A Trip to IITK

My recent visit to IITK was different from earlier visits. I didnt go there to write more exams but to tell the students about an important exam and how to prepare for it.

It was my first visit after graduating and I went on behalf of JP Morgan for the pre-placement talk. It was a short visit with an overnight stay in the campus. We reached IITK in the evening, gave a presentation to the students in which I spoke about "life of an analyst in JP Morgan" and left early the next morning.

It felt great to see many of my batchmates (who are pursuing their dual degree) and juniors. I had my dinner in Hall-9 canteen where I met many of my friends. I met most of the guys from Aero dual and TDPs (the group of telugu speaking guys) there. I then spent some time in Hall-1 Quad answering some of the queries which students had regarding career opportunities. I then went to Hall-7 where I met my final year wingmates. My tour of hostels ended with a small treat in Hall-1 canteen to some of my juniors.

The trip was different for more than one reasons. I realized why IIT Kanpur is a great place to be in. I was able to notice and feel many things which I never noticed in my 4 years of stay there. Those things which never came into my observation seemed to be very precious - the huge number of students with diverse interests, the silence which could have been found easily by just turing off the speakers, the professors, library and labs (yes!), playgrounds, the abundant time available etc. Those people who used to bore me to death (guess who? :P) looked like respectable intellectuals. Those roads on which I hated to walk seemed to be very pleasant and calm, especially at night. The library, to which I only went once a semester while registration, seemed to contain a lot of knowledge.

The campus, on the whole, appeared to be much more cleaner and beautiful than ever before, especially after going from a place like Mumbai.

P.S1: The only thing which didnt seem different was the GH, although a few residents changed.

P.S2:P.S1 need not necessarily mean something negative. Depends on how you look at it though.

Agyaat 2

******* continued from my earlier post*******

Considering the interests of various stakeholders involved in this prank, I am refraining myself from narrating the entire story. However I will conclude Agyaat by revealing the suspense, if there is any.

As a response to my earlier post, people came up with different guesses as to who the unknown person is. The answers ranged from "a real beautiful girl" to "a guy trying to take revenge on Bhaskar". But none of them were correct. Some readers went way ahead and began asking if I am Bhaskar. NO, I AM NOT!

I am really surprised that no one was able to guess it correctly. I couldn't believe how each and every reader trusted Shwaitang's words, just like Bhaskar. No wonder Bhaskar didn't realise it was a prank!

If you still didn't get it, Shwaitang is the one who did it all. He took a new mobile connection that day and so Bhaskar didn't have his number. When Bhaskar asked him to call, he happily called to his own mobile from his own mobile and confirmed that it was really a lady answering. As if he was referring to the Airtel-Auntie who said, "the person you are trying to call is currently busy"!

Needless to say, we had great fun at the Hypercity Mall, followed by a heavy treat to Bhaskar to cool him down!

P.S: Sorry for disappointing you. I really didnt try to copy RVG's style of having a disappointing climax here. It is just a coincidence!

Agyaat

******* based on a true story *******

It all started with an SMS from an unknown number that said, "I always wanted to tell you that I am having a crush on you right from the moment I saw you on floor". Bhaskar, who very recently shifted to Mumbai to join a huge Investment Banking firm, was surprised seeing that SMS. It is 10 pm. There were 8 more guys in the house at that time, all of them who joined the same I-bank along with him. Another SMS quickly followed. "I didnt want to surprise you. But I am not able to bear this any longer". Bhaskar didn't know what to do. He approached his friends for suggestions when a third message arrived. "Your reply is the only way in which we can end this".

Bhaskar called every one present in the house to make sure that no one is playing around with him. After confirming that it is not someone within the house, he decided to call and find out who the person (hopefully a girl) is. But he didnt want to call her directly. He felt that it would be a huge move and might scare the girl right away! So he asked Shwaitang, whom he believed was the most honest guy present in the house, to call her and find out if it is really a girl. Bhaskar also insisted that Shwaitang should call from his own mobile so that she will answer the call thinking it is someone else. So Shwaitang called from his own mobile and confirmed that it is really a girl on the other side.

