Adieu Theory exams : My experience with writing exams.

I am so very excited while writing this post. Finally, I am done with the theory exams (or better lame engineering theory exams). I just hated them, loathe, abhor or whichever synonym of “hate” is out there in this universe. I have a problem, I am terribly bad in anything I don’t enjoy doing. And I have never been delighted while writing these exams. No wonder, my grades very well reflected that.

Anyways, I was not always like this. There was a time when I was really good at cramming stuff and used to be very excited preparing for the exams and attempting them. But that was way back till the high school or may be till the 1st semester. Things started to change in second semester when electronics came into picture. To be frank, electronics has always haunted me more than any other subject. Primarily, because the books we studied sucked big time, and we were never assigned any teacher from the EC department, it always used to be some irritating person trying to fake teaching (teachers like them…..I can’t remember their names should be put behind the bars). Anyways, understanding the subject always used to be boiled down to reading the book a few days before the exam and trying out some questions from previous year papers. This scheme used to work for my batchmates, but I don’t know why it never worked for me. I would cram the electronics concepts but would never be able to understand their significance. And hence I found it very difficult solving problems with a slightly new perspective during the exams. I tried adopting various methods to understand electronics, but all were in vain. And then we were stacked with more electronics in third semester, and since my basic concepts were weak, I started to find it difficult to cope up with it. Though I was able to score kind of decent marks, but I started to feel frustrated for not being able to solve the complete paper.

And it was at this point, that I started to loose interest in theory papers. Though in later semesters they introduced some computer subjects as well (though only for the sake that we were enrolled in computer science course- I mean where in the hell do they teach algorithms along with digital mathematics, that too with a teacher like “Ms. Serial Kisser”). Anyways, by the time computers were introduced, I had lost all interest in writing exams. I find it really difficult to do things just for the sake of doing them.

Another reason for me abhorring exams was my “super fast and super phadoo handwriting”. Some of the compliments which I have got from teachers on my handwriting are, “Was there an earthquake when you were writing the paper?”;  “were you ill when you gave the paper” and “I cannot understand any word you have written”. Had I had a scanner now, I would have surely uploaded some piece of my writing. My writing is legible in normal times ( it’s never good though) but it deteriorates exponentially with the speed. So, when it comes to writing in an exam, it’s no more good than “pieces of unreadable alphabets put together”. This was the time when I only used to code and hardly used to write anything in between the exams.  So, writing in exams used to be a tough call, more like a toddler making an effort to write for the first time.

So, in around fourth semester, I was too frustrated with these exams. I just stopped believing in them. Giving exams was a very dreadful task for me. I must admit that preparing for theory exams and writing them around this time was one of the worst times I had faced in life. It was very difficult for me to study for these exams, since I had no motivation whatsoever. I would just sit in the exam-room thinking I had to again go back and prepare for the other exam. Those 3 hours used to be so daunting for me, I would gaze at other people and find they were writing with so enthusiasm as if this was their last chance to write. Each time a person would go and take a supplementary, I used to get more frustrated thinking how can he/she fill sheets so fast, when for me filling each page was a burden. Ah...that was bad, bad time, that’s why I am so elated today.

Anyways, things had improved since the 7th semester. Primarily because of two reasons. First, there were more computers to read as coursework, which I loved (of course barring Expert Systems). Networking I just loved, Forouzan is certainly the best book I have read in my entire college life. Second, I have started making notes for almost everything I read. Note-making is a wonderful habit, helps a lot. This was something I learnt from SushyB and Sakloo (They learnt it at Vidyamandir, shit, they never taught any such cool things in Fiitjee). Since I was writing now throughout the semester and the holidays, writing exams was not such a mammoth task.

Anyways, so though I am left with a not-so-great percentage and some really bad memories (how can I forget 40 marks in Microprocessor and 48 in Power Electronics), but I am very ecstatic that the theory exams are finally over (Read postscripts :P).

PS- 1) Juniors will not like this post.
2) Intrinsic assumptions are that I will pass all the exams with awaited results. And if I decide to go for higher studies, the subjects would be much more interesting and hence I would enjoy attempting exams.

And so dies Mr. Obama, oops Mr. Osama. Now what ???

After almost 10 years, 2 wars, many many lives, billions of dollars and a plethora of political drama, Mr. Osama is finally dead. Was the life of one person worth such investment? Well, I won’t discuss this shit here, who am I to make this decision, let the media and the leaders fight over this issue. I would just try to describe the situation from a common man’s perspective or rather from my perspective, the changes I have observed since yesterday. As I have been ill since yesterday and haven’t gone out, so all the news I have got is through TV (Idiot box as they call it), radio (yes, I listen to it sometimes), Internet (I am always online here) and a few telephonic conversations with my friends.

