Long long ago,( 3 weeks back:P ) I wondered for the nth time as to how I would manage the summer weekends. With a 4 course insane term, there was little time left for any activity save for the occasional cooking spree or a walk around Hanover. I was scared that I would be incredibly bored and unhappy in the Summer. Right now I have no qualms. There is wonderful food to make and eat and I am surprisingly loving my work. People have been very kind and sweet ( although at times, I have this feeling that they are treating me like a kid) I have been having an incredibly beautiful job. I don't think that I would have had this exposure in a larger corporation. There is a lot of learning, a lot of work( likable most times though I love cribbing about it) and such sweet people to live and work with.
I am doing an internship in operations and report to the senior vice president of the company. I love that :D I am not sure if I would have got this job profile even with an MBA. It is not too big . Just about a couple of hundred people. I am working on fun max projects :D I am becoming a pro at excel :P
The Summer has been beautiful till now. I have to walk for about 20 minutes to reach my office and the view is beautiful :) The lush green meadows of new England, the green leafy trees, the misty mornings, the rainy evenings, the people on the buses, the bus drivers , the odd person on the road who pulls over their car to offer a drive, the sweet housemate with whom I have been having such incredible fun, the weekend walks in the trails, the upper valley plaza where I shop, all keep me very cheerful and busy. I have been so happy over the past few days. I treasure the pleasure you get from small things. I completely treasure the experience over the last two weeks. I have been surrounded by nice people and beautiful scenery.
Work wise I could not have asked for a better deal. I am learning tons and tons and I am enjoying it :) I am really glad that I took the decision to join Dartmouth :)
June 19, 2009
March 2, 2009
Managerial accounting
The term has so far been quite good. I found another course that I love-Managerial accounting. I think that the prof is wonderful. It is all case based learning, lots of cold calls (gulp), and a lot of assigned readings.
Financial accounting was also good with fewer cold calls and a very nice prof who always started the class with a "good to see you folks". The Managerial accounting prof starts the class with a " Lets see whose lucky day it is today(to be cold called)" .
But I still love the class. I love the course. The insights that the prof gives are awesome. The little details that one might never think about are very beautifully brought across. The best part is that he has not taught too many formulae or fancy terminologies but has made everything look so logical and obvious.
I remember arguing in favor of piece rate system of compensation for workers for a company with low productivity and the counter arguments of the prof about looking at whether the company culture in the first place had any thing to do with excellence were so good.
I know that it is felt by many that the takeaways from the class are quite non quantifiable. But I guess the main objective is to understand the thought process, to make us look beyond the numbers, to make us look at the seasons, to make us understand people and their thinking, to make us think as managers and not as accountants.
Another reason that I like the professor is because he is a chess player. I simply love managerial accounting. Because of my insane obsession with the subject, I am solving a couple of extra cases which I got from him on request and which he gave with a sarcastic remark(" Two extra cases for you since you feel I am not giving you enough work")
Financial accounting was also good with fewer cold calls and a very nice prof who always started the class with a "good to see you folks". The Managerial accounting prof starts the class with a " Lets see whose lucky day it is today(to be cold called)" .
But I still love the class. I love the course. The insights that the prof gives are awesome. The little details that one might never think about are very beautifully brought across. The best part is that he has not taught too many formulae or fancy terminologies but has made everything look so logical and obvious.
I remember arguing in favor of piece rate system of compensation for workers for a company with low productivity and the counter arguments of the prof about looking at whether the company culture in the first place had any thing to do with excellence were so good.
I know that it is felt by many that the takeaways from the class are quite non quantifiable. But I guess the main objective is to understand the thought process, to make us look beyond the numbers, to make us look at the seasons, to make us understand people and their thinking, to make us think as managers and not as accountants.
