Chasing Comets... (Just one, really...)

TL;DR: Anam and I missed shooting the comet NEOWISE in 2020 on our first attempt (on a weekend) due to clouds and the monsoon in general. Led to a crazy roadtrip on a weekday night in the following week and finally capturing the comet - some of my self-proclaimed best astro work. See photos below.

P.S.: Just like my innovation with Pre-Scripts, TL;DR here means you are "Too Lazy; Didn't Read" :)

2020 did have a silver lining - all the time spent with loved ones was not something any one of us imagined. It was fun to work from home - with all your favorite TV shows or movies playing in the background (if you're wondering, that is my usual work-flow - I like having some familiar show/movie playing in the background - helps me keep focused, I guess - feel free to share more WFH tips and tricks in the comments :))

Like I have mentioned in my recent post, I started a photography hobby sometime in 2018 (around my birthday, when I made my parents gift me a semi-pro camera - Sony A6000). Now, photography has its ups and downs - making time for shoots amidst a busy work schedule and home life can be a challenge, but of course, the satisfaction of taking and publishing (read as posting on Instagram - @artbymunaf) the photo is a rush (the likes and comments help, obviously). This post is about one of our (my and Anam's) most tiring experiences with my laborious hobby - there are several of these stories, which I plan to share going forward.

Living in Southern Arizona has its perks for a photographer - especially the astro-inclined ones. Part of the reason I got into astrophotography was visits to this observatory - Kitts Peak and reading about the dark sky locations nearby. Having spent most of 2019 driving around Arizona, Utah, and California for some of the best dark skies and making some investment in equipment like a star tracker (allows you to take longer exposures for light objects in the night sky by compensating for the Earth's rotation - that was a mouthful!), 2020 offered very few travelling opportunities, what with travel restrictions, hectic work, and school.

July 2020 rolled around as normally as you can imagine - we had all been stuck at home for a few months already and I was itching to get out and shoot some more night skies (having already captured some Milky Way shots that I loved). That was about when the Comet NEOWISE started showing up in our night skies - seeing NEOWISE behind basically all the landmarks in the world wasn't helping with the lockdown syndrome. As luck would have it, Tucson has a monsoon season which decided to start around this time as well. In terms of things that disappoint astrophotographers the most, it goes - full moon, light pollution, cloudy skies, in no particular order. After waiting a few weeks for the skies to clear near home, I decided to take things into my own hands and drive around in search of dark and clear skies.

It all started Saturday, the 18th of July - as I was keeping an eye on RADAR weather maps for the past few weeks, I noticed that there was a chance (yes, just a 20% chance) that there would be clear skies at Picacho State Park (about a 50 minute drive from home). This was my cue to load up the car with all of my gear and some snacks to spend the night at Picacho State Park - we were all excited and reached there around 7pm (an hour and a half before sunset). Getting there was easy enough. After paying for the park entry with basically all the quarters in the car, we settled at a picnic area with some shade and a view in the direction of where NEOWISE was, it was now time to wait. The view from this spot had a few saguaro cacti and the highway (I-10) which I was already planning in terms of composing the shot with the comet (high hopes, I know). This is where we settled down and waited for darkness to arrive so I could do polar alignment (I was going all the way with my gear - NEOWISE was likely a once-in-a-lifetime thing). That is when the clouds started rolling in - it wasn't properly dark yet, so I was still cautiously optimistic. I did make use of the sunset colors and the subjects around to get some nice deserty shots like this one.. I know, the clouds here seem flimsy, but, trust me, it almost seemed like they knew where the comet was and were trying to hide it!

Anyway, after several hours of waiting there (NEOWISE would already set by 10pm or so - about an hour and a half after sunset) and not seeing event a faint glimpse of the comet (either with our eyes or the cameras'), we decided to call it quits for the night. This of course, wasn't our first rodeo - I have had several such experiences with clouds, equipment failures, and in one instance, Coyotes (this is a long story and warrants its own post). By 9:30 or 10pm, we packed up our gear and headed back home. As disappointing as it was, I was more determined to capture the comet in the next few days.

Thankfully, from a work standpoint, I had completed a tape-out a couple of months back and was working on new projects which kept me occupied during the workday, but affording some time off in the evenings. Anam hadn't started grad school yet, so we were okay with trying something out on a weekday. The weather forecasts weren't looking promising - and NEOWISE was going away real fast! Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say, so I expanded my weather map radius to a couple of hours away from home. I did not want to go and stay at a hotel (it was still the early-ish COVID days, so we did not want to risk it), so it had to be a there-and-back trip.

A small note about dark sky spots in general - they are usually isolated with very few people frequenting them. This makes them a bit - for want of a better word - creepy, to say the least. They are invariably away from cities and off the beaten path. Now, I have come to terms with having astrophotography for a hobby, but Anam is still getting used to the isolated nights under the dark night skies.

Back to Wednesday, July 22nd. After extensive research (read Google maps and weather searches), I had a plan in my head - to use a small rest area on I-8 (actually just a pull-out from the highway, called (aptly, I might add), Table top Roadside Tables - about 90 minutes from home to finally capture NEOWISE. Being ever the engineer, I did have a psuedo-back-up plan (which is what ended up being). We started from home about 5:30pm after work to allow for dinner and petrol breaks. Picked up dinner from our favorite Italian place and off we were! Here's a map for reference, in case you are interested:

The skies did not look promising where we were, yet. Even as we were reaching the first planned spot (the roadside tables), cloud cover was about 50% of the sky (very scientific data here, from the driver's seat) and mostly still covering N/NW (where NEOWISE should be visible). As we approached the pullout on to the "road-side" tables, the cloud cover did reduce, but N/NW was still covered. The pullout was but just a glorified parking lot - presumably for highway drivers to park and rest for a few hours if needed. There was enough room for setting up our gear, but then, clouds. There was one truck parked there, but nothing else - it was also open to the highway without any separators. I pulled out my trusty cloud cover app and noticed that there was no way the N/NW cloud cover was going away anytime soon. Time for decisions had arrived. We knew I would beat myself up if I don't get another chance in the next couple of days to capture NEOWISE. We had already spent a couple of hours into this pursuit, so we figured, what is another 4-5 hours?

This is where the back-up plan comes in - to drive all the way to Dateland, AZ - which is a total of about 2.5 hours from home (one way). Thus started our adventure - to the hospitable sounding "Sentinel Rest Area, Westbound". This one was a fully equipped rest area in its own right - with amenities like rest rooms, concrete cabanas with benches (for resting, presumably), and vending machines. There was also excellent lighting for the night - which made us feel safer. The deal with Anam and I is to always listen to our guts - if it doesn't feel right, we don't pitch our gear there. This place felt OK, there was some activity - several trucks parked and resting and several cars and drivers using the amenities. The best thing was, the cabanas faced N/NW. After appropriate amount of stretching and resting, we started to setup the gear around 9pm. Timing was really perfect - the moon was new, so the chances of NEOWISE capture looked great!

