Life revisited

Another comeback

2009-10-09T12:59:00.005+05:30

And finally I am motivated enough to write some stuff here... and hopefully keep updating.

As you might have noticed the blog title has changed (after a long thought ~ 1.5min). For the new readers (if any(?!) thanks for visiting and please comment!), the blog was earlier An Engineering Student's Bla Bla.

Why the change? Well firstly and more importantly I am no longer an engineering student (not that I have switched careers or something its just that I am an engineer now) Secondly, change is good, it better be, because I have seen many changes over the past few months.

Now moving on to the new title. During my time away from blog posting, I was reading through my old posts and each one of them reminded me of the situations/scenes/memories of the four wonderful years I spent at NIT Calicut. It was then that I realized my blog was a better memoir than a picasa album, a bit of exaggeration here, but it was like rewinding the past four years and laugh, appreciate, sometimes hate while reading each post. It reminded me of the lame assignment that started this blog, the day India won the T20 world cup (and the amazing experience of watching a cricket game in a common room), the post on officials at passport office goofing up my name to the last post on farewell everything flashed (almost like Chuck flashes :P)

and thats why the title goes 'Life Revisited'.

To end, the important reasons for no blog posts in last 4 months - laziness, twitter.com/harshaddesai and moving to a new country (which ideally should motivate?)

One Last Time....

2009-05-03T02:34:00.004+05:30

"When I started out four years ago it seemed as a never-ending journey and when I look back now it hardly seems four days ...." a very common statement/thought/feeling that all of us share while leaving college. Well, past one week with all the farewell ceremonies was full of such emotional dialogues....

Enjoying through the last month at NITC, I always wondered and kept a record of the activities I would be doing for the last time .... here are few of those:

attending and bunking classes

paying the bills

writing long assignments

registration for the next semester(it was last time in the previous sem :)

dancing as if you are drunk

issuing library books

the last visit to Mezban, Hyson and other such places

and there are many more such teeny-weeny things I did for the last time ....

the EE batch 05-09 group photo .... one last time ....

To end this good bye post ... a few quotes which have been status messages on GTalk for a while now ......

college life ke hain bache huye kuch hasi pal... aiye waqt jara dheere dheere chal. doston se hokar juda ab rehna hain muskil.. aiye waqt jara dheere dheere chal. na jaane kab chalte chalte aa gaya sahil.. aiye waqt jara dheere dheere chal. ab jaane se kyun darta hu, jab mil gayi manjil aiye waqt jara dheere dheere chal. bas doston ke saath mein mil jaaye kuch aur pal yaadon ki in parchaiyon ko kar to lu haansil. aiye waqt jara dheere dheere chal.

A life which is to end Only when I am no more A life which transformed me In a fighter to the core A season of love and friendship For eternity which will last In my future to follow I will long to re-live this past Memories of this part of the Journey I'll carry all life long Memories of those precious moments Which made my life a beautiful song My eyes go teary Emotions fill my heart As my days left here are few Now it is time to bid Adieu !!!!

PS: Exams are not yet over. And as I said in a previous post exams nurture creative thoughts ... just another example of that ;)

Earth Hour 2009

2009-04-05T02:24:00.007+05:30

The Earth Hour was first observed at Sydney in 2007. After two years it received an immense response with more than 80 countries participating for the 60 minute lights-off campaign on 28th March, 2009 (2030-2130 hrs). It was good to know the huge enthusiasm shown by people from around the world.

The message by this year's campaign was to Vote Earth so that the governments across the world would address global warming effectively at the Dec 2009 Copenhagen climate conference. It surely was a successful attempt in creating awareness among the mass public and millions voted for the earth.

This link has a wonderful collection of the pics around the world. And ofcourse the official earth hour website

Thanks to Ragam most of the rooms at our hostels were dark and we did contribute. However the extensive lignthing during the fest would have had a negative effect!

I had plans to observe a similar event in the 3rd year under the IEEE Students' Branch banner but the other activities kept me too busy.

Sorry for a week's delay in posting :P

Ragam 09

2009-03-27T23:11:00.003+05:30

This post is dedicated to Ragam 09. The Shankar Mahadevan pro show was the best live performance I have ever seen!!! Great going organisers and volunteers

Here are some of the pics I clicked from my mobile ....

The stage before the show

Shankar Mahadevan rocking everyone!!!

Niraj and me enjoying the performance rite from the 1st row !!!

Exams

2009-03-10T23:00:00.005+05:30

I (and many others) have the feeling that our mind gets most creative just before exams. As an example I get most of my creative blogging ideas the moment I open a book to study for the exams. It's a different story that I don't pen (rather type) down these ideas on my blog.
Well, exams at NITC have been nothing short of a war. Yes its more of a last moment war but war is a war and must be fought. I will present here a sequence of events taking place just before an exam.

Time: week before exams. Scene: Class/ Hostel Room
Friend: Dude we have exams next week !
Me: Yeah buddy lets start studying. Well, may be we are too early. I'll watch a couple of movies so that I am refreshed for the grueling study hours. And by the way the latest episode of 24 (you can replace this with any of your favorite TV series) is out on LAN.
Friend: I think you are right. We'll start later

Time: 2 days before exams. Scene: Hostel
Me: Do you have any of the text books ?
Friend: No... but I got a photocopy of the teacher's notes
Me: Cool..... but I like to have a text book (the reason being I am interested more in the academically irrelevant stuff)
Friend: Some one in D hostel has
Me: OK. I'll probably get it tomorrow

Time: Day before the exam. Scene: My room. Attendance: At least 5 people at any given instant
Friend 1: Have you studied that topic? Guys are saying its the most important topic for this test. Please go through it and explain it later
Me: Really ... I thought that's not included in the syllabus. S*** have to study that. Ask some one else to study..... I am still at the first page
Friend 2: I am studying that part and I'll explain it to you. You go through this section.
Friend 3: Damn it!!! I can't understand a word of this book. I should not have bunked classes this time. I am gonna screw this test.
Me: Relax man we still have more than 12 hours for the exam. Let's go to MC (mini canteen) and have some coffee.

Time: Less than a hour before an exam. Scene: Hostel/ Examination Hall.
Me: This is the way it works.... are you getting???? Show me the last block diagram !!
Friend 1: Here it is ...
Friend 2: Come on guys only fifteen minutes left. We won't be allowed in the hall after 2
Me: Ya .. I'll get ready and join you guys... by the way where's the exam?? same room?
Friend 3: Not sure.... last time we had with 2nd years... this time we have with M. Techs probably the room is changed. Let's go early and check the notice board
Friend 4: Don't forget to take your calculator and i-card. Remember the last time rite? Many guys were sent back to get their i-cards !!!

Time: Few minutes after the exam. Scene: Outside Examination Hall
Friend 1: Hahahahahahahaha
Me: hahahhahahahhahahahaha ... what a paper!!! ????
Friend 2: I told you guys this paper is gonna screw our GPA ... haha
Friend 3: Chill guys ... its relative grading for this subject .. ... and looking at everyone's happy faces it seems we all are in the same boat

This is just a short description of how my friends and I tackle exams. They are quite a regular affair here at NITC - 2 mid term exams and an end semester. Along with studies, exam times are filled with teasing, leg-pulling, mocking and such other activities. Most of the hostel pranks and tricks are masterminded during these times.
I really enjoy these moments. These are one of my personal favorite times in college.
Starting thursday, I have to face the last of my mid term examinations at NITC.
Let's hope for the best .... and I'll probably watch a movie after this post just to refresh myself ;)

Too many tweets

2009-03-06T00:56:00.004+05:30

Well, we all know the popularity of Twitter. I joined twitter a few months back but started tweeting regularly very recently. And this is the first time came across this

Those of who haven't started tweeting just encouraging u guys to start :)

Things I like

2009-03-02T22:37:00.002+05:30

Without giving any reasons for my absenteeism, I am just gonna blog !!!
Things I like:
1. The feeling when I reach home after grueling semesters - Nothing can beat this
2. Watching excellent movies and TV series: although haven't watched many; will try to complete imdb top 250 while I have access to those(read while in college;)
3. Playing cricket: Haven't played much at NITC due to other extra curricular activities.
4. Reading interesting blogs/articles: Use bookmarking sites like delicious, digg, stumble upon etc.
5. Listening to music: Always loved this. When I was a kid, Dad used to play the radio and I enjoyed the exotic old Hindi songs. Have started listening to Rock pretty recently. I still enjoy listening to radio but now its the Winamp radio - Shoutcast and other free radio sites.
6. Traveling: Another of my favorite pass times. I love traveling alone with just a bag pack and a music player
and there are many other activities that I will definitely like. Probably all adventure sports will come under this ...

2009-01-29T00:14:00.001+05:30

Check out for the 2009 edition!!!

