5 done and counting

3-1 goes into my life’s album as something very very memorable and i have a host of reasons –new friends, involving courses, farewell and the most important of all – that which changed my outlook to life .

After a paltry fourth semester, I vowed to be sensible in my division of time for academics and else. To be satisfied with what you’re doing..its very important you love it. ..and the most important part is to develop a keen interest in what you are doing and its only then, you’ll be able to love it. It took me quite sometime to realize this and half my semester was over by then. It was the way my preparation for  comprehensives shaped out, that really interested me (though I never felt the change while implementing it )…do not over strain yourselves preparing whole of the course, what’s more important is how much you have learned from whatever you’ve read (be it little …its no mistake) .. i have a feeling that knowing something is pointless unless you can apply it in life. Be confident on your opinions and ideas but see that you have space for others’ view as well. This change in my mindset… owe it to my alma matter..the wonderful place that taught me so much. From being a pessimist, who never even read the questions in an examination paper  fearing that something he doesn’t know ahead would take away his confidence to someone who tries to link that up with what’s around him when sitting idle in that very exam hall … there has been a tremendous change ….and no one can better explain it than me in person. One important notion that became inherent in my thought process was ‘think only of what you are doing now and not its result.. Added to this i had a couple of involving courses after a long while .. making it more enjoyable. The minors were ‘okay’ish but the comprehensives imbibed a sense of confidence in me as they progressed and that was something i always wished had happened to me .   

Complementing the serious part..i made some really wonderful friends, who actually showed the missing spice of my life.  As it was the beginning of the last year with a lot of friends and quite a few really lovely seniors…thought to make the most of it. I joined my friends more frequently in their errands to Vasco – the closest place to the campus for some good food and fun. But, the best evening till date while at school was our  farewell bidding to a few truly supportive seniors. An amazing evening..about 15 of us went to Pentagon – a restaurant kinda thing near some beach (the name of which i don’t remember ). Tasted all kinda possible vegetarian …n i truly loved it ..i still remember those yummy cheese balls and single spoon trials . That evening reminded me there’s only an year more  for most of us at the campus to graduate and days seemed to pass at supersonic speeds. ..and that is all i remember about the memorable last day of sem 5.

My journey back home started at dawn the next day. I had more fun this time than ever even while travelling….i somehow enjoyed the  five hour pause at Guntakal unlike before ..thanks to sindhu and co who stopped me from being idle. Reached Hyderabad early in the morning …there was a big grin, from deep inside my heart for it had cached more memories for the future in these six months than all those before… put together.

/* this might be rather uninteresting unless you know me very well */

Quark 08-Engineering Perfection

Quark 07 was the first technical festival of bits-pilani goa. The festival was not up to the expectations of many students for they wanted something as flashy as waves again. Quark happened only a week after waves and this did serve as a reason for the not so enthusiastic quark 07.

Having  studied the reasons for failure, the orgC of quark 08 began their work months in advance. The mistake was not repeated – gap between quark and waves was a decent 30 days this time and quark happened earlier. Care was also taken to keep the teams for both the events as disjoint as possible. Division was done more professionally with more care and every department that was involved in the event tried their best. The result was evident- abt a 1.3 million sponsorship amount, an outstation participation of 400 students and more than  registrations. Quark 08 showed that technical festivals can also be entertaining. rohan and bhiday came up with a software that took care of every participant’s complete data reducing the woes at the registration desk as well as providing necessary information whenever necessary?  the total number of registrations for the events ended at a  4300..a very good participation for a technical event in an infant college like BPGC. An awesome work by the information management team that communicated for more than four months with the students and answered their queries, the publicity team that looked into the registrations and sending posters to good colleges in major citieslike  bangalore, hyderabad, mumbai, chennai, the spons who garnered a very respectable amount, all the assocs who worked for the betterment of their events led to the glory. The performance by the mime club was decent on the second day but was shadowed by the breath taking performance of the jugglers from the London “Feeding the fish”. The standing ovation by everyone inside the auditorium after the show just gives a glimpse of their perfection.

the magical jugglers in action

Three workshops were a part of the three day event- aeromodelling, origami and telescope making . Stalls by major companies like Bosch, nVidia, Schlumberger, Reuters adored the library and the venues. Quark merchandise also was everywhere during the event- from notepads and pens to tshirts. The airshow was a great treat to the eyes. The gaps in between the events were covered by informals where akhil, pranshu, prateek and co did a wonderful job.

The result was the fantastic quark 08 whose  team was congratulated by many participants from other colleges via mails, calls and appreciation through blogs . At the end of the day,i only had one thing in mind, the caption would have been more apt, had it been redefining perfection rather than engineering perfection.

