Confessions of an engineering student!

One more semester done. But where do I stand as an engineer?
This is a question that rings my mind every time I receive my semester result. As I calculate my aggregate, I make a resolution that I’m going to do a better job next semester. Focussing on unit tests, cutting down on mobile usage and regular updating with the curriculum are some of the plans to make the resolution successful. The plans are good, but hardly executed. I wonder why the will to follow the plans, fades just as fast as it arrives! By the beginning of next week, I’m back to my original self. ( I hear someone chuckling “a week is too long” – I agree)
1. The alarm is set for 4 AM. But unfortunately some smart man kept a snooze option. I end up waking up at 5.30 am.
2. I decide to study in the bus, but I end up sleeping (No better sleeping pill than the early morning breeze striking your face).
3. I can’t remember things I study a few hours earlier. (Ask me the first movie of my favourite actor which I can never forget).
4. I sleep during class hours. (Let me not mention which class lest the teacher would take to task).
5. I text my friends during class hours, by strategically placing my phone under the desk. (Have I let the cat out of the bag?).
6. I feel nothing when I score badly. I remember there was a time when I used to weep if I scored in 80’s. (that was in school, of course!). “You better get back to that habit”, says my mom.
7. I’m almost always the last person to enter the lab. I go blank when asked viva.
8. I seldom get an output, when I rig up a circuit on the bread board. Sigh. It takes a lot to connect a complex circuit and see the CRO giving a straight line!
9. I can hardly sit through 8 hours of classes and I visit the stores/canteen at least once a day. (That’s not very bad, I convince myself).
10. I’ve developed an uncanny ability to read a textbook and learn things myself. (“At least, you still retain that ability” so goes my dad with tongue in cheek.

Why? Why? Why?

Teachers may call it disinterest. Parents call it irresponsibility. According to me, these ten signs are characteristics of a normal engineering student. But where do I stand as an engineer?
Do I possess at least some of the abilities of being a good engineer? Even if I did, are they being put into good use? I learn everything I can in one month, whether I understand it or not. In India particularly, we’ve been very accustomed to the concept of a good and bad student. People judge you based on the percentage you score. That becomes your identity. How fair is that?

Whew! Too many questions but not enough answers. If any of you readers, imagined yourself in my place while reading the above 10 points, join the bandwagon. If not, I salute to you. I better pull up my socks!

“SSN EDC (Entrepreneurship Development Cell) Presents E-Week 09, Feb 14th to 19th”

GO GREEN! THE WORLD IS OUR BUSINESS!

MY CARBON FOOTPRINT

“Lives of great men all remind us; we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.” –H.W Longfellow

Do you have any idea about the amount of carbon-di-oxide an individual like you and me generate from our secondary activities? It is a whopping 2.51 tonnes every year for someone like me. This is my Carbon footprint. Not just bigger than my own foot, but is even bigger than the estimated overall average footprint in India (1.20 tonnes), and the world! At this rate, I won’t be leaving behind anything but only carbon footprints on the sands of time! Using the carbon footprint calculator, you can calculate the amount of carbon that you use every year! Before the black foot takes over the world, it high time we went GREEN!

As students, it is time we participated in the “Go Green” initiative, a part of the SSN EDC, E-week programme. This entrepreneurship programme is an ideal platform for all aspiring entrepreneurs to give it a go at their management skills. Go green, does not only involve wearing green coloured clothing to college to show support, but it also involves following certain little things for a greener tomorrow.

Do you know what exactly your Carbon footprint is? It is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment and in particular climatic change. The factors that affect it don’t just depend on pollutants emitted from vehicles or burning waste (something that we’ve been learning since probably 6^th grade!). It allows us to find out that very simple and day to day activities can cause global warming. Buying local products or organic ones and avoiding meat can cause a significant reduction. Even by getting your laundry done on alternate days or using the train facilities rather than air travel, can help. It is quite common to see youngsters leaving a ‘Be right back’ option on chat messengers when not in use. Avoiding this can help reduce our carbon footprint. It was also found that using ‘Black google’ rather than our usual white background helped save power! Now, that is something!

But what has entrepreneurship got to do with all of this?

Business is a subset of the environment, not the other way around. You can’t have a healthy economy; you can’t have a healthy anything in a degraded environment.

-Peter Coyote

Isn’t this the perfect answer? Any step, or rather any new idea can be converted into a successful innovation only when it gets the right push and proper publicity. On Feb 7^th 2009, NDTV launched its first ever nonstop live programming called the ‘Greenathon’- urging Indians to take a pledge towards a greener tomorrow. This campaign also aimed at raising funds for the ‘Light a billion lives’ project, in association with TERI( The Energy and Resource Institute) to provide solar energy to many villages that have remained without electricity for over a decade. Even HCL (Hindustan Computers Limited) has not been far behind. HCL Technologies joined hands with Carbonfund.org to take forward the ‘Carbon free partner programme’ which has been working on fighting global warming. As a part of this initiative they planted 650 oak trees in 2.8 acres of land in Uttarakhand. Several other institutes and organizations have been actively participating in fighting the affects of greenhouse gases. Standard Chartered Bank and the Isha foundation started the ‘Project Green hands’ and planted 20,000 saplings! A great way to go green!

It is quite evident now, as to how entrepreneurship and initiatives of this sort go hand in hand. The ‘Go Green’ theme has been one of its kinds, here at SSN. It is up to us to take it further and work towards a greener tomorrow. As young entrepreneurs in the making, it would be great if we could adopt certain villages or some part of the city and grow green plantations, or for that matter even maintain parks. Or, we can probably get together and plant saplings in the campus or plant seedlings around to improve the landscape. Rather, for a start, we could make sure that we weren’t wasting electricity in the classrooms. So, what are we waiting for?

