On That Friday

That was a Friday. It had been a week since I have joined TCS as an associate. The week went well with all the classes and the joining formalities. On that day everything started as per schedule and I started to the office with my bag which contained all my original certificates and the photocopies. Actually, there was no need of carrying the originals or even the photocopies for that matter, but I carried them for my safety. I, being a lazy person thought of leaving the certificates in room but I have changed my opinion as one of my friends warned me against that as that day was the last of my first week at TCS and it would be better if I carried them for the last time. This was indeed a trap which unfolded late in the day.

            There was nothing particularly significant on that day in the office and we left the office to our friend’s room as we have planned earlier. We discussed many things at his room, had a lot of fun and slept for some time. It was almost 7 pm when we started to our room. The bag was still with me and I got a call on the way. It was an important one with a lot of interesting information and hence grabbed all my attention. We got into the bus, my friends found seats but I was left alone standing. I gave away my bag to my friend and stood freely and continued my discussion on phone. After sometime I found a seat and  as I was still talking I did not take back my bag from my friend, in fact I was  so much involved in the discussion that I forgot my bag’s presence completely. During this process, my friends engaged themselves in some interesting conversation and literally forgot about my presence. It took some 15 minutes to reach our destination and finally I ended the call by that time.

            We were very hungry and so headed to our favorite restaurant before going to the room. One of my friend commented about the sweat on my back and that was when I came to know that there was no bag on my back. I was terrified and enquired about it with the other friend, to whom I have handed it over during the journey and to my horror he did not even remember that I gave a bag to him in the bus. I started to panic as there were all the important certificates along with my newly issued id card, my pan card and what not. Even my friends were equally bothered as they came to know about it and we were desperate to find the most precious thing of my life. Yes, it was the most precious thing in my life as it contained all my credentials and I was clever enough to leave nothing in the room, not even the photocopies.

            After this we started our retrieval plans, although we were panic-stricken none of us showed it but we were quick enough to catch the next bus. I consider myself as a fortunate person in those unfortunate circumstances as we had the ticket issued by the conductor of the bus in which we travelled. It was indeed a talisman for me. To add to my woes none of us knew Malayalam and only one among us could manage Tamil. We showed the ticket to the conductor of the present bus and somehow managed to explain about the incident. He was confused at first but later understood the problem and after carefully observing my talisman, told that both the previous bus and the present one belonged to the same depot, added to it that it was headed to the depot as that was its last trip and this bus was also going to the depot. This relieved some amount of tension but by that time my mind started thinking about the various processes involved in getting back the lost documents. I somehow had the knowledge that getting back the lost certificates was one of the most tedious tasks and if at all I failed in the pursuit of my bag I had to go through each and every process. We waited impatiently till we reached the bus depot. It took 20 minutes to reach our new destination, the KSRTC bus depot, Trivandrum.

            We got down as soon as we reached the depot and started searching for the bus. We met a good number of workers there and came to know that the bus we were so desperate to find hadn’t arrived till then. We explained the problem to the depot manager and he was kind enough to help us and comforted me saying that there were good chances of me getting back my bag. We waited for another ten minutes and during that short period we tried to trace out the name of the conductor and his mobile number. We were successful in knowing his name but unfortunately no one had his mobile number. These ten minutes really showed the hospitality and the helping nature of Keralites. Yes, they were very helpful and almost everyone was doing his bit to help me. After ten minutes the bus came and almost everyone in the depot were standing with us and the conductor of the bus got down with a black Belkin backpack in his hand. Yes, this was my bag. Thank god I have retrieved the most valuable thing in my life. The depot manager warned me about my callousness and asked me to be more careful from then on. Yes, it was purely due to my carelessness that all this happened and this experience taught me some of the greatest lessons of life and I thanked everyone who cared for my bag in the depot. Then slowly we walked out of the depot. I was so much relieved that I sat on the road with tears in my eyes. Then we took the bus back to our area, had a good dinner and then got back to the room. This unexpected incident turned that Friday, an unforgettable day.

