Dream.....

Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away.

It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.

Finally an Engineer!

All the slogging, turmoil, admission woes, journal-work, file-covering, copy assignments has officially bore a fruit... I AM A COMPUTER ENGINEER now!!

"B.E.(Bachelor of Engineering), Computers
Sardar Patel College of Engineering"

Woaa.. sounds good eh... lemme me see, where did it all began? Was it the BE final exam,.. FE,.. .er.. the admission process, PCM(Physics, Chemistry, Maths)? No, wait... it goes back even further!! The vocational option!

Yess!! The vocational option that I could choose only because I had +5 marks of passing thr Intermediate drawing exam that added to my 10th std. marks... And gave that drawing exam in 9th std!
Oh-my-gosh!! It maybe a cake-walk for some nerds to go past the Mumbai University(MU)'s B.E. course unsacthed, but for me it began from that drawing exam leading to addition of precious 5 marks, which in turn helped me avoid Biology(eeyucky, sorry folks but I just hate it!) and one language!! Life was easier being in vocational, but it turned arduous in 12th std. , PCM seemed like 3 gaints, getting admission into a good engineering college was a must. (good = one of the best colleges in the city). 290/300 wasn't a big deal considering the fact that there were 540+ students above me. Our's was the last batch to have centralised admissions and God! what a day it was!! Though I secured an open merit seat(open implies general category + not the ones reserved for girls; merit means since you have enough merit pay only 10000 as admission fee instead of 40000,that was the admission for a 'paid' seat) seat in one of the best colleges in the city, it was after a long anxious wait..
All hard work paid off, it seemed when I got admission in Sardar Patel College of Engineering, my second option from the list of colleges, one of the best ones in Mumbai.

But perils of engineering in were little known to me and many freshers like me in F.E.(First Year of Engineering). Scrupulously attend lectures, take down notes, go to the library, issue books of reference and meticulously write assignments on my own! Seemed like the studious one, but all this goes down the drain when its time for submission. When we got a taste of MU exams, it was a horror thing put on only-plunge-down-at-different-speeds rollercoaster!! 18.2% passing percentage!!! We never saw a larger massacre in MU thereafter.. Fortunately, I managed to just clear all the papers with a meagre 51%.. It was a failure, for the 290-pcm shine had turned to dust... But, we just realised that there existed a leveller other than death, the MU!!

Second semester onwards we learnt some 'how-to's...
how-to be officially present on the prof's attendance sheet
how-to have a good image in front of the profs
how-to bother about studies rather than lectures(ironical, but true!)
and last but not the least.. how-to enjoy life in engineering!!(SPACE was a revered festival for us!)

Life moved on, semester after semester, who would do PhD type studying for each subject after realising 60% was enough to be eligible for campus placements, so rest of the time just do the usual chores.
Chores:-
1) copying assignments, programs, practicals, etc..
2) photocopying(popularly known as 'Xeroxing') notes, sometimes assignments too; to go home and copy!
3) print the fliched-or-donated-or-co-operative programs, some guys even photocopied printouts and submitted their files
(pssst.... The most important machine in a computer engineer's B.E. life is the Xerox machine... trust me!!!)

T.E., had the best of times making good friends, taking part in extra-curricular, enjoying engineering life. Mini-projects, fliched projects/programs, politics, chat-rooms and paper-balls during lects, highs and lows, friends and foes.... had a taste of it all...

By the time we were into the last year of this then so-called wretched life(the perils still existed, we just learnt to circumvent a bit!) we had actually become used to it!! A closely-knit group of friends, classmates pulling each other's leg, the unforgettable Goa trip, the hours spent in project lab., ... man!! I sure miss all that!

Today, as our BE results are out... oh, let me make it a bit more official...

Results for B.E. ( Sem. VIII ) (Rev.) Computer held on MAY 2006
The result of seat number 6048 is Passed with First Class
Congratulations

... makes me ponder, I have actually made it!! Cleared, passed B.E. with a first class!! All the pains and slogging comes to an end, a well-deserved result. In fact most of us have got a first class, an award to the patience and agony, that each has gone through some time or the other in past four years.

Kudos to us! Engineers, finally! Best Wishes to all those who have sailed with me in the class of 2006, Computers! Have a great future!!

MY OTHER BLOG....

