Blog has been moved

Ok all ye ppl (ok ok ! the handful :- ) ) , i've moved my blog from blogspot to wordpress.

the link to my new blog is

www.ezhilthedevil.wordpress.com

please take a note of it and do continue the patronage :D

Ezhil

Visit to "Benagluru" ....

Its not often I get to go out of my state. But one such opportunity did come up last weekend, when I had to visit Bangalore to take up a written test for HAL. Boy, did it turn out to be one of the best weekends I have ever had. And I just thought, why not write a blog on that and, you know, just dedicate it to those people who made it a weekend to remember.


The journey began with me taking a KPN bus on Friday night to B’lore. Now this was the first time that I am traveling a long distance on a bus. The journey turned out to be comfortable, what with those extra wide seats and more than ample legroom. I reached B’lore (Electronics City, to be precise) on Saturday morning, at around 6 in the morning. This being the winter season , the entire city was covered with a thick layer of fog, so much so that it was indeed hard to see what was lying 10 feet ahead of you.

From the bus stop I took an auto and reached Diva’s place. It’s been quite sometime since I last saw him. It was a happy reunion of sorts. We spent almost the entire morning catching up with each other’s life and before long it was time for breakfast. We went to a bakery nearby and had a sumptuous breakfast. And returning, I thought I might take a little nap as well. I had already planned to visit Kumaresh (of elex) in the evening. And Diva was having a function in his office as well. So we decided to leave together at around 3.



At around 3.30, after having our lunch, I took a bus to Madiwala – the place where Kums was staying. Now this bus which I took was a swanky, state-of- the-art Volvo. I mean, I never imagined that you can use this bus as a City bus. You had a conductor who gave you not a traditional ticket, but a printout from a machine which looked something like the one people have in shops to swipe credit cards and it gives a print out of the transaction. Was I impressed?? You decide...

My journey lasted for around half an hour and I got down at Madiwala. Or so I thought... Kums was supposed to pick me up from the bus stop and take me to his place. And it took him half an hour to find me. Only after did he come did I know that I got down at the wrong stop. Poor guy, he walked for nearly a km to come to my stop.

From there, we went to his place, where I caught up with my roommate Vijay Anand (of elex again). After chatting for sometime, Kums and I decided to roam around a bit. There was nothing better to do that evening. And what a splendid decision it turned out to be. It was a Saturday evening, and you know what to expect on the shopping streets of Bangalore. Little did I imagine that I would come across so many beautiful girls on a single evening. If only we had 1 p.c of that number in my office here… (Sigh…) Anyways, with such a beautiful backdrop, we visited the Forum, where we spent a good 2 hours.

We wound up our visit with dinner at the KFC (which is similar to the Marry brown restaurants we have here at Chennai). I returned to Diva’s place at around 10 in the night. It was an evening to remember :-).

SUNDAY:

I was up pretty early in the morning. I had to start early to reach my examination venue on time, the reason being I didn’t have inkling on where that place was. Came the Volvo bus again, and my trip was to BMTC this time around. Reached the BMTC pretty early from where I took an auto to my venue. The test was from 10.30 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon. After the test, I, Diva, and Navaladi had planned to visit IISc to visit John, who’s pursuing his Masters there. Finishing the test, I went straight to Navaladi’s place where Diva joined us. And off we went to the Indian Institute of Science

The journey to IISc took roughly around 1 hour. And there we were received by John. He’s started growing his hair again, and resembled more the scientist that he is :-). It’s been a really long time since I last saw him … and should I say I was more than happy to see him?? Since we guys didn’t have food since morning, the 1st place we hit in the sprawling IISc campus was the Faculty Club. Though reserved for the faculty initially, the canteen there is open to all. And that was where we went. After a sandwich and a couple of appy’s, courtesy John, we decided to take a walk around the campus.

