June 2010 joy at the end of it!

An internship offer had come in from National Instruments for 2 months. But didn’t take up the offer as our new house was in finishing stages and I had to be available to help my dad as much as possible. Exams approached rapidly and was seriously preparing for it. Finally exams got over and all was well.

June 16th the exams were over. June 18th was off to Bangalore with a coding genius Vishwas Sharma for a programming contest by RV College of Engineering. The fun thing was, at the end of the journey we found out that the entire contest was bogus and it was a waste of time coming there. So, I planned up a tour of Bangalore with my friends and cousins and had a tryst with Forum

Finally, the results came out. A perfect 10 CGPA. Joyful ending to an insightful, meaningful and enjoyable semester at NIE.

June 24th: My house Gruhapravesham. Was a grand function with more than 200 relatives and friends at our house. Enjoyed the day thoroughly and busy for the rest of the week in arranging and shifting the old house.

May 2010 – a month to memorise

May was one of the most interesting months of this year. May 10th: Won 2nd Prize in TECH QUIZ during NIECEFEST 2010 and it was fun, challenging and well-organised.

May 13th: A memorable trip to Barachukki Falls. Not a lot of water and off-season! But had loads of fun with classmates :) Don’t forget to view the album

May 15th: A monumental day for me and my family. Received scholarship of Rs. 12,000/-  from Dr. V Prakash (CFTRI Director) as I was named the topper of 2nd year BE and topper of 4th Semester. My parents were moved to tears on this day with happiness. Was blessed to have such a family and too happy to have made them happy and feel proud. :) Check out the pic for that day

Other activities during April 2010

April 24th and 25th were 2 days when we had mock placements by Xenesis group for free on our campus. It was a first time experience going through the placement process. It was professionally handled. Got good marks in the process and was happy with the performance.

The fun side of it was that everyone had dressed up in formals for the first time in their life. Here’s a glimpse into the fun.

April 26th: TCS Tech BYTES conducted at JCE was fun! I got selected to the top 6 teams in Mysore and got 4th place overall. Got Fastrack goggles as a token of appreciation and I cherish them even to this day! Another proud day for me :)

In just four days, on April 27th, had been to an excellent trip to Chunchunkatte with a few seniors and juniors who were part of techNIEks volunteers’ club! Had an amazing time at Chunchunkatte despite there being very little water :D It was just a splendid ride of 60km. Enjoy with us some of the action here.

April 28,29,30th A gruelling 3 day workshop from IBM on DB2. Finally passed it and was IBM Certified Database Associate.

techNIEks 2010

Finally I organised 2 events for the first time in my life as part of techNIEks 2010, annual college fest of the National Institute of Engineering. Organised “TECH Quiz” and “Ten Twists”, a treasure hunt within campus over a span of 3 days. Was a bit nervous, did not know how to handle tough situations. But it was fun and challenging! techNIEks rocked Mysore from 8th April to 10th April and it was one hell of a learning experience! Also volunteered for the cultural committee and Cyclothon during techNIEks. This was the turning point in my life and techNIEks 2010 added a whole new dimension to my usual monotonous, uninteresting life.

Check out techNIEks 2010 from my camera!

GATE finally over, i can concentrate on life, now

It was for nearly 3 months that my last post was published. I was preparing for GATE. The score in GATE will lead to an M.Tech at one of the premier institutes of the country. I was really focussed on that. Other than that, I also had a TGMC project running overdue. So, managing time between the 2 was really hectic and I decided that I’ll drop the latter. Hence, the TGMC project didn’t proceed any further and it stopped. I hope I have done well in this year’s GATE.They had included an aptitude test too and can anyone guess the meaning of “CIRCUITOUS”?. I expect a score around 60/100 and according to guys at GATEforum, they have estimated my rank to be 170-250, which is of course impossible and is bullshit. Overall, this year’s paper was easy, but i lost about 20 marks in silly mistakes. But, I have not given up yet. I am going to work like hell through out this year, fine tuning my skills and achieve my dream – to get a really good rank (<20) at GATE.

My college too started, and subjects are completely different from the previous years. I think it can only mean that the core computer subjects are over and advanced courses have taken their place. Graphics using openGL is cryptic at first sight, but is pretty simple to understand.

I need to master graphics, as I always am intuitive and always derive inspiration from graphical patterns in space. One can take the golden ratio as an example. However the golden ratio is implemented – natural/man-made, it always looks pleasing to the eye. A simple visual representation is always easier to understand than that of equations and abstract thinking. Abstract thinking has it’s own advantages – otherwise, British Mathematician Andrew Wiles (He looks like a ghost in the article, but is actually much better) would not have been able to prove Fermat’s famous Last Theorem after spending 8 years in his attic. This theorem is a simple extension to the Pythagoras’ Theorem for cubes, that there are no solutions for it or any higher powers. Several people had tried to solve it, but without success. Some tried to use an ellipsoid, which is a 3-dimensional ellipse and is a function of (x,y,z). But that too, proved too much. Further more, the problem remained unsolved for nearly 357 years. But, that’s not what is important. What’s important is that a 3-dimensional visual pattern was used as a tool to help solve the 3 hundred year old problem.

