Last post from room 14@Obh

Nope, this is certainly not a post that would attempt to describe my nonexistant nostalgic feelings.

Exactly 5 months earlier, I wrote this post on things to be done before leaving IIIT. Its time now to evaluate the performance. There were 16 tasks of which 11 were already accomplished by then. So I had the 5 remaining tasks for these 5 months. And I scored 2/5. Yeah way below par. What were the three tough tasks? The only foreign language word that I have been able to learn is 'merci'. So that doesnt count. Never had the occasion or the physique to get into a fight. Had many many ideas on drawing the attention of disco, made a small attempt too but fortunately or unfortunately it didnt work out at all. The easiest sure shot method had too many unfriendly repercussions for me to try :D. So thats that about that.

Why is it that the cable goes poof just seconds before a ronaldinho free kick??
Where has the frog jumping around in the wing just outside my room disappeared to :-?
Why is the coffee shop called 'coffee shop' when jersey, sprite etc loudly proclaim their presence and loads of other things are also available??
Why is every mess in IIIT decent enough in the month of september, bearable in december and horrible in march??
How come that the day when finally the AC in our ug4 lab started working after being a decorative piece on the wall for the whole year, they announce the closure of labs citing the (mis)usage of electricity?
Why is that when a critical post slamming the usage of PS in blogs has created a furore that my post seems to be having them (though not having been marked so).
Why is it that despite having thousands of songs in the pc, i am listening to the same 6 songs since the last 3 days?
Why is it that 'blogspot' absolutely refuses to make itself better??
Why is that despite it becoming obsolete, I continue to persist with blogspot???
Finally, when is the akela musaphir going to narrate his sad memorable incident????

From 'nothing to write' To 'forgetting to confer a title'

On the bed .. trying to sleep ... u realise the effort is futile and so get up and come back to the pc. Cntrl+T and then go to blogspot.com, log in as mythalez and click on create-post. And then look around wondering what to write. Some more minutes tick away. Nothing comes to mind. Go to some of the frequented blogs. Read some of their old posts as none have updated in the past couple of hours. Come back to the create-post tab. Still nothing in mind. Chat with Pati, the only one awake at this ungodly hour. Still nothing to write.

Its not that there is nothing to be told. A lot of what can be said is expectant of being conveyed, but you instinctively realise that nothing of that would come out well when spoken or written. So, you discard them all and are left with just ephemeral ideas whose flicker dies out even before they sufficiently illuminate the mind. What you have is perennial darkness with speckles of sparkling light droplets that relentlessly change their locations appearing and disappearing at will.

A couple of days and I will vacate my room. Yeah leave IIIT forever. Leaving with mixed feelings. Wondering how a computer would look in my home ... hey actually my pc did spend the first couple of months of its life in my home, but then it was different.. that was way back in 2003 summer when i finished my first year at this place. Had newly installed windowsXP and RH9. Desktop had the available default wallpapers of windows and linux. Windows was mostly used to play Caeser, Quake and Cricket. Linux was booted into to be tinker with. BackStreetBoys used to be the most played english band. The browser used to be Iexplorer and Konqueror both of which were rarely used. Ymessenger was a non-entity.
Now, the pc obviously still has WindowsXP (fourth time installed and already a semester old) And FC3 along with it. The wallpapers in both the OSs have been set as desktop background directly from the net. The only games now existing on the pc are Yeti Games (the penguin ones), 3 flash games, bookworm and hangaroo. /home partition has so many files that I have long ago proclaimed it to be an impossible task to clean up the home dir. BSB doesnt exist in the pc anymore though 7.4GB of the 40GB hdd is occupied by english songs. The browser in both OS is firefox and is almost always running unless the pc itself is switched off. Ymessenger and Gaim are the first programs to be executed when the pc boots into either OS.
However, the hardware is completely unchanged .. including the seldom working rarely used floppy drive. So different yet its still the same?

Nooo, I dont intend to stop blogging ...

Yeah, its more than a month since my last post. I havent been busy at all during this time. I had loads of time. But never did i feel like blogging. I realised that I have mostly blogged on those days that I was jam-packed with things to do, days that I havent had a minute of leisure. Now that i dont have much to do, my blogging frequency has suffered!!

I had written a few posts about my travails with FYP link Also remember elaborating on the various difficulties with my fyp to all those uninterested and unconcerned. However, guess what? Mine is the first fyp to be officially over. Yeah was the first in the first panel of the final vivas. Yeah mine must also be the first unofficially completed fyp. Kudos to me :>

Cultural life seems to have come out of the hibernation. After the Cul nite, we now have Amalgam and then farewell. Everyone in my batch seems to be busy with their projects and vivas. The yearbook is going great guns and is sure to occupy much of my time in the coming days. I resolve to visit library everyday in these last few days of my stay at IIIT to compensate for my lack of use of its great facilities i.e books (non techie).

My status mesg: 'fyp? wats that?' a nice reply by dilip: 'a 1 day project (24 hrs) stretched over 8 months '. I add: 'with loads of reports and a lot of paper wastage'.

