Saying "I dont know" helps

My vivas got over today, it was the last viva of my engineering career. Man, what a joke it is. Its the same thing every year. The college gets over a few days before the vivas. Students buy books, get mass-xeroxs on the last day of college and start studying one day before the viva. They flood the corridor outisde the viva lab and wait for the first batch of students to come out after their viva and ask for reviews. The reviews range from "Arey external sahi cool banda hai" to "Abbe sala kholke maar raha hai".

Over the past four years Ive learnt that there are three kinds of people. Firstly there are people who are god-sent techies, true engineers. Second come those who are not techies but somehow manage to read 5 reference books inside out and say things like "Arey that answer is in the 3rd para of page 384 of that ref book". Thirdly we have people who dont study a thing and dont give a damn too. The external can also be of two types: one who asks direct questions from the book and second who asks random "general" questions which you will never find in the books you read. These 5 types of students and profs can make some interesting combinations. If the prof is asking direct questions, the first and the second kinds get away while the third gets screwed. If the prof asks "general questions" only the first kind (sometimes even the third) survives.

I certainly dont come under the first category. I am partly second(say 40%) partly third(60%). If the prof asks very direct basic questions i am saved but if high funda techinal ones are asked I am screwed. One bad thing about me, I never say "I dont know". Ill put in my maximum creativity and come up with my own invented answer. This can be good or bad depending on the prof. Some profs appreciate your creativity but some "jealous ones" dont.

Recently I tried creating my own solution for a link breakage problem in a ring topology network in an IEEE 802.5 LAN and the external says with a smirk on her face "you are just throwing things, its a technical subject, dont guess". I felt like throwing things at her..literally. Why dont they encourage creativity? So what if the answer is absurd. Every scientist's first try was absurd. This way I end up getting less than my partner who never opens his mouth. I guess someone has truly said: "Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish". From now on ill try my best to say "I dont know" rather than babbling some stuff and save my creativity for other things like painting or this blog. Now I ask myself the question "Will I stop babbling crap?" I would say "I dont know":) (I do learn but dont change so easily)

P.S
May 17th, 1310 hours;

I just finished studying that chapter of LANs from two different reference books and I found out that my "creative" answer to that linkage problem is very much possible (acc to the book Leon Garcia). And all I get for this creativity is some stupid criticism.. #$%£$*

Just another furore

This is probably the 4th or the 5th time I am writing a post criticising India for raising public furore for silly matters. Burning effigies and shouting slogans have become everyday news here in India. The furore over India losing the world cup has not yet got over that poeple are out with a new one. Sometimes I wonder if there are people employed just for such protests. I think there are. Dont people have better things to do? dont they have a job? Dont they have other things to worry about?

India seemed to have made just another public national enemy. An Indian court has issued arrest warrants for Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty after he kissed her on the cheek at a public event to promote Aids awareness. This incident has now been termed as “highly sexually erotic” and “transgressed all limits of vulgarity”. If people here care so much about our Indian culture why do we celebrate Valentines day when it has nothing to do with our tradition. If this incident can be termed as vulgar you should probably take a stroll around Marine drive and Band stand in Mumbai. You should also see all those stupid lip-munching scenes in our hindi movies. You can get a better meaning for the word vulgar.

Richard Gere is now condemned to death. So much for getting involved with charities which look after HIV-infected people and orphans as well as other AIDS prevention groups in the country. According to me the actor certainly shouldnt have done any of that 'kissing' but creating such protests over that seem very silly speacially after he apologised. Our Indian lady didnt seem to have any problem with that too. And the media too should concentrate more on the actual news rather than spreading grapevines (My god I dont know what the news channels turned into during the abhi-ash wedding).

college in one post

Out of heaven a.k.a colony .....travelling .......'399'.....Bhakti bhavan......."Wheres the entrance to the college?"...... no more uniforms..........trying to look my best the first day.......just to find boys shake hands with babes wearing low-waist jeans:)........fifth floor.......... lift not
allowed for students.........Chalega, excercise ho jayega (thinking-What the "$#£).........lectures (read sleeptime).......... aiming the 8:20 bus........... catching the 8:55 bus instead.........reaching just in time for the second lecture (sometimes the third)..........defaulter .........assignments..........'chapofying' some random text written in timbuktu...........practicals ............ bathroo
m sized labs ..........losing new pens............stealing other's new pens .........term tests......."What!!we have a test today??" .......friends.........timepass .........PJs (poor jokes)........10:30 break....... tiffin boxes........ hundreds of 'em......... ambrosia .........canteen .......endless laughter ......birthdays .......... contri gifts .......treat ..........travelling 3 hours for a 1 hour treat..........realizing how much I hated
travelling ........ 26th july........5 hours walk in rain through floods.........trekking..........yogi hills........ matheran ........overnight stay....... night outs .........mobile phones...... sms forwards ..........non-veg(not food) ........finding that one special friend finallly........talking for hours on the phone .......on topics ranging from Iraq war to alien invasion........ online chatting........
birthday again......in search of a perfect gift ........calls at 3am on the day of exam........really great time....... some stupid misunderstandings....... crap.........killing the friendship in the process.........'moving on'.........orkut........ vivas........"I am not very sure sir" ........ still getting 20 out of 25....... final
exams........classes notes mass xerox ....... phekhna..........rumours of exams results already out.........fests........CAT........ flash cards.........only 5 boxes ........presentations ...........on the spot preparation .........impromtu speech....... project ........project group's day out.......... a great team ........ some ups.......lots downs .......lots more lessons learnt ........vodka......late night parties........ cocaine...... :)jus kidding

WHERE ELSE BUT COLLEGE... Do I have to say I am gonna miss it...

(the last three... Even I AM not into those things:) )

Fans or Fanatics???

I am not much into cricket but I am certainly aware of the drama that plays around it. SriLanka thrashed India down by 69 runs and knocked it out of the World cup tournament in the first stage itself. Our dependence on Bermuda for getting a back door entry to the second stage just tells us how hopeless our team's performance has become. This has turned the lives of our players upside down. Earlier, they were the super heros; now they are looked upon as criminals. Earlier, they were busy going around endorsing all types of products; now they dread to step into their own country. Earlier, policemen were deployed outside the homes of players to keep the adoring fans out; now, the policemen are there to protect the players from violent attacks by those same fans.

When a small kid can underperform in his final exams because of the pressure put on him by his parents, how can you expect our players to perform well in the matches with the whole of nation continously looking over them with highly expectant eyes. I dont understand why we Indians view the cricket matches as a battle between nations and not as just a sport. Why are we worried more about the world cup than the innumerable other problems we are facing as a nation?

Is it becuase we all are hopeless optimists who are just ready to mistake dreams for reality? Or may be we all are just gullible; gullible and naive enough to become prey to marketers and advertisers. You certainly know about many of Pepsi's very famous campaigns like 'The Blue Billion', 'Oooh Aaah India, Aaah Yaa India' and 'Men In Blue'. This hopeless optimism is nothing but the creation of advertisers who well took advantage of our gullibility to promote their products even those as small as biscuits and hairoils. I totally fail to understand why someone would buy a certain hairoil just because shewag endorsed it even with almost no hair in his head. And whats with this whole "Buy this shampoo and go on a date with John abraham" thingy? Why would I want to have a dinner with a total stranger?

I guess our players deserve this humiliation for trying to earn some quick bucks by endorsing so many products and appearing in so many ads promising the dream of world cup even after knowing that they are just average players. Sadly Consumers are stupid enough to buy products endorsed by sportstars and filmstars. Our Indian cricket team may have failed the worldcup but we Indians failed as a nation by being so naive ,petty minded and childish.