Recently, one of my professors commented about how he too had once been on this side of the wall, and that he had gone through more than 20 years of academics to reach the other side. He further went on lecturing us about how we cannot and should not try to outsmart him when it comes to studies, assignments, exams, marks, etc. He further, rather subtly, threatened that he could, in all his academic glory and further glorified education values, set an examination paper which would bring us(the not-so-sincere students) down to our knees.
He must be in his 40's. Which means, his twenty years of schooling/college must have happened close to 15-20 years ago. This is a letter I would perhaps like to send to him, though not sure when.
Hello Sir,
I wanted to speak to you about your claim of knowing what it feels like to be a student, and it's possible you are right. I have my own thoughts on this subject, and I hope you can see them with an open mind.
Rather than jumping to judgmental conclusions about your claim, I request you to examine this point a bit more deeply first, through the following points.How much can the world, and especially the students' arena change in 20 years?
1. This is the twenty-first century. The world is changing so fast that the US Department of Labor estimates that today's learners(Grad/Post-Grad) will have 10-15 jobs by the time they celebrate their 38th birthdays. This is in direct contrast to the times in which you studied. In your time, to get one permanent job, with job security, was the ultimate dream. It ain't so anymore. The aims and aspirations of this generation are vastly detached from those of your generation.
2.Many of today's college majors didn't even exist 10 years ago, and the one I am enrolled in is so new that it's first batch is yet to pass out. Further more, the top 10 in-demand jobs of 2010 wouldn't have existed in 2004.
3.The amount of exposure the 21-year olds(Grads/PGs - Urban) of your current class have had is exponentially more than the exposure you yourself would have had when he was 21. A normal student in your class would have seen more than 10,000 hours of television and would have spent more than a thousand hours surfing the Internet, and atleast a few hundred hours on video games.Apart from this, they would have recieved more than 20,000 e-mails/text messages, and are members of various groups/communities online.
4. Google alone gets 3,000,000,000 searches per month. To whom were these questions addressed before Google? The point here being, the students of today not only have the liberty of asking questions but to get and make the answers as well.
5. The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. And this time period will only decrease. How much information can a human brain be expected to retain? And you take great pride in announcing that you are only teaching us what you yourself learnt during your days of college, your point being you enjoyed your college years and see no point we shouldn't.By the end of 2010, the time period for the doubling of technical information is expected to be less than a month.
A few more searches on Google and we'll have hundreds more of such numerical facts which will strengthen my own claim: A professor today was a student yesterday. But that doesn't mean he can understand what it means to be a student today. He cannot, for, Shift happens. This shift just cannot be stopped. We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don't yet exist. They'll be solving problems we don't even know are problems yet. How can they be expected to have the same thought patterns as a student of pre-globalization era India?
Albert Einstein said,"We cannot solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when creating them", and this pretty much sums up my feelings for my professor's thoughts. There is a generation gap, and we have to accept it and modify accordingly. It is ridiculous to keep fooling yourselves that the world hasn't changed from where you stand. It is though, ironic that it is sheer economics that drove us to Liberalization and Globalization, as a result of which Indian students have way higher access to all those things that my professors blame for the students' so-called degradation - Internet, Video Games, I-pods, Laptops, PDAs, etc.
On the other hand, the field of education is fast becoming stagnant and redundant - Nintendo invested more than 204 million US dollars in their Research and Development; The U.S. Federal Government spent less than half that amount on research and innovation in education. Any guesses on how much India spends on changing the way education is imparted in it's schools and colleges?
The stubborn-ness on the part of the people on the other side of the wall to see this as plain, neutral change, rather than to label it as rot, social crisis, spoilt-brats-phenomenon, etc. will help a lot in decreasing the student-professor communication gap. The tutorial/classroom environment is a thing of the past. A student can learn economics on his computer listening to Pink Floyd, while getting updates on his personal interests from his internet feeds. He'll be learning on his own terms. The student of today will learn what he wants to learn, but does not generally want to be taught what he doesn't want to learn. The professors want to teach us what they learnt, but they have to realize that we want to learn something else.
This entire argument leads up to the illusion of a paradox - we have convergence of the world and yet, the students want to diverge. This is the thin fine line between intellect and intelligence. Between knowledge and thought. Between being taught and learning. Let the students learn, and in the process, I am sure so will you.
Yours Sincerely,
One of those usually-absent students.
Showing posts with label IITK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IITK. Show all posts
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, July 12, 2008
An Ode
Sitting in my seat , long before
the professor arrives to spread his wisdom.
For once , in all of four months
I ain't dying with boredom .
I can't wait to take down notes.
My pen races across the paper
without missing a single word .
And for once , I ain't
looking at my watch every five minutes .
Because I know that
when the bell eventually rings
The professor , the lecture hall,
the subject , and it's mystery
will all be history ,
that I won't care about .
The last lecture of the semester
Is truly a great experience to remember .
the professor arrives to spread his wisdom.
For once , in all of four months
I ain't dying with boredom .
I can't wait to take down notes.
My pen races across the paper
without missing a single word .
And for once , I ain't
looking at my watch every five minutes .
Because I know that
when the bell eventually rings
The professor , the lecture hall,
the subject , and it's mystery
will all be history ,
that I won't care about .
The last lecture of the semester
Is truly a great experience to remember .
Friday, June 27, 2008
This Weather Bleddy Well deserves a post !!!
What's common to
Yeah , I know , it's a great opening for a blog post , but the credit ain't mine . It's been blatantly copied from this amazing review of Dasavatharam . Thanks , Mr.Jalsa-and-Jilpa .
Anyways,back to our topic - the weather .
A month and a half back , we had a sandstorm here in Kanpur . I saw people praying like it was the end of the world and yet others close their mouths only when they realized it was full of mud.At two o' clock in the afternoon , it become night here . An everlasting one for few - a coupla dozen poor souls lost their lives on that day .
It was C-R-A-Z-Y .