Bhaskar couldn't believe it! He was not able to control his anxiety. He immediately sent an SMS saying, "Who are you?". A message soon came back saying, " I cannot reveal my identity so soon. It will not be good for me to do so". This only made Bhaskar more anxious. He began guessing who it could be. "How can someone know my number, which is less than a week old? It should be someone who is very close to me. May be someone from the new joinees itslef", he thought.

His friends also began to think seriously as to who it can be. They made a list of all the girls who could possibly have his mobile number. Then began a brainstorming session as to who from the list can it be. They took each name one after the other and Bhaskar ruled out all of them, although sometimes less strongly than others! He felt shy at some names and sad at others. But even after a long session, they were not able to conclude who it is.

Finally his friends convinced him that, whoever the girl is, he should be pro-active and take the initiative to move things forward. Else the girl might develop a not-so-good opinion on him. So he replied "I would want to know who you are before I take a decision. Shall we meet at the Hypercity Mall at 8 pm tomorrow?". A message quickly came back saying, "I can't believe that you agreed to meet me so soon. Tomorrow could be the most luckiest day of my life!".

Bhaskar was very proud, happy and anxious at the same time. His friends then tried to look at reasons as to how the girl could have been impressed in such a short time. They came up with some examples where Bhaskar stood out from the rest of the joinees and proved his mettle. After a lot of discussion, his friends left. The night for Bhaskar ended with the exchange of a few "good night" messages. But Bhaskar was not able to sleep. He imagined how he would react upon seeing the girl. His reactions varied from, "WoW! I can't believe it is you!" to a simple "Shit!", for the various girls he thought about.

Bhaskar came to the office as usual the next day. As soon as he opened his inbox, there was a mail saying that an employee immediately needs blood. Bhaskar immediately replied to it and went to the hospital to donate blood. Very few people knew that bhaskar did this. But still, he recieved an SMS that said, "I am really proud of what you are doing right now". Bhaskar went into a shock after seeing this. He couldn't believe it. He immediately called up a few guys to inform this and asked them to enquire how could someone know about his blood donation. They said, "If she is loving you so much, she would obviously be observing what you are doing!".

***** to be completed

P.S 1 : Wow! I can't believe I typed so much. This post has become really long. Can't write more now. Will complete it as soon as I find some time.

P.S 2 : If I can borrow RGV's style along with his title, "know who the unknown is in my next post 'Agyaat-2'".

Good Bye IIT Kanpur!

This will be my last post from IIT Kanpur as I will be leaving the campus in a couple of hours. After having spent four wonderful years it is not easy to leave this place. This place has taught me many things. It had shown me both successes and failures. It had given me great friends. Will miss this place and people.

Gang-E and Dhi-MAN

Manoj Dhiman (popularly known as Dhiman) and Pravin Gangwar (Gangi, the Man from Mars, Alien and Gang-E (after Wall-E)) were two Aero guys with whom I spent a lot of my time with in the past three years.The three of us formed a very good team. The deal between us was very clear - Dhiman took care of the theory (attended classes, made notes, solved assignments etc.) while Gangi and I looked after the practical part of the courses (experiments, projects etc.). This style of preparation not only saved a lot of time but also gave good results.

Gang-E in his usual style!

Gangi is popular for his never-ending list of violent acts. He can't stop himself from getting into violent and crazy acts whenever a potentially dangerous item gets into his reach. He can think of some of the weirdest ideas which one can only see in the old grindhouse movies. Such weird ideas are beyond the imagination of a human being and this raised some doubts about the secrets behind his existence. The single question which every person asks about him is "Is Gangi a real human being or an alien in disguise?"

