Interlude 4th April: Convocation Day

The in-your-face FOREWORD:

I would leave the redundancies of the  details,the convocation speeches, the events,  the placement figures, the list of Business research publications, the mood of the convocation et al.,  to the press, the media and those who have the unearthly patience to set it all down in the midst of a heavy duty nostalgia …

And now , the single most dense thought in my head at the moment….

Our folks (parents, uncles, aunts etc.,) ,  come to leave us at school on the first day of our kindergarten . We are crying (explicitly) because we are being thrown into education …

cut to the present ..

Our folks again come back to witness our convocation and take us out (symbolically) of this education . We are crying again (inside) because we have become so used to this student’s life which we have grown to love ….

Pals, Jokalanders and fighters ….

God bless you all 🙂 and even if He doesn’t, it doesn’t matter … for you are more REAL than He is, and that is what (I guess) He wants you to think  🙂

I salute thee !

Epilogue to the present phase : The party at Green Park

After being a reluctant witness to the last post’s tragedy , I finally decided to surrender ,take light on my “rebel” stance ,to stop  blah blah fying about the stinking ichors of an infinitely self-raped society!!!! Hmm ..well at least for now! Nothing much I can do anyway (just a kid who lives on his parents’ money) 😦  So I might as well live my life happily rather than worry about the dog’s FUBARed & crooked tail !  (FUBAR = Fucked Up Beyond All Repair ..originally coined by S.Srinivasan 😀 )

Anyway,”The road  to IIM” series ends here 🙂 It was party time.All the ivy league management admits came over to the Green Park hotel for a party hosted by TIME!

According to stupid ol’ me , party boleto unlimited snacks, music and yeah! DJ 😀 But too bad it ended up as a photo shoot cum dinner.More like a get together than  a party.

So I asked Mr.Sai (the deputy director and my fav. mentor at TIME) and others to set up an impromptu DJ ! And their idea of a reply was to push me on stage and ask me to dance. Arre bhai log! I asked for a DJ night , not to make me basanti ! :p

But the food was good , which was in fact least expected.Since its a star hotel , I thought that the food would be , you know, of the namesake variety! But it was actually worth gorging on 🙂

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Quote of the day

“What can you , a mere 20 year Mr.Nobody ,do about it ? “

                                                             – dad, wrt my constant cribbing about the caste shit

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Verse of the day

 I dont care anymore

Of the societal blood ‘n’ gore

Ditch social welfare..njoi & eat pop-corn 

Listening to IM,Metallica and Korn

Yeah!Going vella from now on ….

————————————————————————————— ps : What is plural for Virus ? Virus or Virii or Viruses or abbulu’s PC  ??

ps1 :Why the earth is my IIITian miracle not happening ? 😦

ps2 : The new Spiderman flavour at Baskin Robbins is nice 🙂

ps3 : For the uninformed,if you go to Olive Gardens at Hi-tec, you got to try out this thing called  Veg Chettinad ..can you handle the after-burn ..muhahaha !!

ps4 :  I came across this person who loves astro-physics and sci-fiction ! Fine! But the thing that flabbergasted me is that she’s 1)a girl 2)a medico 3) a plastic :O  :O :O

ps5 : The irony of blogging is that folks read the saddest things more.No wonder I got my highest number of hits for the last post! What a pity 😦

ps6 : aaaaah! cut! snap!stop! time-out!

ps7 : I am beginning to like dancing ?!?!?!

ps8 : I hate gyminkers !! x(

ps9 : orkut-scraping in different types of dialects!  😉 Hyd.hindi,telangana slang,broken english , to name a few

ps10 : the only one in ug2k3 who was never given the bottom-thrashing (bum-bashing to be simpler) is our very own Chandramouli!

ps11 : the end

The “Baba Mashai” post

The Kolkata adjuncto
Its a rip-off from the Babu Mashai catch-phrase.If I dont clear the wait lists … I would be going to IIM-C (Kolkata) .So I guess Baba Mashai is widely and popularly touted to be my future nick down under 🙂

Anyway,considering that I almost got depressed to a vegetative state one month before the CAT 2K6 , I infer that I came back pretty well .Guess that would make it much easier for me to try to forgive certain people 😐

