Ye baat Smiley!
For some reason I feel incredibly happy about your decision. I was thinking about it for a long time yesterday and thought that this should be recorded on the blog.
[Jimmy's note for the uninitiated: In a heroic event yesterday, T.Prasanna Srivatsav, on his way to his first day's work at an lucrative-but-unappealing-company, suddenly decided to get off the bus, and join his beloved Pramati instead. ]
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Part III: Tsonga and Ice
Tsonga (chonga, Changu, Chongo) is a sacred lake up, up above Gangtok, quite close to the China border (4km). Berrryyy cold and foggy. And the road is crumbling and sagging all year round.(yes, sagging: the rocks below just begin to give way and the roads sag.) For most of the journey, I just buried my head in my lap. :D
p.s: the first photograph is of a river at the base of the mountains. No wonder, there is vegetation around.
p.s: the first photograph is of a river at the base of the mountains. No wonder, there is vegetation around.
Part II: Gangtok & Rumtek
(Part I, 'Shillong', can be seen here.)
Cameras weren't allowed inside the main complex of the Rumtek Monastery (below). Neither were tourists, but we were cold and wet, and a boy-monk who was rushing towards the hall (because the prayers had begun) parted the green curtain on his way inside, smiled and beckoned us in.
The hall was a bloody red; the walls were a bloody red. Rows upon rows of monks, in their maroon robes and golden shirts, were chanting in low, deep voices. Slowly, our eyes adjusted to the dim light inside, whose chief source was an old, majestic chandelier, hung low in the middle of the hall. Beautiful, but quite useless: the monks had to read by candlelight.
We noticed that the walls were covered with rich, intricate murals: fat kings, monsters and demons, queens and tigers and gods, forests and palaces, all depicting the stories of Buddha's lives and reincarnations.
All of a sudden, the monks put their manuscripts down, and began to play. Not a quite, soft music, but a roaring, rousing music that would drive the chill out of anyone's bones. Drums, conch-shells, brass-bells and heavens-knows-what. Faster and faster they played, faster and louder, till it was impossible for us to sit anymore; and then, they just stopped.
The whole thing was over in less than a minute. Putting the instruments aside, the monks went back to their manuscripts.
WTF.
p.s: The last photo is not of the monastery, but of a wayside store.
(Part III and IV tomorrow)
Cameras weren't allowed inside the main complex of the Rumtek Monastery (below). Neither were tourists, but we were cold and wet, and a boy-monk who was rushing towards the hall (because the prayers had begun) parted the green curtain on his way inside, smiled and beckoned us in.
The hall was a bloody red; the walls were a bloody red. Rows upon rows of monks, in their maroon robes and golden shirts, were chanting in low, deep voices. Slowly, our eyes adjusted to the dim light inside, whose chief source was an old, majestic chandelier, hung low in the middle of the hall. Beautiful, but quite useless: the monks had to read by candlelight.
We noticed that the walls were covered with rich, intricate murals: fat kings, monsters and demons, queens and tigers and gods, forests and palaces, all depicting the stories of Buddha's lives and reincarnations.
All of a sudden, the monks put their manuscripts down, and began to play. Not a quite, soft music, but a roaring, rousing music that would drive the chill out of anyone's bones. Drums, conch-shells, brass-bells and heavens-knows-what. Faster and faster they played, faster and louder, till it was impossible for us to sit anymore; and then, they just stopped.
The whole thing was over in less than a minute. Putting the instruments aside, the monks went back to their manuscripts.
WTF.
p.s: The last photo is not of the monastery, but of a wayside store.
(Part III and IV tomorrow)
Part I: Shillong
Some days ago I toured the north east for a week - a trip much shorter than I would have liked. Below are some of the photographs I took. They are a bit dark, but that's because rain and cloud followed us almost everywhere we went - across mountains, cities and monasteries. Good thing then, that I like rain :D .
Unfortunately, however, almost none of these images contain any people in them. And it is the people that were the most astonishing thing about that land. (May be I'll write about them some day.) If you ever find time, do visit that part of our country. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
PART I : Shillong.
Unfortunately, however, almost none of these images contain any people in them. And it is the people that were the most astonishing thing about that land. (May be I'll write about them some day.) If you ever find time, do visit that part of our country. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
PART I : Shillong.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Friday, May 02, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
All that jazz
All the early morning PT
All those nights spent celebrating after assignment deadlines
All those movies seen together
All those songs played over and over again
All those high decibel sessions of CS and BZFlag in the lab
All that bitching about profs, courses, grades and what not
All those nicknames given to almost everyone on campus
All those tullu mails
All those copied assignments
All those classes spent in deep sleep
All the fraud-giri for projects and vivas
All those days before exams spent sleeping in the library
All those cliched jokes
All the shared suttas
All those daaru parties in the wing
All those hectic, but rewarding days of placements
All those meetings of the Quiz Club
All the madness during Felicity
All the Andhra ki kudis
All the darlings
All those birthdays and bumps
All those never ending bc sessions in the wing
All those discussions about life
All those late night visits to the canteen
All those impromptu outings to Nihal and Wang's
All those long walks in the wilderness in and around the campus
All these, are glimpses of the best years of my life.
All those nights spent celebrating after assignment deadlines
All those movies seen together
All those songs played over and over again
All those high decibel sessions of CS and BZFlag in the lab
All that bitching about profs, courses, grades and what not
All those nicknames given to almost everyone on campus
All those tullu mails
All those copied assignments
All those classes spent in deep sleep
All the fraud-giri for projects and vivas
All those days before exams spent sleeping in the library
All those cliched jokes
All the shared suttas
All those daaru parties in the wing
All those hectic, but rewarding days of placements
All those meetings of the Quiz Club
All the madness during Felicity
All the Andhra ki kudis
All the darlings
All those birthdays and bumps
All those never ending bc sessions in the wing
All those discussions about life
All those late night visits to the canteen
All those impromptu outings to Nihal and Wang's
All those long walks in the wilderness in and around the campus
All these, are glimpses of the best years of my life.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The weather is brilliant. This is just a quick post before I go out for a walk.
