Anna Kunukeste.....Mass; Anna nidarothe ....Mass

Thank You, Sir.

Dear Sir,

Thank you, for all that you have done for us.

Perhaps, no words can ever do justice in describing the effort you have put in to mould us and make us realize what engineering, especially electrical engineering, was about.

Sir, I can say that, while we were never wise enough to learn it all, we did learn something - a little from you, a little from what you shared with us and a little from what you taught us. And now, sitting back and reflecting, we are realizing the value of even that little. And we also realized we can never thank you enough.

Yours obediently,
Srikanth Manda,
650651092,
Batch of 2008.

P.S.: The picture is my own work and a small token of our gratitude, Sir.

RIP: Satyam (a.k.a. Demise of an Idol)

  

What the F is going on?????!!!!!!
How could this have happened?????!!!!!!

How could have Satyam become 'aSatyam'.
Mr Rama Linga Raju stealing crores?!

How could he have done that?!
What were the directors of the company board, the Government, the Auditors and the Media doing?!
How have every one let this happen for all this years?!
Rs. 7000 Crores over 10 years?!
How can any thing like this happen, especially after Enron Scandal ?!

How can a company, listed on NYSE, with persons like Vinod Dham and Dean of Indian School of Business  as its board directors, cook its books and get away with it for a decade?!

I wonder what's going to happen to the thousands being employed by Satyam and hundreds more awaiting its call. This definitely has come as shock to many.

With the turn of the year and not hearing of a fall of a company, I have been filled with some irrational hopes of hearing some good news, of late.

But now, this definitely is the last nail in the coffin of all those hopes.

I should have known. Though having been fed a lot of news about recession and a possible depression, I refused to believe in all the morbid predictions of further rounds of blows to the economy.

No, perhaps its not fair to blame the recession this time!!!!!!!!

Well we can't blame it for something done on a person's volition knowing all possible consequences of his action. But I still can't believe that he did all this.

Mr Rama Linga Raju !!!!! ??????????????????????????  A role model to hundreds of youth in this country!

I mean isn't he the guy who, hundreds like me aspired to be?

Mr Rama Linga Raju! how could you have done this to US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After all your good work through Byrraju Foundation and EMRI  (108 emergency service), I now can't even blame you.

But then again, F you, Sir......................................

P.S: I wonder if the government and the media wakes up at least now. For a change, I would like to see the government bringing to book the real culprits. Even more, I would like to see the Media, which recently applauded its own effort in stalling the ill advised move by Satyam but was so full of praise at Corporate India's success during the great bull run of Sensex, actually blow the whistle before some one else does.

LOOK WHO'S BLOGGING!

OK! What better way to begin than with a question!

Q: Say, what's common between Me, BigB, Aamir Khan & Ram Gopal Varma?
Dunno? OK. Another one,

Q: What's one thing I did first and was later done by these guys?
Again a blank?! OK, one last chance to you.

Q: What's that we, i.e., all of us whom I mentioned above, own exclusively?

Well, you could have at least guessed the answer from the title of this post.
Anyways, the answers, respectively, are:
Blogging;
Blogging;
Our blogs.

I don't know what has come upon our Bollywood guys? Until recently, I used think that only we, who have the luxury of having lots of free time and no work to do, blog. Of course we all say a lot about expressing ourselves and all that stuff but basically, I still think Blogging is just a past-time for most of us. Right?!

Anyway, I can understand Salman Khan blogging to promote his Dus Ka Dum. But I can't understand how Mr Big B is finding time to blog. I mean, isn't he always doing some movie or commercial or attending some function or globetrotting with his parivar? And he seems to be updating his blog in a mission mode.

At last, after those minute length bites in television and once in a while news articles on some controversy surrounding him, we can get enough of Aamir. His blog is cool. Simple and straight forward. I particularly liked the lay out. Come on Aamir, we need more of you. Keep blogging.

And now comes the best. RGV's blog. This is real fun. I really liked his answers to queries and reactions to reactions. And his blog theme seems to reflect his taste...all black and pretty simple. Check out his Photos. He has quite a few interesting ones.

