LORD OF THE MINDS

So, we have finally completed a year in our job and also in Bangalore. From young graduates right out of college to software professionals, its been an amazing transformation. A transformation which includes an experience like never before.
I still remember the day I was coming to Bangalore. Right after my final semester exams and after just a week's break, I had set out on the flight from Kolkata to Bangalore. It was my first experience of a flight and was full of emotions. My mom had tears in her eyes as she bade me goodbye at the airport and my grandmom could hardly speak. I was about to set foot out of my safe zone and face the world to make my mark, to become a man.
So when the flight touched down at Bangalore's HAL Airport, the first thing that caught my notice was the weather. It was cold; really cold. From the hot and humid high 30 degrees in Kolkata to a low cold 20 degrees in Bangalore on June 30th, the weather change was dramatic. This actually lasted the entire time from July - September and we got used to wearing jackets which we could never imagine in Jamshedpur or Kolkata during this time.
Apart from the weather, what also I noticed was the language and the culture change. But Bangalore is a very open-minded city and you can easily manage here without knowing the local language, a very unlike Chennai. But yes, the culture change was evident everywhere. From a very laid-back approach in Kolkata, you are into a highly professional culture of Bangalore. Every morning when you board the bus to office, you can see a huge crowd of people wearing tags and waiting for their buses to take them to their workplace.

Now talking about workplace, the experience at MindTree has been phenomenal. First 3 months of C2 training - the Orchard experience, House activities, PALs, inter-house competitions, Ethnic Day to sessions, lectures, assessments and finally allotment into projects; it ensured our transformation from college to corporate was smooth and actually enjoyable.

It was also during the C2 training that we had our OBL trip to Savandurga. 120 Campus Minds on a one-day trip. Savandurga is famous as the largest single rock structure in Asia. From garbage collection drive to walking on ropes, from getting thrown off a rock in Trust the team to playing dodge ball in the mud; it was amazing fun. But the enjoyment in Bangalore didn't remain confined to team outings only.
In August, Payal Di had come down to Bangalore from Cambridge for Rakhi. And the 3 days she was here, we had awesome fun. I had my first experience of late night movies at a multiplex when we watched 'Heyy Babyy' 10:30 pm show on the day of Rakhi.

Now it took me 2 months since coming to Bangalore to make my first trip out of Bangalore. On 15th Sep morning, I boarded the Volvo bus to Mysore for which was to become the weekend trip I would never forget. From visiting the Infy campus (which was simply breath-taking) to Brindavan Gardens, I had an awesome time with my friends. We managed to offer puja at Chamundeshwari Temple, lunch at Rice Bowl and even make a trip to City Palace in the rain. A whirlwind weekend and a truly cherishable experience; an experience which I was to revisit two weekends later with my MindTree mates.

Then came the Pujas and my first trip back home. It was so uncertain that we had to go by train from Chennai. The trip by bus to Chennai was pathetic and the weather was worse. But our eagerness to reach home made me forget all those hardships faced. Pujas were great and I had a beautiful time home. It also made me realize how important it was to spend time with your family and relatives.

We came back refreshed after the trip and ready to face the next months which went off in a fly. The Avis Redesign project, the host of sessions & lectures we attended as part of the ramp up sessions and whole new team feeling. It was amazing. What really went in my favour was that I had about 15 Campus Minds from my batch joining along with me. I had a group at the very start.
The project time has been a total learning experience. Apart from learning a whole set of new technologies, I also learnt how to actually work in a team. How to coordinate, cooperate and share knowledge so as to benefit everyone. And being part of a huge group had other benefits too. Frequent outings, team outings and even over-night trip to Value Lanes in January. It has been a rocking time being part of ABG and Avis Redesign.
Bangalore also got me in touch with another thing I truly liked - Blogging. And it was being part of Blogger's Community that took me to these camps being held in Bangalore - DevCamp and BarCamp. A truly enriching experience, I got to know a whole new side of the city. I met up with a lot of people who shared similar interests and really enjoyed the concept of knowledge sharing and open-source community.