Speaking of IIM-C , learnt that they hold this Inter-BSchool Sports Meet , a tourney jointly hosted by XLRI .And also, they say there would be this official online magazine where students can write. Naaaaiiiice ! 😉

Erra B and VVHB

So I make this list of boys and girls whom I would beat up (now dont get serious ppl!Its a joke!) ..before leaving IIIT. When it came to the girls ..Erra Balu suddenly got all senti when he saw a certain lady’s name.He asked ,

Erra Balu :Orey! Tana peru enduku raasav ? (why her name ? )

Me : Random :p

Erra Balu : Vaddu ra! Paapam manchidi! (No da! She’s a good girl!)

me : Huh! :O

Erra Balu : Please ! I like her very much ! Please leave her alone lest you want me to forget you are my friend!

Me : What the heck ?

the abbulu conclusion : There you have it ! Krishnaditya/Erra Balu/Lal Bal/Hritik/Amazonian is in love ! Someone do something 😦 !! I dont want to see this story incomplete.

Unfinished tales

Speaking of incomplete tales,there started this strange tale of a moron who did eccentric and esoteric things for something that was not really a part of his academic curriculum :p

And now all those outwordly things bore fruit.But the hands of destiny had been so powerful that he lost the very “something” he did all those things for. He’s supposed to be happy.He’s supposed to be partying hard , celebrating his recent successes.But he’s just sitting there, waiting for his miracle , inspite of knowing that it was never meant to be more than just a memory …

Asian myths say that when a person leaves a place (in this context ,IIIT) with unfulfilled wishes , his soul demographically stagnates in the memory of that place . A memory of a time when our dear lil’ moron was engorged in joy! Hmm..wouldn’t he sell his very soul to get those days back , of a time when he was truly alive …

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ps : Yet to collect no-dues. So guess I am riding back to IIITian land.

ps1 : Sirius has got his MS.Now he will stay here for two more years 😉

ps2 : I just made a deal with the devil!So,like the ghost-rider , I stand a danger of becoming the ghost-runner ! :p

ps3 :Like a true IIITian,my last semester’s SG will be my worst to date.

ps4 : Hahaha ! ManU lost 0-3 to ACMilan .

The IIM-C experience

Considering this session was on the 15th of March ..this was a late post ..unpardonably late! Guess the final-year symptoms define lethargy..not my fault 😉 !

So my panel had 3 gentlemen ..2 Prof.s and a part of the alumni (I think)

The GD :

It was a case study again.It was formally called a “Business Study” !There were 9 candidates and I basically came out with good points.But for one thing …

I got blasted indirectly by a member of the panel ..who well!actually interrupted (rare! very rare) the GD to blast me 😦 No more details …

The PI :

It was a totally HR routine this time …

Okay Mr.V.V.Harish Baba . Whats the “BABA” for ..is it a surname ??

(gave a sentimental story about ma being a devotee of Sai Baba ..and yeah!not a surname)

Tell us about yourself!!

Which coaching institute are you from ??

What makes you think we should choose you over the others ?

(gave them two factors … an answer rehearsed ever since I got blasted :p in the GD … but I would rate it a good compensation for the “abbulu blasted at GD” phenomenon )

Rank all the candidates in the GD .

( Came upto rank 7 ….and one of the Prof.s seemed impressed and ended my digging-back-into-memory ordeal with a hey-your-rating-almost-matches-with-the-panel’s-rating look 🙂 )

So do you read newspapers ?

What kind of books do you read ?

Hindutva! So what did you infer from your reading on “Hindutva” ? And what do you think about the present state of BJP in accordance with following the Hindutva ideology ??

(yes again! once again! thnx. to STS and thnx to X for making me take that course)

Thank you , my boy!

…Thats it, done! I started off as a villain and at least  ended up as a good,sensible (ahem!!) ,decent guy in front of them!