Type 0 Civilizations

2008-12-30T15:45:00.003+05:30

A few days ago, I was watching an exciting documentary on Nat Geo about extra terrestrials (ET) . Here are some of the facts discussed in the doc
Physicists have defined different types of civilizations
Type 1 - This civilization is capable of utilizing all available natural resources on its planet like the oceans and winds.
Type 2 - This civilization not only uses the available natural resources but can also harness energy from its stars.
Type 3 - This civilization is so advanced that it can even manipulate the surrounding space and thus create stars, black holes etc.
Now, of course the immediate question is where do we (we as in human civilization) fit in? Well, we are categorized as Type 0 civilization and we belong to this category because we use the energy from dead plants and animals in form of fossil fuels. We are yet to harness the wind and water effectively.
The thing I find interesting is a creature from a type 0 civilization can think of type 3 civilization and that signifies the power of our imagination!!!
Moving on to another exciting fact.. there is a possibility that we ourselves are ET landed from some planet like Mars. This is possible because a few experiments have proved that bacteria can sustain the tremendous heat and pressure that a meteorite faces while it crashes on Earth. So some billion years ago a meteorite landed on our Earth and thus life evolved from the bacteria it carried.
Start searching for ETs ................

I had initially planned to finish 100 posts by end of 2008 with Year review on 31st Dec, 08 being my 100th post. But due to various reasons I couldn't.
I hope to maintain a more active blog in 2009 :)

My Nerd Test Score :P

2008-12-13T13:04:00.001+05:30

Blog Action Day 2008

2008-10-13T18:24:00.000+05:30

Tech blogs

2008-10-08T23:00:00.004+05:30

I was going through the NY Times and found an exciting article on this tech blog "tech tips for the basic computer user." It is one of the interesting blogs I have come across recently.It gives a very good description about current technologies. The article on tips is a very enlightening one (do not believe me check out the tips, many of which you may not know)
I dream of a day when I will blog about the latest ghizmos and gadgets. That would actually be my dream job. I envy the guys who present the latest gadgets on television shows like Cell guru, tech2.0 etc. It must be an awesome experience for those guys (the so called "reviewers of technology"). Imagine handling the latest G1 phone with Google's Android and the next moment you are playing the newest game by EA sports on a PS 3. Just unbelievanle experience!!!!
And if I am able to get such a job I would justify the sobriquet - "Indian Techie Guy" given by inos (people are wondering who this guy is???)
Now this post is slowly turning into a post on my dream jobs. Anyways I won't change the title. Any change in title would take the credits away from David Pogue's blog (the one given above)
Another dream job would be something like the Man vs. Wild anchor-Bear Grylls ( didn't knew his name just googled it) does. Or for that matter Lonely Planet's Ian Wright. These guys travel a lot and I just want that kind of life. Although there is a quite a lot I have to work on before replacing those guys ;) (esp learning the survival tecniques). But I wouldn't mind working out to get that kind of life.
One more of my dream jobs would be an astronaut. I want to see the Earth from the above and I am not rich (crazy if u want) enough to hire SpaceShipOne's services. So the right thing here would be being an astronaut and work for ISRO, NASA or some other space agency.... that way I can earn as well as enjoy the benefits!!!

I hope some day (at least for a day) I am able to get one of the dream jobs..... the future is bright :)

The Indo-US Nuclear Deal

2008-10-05T00:16:00.003+05:30

This is a widely debated topic these days. It is almost covered daily on all news channel (though I am currently not watching any news, it is easy to guess when it comes to news channels). The topic was quite common in the group discussion rounds of the recruitment procedure. Then why am I writing about it? Well two reasons

1. No other topic

2. My friend inos (read reverse) suggested it

So lets get started......

I'll first put down the benefits of the deal and then obviously comes the disadvantages

Benefits :

The main reasoning given by the governemnt is the power shortage we are facing. Yes definitely we can improve the power scenario by importing nuclear technologies from the developed countries. It is the best possible short term solution for India and it is friendly to the environment (does not emit the green house gases)

A strategic partnership with the United States will always boost trade. So we will see close to 3 billion USD of investment. The deal will also bring in nuclear technologies that were banned in India because of the existing restrictions by the NSG. I had read it in a Times of India article about how the deal would benefit all the different industrial sectors. The article was a real eye opener. Before reading that I had assumed the deal would only help to ameliorate the starving power sector. But it shows how the deal will benefit the overall Indian economy. It states the import of nuclear technologies will greatly benefit the medical and health care sector. The modern scanning equipments require radioactive isotopes which until now were not allowed in India. The use of nuclear technologies will also enable the different manufacturing sectors to expand rapidly. Another important advantage is India can gain access to super computers(there was some reason mentioned, which i cant recall now). The deal will also give a major boost to the electronics industry. Then of course it will create umpteen empolyment opportunities. Also to use nuclear technology skilled man power is essential and so there will be newer institutes for nuclear technology which would inturn require faculties and thus creating more employment. Well I got the article from times archives, check it out here

Now moving on to the potential problems

Using nuclear power to meet India's enrgy demands is a myopic solution. It does not create the problems arising from a thermal power plant but certainly the problems associated with nuclear waste must be pondered over. Nuclear waste can be hazardous and requires utmost care in disposing. Then there is the problem of a nuclear disaster something like a Chernobyl. Though the possibility of such events has gone down considerably but it is something which cannot be neglected altogether. And if such a disaster occurs it may be the worst event in history of mankind after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. This problem would be even more complicated for India because of its high population density. Then again there are military related issues which are required to be sorted out. I am not aware of what exactly will happen if India tests a nuclear weapon. But I guess it will definitely create bitter relation between India and the NSG.

So as far as the economic perspective is kept in mind the deal will be beneficial for the Indian economy. Environmentalist will have different views(they usually have :) ). But what I feel irritating is the government's explanation- it will help in meeting our energy demands. One needs to be far sighted when it comes to energy. We cannot develop solutions only for 3-4 decades. We need to invest in renewable sources and venture out into non conventional energy. Nuclear power is good but it comes at a cost.

Anyways the deal is almost done......lets hope we see more good!!!

Thats all guys if you have any more points "for" or "against" please put it up in the comments.

inos u should atleast comment... ;)

The power of a power engineer

2008-09-26T20:56:00.003+05:30

It is truly said "People understand the importance of a particular thing only when they are kept away from it." I came across this photo and it had a great impact on me. It shows the power of a power engineer. Imagine the pic without the tiny specs of light.....looks DARK!!!
The advances in electronics and associated fields have kind of over shadowed power engineering. It is almost always assumed that electric current exists everywhere and we just have to plug n play!!! This creates problems especially in power deprived countries like India. I hate when there is load shedding ...everyone hates it. But we never respect power when it is being supplied by the utilities. Like all other resources it is also scarce and needs to be utilized judiciously and in a planned manner. I always try to convince people how much (both power and money) they can save by using CFLs, switching off lights and fans when not in use, turning off their computers etc. But it seems of no use, hardly few people follow. And sometimes I become a hypocrite by wasting power.....

This post is not one more in the series of stop pollution and global warming but it is about asking to respect continuous electric supply and remember the poor power engineer who toils hard to provide you the continuous power......

No post for 1 month that is quite abnormal considering that we have 24 hour net in F Hostel. But I was busy for the first half of September with GRE and in latter half was a bit lazy to post. Hopefully I have recovered from the indolence and would continue posting at a faster pace ;)

Random Musings

2008-08-21T18:53:00.002+05:30

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

In my last post I said I would blog everyday. But that is too Utopian.

The last few days were like complete dry days (not in the sense of alcohol but with respect to ideas). It was like one of those few patches where ideas were hard to find. And whatever I could think to blog was too personal. Well, I am kind of coy person and many would feel I am shy when you have a conversation with me. But the best part is I can blog about "What to blog?" and so I move from my physical introvert character to a complete extrovert online being.

I have started the post by one of my favorite poems. I don't remember when I had first seen this poem in school, but I do remember that I understood nothing from it the first time. Now when I understand the power of choice the poem has much more significance. A song which is in tune with the theme and also one of my favorites "The boulevard of broken dreams" by Green Day.

Now with the continuous net connectivity in F Hostel (except when there is a power cut for a few minutes) many of my friends have taken up blogging. And some of my friends always wonder about my persistent online availability on GTalk/Yahoo Messenger. The past two weeks was complete addiction to www surfing sites like tfd.com, freerice.com, NY Times, WSJ, TOI, looking for bloggers with same interests as mine, watching olympics on You Tube, ad infinitum. That has now been under check and with the sessional test coming up next week I hope it remains so.

As I was about to end this post this is what I find on my Orkut home page........

Today's fortune: You and your partner will be happy in your life together

The Independence Day Post

2008-08-15T00:02:00.004+05:30

A very Happy Independence Day (Indian Independence Day 15th August) to one and all.
2008-1947 = 61 years of political independence for India and how much we have progressed in these years?? Let's do a quick check and enumerate the things India accomplished during these years:

India became an independent country in 1947 and it's constitution came into force on 26th January 1950. Thus India became republic and also the BIGGEST DEMOCRACY in the world, which in fact was an audacious move.
India is the second most culturally, linguistically and genetically diverse geographical entity after the African continent and sustaining 61 years of such diversity itself is a monumental achievement.
Although being a young country India was the co-founder of Non-Alignment Movement and maintained friendly relations with both USA and USSR during the cold war.
During this period India has fought four wars against Pakistan (feel very sorry for that) and one against China.
Indira Gandhi became the prime minister in 1960s and 1970s the first female to do so in India and USA is still hopeful for their Mrs. President.
India demonstrated it's scientific and technological might by conducting Nuclear tests in 1974 and also around this time Green revolution and operation flood made India self reliant in food and grains.
Also India was one of the very few countries to possess satellites and plan for space programs.
Then came in the era(1990-91) of economic reforms the benefits of which we are still reaping. India was benefited by the emergence of IT and Software based industries.
The 21st century saw the emergence of India as an economic giant with GDP growing at around 8%.

