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...............
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.
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!
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....
As I wrote in the last post, the Campus recruitment drive broke loose all hell in our college. Right from the next day we had to work night outs to get all our assignments and records completed. And finally we did it.
But all the while I worked on my record, I couldn't help wondering what purpose, completing the record serves. That we didn't exactly follow the experiment is one thing and that we didn't even take down the right observations is another. But both these things rendered every thing useless. What's more? Even writing down the theory of the experiment is useless because we didn't write it by our self. We were first given all the material related to the exp. and were asked to copy it down twice- once in observation book and once in Lab record. Does this copying down serve any purpose?
The importance of lab work i.e., experimentation can't be over emphasized, especially for us in technical education. Thankfully not all labs are like that. I mean, at least some of the lab work
is done properly. But saying so can we afford to be so, even if its related to only a few subjects? I don't think so.
In India, especially at this conjecture, when cream of the students community from every branch is being sucked into IT & ITES, we need to get things like labs right. Lab work is supposed to rekindle the students' interest in relatively dry and boring theory subjects. But as long as the labs are as they are now, I don't think this objective is going to be realised.
And no, growth of Computers is not a bane. Indeed they granted us a boon in the form of Simulation Software related to various subjects like CAD, CAM, SPICE, HDL etc. All these need to be incorporated if we are to produce better Engineers.
And same as ever all I can do is only write about this....and hope some one who can do some thing reads this....
It has been very long since I posted last. Any how I'm back. And this time I have some thing interesting. Well, interesting to me n my fellow Engineering students in India, anyhow.
Yes, the season has begun. But this time it has begun a bit early. No idea what I am talking about? Well, its the season when even big MNCs come hunting for young talent even in the interior regions of India that are other wise never given much thought about. Yes its the season of Campus Recruitment.
What's surprising is the eagerness of the companies to out-do each other in attracting fresh and young talent. But this time around some companies have actually come here to recruit students even before the end of our 3rd year, 2nd semester. Strange. Last year the companies began coming at some time around June or July. But now, we are not even half way through March.
Well, its all pleasing to be offered a job a in reputed company with a fat pay check. Its a great feeling to have a job offer in hand without even having our degrees (B.E. in my case). But still the timing of this recruitment drive has caused a little trouble with our academics. This is especially because of the imminent semester exams preceded by our mid sem exams. More over his is the time we will be busy getting our lab work records finished.
But it looks like there are some others who are not so pleased about the prospect of recruitment in 3rd year. Well, they have their own fears and those fears are not totally unfounded. And they are our Professors. They are thinking that we may take every thing else easy once we secure a job. And this has been proved to be true in case of our seniors. Last year, our college enjoyed a huge success regarding placements. And this, in turn has shown some effect on our seniors' studies and seriousness. Everyone, who were preparing for CAT or GATE or GRE suddenly relaxed and lowered their level of preparation. It was as if they never thought of appearing for such exams. There is nothing wrong in getting job while in college but getting one in our 3rd year tself is, I think, a bit too early. More so because most of us don't have a clear idea of what we want to do in our future, even in 3rd year of our graduation. One more aspect is that, in Engineering, having a backlog during the course is so common. And most of the companies put a restriction that those aspiring for a job should not have a backlog. While that is understandable, what needs to be understood is that many of us still don't take our studies as seriously as we are supposed to be. The reason for this is that we don't find our courses and colleges as interesting as we expect them to be regarding facilities like laboratories and libraries after bieng emanicipated from the drudgery of our Intermediate studies. So for the first 3 years, or so, of our Enginnering course, we dont take anything quite seriously. So naturally the talented among us have some backlogs. Anyhow by the time we enter our final year, we do take every thing quite seriously and clear up all the backlogs. So I think final year 2nd semester is the ideal time for Campus recriutment.
Well, this is what I think. And I invite your comments and suggestions regarding this matter. Just post in your comments below.