Go, read the blogs and enjoy.

P.S: OK Jagan, this time I'm not asking you to watch this space for more. As I told above, blogging is only a past-time and I'll try to post when ever I feel like. And a million thanks for actually watching this space regularly. Bye

Hello World! Here comes Srikanth Manda, B.E.

This post is to mark the arrival of Srikanth Manda, B. E.

At last, finally after four years of fun and a few hours of regular struggle (only before exams), I finally completed my Bachelor of Engineering Degree. Yesterday evening, we successfully managed to scrape through our project work viva voce examination and now, here I am as Srikanth Manda B. E.

God, what a struggle it was, the last 15 days! I never, not even for once, doubted my chances of completing B. E. as I did in the last 15 days. True, I've only managed to scrape through many exams with a Stamp (Pass marks - in our Engineering jargon). But I've never doubted clearing BE in 4 yrs. But, what with all that I had to undergo in our Control Systems lab exam, every thing changed.

Anyways, here I am, feeling so emancipated from all that drudgery of going through the mindless rituals of examinations.

WTF, I know this doesn't change a thing in this world. But it sure does change a lot of things in my world.

I have lots of experiences to share. Interested?! Watch this space for more.

Cidade de Deus (City of God)

A great Brazilian film based on a true story of rivalry between two gangs in Rio de Janeiro’s slums around 70’s. The story is about the turbulence of those times and about the lives of members of the warring gangs and those caught in the vicious cycle of violence, as narrated by an aspiring photo journalist living in the same slum who always finds himself in the thick of action.

Being a true story, there is nothing much to tell about it except that it is amazing. The story tracks the genesis, rise and nemesis of a criminal gang and repetition of this cycle. And as is with any story narrated by a not-so-great raconteur, the wannabe journalist in this case, the story line digresses from the main plot many times. These digressions always recount some interesting story, related to some important character, which finally ends where the main plot was left at. Perhaps this, I felt, was the most brilliant aspect of the film apart from some remarkable performances like those of the characters Li’l Dice and Benny, the coolest gangster in town.

The portrayal of almost every character is good. Most of the characters in the mob are refreshingly different from those in Hollywood movies. Here, apart from the usual shooting, looting, raping and killing stuff, the mobsters dance, party, love and rock too.

But the narration, though not mindlessly gory, is quite disturbing at times. A few scenes like the one where Li’l Dice quenches his blood thirst, the one where a kid kills another kid and the one where a little boy takes to the gun and joins the gang war to avenge his father’s death are shocking. The cinematography, the sets and everything else just reflect just what any slum looks like.

The pace is such that the film never slackens for once throughout its entire length. And to add up everything else, here is a film with many good elements. A must watch if you love good cinema. But I’m afraid same is not the case if you can’t stand violence and killing stuff and wish to enjoy your movies with popcorn.

Movies, Movies & more Movies......

The past one week I've been too busy watching movies while the rest of my class mates are busy preparing for GATE exam. Having recently found out the magic of P2P network, we have been busy downloading many movies. (Now, I know it's illegal but, we don't get those titles here even if we want to rent or buy them. No sir, not even pirated editions.) So it has been like a-movie-a-day for the past few days. And in these past few days I discovered some good movies, courtesy IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.

Starting with next post, I'm going to review the few good movies I saw.  One thing, I don't exactly have what one might call a discerning taste though you may call it eclectic.

So no guarantees that these movies are good enough for you.

Salaam 'Salaam Bombay'

To gear ourselves with enough stuff to endure the then imminent threat of Mid Sem Exams, we recently went on a DVD hunt. (Pirated, that is. But then, we don't get the originals even if we want them. Do we?) We managed to get a good many. Thanks Pete, we are through that exam stuff. And we enjoyed the movies too. Some were just bland while others OK and a few really entertaining. But one was just great.

And the great one is Salaam Bombay. Just great. It was just too good. Totally engrossing and entertaining too. Unlike most other parallel cinema we get to see here in India, this film isn't all depressing.

