The Journey

Shifting blog e-residence!

2015-06-13T22:07:00.001+05:30

This is going to be a very short post!

I'm experimenting with other blog providers.

Before I continue, I shall thank blogger.com for their services, as this blog, being my first tryst with blogging has been quite a success.

I'm shifting to word-press; And, have successfully exported all my posts to the word-press platform.

All my readers, book-mark this page :D ---> www.guruprasadr.wordpress.com

Summer in Dubai!

2015-06-10T21:47:00.002+05:30

I'm back in UAE!

Four fabulous years at IIT Madras has come to an end. Well, I'll get back one-last-time for the convocation, but the thought of never getting to live, the way I lived the last 4 years is heart-wrenching.

But, Dubai never ceases to surprise me. I've set a few goals for this summer, and they seem to be right on track! I've continued my running "career" (I should say), by making sure I run ~4-6 km every alternate day (early morning). Along with that, I've taken to swimming. I'm an amateur swimmer, but my progress in the past 2-3 weeks has been quite promising. Panting for breath after swimming 25m (breast-stroke) to slowly increasing it to 400m has been exhilarating. For this, I would like to thank you-tube and the set of breast-stroke technique videos. They've helped me better my breathing technique, making my swim more efficient.

After a close-friend told me that I might be better off reducing some pounds, I've been working on that aspect too. On doing some online-reading, I drew this conclusion => working out is important, but if you don't have a control over your diet, the attempt is pointless. Yes, barring these two factors, your genetic make-up plays a significant role too. (Thou shalt blame thy parents/ancestors for that :P)

Now, coming to the academic goals I had in mind. I enthusiastically started working on my Thesis, trying to make some significant advances. But, after working on the problem for a few days, it seemed like I had reached an impasse (Here, there wasn't any disagreement, but mere scientific inaccuracies). Then, I shifted my focus to learning simple web-dev/android tools. And, there was a domino-effect.

#Apographi - Team!

Learning webdev tools -- Visited many blogs -- Heard about Hackathon in UAE -- Formed a team -- and finally ended with us winning the third place.

T'was my second Hackathon. And, I should say, it was significantly different from hackathons in India. Getting to network with start-up founders, VC's, angel investors was a brilliant experience. Special credit to Mr. Tariq (our mentor) who shared his excitement about our project by helping me formulate a fantastic pitch for our idea.

Apart from networking and learning, the day ended well, with us getting a cash-prize of AED 9000; plus a crystal plaque and a certificate. Apart from the materialistic benefits, the feeling of winning in UAE after 4 year dry-spell (while in IIT) is fantastic! (A video of the same posted by the dubai-smart-govt: https://instagram.com/p/3re6k4QV2M/

Pitching our idea!

After Hamdan Award, Sharjah Award and Honda-YES; This is the next big-prize that has significantly filled my pocket :D

The Last-Lap.

2015-05-02T15:58:00.001+05:30

Priyankaa, Me, Atul
(Atul - the epitome of sincerity & muggu-ness)

The last few weeks have been fantastic. I'm done with my grand-viva, BTP Review and a few minor projects. To all those who don't know what a grand-viva is, let me elaborate that further. It is a ~1:30 hour long session, with the student standing beside a black/white board with a marker in his/her hand in front of a panel of professors (~6-7 profs). They question the candidate on courses the student has taken in the past 4 years at IITM. I didn't know a couple of questions, but answered quite a few too. Well, the "net" experience was positive :P

Junaid, Srivatsav, Pratyusha, Senthamizh, Manu, Priyankaa, Me
(The BT Family!)

I am finally done receiving all my admits & rejects. In all, it's 6 admits and 2 rejects of the 8 places, I applied to. That said, I'm entitled to choosing a single university. I've chosen MS(Research) in Carnegie Mellon University. Even though, UC Berkeley has a slightly bigger name, I felt CMU would fit my interests (wrt exploring biomedical diagnostics and therapeutics). Plus, a couple of good friends will be coming along with me to CMU.

Having said that, I experience infinite nostalgia when the thought of leaving IITM crosses my head. Of all the schools I've attended in the past 15-18 years, this has been the best of all. I've experienced a true sense of belonging over here. Of all the friend circles I've had, this is one place where I could fit in, without any effort. Let me reiterate that "Zero Effort".

Institute Day - with grandparents!

With Junaid (Room-mate ho to aisa :D)

The institute has been kind by organizing multiple "hang-out" sessions; where members of our batch can meet, talk, laugh and cry. Well, apart from the above activities, for the 'photo-whore' in me, I've featured in infinitely many pictures! So, here are some pictures, from the OAT dinner, hostel night(s) and from Institute day. Oh, I won a prize during the institute day this year too. This time I've clicked some pictures with my grandparents who came all the way to IITM, to witness that one-minute, where I got to share the stage with the director, professors and a few distinguished alumni :')

Supreeth, Me, Srivatsav and Junaid

Institute Day prize

Adyar Cancer Hospital (Pediatric Ward)

2015-03-01T12:05:00.000+05:30

Most of my courses in IITM have stressed that every product designed should be "novel" technologically plus it should be made keeping the users requirements in mind. So, instead of assuming the user's requirements, it's best to meet, interact with users in order to determine what functionality they might require in the product.

Magician

Children viewing Magic Show

Keeping this in mind, I visited the Adyar Cancer Hospital (Pediatric Ward) to spend some time with children who came for regular check-ups and observe, interact with them to know what kind of difficulties they face on a daily basis and to possibly design assistive devices for the same.

The children spent their waiting time in the play-room, where we volunteered to engage them with interesting activities. As it was the first time I visited the hospital, I stuck to conventional activities, like engaging them in coloring/drawing, playing carom, etc. It was 2 hours of time well-spent.

After spending an hour, there was a magic show for the children organized by students of Satyabhama University, who came there on an NSS project trip.

Well, this first trip has given me enough impetus to get back next Saturday or even enroll as a mentor during the weekdays. And, I thank prada (Sreeprada) for taking me along with her. I hope to get there next weekend with new & interesting ideas regarding activities these kids could engage in.