Another reason that I like the professor is because he is a chess player. I simply love managerial accounting. Because of my insane obsession with the subject, I am solving a couple of extra cases which I got from him on request and which he gave with a sarcastic remark(" Two extra cases for you since you feel I am not giving you enough work")
October 20, 2008
Home and away
It has been more than a month now and there is not much that has changed. I still get to eat nice yummy Indian food thanks to my relatives , I still call home at least twice a day like the way I used to do at RIL and I am still a vegan :D. I still get at least 6 hours of sleep, I still get to visit the temple over here every friday( Free yummy prasad :D) , I still email my buddies at least once a week :D
The best part is I am going home in December and I am so glad for that. If all goes as per plan I might even do my interns in India. I am waiting to get back home and to India. The classes are good but hectic. I have a job which kind of pays for my upkeep here. so far so good. Optimization is tough but I hope I will hopefully get through. Marketing is cool. Tech assessment is scary.
I have 50 more days for getting back to India. It is now -2 degrees outside. It is horribly cold to walk back home :( We are planning to shift the house in winter.
Somehow I kind of feel that there is no place sweeter than home and India : I am way too sleepy to write anything more and I am blogging because someone has been after me for long to udate the blog:P
The best part is I am going home in December and I am so glad for that. If all goes as per plan I might even do my interns in India. I am waiting to get back home and to India. The classes are good but hectic. I have a job which kind of pays for my upkeep here. so far so good. Optimization is tough but I hope I will hopefully get through. Marketing is cool. Tech assessment is scary.
I have 50 more days for getting back to India. It is now -2 degrees outside. It is horribly cold to walk back home :( We are planning to shift the house in winter.
Somehow I kind of feel that there is no place sweeter than home and India : I am way too sleepy to write anything more and I am blogging because someone has been after me for long to udate the blog:P
September 13, 2008
The first week away from home
I guess I would disagree with those who say airline food is bad. It was quite tasty at Air France. But well this could have been because of my low expectations too. :)
It has been almost a week since I left home. It has been a little humorous , a little tiring and a little poignant when I look back on the week that was.
My flight was delayed by half an hour and sleepily I got in at around 2 odd. And in the morning when the window shutters were still open, I saw the sun rise over some part of the world. I don't remember or know which part it was but it was just beautiful. The vast expanse of space with the reddish lines on a side. It was kinda beautiful.
The transit was at Paris de Gaulle. I was slightly hungry and tried a chocolate cake. It was yummy and chocolaty but cost some 4.88 Euros :( Paris' Aeriel view was wonderful. As a matter of fact even Chennai looked beautiful in the night with the street lights and all. :) But Paris had a great deal of meadows and so forth which made it look both romantic as well as modern. The airport had a scuttle service, then an inter terminal train and walkways. Meenambakkam is a minnow but Meenambakkam is sweet in its own way. A relative had remarked that we have to buy mineral water at Paris as water is not provided free of cost. Water was some 3.99Euros :D I decided to wait for the next flight to have water.
The ride from Boston is one thatz unforgettable. I loved the roadways here and the system too.But there are a number of things that I miss . For example the snacks and the chaat of India :D
Dartmouth looks wonderful. They have a nice computing desk where they repair the computer free of cost. Then they have a sales desk too where things are a bit cheaper than outside. The library is huge. They have over a 2 million volumes . People are also very friendly. I sort of liked college. The below is a photo of the library building.
Food - I am cooking coz we hardly get any vegetarian food here. I made pulav and rasam and rice :D not bad for a beginner. :) I had some bread and some konjee and bananas at other time. Not bad. Got some lijjat pappad too and then lotsa vegetables.
I have sort of settled in. Water is good. We get hot water 24 * 7 which is nice but it seems that this water contains lead and is not potable. I have not had tea / coffee for the past 7 days :( The food coop is a little far and I don't have the enthu to walk for such a long distance.
August 21, 2008
Freedom
I have resigned from my company - the place where I spent a major chunk of the waking hours of the last 19 months- broke my service bond - it was a little irritating to pay up the bond amount but well the benefits were outweighing the costs. I resigned on the 14Th of august.
It has been a long journey about which I don't know how much I have penned. I ultimately ended up joining an industry which I was not too fond of but thankfully didn't do too badly and oddly enough I was feeling bad when I was leaving. I do miss the fun we had in the last few months, the friends, the gang teas and a lot more. There were some very sweet e-mails from bosses and colleagues , some quite touchy. But the experience with HR left me quite cold. I ended up quarrelling on the final day and they are yet to fix the mess up that was done by them and I am yet to receive my service certificate and the relieving letter. Hopefully everything will be resolved by Monday.