We picked the cabana farthest away from the parking area (but still in line-of-sight, to feel safe), and started setup. Facing N/NW is great for polar alignment AND capturing NEOWISE, so, the setup was up and running in a few minutes! In preparation for this night, I had watched all YouTube videos I could find on capture tips and processing ideas as well. Especially useful was this chap called Peter Zelinka (excellent channel for astro gear) and I ended up using his suggested flow. I can give a long-winded description of the photos, but a picture speaks a 1000 words, so:

And a photo of gear (I will do a post about the gear someday..):

Once I had my fill of the comet, we stayed there until about 10:40pm and started the long and arduous journey back home. Reached home around 3am and the first thing I did was to copy the photos from the SD card to my computer - I was NOT going to tempt fate and risk losing these RAW photos. Once copied, we just crashed and fell asleep.

The next morning, we were up and running by 9am, but caught up with sleep after work. The editing had to wait for next night when I followed the tutorials to the "T" and got these photos and posted them. This took a few hours, but, boy, was it worth it!

All in all - a great late night roadtrip to the best of Americana - the rest areas and highways that define this country. The infrastructure that allows people like me to go nuts and make these trips is something I am always amazed by!

We did survive this ordeal, but I told Anam that I should probably look for a less arduous hobby. Glad she was up to being a partner in crime with my nuts hobbies! :)

Do see me on my pages on Facebook and Instagram @artbymunaf (of course, I'm gonna shamelessly plug my pages - what'd you expect!? :P)

Freelosophy

DISCLAIMER: This post is a kind-of eulogy for everything in the software world that is free and open-source. And hence, I'm sure, it is understood I'm not being paid by FOSS or someone... :D


"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863


"Given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix will be obvious to someone." - Eric Raymond, 1997


"Only wimps use tape backup: real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)" - Linus Torvalds, 1996






If you're wondering why I'm blabbering about all these oldies here and now (Lincoln was old, Raymond and Torvalds, on the other hand, not so much...), you must not have been in touch with me or at he very least, my FB profile and status updates. I've been in touch with one of the most important sensations I have ever been into. By the way, this is the first post I'm typing on my laptop. I always wanted to do this - be free! Free as in freedom. Freedom from finding software that can serve all my purposes and yet, be free (this time, as in cost :P). Freedom from figuratively looking over the shoulder all the time trying to see if someone knows that you are actually using pirated software. In this aspect, India is very much ahead than probably any other nation in the world. Let me put this into perspective - pick up like 20 computer users in India, 19 of them use any of the versions of Windows. And of those 19, about 10 still use Windows XP. Of those 10 people, about 8 have never spent a buck (literally) on the Windows software they use or most of the times, not even for any other compatible software that they need to use on their machines like, for instance, Photoshop, MS Office, Matlab et al. OK, what is this post about? You might've guessed it - Linux.

First things first : It costs you only the time it takes to download it. Almost every version (a Linux version is called a Distro, short for distribution.) comes free. being true Indians as we all are, we like to get things for free.On the other hand, we have a never ending paranoia. Why is he giving this thing to us for free? It is probably defective, probably sub-standard. I had the similar doubts about Linux back in December '09. Did you know that, linux is probably the most standarized of all the operating systems available? Virtually every big corporation (and I'm talking real BIG) uses one of the Linux distributions - Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Mandriva et. al. (Most likely Red Hat, though.)


Why did I venture into this? I've been asked this a lot - at least ever since I started rallying about Linux and especially Ubuntu to any living soul I know :D. OK, why? Back in December, I was planning on buying a laptop and had started researching for a good one (and so far, I have found it). What I found common with all brands was - laptops with Windows cost a considerable amount more than those without the same. It was during that period that I learnt a lot (a LOT) about things like processor architectures, OS architectures and other technical things. The irony is that - I was supposed to have known them for like 3 subjects that I took and yet, I found the fun in those subjects. Mostly because, knowing things is different from learning them (for like an exam or for an assignment). So, i thought, what other options do I have - for an Operating System. I wanted it to be cheap and or once in my life, I wanted it to be legal. On my desktop, I use a shared (between friends and all) version of Windows XP, which incidentally, cost me nothing :). I wanted my laptop to be totally free (except for the hardware, of course) and yet, legal, cutting-edge, and reasonably user-friendly. That was when I stumbled upon Linux. I pored over thousands of lines of reports, bench-mark tests, and technical details and ended up choosing Ubuntu, especially because it was just about a CD's size and of course, meant for personal users.


Now that I've answered the obvious question, another question. Linux is free, huh? What if it's all a conspiracy and all they want is your personal data and corrupt it all. (Trust me, I've been actually asked this.) Let's face it guys, you are not the center of the universe. No one is out there to get you, let alone all the silly things that make up your data. No one simply cares. And even if they do, Linux is at the very least as safe as the other options you have. Viruses, on the other hand, are a totally different issue. They are not aimed personally at anyone, no? Well, this next thing is not so much because of Linux's (come to think of it, any *NIX), omnipotence, but because of the smaller user-base of the *NIX OSes. There are practically (I can't emphasize this enough) no wild viruses for Linux - as of now, at least. That certainly is one less thing to worry about, don't you think?


True, Linux comes with a learning curve, a very long one at that. I've been using Linux for about 2+ years now, and yet, learn at least one new thing every week - try to beat that with Windows. And, I'm not even talking about any software, just the OS by itself.


Well, I'll leave you to figure out the rest of Linux. If you are at all into technology, I suggest you start using Linux - not great for games, but the thrill of learning something so pure...unbeatable!!


An excellent article I read about the differences in philosophies is here...do go through it and of course hit the Distro websites.




Ubuntu - My personal favorite
CentOS - My second favorite, just a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux - Stability
Fedora - Just a cutting edge version of Red Hat
Distrowatch - Reading material on all the Distributions


"...the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it." 

- Linus Torvalds, 1996

Cheers!!


P.S.: Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

The day that was - Part II

After having finally finished finals and doing well, Alhamdulillah, I'm getting back to the blog (read as block :P). Well, the holidays here are so boring that, I have been on Facebook for pretty much all of my in-somnolent time. And of course I have started developing this very very serious LaTeX fetish and have decided to do all my Lab reports and other submissions using LaTeX. Refer to my FB status dated May the 13th for my exact views on LaTeX. (And if you really care for that, I suggest you get back to hitting the books, enough of holidays for you.)

Well, no more beating about the bush (isn't that what I'm doing now? :P). OK, we had just paid like 500 bucks to the cops and this part of the episode still has an awesome repercussion which we will get back to. Anyway, and as C was kind enough to remind me in the comments of the last post, B's bike did not have a valid Pollution check on him and thus the hefty fine. Me and C were just standing on the other side of the signal and waiting for the drama at the traffic island to be over so we could be  on our way to having some serious FUN! At this point, I have to agree that we reached Mount Opera in pretty uneventful circumstances (although, I'm a bit surprised at that now...). Well, these things happen, don't they, another group of our friends was there too (no point wondering about the odds, there are only so many days you can avail the offer... :P). Now, remember the "two large soda"s which got us the tickets? Surprise, surprise! The sodas had gotten warm-hot (not even room temperature) thanks to the raging sun and our delays at the police and stuff. And now, we were all in a fix! We had spent so much on the sodas (no, the tickets actually do not count!! You seem to be weak in Hyderabadi math!! :P) and we were not gonna just throw them there! God forbid! I was not so brave though, I had left my two sodas at home see *patting my back*. So, the other group and A and B and I think D actually drank the warm sodas and as an eye witness, I heard things like Kya pinda hai yaaron!! Phenyl ke jaisa hai! and Chee re bhai! Phek dena tha!! Ab kya kya hota ki!?!. For the first expression, I just realized, Dude!! Tu phenyl kab taste kara patthey?? and kaiku tho bi!!! Well, we were through the gates and rode on to the actual fun (or did we walk, I don't remember...). Anyway, the fun was about to begin and it was gonna be legen-wait for it-dary.