            Ohk, so the first question which pop up in a lay person's mind is, so am I any safer now? No silly, certainly not. Though America might picturize the whole situation as if they have uprooted terrorism, it’s completely fake. First, I heavily doubt if a 54 year old man in deteriorated-health conditions and nowhere to go would be involved in planning any terror attacks. Second, instead of mitigating terrorist activities, this incident might have just sent vibes of vengeance among the terrorist groups. This doesn’t mean that I oppose Osama’s death, but the reality is that it might just result into sudden rage among terrorists. Anyways, “My name is Vijit, and I am not a terrorist”, so am not sure how they would respond, but yes I am certain that they won’t get any terrified (though I wish they should).

            Anyways, so I was notified of the incident early morning through the radio tuned to 98.3. My reaction as I was trying to brush my teeth, pressurising open my brain, “Oh yeah, Osama, oh was he still alive?? so he is dead...hmm... but does that mean today is a national holiday?? no. then I need still need to go to college.” When I came to some senses, the first question I thought of was how did they confirm it was him, there were so many cloned-Obamas running around, how was the confirmation made. Later, I read somewhere or someone told me (I couldn’t recall- thanks to the medicines), that they did made the DNA testing for the confirmation. Still I coudn’t buy this reason, primarily because when did they catch him earlier to get his DNA at the first place. Also, I guess they have buried him in some sea/river soon after his death, so is DNA testing such a fast process, I am not aware of it and I don’t even plan to research into it.

            The funny incident took place in the evening, when I called one of my friend and he wished me “Congrats”. I got excited and started wondering, what have I done which I am even not aware of. All my excitment was brought down to shackles, when he told the wishes were related to DEAD Mr. Osama. “Fuck You”, I already knew this, you pumped up an ill person for no reason. Anyways, in the night I called another of my friend, and thinking wishing on Osama’s death is the trend of the day, as soon as he picked up the phone, I wished him “Congrats”. Though he didn’t get much excited, but I became very furious when he said, “Who is Osama??” WTF man, is there anyone around who doesn’t know Sir Osama. People might not know who our President is, but everyone knows Osama here, but this dude was different. Anyways, after making much efforts to make him recall about 9/11 and stuff, he finally recalled who Mr. Osama was (10 years, duh !!!).

            That was my outlook, now let us see how the world is perceiving the whole incident. Well, first of all its gold raining for news channels, they are making the most of this incident. “The Royal Wedding” has now been replaced by “The Royal Death”. Channels are busy in making their own pathetic stories showing how Osama was killed, where was he killed, what was he doing when they killed him, what bed he used to sleep on, which medicines he used to eat, which company sleepers he used to wear. I wonder if the US forces had called the channels to shoot this all up before they started the mission. And channels like IndiaTV, the way they show their news, I wonder if someday I would end up breaking my TV set.

            Well, similar are the situation in the political world as well. They have got the chance to play their favorite game, “The Blame Game”. Pakistan is busy trying to prove that they were not aware of Osama’s residence in Pakistan and that the whole incident was unofficial and unethical (how does that matter thought??). US is busy showing that they finished this operation all alone with no help from any other country. Also, this would certainly boost up Mr. Obama’s chance of coming back to power in the next term. He surely must be very excited (One of the post related to Obama’s excitement I found on Internet, “I would have been terrified had I been Ms. Michelle Obama’s *****” .India I believe is not very sure about its response. Mr. Singh must be wondering if he should wish Pakistan officials or not. Probably, Ms. Gandhi might help him take some decision. And I am waiting for the opposition to put some allegations on the UPA government, though I wonder what it would be, but opposition leaders are sharp, let there be happen any incident around the world, and they would make up a very apt allegation against the government and then this ultimately result into a halted session (well I would discuss Indian government sometime later).

            Osama has died. But his death has surely left many unanswered questions behind him. Many days of crispy news material, media has found. And countries and politicians have found a lot to fight over. For me, I have got my software engineering assignment to finish for tomorrow, so I would rest my post here.

PS- 1) I haven’t read today’s newspaper which I should have read before writing this post.

2) I haven’t re-read the post since I have stuff to finish before sleep. So, I am not very sure what exactly have I written. Please ignore any mistakes. And the formatting sucks as well.

3) I am not drunk.

Disclaimer- I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s sentiments through this post. If someone is too emotional about the 9/11 or Osama’s death and find my post to be oppressive or abusive, then I heartily apologize. 

Save ELECTRICITY, whenever you can !!!