Why you shouldnt do a phd? link
The wait continues ... am getting bored of it.

Things to do before leaving IIIT ...

Recently my students login was blocked because some stupid mail was sent from it to students. And that set me thinking ... What are the few things that i ought to do before i become another alumnus of IIIT ? The first one among them i.e getting my login was blocked was already achieved. I consulted with a few friends and here is a partial list that i came up with .. This list is specific to me and should not be taken as a standard by others. :P

* Send spam to students list and get login blocked ... [done]
* Give a press conference ... [done] (done twice :D)
* Drink, drink to the point of unconsciousness ... [waiting] (never even drank till now)
* Have a tiff with a professor ... [done]
* Quarrel with a senior ... [done]
* Have a physical fight with someone ... [waiting] (would i survive?)
* Go on a date with a girl ... [waiting]
* Conduct, invigilate and evaluate exams ... [done] (many many times)
* Go on a foreign tour ... [done]
* Learn a foreign language ... [waiting]
* Be incharge of a fest ... [done] (so what if it was a tech one)
* Represent the institute ... [done] (twice :D)
* Stand in elections ... [done] (twice again! )
* Do something and face the Disco (Disciplinary Comm)... [waiting] (but i should come out unscathed too!)
* Face an interview ... [done]
* Grow my hair long ... [done]

Any suggestions or additions to the list?

Various things and none in particular

Well, yeah i have been to and back from kolkatta. This post is not about the trip. That is going to make a nice story with all the regular elements of drama like suffering, disappointment, frustration, elation and exhaustion. The exhausting post about the trip will be written rather typed later. Yeah, it needs considerable amount of patience and energy. "It is a thrilling tale, I wish to do it justice." by Dumbledore is quite applicable here. Finally started reading the sixth book of the hari-puttar series. Thought i had the time but sadly i was mistaken. Yet, once started, guess it will be completed quite quickly.

The Brother of Agastya aka the Sage has been stalking the corridors of our hostel to collect monetary contribution to the Kashmir quake fund. I admire his perseverence and determination. He spent around 5 hours, met around 150 people and collected significant amount. No idea how he can spare so much time for this. It is being discussed by people as to whether it is prudent to contribute to Pakistan and whether the money may not finally end up financing the terrorists of the like who recently bombed delhi etc. My take on this, .......... no idea. I guess I would feel more confortable if i knew where the money is going and how it would be used. Though, the question i ask is, "Is a disaster a prerequisite to do some charity?" There are needy people all around our city, state and country and abroad. Yeah, the people affected by a disaster need help since, their lives have been considerably worsened by the incident. But what about the people whose lives are in the same kind of state without even having to face a calamity? They are much much more in number and are always in need of help. Charity should be a continuous process and not a one off event that succeeds every large scale disaster. Guess, our IIIT's 'muskaan' is a great endeavour. We should expand this activity so that it touches many more lives. Enough of preaching for today :D.

Have so many things to do in the coming days that i am forced to keep a todo list. A todo list which tells me what are all the things that are yet to be done as quickly as possible. Yeah, just added 'write the acm post' to the list. I have had two small figurines on my table since first year. One is a cute Laughing-Buddha and the other a tiny statue of Lord Ganesha. No idea why they have been with me. Never been a religious person. Dont even remember the last time i was taken to a temple. I dont think i ever went to one on my own accord. I just recollected when i last went to a temple. It was in Kyoto. Went to a lot of temples that day.
Time to get back to the non-muggle world. Bye for now, my friendly muggles.

I persisted and ...

this is what the result was -


International Institute of Information Technology. When I first heard this name, i felt it was funny. To give such an institute an international tag just to retain the epithet 'IIIT' some how did not sound normal. The first time i came here and noticed the manicured shrubs adorning the roads, I felt that the institute was projecting an air of artficiality. The first time I looked at my hostel, I was enamoured by its shape, spaciousness and ventilation. Thus began a wonderful journey.

IIIT. What do IIITians think of it? Its like asking what do Indians think about India. Can it be described in 700 words? No way. Similarly, I dont even want to attempt to describe what IIIT means to me. In that case, what are these paragraphs about? They will just give an idea of the average IIITian's life and how IIIT has depicts different meanings on different ocassions.

In the morning, the IIITian wakes up, unconsciously lumbers upto the pc and checks mail. Then brushes the teeth and freshens up. His stomach then cries out in hunger. So he uses the pc to check in which mess he is supposed to nurish his body. After that, He is all ready to go to class. He is taught some stuff using slides projected onto a white screen. Does not note down anything much, as the slides will anyway be put up on the site. Assignment time. Completes the assignment which could be a program or textual answers and then uploads it on some portal before midnight. At the end of that hard day, relaxes by playing some game or watching some movie on the pc. IIIT is about living with computers.

Let us see what happens in a typical academic year. Mid July, its the start of the semester and the end of the summer holidays. For most first years that would mean a change, but not much difference for the other batches who have been staying on campus itself throughout the summer. Registration time and most students are in a dilemma. A wide array of courses to choose from. IIIT is about choice.

