Textbooks or Jokebooks

The month of November this year seems quite unlike the rest of the months, for me (and I believe for the rest of my Engineer friends too who graduated this year). One simple reason for that – I'm not studying this time of the year around! Four years isn't a short span not to get used to studying during the PL (better part of November and initial few days of December)

Just this thought forced me to go back to those PL days: the cocktail of jounces, insightfulness, confusion, frolic and panic! One very crucial point of debate during these PL days, while studying, was whether or not to use reference books wholly…

They said: Don't use local author books to study.
They meant: We use them to make our notes. So we don't want you to find out. You may suffer.

They said: Use only foreign author reference books.
They meant: We don't understand them. But it's cool to say we use them. You may suffer.

I confess, I'd used local author text books for most subjects (which amounted to sacrilege in our department); but not because everyone else did, but because I didn't find a better book to study from.
Right at this moment as I write, I'm reminded of a comment made by my friend Aditya: "Would you use a technical book from Pakistan because it is foreign?"

But then I'm diverging from the issue. Are the local author text books readable? Should I spend money reading junk? Or wait a minute, it isn't complete junk, it's entertainment!
A word/phrase goofed up, I'm used to, not a big issue. But what I read from a friend's text book yesterday made me go for this subject; I'm reproducing directly this interesting piece of information I happened to read from the Multimedia Systems text book (Third Year) published by Tech-Max, Page no. 3-17, the chapter on 'Audio'. Read on:

Music consist of following things :

    * Songs
    * Rhymes
    * Tunes
    * Poems
    * Remix songs
    * Ragas.

Music is divided into two groups as follows:

Classical Music: In classical music there are various artists based on their Gharana. Ragas and other songs are played in the classical music. This is a typical classical music. This is based on seven Suras : sa_re_ga_ma_pa_dha_ni and combination of these. India has rich cultural heritage in classical music. Lata didi has sung the highest number of songs in various languages.

Western Music: Western music is like Pop, Rap, and much more. You can get more familiarity with western music if you take look in MTV or V Channel.

Ok, I’ve checked it again. It’s exactly as it is in the book – word by word, no spelling mistakes on my part. I couldn’t put sic after every line, but then reading this does make me sick (excuse the pun if it was one). I’m only enlightened about genre of music and Lata didi.

If this is the reason why they did tell us to use reference books, then I’m all for it, or rather should have been :-(
Dash it. Would I’ve passed?

PS: Jokebook for Sale. Multimedia Systems for Third Year IT.

So BE It, Then!

Ladies & Gentlemen, may I've your kind attention please...

Mr. Rohan Pandit of the Modern College of Engineering has successfully completed the 4-year course of Bachelor of Computer Engineering (in 4 years!) and is now (much to his delight) a First Class Computer Engineer!

* applause *

He wishes to have a few words with you all, gathered here on the occasion of Grad Day.

Can we have Mr. Rohan Pandit on stage please...

Thank you :-)

Hello,

First of all, thank you all for the good wishes :-) I'd like to start with a unique piece of coincidence my friend Harshad pointed out -> we started Engineering (F.E.) on 17th August 2005 and completed it (B.E.) on... you guessed right - on 17th August 2009. If for no significance, just a piece of statistic all the same.

I, here, have been asked to live over the experience of all the four years of Engineering, in what 10 minutes time... a rather daunting task, I believe. I'll try my level best to come up with it...

At the start, I would be lying if I were to tell you that I wasn't part of the bandwagon to join the Engineering course after 10+2... and almost repented it through the entire First Year (F.E.)! Though scrapped through with a First Class in the first sem, I'd battle-Royale with the M-A-D (Math II, Applied Mechanics, Drawing for the non-Engineers) demons in the next; and did it live up to the expectations! Overpowered M, but failed to do it against A & D (I assure you nothing was Angelic about it ;-) )! I wouldn't disrobe my friends of the silken pleasures of D-Day by describing about those three.

All-in-all a good year to understand that irrespective of what you study, how much you study, there's hardly any guarantee that you'll succeed in the final exam, unlike the exams uptil 10+2!

Move on to the Second Year (S.E.) and here I was actually studying what was related to my branch. Made new friends, came to terms with the dreaded thing called Submissions, etc.

Definition of Submissions: Bring out the best in an Engineer...and the worst in a Human Being...

Even learned new tips & tricks on how to claim programs/codes, which you conveniently stole from your seniors, as yours :-D Other than that, it wasn't much of anything else that year - more of confined to the four walls of the classroom :-(

Third Year (T.E.) was very different, exciting and topsy-turvy than the previous two years: with all the active participation in the extra-curriculars, college tech-event, Campus Placements, et al. I needn't tell you that all helped me immensely - in their own ways.

Just when I thought I was "settling" into the "Engineering lifestyle", there had to be another hiccup :-( This time, I would be the last one even to mention it, leave aside describing it. Two things I learned from it - my relation with a pendrive will never be the same again and completely understood the meaning of the saying "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" :-(

Campus Placements the next semester more than made up for it. I'd the privilege to be part of a fantastic and enthusiastic team: at the helm being Prayag. In Ameya, Vrushali, Rohan, Ritvik, Parishrut, Pankaj and Ravi I'd found some very good friends. All those early-mornings, mundane-afternoons and late-nights (working ;-) ) are completely unforgettable!

