Five-Point-Someone-by-Chetan-Bhagat

Ever since I read “Five Point Someone” about 3 years back, I really wanted to see a Bollywood movie “based” on it (and by based I mean a blatant copy, scene to scene.). Why? Simply because FPS had everything a super entertaining Bollywood movie can ask for. Comedy, emotions, drama, friendship, romance, supers one liners, witty dialogues etc etc. Being an engineering student myself, I loved and connected well with the characters of the novel, even if the book and the author, Chetan Bhagat was not in the good books of the literature lovers/ critics. Though I am not a fan of masala movies as such but would have loved to see an adaptation of FPS on screen. Then the news of 3 Idiots broke out and I am sure almost everyone who read the book must have got excited.

3 Idiots movie poster

After a about couple of years, more trailers came out and that killed most of my excitement. Reason: Casting. Aamir Khan, Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the role of engineering students? No way. Sharman Joshi is still passable but Aamir Khan and Madhavan, I cant digest them doing role of a person 20-25 younger than them. Sure Aamir is a tremendous actor, my favorite actually, but come on! It is not that he did not act well, but he just doesnt fit for me. Sure he was desirable, (like he was in DCH) but not appropriate.  When can bollywood stars be expected to play roles according to their age? They cant be forever young!

Anyway, getting to the movie. I, though was not very excited about the cast but went to see the movie anyway with my two best friends.

Not much was heard about the movie till then so I had no idea how it was going to be. And once movie started, it never looked like a movie, it was like a journey of a student in engineering college. 3 Iidiots feels more like an ongoing interactive event then just a movie. You feel involved, more so if you are/ have been an engg student.
This movie is the closest depiction of college life you will see in a Bollywood movie. The rat race for marks,  rude professors, rough ragging, pressure of placements. Specially the character of Chatur (very very well played by Omi Vaidya), it can be seen in any class, in any college, engineering or non engineering. Truly heart warming to see such real life decpition of college life you live on screen. Movie is so close yet so far from the actual engineering college life (but it is surely the best one yet).

But where the movie lost me was some not so real life elements in it. Trust Bollywood to add some larger-than-life bits and pieces even where it is absolutely un-necessary. If 3 Idiots is most accurate version of Indian engineering college life, it also depicts somethings which, atleast I have never experienced in my college life. Girlfriends are not seen wandering around in boys hostel, and certainly not the daughter of the college’s principal. Student dont talk to professors like that.

Also, I start hating a movie when it starts challenging your intelligence. Bringing a dead boy back to life by singing “Aal Iz Well”. How dumb is that? Delivering a baby with a vacuum cleaner? What are they? 3 Superman? I would not have minded masala, infact, I would love to see a blatant copy of FPS. But scenes questioning my intelligence, and larger that life depictions are a no-no.

Aamir’s movie are generally clean and can be watched with friends and family. There is one particular scene, which without a doubt is insanely funny, no doubting that, but I am not too sure if I would have been too comfortable watching it with my family or female friends. Yes you are right, I am talking about the Chatur’s balatkar/ chamatkar speech in the movie. It may well be one of the most hillarious moments of Indian cinema but after first few lines, it became little too cheap for my liking. Even if you think the same, that would not have prevented you from laughing your hear out, just because of the timing and wit of the scene and the dialogues and brilliant delivery by Omi. The life of the trio in the college, how they became good friends also was not emphasized much which makes me believe that perhaps a tv series can do more justice to “Five Point Someone” than a movie.

Thats the story of 3 Idiots. You will no doubt witness a laugh riot and laugh your arses off, be entangled by the emotions, you will laugh bry, but it doesnt have a classic feel to it like Aamir’s some other movies, say Taare Zameen Par, Rang De Basanti, Dil Chahta Hai, not for me atleast. Its not like I hated 3 Idiots, but I simply dont thik of it as high as a DCH or a TZP or RDB. There are many awesome things in the movie which will make you forget/ ignore the shortcomings in the movie (infact I am also having trouble remembering points when I watched it only 8 days ago).

It is a great blockbuster entertainer, but not Aamir’s best, not a classic. The movie is enjoyable as a whole but has bollywood elements sprayed here and there. Casting was a weak point. Boman Irani looked perfect principal role. The guy who played Joy Lobo was very likeable, closest to being an actual student.

The movie has a strong message: Dont just mug up things, it can give you marks in college life but there are greater things to achieve in life than just a few extra marks. It has some well taught lessons for teachers as well. Some jokes in the movie are old but they are presented in such a way that they not only feel fresh but also give you a laugh. Thats the most important element of the move, presentation. Ra Kumar Hirani has excelled in this area. Timing and presentation is such, that nothing looks forced and old in this movie.

I loved satirical remarks like ” “Ajeeb desh hai hamara, pizza aane ki to 30 min ki gaurantee hai, par ambulance ki nai” Bulls eye! Sharman: “Ye le, ab daal de ye paste wapas is tube ke andar” (answering to nothing is impossible). Again, old, but does the job pretty well.

Watch 3 Idiots, you will love it. But if you hate typical Bollywood-ness as much as I do, you will probably not like it as much as others. (or you might as well end up ignoring the faults owing to the + sides of the movie).

Overall a good watch, total paisa vasool fun. Last year it was Ghajini, this year its 3 Idiots. (But I would watch 3 idiots 10th time rather than watching Ghajini for the second time).

3 Idiots: My rating: 3.25/5

The users of the immensely popular micro blogging website, twitter had an unpleasant last week. As if the regular tweeters were not frustrated enough with the frequent encounters with the “fail-whale” and delay in getting tweets, they were surprised by a “small setting update” that was done to their account settings which affected the way they will see “@replies” in their twitter time lines.

According to twitter

……we’ve learned most people want to see when someone they follow replies to another person they follow—it’s a good way to stay in the loop. However, receiving one-sided fragments via replies sent to folks you don’t follow in your time line is undesirable. Today’s update removes this undesirable and confusing option.

So according to the new settings, if you are following “X” and “X” tweets, “@Y……………”, and you do not follow “Y”, then you will not be able to see this tweet in your time line! (even though you are following the person who tweeted it). In simpler words, you won’t see tweets beginning with “@username” in your time line if you dont follow that user.

Take this for example:

If you are following me (@knayam), but not following @ShashiTharoor, you wont be able to see my above tweet in your time line!

Earlier, this setting was optional where users could select if they want to see “@replies” of only users they follow or for any user. Twitter has now disabled this functionality.

This effectively takes away one of the best part of twitter, serendipitous user discovery. Earlier if I saw one of the persons im following discussing an issue I am interested in with a third person, I could have sneaked in, and followed that third person if I found him/her/(it) interesting. But now, that is not possible as I will never come to know about conversations between people I follow and “X” as I dont follow “X”! This kills the “social” aspect of twitter as you can only stay in touch with people you already know as twitter has a system in place which drastically lowers your chances of you meeting an interesting new person in the twitter community.

Naturally, twitter users came all guns blazing against this stupid change, and within a few minutes, “#fixreplies” (the hashtag used for expressing dissent and urging twitter to undo the changes) was trending number one on twitter trend list.
Twitter team immediately got into action by seeing enormous feedback they got on their “small change”. Twitter’s CEO @ev tweeted shortly in response to the #fixreplies messages:

Reading people’s thoughts on the replies issue. We’re considering alternatives. Thanks for your feedback.