We were just walking around the place in the beginning and there were these weird Dinosaur statues all around and we finally made it to a Columbus ride (the one that looks like a ship and swings all through) and thought, what the heck! and got onto riding it. Here, the highlight was D's face. He was so contorted, we were all laughing all through the 15-20 minutes of the ride. We still lament the lack of a camera on the side facing D so we could have captured the moment and make him embarrassed for the rest of his life :P. Well, and after roaming about for another hour or so (if you are wondering what we did "roam"ing, think big park-large expanses of grass-all the weird possibilities for the curious mind. I'll leave it at that. Then came the real fun part, the water rides.

I need a bit of a preamble before I even begin these events. First of all, I cannot swim although this will not matter in the events that transpired, it seems worth a mention. Also, those were the good old days when I used to use contact lens (and due to an idiosyncratic problem, they had to be hard a.k.a. RGP lens, look it up if you care...) and I had been very confident (read cocky) that it wouldn't matter with all the water around. That's pretty much it though. Well, we took up a locker and a couple of briefs for using the water rides (they wouldn't allow us to go in our own underwear, would you believe that!! :P). Well, A and D had brought their own swim-wear which needs a mention but, I shall not go into it. Well, among all of us, we had like, let me see, 5 sets of keys, all the bikes and the locker combined. And A had a pen-drive on him too (although I don't see the point of, in retrospect). Well, first stop was the wave pool!! We left our pants on the shore (can you call it that?) of the pool and dove in. It was fun for quite sometime. And yeah, I did not mention that I had left my bike keys and the locker keys in D's swim-chaddi(?)'s pocket. As luck would have it, the fly of the pocket was broken and could not hold the keys (I don't blame the fly...). Lo and behold! We had lost my bike keys and our locker keys (just imagine going home in just our pants (literally)). The problem of the locker keys was solved easily enough. We had to pay some 300 bucks to break the lock and get our clothes back. But, my bike keys!! Just imagine having to ride 50kms back home to get the spare. Well, I'm not complaining there, either. We found this life-guard guy who we told our case to. He was kind enough to tell us that he would keep an eye open (like he could see under-water). But, somehow, he found my key and we got it back and left it in the locker this time. Then came the log-rides!!

And of course, after a plethora of photographs in swim-chaddis, which if released to the public, none of us will ever get married in the future (just kidding! :P), we headed to the log-rides and well, let's face it me and B were kind of bigger than, you know, *log*s.  One of them was open and pretty straight forward and we went on it just once - you know, they make you take stairs for like 3 floors to reach the actual place to slide from. Well, the rides were fun per se, but the landing - WOW! For one who can't swim, it can be the worst nightmare ever! I was under-water for like 20 seconds before I actually surfaced (although I think my weight was the culprit there... :P). Then there was this innocent-looking ride with just about a floor's worth of convoluted tubes (yes, closed ones) seeing which I thought, eh! I can take this any day. Well, it was when I was actually in the ride that it hit - what if I get stuck in here (like Monica in FRIENDS :P). And of course, the ride was so convoluted that, the turns actually hurt!! And after just hanging around in the pool for another hour or so, we decided to call it a day!! On the way, we might've touched on the rain-dance room about which I will tell you in the next part...

Well, enough for this part...There still is the end and the actual consequences of the trip and finally, the moral of the incident. We did indeed learn a few awesome lessons from this one...

The next post would probably come pretty soon, what with me having so much free time this time around...

I almost forgot...pics!!

Picture of a Picture taker...Just after reaching Mt. Opera
(I'm not even sure we can shorten the Mount...)

I have absolutely no idea what I am trying to do...

B and C on one side of the Columbus ride...

We did have a pic of D on the Columbus, after all...

Two-in-one...D on Columbus and B and C on the other end...

You know who! :P

The weird dinosaurs I was talking about, with A in control!!

A broken(?) elephant

Top of the world - C and B

The wave pool from a distance

At the entrance...

Ahem!?!

Adieu!!

The day that was - Part I

Munaf is back! Well, after about an year of being MIA, I think I finally figured out a way to restart. Let me start off with what kept me from writing for so long:

(c) Bill Waterson

Well, you probably wouldn't be surprised but I was beta-testing for dear ol' Calvin. And to be honest, I works like a charm. :)


Amidst all this effort to advance technology, what brought me back to writing is one of the harsh realities that usually affect you lesser mortals (and rarely, me) - nostalgia. I was just looking over my Facebook and found some real great memories back when I was studying in Hyderabad. (For those who don't watch News, I am currently operating from Tempe, AZ, USA while studying for an MS in Electrical Engg. from the Arizona State University.) That was, I believe, as Ranjit from HIMYM would say, "Too many informations." :P :P


I just wanna take this slow for the first post after a year, and so start off relating a day - sometime in February 2009. I'm looking up the date as I type - yeah, it was the 26th. Let me dive right into it;


I was just done with my GRE (24th Feb, 2009) and was Cloud 7 (I did not score so much as to be on Cloud 9) and so were my friends, who for the sake of the blog are called A, B, C, D, Me (yeah, me!) and one F. So, how did the day come about? We were in the third year of college, what do you expect? Everyone around was having these crazy-ass road-trips to Mount Opera (no, not a mountain, it is a resort/water-park/hang-out place). And of course we were not gonna pay the heavy entry-fee (well, we Hyderabadis are cheap like that! :P). We found out about an offer. Some departmental store was offering a free ticket on purchase of two large sodas (these are gonna be important later...). Well, so we were all set, with tickets and trying to convince F to come. F lived in Banjara Hills (now in Kingsville, TX) and we make fun of him even today "Kyun F bhai, Mount Opera ku Banjara Hills ku shift karaarain, chalo ab tho jainge...". From now on, we'll try and move Mount Opera to Kingsville, TX. (Kyun F bhai, ab tho bi chalrain?? :P :P)


Of course, you might've realized that we were bunking college to have this all-day trip (not that, it was a big deal...not anymore at least...). We were supposed to start from my place at around 9:30 in the morning. Of course, these things never happen on time, do they? And of course B (and sometimes, even A) has never been to a class on time, how can ou expect them to be on time for fun, and on a separate note, I heard an interesting story about B (who works for a company now) being late for work and being told off by his supervisor. If anyone knows how that went, leave the description in the comments section :). OK, so, C was supposed come to my place and I was to pick him up or something. B was getting his own bike, so were me and A. Yeah, did I mention that road-trip here means on bikes for like 50 km or something like that.


