To The Brightest of NIT Raipur..

1st question : Don't have the slightest idea.

2nd question: Remembering something of the answer, but am not sure.... whether the answer is that... or that... or??? :P

3rd question: I think it is out of syllabus.

4th question: I think there is something missing in the question...

This was the status of almost all the 10 questions that stared at me from the question paper. I had known that this was going to happen with me today and had therefore taken proper care to wear my shoes and socks (to hide my micro photocopies...:D )

I started copying the answers now.

Only a person who has been under such a situation can understand the nightmare that one goes through. Each hair of your body seems to be jumping on its end and each nerve vibrates as it is about to give away. You feel like the invigilator is looking at you from the corner of his eyes all the time and will catch you any moment now.... however i kept my resources of confidence and courage intact as i copied at a feverish pace.

Luck always fails me in tense situations and lady luck betrayed me once again when I saw Mr. Bajumdar and Mr. Bansal, two of the most dreaded flying squad profs entering the exam hall.

I tried to keep my body calm and my face expressionless but i am no actor and the two experienced fellows immediately caught me red handed at my job.

The moment was humiliating and painful beyond words. I had once been asked an eyesight certificate at the college and the 6/6 written on it started floating in front of my eyes.....(backlogs). I wanted to run away..... jump out of the window beside my seat.

"Why are you sleeping? Don't you want to submit your paper and go home?"The invigilator shook me up from my deep slumber.

I handed him the 2 marks worth answer sheet and said a silent prayer to God.......1/6 is always better than 6/6. (Arrears. :P)

Me & My Scooter...

She smiled.....I smiled.

Her beautiful face a bit annoyed, mine a bit apologetic and embarrassed. This had been my 30th kick but the scooter still hadn't shown any response, and it was with an extremely brave and resilient heart that I was still able to look up at the face of my new girlfriend.

She did not smile.....I smiled.

Her face was growing cold and angry now. Mine looking more pitiful, helpless and ashamed as ever. I had kicked it 50 times by now and slowly my friends and fellow students gathering around had started to make a mockery of us, joking and laughing from a distance. By now i had started planning to abandon both my scooter and my girlfriend and run away to some dark and isolated corner where no one would be able to see me....

She smiled.....I did not, could not smile.

Pride, self importance, ego, showed on her face. Mine showed tragedy, disaster. I had no strength left to kick now, and with a bleeding heart, I saw my biggest rival Pankaj come in with his Karizma, offer her lift and zoom away with her; leaving behind a cloud of smoke for me to hide myself.

He drove her to Cafe Coffee Day and I, after the smoke had subsided, with a broken heart and a bruised ego, made the long walk back to the mechanic...

To Marry or Not to Marry.....

Since childhood, I don't know due to what particular reason, I favoured bachelorhood over marriage. It may have been just a whimsical prejudice of my mind, but after I saw both my maternal uncle as well as my elder cousin opting for bachelorhood and deciding to remain single throughout their lives, this prejudice of mind became a concrete realization and belief. They were stern men and kept up their promises. I wanted to be one of them.

I however, after a lot of coaxing and begging by my parents, instigation by my friends and humiliating reprimands by uncles and aunties, agreed to do what I hadn't visualized myself doing: marry. I decided to tie the nuptial knot, thereby ending my highly cherished bachelorhood of 31 years.

Well how stupid I was to have changed my decision. it was as if I had slept at Goa and woken up at Pakistan. I was like a bird with clipped wings soon after marriage. Late night movies, bar outings, long biking trips with friends had suddenly become things of the past. Like with a slight turn of the kaleidoscope, the picture had changed completely. I had ceased to fit into the company of my old bachelor friends who had given me up as lost cause and now jeered at me behind my back.

The true picture, however emerged when my wife left to me visit her parents for a month. Keeping up with regular household chores like laundry, paying bills, buying groceries and supervising home maids was no joke. Meals had to be prepared or just skipped. The house wore an abandoned look all around.

The fragrances of her talcum and perfume were missing. And so were the feminine taunts and giggles. I longed for these moments and wandered from shop to shop in markets, searching for that matching set of bangles, which i would toy with while she snored softly lying with her hand across my chest.

A Cup of Coffee

Over a cup of coffee Mr. Kumar had just begin to relax.....

The rhythmic pattering of the rain drops felt good to his ears and the weather seemed very romantic to him. This was the rainy season in Mumbai, his favourite and he would give up his fortune to sit like this – feet up on an easy chair having coffee, listening to the raindrops and thinking about his special friend.