Later another blog post came from twitter explaining the reasons that forced them to make this change. They said they have learnt a lot from the feedback they got from the users:

Folks loved this feature because it allowed them to discover new people and participate serendipitously in various conversations. The problem with the setting was that it didn’t scale and even if we rebuilt it, the feature was blunt. It was confusing and caused a sense of inconsistency. We felt we could do much better.

So here’s what we’re planning to do. First, we’re making a change such that any updates beginning with @username (that are not explicitly created by clicking on the reply icon) will be seen by everyone following that account. This will bring back some serendipity and discovery and we can do this very soon.

Second, we’ve started designing a new feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow. This will be a per-user setting and it will take a bit longer to put together but not too long and we’re already working on it.

Later, in yet another blog post, twitter admitted that they “screwed up” from communication point of view. They also said that product design and technical issues were the two resons for taking this feature down. The change also affected only 3% of the twitter users (true as about 60% of twitter users leave after a month, via Nielsen).

The problems which led to disabling the feature:

Product Design Flaws

Since last year we’ve been hearing from users and having discussions about removing this setting—feedback indicated that it was useful but also created confusion. People would change the setting and then not understand why their timeline had fragments of conversations. From the tweet author perspective, there was an unclear expectation as to who would actually see messages which often lead to trepidation when it came to using replies. Finally, even folks who understood the setting would complain that they couldn’t follow accounts with a high volume of replies because the replies overwhelmed their timeline. It was becoming apparent that we had an opportunity for improvement.

Technical Problems

Even though only 3% of all Twitter accounts ever changed this setting away from the default, it was causing a strain and impacting other parts of the system. Every time someone wrote a reply Twitter had to check and see what each of their followers’ reply setting was and then manifest that tweet accordingly in their timeline—this was the most expensive work the database was doing and it was causing other features to degrade which lead to SMS delays, inconsistencies in following, fluctuations in direct message counts, and more. Ideally, we would redesign and rebuild this feature but there was no time, hence the sudden deploy.

Hopefully, this clears things up a bit and I promise to be less distracted and hasty when it comes to blog posts. We’re still listening, reading tweets, gathering feedback, and working on more efficient ways of doing so. Thanks to everyone for the feedback and for using Twitter.

So as it appears, twitter does not care about the user base albeit a meager 3%, which is actually seriously using twitter and is making changes trying to reduce the bounce rate. While it is understandable, I find it hard to believe why they would  kill an element as important as this, it really kills the “conversations”, the fun part of twitter. As I see it, new users will not see any great thing about twitter if they cant participate in conversations and meet new people, and will end up leaving twitter anyway.

Twitter has made it clear that the feature will not be turned on in its current form.

So here’s what we’re planning to do. First, we’re making a change such that any updates beginning with @username (that are not explicitly created by clicking on the reply icon) will be seen by everyone following that account. This will bring back some serendipity and discovery and we can do this very soon.

Second, we’ve started designing a new feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow. This will be a per-user setting and it will take a bit longer to put together but not too long and we’re already working on it.

I am one of those 3% who LOVED this feature. As a result of this change, my time line is dead as compared to earlier as I dont receive all the tweets of the people I follow. I wish twitter gives us this feature back or at least in some good form like they have promised. I am very hopeful of this as it is evident from the series of blog post and tweets the twitter team wrote addressing the feedback on this issue that they do care about their users. (ignoring users who were able to get “#fixreplies” on twitter’s trending list within hours of the outbreak and maintained it at that position for about two days, is anyway not a good idea, however “small” (in this case just a miniscule 3%) that user base is! LOL)

For the time being, if you want to make sure all your tweets reaches to all your followers, just dont use the “@reply” button to reply. rather use “@username” to whom you want to reply. Tweets typed without specifically using the “@reply” button will be visible to all your followers.

I was very optimistic about the ongoing general elections in India. And why shouldn’t I be? This was the first time, the hyped Indian youth was out to change something. People of (somewhat) my age group (18-35) formed the biggest elector group this time (65% of the total of 700 million electors). I really thought we will see youth go out and vote in huge numbers. I thought we will see a revolution of sorts in this election and our leaders will know for future that action speak louder than mere words. I really expected we will witness mass awakening this time after the numerous terror attacks, dirty politics that we have seen in past few years.

But nothing like that happened. take for example the two prime metros, Mumbai and Delhi.

What do you expect from a city and its residents who were bruising with an unprecedented terror attack just a few months back? The city was thirsty for blood of every politician, was talking of revolution, calling for total change in system, demanding security assurances and what not. You really expect that when time comes, they will really teach their leaders a good lesson. But what happens. An unbelievably low voter turnout of 44%.
Where is all the anger that filled the streets of Mumbai in November? When the time came to convert your words into action, nobody showed up, much like our politicians! When you yourself are doing this, let em tell you, you have no right what so ever to be crying about the state of your country, city or state for the next five years. Why? Because you dint do nothing to earn yourself that right. Before asking what this country does for you, think of what you have done for this country. Forget everything, you could not give even 10 minutes of your precious time on a public holiday when this great nation demanded. You people are just good for nothing.

Oh and dil walo ki dilli ke to kya kehne. Yaha itne dilwale rehte hain ki all of them preferred to stay inside and spend some quality time with their family and friends. Who cares about voting anyway. A 52% voter turnout is a proof of that. And to my surprise, some officials congratulated Delhi for coming out in “huge numbers” in this scorching heat to vote. Excuse me? Huge numbers? Please come again? Half the people did not vote, how can they be huge numbers? If you think there was no worthy candidate you could have voted for even after considering the independents, you could have voted using 49-O.

Reason? The reason is simple. We Indians just forget things too quickly. Whenever something happens, we being the most emotional of Homo sapiens alive on this planet, react to it at the highest levels there can be, but after sometime we forget everything. That is what our politicians thrive on. Our bad memory. We Indians have a tyical attitude of who cares! And this thing bites us back until we are again running for blood before forgetting and forgiving the guilty. its a vicious circle.

The rest of the country is not far ahead of Delhi and Mumbai in voter turnouts. There is no remarkable contrast between these two metros and the rest of the country.
Anyway, there is just one more phase to on 13th May and I really hope that we see better voting in that phase.

And oh, just for the record I voted using 49-O this time too, like I did last time in Delhi legislative elections 2008. this time the going was a lor more easy and the officials there had an idea that something of this kind exists. I was asked to sign an application (not required by the way), and sign on the voter list in the remarks section saying that “I refuse to vote”. They also took my phone number so that they can call me if they need me to complete any documents.

Another thing I liked was that this time there were 850 voter from Delhi alone who voted using 49-O! Quite a high number. Unlike last time, I personally came in contact with people who voted using 49-O. And I believe I have played some role in popularizing it,in Delhi, atleast (whether for good or bad I dont know).

And I am proud, that I do not vote for any politician even after knowing that my vote makes no effect on the outcome of the elections. Why? Read this and this.

Also I have a funny incident to share which happened with my mother who was on election duty at a polling station as first election officer.
This little and funny incident shows how more and more people are getting to know about 49-0 and actually using it to register a token protest. It also shows the mentality of our parents, that they think it is a waste of your vote and it is better if you do not come to vote at all if you want to vote via 49-0. When the first time I voted 49-0 in Delhi elections last year, my mother was critical of my way of using/wasting of vote, before and after I cast my vote. general elections were no different.

My mother was the first polling officer at this polling booth yesterday in the 4th phase of the India general elections 2009.
In comes a dude and he says he wants to use his “special right,49-0 to cast his vote (she doesnt actually remember if he actually used the term 49-0 or not”. As my mother already knew about 49-0, this was going to be relatively easy for this dude as atleast someone(my mother) had an idea that something like this exists. But surprisingly, the presiding officer (also a female)there on duty also knew about this.

