How to Leave ??

When you start working, you will realise that 'A leave' is something that becomes as precious a commodity as water & electricity. Use very sparingly. And when you really need to have one, there are fewer than a few ways of getting them without any tricks.



#1 Donate Blood -
What you do - Sell blood to get a leave
Advantage - You get points for Social Responsibility
Disadvantage - You loose good amount of blood.



For those who are too afraid to be pierced with a needle, I'm sorry, Science is yet to find a method of transferring blood via BLUETOOTH.



#2 Fall Sick -
What you do - Pretend to fall sick
Advantage - You get free medicines out of company cost
Disadvantage - You could actually be fired for lying(if caught)


For those who are too naive to lie, Act fast before science finds it way into corporate houses, you could be caught lying on the phone through voice modulations.



#3 Have a baby
What you do - You know !!!
Advantage - (Optional) You get married.
Disadvantage - Works only for women.


Again a word of caution before trying this : Cross-check the family details your HR has and give at least one year gap between two consecutive such leaves.



#4 Get IOW(Injury on work)
What you do - Wait for a 5000 ton press to 'Nearly' fall on you/ 'Nearly' suck yourself in the compressor fan/ 'Nearly' manage the metal chips to cut you through/ etc etc;
Advantage - Straightforward - you can enjoy a leave of as long as a month
Disadvantage - You can do nothing much on a hospital bed, can you?


Again here, Not taking the word 'Nearly' seriously could prove to be Fatal.




Anybody has better ways of having a leave please do communicate.

Online Cat - Suggestions !!

Well, this is an open letter to T.I.M.E , the pioneer in CAT coaching to resolve some of the issues bothering its students. Hope it catches the right eye :|

To
TIME,
Across India

There are certain issues many CAT aspirants have been discussing of late and there are some things that we are very unsatisfied with. The first and foremost being the large test window for writing the AIMCATS. Unlike the paper-pencil format where we had the option of re-doing the questions/ attempting the unsolved ones once back home, in the online format there is an alienation for almost 10 days. Even a test window of 7 days seems very long. When finally the paper was released after the test window what we find is that the questions and answers are provided together. I believe you too would know there is vital difference between solving a question whose answer you do not know and whose answer is clearly visible. And add to it the adoptation of online AIMCAT by various centres across INDIA - with the staff themselves not completely trained for the online version-, aspirants are very cross. The infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired.

However We believe that shifting from paper-pencil to online mode in such a short span is very difficult and TIME has been very generous in its decision not to burden the student with an increase in fees. The approach to online CAT itself is very satisfactory. We belive everything cant be gained and we have to make a few compromises or rather take time to adopt for online version but there are a few things we would like you to think upon and make the process of exam more benifitable.


For example, it is very difficult to provide very good infrastructure to each test centre for online CAT but providing a very sound software can easlily be done.

Atleast the attempted questions should be saved every 1 minute. The current pulse seems to be 15 minutes. We dont attempt more than one or two questions in a minute. The Timer should be such that if power fails and one has to relogin, the time should continue from the exact second.

The question paper (without solutions) after the exam should be available on the student home page of those who have given the test and in such a way that there is no provision of copying it to the computer. There still are ways to copy it by using external sources but not everybody knows these.

The net score of each individual should be given at the end of test with no mention of sectional rights and wrongs. The student if he desires can look at the questions and figure it out himself where he has gone right/wrong. (This will improve the reasoning skills of students too...)

Provision should be made for writing the non-invigilated online aimcats at respective test centres for those who feel they cant get the exam environment at home. It is possible there will be interruptions at home from curious siblings or a post man at the door.

If TIME is afraid releasing the question paper just after the exam will give way for misuse, it should remember that no honest-aspirant of CAT will try to know the paper beforehand and attempt. And with respect to dishonest takers, TIME need not worry as they serve them no purpose. The only thing that can deviate is the ALL-India Ranking which i think one can compromise for an instant score card.


