.Today's youth is more educated than ever and I have no doubt we are equipped and educated enough to carry out a task better than what people belonging to a generation earlier than us are/were capable of doing. The elderly get an eternal pleausre in sitting over coffee and reminding us of how well things were done in "their days".

Well,there are different kinds of travellers and I would shortly do a post on that alone.Am off for some time now,meanwhile you might want to go through Travel, a blog belonging to a friend.

All you wanted to know about EPL

English Premiere League is the biggest and the most widely followed league in the world.There are a lot of webistes running that would claim to bring you up to date with them but then,here is one of my personal favourites.Just go to EPL-English Premier League to satisfy all your appetite for the league,including the live tables,latest match updates and all.
Enjoy with us this coming EPL Season!

Monday, July 7, 2008

A day of sporting extravaganza!

Yesterday,July 6th,was a day full of fun for sports freaks like me.Though I didnt have much to do in the first half of the day,it all changed once the clock hit 15.30IST.
To start with,there was the eagerly awaited Asia Cup Final(Cricket) between India and Sri Lanka.This Indian side has got a new look and energy about it and come across as a side formidable enough to take on any opposition at any venue. India were the favourites yesterday,having already beaten Sri Lanka once in the league stage but then they had not seen anythng of the new Sri Lankan sensation,Ajantha Mendis and he turned out to be the trump card for them.India were set a target of 274 which looked very easy,given that 300+ totals had been chased down fairly easily in the tournament till now.However,the script had something else written in it and Ajantha Mendis was introduced into the attack with the Indians having scored around 85 odd in just 9 overs. Virender Sehwag had done brilliantly yesterday,having reached his 50 off just 26 balls and the team's total read 58 for 1 in 7.2 overs!



However he lost his wicket owing to his continued disrespect for spinners.He went charging down to Mendis' second ball and got himself stumped.India never recovered after that,though Dhoni had some support from Robin Uthappa but they never really looked like chasing down the target and eventually,the line up with 7 specialist batsmen and Irfan Pathan as the eigth one failed to reach even 200,folding up for 173 and handing the Lankans a 100 run win!India are still not shed the "chokers" tag and they'll need to win a few finals consistently to be able to do that.


While India were restricting Sri Lanka to a below par total,the British Grand Prix was in full swing in Silverstone and it did present an enjoyable and exciting race,with the cars spinning left,right and centre in wet track conditions.One of my favourites,Felipe Massa,kept on spinning time and again and I didnt bother counting how many times he did that once he crossed 5!The race winner,Lewis Hamilton did it in style,lapping two world champions in Fernando Alonso and Kimi on his way to the podium and that meant he had lapped every driver upto 4th spot!This result threw open the world championship for drivers,with as many as 3 drivers tied at the top spot on 48 points and Robert Kubica just two points adrift of the trio of Hamilton,Raikkonen and Massa.


I still believe Ferrari would run away with the constructors championship but the two Ferrari drivers have made a mistake by letting Hamilton come down from a spot where one or two more solid performances from Ferrari would have seen him all but out of the Championship race.



And finally,it was time for Rafa to show that he can win on grass too.It was the best Tennis game I've ever seen.Nadal took the first two sets 6-4 each and then it was the time for FedEx to show why he's won the Wimbledon five times in a row.Saving two championship points,he took the next two sets into tie breakers and won both of them,setting up a thrilling final set.Not surprisingly,it also went into tie breakers and then it was the Spanish Warrior who prevailed 9-7 in it to break Federer's dominance at the Wimbledon.