Face-off!

After much deliberation, I managed to pull the plug. I'm officially off facebook.. true, I'll sorely miss all of those vampires, slayers, superpokes, biting chumps, scrabulous, petrolhead,........., are you interested, name the actors from the hairstyle quiz, you're a hottie, which swear word you are,....... the list never ends!

Motivation- this. Courtesy, Arvind.

Cheers to the facehooked! Checking out...
Adios.

PS: Facebook, hotel california? Bah, humbug!

dé·jà vu

Here we go again! Doesn't this space seem ever so familiar? I mean six to eight months back I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd post, whether my blog would make impact, how many hot chicks around Chambana would visit (read "stalk!") my profile and silently sight adichify me here around campus grounds... well, well Mr. Prince Charming, we ain't on Mars. Are we? Sigh!

Anyway, for the n-th time I take pride cryin' out aloud- I'm back.. er.. not sure if I'd commit to say well and truly though! And lo beware, my foghorn shall spare none. I mean you've got to have the heart to face it. I know it sucks, but that's the best deal of reality I've got for you. And oh, before I forget, the usual disclaimers.. blah blah... may be deemed, rest assured, in place.. not to mention! :-)

God bless!

PS: Did I start off a sentence, given my immaculate Victorian writing, with an "And... blah blah"? Arrrrrrgh!

Tagged!

The rules:
1. Players start with 5 random facts about themselves.
2. Post these rules along with your 5 random facts.
3. Tag 3 other people and notify them that they have been tagged.

Well, here's the roster of 5 not-so-random facts about myself..

1. I am all of 5' and 8" in height. I am NOT tall, NOT really dark enough and NOT at all handsome even by the most remote of possibilities. But I believe there is something about my looks that unveils the smart me.
2. I believe in the universal concept called "nonsense". If not for nonsense, there never were any "sense and sanity" out there.
3. I whole-heartedly believe in hypocrisy. Because if not for those good many hypocrites out there, the others wouldn't be achievers. But I don't for any reason support them. Now you know what I am :-) Hyper-critics- Don't call out or you'll be shot!
4. I'm not a nice guy and my sense of humour is appalling to say the least!
5. I am a very good driver; I drive people crazy!!
   

I just hate to.. but.. I've myself rebuked fellow spammers severely in the past but as I'm saying this, I'm out to consciously spam three unfortunate guinea-pigs.

I thus tag- Mando, Venky and Vishwesh.

If you happen to be the curious victim or just a dawdler with the ulterior motive of wanting to trace the tags down to their roots, I link you to this.

Of NIT-T, NI(I)T and ... IT?!!

Been waiting for quite a while in bated breath, huh? Sorry folks but the recent turn of events (or the lack of any eventful enough) had eventually forced me into hibernation during warm months. Life is taking me through darkness at noon*, and I'm being crushed by this juggernaut of unimaginable proportions into this shell. Not that I have much of a choice or workaround, but I'm just helpless. I guess I'm doing a really shoddy job with (atleast) trying to explain my absence. But what the hell, did procrastination ever warrant an alibi? Thankfully today (with no logical connections to 231 years of July 4 and a free Uncle Sam, not even seemingly), I've been woken up by a bolt from the blues of news reporting. So bye bye Mr. Impasse, and welcome back Vikhy!

Early today morning, I got a couple of pleasant emails over the RECAL informal group network about the enviable placement scenario of my undergraduate institution. A proud alumnus of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (Formerly, Regional Engineering College) that I am! It was good news no doubt, perhaps a very significant milestone crossed by NITT and I must commend the director for taking the initiative to bring it all to light. But thanks to modern day journalism and (mis)reporting, big news has come out even bigger and in very bad taste.

Presenting the crucial facts as is from reliable sources...

Exhibit 1(a): TOI says-

NIITian grabs 23-lakh package
4 Jul 2007, 1851 hrs IST, PTI

TIRUCHIRAPALLI: IT education provider NIIT on Wenesday, said that it has struck a highest salary offer of Rs 23 lakh per annum for a student during the campus placement.

The salary was offered by multinational oilfield services provider Schlumberger to a mechanical engineering graduate with a CTC of Rs 23 lakh per annum for posting in India and Rs 44 lakh per annum in case of overseas placement, NIIT Director (Tiruchirappalli) M Chidambaram said here.

He said that the placements during the academic year 2006-07 was one of the best in the country, with over 100 per cent of under-graduate students and 94 per cent of post-graduate students placed through campus selection.

The companies thronging to the NIIT campus include MNCs like Schlumberger, Microsoft, Yahoo, Texas Instruments and IT giants like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and CSC and PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, IOCL, BPCL.

************

Exhibit 1(b): IBNLive says-

Fat pay packet: student offered Rs 23 lakh salary

Press Trust Of India

Published on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 at 18:44 in Nation section

Tags: Salaries, Placements

Tiruchirappalli: A student of National Institute of Technology (NITT), a leading IT education company, has been offered a salary of Rs 23 lakh per annum during campus placement.