It has been a long journey about which I don't know how much I have penned. I ultimately ended up joining an industry which I was not too fond of but thankfully didn't do too badly and oddly enough I was feeling bad when I was leaving. I do miss the fun we had in the last few months, the friends, the gang teas and a lot more. There were some very sweet e-mails from bosses and colleagues , some quite touchy. But the experience with HR left me quite cold. I ended up quarrelling on the final day and they are yet to fix the mess up that was done by them and I am yet to receive my service certificate and the relieving letter. Hopefully everything will be resolved by Monday.
I guess I will feel bad about leaving friends but I am so glad that I left the company where even the HR and separation policies are not uniform across the country.
July 20, 2008
The visa ,the birthday, and the life after bday
The Visa
Long time since I blogged. I was kind of waiting for my visa interview to get over.
The good and the bad news is that I finally got my visa and that I will be joining Dartmouth college.It is good coz I finally end up getting and accepting some admit and bad coz I will have to move out of India.
It was a sultry Monday morning and I woke up and logged in to my system. I was worried about the interview and rechecked all the documents. I took some print outs of my first and final pay slips to ensure that I had relevant docs just in case the VO wanted to know about it. All this was at 4 am.
5 am: I browse through the F1 visa community in orkut and read the visa rejection threads. Then I was doing some contingency planning just in case the visa was rejected.
5.30 am: I start chatting with friends to keep my nerves cool. We talk arbit things of no utility value and pull each other's legs. Then I log off.
6.30 am : I get ready, check the documents again and take an auto to the place
8.45: interview
two guys in front of me are denied visa. I gulp and go to the VO.
VO:aggregate?
me : told
VO: sponsor and his occupation?
me: told
VO: place the left thumb .....
VO: Your visa has been approved ....
I mumbled some thanks and not even bothering to arrange the papers inside the bag, I just collected everything and left the consulate in glee :D
The birthday:
A week back , I celebrated my birthday. It was a beautiful day with n number of calls from friends. I guess that I was lucky enough to be wished by at least 100 odd people in orkut, by phone and in person . I spent the entire day with my mom which made it extra special .But there were also these painful queries about my age and when the hell I intend to marry with a number of people pointing out that I will be on the wrong side of 20s when I complete my masters .. Pondered over it for a while and then stopped thinking about it. Guess I will leave the US stay question and this for a while.
I have put my papers this week and there is hardly any work at office but it has been quite boring.did quite a lot of shopping over the weekend and went for a play which was quite okay and bought chocs which were horribly expensive but delicious .
April 10, 2008
Superstitions
I am not completely rational . Among the n number of silly superstitions that I have, the one that heads the list currently is about admits.
If the mail had come in the evening and I open it in the night then it will generally be an accept. On the contrary if the mail had come in the middle of the night and I check it in the morning , it will be a reject :(
One more decision to come.Praying to God that it will be an accept and that I check the same in the evening/midnight.
If the mail had come in the evening and I open it in the night then it will generally be an accept. On the contrary if the mail had come in the middle of the night and I check it in the morning , it will be a reject :(
One more decision to come.Praying to God that it will be an accept and that I check the same in the evening/midnight.
March 15, 2008
Cleaning my room
If there is anything I hate, then it is cleaning my room. Coz that also means throwing away some wonnerful things that have been accumulating for years.
Magazines : I never have the heart to throw these out. There will always be some nice article or the other for me to read and have a laugh or think or just to read and enjoy.
College and school work: Somehow I never feel like letting go of them.I have even my first sem assignments in my shelves. Love to read though those esp coz for most of the assts , I have tried writing neatly !!!!!Records: Even my 8Th grade science lab record is safe in one of the shelves.
Rough books: Well these are my most cherished possessions. Books where I can find a poem or two that I wrote when I was too bored or too pained with subjects like solid mechanics or bio medical engineering.
Engineering subject books: My only memories of surviving electrical engineering even if the book is by Bhakshi or Chittode. Hayt and Grewal will be stacked on top of the shelves just like the way they were during college.
Exam papers: Sounds insane but I still keep those. Reason well ahem ahem again probably the handwriting.