One month back , it was scorching hot and it was highly humid as well . For one week , it was like hell incarnate.Everything was hot .My notebooks , my shoes , my laptop , my bedsheet even . Sweating like crazy in prickling hot sunlight .
Whoever invented prickly heat powder is God . Really .
And then , it rained . And rained. And rained .
After two days of rains , for close to two weeks , we had what was definitively the best weather in Kanpur I've seen . So much it led my friend to go and blog about it .
And then , suddenly one day , I got up early in the morning , at 7 or so and opened the door to find summer staring at me in my face . It was so hot , I couldn't see without squinting my eyes .
For one day .
The next day it rained . A bit . But not much .
The next day was H-U-M-I-D . I had sweat written all over me .
But thankfully , it was not too hot .
And then , it was bleddy dry for two , the past two days . And it was that way till today afternoon . When it started raining . I look down from my room now and it's pretty much impossible to find a square metre of visible ground . Forget dry ground , that ain't here . It's been raining for 7 hrs on a trot , and heavily at that and shows no signs of slowing down .
.
.
.
.
Tomorrow , it is expected to snow here.Not a blizzard,most probably, but they say it's a possibility .
Well , just kidding , but I wouldn't be surprised if it did .
- A tornado at a speed greater than 100km/hour and
- A blizzard , like the ones they got up at the north pole , harassing all those poor eskimos ?
Yeah , I know , it's a great opening for a blog post , but the credit ain't mine . It's been blatantly copied from this amazing review of Dasavatharam . Thanks , Mr.Jalsa-and-Jilpa .
Anyways,back to our topic - the weather .
A month and a half back , we had a sandstorm here in Kanpur . I saw people praying like it was the end of the world and yet others close their mouths only when they realized it was full of mud.At two o' clock in the afternoon , it become night here . An everlasting one for few - a coupla dozen poor souls lost their lives on that day .
It was C-R-A-Z-Y .
One month back , it was scorching hot and it was highly humid as well . For one week , it was like hell incarnate.Everything was hot .My notebooks , my shoes , my laptop , my bedsheet even . Sweating like crazy in prickling hot sunlight .
Whoever invented prickly heat powder is God . Really .
And then , it rained . And rained. And rained .
After two days of rains , for close to two weeks , we had what was definitively the best weather in Kanpur I've seen . So much it led my friend to go and blog about it .
And then , suddenly one day , I got up early in the morning , at 7 or so and opened the door to find summer staring at me in my face . It was so hot , I couldn't see without squinting my eyes .
For one day .
The next day it rained . A bit . But not much .
The next day was H-U-M-I-D . I had sweat written all over me .
But thankfully , it was not too hot .
And then , it was bleddy dry for two , the past two days . And it was that way till today afternoon . When it started raining . I look down from my room now and it's pretty much impossible to find a square metre of visible ground . Forget dry ground , that ain't here . It's been raining for 7 hrs on a trot , and heavily at that and shows no signs of slowing down .
.
.
.
.
Tomorrow , it is expected to snow here.Not a blizzard,most probably, but they say it's a possibility .
Well , just kidding , but I wouldn't be surprised if it did .
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Dost , Nanban , snehithudu , Friend - College .
Sigma mnu into alpha delta will give the percentage of the faulty pieces in the output.
Sigma mnu into alpha delta.
Sigma mnu into alpha delta .
I was nervous and I had reason to be . In five minutes time , I had to give my presentation, and my head was swimming with greek alphabets I had no interest in. It doesn't really matter here . Your interest . What matters is the grade you get. Copy karo , bheek mango , fraud maaro , bas accha grade la do bas . Kaam Katham .
I was trembling as I took the mike and spoke first about the basics of the course and then this new innovative assembly line idea I had come up with. I had taken huge pains to learn all the coursework and had come up with something new that I thought would work out well .
But as I spoke with shivering notes in my hand and a trembling voice , I realized my thoughts had no relevance to the grading .My ideas fell upon deaf ears and my interests had no takers . I was a misfit here.
Frustrated I was. Anger swelled up in me as I returned to my hostel .
That fucken professor should be dismissed .
Chalo yaar , chai piyo , mast jiyo . Kai ke liye itna tension le rao ?? Chill mar bhai !!
As always ,Dhiresh was there to make life easier . And a few others .
Kya ? Fukka kaa liya ? Tik hai yaar ... agle baar dekh lete hain . Kya dikkhat hai ? ...
Chod diya ? Tumko chod diya ? Arey baap re ... Pagal hogi wo ladki . Tu chinta mat kar , usse sau guna zyaada mast bandi milegi tumko . Tumhari to kismat hi waisa hai ...
Rest le . Tu rest le pehle . Padai wadai sab bandh . Doctor ne rest lene bola hai aur wo hi karega tu . Chup Chaap juice piyo aur so jau . Chicken pox hai bhai , koi mazaak nahi ho rai idhar .
Cricket team mein select nahin hua , to kya ? Aur koi sport hi nahin hai kya ? cricket ke alava koi jeevan hi nahi hai kya ? Lite le lo yaar . . . Ek kaam kar , tu mere saath guitar seekhne aa jao , ek hi saal mein naya band form kar lete hain ...
Akele chal rahe ho ?Bahut door hai yaar service center . Bore ho jaoge . Ruk , mein bi aata hoon .
College mein dosti hoti hai .
Dosti mein masti hoti hai .
Aur padai bi usi mein hoti hai .
College main dosti bindaaz
to baaki sab bakwaas
Well , almost .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
College has , is , and will always be about the friends and their friendships . It's them who shape your personality , views and character . IITK is no exception . The technical demographics , the grades , cpi , spi , resumes , project reports , assignments , etc . will remain as pure details and nothing more .
The above post is part fiction and part non-fiction . The line between the two , is also , merely a part of the details .
I tribute this post to Dhiresh,Pratik,Pranay,Adarsh,Vinay,Sai and Sukrit . These guys have made my life at IITK memorable . Thank you chaps .