You must be wondering how this is sooo not an interesting story, that is because I haven't started yet. The real fun begins now. I woke up at about 8 (well, pretty early as compared to today's standards) and had a look at my bike (an awesome 2007 Honda Shine, if you are wondering) and it had, wait for it, a flat tire. Well, I figured, it's fine, I'll get it fixed before we even start. So, I got all ready, calling up everyone and finalizing with F if he still wanted the resort to be shifted to Banjara hills. Well, at around 10 we were supposed to meet at a common point on the way to the resort. Me and C on one bike, B and D on one bike and A on one (because of his bike). A came to the point with C and so did B and D. A as usual came late and he had a broken leg guard (I'm not sure that's what it is called, it is the thing that stops the bike falling on your leg when it topples to the side). We had to go back to my place to put it at home and leave. I don't remember properly now, but I believe B's bike was also screwed up in some way. So, finally, it was about 11 by the time we started.


So, we did start, finally. Now comes one of the best parts. Location: L.B. Nagar X Road. A, the quintessential rash rider went totally overboard. There was a stop sign (a red signal, for you desis :P) and in trying to beat the stop sign, A went and beat another bike rider. As luck would have it, a cop saw all this and came running (almost literally) to the spot and took the key from A's bike (that is the style of Hyderabadi cops) and directed A to the center of the traffic island. Here is a funnier part: B was so amused by A's accident (?) that, he was laughing out and squinting in A's direction (in Hyderabadi: Jhaank jhaank ke dekhke hasra tha). For good measure, the former cop's sidekick came over and took B to the island too. Me and C were left alone (and sometimes I wish this ordeal ended here with all of us getting a loss in money). Well, after about 15-20 minutes of convincing the cops and having to pay like 500 bucks (post the amount in the comments guys :P).


This is definitely gonna be in parts, so I'll end here with a few pictures of the ride...and the trip so far:

This is A.

Me and C.

The cam was on B and D's bike, so no pics of those two so far...

I'll be back soon with the second installment of this day...

7 Fictional Characters that changed my life! :)

The title says it all. This apens to everyone. Sometimes, fictional characters are more influencing to your life than actual people. It is especially true when you can connect to the situations the character has been in. Well, this is list is about some of the major of my influences. The list goes as below: (this is exactly how I write my exams :))


1. Barney Stinson: For the obvious reasons. He is simply legen-wait for it-dary! Be it the coolness with which he handles problems, the impeccable suiting-up or the mysterious story-line about his job, Barney simply rocks! If you've never come across Barney, go for any episode of How I Met Your Mother. The kind of gentle comedy (yeah! ;)) and mystery behind his work makes him a sort of idol for me :). And of course not to mention The Bro Code - awesome book. I was rolling on the floor laughing when I first read the book. Rock on, Barney!


2. Eric Cartman: Eric Cartman, the douche-bag from South Park, yes! I know, Eric represents everything that is wrong with the world, for academic purposes, this is probably the most influential of all my influences. I have learnt a lot about the world and people especially from this show and especially Cartman. The "Screw you guys, I'm going home."s and "But, Moooom"s definitely make him the best characters in the show. In spite of being a racist and a pretentious douche, he has touched my life and affected my thinking patterns a lot. Hats-off to Trey Parker and Matt Stone for thinking him up! \m/


3. Holden Caulfield: The protagonist of the popular "The Catcher in the Rye", probably my most favorite book. Well, the informal tone of the narration and the beauty with which he talks about the things around him makes him the frankest character in any book, movie or series I have ever seen. The best part - "All I want to be is a catcher in the rye and not just another phony like everyone else" like Holden says to his sister Phoebe. Awesome!


4. Tyler Durden: Brad Pitt at his perfection, but Pitt isn't why Durden is an important influence to me. The stoicism and philosophy Tyler represents what I would like to be. "This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time." is what sticks. I would highly recommend you watch Fight Club for a better understanding. :)


5. Ross Geller: The geek from Friends. No descriptions, but he has affected me quite a bit. And of course, Science Boy! \m/


6. Bruce Wayne: Typical super-hero inspiration, you might say. But then, there is something very different from any other super-hero. Ever realized that Wayne had no super-powers like the other super-heroes?? All Wayne does is making use of science and technology to get his powers. Wayne teaches me that hard-work and innovation can get you accolades which are usually assumed.


7. Severus Snape: Forget the superb revelations of the real role of Snape in the Deathly Hallows, he was my all time favorite right from the first book. His stoic attitude and the best part, keeping secrets is what touches me :).


List out yours too! :)


P.S.: Feels good to have nothing blabbered at the beginning and the end, right? :)

Deify (or may be not)

My second post in two days. Looks like I'm on a roll, but then, let me not get over myself here. How I am doing this is, I have a folder on my system with text files named after each topic I want to write about. This list is being accumulated from about a couple of months (ever since I got this machine..) and I haven't worked on them until yesterday. Alright, none of your business, right? I know. but then, it feels good to be sharing these things with friends. :) Well, I named this text file deify and hope the title stays the same at the end too. Just a declaration :). Anyway, I am enjoying the first few days of my holidays very much, what with nothing and yet, everything to do. Why, just today, I enquired for a course to learn Spanish and was astounded by the exorbitant price and decided to download one instead. Typical Indian, you might say, but then, lack of resources and the exorbitant price makes me do that, Fine, jokes apart, what is this post about? Well, this is something we see virtually everyday. I'll barge into the post, because one of my friends (and avid reader of this blog) doesn't apparently like my dragging on the first few paragraphs of each post.

You might have seen people praising people. That's pretty common, I am not saying praising people is bad. But sometimes, what happens is, people just deify (I don't know a more superlative word for this...) their peers (yes, I forgot to mention this, just peers and I'm gonna make an elaborate argument stating how everyone is a peer. :)). Fine, let me start off with some building statements. Everyone is equal. People who have achieved something have done so just because they have worked hard on it. Having said that, I'd like to play a bit with the borderlines of religion here. Let me state some more things here. God does not play cricket. God has (most probably) better things to do than making you laugh by enacting a bit as your favorite comedian. God does not get a paltry 10 Lakhs per annum package for a job. And there are many more things on those lines. I have seen people (quite many around me) compare people especially peers with God. Let me stop being religious here. Let's face it, Sachin is not God. (A post on my views on games and stuff might be just around the corner) (this is just an example, no offence to you hardcore fans) This has become a common practice, at least I believe, in the recent past. Let me move away from this, you may prefer to call celebs whatever you like, but let me get to my point.

Fine, coming to peers. A guy gets a good score on a test, or may be a fine placement, I dunno why some of us are compelled to deify the person. He may be whatever he/she is, but then let me put some perspective here. Did you ever notice that, by deifying a peer of yours, you are simply creating delusions to yourself that you are a good-for-nothing person? A person may deserve praise, I'm all for it. But do that in a way that is not pretentious and constructive to yourself too. For instance, call the person up, talk to them and congratulate on the achievement. I don't see any reason why a successful person needs to be deified. Get inspired, yes, but there is no reason to deify the person and least of all to tell the person himself/herself. You know, your peer probably got to be good just because he worked hard to get there, so just simply let him be and for once, be selfish. Being a guy who thinks a looooot, I know what kind of effect deifying people has on your own efforts and may be even you levels of confidence. So, simple solution - do not deify. May be revere, may be just respect, but deifying is completely not in the same league. And about everyone being peers, this is not the right place for it. May be another post :). But thing is, I haven;t thought out this whole post a lot, I must be better prepared for future posts :).