After All, I am Proud to be A SASTRITE.......

It was April, 2007. I had completed my final +2 examinations and was busy preparing for various entrance tests that were going to be held by several prestigious institutions in the country. I consider myself a courageous person for selecting IIT’s, India’s most respected institutes of technology as my goal after successfully completing my class 10. Even though I was unaware of the competition, I felt I was destined to be in the nation’s premier institution for my standards. With all this in mind I started my preparation for IIT-JEE, AIEEE and other such examinations. Although I was a visionary at the initial stages, I slowly recognized my capabilities, strengths and more importantly weaknesses which made me more of a realist than a visionary in the later stages of the Intermediate course. These revelations were instrumental in helping me believe that it would be very difficult for me to get through JEE and so I started my preparation more on the lines of AIEEE and was pretty confident of getting a good rank in the all India level. As I was seriously preparing for that exam, I came to know about a university in Tamil Nadu which was admitting the students based on their +2 marks and more importantly it was in the top hundred engineering colleges’ list. The name of the university was SASTRA University located at Thanjavur.

Though I was preparing well for the competitive exams, some part of my brain was eagerly waiting for the results of my +2 examinations after coming to know about such a generous and at the same time good university. This was not due to lack confidence but having an alternative always comforts human beings and I was no different. The results were out and I had scored well and that implied that there was an option of me getting into Sastra even if I could not crack the AIEEE, but this assurance helped me work more freely and so I was able to take the test with more confidence and I did pretty well in the examination also. Finally when the results were out even though I got a respectable rank, I came to know that it would not help me to get a seat in the NIT’s and it could only get an admission into a university like Sastra. That was it and I firmly made up my mind to join Sastra University based on my +2 marks. I was quick on applying for the same and somehow got into ECE department, SASTRA University, although it was nearly the last seat in the department. Not to mention, the total fee to be paid was almost equal to the amount that could be sufficient for 2 students to pursue B.Tech in a normal engineering college.

All the engineering colleges were starting classes either in late July or early August but Sastra started the classes for the first years in late June. That was indeed a shock as I had other thoughts of enjoying the holidays, which unfortunately became too few. I reluctantly started to the college. I had some expectations about an engineering college and I was very eager to know whether my college would stand up to my expectations. I did not know whether the expectations were wrong or the college was not up to the mark but I had started off with a slight disappointment. The college was ragging free and it was literally as there were no serious ragging sessions and we, the freshmen felt secured. The hostel was livable but, it was definitely not a luxury. The food was hygienic and that was the only positive quality one could find in it. I have to be fair here in mentioning that there were some good days when we had tasty food but mind you those days were too few.  Then the academic course structure started to take its toll on us. There were some really strict professors and the marks became scantier as the semester came to the end. The end semester was not that difficult and we got through it relatively easily. Finally coming to the results, here Sastra should be lauded for the consistency in the process of evaluation and it was as good as any university in the country. Coming to the end semester holidays, they were also too few. This made me feel like to be in Sastra for four years would be an achievement in itself. Then in the even semester we had the Daksh, national level tech fest and the only thing that caught my attention was the Robot race which was indeed eye catching. Later I came to know that the path laid for that particular event was the biggest of its kind in Asia and this struck a chord with in me to regard Sastra as something in the technical arena rather than nothing. Then there was KurukSastra, a cultural fest that attracted many participants from Tamil Nadu and it was good.

Electronics and communication department at Sastra has had a special importance as it was not only the most sought after dept but also the toughest course in the university. Though the course structure was a reason, the professors and their methods made it the toughest. There were assignments, a lot of them and fortunately we needed little effort as we were better copiers than the photo copy machine itself. Apart from these we had the lab sessions with some stringent and at times senseless rules which made the life harder and never forget the saga of the khakhi dress. The labs at the outset looked easier on condition that the staff was good, but every end semester practical was a battle and if the external was someone like the dean then they would be the most violent battles one could ever conceive. Then coming to the rules and regulations at the hostels, they were the most any hostel can have and we, were the most patient inmates for following them and living accordingly as that needed the perseverance of a saint. These rules increased when there was an unfortunate mishap and frankly those were the most testing conditions to live as a free human being.