Recently I came across an article and an advertisement in 'The Hindu'. The article was about how cheap, generic versions of ARV (anti retro viral) drugs are helping millions all over the world fight the AIDS epidemic. But now Novartis, a US based drug company which holds the patents for the original versions of those drugs, has filed a case against Indian government for allowing drug companies like Cipla manufacture those generic versions. Novartis wants the manufacture of the generic versions stop and that its patent rights are honoured. Indeed, this is not the first time such a thing has happened. Earlier too, major drug companies tried to force some African nations in this way. But a international out cry over the issue and a major campaign has later forced the companies to drop the law suits. But now, India, as a signatory of WTO patents regime, is expected to protect the interests of Novartis. But this may prove to be a worst blow to the millions suffering from AIDS and the aid agencies helping them, all over the world. Are lives of millions more important than patent rights? No. So few groups have started a media campaign and a signature campaign to request Novartis to drop the law suit. The least guys like you and me can do is to take part in the campaign. So to read the news article article, click on the following link :
Generic drugs and the fate of the global AIDS response - The Hindu (29th Jan, 2007)
or
click on the title of this posting,"Novartis, please drop the case...."
And to take part in the campaign or to know more about it, click on this link :
PEOPLE BEFORE PATENTS:
THE LIVES OF MILLIONS ARE AT STAKE!!
SIGN-ON TO HELP PROTECT ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE MEDICINES!!
Please pass on this information to all your friends and urge them to take part in the campaign.
For the past few months, we have been hearing a lot in the debate on reservations for OBCs in institutions for higher education. And also a lot on inclusion, or rather, exclusion of creamy layer.
Many people, leaders and experts have voiced their opinions on these issues. But one issue has largely escaped our notice. The issue is the quality of so called higher education in other institutions all over the country. Regarding the fore mentioned issue of reservation every one, except a very few, have argued and discussed on how much of the cake a particular section of the population is entitled to. But very few have thought of how to increase the size of the cake. No, increasing the size of the cake, here, doesn't mean just increasing the number of seats in those institutions, it also means increasing the quality of education in other institutions.
Almost every one agrees that even after more than fifty years of policy of reservation, much hasn't changed regarding the social and economical status of those concerned. But then, nor has the quality of higher education in general. If anything, with increase in demand, the quality has actually fallen over years. True the economic status of India has improved. But perhaps, that is because of the effective utilisation of our resources and not because of any tremendous change in the quality of education.
Even today, education means marks. True, marks serve as a very good bench mark to gauge the performance of students and to some extent, that of teachers. But, they aren't what the whole of education is. Unfortunately, many institutions haven't realised this. By and large, the greater purpose of education, which I feel is "to help an individual know about himself, the world around him; to make one realise his own strengths and weaknesses and to strive to better his strength and lessen his weaknesses" is being ignored. Luckily for me, my school education has helped me know about myself and my world. It also helped me discover my strengths and weaknesses. But my professional education (Engineering) hasn't really helped me work on my strengths and weaknesses.
No stress is being laid on Imagination, Innovation & Invention and self discovery.
Even more appalling thing is that, a few sections or branches of education are being are totally ignored. Take for instance science. These days science seems to have been forgotten all together in many regions along with humanities. No one taking the sciences in +1 and +2 are any more interested in doing M.Sc. and B.Sc. All they want is to become an Engineer or a Doctor. The necessity of basic life sciences and research is being ignored. All attention seems to be on Tech and MBA. Of late, interesting things are happening in technical education too. Earlier key stress used to be on practical knowledge with sound basics. But with mushrooming of tech institutes,(yes mushrooming) even basic infra structure like labs and libraries are not being provided.. We do need more institutions. But they shouldn't be allowed to come up in a hap hazard way without proper control. Because of this students are lacking proper practical knowledge of things that they are expected to do later in their profession. For example, even though I am a third year student in Electrical Engineering, I still don't exactly know how a motor works. Another reason for this is severe shortage of staff equipped with proper knowledge tools to teach us (but then, again, I'm lucky to be studying in a college with staff. But not every one is as lucky). And with the advent and success of IT, even the theoretical knowledge is being lost. Every one talks of Soft Skills and Personality development, which should have been an integral part of education in the first place. And here, in AP, every student is expected to be more proficient at C and C++ than their core subjects. Any how core jobs are exotic. Today IT & ITES maybe our forte. But don't we need o stress on other areas too? Especially when we dream of being a developed nation as soon as possible! Don't we need to set all this right.