Ok, almost sleep-time, I'll leave it here. I think I have made a statement of sorts with this and my previous posts. I have my own thought process and ideas and for all I know, they might be as twisted as a mobius strip. What I actaully want to do using this medium is - urge readers to think about these topics and build their own opinions. I shall never rub my personal thought process on anyone at all. *batting eye-lids* :)

And of course, the disclaimer at the end of the last post applies here too :). By the way, I lost all my ":P"s if you haven't noticed. :)

Nighty Night!!

P.S.: Please give your opinions too in the comments section :)

Chapters

Alright, end of exam season and finally, I am almost an Engineer, just waiting for the results and my convocation. Actually, I've decided not to make any promises about the frequency of posts coming about this season of the blog (yeah, right, I like to call them seasons :P). Anyway, let me start off by giving out my current state of mind. Well, people around me are all acting so mature and grown-up, no one (except a couple of them...) is fooling around, people are going around Visa offices and keeping their fingers crossed about their MBA entrance results (not you mama, you're handling it very well... :P) and here I am, just sitting and planning on going abroad in he coming Spring. Actually, there is not much planning, it's almost all set. Anyway, at least, I now have the gift of time. Sounds a bit too sanguine, but then, it pays, You know, I now have new and improved (how can something be new and improved? Don't ask me. :P). respect for the Uncertainty Principle. No comments about that, find out and assume things at the link on this blog. Gift of time. A lot of things that can be done and a couple of things that must be done along with the one thing that gave me this break in the first place. Of course, I am now totally enjoying the 64-bit Ubuntu Lucid and loving messing around with people and computers as usual. Well, what is this post about? The age old question. Well, this is a timeless post. It is at the same time about the past, the present and the future, Kind of oxymoron-ic, no? (Pardon my Indian touch to my English, I'm trying to lose it. :P and I shall try to lose the ":P"s too :)) But of course, let me get into the post.

Well, this post is coming mainly from my experiences. Also, the timing for the post is also kinda perfect because I have just completed one of the most important and enjoyable things I ever did. Nothing so mystic though, it is just my Engineering. Come to think of it, it has become so ubiquitous at least in our part of the country. Actually, I don't feel any different after finishing it. No, I just don't have to worry about not caring for important things. I'll be honest, at least here. I will definitely miss those days, but then, it's not like I'm moving to anything less fun than this. No elucidating here, mainly due to FUD regarding TUP (don't even ask!). Anyway, I'd rather have my peers see the change as a positive thing, mainly due to the development each of is most likely about to see in the near future. Most of us are now gonna get paid, for crying out loud! I'm digressing here, looks like the long stint away from writing has done no wonders to my writing skills (much like my project did not to my confidence, but then, that is a whole other story altogether...). Damn, another lengthy paragraph and I have not stated anything that is not obvious! I gotta pull up my gig now.

Let me start with a for-instance. Let us say you have a life decision to make that is certainly going to have you relocate (for want of a better word...) to a new place. Now the question I pose is not such a difficult one, in that, first of all, it is not even a question so much as a matter of opinion. So, in this situation, would you prefer to have a good friend of yours (at least an acquaintance for that matter...) and continue your life, so to say. Or, simply don't even care whether or not anyone you know is at the new place in hopes that, you can start afresh, so to say. Now, I have not been so articulate in the above few lines, but I hope you got what I meant. Now, here cometh my take.

First things first, I metaphor-ize my life as a set of short-stories. One story ends, the other one begins, and of course both stories need not correlate in the least. But, morals and lessons learnt from the precious stories always find use in making decisions in the next story. In simple words, I like to have a fresh beginning each time I take a turn in my life. No, I'm not talking about ditching my old friends and go finding new ones. Old friends are important but then, they have their own _things_. Time for elucidation. See, I make mistakes and have flaws in each stage of my life, like anyone else. Old friends have the incorrigible habit of nagging on these subjects even though the things happened like ages ago. That's just one side of the coin. Old friends aside, it is also important to bury the skeletons you have in your closet, right? (totally figurative, I have no real skeletons in my closet, you can come and check!) A new place for me, is usually a way to clean my slate and start building a new life for myself. I have done this about 4 times now and have loved the way things have turned out. You know, you usually get to live your fantasy. Tell tehm you were Superman and you are golden! :) That does it, huh? Well, of course, that's just me, trying to bury the skeletons in my closet in any possible twisted manner and living out fantasies. Well, doing this has its downsides too. you need to be patient at the start of each story and by the end of the story you have new skeletons in your closet (I'm using this a bit too much). So, after this part of my life I called Engineering, I will most likely start a new story. This is just my preference. If I had no choice, this chapter would continue for a little more time.

Fine, this was probably one of the not-good posts, but you gotta know I've been away from this for quite many days and this is just like a warm up post. Don't stop reading the blog just because of this post!

Write your own stories. And live your fantasies like you want, because life is too long to be a single chapter, better break it up into chapters. :) :) :)

G for Genius!

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.    - Arthur Schopenhauer

Alright! Call it the effect of the bloggers' meet yesterday or something, I suddenly get the mood to write regularly (yeah, I call two posts in 2 consequent days regular :P). Anyway, it's been nice - going through peoples' blogs and finding some excellent work done by each of them. Kudos to y'all!! And of course, keep the good work going!!

So, another post. The title might suggest something about Parle-G biscuits, but no! This ain't got anything to do with any confectionery or something on those lines. I literally mean G for Genius as the title. Well, this is about Genius. Have you ever wondered how generously we use the adjective? I've been thinking for a while now and the answer is not good. Let me illustrate what I'm trying to say here. If a person gets more marks than you - genius. If someone can answer something esoteric you have no idea about - genius. If someone discovers something, however insignificant, - genius. B the W, I'm watching the DC match and hope we recover soon and make like a 180 runs. Fingers Xed on that area. :).  OK, genius, huh?? I simply don't like people call just anyone that. This post is where I try to describe what genius actually means to me. So, when you're around me, try to adhere to these rules before tagging someone a genius :P.

I draw upon a little bit of tutelage from Roger Penrose (author of A Road to Reality). I believe that, some things simply exist - in kind of a Platonic sense of existence (please don't ask me more about this. :P). Well, anyway, the thing about such things is, they are just there. It is not like the person who uncovers them is doing a great act in trying to find something that is already there. (Refer Mandelbrot plots here, they simply existed, like forever and Mandelbrot was just he person to uncover the underlying beauty...) With all due respect to all the great inventors and discoverers, most of them aren't anything close to genius. They might have been intelligent and persevering hard-workers, but genius, I don't think so! 

Let me give you some examples of people who are in my view, tagged genius rather liberally. The first, may be the oldest - the wheel. We all larn that the wheel was tone of the most ingenious inventions. But, on second thought, it is kind of obvious. Let us say Mr.X (or may be Ms. X, for all non-sexists like me...) invented the wheel. The fact of the matter remains that, eventually, someone would stumble upon the idea to make a circular thing. Same goes for Aryabhatta, who is credited with the "invention" of zero. Come on people! Definitely, i wouldn;t tag Aryabhatta a genius, if not him, someone, somewhere might definitely have stumbled upon the idea of having a number which had no value (tell me about it, Indians have a knack at these things - we like getting things for free, right?) Then there is the probably the biggest speculator of all time - Sir Newton. Gravity, they tell me, makes him a genius. But think about it twice,the idea of gravity can be attributed mainly to his being in the right place at the right time. So, I'm sure I made my point clear here, as to what kind of people do not qualify for the tag of genius.