Gear up.

Go green folks! The world is our business!!

Sandhya.S
II,BME

My journey to a Cricket stadium...finally!

“The beautiful green outfield, the scoreboard and the flags of the two countries, increased my excitement. I sat staring at the batsman at the crease with my eyes wide open and tiny droplets of sweat on my forehead. We needed four runs to win off the last ball. Supporters of the two countries screamed at the top of their voice. I sat praying. The last ball of the match. The bowler came speeding in and delivered the ball. The batsman reached for it and hit it hard. It traveled quickly and reached the boundary. We had won! Oh wow….

This was a little flashback. No, not a part of my memories, but the first paragraph from the first ever story I wrote, “My journey to a Cricket stadium”. Something I wrote in my eight grade, when I was completely smitten by the Cricket bug. It gives me the creeps when I read it now. I realize my parents were quite supportive when they read it and gave me positive feedback for ‘that’!

But coming back to the present. I had always felt bad that I never visited the Cricket stadium even after staying here in Chennai for quite sometime. But 14^th November 2008 was a different day. The RBS Cup, India Vs England was on and it was the fourth day of play. I hadn’t even bothered to follow the test match; that’s when my dad announced to me that we were going for the 4^th day’s play, the previous night. Wow..now that was something! I was filled with mixed emotions. I felt silly, because I didn’t even know what was happening in the match, but I also felt excited. I set aside my new shoes, my new white t-shirt, my new coolers and my new cap. Yeah yeah…it was all new, and waiting to be inaugurated! I also forced my dad to wear his new white t-shirt! Seriously, anyone who had seen us walking on the roads that day would have guessed where we were heading! With all the get-up done, we made our way to Chepauk.

It was about 8am and we joined the queue at the ticket counter. Sesha mama (our family friend, who had been coming all 4 days!) waited for us inside. However we didn’t have to wait long. You see, there are quite a lot of advantages when you are among the few girls in the whole male dominated queue. The policeman asked me to go get my ticket. He told the man behind the ticket counter “Andha paapa kku rendu ticket kodu pa!” (paapa!?) I happily bypassed the line and got tickets for dad and myself. (Sure, dad was proud :P )

Once inside, we went to stand D, right under the commentary box. It was quite an awesome view. Thanks to Sesha mama (who had discovered the best seats in the whole stand!) I took out our binoculars and looked at the players practicing. First I saw Ishant Sharma…then Dhoni..then oh my god Dravid! I couldn’t contain my excitement. I shifted focus to the England side. I looked at them practicing! Anderson…Pietersen…Monty…I was shifting back to Anderson, when I noticed a small commotion behind me. Apparently, Ravi Shastri had come out of the commentary box and people rushed to get his autograph. Sadly, by the time I could gather my pen and autograph book, he went back in. Never mind. The people around were totally stunned to see Sunil Gavaskar, who cheerfully posed in different styles for the cameras! It was quite a pleasure to see him respond to play cards with writings like “Sunny, pad up! We can draw the match”. Then Mike Atherton entered the box and looked around and smiled. I assumed he smiled at me and returned the gesture! :D

The match was quite a drag in the morning. The England players almost made me fall asleep with their extremely slow batting. Yawn… But after tea, when it was the Indian’s turn to bat, Viru gave us every reason to be there. He jus slammed the ball away. The crowd went ballistic! People used their pee-pee(the ones they sold outside the stadium) for everything and anything. Some guys started creating filmi music with them… err…not the exact notes though! Every time a fielder came near the boundary, the spectators went bonkers, cheering and hooting. It felt like the whole world had come alive. I screamed so hard. The uncle sitting in front of me shut his ears! But that’s what it is all about! The whole atmosphere, the crowd, the cacophony, it was totally brilliant! The day’s play ended with India on a high. My dad went for the last day and watched Sachin’s century and India’s victory. I watched India’s win on my television set. The commentators claimed that it was a wonderful victory and the spectators who had come to watch it were truly lucky.

Well, I couldn’t watch India’s historic win live, but I did make it to a cricket stadium! :)

When I thought and thought and thought...

Have you ever been in a situation when you think and think,yet you have no answer? When your brain goes blank and refuses to function? When you try to recollect but all you can garner is nothing? Well, I definitely went through this,not once, but twice.

My mind drifts back to 12th November,2008.My alarm rang at 4am. I literally jumped out of the bed,freshened up and sat in front of a pile of notes, books and xerox copies of Signals and Systems. My heart sank. I was 6 hours away from writing the exam. I tried to recollect and revise what I had supposedly studied. I wore my lucky dress(yeah right!),slipped into the same sandals that I wore for the previous exam and even used the same rubber band for my ponytail(now, that was a little too much,I agree!)As the bus took me closer to college,I tried in vain,going through all the formula e that i had studied during the study holidays and before the exam. "Don't worry.I'll remember during the exam", I told myself. (gulp)

2 hours to go.
We all sat outside the exam hall partly revising, learning, discussing, teaching and confusing each other, until it was time to enter the testing chamber. My mind was saturated with equations and symbols literally juggling through my brain. Sigma, DFT, IDFT, convolution...it all seemed a mess. "I'll sort it out during the exam", I calmed myself. (gulp again)

10 minutes to go.
I cautiously filled in the details in the answer sheet and waited for the question paper. I was chanting prayers non stop. This is when we got out first blow( or rather 'bulb', in colloquial terms!) We were sitting in the wrong room. The seating arrangement had been changed and we didn't realize. About 10 of us made out way to the new hall.
"Bad omen", my instinct said.
"Don't be ridiculous", my mind contemplated.