Fee in IITs and our colleges are about same. We may not be entitled to have the kind staff and facilities they have. Nor can we even dream of their job offers and fat pay checks. But don't we require basic amenities like labs and Internet. There are still colleges which forbid their students from using email in college. All these issues should be addressed very soon , along with the rest of the issues concerning education. I still don't have an idea about who is responsible for this situation. Who ever it is, I only hope that they realise the situation set things right as soon as possible.
"We institutions of higher education which help us realise our full potential. We need those institutions that give us a chance to be ourselves. We need institution where gets to experiment on new things, where one gets enough time to explore some new avenues of life, where we get a chance to Imagine, Innovate & Invent!"
For the past few months I've been thinking 'should death sentence be abolished?'. Well to be true, I have been thinking why death sentence should still be continued while many countries have abolished it. In principle, I'm against Death penalty. I detest it. One reason for this is that I love my life. So do everyone else, I believe.
Apart from my love for a life in any form, one more reason why I oppose death sentence is that killing a life serves no purpose. Yes, the crimes some commit deserve the harshest punishment. But is death penalty really harsh enough. I don't think so. Indeed death penalty offers an exit way from the tough path of transformation of an individual. Punishment is not an end unto itself. Its just a means to the end of transformation. I cases a person proves too hard to crack, he or she can be contained by many other measures like solitary confinement under strict supervision and security.
Still one may find all this concern over a gruesome killer or a terrorist to be absurd. But one reason why this concern is not absurd is that our judiciary system is still not fool proof. It still has many loop holes and pit falls. It is still possible that a real culprit can escape and an innocent person may be prosecuted and proven guilty. No, I'm not writing this in the context of Afzal's conviction. We've had enough debate over that issue. And I'm convinced that he is guilty. But the thing is this case alone doesn't ensure that our judiciary is so tight and strict.
Even if everyone everyone convicted is really guilty, justice is not being delivered on equal terms to all. Take the case of Abu Salem, he was arrested in Lisbon, Portugal. Though we had some substantial evidence of his involvement in some nefarious activities in India, Portugal, when given that evidence, refused to hand him over to us until our authorities gave them assurances that we won't hang him. And so do many countries who have abolished death penalty. Imagine the situation if Dawood Ibrahim too turns in some of those countries. How can justice be delivered depending on where a person, the guilty is arrested? Will we be able to say in such cases, that justice is not served as the criminal is not hanged?
Some may argue that we need not care about egalitarian principles regarding such criminals. But then, what goes round also comes round. So we need set right our law. We need to abolish capital punishment.
Well, if u feel u have some thing to say regarding this issue... please post your comments below.
Why do I blog?!
This is the question I've been asked by many and by myself ever since I started my blog. And I've been asked this question not just by many, but many times too. I never really had any solid answer to this question. To make my presence felt in this global village of the Internet, I used to say, sometimes. Yet a few other times, I used to say just to have some fun. Fun!!!!! I really never had any idea how? The answers may sound funny. Well, they did for me too. Those answers never really satisfied myself though they did convince my friends that I've gone out of my mind.
Perhaps the only answer that I ever came close to satisfying myself with is that through my blog, I was able to give voice to my opinions and share them (or perhaps publish them), which until then, I used share only with a couple of friends of mine.
But then (and even now), I wasn't really sure that some one out there is listening to my voice i.e., reading my blog. So I wasn't really sure why I was blogging.
Actually, (here is where I can become really boring.....so if U don't care why on earth I started blogging, U may, very well, skip on to the next paragraph) I first came to know about blogging through a news paper. Immediately I took to it and started a couple of blogs whose ids and passwords I forgot just as soon as I created them. And then there was a period of lull. But once again I read continuous reports in newspapers about the hectic activity in blogosphere and the way it transforming lives all around the world. i read about how people formerly unknown became famous, how budding writers got book deals, how a few guys got cult following. And then i also read about the Novel writing month. Being a person naturally disposed to wasting realms and realms of paper just to jot down anything that come to my mind....I thought of this as one big chance. And the result is this blog. Well, as U may have observed the first entry is concerned with my opinions regarding int. politics. But immediately after writing that, I introspected and found that its no good writing such stuff. So then I stared writing about myself. This sounded like a bit of self proclamations of an egoist, but later I found that to be okay. So I settled for it.
But even then I wondered what to write about my self or my life or my world. So I decided to write in it everything I am interested. But this still hasn't given me any solid answer for my earlier question.