Now, the obvious question. Who is a genius? I'll try my best to put my idea in good words here. A genius is a person, whose ideas and maybe inventions affect the world in such a way that - when the later generations look at the ideas, they go like what the heck was this fellow thinking? How the hell could anyone get this vague an idea. In simple words, the idea should be simple but so out-of-the-world that, no one would think about it unless they go mad. Like someone says, Genius is just another level of insanity, :P. Anyway, time for examples. The first one that comes to mind is Nikola Tesla. The man single-handedly formulated wireless communication (you might say Marconi did that, but the patent for Radio was later corrected to Tesla's name in 1943), the AC motor, Alternating Current itself and wireless electricity (not one of his successful ventures, I'd say...). Da Vinci is another. Then there are several authors who get into this category of genius-ness. Shakespeare, Tolkein, Milton, Crichton, Clarke and many others. Then there are mathematicians - Hawking, Penrose, Feynman, and how can I forget Einstein. Then there is the person who got the idea of a microprocessor - there wasn't anything analogous to that in earlier times, was there? Also on the list would be Page/Brin for Google and Zuckerberg for Facebook. And of course, Tim Berners Lee for the Internet!

Alright then, I take leave! Please don;t call undeserving people genius, for me at least. :P. And for any disputes, please refer to the disclaimer under the title of the blog. :D. Finally, i think it is important to draw a proper line between genius and geek.

Keep Rocking!!

My Favorite words! :)

Back again! What have I been up to? Well, I've been busy with my project (yeah, like you'd believe that :P), looking for the best laptop for me and South Park (you read it right...I love it!!). Well, this post as the title goes, is just another list. This time a list of some of, yes just some of my favorite words. How I compiled the list is an interesting story though...For a week now, I've been thinking about it and each time a word I like pops up in my mind, I just note it down in a draft SMS and move on. It has been quite a task to recollect words and noting them...Alright, how am I going to give the list this time? Well, first is of course the word, no, I won't give it's meaning here, you can use your own dictionary :P, and then why I like the word. For some of the words I like I don't even have a reason to like, simply idiosyncratic, I guess :)

The list goes like this...

cliché - the word simply sounds good to me. I also like the meaning.

bohemian - the meaning of this word is something I can relate to. 

onomatopoeia - the word sounds funny, don't you agree? The meaning is a bit funny too. :D

utopia - a bit like bohemian, both these words give me the goosebumps each time I come across them.

assimilate - no reason, I simply cannot fathom why I like the word so much.

omniscient - something I aspire to be, and hence like. :D

sanguine - again, something I usually am.

instigate - No reason.

nostalgia - Obvious reason, the meaning.

idiosyncrasy - Something I believe is very important for everyone. Ironic, ain't it?

hypocrite - I hate hypocrites, but the word, I like. :P

charlatan - A funny word with a funny sound.

rain-maker - the meaning. I'd like to be one for myself one day.

silhouette - funny word.

connoisseur - something I am a little but try to be the best one.

mademoiselle - the sound of it. It sounds so refined and smooth.

paranoia - ha ha.

innuendo - the sound and meaning.

insinuation - meaning.

And why do you need to know this? I have no idea myself!

Anyway, try South Park sometime, I'm sure you'll enjoy all the wry humor and the hidden insinuations. 

Adios!

There and back again!

What a series of events it has been! I'm talking about the placement session conducted by Infosys Technologies in our college. Well, a hectic day, of course. I'd like to share my experience of the day through this post. Most of the conversations (including the interview) are verbatim and a few are paraphrased to convey the same meaning only because I don't remember the exact wording. Fine, let's set the ball rolling, but first, a few disclaimers. If I sound gloaty at any point during this post, it is just out of momentary elation. No offense to anyone. This post has been in the making for over 4 days now (I'm editing the number at the end of each passing day...)(I started writing on Feb the 2nd).


The conventions:


These are the words spoken by someone else.


These are my thoughts.


There are my actual words.

Feb 1, IST 0600 Hrs - Location: Home

I woke up and freshened up. I had a perfectly dorky pair of pants and slightly less dorky shirt ready to be worn to the college that day, not to mention, a perfectly dorky pair of shoes too. (No more details about clothing. :P). Anyway, to keep the shirt from getting a full one on the road, I wore my jacket too, which I might add, added a lot of physical weight in my bag on me later in the day. Well, no breakfast on that day - all I wanted was to be on time in the college.

Feb 1, IST 0815 Hrs - Location: Ghulam Ahmed Auditorium

In Ghulam Ahmed Hall -  the seminar hall where the pre-placement talk was about to take place. On a separate note, the reason given by our placement cell for the lateness of the Placements was that, this hall was under renovation. I don't think there could've been a lamer excuse. Let's continue. There I was, going through my Resume, and trying to recollect what I actually did during the past 3 and a half years. It included me being a(n Active) member of the IEEE Student Chapter of my college and such stuff that you can only put on a Resume.


Thus started the pre-placement talk by one of the HR Managers from Infy (easier to type, you see... :P). He started telling us about the history, present and features of Infy in excruciating detail (much like what I'm doing now... :P). This ended about an hour later and we were all fleeted off to the classrooms where the Aptitude Test was to be conducted.


Feb 1, IST 1040 Hrs - Location: Room No. 5406, Block 5, MJCET


Seated in the Exam Center (just another of our classrooms...). The skinny guy who was standing on the dais was supposed to be the invigilator. He was giving all kinds of instructions about how to fill in the forms supplied to us. C'mon, when's this gonna end, huh? We were instructed as if we were kids, let's move on. The funniest thing he told us was : "Please write in capslock!". I laughed out at that. Fine, the test ended without many events, not for me at least.


Feb 1, IST 1200 Hrs - Location: MJCET Front Canteen


Post the exam. My room was apparently the first one to start (and thereby end) the test. I had to wait for about 30 minutes for all of my friends to be out of their respective "Exam Halls". Our regular hang out: under the big tree (I dunno what kind it is...) in front of the front canteen in our college. Well, you can imagine how hungry I must've been mainly because of no breakfast. We got like a hundred samosas each (not literally... :P) and a couple of Pepsi pets and had a blast. Everyone was discussing the paper and speculating whether or not they would clear the paper. I was saying the very words that'd become my war-cry for the day: "No comments on my performance until I see the end result. :|" (And why, you might ask. Refer to The Uncertainty Principle). We saw virtually everthing you can see before an interview. One of my classmates was learning by-heart the answers he'd give to the HR Manager. Another was getting fresh copies of his Resume. We? We were just trying to pass time by laughing at people and cutting some of the most clichéd of our jokes.