I rubbished away the useless thoughts and tried to concentrate. The bell rang and I got my copy of the dreaded question paper.I made a quick scan. The two marks first.Then the sixteen marks. At first shot, it seemed okay.
I read the questions again.

There are times when you wish you could just disappear.

That was exactly what I felt then. I sensed the pressure mount, my heart started beating rapidly. I tried to be patient. I started with the questions I thought I knew. As I proceeded towards the sixteen marks, I was low on confidence. Half way through them, I lost all hope. I looked around helplessly. I gathered some relief when I saw everyone around me was blinking and staring at the paper.I felt my temper rise, when I thought about the person who had set this question paper. He had probably fought with his wife when he set this paper. Why on earth would he then set such an atrocious paper?I managed to sit through the three hours,nonchalantly filling up pages in the answer sheet with answers I felt were sensible,not knowing whether they were right or wrong.Amusingly, at that point, all the formula e and symbols that were earlier a blur,seemed perfectly clear. But, they had no use in the paper. When the bell finally rang, I handed over my paper and looked at Selvi. Her expression, seriously helped me feel better. Sanch and Shweta followed. We gave each other that "it was awful" look, left and hall and surprisingly started laughing. That was quite lame, but we couldn't contain that feeling of helplessness that surrounded us.Many people sought to crying.

After a long discussion;blaming the university, the paper setter, the questions, the syllabus and finally the subject itself, we decided it was time to leave.

I kept calculating mentally to check if I would be able to clear the paper. Sigh. I walked home pondering over the effort I had put in. Was it less? Or was it enough?

The 'traffic signal' changed the green and all the vehicles rushed past me.


Oh damn...I just don't like signals!!

One down..

1 year gone…3 more to go. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re enjoying some of the best moments of your life. I (and 629 others) joined SSN on 20^th August, 2007 and before I could let the feeling sink in, make friends and get used to the Monday-Friday unit tests, 8 months just rushed past me. I still remember the orientation day, when my friends and I walked into the amazing auditorium for the first time, feeling ecstatic when they said ‘you are now a part of SSN’. The scholarship holders spoke about their achievements and every time one spoke, I got that knowing smile from my mother. I responded with a foolish grin (gulp. she’s not expecting that from me, is she?)

The difficult part followed. We were split into our branches and I was left alone to make new friends. All of us gave half hearted smiles to each other..wondering how to continue a conversation beyond asking each other’s name and school (does this ring any bells sanchu?? ;) ). The day ended with not much activity and the first week too went without much buzz. But as they say, time heals everything; it got better in the next few days. Most of us bonded really well, talking, gossiping, the chit-chat and the studying ( yeah??).

And it was here, that I actually got my first taste of ragging. Singing and proposing were the common ones which became quite a drab towards the end. But I remember how I avoided the canteen as much as possible fearing ragging from the so called ‘gethu’ seniors! (My tactics did pay off- never got ragged in the canteen! :P) and well, I am a senior now.. Unbelievable!

Our first hang-out… Chak de…was one of ‘D-best’ moments of this year. Screamed our throats out at every goal that SRK’s team scored, chucked the seats and sat on the footboard (mind you..We paid 120 rupees for the ticket!), but had a blast. But this one year also taught me how people are not exactly like how they seem. There’s more to a person than their outward appearances and behavior. But I did certainly make some of my closest and best friends here. J

May 14^th, our university exams began. Exactly one year back we received our 12^th board results and you wonder, wow..things change so quickly!

One down..just three more to go. Let’s see what SSN has in store for the next three years.

I'M NOT NEXT!

Here’s the catch, the last post was a little too touchy touchy, got my sis a bit sentimental too. Let me just try a little bit of comedy (at my expense though). After my sister’s marriage and departure, I seem to be getting noticed by every family member, relative, and friend as the next in the ‘line’..(And you know what line these people mean!)

Ageing aunties, old uncles and even my sister’s friends gave me that ‘wicked’ smile when the sacred thread was tied around my sister’s neck and later commented ‘’un route ippo clear’’! (Wow…what a joke!) And just like my friend told,’’route’’, what a metaphor!

It’s not just these relatives who cook up these silly things, my mom isn’t far behind. She looks at the marriage video, sheds a drop or two, turns towards me and immediately touches the emotional chord…”In a few years even you’ll also leave me and go….”

Oh man..how many times do I remind my mother that I’m in 1^st year with just 4 months gone by….duh… she’ll never understand!

An outsider the other day while discussing the marriage with my mom asked me (not again L ), ‘’akka US poita, nee enga poga pora, UK va”?? Both he and my mom started laughing and I was staring at him like an idiot, not knowing what to say. I gave a pathetic smile (was that a smile?) and glared at my mother.

Oh boy, people are never going to change…and yeah..

Comedy is just not my thing!!

Saying goodbye....

I spent 18 years, 2 months and 6 days with her. And then, it was time for her to leave. The feeling still takes time to sink it. I can’t believe she’s not here. When I see her clothes, her earrings, her old sandals..I’m filled with a feeling of deep emptiness. She’s someone who’s always been there next to me when I needed her the most. Right from saving me from mom’s scoldings, to consoling me when I scored bad marks( that was almost always ), my sister was my savior and supporter always. And now, after her marriage, its weird how things have sort of come to a standstill. The house is quiet; mom and I are actually forcing time to pass and trying to give each other company.

Isn’t it in a way unfair that it’s the girl who always has to leave the parent’s home? She’s now in a place that one can’t even visit easily. Why did US have to be so far away and so inaccessible? Silly…never thought of this before! Lol..