Then came December last. This December has changed a lot of my opinions about many things. And one of those opinions is that I'm not as useless or as stupid as I think myself to be. Indeed, I realised that no one is. No one is what they seem to be. Well, at least not what they seem to be to my eyes. And the came the TIME : PERSON OF THE YEAR - 2006 issue. It really along with a few incidents that happened in December, gave me the answer I was looking for. Or at least I'm thinking that is the answer.
The answer is: I blog because I want to be the change I want to see around myself. I want to let my voice raise and let it be heard by many, on issues that really matter. I blog because I want to be the change that's sweeping all over the world and is wrestling the right to speech and power of being heard of from the hands of few.I want to blog because I want to build relations with the whole world. "This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It's a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who's out there looking back at them." , according to TIME. Also I always knew I was gifted with a lot of knowledge (sounds a bit like self praise, ain't it? But believe me it isn't). I blog because I want to share this knowledge and empower myself and my fellow humans with it and with their knowledge. I decided to put to use, this knowledge for collective good of my world which has given me so much. Also I decided to use my knowledge and my blog to help spread word about anything that's good. As the first step in that direction, I've put up a logo of a not-for-profit society caring for urchins. Also I decided to post anything I think is interesting and maybe useful. All those who want to care the uncared, please check out that site by clicking on the link.
Ummmmmm.... a lengthy post isn't it. But reading all that I've written I feel that I haven't given an exact and comprehensive answer to the question "Why do I blog?" Yes, I haven't. But then, its OK. At least now, I know what I wanted or rather what I want to do with my blog. I hope to answer, at least sometime in future, "Why do I blog?!" for once and all. And finally the following picture sums up very effectively how caught this habit of blogging.
I request U to help me in my endeavour by posting any comments U may have on my blog. Bye......
For the past few months we have been hearing a lot on the debate of reservations. I tried to get a clear idea about the whole issue. But it proved to be a Herculian task. The reason is that I have too many questions and far too less information on the actual issue and the related history and statistics. So I thought some one out there can clear my doubts and I can finally get a clear idea and an opinion about the issue. And the questions and doubt that have been eating out my whole brain and time are:
Need for resevations?
Justification for the resevations?
Is it just because those concerned are historically oppressed?
How can reservations help backward classes come over social discrimination?
Do they "all" really need them?
Are they "all" still oppressed ? And aren't any one else?
Is it whole thing tenable?
What about others from poor and economically families from the so called forward classes?
And what about others from far flung and rural areas who aren't aware of any laws or privilages?
What's the need for inclusion of Creamy layer?
Are the benifits really reaching the most needy?
Can't we increase the size of cake insead of fighting over who should get how much?
Do we really enjoy the freedom to the course of choice to learn the things we like , the way we like?
And is the idea of reservations in jobs really justified? And do we really need them in private sector too?
I hope I can really know the answers to all these issues and can one day post my own opinion. Please, if you happen to know any thing related or have an opinion, please post them in the comments column.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare.
May be Shakespeare was true then. But is he still true in today's world?
I doubt it. And I have some good reasons to do so.
To begin with, let's talk about politics. Perhaps people of no other country can ever understand the key role a name plays in politics like we Indians do.
The name in the case is Gandhi. Ever since the time of our freedom struggle, the name Gandhi inspired may a common Indians. But back then, it was actually Gandhi, the person- Mr Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi, fondly called Bapuji and Mahatma, who inspired our ancestors. And he still does the same. And so does his name (I'm not talking about Mahatma but about the name Gandhi). Ever since the days of Indira Gandhi, the name Gandhi has become the most popular name in the Indian politics. And also it has become the easiest way up the power ladder. How elscould SoniaiGandhijiii have come to position she is in today, if not for her last name?
But then, ofcourse, she has proved herself in that power and complicated position. And the people all over India have grown to love her and reckon her as one among themselves (I'm one of those). Even this can be attributed to her last name. Obviously, had she chosen to drop her last name we wouldn't be talking about her today.And thenenof courseee there are various names, specific to certain castes that play akeroleer in state and regional politics. For example, here in Andhra Pradesh, such names are Reddy, Naidu, Chowdary, Goud, Yadav etc. That parties often exhort their candidates and prospective candidates to add such names,if they don't, already, have one, according to their castes is an open secret. And these arthe partiesethatta boast that they are trying to abolish all forms of social inequalities. But parties aren't just to be blamed. Even voters follow these names. And some of our political leaders wouldn't have ever come into light had they not used their names effectively.