The film is about a kid who is thrown out of his home and reaches Bombay. And it is about how he faces the life in the big city along with his brothers and sisters in arms, the other urchins. Don't worry I'm not gonna give out any spoilers. But it isn't just the plot or some other thing that makes this film worthwhile. It's just the whole thing.

Salaam Bombay has good script and great direction along with power packed performances. Every character just lights up the screen. The characters, their bodylanguage, the backdrop, which we get to see in many towns and cities, and the background sounds just give you feel of experiencing some thing real instead of watching a cinema. But hey, that doesn't mean this film is like documentary. Ms. Nair made sure that this film isn't a documentary. She gave it a life and little dramatic touch.

One thing that deserves a special mention is the cast. Shafiq Syed as Krishna, the protagonist is great. Nana Patekar is superb as Baba. Real surprise is the character 'Sweet Sixteen' who never even utters a single word through out the film. Other characters too just grab your attention with their subtle and in some cases, sublime performances.

The film is very thought provoking. But what's more interesting and a bit disconcerting is the fact that though made in the later half of the 80s, the film's backdrop and characters can still been seen in every nook and corner of our country. That might leave us wondering whether India has ever cared for its nameless and faceless millions.

While a few scenes are gloomy & sad and a few others are entertaining, every scene is riveting. The fight the characters put up in life leaves us with a great hope.

This film is a must see for every who wishes to see something worthwhile.

P.S.: Hey, I was just too mesmerized with film to actually notice any pitfalls and shortcomings. So don't blame me if you find any.

Back Again!

Back again. Cleared all exams once again. Well, almost!

Except the last one, I'm certain to clear almost all of the rest.

I can't help wondering why we are made to endure this arcane ritual of examinations every semester. I call it arcane because I'm still in dark as to what purpose they serve. We any how don't bother about acads till the exams are on us. During the xms we set every thing aside and try to mug up as much stuff as we can. We just spit it out there on the paper. If we fail to clear them, we can still work out by shelling out a few thousand bucks. So why write in the first place?

I wish someone cuts out this crap.

Here is the reason why I haven't posted for a while.....

 I got this image link at Stumble Upon...click on the photo to go to photo url.)

Update: The cartoon is from The New Yorker Magazine. Photo URL link deleted. Link: http://www.cartoonbank.com/item/121304

Yo Twenty20!!

What a match it was....Yo Twenty20, its the way to go!
If you are wondering what match I'm talking about...well its the India Vs Pakistan match.

At the beginning of the tournament, I was sceptical about the Twenty20 game, but now I like the game very much. The credit should go to the curator of the pitch.It was a game pitch that really gave some scope to the bowlers in the game. I was actually afraid that all the bowlers would be butchered. But thank God(for the weather conditions) and thanks to the pitch, they were really the stars of the match.

True, Twenty 20 is really a made for TV format. But since most of us see cricket sitting in our drawing rooms rather than the stadium, it's OK.
I find nothing wrong.
Maybe this is the way to go ahead. Of course its really too soon to say anything about scraping the ODI format as some of my friends suggested. But still I think that this format is really good for average viewers of the game. The highlights are the crowds, the short time of 3hrs it takes to complete the match and of course the full throttled action. As for the really connoisseurs of the game there always is the Test format.

But we need to take care that the matches don't really turn into a gladiatorial shows for the bowlers. We need to see that lively pitches are made, that help the bowlers to turn the ball a bit. Of course one may wonder what a batsman can do in such conditions. But a bowler pushed to the limit can never hope to cause as much damage a batsman pushed to such limit is capable of. Even the most ardent lovers of slogging don't like a cake walk for batsman. And then there are always so many rules that really restrict bowlers.

Anyway I'm going to enjoy this tournament very much. And hope you do the same.

I am happy to say that all four of our friends who were wounded in Monday's accident are now out of danger.