This seems a long enough list for the day. There are many more events that make every Indian proud. But we must not be complacent with 61 happy years, we have newer challenges cropping up.

"Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?" Mohandas Gandhi.

My next post will be "My vision for India...." an assignment we have for economics.

UMPPs..... a chimera

2008-08-05T01:10:00.006+05:30

The net is back in our hostels and its awesome. So beginning this August I plan to write atleast 1 post every day (just joking guys ;) maybe every week
Ok now moving on to the title UMPP is Ultra Mega Power Projects. People who are not aware what this means click here. If you are lazy to redirect, UMPPs are power plants with capacity greater than 4000 MW (MegaWatts of electricity). The honorable Government of India plans to ameliorate the starving power scenario in India by starting up such humongous projects. Now if I look at this from a perspective of a common man I am very happy. Atleast the ever lasting problem of load shedding will be over. We will have access to electricity continuous without any disturbances (except in some cases like rains and floods) But wait a minute...... being an engineer esp. electrical :) I cannot just look at the jolly side of the scene.
These projects would be coal fired and will be located throughout India to provide power to all states. But what about Global Warming? I find it hard to understand why go for thermal when the entire world is venturing out into Non-Conventional energy resources. An official document (found here) says the UMPP will attract investment to the tune of Rs. 15,000 Cr each. That means people (the industries) will be investing 15k * 9 cr for puffing out more CO2 That amount will be equivalent to something China invests in Wind and Solar Power.....great going Indians!!!!
What I feel is we are wasting capital on something which is not at all worth investing. With due to respect to the policy makers, I feel this amount could have been used for development of non-conventional resources (wind, solar, fuel cells, tidal, geothermal). This kind of short term planning (in sense that it will provide power for the current population without any regard to the environment) is seriously anti-engineering and is deterimental to the future population.
Being an electrical engineer (a quarter of engineering days are still left!!!) I understand developing such high scale projects is good considering the "Economics of Scale". But people it's high time we give a serious thought to the problem of global warming and climate change.
Instead of focussing on UMPP we could have tried for solar and wind (more info on solar here)
People all over the world are going for micro grids and distributed generation and we are scaling up!!!
Anyways the bidding has started and around 3 projects have already been awarded (1-Tata Power, 2-Reliance Power) This post was meant not to criticize any of the policy makers but just to make people realize there are other options available and more importantly these are under-utilised in India. May be I' ll talk about micro grids and distributed generation in my upcoming posts.

People from non-engineering background I am sorry for the engineering verbiage. But you must remember electric power is indispensible from any one and we all have a part to play in our endeavour of mitigating the climate changes. My post on that can be found here

And now about final year in NITC: may be some other time and some other post......(".....time and space are related..." did Einstein say this?)

Topping the google!!!!

2008-07-15T00:35:00.005+05:30

We all know the might of Google. I (with many others) am extremely crazy and addictive with whatever google does be it the google docs, google pages, google reader, google desktop. Gtalk and the list continues. But lets not forget the google search engine with which it all started. The search is synonymous with google. I hope one day google could search the matter as well. Anyways I'll not move into philosophical science.
Ever since I started googling and surfing, I always wanted to top the search. And now I have been able to top the charts (try googling "Harshad Desai" to verify) Well it was possible due to 2 reasons
Naymz.com and LinkedIn.com
It is difficult to top with a search key=Harshad alone because there is one Harshad Mehta the big bull. Anyways I am more than happy to achieve this. Thanks to the above mentioned sites.

Moving on I got my first job at Areva T&D through the campus placements . The selection was done on last Sunday 6/7/08...lucky date i guess :) There were 3 rounds... the first one a written test (aptitude and electrical engg), followed by group discussion (the topic was Nuclear Energy: essential or not......one of my favourite topics) and then came the interview (was pretty easy)
Thats enough after a month long gap (ample of reasons for that) from blogging.

The Cell Phone Etiquette

2008-06-07T00:46:00.006+05:30

The other day reading a news article, I was wondering how times have changed. I guess it was 1992-93 when we had our first BSNL Landline Telephone. Fast forward to 2008 and all four of us in my family have a cell phone plus the old landline. This link shows the astronomical figure of India's cell phone subscribers and they say every month 8 million new users are being added. This is quite a boom for the mobile communications industry and also the health care industry (the later cannot be denied completely)
*The above pic was obtained from an image search in Google.

I am getting neither into the economics nor the health problems arising out of the use of mobiles.
I am discussing the etiquettes that are found missing when we(including me) speak on our beloved cell phone.
What I'll do is type in here some of the very common and irritating things we do without paying heed to the people around us.
1. The funky ring tones: This one irritates me a lot. People play all sorts of music here. One day I was traveling through a public transport bus and I was made to believe that I was in a disco with people around me having a wide range of ring tones. Well some ring tones are great and I love to listen such ones (of course who doesn't) but there are a few which will make you go dizzy.
2. The speaking Habit: I don't know why people think the signal reception of their cell phone is always bad. People speak on their cell phones as if they are on an election campaign with all that vigor and intensity. A person may feel he is shouting at one of the passers by. A suggestion for such people please keep your conversation to yourself no one is interested in your gossip.
3. Breaking the rules habit: We, Indians follow just one rule ..... breaking the rules. So why compromise when you have a cell phone. People talk on mobiles while driving(which I think is an offence under RTO) which can be extremely dangerous. People forget (or pretend to forget for whatever reasons) to switch off their mobiles in classrooms, temples, meetings and such other places.
4. The ear piece plugged in: People you are not deaf to keep your ear phones plugged in even when not attending a call. Now with the advent of the bluetooth ear piece (or whatever technical name you have for it) some people feel they are a spy with those pieces plugged in. It can be confusing and irritating as well for the people around as to whom the person is talking to.
I think I'll stop (can't scratch my head for more ......)
The cell phone revolution has been a great boon for us but we have to remember that technology was created for man and it's not vice-versa.
Some blogs on cell phone etiquettes:
Cell Phone Etiquettes for Dummies
Cell Phone Etiquettes

What's in a name??

2008-05-28T14:48:00.001+05:30

"What's in a name? " Shakespeare said, yet he put his name under that quote.

Well I also feel the same but there have been myriad incidences where people look extremely confused and at times ridiculous when they call out my name. Ok I know you might be baffled and not knowing where I am leading to. Well lets start from the beginning.

My name is

Harshad
Harshad Desai
Harshad Suresh Desai
Harshad S Desai
H S Desai
Desai Harshad Suresh
Desai Harshad S
Desai H S

This is not a multiple choice question. It is actually the different ways in which I am called or referred to.

My school (St. Andrews' High School) registered me in the format Desai Harshad Suresh and that’s the way schools (under State Board) in Maharashtra register all the students (no idea how some one without a surname manage). So till 10th standard all my mark-sheets had my name in the same format and so was the format followed in the SSC Mark Sheet. This format continued without any problems till I passed out 12th from Modern College.

Now even during IIT JEE and AIEEE, the admit cards had my name written in proper format. The real problem started after I took admission in NITC. Here I met people from all over India and the format which seemed so ubiquitous in Pune totally disappeared in Calicut. Only my friends from Maharashtra and some from State Boards were compatible with this (Surname first) format. But my other friends and more importantly teachers were confused with this format and couldn't make out what my real name was. Some called Desai (with horrible pronunciations), others called Harshad Suresh, a few even called Suresh (that's my Dad's name by the way). I had to clarify that my name was Harshad and call me just that. Well some teachers adapted and there were others who were confused for the entire semester.

It continued for 5 semesters without much problems (if I may say). But then came the biggest problem when I had to apply for passport.

Now if you have seen the passport application form it clearly has different boxes for surname and your first name (given name... that’s what they call). I filled the form with great care and the surname row had DESAI while the given name had HARSHAD. Father's name was included in another row so I thought there shouldn't be any confusions here. Feeling confident I went to the Passport Office waited there for half an hour or so till I was called in with forms and documents. So I reached the counter a bit nervous but much more satisfied.

I gave the lady at the counter my form and the other documents. She was going through all of those and I was happily waiting to get the acknowledgement. But then from nowhere she springs up this question "What is your name?" and all the previous efforts of making people understand this format came rushing. I tried to explain her and then she replied your given name (in all my mark sheets) is Desai Harshad Suresh and that is what you should write. All my attempts of convincing the people in charge were in vain and finally I had to make that change in my form. After a couple of months I got my Passport but then there was a problem!!!

The surname column in my passport is left empty and the given name shows Desai Harshad Suresh. I have no idea how many more problems will this create. I feel irritated and angry at times when people cannot understand or rather do not want to understand such everyday nuances. Now because of this misunderstanding I may face problems when I apply for a visa. Changing the name in your passport costs 1000 bucks. But more precious than those 1000 bucks is the time I will have to spend on rectifying this issue. People are requested to suggest me how should I approach this issue.

By the way I prefer being called as Harshad Desai than the other formats discussed above.

And the surname first format is the international format and is followed almost everywhere except some places in India (Calicut Passport Office to be particular).

