mama mia!

So after a long hiatus, I am back into the blogosphere - only to disappear again into the shadows of blogger's blocks but then let us live the moment, shall we?! :P Between the time I last posted and now, lots of things have happened. Our summers process took place and yours truly made it to SET - Sony Entertainment Television. So if you think Sony has been airing crappy programmes think no further! Just change the god damned channel! :D Before I digress completely, ahem.. I have been posted in Mumbai. So any attractive female readers of mine out there in Mumbai, please mail me across your address and phone numbers.. and may be we can have a chat over a cup of coffee. What say? :D *ducks*

Moving on.. *sigh* I celebrated my first Diwali away from home. Never knew it felt so crappy to celebrate Diwali away from home. The food here was awesome, lots of competitions were held and the junta was quite enthusiastic about it. But then, somehow felt quite uneasy.. :( I guess this is just a beginning of a long stretch of festivals I'd miss celebrating at home. You can find more on how we celebrated Diwali here. And btw India won the 3rd ODI against our "friendly" padosis. Now how cool is that! :D

On a different note, our first semester grades are out. I scored a very respectable GPA of 2.83 out of 4.33. I have cut down on studies lately so as to be able to do other things like this and this. Life has been slightly hectic but I've started liking it more and more. Right now, I am running a Make-Gokul-fat campaign as I raid friends' rooms and loot food from them. I wish I were Mahmud of Ghazni.. looting is so much fun! :D However, I've not been putting on much weight as was evident from my mother's reaction when I had been to Hyderabad recently. But the looting shall continue!! >:)

PS1: I will be back in Hyderabad sometime next month. :D
PS2: Missing home.. :(
PS3: Happy Diwali to one and all! :D
PS4: Its 7 already! Going out to eat at Taj.. friend's treat.. >:) time to launch another looting expedition! :D
PS5: And ManU is through to the next round. BTW Heroes rocks. And is anyone reading the Naruto Manga.. woo hoo! :D
PS6: Someone was telling me the other day that I should market my blog more aggresively. Idhar bhi marketing!? /:)
PS7: I was just wondering.. is there any relation between the title and the post? hmm.. Guess and win exciting prizes! :D
PS8: This is the end.

The Human Calculator..

There was this phase I went through, in my third year, when I used to sit and calculate my CGPA time and again. After having accounted for various permutations and combinations, I'd arrive at my GPA for the semester and consecutively my CGPA. The whole funda behind the exercise was to check whether there was any hope of me crossing 7 at the end of 4 years. And typical of me, I'd always put very optimistic estimates and would feel good about myself. But at the end of the semester, I'd get a rude shock when my GPA would be a good half point less than what I had calculated. But at the end of my 4 years, I'm proud to say that I crossed the psychological 7 mark. Its like getting a total of 300 on a flat pitch - you never know whether it would be enough or not.

So why am I saying such things on the public domain and lowering my image amongst my readers? Because the syndrome is back again to haunt me through my post graduation. Yes, the past couple of days, I've been calculating my GPA for the first semester - adding new results and revising estimates time and again. I've come to be known as the Human Calculator (of GPA) not because I calculate faster than anyone else but because I am the only one involved in such fruitless activities. People come to me asking for an estimate of their GPAs. I, just like the fake baba/saint/whatever-you-refer-to-them-in-your-language, give them hope by over estimating their GPAs. Well, I am not charging any fee for this small service I offer. Not yet. But I hope I dont get into trouble once the sem results are out. If things work out just fine, then I might start charging some consultation fee from the next semester. So how does this work? This calculating of GPAs?

DISCLAIMER: Please dont try this at home. Or in class. Or in your hostel rooms. These are trained professionals who have spent their lives perfecting the art of calculating GPA.

