A Special Brithday

This year I definitely had a very special birthday. I was simply mesmerized by the way different things came up.

First of all, we had a Software Engineering Exam on my birthday, the subject which I loathe the most. I couldn’t help imagining the way I would spend the next day and previous night reading that crass subject. But, I had to, after-all I am a career aspirer. So, I started studying for my exams at 10 pm, thought I would easily study till 1.30 as I would get all birthday wishes at 12.00. Well, my plan was successful, I studied successfully up to 12.00 and then the preceding hour went in receiving the haphazard calls and messages. It was a wonderful feeling that I had simultaneously 4 waiting calls on my cell. That was the first indication of the realization that there are still many people who care about me. The call mania lasted around 40 minutes and in parallel my sweet little cousin sis was preparing a chocolate cake for me. (It was wonderful).

Then mom and dad told me it was time they reveal their surprise. They gifted me a box wrapped with beautiful gift paper and a very large printed message wishing me a very happy 21st Birthday. (Actually its 20th, but they consider the other way). I was very anxious to know what lie hidden in the Pandora’s Box. As I started unwrapping - I came to know what it was, It was a all-new laptop, a HP dv6 with 1 GB nVidia GT 230M graphics card, I had no reactions. I kept saying “No please not a laptop, no not a laptop”, but, it was there, right before my eyes. I had no words. I started crying, couldn’t control my emotions. (For those who don’t know, I lost a HP dv5 laptop last year due to my carelessness). I couldn’t stop thanking God for the next few minutes for giving me such wonderful and trusting parents. I told them I don’t deserve it, but, they didn’t accept it. And here I am writing a blog using the same laptop. Then came the excitement part - I wanted to try it out. But, then picture of SE textbook came to my mind, and I quietly slipped into my room and stared studying. Then, as per the plan, dozed off at 1.30.

Started studying back in the morning, with no hopes of completing the course, with a few birthday wishes here and there, I managed to the course complete anyway, unfortunately quantity was my main focus, not quality. Divya needed SE textbook so she dropped at my place. Surprisingly (or I should say, as usual), she didn’t remember the date due to exam fever. (She even switches off her cellphone, and when somebody asks, says “Battery discharge ho gayee, charge karne me bore hoti hu”, I wish someone was as foolish to believe this"). Well, then everyone at college wished me and then she realized with a plethora of sorries.

Then I got my second gift - Rohini gifted me a sweet Mickey with a card. Then the exams began, all the birthday mood started to take a toll on me. There was no question in the paper I could claim I knew 100%. So, with the Rancho’s mantra of “All izz Well”, I continued writing with hopes that others will also find it difficult. Finally, my patience came to an end and I gave up at 5.10, went straight back home.

Actually, there was even another reason for my going home early instead of waiting for my friends outside the examination hall - I didn’t wanted to get kicked on my ass by 20 people 20 times. So, I decided the best consequences for me, and quietly slipped home, unaware of the surprise gift that awaited me.

Katha came up with the diary, I instantly recognized, it was another feat Shruti had pulled out, another surprise gift. I opened it and was shocked, inside there were writings of Khanjan, Ajay, Divya, Bhavin, Chirag, Viral, Mom, Dad, Kenil, Katha and yes - Shruti herself. I was dumb, speechless. How could have she managed to get all this done and i didn’t come to know. Then she told me this was in plan since 2 months, and Bhavin was the one passing the diary in college. I just came to know it was a very long term plan. Then I read the posts written by everyone, it was an emotional criss-cross reading all those lines written by my friends. It was an unbelievable experience, one that cannot be expressed in words. I just realized my importance, my friends had very well expressed through words my role in their life. It was an enthralling experience, one that made my birthday extra special. Thanks Shruti for gifting me a bundle of memories that I’ll never forget.

Then got calls from my old friends, talked to everyone with great enthusiasm. And then my day ended with dinner at one of my neighbor’s function. I was very tired, so much that I didn’t care about the exam next day and then went to sleep without thinking anything.

It was one of the best days Birthdays ever of my life, showering me with a range of emotions - tension, boredom, excitement, nostalgia, regret, gratefulness, thankfulness, and overall - Self Realization. Thank you everyone for making my day historical.