In between all this I managed my second trip back home. This time, it was for my convocation. On 16th february, when I received my Bachelor of Engineering degree, I finally graduated from college. I was an Engineer. That day was truly enjoyable. Lunch at Rich (I realized how much I missed it; especially Chamki's food) and then party in the evening at Park Street with friends. Then I went for a trip to North Bengal with my parents. A week at home and I was back to Bangalore.

It was only in March that we managed to form our Loyola group in Bangalore. It took some special effort from some of us but we were back together. Then a host of parties at various hangouts in Bangalore. Suddenly, life was no more only work. It was enjoyable. From watching IPL matches at Mojos to listening live music at Java City, from bearing Sayantan's jokes to celebrating birthday at Barbeque Nation; its been masti all the time.
Now a year has passed and I have supposedly grown one year wiser. Can't confirm that but have certainly confirm is that I have definitely become a lot more independent and a lot more informed. Hopefully it will stand me in good stead for a lot more years in the future.

It all started when Sajan, ABG's Delivery Manager, told us that Avis Budget Group, on the occasion of completing of 8 years of the account, had asked us to have a celebration. There were many suggestions pouring in on how to spend the funds allocated. They ranged from social service initiative to trekking in Kerela etc. But finally, the one which was chosen was the entire team going to watch an IPL match. The match chosen was Bangalore Royal Challengers vs. Delhi Daredevils on 19th May.
There were a lot of preparations done before the day ranging from getting the exact number of people visiting to the transportation. Routes were earmarked. Vehicles were assigned and route coordinators chosen who would take care of the team members going from their route.
Finally the day came. We got our tickets in the morning. We learnt that we had got corporate passes. So we would be sitting in the corporate stand. Finally we left our office at about 5:45 pm. Heavy traffic in Bangalore (as usual) meant we reached at about 7:10 pm. In the meantime, it had began to rain and drench our expectations. Weather in Bangalore is unpredictable and so we all started praying that by the time the match started, the skies would clear up. I think the weather gods heard our prayers because the rain stopped just when we reached the stadium.
As we took our seats in the stands, one couldn't help but praise the ground. Amazing! The ground was right in front of us as we were in the lower row. And the entire view was simply breathtaking. Shaan had just finished his performance (which meant we had missed a great show) and got the crowd buzzing. As the captains of the 2 teams (Dravid of RCB and Sehwag of DD) came out into the ground along with the cheerleaders, the crowd started shouting. We were divided over where to keep our focus on. Sehwag then won the toss and chose to field first.

So RCB were to bat first. We got our drinks (which were complimentary) and waited in anticipation. Unlike the earlier tournaments, when one had to wait for the teams to come out for the entertainment to start, the IPL didn't keep anyone waiting. The cheerleaders had started their job. One song after the other, and one move after the other, they managed to make the crowd dance very well to their tunes. The ground had 3 symmetrically placed stands for the cheerleaders and fortunately, one of them was just on front of us.

Now having a group of about 100 members, with minimum 20 of your peer age has its benefits. You can have amazing fun without worrying if anyone would feel bad about it. We had lots of placards put up. From 'Mallaya Adopt Us!' to 'Cheer gals V Luv U!', we had various kinds of placards. People put up their cell numbers asking the cheerleaders to call them. I have no idea how much of their effort suceeded. But one thing was sure, the amount of shouting we did managed to attract the attention of the dancers and they actually waved back. Awesome fun!
Meanwhile, the match was in progress. Bangalore were struggling (as usual) but their debut batsman - Srivatsa Goswami wasn't. He was hitting fours and sixes all over and managed to take the game to the Delhi bowlers who were on fire. McGrath was bowling with an impeccable line and Maharoof was chipping in with some good bowling. On the other hand, Goswami was losing partners as most RCB batsmen were losing wickets. But Misbah managed to hit some sixes towards the end to bring up the Royal Challengers to some respectable total.

The break meant some more show by the cheerleaders. And when the second innings started, Bangalore was bowling. So they were dancing at the fall of the wickets and in between overs. There were a lot of people clicking their camera phones. Nobody wanted to miss the fun. But the nature of the crowd, coupled with the moves of the dancers made it very difficult to get blur-free images. Anyways, I managed to get some decent clicks of one of their moves.