The first thing you’ll notice about IISc is the cover of green that is on the campus. The campus is abound with so many trees and plants, that one might interpret it to be forest reserve. The departments are quite a distance away from each other. The calmness that one gets to feel here is a whole galaxy away from the rush hour life that we lead here, working in a organization. When I questioned John why he doesn’t have a bicycle to move inside the campus, he only replied that he never wished to take a cycle and rush from one place to another, missing out the beauty of the serene premises in the process. I cannot accept more…The feeling of solitude that one feels inside the campus is something that simply cannot put down in words…


After going around the campus, we decided to take a break and go to the Tea Board (what we usually call a canteen). We guys get ourselves a couple of beverages and settle down around a table. Its been a really long time since I actually went out with my friends and, you know, do nothing but listen to each one’s story. At that time, I felt really happy to have went to Bangalore…Even if I don’t stand a chance in clearing that HAL test , I will always be happy that I had such wonderful time with my buddies after aeons. :-)

This was followed by a visit to John’s room, where again we sat chatting form sometime, before we set off for our dinner at a Chinese restaurant... Soon it was time for us to leave to our respective places. We bid farewell to each other. And taking a bus from IISc, we reach Majestic from where Diva leaves for EC. I and Navaladi return to BMTC from where I again take an auto to reach Kalasipalayam, where another KPN bus is waiting to take me back to the life I left behind at Madras.

So…. what exactly was this trip to Bangalore for? To find out that John is going out with a girl these days? That Diva is slogging it out at Infosys? That Navaladi is having fun with the seniors there? That kums is a fun guy to hang out with? It’s all this and more… It’s like I visited another part of my life again. A part where you feel that there is so much more to life other than slogging in your office and missing out all the fun that life has in store. It was a weekend with a difference. A weekend where I felt myself again..

PS: about the test for HAL, the scores would have been no different if you had taken up the test instead of me… the entire paper turned out to be one guessing game, what with most questions from an area, which I am no good at… If I take into consideration only the questions I knew, my test hardly lasted for 45 mins… I still wonder how that guy sitting in front of me managed to shade all the answers within one hour after the test began... :-)...Give and take police follow pannaano ??

Time goes by.....

The rain drops were pattering continuously against my window, as my bus made its way through the water logged roads of this city. Its been raining for the past couple of days, and will continue to do so for another couple of days to come. A holiday has been declared for schools and colleges, according to the female on the radio…As I close my eyes and lean back on the seat, I began to wonder how soon time is flying by..

I began to reminisce about my first year at college..One of the most memorable moments I have ever had in my life.It was Diwali season again , and we all had made arrangements for us to get to our places in a train - the superfast Intercity Express , at 2.30 PM..My favorite train... Like all diwalis, that year was no different. It was raining cats and dogs and all the roads and rails were waterlogged. But are we the ones who gave a damn about this ?? Nah…So we remained cool about the whole rain issue...Our classes were supposed to get over at 12 in the noon.But we took a special permission from our English lecturer and left for our hostels..and so begins the timeline.

11.15 – Wished everyone in my batch a very happy diwali and started off in style - myself, raghu, Shanmugam, and mita..

11.30 – we take our time and get ready..I began to pack my stuff only then..what the heck, the train was only at 2.30 , and there is a train to central from our college every 10 minutes..It will hardly be a half an hour journey..

12.00 - have a good lunch at the mess…

12.45 – start off for the railway station. We get the tickets and wait for the train..it might come any minute..

1.00– news begin to seep in , that the tracks at guindy are waterlogged and hence the trains might be delayed. We just take a look at each other. ‘ Lets wait ‘ , we all thought.

1.15 – patience pays..a BG( broad gauge ) train pulls into the station..Yippee, another half an hour and we are safely into the seats we have booked for ourselves..we smile at each other..’Thank God , we got one ‘ . But apparently God didn’t want that...’Not yet buddy’, He should have thought.

1.35 – the train was chugging along, nice and smooth..We pass the guindy station, and now we could see why the trains were delayed..The MG tracks were all under two feet of water..Atleast the BG line was working fine..

1.45 – The train pulls into Kodambakkam. Another couple of stops and we are Park station. The train, inspite of the torrential downpour, was running on time..

1.50 – The train still is at kodambakkam.. the signal was still in red. An express train might be crossing, we all thought. After all, a delay of five or ten minutes is normal..And we were just a few minutes away from our destination. .