I just want to say "What's in a format of the name?" rather than "What's in a Name?"

The entrepreneurial zeal

2008-05-11T23:52:00.004+05:30

Today in the morning when I was in Shri Harimandir I was pondering over two eternal questions
1. Who am I? 2. What is my destiny?
Well finding answer to these questions is what I call life. Hopefully I will answer these questions ( in due course of my life.
I might have succeeded in finding a partial answer to the second question. But this post is not about my destiny.....it is about the local entrepreneur. I think Pune should be one of the best places for entrepreneurs, thats why I have read (although in local newspaper) about them.
I have been reading about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs ever since I joined NITC. My motivation for entrepreneurship was the book by Robert Kiyosaki-- Rich Dad, Poor Dad and what an excellent guide it is for everyone. After that I have read news articles, books, magazines, blogs on entrepreneurs more than some of my college text books :)
But today I could actually meet an entrepreneur in person. Talk to him and learn how his life had been. He is Mr. Ramdas Mane the CMD of Mane Group of Companies. I actually visited the company for doing some project during my summer holidays. The company is more in to mechanical than electrical and so I won't be able to do any project work there. Anyways the visit to the company was worth a thousand textbooks. He was extremely friendly and his advice will certainly help me. It was good to know that their company have a record in the Limca Book of Records and they also own patents. The person's life told me one thing no entrepreneur has a rosy life. He has to make it rosy through his hardwork, determination and courage. Mr. Mane was very kind in talking to me even when he was busy with his work. I am extremely delighted to meet such a person and interact with him.
I'll have to end this post here....one of my school friends, Sadanand is online and we are planning for a get together..very excited :)

Blogging 4m Flock

2008-05-03T19:12:00.001+05:30

A new experience...... blogging from flock and its awesome
Flock was like love at first site. They call it the social browser and it is exactly that. There are so many things embedded in it and it makes social networking all the more easy!!! You can find it here
Meanwhile I am going through sites of few universities and with the help from edulix I think I am doing a good job.
Wanted to write about a few i's, but flock took its place.
Anyways I 'll just mention about the "few i's "
I-- Individualism... thats pretty much what the current century and/or generation is. Thats why u have igoogle and myyahoo like things
I-- Internationalization or (I18n) ... I feel its similar to globalization i where everyone is going global. The other day I read an article in Pune Times about people going abroad for shopping. Thats going global
I-- Indianization ...may not be a word recognized by any of the dictionaries :) , but it means people are accepting India and outsiders are coming here for reasons other than exploring its culture (ie travel and tourism). You can also say this I may be Indian Premier League...:-)
and people are requested to append their i's to this list....

Blogged with Flock

Out of Calicut

2008-05-01T07:22:00.002+05:30

This would be my one of the few early morning blogs. Well actually the first one.
Its good to be back in Pune, enjoying the heat!!!!
This semester seemed longer than all the others and was eventful for me atleast. Our mini project evaluation was on Monday and was upto the mark.
I am short of words right now. Have so much to write that I can't figure it out from where to start. I'll definitely bring out each and every thought but it will require some time.
I've been doing lots of publicity about my blog these days. New visitors please make it a point to comment so that I understand someone is their to read except of course my dear friend Gopalakrishnan.

FOSSMeet@NITC 2008

2008-04-06T16:21:00.002+05:30

So I am finally blogging again. The occasion is th end of fossmeet 08. I have been very busy this semester with nanotech and foss. But I have enjoyed being a part of the team which worked day and night to make these two events a great success.
I will stop it here, the valedictory function has just started.

A new look

2008-02-21T03:13:00.003+05:30

Finally my blog gets a new look....the post is meant only for that...
I am too busy with the Nanotechnology Workshop.....
Hope to start regular posting from March....

Apple and Google

2008-02-10T21:27:00.003+05:30

These two are the giants of the modern era. One keeps on developing exciting technologies on the web and the other is coming up with great hardwares and the required softwares for the same. And in some cases Google Maps on iPhone ...they have worked together and produced great results....

A for Apple, /\|0|0!3
The first time I came across this company was when I was going through Guiness Book of World Records। After that the I came across the greatest invention that I have witnessed....iPod..... It has redefined music and has conquered the imagination of old and young alike. After iPod was a hit Apple came out with a "revolutionary phone" the iPhone. It was then followed by the MAC OS X Leopard. The fantastic thing about this OS was the "Time Machine". And the latest one they have is the "MacBook Air" which has caught my imagination. Except for the iPod I haven't used any of the other products. The other day I found a blog mentioning top 10 failures of Apple. It was interesting to go through the list which included products I had never heard of. But somehow I feel all the products were not failures. Some may be but I strongly feel many of those were developed earlier in time. Steve Jobs is one person who continues to influence me. I like the speech he gave at Stanford University....whenever I am in a dilemma I think of his interview and try to implement his advices. Hats off to Steve and his creative, innovative, energetic and highly talented team at Apple.....!!!!

Go for Google, 9009|3
Whenever you say search the first name that occurs to any one's mind is Google. It is so common to google anything and everything that is to be searched that I am waiting for the logical Google {or the virtual Google on the net} to tun into real world search engine.
But Google has not confined itself to search it has widened to domains that I never imagined including this one the Blogger. There is calendar, docs, videos, reader and much more. I find each of these very interesting and extremely useful. The power of internet, I feel is really unleashed by Google and its wide range of Applications.
A few days back Anand and I were discussing about the greatest Ph D thesis. He being a total tronix guy was completely in favor of Shanon, DSP related. I then thought for a moment and my reply was the best Ph D thesis must be Google. However the Google guys, Larry Page and Serge Brian have yet not received their Ph D degrees, as far as I know। So I could not argue any further. But Google is definitely the best business from any Ph D thesis that I know. Great work guys and I'll keep thanking you.....!!!!!!!!!!

This blog does not intend to advertise either of the companies. It is just an act of appreciation from my side.

The Mysore Trip....

2008-01-31T01:59:00.000+05:30

Had a great tour to Mysore and Coorg.....gr8 work by Deepak, Gopal, Gregory and others.
We left college on Friday at about 9:30-10:00 . The masti we had in bus was comparable just to nothing. Although there were some times when I felt bored but once I got into the groove everything was rocking. We reached Mysore at 5:30 am or so. After which we had an hour to rest. However we left for Chamundi Hills only at 8:00am.
Saturday was meant for Mysore. We visited Chamundi temple, Mysore Palace, Shrirangapatnam and the beautiful Vrindavan Gardens. The food was a problem but it kind of compensates for the enjoyment we had during the entire day. After a long day we went to our rooms tired but full of enthusiasm. We had to be ready early the next day so that we could visit the places in coorg. However we left an hour or so late. After breakfast we visited CCD and were having good time there.
The journey from Mysore to Coorg was filled with laughter and taunts for each other. It was a memorable journey. In Coorg we visited the Namdroling Monastrey {also called as the Golden Temple}, the forest which was supposed to have boating and elephant ride. But we managed neither. The bus then turned towards the Waterfall which had very little water. Finally we left Coorg at about 6:00 in the evening. On our return journey we had the game of Truth & Dare which was very exciting especially to pull peoples' legs.
We reached the campus at 12:30 am. Completely exhausted we somehow managed to attend the classes on Monday.
The trip photos will be put up soon.............the problem is we have a collection of 4 GB!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 3-day 20Twenty.....

2008-01-25T15:58:00.000+05:30

The title sounds funny....that was actually my 1st midsems for this sem. Got over in 3days...2papers per day....20 mks each..and I realized one thing this sem is not only hectic but also requires much more time for studues esp. DSA and DSP
Tonite we{S-6 EEE} will b leaving for 2 day trip to Mysore and Coorg. I was actually planning for some industrial visit but lets follow the herd...So will be off frm blogging.
The Nanotech Workshop and Saptarishi would keep Feb busy. Also the mini project needs much more devotion. I have now reserved 3 hrs/week for mini pro. Ragam and FOSS Meet would follow in March. So a completely packed sem..dont know how many times I'll say that..
I attended a talk on Characteristics of Semiconductor Technology by Shri. Shripad Karmalkar today. It was very informative. Also it kind of opened my eyes to what Scientist/Engineer/Inventor actually do. As presented in the talk
A Scientist by nature is very curious. He can relate seemingly unrelated phenomenon. He is not driven by demands of his peers. An engineer is someone who has to apply the scientific phenomenon to everyday use. An inventor is one who should study the demands of the people and provide solutions for them. It is not necessary for him to have a thorough understanding of the pricnciples he ahs to apply. But a person can be all of these....There is no second number in this. Every one is equally important, everyone has equal dignity.
That's all Folks

The hectic semester

2008-01-10T18:23:00.000+05:30

I could not blog {except for the Steve Jobs' quotes through Google Docs} for 10 days...
The main culprit being a semester full of classes and labs{though machines lab will end by Feb first week}
However I have decided to stop complaining and start working on my plans for coming year.
Yesterday Gaurav, Abhijit, Harsh, Sunil and me had a sort of advisory presentation to first years {EEE guys}, we called it Orientation but it was in no sense academic. It was a sort of planner for those guys for their next three years in NITC. I think it was a great success. It was combined effort of EEA 2nd year execs and the 3rd year execs.
Moving on I am currently trying for various summer research programs. I have finally decided its research that I want. So accordingly I have some project ideas and trying to figure out more.
The Sydney Test would be regarded next to the Eng-Pak match which was awarded to England { I dont remember the exact date and venue}. But India must work harder for the coming matches and I feel it can still save the series.
I feel my blog sometimes becomes just a collection of my daily chores.... no plannning just random thoughts and then abrupt ending. I started off with an official blog but have not posted since December 7th. I will certainly post my updates and collection on electrical engineering in future posts there........so trical guys watch out that corner.