PO=Presiding Officer
MM=My mummy
D=Dude

PO and MM: “haan aisi cheez hoti to hai. Beta, you can vote
.
D: (to himself) thank god. atleast these oldies are intelligent enough to know this exists. *happy*

PO: “but beta ye to aap apna vote kharab kar rahe ho, aise vote dene se kuch nahi hoga. What do you think aise vote waste karke kiska fayda hoga? Isse to acha hai ki aap vote dene nahi aate…….blah blah blah…the lecture continues for some time…..

D: ” no, sitting at home is a different thing. I am ACTUALLY voting here. just that I am giving my vote by the way of 49-0. It is my right to vote and I WILL vote 49-0. (as if to say YOU_CANT_STOP_ME )

PO: “okay go ahead (thinking that this youngistan ka bacha to maanane wala nahi, khoon garam hai, samjhane ka koi fayda nahi <just like my mother> )

MM (to PO, in low voice):”madam, main kya bolu, mera to beta khud yahi kar ke ata hai.

PO (to MM,whispers): “karke to mera beta bhi yahi ata hai”.

and both the ladies went ROTFL.

The PageRank update for April 2009 is underway. This is the first major PageRank update of the year (last being towards the end of december in last year). The update started yesterday.
Knayam went from PR of 2 to 3 (some of the internal pages have also got PR’s of 1 or 2.), while my other blog Biotech-geek.com The Everything Blog, still remains penalised. (its been almost an year since the penalty now Google, come one, you can show some love there, are you listening?)

Its been an okay PR update for me as I dint make real efforts and also dint update the blogs regularly, so I am kind of happy.

How did your sites/blogs fare in the PR update?

If you havent checked your PR’s as of yet, you can use this tool to check the PR of any site/blog or webpage.

(I havent included any pictures because I dont want to see my college when after 2 years I open this post, as anything related to college gives me blues.) So you have to read this rather boring post without any pictures.

A few things specially for this second part of the post:

1. This post can get very harsh at times (even heartbreaking if you are in my class as you may find a mention of yourself, if not today, may be later, as this post will be updated from time to time.), but you have an option to not read.

This is going to be an honest, at-your-face kind of post. I will say what I want to and I dont care what you think because I dont care anything about anyone (barring 2-3 people). There you go, you see, this is going to be a war! Did I mention I dont care about JIITians? (you can close this page now! ) No? Okay your wish. Just be thick skinned. (2-3 people in my class are exempted from the “general” bashing. I dont really take you guys as friends. Why? You will find out below, but atleast you guys are better than the rest. If you can make out that I am talking about you by the way I talk to you in class, then its good, otherwise, I can not mention)

2. I could have named people directly in this post as I named them in the last post but I have decided against it. It’s not because I dont want to piss you off or I am afraid of you or your reaction. lol. But I dont want to spoil names of people anyway, no matter what or how you made me feel knowingly or un-knowingly, though it is well within my rights to name people. But I dont want to indulge in humiliation and become what I dont want to. I will just refer to people as Mr X or Ms X. I will try to keep it civil and I expect the same (if you have anything to say).

3. If you are a JIITian, please please dont take this post as if I am pleading for pity. I am not pleading to you to talk to me. I dont want to!  If you know how pissed of I am by the “happening crowd” in JIIT, you will not mistake my rant for self pity anyway. Please please dont take it as if I want to talk more with you people. I seriously dont. I would prefer if you get pissed off too reading this post and dont ever talk to me again.

4. Please read #3 again.

5. All the points from the last post are still valid.

Hi there again. In my last post titled My living experience of heaven and hell- The JUIT and JIIT chronicles: Part 1, I talked about my un-forgettable life in mesmerizing environment of JUIT,Waknaghat (Jaypee University Of Information Technology) which was college life at its best.
And in this part, I will talk rant about my agonising life in JIIT (Jaypee Institue Of Information Technology, NOIDA) which is nothing you would like or want to read as it is very depressing.

It makes me want to the just the opposite of this famous XKCD comic:

I wish I could spin earth faster so that my days at JIIT are over sooner.
There is a hindi idiom that goes like “swarg bhi yahaa aur nark bhi yahaan“. I suppose its true. When god made a heaven like college -JUIT, he made JIIT too, just so that this idiom continue to hold true, so that the nature everything in nature is balanced and we dont have excess of goodness. And as I had seen heaven it was my turn to experience the other side of the coin called life.
As I said, I dint realize how sucky the college was in the initial days I spent at JIIT as I was just sinking in the moment, the thrill of my transfer. But when it settled down, things went bad, utterly bad.
I hate JIIT a zillion times more than I miss and love JUIT. And there is no limit for the reasons for me hating my present college. If I had written a personal diary of the (miss) happenings in JIIT, I would have given you atleast one reason for each day for why I hate Jaypee Institute Of Information Technology University (JIITU), NOIDA so much. Also, I could have written a book, probably.

What makes a college? Professors? Infrastructure? Placements? Well, if you ask me, the single most important part of any college are its students. If IIT’s are world renowned today, it is because of the brilliant brains it attracts from all over India, and not because of the professors who teach there. Sure, they must be having pretty good professors there but still its the students that make IIT what it is today.

And in case of JIIT, words are not enough to explain how disgusting people are here!

Man, I cant believe how ridiculous people are here in JIITU. After all, college life is supposed to be fun isn’t? This is when we become old enough for our parents to give us some freedom and allow us to have youthfull fun. Its the time when our raw youthfull is at its peak. Its when we become mature in our thinking, and in our attitude towards other folks and the way of life. We become responsible  and begin to understand things in a different way.

Who/what is a friend? Well it is not easy to define a friend. Its more of a mutual feeling. When we were kids, our friends were those who us their pen/pencil, or share their lunch with us. Okay, that was cute and innocent but thats not exactly what a friend is.
As I indicated before, to me, a friend is not just someone with whom I sit next to in the class or someone with whom I share my lunch time with. When I was in school, I always used to think that if I have such amazing buddies from school, dont know how great friends I will get in my college life. In my school days whenever I used to talk about my friends to any adult in my home, they would say, “concentrate on your studies, dont give much importance to your friends. They will vanish with time. You will make your *real friends* in your college.”. But even today, I have those 5 friends I made in 9^th standard (its been more than 8 years now). But where are all my *real friends* I was supposed to find in my college life? Do I have atleast one *real friend* in my college life? Answer would be a simple NO. Okay, that line could have made may be 2-3 people feel bad (if they ever read this), but actually thats what the reality is for me. I was expecting my college days to be like what Barney (from HIMYM) says, “Legendary”!. But that never happened.

By now, you must have got an idea that what, in my opinion, is wrong with my college or my college life. Its the students! They are unbelievably crappy.

Here people (or atleast a small percentage) are not the way should be. These maggots still have not come to terms with adulthood. They are so immature and childish that I wonder how long will they take to dump their $hi**y attitude towards life and other folks. Or will it ever happen at all, I cant be sure of that.

Do you remember your school days? When your teacher used to say 1/2/5 marks to who so ever answers this question, and every kid (including you and me) used to jump with one hand in air, wanting to get that one extra mark to…..? I dont know, score higher by 1 (or few) mark than your mates or to impress someone. Here in JIIT, it happens today also. When it happened for the first time when I was in first year, I was like, “Oh come on guys! You are in college. Do you think she is really going to give you one mark?” She is probably going to have a good group laugh in the lecturer’s hall describing the scene to scene to other lecturers which probably other professors have already witnessed themselves. Someone  would even mention that he/she deserves a bonus mark because he answered it better. And now when it happens in third year, the only expression I have is “Bah”.