The salary offer was made by MNC Schlumberger to a mechanical engineering graduate with a CTC cost to the company of Rs 23 lakhs per annum for posting in India and Rs 44 lakh per annum in case of overseas posting, said NITT director Prof M Chidambaram Tiruchirappalli on Wednesday.

He said the placements during the academic year 2006-07 was one of the best in the country, with over 100 per cent of UG students and 94 per cent of PG students placed through campus selection.

Bakthavatsalam, who heads NITT’s placement cell, said one out of every five students had got two job offers this year. MNCs Microsoft, Yahoo and Texas Instruments and IT giants TCS, Wipro, Infosys and CSC and PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, IOCL, BPCL had approached NITT for placements.

***************

End of exhibits 1(a) and 1(b).

NITT and NIIT? A deemed university for technological excellence and a mere IT education provider? An IT Company? ...pause...hard brakes...screech...crash! I almost got thrown off my seat! It was like the most nauseating feeling that not even my wildest nightmare in seven lifetimes had given me!

On the outset, I must first echo the "happy" emotions that erupted for this (seemingly) benign piece of news is intended for good reasons. NITT has been a front runner among 17 of its peers as a leading tier-1 engineering school in India, one of the few there are. Obviously a boy wonder grabbing such an offer is bound set off ripples the size of the not-so-long-forgotten tsunami. But thanks to a few over-enthusiastic geniuses (the media people of course), this whole thing comes out utterly embarrassing, and a very bitter one at that.

Alright the accusation has been made. We obviously know who the culprit might be. Probably TOI has been all too compassionate towards the Vision/Hearing Impaired, and even encouraged them with all confidence to cover such BIG stories. I am not joking. When curiosity prompted me to pay a second visit to the article later in the evening, the stats on TOI proudly read some 94xxx against the number of views for the article, placing it besides a few "blasts here and there" and "the UK crackdown of the bad doc network" (both of arguably much lesser import) as the TOP STORIES of the day. How tragic of all of them?! I have, thanks to my being educated to lead a sophisticated life, inculcated the habit of keeping myself abreast with prolific news-tellers. I have heard of sensationalism, yellow journalism, news making-breaking whatever, gonzo stuff and much more that place many a doubt on these news-tellers. Honestly and frankly, their stuff is by and large incredible and questionable at best. Now I know there's so much HEARSAY!!

The ratiocination act-
Looking beyond just the (let's say) inadvertent error which shall soon be followed by a very curt and diplomatic corrigendum as the cover up, the case presents a two-fold issue. Firstly, the news reporting system in India (perhaps universally) is pathetic. Yes we know that the poor reporter and his accomplice with the lens are running for their lives and are n-fold likely to jump the gun and miss precious detail in their desperate bid to come out with breaking news updates. Atleast the editor could ensure correctness using that thing of his six which, unfortunately, is not so common.

Secondly, it is a very shocking piece of reality that institutes (even the reputed technological ones) have to face. Whilst they've been denigrated to the ranks of IT training schools and IT companies, their outreach towards junta is best not spoken about. Even the well-informed sources are well and truly ill-informed! It may appear insignificant for T-schools on their list of priorities alright but they certainly have to take many a big step towards ensuring their rightful presence in the social circles. Branding of institutions is a daunting task that the big names in the academic circles are waking up to nowadays. The wild west has somehow stayed up all these years and been smart. But the situation back home is appalling.

Something needs to be done, perhaps right from the grassroot levels of both institute branding and news reporting. But I am happy enough to just expend my energy and words being the cynical me, rather than imploring a few zillion deadweights.

Concluding act-
1. I'm back.
2. News people suck.
3. News people totally suck.
4. News people will anyway suck.

As a (seemingly) less important gesture.. dear dude who bagged the 23/44 goose with the golden egg- hearty congrats and condolences. It feels awful enough being the baap!

-----------------------
*Darkness at Noon - by Arthur Koestler is a great novel. Certainly recommend it as a must read.

PS: In the midst of all this botch, I somehow happened to notice one good (perhaps unheard of) source which presented the facts of the case accurately enough to the much depreciated acceptable standards.

Exhibit 2: DNA (India)-

Student gets Rs 23-lakh salary package

PTI

Wednesday, July 04, 2007 19:51 IST

TRICHIRAPALLI: Technical education centre NITT on Wednesday said it has struck a highest salary offer of Rs 23 lakh per annum for a student during the campus placement.

The salary was offered by multinational oilfield services provider Schlumberger to a mechanical engineering graduate with a CTC of Rs 23 lakh per annum for posting in India and Rs 44 lakh per annum in case of overseas placement, National Indtitute of Technology (NITT) Director (Tiruchirappalli) M Chidambaram told reporters here.

He said the placements during the academic year 2006-07 was one of the best in the country, with over 100 per cent of under-graduate students and 94 per cent of post-graduate students placed through campus selection.

The companies thronging to the NITT campus include MNCs like Schlumberger, Microsoft, Yahoo, Texas Instruments and IT giants like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and CSC and PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, IOCL, BPCL.
***************

End of exhibit 2

Atleast there's one smart storyteller out there....