Sigma mnu into alpha delta.
Sigma mnu into alpha delta .
I was nervous and I had reason to be . In five minutes time , I had to give my presentation, and my head was swimming with greek alphabets I had no interest in. It doesn't really matter here . Your interest . What matters is the grade you get. Copy karo , bheek mango , fraud maaro , bas accha grade la do bas . Kaam Katham .
I was trembling as I took the mike and spoke first about the basics of the course and then this new innovative assembly line idea I had come up with. I had taken huge pains to learn all the coursework and had come up with something new that I thought would work out well .
But as I spoke with shivering notes in my hand and a trembling voice , I realized my thoughts had no relevance to the grading .My ideas fell upon deaf ears and my interests had no takers . I was a misfit here.
Frustrated I was. Anger swelled up in me as I returned to my hostel .
That fucken professor should be dismissed .
Chalo yaar , chai piyo , mast jiyo . Kai ke liye itna tension le rao ?? Chill mar bhai !!
As always ,Dhiresh was there to make life easier . And a few others .
Kya ? Fukka kaa liya ? Tik hai yaar ... agle baar dekh lete hain . Kya dikkhat hai ? ...
Chod diya ? Tumko chod diya ? Arey baap re ... Pagal hogi wo ladki . Tu chinta mat kar , usse sau guna zyaada mast bandi milegi tumko . Tumhari to kismat hi waisa hai ...
Rest le . Tu rest le pehle . Padai wadai sab bandh . Doctor ne rest lene bola hai aur wo hi karega tu . Chup Chaap juice piyo aur so jau . Chicken pox hai bhai , koi mazaak nahi ho rai idhar .
Cricket team mein select nahin hua , to kya ? Aur koi sport hi nahin hai kya ? cricket ke alava koi jeevan hi nahi hai kya ? Lite le lo yaar . . . Ek kaam kar , tu mere saath guitar seekhne aa jao , ek hi saal mein naya band form kar lete hain ...
Akele chal rahe ho ?Bahut door hai yaar service center . Bore ho jaoge . Ruk , mein bi aata hoon .
College mein dosti hoti hai .
Dosti mein masti hoti hai .
Aur padai bi usi mein hoti hai .
College main dosti bindaaz
to baaki sab bakwaas
Well , almost .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
College has , is , and will always be about the friends and their friendships . It's them who shape your personality , views and character . IITK is no exception . The technical demographics , the grades , cpi , spi , resumes , project reports , assignments , etc . will remain as pure details and nothing more .
The above post is part fiction and part non-fiction . The line between the two , is also , merely a part of the details .
I tribute this post to Dhiresh,Pratik,Pranay,Adarsh,Vinay,Sai and Sukrit . These guys have made my life at IITK memorable . Thank you chaps .
Saturday, March 8, 2008
IDENTITY
Of whatever I can remember of my short life so far , I've always been defending one culture or the other . Sometimes at the cost of another dear one even . It was telugu films , telugu culture while I was in school . Not a week used to pass without an argument over whether telugu heroes were more ridiculous or tamil heroes were more ridiculous . Once I moved to Hyderabad , it was exactly the same argument , only I was arguing for the tamil heroes this time around . I should have been happy with what I had and realized there was worse to come . Now in Kanpur , i have it upon myself to defend both Tamil and Telugu films apart from the occasional argument for Mallu films as well . Whats more , it's not just films anymore . The boundaries have been pushed back to include language , food , dressing styles , religion , marriage and what not . Each and every facet of our way of living has been argued over , always with two sides at the least ,mostly North and South .
Even as I struggle to break out of these societal bindings , I wonder what IS my culture ? What am I ? Chennai-ite? IITian ? Golti ? Indian ? Or should I restrict myself to a South Indian ? Or am I a global citizen ? Decide on one and arguments pop up for the others .
It's not just me either . Most students here are trying to come up with a fixed identity for themselves . And once they do , they start closing their mind for other suggestions , other options and stand steadfast by their identities , irrespective of whether their identities are justified or not . A self-professed fan of SRK is never gonna(mostly) accept that SRK is no better than Rajni , while a strictly Rajni fan might not be able to come to peace with the fact that Rajni is no longer the amazing performer he once was . You might be wondering...is this all part of one's identity ? Do our fave heroes , our food habits form a part of our identity ? Definitely . People fucken die for Rajni man .
Lets get back to the topic . Identity . Can anyone have a fixed identity which isn't ever gonna change ? Say , you have never tasted coffee but strictly believe you won't like it . One day , your girlfriend forces you to drink some coffee she made and you realize you actually like it . Love it infact . More than your girlfriend even . Does this change your identity?? You bet it does . From a dumb , idiotic,ignorant moron , you become a coffee loving,dumb,idiotic,ignorant moron .
Again, so what constitutes an Identity ? Or can we even say X , Y and Z form part of your identity while A,B and C don't ? Heck, first break out of the narrow confines of your mind and come to terms with the fact that a person can't ever have a fixed Identity . Yes, you do have an identity but it keeps changing . Continuously . Perennially .
So, what am I now ? I am just Pavan Madhini . What you make of me is your problem and not mine . I am happy the way I am - a continually changing , confused, confident , cool chap who is a Chennai-ite at heart . As of now .
Even as I struggle to break out of these societal bindings , I wonder what IS my culture ? What am I ? Chennai-ite? IITian ? Golti ? Indian ? Or should I restrict myself to a South Indian ? Or am I a global citizen ? Decide on one and arguments pop up for the others .
It's not just me either . Most students here are trying to come up with a fixed identity for themselves . And once they do , they start closing their mind for other suggestions , other options and stand steadfast by their identities , irrespective of whether their identities are justified or not . A self-professed fan of SRK is never gonna(mostly) accept that SRK is no better than Rajni , while a strictly Rajni fan might not be able to come to peace with the fact that Rajni is no longer the amazing performer he once was . You might be wondering...is this all part of one's identity ? Do our fave heroes , our food habits form a part of our identity ? Definitely . People fucken die for Rajni man .