Moving on to the game, for Delhi, Sehwag and Gambhir, the highest scorers in the competition, came out to bat. And as predicted, they started hitting the Bangalore bowlers. After Sehwag scored a typical quick fire 47, Praveen Kumar got him caught by Chipli. Then De Villers came in and steadied the innings with a patient 21. Meanwhile, our ABG team was going crazy. As most of them were Delhi supporters (which was actually not surprising), they were cheering each hit by Delhi. Finally, with some hitting by Dhawan and Maharoof, Delhi managed to end the match. In fact, Dhawan ended the match with a six. Bangalore team had lost another match but our ABG team had not. It was a thoroughly delightful experience for all of us. Hopefully, we will have more such fun with this team in the future.

Bangalore as a city is severely plagued by traffic issues. And it has numerous reasons to be in that situation. The steady influx of people from all over the country, to either work in the IT city or study at the numerous institutions here has translated to good business for contractors, but has eaten up the lungs of the city - the roads. You go to Hosur Road on any of the weekdays and you will find that from the Silk Board Junction to Electronic City, vehicles are lined up bumper-to-bumper. Just traveling during office hours has become a nightmare for most, leave alone driving. No wonder you hear of so many incidents everyday of someone getting crushed by a speeding bike or hit by a car. Its actually very easy to lose your cool at times. Also, the deteriorating condition of the roads has meant that the load of the traffic is not shared well amongst the existing roads; thereby worsening the situation. Instead of coming up with new roads and flyovers all the time, if they could improve the inner roads; these roads could serve to bypass some of the major thoroughfares, thus distributing the load and speeding up the process.
What is utmost important at thus time is the need for an alternate system. The transport ministry is putting the Metro service into place and I think that would be a huge boost. If the service can be maintained well and connect most of the important locations in the city, if not all; then it would serve two purposes. Firstly, it would no doubt help the worsening traffic problems as the bulk would be routed to the Metro. Secondly, it would help reduce the burden on vehicles which would mean that people would be less encouraged to own personal vehicles. Thus, ultimately we will also be able to reduce the levels of pollution.
Another thing that can be done is to discourage people to buy personal vehicles. Either increase the costs of buying a new vehicle like taxes etc. Already the fuel hike pinches the public. A further increase in base costs of owning a vehicle would definitely help( I don't know how much that would be feasible, though!). Further, incentives could be provided to people to use public transport. Like reduction of prices of public transport vehicle tickets. Also increasing the frequency of the vehicles or providing better facilities like they have in the Volvo buses (which are an experience by themselves). These measures would not go unnoticed.
But I believe that the need of the hour is to educate the drivers and discipline them. A lot of the problems arise because of rash driving. People change lanes, zig zag on the road, its like crazy. All that needs to be stopped. A good way is to severely punish them and the punishment should not be in monetary terms because that does not help. Either you take the driving license away or ban the driver for a few months. Once the laws become stringent then people will take up notice and start adhering to them.
I don't know how much of all this would be actually applied. But even if 10% of it is, traveling in Bangalore would be that much better.