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ps : Vasan thinks I will get through C! Says the same thing for everything.

ps1 : Oh yeah! The thin fellow had his gd-pi too that day,but was in a different panel.

ps2 : People in the outgoing batch are going senti ..but trying to hide it as much as they can. I am not going senti but trying to pretend that I am (wait!I am confused !!)

ps3 : Got a C- in CN.My worst grade till date in IIIT .I was more relieved because I wasn’t expecting to pass 🙂

ps4 : And yes! If I get a D in ECC , I would have covered the whole range of grades except F .Abbulugadu, a true IIITian !!! 😀

ps5 : Just finished finalizing my hit list.

IIM-A GD & PI

Happy Ugadi to everyone concerned 😀 !! 

Okay this one was on 9th march,2k7. Each panel had 3 prof.s, contrary to the dual member panels at K,L,I,B .

GD

Case study (yet ,again! ) This time , it was a fish market , an absolute fish market.So there isn’t going to be even a miscule difference whether you speak or not.Methinks that most of the marks for GD will be given in tandem with the quality of the GD-summary  we wrote in the end.

Interview

1st,2nd and 3rd Professors = P1,P2,P3

P1 ‘s questions:

1)So Mr.Harish,you are in Electronics and Commnications , so may we safely assume you are good at verbal communication too ?

2)What do you want to do in life ?

3)What is your favourite subject ?

4) Signal processing, is it ? Tell me why signal processing is required at all  ?

5) Name some encoding & decoding  schemes.

6) Come up with 3 analogues  that relate signal processing and team-building .

7) What sort of modulation do we see in a radio ? (to which i answered “FM (frequency modulation)”)

8) Isn’t AM (Amplitude modulation) there too in radio communication ? (yes)

9)Explain the concept of AM signal !

10) Draw an AM signal and tell me which is the carrier and which one is the message signal.

11) What kind of signals did you generally observe in your lab oscilloscope ?

P2’s Questions :

1)What are your interests ?

2)Atheletics ? Any achievements ?

3)Oh I see! So which countries are famous for long distance running ? (to which I answered “some african nations ” )

4)Africa is a big continent! I am asking countries . (i said “ethiopia” )

5)What about kenya  ?  (yes sir!Kenya also has lots of winners …baad baad ..I should have remembered kenya 😦 ..okay one guffawed question so far)

6)What about your interests in other sports ? (Yes sir!I play other sports too with interest! )

p3’s questions :

1) Do u have a credit card of your own ?

2)How does a credit card work ?

 (to which like a true engineer 😛 (super mutated LOLs)  I answered the mechanism of the magnetic strip,the card-swiping,the code-entering,etc.,)

3) Eh! Is it ?

(Sir! That is for drawing money from a machine.For buying soemthing,we need to ..blah blah )

4)Okay okay! Leave the mechanism ! What is the bank’s advantage in isuuing credit cards ?

5)What is the user’s advanatage apart from realising  an immediate loan ?

6)What is the difference between a credit card and a debit card ?

x-x-x

Thats it!I did speak twice or thrice in GD (I am including, only those spoken attempts when everyone else stopped to listen 🙂 ) And I think I wrote a pretty above-average summary as well

PI ? except for a little faltering (which I made sure was not that apparent ) at the  “kenya” part and a little confusion at the ” bank-interest” part , I was okay in the PI , esp. with the acads 🙂

So , I guess good ol’ me can hope for the best.We shall only know in April …

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ps : A series of nostalgic posts (hardly a month to go in IIITian land) to follow.Folks!Be ready to cry,laugh and go senti  😐

ps1 : Watched the movie Jagadam ,  will write a very violent 😉  review soon

ps2: If there  is Amalgam this year ,  I will dance on-stage in a lungi .Muahahaha …one last toture session for my fellow IIITians coming up … 😉

ps3 : Vasan swore.Sirius is mourning.And Kukka Satti is going to get kicked for his OA.

ps4 : Booshi,Maams and tipo still nurture their unfulfilled dream of beating me up.Violence is bad ,ol’ chums! :p

For the record

IIFT gd&pi results are declared.Didn’t get through .  :(.

29TH January(Same day as the IIFT interview) ,I got many bad twists in life.Shall always remember you Mr.29th Jan!!!

Oh and by the way me in Bengalooru (for once i got it right :P)  right now.Dad calls and keeps telling not to worry too much about the IIFT admission.Thanks Nanna!