Grow up guys, dont make war for 1 mark! Dont die for it. Even our lecturers have realized how easily they can get things done by just attaching a few words “this carries  x marks”. Even if it is stupid and makes no sense, they just say, you have 1/5/10/20 marks for doing this thing and suddenly the whole dynamics change and everybody is running to get that thing done. I wonder if there will be a day like one of our teachers will say, “Wash your undies yourself for 5 days and show it to us that you have done it. 0.5 marks for each undie. Bonus marks will be awarded for being creative and innovative”. Lets see how a conversation would be like regarding our new assignment.

Mr. X : “Hey, have you heard of the new assignment? We have to do our undies ourselves for 5 days and show the results to mam.”

Mr. Y: “Yeah, I heard of it. WTF is this. Is this a college? What kind of assignment is this.?”

Ms. Z: “But we have to do it anyway you see, its for 2.5 marks!!!”

Mr X,Y and all others unanimously: “True”

Mr. Y: “So what have you done so far?”

Mr. Y1:”I am falling behind by one day. (secretly thinking: man, I have to catch up, these guys are getting ahead of me. May be ill do my vests too along with my briefs, so that I get bonus bonus marks? wow, I am a genius! I will get higher marks than “X1″ this time, I am a better mugger learner than him,dont know how does he gets such high marks)”

Mr. X1:”Yeah, I am doing fine, I am on schedule. WTF, I dont want to this. *makes a sad face to pretend* (actually he is lying, he is secretly wishing that nobody else does it and is thinking he will probably do undies of his neighbour too to impress the teacher to get bonus-bonus-bonus marks. May be she will give him/her better marks in next major/minor(aka t1,t2,t3) exams too acknowledging his “hard work”. May these bloody su**ers rot in hell. I am definitely smarter than all of them”

So you see, I have tried to show you the mentality of people here. I mean if you dont focus on the word undies, this actually happens. People will do anything to get even 1 mark. If that means that they have to think negative for others, fine. Who cares! They all secretly keep on doing stuff, without telling others so as to fetch just a few extra marks. Where will this take them? I dont know! There is a thin line between a healthy competition and being obsessively selfish. These guys for sure have never heard of the former. Everything is like a war to them,even if it is against someone who they call their friends.

Very recently, while we were enjoying our holi breaks we got to know that our college admins have announced that class tests (which will carry marks) will be conducted in the scheduled lectures on the only working day which was falling in between our holi breaks and two consecutive holidays (one for convocation and other as the day following convocation is generally a holiday). The test was announced to discourage students from going for an extended vacation. Okay,in one of the practical, teacher announced a test too. Test was given in 2 groups of 15. I group was supposed to give the test at a time and the other group will follow after the first one. I was in the first group. When the test was over, guys from the first group actually asked  our sir to give different questions to the second batch arguing the students from the other group must have known the questions by now and they would get a few extra marks. Even after we went out of the lab, Ms. P was not happy with the fact the other group got 15-30 mins extra to study while our group was giving the test. Much ado about a small class test.(and just today I heard her sarcastically saying to someone else,”Do you think I care for marks?”)

What is the big deal if your “friends” get a mark or two extra in a small class test? Remember that these are the same guys which you call as your friends.

And next day was the convocation. One of the lecturer said attending the function is compulsary and marks will be given for coming to the ceremony. What do you expect? How rationale does that sound to you? Would you ignore it saying “meh” or would you actually start thinking over it? Well, atleast in my college, people got into heated discussions on whether to attend the function or not.

There is one Mr. S, who is always revolving around professors. These days if it (still) happens, (I dont know as I am not very regular these days), it may be because of work load but why did he do it all the time in the earlier days? Dint he do it enough in school? Was it not enough? Arent you bored of it? How many extra marks can you secure by doing this? And how and to what extent is this going to help you in your life? Better grades in the college,thats all? sad. Also, many people use foul language for Mr. S, behind his back. Say it on his face if you want to. And just because he gets better marks than others, people dont like it and take any opportunity to flame him or anyother guy or girl for that matter.

Talking of selfish, people here are light years ahead of the other students of same age in other colleges in this area. They wont tell what they are doing so that they remain ahead of you. And like school children, they will say they wont do/havent done any work , though when you see, they have obviously done everything. That used to happen in school! In college, when someone says they have not done something, you think they have really not done it. Here if someone talks to you or is your friends, you dont know if that person is doing so because he actually likes you or may be you are of some use to him/her in some way or the other. People befriend with others to achieve their personal gains. If you have something to give to them, then only they will talk or respect you, otherwise…… And friends who will say anything about you behind your back as soon as you turn from them. Those who will not think twice before bitching or back stabbing you if you get in way of their interests. I have seen many times, friends speaking about friends at their back. And I say to myself, that is why I dont have *real friends* here. I have seen it with respect to other people and also other guys speaking about me. (Mr. V: Dear, I do hear you saying things about me directly or from some other way. But I do know. I do have ears).

Talking of fun. How many times you (have) bunked your college for whole day to go out for a movie or to just hang out? For me, I can count it on my fingers, And the count is cipher,excluding the 2-3 times I went (not for the whole day though) for birthday treats. (Though, now I would probably not even like to bunk with my college mates as I am just too pissed off by everything. I am saturated with all the bull $hit and I cant take it anymore. ) Though I may have gone out on the days the exams get over, but I cant remember a time when I went willingly.

Everyone tells their kids the stories of their legendary days of their college life. I am sure your parents have shared some of their deeds with you. But what will I tell my kids? That the students in my class jump like they have a trampoline below their feet to get 1 or 2  mark(s) just like you kiddos do in your school. Or that I never bunked a full day with college mates (I have done many times with my other friends, infact, these days I am on a roll) even when there are no restrictions unlike you guys who cant bunk because you are still in school.

Once the students of my batch did a heroic attempt on bunking. It was our professional development practical in may be 4^th semester. The teacher who used to take the practical was absent that day and there was a substitute present at her place to take the practical. People somehow decided to bunk the practical and the whole class walked out just as the substitute teacher was coming towards us. Outside the lab, the scene was amazing. Everyone was jubilant and ecstatic about their unbelievable and and unique achievement. It looked as if they have pulled of an incredible feat. Loud laughs could be heard and there were extensive discussions on the topic and someone (I cant remember who) was saying that what a great moment they (finally) have to tell to their kids. There were high-fives flying all around as if they all got placed! Celebrations were on. There were sweets and champagne. Oh, wait, there were no sweets or champagne(thank goodness), otherwise the occasion was nothing short of a festival! Among the crowd, MR. A was among the most happiest people and sure knew a thing or two on how to sink-in the moment.

WTF! Itta shor-sharaba for bunking “ONE” class? Seriously, one class? Did they bunk a class in their schools that they were celebrating at such high adrenaline levels?

And the worst part is still to come. Substitute teacher told our PD teacher who BTW is very cool and understanding. When our PD teacher contacted us and said that she was disappointed by our behaviour, every gene that produced a heroic inducing protein was very quickly mutated or altaernatively spliced and produced a product which not only silenced every molecule that initiated that heroic act but also activated other molecules which turned my daring class mates into tiny mice like creatures and great manipulators. Instead of accepting a mass bunk, they went all out defending themselves with whatever lies they could come up with, to a teacher who was very good to us,who talked like a friend to the students. She was frank and used to take note of student’s problems. The teacher was told it was a misunderstanding. Ms. R said,” Mam, <I dont exactly remember what she said>,because we love you”.  People mis-used their good relations with her to make her fall for their lies.