2008-01-03T10:33:00.000+05:30

Steve Jobs in an iterniew:
"And, you know, one of the things I did when I got back to Apple 10 years ago was I gave the museum to Stanford and all the papers and all the old machines and kind of cleared out the cobwebs and said, let's stop looking backwards here. It's all about what happens tomorrow. Because you can't look back and say, well, gosh, you know, I wish I hadn't have gotten fired, I wish I was there, I wish this, I wish that. It doesn't matter. And so let's go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday."

Steve Jobs at Stanford

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

on the eve of new year......

2007-12-31T16:44:00.000+05:30

Finally I have time to do some bla bla. Another year ends and with it I have to celebrate my third new year outside Pune. Most of you guys will be enjoying your holidays but I have classes tomorrow.
The past three years have passed like 3 months. I remenber my nervousness when I first came to Calicut. The only thing I knew about this place before was the great Vasco da Gama had landed here some 4 centuries back. But now the number of days left in the college are lesser than those that flew by.
Nothing more to write on the last day of the year which I would like to call "The Blogger Year".
It was in FOSS '07 that Kiruba motivated me and others in our college with his outstanding session on blogging.
I hope to continue blogging and exploring the web as I did in 2007.
Bye Bye 2007....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and a warm welcome for 2008!!!!!!!!!!!

Growing cities

2007-12-12T11:32:00.000+05:30

I am still in Pune and the climate here is excellent for holidaying. I keep thinking how my friends here are managing to study for their exams.
As the title suggests this post would talk about urbanization.....
Pune has seen many developmental activity recently. The widening of the old Mumbai-Pune highway has resulted in cutting of trees on the highway. Though I feel this highway has more tees than others that I have seen. But still I could feel something missing.
Another problem due to lots of construction work has been the rising amount of dust in the surrounding. I have to clean my laptop almost daily. That is the reason I dont like traveling and roaming around the city. Also the chances of accidents tend to increase due to the ongoing construction work. The barricades used are placed in such a way as to complicate driving on road.
One cannot blame the system alone, System is formed by the components and when each component is working efficiently only then the system stability is assured. We, Indians have a tendency to blame the system all the time. Right from a school student to retired person everyone finds fault in the people around them. It is high time we realize the importance of working in unison and help ourselves. That way we will not only have a happy society but also empower ourselves and become better individuals.
I hope not making this post a bore... It is as important as India reaching 10% GDP growth.
One should chase material goals, but not at the cost of losing one's peace of mind..
I would end here with one of my favourite quotes:

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life." -- Albert Einstein

Results are out

2007-12-08T01:23:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I was reading a blog regarding not to worry about GPAs....So I decided not to worry but then today being the D-day it was in the back of my mind all the time...
Actually the blog meant not worry about the GPA during your semester time....just keep on learning new things. dont be under the stress of scoring a particular Grade. and I am happy I accomplished that thing. Although I am not happy with grade in Power Systems and you might be aware from my previous posts how disappointed I have been from the teacher.
I hope Power Systems 2 wont be that bad....
I have created another blog in Silicon India. That will be my official blog......meaning it will deal with acads and related stuff...so any doubts please post it there...i dont mind it here though!!!

Relaxed for a while

2007-12-06T00:25:00.001+05:30

Weather in Pune is really getting chilly especially at night, but I am enjoying it to the fullest. Have not really started with the what I had planned for the vacations except watching Heroes. The series is awesome and must watch for everyone.
Tried blogging from mobile for the first time.
I was thinking on various ideas for the paper presentation contest by IEEE SB. I've zeroed on one, but have not started any solid work on it. It is basically use of power lines for internet purposes....I have to read some previous papers on this topic before proceeding further.
Another important task is to visit a substation nearby and gain some practical knowledge in power systems. Power systems course ruined by uknowwho . I told my friends to comment on her in my blog. Hope they comment anonymously.
Also have to develop my googlepage
Hope to finish that thing too during this vacation
Not getting any more thoughts to share and I being at home cannot try nightouts.

Mblog

2007-12-02T23:32:00.001+05:30

I am currently in Pune. I managed to skip blogging for 2 weeks. End sems didnt work out as planned. Neways its over and its time to analyze the past 4 mths & plan for future.
This is the first time i am blogging frm mobile. It's gr8 but would have been awesome with a qwerty keypad.
Guys if u r reading my blogs plz comment. I will stop here...my fingers are aching!!!

Crouching End Sems

2007-11-16T02:14:00.000+05:30

So another end sem is nearing ...the 5th one and 3 more to go!!!!
This semester has been very productive for me if I look at it from the web point of view....I have become a more addicted {or whatever you may say} blogger.........I have read more blogs than my class notes/books......I have created my LinkedIn Profile and just finished creating a Technorati Profile as well.
Now I've to study for the end sems so that I can achieve my set SGPA for this semester {I would rather not disclose the target} My mini project group (Amit and Abhijit) is still clueless on our mini project idea. The problem is we have been thinking on creating something indigenous of sorts. When we met Suresh Kumar Sir we were brought downto earth. We've to come up with something very interesting at the same time not very complicated.
I'll write interesting stuff within a couple of weeks.....I would return only after my end semester
Hope not to return tomorrow and write another post with the same expectation at end!!!!!!!
EEA and IEEE SB have launched their respective websites and thats great news

Test Post

2007-11-16T01:48:00.000+05:30

just for claiming my blog on technorati
Technorati Profile

E-waste and related problems-What I understood

2007-11-12T02:08:00.000+05:30

I came across an article on e-waste during the summer vacation of 2006. I was interested in it but procrastinated search on the same. For the Environmental Studies we had to choose a topic for our semester project and my obvious choice was e-waste management.
While working on the project I came to know the various laws enacted by various governments regarding e-waste disposal. There is no one standard definition for e-waste. Every government/organization has developed its own definitions. However there are not many differences in these definitions.
Many of the leaders in Electronic equipment manufacturing like HP, Dell, IBM have given due importance to this issue. I also came across firms which have their business models based on e-waste disposal like ReCellular and E-Parisaraa.
I also got to know the EU directives on WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) and RoHS (restriction of hazardous substances). The problems that may arise from improper e-waste disposal are secondary to none. Thus the issue of e-waste management must be dealt with utmost priority on a global scale.
I think the best way to fight such global issues is by creating awareness among the masses.
Sooner I will upload the presentation of the project on my blog.
People interested in knowing more about the project may mail me at harshaddesai05@gmail.com

I watched a video on the new MAC OS X-Leopard....and its simply amazing. I really liked the "Time Machine" that they have developed for backup.
You might be seeing a new widget on my blog. Well I have joined LinkedIn and wanted to promote my profile.

Happy Diwali !!!!

2007-11-08T23:44:00.000+05:30

So its my third diwali away from home......I always remember the diwali back home!!!!
Anyways when the globe is shrinking, you can have very few reasons to stay away from your family. But you can still be connected with your loved ones through internet which I feel is the best invention/discovery to happen for mankind.
Meanwhile we (Abhijit, Amit and me) have not finalised a mini project. The search is still on...got somw ideas though but have to bring it to earth. The environmental studies project is working on well. However the classes conducted where really boring it should have been more practical concentrating on the solutions rather than problems. Well I can't direct the classes.
Another end semester is closing on and once again it will be a week long night-out sessions.
I am trying to learn French through an audio lecture series and it is really very good. Hope to have some posts in French as well{a few sentences}
Have to sleep early....have to visit Temple tomorrow {9th Nov} early morning.

PS: If people do visit my blog and find something to share on any idea please feel free to do so.
I would be more than happy to get suggestions and/or critics from my readers.

....after a pause...

2007-11-06T23:52:00.000+05:30

Its been a long time off line. There are a couple of reasons for that....We were exhausted of gprs and I had a very busy academic schedule.

Talking about the academics Power Systems 1 has been a real bore subject the only reason being the teacher. I cant understand the logic why a teacher needs to dictate some shit to 3rd years. The most funny part is people keep on scratching the shit in their books (except some like me who are too lazy). The tragedy doesn't end here.....we also have to present so called seminars and submit write-ups(of course the only difference between the 70 odd write-ups will be the font)

GOD save me!!!!!

Moving to another tragedy in Sem 5.....the electronics lab.....finished the lab xam today and every1 was a relieved soul........This sem seems to be hardest not in theory or exams but only in handling the teachers.

Anyways life moves on................other stories..

It was exciting when SENSEX touched 20k, although it couldn't sustain the high levels.

Reading some blogs about entrepreneurship a couple of business ideas have clicked in my head.

The net seems a problem --C hostel has no net connection and the gprs is very slow and costly. Even now I have to ping…... the computer is not receiving a single byte hope I am able to put the post online at 12:57 AM!!!!!!!

