The Games Begin

The placement games have begun...the campus is buzzing with true info and rumours causing anxiety and excitement. To all those ready and confident it comes as good as the announcemnt of a holiday, but for people like me who are still in slumber, even a slight mention of that makes us twitch and our stomachs start churning.The feeling of guilt, a guilt that never should have been there, had I sincerely done my studies in the previous academic seasons.

The EEE,ECE,IT and CSE dept. guys were ready for their Hewlett Packard interview on that fateful day! And as usual Mechies were asleep waking up only when their fellow mates from these depts had woken them up at the last minute jus to borrow pencils,belts,etc.(Thats what Mechies usually have with them!)We gave them the customary All The Best sign..and were back to gully cricket, song and movie watching or sleeping...

Out of 400 of these people, 30 had been shortlisted for the technical interview, a small number indeed(going by HP's expectations....)Then they filtered them through the technical and HR rounds of interview and finally selected 11 students from our college...first time in my coll's history!

It was 2 or 3 every year preceding this, but there were 11...a good number by our opinions, but small by HP's expectations!

What does that mean for me and my mechie friends?

We smell a company round the corner!...but no, we can't tell u the time of its arrival...Keeping our fingers crossed?Meanwhile why dont we START studying?

Hmmm! Will think abt it!....

A change in attitude's what I need now!

I Turn Twenty

Twenty times around the Sun...that describes my life's journey PHYSICally (literally too!)...Twenty's the buzz word (atleast for my ears!)...the end of teenage (and of ODI's and Tests for the T20 frenzy !)

29th June, 2009 11:05pm..I turned Twenty!

Statutory Warning : Don't read this if you are allergic to philosophical writing or thoghts :) !

I realised that I had been one of those organisms on this planet that had managed to survive 20 years ... which means I'm one of the fittest. Don't forget Darwin's Survival of the Fittest! "A life as unique as any that has lived and is being lived on this planet of ours" - one sentence to describe my life! The moment signified the completion of one-third of my life going by current statistical life expectancy rates or one-fourth taking into account the developments in the medical sciences...

With the end of teenage comes a word called 'Responsibility'...for the self, family, society, nation and the world...Gone are those days...of teenage fun and mischief...But definitely its not the cul-de-sac...I'll still be considered young by the society atleast for 10 more years (or 20 (again?!!)) as life expectancy rates increase!)...coz 'Young' is the word that fires anyone up! :)

The Birthday Bums - And its the end of B'Day bums if I don't get into a PG course...the last of those hits and slaps on the back that are gifted for fun!

Twenty20 begins...n much will have happened before Thirty30 starts!

Thanking all those friends, relatives and well-wishers (now Which category does Mr.God fit into?) for their Birthday Wishes and All that they've done for me to survive these 20 years!

The VJ

M...um...Bye Indians and Kolkata's Nightmare Raiders

No I am not mocking them...it is me, a loyal fan of Mumbai Indians and the Prince of Calcutta, who is being mocked by everyone around me for supporting them.Yes, being mocked by friends, classmates and even my college juniors(the worst part, isn't it?)!

And the title of this post is not theirs, but mine ... after watching them perish in the Indian Premier League.(M..Um... - for the silence that we fans had to go through after watching them 'lose in ishtyle', Bye - for getting out IPL, Nightmare - for their performance that has being giving SRK, the team and Kolkata their nightmares, and Raiders - for their opposition in all but one match!) So here is the post centred on the laments of a diehard Mumbai Indians fan and a supporter of the Bengal Tiger/Dada.

Mumbai was a team that I thought no other team would stand a chance against. Though their performance wasn't as abysmal as KKR, their batting didn't click at all except in the first match against Chennai. The batting relied heavily on Jean Paul Duminy with Tendulkar and Bravo playing a few good innings and Nayar chipping in here and there. The veteran Sanath wasn't his usual self.The bowling was exceptional - spearheaded by the skilled Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga(known for his yorkers) with Bhajji, Duminy, Kulkarni and Bravo ... even in the absence of Zaheer Khan. The fielding was quite good - it obviously can't get bad when you have someone of the calibre of Jonty Rhodes coaching you.

The wicket-keeping department of MI wasn't impressive even though MI had the choice of three keepers - Luke Ronchi, Yogesh Takawale and Pinal Shah. The keepers' batting didn't show up in any of the games.

They lost all their games in close encounters which shows that that the team needs good finishers during chasing and needs to keep its nerve while defending. To sum up Mumbai Indians were 'so close to victory but so far from winning'.

KKR - a team badly in need of a coach (No! not John Buchannan...I would rather have the team stay without a coach ;) ) and a captain (definitely the one and only Sorav Chandidas Ganguly...none can replace him!) ... things might turn around one they do that. The team has got some good players like Dada, McCullum, Hodge, Hussey and Ishant...all they need to is to gel together as a unit and play their hearts out.

Sympathising with the exit of Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders and wishing them success in IPL-3 is

A loyal fan of Mumbai Indians and Sourav Ganguly!

PS: By the way remove those 'foren waali' cheerleaders for the Mumbai Team...bringing in the decent and desi Mumbaiya gals might help ! :P

Giving it a Break !

I've decided to give blogging a break...what possibly could be the reason?...Yes, its EXAMS...

...and when I return back after that I've lots to tell you...the hostel day...the trip to Madurai's Meenakshi Temple after the recently concluded Kumbhabhishekam...my exams...and a lot more!

But...I might forget to write about them if something even more interesting comes up ... !