Before you commence reading this post, I would suggest a small exercise which would get you in the same mood as I am while writing this post. Switch off the fan/AC of the room you are sitting in while reading this post. Turn off the lights. If you are on your laptop and your battery is fucked up like mine, then switch off the power supply and try reading the post, before your battery drains out. If you are on a desktop, switch off the power supply and start listening to those irritating UPS sounds. How does it feel ? I bet its not a serene feeling. If you are indeed following this activity, then for the next few moments you would be experiencing the life me and many many others have been living in summers. Now, lets get started with the post.

I reside in Ghaziabad and like everyone else would admit that I unconditionally love my city. So, all those who ask me why don’t I stay much in hostel, this is certainly one of the reasons that I like spending time here. Summers had always been more enjoyable at my place until 2 years back  in 2009 when we started to face acute power shortages. I still very well remember those summers, I was supposed to complete a project in 20 days and we used to get electricity only for 8-10 hours daily. I used to sit in front of my laptop, with fan and lights turned off to save Inverter power . Didn’t use to listen to music to save my laptop’s battery. That was certainly one of the worst times I had faced in life. Every year I feel that the conditions would improve, but the conditions have only worsened since then. Now the power-cuts are much longer, more erratic and the appliances would hardly work with the voltage they supply.

Anyways, the purpose of this post is not to discuss my personal woes, I still believe we are the better-offs, we have got inverters/generators as our saviour. The conditions are more wretched for the lower classes of society, especially the lower-middle class and the lower class who could not afford alternate sources of power (And what about the people below poverty line? Ha...they hardly have homes to live, but let’s not get into poverty here). Electricity I believe have become one of the basic necessities of life, sadly there are large sections of the society who are still deprived of this facility. As SunnyD would have said here, “Power Cuts pe Power Cuts, Power Cuts pe Power Cuts, yahee toh miltee aaye hai humein, nahin millee toh 1 ghante ki bhi bijlee” or SRK would have said, “ek ghante ki bijlee ki keemat, tum kya jaano babujee” (In case you didn’t understand the context of the dialogues, please skip).

Anyways, these experiences have made me understand that one does not understand the importance of things one possess (“Ghar ki murgee daal barabar”- couldn’t recall the appropriate english version). Take it or not, all of us end up wasting a lot of electricity, I myself never realized its importance. But after my recent experiences, I have become cautious regarding my usage of electricity.

In case you are still wondering, why the heck have I written this post, so let me reveal that the purpose of this post is to discuss some measures we could take in our day-to-day life to save electricity. I bet we all are well-aware of them, but somehow they always shift beyond our conscious mind. So, here they goes:

• Turn off fans and lights or any other electric appliances when not in use- Some people wonder, whoa, that’s so basic, who leaves them switched on. But is this really true??? Believe me, I find a lot of fans/lights switched on in classes and hostel rooms. Try to develop the habit of turning them off before leaving. Also, if you find them switched in any classes, please make some efforts to switch them off.
• Switch off appliances in your home when not in use- I wonder if we could be omnipresent and could use all the appliances in all the rooms at once, atleast the way I have found people using appliances in their homes, it makes me feel that they believe in omnipresence. In many of my relatives’ and friends’ places, I was surprised to see that they keep fans, lights, TV in all their rooms switched on. When I confronted them and asked why, they replied, that they never noticed. That’s why I made an explicit point here, instead of merging it with the first point, so that you dont’ leave them unnnoticed.
• Turn off your computer monitor when not in use- Many a times, we use our computers just to listen songs or sometimes we leave leave our workplace when the computers are executing some task. In such situations, you should consider switching off your monitors.
• Use Air-conditioners optimally- We should realize that ACs should be used for the purpose of cooling, not for freezing. One of the studies I read mentioned that 23-24 degrees is the optimal temperature for Indian urban homes.
• Use fluorescent lamps wherever possible- Try using fluorescent lamps instead of bulbs whenever you can. I don’t have the exact statistics, but they save a lot of power in comparison with their yellowish-counterparts.
• Be wise in following the above advice- I have just made some suggestions, but you need to be WISE while following them. For example, if you are leaving your room for a minute or less, then switching off appliances and switching them on would consume more energy, then keeping them switched on for these very short spans.
• Spread the word- Share this knowledge with your friends, family and relatives. Try to explain them them various ways to save power. WARNING- Some of them might start considering you paranoid but atleast a few would understand. Also, if you know of other ways to save power, do share them in the comments.

PS- For those who did follow the activity I mentioned in the beginning, they must have realized the agony. And as I continue to work in similar situations, you could turn on your fan/light/AC/power-plugs :)