IPL - A Game Changer

IPL is the buzzword of India, oh sorry, the world today. The whole of the cricketing fever is inundated by IPL today. Even the lobby of feminists who formerly glued to the soap operas unflinchingly have modified their tastes of Entertainment (courtesy, TOI).
Even in our colleges, die-hard fans talk about IPL all day. Some solicit their support for a team while the other is always interested in undermining his/her support to favor his/her own cause. Everyone has a favorite (Mumbai Indians rock….), and the favorite is not only because of the presence of cricketing aficionados present in the team, its due to various other reasons too.

One of my friend likes RCB because he loves the flamboyant Vijay Mallaya, and loves Katrina Kaif too. One of my other friends hates CSK because he thinks it has too many good players. And this list could go on and on, the crux of the cited examples is that there are many factors that lead to the liking and disliking of an IPL team besides the liking of the players are celebrity endorsements, money that goes into the team, dress color, geographical support, etc….

Statistics say IPL has transgressed all basic norms of a sports league viewership. It has even greater hype than the age old and famous EPL. And we all know the money that went into the auctioning of Pune and Kochi, it was the world’s costliest bid for a team in a league, greater even than that of Legendary Chelsea.

Speaking about the organizing of IPL, I personally suspect much politics goes behind creating such an enormous event. Lalit Modi, the God of IPL (literally) is a very specious personality who has attracted attention these days. Consider the latest spat between Modi and Tharoor, sources say that Tharoor has received an SMS warning him of resting his case against Modi as IPL has linkages to D-Company. Although the details are being investigated into, one can’t stop thinking of the fact that this can’t be entirely fallacious based on the type of money that goes into the business and the presence of Modi, who has a criminal background and has served a sentence in the US.

More to come up in the later days, its too early of me to be a connoisseur to the politics and such polemical issues that come up in the newspapers, but I do not flinch in asserting the fact that IPL is much more than what it seems to be. Some even say that from the first ball to the last, IPL is fixed and it is only as an entertainment to people, and to raise money as the betting process is on acceleration during the IPL. (we have our own betting leagues in our college, we form groups and the loser team will give a treat to the winner team). One of my friend suggested that IPL has players playing every match without any injury only because of the money involved in playing the match.

Lets just hang on to our seats and be a witness to what IPL has to unfold in the days, months and years to come. Personally, in IPL-3, I would want MI to win because I love Sachin Tendulkar.

Hathoda Beating Hathoda

Well you must have guessed what this post is about, since I was stressed out much due to whole day exam study, I decided to watch Karthik calling Karthik and get a little stretched (since I am missing Episode 20 in HIMYM, so…..), I thought because its Deepika, it would be at least not regretful.

****SPOILER ALERT**** : Following details reveal the suspense of the movie, so those who want to feel the Hathoda please do not read

The movie is about a guy who is losing everything in his life and pretty much reticent, to that extent that everyone uses him. One day when he is about to suicide,a guy named Karthik calls him and decided to help him. His life takes a U-turn and he is on the Cloud 9. But when he divulges this secret to his girlfriend, the phone Karthik does not like this and ruins his life again. He runs to a different city, and back in Mumbai, Deepika and his psychiatrist dig up the mystery behind “Karthik Calling Karthik” and come to know that he is schizophrenic and has been recording conversations and using alarm in phone, and then they help him recover.

That’s it, end of story. Full stop. It seems like movie is going in a right direction until the mid, but then waaayyyy to awkward during the end. That Karthik calling on phone seems like he is Yamraj, his voice is outstandingly villainous. And c'mon, recorded conversations ??? Ok, the concept is good, it’s an all-new concept, but the end disappointed me. It could have been better.

Besides the story, the thing I liked in the movie is Deepika and Farhan’s acting. He is a natural. Any role suits him, this film would basically be a boost to his acting career, but this film won’t do any wonders either a Box Office and the audience.

1 for Farhan’s Acting, 1 for story (not the climax) and 0.5 for Deepika, 2.5/5 would be my rating.

07bce_ _ _@nirmauni.ac.in - A Revolution in Itself

Thanks to NAAC !!! Atleast we got our Nirma Mail ids…..