Done and dusted!

cricket
/krkt/ n.1 ME. [(O)Fr. criquet grasshopper, cricket, f. criquer crackle, of imit. origin: cf. (M)Du. krekel cricket, f. imit. base.] Any of various jumping, chirping orthopterous insects of the family Gryllidae; esp. (more fully house-cricket) Acheta domestica, formerly a familiar insect living indoors near fireplaces, ovens, etc., or (more fully field-cricket) Gryllus campestris, found in meadows etc. Also (w. specifying wd), any of various other insects related to or resembling the crickets.Comb.: cricket-frog a small N. American tree frog of the genus Acris, noted for its clicking call; cricket-teal dial. the garganey.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Lightning has beaten the odds and stuck thrice at the same place! The kangaroos are cock-a-hoop over the pitch; punter's men have done it again; their sledging shall ramble on; a pigeon is fluttering away into the oblivion called retirement; a "class" act has concluded and the curtains have been brought down on Lara's theme; the blue billion are aghast; and the marathon world cup has finally ended, in dramatic fashion! The inevitable has happened and proven that it is inevitable after all!

ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 kicked off in style.. it had all the ingredients to make it the most happening tournament ever... and more, for it was being celebrated in Carib style! But I suppose certain things about it, which many didn't fear initially despite their imminence, were a foregone conclusion after all. A 2 month long carnival turned out to be too flat (as the pitches in zone are), and failed to capture our excitement. More or less the kind of thing which can spoil your road trip if all four tyres on your car were to burst in unison! Men in blues were dumbstruck by the blues next door.. bookies ran amuck, endorsements faced a burnout, our men ran for cover behind the Wall.. much to the disappointment of well.. er.. just about everybody under the sun I guess. But atleast the blue billion were fed some food for thought!

Besides India and Pakistan's shocking knock out from the league, the remainder of the tournament was by and large uninteresting. The Aussies simply shoo-ed off all skeptics and went about their task with surgical precision.. the kiwis came a cropper largely due to injuries and form woes, SA were at waterloo yet again, England had a bunch of stand-up comedians in their camp, the Windies appeared to have big goodbye to glory days for good (and Lara has finally hung up his boots!), Lanka were anyway second best and ofcourse there were a few alsorans to make up for the motley crowd.

I stopped stopping by the union to catch the live feed the moment Dhoni tried his exquisite late-cut off the wizard on his first ball, on a middle stump line, only to be shown the door for wonderfully guarding his wicket. Wish he could show some heroics from behind the stumps! Alright, agreed it was a pathetic show by a lackadaisical bunch of freak shows... but what beats me is that even the other teams literally sucked! The final was no better.

Imagine the FIFA World Cup final being contested for 60 minutes.. or a 3-setter for the men's championship at Wimbledon.. 28th April had all the makings of a sad day for a gentleman's game. Weathergods permitting, the Aussies took charge with a belligerent Gilli - I almost sank in my seat at the imposing target they set. Futile hopes had been pinned on the lions, their pride, the swashbuckling Jayasuriya and of course the wiz. But their roars were tamed down to a hush! The sledgemasters had fixed it all.. in the way they know best.. beating the living daylights out of their opponents. Glenn has come out the better of the Bonds and the Malingas even at twilight, as one star called Irfan has already dropped 20-odd K's in his prime! Sri Lanka did put up a decent fight, but this one was just a bridge too far for their might.

It is nothing new for the World Cup championship game being one-sided; with due regards to that, our glorious campaign of 1983 was arguably the most nail biting encounter, besides of course the 1987 rubber. But the on-field drama that happened some 3 overs before the finish shall never be digested. Of all 24 on the ground, the umpires evinced maximum concern over light and had to bring the game down to a grinding halt. SL were chasing a random infinite number, Ponting knew no clue of the revised target he was defending and the umpires went to sleep over the course of things! The live feed had all the ingredients of a parody in it... the Aussies huddled up in jubiliation, the batsman were amused at being offered light and instructed to take it (more so like the compulsory electives we've seen in college :D ), ground staff hurried on to the field to prepare for the presentation ceremony... GREram was laughing his ass off on Cricinfo's jokes at the proceedings and I was gtalk-ing with him through all of this.. when suddenly the umpires played foul. They apparently wanted the last 3 overs to be played out the next day.. quite a match it would have been, poor ol' cricketers losing a precious Sunday, the World Cup decided with nobody to cheer from the stands! Wonder what brainwaves were tunneling between he minds of Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar?! Fortunately the captains intervened and had the issue done and dusted away with.

Even the presentation ceremony was nothing near interesting, for the Aussies seemed to be totally bored at having won three in a row! Glenn had a fitting farewell to bid, but that apart, the whole affair appeared to be some bungled up, and mismanaged one as those symposiums we've seen in college. All in all, it has been one forgettable experience. GREram summed it up aptly when he said "It is a travesty of a world cup final!"

I only pity that wretched soul some seven seas away from home, who sits in a lab under artificial light, fights against a stubborn and artificially intelligent entity that just won't behave, and whose only hope against hope hopen this spring, besides eternal sunshine, was to find solace in the world cup and unwind at the courtyard cafe!

Alls well that.. well.. ends!