Mr. Kumar, 24, an I.T professional lived with his parents in Andheri West. Today was a Saturday and having spent the entire morning in seeing off his parents at the airport and the entire afternoon at the Pizza Hut with his ‘friend’, he was now enjoying this lone evening at home.

As he brought the coffee near his face to take a second sip, his smile faded away from his lips. A fly was floating in the coffee and had made it unsuitable to drink. Stupid fly, Mr. Kumar thought, this was the only place it had gotten for itself. Now, however there was no option but to make another cup for himself. Going towards the kitchen it dawned to him that there was no coffee powder left and that he would have to go to the grocery shop in the locality if he wished to have some.

Therefore taking his umbrella with him, he stepped on the street only to find himself standing in knee deep water. His determination got the better of his fear and the rapidly developing frustration; thus forcing him to wade through the water. He had gone a fair distance when suddenly he felt the ground under him give away and he stumbled into a pit. Putting in all his resources he somehow managed to come out of the hole now wet upto the chest. The rain was battering on his face now and he suddenly realized that he didn’t have his umbrella any more. He searched frantically near him for some moments but it was nowhere to be seen. Feeling as miserable as ever he dragged himself ahead.

Mr. Kumar was still abusing the BSNL guys about the pit when he reached the shop. A lightening struck him when the shopkeeper told him that he had no coffee left. With an aching heart and aching legs he somehow limped back to his door.

As soon as he returned home he rushed to the bathroom to clean himself up. It was there that he realized that in his misadventure, he had subjected his N-95 mobile to water while he was carrying it in his pocket. Also his wallet and its contents had met with a similar fate.

Now out of the bathroom feeling more morose and crestfallen than ever. Mr. Kumar’s eyes fell on the cup of coffee with the fly in it. He grabbed it, picked the fly out of it, reheated it and had made himself comfortable again- sitting feet up in his easy chair. Sipping the coffee which tasted much better to him now, he was beginning to relax and feel comfortable again; except that he was hardly able to think about his ‘friend’ now and the weather didn’t seem to be at all romantic to him.

Round and round in circles

I was tired of school now.

Same stuff everyday- homework, tests, quizzes, exams and due to them failures, humiliations, criticisms leading to gloominess, depressions; “I will not bear the brunt of school anymore”, I decided. This fresh remonstration of my mind was triggered by a new assignment we, class tenth students had been given. “Write an article on ‘round and round in circles’ and submit it tomorrow” our class teacher had said.

Now lying on bed at 10 o’clock, I hadn’t the slightest idea of how to do it. I decided to kick the assignment out of mind and bring in Katrina Kaif, my new infatuation. She had been fabulous in her last flick “Singh is king” and I was just more than impressed by her.

I tried to sleep now, wishing that Katrina would come in my dreams, but something was disturbing me. I looked at the ceiling fan; it was making a rhythmically irritating sound. I looked at it more clo0sely now- it was going round and round in circles…….. I fell asleep.

I was walking towards my ancestral home in Sitamarhi district in Bihar when I saw a beautiful lady, dressed in a sari, come towards me. No sooner had I realized that it was my favourite Katrina, my head started spinning round and round in circles. I was wondering whether she is here for a film or a vacation or a ….., when her voice brought me back to my senses. She asked me if I knew the way to the “Annual agricultural fair” which took place every year in my village. Taking the bull by its horns I asked if she would accompany me to the fair.

I was still apprehensive while talking to her but her easygoing and friendly manner calmed me down immensely. I was more interested and absorbed in the activities taking place than I had ever been in my life before. There was much diversity and social fervour as you would ever get any where else in India. The snake charmer with his snakes coiled round and round in circles, the top spinner with his variety of tops spinning round and round in circles, the sugarcane man who produced gallons of sugarcane juice with his with his rapidly spinning round and round juice maker; all were crowd gatherers. Children were running round and round in circles and men folk, gathered round in circles were entertaining their dark interests. Katrina’s exclamation of joy at every nook and corner also assured me that I was in for a good time this evening.

We reached a merry go round and she insisted that we must go for a ride in it. I would have jumped in well if she asked, a well was incomparable. The ride took us round and round in circles many times and sitting alongside her I felt more elated than I had ever felt in my life.

Back on the street again and walking past hordes of villagers, I was relishing the different expressions on the people’s faces as they saw us on the street. Some were astonished, some envious and others simply anxious to see the empress of a million hearts walk with me.

Then we went for adjacent seats in a toy train which would take us round and round the fair three times showing all the handicrafts, consumable items and cattle which have been put up for sale at various places.

