30/01/2010 The Windy Hostel, Indian Institute of Consultancy, Delhi: At 11.05 a.m. today morning a horrifying accident occurred because of gross negligence by engineers at Windy Hostel, IICd. The hostel had been undergoing renovation for over a year and work had recently started on a new block today. Students were still residing in the 4-story hostel on the top 2 floors while the bottom floors had been vacated.
In order to complete his work on time, the contractor had allegedly told the workers to demolish the lower portion of the building and start renovation work on it, without considering whether the already considerably weakened, 40 year old structure could take the weight. The inevitable occurred, with the top two floors crashing down and burying and damaging many laptops.
In the words of one of the surviving students (who has requested to remain unnamed) "They were destroying the doors beneath our room and the balcony start moving wildly, deflecting as much as 1 cm. We ran to stop them, but the [expletive deleted] workers refused to budge."
The maintenance secretary of the hostel was allegedly gallivanting somewhere in East Delhi during the incident, meeting some foreigner. On being contacted he replied that he had an urgent meeting with someone he could not name -- a fact that has been noted by the investigating authorities who have taken him into custody. We managed to get a statement from the Chief Investigator, Mr. M. Adi "We have not ruled out the involvement of the maintenance secretary, and are also considering the foreign angle", obliquely referring to the recent statement by the President of United States of Pakerica, Mr. Obama Bin Bush.
Being a holiday, most of the students were sitting in their rooms during the accident, apparently trying to block their internet access so as to be able to prepare for their upcoming examinations. A quote by one of the IICians from our archives: "Our professors believe that we can obtain everything we need to learn by surfing the internet -- in fact they maintain a check to see that all students download at least 100MB of data every day to ensure they are spending enough time on the internet. We have learnt a lot but it becomes difficult to adhere to this rule during our minor exams so trying to outsmart our professors and blocking our internet access is a favourite pass-time for IICians during the exam season."
Most of the students were taken by surprise as the building came crashing down on them, and more than 50 laptops have been reported missing and are assumed to still be buried under the rubble, while 10 damaged (2 critically) laptops have been recovered. One or 2 lucky laptops survived on their battery life and were discovered as they were playing heavy rock and could be heard through the concrete. Worried students at IIC have kept a candle light vigil outside the laptop repair shop, with the very best technicians of the top laptop manufacturers including Nosy Baio, Sell and Compact working tirelessly to save the laptops. More technicians are expected to arrive from around the world soon. Excavation work to locate the remaining laptops is also underway.
Many IICians are still in shock, with many roaming around in a daze. A particularly sad case is that of a few students, who, being deprived of access to their laptops and the Facebook live feed appear to have devolved to animals -- with one imitating a bull, another squealing in French like a pig and the worst affected keeps trying to fly off the top of the hostel and is constantly restrained by his friends. It is currently not clear whether he has delusions about being a bird or being the Man of Steel (both being able to fly).
What has made this accident even more unique is the fact that there have been various reports of the accident being a complete fabrication and fallacy as people have allegedly communicated with the missing residents of the hostel (using their own laptops). In the public interest, we reiterate that the accident has happened and any such rumours must be disregarded as utter nonsense.
There have been suspicions of paranormal activity at the site of the accident because of these apparent messages and the top investigative news channel in India -- IndiaTV -- has sent its best reporter to find out the truth. The initial findings of the reporter will be presented on tomorrow's primetime show at 8 p.m. -- "IIC ke khooni engineer". Insiders (who wish to remain unnamed) have said that such a tragic parting of nerds with their computers can cause their ghosts to linger on till they manage to complete their last wish: to update their status messages. Only then will they be able to pass on to the afterlife. As always, there are many skeptics who have denounced this theory, claiming that the ghosts need to play one last LAN game of AoE.
In a surprise turn of events, famed teen impersonator and actor Aamir K. and ex-IICian and MBA B. Chetan came together in support of the missing laptops. They said that they has put aside all differences to be able to garner even more publicity for their film/book as people had stopped discussing their recent disagreements.
I get bored very easily.