IST 1400 Hrs - Location: Ghulam Ahmed Auditorium


The D-Time. The results of the aptitude test were due at 1330 Hrs but as usual, the timeline got blown. We were all seated in the auditorium and expecting something like the results being pasted as a sheet on the walls or something like that. But to our surprise and horror, the Placements Officer started calling out names of people who cleared the first round.


Fine, please keep quiet!! I have here a list of people who cleared the aptitude test. It is a partial list and whoever's name has been called must go and stand  in the back. And keep your clapping for later.


Yeah, he's punishing the people who got through the aptitude test! :P


Then he started calling out the names in the first list - some 30-35 people I guess. I guess, because, my heart was in my throat looking to see if my name was on the list. There wasn't even a proper order (like department wise etc.) and it was a hair-raising thriller of a list. At the end of the list only two of my group went over to the interviews. I was all like, damn! I didn't get through. Then, about half an hour later came the second and apparently the final list.


OK, I have the final list here with me. The total number of candidates who qualified is 125. just a hundred and twenty five?!?!? Damn, the cut-off must've been hideously high. Fingers crossed, let's hope we get through. I'll read out the names and please go stand in the back.
...
...
...
4095 Munaf Hussain Shaik (My actual roll number is 4094) Did he say 4095?!?!?! But he called my name right? Can I go to the back?
...
...


Feb 1, IST 1440 Hrs - Location: In the back


There I was, finally clear of the aptitude test. All around me, people were taking out neck-ties out of their pockets and bags and I dunno where else (much akin to the magic tricks :P). Why did I not wear a tie? Well, my neck was too thick to put the top button of my shirt, that was the major reason. Either ways, I wasn't going to try something so new that day mostly because I was not used to carry a tie. Well, still confused about the discrepancy in the roll number, I left the hall for the 6th floor of Block 5, MJCET.


Feb 1, IST 1530 Hrs - Location: Room No. Something, 6th Floor, Block 5, MJCET


A total of about 125 people crammed into a single room (at least, that was what I thought at first glance.). There were actually two rooms for all of us. Going there, I found that a batch of people had been cattled away for the interviews. And the group consisted of the two friends of mine who were called in the "first list". My hands were all cold, and sweaty, I dunno why. Whatever one might say, getting a decent placement was my last ditch fall-back. For a last ditch fall-back, I was taking it a tad too seriously. Anyway, I was soon quarantined by taking me and seating about 20 of us in the adjacent room. The organizing guys had our aptitude test papers in their hands and one couldn't resist the temptation to try and find out how many one had scored. But, talk about being super secretive, these people were hiding the paper as if they were some national security issue. End of the wait and the 20 of us were guided out and to the next level.


Feb 1, IST 1620 Hrs - Location: Room No. 5402, Block 5, MJCET


Well, it ain't easy to be ready for your first time (yes, pun intended :P). This was the very first time in my life that I was gonna take on some real HR guy face to face. The preceding hour or something is just hell. And when I was heading to be seated in my room, one of the guys of the first list (my friend) was just out of the interview.


Kaisa gaya re?? (How'd it go??)


Dum tha baap!! (Was a pain!)


Kya puchra?? (What's he asking??)


Pura Resume pe ich puchra. Mereku project and mini project ke baare me dum kara. (He's just sticking to the Resume. He asked me a lot about my projects and mini-projects.)


I was freaked! Damn! My Resume was something I wasn't prepared to talk about. But then, there is only so much you can do when you know there's very little time left for the interview. I went and got seated in the second bench and there was this talkative guy. If there's something in this world that freaks me out before I'm gonna give an interview, it is people who like to hear themselves speak. He was seated beside this friend of mine.


...what are those things on CDs called? Those round things. I know they are called something, what?
Sectors. They are called sectors.
Yeah, right!! I'm totally surprised at my clearing the aptitude test. Like I wanna know that. The verbal section was out of this world. It wasn't for me. (not sarcastic). Especially for me because I did not write any competitive exam, ever.
He was looking back at my Resume.
You are Munaf Hussain? Your aptitude is high, is it? What the hell are you talking about?? Hey, you guys said you looked up answers from someone, right? Who was it?? (Directed towards my friend, the one beside him. For which he said someone else's name). Yeah, I have a **** on my GRE and a *** on my TOEFL, I'm sure I could be the guy with the high aptitude.
There we are sitting and everyone else save about 4 of us are being called to submit their Resumes, Certs and stuff. The only ones left are me, the talkative guy, one of my classmates, and a stranger in some real contrasting pair of clothes. Then the talkative guy walks out and comes back in a few minutes.


I just went and talked to one of the organizers and requested to send me to an easy HR. I'm real freaked out. Hope he obliges to my request.
Why would you ever do that??


Then, finally, the talkative guy was called and was interviewed for a long time, i guess. Then I was called along with the classmate of mine. We were both made to wait in the corridors and were instructed not to make a peep (as in a sound.. :P).


Feb 1, IST 1710 Hrs - Location: Floor 4 , Block 5 , MJCET


Well, both of us waiting and then comes the guy to collect our Resumes. He staples the Resume to the aptitude test paper and I try to steal a glance for my score, but it's hard. Then, he calls on the guy with me and takes him into one of the interview rooms. I'm all alone in the corridor and all the HRs are busy taking interviews. I get taken to the 2nd room and wait there for about 10 minutes. Then, out comes the talkative guy from the room across the one I'm waiting at. He's all smiles. Hope I get out all smiles too. 


I get called over to the same room as the talkative guy came out of. The HR is busy on his phone and I'm told to wait outside. Wow! This must be the easy HR guy. Let's not get too cocky and keep cool. The HR is literally shouting into the phone and I'm like Speak into the phone, dude. I'm sure the guy on the other side can hear you either ways, though. And after about 10 people walking past me to the waiting room and 10 more painful minutes during which time I noticed I had sweaty palms and cold hands, I was told to get in. I had wiped my palms on my shirt and gotten them dry by that time.


Feb 1, IST 1730 Hrs - Location: Room No. 5401, Block 5, MJCET


I enter. The HR is still busy on the phone - he's literally shouting at the person on the other end.


Good Evening sir. He nods and offers me his hand. Haath kya dera miyan? (Why are you giving me your hand?) I wasn't gonna shake hands but there's hardly anything you can do when he offers his hand. I give him a firm hand-shake and May I sit, sir? He nods again and I get seated. The arrangement is as far as you can get from the ideal interview arrangement. Two benches (yes, the ones we sit on in classes) are placed face to face. Damn! Now he can totally see my body language. Gotta be cool and stick to the basics.


At long last, he hangs up on the phone. He picks up my set of papers (Application, Aptitude test answer sheet and my Resume.) and goes through what seems like each and every word. 