Well, firstly you take into account the past record of the instructor. If it is Mr.X who has given 40 Ds last sem, you take an optimistic grade of C- for that course. If it is Ms.Y who believes in giving lesser As and more Bs and Cs, you take into account the mean grade - which might be a B or a C ,and then calculate the resulting GPA. Other factors which should be considered include the number of times the instructor has caught you sleeping in the class, the overall performance of your section and batch, and the average performance of your section and batch. Believe me - calculating GPAs is a very tough job and not everyone is cut out to do the same. Only a select few are gifted with qualities of estimation and intution to carry out a good job.

So I repeat - please dont try this in your data compression/HSSM/Open Elective lectures. It might be a highly amusing exercise at the beginning, but one tends to get addicted to it. They're worse than drugs! Not to mention the depression one experiences due to overquoting of GPAs. You need to be a certified GPA calculator to put the worst beind you and continue calculating for the coming semesters. May the force be with you.

PS1: After my second year, my calculation speed increased manifold mainly because of 2 reasons:
a) calculating my GPA after every mid-term/end-term result was announced
b) when India used to chase a huge target. Once upon a time, we used to be good chasers
PS2: I finished the Quant section of CAT in 35 minutes. No prizes for guessing why.
PS3: I spent 1 hour 15 minutes on the verbal section in CAT :(
PS4: Hectic life.
PS5: Somebody scrap me.
PS6: Somebody comment!
PS7: We have dandiya night scheduled today. We are supposed to come dressed in ethnic wear.. :|
PS8: Special buffet arranged for tonight. hehehehe.. aakramannn.. :D
PS9: Washing clothes in washing machines is not a pain at all! :D
PS10: I hate wearing suits!
PS11: Mom, if you're reading this - Hi!
PS12: Seriously, why is the Indian cricket team so inconsistent?!
PS13: CAT 07 round the corner. All the best to all the CAT takers.
PS14: Work piling up. adios!

blah

Spot 5 differences and win exciting prizes! Please SMS JOBLESS "your answers" to 8778.



Moving on to something totally unrelated, finally I went for a hair cut. And I dont regret it. Of course I do weigh a few hundred grams lesser now, but then I guess it was worth it. No wonder I've been feeling light-headed lately.

So finally ug2k3 performed again in Amalgam - now known as Splash. We gave quite a terrific performance. And as expected, Inam's dance and speeches from Bushi and IV proved to be crowd-pullers. T3 took care of the hip-hop quotient. At the end of the day, we as ug4, fulfilled our responsibility of setting high standards for the coming years. Overall quite a nice and satisfying experience.

Tried writing a couple of short stories but somehow I am not very satisfied with my effort. So wont be posting the stories. I just am not able to put to words what I have in mind. I guess I need to get back to reading - full time.

Went to attend a friend's engagement at Green Park. Nice decent food. Nice company. Had lots of fun pulling legs.

And the farewell got postponed again! This time to 16th of April. And we finally got our batch T shirts made which in itself is a big achievement considering the notorious reputation our batch has. The yearbook deadline has also been postponed.

Have been playing cricket early in the morning. Its fun! WC without India is so boring. Speaking of boring stuff, exams have begun. And as is the tradition, people have been getting quite bored.
But there are a few specimen who are putting their heart and soul towards preparation. Frustrated souls! :P BTW what in the name of holy cow is a Jayanth quantiser?

I just cant wait for my IIM results. Although I am quite optimistic of making it to A, somewhere deep down in my heart I am not very confident of getting through. Is this what they call last minute jitters? Lets hope not. Quite a few have been getting their university results as well. Tipo has got his first admit. Fauji and Goyal got theirs quite some time back. And of course even our director, YarG has got an admit into Arizona university. Hopefully some more make it through.

Quote of the day:

You justify your existence by being sarcastic. That is what all people think about you.

- V.V. Harish Baba's comments on me.. :D

PS1: Summer is unbearable.
PS2: Need to blog more often.
PS3: I'm done writing everyone's testimonials except for one. I am getting good at this.. :D
PS4: Get this feeling that somehow there is very little bonding in our batch. I guess most of them are yet to realize that they'll be leaving everything behind soon.
PS5: Hajime no Ippo has become one of my all-time favourites. I recommend it to one and all! :D
PS6: This is the end!