Cartoon by Hugh Macleod
It may be because I have nothing to do; or I've lost interest in what I was doing for some reason -- it being too repetitive, etc.; I have too little to do; what I'm working on doesn't seem to have any apparent purpose; or even if only some senses are occupied and others left alone.
I try to get over this foible of mine by listening to music -- hence the headphones hanging around my neck or on my ear, 24 by 7 by 4 by 12 by ~20. At least, by keeping my ears occupied I can relax, and possibly not get bored. This has also resulted in my having a 70GB music + video collection on my iPod.
But I digress.
I have come to realize that if I did not get bored so easily -- I would have achieved less than half of what I have today. There would be no reason for me to tread on the fine line of just enough work to do; I could have relaxed a bit more -- and perhaps enjoyed a bit less.
On the other hand, I have abandoned certain projects because I found out that they were no-where near as challenging as I'd imagined and hoped for, and were rather achievable -- and no longer interesting; because I no longer believed that the work I was doing served any purpose.
What pushes me -- and also stops me from working -- is my characteristic of getting bored so quickly. Paradoxically, it makes me give up and move ahead at the same time.
And ever since I've had more to do -- or more that I want to do -- I lose my patience with other things even more quickly. I can no longer comfortably watch a film in a cinema hall -- my hands are unoccupied, and depending on the film -- perhaps even my brain.
Doing only one thing at a time is possible only if it is interesting enough to merit my full concentration. Hence the rabid multi-tasking -- reading a book with lunch while listening to music or maybe watching television. Coding while watching a film or having a conversation. Social Networking while reading a comic. etc. etc.
What about you?
Boredom. My worst nemesis. My best ally.
Wishing you all a very happy new year!
May all the dreams in your eyes, all the desires in your heart and all
the hopes in your life blend together, to give you the most spectacular
New Year ever with even better years ahead!
Happy New Year
- Kunal (occasionally known as Cynik)
Happy New Year
As far as I can remember clearly, I have always felt bound by the flows of time. Achieve that by this time; start that then; been there, done that. By when? seems to be the all important question while doing any work -- studies / web design / anything.
We all seem to truly show that we are manacled by time by our wrist watches. The amount of freedom left is dictated by that tiny little clock on your left (or right?) wrist, that bigger one on the wall; that tiny rectangle on the monitor. Alarms and clocks are everywhere -- in the cellphone, in the iPod, occasionally in keychains. Bound by the invisible, ever-shortening chains.
Why are we all so completely controlled by time? Why do I constantly feel the need to glance at my watch and see if I can relax a bit more; or if I should/have to do some more work within this much time? Always fretting, always worrying; more so since I started college.
Part of the reason is perhaps that we are all mortal; but in the short term -- which is as far as most of us look (at least I do) time is still as important as in the long. After all, success is simply a measure of how well you managed to use all the time you had.
Time is, after all, just another dimension; the only problem is that we still haven't managed to go backwards (and sideways) through it at will; just forward, at the same rate as the rest of humanity. It's not really a surprise that time-machines are one of the most popular concepts in science fiction.
The only way to be free of this bond, is perhaps, only by not caring about the passage of time. Which, is much much easier said than done, or even attempted. I, for one, cannot imagine life without my metaphorical steel manacle which just displays the length of my invisible, unbreakable chain.
Manacled by Time
First off -- I'm guilty too -- not very - but still, guilty enough.
What am I talking about? The applications we are all sending these days to get that dream foreign intern. Have a look here: http://www.phdcomics.com/proceedings/viewtopic.php?t=7671&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 .
A few key highlights from the 8 page long conversation:
Once to twice per week I get an application for an internship from an undergraduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. I used to reply to them politely, then caustically, then I wrote to the bloody university asking them to pass something round the students telling them to stop, now I just delete them.Put simply...
(1) IIT in Mumbai is a much more highly rated university than mine so why on earth would they want to come here?
(2) We don't offer internships anyway
(3) Why would a student want to do an engineering internship in another university, surely they should be looking at engineering companies.
(4) The blighters never bother to actually read my personal webpage and tailor what they write to my actual research work anyway.