One more thing is that both aimcats 1017 and 1016 are not allowed for those who enrolled only for the test series. I think for most of us who are giving CAT for the second time it is both economically and strategically feasible only to enroll for the test series. So, why is it that two consecutive aimcats are not allowed. But perhaps TIME has something in mind when it has taken this decision and is not of as much importance when compared with the earlier problems we put forth.

All of us (mostly previous students of TIME) still believe TIME is the best for CAT coaching. One should never curse the driver of the vehicle one is travelling in. So we hope TIME rectifies these little things for the sake of it's own standards that it has set over the past few years.

Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely,
CAT Aspirants

P.S : The problems i put forth largely might seem from those who are giving the CAT for the second/third time as they compare it with the paper-pencil format that has from long existed but these little things will be of valuable use for the first timers of CAT also. Morever among those who get iim calls the percentage of repeaters is higher than the first timers.

Room Excavation !!!

It is sad but you have to pack your things and go back. And when you start this final packing, you will unravel lots of interesting things that sat in the corner of your room till today. You look at them and listen to each of its stories while slowly packing.

1. A Doctor prescription dated 14th november 2007 that gave me spectacles for the first time and for life.

2. Two Citi residency discount coupons whose validity was over in August 2008.

3. A birthday card from Uday given 2 months after my bday and which read :

Some B'day cards are flowery and frilly,
Some B'day cards are goofy adn silly,
Some B'day cards are cold and sedate,
And some B'day cards like this one are,
.
.
.
Late !!!

4. Autumn 07 edition of Deja Vu- college's newsletter and My Article in it.

5. 'One love' song lyrics which i gave my junior to write during ragging.

6. A 40 page CAD-CAM assignment that took a whole day to write back then.

7. A ninth class computer text book i brought here to learn html which i never did. And also a logarithmic tables book.

8. A college letter that ordered us to refrain from ragging and get a signed letter from parents supporitng it. All of us forged it. No one will travel/courier 1500 kms to get a piece of letter signed.

9. The first question paper i set as part of Maths N Tech club, set of 30 questions to solve in 30 minutes.

10. A january 2006 calendar of events, that month I dont know why but i recorded everything, prominent of which are

Jan 15 - Gulti family rejoins after winter
Jan 21 - the first real session of ragging (which meant seniors beat you)
Jan 25 - Seniors asked me to propose shruti coz she was a telugu speaking girl
Jan 28 - Session got cancelled luckily.

There are a lot more things to look at and smile and upon.... Life always gives you memories. They dont come with pictures. They come with real things that you can touch and reminisce.

Final words !!!

This post is all about ME ... ME - Mechanical Engineering

It's good when things come to you when you least expect it. The departmental farewell was something that came so.

There were highs and lows in Dept of Mechanical Engineering and both were memorable. We gave two grand viva's that showed our real calibre. We were cross questioned by Professors on things we had no idea upon. We were dipped into CATIA when we least wanted to.(But this was of great help...). We just managed to get out alive from the Electrical machines laboratory. We sold 'Chededeen' to our professors. We minted marks for nothing. We were fined 25,000 /- rupees for NOT breaking a vernier height gauge. (It was cancelled after a month luckily...).We manipulated values of the Standard Units to get answers. Things like Simply Supported Beam and methods like Simplex Method were too complex for us. We painted our drawing sheets instead of Engineering drawing. We gave seminar's on each other's topics and project on senior's topics. But we were very decent. We didn't give mis-calls to the very professor who was teaching us in the class. We din't fling chalk pieces at them. We didn't comment them in their presence. :D

On the occasion of Farewell, I would like to record words of our professors in their final address to us:

Prof. I. Basak : Points at the banner behind that reads 'FAREWELL' and says " FARE WELL IN YOUR LIFE"

Prof.B.Halder : A chicken needs to come out of its shell to grow. But it should not forget the shell because it was what provided witht the initial nutrients for its growth. Never forget this shell - NIT Durgapur.