The happiest time one had on campus was undoubtedly the weekends and during the fests, if you get involved. The tech fest and the cultural fest were the best platforms to interact with friends and more importantly juniors and I was lucky to get into my university’s cultural team in the final year. We had a fantastic time visiting the VIT University and our joy knew no bounds after winning the overall title. It was the time spent with the team that was more satisfying than the victory. This achievement had another advantage for us, Team Telugu lits, as it confirmed our permanence on campus. This rejuvenated us and it was our turn to conduct our cultural fest and hence the preparation started. This was indeed one of the best moments of my college life, as I had some very special moments with my dearest friends which if I start describing here will make this elongated article, a short novel. This was the time I got to know some of my junior friends who were too good and it is due to them that I want to visit Sastra if I get a chance now. The time spent then was indeed something unforgettable and a total description of that is also not feasible here and now.

 Then we come to the final frontier, our placements. It was a known fact that the placement record of Sastra University was good and TCS was the main employer, but we never expected that TCS, India’s best IT services company would rope in 1359 candidates from Sastra itself. This came as a pleasant surprise and almost everyone of our batch were placed in due course of time and we were a happy bunch getting out of the college. After passing out in May, 2011, I have joined TCS in July and there was another pleasant surprise waiting for me there. I came to know that we were given Engineering services as our horizontal and not the IT services. This was something special because the apprehension of studying something and working in some other stream was bothering me to an extent and this unexpected gesture of TCS made me more grateful to Sastra. Yet another surprise to us was that the 25^th convocation at Sastra was presided over by none other than Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. He was nothing short of awesome in his speech and everyone in the meeting was inspired by his words. I feel lucky to be there and it was due to Sastra that it was possible for me to see such a great personality and draw inspiration from.  

 Then I have learnt that Sastraites were among the respected lot in TCS because of their capability to work harder. I heard one of my seniors saying that the work in TCS is far less difficult compared to the torture we undergo as an ECE student at Sastra and I feel it is true. I owe a lot to the college as they taught us the way to work and work well.I may not be an IITian, I might not have been placed in Google but I am proud to be a Sastraite for making me what I am. I would like to end this long essay saying something which I never intended to say when I was in the college, I Love You SASTRA…………… 

When adoration becomes fanaticism….......

When adoration becomes fanaticism….......

                          There is nothing special in loving someone whom we know personally. This is in fact a common phenomenon in life and almost all the living creatures experience this kind of love. Loving an unknown person is indeed something special. But this specialty ceases to exist when we come to know that the unknown person is a well known celebrity. This is due to the fact that there are a large number of people who love a select number of achievers, actors, leaders and without doubt film stars. Though there are people of this kind in all parts of the world we Indians stand out in this aspect. It may look like a bit of exaggeration but we worship our co citizens as demigods only on a condition that they should excel in their own field. This kind of adoration is quite common in India and everyone knows that this is something more than a passion but unfortunately it can never become a profession.

                           There are people who live for their own sake. There are number of instances in real life where people live and work for the sake of their loved ones. There are innumerable instances in our nation where there are a lot of young people who are so passionate about their on screen idols that they hardly think before they do something crazy to show their love towards that person. There is no harm in loving a person for his work and in fact it helps people in gaining confidence and also improves their self belief. But this is the only positive against a number of negative effects of being a follower.