1.55 – the train showed no signs of moving forward. We began to get restless..come on.what could be holding it so long ?? we peep out of the train , and find the driver standing out on the platform.. “ WTF is he doing there instead of driving the train ?? “ , I thought..So we all just go to him and ask him what was going on..He replied that he had no damn idea..Aah , crap….not now…

2.02 – we wait for the goddamn signal to turn green.. by now, many of the passengers had got down and begin to walk out of the station..we just keep staring at them, with no idea of what to do…

2.05 – “OK guys ” , Raghu says, “ I don’t think waiting here is going to help us catch the train.Lets take an auto or something “. We all accepted . And then we take a look at the road , and it struck us why we didn’t take the Rain God seriously. The road was flooded with water , and the damn water level rose to our waists..No exaggeration, it was upto our waists..We all let out a collective groan….

2.07 – Did we have an option ?? Nope..Cursing our fate, we collect all our luggage and decide to hit the road . One by one, we all enter it , and literally swim across it, with our baggage hanging around our shoulders and necks..Boy, do we deserve merit for that. .Luckily, it was flooded for only about some 50 metres !! And then we hit dry land.

2.10 – search for an auto. We were damn sure we were goin to miss the train..Should it come down to all this, I was asking myself..

2.12 – we get an auto..bargain with him and strike a deal..We cram ourselves into the machine..no time for personal comfort…we just packed ourselves into little spaces we got after we pushed in our stuff.

2.18 – we cross egmore station. Another ten minutes, and the train leaves without us..Drats..I keep my fingers crosses.

2.20 – Another red signal , this time, it was on a road..DAMN DAMN DAMN….

2.22 – The signal is cleared..Off we go again..

2.26 – Our Merc enters the railway station..Ah, here we are..But the worst isn’t over yet..

2.27 – This was the time on the clock at the station..we scramble to the display board, to find out the platform in which our train has been stationed..

2.28 – we run , across the station to our train…There it is , there it is..we shout to each other..

2.29 – the train was jam packed, and we squeeze our way through the crowd and reach our seats.

2.30 - we all heave a collective sigh of relief..WOW WOW WOW….High fives fly around..all of us were laughing..we have achieved the unthinkable…Hurray…

The engine acknowledged us by sounding its horn..The train began to move….

Who Am I ??

Its been a couple of months now since i entered the world of software engineering...a world, not of glamour and glitz, but a world of desktops and laptops..And what am I , an aeronautical engineer, doing here , you might ask ..Well, that is exactly what I am trying to figure out , to find where my life is leading me to...


It all started , exactly 4 years and 2 months back , when I entered the fascinating world of aeronautics. The subject enchanted me..And like the rest of my fellow mates, I had this big dream of getting myself into NASA or Boeing..”What is the big deal “ , I thought, “ when one of my seniors is the President of the Nation...Screw software, I am an aeronautical engineer “ . That was the initial pride that everyone of us felt...It wasn't a long time before we realized that Boeing was to be a distant dream..

Came the final year, the time when everyone takes the next step in life after college..We all waited anticipation, hoping for an aeronautics firm to just grab us and give our education a meaning..Alas, the entire placement team of my University screwed my dream up..And I found myself among half my college mates, and thousands of others – A SOFTWARE ENGINEER...

“Ah, what the heck, I still had my CAT to go..Just wait till I complete it and get into a get into a B-school “ , I thought..Life wasn't a bed of roses..Like all my exams at college, I f^&*^*d up that one too..Damn..Probably I should have taken my GRE instead..aaarggghhh.....


“Oh well, I can still try for some job off campus..I am bound to get one, what with my good academic record and skills ! “. And applied I did, to every company that I knew existed in India. I just couldn't wait for the day , when I expected to find my mail box flooded with 'call letters'. Days became weeks, weeks became months..And still no mail...” Come on guys, what is taking you so long ?? “. With hardly a week left before I join my “Software Firm”, my hope started to fade.” Doesn't anyone require an aeronautical engineer anymore ?? “.


Well , life had its twists..On a bright wednesday, I chanced to come across this ad by an aero company, which asked for aeronautical engineers, specialising in design. “ Hurray “ , I thought, “ atleast there is someone who wants me “ .. And so there I was, all dressed up for the occasion. An assistan came and collected our resume. Five minutes went by. And out emerges this guy, calls out my name, along with a dozen others, and asks us to step out. “Oh My God, the breakthrough atlast.”. With a proud walk , we followed that guy. As soon as we assemble outside the waiting hall, I heard the first few words that I never want to hear in my life again - “ YOUR PROFILE DOESN'T MATCH OUR REQUIREMENTS.PLEASE LEAVE THE HALL”. I stood there dumbstruck. That guy just asked me to get the hell out of there. My dream was shattered even before it could begin..