The sun had almost set now and ominous black clouds were hovering above the horizon. We had almost covered every inch of the fair now and I had started wondering if I should invite her to dinner at home with my parents, when suddenly at a distance I saw a huge tornado moving towards us at a lurid pace. it was destroying everything that came its way. I became panic stricken, my feet got glued to the ground and with a sinking heart I witnessed the impending danger as the tornado moving round and round in circles approached us. 

All of a sudden, dust surrounded us. Katrina tried to hold on to me but the storm threw us into empty space. After an eternity the storm subsided and I opened my eyes expecting to see the beautiful face of Katrina all smeared and mottled with dirt now, but all my eyes registered was the scene of complete devastation. I started searching for her now; I ran to the wreckage of the food stall, to the overturned merry go round; I was weeping now- “Katrina”, I shouted……. 

I woke up with a start. Suddenly remembering the dream, my eyes fell on the ceiling fan. I got up and switched it off. I had had enough of round and round in circles. I skipped the assignment.

Returning Home

I had never felt happier before…not for quite some time….

The announcement for the Durg Chhapra Express had been done and I, standing on platform no.-5 with two bags and a heart full of nostalgia could hardly wait to reach home. I was returning home after 1st semester and it had been tough…to stay away from the love and importance one got at home; and in completely alien and sometimes hostile conditions… to survive on mess’ food which even a beggar would refuse to eat…to bear the humiliation and severe mental trauma one faced during ragging…and to live in an horror and trepidation where one does not know when one may incur a backlog. But now everything was immaterial, inconsequential…I was going home…I was going to my family…

The platform was completely crowded and the people present seemed to be more or less happy. I wondered if there would be anyone happier than me out there, anyone more satisfied with life at present than I was.

The train arrived and I settled myself on my designated upper berth. I was not hungry at all; the euphoria of going home had quietened my stomach. I tried to sleep but my thoughts went back to my home again…what I would do when I reach there…I would meet my friends…I would boast about my college and the excellent facilities it provided…about my hostel life…about the fictitious girl in my life…about the new feats I had achieved…about the ragging I had bravely encountered here, yes…they would be spellbound, my friends at the village. I would sleep properly, I decided. The bed I shared with my dad back home was so comfortable…and…and I would eat well, whatever I was given at home. I had realized completely now that nothing in the world tasted as good as food prepared at home. The rice and dal tasted so delicious at home that you wouldn’t need anything else…and the chicken curry that my dad cooked on Sundays…..

I tried to sleep now, I would be much closer to home by morning.
Morning gave way to afternoon and when we reached Allahabad at 2 p.m, I was feeling quite at home. My heart beat faster as I saw the familiar sights of the paddy fields, sugarcane plantations and the small villages passing rapidly by.

Night fell; bringing with the assurance that home was at arm’s length now. Occasionally as the passengers opened their tiffin boxes to eat their dinners, the smell invigorated my hunger and watered my mouth to such an extent that I had to repeatedly convince myself that I would be home soon and would get to devour as much of food as I wanted.

I reached my intermediate station Chhapra at 12 o’clock and was just in time for the last government bus to Gopalganj. In the jerking motions of the rickety bus, I thought about my mother…had she missed me…yes, she would definitely had…a mother always misses her son…I wondered whether there has been any change in me…and whether my dad would be able to detect any…

I awoke as the bus reached Gopalganj. Alighting from the bus in the bluish grey light of the dawn, I saw my dad standing at the far end of the depot. How he might have lived…alone…all these days…never mind; now that I am here, we will bring the old days back…even if for a month only…cooking, cleaning, roaming and all the things that two old friends, two roommates do…
Hiding his tears, as always, he grabbed a bag from me, held my hand and said “let’s go home”…

Outsourcing in India

The Y2K crisis was the most talked about and debated topic during the late 90s and it had a potential to derail and devastate the whole global economy.

When computers were built, they came with internal clocks. These clocks rendered dates with just six digits- MM/DD/YY. That meant that they could go up to only 12/31/99. So when the calender hit Jan 1, 2000, the computers were poised to register that as 01/01/00 and not as 01/01/2000; and thus it would be 1900 all over again.

Thus the data recorded, stored and processed in the net were all under a threat as it was believed that all computers would shut down on 01/01/2000; thus creating a global crisis.

This computer remediation was a highly tedious job. Who in the world had enough software engineers to do it all?? Who in the world had such highly educated young people who were so hungry for jobs and opportunities? Answer: India with the graduates having studied from the IIMs, IITs, RECs and other private colleges.

And so with Y2K looking down upon us, the Indian IT industry evolved when the US companies 'outsourced' this Y2K upgrading to Indian technologies companies.