Ayn Rand a great writer of 20^th century, also the founder of a philosophy called Objectivism quoted that “Selfishness is the best virtue for mankind.” Though this statement may look absurd and also out of context but a thorough understanding helps in discovering the statement. According to her selfishness in loving one’s own work, in completing his duty is the best virtue and if every person loves to perform his own duty there will never be any difficulty arising and if at all there is one it will be solved in no time. This is also an ideal ideology and definitely it is not possible to implement but even if a few start loving their own self than being selfishly unselfish there can be a lot of development in our present state of affairs.

              The adoration of people is common and it has become a part of our life but it becomes a problem only when this hero worship crosses the limit to become fanaticism and then as the meaning of the word suggests it becomes uncontrollable and there arises the problem. In a more straight forward way there is absolutely no use in worshipping a film star and fighting to save his reputation where even he himself does not like to have such. In saving the unwanted reputation of his idol the person definitely becomes notorious and along with these abstract problems there will be more practical issues of facing the police at times. This kind of fanaticism is definitely detrimental for the overall development of the youth.

               Then what can be done? Following the on screen actors, politicians and others has been a long held hobby in our nation and it has been unfortunately hereditary. Now the youth are better educated, more matured and definitely more logical compared to those of previous generation. So should we follow the age old tradition of following some one? Following someone can be done even by a computer. In fact following and performing a repetitive task is done in a better way by a computer or a machine when compared to a human being. So in this world of  ever increasing sophistication and modernization it is only creativity that makes us stand out and it is no doubt that creativity becomes the basic amenity for a person to lead his life in the near future. So let we stop following and start creating and we shall become the ones being followed…if a nation has all its youth as leaders then the nation itself becomes the leader……..

Engineering in India: A concoction that needs concern.

                         Every year there are nearly 60 million Indians passing out as graduates and 2million engineers are among them. India is also one of the youngest countries in the world at present. With the education system designed to emphasize the importance of mathematics, science and technology, we are producing the man power required to drive the world forward. There a good number of Indians in almost all the reputed corporate giants and definitely it is something to cheer about and draw inspiration from. Individually working we Indians are comparable to the best in any business.

                           With the increase in the number of seats offered and the augmented job opportunities in software and core industries the number of students preferring the field of engineering has gone up steadily. There are nearly 3700 engineering colleges in the country offering admission in various streams of engineering. Among them we have the internationally reputed IITs, NITs, Deemed Universities and the engineering colleges affiliated to government universities. Though the quality of the education provided differs in various institutes the quantity and the content does not differ much. The business minded people have made innovations even in the field of engineering offering new course which are the hybrids of the existing streams.

                             Indian Institutes of Technology are considered as the best places for pursuing engineering and they are internationally acknowledged as premier institutes for technical education. This is a known fact and hence the competition is also very high for attaining a seat in these prestigious institutes. It is almost a certain dream for any +2 student in India good in mathematics to be in an IIT. The kind of infrastructure available and the quality of the students are the important attributes that make them the esteemed universities they are. Unlike in schooling the role played by the faculty decreases in higher studies and it is the duty of the students to use the lecturers and gain knowledge from them. Then coming to the other institutes that offer engineering education there are many good aspects available in educating the students along with some discrepancies and disorders.

                            Every student starts his B.tech or engineering after rigorous hard work in the +2 for securing admission in an institution of high quality. They come to the college with a lot of hopes and also with the wings of freedom. Then the system of our engineering slowly starts taking its toll. The basics of all streams will be taught in the first year without any emphasis on the elected stream. But the saddest part is that there will be same number of credits accredited to basic civil engineering and electronic circuits for an electronics student. Many students choose the groups on popular public opinion than based on their interest. This problem arises due to the fact that many students are not well informed about the different groups and so they end up choosing wrong subjects. This is one of the biggest problems faced by the students and there are not many solutions available for this. Then coming to the life style and the work done in an engineering college, one can confidently say that for a residential engineering student there will be a lot free time and many of our students do not know the different ways to use the time well and hence they learn wasting or killing the time that is one of the worst things that can happen to a student in that particular age. Another important problem that has an enormous impact on students is the rapidly growing enforcement of western ideas which hinder the general inherited Indian growth thus making our future engineers, many of them the ardent followers of the pop and Facebook culture.                            