Let's keep praying that they find enough strength & courage to overcome both the physical and mental hardships and let's stand with them in the face of the challenges ahead of them.
Let's also pray that the families of Preethi and Pravallika too find the same strength & courage to overcome their grief.

Let's Pray.

A really sad day for all of us, students of SRKR Engineering College.

Early in the morning a group of eight of our friends who set out from here, Bhimavaram to a birthday party in Rajuamundry met with an accident en route. One of them, Preethi died instantly on spot while Pravallika died while being taken to the hospital. Four of them, Vindhya Vimala, Chandra Lekha, Rajasekhar and Eswar received major injuries. All four of them are now in hospital receiving treatment. Details of their conditions are yet to come out. The other two, Balaji and Das Kiran were lucky in that they did not receive any major injuries. All of them except Vimala, who is from final year EEE, are from final year Mechanical engg.

Whenever I read the maxim 'Speed thrills but Kills', I used to make light of it. But now the impact of the truth in that maxim has come down as too big a shock upon all our friends and college mates, to bear. Most of us all still too shocked to even think of what happened. Most are yet to digest the truth of what has happened to our friends, some of whom we met as recently as yesterday night. The college is still reeling under the deadly impact.

The whole college is saddened by this and the worst part is that this incident has brought back all the bad and shocking experiences to mind. All of us are still so gloomy and some are so depressed.

I don't even know what prompted me to post this. I've had some nightmarish experiences as shocking as these earlier. But still the pall of gloom that has descended upon us has knocked the hope even out of me. I'm feeling really helpless. As some friend pointed out a few moments back, Gods must be crazy to play this little game of life and death with us. I'm no atheist; nor am I so religious. I don't know if they are crazy. But I only pray to all of them to get those still in the hospital out of that living hell and help us overcome this grief and let live with a little happiness and hope.

And I request every soul on this earth to pray for whoever Gods they trust for the same.

Right now I'm a bit disoriented and am not exactly aware of what am I writing here. I just spit out whatever came to my mind to find catharsis.

Lets Pray.

Project Gutenberg

Hello world!

Here is a link to one of the best sites on the Internet. The site is www.gutenberg.org. It is a repository of free e-books. None of these books are illegal as most of them are out of copyright. And this collection is put together by volunteers all over the world. Most books are available in html format and other formats. Any book can be downloaded. Perhaps this one of those good endeavours on the web.

And the coolest thing about this site is that you can find almost all the classics you have ever heard about.Go check it out and help build it up.

Right to Information

Thinking of Right to Information recently, I decided to google for it. Here are the few links I came across:

http://righttoinformation.gov.in/

http://www.ndtv.com/rti/default.asp

http://www.righttoinformation.info/

But I haven't gone thoroughly through any of those websites. But still I thought that some one might find these links useful. Check thse out and write in comments any thing you found interesting on those sites. Also add any of the links you know about RTI.

Gone with the Wind

'Gone with the Wind' - this is one of the best books I have ever read.

I didn't understand what the title really means or how is it related to the book, even after reading the book. I only found it while researching to write this post, on Wikipedia. Yet, I loved the book. It took me longer to complete than any other book did. One reason why it took me longer is that the book itself is very big, over 1000 pages of relatively small print. But the other reason is that the book is so good that I enjoyed reading every word and I feared reaching it's end too soon. I had put the book away often, while reading, to recollect the vivid descriptions and ponder over them again.

The book is set in the backdrop of American Civil War (1861-1865 A.D.) between the anti slavery Americans of Northern states (referred to as Yankees) and the cotton kings from Southern states (referred to as Confederates). The descriptions of the war and its consequences are at times too vivid to bear and to continue with reading.

The best part of the book are these characters- Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler and Melanie Wilkes. They are some of the most interesting characters I've ever read about.

Scarlett - she is my favourite. She amazed me with her attitude. I wish I could put away all my worries from my mind, today, so that they can be worried over tomorrow, like she does.Though unscrupulous, insolent, proud, rude, ambitious and selfish, it isn't just Rhett Butler who fell in love with her. I couldn't help it either. I love the way she overcomes every obstacle step by step, patiently, without ever losing hope. I love her Fortitude.