Mid sem exams + Sir Lukog's 3 laws of Examination

So the mid semester exams are here. And as always, I've retained my uncanny ability of screwing up even the easiest of the exams. My aunt used to mention how even my dad, who was a brilliant student, always underperformed in the exams. I guess my dad's genes are finally working. Coming back to the topic, I successfully screwed up the 2 exams that I wrote today, thus maintaining a clean slate. Of course they were easy! I still have one more to go and I'd really love to have a black mark on this unblemished record of mine. Why do you think they call me the optimist!!?? *sigh*


The 3 laws of Examination proposed by Sir Lukog seem to dictate my performance :( For the uninformed, Sir Lukog was a part of the Priori of Scion and is said to have influenced his disciple Newton immensely. Lukog was wanted by the church for his rebellious ideas on examinations. Even today, these laws are practically unknown thanks to stringent measures taken by the then-orthodox church. Coming to the 3 laws of Examination..

The First Law of examination states that every student stays in a state of laziness, and continues to stay in that state unless he is compelled to study due to approaching exams.

The Second Law of examination states that the rate of change of preparation of a student(just before the exam) is directly proportional to the number of hours he has slept during the class.

The Third Law of examination states that for every exam you write well, there is atleast one exam which you'll end up screwing equally well.

Explanation for the 2nd law: The more he sleeps during the classes, the more he prepares before the exam. The mathematical form of this law is as follows:

P = sG

where P is rate of change of preparation, s the number of hours he has slept in the classes and G is the geek constant. You can actually see a striking resemblance with Newton's second law (F = ma)

Please note that the converse of the third law doesnt hold true. Especially in my case.

These laws are proposed for mere mortals and hence any attempts to disprove these laws by drawing comparisons with legends like IV or Manish shall be condemned.

Some of the other lesser known laws on examination, also by the same man, are:

The Law of Hypersomnia: This law states that however great an insomniac one might be, he/she is bound to feel sleepy during the preparation for an examination.

The 70% rule: The 70% rule states that any average student covers 70% or more of the portion he actually studies, in the final hours before the examination.

I guess the time has come for me to start on my 70% of the portion. So off I go and all the best for your exams. And if you're one of those lucky people like THIS guy, who has no exams.. DAMN YOU! >:P

Quote of the day:

The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.

- Ernest Renan

PS1: Somehow I dont have any such problems with my mock CAT. Scored above 99 percentile in the last 2 mocks which, of course, is ultra cool :D Sid rocked in the last mock! He stood 11th in India and topped in Hyderabad. *awestruck*
PS2: The weather's been soo pleasant of late. I just dont feel like studying. We've been having quite a few philosophical discussions as well. THIS is life :D
PS3: KK's creating mayhem on the ug4 mailing list. As a result, I've refrained myself from sending valuable spam for some days :-< And all because Saaketh had to send mails to ug4! ;))
PS4: I'm feeling sleepy already! (:| Yes, the law of hypersomnia.. :(
PS5: I am unable to upload pics in this post. dammit! x(
PS6: Comfortably numb - voted best guitar solo *yay!* Sweet child o mine and Hotel california also made it to top 10.. :D
PS7: Next post might be on how I sit through boring classes.

When will I start studying SE?

Have my SE exam at 3:00 PM. After the TOC exam in 2-2, this is the only exam, where I am JUST NOT ABLE TO MOTIVATE MYSELF TO START STUDYING.. All I've been doing is changing status messages like crazy. Although I am trying my best not to get into this careless mode, (in fact I thought of watching Godfather-II yesterday night!!) I just can't help it. So, unable to cope with this boredom of studying SE, I am posting a few arbit pics. Enjoy!