The initial few days of the Final Year (B.E.) were majorly spent in search of a sponsored Project. Luckily we got it without much fuss. After the initial brainstorming over the platform to work on and the Project title to select, we had an added excuse to bunk college (you're not supposed to attend college in the Final Year, remember?!) I'm not sure if we created a record by not attending a single Lab in the Final year, but we undoubtedly had the best times of our life then: class trip to Mahabi being of prime mention.

The Project customarily gathered momentum in the the 2nd sem after a lull in the 1st sem. The entire Project was one thing our group of three did sincerely in all the 4 years!

Studying for the final exams in the last PL seemed an eternity and obviously the most boring thing to do (as if it was different in the rest of the 7 PLs :-P)... and finally the ordeal had to end, allowing the birds to fly free...!

Last but not the least, it would have been mighty tough for me alone to trudge this arduous path hadn't it been for my comrade-in-arms Ranjit Raje who stood beside me during the high & lows... every moment, literally! Thanks for that Ranj, your companionship has been priceless... and I hope will continue to be so :-) (so much for the Sholay-type friendship :-P) To rest of my friends, seniors... all those who helped me during the last 4 years - a BIG Thank You! Oh BTW, where's the party tonite? ;-)

* applause *

That was Mr. Rohan Pandit for you, Ladies & Gentlemen...

PS: Excuse me for the self-appreciating applause

Done-Dhana-Done :-D

I'm thrilled to bits! I'm ecstatic! I'm going bonkers! I'm super excited! I'm unimaginably 'high'! I'm mighty satisfied! I'm having an unparalleled sense of relief! I'm on Cirrocumulus! I've neither equaled Roger's Wimbledon feat nor scaled the Mt. Everest nor bagged an Academy Award/Filmfare nor had a date with Penelope Cruz! Ladies and Gentlemen, Guys and Gals - I'm finally done with my Engineering. I'm finally out after 4-years RI :-P Isn't this more than a reason to be in the kind of mood that I'm in? PS: Please excuse or bear with me, if the next few posts continue to relate to this very 'accomplishment'.

The Show-Stopper Is Here Again

Well, yet again it's the month of memorising the subjects; yes it is! No creativity, no fun, no outing, no surfing...whatever you call it, it's here again. I am glad though it's my Final Year...just the last time I'll be "going through the motions" and come June 2, I'll be hopefully done with it! I know I might've cribbed enough about this stuff...but I just can't stop. But then again, now that I am in this System, I have to make the most of it, so I will try to "memorise" it once again and hope that at least this time I do well...

Observations & Realizations

For my previous post, I kinda expected at least a couple of comments. So I guess I need to infer that either nobody read the post or 'The Test' was so easy that nobody bothered commenting or lastly, nobody was able to solve 'The Test'! I hope that the last option rather be not true. Whatever be it, it'll not be a deterrent to my 'A-post-a-day' endeavour... :-)

*****

Now that I'm on the threshold of graduating (completing Engineering, woowie!), I observed some things; I realized others, during all these four years of college. So, this post is about some observations I've made and some realizations I've had over the past couple of years... - Observations Observation 1: You'll find yourself nodding and smiling at people whom you absolutely hate or are jealous of. As soon as the person passes you by, you say a****** in your head. And guess what? He's doing the same behind you. Observation 2: You'll be standing somewhere looking at a hot chick ("the chances of you being in an Engineering college then, are less", did somebody say that?) A couple of seconds later, a very lame looking guy will come and start talking to her. Then, together they'll leave with the girl riding pillion with him. This happens more than once. After some days, you'll get so used to the ritual that you won't even ask the question - "Why him? Why not me?" Observation 3: There will never be any hot babes in your class. They will always be in the other section. And they'll have at least 3 girls around them at all times. And when you're unlucky, you'll even have a couple of guys talking to her. Basically, if you're thinking you're gonna talk to her when she's alone, you might as well start finding a new girl. - Realizations Realization 1: Asking for another sheet (supplement) in a test while almost all of the class doesn't know anything doesn't do a lot of good. The teacher might like you but the students certainly won't appreciate it. Bottomline is, the teacher is only there for one semester. The classmates are there for 4 years! Realization 2: Hoping that the teacher wouldn't notice you laughing your heart out when you're sitting right under her nose, doesn't go a long way in proving your intelligence. Realization 3: Going to the office for some Principal-related work to realize that you're not aware of the 'latest' Principal. But then, by the rate at which they change in my college, I'm not the one to blame! Oh shit! I just realized that I still have to appear for a Practical and a Viva and the Theory exam; and I haven't even started studying. But all these years I've observed that this situation is no different :-P PS: Observations 2 and 3 are completely hypothetical (can't expect anything more while studying Engineering, right?). Though I'm damn sure, guys out there will second my observation in general!