A few months into the year, some competitions are held. Generally, a participant would know all other participants personally. Some win prizes. Many are noticed. Thus, living in IIIT is also about being recognised and appreciated.

The start of the second semester. Placements for the final years are on. The salaries being offered are shooting up in a frenzy. While the senior most people celebrate their fortune, the juniors brag about it to their poor non-IIIT acquaintances. Thus IIIT is about feeling pride.

With the advent of the new year, comes the college fest Felicity. A lot of people are involved in its organisation in one way or the other. The organising batch tries to outperform the previous batch. They talk with companies, contact other colleges, raise expectations and then attempt to fulfil them. Many new ideas are realised and implemented. IIIT is about learning how to manage and being creative.

Soon, the academic year draws to a close. Its time for the farewell. The final years look back over the years. They share their memories and reminiscise about the sweet years spent here. Friends, who saw each other's faces for almost every day of the past four years, part with promises to keep in touch forever. Thus, IIIT is about life-long memories and friendships.

Now for some low downs. The student wakes up early in the morning at 6 to do PT and curses his luck. He desperately wants to sleep but lumbers to the class and sleeps uncomfortably there, all the time his mind railing against the 'demonic attendance rule'. After the class, rushes to the mess for lunch. Partially fills his stomach with what is generally agreed upon as tasteless and nutrientless stuff being passed off as lunch. Plays football in the evening, bruises his leg and complains against the lack of a proper grassy playground. Thus IIIT is also about grumbling and adjusting with what you have.

My institute is the place
where i spend my four years
from my memory, will never erase
all the joys and the tears

50 people turn up at midnight
to wish me on my birthday
IIIT is where i listen to others
and also have my say.

IIIT is where i gain in brain
and it is where i lose my hair
IIIT is where i feel many a pain
and also live without a care

IIIT eats up four years of my prime
So, i just hope to have a good time.
To ask what IIIT means to me,
is like asking what you mean to thee.

Tried for the answer to the question below ..

Started promisingly and then suddenly found myself devoid of words. Well, here goes the attempt that died a congenital death.

International Institute of Information Technology. When I first heard this name, i felt it was funny. To give such an institute an international tag just to retain the epithet 'IIIT' some how did not sound normal. The first time i came here and noticed the manicured shrubs adorning the roads, I felt that the institute was projecting an air of artficiality. The first time I looked at my hostel, I was enamoured by its shape, *spaciousness* and ventilation. Thus began a wonderful journey.

And then i found that i cannot express anything lucidly. Everything is jumbled up. So ended my essay.

I dont want to sleep in the class tomorrow (technically today). Hence i slept early. Atleast tried to. But woke up after a futile half an hour. And now i fear i will sleep in the classes once again. Why!! Why!! I dont want to sleep in the class!! :((

This is the question ...

... for the competition. The conversation begins:

A: I never expected to end up here. but now i feel it is one of the best things to have happened to me.
B: Really!! I just want to get away from this place as soon as possible.
A: Come on, my life was enriched here like never before.

Noo ... this attempt falls flat at its face. Its going nowhere. Guess am not in the mood to be creative now .. sorry dude, maybe we can hash up something in the morning ... But then, why not try once more??

A: I am really happy i ended up here. It has been a cool time here. The years just flew away.
B: Really?? I just cant wait to get out of here. Such a critical part of my life has been wasted here !!
A: Come on da, kya bol raha hain. IIIT nahin hota, to hum dono kaise milte??
C: Thats what na, we are judging the institute by the atmosphere and the students. Lets ask if it has really made us a better person.
A: Arent you a better person now than when you came here?
C: Yeah, the credit for that lies with the students here, not the institute as such.
D: Arent both one and the same?
B: Whatever, my main purpose here is getting a decent job. Thats all what matters.
C: Kya yaar, what about reeesearch ?? Thats the objective of the institute, not the pays that the students may get.
B: Oh yeah, thats why the salary figures are touted at every possible instant.
A: However, life here is cool. You cant expect a better life anywhere else.
C: I concur.
D: Yeah, IIIT has made a huge difference in my life.
B: I dont think i am so senti about it. All that i would take from here is a good job. Hopefully.

I guess this attempt is pretty much better. Will it suffice O' organiser?

Is a Title required??