Check this out.. Garfield rocks :D


This is how my desktop looks right now.. Doesnt she look gorgeous?? *sigh*



PS1: Being in the placement committee means you get your mailbox spammed. But you do get interesting mails regularly. Recently a mail was sent asking the students to reply keeping the subject intact, if they were interested in applying for an MS internship. So now this guy replies with the subject AS "intact". I dunt know whether it was done out of innocence or sarcasm. But we sure had a laugh riot.. :D

PS2: 5th ODI got abandoned. X( Just waiting for the exams to end, so that I could get back to my "chatting-blogging-movie-reading-chatting-movie-CAT-sleeping" routine. Chatted with a couple of interesting people.. was unavoidable but interesting. All this during exam time!! I guess I am a misfit in this "research" institute of ours. [-(

PS3: I just realized that this course would be our last course as a batch, since it is the last core course. So it is kinda emotional and nostalgic. After this, each one of us will go separate ways. :-<

PS4: Will come up with my next post.. after the SE exam I guess.. We're planning on eating outside tonight. Lets see how things wind up. And a best of luck to all the people for their exams.. :D

PS5: Why does it take soo much time for the blogger to load images. All my PSs can be combined into another post.. :-L And for all those guys, who DO NOT know who the babe in my desktop wallpaper is, she is Scarlett Johansson. Now you can go hang yourselves.. >:P

Yay!! Exams are over....

As always theres some bad news. But for a change we do have some good news as well :D. Exams are finally over!! <:-P So I am free now to concentrate on CAT for 2-4 days, provided I complete my term papers and the Cryptography assignments :( Another good news is that the India-South Africa series is starting from tomorrow.. **hurrah** A very keen fight is on the cards what with South Africa being the second ranked team, after they trounced New-Zealand very recently. On the other hand as we all know, India battered Sri Lanka. So I am looking forward to the match with fingers crossed.

Zor ka jhatka dheere se lage.. Now for some bad news. Screwed up cryptography as well, but have an uncanny feeling that I am not the only one. The paper was quite tough, when compared to the mid-sems and as always yours truly was stumped on seeing the question paper. As far as accounts is concerned, there is a chance that my grade might fall to A-, thus ruining my perfect HSSM record :(( For those who dont know, I have got an A in every sem in HSSMs. Dont be shocked, because HSSM is the only thing I am interested in reading. But this sem, I am very apprehensive. So an in-detail post-mortem report of my exams will be posted soon.

Now for more bad news (This is becoming monotonous) Our FYPs have been advanced from 7th sem to 6th sem. This puts a serious question mark on my preparations for CAT. But to give up is to accept failure and this change in plans has in fact given me much more motivation to strive harder. So before this motivation of mine runs out, I have to make maximum use of it. :D

And finally to round off the post, some good news. Our placements have been advanced to July from Dec. That would mean that I'd be placed before I turn 20, which I think is ultra-cool. :D

Hopefully these tricks that fate is playing with me help me achieve my goals. And for the quote of the day, all i could think of was :

When you want some thing ,all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.

- The Alchemist

FUBAR

FUBAR=="fscked up beyond all repair".. and I have become the ultimate-frustoo.. muhahaha.. like Ed in the gif image. ok that is so unlike me.. But as John Lennon said "Reality leaves a lot to the Imagination".
Coming bak to the magical FUBAR, I believe such states are instrumental in a building a persons character. Probably this cycle of getting into fubar state, pushing yourself to the limits, running that extra mile, with a purpose makes anyone stronger to face the next one.

Its very strange.. this FUBAR.. Today I feel soo fscked up but tomorrow, who knows, I might look back and say, 'Hey.. That was easy compared to how fscked up I am NOW'. :) In Intermediate, there was this law, in the chapter Radiation, which talked about exponential growth.. Now this FUBAR actually is exponentially fscked up growth!!!!