Lets get back to the topic . Identity . Can anyone have a fixed identity which isn't ever gonna change ? Say , you have never tasted coffee but strictly believe you won't like it . One day , your girlfriend forces you to drink some coffee she made and you realize you actually like it . Love it infact . More than your girlfriend even . Does this change your identity?? You bet it does . From a dumb , idiotic,ignorant moron , you become a coffee loving,dumb,idiotic,ignorant moron .
Again, so what constitutes an Identity ? Or can we even say X , Y and Z form part of your identity while A,B and C don't ? Heck, first break out of the narrow confines of your mind and come to terms with the fact that a person can't ever have a fixed Identity . Yes, you do have an identity but it keeps changing . Continuously . Perennially .
So, what am I now ? I am just Pavan Madhini . What you make of me is your problem and not mine . I am happy the way I am - a continually changing , confused, confident , cool chap who is a Chennai-ite at heart . As of now .
Monday, February 11, 2008
Ultimate Frisbee
Say frisbee and u've got images of kids throwing a disc around . The sport I am talking of , Ultimate , also known as Ultimate frisbee is COMPLETELY different ; though the basic play is same - catch,throw,run .
Ultimate is distinguished by its spirit of the game �the principles of fair play, sportmanship , and the joy of play.{wiki}
I started playing this great sport on the Elliots Beach in Chennai . Though my stay was short and my number of playing sessions didn't even cross into double digits ; I was hooked .
And so it was that I landed in Kanpur with a disc in hand . Surprise , Surprise...we have one more enthusiast of the frisbee but he hasn't played Ultimate though .
Since, it has seen a slow but steady increase in participation here at IITK . Starting in the Hall 2 quad , we have now moved to the hockey field to have our Ultimate matches .
Every weekend , both saturdays and sundays , you can catch us playing Ultimate at 1400 hrs at the Hockey Field this semester .
Needless to say , EVERYONE'S INVITED !!! ....And no prior experience is needed .
For a sample of this spectacular sport , check these videos :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-6mHYXyd9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3QUO4StfCE&feature=related
You can also join the IITK ultimate yahoo group :
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/iitkultimatefrisbee/
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Education in India
Jawaharlal Nehru had a vision in setting up the IITs . He wanted them to be colleges where the brightest of the bright students of India could study in a productive environment . Ok, so how do you know who is the brightest of the lot ? Well, that's what we got the IITJEE for .
The IITJEE is meant to separate those gifted few who are more intelligent than the others . The select few who are expected to become world leaders in their respective fields . The guys who can change our nation through their innovation and intelligence .
Not any more .
Till now, the grading system has been such that students are selected only if they clear individual cutoffs in all three- Math , Physics and Chemistry . With this year , this sytem has been changed . As of now, there exists only a total cutoff , i.e. even if u are not good in math , you can slog like an ass for a couple of years and score high enough in your chemistry section to get through to IIT . Well, what will happen IN IIT is altogether a different matter (for starters , 98 students failed in MTH101 , the most basic course in math taught at IIT Kanpur , among the most recent batch) .
The IITs have made mistakes before and still managed to keep going at the top of the race . But this one forces people to wonder if this kind of a downward trend continues , will the IITs be held in the same esteem as now by the recruiting companies ??
Apart from this , we have the usual corruption cases on some of our faculty here ; absurd amount of stupidity in handling sensitive issues like mental stress and suicides ; extra-ordinary emphasis on academics (yeah , I know....this is a technical institute) , etc. , etc. .
Our Board here had the bright idea of making our 18 week semester into a 17 week semester in order to reduce stress levels among students . Yes, you got that right ....and just that....no decrease in no. of exams or the syllabus ....this directly implies that we have more to study in lesser time ; but this somehow seems to have passed through certain thick skulls without affecting their thought process .
.
.
On a higher note for education in India though , we have our first B school in the world top 100 and no, it's not any of the IIMs . Infact , ISB (Indian School of Business) has been ranked way,way ahead of the next Indian B school , IIM Ahmedabad . ISB stands tall at #20 , while IIMA is at around the 140's mark on the world front .
On the other hand , we have a mega university coming up in Orissa , the Vedanta University . The university, which would be entirely a not for profit venture has been gifted with an endowment of US $ 1 billion from Anil Agarwal , an Indian businessman, who heads the London based Vedanta Resources corporation . With a campus size of more than 6000 acres and an estimated campus population of 500,000 at its full strength , this will be a small town in ti's own right. Chk their site for more details .
The IITJEE is meant to separate those gifted few who are more intelligent than the others . The select few who are expected to become world leaders in their respective fields . The guys who can change our nation through their innovation and intelligence .
Not any more .
Till now, the grading system has been such that students are selected only if they clear individual cutoffs in all three- Math , Physics and Chemistry . With this year , this sytem has been changed . As of now, there exists only a total cutoff , i.e. even if u are not good in math , you can slog like an ass for a couple of years and score high enough in your chemistry section to get through to IIT . Well, what will happen IN IIT is altogether a different matter (for starters , 98 students failed in MTH101 , the most basic course in math taught at IIT Kanpur , among the most recent batch) .
The IITs have made mistakes before and still managed to keep going at the top of the race . But this one forces people to wonder if this kind of a downward trend continues , will the IITs be held in the same esteem as now by the recruiting companies ??
Apart from this , we have the usual corruption cases on some of our faculty here ; absurd amount of stupidity in handling sensitive issues like mental stress and suicides ; extra-ordinary emphasis on academics (yeah , I know....this is a technical institute) , etc. , etc. .
Our Board here had the bright idea of making our 18 week semester into a 17 week semester in order to reduce stress levels among students . Yes, you got that right ....and just that....no decrease in no. of exams or the syllabus ....this directly implies that we have more to study in lesser time ; but this somehow seems to have passed through certain thick skulls without affecting their thought process .
.
.