Well! Me still thinks I did the IIM ones better than the IIFT one.Got the last one (IIM-C) tomorrow.Wish me luck people!  🙂

IIM-B : What is your Hall-ticket number ?

This was scheduled on 5th march,2k7 at 9:00 AM at the IIM-B campus.

Went there at 8:45 AM.Was quite surprised to see all the students already there.Then some Prof.s came and started calling out names.Mine was missing.

Excuse me Sir! My name’s missing 😦

What is your Hall Ticket number?

told him the number and soon found out it was the GIM (goa insti of management) interview and not that of IIM-B .

Anyway asked here and there , managed to reach the building where the real gd cum interviews were being held.So i actually gotto run :p (hehe) for an interview too.Love you Fate dude!!

The time was 9:00 AM … spot on!! There was a definitive air about , among the participants (A,B,C, among IIMS are considered elite ..so this was my first elite league interview)….

The expressions on the candidates’ faces reminded me of the song “We are the titans…” . There was this lady in the corporate suit who for an instance looked like X from behind.But that idea faded away.Anyway,the candidates were all too classy,with an authoritative defiance about them.

“Either they are  toppers of their respective batches or guys with loads of work-ex” I concluded.

Anyway ….

Group Discussion (GD)

Case study! same thing as before… 5 min to read the case.15 min for discussion.And in the end 5 min for writing the summary. It was decent , pretty decent (compared to the one at IIM-A ,which is another story)

Personal Interview (PI)

 There were two Prof.s ,both senior prof.s ,one of them was the dean of IIM-B.The 1st prof. started asking me the following questions :

Hmm… Mr.Harish!So u see people in this world as two types ?(from the answers in my profile documents)

Yes sir! The ones who move with crowd and give up when others do.The remaining are the ones who continue even when others end.  ...blah blah...

(HALT readers!! Thats why you should watch animes like Bleach …you will find all such sorts of HR answers : ) ..my two cents worth of humble advice 🙂 )

Can you give an example from your life ?

(Aha! Perfect) **same old running man story** Please refer to the previous post for details.

But that is determination! Not about doing things differently

Sir!I would call it determination at doing things differently.

Oho!Nice logic!

Thank you sir!( Wanted to grin , but just gave him a diplomatic smile)

What subjects do you like? (while the other prof. was looking at my grade sheet)

All signal processing subjects!

Applications of signal processing in the real world ?

blah blah …

Now the dean(Prof. 2…the first time he talked so far as he was busy seeing my certificates)) asked , Tell us about your B.Tech project in layman’s terms

blah blah .. (In layman’s terms.Thank the good God! I didnt even remember it technically)

Switch back to Prof 1, why are cell phones switched off in an airplane ?

I think sir ..because in an aeroplane … the additive components of all the cell phone frequencies might add up (in the worst case where  several passengers are using them) and become close to the natural frquency of the aero plane body or its communication system ..and might lead flight problems.

Okay!Now tell me .How are wireless devices jammed  ?

Depending on the wireless device used, there is a standard fquency associated with it.So a Jamming device introduces a frequency component that is equal  to that frequency and hence nullifies its effect.

What sort of disturbances do you encounter in communicating mediums?

Noise,Interference

Can you elaborate on the different types ?

(Prof.1 is good in Signal Processing!!) Talked about different types of noise and how they are modelled while writing equations,also mentioned non-deterministic noise which can’t be represented mathematically. 

(Being a TA for Signals and Systems helped)

(Answering the previous four questions made me feel more than ever, that Prof.V.U.Reddy is God)

What books do you read ?

(Thank you STS! ) spoke about the book Hindutva  by V.D.Savarkar.

Are you religious ?

yes sir!But not a fanatic.I read Hindutva to see whether it really is religious extremism or misuse of a non-fanatic concept by politicos.

What other books do you read?

 Sir! Comics like Asterix,Calvin & Hobbes, and also science fiction by Asimov!!

(I was hoping he would ask me about the authors of the comics,when they were first printed ,etc.,  which I mugged up thorughly ..but guess he decided otherwise)

Hmm..okay! Correlate  Science-fiction with Signal Processing and create a plot right now!!