I see her photo’s daily, and convincing myself that I’ll get over this soon. I remember how I forced myself not to cry in the airport but ultimately ended up crying first. It’s funny how we don’t realize the importance of something or someone when they are near you…I can’t express how much I miss her, but in a way I’m happy for her. After all, it had to happen sometime. I can’t think of anything more to describe this feeling.

I miss you so much sujju….but

Life goes on…doesn’t it?

Orkut Obsession!!

Write an essay on Antony’s speech during Caesar’s funeral. After writing pages and pages on this topic for over 5 times in my exam, I have developed a kind of aversion to the language and I seriously seem to have lost my creativity. It’s been over 10 minutes since I’ve been staring at the monitor but I’m not getting any ideas. Here is a rather futile attempt to regain my lost creativity.


Sandhya Santhanaraman, you have received an invitation to join Gazzag. On another day, to join zorpia, then hi5 and oh man! Forget it. You open your inbox and it’s filled with such invites.

A few months ago, I had written about my sister’s obsession with cell phones and smsing. But this time the saga has given way to the newest rage among all youngsters(ahem…including me) - Orkut. Orkutting as it is called, is one of the most popular activities these days.With almost everyone joining it, the site seems to be achieving greater heights everyday connecting over a million orkuteers all over the world. From just a ‘hi’ to homework discussion, orkut is a major hub for all students and for that matter even elders. Its been about 4 months since I joined the bandwagon and now I see about half my classmates being smitten by the orkut bug!

Orkut is actually fun, for newcomers, this is just the place to be, browsing through other profiles and joining communities which range from chocolate lovers and long earrings to ‘A.R.Rahman’ fans.Its also pretty addictive for newcomers. I’m a great example of that addiction checking my scraps about thrice a day. In a rather funny incident, my sister added actress, Preity Zinta’s photo as her display picture. Some silly guy from Brazil scrapped her thinking that Preity was Sujatha! Let me just copy paste that funny incident that took place in my sister’s scrapbook:

Fernando:
Hey! What up Sujata, sorry for enter in your orkut but I’m Fernando how are you baby I just say Hi and say you look nice girl me.
I bumped into your profile and decided to send you a scrap
I am from Brazil and living in LA and I was entirely impassioned by you.
I’m search of new friends; too
Can You accept me in your Friend’s List ?

Some sensible Indian replied to that guy!
santosh

The profile below understands the pic as urs
Mr. Brazil if u visit this scrap book again I would like u to watch kal ho na ho movie

Sometimes it can be quite irritating as it allows everyone to read your scraps and see your photos which is pretty dangerous. However, as long you know your limits, these things don’t matter at all.

So, let me conclude by….hang on…wondering why I’m finishing it off so soon? Well…I need to go check my scrapbook!!
Cheers!

Passport to Pranav!!

As I squeezed myself out of 27C and stepped down the stairs of the bus in front of my sister’s college, the mammoth poster, yelling out “Pranav 06 - Unleashing the Power within”, stared at my face. The poster itself created a wonderful feeling in me even though I wasn’t involved in the symposium in any way. “Evolve, Conflate, Embellish” (Hey! Those are my words!). This is too good.

My sister had been asking me to come over to the symposium that they were organizing from about a month before the actual day. Well, I had not been very enthusiastic about it and was citing the preparation for my practical tests as an excuse. But, just before the day of Pranav, I changed my mind as I got a company in my class fellow Vidya and decided to attend the function. We made our way into the campus, trying to keep a low profile lest be questioned by some one to show our credentials. Gleaming faces, colourful sarees, exquisite jewellery, the girls looked awesome all clad in sarees. Poor guys, a pant, shirt and a tie were all they could show off!

We went to the auditorium to attend the inaugural function.The introductory presentation which was quite an interesting start was followed by about an hour of “sleep promotion” – I mean the customary speeches. It was then time for the events.

I should single out to thank Sulaiman (bhaiya) specially, who was kind enough to take two little(?) girls on a guided tour of college and the other events. “Scarto” was the first event that we attended. Filling Fevicol into the plastic tumblers was what we initially did, but very soon were made the judges, ahem. Then came the interesting part. Going around the college with out any identification (Sujatha’s sister wasn’t obviously enough) could land us back to the bus stop. So the President (Arvind) gave us a promotion as students of Sai Ram Engineering College and presented us the necessary identity cards (Hope this revelation doesn’t get him into trouble). I still can’t believe how the girls in the registration could believe that we were from a college especially when I could hardly stifle a laugh. However, posing like college students with ID cards was a matter of great pride for us. This might sound funny, but yeah, its true and believe it or not, I am going to treasure this ID card for a long time. We then selected the winners for the event. ‘Sorry Venkat, we couldn’t award your “favourite” team any prize’.

Lunch was next. It was a huge shock when I saw the mess hall and the hostel. It came as a stark contrast to what we have seen and gone through since morning. How can a human even eat and live there?? Food wasn’t that bad or probably it felt ok to me cos I was really hungry. I am sorry if I sound rather rude on this.

Then we headed for the mock interview, a pretty interesting event. The extempore performances by students from various colleges were a delight to watch, with some contestants cooking up silly answers. Though being in Standard XI, mock interview did provide an insight as to what goes on in such situations. As the quiz was scheduled at the same time, I couldn’t attend it (sorry Kausi). At about 7.30pm the valedictory function was held. Venkat gave a great performance, as always. The prizes were given away and it was the end of the event.

Though we didn’t do anything much during the entire symposium, we had a great time, just mixing with the crowd and absorbing the atmosphere. I met many of my sister’s friends including Karthik (anna) for the very first time whose names were familiar to me from the gossips me and my sister indulge in. I was really glad that I had taken leave from school for attending something which was some real fun and served as a great relaxation for the mind.