Viewing the Magic Show (Me, children)

The age group of kids present at the playroom ranges from 2-10 years. If you, readers, have exciting activities that I could engage kids in, please share them with me (by commenting on this post).

Running 21.1 Km at Auroville Marathon.

2015-02-12T07:50:00.001+05:30

The first phrase I uttered on the day of my first Half-marathon was: "Oh F***, We're Late".

We (Me & Atul) left for Puducherry on 7th evening at around 5 pm. After an arduous bus-journey, we reached our hotel (Ram-International) by 9.30 pm. The delay was due to infinite traffic in chennai, coupled with the fact that our bus was moving at snails pace.

We overloaded ourselves with 2 butter Na'ans & a Kulcha, a high-carbohydrate diet, in order to ensure none of us face hypoglycemia the next day. Done with dinner, we reached our rooms and crashed. I set 4-5 alarms just-in-case. But, all the efforts were in vain. We ended up waking up at 5:30 AM, missed the 5:15 AM free shuttle to Auroville from pondicherry. Our run was scheduled to flag-off at 6:15 AM and we estimated that we would reach the start-line only by 6:30 AM. But, luck wasn't on our side. We started the run only by 6:45 AM.

21.1 km Marathon - Bib

The first 3 km were a cake-walk. That is when I started having a mild-knee ache. This was absurd, mainly because I've never had pain in the knee while running, be it 3km or 10km. Once I reached the second aid station, I used the volini spray to numb the pain. This helped me boost my speed for the covering the next 9 km. After a while, I saw the placard labelled 15km. The excitement was tremendous. Having completed 15km, I had to complete 6 more. Not a very difficult task after all, I felt. I continued running at the same pace. After crossing roughly 2 Aid-stations, refilling my system with electrolytes and glucose, I reached the 18km mark. On reaching the 18k Mark, I realized my knee ache was back again, with the only exception it was much worse. Thanks to another Aid-station, volini did the magic again! I was back on the track at a much lower pace, but strong enough to complete the run. There was tremendous joy when volunteers screamed that I was at the last 500 meters of my race. I sprinted from then on. After 2-3 minutes, I had 200 meters to go, could see the finish line and picked up my pace again. I ended my first 21.1km Half-marathon at 2hrs and 28 min, which translates to an average running speed of ~ 8.5km/hr.

A more experienced marathoner has expressed his excitement about the Auroville Marathon. Well, he run the Full Marathon and his blog post is just a delight to read. Please take a look at it. On reading the same, I notice the immaturity in my post - as a beginner marathoner and the maturity in his.
(http://soulfulgrowing.com/the-agony-and-ecstacy-at-auroville-marathon/)

Some History :D

Having spoken about some of the intricacies of my run, I would like to present some background of my "Athletic abilities" back in Dubai (over the first 15 years of my life) - A stark contrast of my current life.

My family (Dad, Mom, Sister and Me) has been excited about exercise in general, and walking to be specific. But, we never set high "Athletic" targets to meet. We were regular runners at 2 famous marathons in Dubai (namely, Standard Chartered and Samsung Marathon). We used to always go for the 3km fun-run. While in my 12th grade, I struggled to finish a 3km run - sprinting 0.5km and walking the rest. I never trained while at school and used to hate running.

I started jogging at IITM from my 2nd year, when a couple of friends (Balaji, Atul, Aritra) decided to start running with the sole objective of burning some fat. For me, losing weight was my initial goal. The mess at IITM helped me pull down ~6kg and the morning runs probably ~2kg.

School ---> IITM

More than the number 21.1, I'm excited about my improvement over the past 2-3 years at IIT-M.
From 1km (At Dubai[Grade 9-12])--> 4km (Mandak-Maingate-Mandak[2nd year]) --> 6km (Terry Fox Run[2nd & 3rd year]) to 10km (T+ Run at Anna University[4th year]) --> 16 km (GC-Maingate-GC (4 times) [4th year]) and finally to 21km (Auroville Marathon[4th year]).

It has been a fabulous journey, and I hope to scale up to the Full Marathon (42.2 km) and then the Ultra Marathon (50km) in next 2-3 years (probably at Graduate-school). I'm attempting my 2nd half-marathon next month (March 22nd).

Talking about Graduate school, I finally got my first admit from Cornell University. I hope the other admits follow :)

Final Semester Thoughts -1

2015-01-16T17:23:00.003+05:30

The term "IIT" and its inhabitant "IITian" has been used, abused in almost every Indian household atleast once. And, now we feature in most memes and websites. I recently came across a dating site exclusively for IITians, something called dateiitians.com. WoW. Innovative stuff. Well, I fear the site might be populated by guys alone.

I'm no sexist, and the earlier comment was meant to reflect the poor sex ratio at most IITs. It's a pity that there are not many girls here. Well, I could attribute that to the importance "modern" parents give to marrying their daughters away, nurture them to be mediocre because an IITian girl cannot find a guy more qualified than herself. Hmmm. And, this is the typical mindset in most families, ranging from conservative to bold risk-takers, every one.

Being in IIT, I fall into an existential crisis quite often. Seeing my friends at other institutes post pictures of their outings during Onam, New Year, X, Y and Z, I question myself : "Is all this 'Fight' really worth it?"; "What do I plan to gain out of all this?"; "Why not just enjoy my present to the fullest?" Every single time these questions flash in front of me, I pat my back and say, "If they enjoy 1x now, you're creating a future to enjoy 100x". Now, this statement has become a joke. I mean seriously, I'm surprised that I've been so gullible to believe in this fact for all these years.

Living with such questions, I often wait for miracles aka achievements to "tell" me, "Yes, I'm doing the right thing".

Shaastra and Saarang, the two fantastic festivals conducted by IITM are done, and my last semester has begun. Shaastra gave me 30k, couple of shirts, bags , while during Saarang, I attended my first dance workshop. I won the IITM Research expo and was awarded with Rs 30k, while the consolation prize at an android app development competition got me some goodies. And, I finally went for a Salsa dance workshop this time, thanks to Shreya who teamed up with me.