On a higher note for education in India though , we have our first B school in the world top 100 and no, it's not any of the IIMs . Infact , ISB (Indian School of Business) has been ranked way,way ahead of the next Indian B school , IIM Ahmedabad . ISB stands tall at #20 , while IIMA is at around the 140's mark on the world front .
On the other hand , we have a mega university coming up in Orissa , the Vedanta University . The university, which would be entirely a not for profit venture has been gifted with an endowment of US $ 1 billion from Anil Agarwal , an Indian businessman, who heads the London based Vedanta Resources corporation . With a campus size of more than 6000 acres and an estimated campus population of 500,000 at its full strength , this will be a small town in ti's own right. Chk their site for more details .
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Mind Your LANGUAGE ! Bleddy !
Last week , i went over to my friend's apartments to play cricket and we were discussing plans to go to a movie when all off a sudden , this 40 something gentleman shouted at us , " Mind Your Language !!! " . Uh ? .
He went on to tell us how we shouldn't be using "unparliamentary" words inside the apartments and should keep our filthy chats to the streets . All of us were still staring at him like he was crazy .
And he stared back at us . The staring game went on for quite a few seconds before I thought of asking what exact words we were using . Bleddy . This was the word he had heard one of us utter which had sent him mad . ( Personally speaking , I later realized that he must have probably had a very bad day from his wife :) ) .
.
.
.
.
So much for those apartments ; lets consider IIT Kanpur . Yeah , its still one of the best colleges in India . As for the scenario in IITK , a few facts about the spoken word here are :
He went on to tell us how we shouldn't be using "unparliamentary" words inside the apartments and should keep our filthy chats to the streets . All of us were still staring at him like he was crazy .
And he stared back at us . The staring game went on for quite a few seconds before I thought of asking what exact words we were using . Bleddy . This was the word he had heard one of us utter which had sent him mad . ( Personally speaking , I later realized that he must have probably had a very bad day from his wife :) ) .
.
.
.
.
So much for those apartments ; lets consider IIT Kanpur . Yeah , its still one of the best colleges in India . As for the scenario in IITK , a few facts about the spoken word here are :
- The first 40 or so words I learnt in Hindi (during the first few days at college) were "gaalis" , i.e. swear words .
- Every alternate sentence begins with bhenchoddh .
- The in-between sentences begin with madarchoddh .
- The sentences which begin with bhenchoddh end with madarchoddh and those which begin with madarchoddh end with bhenchoddh .
- The few rare sentences which don't start with either of bhenchoddh or madarchoddh begin with either of bosdickey/maakichooth-theri .
- If you know what the fore-mentioned gaalis mean , good for you . If you don't , even better . If you still want to know , DON'T ask me .
- Yes of course , every sentence has atleast two other distinct gaalis in between the starting and the ending .
- Quite a few creative students burn up their grey cells in coming up with new innovative gaalis every week . An interesting example is " Mayya-ki-Bua" , invented by Ankit Agarwal .
- A special should be made of "Madhar-Puttu" , which came into vogue after it was used by a Rajnikanth look-alike in Deepshika , the Hall 2 festival .
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Carnival of FUN -ANTARAGNI@IITK
Poets of the Fall is coming to IIT Kanpur this year . No, I am not bluffing . It's true . If any of you wants to come, contact me and I can arrange an invite for your college .
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Arbit - 2
# Screwed Mid-Sem 1 . But not so much that it cant be repaired . Lets see what happens in the second mid sem .
# Saw Trainspotting . Brilliant film . Fucken Style .
# Have read two volumes of Sandman , a graphic novel . Cant wait to finish the rest .
# Stopped playing cricket . Too much of fucking politics going on . Taken up tennis a bit more seriously now .
#Went to Delhi for the first time in ma life . Awesome roads . One doubt for the delhi girls..... ever heard of Salwar Kameez ???........... After all , you aint living in fucken California .
# Got this awesome set of paintings which form the portfolio for the Star Wars film series . Original . For fifty bucks . :)
#Lost my bag in the library . Along with my cheque book , pass book , among other stuff . And the security guard (read SIS for iitk guys) was sitting 4 feet away from it while someone walked away with it . Refused to take a complaint as well . SIS guards sure as hell live up to their name .
#Am doing marketing for Antaragni 07 . Thats our cultural fest here at IIT,Kanpur .
# Ever heard of a band called Poets Of The Fall ? Apparently , it is the next big thing on the rock scene in Europe . Their song 'Carnival of Rust ' rocks big time . And they are performing at IIT Kanpur next month . During Antaragni .
# Started playing Counter Strike . Not as appealing as AOE is . But is still addictive .
# Man who drive like hell , bound to get there .
# Saw Trainspotting . Brilliant film . Fucken Style .
# Have read two volumes of Sandman , a graphic novel . Cant wait to finish the rest .
# Stopped playing cricket . Too much of fucking politics going on . Taken up tennis a bit more seriously now .
#Went to Delhi for the first time in ma life . Awesome roads . One doubt for the delhi girls..... ever heard of Salwar Kameez ???........... After all , you aint living in fucken California .
# Got this awesome set of paintings which form the portfolio for the Star Wars film series . Original . For fifty bucks . :)
#Lost my bag in the library . Along with my cheque book , pass book , among other stuff . And the security guard (read SIS for iitk guys) was sitting 4 feet away from it while someone walked away with it . Refused to take a complaint as well . SIS guards sure as hell live up to their name .
#Am doing marketing for Antaragni 07 . Thats our cultural fest here at IIT,Kanpur .
# Ever heard of a band called Poets Of The Fall ? Apparently , it is the next big thing on the rock scene in Europe . Their song 'Carnival of Rust ' rocks big time . And they are performing at IIT Kanpur next month . During Antaragni .