I get a few, fairly regularly, and my area is Physics. They ask for a summer internship (generally about 3 months) and they always begin "Dear Respected Sir". They include an attachment that purports to be their CV, but I have never opened one because I fear a virus. I delete them without replying.
Nice reading? Let's move on to advice to IIT Guwahati from an alumnus:
Dear current ______ students,
In past few weeks I was struck by a string of emails that motivated me to write back to you. If you are someone who is applying for internships/ research positions/ MS in various schools or companies (in India or abroad) , then hang on and listen to some important stuff that I have to say. I think, this will really help you in being more succesful in your search for whatever you are looking for, and will also help in maintaining reputation of the school that you are graduating from:
First some unarguable facts:
1) All of us have a stake in maintaining reputation of the Department of _________.If due to any reason, reputation of our school/program goes down, it means less opportunities for all of us (alumnis and current students combined).
2) When we send out "mails" the response rate is only 10-20%.
Each one of us have mastered the "Art" (you know what I mean). All of us come to IIT, learn from our seniors about how they got that cool internship in Europe or that coveted GA/TA/RA position in a US univ. Obedient and smart people we are, we formulate our own mails, "customized and tailormade for our situations", and the competition then is who sends out the most sucks in a night. Correct? The news is that every prof I know personally, knows about this process. Because guess what, this is the same prof who received a barrage of such emails every previous year. And over time, they too have gotten smarter, and a lot of them now ignore such emails. Ever wondered, why only 10-20% people reply to your "mails"? This is the reason why.3) Should we stop sending these mails out? Short answer is Yes. Well then how do I get those cool internships and GA/TA/RA positions? Start sending out real and genuine emails.
As the saying goes: "Practise what you Preach (and vice versa)". I too am guilty of the same. Maybe because no one told me the correct way. We were the second batch of the program, and there was just no precedance before us. No alumni ever told us that when ordinary people receive a standard IIT "Suck" they are left speechless, astonished and dumbfounded (Okay, maybe not all three together, but one at a time). But having grown wiser over all these years I feel that its my duty to tell the current students that the standard method of sending "sucks" is so 1990's. We are now in 2008. The rats (read profs) have learnt to skip our mousetraps (read sucks). We need a better designed mousetrap (do they still teach such stuff in DO* Wink.
So lets do a critical analysis of some sentences from standard sucks that I received (I won't tell who sent that to me. Ever. And it is not even my remotest intention to embarrass anyone. So don't get disheartened if I used your email. You can still count me as a friend.)
-----------------------------------Dear Sir,
I am a Pre-final Year undergraduate student (3rd year) pursuing Bachelor of ****** in ****** Department at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati - one of the premier institutes of technology in India and among the most prestigious undergraduate schools in the world.
.
.
I have a fervid desire to do my summer internship under your able guidance during the period May-July,2008.
.
.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere interest in pursuing my summer internship during the period May - July 2008, under your esteemed guidance. It would be a rewarding experience for me to expand my knowledge boundary under a person of your stature.
.
.
Sir, I am writing this mail in order to explore the possibility of doing a summer project/internship in your company during May-July 2008. I am inclined to do a summer internship in the field of "Human Computer Interaction, Usability Engineering, Interface Design" to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for a future career as a professional. I am a highly motivated and hard-working student and am willing to take on any available project that would be relevant to my area of study.
.
.
I have been a hard working student right from my schooling days and I assure you the best effort from my side.I have an inherent curiosity which drives me to the fathom of the subject and has thereby helped me to develop a strong conceptual foundation.
.
.
I would be extremely fortunate to get an opportunity to work in a distinguished company as your's and gain practical knowledge in the field of design which will help me shaping my future.
.
.
Please give some time to evaluate my chances of getting an opportunity to do a project under your company as this would really play a significant role for shaping my future.---------------------------------
Dude and Dudettes, I'm embarrassed. I am not God. And I definitely don't have a "stature" of Abhraham Lincoln (if that's what you meant). I am sure you are a hard working person, but so is everyone else. And I absolutely do not care about your "fervid desires". And most of all, I don't have a "distinguished company" nor do I have any role whatsoever in defining "your future". You future entirely depends on you and you alone. When you send out an email, that is what defines your future. No-one I know in industry will give a call back to someone who sent such an email. Now when I think about my own history, maybe that's why I myself could never get an internship in Europe. You need to learn from your senior's experiences.
