In the lap of Aravallis - Mount Abu

It was during my summer breaks during under-graduation. I was visiting home during May 2007 for my semester breaks.That summer I had the opportunity to revisit the pinnacle of Rajasthan - The Mount Abu. One of those usual futile days at home during the semester breaks - I was flipping through boring magazines and trying changing those useless channels. Finally i abnegated to the idea of finding a solution to my idleness. I was soon to be lost in my usual daydreaming sessions when my sequence of thoughts was interrupted by the acrimonious sound of the doorbell - Dad was home after office. Seeing the dismal look on my face I had at the moment he quite understood that his words would definitely be welcomed by me and guess what he wasn't wrong. After having the customary snacks he broke the suspense. Dad had to go on tour to Mount Abu and he had planned for all of us to go with him too....Wow...Wasn’t that great!! And When??? The next day... After all those hurried preparations we were on the train to commence our journey. And yeah the journey itself was fun being in one of those royal saloons that dad gets for his trips.

After an overnight journey in the luxury of the saloon we reach our base camp – a small town called Abu Road. It is the last train head before the road journey begins. Landing in the city was enough to bring back the memories of those old times when this was home for me. Those three years of our stay in Abu Road cannot be easily forgotten. The next two days of my life were absolutely full of fun and masti. After a light breakfast and freshening up we embarked on climbing up the slopes of our destination.
The place really has something exceptional to offer to everyone I don't even remember how many times I have visited the place but every-time I visit, the vivid serenity and mesmerizing beauty offers a thoroughly refreshing experience. The spellbinding surroundings you find around you are sure to engulf you in a feeling of tranquilization. One of the few, or probably the only, hill station in the desert state of Rajasthan, Mount Abu is situated at height of around 1200 meters above sea level. The attraction of mount is not only as a hill station but the fact that the place has witnessed various memorable instances of history give it a special importance in itself. And what is there that the place lacks...The grandeur of Delwaras , the state of repose at Peace Park, the devotion at Bharamkumaris' and the adventure of climbing to the acme of the state, Guru Shikhar, everything is so be-charming. It’s here that you reckon the adages describing nature as an actuation of writers and acquiesce in to their aptness and believe me this isn't mere adulation.
Well let’s cover things one by one. Our first destination at the hill city was the Guest house. It’s no less than a picnic spot in itself but that description is for a bit later. We are here in Mount Abu and there is no time to waste. We relax a bit and start onto the first spot to be covered. It was the Delwaras – famous Jain temples. The entire structure is a combination of five different temples based on five Jain Tirthankaras. Built before 13th century AD, marble walls with fine carvings and amazing architectures in the temple offer a marvelous picture of human craftsmanship. Outside the temple, we witnesses special art in people to write our names on a rice beans. It was late evening by the time we were done with the temples and hence we headed straight to the sunset point.  The place situated at a high point provided an awesome view of the sun setting behind the Aravalis into the river Banas.
After this, we were back to the guest house for a quick dinner and then visited a man made lake – the Nakki Lake. It is believed that the lake was dug by humans using their nails. We enjoyed a good boating in the lake which itself was quite refreshing. Tod Rock – a frog shaped rock over a peak was visible in the night light.  This was end of our day and we retired to have some rest before another day of enjoyment.
We woke up early, next morning, to enjoy the cool mornings at the guest house. It was beautifully maintained place with sprawling green gardens and a few kid-rides. After breakfast, we visited the 2500 year old Achaleshwar Mahadev temple. The temple is famous for the worship of God Shiva’s toe and the five metal idol of Nandi – God Shiva’s carrier. The holy pond nearby has idols of three bullocks which have a story of their own. The fluency of the story of small kids around the place is simply attention grabbing.
Next on our list was the Guru Shikhar, the highest peak of Rajasthan with a height over 1700 meters above sea level. After a tiring climb up the stairs we were there at the top and the feeling was awesome. There was a small cave temple there and a big bell to ring. We stayed there enjoying the cool breeze and then climbed down.
But advent of everything is always paired with its extinction. Our happy days were there to end too. We lived there for two days and at least for the time being that was really a worth remembering part of my summer breaks. And that’s why I have here written this blog to refresh those wonderful moments in my memory. Hope you people too could trace some hints of the exquisiteness that this hill station has on offer. Keep waiting for more and revisiting the page… 

Publisher: Unknown - 13:49

Meaningful education - Is it still relevant ??