I think that’s enough on Math. Another of my course is on Simulation. It’s a very important field and applications like virtual life, flight simulations thrive on it. Random number generation is another of my interests in this field. Compiler Design, a core but important subject, lucky we had it this time. But Unix System Programming is a bit boring. But the best of all is Networks. The way the Internet works and how telecommunication works is the core of this subject. If I could, I would want to dive in to the cable and find my through those numerous connections and that reminds me of the movie MATRIX, where humans would enter a program (Matrix) and act like programs there. Matrix is a wonderful concept that was conceptualized and at 1999, it was quite a big hit. Even after 11 years, it still has a great influence. I have heard many people who still say they have not understood the film at all. But the entire thing is just so beautiful and charming once you can understand the crux of it.

Apart from studies, now i can concentrate on the pleasant things of my life. Vishal and Ankit, my 2 best friends are always there for me, as I am there for them. I really believe and trust them with my heart. Vishal’s an easy going care-free fellow, who is not much into academics, but to the practical side of life. He is slim, athletic, a good dancer, caring, a choosy about his style, funny and intelligent. He just knows how to deal with things. I always wonder how he does that. Ankit, on the other hand worries a lot about the future and always thinks that, whatever he  does now influences every bit of what happens next. But, he’s a remarkable fellow and balances the practical with his own theories at such an extent that i cannot describe (I don’t even know whether he knows about it. He he).Ankit Maskara He is academically inclined, and cares more about marks, even though I have told him many times not to. He’s too thin and can grow some muscle.  But, he’s really powerful and has a large amount of influence on me than I have on him. And, I am a bit fat and smart and I believe I am between these two people – I think academics and pleasantness of life are both  important and are powerful assets one should cherish. I sincerely hope that things remain as such for as long as possible between us three.

Almost all of my father’s side relations are diabetic – all due to tensions of life when they fell. My father had a bakery opposite Shanti Sagar in Kuvempunagar, Mysore some 19 years back, and it was one of the best bakeries in Mysore at that time. But due to some problems he had to sell it. Then, I can only imagine the pain and loss he experienced then. The fact that he lost his business and did not have any income was taking a toll on him. And eventually, he became diabetic. He’s still taking tablets to control it, but this deadly disease does not end until your bucket’s kicked. So, I would not want that to happen, and I am going to NIE’s gym from tomorrow onwards.

This post’s been too long…. I have 3 months of info to share, but not enough time. I’ll logon later and provide more of my life to the public. Until then….

TGMC Project

I am currently involved in tgmc 2009 project, which is sponsored by IBM. I have taken up Online Library Management System as my project and it is exciting to be part of it. My team members are Ankit Maskara, my class mate and Pravin Rao, a CS whiz. We submitted the SRS before the deadline and we are on course of the project. We have divided our project into divisions so that we can work in parallel. Pravin is doing the front-end user management. Ankit – the database part, and myself the business logic. I dunno why I always take up the toughest part, but its a challenge to me: Can you do it? I will always take it in the right spirit saying that I will improve my skills by taking up challenges and I love challenges.

One of the things that I realized was that the business logic was highly complex. I researched something and found myriads of various possibilities: EJBs, servlets, Web Services, XML, SOA, J2EE, Struts, tiles, etc etc. All these are so complex that you need to be trained for 2 months to build them. But I do not have that kind of a time. I had to do some ad-hoc approaches and come up with a solution soon. I soon realized that EJB was the way to go. I’ll drop SOA – Service Oriented Architecture for now. But it is one of the few very exciting fields in Software design and a huge challenge.

I am experiencing a lot of trouble with interfacing to xml and JSP. But I am sure I’ll figure it out soon.

Check out Jaago re! – One Billion Votes

Jaagore is a website based voter registration process aimed at reaching all the youth, to vote for the country’s development in elections. 

Jaagore is a very good concept, initiated by Janagraha and Tata Tea and I have made sure that I am a part of it. It is really bad that many of the youth in India abstain from voting in the elections. There is a way to improve this situation – log onto Jaagore.

Jaagore is just not a community publishing, but even more. You can discuss various issues, get your voter registration details and update your constituency information and even get banners and videos to promote Jaagore. It is really streamlined and takes just 5 minutes to get started. 

Here is a video explaining the importance of voting: Use your finger to vote

Here is the video of Jaagore in Infosys and Wipro: Jaagore in Infosys and Wipro

I hope all of those who read this register for Jaagore! – One Billion Votes.

TechNIEks 2009 launching tomorrow!

NIE Student Association is conducting a 3-day fest and competitions galore at NIE, Mysore on 12th, 13th and 14th of March. There are a lot of competitions and my classmate Mayank is also organising a Management event.

A TechNIEks card has been issued to all students of NIE at a cost of Rs. 50/- and I have made sure that my name is in. There are many contests that one can attend free of cost with this card:

  1. Debate English
  2. JAM
  3. Short-Movie Making
  4. C-coding
  5. NIE Idol
  6. Crossword English
  7. Crossword Kannada
  8. Fundamentals
  9. Mr. & Ms. techNIEks
  10. Sudoku
  11. Classical Instruments
  12. Antakshari Kannada
  13. Antakshari Hindi
  14. Mock Press
  15. Tech Quiz
  16. Mr. & Ms. CAT
  17. Mouse Hunt
  18. Vocabalia

I will be participating in atleast half of these events, like Tech Quiz, Mouse Hunt, JAM, C-coding, Sudoku, etc.

I hope students of engineering colleges in Mysore participate and make the event a success.

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