Old Stationary: then there are the odd 'lucky pens and pencils' . Any day one would be able to find at least a dozen Faber castel pencils( they have been my favorite pencils) carelessly littered over my reading desk. It is a different story that the reading desk is hardly used now save for some arbit book or two.
The engineering drawing charts: Now heights of insanity. I keep them for reminding me never to take up any course that would involve drawing!!!! Circuit designs are okay.
Old diaries: So many beautiful moments have been penned. I like reading those .. :)
With none of the above litter being cleared and me adding more litter to the room everyday in the form of a new book or a magazine it is one hell of a room!!!!
And yeah in my room you can also find a lot of scribbling on the wall , and n number of papers pasted with so called inspiring words( from Kalidas to D.Ambani)
What makes this cleaning thing a little interesting is that I will accidentally stumble upon one sweet diary entry or the other and get immersed in those for the rest of the day. Effectively by the end of the entire exercise no cleaning would have taken place!!!!
Magazines : I never have the heart to throw these out. There will always be some nice article or the other for me to read and have a laugh or think or just to read and enjoy.
College and school work: Somehow I never feel like letting go of them.I have even my first sem assignments in my shelves. Love to read though those esp coz for most of the assts , I have tried writing neatly !!!!!Records: Even my 8Th grade science lab record is safe in one of the shelves.
Rough books: Well these are my most cherished possessions. Books where I can find a poem or two that I wrote when I was too bored or too pained with subjects like solid mechanics or bio medical engineering.
Engineering subject books: My only memories of surviving electrical engineering even if the book is by Bhakshi or Chittode. Hayt and Grewal will be stacked on top of the shelves just like the way they were during college.
Exam papers: Sounds insane but I still keep those. Reason well ahem ahem again probably the handwriting.
Old Stationary: then there are the odd 'lucky pens and pencils' . Any day one would be able to find at least a dozen Faber castel pencils( they have been my favorite pencils) carelessly littered over my reading desk. It is a different story that the reading desk is hardly used now save for some arbit book or two.
The engineering drawing charts: Now heights of insanity. I keep them for reminding me never to take up any course that would involve drawing!!!! Circuit designs are okay.
Old diaries: So many beautiful moments have been penned. I like reading those .. :)
With none of the above litter being cleared and me adding more litter to the room everyday in the form of a new book or a magazine it is one hell of a room!!!!
And yeah in my room you can also find a lot of scribbling on the wall , and n number of papers pasted with so called inspiring words( from Kalidas to D.Ambani)
What makes this cleaning thing a little interesting is that I will accidentally stumble upon one sweet diary entry or the other and get immersed in those for the rest of the day. Effectively by the end of the entire exercise no cleaning would have taken place!!!!
March 5, 2008
An admit at last
For the last two years , I don't remember going though any birthday with out pondering over the fact that I was still not in school. At last there has been an admit. Yet to hear from the other schools but I am still quite happy with this. If all this wait was for an ivy league school admit , it was worth the wait.
There are a number of people whom I should thank for bearing with my mood swings, for helping with the SOPs , for their words of comfort etc... Thank you folks :)
There are a number of people whom I should thank for bearing with my mood swings, for helping with the SOPs , for their words of comfort etc... Thank you folks :)
February 2, 2008
An evening of surprises :)
It was a beautiful evening after a week of ponderings and more ponderings about n number of things in general. A little bored with the general pace at which I have been traveling and pondering over the choices I have before me, I started the day. While at office I got a call from one of my best friends. She called me and asked me to go to her place and collect some parcel that she had so sweetly sent for me all the way from Kgp .
I went to her place dutifully and was welcomed by her father. While I was waiting in the living room, some one came behind me and said booooooooo and when I turned back, it was my friend. I blinked or may be I just stared. May be I did not even react. Dont know what I did. I was sooooooo happy and we started our usual small talk, the things that happened over the past one-month, some riotous comedies, shows etc.