And then, same is the case in film industry. The name is even more important down here in South than in the North. What else is an easy way to enter the industry than adding, telling and displaying your maiden name or father'name prominentlyyy? Well, I don't know of any!
And recently I came across an even more strange phenomenon in the IT industry. I heard that those guys who didn't even get any interview appointments got some nice jobs immediately after adding their maiden names or names regarding their respective castes. Looks like the scourge of casteism has spread its tentacles over the relatively new IT industry too...
Well, and so I think that a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but it may remain in oblivion without that name. So what's your take on this ? Please post your comments.
Ok! This is the 2nd volume of an earlier post on the dreams of my friends. If you haven't read that one yet, go read it now. It's just below this post.
And I thought that I can never finish this series if I am to post every dream individually.
So I decided to generalize and categorize all the remaining dreams (about 50 more) and publish them in abridged form.
Let's continue where we left earlier.
The one to say his dream after Scorpion is Nandamuri muddu bidda Subrahmanyam. His dream is to establish a small scale industry and provide employment to a few others. I love this one. And similar to this is our dear Venki, Venkata Krishna's dream. He doesn't want to work under any one. He just wants to be his own boss.
Here comes our best Batsman Sriman 's dream. It's similar to that of Srikanth 's dream. They both dream of establishing topclass educational institutions.
This one is a really noble one. And interesting, it is a dream of many. Roddu Narendra, Smart Raghu dream of following in the footsteps of Mother Theresa and Vivekananda. I didn't really get what they wanted to do, but could gather from the way they said it that they are pretty serious about it.
Sureedu Surya, Mass Prasanth, Sridevi, Anusha, Sravanthi, Lavanya, Swapna, Jyothirmayi, Sowjanya and Bala Krishna , all these guys have something in common. Their motto is Service. Some of these guys want to serve orphans, some child labourers, few other old people in their own ways i.e., some by charity and some by empowering them. Swapna wants to serve the blind.
Calci Lakshmi, Deepthi, Ravi Mithra, Bharani and Swetha wants to grow into good individuals and wants to get settled in good professions, with a good family. Even Sandhya dreams of the same life but for that she wants to settle in US. Ambitious, isn't she?
Riyaz and Rajesh stand out among us, boys, in the aspect that they are the only guys who dream of being good family men, I mean that just want to see that their families are comfortable. But then, Riyaz has one more dream, one that's really cool. He wants to meet his idol Jackie Chan, atleast once, in his life. He is really crazy about him.
RV Srikanth and Vindhya Vimala just want to become famous, get rich. Simple wishes, aren't they? Ok, I don't mean anything bad, really. I believe that there's nothing wrong in being ambitious in life.
Udaya Bhaskar, Prabhakar and Uma Bala - these guys are really down to earth. They just want to complete their degree and become good engineers. Uday wants to get into IRES(Railways) and Prabakhar and Uma wants to get into IES.
And so is the case with our Mowgli, Siva Rama Krishna. He just wants to secure a job in NTPC and serve all he can.
Here come the adventurers, Ravindranath, Varma and Ravindra. Ravindra wants to serve in the army and Varma and Ravindra want to become pilots. They want the 'high' life.
Srikanth dreamt of becoming a singer. He realised his dream recently, when he sang in a feature film.
Our Amithab Sekhar Manoj, Anusha P, and I Narayana Mahesh, want to become good teachers as they believe that teaching is a noble profession.
Naresh, the Nars, has no goal or dream as of now, just like me.
Krish Rama Krishna doesn't want reveal his dream. Simple as that.
Peddanna Venkateswara Rao, Yesu Ratnam and Ramesh wants to get beside their names, the letters IAS.
But here come my personal favourites:
Saiku Saikumar SVR dreams of ending, someday, Bill Gates' monopoly over the OS market by writing his own Operating System to replace Windows. All the best buddy.
Venakatesh er.. Venkatesh wants to someday go into space. But his problem is, he hasn't a clue about to do to reach there. May the Almighty send someone to help you reach your goal. Hey, I don't intend any pun at him, but when I herd his dream, I was really dumbstruck.