# Started playing Counter Strike . Not as appealing as AOE is . But is still addictive .
# Man who drive like hell , bound to get there .
Thursday, August 16, 2007
ARBIT - 1
#Baccha quizzes, major quizzes , surprise quizzes , assignments , mid-sems , not to mention the monstrous END-SEM . The horrible reality of exams is at us ,hard in the face, here at IITK.Not three weeks have passed since third semester started for us and already, you can catch dozens of guys flocking to the library in huge groups . For a change , I cannot criticize them , for I am studying too (though not as much so as to go the lib). We can call it mugging even, I guess.
#Even as much as I want to study hard , I am finding it pretty hard to set aside even two uninterrupted hours for study . Frankly speaking , third semester has been lots of fun . Have started playing tennis on a serious scale. Am going jogging in the mornings; if not everyday , atleast five days a week . Have lost three kgs . Become a "marketing executive" of antaragni - our cult fest. Book club work is tedious,but not exactly boring.....yet. Am preparing quizzes to host in the coming weeks . And cricket .
#Am trying to help the new batch students in adjusting to their lives here .
#Our team comprising of Dhiru-bhai, Pranay and myself came fifth in an insti-level DumbC competition, thanks to a nice effort in the rapid-fire round .
#Have been watching a few old Tamil films . Thalaivar ( for the non-tamil chaps , Rajnikanth) rocks in MULLUM MALARUM . His conversation with Sarath Babu after he is fired is worth special mention . Especially the " Kettta payan sir avan " dialogue ) .
#Saw a decent english film called "Hooligans"
#Read the amazing ' Life of Pi' . Have finished the first two books of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series . Eagerly waiting to lay my hands on the third . And of course, have read HP7.
#Presently reading 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini .
#I don't have any specific reason for writing this post other than the feeling that it had been a long time since I had posted anything here .
#Even as much as I want to study hard , I am finding it pretty hard to set aside even two uninterrupted hours for study . Frankly speaking , third semester has been lots of fun . Have started playing tennis on a serious scale. Am going jogging in the mornings; if not everyday , atleast five days a week . Have lost three kgs . Become a "marketing executive" of antaragni - our cult fest. Book club work is tedious,but not exactly boring.....yet. Am preparing quizzes to host in the coming weeks . And cricket .
#Am trying to help the new batch students in adjusting to their lives here .
#Our team comprising of Dhiru-bhai, Pranay and myself came fifth in an insti-level DumbC competition, thanks to a nice effort in the rapid-fire round .
#Have been watching a few old Tamil films . Thalaivar ( for the non-tamil chaps , Rajnikanth) rocks in MULLUM MALARUM . His conversation with Sarath Babu after he is fired is worth special mention . Especially the " Kettta payan sir avan " dialogue ) .
#Saw a decent english film called "Hooligans"
#Read the amazing ' Life of Pi' . Have finished the first two books of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series . Eagerly waiting to lay my hands on the third . And of course, have read HP7.
#Presently reading 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini .
#I don't have any specific reason for writing this post other than the feeling that it had been a long time since I had posted anything here .
Friday, August 3, 2007
INFORMAL INTERACTION - RAGGING IS STRICTLY BANNED !!!
Complying with the directives of the Hin'ble Supreme Court of India, IIT Kanpur has formed various Anti-ragging committees and squads for overseeing the implementation of the verdict with immediate effect ; regardless of which , ragging continues to happen in this campus, only , under the name of informal interaction between seniors and juniors . Though I have refrained from actually ragging the students (making them do obscene impersonations,etc., etc.) , I have tried to know the juniors better by asking them their hobbies and interests . From what I have learned from these conversations with the bacchaas (as the first years r called here) and from what I have heard from my friends, I describe some interesting students :
#One horribly skinny chap who had won four gold medals in gymnastics at the international level . This explains the lack of our olympic medals to some extent I guess.
#A guy who had written more than hundred poems in hindi, but didn't have a single friend to show them to . From what I hear , it took a long time to get this out of his mouth .
#A guy whose hobby was reading novels -he had read less than ten - was a big, big fan of harry potter and didn't know the name of the sixth hp book. Some hobby.....
#Another guy's hobby was watching movies . In his own words he saw more english movies than hindi ones; but couldn't name more than four english films . One more guy's hobby was to make friends. Chap must have been bitten by the orkut bug .
#Four guys till date have given this reply when asked what they do in cricket : "waisey hi , kheltha hoon ! " .
# Thera Hobbies kya hai?? : Novels padtha hoon . Favourite author kaun Hai ?? .......SHERLOCK HOLMES .
#One horribly skinny chap who had won four gold medals in gymnastics at the international level . This explains the lack of our olympic medals to some extent I guess.
#A guy who had written more than hundred poems in hindi, but didn't have a single friend to show them to . From what I hear , it took a long time to get this out of his mouth .
#A guy whose hobby was reading novels -he had read less than ten - was a big, big fan of harry potter and didn't know the name of the sixth hp book. Some hobby.....
#Another guy's hobby was watching movies . In his own words he saw more english movies than hindi ones; but couldn't name more than four english films . One more guy's hobby was to make friends. Chap must have been bitten by the orkut bug .
#Four guys till date have given this reply when asked what they do in cricket : "waisey hi , kheltha hoon ! " .
# Thera Hobbies kya hai?? : Novels padtha hoon . Favourite author kaun Hai ?? .......SHERLOCK HOLMES .
Sunday, July 29, 2007
End Of The IIT,Kanpur Blog
Today I am gonna delete my other blog - Life at IIT,Kanpur . I have reproduced two of the best posts from there . Reading them now, I realise that I have been bashing my college quite unashamedly . The suicide-post is fraught with emotion , or so some ppl have told me . The other one is my reaction to the unbelievable number of exams we have to undertake here .
Friday, April 13, 2007
EXAMS EXAMS EVERYWHERE...NO TIME FOR ME TO SPARE
DISCLAIMER:These are strictly my personal views, those of a person who has spent less than a year here at IITK.Views on the academic system here may vary from person to person.