Rhett Butler - cool, suave, dashing, daring, charming but not so affable. Well, those adjectives do some justice to his character. Yet, I felt his character was too complex. I liked his cool head, logic and more than anything, his candidness. I wish I were as charming as he is.

Melanie Wilkes - how I wish to have a friend like her. Or rather I wish I were her. She simply is everything I love and is everything i hope to be some day. Her strength, braveness, understanding, patience, understanding nature and everything , I just love those characters. She reminded me of the character of Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mocking Bird. Though at the beginning I didn't think much of her, as the book came to the end, I couldn't help admiring her remarkable strength. She made me cry, literally.

Apart from the three characters, there are other characters I liked very much like Ellen O'Hara, Will Benteen, Dr Meade, Mammy, Gerald O'Hara, Mrs Merriweather and Belle Watling. I couldn't help thinking of so many people I've seen in my real life, reading about these characters. At one point of time, I even forgot that all these characters are fictitious. Indeed, at one point, Mammy says to Scarlett that Scarlett and Rhett are both mules in the hides of horses and it is only at the end Scarlett realises that the remark is very true. But by the time she realises it, she loses too much that she could never hope to make up for. This particular remark actually brought back to my mind, my own past- all my arrogance, over confidence and careless nature. (Well, this doesn't mean that I'm a horse now, it just means that I stopped pretending to be one.)

And its just not the characters, I loved the style of narration also. Initially i.e., in the beginning of the book, I thought the book was unfair in its attitude towards the Yankees and seemed to glorify the South's Cause. But the frank remarks of the book's characters on issues like slavery expose the narrow mindedness of the southerners. The book is, in that way, balanced in that regard.

More over, though the book is historical in nature, the characters, their reaction to the situations are just as relevant today.

Though this book took me strenuous effort in reading it, in understanding the Blacks' language and referring to dictionary often to check out the meaning of numerous words I came across, in the end I'm happy that I read a very good book.

I'm now hoping to see the movie as soon as possible.

Tell me what you thought of this book or any other great books you read.

Thanks Blogspot for profile search.

I tried out the recently added feature, Profile search in our blogspot.
It's superb. I was able to find out all the blogs being published by authors hailing from my town, my state and sharing my tastes.

Thankfully, some of those were really good.

Thanks Blogspot.

I wish you actually added a search box too.
But still, I'm very happy...............

Placement Predicaments

A prominent MNC has recently recruited nearly one hundred and seventy students in our college even before we completed completed our third year. The recruitment drive has then (i.e., nearly two months back) disrupted our academic schedule. And as the recruitment was conducted just a couple of months before our exams, it affected our semester end scores.All the same, we weren't really concerned as we already got placed. But a few days back, i.e., a month or so, we were told by our Placement and Training cell that all our placements are cancelled. And this was confirmed by the company through mail. To say that this shocked us would be an under statement. We broke down completely. The Company told that since some irregularities and unethical practices were found to be followed in the recruitment drive, they need to re-assess us. And they sent us an e-mail stating the same. And a couple of days back, they sent another mail giving us details of where and when the next drive is being held, to which we are expected to attend.

The same happened with nearly one thousand students who were also recruited by the same team. (The figure is approximate, but not too wide off the actual figure.) It is rumoured that the Recruitment team took bribes. Some rumours were that the HR team was bribed. While the two statements apportion the guilt between the two guilty parties viz. the college managements and the Recruitment team, in a different manner, they had the same effect on us. They just meant that all our efforts went down the drain. For one thing, the swiftness with which the company has reacted after knowing the truth and the way our college training & placement cell has pulled all stops to ensure that the effect is mitigated are commendable. But still the fact remains that affected students are still heart broken and a some are still depressed. We have lost precious chance of being recruited into two companies which visited our campus after the first company but before the news broke out. It means so much to us.

