25 years from now....

When you are spending more than the usual amount of time sitting doing nothing much, you can either have really negative thoughts or else you think too deeply about stuff which should not have mattered to you otherwise.
I am in the midst of my summer-break at IIT Kanpur and in my spare time, I have been thinking about and discussing really unusual stuff with my friends. Although I am just halfway through with my degree programme and have two more years to go. However, when you spend so much time with people of your own age you tend to develop a special bond with quite a few of them.
Due to similar reasons, you have this uneasy feeling at times that you are going to leave them all one day and head off in completely different directions. My friends and I were talking about this one day. Then we began picturing our reunion, 25 years from now.
The first thing that came to our mind was that the people who are doing 5 year courses (which is quite a few of my friends) would not have their reunion bash with the rest of us. So, some pain right away. And then we pictured ourselves with greyish hair, more civilised demeanor (hopefully :P ) and most importantly with a family (:O, again hopefully).
All of it felt so weird. Then we would talk about stuff we used to do much to the bewilderment of our spouses and kids. How will it feel to stand in the same mess queue, visit the same lecture halls we now detest and visiting the rooms where we spent most fascinating years of our life? Would we remember everybody and their idiosyncrasies which we just can't do without presently? Well, I believe we would because they seem so much a part of us currently... However, everyone knows that in spite of the shrinking world (due to the very familiar orkut, facebook, etc.), rarely do we care for the people we have left behind, largely due to the pressures of our life.
Well, I really think I would not prod this issue further... One thing's for sure; Reunions are meant to be special and if any of my batchmates is reading this.... he will know -- ours will be too!!!

Boredom spawns creativity...

I won't necessarily call it boredom... While sitting in my lab, I wrote this totally stupid parody of the Ronan Keating song, "When you say nothin' at all". Then I spent some hours drawing stuff and playing the song on my guitar, before finally putting it together in a video.
I hope it makes its audience (if there is any) smile, if not laugh....

P.S. I cannot help if you totally detest the vocals :), and listen to it wearing earphones, if available. The recording quality isn't great!!

iitj@iitk.ac.in ...

Now, this is an important issue. I can only pray that the people behind the scheme of introducing six new IITs have thought out well ahead and know what all this is leading to. Imagine that the first six IITs took around 25-30 years to make a mark for themselves and now we have six new ones springing up like worthless mushrooms, sucking out life from the greener grass to survive.
Come to think of it. There is only one reason of naming these institutes as IITs - cashing on the brand name!! The government could have set up "institutes" (and not IITs) and helped establish a good educational standard.

Moreover, what kind of a future are those nearly 800 students going to have who will be meted out step-motherly treatment from their foster institutes?? For the first three years of their programme they would attend evening classes, kept away from institute posts and honours, thus losing out on the very essence of college life. On the cost of exaggerating, i would say this could have a lasting impact on their lives... And this would continue for the first two or three batches.

Another problem is 'infrastructure'. We, at IITK, have been having serious issues for the past one year regarding allocation of hostels due to the increasing number of seats. There has been discontent among a major chunk of the student community due to their batches being split up to accomodate the increasing number of heads. Now, when they see their problems multiplying due to people (and i'm sorry to say that) who do not deserve to be in IIT, they are justified to curse the policy makers.

The IITs have maintained their status as a premier technology institution for a very long time. I hope God puts in some sense into our policy-makers before they ruin the good work done by some sane people. :)

And by the way, the email id in the topic is for real. This is where you mail if you have any queries regarding IIT Rajasthan. So much for a separate identity... :P

Time to read...

I have been in Kanpur for the past twenty days. Well, yes, I have my summer break but I am doing a summer project so I am braving the heat wave without the usual coolers and ACs. However the stay has been real fun. I had firmly made up my mind that I will rejuvenate my reading habits which have reached near extinction of late. With high ambitions, I caught hold of "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. The first few pages were really ambiguous. Moreover, the mammoth size of the book and the illegibly small print got me less and less excited until I finally gave it up.

Then I chanced upon Chetan Bhagat's "The 3 mistakes of my life". Now, the size of the book and my past experience with Bhagat's books encouraged me to pick it up. Little wonder I finished it in close to 3 hrs. There's something about this guy's writing that just grips you. This one's handled graver issues than the previous books. The way the author has written about religious divides in Gujarat (the Godhra issue, etc.) is worth some appreciation. The plot is gripping and the language is in-your-face, as always. This one is definitely, at least, a one-time read.

Before I sign-off, I have an interesting observation. Bhagat has written three books. We have three protagonists whose names were Hari (FPS), Shyam (one night...) and Govind (3 mistakes). Can you find the connection here???

P.S. I have started off with "Atlas Shrugged" again and I am more determined this time around... :)

Reasons I am here...

Since the time I was really small I have had this weird habit of thinking too much... and I am not saying I can boast about this habit because I believe the stuff I thought about wasn't always useful. Then I have this strong opinion on everything and of late I have been in the habit of ruthlessly trying to impose "my" opinion on everybody I meet. More or less everytime this has ended up in hours of heated discussions, culminating in angry uproars and minor rifts.
So, I think I would rather write everything that comes to my mind and be happy without causing trouble to anybody... :)

Another reason of starting a blog is ... well ...

I am sitting here in this boring room,
It's just another sunny 'friday' afternoon,
I am wasting my time, I got nothing to do,
I am feeling so dull, I'm feeling so blue....

And...ya... this is THE reason... :P