It wont be conveying anything about the subject matter anyway. So, the unique concept of No-computers day was held. Am not sure about its success though. Yeah quite a few people did shut down their computer, headed out of rooms etc. But it has not been the success that would have been liked by the people behind the idea. Yeah, its just 2 now and i have started my computer again, 2 and half hours before schedule :D. I had plans of sleeping in the evening, preparing for gre and many such things but what i did was totally away from these lines. Well, anyhow ...
Coming back to the special day, if some big event or atleast many small events had been organised then maybe it would have made more people move away from the intelligent box. Yeah something called cultural night was organised, but i dont think it can qualify as a grand event, atleast not if it is organised in the Old-library seminar hall.... I seriously think the rooms require some unique names. What ever happened to the name-the-hostels drive .... What ever happened to DF !! Whatever will happen to the servers ... with smr quitting and ./nir contemplating the same action ...
By the way, one cool thing was that they did not try to enforce the speciality of the day by say shutting down the servers, closing the labs etc. Leaving the choice to the students means that they assume the students to be mature enough. Which is great ... hope that someday they also remove the compulsory 25 day meal system ... :)

Just saw a pic of mine in the first year ... and i just couldnt believe it. I looked like a school kid literally !! Then i used to think it was an exageration when people remarked that i looked like a kid, but now i know it was true .... Hopefully not anymore :D

As a drooping flower,
soon to wither away,
you were a solitary weeper
your whole world was grey ( this line stolen oops inspired from mltr :D)

Your life was pointless,
with nothing to hope for.
you couldnt care less
you wanted nothing more.

Just then, as a light ray
piercing the grey clouds,
i walked your way
And then walked away

The Unending Election Fiasco

The sole aim of this post is to expend my frustration. Better read the post below if you have come here to appreciate my writing style... :D

Election
Re-election
Re-Election Nullified
Another Re-election to be held in the next sem.

I guess this is just half the story. Who knows how many more re-elections we are going to have before they are finally satisified with the elections. They here solely refers to the Ec and the Slc. What the HELL do they think of themselves??
I really wanted to reply to them. But had to restrain myself, whats the point in spammimg? Already two people have put the grievences pretty well. I expect the Ec answers them soon. Otherwise, they are going to get lot of hatemails.
If anyone has a misconception that things can get better at IIIT, then well, you have a misconception. Things only seem to get worse. (Except the Canteen though, it rocks as of now.)
Dont the Ec realise that they are responsible to the students? Particularly the contestants? First of all, on the evening i.e the end of the first elections, they cancelled the election. And everyone knew of the various leads etc. A lot of politics may have been played on that night. Then they held elections on the next day, the day of the Farewell. Only this time, they did not discover any bugs at the last minute. Hence they withheld the results. Slowly, anyhow the results have leaked out. Now everyone knows who won, so they nullify the election. What the Hell!!!
Malpractices!! What practices? The most number of malpractices seem to be done by the Ec. Actually, most of it is not Ec's fault . The Ec is just a worker for the Slc. Any decision of the Ec is basically a decision of the Slc. If malpractices are a problem, what ever was the Slc doing during the last elections? What happened then are called Malpractices. Those things are called intimidating voters blah blah. This time we had vigorous campaigning, Yes. Sometimes the campaigning bent and maybe broke some rules. Yes. But none of these are serious enough to repeat the whole process again. Silly us, we took care not to break any rule. We should have done all sorts of campaigning, broken all code of conduct etc. At max, what they would have done is another re-election. They put down some ambiguous statements as rules, interpret the rules in some way and expect everyone else to have the same interpretation somehow magically.
They plan to re held the re-elections at the start of the next sem. Do they expect the graduating people to come to IIIT and vote, or even login from wherever and vote? 1/3rd of the current voters are no longer going to vote. I wonder how many of the remaining would vote either. Why should anyone, when the probability of the re-elections again is so high!
And, Who the Hell is going to apolozise for wasting my time for so many days!! Do they even have an iota of an idea, how much effort the contestants have put in? What do they know about the time and effort taken to select the team, come up with the agenda, fight against the mis-information campaign, And Campaign!! Tell them to try to convince me why Re-elections are required. We had to convince hundreds of people why they should vote for us. Do they think, we are profited in some manner if we become MPs? This is not a pay thing. And there wont be any kick-backs either. Whoever is contesting is doing that either with genuine interest in doing something for the campus, take up some responsiblity, bring some change or else have some fun by coming out of hibernation (This is applicable in some cases).
Is this the Slc way of having 'Selection' through 'Election'? Keep having elections until the appropriate guy in your opinion wins??

"This mail is to inform the student community regarding nullification of Elections that were held on 30th March due to complaints received regarding malpractices."
The next time you do not like the way results the going to turn out, just make some complaints. They will nullify the elections.

"Fresh elections will be held under closely supervised conditions during the first week of the next academic year."
Closely supervised conditions!! What are they going to do? Put us contestants under room arrest or something??

"The candidates for SP councils will remain the same and no new nominations will be invited."
How can they assume that the contestants would still be interested in participating in this fiasco of a process called Elections?? What about new nominations to the Ec. I guess that is the most basic requirement as of now. And i guess, i dont need to start about the Slc now, everyone must have an idea of tHEiR visions.

I wanted to write a post on Campaining. How and how not to do it. Guess, some other day, when and if the fiasco ends.

Warning: Do not talk about elections if you meet me in person. I am not going to waste any more time on it.

PS: One good thing, Though having (unofficially) won the elections (despite not being the favourites), we dont need to fulfil our agenda (though we showed that we can do it).

Fared Well...