Tags: blogathonindia , blogathonindia1

As the official website of Kolkata Knight Riders had put it 'Royal win for Kolkata Knight Riders', it was truly a win in ROYAL style. Right from the first ball bowled by Praveen Kumar to Ganguly till the end when Shukla got the ageing Sunil Joshi caught by McCullum; it was Kolkata Knight Riders all the way. The Bangalore Royal Challengers could never put up a good challenge and thus got crushed by a mighty margin of 140 runs in the opening match of the Indian Premier League held at their own backyard - The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
But lets rewind ourselves to the start of the match. After the dazzling fireworks and the sizzling show put up by the performers, everyone was expecting a similar display from the players. And boy, did they get one! But it came from one of the most unlikely fellows in the team - New Zealand wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum. He hit an unbeaten 158 of just 73 balls, which included 10 fours and 13 sixes. Not only was it the highest score in the match (for which he rightfully got the Man-of-the-Match award), it was also the highest score by any individual in a Twenty20 match. Such was the impact of blitzkrieg that Dravid and his men were down and out when returning to the team dug-out after the Knight Riders' innings. The next highest score was that of Ponting who made 20 followed by extras which amounted to 17. Sourav hit 2 fours. Ponting hit a boundary and cleared the ropes once during his stay. Hussey played a bit too. But no one could take the glory away from McCullum. His innings was a show of clean hitting, improvisation and some clever positioning. That he was able to survive the entire 20 overs tells the story. The Bangalore Royal Challengers' bowlers had no clue as to what to bowl to him. Even Dravid admitted during the presentation ceremony that he tried various strategies to get him out; rotating his bowlers, trying new tactics; but to no avail. One of the shots that I truly liked was the attempted sweep which went for a six. Whew! How can one hit such a cheeky shot to the ropes, I just can't fathom! Quite deservingly, the Kolkata Knight Riders ended their innings at 222/3, thus setting the Bangalore Royal Challengers a target of 223 to be scored in 20 overs at an asking rate of over 11 per over.
Now what would you expect the captain of a team coming out to chase a score of 223 in 20 overs to do? You would want to see clean hitters opening the innings so as to get the boost. But what do you see? Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid coming out to open the innings. I presume they took it as a Test Match where their Objective was to survive the 20 overs. The home crowd expected fireworks from their Royal Challengers team. But sadly there were none to come. In contrast, Kolkata Knight Riders chose to open the bowling with a rookie - Ashoke Dinda. He was quick, pumped up and accurate. From the first over itself, he showed no nerves (None of the bowlers needed to; the target was too big and the pressure was totally on the batsmen) and bowled to the field. His first over on the big stage was good but there was better to come. The prized bowler of the Kolkata Knight Riders - Ishant Sharma was next. And his entry was a bang. The first ball he bowled ripped apart the leg-stump of Rahul Dravid as he attempted to hit through the line. The WALL had been breached. Next came the captain of the Indian U-19 team - Kohli. Ishant Sharma was bowling in-swingers to which he had no reply. He was bowled by Dinda in the very next over. Kallis came in next and tried to steady the boat. he hit a six too. But the rout had started. He was caught off the bowling of Agarkar (who as usual got hit for a few runs but as usual took some wickets, which were all that mattered). And then Jaffer was caught by Ponting. The others just came in and tried their hands at swinging the willow. The Knight Riders were enjoying their time so much that Ponting could even afford to miss a catch ( so rare I don't remember any instance of this happening before). In the end it became a no-show with the Bangalore Royal Challengers getting bundled for a mere 82 runs, thus providing the Kolkata Knight Riders with a victory of 140 runs.
My roommates were joking that the Knight Riders don't have to bat in their next match. The opponent team should first chase down the remaining 140 runs, then they would come out to topple the score. In the presentation ceremony, Dravid was looking dejected as usual as he admired the innings of McCullum and Ganguly was understandably elated. The tournament had started well and I hope that the 40 day Festival of cricket really lives up to its massive billing.

The summer edition of this year's Barcamp Bangalore is going to take place at IIM-Bangalore on 19th and 20th of April,2008. Since it will be my first visit to a Barcamp, I am really excited. In february this year I had gone to the first edition of DevCamp which took place at Thoughtworks, Bangalore and really liked it. The unconference format was not new to me since we had the same at Osmosis - The MindTree TechFest, but the sessions were really enriching.
DevCamp was more of a tech, geek conference and it was suitable to hold it in Bangalore. But BarCamp is a universal concept with much more participation and a greater appeal. So I am going this weekend. Hope to see a lot of you there.

Finally! Finally after three lost chances in 1986, 1992 and 2004 when they didn't even win a single match in the best-of-three finals Down Under, India has managed to upstage the Aussies. It finally ended one of the most turbulent tours for India, a tour which was at a point in danger of ending prematurely. The racism row involving Bhajji and Symonds; the on-field bickering; all seem to have been forgotten in this wonderful victory of India. The impact, importance and extent of the victory for India could be easily seen from the wild celebrations at the Gabba that were triggered by the fall of the wicket of James Hopes. The wicket of Hopes finally ending any hopes of Australia of snatching the match from India and keeping the series lively.