Emotional atyachaar redefined? Heights of blasphemy.

Do these guys have ever heard of a thing called trust? All that sentence from Ms. R sounded like to me was, “Mam, we will shamelessly lie to you mis-using the trust we built with you over the time for such times. We lie to you because we dont love you, hell, we dont even care about you or what you think or feel. All that matters to us is our own self interest. If it is threatened in anyway, by-god we will go to any extent to save ourselves”. Manipulation is in blood of these guys. If you dont have the guts to accept that you did a mass bunk then why do it at all?So what are you going to tell your kids or your freidns in other college? That you once somehow gathered courage to bunk a class, celebrated it like India won the world cup but everything went ka-boom when a teacher confronted you?

What could have they done?Even they must have bunked in their college days. They also know that it is a part of college life. I dont remember every one of 90 students bunking for more than 3 times (may be that number is false. Chances are someone did show up)

Now, I am not advocating just bunking the college and not studying. Studies are important. But one should experience everything man (leaving weed and booze). One is in college only once in his/her life, and you never will be 20 something again. Tomorrow, you will not have the age,time,energy or will to do it. Try to live your life.

Now lets see why these scholars these enjoy. They study. Is ratta-fying without understanding anything called studying? They just mug up anything.Okay,once,twice,thrice but everytime? Leave application part of whatever they study, most studious people cant even remember what they mugged when the sem is over. In some cases, it all vanishes even within a few days after the exams are over.(yeah,these people cant drag me into this. okay, I am myself a five-point-someone but I accept the fact that I am not studying well enough? But what about other geniuses in my class? Some of them even get good marks but do they know what they are studying? May be yes(for a handful of guys),but most probably be no for the majority. Marks dont matter to me. You should have the confidence that you know the subject, thats what is important. (I had that confidence till 2nd year even though I dint used to get a great GPA, as I had a decent hold in bio and related subjects. But I am completely lost right now). What is the use of 7/8+ GPA when you dont know anything. Only thing is be good at what you are doing. If you are pretending to study, then study, dont mug up. Or if you dont study, enjoy life atleast while you still can. Why messing up both?

And pretending that you know everything (or many things) when you dont, makes you look like an idiot, which is very much the case with many students in the batch. Dont be a pseudo person, just be honest and be what you are. It is not very difficult. (most recent victim of this pseudo personality dis-order is Mr. V)

There is also no end to immature and irritating karma or my batchmates.

Last year Mr. A was sitting in front rows for a lecture. Lecture had not started at that time so he went for a walk probably. In the meantime another Mr. A comes in and sits on his seat. Former Mr. A comes back and finds the second Mr. A sitting in his seat. Lets hear what the conversation sounded like:

1st A: (*smilingly*) “Hey A, get up yaar!”

2nd A: “Can you sit at the back?”

1st A: ” No, it is my seat.”

2nd A: “Please dude, let me sit, I cant see from the back. You sit at the back.”

This continues for a short while while the smile on the face of 1st A is fading away.

1st A: (*smile all gone*) “Leave my seat or I will tell the mam”

2nd A: (with a WTF look on his face) ” Dude, grow up!”

There are many incidents with many people which I will be posting here time to time.
So, for me JIIT is a college without its soul,the students. People here are mean, selfish, arrogant. They dont understand meaning of simple but very important words like friends, trust, interpersonal relationship, selflessness, helping others etc. All they care about is themselves. Some JIITians would be pissed of by reading this. But do 1 thing. With an open mind think,would you be in touch with your college “friends” after college is over? Come on, no need to tell anyone, just answer yourself,honestly. If still your answer is yes, then tell are you still friends with your school pals? Yes? Then, we will see! Bet? Ok sorry, you got a perfect match for yourself, hats of to you! My best wishes.

I do not know the names of the every person in my 90 student batch. No, I am not a anti-social person as such (but in college,I am). You can still blame me for not knowing names of everyone in the class, but I know other people who also dont know the names of every student. People here dont have any warmth, they are bunch of emotionless morons. There is no feeling of belongingness. They dont care about anyone or anything. They will talk to you or be friendly with you only if you have something which serves their interest. If you are not useful to them, dude,find solace somewhere else.
My birth is ‘03/87 and most of the guys here are ‘88 born. I sometime feel what is the reason I cant stand a thing these people do. Why do they do things differently? Am I an alien? Is there something really wrong with what I see or am I just over-reacting to myself? What happened in just 1 year. Can being younger by just one year really make such huge difference in the way of thinking? In the way you perceive things? Is there a generation gap? What is going wrong? How can someone be so idiotic at an age just 1 year younger to me? But then I go back to my home, to my friends and family and once I regain my senses I realize I was not wrong. May be I am not right about everything but certainly not wrong either. I am not perfect and I can not claim that only I am all good and they are all non-sense but I can guarantee you that if you are a sane person, once you spend sometime in this college, you will be standing on my side. I never expected them to be ideal or perfect, no one can be perfect but atleast normal? Is it too much to ask?

Yeah, I feel nostalgic about my days in my school, those 45 days I spent in JUIT, Waknaghat. That time and the memories are still powerful enough to make me smile when I am feeling low. I would love to remember each and every moment I spent at those two places.

Some people tell  me to adjust. When I told my friends in first semester how ugly people here are from inside, they told me that I would adjust and find someone. I told them I dont see that happening. And it holds good even after 3 years. Thing is I can not pretend. I can not pretend to be like your friend (and by that I mean not just sharing lunch etc) when I dont feel for you. I can not fake my emotions like almost every one does here. I am not a pseudo and hypocrite person who says something at your face and something other at your back, which is a characteristic of just about everyone here. There is a thin line between adjusting in the new environment and compromise with your beliefs and your way of life. I can not change it for these preposterous people here. I am better off this way. I will just somehow spend my college life counting remaining days and staying aloof and thus keeping my sanity. I was affected by people here when sometime back I noticed that I have also become selfish, arrogant but then I decided that I have had enough. I will not let these guys dictate terms for me. I talk as less as I can and stay away from all the non-sense (it irritates me to no ends anyway). I wish I had never met them.

I wish all of them good luck in their lives, may all of these achieve success in all the forms they want. But I wish even more that I dont see these faces in any walk of life.

But what do I want to take with me from JIIT. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Infact, if it was my way, I wish there was a black hole created by the Large Hadron Collider which gallops the college. I wish somebody would erase every single memory of this college from my brain when I move out from this jail, so that I dont have anything from this college. I wish it had never happened. It is like a nightmare which has extended for 5 years.

Who would I like to be in touch with after the college? No one. There is no body worthy. I am sure many here will forget there so called friends within months.
May be it is there own special way to re-live their childhood days by becoming the child they were? lol

This is my comment I made on this blog post.