A really fun start to this year. One of the movies I watched recently was the "Pirates of Silicon Valley". It's an old film (1999 release), depicting the birth of 2 Computer Giants, Microsoft and Apple.

Let me end this post with some memes. All are IIT Memes. Most, True.

Back! After a long break.

2014-12-28T13:12:00.000+05:30

"It's been such a long time since I last blogged." Well, I couldn't find a more appropriate line to start this post.

Yes, my last semester (7th-sem) was the major reason for this long period of hibernation. Even though, it was really hectic, with a course-load of close to 30 credits, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the courses I took up. [For those relatively new to the education-system at undergraduate college/universities - 30 credits is a LOT. Most universities in the US "force" their students to take close to 30 credits in TWO semesters, and is deemed impossible to be completed in a single semester.]

My semester was a fun-one, and the winter that followed was quite interesting as well. This time, the first time since I joined IITM, I took close to a month's break. All these years at IITM, I've had long summer (~3-months) & winter breaks(~1-month), but I've always been keen on keeping them only a week-long, and then heading for an internship/project.

This winter, I spent my time, applying to graduate schools, learning the basics of Django (not the movie), and speaking to a lot of people. The "speaking" came a bit late in the winter, and most of it was with friends who were with me at Meccademia. It was exciting to know their exotic plans for the future, ranging from pursuing a Masters/PhD to founding a start-up. Of all our discussions, I learnt one thing - "Machine Learning (ML)" is an important tool every engineer should possess. I was introduced to Neural Networks, unsupervised learning and the basics of ML in my 7th semester by the course titled "Computational Neuroscience". [Even though I had a course-based introduction, most of my understanding came from this set of lecture-videos by Dr. Yaser at Caltech]

Of all the things I've learnt at IITM, I'm happy that I explored athletics. I recall my disinterest in running while in school, barely managing to complete the 3 Km Fun-runs conducted by Standard Chartered. Now, this has changed for the good; My morning walks at IITM converted to Morning runs and now to marathons. This winter, I completed my first un-official half-marathon (21.1km) in ~3.30 hrs. [I wasn't registered for the marathon, and hence took a different route to complete ~21 km] My next half-marathon is in two months (Feb 9th) - The Auroville Marathon - close to Puducherry. I've re-started my training, and now that I'm back in IITM for my last semester, I'm going to make the best use of its big-campus.

Auroville

I've been reading Peter Thiel's book "Zero To One" the past few days. It's an excellent read for start-up enthusiasts. In my next blog post, I plan to provide a summary of the book and the important pointers I have gathered from my first complete read. [For those of who've never heard of Peter Thiel, he's the co-founder of Paypal]

Rahmaniac for life #Rahmaniac

2014-10-04T21:57:00.003+05:30

I've been a Rahmaniac since birth; followed and relished every single composition. His mesmerizing composition never fails to "up" my spirits.

This time, it's different. It doesn't just "up" my spirits, but I end up getting goosebumps every time I replay the song. And, part of the credit goes to Lata ji. Her voice compliments Rahman's composition brilliantly.

Having used so many adjectives to describe Rahman and Lata ji, I'm going to attach the clip. Watch it, and enjoy! A small primer:- This video is specifically made to support women empowerment.

Math: Y U So Beautiful?

2014-08-20T02:10:00.002+05:30

I've started my final year in IIT Madras. The phrase "Time flies" seems apt to describe how three years passed by so quickly.

Something more specific to the title; I loved numbers as a kid, being able to sum, multiply and divide faster than my parents and peers. Yes, that was a big deal for me, then!

Recently, after watching Gilbert Strang explain Linear Algebra, I'm left amazed by the beauty of series, sequences and plain numbers.

I was taught Linear Algebra (matrices) in my grade 11 & 12, but, I never learnt it the "right" way. Earlier, a matrix was a box enclosed with numbers, extremely useful when I had to solve multiple linear equations. Now, the same matrix defines an N-Dimensional space, with all its components floating in this space. Well, a more physical way of understanding a matrix would be to consider it as a tensor. Pop the last line out of your memory. You could look at that, once you understand the matrix to vector decomposition :)

Fibonacci - as solved on my white-board

On a related note, The Fibonacci sequence has been my favorite sequence since grade 7. I loved adding numbers in my head, so generating the sequence upto the 40th or 50th Fibonacci number was a fun activity for me. I never imagined using linear algebra to do the same in a more optimized fashion, especially by employing the concept of eigenvectors and eigenvalues. This, by far has been the coolest thing I've seen. Scaling up this algorithm to find the 10^7th Fibonacci number is not computationally intensive, as this procedure involves just 1(one) cross multiplication of matrices, and matrix elements (diagonal matrix) exponentiation.

All this craze for Math started with a friend who told me about Shinichi Mochizuki (a Japanese Prodigy at Kyoto University expected to have solved the abc conjecture). Now, I say "expected" because no-one (I mean NO-ONE) understands the proof he has published. Professors at Princeton, Stanford struggle to understand the proof he has presented, which is far from verifying if it is correct or just gibberish. And, following that, Manjul Bharghava won the Fields Medal recently. Once that episode concluded, I read about Gregory Perelman, the math recluse who denied accepting the Fields medal and the Clay Mathematics Award (of $1 million) for proving the Poincare conjecture.

This was an overdose of math, but it's just so beautiful, I hoped I was exposed to such math early in my high - school either by my parents or teachers at school.

I might be immature to comment on my schooling system, but I believe the way I learnt most topics in school was not the "Right" way of learning it, as I've had to unlearn and re-learn most of them in the past 3 years.

"50 Things"

2014-07-30T10:55:00.000+05:30

I recently read an ancient post (probably 10 years old) on the web written by an MIT Alumnus. He listed 50 things that one should experience, enjoy during the four year stint at his/her UG school.

As I'm the author of this post, I shall compliment the points with a note on my personal experience at IIT-M. Well, there are some points that don't simply fit in the "Indian context", probably like the co-ed bathrooms.

Having said that, let me get straight to the point(s).

Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them. Yes, I've seen this happen to couple of my close friends. Our friendship distanced as they became "couples". Others changed their status from loner to most popular guy in class. Junaid is a perfect example of the latter; The metamorphosis I saw in him was tremendous.
Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes. I do call home often :)
In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they'll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments. Fantastic idea. Will compile it this semester :)
Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon. Done :) Missed multiple systems biology classes, workshop lectures as a result!
Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you're nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can. When I think of it, I'm not the early guy nor the late night guy. Probably lazy fits the bill.
If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don't let people tell you that you "should be more organized" or that you "should plan better." Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated... and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you. I like being meticulous and punctual :P Work done much before deadline, life lived with lesser tension.
At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn't do so well on the final, but I haven't thought about psych since 1993. I've thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son's godfather) at least once a month ever since. Never done this :( All the irresponsible fun kept for last semester, I hope.
Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that's part of the reason they chose to be professors. Yes, done :)
Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn't count.) Ha, I think I'm the best at this :P Given that I don't have boyfriend "duties", I have all the time to myself.
Go on dates. Don't feel like every date has to turn into a relationship. Surprisingly, done this too. Three dates in three years, zero relationships. Sounds good?
Don't date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with. I hope I could tag XYZ (name not revealed) on this one :P Sorry, bro.
When your friends' parents visit, include them. You'll get free food, etc., and you'll help them to feel like they're cool, hangin' with the hip college kids. Hmm, I do get free food, not involved them though. Anant, you're the man :) Lovely breakfast, lunch and peanut butter :D God bless you and your parents.
In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you. Even though I sent them e-mails or chat messages, let me post again, S.Prasad and Vignesh Iyer, without you, IIT-M would have only been a dream.
Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, "what can I learn from this person?" More of your education will come from this than from any classroom. I agree completely. Infinite names to put in here. Atul, Nitin, Balaji, Aswin (yes, without the 'h'), Anant, Nikhil, Suraj, Shara, Shantanu, BoleTo, everyone in IIT. I've learnt infinite stuff from you guys. And, I'm yet to learn much more :)
All-nighters are entirely overrated. Only Friday night :P
For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don't want to date anyone else, that's totally fine! What's not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you're on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day. I was never so good with the girls back in school, nor am I. I need divine support.
Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as "in person.") Often someone's facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words. I'll have to get back and work certain things out.
Take risks. Sadly, I think it's foolish to do so.
Don't be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds. Clearly out of context here. I'm excited when my batch-mates visit me in hostel on the coveted hostel nights. On normal days, they aren't allowed to enter our rooms.
Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.) Well, that depends on whether I have a lab on Mon/Tue or Thurs/Fri.
Welcome failure into your lives. It's how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered. I have been worst at accepting failures. It could be as small as a score on one of my tests or rejection of my application for an internship. God help me with my PhD App's.
Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it. Done :)
It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now. You won't get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone. I live in my future :(
When you're living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents' money. If you're going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a "valuable social experience." I watch most sitcoms with friends on pizza night :) Shantanu and Suraj are usually my partners in crime
Don't be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don't take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don't let it define your college experience. I am too young to understand what this means and I will falsely convince myself of the earlier statement.
Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate. I get to read novels even during the semester. Well, they are limited to 1 or 2, unlike SFM who manages to find time for reading a novel in a week
Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part. Experienced it.
Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful. Nothing, noteworthy yet.
No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You're going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can't imagine, across all fronts. You can't learn if you're closed off. Gone from eating only vegetarian foods to enjoying egg with every dish
If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.
Don't always lead. It's good to follow sometimes.
Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn't take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse. Should have done this from the start of my four years. Will capture every moment from now on :)
Your health and safety are more important than anything.
Ask for help. Often. An Ardent follower
Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it. Yes, Engineering drawing, I will never forget you.
In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it's too late. I can't stop laughing. Well, I'm hoping I can revel in the future, as revelling now doesn't add up.
In the long run, where you go to college doesn't matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you're given there. The MIT name on your resume won't mean much if that's the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don't waste them.
On the flip side, don't try to do everything. Balance = well-being. Second semester, I realized this. Tried almost everything, from sports to speaking to drama to quizzing, barring academics. Nothing worked. From then on, I've been working my ass off to gain my lost grades (Thanks to "Cumulative" gpa).
Make perspective a priority. If you're too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.
Eat badly sometimes. It's the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it. That sometimes comes every weekend, and when someone puts a treat :P
Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character. I might have unknowingly, several times
Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one. Once in 2 months.
If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do. Not Applicable
Don't be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.
Explore the campus thoroughly. Don't get caught. Yet to do this. Getting caught single doesn't seem plausible.
Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you're no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things. Branch changes aren't that simple in IIT.
Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain. Never.
Don't make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.
Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass. I am entering my last year, and the past 3 years just ran. I hope to savour every experience from now on, and capture each and every moment.
This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

I discovered this^ quite late, but this is going to my ready-reckoner, my guide to live my last year in IIT-M. I'm spending my last days in Japan, with a sprained ankle, and a chipped tooth.

With Endo Sensei (Assoc. Prof) and fellow lab mates - Part of Sugiyama Group

Have a great day!

Kyoto Update - Part 4

2014-07-06T16:08:00.000+05:30

Konichiwa!

Having completed more than a month of my stay in Kyoto, I'm surprised that I haven't yet visited any shrine or temple here. Part of the blame goes to my "busy" schedule, and the rest to my phenomenal laziness. My research progress has been quite good, given that I'm just a month done, I've already proved/completed (via experiments) the project objective I started off with. Now, I've proposed to analyze the same system and perform some mechanistic studies, which is the more challenging, but fun part.

I must have mentioned that Japanese food is oishii (delicious) but there is nothing left to taste when the exotic sea creatures are removed. Recently, our lab hosted a party welcoming me (a late welcome :P), and a few Masters students. For ending the meal, they served food that looked like long finger chips. Excited, I went ahead to gobble a few. Luckily, just before I ate it, someone mentioned that the squid was very delicious.