But unlike previous times, this victory was not fashioned solely by the so-called seniors in the team. In fact the lion share of the victory goes to the 'Young Brigade' of India. It was Praveen Kumar who started the Aussie downfall with the highly prized wickets of Gilchrist(1st over) and Ponting(3rd over). And then later when the Hayden-Symonds partnership was beginning to threaten India, a single over of Bhajji turned around the match in favour of India. Hayden was run-out and Symonds was out lbw. It turned out to be the most important over of the match.

Before that it was Tendulkar who played the anchor role again to steer India to a competitive score. He was unlucky not to score a second succesive century missing it by a mere 9 runs. Uthappa, Yuvi and Dhoni chipped in with important and quickfire contributions. India missed a golden chance to score big in the final overs when they lost their way somewhat in the overs 40-45.

But then, All's well that end's well. India have won the series 2-0, and that's what matters. Coupled with the colts victory of the U-19 WC at Malaysia, and it already looks like the next generation of Indian cricketers has arrived and they have that hunger for victory which we so badly missed earlier.

The entire nation is celebrating this superb time for Indian cricket, and so am I. When Dhoni's boys had won the T-20 WC I had jumped on the floor and danced on the streets with my roommates and others in the locality. That's because there is nothing more binding for the people of India than cricket. Now when the boys look to have turned to be men, showing the character and will-power to upstage the Aussies at their own den, I bet that each and every Indian has a smile on his face.

Finally I would like to sign off with statement. When Ponting had said before the start of the Best-of-three finals in the Commonwealth Bank series that the third final would not be required, I bet he wasn't expecting this result. Cheers!

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Its been about 2 weeks now that we have started cooking food at our rented flat in Bangalore. By we, I mean my roommates and I. And this was after a lot of scepticism like whether we should be investing like this or not. We wanted a cook at first but eventually settled on cooking food ourselves.
The day (or rather night) when we started was rather eventful. It was a saturday and having been bitten by the MindTree bug of hard work, all three of us - Dipankar, Anirban and I had gone to office to work. After laboriously working till evening, Dipankar and I boarded the 6 o'clock shuttle from West Campus to Banshankari office. There Anirban joined us. We decided that it was tonight or never. So all three got into an auto to Jayanagar to buy the items to setup the kitchen.
At jayanagar, we realized that we had no concrete plan. We didn't know what all to buy and what not to. After a long debate, we freezed upon our essential requirements which needed to be addressed first. We chose a shop nearer to our flat not for the costs. But because 'agar koi problem hua to stove uthakar laa to sakenge wahan'! So by the time we bought all our utensils and headed home, it was about 9 pm. Now what we required was the food items. Dipanakar, being the most experienced chef amongst us (actually thats bcos the others know nothing about cooking, so its the case of 'andhon me kaana raja'), declared - 'What do you guys wanna eat tonight?' And then it started!
For 5 minutes, everyone started pouring in their requests. No one knew who would cook all that or whether anyone knew how to cook those dishes. What came out was the uproar after 5 months of eating those dosas(especially rava dosa), bhaths, roti curries and occasional fried rice at nearby Sree Upahar/Shanti Sagar! Finally we decided upon a dish of egg, dal and rice. So again we headed for the market, this time to the Reliance fresh shop. By the time we were back home with the grocery, it was about 10pm.
Then started our maiden venture of cooking. Dipankar cooked the egg dish (that was the only day the eggs boiled correctly, we have been struggling to get that same performance since). Anirban called up home to get the recipe for masoor dal. I helped him out in that. And finally the rice. It was at this time that I realized that the turmeric(haldi) packet wasn't opened. It should have been since we had used haldi in the dal, isn't it? Then came that deadly realization. I had mixed garam masala with haldi. So instead of haldi, I had added garam masala to the dal. Oh my god! Nothing to do now. All of us were laughing. The dal tasted fine, just a bit too chilly. Thus ended our first experience at cooking which incidently got over at 12:30am. So by the time we finished our dinner, it was 1am. A late but satisfying dinner.
The next week we prepared a number dishes ranging from matar paneer to simple paneer with gravy, from mixed veg dish to egg curry. It was fun at times and tough at times. Especially the idea of cooking at home after coming back from office so tired was tough. But we have managed to weather the waters till now. Its the team effort which has brought success.
The weekends are the days when we plan to have our favourite dishes. Like this weekend we decided to cook fish at home. So on sunday morning , Dipankar and I made a trip to the meat mart of 'Monday to Sunday'. We settled on Catla fish because it was the easiest to cook and the first try should be witht he easiest one (Also it was the least costly of all). I called up mom (as usual) for instructions. Now armed with her advice, we first marinated the fish with salt and turmeric(haldi). Then came the tough task of frying the fish. And boy was it hard! Dipankar really had a tough time. But eventually it came off well and we got the first taste of home made fish at Bangalore. The fish gravy dish was simply superb.
When I was discussing about this experience to my ex-Rich mates, they couldn't believe it. They were saying that a guy who never once went near the kitchen to cook, how come he cooks food at home everyday. But you know, thats life. It teaches you everything! So after a satisfying weekend, its back to work. I hope you all too have this type of a success in your life sometime or other.