Here, I would like to congratulate all of them who spent several sleepless nights including of course my sister Sujatha (how can she be kept away from this article if I have to attend next time too?) and surmounted many obstacles to “EVOLVE, CONFLATE and EMBELLISH” , Pranav 06.

I can’t wait to attend another symposium.Is there anyone from SSN college around? ;-)

Draadloze Dreamz!!

“All of you, please keep quiet for a moment will you? “, I asked at the top of my voice. I scanned the room, 13 girls scattered all over the room chatting among themselves. I had enough of this. I couldn’t take this anymore. If everyone continued to discuss issues within themselves I would erupt with anger. When I was sure I had everyone’s attention, I took a deep breath and said, “ look guys, its getting late, we need to finish this soon and get back home, its better if we get down to work and that can happen only when we keep quiet .So, lets pull up our socks and start the recording. This radio show has to go well, get it?” Everyone nodded. “Good”.


Well, when our English ma’am asked us to do a radio show, that was probably the last thing I wished for. After a disastrous radio show in standard IX, I was in no mood to do it all over again. Selection of programs, scripting, recording, planning and most of all handling 13 girls was a Herculean task. But I got down to it pretty soon, partly because I wanted to get over with it soon and to do a better job this time.


First up, I sat with the entire group and we decided the shows. A public poll, a program to dedicate songs, jokes, general information, a guide to learn French was all we had, but putting that in order and the carrying it out in a systematic way took us a hell lot of time. I took up the task of scripting, because that’s something I like, and was the hostess. We organized a day to meet up and finish the recording. We all poured into Netra’s house, whose mother was kind enough to let 14 girls ruin her room. At 2pm, we started our work . Public poll was to be recorded first. We used an awesome CD with great music, given by Vidhya, which proved to be a great asset to our show. Deepika was managing the background score for us and frankly speaking, that was one of the toughest jobs and she did a great job of it. Rama and Netra did a show on French which turned out to be good even though they wrote its script only after I lost my temper all over again. The best thing was all of us ended up learning some French .Divyas(2 of them), Aishwarya, Shwetha, Aarthi, Shazana, Aganya,Mahathi, all of them did their jobs with perfection. We named the radio “Draadloze”,101.1 FM. Any guesses what Draadloze means?

We finished the recording by seven ‘o clock and with the rain pouring hard on us we made our way to the bus stop and caught an auto (what an irony!!) The job wasn’t done there. It took Vidhya and I two more days to finish the re-recording that included sacrificing our preparation for a computer science test. Well, ultimately the show turned out well. Ma’am liked our radio and show and we are hoping that our principal liked it too cos’ we haven’t collected it back from her yet! ;-)

Believe it or not, my blood pressure did increase many a times during this whole recording, man, little did I know that handling so many girls was such a big headache!!!

So, this is RJ Sandhya signing off, take care, shabha kher, adios, chao and salaam namaste….

Classroom Conflicts!

“Is NaCl ionic or covalent?” Ionic” screamed a bunch of students.” What hybridized state is Methane?” Another flurry of answers. “How do you measure the moment of inertia of a thin circular disc?” “How do you measure the coefficient of viscosity by Poiseuille’s method?”
Oh god! What more? Ionic or sp3 hybridization, why should I care?
In fact, I have to. I have to care, I should know how to calculate the moment of inertia of a disc and I should learn Poiseuille’s method. All for one simple five letter word called “MARKS”. It sounds rather crazy and funny, but at the end of our schooling, this is the one that ‘pays’.
I usually crack when I see my classmates begging and bargaining for 2 or 3 marks. After a full session of bordering on irritation, compulsion and finally frustration, the teacher gives in and awards a few marks. Oh man, what a life? Being surrounded by a plethora of geniuses is indeed difficult.
For instance, take my example. I am a good student. I am surrounded by students who have been gifted with better intellect, which they make full use of. I enjoy leading my life the way I like it, like sleeping, eating, reading and of course, writing. Studying??? I’m not quite sure. Being buried in books day and night revising and re-revising all the portions is not my idea of studying. And if that is what it takes to be a good student, no thank you, I would prefer the way I am.
Towards the end of the day at school, when I am practically dozing off, an interruption in the form of a doubt can really get on my nerves. Oh great¡ here I am, hardly able to understand what the teacher is saying and on the other hand, this person has some doubts to ask. Are these people called geniuses or am I a fool?
I do accept that there are many intelligent people who are just as much fun as the other average students but somehow they don’t fit into my idea of fun loving people. There is another extreme where the student keeps studying 24 hours and lives in the anticipation of joining IIT. No time for leisure, no time for gossip or fun? How can one live like that? It is true that most of the time the student is pressurized by the parents who are successful doctors or engineers and expect their children to end up that way. But the trend just doesn’t end there. Parents who have not been all that successful too, put pressure on their off-springs to emulate some other fellow student/s who top the school or class with scant regards for an individual’s inherent intellect, ability or skill. Can they not realize that it won’t take a second for the ward to ask them the question – “Why didn’t you do so?” Life can be so miserable.
In a recent speech delivered to parents, teachers and educationists, Mr.Azim Premji urged them to encourage and develop the students’ natural skills and abilities rather than making them “memory machines” which curbs their thought process and flowering of latent talent. ‘When some one does some thing that he really enjoys and is sincere about it, success will fall in place’, he contends.
Isn’t that absolutely true???Anyhow, I am here today, airing these views but who knows in two years time I might be running back and forth with my marks for a seat in a “good engineering college”!

The Sms Saga!