It was a beautiful evening with lotsa laughter, fun and sweet listenings :) I loved the surprise :)I also loved the way she had pulled it off by calling me from the Kgp number. Was completely taken in. Hats off Ramya :)The best parcel that arrived from Kgp :)
I went to her place dutifully and was welcomed by her father. While I was waiting in the living room, some one came behind me and said booooooooo and when I turned back, it was my friend. I blinked or may be I just stared. May be I did not even react. Dont know what I did. I was sooooooo happy and we started our usual small talk, the things that happened over the past one-month, some riotous comedies, shows etc.
It was a beautiful evening with lotsa laughter, fun and sweet listenings :) I loved the surprise :)I also loved the way she had pulled it off by calling me from the Kgp number. Was completely taken in. Hats off Ramya :)The best parcel that arrived from Kgp :)
January 27, 2008
After a while :)
Been a while since I updated the blog... Last three months have sped away at a lightening pace and so much has happened and I am yet to comprehend completely the implications of the occurrences :)
Without going into the details, I am just going to pen down some happy things.
1. Crossword has a book sale . So just grabbed a few titles. The number of unfinished titles lying on my desk now stand at 8 :D
2. Read a couple of books after a long time. It has been quite a while. The last book that was read was in august or so.
3. Went for a nice trip a week back. The trip covered cuddalore, mahabs, panchavati, pondy and one hayagriva temple.All this on a sunday and I was damn tired the next day.The panchavati Hanuman was quite huge. Some 36.5 ft tall. Was quite nice:)
4. Went to Tirupati on thrusday.Less crowd. Was quite pleasant.
5. Waiting enthusiastically for a friend's homecoming. It has been more than an year and a half since we met.
6. Hmm been happy with something that I have noticed... Some welcome change in self.... something like I am learning to accept and cope up with adversity with grace, something I really lacked an year ago. I am no longer pondering over decisions taken or those that went wrong. Glad for the same.
Losing in a curious way is winning :)
Without going into the details, I am just going to pen down some happy things.
1. Crossword has a book sale . So just grabbed a few titles. The number of unfinished titles lying on my desk now stand at 8 :D
2. Read a couple of books after a long time. It has been quite a while. The last book that was read was in august or so.
3. Went for a nice trip a week back. The trip covered cuddalore, mahabs, panchavati, pondy and one hayagriva temple.All this on a sunday and I was damn tired the next day.The panchavati Hanuman was quite huge. Some 36.5 ft tall. Was quite nice:)
4. Went to Tirupati on thrusday.Less crowd. Was quite pleasant.
5. Waiting enthusiastically for a friend's homecoming. It has been more than an year and a half since we met.
6. Hmm been happy with something that I have noticed... Some welcome change in self.... something like I am learning to accept and cope up with adversity with grace, something I really lacked an year ago. I am no longer pondering over decisions taken or those that went wrong. Glad for the same.
Losing in a curious way is winning :)
October 13, 2007
September 4, 2007
Quenching your thirst
kohl - 275 Rupees
A bar of chocolate - 85 rupees
300 ml of water - 70 Rupees
Quenching your thirst - priceless
This isn't an ad for master card
A few days back, when I was returning home after buying some stationary past 8.30 pm, I was feeling extremely thirsty. Unfortunately nilgiris was closed and the only other shop open at that time was health and glow. Feeling extremely thirsty, I entered the shop and hunted for some form of thirst quencher. There was one tiny bottle of water which read evian - natural mineral water. I picked it up and went to the counter. The bill was a whooping 70 Rs. Then I examined the bottle more closely. It read evian - natural mineral water from the french alps - filtered through glacial sands between two layers of impermeable clay. evian- your partner for sport. But frankly tasted yuck. My thirst vanished the minute I saw the bill :(
70 bucks for 300 ml of tasteless water :(
A bar of chocolate - 85 rupees
300 ml of water - 70 Rupees
Quenching your thirst - priceless
This isn't an ad for master card
A few days back, when I was returning home after buying some stationary past 8.30 pm, I was feeling extremely thirsty. Unfortunately nilgiris was closed and the only other shop open at that time was health and glow. Feeling extremely thirsty, I entered the shop and hunted for some form of thirst quencher. There was one tiny bottle of water which read evian - natural mineral water. I picked it up and went to the counter. The bill was a whooping 70 Rs. Then I examined the bottle more closely. It read evian - natural mineral water from the french alps - filtered through glacial sands between two layers of impermeable clay. evian- your partner for sport. But frankly tasted yuck. My thirst vanished the minute I saw the bill :(
70 bucks for 300 ml of tasteless water :(
August 25, 2007
Another day at college
I travelled through the familiar road which now looked unfamiliar to me. The IT highway also known as the old mahabalipuram road has changed for good. I remember that some five years ago when I passed through the same road, I saw very few industries - and those present were the old economy industries like Dragoco ( now symrise) , andrew yule or sanmar and the like. There were very few white collared companies .We had one read relays electronics and there was this odd IT company like infosys and tcs. When I first went to join the college, I frankly had no idea about it. A neighbour had suggested it and I joined. I did not know much about the college or its infamous 'rules', which Vishwanathan( vice chancellor of Anna university) has now made as the norm at every college.The road to the college was full of ups and downs and a couple of dig ups and some odd construction work. Very few buildings or companies dotted the large expanse of space that looked like they stretched to eternity. There were very few hotels and most resembled the muniyandi vilas style ones.
