Back to the battleground !!

It's been almost a month since I reached Pilani and third year of engineering commenced. I wanted to write sooner but paucity of time, settling in period, insane schedules etc etc didn't let me. The temperature when I reached here was horrible. (It's a desert, what do you expect?) but it's improved over the last few days. It was good catching up with friends after the 2.5 months' gap. Have a mixed bag of courses this semester with a couple of electives thrown in.
 Well, what else, the pressure is on like every time. The curriculum is designed to keep you on your toes. My schedule over the past few days will give you an idea of the rigor. Had a presentation today so prepared till 1:30 in the morning for that and AFTER that started preparing for the 3 quizzes which might/might not have been conducted today. (Fortunately they weren't.) And it's been like that for the past fortnight now. Seriously the most precious commodity on campus is sleep. It probably is tolerable if you manage your time well, but unfortunately I don't, I am a sucker for instant gratification so end up doing the stuff that matters as late as possible.
 If you are wondering about the might/might not funda of the quiz- see BITS doesn't require you to attend classes. It's very chilled out that way and probably the only college I know of so far which requires 0% attendance. Some guys here (I prefer the word Gods) don't even attend a single class the whole semester! People are from other colleges actually are shocked on hearing this and instantly start complaining about the ridiculously high percentage of classes they are required to attend. But they forget one small point. The authorities and teachers here aren't idiots. If they were, they probably wouldn't be here. So the pretty little system they have devised and which is now as much a part if  BITS as the iconic clock tower is the system of surprise quizzes. Also referred to as "tutes" or "SupTs" inpopular BITSian lingo. We students have also devised our own stratagems like checking for the presence of the notorious brown envelope (teachers usually bring the quiz papers in that) when the teacher walks in and if it's not there, we can notify our friends who are anxiously waiting for the SMS which will grant them a reprieve so that they can resume their precious sleep and if the SMS turns out to be otherwise, the plan is to put on pants, take a pen and run as fast as you can for the class and if the teacher is merciful, you might be allowed to enter late. Another tried and tested way is to miss the next couple of classes immediately after the quiz because most (but not all) teachers are so diabolical that they will conduct two quizzes in a row.
But profs (teachers sounds childish) have also found ways to beat the systems, Some of the more infamous ones walk in innocuously without the dreaded envelope but when 10 minutes before the class gets over, their assistant walks in with  a devilish grin and armed with our worst nightmare- the brown envelope.
So it's a constant battle actually, one that we sometimes win and sometimes lose. If you are wondering what's the problem with missing a few quizzes, let me assure you that every single mark that you can scrape here is precious and hard earned and will count when the profs decide your grade, the one thing that most people here would literally kill for.
OK will probably tell more about the arbitrary stuff here as and when I get the time. Besides my laptop has constantly been giving me shocks since I started writing. (My "bhavan" (BITSian lingo for hostel) hasn't been earthed since the time it was built probably 50 or so years ago; hence the shocks. )  I have had my share of electrocution therapy for now.
 WTPA?

The cat is afoot.

Well this ain't exactly the other side as I said in my last post, I haven't reached Pilani yet but felt what the heck!
For some time now I was contemplating whether I wanted to be typecast an engineer and be like the hundreds of thousands of engineers who graduate each year. Sure, being a BITS Pilani graduate would probably mean a better compensation, still the job profile would be more or less the same. Though I am fairly competent at coding (even if I say so myself :P), it's not something I want to end up doing all my life (also, much more importantly, girls tend to be turned off by nerds :P). The work environment in some the better CS companies is quite alluring but still that's superficial to some extent and doesn't attract me much.
I read Lee Iacocca's (rhymes with Try-a-Coke-uh) autobiography some time back (reading's a big passion of mine, but has drastically reduced since coming to BITS), and the book had a detailed description of the life as a manager, the ups and downs, the innumerable challenges, the immense satisfaction, it was an inimitable mix, indeed. That book got me thinking especially because, Lee Iacocca, himself a graduate and a Ph.D from Purdue and Princeton respectively, chose life as a manger over life as an engineer, despite facing some resistance form the company, and look who is the face of American capitalism now?
So well, having nothing better to do in the holidays besides playing on the Xbox and immersed in deep contemplation, I think I have decided to pursue a management course after completing my graduation. There is quite some time left but as they say- "Work expands to fill the time available for it".
 I will keep you guys posted on progress in the same and actually I am thinking of joining the T.I.M.E. center outside BITS campus in Pilani as my third year begins. Being enrolled in a 5 year integrated course, I still have a couple of years to prepare.
Let's see how it goes.
BTW let me know what you like/love/dislike/absolutely hate about this blog. That way I can continue/change and actually know for a fact that I am not the only one reading this stuff LOL.
Ciao
WTPA?