Cursing my fate, I joined my firm a couple of days after my birthday. “ What the heck are you doing here ? ” was what people meant when they threw that glance when told I was an aeronautical engineer. Not a bad start.And the weeks that came only made it worse. I found myself lost in the world of Java and SQL. Imagination was replaced by logic. Dull, lifeless logic. When the class around me kept punching that keyboard of theirs till their fingers broke, I was left gaping at my monitor, wondering what PUBLIC STATIC VOID MAIN meant..Life was hell. This wasn't what I wanted to do.


And here I am, now having been trained in the much sought field of SAP. And one among the first batch ever in my firm to have been give one.”Your future looks bright”, everybody say. But, the vacuum remains in my heart. Won't i ever get to design the flying machines I always dreamed off ? Won't I ever get to use my calculator again ? Has my life lost its meaning ? Am I not the person I should be ? How will ecverybody know me as ? A Software Consultant ? An Aeronautical Engineer ?? Or Just Another Dis-illusioned Jerk ??

Who Am I ??

Windows ..you can't beat that !!!

Here I was, sitting in front of my PC, frustrated for no specific reason.. so I jus thought, hey why not write a blog to take my mind off things ? And so here it is, a blog...and the topic ? One that irritates me the most... "Dump Windows, come to linux "..

Now this blog is not intended to give you a technological insight into the have's and have not's of Windows, or Linux , for that matter. My primary purpose here is to underscore the importance of an OS like windows and trash the "I hate Windows" campaign.

Where do I start....hmmm..let me begin with the open source theory..many a time when I was in college, I heard this story from one fellow or the other - "I use Linux cos it is an Open Source Software "..Right, Linux is an OSS. So ? "So you get the source code of the software, dude.."..Oh..I get the source code too..so ? " So you can do whatever you want with that"..Right..what do I my operating system to do? I want it to help me interact with my PC's hardware..and I am very much satisfied with Windows, thank you. " Oh , but then you can write your own codes" ...Codes ?? Now how do I that ? I am not an software engineer !! "So what ? You can still use it to listen to songs and watch movies .." What ? Now this is ridiculous..You want me to install an operating system to do just that ? Come on....

So this is one of the arguments that usually happens...What exactly have these guys against Windows ? They may argue that Windows is not an Open Source software. They don't give you the code when you buy the software. This is not an argument justified enough..now lets extend this argument to a few other cases. let us say you are buying a car..now since you bought the car, you ask the dealer to give you the design specification of the car 'cos you have paid for it. The dealer is stumped. Here you are, in front of him, asking for the design specifications of the car for which the designer has pumped in hundreds of millions of Rs/Dollars and thousands of man hours of hard work..And you want all of them for the few thousands of dollars that you are gonna pay...Fair enough..Let us see you do that..

The same goes for anything and everything, including Windows...The hardwork done, the million spent...And the case of open source software is not valid when it comes to windows. But Linux is , they may argue. But is Linux a complete operating system ? Think again. An option for everything when all I want is a balanced OS that knows what I want. "You don't have virus problems in Linux." You don't have them in Window too, as long as you have the right antivirus and firewall..

Compare the development of Windows with that of Linux..both software were released at the same time. And look where windows is and where the latter is. Monopoly, you may say. But how was this monopoly achieved ? Why was windows able to do that and not Linux ? Simple - windows is superior in many ways. The interface, the ease of use, the versatility..you just can't beat windows.

Now all the above arguments may look superficial. But take it from me, they are from a person who is a lay user, who has used both the operating systems for his day to day activities. What do you know, you may ask..All I know is that , the whole business of open source software is flawed, and Windows satisfies the lay user in a much better way than Linux..

The final argument..I came across this slogan somewhere - "In a world without doors, why do you need windows? " . The answer is simple - If you dont have even that, you just suffocate and die.

So long...................

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal ones and he has got all rights to express them.

And the credits go to...

Life at college is an opportunity to make friends, relationships for life, people who stick with you no matter what. My college life was one such opportunity..I made friends too.. some who have become my closest and best friends, some who left me for good, some who just made an acquaintance, some who, though not close, were good friends..It is these guys and gals who made my life at MIT a memorable, happy and interesting one..So I just thought, why not a blog on these individuals ? Here comes the credits...