Now when I travelled along the same road ,I was agape. There were more than 40-50 IT parks/ buildings. The economy of the places like thoraipakkam also seems to have changed. There were more houses, more buildings, better hotels, more jobs. Good old read relays electronics is now flanked on both sides by huge buildings both belonging to some IT company. The TCS- retail solutions which came up when I was in my pre final or the final year has one standard chartered building next to it. The lands that lay waste have now been used for constructing some building or the other. So much growth, so much prosperity in such a short time ( in the last one year). The road has been re christened rajeev gandhi highway or by some such name and it really looks beautiful.
The only thing that saddened me was that a beautiful house that I have often wished to buy whenever I passed it, has now been demolished and some company is to come up in its place. This house was close to the okiam lake and used to resemble an observatory with its architecture. I have often dreamed of sitting on its roof with a telescope on a star lit night or sitting on the shores of the lake on a full moon night to observe its reflection in the waters or just play by throwing stones on the lake.Hope I find such a house some day.
When I passed through the gates of St. Josephs, I was shocked. There were a couple of men guarding its gates wearing camouflage. It kind of reminded me of a high security prison. But once I went in and landed near the reception, it turned normal. I was in fact feeling a little nostalgic, kind of happy, content and even a little ebullient. When I opened the doors of my department staff room, most of the female staff looked a little shocked and surprised. I had not apprised any one about my plan to come to the college. Then after they recovered, I went to them to state my purpose of visit. They happily welcomed me with a hazaar questions about my work, about fellow class mates etc.
My HOD was very effusive. And when I informed him about my future line of study, he sounded even more happier since it was his field of study too. He asked for the scores then decided to read the reco that I had drafted for his endorsement and made a few tiny changes . Then we had a more general discussion about the US, his family and his college days. I don't think that I had ever had so much unofficial talk with him in all the four years of college put together.
Then I met the prof who generally makes a lotta fuss before he signs our recos. He started with the procedure. And asked me for a number of documents before looking at the draft reco. When I provided him with the same , he read the entire document and make a number of changes in the structure. Thankfully he did not touch the contents. I did not have his long list of academics degrees and got it from an old reco of some student. He was also gracious enough to furnish me with the contact details of a number of students pursuing their masters/ doctoral degree at the US.
Then I met KK, one of the most respected profs of my department. He is one of those wonderful profs who insist on thought process and approach than the answer.He taught us two wonderful quant based papers- The famed degree stopping paper ( DSP- digital signal processing) and Design of electrical apparatus and we loved his teaching.It was nice to see him and we discussed a number of old techie stuff, my last paper which still remains incomplete and his passion- neural networks etc. He read my reco and immediately signed it. He is still the old smiling prof who gave us the toughest sums in the exams but was damn gracious with the marks part. One of those nice profs who value learning than the exam crap. I guess I learnt the fundamentals of machines only during the design class . He used to get so frustrated with our abysmal knowledge of machines despite having attended 2 courses of electrical machines and 2 lab classes. and when he taught us DSP he was shocked by the fact we did not know where Fourier transforms and where Fourier series were used. I still remember his annoyed and frustrated face and also his questions on my little crazy ideas on underground superconducting electrical cables. He loved quality and so did I and I still believe that all the so called financially unviable perfect designs can be perfected in course of time to make them both financially viable as well as quality wise perfect.