                          Then coming to the curriculum there are some electives and some compulsory subjects for every stream and unfortunately the electives are not electives after all in many colleges. They are electives that are compulsory making the name elective meaningless. Then the staff will most probably be either of highest standards or below par making the subjects tougher than they actually are. The assignments those lack innovation and creation make the students virtual Xerox machines where a single interested book worm does the work and others just reproduce it and thus save a lot of time which can be spent in watching some meaningless movie or work on their passion which is by no means their own subject of engineering. Then there are technical and cultural fests that are intended to bring the creativity and problem solving capabilities of the students to light and to some extent they serve the purpose but there are many instances of mismanagement of these fests by students themselves setting up a bad precedent for the future nation builders. Then finally during the final stages of the course the project work will be imposed on all the students and the final outcome is there are a good number of companies selling the final year projects and the business has become one of the best in recent times.

                            This work is not intended to criticize a single institution or a group of institutions but the problem lies in the system itself. The engineering field which is the most sought after should be made more flexible helping the students to choose their field of interest and before that the students should be well informed about the course they are going to pursue. The HR ministry should definitely look into the present engineering system which according to many corporate companies is producing only 10% of employable candidates. With proper planning and implementation and without taking any radical steps a lot of improvement can be seen in the near future….

Karma Yoga

KARMA YOGA: A Philosophy for the Present Youth

                   Youth, the people in the younger generation are the people with very high energy levels and extremely high levels of enthusiasm in the world. Every human being will experience a greater amount of confidence in him during his youth and this statement is truly indisputable. The zeal to perform and the love to achieve something really special are the characteristic features of the young people. On the flip side, this extraordinary will to succeed or gather attention makes them the most vulnerable group of people who can be influenced very easily. This vulnerability is utilized by some fanatics and lunatics for fulfilling their evil intentions and that is the most common phenomenon in the present and also the least desirable. Endurance and perseverance are the words that are far apart from the majority of youth which is indeed an extremely undesirable phenomenon.

                             India with its ever increasing population is one of the largest and youngest states in the world. The term young here refers to the average age of the people in the nation. It is also a known fact that Indian civilization is one of the oldest. This pioneer mix of young people with oldest civilization can work wonders and some of the glimpses of such wonders can be conceived from the achievements of our nation in the recent past. But the available potential and the results achieved are truly incomparable. Though we talk a lot about a lot of achievements there are equally or more number of important issues that need to be addressed very urgently. With this population and man power the amount of success we have achieved in any field is definitely an underachievement and there is an urgent need for reconciliation of our principles of education and also the system. Every year we manufacture thirty lakh graduates from India                      . Yes the word manufacturing is apt because the present education system in our nation emphasizes either good standard only in mathematics and sciences or an ill standard education only meant for increasing the no of literates without providing any useful knowledge. The former education is affordable for well to do, urban and brilliant students and the latter is applicable for the children in villages whose parents are illiterates and economically backward. Both the above mentioned systems have a good number of flaws and rectifying them takes a certain amount of time as changing the education system overnight is not possible even in fiction.

             Now, coming to Karma Yoga, it is not a difficult, highly intellectual philosophy which can be understood only by yogis or rushis. It is just another way of life where it is believed that everything we undergo in this life is the sum of the results of all the karmas(works) we have performed earlier. If we try to understand this more closely this theory can be explained with a good logic. Here in explaining the life we can take a simile of the law of conservation of energy where energy can neither be created nor it can be destroyed but it can only be transformed from one form to the other. In the same way we are enjoying the fruits of our past actions and the present actions shape up our future. This is easily understandable but there arise a good number of doubts about certain situations for even the noblest person cannot think of any reason. Here we need to go deeper into the philosophy where we have the law of reincarnation and the inability of the human brain to store all the actions performed in the past. Finally the most important preaching of this Karma Yoga is to work for work’s own sake. That we should love the work we do but not the result and that will indeed help us lead a happier life.