Gave the farewell to our seniors today (technically yesterday). And it went pretty well. Was very interesting and extremely funny. Our Seniors rock! And so do we :). I had thought that our batch had transformed from a groovy batch to a groupy batch. But, the farewell has shown that we can still accomplish many great things together :D. When we were making the Story Presentation for the Cd yesterday night, i looked at the various photos of our seniors and it made me very very envious. They seemed to have been partying every other night in their final year and going out every week. That too in big big numbers. Sometimes all of them. Our batch hasnt gone anywhere yet. When will we? Will we ever?....
Regarding the elections, it was reheld because the earlier system had a bug! Somethings just cannot be helped.
Some people stop being friendly towards a person when they are jealous of them. But once they too taste that success, or achieve that envious unattainable, they are once again friendly and humility personified.
So the moral of the story is that its time for me to sleep (After two sleepless days and nights).

The Campaign starts...

Finally we started it. Met quite a few people today and impressed upon them the benefits of voting for us. In short, if they want a better, more vibrant campus, they have got to vote for us. Now at four in the morning i end up at my room. Exhausted. Why am i even doing this? How would it benefit to me that if we win the elections? No, a single line in the resume is not of my concern. I would certainly have many other things to write there. I guess, i do not really know. All i know is that, of the candidates who are contesting, no one comes even close to being as fit to be the CLC as we are. Aaaah. I got to get out of the campaign mood :D. So what if we are very good for the job? That is no reason for me to be interested in this. I guess, the initial blame lies with cc. As for this time, my close association with Pranav actually led to me being in his team. I dont think anyone in the institute can understand Pranav more than me. Now that is quite an achievement:P. So what does it result in? Me finally coming to room at 4 in the morning. Tired and thirsty with not a drop of drinking water to be found anywhere in Obh. And currently i can do nothing about it. And i am dying of thirst. Neither do i have the energy of going to Nbh to get water. I got to wake up at 7 anyway. So i dont see any point in sleeping either. Moreover, i am too thirsty to even sleep. I am actually hungry too. Todays menu wasnt strong enough to make me visit the mess. So here i am, contesting an election, hungry and thirsty without any sleep....and bored also :D

no memories...

Just read a blogpost of a friend which was full of the visions of her parents' childhood. The streams, forests, plantations, trees and paintings. Just made me think of my so called memories. Sorry, i really dont have any worth mentioning. Not even those of my parents. Both having been brought up in towns, i guess i lost out on the rural aspect of life. I have never been in a village! I dont have any memories worth speaking of. Just a few incidents here and there. Just have been living a drab life. Existence without any beauty. Nothing worth remembering. Nothing i remember either. Pity myself. What a life. Not good enough to be a memory or induce nostalgia.
Had a voter meet. Of not much use though. It was more of a platform for people to expose the shortcomings of the others. As regarding the case with my team, people came with a fixed mindset of not listening to Pranav. Though he finished in 5 mins, they thought it was 20 minutes. And all questions were on canteen. And no, they didnt want to listen to the reasons. Just were trying to point out that he failed. They did not want to know the facts. Cant help it. I dont even want to campaign. If they sensibly think before voting, read the agendas etc, then its fine. But i doubt how many do that. I dont think even 10%. I guess they would deserve whoever they get. But, we being highly educated, i hope that our elections arent as blind as in general it happens in india. But, i guess i am hoping too much.

Is it worth it?

Elections everywhere. The elections for student parliament make some sense atleast. But for the PS post, which i dont understand why anyone would want, the elections are taking a very bad turn. Can see the politics everywhere. It hits you in the face. The Indian politics in a small scale. Groupism, regionalism, favour, bribery, everything for an election among 100 people who have known each other for 3 years. I would say, let them be, whoever is desperate to become. We certainly deserve the politicians we get. Approach people for your committee whom you would not even approach for an assignment, approach them just because they would then influence some people to vote for you. It really sucks. A batch of 92 has to play dirty politics just to get a person to represent them for the job offers. And when, the jobs are almost guarenteed for everyone. And people are being included in the committee not on basis of their ability but rather whether they represent a particular section of the batch..... I no longer like our batch.

Elections for the parliament. Another muck. I am already sick of hearing from a few that the only good point in my team is me. What do they know what pranav has done till now? And, we obviously need some votes from UG1 if we are to win. But the only way i thought it was possible to get some votes doesnt contribute to the well being of that batch. So, to win, we have to campaign strongly, but campaigning strongly may lead to unwanted problems among the batch. So, in short, if the campus is to get better, we are to win. To win, we got to get votes. To get votes, we got to get them from UG1 and UG2. Getting votes from UG1 may lead to divisions in the batch. Our batch was together atleast for two years. I have no idea what i am supposed to do. I no longer seem to be interested in it either. I guess, i dont like to fight without decency. I cant stoop to lower levels just to get a membership in the parliament. But, i believe that the only way the campus and our lives here can be improved (which is really needed) is by us winning the election. What is the point?

With a blank mind...