Now why am I "fscked up beyond all repair".. Have screwed up ALL my exams till now. YES.. I AM TALKING ABOUT NETWORKS.. maybe I shud stop ranting about it.. India could not complete a clean sweep against Sri Lanka.. maybe I might. 3 down.. 2 to go.. me down 3-0!! Read this quote somewhere which says

The good thing about bad days is that they dont last forever! But the bad thing about good days is that even they dont last forever!!!

You bet!! It cant get any worse than this. So looking at the bright side, have only Accounts in which I should get an A.. But now-a-days, nothing is going my way.. People have become very unpredictable. Also have cryptography, in which if I perform decently, I might be able to scrap off a B- If I perform exceptionally well.. I know its not possible, but I am an optimist.. ya so if I perform well, I might end up with an A- or a B.

Another pathetic thing, that I discovered about myself, was that I do not know the complete lyrics of even a single Hindi song. Thanks to CC.(for the astounding revelation) :(( I know only 60% of any song that I listen to(applies only to Hindi songs). So will make it a point to notice the lyrics from next time, instead of getting involved too much in the music. Have been listening to Original Prankster by Offspring. kewl song.. if u know what I m talkin bout ;)

So to suit the context of the post, me has posted whatever little lyrics I know of the song DUM in DUM (Hindi).

Ruke Ho Kyun, Jhuke Ho Kyun...(2)
Chal Hardam Mere Hamdam
Saath Chal Har Kadam
Tu Na Dum Aasu Ya Gum
Jeet Jaayenge Hum
Seene Mein Sholay
kar Jo Dil Bole
Jo Teri Jaan Mein Hai Dum
Dum Jaan Mein Dum
Hey Dum Jaan Mein Dum

Dum Kabhi Jo Hare Na Hausle
Seene Mein Seene Mein
Dum Shikhar Pe Jaa Ke Hi Saas Le
Seene Mein Seene Mein
Jeet Ki Jung Hai
Jung Mein Chot Sabh Ne Khaayi
Kha Ke Jakhm Jo Phir Uthe
Aur Jeet Le Ladai
Dum Jaan Mein Dum
Hey Dum Jaan Mein Dum

P.S: About FUBAR, I read it on some blog.. have not become that creative yet.. and all the spelling mistakes made, HAVE BEEN INTENTIONAL. Also rakesh's birtday is within a few hours. So me warming up to kick some a$$.. ;))

To read or not to read: that is the question..

Time : 18:00 hours

Just now we(ug3) received a mail from Vikas saying that last year's Networks question paper comprised of a closed book exam and an open book exam. It seems, the closed book exam had multiple choice questions only. So now I have 2 options. Either I slog like hell, and get less-than-expected marks, because anyways the questions will be tough.. or I dont slog at all, and get decent marks, by putting flukes. The kind of results that I got, after having slogged for the compilers exam, were not very encouraging. It took me one whole day to overcome the compilers debacle. But I just dont wanna give up without trying. Either ways I am doomed.. So what do I do?? My position is worse than Hamlets.. :-< To read or not to read.. that is the question..

Time 20:45 hours

And the quote of the day? You guessed it right..

To be or not to be(Hamlet 3/1)
--------------------
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

                  --William Shakespeare 

Screwed up the Compilers exam royally!!

(In superman ishtyle) Look.. Its Spanish.. No.. Its Hieroglyphics.. No Its Devanagiri Script.. No people.. Its the compilers question paper!! Could barely attempt half of the paper.. One more exam goes down the drain.. I dunno what Satan has got against me. Today, he seemed to devote all his precious time on me, when God was busy helping others deciphering the paper.

It all started when Mr. Anonymous advised me that if I were to put a better effort, it could do wonders to my CGPA. So like a dumba$$, I decided to take the bull by horns. After a long time, did I seriously prepare for an exam. Mission Rescue-compilers-grade was launched. The preparation started around 10:00 and was temporarily stalled when the condition of my nose escalated.(read previous post) So had to suspend the mission for some time. Dozed off for a while.. then woke up, rejuvenated. I was determined to finish the portion. Even went to the extent of going to the canteen to have something so as not to fall asleep.