A professor from my grad school told me last year (and this is a fact too btw). He said "I think I am fed up with students from your undergrad college. They seem to have these illusions that by sending out such emails they will suddenly get a windfall of assistantship. It just don't happen that way. And what is it with everyone sending similar sounding emails? Do they have essay classes in India where they are taught to write in a specific way?"
Friends, this is killing the reputation of our school and reducing the chances of your future success. You and you alone can get this back on track. The season of sending out "sucks" is coming rapidly. This time (just for a change), write a simple, concise, short email.
-----------------Believe it or not, small emails will firstly ensure that your email is read. Secondly, It will leave the reader with the feeling that he received an email from an actual human being (and not a robot). Thirdly, it will leave a door open to ping back with minimum effort, if someone did not respond back. Address people by their name, not "Sir".
Think in this way. It is fair for you to think of your emails as something that is very important to you. Because your career is at stake. So you tend to fill up the email with details about your projects, past internships, profs with whom you have worked for. But for a second stop and think from the perspective of the reader. They don't care about any of the stuff you will write (unless of course you won a Nobel Prize). Your email is just another one in their busy inbox. Stand out by writing short email, and easy to read crisp resumes and portfolio websites. And as always, ask your alumni or seniors if you have any questions. Don't address your professor as Sir. We have not yet gotten that "Order of the British Empire".
Hope some of these things will make sense to you.
Good luck with your search.
Just going through the full thread would be best. Have a look. See our (alright - it's focussed more on IIT B, but they can replace B by D anyday) excellent reputation.
And just stop and think before clicking send. I know I will.
P.S. Also have a look here for another perspective.
Guys at IIT D – be careful about apps!
Amitabh Bacchan blogs. Abhinav Bindra blogs. Omar Abdullah used to blog. I blog.
Most probably, you blog.
We all have our own lives (well, mostly). We all have loads to do (again -- most of us). Why do we blog? Is it really so good to express our thoughts, views, opinions -- even our lives -- to complete strangers and some friends? Does the fact that we have a medium to express ourselves mean that it must be used?
Blogging is a lot like other mass-communication media but in one crucial way, it is completely different. There is no editor; no restriction. Write what you like, when you like, if you like -- just write. Is it that surprising that searching -- or rather, googling -- for "rant" + "blog" returns 491,000 results? That I have my own "Rant" category - which is also, surprisingly enough, the one most often used? [That was pure, unadulterated sarcasm, incase you didn't notice.]
Blogging seems to have many, many uses -- spreading information/knowledge, setting up your own, easily edited web-page without much technical know-how, showing off your pictures, raving against people you don't like. Everything and anything. You have video blogs, picture blogs, news blogs, blog blogs... Name it and you can find it. This also means that blogs are amongst the most heavily abused media too; there is no such thing as quality control -- no need for references, "being correct". No Wikipedia labels marking the entry/page as "This article doesn't cite it's sources.".
All this has been debated on -- heavily. On news networks, in newspapers, websites, and -- yes, of course -- blogs.
What I've never really found an article on is why do we blog? Earning through advertisements? Gaining the proverbial fifteen minutes of fame over the net? As a means of catharsis -- anonymously sharing our most intimate thoughts and experiences with complete strangers? Learning what others think without repercussions? Perhaps all of these. Maybe none.
My own reasons for blogging are varied: as a means of expressing myself; seeing if anyone else thinks as I do; announcing something important in my life; sharing technical knowledge with others -- as others have shared with me; simply having my own, clearly defined -- and visible -- virtual existence. A way to connect with many more people than I can physically -- across countries, contintents and oceans.
If you're reading this blog, and have a blog of your own, answer this: Why do you blog?
I cannot answer that question for everyone. Perhaps it would be like asking an author -- why do you write? Or an artist -- why do you paint? Why do you create? My favourite answer for this question comes from Thomas Berger - Because it isn't there.
Blog. But why?
The recent no-confidence vote and the corresponding events have given me an astounding insight into Indian politics.