... am writing this. Today must be the day of the longest hours of classes. I missed the first one at 8:30, even then the total hours came to about 6 and 1/2. In the small breaks, i had to finish the work for the election. Right from deciding the third team member, to filling the form, getting the signatures and submitting it. Nomination form for the Campus Life Committee of Student Parliament. The guy who is standing for the secretary post is the great sage Vasishta. Hope he wins. He really deserves it. No one else would have done as much as he has done for the institute. No. This is not for impressing the voters, but the truth. I being the second member, the third member of our team is a nice MS guy. Our opponent is again my friend Arpit with a first year and another second year guy completing his team. We had offered him to be in our team, even the secretary post if he wants, but he was adamant on contesting against us. And there is this third team which is contesting for fun i guess. I hope we win. This Campus really needs some improvement. And this is not restricted to food alone. I guess campaigning is going to play a very important part in deciding the winner. It seems to have already started. But somehow, i dont feel myself cut out to the task of going around asking for votes. It feels strange. Havent tried it yet. Just tried on a few friends. Still felt strange. Guess, i got to ignore these inhibitions. But i still feel, that there shouldnt be any campaigning. Just put your agendas and sit quiet. Ofcourse, if some one asks you for clarifications on your manifesto, then you are welcome to do that, but otherwise, you should be silent and allow the voter to make his own decision. But this isnt an ideal world. And no such thing is plausible. So you got to campaign. So campaign we will i guess.
By the way, if you are a IIITian reading this, do vote for us. :D

I love the institute...

As promised earlier, i am supposed to write about the institute. So, here it comes. Unedited, at 5 in the morning. Fresh thoughts of a mind which woke up just know.
Before i joined the institute, when i came here, i didnt actually like it. The only place i had gone then was the 'main building' as we call it. I didnt like the artificial look of those manicured bushes. But when i actually joined, and got a room in OBH, and came here to just have a look at my 'new home', that was when i fell in love. Obh rocks.
As everyone, i joined the institute with high hopes. Attended the classes. Listened in the classes. All the classes. And i remember, the first assignment that i did. I had been so careful! But these things are trivial. What i would remember would be those days with the friends. An assigment day, supposed to submit the next day morning, so start it around 11. Start it initially with Akshay. Soon Sharath would come to give his inputs. Followed by Sudhanshu, sometimes Tejo. And then come hoards of people. All ready to create their own translation of the assignment. Finally end it at around 3. And sleep. Rishabh takes the assignment in the morning. Gets inspired by it and does his own. I am so sleepy in the morning that i end up not going to the class or sleeping through the class. The assigment procedure was invariably accompanied by music. Initially it was my rikecty tape. But with the advent of pcs in the second sem, mp3s ruled. The fun we had in the wing was what was unique about us.
The second year was better. I had my own pc now. No more was the music-system required. We now also had Su in our wing. The classes started late in the morning, so you could wake up leisurely. Any my routine was, wake up (actually Tejo would wake me up), go to Su's room, wake him up, take him along with us for breakfast, come back, and then i would settle down on su's bed for pleasant sleep. Su! I miss that bed!!
The third year is going on, so no reminiscing about it now. I love the years that i spend here. But does that mean, i would like to stay here? Or that i want to stay here? Or wish that there were more time to spend here? Nah, not at all. I used to feel so then, but not any longer. I guess due to the excellent administration/faculty. they started initially with stupid rules, and now they keep coming with unbelievable ones every other day. You feel that they cannot get any more sillier, and then pat comes an even sillier one. But those rules really dont matter. Who cares about them anyway. But i dont like the way, the institute is progressing either. Okay, we are supposedly doing great research, and we are gaining more recognition, but what is actually happening here? The first year, the institute buzzed with activity. Every event, any sort of event was organised and had lots of participation.
But now, there is this apathy. No one organises anything and no one participates. And I blame the administration for it. It is not only the students fault. Even those who had enthusiasm in these things earlier, no longer seem to care about it. Only sports seem to be going well now. Thankfully, atleast those are. Why do i blame the administration for it? Because, with their stupid rules, they are not providing any leeway and people are so pressed with time due to all that they give the extra-curricular activities a miss. Another problem is that increasing number of students who are being admitted every year. How does it help? Other than give a taste of India as such, with crowds everywhere (except some places where there are none). Did ever an increase in quantity lead to an increase in the quality?? Even though, the number of IIITians are increasing, you find the same set of people in any non-academic thing. The same set of people with minor modifications. And as this set cannot handle everything, some things are just lost forever....

Jut because i am listening to a song...