You can, or lets say, you “will” definitely argue what is the advantage of having an extra mail id, if you have your own cool “youname_yourage_yourpassion_somecoolquote@gmail/yahoo/hotmail.com/co.in” thing, this thing sucks as its based on your roll number, which obviously you won’t be using to “represent” youselves.

As a matter of fact, if you didnt know, apart from your own name, there a few stupid things in this contemporary world that represents “you” and is considered as a part of your identity:
1. Phone Model (“oooohhhhhhh…..you have the Nokia 5 blah blah blah model thats cool” Every model is the same)
2. Phone Number (“oooohhhhhhh…..you have 3 9s and 4 7s in your number, so lucky” I never understood numerology, and hate it too)
3. SIM Operator (“oooohhhhhhh…..you use the Vodafone, the puppys sooo cute, BSNL sucks….but i have a girlfriend so I use Reliance” Whats puppy got to do with the usage, and ya BSNLs cheap and Reliance sucks)
4. Free Message Scheme (“oooohhhhhhh…..you have 10k messages for 100 bucks, i only have 5K messages for 50 bucks…..” DUDE ????)
5. Your Email (this one is not that much hyped….but i cant still find this thing a reason to represent your identity???)
6. Social Networking Sites Profile (NO COMMENTS)

So, not digressing further, this “thing” that a mere roll number represents us drives us crazy and brings out our long lost ego back to full fledge “HOW CAN A STUPID COLLEGE ROLL NUMBER BE OUR IDENTITY???”. But trust me, the pros far outweigh the cons.

1. The main advantage is, you are not drilled in labs for checking your emails. You can always tell your faculty “I am checking the assignments and class test results”. This is infact the best one…

2. YOU DONT NEED INTERNET IN THE LABS TO CHECK THIS OUT. Should’ve been in the first place, but, you know, the faculty issues. Any normal user will think you are a dumbass if you say you dont need internet for checking out mails, but since this service is available from a local server in Nirma, you can access internet from ALL LABS spanning the Entire Institute of Technology (or whole NU ??? PLZ CHECK). This rocks !!!

3. We dont need to remember the email addresses of our classmates/batchmates, a simple roll number or name would suffice. This is one of the most awesome features of this revolutionizing technology, everyone agrees remembering email addresses is a pain in the head, although we can save them, but, this one’s even better.

4. A Little Lazy Loophole - never have to do the practicals on your own (well actually 99% never do it), and you dont have to copy from others too, just open the practical list at some free time at home, and mail all the readymade programs from the internet on your account, and since there you can access it from any lab, well it gives you something to brag about…(if you are lazy enough to do that also…copying still is an option)

5. People can chat with each other across labs (Chatting through mails, too much exaggerated right ???)

Apart from these cool advantages, the overall pros about going B.Tech Online are:
1. Dont have to write the questions of assignments
2. Download ppts and material directly instead of begging it from the faculty in a pen drive
3. View test scores of everyone (go screwing around, have fun)
4. View test papers and solutions
5. View exam papers (solutions ???)
6. Share documents

So, I think apart from the Faculty, HODs, Peons, Toilet Cleaners, the Colosseum ‘10 team and a girls group who also took pain in the ass during the NAAC visit, I think the visit has made our life in Nirma a little more comfortable…….Finally we feel like “WE’VE GONE TECH”, Thanks NAAC !!! May you visit every year and add such new wonderful features to our college. Tally HO !!!

The Worst Subject - SE

SE (Software Engineering) is by far the most complicated theory subject i’ve ever come across, it is so bad that it is impossible to device a strategy to “mug it up”, let alone understand it. The facts are conquering one another in the realm of one’s understanding domain.
Its hard to distinguish between the chapters and the facts are published in a so subtle manner, one cannot tell whether he/she has already learned this previously or not, everything looks so afresh.
And the modelling chapter, OMG, all the models look the same to me, not even a slight shade of difference.
We dont even come closer to writing our self created fiction in the exams because everything is so technical, yet so stupid.
Taking a bunk today for learning SE will be one the greatest mistakes of my life…and I hope everyone who did the same thing will agree…