Many people in IITK believe that Gangi is one of those aliens who came to the Earth around 20 years ago in a spaceship and was accidentally left behind. There is a rumor that Gangi sold his story to Rakesh Roshan who later on made the movie "Koi Mil Gaya" using it. One can easily prove this by looking at the way Gangi reacts to the sounds "Om Om Om Om". (You can try this with him. But make sure that you stand at a safe distance away from him). Gangi wanted to use the money he took from Rakesh Roshan to build a spaceship and get back to mars. But he soon realised that building a spaceship is not an easy task. So, he joined the Aerospace Engineering Department to learn about building a spaceship which can take him back to Mars. Our scientists spend a lot of time and money looking for aliens in space but they do not care about aliens on Earth. When our scientists start looking for aliens on earth, it would not take much time to catch Gang-E.

Dhi-MAN entering ladies toilet!

Dhiman is more popular with professors than with students. He used to speak more with a professor than with his girl friend due to which his girl ditched him. Since then he left girls and started chatting with guys!

He strongly believes that Gangi is an alien and devised many experiments (including the Koi Mil Gaya test where he observes Gangi's reactions to "Om Om Om Om") to prove it. But since aliens are much more intelligent than Dhiman, Gangi easily withstood most of his tests. Somehow Dhiman is convinced that Gangi is an alien and believes that it doesnt take much time for the world to realise this. He loves Gangi so much and is worried that people might catch him and torture him if they find out the truth. So he wants to protect Gangi at any cost. He wants to send Gangi back to his home planet before the world realises the truth.

He initially wanted to be a pilot but later on changed his opinion to help Gangi. His favourite courses are Flight Mechanics, Space Dynamics and Propulsion - all of whom play a major role in sending objects into deep space. He now wants to do his PhD, make a spaceship and help Gangi in getting back to his home planet. Meanwhile, Gangi is going to take up a job in Madrid, Spain to make some money and also to learn more about spacecraft propulsion. Both of them left me from this issue as they don't want me to know their secrets.

Its fine Gangi.. Happy Journey. But, jaane se pehale ek baar bye bol dena!

I am Back..

A lot of time had passed since I last wrote here. Many things happened in this duration. A brief list of them..

Last sem was not that bad.. got an 8.0

Then came placements. Got placed as a Technology Analyst at JP Morgan Chase, Mumbai... joining in the first week of July

And then began the final sem - Treats, reports, presentations, exams and more treats (No classes you see!).

Participated in Cruise Control- the RC flying competition of Techkriti'09. Became the first person at IITK to fly an RC plane. It was a dream come true for me to become the first local participant after organizing the first succesful event last year :). However, I crashed the model (a Scanner) immediately after the event and so, no more flying after that :(

Trying my hand at Gliding too. After 20 sorties, I can get a Students Pilot License which is not useful for anything except to say that I did certain number of rides and had some basic training. One has to do around 70 sorties to get a General Pilot License. But, the gliding club had serious problems with the pilot and not many sorties were possible with him. A new pilot was appointed recently but by then, the climate has changed and winds became too strong. So, the activities of the Gliding club slowed down. My current score is at 9 and I dont think I would be able to reach atleast to the SPL before leaving this place. :(

The course "Exeriments in Flight Mechanics" was awesome. All we had to do was to attend a couple of lectures and enjoy flight rides :). Dutch Roll, 60 degree banked turn and Phugoid experiments were my favourites!

Planned for a Sikkim tour during the Holi vacations but was forced to drop it after my BTP guide said, "To you everything is important except this project. Remember, you are playing with fire" :( . Almost all of my wingies who planned to go to that tour had one problem or the other and most of them dropped out. Those who did not have any problem too dropped out as their number is too small to continue with! :D

Got started with skating recently and began liking it already.

Had an awesome treat with Aero Y5 guys. It was one of the best treats I ever had.. will write about it later.

And the final end semester exams are starting today. I have my first exam tomorrow. Time to start preparing... Bye Bye!