Okay…
First i think you are my senior so ill address you @ sir
Sir, and to all of you guys. This is a JIITian saying to you guys, JUIT rocks!!! Nothing beats JUIT. JIIT is one f*cked up college and life in  JIIT is a nightmare.
How do I know this?
I am in 3rd year in JIITU right now but before that, I spent the first 45 days of my 1st year in JUIT and was transferred here. Even though I cherished every bit of my stay here I was adamant and used to cry-out-loud to get to JIIT because of some personal reasons.
I wont call it(getting transferred to JIIT) a mistake as those personal reasons are still there and enough to make my decision worth but JIIT su*ks,it suc*s bigtime.
JUIT is a dream college. I can never forget those 45 days I spent there. I feel so amazing when I recall my days in JUIT. I still feel like a JUITian at heart,even after being in JIIT for almost 3 years now.
This college has no life. Students are SHIT. so mean,greedy and dont know what species they are,really. fucked up college.fucked up students.total crap.
thats how miserbale JIIT makes me feel.
Nothing beats the hostel life of JUIT. and can i get the name of that dhaba again at which i used to eat as mess’s food was not to my liking
okay,just now i saw that there was a comment by Mr JIITian (i dint read that when i started typing this comment)
okay,read that reply from JIITian and Moushummi’s reply after that in 3 mins approx
Well,what Moushami said is EXACTLY my point.and to taht guy,dude,visit JUIT once.

There is no warmth in JIIT. I dont feel like how i used to feel in JUIT. People dont know each other. Hell leave senior knowing juniors,you will be astonished to learn,i myself dont know the names of all the students in my 90 student batch!!!,and thats after 3 years.okay you can call its my mistake but if you are a kinda person who belongs to JUIT more than JIIT,believe me,you wont want to know names of all these shitty people here.
and yeah,how can you leave the surroundings we have at JUIT. i actually witnessed clouds flowing into my hostel room atleast couple of times AFAIR. beatiful and breath taking.
Cant believe i left JUIT.
I will certaunly come back to meet all my friends (dont know how much they still take me as a friend) at this years “le fiestus.
I love all the friends i made at JUIT.
Zain,Mohit,Anuj,Abhishek,Gyani,Nikhil,Neha,Komal,Shruti,Swati I love you guys and you people can never imagine how painful it is to spending my college years with people whom names i dont know,than spending it with wonderful people liek you. May you guys always be happy and successful.Hope you guys get placed this year. I miss you all!
Okay i think i sounded like a girl.but thats what JUIT makes me feel,weak at heart ! sob.(damn,again like a girl,sorry cant help it)

{actually i was thinking of writing a post at my blog(s) on how ife sucks at JIIT, but i just keep thinking the points and never took it to the draft stage.(thought you must have an idea now how much i want to write about it). But this comment will give me something to start with. if i write my heart out,that post will easily reach 10,000 words.
damn those JUIT days. if i had not garnered such beautiful memories from JUIT,may be it would have helped me adjust with bakwaas culture at JIIT.

(how i reached your blog: i was searching for a blog by one of my juniors who made beatiful banners for JIVE. I saw his blog and identified him by looking at tyhe banners. Dont know where i bookmarked it but c=ant seem to find now.and i need to contact him and ask if he can make some design for an upcoming barcamp in Delhi.)

signing off
Mayank-a pissed of 3rd year student from JIIT

I think I will stop here. Though I still have a few more points which I remember right now but I am just too tired (and bored myself,yeah this turned out boring) after writing this marathon post. My longest ever and will always remain so. It will only get longer as I will keep updating it with my experiences in JIIT.

For now, I rest my case.

~Peace

Thumbnail pic

Before I start with this post, a few things if you are thinking of reading this post.

1. This is going to be a long,very long (trust me) post which will be updated from time to time as I can not write this huge (and sad not sad because it now contains a few inputs of my life at JUIT as well) post all at once, so be patient. May be I will split it into two parts,one with experience of JUIT (Jaypee University Of Information and Technology) and another of JIIT (Jaypee Institute Of Information Technology).

2. Read only if you can take criticism/bashing open mindedly. Dont get carried away if you think “how can I (me) say such things for your/my college.

3. Your views are your views and mine views are mine. I dont necesarily need to think the way you think and vice-versa. I am only writing what I feel about. You may not like and agree to what I write but that does not mean you are right and what I am saying is wrong and vice-versa.

4. There may be many instances of me self appraising myself as I try to compare my life before and after me.  So you will have to bear those self appraisals even if you think they are all lies.

5. This post is about the students in JIIT and not to be confused with college itself. Study wise college is excellent. We have amazing lecturers,great infrastructure and studies are really really good. When I say my college sucks, it is because I believe students make a college,not the lecturers, studies and placements alone. It is the crowd which is most important for a college in my opinion.

6. This post is based on my experience in JIIT with 90 student biotech batch that entered in 2006. This generalisation does not apply to every student in the college. Though,many other pepole from other batches whom I have talked to, also feel the same.

7. If you are a JUITian, please correct me by leaving a comment regarding names landmarks as these memories are 3 year old and I only spent a little time in JUIT.

I wanted to write this post for so long. I remember after my horrible first semester in JIIT, I told myself that I will write about JIIT on my blog, so this post is pending for almost three years. But I never did,blame my lazy bones. I still keep accumulating points in my mind which I will include in my post when I write it, but I never actually brought it to even draft stage. I wanted to write how bakwaas my college is. But after reading this and this post by one of my senior at JUIT, I thought of writing my experience in JUIT as well and relive the beautiful and un-forgettable time I spent there.

Okay,now lets start.

WHAT THE  FSCK      WHAT THE  FSCK      WHAT THE  FSCK

This is the first thing (with “s” replaced by “u”) that comes to my mind whenever the name or a thought of my college, JIIT, NOIDA comes to my mind. Of course other inevitable thoughts/adjectives are crap, hell,bakwaas, torture,suffering etc. I know they all sound synonymous but i have experienced them all at this tormenting place called JIIT.

Once upon a time, I was a happy person. I used to enjoy things happening around me to the fullest. I used to smile all the time and as some say, bring smiles on faces of people around me regularly. I was known to be a very socialising character and was able to bond with people easily. I also had the most beautiful school days one can imagine. I was blessed having friends like Rahul, Hitesh, Himanshu, Srishti, Riki (and sometime after school, a very caring and loving girlfriend). Life was so good and I felt like the king of the world with a never dying smile on my face. These guys rocked my world {they still do, it is because of these 6 afore mentioned people (and to some extent my PC too) that I am able to somewhat survive the storm of JIIT, I am nothing without you guys.} My life seemed complete and I wanted nothing more, not even more friends (friend- it is not just a word for me,for me it means someone special,for whole life) as I dint feel I needed any. I was fortunate to have such amazing and beautiful people around me and I will be always thankful to them. They are always with me, in good times and bad.

Then things changed and I was admission into JUIT (Jaypee University Of Information Technology) in Dual Degree biotech course.

JUIT

JUIT is a beautiful college. Spanning 25 acres, college is in midst of breathtaking sceneries of  Solan,Himachal pradesh and is just a few kms away from Shimla. Infact, its more often referred as JUIT, Shimla than as JUIT Waknaghat. It was a heaven and I was lucky in a way to be studying in such a beatiful environment. I literally have seen clouds floating into my hostel room atleast twice. As you can imagine it was superb.

JUIT at night

JUIT

I remember the ragging seniors did. Specially the scary one which happened at Waknaghat (or is it called Kandaghat,the place just before JUIT from where you get auto to reach the college), where I was thinking that I am just moments away from starring in a bl** film. lol. Funny but those others who were present there will agree with me somewhat.

I remember taking clothes of seniors to laundry as they themselves dint use to go. Why? JUIT is a huge place and the number of stairs you had to ascend and descend for reaching even a laundry (one to-and-fro trip to laundry was about 15-20 mins from my hostel) was massive. My own hostel room was about 10-12 storey down the hill if I could remember correctly. Imagine climbing 12 storeys! No one would want to do the job on their own and whats better if you have fresher bakras to do it for you.