A Week to Go ! 7,6,5....

There's exactly a week left to head to BITS Pilani as the holidays are sadly getting over. Back to the chaotic, pressurizing and yet exciting way of life. The late night strolls, coffee at ANC(all night canteen) at 2:00 AM, studying(or "ghoting" as it's called in BITS) for quizzes,assignments and what not. It's a way of life that you both don't want and yet can't do without. Academic pressure is quite high as you are with the best minds of your generation and all of them(except a few, who everyone looks forward to BTW :P) are highly motivated to remain on the upside of the competition., which in turn results in unreal average scores and sometimes it becomes a challenge just to meet the averages, let alone trying to be av+ as we BITSians like to call it.
But it would be unfair to list only the demerits of studying in a good engineering college. You learn to deal with the pressure, you tend to become good in having fun however bad the situations might be, you make lifelong friends, because the experiences you share are so unique that you can't help but become very closely bonded. The fun with pressure actually becomes addictive by the time you have to pass out. :)
So, anyways I am just spending the last few days of the holidays, trying to chill the max I can and mentally gear myself up for the next semester because with me it sometimes is the opposite, I tend to relax when it's crucial to work and when the holidays start I start cribbing over how I could have done things the other way round LOL. Let's hope it's the other way round this semester. :)
See you on the other side!!
Pilani, here I come!!
Ciao
WTPA?

Beginning of the Beginning

It was a fine rainy day when the results of the final iteration came out and lo and behold I was granted admission at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Pilani campus. Was a pretty memorable moment and in what seemed like no time at all, I set off with my family for the sleepy village of Pilani near the Haryana-Rajasthan border. It was a 6 hour ride and we were tired on reaching the but the grandeur in the air was clearly palpable as we stepped out of the car into the hallowed campus of one of the finest colleges in the country. The fact that the campus was pretty much as old as our country was evident fro  m the archaic architecture what with the domes and everything.
Well the first day passed quickly with the registration and everything and my parents left for home in the evening in what was a sentimental farewell because well I had never been away from for any length of time let alone 5 long years. Of course there would be breaks in between but you don't think that way at that time.
If any of you are wondering, it was a 5 year integrated course as I would be getting two degrees - one in Engineering obviously and the other in Biological Sciences (pretty cool, huh ?... well it probably wasn't or anyways I didn't think so at that moment)
So after the poignant farewell I went to my allotted room- Krishna 403. I had  a roommate whom I  had met earlier in the day while unpacking my stuff- let's call him Plaash (another anagram). He was short,squat, fat and was a pretty decent fellow mostly so I had no qualms about sharing a room with him for 1 year. So the net few weeks were spent in getting to know the wing-mates and getting familiar with the rigorous curriculum though the first few days were quite hard for everyone due to the harsh heat, academic pressure, new people and of course the LGMF (little green motherf&($%#, the tiny green insects which sting pretty hard and one of the many words in the BITS lexicon) who didn't let us sleep at night.
BTW since I had an integrated 5 year course I was not allotted an Engineering branch just yet and had to wait an year for the same and obviously because of the cut throat competition had to get a decent CGPA to get the branch of my choice- CS.
Well I won't bore you with the details and dwell on the smaller details of first year at BITS because even a book is too short for that but it passed fairly quickly what with the huge number of surprise quizzes, tests and other evaluation components. I made quite a lot of friends even though I preferred solitude to company, had my share of fights and well after slogging pretty hard for a year managed a respectable CGPA of just above 8 which got me the engineering branch of my choice.
So now fast forward to the end of 2 year (yeah I skipped a whole year- not much it was more relaxed as I at least had an assured engineering branch allotted to me........ and it was more of the same- huge academic pressure coupled with loads of social activities with friends which makes up the dizzying cocktail one can only have at the top 6-7 engineering colleges in the country )
2 year had mixed feelings in store for me as 2-1 was a pretty good semester while 2-2 wasn't that good so it kind of balanced out and I hoping to again be on the right side of 8 as I will get my CGPA after 10 days as my holidays end and the ante penultimate year at BITS starts. But I am beginning to sound like a nerd now so I better stop and let's wait and see when I can post next.
Ciao for now
WTPA
PS- If you like what you read- let me know, that's what will inspire me for more.
If you didn't, tell me what you hated.