Posted 1 day late!!!!!!

Why have a blog? Part 2

2007-10-19T04:31:00.000+05:30

So after a break I continue the 2nd part of why have a blog
In the part 1 I generalized the blogs around the world into 3 types .
A personal or self-advertising blog is always useful to put the blogger on the webosphere (blogosphere or whatever u like). Such blogs can be a great network building platforms{if you develop a wide reader base} and the present era thrives on networking. I had read in a blog that many recruiters insist on maintenance of active blogs. Thus maintaining a personal blog will always help you to remain in touch with people having similar interests as yours.
The next type of blog is a Corporate blog. Realizing the power of blogs many corporate maintain a blog. Such blogs discuss the prospective products of the company thus developing a pre-advertizing platform. It also helps in addressing the problems of the customers esp for software products.
Basically any blog is driven by Expressions, Interests and the Intellect. I feel my blog is expressive and some what driven by intellect because I do like Philosophy although I have not mentioned it directly in any of my posts.

The second sessionals are now over and have to get tickets for going home. The countdown has begun....

Its Time to ACT!!!!!!

2007-10-15T02:06:00.000+05:30

I would continue my part 2 of why to blog in later posts (after my exams)
Well I got to see this Blog Action Day.....and I wanted to be a part of it. I had read about such campaigns previously , now its time to contribute.....
The topic they have chosen is Environment and well it is the greatest threat (i mean the the climate change and global warming) for humankind in the next century.
Although this topic is still debated all round the world, we have to accept the changes in Environment are not natural. The effect on environment may not be felt in short span of time. It is a complex process and slowly but certainly the pollution and other human initiated impacts on environment are affecting the mother Earth.
It is a known fact that coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. And more than 50% of electricity comes from thermal power plants using coal as the primary fuel. We can reduce the CO2 emissions by efficient use of electricity.
Being an Electrical Engineering student I would suggest a 3-point Energy Saving Scheme :

Use CFL......don't worry about initial costs you can negate those by lower electricity bills.....a village in India was able to lower its daily load (current) demand to half by use of CFL
Make maximum possible use of natural light and natural cooling.
Use equipments rated as efficient by a proper authority like BEE in India.

People ask me why should we worry about next 100 years when none of us will be here. My answer to this is you enjoy the fruits of trees planted by your grandparents then it is your moral and social responsibility to ensure that life sustains on planet Earth.

Some data mentioned above needs to be validated. I have obtained it from numerous sources.

Finally I would say "Its not the time to think....its the time to ACT"

Why have a Blog?-Numero uno

2007-10-10T16:50:00.000+05:30

I am trying to write my blog in parts. This is the part one and also includes something related to my life. This blog is dedicated to all wanna-be bloggers.
MY VIEWS
I think I did mention about this in my previous posts. So whats new this time around..
Well I went through many more blogs and a couple of articles in CHIP magazine.
And I figured 3 wide categories of blogs:
1. A philanthropist's blog--a blog dedicated to man kind, it includes all environmentalist, educators, advisers and the like.
2. A blog which advertizes the blogger and in which he describes his daily activities--mine is in this category!!!!!
3. A corporate blog-- blog maintained by corporate to contact with the customers and discuss their new products.
In this blog I will mention about the first kind and related topics
There are many non-profit organizations conducting various blogging events in which people contribute by way of their experiences, imagination and views. Such events promote problems faced by mankind which includes cancer, AIDS, poverty, illiteracy.
Global Warming and Climate Change will be the most challenging problem. I say this because it would effect every one- the rich and the poor, the Indains and the Chinese, literate and ill-literate. Blog Action Day(15th Oct) will be such a campaign in which people are encouraged to write about Environment. I did register to the site!!! lets see what I manage to write..Another such event was conducted by some mall in Chennai in which bloggers had to write about Cancer. It was back in 2005/6 though.....
MY LIFE: I am happy that my blog addiction (to whatever small extent) has made some of my relatives and friends to have a blog.
Meanwhile my plans of Google ad-sense are held in abeyance. Currently I am more than satisfied without the materialistic (read money) pleasures of my blog.

Relaxed......

2007-10-06T06:42:00.000+05:30

Posting after a long time. Amit is off to IITM so I am without the Internet for 4 days. I cancelled my IITM trip at the last moment. Now I have to start preparing for the second sessionals.
I got to read an old digit magazine somewhere around Nov 2005 which had a couple of articles on blogging. One was about corporate blogs and how they are maintained. Then there was one related to blogging for the awareness of cancer which was actually a competition. I found both articles interesting. It shows how modern networking and advertising are shaping up.
Meanwhile I am confused over the use of Google AdSense......not really sure about trying it on my blog. I think I'll have to first widen my reader base to get paid off handsomely.
Thats all folks nothing more to write....

TATHVA '07

2007-09-30T03:16:00.000+05:30

This was my third college techfest and each time it just gets bigger..!!
I could participate in 1 workshop and had paper presentation .
The workshop (MyFirm)was just what I needed......it gave me an important insight in reading the balance sheet of any company. I would thank Dr. Vinod Dumblekar(of Mantis) for conducting the workshop. The workshop was actually a simulation game in which you own a company(you are actually a team of 3-4 guys), you make decisions for your company for a quarter and then get the balance sheet of ur company at the end of the quarter. Though my company had a PAT going negative I learnt the various steps a CEO has to take to run his business successfully. The event continued for the entire day and none of us was willing to stop....however the game was only 1 day event. This would certainly help me in future
Moving on to the paper presentation. The topic we had choosen was micro CHP applications in Hospitals. The entire idea of CHP is in my mind since I have completed my Industrial Training in Ugar Sugar Works(ugarsugar.com). After the workshop I was completely exhausted and so was Gopal after his Bellagio event. But the next day we had to present our paper. We then sat down and got the presentation ready. In the morning we once again went through the slides and were almost confident. I was nervous, as usual before speaking to public but I had the material and that made me confident. The presentation went on well although there is still scope for improvement. I think the questions could have been answered in a better way by me. Anyways I was really satisfied at the end of the presentation. We managed to get the 3rd prize .
There were other events like IITB's NEXUS, iBOT, GSM 1.0 and others but I preferred to sleep in the afternoon. Now I have to work on SHAASTRA, very less time for that....

Witnessing the rare........

2007-09-25T15:26:00.000+05:30

Finally I get to see India winning a world cup...{the 2002 Champions Trophy was shared with Sri Lanka}. So, India becomes the first nation to win all the major ICC tournaments.....sounds gr8...ODI WC in '83, World Series in '85, Champions' Trophy in '02 and the T20 world cup '07.
The final match was like a pendulum swinging from India's side to Pakistan every 5 overs or so... the match was simply delightful esp. the heart-freezing moments in the final overs. As usual the common room was fulled completely {and this time I have a pic to display that}.. India truly deserved to win the tournament only b'coz of their spirited performance and magnificent captaincy by M S Dhoni.....I thank the entire Indian Cricket Team for gifting the nation with the Cup.....My brother would be very happy on the return of Irfan Pathan.......his favourite sportsman.
TATHVA http://tathva.org is just 2 days away....It will be a gr8 4 day fest.....I have to work on my paper presentation......A short blog after a wonderful match...

Blood Donation

2007-09-22T00:03:00.000+05:30

Yesterday{20th September '07} was an important day for me. I donated my blood for the first time. It was about 12 years back when my Mom told me that I have one of the rarest blood groups {A neg} since then I had thoughts of donating my blood some time in my life. So finally I got a chance to donate.
It was about 8:30 am when I left for the blood donation centre in the Govt. Medical College Hospital. I was very nervous in the beginning. Once we {the relative of the patient was accompanying me} reached the hospital I was asked to complete a form and then the doctor asked me about my medical history. After that my blood group was verified and I was asked to proceed to the collection centre. Feeling nervous I entered the room and was then asked to lie down on the bed. The doctor then applied pressure on my shoulder and a pipe connected with a huge needle was inserted on to one of my blood vessels in the arm. It was not as painful as expected though but I still couldn't get rid of the nervousness. For around 10 mins I literally pumped blood in to the blood bag. I cannot describe the feeling I had for those 10 mins. After the donation I was asked to keep my hand folded and sit for sometime. I was also given coffee and some biscuits so that I can retain some energy. But after 2 mins or so I felt like I am losing my consciousness. I felt so energy-less that I even couldn't call the doctor. Somehow I managed to do that. I was then asked to lay down and my legs were held vertical so that blood can accumulate in the upper part of the body. After being in that position I felt some what comfortable and I felt energy entering my body. Later the relative and I left for the college.
The entire blood donation process was a great feeling for me. Although I missed the classes--the first time I missed classes for a very good reason. However my teachers didn't feel it right to give me attendance for the reason. Anyways it was gr8 experience for me.....a real satisfying experience.
Nothing to write about today though.....It was just normal classes followed by a lecture on MATLAB by Dr. K P Mohandas.
Yeah and I am still regaining my complete body power with plenty of supplimentary foods and juices.
Meanwhile Amit{http://amit2007hi.blogspot.com } has really hooked onto blogging. He managed to find a new friend on yahoo messenger a real friend not the ones generated by computers.
It seems my posts are getting longer in content....Have to stop here... I'll try to find sm1 on Y!