Finally the taxing endterms come to an end today...Actually am supposed to be logically sleeping right now but for this early morning flight that leaves me with no option but to spend another night sitting if I don wanna risk missing it. And wandering on the internet to quench my thirst of information I stuck at some articles and news items related to educational reforms in India. The path being followed seemed intriguing.
The thing started with making compulsory for the private schools to accommodate some students from poor background. But then when actually these students reached those posh places they found themselves a misfit. They could neither match the affluence of the richer lot nor could they save themselves from continual jibery and mockery. In all we have created a frustrated mass of students and parents who find themselves guessing their faults. The fault that actually is of the government. The body who is responsible to provide basic education to all. Shredding their responsibility into these banal legislation is not going to address the problem. This actually reminds me something I have been taught recently. The funda of unintended consequences. I believe that intentions behind the actions were pure and if idealism prevailed these would have in fact improved the level of education in India. but then expecting idealism seems to stretching the demands too far.

Next has been optioning out class X boards exam. We have been living with this for all our generations and now government wants to put an end to it on account of pressure creating activity. Agreed !! it creates pressure on students. Again the logic seems sort of illogical. It is for the first time students are exposed to the competition in true sense. After all they have to see the pressure and competition. or some political still planning some miraculous method of eliminating competition itself from the society economy and all other spheres? Seriously scrapping an examination which has over the years developed into a benchmark in itself. What fails my understanding is the way scrapping it would help reduce pressure in first place. You may relieve a proportion of students from the stress of failure at that stage but then what would they do for class XII boards or for that matter competitions ahead(May be bringing down the standard of JEE was a part of this strategy..) And all this would be done at the cost of some of the meritorious students. Just try to think what would be impact of someone supposed to score 89.4% (no points for guessing who is being talked about :) But the point is there is no end to stress, pressure and competition especially in today's world and atleast not by such frivolous attempts. Unintended consequences again it seems. Now I realize how important those 8:00 AM lectures were that I simply ignored.

The fact of the matter is when we should be actually improving our education system, we are scrapping out some of the better elements of the system. At time when Mr. Obama envies India for its education systems and calling to emulate from it, we aren't concerned enough. I bet government and the HR minister should broaden their focus of outlook and should try bringing wholesome improvements inclusive in character. GLOBE GLOBE GLOBE he he yeah it is but then public policy can never be specific or particularized. Thus we elected a set of white dressed executives to take care of our woes and in them we keep our faith that one day they would steer India to become how we should envisage it to be(.)

Publisher: Unknown - 13:52

Thoughts - Cleared for take off !!

Aptness of the title can only be recognized by someone who has to bear four years at an unidentified place in realms of concrete buildings, monstrous professors, regular examinations and subsequent quest for grades. Well it's not exactly so bad but still. With the submission of the No Dues Form, the toughest job of the ultimate semester, I have been relived of all my duties towards a BTech Degree :) and so as the title says I am......
Looking back at last few weeks at life in this paradise,as in my own words, I realize the extent to which a BTech degree can be farzi yet authentic, the later representing only the literal meaning. The pre-endsem period when everyone was haywire about submission of the undergraduate thesis, most of us finally rested on some or other manipulations of truth :P for the final dissertation.

Our very own case presents the best of examples of this earthly reality. Devoid of an reliable approach a week before the due date, we finally end up getting a perfect grade is a living testimonial of hows the way to go about and around. Few strokes of trial and error, slight modifications on good old MS PAINT and finally a bit of pursuations with regards to impossibility of certain tasks is enough to convince some unsuspecting Mr. Guide to realize how hard two innocent looking (subject to perceptions) souls have worked and that the results truly is outcome of that work. Hiding the existing work on the same topic is only a cherry on the ice-cream. And these realizations manifest into professor vehemently (exaggerations accepted!!) supporting these two beings at the presentation where a Mr. Villain was bossing around leaving everyone flummoxed. And since he expects to get a journal paper out of that crap of 4 nite-outs, I guess that's a win-win for everyone :).
And as if that was enough for the day, the clearing came with the news of another AA and an AB, in courses where the syllabus for the examination was presented the night before.
And with this I rest my case that "nothing is impossible" is something not said arbitrarily. When you can be passing as a BTech department rank holder of electronics and communication engineering without knowing the directional arrows of a MOSFET there's nothing in the world that you can't achieve!!
But then the only fact to know is Who Cares. As in words of Director, we are just one more passing batch for the faculty who is ready to embrace a brand new wagon with similar apathy. We or for that matter some of us like me going for a hands on with new fields and realities, the technical knowledge rendered was just a means to the end..the end being the document I am supposed to receive on last working day of May with huge fan-fare. And so its just a moment to relax and enjoy my last day ..or infact the only night that is left...at this campus. Signing off now with a hope that atleast people who have been indicated in this declaration do not visit:) well atleast untill I am safely gone....