The haircut has earned its selfie

I also was successful in locating one of the cheapest salon in town, who charged me close to $15 for a simple hair cut. But, I should say, the haircut deserves that money. Hot Sanitized towels, a bunch of perfectly cataloged scissors, blades, and a fantastic chair to sit/lie on while I got the haircut. A once in a lifetime experience, which makes me dread getting back to IIT.

Now, getting to some random pictures that have caught my attention.

There is no difference between students with different All India Ranks once they get into IIT

Watashi wa Tokyo e ikimashtha (Trip to Tokyo) #NotGoogleTranslate

2014-06-24T23:15:00.000+05:30

Dressed in a Yukata at Tokyo!

I took the Shinkansen to get to Tokyo from the Holy city, Kyoto. It was a 2hr, 17 min ride, at speeds close to 250-300 km/hr. Well, I couldn't feel that speed for most of the journey, but, the acceleration while passing through any tunnel was evident to me. My ears went numb for a while, but the conventional remedy of swallowing saliva helped relieve me of this pain.

Tokyo, is more or less, a greener Dubai with a lot more natural beauty to admire. Dubai has hot deserts, while Tokyo has quite a few tall mountains. The conditions of the buildings, cleanliness in both the cities are comparable. Well, Dubai has more expats, while Tokyo primarily comprises of Nihon-jin, and extremely limited expats.

Arrow points at Mt. Fujisan

I visited Akihibara, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Gotanda and Takaosanguchi in Tokyo. Akihibara is a well known place for buying cheap electronic gadgets, and is also claimed as the "Otaku Paradise". All the anime fans out there, this is your dream destination. There are quite a few shops selling adult merchandise. Being from Dubai/Chennai, I've never seen a public sale of such stuff, but I infer after doing some online research that it's "normal" in Japan and many other European cities.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do". So, I bought myself a Yukata, and a Samurai geta. Well, I wanted to buy a Katana too, but airport officials have classified that as "prohibitory" item.

Base of the Mt. Takaosan -- Inariyama Trail

My next major destination was Mt. Takaosan. It's a reasonably tall mountain (close to 1km elevation). We took the Inariyama trail, the one described to be the roughest trail. Ascent was quite simple. There were some passages, where the left side was a steep cliff, and I had to hold the branches on the right to move inch by inch. Seriously, a brilliant experience. We reached the base of the mountain by 3.45 pm, and started ascent by 4. Got to the Summit by 6.30 pm, admired the beauty of the city below us. We could see Mt. Fujisan from the summit, and it looked fantastic. The descent was more adventurous, as it was pitch black by then. We could see close to nothing, and we had just a single mobile flashlight. We had to tightly hold anything close to us, and make sure we didn't take the wrong step. One wrong step, and we'll be sliding/falling to the base. And, the best/worst part was, there was not even a single person on that trail while descending. It was like we were the only people on that mountain. This is my first, and best trekking experience. I'm planning to climb Mt. Fujisan (height of 3.5 km) by the second week of July. Trekking on an ice-covered mountain would be a completely different experience.

Suspension Bridge - "Resonance" Experimental Zone

From Left - Abhishek, Me, Junaid

After this long trekking trip, it's natural to feel exhausted & tired. I went back, slept for a while only, got up early to take the Shinkansen to Kyoto. On my way back, sleep deprived, I took short naps to revive myself. I overslept, missed the Kyoto station, and got down 45km away from Kyoto, at Osaka.They wouldn't allow me to exit the station, because my ticket was booked for Kyoto, and wouldn't understand that I overslept, and needed to be put on a train back to Kyoto. It was "Terminal" once again, with the only exception being that, I couldn't find the analogue for Catherine Zeta Jones :PI'm learning spoken japanese, but I hadn't learnt what "sleep" translates to in Japanese. It's "suripu", and it's best every outsider know this. After some running around, I found someone who understood that I overslept, and she convinced the authorities in Japanese. And, I was back on the Shinkansen to Kyoto, without any extra fees.

Surprisingly fun!

An Arbit Selfie

Doria Rice without Meat Sauce (New item on the Menu!)

Exit the Mountain - At the Base (Closed before we arrived)

Aaah, JUST an earthquake.

2014-06-14T07:16:00.001+05:30

Once you're in Japan, you could admire the beauty of the temples, shrines and mountains in Kyoto; tall rise buildings, late night life, massage parlors in Tokyo; the beauty of Mt. Fuji. But, there's one thing you will get to experience. And, that is an Earthquake.

Two days back, around 7:30 pm, I was sitting in my lab, completing some experiments. It was a normal day, as in, I had negative results, and a feeling of frustration was creeping in. I was trying to determine, which step in my protocol was faulty, and figure out how to change the experiment conditions to get "desirable" results.

Moments after the Earthquake - sustained normalcy

In the midst of all this mental turmoil, I suddenly noticed my files stacked in the cabinet were dancing to an awkward tune, my mouse (PC-mouse) going out of control, and finally my legs and hands shaking (I guess, that was with fear). I turned around, asked my Japanese friend, "What the hell is happening here?" I didn't use "hell", but for public view, it's best I leave it as is.

He was compiling his data, and eating a tofu at that time. He finished his tofu, turned around calmly, and answered "It's, just an earthquake". Aah, just an earthquake, hmm, like I was expecting something worse! Well, it took me 5 - 10 minutes to get back to normalcy, and start planning for experiments the next day.

My Spot in the Lab!

An hour later, my professor came to our cabin, spoke to the Japanese students in Nihon-go (japanese language), and then asked me, if I felt the earthquake. And before I could respond, he told me "Don't care", giggled and left.

And, finally a monotonous day ended with an element of surprise. After this, I asked around to find out, what is best thing to do during an earthquake, and some tips on the Do's and Dont's. I always thought running out of the building would be the best, but was advised against that; staying put in your place or getting under the table would be the best.

On a lighter note, the Shinkansen trip from Kyoto to Tokyo was an amazing experience. When it starts from a station, you can feel the gradual increase in speed, and it'll feel like you're in a plane, about to take off any time. Well, the ticket charges are exorbitantly high, close to 13K Yen, but, thanks to Honda Foundation, they've taken care of my travel expenses.