I don't want to leave this place so soon. I haven't had enough of roaming around aimlessly on campus, I haven't yet read all the books that I want from the library, I haven't done many things which only this place gives me the freedom to do.
But I guess I'll have to leave pretty soon. I'm going to miss this place.
Picture courtesy: Sharat (I basically picked it from his Orkut album and used it shamelessly. Hope he doesn't mind.)
I don't want to leave this place so soon. I haven't had enough of roaming around aimlessly on campus, I haven't yet read all the books that I want from the library, I haven't done many things which only this place gives me the freedom to do.
But I guess I'll have to leave pretty soon. I'm going to miss this place.
Picture courtesy: Sharat (I basically picked it from his Orkut album and used it shamelessly. Hope he doesn't mind.)
Friday, December 14, 2007
If you're reading this, it is quite likely that you've been through that tiresome experience - The placement process. And if you have been through the placement process, there is one man you wouldn't have missed - Sankalp.
Depending on your situation, you might have seen him: Looking for blank envelopes and Missing Candidates. Arranging for Chicken Biryani and Computer Labs. Handling the visitors with poise and sensibility. Dealing with a certain gentleman and his blunders. Getting up at 5, sleeping at 12, and getting up at 5 again the next day. and the next.
No matter who you were - a worried student, an angered manager - at some point of time or the other you would have been offered his Help, Comfort, Apology, or (wherever appropriate,) Reprimand.
So. Sicca. Thank you so much for all the work. May the hair on your head grow as thick as umm.... Badri, finish the sentence cleverly for me please.
And wait. Almost forgot:
HAppy BirtHdaY! :D :)
(or would you rather have it in pink?)
Sunday, July 02, 2006
AIEEE 2006 / ug2006
On the first day of July and the second of the counselling, the last seat of IIIT was filled. 210 seats were offered by the college this year too; a hundred and twentynine in CSE, 31 in CSD, 41 in ECE and 9 in ECD.
Lets take a look at the story the ranks and the states of the kids coming in this year tell us:
The highest rank entering our college is 82.
If I remember correctly (and I seldom do), the highest rank in our batch was 106.
However, I suspect that since the JEE was along objective lines this year, most students who've done well at the AIEEE are likely to have done well there too, and will most probably not join us. (note that when I said 106, it was the best rank that joined us). There is also the BITSAT (which began last year) to account for.
The closing rank remains more or less constant at 1971.
The highest ranks branchwise are:
CSE: 82
CSD: 1006
ECE: 332
ECD: 1335
A glance at the ranks of the other students branchwise shows that although CSE is the preferred branch overall, ECE remains the favourite amongst AP students. These are followed by CSD and ECD. this shouldn't come as a surprise, and nor should the fact that three of these four students are from mana Andhra Pradesh.
Ah AP.
This brings me to the most interesting statistic this year:
The number of students from AP is down to 78.
There can be many reasons for this:
Firstly, if you ever wrote your AIEEE from this state, you would recall that your state rank, on an average was one-third of your national rank. This was a remarkarkable statistic: for it showed that close to the top, every third successful student was from AP (Infact, within the first 400-500 ranks, this ratio went up to 1:2! ). No other state even came close. However, this year, for some reason, the state:national ratio for AP was down to 1:5. One reason for this could be the steady spread and rise of mass coaching centres such as SriChaitanya in the northern states. A whopping 36 students come from rajasthan (read: Kota) this year.
UP comes next with 26 students.
Other contributing states include Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, MP, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and of course, Delhi.
This wonderful ethnic mix is a further proof of the rising awareness about IIIT.
Well, thats about it.I Hope that the coming batch is as varied in its talents and skills as it is in its origin.
Lets take a look at the story the ranks and the states of the kids coming in this year tell us:
The highest rank entering our college is 82.
If I remember correctly (and I seldom do), the highest rank in our batch was 106.
However, I suspect that since the JEE was along objective lines this year, most students who've done well at the AIEEE are likely to have done well there too, and will most probably not join us. (note that when I said 106, it was the best rank that joined us). There is also the BITSAT (which began last year) to account for.
The closing rank remains more or less constant at 1971.
The highest ranks branchwise are:
CSE: 82
CSD: 1006
ECE: 332
ECD: 1335
A glance at the ranks of the other students branchwise shows that although CSE is the preferred branch overall, ECE remains the favourite amongst AP students. These are followed by CSD and ECD. this shouldn't come as a surprise, and nor should the fact that three of these four students are from mana Andhra Pradesh.
Ah AP.
This brings me to the most interesting statistic this year:
The number of students from AP is down to 78.
There can be many reasons for this:
Firstly, if you ever wrote your AIEEE from this state, you would recall that your state rank, on an average was one-third of your national rank. This was a remarkarkable statistic: for it showed that close to the top, every third successful student was from AP (Infact, within the first 400-500 ranks, this ratio went up to 1:2! ). No other state even came close. However, this year, for some reason, the state:national ratio for AP was down to 1:5. One reason for this could be the steady spread and rise of mass coaching centres such as SriChaitanya in the northern states. A whopping 36 students come from rajasthan (read: Kota) this year.
UP comes next with 26 students.
Other contributing states include Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, MP, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and of course, Delhi.
This wonderful ethnic mix is a further proof of the rising awareness about IIIT.
Well, thats about it.I Hope that the coming batch is as varied in its talents and skills as it is in its origin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)