Publisher: Unknown - 07:01

IIM Interview 1 - IIM Indore

Though out my preparations for CAT and subsequently for my GD/PI/Interviews, experiences shared by seniors were of immense help. They were a crucial input in calibrating my preparations to align them with what was required to sail through this process. Now that I have leveraged those experiences, it is only justified that I repay back to the group.

So here I am to put down highlights of my first ever IIM Interview and this was for IIM Indore on 11th of Feb 2009. I had chosen Kolkata as center of interview for most of my interviews and there I was in Kolkata on 10th afternoon with another of my batchmate who was through for interviews too.

After reaching rest house we took a short break and freshened up. Post this we began the preparations for the next day which was supposed to be a big show off of our smartness, talent and aptitude. We did not want to be caught unaware at the last moment and hence prepared ourself of the logistics right then rather than waiting for next morning. We got out formals out of the bags to confirm that creases were sharp, knotted the ties to their right lengths and gave a fresh coat of polish to the shoes. Once this was done, we got to reviewing the documents and cross checked the certificates required were there in the folder. We gave a second look to certificates and forms to ensure everything was in order. After dinner we went through the talking points we had prepared for interviews and then took to bed early as it was going to be a early start next day.

Next day, as planned the alarms banged us up from our slumbers at 5:30 AM. Yeah, it may sound odd when one hears about waking up at 5:30 for an 9:00 AM interview and trust me that this was something I must have done for the first time that day. However, the excitement of the occasion made the timing irrelevant. The car which was supposed to take us to the center was there on time and we left the rest house with enough margin in hand to overcome any "eventualities". The center as per the admit cards was The Kenilworth Hotel in Palk street area. We were well before time and probably among firsts to land in this high profile location (atleast for us).

We were called in for a group discussion in a group of 8 candidates at about 9. The moderators were already there in the room. We had a discussion on a case based problem and were given 5 minutes for getting together our thoughts followed by 20 minutes of discussion. The case was related to a technology company known for bringing innovative products in market. Though the company was famed for their technological and marketing expertise, their recent launches had been a failure. As is true with any failure, the company faced blame game between various stakeholders and hence a solution was sought to resolve the deadlock between various wings of management. We all had a lot of views to contribute and none of us wanted to be left behind in expressing those. Moreover we were all trained to ensure that we had to gain the eye of the moderators to ensure we get through this round. However, in all we had a good constructive discussions if we leave aside a few highs and lows. After the discussion we were taken back to the waiting room, a well put up place to wait.

Then was the turn of the Interviews and candidates were being called in one by one. Thus the eager wait begun for our turn. The order of presentation being random contributed to anxious moments which in my case was further aggravated by the fact that I was the third last person to be called. The wait in the special room allotted was quite enlightening both intellectually and personally. All sort of knowledge based questions floated around covering the diversity of fields from politics, economics and other usual stuff to art, design and astrology. Fortunately there was someone or the other to give in an answer for most of them. Though the atmosphere in general was filled with anxiety and apprehensions, the presence of IITians in majority allowed for all sorts of useless gossip "bakar" (to say technically) to find its way. And this bakar was the only thing which helped everyone keep their nerves in control until the right moment.

Finally came the phone call for which I was waiting for almost ages now. Yeah you read it right - it was a phone call. Actually one of the panel was calling candidates on a landline phone provided by the hotel and this particular one was the panel which was supposed to judge me for my ability to join the institute. The interview in a nutshell radiated an sense of eager interviewee and bored interviewer. The interview started with my intern at IIT Bombay in signal processing. Actually the interviewing professor seemed to be a bit into filters (electronic) and I had to face some unheard of jargons on audio (my guess) filters. Once this professor was done grilling me with the technical stuff, another panelist, a lady professor pitched in with her inquisitiveness about Europe. Now this was a relief after the heavy knowledge based stuff. She picked on the significant incident question on the form and started by asking me to elaborate on my answer and then further covered basics of what I can say as "a senior advising someone on a foreign visit". The interview continued for about 20 minutes, each of which seemed like years.

Finally the interview concluded and I was offered to pick a couple of toffees from the bowl and was permitted to leave. And out came me guessing whether the chocolate was a consolation gift or an statement of congratulations (given the fact that they were offered selectively) !!!!

Yeah obviously I know my answer now.... :)

I have put up additional material to supplement this article. All related articles to help for CAT preparations are available at http://www.expressions-kt.in/search/label/IIM_CAT

Publisher: Unknown - 08:13