I also met most of my other profs and my project guide and we had a nice long discussion about his PhD and thesis.When I left the place, I kind of felt that the decision to join it was not bad after all.
Now when I travelled along the same road ,I was agape. There were more than 40-50 IT parks/ buildings. The economy of the places like thoraipakkam also seems to have changed. There were more houses, more buildings, better hotels, more jobs. Good old read relays electronics is now flanked on both sides by huge buildings both belonging to some IT company. The TCS- retail solutions which came up when I was in my pre final or the final year has one standard chartered building next to it. The lands that lay waste have now been used for constructing some building or the other. So much growth, so much prosperity in such a short time ( in the last one year). The road has been re christened rajeev gandhi highway or by some such name and it really looks beautiful.
The only thing that saddened me was that a beautiful house that I have often wished to buy whenever I passed it, has now been demolished and some company is to come up in its place. This house was close to the okiam lake and used to resemble an observatory with its architecture. I have often dreamed of sitting on its roof with a telescope on a star lit night or sitting on the shores of the lake on a full moon night to observe its reflection in the waters or just play by throwing stones on the lake.Hope I find such a house some day.
When I passed through the gates of St. Josephs, I was shocked. There were a couple of men guarding its gates wearing camouflage. It kind of reminded me of a high security prison. But once I went in and landed near the reception, it turned normal. I was in fact feeling a little nostalgic, kind of happy, content and even a little ebullient. When I opened the doors of my department staff room, most of the female staff looked a little shocked and surprised. I had not apprised any one about my plan to come to the college. Then after they recovered, I went to them to state my purpose of visit. They happily welcomed me with a hazaar questions about my work, about fellow class mates etc.
My HOD was very effusive. And when I informed him about my future line of study, he sounded even more happier since it was his field of study too. He asked for the scores then decided to read the reco that I had drafted for his endorsement and made a few tiny changes . Then we had a more general discussion about the US, his family and his college days. I don't think that I had ever had so much unofficial talk with him in all the four years of college put together.
Then I met the prof who generally makes a lotta fuss before he signs our recos. He started with the procedure. And asked me for a number of documents before looking at the draft reco. When I provided him with the same , he read the entire document and make a number of changes in the structure. Thankfully he did not touch the contents. I did not have his long list of academics degrees and got it from an old reco of some student. He was also gracious enough to furnish me with the contact details of a number of students pursuing their masters/ doctoral degree at the US.
Then I met KK, one of the most respected profs of my department. He is one of those wonderful profs who insist on thought process and approach than the answer.He taught us two wonderful quant based papers- The famed degree stopping paper ( DSP- digital signal processing) and Design of electrical apparatus and we loved his teaching.It was nice to see him and we discussed a number of old techie stuff, my last paper which still remains incomplete and his passion- neural networks etc. He read my reco and immediately signed it. He is still the old smiling prof who gave us the toughest sums in the exams but was damn gracious with the marks part. One of those nice profs who value learning than the exam crap. I guess I learnt the fundamentals of machines only during the design class . He used to get so frustrated with our abysmal knowledge of machines despite having attended 2 courses of electrical machines and 2 lab classes. and when he taught us DSP he was shocked by the fact we did not know where Fourier transforms and where Fourier series were used. I still remember his annoyed and frustrated face and also his questions on my little crazy ideas on underground superconducting electrical cables. He loved quality and so did I and I still believe that all the so called financially unviable perfect designs can be perfected in course of time to make them both financially viable as well as quality wise perfect.
I also met most of my other profs and my project guide and we had a nice long discussion about his PhD and thesis.When I left the place, I kind of felt that the decision to join it was not bad after all.
August 12, 2007
Masters and Beyond
A few days back I used to feel that the right age for kids to start going to school would be 4 or 5 when they would have some interest to go out and play.But the events in the past few days and reality have drastically altered my views.