GPRS Activated

2007-09-20T00:26:00.001+05:30

Yeh finally I get to surf the net from my room{although speed is incomparable to that of E}.
What a day to blog.......it was just amazing to watch Yuvraj at his crusading best against the poor English cricketers (esp Stuart Broad). So as i publish this post I can hear people from common room shouting with joy.
The following line was taken from cricinfo.com when England required 36 in their last over
And what do you know. England need 36 in an over! It's been done before ... by Yuvi..... It is certainly the best T20 knocks I have ever watched...
With the cluster maps it was great to see people atleast opening my blog from all round the world.
Thank You every1....!!!!!

Bio-Informatics Workshop and Ganesh Chaturthi

2007-09-20T00:20:00.000+05:30

9/16/2007, 11:58 PM
This weekend was very busy one. This Saturday being Ganesh Chaturthi, I had to do my religious duties. It started in the morning around 8 but the actual puja started only at 11 after the stage was completely decorated. Apoorva, Keval and I then completed the puja {a very quick puja}. It was then followed by aarti by director and some other faculty members.
In the evening we had a bash with dandiya night. It was great to see people playing all types of dandiya. In the end it turned from dandiya night to dj night and guess who was the DJ…………???Yeh it was my first experience of being a DJ and it was gr8!!!!!!!! I couldn’t resist some of my favorite party numbers and danced as I did in first year……. Although not as long.
The next day i.e. Sunday I had to attend the Bio-informatics workshop as organizer and as participant {for some time}. The event was conducted by IEEE SB and CSEA and was a gr8 success. I personally enjoyed it, though very little stuff entered my head. I felt interesting one of the speakers' comparison between a desktop and a neck-top.
He noted that today's computers work with 1010 transistors but the human mind works with 1040 neurons, the analogy here being made between transistors and neurons. The workshop has opened a new door for my higher studies. This field is already one of the hotspots of 21st century and more importantly for budding entrepreneurs, researchers and students it is the zenith of all present day R & D. The speakers spoke well about there respective fields and was an enlightening session for everyone present there. We were not sure about the turnout. As usual my friends missed another important workshop only due to their skeptical attitude. However we were satisfied with the response from out-station participants. There were people including students, faculty and professionals coming from all of South India.

Tomorrow 9/17/2007 will be a difficult day with tronix lab in the afternoon {esp. HR}
Hopefully everything will go orderly tomorrow and then have to enjoy in the procession for visarjana. Meanwhile I was totally impressed with the high actually super high speed internet in E-hostel. Those A&*$!#@s are enjoying single rooms with ultra high speed internet. My one wish let C get the same………………….. Seems Utopian……!!!!????

Exhausted of GPRS

2007-09-18T17:16:00.000+05:30

I had to return back to college computer centre for updating my blog. The GPRS account on Amit's mobile is now over, we will try to renew it as soon as possible so that I can return to my previous best.
However i have been publishing an offline blog on my notebook, a gr8 MS Office tool which came along with my pc. Couldn't manage to update it here though I will do it later.
Yesterday's Visarjan Procession was gr8. This is the 1st Ganesh Utsav I am celebrating away from home. Except for the modak I feel I din't miss anything.
Have to end abruptly................

Practical Engineering

2007-09-13T01:07:00.000+05:30

The topic which I would mention today is the emphasis on practical aspects in Engineering.

Although Indian Engineers are considered to be one of the best in the world {not only IITs but also other engineering colleges} the importance given to practical exercises is very low.
An engineer works in an extremely dynamic environment. S/He has to get acquainted with the ever changing nature of the field s/he is in. One cannot rely on antediluvian techniques in the 21st century. For this reason an engineer should have an imaginative mind. An imaginative mind will exist only if one is allowed to explore different subjects of study. A fixed syllabi hinders this exploration. I am not saying that there should not be any fixed syllabi. Only some basic fundamentals must be set fixed as a course the other part may be left dynamic which changes every 2 years or so. This way the corporate may find it easy and soft on their pockets for employee recruitment.
Same thing implies in laboratory classes. Among 10-13 experiments 5 may be fixed and all students ought to complete them and the rest may be decided by the students. Of course students should in all cases avoid plagiarism. This was suggested by my friend Gaurav Soni. This sort of academics allows the student's mind to explore around the world and not get stuck between the two dimensions of a book.
My mother always gives me advice of not being like a horse, which always looks in one direction confined by its collars or whatever it is called around the head.
I personally feel an engineering course should be as dynamic as possible. Students should be encouraged to work on practical aspects of their course. There must be a strong interaction between the industry and the academic institutes as both are of equal importance in progress of any country.

I know many would disagree with my ideas but as a student these were my views of making the syllabi more interesting so that students enjoy each and every day of their graduation period.

Funky blog-- followed by bad luck

2007-09-08T03:17:00.000+05:30

Yeah my blog would look more "funky" with the two new things I have added.
But I messed with my today's blog. I wrote a very long blog and then clicked on publish post only to realize I had previously logged off and have to log in again w/o my post. Real Hard Luck.... And guess what? I watched a movie "My Luck" today afternoon. So the movie might be having an effect on me......

Any ways I cant write the entire thing again as I am feeling sleepy.
But I will mention some things I remember
I started of with the importance of blogging in employee recruitment---about which I had read in http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com/ blog by Mr. Himanshu Seth.

I then quoted an interview of Mr. Steve Jobs in which he stressed the importance of living the present. I can actually copy+paste the part of his interview here:

Steve Jobs in an interview:
"And, you know, one of the things I did when I got back to Apple 10 years ago was I gave the museum to Stanford and all the papers and all the old machines and kind of cleared out the cobwebs and said, let's stop looking backwards here. It's all about what happens tomorrow. Because you can't look back and say, well, gosh, you know, I wish I hadn't have gotten fired, I wish I was there, I wish this, I wish that. It doesn't matter. And so let's go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday."

I then talked about the last encounter between India and England. The atmosphere in our common room after the match was just inexpressible,every single guy dancing {especially after the exam the success seemed super sweeter}

Thats all and wish All the Best for Team India in the final encounter tomorrow.

Finished with 1st paper

2007-08-31T23:56:00.000+05:30

Yaa I know I mentioned that this is not going to be my web diary rather it would be a collection of my ideas- melange as my friend Abhijit has named his blog.
But I cant keep stopping writing about my college life. Yesterday it was difficult to study with India almost winning the match. So close yet so far. We were studying with more than half of our mind wandering in common room {the place where we watch cricket and other matcehs, basically our TV room} A cheer from there and we were all running for the latest score.
But just badluck for Indians. Now we must win all the remaining matches to ensure a series win.
Have to study for the remaining subjects.
Bye the way the polling for the last week is over.....I had a single vote from me........ Poll results
My blog is interesting: votes 100%; no. of votes !

My orkut home page gave me this fortune, don't know how much is true........
Today's fortune: The star of riches is shining upon you

Conversion from Web Diary to MY IdEaS

2007-08-30T01:51:00.001+05:30

I think I have been maintaining my blog as my web diary {if you may call it so}. Well after going through different blogs I am more inclined towards writing about something different........something other than the college stuff..
Frankly speaking this is not at all time for writing about abstract ideas....... Only 1 day left for my midsems... I hope to start writing it in my future blogs.
It was great to see someone posting a comment on my blog....I never expected that.
This is my first experience with uploading photo on my blog. My friend Kiran's comment on this photo "R U alright ?U look as if U R Cing the End of the Universe. " And my reply was IPCC(Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change)
has reported just 8 more years... So Stop Global Warming!!!!!
Anyways this photo was taken during my summer trip to North India and the river in the picture is the Holy Beas.
Well as I mentioned above I am changing my blog topics it would be great to start off with Global Warming as it is the need of the hour to stop this global phenomenon.
My suggestions to people reading this blog are:

Minimize the amount of electricity you consume. Avoid usage of heavy electrical appliances during peak hours. Use CFLs as far as possible{don't worry about the initial cost. the initial cost covers your electricity bill}
Use public transport, I know this may be difficult with present mass transport system in India.....but do try to use it.
Support NGOs and Research Institutes which are keen on stopping this erratic climate change.
Industries can put off their AC and other electrical gadgets for at least an hour in a week.
Make the masses aware about global warming and its effects.
Maintain your vehicles and electrical appliances.

I know it is sounding very theoretical but remember

ITs TIME TO ACT AND NOT THINK

This was my first direct attempt to write something other than college life.

Hope to continue with fresh ideas next time...

Another Sunday gone.............

2007-08-27T02:40:00.000+05:30

It's 2 days of rest. Very little study of DSD{still going on....}
Finally, Gaurav Soni succeeded in conducting the first of our planned forums. I had hardly planned for the forum but his excitement couldn't resist me from entering the discussion{although there was very little discussion, most of the talking done by GS}. It was a gr8 idea but not a gr8 start. Hopefully we will make it more interesting in the coming weeks.........
Congratulations to Amit for his new blog!!!!!!!!!!!
Still updating my PC with various softwares after yesterdays formatting. Now it has got the Google Desktop Search and its Sidebar. I would thank Google a lot, for providing so many things.
Gmail, Orkut, Blogger, Google Earth, Gtalk and the list gors on and on........ Thanks Once again guys.................
ASTALAVISTA

Holiday time

2007-08-26T00:14:00.000+05:30

It seems rest time with 5 days off. But this short vacation is followed by 1st sessionals, so nothing much to cheer. My 1st onam vacation in NITC. Yesterday I had gr8 time with my friends while we dined out, after a long time we all were together{will upload the pics soon}.
Though the dinner was not that good and so was the service at HYSON, but still it was fun.
Its already 1 day less and nothing started for the exams....... hope to start it tonite.
Tried to chat with Chinmay but same problem again low speed.
Had dinner today in the new MC aka NIT coffee shop. Also completed formatting my PC today. It is now free of viruses but the problem is anti-virus, it is difficult to get updates at such horrible speeds.
Have to stop here.................STUDY TIME!!!!????