Here at IITK , we have some of the best brains (supposedly) of the country studying---and quite a lot of them leave the institute after four or five years with a degree and very little more.Yes, there are quite a few of them who make the most of their stay here and leave IITK with tears in their eyes and a lot of memories in their minds.Hmm.....i shudnt get started on the different type of ppl who live here....let me get to the point. WE HAVE A FUCKEN HUGE NUMBER OF EXAMS AND A PATHETIC GRADING SYSTEM TO SCREW US MORE.First up, let me talk abt the grading system here- we have 5 different grades possible for each subject-A(10);B(8);C(6);D(4);F(2).
IN ALL THE OTHER IIT's, the grading system is 10,9,8,7,6,5,4 and 2.As a result of this kind of a grading system here, what happens is that two students who have worked for varying amounts of time and have highly different marks get the same grade.For example, in my first semester here, a chap who got 50 marks and another who got 79, both got D in MTH101.The chap who scored 50 marks will be happy of course, but the guy who got 79 will obviously tend to get frustrated from the sheer unfair nature of the grading.APART FROM THIS, what also happens is that the average CPI also goes down.A student from IITM who has below average CPI might actually end up having higher CPI than an above average student from IITK.But the people outside the IIT's aint gonna know all this............
Now, coming to the exams part, let me first talk about some other IIT's(info is based purely on word of mouth):
IITM: In each semester, the students there have to go through two sets of major quizzes and one set of End-Sem exams.From what my friend there says, the chaps there have time for loads of cultural activity(he attends three lit events every week) and to play sports and what not.
IITB: These ppl have one mid-sems and end-sems.And i have also heard that their cult fest is the best in the country.
IIT, Kharagpur and IITG also have a system somewhat similar to that of IITB.
Ah....IITK, here i come.
Coming to the end of my second semester here, the first semester seems almost like an extended vacation in comparison.We did a hell a lot of stuff in our first sem......playing various sports like baddy,footie,tennis,t.t till 5 in the morning sometimes and sometimes further than that.We had innumerable "bhulla" sessions,where we discussed everything from biscuits to business;playboy to placements.....by gawd, i dont remember ever having laughed as much as i did in those days...but i do remember rolling on the ground in laughter.I did bunk classes a bit in first sem as well, but no where near as much as i have in second sem.The main reason is that I had time for myself even after attending all those lectures....some quality time during which needn't have to necessarily do something "purposeful".True, not having a lappy then meant that i had a bit lesser distraction....but i personally feel, lappy or not, this is the way i would have been now.
IN SECOND SEM, we have only 17 credits, where as we had 21 in the first.But the workload only seems to have increased.We have weekly quizzes in batthi(electronics).And our batch specially has quizzes in almost every other physics tutorial session, where the tutor is more enthusiastic than the students are about the quizzes.I remember on occasion when he announced on a thursday that there would be an hour-long quiz(on a huge, huge portion of the textbook) on tuesday--he counted the days in between on his fingers and told us, with a beaming smile, that we had four days to prepare.If it was not for the fact that he has quite a lot to do with our grades, i would have immediately stood up and questioned him on that last statement of his. We had MEGABUCKS- the entrepreneurship fest of IITK over three of those four days, starting on that thursday and folding up on sunday.I had registered for a workshop which took away two days-thursday and friday.On the next two days, i played in two tiring cricket matches, which took away saturday and sunday.Monday remaining- 4days worth portions to study.........And so it is that, we have atleast two quizzes almost every week and most chaps will be preparing for one or the other.Add to all this the weekly T.A. lab and the T.A homework, apart from the batthi lab and its lab report.Oh yeah, we are given out assignments as well, in maths,physics and batthi, meant to be done sincerely by the student on the day when it is given.ALL THIS AND WE HAVE NOT EVEN REACHED THE BEST PART YET.
We have something here called the mid-sems here, which induce, among others, paranoia,temporary memory loss, personality disorder,acute sense-loss,etc. NO, i am not talking about the end-sems yet.You will see chaps here studying at 4 o' clock in the morning, walking in the corridor, below the tubelight, who wouldn't notice if a tornado passed by nearby.
I've personally seen guys waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning--didnt even step down from the cot.....woke up, took the book near his pillow(pre-planning??) and start reading. AND WE HAVE TWO OF THESE.
WHEN THE END SEMS are still a month away, people start talking of it.And when the end-sems are about 29 days away, they start studying......as the days go by, the tempo increases.....with ten days to go for the end-sems--a friend of mine says that his wing looks like as if someone has died there and there is a state of mourning.Each is in his own custom-made zombie-like state of mugging.
To sum it all up, we have TWO MID-SEMS, ONE HORRIBLE END-SEMS AND TWO QUIZZES ALMOST EVERY OTHER WEEK..........SO WHERE DO U THINK WE GET THE TIME FOR OURSELVES??TO WRITE BLOGS LIKE THESE??TO PLAY TENNIS??SOME TIME TO SPARE...............
WHAT DO U THINK WE BUNK CLASSES FOR??????
P.S....all said and done, i still have a rocking time out here, for there is enough freedom here to set your own priorities and live accordingly.........true, ur cpi might get screwed a bit this way, but if u r happy living like that, who cares anyways...
- Monday, April 30, 2007
One more SUICIDE---DARK TRUTH ABOUT IITK???
It must have began quite a long time back. Probably in his eighth standard or something! Maybe even in the same coaching institutes that some of us have studied in. Now, I don't know if Jay Bharadwaj studied in Matrushri or Sharma or even if he took coaching from eighth standard itself, but what I do know is that he committed suicide by placing his head on the railway track at the entrance of IITK. It was the second suicide since I came here last year and the fourth in less than 16 months. Feelings are varied on the campus and debates and discussions are being carried out in corridors and rooms, but for the most part , NOTHING is being DONE actively.