Beep beep. One message received. “Good morning”.
Options-Reply-Empty screen –“Hi da, good morning”.

This is one usual routine that takes place in my home or probably many other homes as well. This little article is to make people obsessed with mobile phones realize how silly they can be!

Characters:

Sujatha – The girl obsessed with mobile phones and smses!
Sandhya- The little sister who is irritated with her sister’s obsession!
Mother- Who is tired of advising her daughter!
Mobile phone – The irresistible culprit!

SCENE -1
Time – 10.30 pm
Location- Home sweet home

Beep…beep…..
Sandy- Switch that stupid cell phone off and let me sleep.
Suja- It’s my friend di, you don’t bother, just sleep.
Sandy- Whatever!

Beep… beep…
This time it’s my mother.
Mother – Suja, andha phonea off pannittu padukkara vazhiyai paaru…
Suja- nee thoongu maa….naan edho pannikuraen….

This continues for a while and after a few minutes all of them are in deep sleep.

SCENE -2
Time -6 am

Beep…beep
Mother- I never need an alarm to get up!
Suja- (keeps quiet and messages back)
This messaging continues even amidst my mom’s scolding and the time to get ready to go to college.

My sister is so busy smsing most of the time that she hardly knows whats happening at home or in her surroundings. Most of the time she doesn’t even reply to what I say…..seriously!

SCENE -3
Time- 5 pm (just after she returns from college)

Sandy- “So, how was college today?”
Suja- (no reply)…??
Sandy- “I asked how was college today?”
Suja- After a pause and a surprising look at my face, “I need to watch that movie CD which
my friend gave me.”

Thanks a lot…that’s what I wanted! I wonder what these cell phones have that we don’t have. Smsing has become one of the most popular things among college goers these days. Who would have thought that my sister, who once upon a time was an introvert would land up making so many friends that she doesn’t have
time for her own family…zamana badal gaya hai! (Times have changed).

Whenever the two of us go out together, I make an attempt to talk to her about school and other gossips, but that never happens, this little thing called “nokia 6610” always comes in the path. I wonder how such a small thing can do so much!

My dad recently read an article on the internet as to how a little girl who kept smsing got her fingers
so swollen that she couldn’t move her hands for three months. My dad, fearing that that might happen to his daughter told her about it. But neither articles nor advices worked, for it’s the same old story even now!

When I asked one of my sister’s juniors why he used sms other than a direct conversation, I was stunned by his answer –“We must make best use of technology”!
(gulp) times have surely changed!

If this is the case now, what will it be like when I enter college? Will I join this groove? Whatever!!

As for now, I’m planning how to prepare myself technically, physically and mentally to protect my sister from this little culprit! ;-)

Coincidence Clicks!

Before I start, let me tell you all that this article is my shortest yet, following comments about my lengthy attempts earlier. Hope you enjoy it. Here it goes..

Itis funny how certain things happen coincidentally. As for me, coincidence just surprised me two weeks back.

It was my first day in a new school (DAV Gill Nagar) and like everybody else I was also in the mood to make some new friends. As I entered the school to find a bunch of new students, I met a girl (she happened to come in the same van as mine). I introduced myself and she responded by introducing herself as Vidhya,ok that was a pretty common name. Who would have thought that that name had a lot of history associated with me.


Consequently, we were put in the same section. Well, then there was no stopping us. We chatted and chatted and chatted (very likely when two girls get together!)Then, after a couple of hours, we came to discussing about our childhood. I told her that I studied in Saudi Arabia. "Coincidentally" she said she also came from the same school as mine. Well, that's when we realized something.. we both were from the same school and same section in second standard in Saudi Arabia! I remember talking to a girl called Vidhya, but she left the school soon after I joined, so our friendship lasted only a few days. But approximately after 9 years, we met each other in India in a school again and in the same fashion! I couldn't help laughing..it was such a great moment. Meeting your long lost friend after nine years! The funnier thing was that we both lived in the same street all these years (in India) and we never had any idea..man, this is just awesome!!!

When I think about those days in II-Q, (that was our section), two little girls talking childishly about silly things, having no idea where this friendship would lead us to, and here we are ,sitting next to each other in XI- E ..Was all this just coincidence or destiny's game?

Whatever it may be, "This is what life is all about!"

A Tryst With Musec!!!

“And the second prize goes to Meenakshi College”, boomed singer Unni Menon’s voice through the mike. “Oh man!” sighed the students of the the college who had lost and sadly put their hands together to congratulate the winning team. They threw an envious look at the other team as they leapt with joy, in a sort of ecstasy.

Meanwhile, a few kms away in a second floor apartment in T.Nagar, the telephone rang. Two people hurdled towards the phone. The elder among the two picked up the phone. “Hello”. “Hello ma, this is Sujatha”, after a brief pause she said, ‘we lost’. The receiver’s voice dropped, but gained courage to say, “Its ok, good job”. She cut the line. The other one neither needed nor asked for an explanation. She went to the other room and took out her maths text book and continued her study - That was me.

This was the scene on 7th March, 2005 at approximately 8 pm. My sister’s college band had participated in the “Saptha Swarangal” inter-collegiate competition, reached the final and ended up as runners-up. This is how the things unfolded:

I remember my sister often complaining to me about her college being very strict and the absence of any extra curricular activity. Sujatha, who is fond of singing used to tell me – “You know what, SSN College has a music band of their own”.