But Yanni lulled me to sleep at some time around 4, only to be woken up suddenly by loud bangings on my door.. time?? 7:30!! Must have been the Coscopin that I took for the sore throat or maybe the Vicks action 500 for my nose. Had covered almost everything except syntax directed translations, SSA and DAG. At this opportune moment, my intuition deserted me.. Decided to cover DAG and neglected the other two.. that was the greatest mistake I could have committed.

When we were given the question papers, the first page seemed fine to me. Only when I turned the question paper, did I find Satan's involvement.. No points for guessing.. Two 10 mark questions from syntax directed translations and a 10 mark question from SSA!! Added to it, he gave a 10 mark question from code optimization which he never covered in the class. 40 marks vanished into thin air, just like that. No typechecking.. no runtime environment.. I would rate this paper right up there with the Physics-II end-sem paper. Had no clue bout the latter one as well.

Disapponted and discouraged, I messed up the other questions as well. And as usual, I was the first one to give the answer sheet after waiting patiently for half an hour for someone to step forward. Dean came during the exam to clear the doubts. When Monga asked him the full-form of SSA, he threw his hands up in the air, as if India had won the World Cup. Even the invigilators were laughing. People never get fed up of his histrionics. He provided some wholesome entertainment for a minute or so, which was the only bright spot in an otherwise very boring exam. As of now, am expecting anything from C to D. Who says life is fair..

Dee-Dee, Sat (read "The Birthday Boy") and I had planned on eating out, but me has suspended the plans. Have this eerie, queasy feeling, so dont wanna take any risks. The optimist in me has gone into hiding and I can see no ray of hope. Everything seems disillusioned and presently am listening to tunes of Chopin and Illayaraja for some kind of inspiration. Hope it works.

Next pit stop : Networks on Nov. 10th.
And the quote of the day is :

"In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip."

-- Daniel L Reardon

Kabhie running.. Kabhie blocked.. *sniff sniff*

Its all about loving your nose.. No, its not the title of the latest Karan Johar film. Its the state of my nose.. bad joke i know.. my sense of humor has deteriorated beyond doubt. And it has got everything to do with the ensuing exams. I have lost more hair over the past 2 days than I'd have lost in a week. And the creases on my forehead have multiplied. And as far as my nose is concerned, its showing no signs of returning to a state of normalcy. And I, like a Kindergarten student, have been clutching on to this dear kerchief of mine. I have received more than my share of stares.. some out of pity.. some out of curiosity from all kinds of people. k nuff of ranting for a day.. will save some for tomorrow.. :D (especialy with me staring at the most dreaded exam of all time :( )

Coming to the examination front, wrote my first exam today. POPL.. At first I thought I had screwed up the exam very badly. But then the optimist in me took over. On afterthought the exam went quite well, considering the one hour preparation that I put in, courtesy the condition of my nose. As far as the POPL grade is concerned, I wont be surprised if I get a B or B-.. Being an optimistic helps ;). So the mood in my camp now is quite upbeat. But wouldn't dare try out a similar strategy for compilers, unless I really want to get screwed. Covering the entire portion seems to be a daunting task, what with barely 12 hours left for the exam. And to top it all, my nosey is not co-operating.. ** sniff**

Called up home.. talked to swat who has her own set of problems.. she was pretty pissed off at getting -ve marks in Physics AIEEE exam.. =)) guess its in the genes ;).. she scolded me for having performed well in AIEEE.. had a hearty laugh with mom shouting in the bg.. then mom got a bit senti when i told her that i might not be able to make it durin the sem hols.. sigh!!

hope to start preparation once I am done with this post.. am already feeling good :D.. blogging has come as a whiff of fresh air.. **deep breath**. And the quote of the day is..

If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

--Muhammed Ali