JUIT academic block

Even though ragging was very scary at that time, but now when I look back at you, I smile. And I somewhat understand that ragging is in a way,necessary. It is a way your seniors tell you whats in store for you once you step out of your beautiful and innocent school days. They make you ready for the future, teaching you the bitterness of life. But still, ragging HAS to be in limits. One should not harass anyone mentally or physically.

I made amazing friends. Zain, Mohit, Nikhil, Abhishek, Anuj, Shruti, Neha, Komal, Swati, my room mate Gyanendu and many more. Even though I never felt like I needed anymore friends, these guys would have become a permanent part of my life had I stayed in JUIT, given the fun I had with them and how much I (still) like and value them. Though I am still in touch with them but I dont know how much long it will take before they forget me (I cant blame them, I stayed for only 45 days in JUIT).

As everyone knows, boys hostel never sleeps. Here the dawn is after the sunset. Sometimes everyone on the whole floor was packed in one single room. Sometimes because of the fear of ragging and sometimes just to get along. We used to be awake whole night,sometimes because of the fear of being ragged or sometimes just having serious fun. That was my first experience of sleeping for just 1-2 hours and getting to my routine in the morning. I remember how hard it was to keep my eyelids from shutting down. My hostel life was rocking and I think I can safely say that I have experienced one of the best hostel lives one can imagine. sigh. I miss those days dearly.

JUIT- view of academic block and hostels from Mall road

I remember the dhabas where we used to eat. Actually, as far as I remember,only one of us used to go to the dhaba and get us some paranthas, as we were not allowed to go to dhabas and other places before the fresher party. So there was this dhaba called McD and also some other. These were life-savers for me specially, as I have this bad habit of not eating anything until it tastes utterly delicious.And food in mess is no great. Even though by general mess standards food here was great but by my standards it was awful.  So I used to stay hungry or eat biscuits,namkeens,paranthas. Zain offered me milk powder one day and I loved it so much that I bought a packet for myself and I got one more food item to live upon.

I remember the times when I went to Shimla (Mall road) with my friends. There was also a “Mall Road” in JUIT, which is a popular LP along with “Mughal Gardens” in the college.

JUIT- mall road view

JUIT- mall road

And not to forget the girls of the college. Man,what can I say. JUIT was the one place where I have seen such beauties in such great numbers. They are smoking “hawt“! One interesting thing happened. I saw a girl during counselling and was awe struck by how beautiful she was. She was (and still is) without a doubt, one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. Anyway, when college started, luck strikes and she became my friend! I later told her how beautiful she is. ” By the way, she is not just beautiful from outside, but beautiful from inside too. Very nice and very very down to earth person, a rare quality.  If she reads this, she will know I am talking about her. Oops,I deviated from the post. Lets get back to the post.

Even thought I was living a time I knew I will never forget, I was adamant as hell on getting transferred to JIIT because of my “personal reasons”. I used to constantly bug my parents all the time and I am sorry to them for the same.

JUIT- faculty housing

Anyway, one good day, when I was in a lecture, an announcement was made that the registrar Brig. Balbir Singh wanted to meet me. I got crazy. Was it regarding my transfer? Does he want to say you cant be transferred? What is going to happen? I went to his office and he asked me,”why do you want to get transferred”? I thought,”so it IS about my transfer”. Conversation followed and then he uttered those magical words I was waiting to hear,”we are transferring you to JIIT, NOIDA”. I could not believe my ears. I just heard what I wanted to hear from the last 45 days. He said you will leave after two days.. I thanked him and went back to my lecture, nodded to a few friends with glistening eyes,signalling,”yes,I have been transferred”. After the lecture was over, Shruti and Komal came up to me and asked,”Tu ja raha hai? Mat ja yaar”. Today realise how rude and selfish I was in replying swiftly to them “yes,I am leaving”. Here I am writing this post on my beautiful days in a college called JUIT,which I very fondly call the heaven,which gave me amazing pals, and how easily I told them I am leaving,just thinking about myself.

As I had two days which I can now fully enjoy without having to worry about my transfer, I thought that I will LIVE these last two days in JUIT.  But then, I got a call from my parents that I have to come back that day itself. So I told my friends, packed a light luggage and I was ready to go. I recieved a good bye I think I can not forget may be even after my death (that is to say how unforgettable that good bye is and will always be for me). Around 20-30 people bid adieu to me at the college gate which almost brought tears to my eyes.

I went back to Delhi,got myself registered in JIIT. And the following week, I went back to JUIT to get my whole luggage and give them a treat and bid good bye to all the wonderful friends there.

An year later, I visited JUIT with my friends Rahul, Hitesh and Himanshu and they fell in love with the college too, even though they had only one night to spend. They were able to get along with my friends at JUIT which shows how accomodating they (JUITians) are.

I want to cherish all these JUIT memories to my grave.

So the point is, JUIT is a big,huge family. Everyone knows everyone there. My seniors say that the registrar knows the name of every student. People care for each other. People are not isolated from one another. Students are not crazy and are friendly and make you feel wanted. People care for each other because they like you. They dont become your friends because they are selfish and see their own personal gains in befriending you. Its the students that make the college so happening and rocking that I am always longing to go to JUIT at every opportunity I get.

Even though it is a amazing college to be in and I would say only really lucky people study there, I got myself trasferred to JIIT, NOIDA because of some personal reasons  I mentioned before (which you can guess). And then it all started happening.

I still never thought of coming to JIIT as a mistake as the reasons because of which I came back are much greater but I sure miss the time I spent there. Thinking of JUIT makes me nostalgic. Remembering the times I spent there gives me an amazing high. And thats what you expect from your college life,isnt?

Not quite. If you are stepping into JIIT,forget about the things I just said sire/madame. You are in for a huge dissappointment.

My first few days in JIIT were okay, as I was fresh from the fact that I am back to my home, near my loved ones and the joy of getting back to Delhi was so overwhelming that I dint care about anything else. Then things started settling down and thats when it turned ugly.

To be continued… to keep the interest alive (which by the way I think is dead already ) as it has turned into a very lengthy post. Even I myself dint expected that I can write so much on JUIT and I am myself not very pleased with the output.

Next post will be on JIIT. I will need sometime to write it as I will be very busy for next 2 days.

Thank you for your patience if you read the whole post and if not,dude,please scroll up and read!

Pictures taken from here and here. Other pics are my own.

For Indian bloggers,specially Delhi bloggers, web additcs February 2009 will always be a month to remember, with aquantity and quality of events that kept the community buzzing.

If you dont know, Delhi has this month already hosted Mozilla Camp on 10th Feb for which I was not fortunate enough to be able to attend it though I wanted so badly as I am a Firefox fan.

Then Delhi was host to Twestival too on 12 Feb 2009, which was a global event organised simultaneously in 175 countries to support charity:water.

And now, a real treat for wordpress users,fans,developers in Delhi and all over India: India’s first ever Wordcamp is being organised in Delhi on 21st and 22 Feb!

The mega event is being organised by Delhi Bloggers Bloc.
Now the best part. The highlights/biggies of the event are:
- Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Wordpress, will be joining us! Its once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the brain behind the world’s most popular blogging platform.
- Om Malik, named one of the 100 most influential bloggers by cnet.
- Amit Aggarwal, of labnol, the BIG name of Indian blogosphere and the most successful Indian blogger.