Mt. Fuji seen from the Shinkansen

Inside the Shinkansen. Ultimate speed.

Honda Scholarship Meet (The Indian Delegation)

I'm in Tokyo, done with the Honda Scholarship Meeting. Exploration starts today!

Watashi wa Nihon ni imasu! ( 私は日本にいます)

2014-06-04T23:43:00.003+05:30

The Hills that surround Kyoto!

Yes, I'm in Kyoto, the temple city of Japan. It's a beautiful small city surrounded by mountains, and filled with infinite temples, shrines ranging from the Golden Temple (Kinkaku-ji) to Fushimi Inari.

It has been a week since my arrival in Japan. The first three days went in settling down in my compact, simple flat in Kyoto Apartment. My room is well-equipped.with crockeries and electrical appliances, which makes living here much more comfortable.

Indian Reunion

My next post will describe the Japanese culture, habits and mannerisms in detail; which I believe are the salient features of this society. Well, I believe, the immense progress Japan has made in almost all fronts is only due to their way of living.

Huge "Naan" -The Japanese Way!

Recently, there was an Indian re-union (or Semi-IITian reunion) in Kyoto. All the people gathered were researchers at Kyoto University, and surprising had some link with the IIT's. They were either project students, or had completed their Masters at the old IIT's. I was the youngest of the group, and the only B.Tech in this gathering.

Notice the Japanese Character (like pi) on the Hills

This Sunday, I plan to ascend this hill. I presume it'll be a fairly simple task as an average athlete climbs it in less than 30 minutes. The other hills are slightly more tricky, and might take up to 3.5 hours to reach the peak.

The "pi" that you faintly see on the hill is the site of a massive bonfire every year during the daimonji festival (like the one you see on the left).

The pictures below are that of my room. Compact, cosy and perfect. Ideal for one person, probably a bit too ideal. Apart from the food, everything else is great. Japanese cuisine is great, but there's very less left to taste if you remove the meat, the chicken, the exotic sea creatures and the pork. So, I cook everyday.
This cooking on a daily basis, is possible only because of the flexible lab timings. The best part is, there is no set time for working. The philosophy is set your own deadlines and stick by it. That is it. They (professors, seniors) will provide you with every assistance you might require, but honour the deadline you've set. So, I'm entitled to take my own breaks, disappear from the lab whenever I want, but I'm completely responsible for the progress of my experiment/project.

Wardrobe

Electrical Appliances + Crockeries

Kitchen

End-sems Week (and Weak)

2014-05-02T22:37:00.000+05:30

It's back again. The famous "un-famous" week of every semester. The week where most of us get a total of five hours of sleep in a span of seven to ten days.

And, our sole companion through this phase of "Forced Insomnia" is Music, Music and a lot of Music. Seriously, God bless those singers and composers whose composition, and voice keeps me awake through the night. This end-semester period, I've explored some really different genre of music, budding singers, and fantastic new songs.

While browsing for songs, I came across this singer - Luciana Zogbi. I should say, she's got a Brilliant, mature voice.

Check this song - It's from the Disney's Frozen.

Well, apart from some brilliant music, I recently saw this "True" comedy video, created by freshmen at IIT Bombay. It's hilarious, but sadly true, and applicable to all IIT's :P (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTUn3iUvAX0#t=155)

Wow, This is Long since my last post!

2014-04-24T01:07:00.000+05:30

It's been ages, since I last blogged.

This semester has by far been the most hectic, with assignments, quizzes, projects and presentations. And, having all these back-to-back leaves an impression of "NO" time for anything extra.

Nevertheless, this has been an eventful semester as well. I became the Institute Chess Captain, invited my grandparents to IITM for the Institute day (where I received the Dr. Anita Mehta Dahmani Medal + 5k cash), and finally have an almost confirmed Funded Internship offer from Kyoto University, Japan.

Last few weeks, I've been working on my Computational Systems Biology Project, where I've been partially successful in modeling HIV replication inside a Eukaryotic Cell system. The fun part is that I've coded a simple Delayed Differential Equation solver in Matlab, which is an order of magnitude faster than the innate dde23 Matlab solver.

Projects and presentations are the fun part. They're almost done, and now the "Real" Slogging begins, the fight for end-semesters!

I'll end with this, Watch "2 States". Its a nice stress-buster, fun movie and I'll guarantee each one of you, your life after an IIT+IIM will never be like the one depicted in that film. (That's an exceptional scenario).

Honda Young Engineer & Scientist (Y.E.S) Award!

2014-01-17T23:58:00.000+05:30

Now, that's something unexpected!

Let me spill it; I won the Honda Young Engineer & Scientist Award.

The best part of the win was the experience that I gained throughout the selection process.

Let me give you a brief description of the selection process.

This Award is open to students from the old IIT's (students currently in the 5th semester) and we fill a common application and attach relevant documents like our Resume, Important Certificates and few others.

The next round is an Essay round, where we have to write an on-spot essay for a topic primarily on 'Green Technology". This is conducted in every IIT. Around 50 students qualify from each IIT to the essay round.

Then, the first round of Interview. It's conducted in the campus, but I was in UAE then. So, I got to attend the interview in IIT Bombay. Around 12 students get selected from each IIT to Round-1 interview.

And, from that round, around 2-3 students get selected from each IIT for a final round in Delhi in the Honda Plant, Greater Noida.

Well, On 6^th January, I got some fantastic news. I got a mail stating that I was selected for the Round – II interview scheduled for 11^th Jan in the Honda Plant in Delhi (To be precise, Noida). There were 19 other students selected from different IIT’s for the same.

The trip to Delhi!

The hospitality we received was simply brilliant. Starting from the spacious guest-house to the food, everything was well-planned and presented extravagantly.

Team from IIT Madras!

The best part of the event was meeting people from different IIT’s who not only shared similar interests but were equally brilliant.

All our Interviews went decent, but the best part was the Mafia game we played on the day of our interview (after the interviews) from 10pm to 2.30am!

The Honda Officials took us to Radisson for a fantastic feast after the interviews.