An unexpected symposium in their college forced them to create a band to perform. Harini (an accomplished keyboard player) and Ravi (male vocalist) tried and brought together the best of talents from the juniors and seniors and that’s how the band was formed. Well, Shriram took charge of the rhythm pads, Prashanth the guitar, Bharadwaj chose to be the percussionist along with Srikanth becoming the “Krishna” (the eternal flute player) of the hurriedly assembled band. Aishwarya and Arthy were to lend support on the keyboards. Venkat Balaji and Natarajan were the other male vocalists while Sujatha and Ranjini provided the female voices.

One fine day, my sister came home in a rush and told us that the band was going for the saptha swarangal auditions. She went for practice and the next day we got the news that they were selected. The funnier thing was that they had the first round of competition on the next morning itself. That left just about half a day for selection of songs and practice; their opponents were - guess who - SSN College of engineering! The practice scheduled for 3:15 started at 5:15pm , with about twelve people cramped in our house. They practiced the whole night and slept for hardly about 30 minutes. It was a rare sight to see all the instrumentalists sleep over their instruments and over one another. Next morning, they all headed towards the Sun TV office. We just hoped they didn’t sleep during the performance!

After about six hours of tortuous wait we got the call. They had won! It was the most joyous moment of our life. We felt as though they had got a Grammy award!!! I jumped up and down. But that meant they had to put up a better performance in the next round. Their practice sessions collided with my preparations for the X board exams, and on the day I returned from my first board exam, the house was overflowing with people. The musicians in one room and the singers in another. I could hear full throated shouts (?) of “sukhama khamaya vigmahey”…. one of the songs for the next round. Wow!

I struggled to find place for myself in the crowd. My next paper was Maths, but I had six days before it and the entire practice session hovered around these 6 days. The next surprise was that they had defeated a formidable Hindustan College of Engineering - thanks to the guidance of Girish (I should be calling him anna!), an alumnus of the college. A case of friend turning foe!

-2-

Then, they defeated SHASTRA…..by now we got used to the surprises and the band’s winning ways. There was just one more round to go, the final. With my Maths board exam coming up and the sound of rocking music traveling around the house, the tension crept in. I was getting distracted but I refused to give up. I shut the door and concentrated on Mathematics. Surprisingly, they had just one day for the final. Honestly, I believe, they didn’t use the time they got in the morning appropriately. They came home at about 10 AM and actually started practicing at 9pm. With four rounds to practice for which included an own composition, they struggled through another sleepless night. But the practice paid off. Thanks again to Girish (anna) who came up with a great composition “ninaivugale”.

They were quite confident and made their way to the Sun TV office in Sridevi call taxi, which they considered to be a lucky charm! At 11:45 am my sister called up and said that they were performing first. They weren’t very happy with that because they had all along been performing second and had been winning. This was thought to be unlucky. They gave it their best shot. But unfortunately, neither lucky charms nor prayers worked. They were defeated by a strong team from KCG College of Engineering.

But it had been an eventful week, full of masti, magic, masala and of course MUSIC! I would have enjoyed it better but for the board exams. I keep recollecting those funny moments when the female vocalists would shut themselves in a room and shout at the top of their voices (they were actually trying to reach the high pitch!). And again those occasions when the boys sent missed calls to their friends for no reason at 2 AM! Though I wasn’t involved in it, it had been so good to experience mixed feelings of anxiety, happiness, sadness…..And you know what, I did my maths exam pretty well!! My ‘fave’ among the songs was “Veerapandi Kotaiyiley” that included every member of the band. In short, it was the “JOSHILA” performance!!!! A great song like this included the cooperation and synchronization of the entire band. The band was united, hence the song came out good…..and I just hope this band remains well knit for ever.

Music of Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College; “M U S E C” is here to stay.

Oh my gosh! It's Rahman!!

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"With another offer from Hollywood coming his way, A.R.Rahman's career has been looking skywards. And this means all Bollywood and Kollywood directors will have a tough time getting him to do the music for their films. But this certainly means one thing; Rahman is now going to have people listening to his music all over the world. With cameraman Sudhir Anand, Chuman Das, Delhi,NDTV 24x7 "


Click. I switched off the television."Wow", I thought." What a great man"." I just wished I could see him once!". I paused for a moment, then looked up at the clock above the television. Seven- thirty. Time to leave. I bid my mom and sister good-bye. I waited for my van for a couple of minutes and to my surprise my van was on time. I leapt into it and saw the familiar faces of my friends." Good Morning", my friend wished me." Good morning Lavanya", I wished her back.

I took out my social textbook and started revising a chapter in Civics Meanwhile our van driver played a cassette of one of A.R.Rahman's hits. I tapped my feet to it rhythm and tried to concentrate simultaneously on Civics, but Social Development and Rahman's music was not a very fitting combination!


It so happened that our van used to go past Rahman's house everyday, and my friend and I used to peep through the gate everyday, to catch a glimpse of someone at least, but without luck. The only person we used to see everyday was the watch man! But that day (29thJune, 2004) was our lucky day. Our van stopped right in front of his house. I was memorizing an answer when all of a sudden my friend stood up and started yelling ."Who is that".Who?Oh my gosh! It's A.A.R.Rahman. I looked up and well I was dumbfounded. My jaw dropped open. I was speechless. He was looking at us. I pinched myself. He had come outside to send off his children to school. I didn't blink. Unfortunately, something really bad happened. Our van zoomed off, leaving all our aspirations abrupt. Our plans of getting his autograph and talking to him were shattered. My friend, who happened to be a very big fan of Rahman and I, exchanged stupefied looks. That's when we realized whom we had seen. We were so excited that we were screaming with joy. Now's when I can understand how childishly I had behaved. Is that what happens when you see a great celebrity face to face?


I recall that moment now and then, when we had seen A.R.Rahman in his white kurta and blue jeans. What a moment! A day which had seemed so monotonous happened to be the best day ever. I spent the entire day in unlimited,unlimited,. I haven't got words to describe that feeling. No wonder it is always said,"Expect the unexpected"!