Till then...My dear readers ... have a great time sans 'The VJ's Blog' :P ! I guess you might be thanking your stars that I've temporarily stopped it ... STOP RIGHT THERE ! ...am I so bad at blogging, eh? :)

P.S. : NO Comments allowed for this post...if you really want to comment, please read and comment on the previous post.

The Lone Warrior

This one is about a Warrior Prince who loses a battle and almost his entire army.But The Lone Warrior(...he's alone in the battlefield ... left wounded by the enemy and he pretends to be dead disguised as an ordinary warrior...) doesn't loose hope and strikes back. Its similar to - "It doesn't matter if you loose A Battle, what matters more is to never loose Hope and win The War"...

Do comment on it...since this is my first attempt at narrative poetry!

THE LONE WARRIOR

Drops of blood from his wounded arm kept trickling down
Turning the earth to a shade of red from the usual muddy brown
Alone he stood gazing at the lifeless torsos of his faithful men
The ones who stood to protect his kingdom had numbered a thousand then

Completely destroyed now, he had forsaken everything he had
Only to save his subjects from the all that were evil and all that were bad
Cruel was the enemy, unkind was fate and harsh were the Gods to him
But he went on - to save all he could, even though the chances were dim

But save all that he could was his life and something else
and all that his ears could hear were the sacred temple bells
Bells that echoed the essence of life, invoking the spirit within
To go ahead and Fight! Standing by the principle through thick and thin

His heart pounding with desire to avenge and mind as calm as the sea,
The warrior rose up from the blood soaked battlefield as swiftly as a bee,
Buzz he did not, sting he did not, and climbed up gently on his horse,
Buzz he would,sting he would, after he wins the battles and finally the wars,

And as you and I expected, the Lone Warrior, not the faint hearted, struck back
With the help of his intellect, body and the supreme spirit taking the enemy aback
Using what he called 'sparks of noisy fire' he wreaked havoc in the enemy's camp
making their superior agile horses and mighty elephants go mad and tramp

The 'sparks of noisy fire' was a gift from his friendly neighbouring kingdom
in return for all the kindness that he had showered over them and for his wisdom
They called it 'firecrackers', and the Warrior called it gift of Providence
As you may have guessed - 'something else' was nothing else, and hence,
Some call it hope, some call it tenacity, some call it belief and some call it faith
But all those who win say - 'Never ever ever ever give in'...fight to death!

THE END

The last quoted words are from SS(one of my seniors)'s reminiscence talk...the Best Outgoing Student-Medal of Excellence for this Academic Year...I liked the style in which he delivered them...so I copied that. :) Sorry for the plagiarism SS Anna!

My Worst Ever Internals

Operations Research and Automated Manufacturing Systems saved my face...I managed to get a 7 out of 8.

Heat and Mass Transfer (Remember Vaaranam Aayiram Surya!) and Mechatronics were bad with a 5 out of 8.(Again missed a 6 in Mechatronics by 1 mark! unlucky :( )

Machine Dynamics was okay with a sixer(6) (But managed that by 1 mark this time, got lucky!)

Control Systems stole the show...3 out of 8...had the teacher given me a mark more I would have atleast been on 4!

EVS - Sir was unkind this time too (probably this had more to do with my handwriting :) )..gave me a cold 4.

The toppers in each were obviously at 7 or 8...

Overall..worst performance... second time I flunked in my internals (The first one being in Maths in III Semester)...need to buck up before the hell breaks loose...But all's better said than done..Hoping and praying for the best!

Got any tips on how to control Control Systems from giving me nightmares...a paper in which even some of the best in ECE Department performed poorly last semester? Then please do share them...

On my handwriting...

Here's what people have to say on my handwriting :

The first kind:

'Looks uglier than your face' - My mom
(This one makes me feel better because I'm the kind of person who goes mad with happiness and looses sleep if someone grades my looks as 'average'; so I get too happy to know that there's something worse than my looks!)

'The person who corrects your answer papers must have been a sinner; he's/she's the kindest person on earth' - My friend

'Even a hen scribbles better than you'- My classmate

'You could have written it neatly in a better handwriting' - The kind teacher!(You are not a kind teacher......you are GOD!)

The second kind:

The marks say what they've chosen not to say!

The third kind:

They are those Gods who give me the marks as well as don't say anything! These ones are those that corrected my X and XII board papers, most of my school and coll teachers...Thank you sirs and mams...the Mech Don is indebted to you for ever!
They also include the other people who struggle to decode/decrypt my handwriting...Thanks for your concern and kindness...You are the best codebreakers and the most intelligent people on planet earth!

My take on my handwriting:
In Tamil they say - "Your handwriting is like your headwriting (something that's written on your forehead - Destiny)".
My handwriting reflects my
mindset - I am a confused person
disliking - I am lazy and don't like to write
interest and enthu level - When I like something my handwriting gets better!

My handwriting was pretty good in smaller classes when I used to get prizes in handwriting competitions (Hindi, English and Marathi)...maybe writing changes like your looks and attitude too (Earlier I was chubby, goodie-goodie and smart,my handwriting was chubby too...... now I'm lean, baddie-baddie and dumb and my handwriting is the same!)
But I don't worry coz
1. I'm in elite company..even the guy whose face gets printed on the most wanted currency notes had a bad handwriting...
2. You don't use the pen and the paper anymore...its the digital world of keyboards, pads,OCRs and touchscreens!

And I do convince my mom to award better marks to students with a bad handwriting like me...The Don likes social service (esp. to people who face the same problems as me!)

To find out if There's some correlation between handwriting and destiny keep following 'The VJ''s Blog...

Next post on my internal performance!