The next morning we visited the Lotus Temple and then were off to the Domestic Airport.

20 of us from different IIT's and the Honda Officials

At the Honda Plant!

Lotus Temple Visit

Guesthouse: IITM, IITB and IITW students

10.10.10.10.

2014-01-04T23:28:00.002+05:30

I'm amazed.

Especially, after a poor performance in quiz 2, getting an 'S' in all my courses, quite surprising. I shall take this as a case of over-considerate professors.

And, another birthday passes!

Well, I'm back in NCBS now. An interesting project, a new mentor, but the same lab mates :) This time I get to work with Caenorhabditis elegans (commonly known as "worm"). The identification of it's stages of development, the use of a microscope, maintenance of these worms and lastly killing many of them while transferring them from one plate to the other.

Well, apart from the worms, I work with E-coli. I throw them into incubators, spin them at 10k rpm, pippete them up-down, lyse them to work with their proteins, and clear them by auto-claving at 121C. Now, this is done in the name of Science.

The thought that our actions are pre-determined/controlled by a superior being, and this set-up is an experiment. Some experiments go on to successful completion, while others have huge error bars.

Well, getting back to science after the minor philosophy diversion.

I got to attend Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan's (Nobel Laurate) talk in NCBS on 2nd Jan. A fantastic presentation elucidating his current work on mitochondrial ribosomes, along with a brief history of development of crystallography and EM imaging.

On a lighter note, I saw this ridiculously photogenic child (on the social media).

Dubaaaai

2013-12-03T20:56:00.000+05:30

Yes. I'm Back.

Finally, a Free Bird.

Now, I'm back home after 8 months. I'm not super-excited, not overflowing with happiness or not extremely disappointed. Unlike my other friends getting back to Dubai, I don't proclaim "Home, Sweet Home" when I get back.

Yes, I am happy to get back to the land of clean bathrooms, where I get hot water in the shower, where I will get to sleep without any tension of a pending assignment or the tension of missing lectures or lab scheduled in the afternoon.

Out of all the sources of physical fitness, it being sports or going to gym, I enjoy running the most. It is one of the only physical activity that does not require any dependence, be it calling another friend, requesting a friend for equipment/gadget, etc.

Well, coming to what happens at home on a routine basis: Mom screaming and Dad advising my sister on how to study, plan and how academics is priority. I presume, this would be the same situation in every household.

This meme reminds me of what my mom used to tell me and my sister (in Kannada instead).

I'm off to IIT Bombay now. :)

Super"Trolled"Man

2013-11-09T22:41:00.002+05:30

I've got some very interesting information to share. I know the person in question has been trolled "N" number of times, but I would like to put my version of the same.

My source of information, entertainment and communication is the Twenty minutes I spend on Facebook on a daily basis. One fine day, probably a week or two back, my news-feed is filled with a link to The Hindu (Reputed Newspaper). And, the comments were filled with "WoW", "Sheer Brilliance", "Go Anna University" and so on.

Very Curious, I open this link, to uncover something fabulous. The Title of the Article is "He has arrears in engineering, PhD. in physics". I start reading the article, to learn more about this person. He's studying at Anna University, published EIGHT papers in the Journal of Physics, and has discovered an elementary particle and named it "Saral". For these innovations, he has been offered a doctorate at UCB.

Left dumbfounded, I cursed myself as I haven't published any research paper yet even though I'm in a much better, bigger institute than his. Enthusiastic to change this trend, I write back to my Mentor at NCBS, in an attempt to know if I could continue my work in the Winter. I got a positive reply quite soon, and I was quite content with the same.

Super"Trolled"Man

But, the facts of the article seemed shady to me; The Title seemed to mockingly praise the person, and this guy was from Anna University. (Pardon my arrogance, but I believe the bests at IIT's are many-fold better than those anywhere in India).

The next day, I read the Hindu online, and I find the previously published article was Wrong, as the "person" had falsified the news. He had fooled Anna University (got his story published in the monthly report) and was partially successful in fooling the Hindu as well.

Should I say I am happy to know it is false? I won't say "Yes", but if it was True, it is setting extremely high standards to achieve. Me, done with two brilliant years at IITM, and one and a half to go, securing eight papers in this short span seems impossible; a pHD selection seems possible, but being able to make fundamental changes to how the "Sciences" are perceived would be impossible.

Ending this on a serious note, I have Endsems coming up.

Have a great day!

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/he-has-arrears-in-engineering-phd-in-physics/article5278851.ece

Institute Award!

2013-11-05T20:12:00.002+05:30

Yes, It has been a long time since I posted. This semester has been quite tiring. Lots of Assignments, interesting projects but average scores.

Well, I got to know this^ probably a month back. It came as a total surprise to me, and I got to know of the same in a very "abnormal" manner (The "good" abnormal).

With the change of proxy hubs to access face-book in IITM, my visits to the page had drastically reduced; From a daily basis to a once a week or once a fortnight. Shreya sent me a message (on fb) congratulating me for winning an Institute award. My first reaction: Is she trolling me? and the next being, What is the necessity to do so now?. With these lingering questions, I sent her a message requesting for clarification of the same. I waited for an hour, 2 hours, and then checked next day for her response. No response from her. Convinced, she was trolling me, I ignored the issue.

But, the next day, I received a mail on the Biotech Google Group from our Branch Councillor about the students receiving Institute Awards. And, BAM, my name is there! And, there were two others, but they were seniors who had just graduated.

Well, that was fantastic. I have been selected for the Dr. Anita Mehta-Damani Award for the best academic record in the 3rd and 4th semester in Biotech, IITM, and will receive a Medal along with a cash prize of (Rs 5000). [I shall receive this during the Institute Day (2014)]

This is my first "decently-big" award in IIT-Madras, and with all your wishes I hope to do much better in future :)

Bang'lore Fun

2013-08-03T02:12:00.000+05:30

I've already written about my summer stay. A single post wouldn't do justice to the insane time I had at Bangalore.

Now, let me introduce some new interesting characters to my simple, monotonous life.