One thing I have hated about the education system is the long long years that one has got to spend at school. 14 years is an awful waste of time. Now it is 15- 16 years with an year in play school and pre school.And most of the time you keep learning the same thing. If it can be reduced to 10-12, it would give them a longer career span or a longer higher education period.
Do these two or three years matter? Absolutely yes. More so if the kid is a girl. Let us see the case when girls opt to study further than UG.
Now post schooling , one spends say around 4 years in UG ( for engineers) and then another 0-4 years working and then another 2-7 years chasing a masters or a PhD. Now if a kid goes to school when she is 3.5 or 4 , then she would complete her schooling by 17 and then UG when she is 21 and work say till 24 and then by the time she does her masters /PhD she would be 26-28(for PhD I am discounting the 3-4 years work ex) .
Now she has to work on her career . All this work should not go waste. Hence it is only logical that she works for 2-3 years before she considers marriage , motherhood etc. As Jenny says in snapshots it would be illogical to apply for any kind of leave before they settle down in work. It takes at least 6 months for someone to understand and work to their potential .
So this brings the age to 28 -31. so either the ideal age for marriage has to be changed or the no : of years spent at school has to be. It might sound a little far fetched but I cannot help feeling that the darned system that they follow where they expect guys to be older to be a little crappy. Agreed that the boys become mentally matured a little later but once a guy is 31-32 and the girl is of the same age or a little older, it should not be a problem.
Yeah some men have married like that like Tendulkar but then there are very few cases like that. This is not an SOS post of a desperate woman seeking to marry but I was just thinking about all this.
Now for a detailed analysis:
If the girl just does a masters with out work ex:
One thing I have hated about the education system is the long long years that one has got to spend at school. 14 years is an awful waste of time. Now it is 15- 16 years with an year in play school and pre school.And most of the time you keep learning the same thing. If it can be reduced to 10-12, it would give them a longer career span or a longer higher education period.
Do these two or three years matter? Absolutely yes. More so if the kid is a girl. Let us see the case when girls opt to study further than UG.
Now post schooling , one spends say around 4 years in UG ( for engineers) and then another 0-4 years working and then another 2-7 years chasing a masters or a PhD. Now if a kid goes to school when she is 3.5 or 4 , then she would complete her schooling by 17 and then UG when she is 21 and work say till 24 and then by the time she does her masters /PhD she would be 26-28(for PhD I am discounting the 3-4 years work ex) .
Now she has to work on her career . All this work should not go waste. Hence it is only logical that she works for 2-3 years before she considers marriage , motherhood etc. As Jenny says in snapshots it would be illogical to apply for any kind of leave before they settle down in work. It takes at least 6 months for someone to understand and work to their potential .
So this brings the age to 28 -31. so either the ideal age for marriage has to be changed or the no : of years spent at school has to be. It might sound a little far fetched but I cannot help feeling that the darned system that they follow where they expect guys to be older to be a little crappy. Agreed that the boys become mentally matured a little later but once a guy is 31-32 and the girl is of the same age or a little older, it should not be a problem.
Yeah some men have married like that like Tendulkar but then there are very few cases like that. This is not an SOS post of a desperate woman seeking to marry but I was just thinking about all this.
Now for a detailed analysis:
If the girl just does a masters with out work ex:
UG 19-21
MS 21-23
work etc: 23-26
If she does with work ex of say 2 years
UG 19- 21
work 1: 21-23
Masters 23-25
work 2: 25-27
PhD - depends on whether it is a direct or one that follows masters
UG 19-21
PhD 24 -28
work etc: 26 -31
And if she works before masters and then goes for a PhD then it could go up to 33.
Now the society expects girls to be married by 25-27. How the hell is that possible. Don't they have to ensure that they first have a firm hold on their careers before they marry?
The mere fact that one was born a girl must not deny her the chance to chase her dreams. Their right to dream is as strong as the right that men have. That does not mean that they would not bother about family etc. If something like that is stated then that would mean that we are applying different yardsticks for men and women. I am not a feminist but I think that with respect to issues like education, the society is still parochial.
I know that more girls are doing a PG but then for some one who wishes to work for 3-4 years before chasing an MBA abroad or when they want to do a PhD after an year or two at work is difficult.
But guys still have that luxury :(
I don't know how much more difficult it is for doctors.
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