Misc Ideas

2007-08-23T00:08:00.000+05:30

"Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead." - Gene Fowler
For me its not paper but the pc screen.{No idea who Mr. Gene Fowler is, I just pasted from someone else's blog}
Well talking about the academics, very few teachers are making their respective subs interesting. MPMC(or MMA, as sir prefers to call it) alongwith DSD and Control S/Ms are the one in which I have managed to maintain a decent interest. The biggest shock was Power S/Ms. I had even planned to pursue higher studies in PS, but now it seems only a miracle frm my or sm1 else's side will ensure that.
Meanwhile this sem looks more or less like a programming sem with 2 subs dealing with assembly language and vhdl. This is accompanied by EEA conducting MATLAB workshops and KPM emphasizing its need. So finally I will be able to explore the programming power of my PC.
This year EEA is not going to be same old stuff, my friends will ensure it will continue to function as actively as any other club in NITC. We have great plans for the future.......
The labs continue to be boring. Exams are nearing and there is ample time to study and start this sem with good scores.
Hope to keep the blog updated........

Blogging frm my pc

2007-08-16T00:33:00.000+05:30

Finally on 15th August I attain independence from the computer centre. The GPRS connectivity has made it possible, although it comes for a price. The speed still remains a problem though. But that might just be sufficient for now. Updates for my anti-virus take long times, my first download was the registration for the Active HDL pack which was just 800 or so KB.
Have to keep it short for today, I have to attend classes for tomorrow and also the workshop. Lots of things to do....very little time...... as usual...

The Routine

2007-08-14T15:54:00.000+05:30

So, the routine has set in.... The classes are followed by evening masti and some work for various organizations. The most tiring part is writing a lab record. GOD knows why teachers insist so much on lab records. The lab is to do something practical and not just draw waveforms that too with a scale. Nothing is as boring as that. I thought the Electronics Lab would be cool but it seems utopian belief.
Anyways thats how the life has been for past two years. Nothing is new except for the subjects. Even with the laptop there is no facility for net browsing in the hostels {leave alone downloading some stuff}. So all in all the routine is set with a few chaneges here and there.
Nothing more to write or nothing more to think!!!!!!!!

New academic year

2007-08-05T16:31:00.000+05:30

It is more than 3 months since my last entry. The vacations were coolest I ever had. My brother and I travelled a lot. We visited as many as 5 different states, some places we had a stay for few days. Overall we enjoyed a lot.
This summer I also had my first encounter with industry by going thru the industrial training. It was great to see how things exactly work in an industry. I hope to do a industrial project during next summer.
Now I am back to Calicut, it is semester 5 and with all the important subjects.
hope to keep connected to the web thru my blog.......

Randomized Thought Process

2007-04-27T00:13:00.000+05:30

I am having great time here. Its just eat- sleep-watch cycle. Today I visited the Big Bazar store in C'wad. It was followed by a burger @ McDonalds. I purchased 2 books. 1 is an autobiography & the other 1 is a best-seller "The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari"
Everyone at home is excited about the trip to Shimla. All the shopping is almost over & now its packing time.
Well I'll be most probably meeting my friends this sunday....I hope everyone will be available
I am totally confused what to blog about. Just getting random thoughts which are being typed....

Home sweet home

2007-04-22T23:45:00.001+05:30

So after gruelling end sems I am back to my blog....
End sems went on pretty well until lsa.Well i was not in a mood to write the paper. But its all over atleast untill 1st may after which our results will be out.
And till then its party & rock& roll .
This vacation is a real long one and still I will be short of time for some of my plans.
Firstly my family and I are out on a trip to North India.
Then I have to do industrial training and other things.
But surely this will be my last peacefull vacation. & I hope to make the most out of it.
Thats all for today
Asta la vista

One Week to go......

2007-04-13T19:16:00.000+05:30

2 down, 4 more to go....
Thank God we have a proper scheduling of the exams lots of rest time thats more important..
I mentioned in my last blog about the IEEE get together. Today we had a farewell to our senior batch. Yet again this small informal sort of function made me proud to be an IEEE member. From the experiences of seniors it shows that it is worth to be a member of professional institution like IEEE. I hope the great work done by the seniors is carried further and their dreams are envisaged.
Today I went thru' some of my fellow bloggers' posts. It is quite exciting to have a peep into people's life. The power of blogging is in help rendered by the others..... the care that is shown
it really impresses me. I also found blogs about MIT students who are doing a great job by helping non-MIT people learn more about MIT. I have a copy of their URLs might be needed some day
Coming back to the exams!!! Well Maths was OK and today's M/C s I think I just lost 'S' .Anyways it has been one of the most interesting areas for me.
The packing business yet to be started but i got a copy of suse Linux burnt today. Hope it works well on my home PC.
This has been quite a long blog . The lengthiest in my short blogging career.
Its time up for me I think I will have to eat in MC today but no probs I'll be having company, Appu I suppose is busy surfing and is hungry.....

End Sems closing on......

2007-04-09T11:53:00.000+05:30

Alas! I got time to blog..... I was busy preparing for the end sems & the other reason being the server in computer centre was down for almost 3 days.
Last friday we had a treat from IEEE SB for our successfull organization of FOSS '07.
It was a great day to celebrate the success of FOSS. I hope the great work done by Deepak & Amarjeet is carried forward.
Yeah the real thing has now arrived- the end sems {or the time to go home}.
Actually my friends & I dont want the end sems to begin but instead we want them to be over before they start. That shos the eagerness to go home.
Before going home I have to burn many CDs/DVDs, hope I get time for all that.
Other things around: GRE revised test has been cancelled, dont know is it good or bad.
The world cup upset# 3 Bangladesh win over the mighty S. Africans.

2 Days of Anger, Pain & Stress

2007-03-29T18:26:00.001+05:30

Last two days in my college have been tense. The situation had turned out very ugly especially on the monday night. The college was very much under the control of mighty politicians, and I am thankful to one & all who have brought the college to regular. It was really very good to see all the students united. Anyways the situation is under control right now and I hope it remains peaceful hereafter.
Now with the college back to normal terms the End Sem pressure is slowly but surely mounting.
Yeah and the good news this time round is I have complete 3 months vacations......that sounds exciting right now but later on it will be really boring.
I do try my best to catch on some regular readers but I don't think there are many.
Anyways "Never give up is the moral of this Story."

2 Days of Anger, Pain & Stress

2007-03-29T18:26:00.000+05:30

Disappointing World Cup

2007-03-26T17:12:00.000+05:30

it's very sad to know that India is out of the cup at such a early stage. thats what happens if the league matches are very few. thats what happened to r team Ghatibaba in this years Willow cup.
But finally it is a sport and must be taken with the right spirit. as Rahul Dravid pointed out noone will be as upset as the players. so the people back home should understand this and support the team.
i feel India should now concentrate on the 20-20 world cup in september.
however it was good to see India reach the 400 mark .

busy with the cup

2007-03-21T10:20:00.000+05:30

so after my short trip to pune im back to calicut. i missed ragam this time round but had to go for my bros exams.
the world cup neways with India beating Bermudas comfortably all eyes are now on the friday encounter. its very sad for Pakistan to lose to Ireland and then its best coach i think...
with the end sems nearing i have to shift my gears. waiting impatiently to go home.....

blogging in the 21st year of my life

2007-03-06T16:21:00.000+05:30

im back here after a long time.
it{the blog} first started as an assignment for my 1st year course. i managed to write because of my interest, which later on withered off .
& now im writing again only b'coz of the FOSS meet @ my coll.
during the meet i realized how useful the blogging tool can be.
yeah and talking about the meet, it was a great success .
had great time working 4 the meet. the speakers were just amazing. the spirit they had................ just hats off to those guys.
although i missed Holli {call it rags fest atleast back here in nitc } i have no regrets .
also yesterday i celebrated my 20th b'day.
i would like to thank all my friends & well wishers for their b'day greetings{its not possible to mail or scrap everyone}

Enjoying holidays

2006-05-22T00:02:00.000+05:30

Yeah I finally got time to scrap in my blog.
Nothing to do in holidays feeling a bit bored but still happy .
Planned to learn some c++ but nothing of that planning is implemented.
Well lets see if I really do something in c.

exam preparation

2006-04-04T15:21:00.000+05:30

im busy preparing for my exams but i still find time to write my blog
actually we were here to register for ieee but all of us started checking mails & other surfing stuff

2006-03-24T14:52:00.000+05:30

i completed myu web page

2006-03-23T16:42:00.000+05:30

Today i created my first web page and also my first blog