I had just written my physics exam and come back to the hostel. With a plate full of food and an empty stomach , I sat down to have my lunch as one of my friends plonked down opposite and said,"rey, bharadwaj chanipoyadu anta ra.....adhe ra, aarozu ACA (andhra cultural association) lo kalisamu chudu..."("hey, remember bharadwaj, the chap who talked to us that day...heard he has committed suicide!"). I didnt remember the poor soul then and neither do I now, but I DID feel sick to my stomach from the sad news and I returned my plate of food almost untouched. Some guys sitting nearby were laughing and joking about the suicide and calling Bharadwaj a coward and what not. HAVE WE BECOME SO MATERIALISTIC THAT WE DONT CARE IF ANOTHER STUDENT FROM THE SAME COLLEGE , A CHAP WHO HAS GONE THROUGH THE SAME THINGS THAT WE ARE GONNA TOMORROW,...DIES??? Over the next two days , I saw more students joking and laughing about the incident, while I wondered what his thoughts must have been while waiting for the train!
I have since come to know that he had been extensively browsing sites on how to commit suicide for the past one month. Pity. And what followed his death was even more pitiful -
An e-mail was sent to all the students announcing the "tragic event".
A condolence meeting was announced. IT WAS A JOKE. The director came on stage and read out the e-mail that he had sent earlier, mentioned Bharadwaj's tenth and twelfth class marks and concluded with a thank you. THAT WAS IT.the condolence meeting was over, even as most of bharadwaj's friends were just arriving. PATHETIC.
The HoD of the civil department, in which Bharadwaj studied, gave out a statement to the tune of ," He was JUST an average student. " Was this boys life so dispensable, so forgettable that we do not even want to mourn him? Is ANY life dispensable? I dont know what HE mean't, but not many students are surprised.This new HoD of the civil dept here, Professor CVR Murthy, is seen as an idealist for whom nothing less than perfection will do. I've heard that he was a dhussa (ten pointer ) for ten semesters straight and that even his wife ran away with one of his PhD students unable to bear him.
The much-talked about three-tiered counselling service here is in reality, only a front. The three tiers are supposed to be the student guide, the faculty counsellor and the college shrink. We don't have anything to do with the faculty counsellors, except inviting them to our hall day and some cultural events, which many students look upon as waste of money, as we have to provide them dinner as well. The shrink visits the college once in a while and an e-mail is sent to this regard, which is deleted by the majority of the students without being read.
Oh yeah, we've got this new ANXIETY HELPLINE as well. Ten professors or so are available for counselling 24/7. But, say a guy is sitting lonely and depressed in his room....what are the chances he is gonna go and look up the number of the anxiety helpline on the notice board and make a call to a prof? Would he be able to complain abt one prof to another?? Talk about his deepest feelings to someone whom he hardly knows and is a prof as well???
I have heard that one more suicide was attempted yesterday, but that he was saved. And I heard some students commenting that this fella must have probably not made enough research on suicide.Some of them were even discussing about the better ways in which he could have died.
HOLY SHIT!!!
I DONT SAY SUICIDE IS RIGHT, but we should examine the reasons which led him to death. And we should act, act fast.The grading system can be changed, for starters. Any student who has to repeat a course he doesn't like at all for three or four times is bound to get frustrated and depressed.
An excerpt from a blog written by a friend of a student who almost committed suicide:�No, finally she didn�t jump. One professor courageously called out to her from his window and asked her to move away from the tank. She heeded that call, maybe even at that point she could not think of defying a professor. I wonder what all went through her mind? Who can tell? She must not have been more than 20 years old... maybe even younger.
�Her parents refused to let her drop a semester. After all she was a success; she had no right to fail. She tried harder. Her mother stayed with her. Finally they took her back and let her drop the semester. Her friends were happy that they were not weaklings like her. I haven�t seen her around since then. This successful place (IIT Kanpur) has a remarkable capacity to block failures out. She is not missed.
�But I am still shaken. I don�t want to end up there, no matter what, whether I am successful or not. I want to slow down. And I want to get out of this �successful� place. It is so lonely; it has such little tolerance for people like her, and perhaps for people like me. I feel trapped in my success.��
#end of excerpt#
Another excerpt :
A reputed educationist and counsellor, Dr Amrita Das, maintains that perhaps not many realise that today students are swimming in a different ocean than the one in which their parents swam. It is not marks alone that matter now, it is important to have a smart mind too. That comes from participating in extra-curricular activities, nurturing creative hobbies, spending time with friends and learning social skills. In other words, by letting children just be. It is not only IQ but also better EQ (emotional quotient) that counts today.
A request that a student had made at a counselling session continues to haunt Dr Das. �This young girl told me �please tell our parents to also remind us of our competencies and not just of competitions�.�
#end of excerpt#
Jay Bharadhwaj was from Hyderabad, from Ramaiah institute---which makes him connected to some of us in a minute fashion.Last year, 50,000 students wrote JEE in hyderabad.Total was 3 lakh in India.Doesn't this tell something???I've also heard that quite a few students who committed suicide in IIT's were from Andhra.....weird coincidence???I have got some suggestions, but i am pretty sure none of them will be enforced anywhere in the near future.....
- The no. of mid-sems can be reduced to one.
- Compulsory attendance be enforced in lectures, of say 70 % or so.
- Amount of gaming be controlled.
- Some useless,unnecessary courses be scrapped.Phy lab and chem lab to name some.
- Most of the tutors are useless and hence, the tutes are a waste of time we can't afford.It will be nice to see tutes being scrapped, but since THAT won't happen ever....I say they be reduced.
Coming to the end of this post, I have a request for all of you......We as Indians have to stop treating college children as babies and try to control what they can do and cannot do. Let them make their mistakes and let them learn.Please tell your relatives and friends who have great expectations from their sons to let go of their children, let them dream of their own......I wonder how many sportsmen,singers,artists we have lost just because some fathers failed in becoming engineers, and wanted their sons to fulfill their dreams.
DISCLAIMER: A lot is based on hear-say.....I didn�t mean to offend anyone by this post. If I did, I apologize. Its just so frustrating to see young lives wasted like this.
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