Rajesh, our Bava, dreams of visiting faroff and some exotic places and people and document their lives and cultures, doing his part in conserving the rich diversity of the world we live in.
MLA Sunil, wants to become one day, well, what else, an MLA! His wants to contest on a TDP ticket(well, that's what he says now. But then, we don't know who's friend of whom in politics any day. So don't complain if he chooses to contest on a congress party ticket some day).
But here's is the one that really inspired me.
Santosh wants to complete his MBA in IIM-A and then become a CEO of a world's best-30 MNC. It really inspired me. Really. Cool Isn't it!
Ok guys these are the dreams, which I truly wish come true. And lets wait and see. And all my friends and all you adventurous dreamers out there, ALL THE BEST.
And I end this with one of my favourite quotes ever:
"Dare to Dream and Care to Achieve."
Here is a post written by friend of mine with whom i share a blog.
I thought you guys would simply love this one.
It's about a refeshing experience of my friend, which happened recently.
It gave me an assurance that there is still some goodness out there in this otherwise big, bad world. And what's more appealing is the fact that it is with ordinary folks like you and me.
Go read and feel good. And by the way, my friends name is Sashikanth. He doing his B.Tech in SAATRA, thanjavur. To read more of his postings, click on the link "here is the blog, i post with my buddies" in the side bar of this blog.
"There is this thought,over which i've pondered for over a week now,and which continues to adjunct my thinking whenevr i'm in a vacant or pensive mood.Anyway,now that i've decided to pen it down,maybe it'll just be washed down into the archives of my personal life.We are a group of students aspiring to take the CAT and since the deadline for submitting the application was fast approaching,we decided to get on with the pace of the dispatching work and set out to thanjavur to post the forms.This sleepy town is an hour drive from our college,and by the time we reached the post office it was already closed.Alas,with gloomy heads we trotted to the railway station there,hoping to get hold of the speed post before the post office in the station calls it a day.Destiny was certainly not with us,as we were late by a paltry 15 mins.,and the postmaster downright rejected our pleas.If we turn back now,we will have to make the tiring journey the next day,so with mournful scorns,we sat on the platform listening to the drones of the distant trains.Then,from the darkness a shadow loomed larged and soon we were face to face with a genial looking postman,tired after a long day at work and waiting to go home to the comfort of his family.He saw our troubles from behind the curtains and came out to help us.We were convinced(bcoz of our Indian instinct) that this guy will demand a bribe after doing the work.So,naturally,we were in for a shock when after completing the formalities required for a speed post,he just walked away from us.We couldn't believe that a government servant,who went out of his way to help us,even though we were on the wrong side of the law(we were late in the first place),didn't even expect anything from us.We stopped him,and asked him whether he wanted anything.His plain reply was,"Today i can sleep well because of the thought that i helped a bunch of educated guys.And from tomorrow i can feel confident because of the fact that i might be helped by educated people like you.My dear friends,the world is after all round,and whatever you give, comes back to you.The next time,just be in time to dispatch things relating to your career".
A couple of days backs, when we were in the PDC class, we really got bored and the whole class became restive, all of a sudden. Our prof, Mr Naga Raju, immediately knew we are really bored. Being a cool headed prof, that he is, he suspended the class and started talking about other things not related to transistors, diodes, and stuff like that. And slowly the talk drifted towards dreams, aims and goals we all have. He emphasized that each of lives have a purpose but then its our responsibility to identify it or set it for ourselves. He started asking one-by-one what our dreams are? Initially everyone was so reluctant to speak out what their dreams are. He then emphasized the importance believing in what we dream and to never be afraid of speaking it out. Slowly, one-by-one started speaking out. First, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Those dreams are really inspiring. I never thought that my own classmates and friends, who individually look like 'just another guy', would have such truly inspiring and such great dreams. One reason, why I thought this way, is that , I thought that deep down, every one would be just as lousy as I am. But once they started speaking up, I immediately knew that I wasn't befriending any 'just another guy' .I thought that those dreams, aims and goals would help many others (unless, ofcourse, they are just like my own self) . So, I decided to write down in this blog and post them here.