I think this is enough for now. I shall continue sometime later, if possible.
Meanwhile, I need to get back to my work. These new technologies in my project are already killing me a lot. My tech lead said that these were meant to simplify the task of a Developer but using them has been such a headache I don't know when they will actually simplify my task and if possible, my life.

Its been 2 days and about 9 hours but I still haven't been able to get this damn application to work on my system. Every time I compile and execute it it gives me this same *ing 404 error.
Actually the Technological Lead (TL) of our project gave us the introduction to the technological stack yesterday in our first technical ramp up meeting. So we 8 freshers in the team got to hear some cool but till now unknown terms like Struts 2, Spring, iLog etc. Now all these sound very hi-fi but unfortunately, we got to learn them all. So the TL gave us a simple task. To create a sort of a form using Struts 2 framework. And we are to know the framework and all about it too.
So from last evening we set about "Learning Struts 2". First, we checked out our most faithful pal in this area - Google. Got some links and started reading. Its then that we got the first shock. Most of the stuff was obviously going tangential. I stayed up till 8:15 in the night but to no avail. So I took some pdfs and printouts to read at home.
But as u all know, when at home who wants to study. As usual, I spent the time sleeping. No studies. So from today morning, we team members have been racking our brains to get something working but success has lured us till now. The TL had said that he would make us wait till 9 in the night but would make sure that each one of us executed that bit of code on his/her own machines. Lets hope we manage to do that before the timeline set.
Hey, I think I have wasted a lot of time writing this post and I better get done to cracking some code or else I may have to stay up for the night. :-)

क्या तुम्हें याद है,
बारिश की वोह रात ,
जब हम चल पड़े थे
हाथों में लेकर हाथ ?

वोह बारिश में टपकती
बूंदों की आवाज़,
वोह आकाश में गरजते
बादलों का साज़!

हम दोनों कुछ खोये से
कुछ घबराए से थे,
और राह ना देख पाने के कारण
असमंजस में थे !

क्या करे क्या ना करें
यह सोचने लगे,
और धीरे धीरे एक दूसरे
के करीब आने लगे!

फ़िर कहीं से एक आवाज़ आई
जिसमें तेरा नाम था,
पलट के देखा तो
खड़ा तेरा बाप था!

अब आगे लिखते हुए
मेरी आंखों में आंसू आ जाते हैं,
अस्पताल में बिताये हुए
वोह पल याद आ जाते हैं !!

Ek duniya ko chodd aaya hoon,
Ek nayi duniya basaane.
Yaadon ko samet laya hoon,
Kuch nayi yaadein banane.

Woh college ke din,
Woh hostel ki raatein.
Yaad aati hain yaaron se saath,
Woh idhar udhar ki baatein.