             Karma yoga for the youth can help the nation a lot. There are a good number of reasons for this like

1.     It is a very easy philosophy to understand and there is literally no need for any sacrifices to be made.

2.     Loving ones work is not at all difficult if one is totally interested in doing that work.

3.     Working like a master is far better than working like a slave. In detail if we work to impress someone we are doing slave’s work because we are expecting something from the other person so we are slaves. When we work for our satisfaction we do not need others consent and that is masterly work.

In this way there are a lot of reasons why Karma yoga is apt for the present day youth but what can be the results?

  People will start loving themselves and thus their works and so quality increases. Everyone will think twice before doing something wrong as they would believe in karma and its effect. Though there is a lot more in this philosophy the above mentioned basics are sufficient to make a giant leap in the nation’s development. So karma can be the philosophy that can help people help them and in turn help the nation as a whole.

                                                                        Mallikarjuna Rao Kanala

                 

              

CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Citizen Journalism: A Change In its Perception May Augment its Dimensions

               With the advent of the internet, the globe has become a tiny place to live in and the world of journalism has undergone a sea of changes in the recent past. News, these days are not reaching people faster than ever but they are real time. Everything from a natural calamity to a small incident in the neighborhood has become a breaking news. Journalism, previously a vocation for a selected group of enthusiasts dedicated for social causes has now become a common ground for both professionals and common people with basic knowledge and interest. Though the quality of work differs, quantitatively both the groups are comparable. Every person with a specific feeling about a latest happening is free to express his ideas thanks to the fundamental right, right to freedom of expression and the internet. This kind of journalism is the citizen journalism which has gained prominence in the past few years with many discussion forums, bloggers and news websites encouraging people to express their views on an international platform.

                Now -a- days there is no dearth for quality journalism as there are a good number of thorough professionals working in different genres of journalism and one can easily get access to the news both well presented and ably interpreted. But at the same time there are many charlatans in the same field and one should be extremely careful to avoid being misinterpreted by such people. The media industry with its ever growing competition is the most sought after industry and the different kinds of media such as the print, visual and web are keeping the people very busy. At this time is there any need for citizen journalism? The answer is yes and it is absolutely necessary in a democratic country like ours. Every citizen should be aware of all the latest happenings in the country and if possible he should express his ideas and views about them. Many people feel that all the important decisions that a government makes should be taken after people’s consent which is a distant dream considering the present situation. But there is no doubt that people should be well informed and the right to information act affirms the same. So citizen journalism is not only desirable but it is essential to keep the government under the scanner. After all we are the government and we need to watch it work efficiently.

                Citizen journalism has increased in many folds and this should be attributed to the increase in the literate population, increased awareness among the people and more importantly the easy availability of the internet which is the major platform for this kind of journalism. People with some idea on a certain topic could express themselves on a common platform.There is a good possibility that the ideas of such well informed people would help others to come to know about some important facts and policies which were unknown to them. Even The government should accept and respect people’s opinions on certain issues. For instance the Telangana issue which has created several problems in Andhra Pradesh may be addressed after taking the people’s opinions in to consideration. There are many other issues that can be solved if the people are given a chance to make their voices heard.

             Although citizen journalism has achieved some positive developments in the society its complete effects have not been realized and the reasons for this may be many. One of the main reasons for this may be people’s general tendency to attract and impress others than to induce something in to people which people require the most. This is a bold statement but an article should be either informative or inspirational and it should never be intended to impress someone. Because information and inspiration helps some but impression helps none. Yes, impression does not even help the writer himself because in his quest for impression he may even lose his own identity. So if people start perceiving citizen journalism in the best possible way then the dimension of the change it can bring may increase exponentially.

     Waiting for a day when people prefer reality to beauty………..

                                                                                  MALLIKARJUNA RAO KANALA