Iron Maiden's Tears of the Dragon. Listened to it lots of times, but somehow, today it felt different. Maybe because i was suddenly plagued with doubts of what i was doing and why. I felt that i had lost the sense of direction. I was trying to progress, but progress where? Where exactly? I had no idea of my destination. All this after a day which had nill work despite the fact that i had to complete the whole thing today. Complete the implementation which i hadnt even started yet.
Today was an unique day. As is evident from the post below this, i slept quite late, in the early morning actually. And then got up (dsepite the protests of all my blody parts) and went to the class at 8:30 in the morning. Slept in the class for sometime. At the end, the prof was calling out some names for attendance and as he calls out my name, he remarks, "I suppose you slept well yesterday night". :D Then there was another class after half an hour. Went to it five minutes late. Found the door closed. The door which never opened to let us in despite the fact that half the class was standing outside. After an hour i had yet another class. Went to it. Sat in a chair. And slept. It was a class which had just 12 students. A class which is taken by my honour's guide. :D He would have surely noticed me. After the class, he and i had a talk about my project. (which currently seems to be a lost cause.) Then at 1, i was told that a few of us were going out for lunch. I had another class at 3. I already missed three classes of it. We are allowed to miss a maximum of four classes. So i went. To the lunch that is.
Then we went bowling. :D First time ever for me. Had lots of fun. Lots of fun after a long time.
Returned to collect my midsem answer paper (corrected) of a subject. Fared average. From then went to the cafeteria and played for some time with the new darling of IIIT. A cute little puppy. It is being pampered a lot. Followed it up by watching a basket ball match. We lost but it was a close match. Finally sat down to work at around 11 in the night. The time by which i was supposed to complete it. A work which would normally have taken me a week. Tried for a few hours. And realised that it was futile. So, currently i am blogging listening to Iron maiden.

i had forgotten to title this post ...

02:19:40) pranavasishta: we complement each other well
(02:19:47) me: basically we suck
(02:19:54) me: hav lost direction in this world
(02:20:18) me: and r not helped by the fact that there is no one nearby to drive some sense into us
(02:21:04) pranavasishta: think i could never put it better.

A chat conversation that i had with the sage of my class in the night around 2. And all of it is so true! What are we trying to do? Living life, trying to fit everything into nothing, going about life which though is different everyday, is similar in more ways than one realises. The same sun, the same morning rush, the same missing of breakfast to attend a class which is not worth it, the same dozing of in the class which helps you escape exerting your mind in trying to make sense of the seemingly incoherent mamblings by a distinguished prof, but doesnt help you in getting the much needed rest, the same rush after the class either to another class or to a nearby pc to check mail, the same mails, one from the administration office (some vaccine or another such inane matter) a couple from the lug (a question easily solved through man, and its reply stating the obvious), quite a lot of lost-found and sometimes to break the routine, a mail from some prof. Trying to fit in the available time to do something, though achieving nothing in the end other than a feeling of having worked a lot. What is the point? What are we trying to do?
What is the institute trying to do? "We want to be a research institute". Yet at every available oppurtunity we boast about our 100% placement record. Placements mostly at companies that follow the seriously complicated SE procedures. I dont think doing Pt every morning is going to make a better researcher. Neither would beingimmersed in assignments and classes. Poor first years, I pity them. We were really lucky. Didnt have the pt, the compulsary attendance, nor the place fixation in the classes. And they have grand plans of increasing the strength! For what? Quality is not going to improve. I just hope the institute doesnt degrade and fall into an abyss. It was a bright spark till now. A spark which sometimes falters. but hopefully would collect all its oil and glow cheerily again. ....

Veritas Horizon ...

I other words, Verizon. The sponsor for CodeCraft. Their GM, human resources came to the campus today to deliver a small talk. It was their idea. They also wanted a report on Threads to be given during this meeting. So, we had given them an itinerary long time back and were supposed to follow it. The major problem that i thought i would face was to get the seminar hall filled with people. I had mailed to students stating that the talk would start at 9:30 whereas it was scheduled to start at 10. At 9:30 as i was walking towards the room, i am approached by their HR who looked worried. He told that he didnt want his GM to face an empty room, hence called him and asked him to come at 10:15. After a few frantic efforts, people started filling the hall. 10:15 came and went. 10:30 was approaching. The supposed audience was getting restless and some started moving out (Oh no!). Finally he came after 10:30. Immediately i went and invited the Dean to come. The itinerary was that the Dean would give a speech, then i would present the report, then the GM would talk and finally answer the questions. But do things anytime go according to plan? The scheduled time was from 10 to 11. The compere didnt know the itinerary (not his fault), hence it lead to the GM being invited first to give the talk. He talked about the corporate jobs, the attitude of employess etc. This was obviously interrupted as has become the norm these days by the one-who-must-not-be-named (though i dont care a damn about placements). It went on till 11:15. Then i was called upon to give the report. I made it short and sweet. Used the same material that we had used for the press conference, just updated it a bit. I spoke for around 5 minutes. And i spoke pretty okay, with no gaffes. Dilip's nod after the report reassured this belief of mine. Then the beloved dean gave his talk about emotional intelligence. It finally ended at 12. One hour behind schedule. Debugging contest prelims was also supposed to end then. And it was the only event that i really wanted to participate. I was then supposed to escort him to the Director's office. In between, he praised me on my speech, saying it was well organsied blah blah. I made use of the time that he was in the director's office to find out the latest information about the events. I was informed that the third session of Debugging was starting then! He came out of the office, and requested us to show him around the building, the labs mainly. So took him around to the research labs etc. A group of five. They three, we two (Gautam and me). During this, he again expressed his appreciation. After that, escorted him to the stall on the ground, then back to the campus. The-one-who-must-not-be-named had also joined the group now, and was talking most, in fact all of the time. Finally he left at around 1. Before leaving, he appreciated the report once again, this time calling me by my name. :D
So where does that leave me? Do i want a job in Verizon? Nah, not really. The bad part, i couldnt participate in the debugging contest :(

Threads has started...