Maunish: my room-mate in Bangalore and my batch-mate at IITM. We were good friends back at IITM, but staying with him for 2 months, took our friendship to a different level. We abused the same set of people and developed simple strong symbols that we intend to propogate once back at IITM.

Priya: The first time we met, she was dining with Americans, claiming she was half-american (she studies at Virginia Tech). She has this Indian'ish American accent, which makes what she speaks relatively more comprehensible. I always thought a time-span of approximately a year would be required for becoming good friends, but after meeting priya, I think just a week would suffice. And, I should mention her 'modern' grandma, who cooked for us, a fabulous feast a few days before our internship ended.

Anshul, Agrim, Aparnna and Varada: All my co-interns from Dr. Deepa's Lab. They were equally awesome, each one of them leaving behind a peculiar memory. Anshul, the girl who worked on beetles and the person who made the best maggi at 2AM! Agrim, the big, scary guy on first sight, but an awesome person with good advice, once we've passed the first barrier of trying to speak with him. Aparnna, my batch-mate at IITM who I wasn't particularly fond of earlier, but she dazzled me with her intelligence during the internship. Varada, the pretty girl who glows in the dark. Initially, she seemed like the typical conservative chennaite, but later she turned out to be one of the sweetest/care-free person I met this summer.

Apart from making good friends, we as a team experimented a lot of other interesting stuff also. First, we hit Hard-Rock-Cafe, then a few disco's and finally some fantastic restaurants.

Summer Stay in Bangalore

2013-07-13T19:45:00.000+05:30

I cannot call this weather "Summer". It is freezing cold here. I am using such a strong word "Freezing" because I'm a typical Chennaite (A person who claims cold is 25 C).

As you all might know, I'm working in Dr Yamuna's Lab in NCBS (National Center for Biological Sciences). I was very happy when I got selected for the program, and was happier when I visited NCBS for the first time.

NCBS is truly heaven on earth. With a brilliant layout it is better than a Resort. I've been to Kodai and Ooty, but frankly, NCBS is better. Here, the added bonus is that NCBS is a hub of learning and learned men while the others were just venues of plain entertainment.

Being a B.Tech from IIT gives us the initial advantage with hell lot of added pressure. They expect IITians to be geniuses and "out of the box" thinkers. We "IITians" cannot afford to 'bulb', make mistakes - well, that's the expectation.
And, the way I think, answer questions reflects the 'brilliance' of the IITian community. This all adds up to Unwanted Pressure; BUT makes me more productive than ever before. Now, there's a state of brilliance I have to set and keep up to, while this doesn't exist while studying at IIT-M.
Even though we cannot compete with Students with a Pure Science background, we can still add our own unique flavor.

The most crucial day is Saturday especially for YK Lab. We have our "GD" commonly expanded as Group Death through Discussion. More than the information I gain about different systems, I get to speak out the hypothesis that I make + suggest some experiments that could be performed to prove the same. The GD starts sharp at 10.30 AM and concludes by around 4:30 PM leaving most of us (or atleast me) mentally exhausted.

I am free on Sunday's and I enjoy it in the best way possible. I went for 'Man of Steel' day before (It's cliched - DON'T GO!) and to Orion Mall, the week before.

And Before I end, I've been attending a summer course on "How we and cells do it" given by post-docs at NCBS. More than the 'knowledge' I gained, it was a fantastic venue to meet people with diverse backgrounds (of my age-group).

Wonderla

2013-07-07T16:48:00.001+05:30

A last minute plan executed efficiently. It was fantastic, brilliant, exciting, fun and all the other synonyms I can't think of now. I went to wonderla, expecting it to be a simple water park - which meant it would include more speaking, interacting with friends I went with.

Well, I did make great friends and a bonus, my coefficient of fearlessness/strength went up by leaps and bounds. I never go on roller-coasters, or dry rides that take you upside down, spin you at a high altitude or allow me to experience a feeling close to free-fall. In other words - no dangerous dry rides, only simple bumper-cars and go-kart. But, I was with a group of boys and girls of my age, which posed an intrinsic compulsion of going on all the rides.

Yes, I went on ALL the rides. And the worst part, I started with "Insanity", then went to "Hara-kiri";It was a great experience with respect to the dry rides I went on + it was totally worth the entrance fee I paid.

A brief introduction to all the characters in this pic:
Anshul, the girl from IIT guwahati in the Nimbuzz T-shirt, Agrim (to her right) from IISER Pune. Varada (second row - right) from Anna University, Me (to her left), Vedant (to my left). Jayjit (behind me) from IISER K, and Aparnna (Last row - right), my batch-mate at IITM.

And Photo-credits: Alifiya (JRF at NCBS).

Fantastic Hostel Nights

2013-05-20T21:41:00.001+05:30

Hostel Nights are unique to Colleges and we, at IIT-M, take special interest in conducting this the best way possible. These hostel nights are more or less an occasion to bid adieu to our seniors, the passing out batch.

Every Hostel conducts a Special Night with a distinct theme every year. The Ambience of the Night is set accordingly. The freshers, second years and the secretaries (3rd Years) put in a lot of effort to make the day memorable to our final years (the 4th and 5th years).

Sharav Night - After the DJ Night!

The Evening starts with the Literary, Technical, and Social Secretary of the hostel delivering their final speech which is more of a humble introduction to the evening. There is a small prize-distribution for the Most Enthusiastic Freshers of the Hostel in Lit, Tech and Sports activities. (I also received such a prize in my first year. Some feel-good moments).

There is a lavish spread of (भोजन). A nice sumptuous Buffet.Okay, not as great as what I've had at Copper Chimney, but definitely worth the small fee I pay.

Then, the DJ Night. Primarily Hindi pop, Punjabi and Telugu rap songs are played. Dancing is a lot of fun, especially when none of us are experts at it, and when no-one comments on how your "Bad" your dance moves are.

The Last time I went for such a full-fledged party was in Turkey (when I went for my MUN). The Turkish Nights organized were fantastic. It was for the 23+ age group, so there was a Beer Night, Prom Night, and 2 more un-named nights. We didn't attend the Beer Night, but the other nights were open to us, and I should say, it was brilliant.