(B.C time)  blah blah ….. (mentioned humans establishing contact with aliens,etc.,)

Space has no medium,how do you communicate without a medium ?

Sir!Electromagnetic waves (in this case radio waves ..those of high wavelength ) don’t require a medium.

Now Prof 2 asked, Any questions for us ?

Asked a light hearted question about Bangalore being renamed “Bengalooru” and what would they call IIM-B ? (deliberately emphasized on “call” ‘coz obv. it is registered as IIM-Bangalore)

They answered.

Thank you Harish!

Thank you sir!

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ps: My “Today’s fortune”  in orkut reads :
“Happy events will take place shortly in your home.” Its about time!

ps1 : Year book ug2k3 is up ! Himanshu Arora ROCKS ! So Does Anurag!

ps2 : Quicky !Get the batch t-shirt ready too!

The IIM-L experience

This one was on 18th Feb.Sorry for the delay in posting …

GD :

Topic : Politicians are so ****_(forgot this part)_ ***** that they promise to build a bridge where there is no river.

We were asked to write on essay on this for 10 minutes.Then 15 minutes for the group discussion.It was a fish market yet again,but the group slowly inched towards a more civilized state. Good ol’ me entered the GD 5 or 6 times ,speaking for about 3 minutes overall.Not bad I guess, considering there were 12 candidates

PI :

There were two Prof.s , both looking determined to finish me off.But fortunately,they were all nice and polite.

Tell us about yourself.

blah blah …

Do you think reservations are necessary ?

(At TIME they said … they  dont ask controversial stuff .. boy! don’t believe every prophecy blindly 😐 )

Took an absolutely neutral stance which I think is the safest ..no matter how anti-reservation or pro-reservation you are …

What extra curricular activities are you interested in ?

blah blah …

Then suddenly silence ..looked at the grade sheet and sports certificates.I assume they considered my grades to be decent and decided not to test me on academics :D. Then , …

You performed well in both 1500 m and 100 m races ? How is it possible ?

Sir! I am used to working out in the gym (bingo! “gym” featured even in my IIM interviews :p …) So got a good amount of strength which is what is required for short sprints. Also used to jogging 10 Km in the morning.So stamina developed as well.That was useful for long distance races.

(They were verrrryy amused at the my madness of following a 10 K jogging routine)

What motivated you to run 10K (bold letters indicating higher voice)Isn’t that ..extreme ?

blah ..blah …

(The real reason is confidential 😐 so told him an Iqbal kind of story,which by the way is a reason too)

What is INSAT ?What is its purpose ?

Geo-stationary satellite.Pupose is studying climate change , precipitation,etc.,

What is DTH ?

(Simple! Direct Transmission To Home! But I forgot 😦 ..one unanswered question)

Do u think a temporary loss of reputation can be traded off for a long time benefit ?

YES sir! blah blah …

Give me an example ?

Talked about Dhirubhai Ambani ‘s beginnings.(Thanks to the movie Guru )

But what he did was not illegal just different! Why the opposition?

Sir because , sometimes,when one tries to do something radically different from existing practices , the society
might not digest it in the beginning as it might seem absurd.Perhaps that was the problem.

(the prof. gave me a smile 🙂 ,which might mean anything)

Any questions for us ?

NO sir !

THANK YOU ..Mr.Harish

thank you sir!

PI duration : 6 minutes.

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ps : IIM-B and IIM-A posts almost ready.Will post them in intervals of two days each.

ps1 : I am not revealing the self-ratings anymore because Vasan does a lot of O.A.

ps2 : I have one month more.Just a few more things to accomplish before declaring that my four years ROCKED 😀 !!!

ps3 : Where the heck is the year book ? 😦

IIM-I gd/pi

Happy Shivarathri to those concerned 🙂 (Yaaar! I hope you didnt get drunk last night 😉 )

Okay,the gd&pi were held yesterday at the PESIT campus in Bangalore. 

The GD :

There were 10 members.A case study was given ..5 min for reading and then GD began.If characters like Jeeves had really existed , they would commit suicide at the etiquette maintained by the participants in the GD.