Prof. A.K. Pramanik : I taught you thermodynamics and it is my habit to deal with ideal processes and ideal cycles. You have been in such a state till now. You are going to go out of the ideal case into the real world. All the best.

Prof. N.Hui : Do not continue your future the same way you read Air conditioning and refrigeration (The toughest subject of ME), You need to control your life properly. And every time in life try to optimize and achieve maximum efficiency.(He teaches Control systems and operation research)

Prof. N.Banerjee : I will tell you a story. There was once a stone statue carver. He was selling his statues while a passer by asked him about another statue that was kept at the back of the stack. The carver said that it has a small hole and is defective. The man said that It wouldn't matter because when this was mounted at a height of 30-40 metres it wouldnt matter. No one would know its defective. The man said " I would know that it was defective." Similarly only the college and the professors know whatever defect is in you. Outside this world no one knows you. You are just 2k9 Mechanical Pass out. Use this oppurtunity to prove yourself inspite of what you were in the college.

Prof. A.K.Saha : The 2k5-2k9 batch rocked. It was a batch that took a lot of initiatives and that achieved a lot.

Prof.A.Layek : All the best for your future.

Don't know when the whole batch will meet again. It might not be long for there is a convocation. Hope we all make it and share our 5 month Real life Experiences.......

A Rupee's story !!!

I was born in 1991 in bombay. I weighed 10 grams when I was born. I still weigh the same. Over the years I look the same but I lost some of my shine. And always My net worth was just one rupee.

The very first transaction that I recall is the one when a kind-hearted man gave me to his son on the day of Eid-ul-fitr. I was shining like silver that day.The boy clutched me tightly in his hands all through that day. At the end of the day however I went in exchange to a lolli-pop.

I was in the possession of many boys. Some were good enough to give me to their mothers. Some kept me in their pencil box. But some tied a thread around me and dragged me all along the road. I was frequently used by high school boys to draw a circle and that made my edges black. I was used to represent how solar eclipses occur. I was used to represent nuclear fission reaction. I was used to give a simple example of probability. However I was too small to represent Rutherford's atomic model.

I used to travel a lot. Today in bombay and the next in calcutta. I remember an international visit too. I had to bear all the seasons. I would be cold in kashmir, hot in rajasthan and almost always wet in kerala. I was 10 years old when a boy put me on a railway track to see what would happen if a train ran over me. I survived when someone suggested him to replace me with a 5 rupee one. I was thankful to the minting press for making me slim.

One day I entered the NIT campus. The first purpose I served in the NIT was to decide who would bat first in the cricket ground. I was often used in exchange for the 101 and 111 top-ups of Reliance and airtel. There was a place called TECHNO where I exchanged hands nearly 60 times in an hour between 10-30 and 11-30 pm.

I was touched by both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I was licked by dogs and 3 year old's. I was the profit margin for a vegetable seller. I was the charity outside places of worship. I vanished under a magician. I was suddenly found in a bus-taker's pocket. I allowed people 60 seconds of chit-chat. I could fetch 15 marbles for a child. 2 of my kind could fetch 3 pani puri's to the teen. 3 of my kind would fetch protection for an adult. 4 of my kind would fetch a day's tobacco for an old man.


But now I am neglected. The two rupee ones seem to be everywhere. They are now circular and have taken my place in the geometry class. I don't fetch a newspaper anymore. I am not sufficient to predict your weight at the railway station. I don't know how many days before I loose my place in the bus conductor's pouch and the xerox machine's desk. May be in a few days I will not even be worth charity.


One day I fell in the hands of a 18 year old coin collector. He looked at the year inscribed on me. He loved the fact that both of us were 18 years old. And immediately I found myself in a dark box with a number of other coins. I suppose this is my death. And this box seems no less than a coffin. I have lost track of time since then. May be this is what it means to say '18 till I die'.


Everyone has desires in life. Even I do. I want to decide who would bat first in an India-Pakistan encounter. I want dhoni to take the call and I would willfully fall as per his wish. But it seems so far now. . . . . ! ! !