Optimists vs Pessimists on the days before University exam

Given below is a chat between my classmates. ASP stands for Adaptive Signal Processing.

CK: ASP rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

me: Wait till you get the results, ck!

lx: univ exams suck!! 

sku: they always do

CK: BE hopeful my dear friends,

The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.

lx: ultimately the pessimist survives!!!

alx: the pessimist never climbs on the plane to ever use a parachute...

jo: hehe. well said....

mj: ho........!!!!!!###*****#####@@!!!!!!!!!!

me: sometimes even the pessimists have to get on the plane...like we are writing asp.

Another purely nonsensical chat:

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bby:Somes times i really feel ....sitting on bus ......every stop i get i say "orappalle "

so when i go from eat fort to east indies....how many orappalaeees will i utter??????????????

a 10

b 100

c 1000

d b square plus a square divided by c raised to d plus e

mj: aadyam nee 'east fort' ennu maryadakk ezhuthan padikku...'eat fort' polum.....ayye

lx: since option d doesnt have 'a', i think it could be a clue... my answer is 'a'

lx: ohh.. it has 'a'

bby: a     ondu.......b square plus "a" square

bby: "athaaane.."////////// eda mabine   project mateaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeee utharam

lx: yahoo ids are gonna kill us all....

bby: athu ithum thammil enthenkilum bandham>

mj: athinte achanaanu ithinte daddy

And my parents still believe that my classmates are normal. !!!!

To Mumbai I fly!!!

Last year, when I got placed in the green dot, I was almost sure that I would be going to Hyderabad this year. My dad was continuously asking me to call up someone in Hyderabad and ask them about the life there. I, the lazy bug, paid no heed to his requests until mom too joined the bandwagon. So finally, I got the phone numbers of some of my seniors. Two other girls in my class are joining the company too, so we decided that we would take for rent, a three-bedroom apartment. One day, we were talking about the apartment we would stay in, our plans for the weekends there and so on. My only regret was that Hyderabad did not belong to the coastal region. I am a diehard fish-curry lover.(Ask mom about it!) Fish may survive without water; I cannot survive without fish. And Hyderabad is more famous for chicken biriyani than fish.(sob!)

So we were talking. None of us know how to cook. On top of that, the other two are diehard vegetarians committed to enlightening the poor ignorant non-vegetarians about the harm they are causing.  So I was very doubtful about my future life. Imagine me becoming a vegetarian! I'd rather spent a night in the castle of Count Dracula all alone.

Then I got a call. The lady at the other end informed me that I'd be going to Mumbai and not to Hyderabad. I couldn't believe it. I asked her to repeat what she had said. My head was in a whirl. I was so happy. I have got an uncle and an aunt and an umpteen number of cousins and relatives there. And more importantly, there IS fish.

I got mixed reactions when I informed mom and dad. Both were initially shocked. But they are out of it now. I'll need to find accommodation, however. And that is going to be difficult.

There is a thing that dampens my spirits. Till now, I am the only person from the college who is going to Mumbai. That means I may miss my apartment and the Dum biriyani. The other two haven't got their calls yet and I pray that they may come to Mumbai as well.

Just one more to go!

Tomorrow I take my last series test ever. Our teachers are going to give us a party after that:-) We are giving them a party the day after tomorrow. In between, we have to complete our project reports. That is going to be a herculean task indeed. And then, there are the labs.

Still, it feels great! I am going to be an engineering graduate in two months!

The only dampener right now is the fact that mom has gone to Kasargod to attend a function. Almost all my cousins are there. I am stuck here, taking exams. (as usual!)

I wonder how many exams I have taken since I joined the college. Let me see : 18 internal papers+ 9 university papers in first year + 7* (12 internals + 6 university ) + 12 internals this year, taking the tally to 165. Now I have six university papers. That's theory. I didn't count practical exams. They belong to a different category altogether. They are not exams. They are near-death experiences for the students to give them an idea of what actually hell is.

Ah! After two months a period of no exams, finally. No more constant nagging from mom. (I'm lying here. She gave that up long ago, seeing I'll never mend my ways) Reading anything till you get bored. No more assignments. No more worries about the 2.5 modules the teacher did not teach. No more tension about the lab exams. No more last minute cramming up. Life.....can be beautiful at times, you know. It depends on your perspective.

Always look at the sunny side! (If you are not in a desert, that is.)

Good golden days...

I am writing my final series tests at college. I will never be writing a series test again. But instead of feeling elated at the thought, I feel really sad.

These tests have been really enjoyable - cramming in four to five lessons into your head in just two hours. I still remember the series I wrote during my first year: everyone would start preparing a week before the exams. Now, in the final year, we ask each other, "For which subjects do we have tests today?"

Well, yes. Today marks the beginning of the cutting of the umbilical cord which connected us with the college. Within two months, all of us will say goodbye to each other, to the college, and embark on a new journey - to find what really life is, and who we actually are. We are going to be taken out of our cocoons into the world outside. It is going to be harsh, and while we can, let us enjoy!