To Bharani, Dhivakar, Sangeetha and Deepak..my closest friends at college..they have stood by me in my toughest times, shared my joy in happier times..Though we people din't have the closest of realtionships over the past few months, they still are the folks who defined my life at college..thanks guys..

To Sakthi Kannan, another one of my very closest friends..its a pity i din't find him in my first three years..If not for this fella , my final year at college would have been nothing short of hell..He stayed with me through my most difficult time at college..I owe him a lot..simple words are not enough to describe how much he means to me..thanks da..

To Jayabalaji and Jeyapandi...people who were very good friends..esp., Darlingji, who put up wit me during my third year when we happened to be room mates..Thanks you guys..

To John, a very good friend, the intelligent brain of aero...spent many happy moments with this bugger..

To Navaladi and Lakshmi, folks i got close to in my final sem..

To all my other department friends - Vignesh, Boss, Kumaresh, Jude, KK, Kumaran, Oors...guys with whom many a happy time was spent..N also my first semester pals Raghu, Doreen, Kamini, KV, Charaan, Sriram....they made my first days at college a memorable one..Thanks folks...

To my series juniors - Kandasamy, Dinesh and Gokul...the love and affection that you guys showed me..wow...i won't forget you guys..any help, jus gimme a call...

I guess I've covered almost everybody here..If I hadn't please excuse me, but you are always there in my heart..


Long live MIT....

The Madras Institute of Technology

My day started like any other day..I woke up late, skipped breakfast.. blah blah blah...After my morning chores, I walked down my college road to department. As I noticed my surroundings, I began to wonder how much this college has changed over the 4 years that I had been here. Is my college, the famed Madras Institute of Technology that has produced many greats like Dr. Abdul Kalam, deteriorating in standards with each passing day? I just thought, why not analyse?

For the uninitiated, M I T , as it is more commonly known, is one of the constituient colleges of Anna University. It was founded in the year 1949 by a great visionary Mr C Rajam, who wanted to set up a world class engineering institute. Thus was born this great institute, which even inspired the then prime minister Dr Jawaharlal Nehru to build something similar throughout the country, and thus came the IITs. For more information , try Google.

Now, what happened to this college during the course of time is the subject of this post. Where are those great teachers who are supposed to be teaching here? What happened to the state-of-the-art infrastructure? Sadly, the above mentioned aspects do not exist in this college. In the four years that I have been here, things have only changed from bad to worse,if not worst.




Let us consider the faculty here, for instance. I entered my department at a time when most of the better professors where beginning to retire. And what did we get in return? Teachers who couldn't differentiate between stress and pressure..People who thought they where teaching us something, when infact they were learning from us...Teachers who think that they are God's incarnations, just because they hold the students grades in their hands..People who have made students, coming here with huge dreams and ambitions, destroy their aims and become one of the ordinary. The teachers who are here do this and more..They do not understand it is their resposibility to inspire and guide the next generation of students..I am not accusing everyone here, but this covers about 80% of the staff at this Institute.

Next comes the facilities and the infrastructure. The college administration, unmindful of the capacity constraints, is increasing the student intake with each academic year. Now, when this college was built, it was designed to hold around 500 students. As of now, this college has around 2000 students inside its campus. But was there any improvement in the infrastructure to cope up with this? Where else will you find a library that has one copy of a book for every 100 students? Poor living standards in the hostels, disgusting food, what not..MIT was known for its green campus. Now all those trees are being felled to make room for buildings and other stuff. Ask our alumni, you might get a better picture of what this college had been , and what it is now. Don't be surprised if they exclaim " Are you still using the same multimeter which we used when we were here 20 years back? ". For such is the standard of the infrastructure at this college..It's true that new stuff are being brought every now and then. But they prove grossly inadequate.
Now its not my aim here to belittle this college, but just to showcase the gross negligence of the standards. True, MIT has one of the best placement records in Tamilnadu. But then, take it from me, the college has, frankly, no part in the students getting placed, except maybe for organising the placement drives. If not for this placement record, MIT would have become ' a college that was' a long time back.

As one of our alumnus once noted " MIT is living on its past glory "....Very true !