The longest weekend.....

Its been almost a year, but I've just got time to write down what happened about a year ago..Wondering what kept me so busy? Well, the word tenth standard is enough to explain everything.So here goes


It all started on 9th, December, 2003 , I clearly remember, I had my computer science exam on that day. All had been going well, when all of a sudden, everything went blur and I couldn't focus on my paper.This eventually developed into an unbearable headache. Sadly, I had to write another exam the same afternoon, with this horrible headache.. thanks to my teacher who gave me regular massage while writing the exam.Well this was the start. Slowly but steadily I started getting these headaches more frequently. So that's when we decided to meet the ENT as we expected it to be related with my frequent nose blocks ..

That evening my parents came hurriedly from our general physician's clinic and asked me to get dressed quickly..we were to go to the ENT 's place.As we reached there, the doc, who happened to be a very stern but a kind gentleman inserted into my nostrils cotton dipped in some kind of solution. He said it would make the inner portions of my nose numb..as he inserted them inside, the bitterness of the medicine traveled through my throat ; I twitched.He performed video endoscopy to look into the internal parts of my nose.He tried to explain to me all the parts within my nose,but I wasn't able to follow anything as everything looked pink and fleshy and some kind of liquid kept oozing out of it..it looked sick! The only thing I remembered was the word "Eustachian tube" (the tube connecting the ear and the nose)..to my disbelief, the doc asked me to concentrate on all that he said and told me that he would ask me all this the next time I visited his hospital.I gave a silly smile, mumbling to myself.Coming to the main part, the doc said that I had a septal deviation and chronic sinusitis! For the uninitiated,septum is the wall which divides the left and right hand sides of the nose and in my case, it was a bit crooked leaving less space for inhaling oxygen..as a result of less oxygen reaching the brain, headaches develop, which was happening with me.Wondering how I know all this information? This was a result of a mini research using the encyclopedia at my home and the internet on the anatomy of the human nose just to make sure I was able to answer all the questions asked by the doc (Oh! one more headache!)

Moreover, the number of sinus bags in each side of the nose where more in number than the required ones.all this was the cause of my nose blocks and headaches.This thing existed ever since I was a little child because I remember my mom telling me about the nebulizer that the doctors used to free me from my nose block when I was just 21 days old.

Thus, my trip to the doctor's clinic increased steadily and so did the number of endoscopies.. So, the doctors(the doc and his daughter) decided that it was better for me to undergo a surgery. Now that didn't come as a pleasant surprise for my mom as she gets a little to touchy when it comes to surgeries.

So, the day was fixed , 29th May,2004.I went through a set of scans- MRI ,ECG, Chest X-Ray and a number of blood tests the previous day.When I came home, I was dead tired and spent the rest of the time watching the world premiere of Harry Potter. Unfortunately, I had to wake up early the next morning and have a good breakfast and enough water because I was asked not to have a sip of water nor a bite of food after that that left a gap of nearly 7 hours before my surgery.We(my parents and I) reached the hospital 2 hours in advance.. the sight , smell and sound of the whole area was sickening,frankly, when your go to place like this you feel as if you are suffering from a very horrible disease but I kept my cool and went to my room it wasn't too big but it was clean.. a bed opposite to the door, an AC on the other side, a window, sofa and of course a toilet,after a long wait, the nurse appeared ,checked my BP regularly and then finally injected something which she said would relax me and put me to sleep,and so it did.In a while I felt dizzy and lay back on the bed.At a state when I was almost asleep,the doc appeared in his operating costume and a couple of people transferred me to another bed and took me to the operating theatre.I was almost asleep but I could still feel the chillness of the AC in the OT. The anesthetist who happened to be a very kind person, asked me about my school and its address just to distract me ...and very slowly stuck into my wrist a needle with a funnel like projection through which the other injections would be passed through. He injected a medicine and placed the oxygen mask on my nose and asked me to take deep breaths and in a while I was in a deep, deep sleep..I had no feeling, no idea of what was happening. Truly speaking, those three hours of my life were almost like facing death…because you don't have the slightest sense of what it happening..

After what felt like ages, I opened my eyelids, as if coming out of coma, I saw the similar faces and the other equipment. The doctor told me ,"the operation is over". I showed no reaction..that was because I could speak anything as my nose was completely sealed with bandage and was breathing through my mouth. As I was taken out of the OT, I could feel the sudden increase in temperature..I heard my mother's voice calling out my name and could see figures of my dad and other relatives.. my throat kept going dry.The anesthetist asked me several questions to make sure that I was in my senses..

The worst part was yet to come..I guess I suffered more after the surgery than during the surgery itself..my nose was completely covered, internally as well as externally. The absence of a mirror in the ward made me look at my reflection on the curved surface of a steel flask. I kept vomiting out blood the entire day,no matter what I ate or drank.A letter from my dearest friend in the evening , brought back the smiles on my face.. I was more than happy when I found that the bandage would be removed the next day but that happiness didn't last long because even after the removal of the bandage my nose remained completely blocked.That lasted for over a week. That meant, doing three things with my mouth talking ,eating and of course breathing! The worst part was that my nose kept bleeding always and I had to hold a tissue with me always and at night the blood would coagulate and dry u around my nose making me feel sick. I would have to wake up the next morning and scrap off the dried blood..All this lasted for nearly 2 weeks and of course the regular check ups didn't provide much of an entertainment.

With all this done, I am here writing without even one side of my nose blocked and not having a headache..Thanks to Dr.Babu and Dr. Deepa!!!


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