And it is a huge success as of now! The two most popular events have been conducted. The response has been immense. And the icing on the cake is that there were no technical problems at all. \:d/. In short, we rock.
Sunday started with Codecraft, the online programming contest. 630 teams registered. The mock test on saturday had a few problems. So we were jittery. We completed the questions, their test cases etc just in the morning as the previous post tells you. So, all the more jittery. Changed every question beyond imagination. Hence, though all of them were from the net, where even the test cases and the solutions were available, they werent at all searchable. Finally all programming questions come down to the various types of algorithms like dp, greedy etc. We werent able to change just one question. It was still googlable. But we were already exhausted by then. So everything was ready by 2. And the contest started. I was at the help desk, i.e chatting on yahoo with contestants answering their queries. The contest was for 8 hours, supposed to end at 10. And the number of questions given were also 8. The submission portal opened at 2:30. Immediately there was a correct submission! Though it was for the second easiest question. Next submission for a distinct question was for the easiest question. Many teams had solved two questions by 3. I was getting tensed. Because if this was the rate, then the people would have solved all long before the contest got over. But, we were reassured by a question, which we assumed was next to insolvable. But guess, what happened? It was solved by a team at 3:15. Now that really got me tensed. All questions arent supposed to be solved by a single team in a programming contest. It was an unwritted law. Then Masu and me tried to prepare another question, but we werent upto it, so we soon quit. A few teams had solved 4 questions by 4:30. But then the speed fell. They encountered the tougher ones. And it took them a lot of time. All this while, there was not even a single problem with our server. It handled this huge amount of load pretty well, thanks to the distributed system which used around 10 pcs. I was chatting all this while. Some had nice doubts. But most were stupid or remarks that though their solution is correct it is not being accepted. At 6, it was obvious that our contest was a big hit. Most of the contestants were praising it. Both the questions and the server. Even our sponsors were extremely happy. Afterall, every question was based on them. What more mileage could they have got?
In the last two hours, i was getting feedback from the contestants along with solving their doubts. All liked the contest. Some even became my friends. We went on chatting about iiit, their institute (mostly iit) etc. The contest ended at 10 as scheduled. The most questions a team had solved were 6. And one question wasnt solved by any team. The ideal result. The only sad part was that the top IIIT team was placed 11th. None of our teams in the top 10 :( Though the guy coming second who had also solved the toughest question first, was an ex IIITian. There was a swedish guy who came fifth or something. We had many other international colleges participating.

That was CodeCraft. The next day, that is monday was Cachein, the online treasure hunt. It was supposed to go on for two days. Monday and Tuesday from 4 pm to 10 pm. It started on dot at 4. We were all tensed initially because, there was no mock conducted. But there were no problems what so ever again. A few questions had mistakes. But thats it. Nothing to do with the server. It ran as fast as an hare. :) Again i was at the help desk, that is chatting with the treasure-hunters, answering their queries with patience. Most didnt read the rules, and would ask about things clearly mentioned on the site. The others were adamant that their answers were correct though they were wrong. Many of the people that i chatted with were the same as the day before, i.e codecraft contestants. So once again, the discussion started about the fest, how they came to know about it, how they find it, their praise, their institute, our institute etc. :)
The firat day ended at 10. The same story with the second day i,e today (actually yesterday), though it was more tensed and frantic, it being the final steps to the treasure. I wasnt chatting this time. Had other things to do. By the way, Cachein had 700 people logged in at once, trying to solve puzzles and find the treasure.

Equity Pulse the stock market game had a demo yesterday i.e monday. But it wasnt good. Many problems came to the fore. The actual contest started today morning at 10. It really created a buzz around the institute with people asking each other about the profit they made. It had 800 teams. There were a few problems, bugs etc which led to the contest being restarted again at 2. Not many problems after that. In the night the online crossword and online quiz started after hectic work by the organisers who had been inactive a few days back without doing anything about it. The online crossword is called "X Word" while the online quiz is called "The Answer is 42".
Many institute's people are spending their nights trying to solve these two.
All in all, as of now, Threads'05 rocks. Not just in our eyes, but in those of the other institutes' guys as well.
For more details visit http://felicity.iiit.ac.in ......got too used to typing this at the end. Replying to various queries in the mails.
Feel like celebrating after every succesful event. :) Thats the plus point of being the coordinator without being stuck with one event. You are part of all events :)

Quite a big post this is...... Got to write one now on Threads with the statistics for the newspapers. I guess this was a practice for that........