The following are those dreams. And unfortunately, I missed taking down a few others, those said in the beginning. The first person to begin is Vallabha Rao. Actually, he was one of those whose dreams I missed jotting them. But asked him later what his dream is? And in the same way, I managed to get some of those missed ones. And I couldn't manage yet a few others. Read the following as, name - nick name or pet name or whatever I personally think of my friends - their dreams and finally what I think of the dream.
Vallabha Rao, a nice guy and a really good painter and very good poet. You'll see that to yourself if I succeed in getting them posted. They are all in Telugu, so I don't know how to get them posted.
His dream is to lend a helping hand to all those street children who have none to care for them. He said that he and some of his friends took a vow to make their dream come true. And that they are right on the track.
Swaroop, also affectionately called Bojo by us, dreams of playing in the Ranji Trophy. He would love to represent India internationally but, he said he wants to be realistic to some extent, atleast.
Wilson dreams of building a Hospital to do Charity. A noble dream, isn't it? Indeed, here is where I was truly moved and started taking them down on a paper.
Vinay, about whom I don't really know much, wants to start charitable trust to help those in need.
Venkateswara Naik, also called the Scorpion as he has a scorpion tattooed on his forearm, really stirred everyone's mind. He said that his dream is to make everyone from his native village a literate. He doesn't want his people to face the same troubles that he faced. Even Naga Raju garu was moved by his dream. And as for myself, I felt guilty as my own native village, which gave me and my family so much, wasn't on the list my top priorities.
Ok guys, there's lot more I want to post now. But because I'm running short of time, I can't post all that now. That's the reason I named this posting as Volume - 1 of all that I want to post. There are around 50 more dreams to come.
And yes, I know you are really puzzled who that one star is? Who is it?
Who else but our own, our dear Naga Raju garu?
He's our star because, he is the one who really spurred us to action. He made sure that we'll never never our dreams. That is why I call him a Star.
There's more to come. So watch this space.
I love u Steve Irwin....
Even my mom, who never bothered about anything except her daily soaps, used to watch u, with delight, jumping in to water to catch a turtle, expertly handling a snake but more than anything else, u, fearlessly, feeding those big crocs.
Who else can get anyone of us more interested in wildlife other than you.
Oh......... I miss u so much.
I feel like crying right now........
U are the one who made me really interested in wildlife.
U are the one I used to look up to, for some inspiration whenever others ridiculed my idea of becoming a conservationist and a wild life photographer.
We miss u so much buddy.
May your loving and caring soul rest in peace ....
I wonder if any one can ever step into ur shoes.....leave alone filling them .....
I take an oath that I'll try my best to preserve all natural the world u loved so much.
Good bye dear.......
Longing for u......
Just a few days back many of my friends got recruited into some of the prestigious Information Technology companies like TCS, WIPRO, INFOSYS, HCL, etc. They were all happy to get selected into those companies, even without getting their Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degrees. Their initial salaries are above 20k per month, quite a handsome package. And yes, even I felt happy then to see my friends getting such jobs in the most happening companies in the most happening field today, in India . And some of them even threw a party. We all enjoyed it.
But later, one question really troubled me and is still troubling me. And that question is are we really the IT super powers which, we think we are? First, I thought the answer is YES. IT, today, contributes a substantial part to our economy, it gave India a new identity in the global arena, it gave jobs to lakhs of Indians, and what's more, its all set to grow even larger. So I thought the answer is YES.
Now looking at the other side of the coin, yes we do export a lot in the BPO sector. But of late, a substantial part of these exports are coming from call centre end of the BPOs. Also our forte is services sector. We are yet to bring out a great IT product. Yes, we gave a few really nice products to the world, especially in the financial sector. But all those came from the subsidiaries to foreign companies. True, its hard to bring out a product solely from India, especially in this age when the operations of the companies are spread all over the world. But what is worrying is that in most cases, I think, we are putting the enormous capabilities of our work force to abeyance.