Waves 07- the urban chaos

Waves -07 was famous as the biggest cultural festival in the party state of  goa. But from my point of view it is more important as a festival that transformed the mindsets of many individuals who beleived bits pilani goa as any other ordinary engineering institute but with the birla tag, to something thats as capable as its sibling- the pilani campus. The three day cultural extravaganza was a show case of the hard work of hundreds of bitsians for more than a ninety days. Stages were set up behind the administrative B-wing plaza besides the lecture halls and the amazingly big state-of-the art auditorium. I was a junior then and was very interested in contributing my best for the biggest event of bpgc. The whole event  was organized decently well, with the work being distributed and coordinated by different committes. I was involved in putting up the publicity material inside the campus. It was almost 1 in the night the day before waves  (we needed special permissions to stay outside our hostel). The inaugural ceremony of waves 07 goes as a fond memory into the pages of my life. The whole campus was filled with the enthusiastic students who flocked the stages. Never a dull moment in the whole three days. My day was filled with covering the event, managing the venues, helping the students of other colleges through the routes( they were envious of the fact that we stayed in such a beautiful campus ). The evenings had  head banging rock shows that echoed every corner of the campus. The fire wallz- students in charge of the campus security worked their asses out through out the event and really deserved a pat. The organizing committee, sponsorship committee, the publicity committee, the department of backstage, the department of photography, basically all the clubs in the campus tried to be impeccable as far as their  work was concerned and have contributed in their own way to the grand success of waves 07. DJ Sasha’s special nite on day 2 was awesome which made even guys completely exhausted tap their feet to the trance. Bhayanak maut and Half step down were good as usual. Rock bands from goa gave some of their best performances infront of the B-wing dome during the event. One event of waves 07 that jampacked the auditorium and enthralled the audience was Mr n Ms Waves. The timely comments by Prakhar made the three thousand people laugh their hearts content on the evening of third day( He did get a hug from the gorgeous Vanessa- Ms Waves 07 for that ofcourse ). The whole day work and in sufficient sleeps  made us completely tired, believe me..i did sleep once infront of 15000 watts of music  :0  . All the pain the bitsians had put in the previous three months had its fruit then in the form of the stupendous Waves -07.

a sense of accomplishment

three minutes ago i was watching the tv with my eyes searching for something interesting..yeah i was lucky.. really lucky. i found the CNN-IBN’s programme on the best educational institutions in the country. I was eagerly waiting for the turn of engineering colleges, and as the turn came, only the first five were mentioned, IIT-the name was echoing. I was sad as only the top five were mentioned and my fingers involuntarily were fondling the remote to change the channel..then came the discussion of the top private engineering colleges in the country. Obviously as expected BITS PILANI was declared the uncrowned king of the category. The introduction began with ” think of a place where you dont have attendance, where you can choose your own courses, where you can select who is going to teach you…yeah it is the birla institute of technology and science, pilani. This college started 45 years ago and since then is the pioneer…..” and it goes on for a three minutes. I cant write of the excitement that gushed out of me with tonnes of torque..a special feeling only a bitsian can have. Lucky chaps, all my friends from goa doing their ps at CEERI Pilani covered the screen with a grin on their glowing faces..sourabh, leela, kasliwal..hmm

cheers to the college that always makes us proud.

i wish all those parents who were askin me whether its worth sending their son,daughter to bits pilani would see this

a proud bitsian

it’s been over  two years since I’ve entered the place that, i never expected would be my alma matter, the birla institute of technology and science -pilani, goa campus. It might be a little long, but it still takes me not more than a moment to remember the fresh breeze that blew past my face when i entered the beautiful campus. I’ve never expected the rather tiresome 20 hr journey to end in such a beautiful surprise. being a pessimist, the first thought that came into my mind was “ohh..i’ve to leave this campus in just a five years???”, i dint know how in life can i leave this heaven. The picturesque view of the lush green campus surrounded by the beautiful zuari river left me on cloud 9. That being the first time i was ever into a professional institute left my innocent face looking round for a warm shelter of friendship. The B wing plaza, joined by the central administrative building is one of the complex structures I’ve ever seen (I still get lost at times). Our bus stopped in front of the B wing after which the formalities of registration went on for a couple of hours. I then landed in my room  . Awesome ..whatever i need in a small but complete package..internet, decent furnishing..everything was good. That evening as dad was to leave the next day, we planned to spend some time outside. the weather being rainy, we canceled the idea and this decision left me with one of the most memorable incidents in my bitsian life..i saw someone really special . A sense of de ja vu in me. Nothing more about this here 

the first evening was so special, so was the first night at the campus. I was amazed to find almost twenty of my school friends at the college. The next day i bid dad good bye early before dawn and started exploring my campus (yeah..i did have a sense of possession starting then ). mahendar.. one of my first friends at the campus  had as much enthu as me, n so were busy meeting all our friends. Days passed on like the cool breeze that swept me when i entered the campus. Its been over two years now and my favourite place has taught me many things in life..joy, sorrow, victory, team work and the most important of all, it instilled a self confidence in me. Whenever i look down the two years of my bitsian life, i wonder “is this me ? “ who has transformed from an innocent introvert to someone who can go speak against something he thinks is wrong.