Ab ek naye shahar mein,
Naye sapne sajaane aaya hoon.
MindTree ki waadion mein,
Naye dost banane aaya hoon.

Its now been a week since I have joined MindTree and I must say it has been a wonderful experience. I had never expected this much amount of fun, participation and enjoyment from the 1st day itself.
The 1st day, 2nd july, we had an orientation programme at St. John's Auditorium. There were sessions by Subroto Bagchi and Ashok Soota. What was most fascinating was the FAQ session taken up by Subroto Bagchi where he took up the questions presented by everyone with great confidence. The answers were simply stupendous. A really enjoyable session.
In the afternoon session taken up by Ashok Soota on values and vision, we got to know our goals and key improvement areas. A real eye opener. The cultural programme following that was beautiful. We witnessed a group song and also a dance performance by senior MINDs. Totally enjoyable.
The sesond day was not so enjoyable but nonetheless very important. We had to create our profiles, ICICI Bank accounts, ID Cards, Hutch Corporate connections and other forms. I finally got my employee id card and I must say, I feel proud to wear it everywhere.
On fri, 6th July we had to wear our MindTree T-shirts to office. We had a group photo session to look forward to. But before that we had a really enjoyable session. In the afternoon, we had something called 'House Assimilation'. Here we had to introduce ourselves to the housemates but in an innovative manner. Our section 1 of House of Joy were divided into groups of 10 each. Each group was told to choose a theme. Then each member of the group had to choose a character related to the theme. Now when they came up to the stage they had to first introduce the theme, why they chose it and then descirbe why they chose the character they mentioned. The themes ranged from colours to jungle to cartoon characters. People chose characters like Goofy and described themselves like it - Someone who goofs up all the time. Also someone chose Leaning Tower of Pisa, saying that they want to be like it - leaning but not falling off in spite of pressures.
The next section were told to write some task for one other group. But when their papers were taken, they had to do what they had written for other groups. This was really hilarious. One group had to exchange shoes amongst themselves and then do a catwalk. The group had 3 girls and 2 boys and the boys had a tough time not only fitting into the girls high-heeled shoes but actually do the catwalk. Awesome fun. Another group had to enact a scene from Sholay etc.
The third section was divided into two groups and had to play a kind of virtual volleyball. 1 member of a group calls the name of one other member of the other group and moves out. If at any time the person called does not exist or has moved out or one fails to call a name, his/her team lost a point and also had to come up on stage to introduce. This was total enjoyment because towards the end when one ran out of names people really goofed up. So you see it was full timepass and masti. Finally we had the photo session of the entire batch outside the food court.
In this way our first week got over at MindTree. The pressure of the training had not set in yet but the schedule given told us that we were in for a tough time. But sincerely, I believe that even after the rigours of this Learning programme (MindTree prefers to call it Learning Programme instead of Training cos we LEARN at MindTree, we are not trained), we will surely get our share of enjoyment. Here's looking forward to some awesome times ahead.

Its the month of June and my life at BESUS is coming to an end. A roller coaster ride really but nonetheless a lot satisfying. Its this mood of joy, sorrow, belonging etc that is set upon all of us of the 2007 batch.
The past few weeks have been mostly spent on planning out all the farewell parties, joining dates, shifting etc rather than on the final exams. Anyways, who cares about the exams now. We all know that we shall all pass (Just kidding! Kuch to likhna hi padega baap, warna marks kahan se aayenge).
One such farewell was the Department Farewell organized by the 2nd years for us. It was awesome. Instead of the typical ragging wherein all that was asked was who flirted with whom or who had a fling etc, we had songs, ball dances, dances with accidents etc. Good fun. Also we had some innovative ideas like a video on final year students, video messages by the final years, Ulti Jalzeera TV News and Quiz on BESUS. Hats off to the 2nd years for organizing such a wonderful farewell. We shall all remember it for the rest of our lives.