Let the nicer and sweeter thoughts be at www.bloggybelongstocyberfreak.com

and the black cloud of excruciating anguish, resentment (with a silver lining of Mumbai people's undying philanthropic spirit) be on

www.mumbailifeandpeople.blogspot.com

Holding Mumbai Hostage!!

The statue of SS Head's wife is vandalised, which is condemed by one and all.
But should it amount to Mumbai Bandh or Maharashtra Bandh??

Buses being burnt, rasta roko, stopping the trains!!
Which person's soul would want all that to happen if some miscreant spoil's his/her idol!!?
Sentiments maybe hurt, but people cant go around vandalising Mumbai!!
Shops that shut down voluntarily did that out of fear, not in any anticipation for bandh.
Bandhs have been banned by the court, i guess way back.
Condeming shouldnt be done by closing down the city, holding it at ransom, pelting stones on public property and shops.
Bhandup case, in which policemen were killed is being projected by SS as absence of law and order, but rather its the irk of citizens that spills in some or the other form. And how rightful is a person who claims that 'the government has failed in providing proper law and order. people just do whatever they want"; invoke bandh, burning of buses. Isnt he supposed to shun from violence himself?

And the news keeps pouring in...all afternoon, from different parts of the state. Mumbai just had its share of monsoon woes(instead of enjoying the beautiful rain, people make frantic calls, try reaching home or reaching out to know about their dear ones as soon as they see incessant rains) , calling for a bandh, blocking the western express highway... Mumbai has no relief.

Country's commercial capital pays more than enough taxes, still doesnt have good urban infrastructure. (South Mumbai remains fine, while the 'burbs get flooded in filthy gutter water) To add to it we have these Bandh-planners, which just amounts to mega business loss for that particular day.
Who gives them the right to hold Mumbai hostage?



PS: a point to be noted.. some the protestors were cheerfully smiling on their way, while making all those obstructions whenevr some news channel's camera was on; as if they were out on a sunday morning walk!!! So much for the so-called sentiments that were hurt!!!

PS 2: about a total loss of Rs. 1 crore which doenst cover the business loss of closed shops and markets.
Who pays for this huge loss?
Was this a planned strategy?? just to get focus n limelight on SS??
'No bandh' was declared.. was it because of the 25 lakh fine slapped on SS fro the Aug '03 band?!
Isnt it the party's responsiblility to look after the statues put up by them??
What about the statues of nation's great leaders who have pigeons n doves shitting over them?

PS 3:
A girl in bhandup is hit by the SS miscreants' stone hurrled, jus to disrupt normal routine.
She lies in a hospital , wounded with multiple injuries.
How was she guilty to suffer this if some party-head's wife's statue is being vandalised??!
Who pays for her medical expenses?

Nationalise Riots!!

The problem with communal riots is that they’re too successful and, as a result, the nation’s image gets a beating. Which is why they need to be nationalised because once it’s in the hands of the government even the best and bitterest riots will deteriorate. For example, after nationalisation, basic riot equipment such as armaments would be produced by some public sector undertaking. Imagine the conscientious rioter’s embarrassment when his brickbats don’t arrive on time; or if they do, they crumble in his hands. Also, since these would be put under the purview of essential commodities they would ultimately only be issued to genuine permit holders at the rate of one per family. This, compounded by normal non-availability due to man-made shortages, sloppy planning, lack of foresight and hoarding, would lead to exorbitant black market prices that would automatically put them out of the reach of the common rioter. Even when such armaments are available over the counter — like before elections maybe — other failsafe features of the system would still manage to restrict their sale and usage. After all, how many lay rioters have the nerve, cash, initiative or know-how to bribe a lower division clerk?

Then there’s the problem of registration. Applications by any lunatic fringe to stage a riot would require four sets of unavailable forms to be typed double-spaced in triplicate in Hindi with two references from the opposite community, an income tax certificate countersigned by a gazetted officer stuck in a meeting. The lot would then have to be submitted to some assistant commissioner who would by then have proceeded on leave prior to being superseded. By the time an honest rioter got around to completing administrative formalities, the carefully nurtured hatred inside him would long have turned into curds of apathy. Finally, let’s not forget unionised go-slow tactics since this can be disastrous during a pitched riot. It leads to the unheard of situation where one community hits back slower than the other, taking interminably long pouring petrol on indifferently overturned buses, lethargically demolishing places of worship, or simply quitting halfway through and going home hours before the army moves in to impose curfew. It can leave the other community looking pretty silly. Yup, communal riots have to be nationalised at once.