Even if you dont use wordpress or you dont use wordpress, the above mentioned celebreties are themselves reasons enough to attend the event. (Just in case you dont know what wordpress is: Wordpress is a state of the art blogging platform and is the preferred by most number of bloggers around the world. The power of wordpress lies in the customisation it offers by the means of plugins to enhance your blog’s virtually every aspect and turn it into a full fledged CMS. If you dont already use wordpress or are thinking of starting blogging, wordpress is all you need,look no further)

The event venue is Adobe, NOIDA: [map] (Adobe is also the sponsor for the event along with AUTOMATTIC)

            I-1A, Sector 25A
            Noida, U.P. 201301
            India
            Tel: +91 120 244 4711

Timings: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm

If you are interested,

You can also register on the spot, thought the fees will be slightly higher.

The agenda from the event page:

Day 1
09:00am – 10:00am: Registration/giveaways
10:00am – 10:05am: Welcome Address by Priyanka/Twilight Fairy – founder Delhi Bloggers Bloc
10:05am – 10:15am: Keynote by Om Malik, Gigaom
10:15am – 11:00am: “State of the word” by Matt Mullenweg
11:00am – 11:45am: Using WP to implement a radio site – Shreyas, from RadioVerve
11:45pm – 12:30pm: Implementing SEO in your WP blog : Abhinav Gulyani
12:30pm – 01:15pm: LUNCH
01:15pm – 02:00pm: How to get started after installing WordPress by Abhijeet Mukherjee, Jeetblog
02:00pm – 02:45pm: Optimising ads on your WP blog : Amit Agarwal, Digital Inspiration
02:45pm – 03:45pm: Interactive talk – Intellectual property rights/copyrights : Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme court of India
03:45PM – 04:00pm : Tea/coffee/snacks
04:00pm – 05:00pm : quiz for attendees + press interviews by Matt/Om
05:00pm – 05:45pm : Open house discussion with Matt & Om
05:30pm – 06:00pm: Closing of day 1

Day 2

09:00am – 09:30am: Registration /giveaways
09:30am – 09:35am: Welcome Address by Priyanka/Twilight Fairy – founder Delhi Bloggers Bloc
09:35am – 10:15am: WordPress as CMS for business sites : Ravish Ahuja, justskins.com
10:15am – 10:45am: WordPress, a lifestyle – Praval Singh
10:45am – 11:15am: Personal galleries and social networks with WP & Adobe AIR – Aditya
11:15am – 11:30am: Tea/coffee/snacks
11:30am – 12:00pm: Feature suggestion contest for WordCamp with Matt
12:00pm – 12:45pm: WordPress.TV – by Matt Mullenweg
12:45pm – 01:30pm: Writing WordPress plugins – Karthik Bala
01:30pm – 02:15pm: LUNCH
02:15pm – 03:00pm: Interactive talk – the amended India IT act 2000 – Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme court of India
03:00pm – 03:45pm: Adobe’s new AIR apps – Adobe representative
03:45pm – 04:00pm: Tea/coffee/snacks
04:00pm – 04:45pm: Panel discussion moderated by Rajiv Dingra, WATBLOG – topics, speakers to be announced
04:45pm – 05:30pm: How to secure your WP blog by Mayank Gupta
05:30pm – 06:00pm: Feedback/closing of the event

Please note, the schedule may vary slightly on the actual day

Dammit, i am having my exams till 21st Feb and my exam will be over at 5:00 pm. SO i wont be able to attend 1st day. I cant believe i will miss Amit’s sessions

Anyway, if you have sometime, make sure not to miss it. (And dont forget to capture day one and share it with me)  :)

BTW, that is not all. Delhi will also be seeing a BarCamp from 28Feb-1March and a blogcamp from 7-8 March. I will write about them later.

All right, here is the thing. We have so many rakshaks of our Indian culture. One of them, Sri Ram Sena attacked girls in a pub in Mangalore because they claim that women going to pubs is not in accordance with Indian culture. Just in case you do not support the heroics of Sri Ram Sena (i bet you do love and support SRS,whats with opposing Sri Ram Sena anyway? heh), this valentines day, you can send a pink chaddi to Sri Ram Sena as a mark of your protest. Why pink chaddi? Because chaddis are forever! Its a great idea courtesy http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/, which is a “consortium of pub going, loose and forward women”. You can mail/courier you contributions to:

The Pink Chaddi Campaign,
C/O Alternate Law Forum,
122/4 Infantry Road (opposite Infantry Wedding House)Bangalore 560001
Karnataka

In case you live in Delhi, you can bring your packages before 11 Feb to:

Nisha Susan
C/o Tehelka
M76, M-Block Market
Greater Kailash 2

A lot of women and ofcourse, men, are already a part of it. Now its your turn!

I just came back after watching “Dev D” and could not help but writing about it.
Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D is a great movie, story adapted only marginally from the classic Devdas. But mind you,the resemblance with the original ends right there. The two have got nothing in common. This is more like Devdas of the Gen-X,the modern Devdas. The one who doesnt just ruin his over loss of a female in his life but rather, “moves on”.
Dev D is not like your typical SRK (and party) starrer bollywood romantic movie set in abroad which whence you come back watching, will make you say “this does not happen in real life”, then you can even go on to question your intelligence that why did you ever go to watch the movie at first place. Dev D is as real as it can get. Its characters are real and not larger than life unlike normal bollywood movies. They live and face real life situations.
Abhay Doel has done it yet again. I (used to) watch his movies without any expectations. I watched his “Manorma Six Feet Under” and loved it. Then a few days back I watched “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!”  only because I had couple of free tickets but I loved it as well. He does a decent job in this movie too,as Dev D. He may not be working with big names right now but, watch your road man, there are many more coming your way. You will make many fans too.

Mahie Gill also does justice to her character of a modern and strong Punjabi girl who does not get all crying even if her lover leaves her and she can hold her head high even when her morality is questioned and doesnt let stereotypes get a hold of her. So is Kalki Koechlin who plays another great role in the movie. I loved her scenes with Abhay more than the scenes of Abhay and Mahie.
As much as the casting, the camera work is also excellent. I dint realise that there were 18 songs in the movie till I just read it moments ago,that is how apt they were in their placement in the movie. Each song went with the mood in the movie.

There were enough daring dialogues that will entertain you.

You should watch this movie for the gutsy director, Anurag Kashyap who does something which not others can just not do. Portraying love and sexuality in an un-told way,something which bollywood has never seen. There are too many firsts with this movie.
In one word: Dont miss it if you want something fresh from bollywood and can digest some at-your-face reality,daring dialogues.

Dev D rocks: 3.75/5

So its time, like I promised, to announce the winners of my first blog contest.

The contest was announced on 1st December on my new blog Knayam in association with wordpressland.

And here are the winners:

1st prize of Content Press – Premium Magazine/News Style Wordpress Theme” woth $75 (sponsored by wordpressland.com): David

2nd prize of Magazine News – Premium Magazine/News Style Wordpress Theme” woth $49 (sponsored by wordpressland.com): Topen

3rd prize: $5 cash via Paypal (sponsored by Knayam) : Rahul (prize given)

4th prize: 1000 EC credits (sponsored by Knayam): Rahul

5th  prize: 500 EC credits (sponsored by Knayam): Sherry (prize given)

Here is the video I made of the draw: For some weird reason,im unable to upload the video on any video sharing site. You can download the video from here and see it.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Winners will be contacted via email (by which they subscribed) soon and they will have 7 days to claim the prizes they have won.

Thank you all for participating.