Luckily, I'm one of the very few students who were able to make it to another company recently. But there still are about 150 students who haven't been so lucky. And this brings me back to the question which I have raised in my previous posts"The season has begun....." and "To hell with this lab work......". Indeed, the whole affair has answered my question partly. The question is:
Should the campus recruitment drives begin in pre-final year itself?
My answer is : NO.

Here is why: To begin with, the whole drive has disrupted our schedule in the pre-final year, a very crucial one in one's academic life. And the result of such drive, either being placed or being rejected distract students from studies. They effect our performances so much as proved in our case.

Is there any solution? I think so. I think colleges should frame a placement policy just as they frame their quality policies. In this, they should consider all possibilities and should ensure that students aren't affected by the whole recruitment drives. Best of all, the placements should not commence till the end of first semester of the final year. And colleges, instead of messing up everything in the end regarding the students' communication skills and language skills, should chart out a program right from their first year to ensure that they are employable by the time they graduate. And companies should also join hands with the academia to ensure the same.

And last but not least, the academia should go beyond the IT field regarding placements. It needs to make sure that the students are knowledgeable and employable in core fields too. While I'm not particular about this, I have friends who long to work in REAL JOBS as they consider It jobs as too unreal. I don't share their views but I wish they get what they want. Next I would like to blog on my placement.

Placement Predicaments - 2

Well, as if we haven't had enough trouble, recently, some of our friends, from EEE and a couple of other branches, who went to attend an off campus recruitment drive for IT jobs were told there, after getting registered and even attending the Preplacement talk, that they aren't needed and need not sit for the test. They were given back the registration fee and were shown the door, not so politely.

But I wonder who pays the rest of the expenses incurred by my friends in the form of travel and accomodation charges. And who is going to teach them the lessons they missed here.

GOD, save us!

Oh, Rafa & Roddick! Plz do it....

It's June, it's raining and the colours of the season are Green and White(no, not definitely the black of the clouds).
And the place to be is at The Championships, Wimbledon.
I'm no connoisseur of Tennis. Nor am I a long time fan. I'm still trying to know more and enjoy the nuances of Tennis.
I, in fact, discovered Tennis only a few years back. I was a long time fan of Cricket till then. But the whole match fixing scandal made me switch my allegiance. And now I love watching tennis.

I love the thunderous aces, the graceful volleys and the never ending rallies. But if there is one thing I like much less than anything else related to the tennis, its The Fed Express's dominance of the game on the Hard courts and on the Grass. Of course, I'm talking about the invincible(at least on the fore mentioned surfaces) HRH Roger Federer. To hell with this man. I love his game. I love his disposition. I love the calmness and composure with which he reacts when he loses a point. I love the way he hits Backhand with single and and amazing speed and precision.
I love the his winners. All the same, I loath the way this man is single handedly dominating the game on Grass and Hard courts. It sucks. Of course, it's none of his mistake.

I wish this changes this time. After his yet another failed coup d'etat at the Rolland Garros, I fear the worst is yet to come. Ravaged by the defeat, he might take his game to yet another new level. I pray this doesn't happen.

I hope at least Rafa(Rafael Nadal) will stop him this time. High on his record equalling success at the Rolland Garros, I wish he'll find some way to stop Fed-Express. Rafa has it in him. The fight he put up in the 2nd and 3rd sets in the last final is commendable. I hope he follows in the foot steps the great Swede Bjorn Rune Borg who made it a habit to win both the French Open and The Championships successively.

Another thing I'm hoping for is the revival of Andy Roddick's form. I wish he wins at the Wimbledon at least this time. The way he just gave up the match last time in 2005 after losing the first two sets made me sick. Of course, you can't often expect a comeback when playing against Federer, but still, I hated that blank, hopeless expression. I didn't expect that he would through in the towel so soon on that occasion. Do we, from a world class athlete?

And here is my prayer for this season:
Our Father in Heaven,
Please let either Rafa, with his enormous reserves of stamina or Roddick, with his beast of a serve take the crown at the Championships this time.
Or let anyone You like, except Roger.
And I promise You, I won't bother You, at least till the next season.
Amen.

Bye....