My first vote

I cast my first vote ever in this Parliamentary election. I still get thrilled when I see the ink mark on my index finger. It feels great to be part of the actual government-forming process in your country. In spite of all the hardships I had to face to get my id card, I am hooked! Jai ho to the Great Indian Democracy.

A majority of my classmates voted. The fellows who couldn't were so depressed, I can't say. It is a good sign that the country is in the hands of people like this as well.

Most of the discussion in the classroom is now on who will win the Trivandrum constituency. The former U.N Under-Secretary General, Mr. Shashi Tharoor is contesting from here. Though he is popular, many people feel annoyed at his candidature-as he was virtually air-dropped here. Moreover, his association with a programme of  Coco-Cola and the case of dishonouring the national anthem will indeed have a great impact. The fact that he wrote an article advocating that India adopt Israel-like policies towards Pak have infuriated many. This is a state that supports Palestine though it gave refuge to Jews centuries ago. Jews still live here. However, the economy of Kerala is heavily dependent on the earnings from the Gulf. So naturally, the people here support Palestine in general.

The CPI candidate, P. Ramachandran Nair, is a native of Trivandrum and the LDF is pretty strong here. So he has a good chance of winning this seat.

 

The BJP will have to work harder to win here. Their vote percentage might improve but the candidate will not win, most probably.

The BSP (God alone knows why it is contesting here!) candidate, Mr. Nadar has strong support from his community, but little elsewhere.

 

The NCP candidate, I've heard his name and he is a well-known politician but he stands no chance.

My idea of what is going to happen is:

With only about 54% of the total votes polled and given the tradition of the Lefties making it a point to vote, the CPI candidate has the highest probability of winning. This, provided the CPI-CPI(M) and the VS-Pinarayi rifts haven't affected the voters much. The anti-incumbency factor, though moderately high, has almost been quenched by the lack of good campaigning by the Tharoor camp. Mr. Tharoor talks of twin city concept, which is well and good, but he needs to understand that the people here are more concerned with roads and regular water supply.(especially the latter!)

The BJP, BSP and NCP candidates are going to eat into the share of the UDF candidate. I sincerely hope I am wrong, because both the LDF and the UDF candidates are good, honest men who will work for the constituency if elected. It would have been better if the contest was strictly between them.

And soon we'll leave...

I remember joining my college about four years back. Not exactly excited about studying Electronics and Communication engineering, the first Professor I met asked me,"What's your state rank in AIEEE?" I said:111. "Then why don't you join NIT?" "Sir, I won't get the branch I like." "So you love ECE that much, eh?" I didn't know what to tell him. I gave him a broad, you-may-be-right-but-you-can't-get-it-from-my-face sort of smile and escaped. It is very difficult to smile like that. It needs years of patient practice to produce the perfect smile.

My first year was rather uneventful except for garnering more points at the Genesis that the entire CompSci department put together. I was trying to make out what I wanted in my life. I had become almost an atheist - tried agnoticism, went to the verge of atheism... and not a soul knew my inner turmoil.

God pulled me back. You know, He has made this habit of letting me go away from Him and then pulling me back with such force that makes me wonder how I could go away from Him. It was a miracle that saved me. My mom had a serious brain haemorrhage during my study holidays. I was not supposed to be at home that day, but purely accidentally, I was. Doctors weren't sure about the outcome of my mom's operation, but she's really fine now. 

The second year was less trying. The proper study of electronics began. I remember sitting almost clueless in the classes at the beginning - not able to decode what my Professors were saying. I was scared of the internal exams - I used to start preparing at least the week before. Now, it is two hours before the exam starts that I deign to open the book. I was made the Secretary of ISTE's college chapter. There were some tech fests. I remember winning a prize in a Science Quiz with DJ. Fourth semester was one of the best semesters I ever had. We had some of the best faculty at the college teaching us. We fell in love with the subject, a love which only two years of horrendous lectures by some other teachers could break. This year also saw us talking more to our classmates. Got to know more about them and felt really grateful to have such intelligent and more importantly, such good human beings as friends. You wouldn't believe if I tell you how simple and how noble most of my friends are. Before coming to college, I wouldn't have believed if someone told me that such human beings existed. Satsang, it is - my group of friends. 

The third year saw a remarkable downfall in the quality of our teachers. I will tell you, that all the teachers are qualified well to do their jobs. They teach us well, most of them. But we would like to see more passion in them, for the subject. I believe that more than knowledge, it is a passion for teaching that is required. A teacher should make the students more thirsty for knowledge, not spoon-feed them. We had great teachers during this period too.

I am currently in my fourth year. The seventh semester was, till date, the worst period I ever had in my life. I hope never to have such six months again. The eighth semester got better and soon, we'll be leaving this great institution. Many have their lives temporarily secured - I mean, they have got jobs; some haven't. It has been four glorious years of joy and tears, hopes and fears, inspired moments and desperate times.

I do not know what to say. I do not know what my friends might do. The institution boasts of its stellar alumni-ISRO Chief, Madhavan Nair, many, if not most of the top brass of ISRO, numerous officers in the Civil Services, people in all divisions of the Defence forces. What lies in store for us? God knows.