The plans for the other farewells are on. Rich Farewell shall take place after the final exam. So lots of fun to be had before I catch the 30th June flight to Bangalore which would signal the end of life as a student and the start of a new phase.
It sounds incredible that the four years have come to an end so fast. I can still feel the tension of my 1st day way back on 4th August, 2003 when I came here with my dad. The threat of the famous Shibpur ragging looming large upon me. Life goes fast and so have the 4 years out here. There have been so many wonderful moments in BESUS. 1st year welcome, REBECA (all 4 years), Life at Richardson, Campus placements etc. There is so much to take from all this.
Oh-my-god! Its getting way too emotional. Lets leave that crap out for the fairer sex. Suits them more. As for me, I just wanna enjoy this last month of unemployment. Here's to the next step of our lives!

The past week has been a maddening experience for all of us here. We had our postponed semester exams then. And the authority decided to rub it in. 4 examinations in 4 days. This kind of torture was not even in the first year. And even then, I had started preparing well before. But this was just a one night effort.
Last saturday, when I started to study VLSI Design it appeared as Latin and Hebrew. And the greatest problem was that although I had attended some classes, I had heard and understood nothing. How could I? The classes were at 8 in the morning. As it is it is tough to get up for that class. And even if I could, I used to sleep in the class. I had even yawned in front of the teacher. No wonder I see a sure supplementary in that paper staring in front of me.
Of the other papers, the most satisfying was Broadband communication. I achieved maximum efficiency in that paper. I had Cellular technology well and had 4 questions from it. What luck!
Now that its over, there is a lot to look forward to. I have a workshop of Mindtree (where I have got selected) next week. And since I am the representative from my university, I got lots of work to do. Hope to have a good time then.
Also the annual fest of my university, REBECA comes up within 4 weeks. And since its our final year, we are going to enjoy to the hilt.
I think thats enough for today. I got to rush. I've to take take part in the next match on the LAN which I hope to win this time. Have been having such bad luck that the worst player in Rich defeated me 7-4 in the last match. I think its just not my day today.
Anyways guys, do come back to read my blog. And even if you don't, who cares. Ha ha!

Today I watched a movie which I have been awaiting for the past few months. Its named 300. Based on a novel by Frank Miller, it concerns the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. There the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians. The battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy.
The trailer was very impressive and the movie actually lived up to the hype created. The visuals were breath-taking and the dialogues apt. The use of light and colours was very impressive. So much so that to the layman it is a greater attraction than the story.
There were quite a number of memorable scenes like the scene when King Leonidas kicks the messenger saying "We are Spartans!" or the fight scenes or when he says "Tonight we die in hell". The creaters have really worked hard and that shows. A movie fully worth the investment made.

Its been about a month since I have updated my blog. And I seriously feel you folks have been missing me (just kidding, I know you haven't. Who cares!). Well a lot has happened since I lasted posted. The year has changed!! (Poor joke, I know) But still, its been quite a time.
We friends have had a lot of parties, mostly for the various placements of the group. And without doubt, they have been a lot of fun.
On 19th, we friends went for a trip to some of the suburbs of Kolkata. The places we visited were Chandannagore, Bandel and Chunchurah. We had a great time together and the photos have come out fine quite accurately describing the joy experienced there.
For the past few days, classes in the department have been low and its only IMS that has kept me busy on the academic front. Most of the time has gone to watching movies, downloading them and perhaps.. sleeping.
I don't think anyone has any more patience to read any further. So I better call it a day here. See ya around.

Finally.... After 2 months of constant mental pressure and sweating it out at Rich (Not literally, cos its quite cold for sweating), I have got back to my 'Home Sweet Home' for a much needed break.
The last week has been really harrowing. Life sucked big time cos we had to stay up in Rich to work on our project and its presentation when all the other department students went back after the sems. The mess was closed. So had to eat out. And that is plain AWFUL(Thats cos there's no comparison between the food at Rich and the food at Shyam Da)!
The presentations went off pretty well. The first day was for the project presentation. For that we had worked our socks off! We went to sleep at 4:30 am one night after finishing the work. And since I was the one o start, it was a bit chilling! But it went off well. The next day was cazz.
Now back home in Jamshedpur, I plan to chill out with my old mates. Am looking forward to a fun filled week. Hope you all have a rocking new year! Bbye!