Even more than any of the above mentioned things, one thing that really puzzles me is, why have we, despite being a lot advanced in this field, failed to harness the power of IT for the good of common man. For example, we still pay our current bill at one place, our phone bill at another place, and various other bills at many other places. Can't we, with the help of IT, create a system to make easy all these payments. And take the case of education field, to begin with, our state (Andhra Pradesh) technical education board doesn't have a solid, fool proof centralized counseling system to allot seats in various colleges. We do have a centralized system, but it doesn't allow the prospective students to choose the colleges and courses they want at leisure. They are expected to make decisions on the spot. And this, in many cases, results in the students regretting their decisions at a later stage. And our university still prefers the age old approach of sending the results to our colleges via fax or phone, instead of posting them on the university website. Or take the case of our police force. It still doesn't have a national wide database of the records of, leave alone the normal criminals, even terrorists. If we have one, it can help our forces a lot in fighting the terrorism. Even better, if can maintain one with records of most wanted criminals. One need of paramount importance to any democratic country is the voter list. But we, boasting to be biggest democracy in this world, still grapple with the discrepancies in the voter lists and photo id cards. True, the sheer no. of voters makes it difficult to bring out a perfect system, but having the IT prowess we have , with the right will, I think, we can accomplish the task of bringing out a good, if not the best, system.
Now, after thinking over all these arguments, I find it hard to answer the question, I raised first, YES. Nor is my answer a NO. May be we the IT Super Powers in deep slumber. What do you think? Post your comments.
Yesterday I saw a running announcement scrolling down at the bottom of the screen on MTV.
It said that MTV was warned by the I&B ministry for broadcasting a Hindi song certified 'A' by the CBFC.
What does this mean? In whose interest did the ministry issue this warning?
Does this mean that actually, all the songs that were broadcast by MTV, all these years, for e.g., songs from AKSAR (just to name one) can be seen by anyone, including children?
After reading the announcement I was really appalled to know that all these songs were, indeed not certified 'A'. If these songs aren't certified 'A' , why certify others 'A'?
What else do the CBFC want in a song or in the movie to be certified 'A'?
Does it actually want a topless shot or a nude shot?
I'm not saying MTV shouldn't broadcast these songs. If people (this includes even me) want to see those songs, let them see and let MTV broad cast those.
But why mask the content as not 'A' certified.
I really don't understand why CBFC is following these double standards.
I request the I&B ministry to change the regulations on certifying these songs and movies. And then enforce the law correctly.
While we cant accept porn movies being released, even as 'A' rated, the discrepancies in various censor boards rules should be removed and a uniform code should be followed all over the country.
Also the age limit to view see an 'A' certified movie may be reduced to around 15 years. Because, if they aren't allowed to see them, they can still lay their hands on obscene movie via Internet or at their neighborhood CD shop or an extremely violent video game (in most cases parents dont object to their children playing these gory games) . But then the restrictions should be seriously implemented.
Also all ISPs all over India should try their best to block pornographic sites.
If China can, very successfully, screen all search results and websites, sometimes including BBC , just for the mention of words like Democracy, Human Rights, I think India can do better to stop the pornographic websites .
What is Israel's intention in bombing Lebanon & killing scores of innocent people?
As reports show, the actual no. of casualties on both warring sides i.e., Israel and Hizbollah is far less than the no. of Lebanese casualties.
What does Israel intend to achieve ?
Whats more?, the Hizbollah hasn't shown any signs of retreat.
So now, how long does Israel intends to continue the strikes.
What does Ms Condoleezza Rice wants us to believe in, that she is really concerned about the situatuation in Lebanon, all the while supplying bunker buster bombs to Israel?
Looks like America hasn't learned the lesson from Iraq that killing the general public doesn't deter any extremist outfit to which the public are not related.
If it has, why has it remained silent while it can stop the Israeli raids through diplomatic pressure?
What do Israel and US want to achieve by inflicting wounds on Lebanese people?
Do they think its going to deter Hizbollah?
If yes, at what cost?
What has happened to us , the largest democracy in the world?
Why have our voices gone mute?
Our politicians & foriegn policy seems to have capitulated to the pressures of the imperealistic govt of USA (i don't have any ill-will towards America, but i do hate this Bush administration).
Friends , lets all protest the ongoing butchery of the Lebanese people.
Lets raise our voice against this brutal oppression.
this is a journal, of thoughts, ideas, feelings and musings on life and everything else, of a little known, maverick Indian i.e., myself. All that I write here is what I feel is right. While I'm not writing for anyone in particular (that's because I doubt if anyone cares to read my blog), I would appreciate and love your sharing your ideas. So feel free to comment on any of the entries.'