In simpler mamu lingo , the GD was like monda market  😉

I would rate my GD at 8/10 .

the PI :

We already submitted a form in which most of the ‘reason for management’ questions , the motivation questions,the HR questions,etc., were asked.So not much HR was asked in the interview (that , (I hope) was a good sign that they harboured no doubts regarding my reasons for choosing management!)

They asked me the following things :

1)acads:

Three questions from acads.Answered two very confidently.As for the unanswered question , I attributed to its absence in the syllabus (It was the truth!Not an extraneous excuse :|)

2)about the syllabus at IIIT: (simultaneously looking at my grade sheet)

Gave short bullet points about the syllabus set up,my strong subjects and weak subjects.

3)extra curricular activities :

Ha ha! Running man thing again.Also,guess being a IIITian MP helped as well 😀

4)Economics and GK :

Seven questions!Three on RBI (Answered two). Three on IPO (answered one) .One on somthing else (didn’t answer).So total three out of seven,at max.At least, smiled and said I dont know,sir!/I am unable to recall,sir!  honestly rather than do the gas  routine.

Thats it …all in all  the Profs were very polite and everything went off smoothly.

I would rate my PI 6.5/10 (and maybe an extra bonus half-point for showing positive attitude and honesty)

x-x-x-x-x

But didnt really have the exhilarating feeling I had after the Kozhikode interview… anyway, next one on 18th.

As of now, me off to check out the ISKCON temple 🙂

Thoughts for the day :

1)Hare Rama Hare Krishna ..japisthu kurchuntaama..Krishna ,Rama cheppindento gurthiddam mithramaaa .. 😀

– from the feature film , Okkadu                                              

2) Dont try to tell God how big your problems are , tell your problems how big God is  🙂 

May God bless you all,
Abbulugadu.

The Kozhikode experience

Hmm ..not exactly a Kozhikode experience,but rather the K experience in Bangalore.MJ’s call was in the afternoon session  too.Was mundo glad to see another IIITian face.

The GD

The Topic : some article  about Dalits,their upliftment,futile measures,etc.,

Luckily,discussed the entire thing about caste ( particularly Dalits) with dad the day before.It was a 12 member group and I guess I did pretty well,though the GD became dry after 7 minutes.

I would give myself an 8.5/10 for GD .

the abbulu rip-off : This gural (read girl),who was sitting next to me in GD) came running to me after the GD and said , “You did reallly well !!” Geeee!  Thanks a lot lady!

the PI

There were two interviewers ..

Tell us about urself ?What motivates you?How do you motivate others?

blah blah blaaaah !!!  

Tell us about the political scenario in AP and why do you think Mr.Chandra Babu Naidu went down in the elections.

Talked about the farmers’ suicides! Also talked about the imbalance of concentration of attention towards the IT sector,etc.,

Do you think change of govt. helped in AP ?

Talked about the 1-lakh compensation plan of YSR backfiring with farmers killing themselves so their families get the money , excessive govt. debts from world bank & centre,etc.,

Tell us about diode and its characteristics.

Gave the answer I have been cramming since the past  3 years. 😉

How is diode used as a switch ?

Gave an almost text book answer 😀

What do you know of Laplace Transforms ?

Text book answer (I was a TA for signals and systems 😉 )

Why do you relate everything in life to the last lap of 1500 meters race ? (from  my answers written in the form)

This is the highlight! I talked about the folktale of the running man :p  ,the 90 kgs to 70 kgs weight loss ;  and how such a thing is related to every aspect of life.Ended with the trademark dialogue, “Sir! I believe life’s a race and the path’s a pedestrian zone!So , start running!”  and all three of us had a good laugh.

I would rate my PI at 7.5/10 🙂

the abbulu rip-off : The Prof. offered me a glass of water and I politely refused saying that I was not nervous at all.He was pleased to hear that (from what I could make out from his expression) !!

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ps : Check out Vasan’s GDPI experience 

ps 1:  Next one on 15th Feb.More inputs then.

ps2 : Ek dhum fundooooo post lined up for Feb 14th 😉

ps2 :  Vasan says D-T-A !!!! ( I am not talking about Yaar’s CS clan and I am not going to say what this full form is)