I had always known that the Indian Parliament was a fish market. What I had never realized till today is the proper analogy - most of the guys raising the ruckus in parliament were actually the fish being bought and sold - and not, as I believed, the people haggling over fish to buy and sell.
To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. Does this mean that anyone with enough money can run the country? Hey, Bush - you don't even need to wage a war to get all the natural resources here; just spend the money you would have used up to actually win a war. Or Obama, or McCain. Musharraf, even.
A comment I heard on the news is that Indians keep getting used to higher levels of corruption in the government. So I guess this is just something else I must get desensitized to (apart from the violence, crime, attacks, etc. I'm already supposed to be used to). I wonder what we'll be forced to accept next?
The possibilities are endless.
I accept that I'm just raving away - looking only at the problem and not the solution. But right now, I can't think of a solution. If you can - please tell me; or rather - tell the media. At the very least, news channels will have something better to discuss than witch-women discovered in unheard-of villages.
Fishmarkets
Throughout my life I have seen how a difference in a person's point of view can alter the situation. What I have realized recently is that changing how you look at the world is as good as changing the world itself.
Perspective may not be all that matters, but it does matter. A lot.
For me, a person's perspective is what defines him/her(/it). As evident from my blog's title, I consider myself a cynic. Or rather, perhaps a cynik - most of you would not consider it much of a difference, but I do not follow the original Greek cynics exactly. The modern notion of cynicism is a bit closer to home, but still, I interpret it in my own way.
Those old, horrendous cliches 'there's a silver lining in every dark cloud', ' 'tis an ill wind that blows none good' merely address this. Looking at an event/object/person with a different view changes the person.
Changing how you look at the world changes you.
Let me see look at it in another way. Imagine being stuck in traffic in a bus, or as a passenger. Either you could grumble about the conditions, or do what I do - go to sleep and use this time to relax.
My computer was recently formatted - for no apparent reason - but while I re-install all the software it had I have the time to write a lengthy post. Perhaps this was a bad example, as many readers would see it as two evils.
When there is a terrorist attack, the perspective of victims, the victims' families, the police/government - and those watching yet another spectacle unfold on television is completely different.
Watching and playing sports are two completely different ball games.
I will never say that one perspective is right and one is wrong. There are never any absolutes. Looking at terrorists from one point of view may show them as evil incarnate; seen from the other side you have noble revolutionaries.
Every person has his/her own perspective; based on experience, prejudice, life. Changing these changes the person - but we must never lose the ability to look at the world through someone else's eyes.
Empathy is one of our greatest powers. To understand a person completely, analyze the world in the way s/he does. To come to an understanding, to solve a dispute - all factions involved must be ready to see things from the opponent's point of view - and accept or reject them.
Of course, seeing the world through the eyes of the murderer who just butchered you - or the maniac whose blog entry drove you crazy - is completely different and unnecessary. It is a case of a random, abstract thought being applied to the real world. What else do you suppose could happen when a product of cool calculation & observation is applied to the illogical, warped world?
Note to self: I must resist from ending all posts with question marks. ?
My perspective on perspective.
I have been involved in a lot of new things these past few days: learning things on the computer, reading interesting books, listening to different types of music, watching films, trying to play the guitar, ad infinitum.
Here are some recommendations from me:
- Music: Try both Bach and Porcupine Tree. Before listening to Bach: understand the type of music you're listening to - what exactly is a canon or a fugue and you will appreciate the music even more.
- Books: Prisoners of Birth (Jeffery Archer) - a must read modern version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Moab is my washpot - an autobiography of Stephen Fry - an excellent read with splendid English and an frighteningly honest account of the author. Godel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid: A look at "strange loops"; how logic, music, art all address the concept of self. How the thing being defined is defined by itself.
- Films: The animated Sinbad, Johnny English and of course, Iron Man.
Miscellany
Search Wikipedia for 'Metal' and get the results
- Heavy metal music. Relevance 100%
- Metal. Relevance 99%
Just another reminder that the world is crazy.
Filled with crazy people like me.
(Maybe Wikipedia was made for people like me- I was searching for heavy metal music.)
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