From here, started the great outsourcing or the highly talked about BPO, 'business process outsourcing' industry which took India by a storm and probably in my opinion gave birth to this new, modern India that we see today.

To explain outsourcing lets assume that I own a medium or large firm and i want to reduce the cost of many lesser value operations in my company. So what do I do??? I engage another firm which agrees to perform these regular functions at a much lower operating cost. In simple terms outsourcing means that you get some processes/ functions/ tasks of your company performed outside of it, from another company. 

Thus in the beginning of the 21st century, after the Y2K upgradation by Indian technological firms, a lot of other jobs were outsourced by the american firms to the Indian companies. Some of the jobs outsourced could be as diverse as of the type- 

1. BPO company in India; performing all the accounting works for an accounting firm in the US.

2. A credit card firm in US outsourcing its costomer care and telephonic marketing operations to India so that a customer in US gets his queries answered on phone.

3. Reuters, the news agency, whose name you might have seen at the end of articles in news papers, outsources the 'news breaking' and prima facie reporting part to India whereas it gives more stress on its analyses and research based operations.

4. Microsoft, Dell or IBM outsourcing their technical support customer care services to India.

5. Intel outsourcing R&D tasks to india for developing microchips for high speed broadband wireless technology.

6. Radiologists in US hospitals outsourcing reading of CAT scans to doctors in India and Australia.

7. Customer care services for tracing lost baggage for US and European airline passengers.

Thus as one can see a wide range of jobs with different applications and implications were outsourced and are still being outsourced to India. The main reason for these jobs being outsourced to India was India's cheap working force, a very high intellectual capital and proficiency in english among other Asian countries. 

Thus an american dialing 1-800-Help, to enquire about the newest Microsoft operating system, thinking that he would wind up talking around the block, ends up talking to someone with a disguised Indian accent, half a globe away. 

Thus this was as a brief idea of what outsourcing is and how it infused a new lease of life into India and its economy. I firmly believe that Y2K should be for india a second independence as it changed the whole outlook of india as a nation in the global arena, very similar to what had happened in 1947.

3G...the way to go

The buzz-word currently in the telecom sector and associated circles in India is 3G. These two letters have taken the communication industry by storm in many countries and India is eagerly awaiting the advent of this exciting new medium of communication and data transfer.

3G or Third generation is a term used to refer to the next generation of mobile communication which is soon to be launched in India and which will surely usher in a revolution in its kind and completely change the outlook of communications. 3G technology will allow network operators to offer their subscribers a myriad of advanced services. India already has a booming mobile market and with its extensive network coverage, mobile broadband will undoubtedly be the best thing to happen.

The amount of bandwidth needed for 3G services could be as much as 15-20MHz and this is as much as 500 times the 2Gspectrum that we have been using since the late 90s. 2G stands for second generation wireless telephone technology and 1G are analog cellphone standards.

In the past few months, all of us have been curious as to why governments all over the world are raising such a huge hue and cry over 3G spectrum. The answer is that 3G spectrum will be the ultimate technology anyone can even dream of. It will enable us to simultaneously transfer a telephone call as well as non–voice data such as downloading information; along with sending e-mails and flash messages. 3G spectrum allows the simultaneous use of speech use of speech and data services and a very high data downloading speeds of upto 1750 kbps. In other words, we would be able to flash our mobiles to check out our favourite soaps on television, view uploaded videos on the net, challenge our friends to any online games or just spend some time listening to our favourite singer.

3Gspectrum was first introduced in Japan for commercial purposes and since then 3G services are now operational in 42 countries all over the world.

One can surely appreciate why radio spectrum has become such a costly and scarce resource in the world presently. It being in short supply, telecom operators are vying for 3G spectrum rights from governments all over the world and the governments, on the other hand, are minting a huge revenue on realizing that they own a priceless resource. While India falls behind many Asian countries in introducing 3Gservices, the auctioning of 3G spectrum in India to prospective bidders would start on 14th January next year. According to Sanjiv Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Telesoft (the software wing of Bharti Enterprises),”paying a premium” for services will not hinder the customers – “Typically mail and chat are hugely popular and these services will be enhanced in terms of video mail or video chat. If past subscribers are anything to go by, we see a willingness among customers to pay a premium price”. It is worth noting that there are a number of issues related to 3G that are bothering the government. High prices for 3G services; possibility of electromagnetic waves causing health hazards, many highly clandestine zones of India coming under the purview of 3G and rigidity of 2G users to switch to 3G services are some of the propositions requiring formulation.

But, for the time being, we can sit back, relax and enjoy the comforts which are being bestowed upon us by this new technology. 3 cheers to 3G!!!