Kitta padtha bhai, bas hai. kuch tho bi puch. (How much'll you read dude. Ask something) Ab puchta dekho "Tell me about yourself." bolke. (Now, he's gonna ask me "Tell me about yourself."). I wasn't so prepared to take that question though.
What did you learn at this Defense Electronics Seminar? 
Damn! I did not know he would ask this!! 
I learned about the various communication protocols used in the military and other things such as unmanned vehicles and stuff (I actually said stuff :P).
Where do you think all those things can be used? 
When I join the Army! Well, there wasn't much new to learn there sir. Those were the protocols that are already being used in the military. They are tried and tested.
That's fine. What do you want to do using this knowledge? 
I'd rather not have attended that damn seminar! I didn't even pay much attention there. Due to their stable nature, I'd like to make use of those protocols and systems in regular civilian systems and make life simpler for people. He kept asking for more - aan, aan...Aur kitta bolna chicha...itta bola, bas nai hai? (How much more do you expect me to explain? I've said enough.) I just kept quiet.
OK, tell me about your final year project. I did. These details are pretty gore and I'd rather not put them here. But, I somehow managed to convince him that it wasn't the worst project in the world.
Hmm...what did you do in these events er, Adsophos and others? Don't tell me what you were supposed to do, tell me what you actually did. 
Apan kabhi kuch kare? (When did we ever do something??) 
I organized a quiz when in my 3rd year and did itto my satisfaction. I also organized a er, what was the event? (I actually asked the question!) yeah, a hardware design contest. 
What do you mean - to your satisfaction? 
Aisich bhauth bolthe bhai....lite lena. (We say all these sort of things dude, don't hang on to them.)
Well, er, the turn up was good and I managed to conduct the event without any goof-ups. 
Why do you think the turn-up was high? 
It wasn't, dude. I'm just faking. Well, i guess it was probably because of the catchy posters I designed. 
Tell me something catchy from those posters. 
There was nothing catchy to tell from those posters sir, I said they looked catchy. 
Oh, OK. How do you know the posters were catchy? 
The turn-up mostly, and I even asked a couple of participants as to why they chose this event, and got a similar feedback. Yeah, like any event organizer does that. 
He was impressed and I was not complaining. 
Good. What do you mean by this? "Active" member of IEEE student chapter. What did you do as an "Active member"?? 
Arey yaar! Har koi aisich likhta! Khaali member bolke likhe tho kya acha dikhta?? (Dude, everyone writes the same, no point in writing just member.) 
As an active member, I try to make my juniors realize the beauties of real engineering. What's happening nowadays is, people join engineering just for the brand name. I strive to make them like engineering and stay on the cutting edge by joining IEEE. 
How do you do that? 
I show students interesting articles from the IEEE Spectrum magazine and try to cultivate real interest towards engineering. 
How many people have you recruited into this IEEE? 
About 50 people I guess. yeah, the total membership of IEEE in our college is about 70 and I made the chapter (sarcastic).
Good! Hmmm...Your hobbies are Reading Books, Blogging...(reading from my Resume) How many books have you read? 
Puchliya? Chal ab letun mai teri!! (Good thing you asked me. Now, I'll take a session!) 
I dunno the exact number sir, I have read a lot though. 
Give me a number. 
Ab kitte pada ki ginlethe baiththe?? (Who counts the number of books they've read?) 
I'd venture a guess at about a hundred, hundred and fifty. That is like half the books I read. 
*Wide-eyed look*. Which is your favorite book? 
There are many yaar, ab kya bolun? 
The Catcher in the Rye sir. 
What? 
I repeat. 
What do you like about that book? 
I start off...It describes the angst of a teenage boy...blah...blah...blah...Kuch samajhme tho bi aara?? (Are you even able to understand anything??) 
What was the title again? 
The catcher in the rye sir. 
Catcher?? 
Yes, sir. In the Rye. R-Y-E Rye. 
Do you have that book? 
Kaiku? Ab padinge bi tum? 
Yes, I do sir. 
OK. Do you have any questions...
Paagal hogaya? Interview kon kiska lera bhai? 
About Infosys? 
No sir, I have gone through the website and have a good idea of what to expect when I get there. Yeah, right. Like I have no other business. 
Good! You may go, thank you. 
Mereku thanks kaiku bolra bhai?? (Why are you thanking me??) 
Thank you sir.


At the end, the HR was all smiles, I dunno why. I suspected that he may have seen right through me and understood that I was faking some of the stuff. We shook hands and I left, confused.


Feb 1, IST 1815 Hrs - Location: Some room on the second floor.

Here were all the people who had faced the interviews. And then came the toughest part - the wait. We were trying to ease our tensions by cracking jokes, taking pics and stuff. Then came the HR guy from Infosys, the one who gave the seminar in the morning, and gave us all a piece of his mind for making a big ruckus and apparently, we were audible even in the 5th floor. Then came the biggest surprise package. Some of us were being called for 2nd interviews. We were like, what the heck? Although I wasn't called, a friend of mine was. We were discussing all sorts of stuff, about whether or not each of us was gonna get selected and stuff and I was all like No comments on my performance until I see the end result. :|. Well, the 2nd interview calls continued until about 9 in the night and each and every one of the group was exhausted. After all, 12 hours on just a couple of samosas isn't so easy :P.


Feb 1, IST 2150 Hrs - Location: the same room.


In came the head HR and our Placement Officer. The HR had the "list" in his hands. He started off.


Okay, it was a tiresome day for all of us. Let us get it over with. I have here the list of selected candidates. Please keep your cheers, claps and celebrations for later.


And the list came to an end with a total of 77 people (technically). My name wasn't called and I was a teeny bit dejected. One of my friends was also not selected.


Now, I want all the Infoscions to stay here and all the best for all of you others for other placements. And some stuff about joining Infosys later.


We made it to the parking lot and went home and left all our friends to celebrate. I wasn't so dejected though, because I wasn't gonna work there anyway. And resolved never to lie in an interview and also to make some changes in my Resume.
...
...
...


Feb 3, IST 1647 Hrs - Location: Home


I was online on my Gmail mailbox and just received a mail from our Placements Officer. It said something about some lost items in the room where the result was announced. Out of sheer habit, I looked through the list of mail recipients. The list was pretty weird. All the people in the list were the ones whose names were actually called in the final announced list. My name was on that too. I was shocked. I thought "Lite, must've been some mistake." and went out with my friend. Later, i returned home and found another mail from the Placement Officer. It explicitly said:


Dear Mr. Munaf

You have been selected in Infosys campus placements


I was shocked and tried to find my Placement Officer's phone number but, couldn't. I went on Facebook and asked one of my friends if she had the number and she said: 
You are selected into Infosys. I saw the list today and your name was on it. I informed the Placement Officer and he said he'll mail you. 
I was elated. I thanked her profusely and still tried to confirm it. I only informed a couple of my closest friends and my family. Facebook status could wait - I still needed to talk to my Placements Officer and confirm. Apparently, the HR guy had skipped my name while reading out the names. I dunno how that guy can be so careless.


By the way, I'd like to thank my friend here again for taking the time to inform the Placement Officer and later, me. Thanks a lot. (I don't use names on my blog, I hope you don't mind, no offense.)




Feb 4, IST 1020 Hrs - Location: Placements Office, MJCET


I met the Placements Officer and confirmed and looked over the list too, only to find my name right on the list. I was happy again!!


Now, for those who did not make it this time. First thing: I know exactly how it feels to be so dejected. I was so for over 2 days. All I believed was that there always is something bigger and better waiting for you. All the Best!! Cheers!!




Somehow, all ended happily - Thank God!!


P.S.: Seems like I've made up for my long absence on the blog by writing this long a post :P. Now, I'm free, real free, as in freedom!!


P.P.S.: All the best to everyone attending placements!! Also people taking GATE.