Train Journeys...and another review!

This was written a few days ago, but for some reason, it did not get uploaded...so here goes!

I spent the last two days in the Samparkranthi Express headed for Delhi. Usually train journeys are an excellent opportunity to observe the different types of people there are. I have had many a train trip which had wailing kids, and peanut swallowing dads!
This one was depressingly normal. My only entertainment was found with this doctor who was travelling with me. Poor chap was studying for some entrance exam. Call it sadistic, but I really enjoyed watching him struggle through 3 thick books filled with multiple choice questions! I guess the word "Schadenfreude" was made for this sort of situation. :-)
In other details, the AC compartment was AC only in name. There seemed to be little cold air circulating, but at least it was not oppressively hot! And the railways have thoughtfully provided a laptop charging point in each coupe. I only wish that someone had told them that every laptop charger I have ever used uses a three pin plug for earthing. Something that the railways thoughtfully did not provide!
So I was forced to going through my stack of books that I had saved up for the road trip to Manali. I had found a hardbound copy of the second book of the "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" Trilogy by Tad Williams, so i guess I should review the series.
Book 1 of the Series -- "The Dragonbone Chair"
The book is set in the mythical land of Osten Ard, where humans are now in the ascendency, and have destroyed most (if not all) of the previous powers, the Sitha (fairy type creatures). We follow young Seoman, who is a scullery boy in the Hayholt, which is where the king rules from.
The king of the realm, Prester John is a mighty warrior, as well as a splendid diplomat. But his days are numbered, and the actual action of the book begins after he dies of old age.
His son Elias takes over the crown, and initially all seems well. But with the entry of the evil Pyrates, his priest, there is soon trouble brewing, and Simon is caught up in it. He soon finds out that more than just the fate of the kingdom is at stake. For there is an evil from the north, which seeks to destroy the world as we know it.
So far, it seems like a fairly normal fantasy novel. But his descriptions are stunning, and the quality of writing is very Tolkein like. Now of course, I am not the biggest fan of Tolkein, but Tad Williams moves a bit faster than JRR, and has a bit more brooding menace as well!
The series moves fairly quickly, and there is the standard romantic sideplot as well. But there is an intriguing side plot, where you have a Christianity type religion, with the equivalent of the Pope.
All in all, its worth a read. If you are a fantasy fan, its even worth a buy. Its quite good, and his imagery is extremely good.
Well, that is all folks. I shall update more as and when I get access to the net!

Finishing Up!

The last week has been really eventful. Finally, after much delay I finally went and installed my first pump in a customer's machine on Monday.
Well, actually it was given free, because I wanted to see how it works, and the data from actual running, while the customer got a free pump...if it worked! Thankfully, it did, and so far, after 6 days, no problems so far.
I spent Tuesday feeling good about myself, and finalising drawings. Wednesday...ditto. Thursday...again the same. Friday saw another customer agreeing to be guinea pig, Saturday was spent furiously tying up loose ends, and Sunday saw me installing the pump at the customers place. This looks quite good as well, but I still have my fingers crossed!
I am quitting on Monday...and I dread the paperwork that is waiting for me.
So, what did I get out of my job of 1 year?
A lot of experience of the practical parts of engineering. As a fresh graduate, I am honest enough to admit that I was a dreadful engineer. Now, I can honestly say that I am an adequate engineer, and I owe most of it to my company.
My job involved meeting a lot of people...from very different backgrounds. From initially reporting to the no.2 guy in the company, to telling a subcontractors' machine operator exactly how I want my part machined. I learnt something about communication there. And that the best way to be with people is to be completely natural with anyone. It works...strangely enough! :-)

Now what did my company get from me?
They got a guy who was willing to slave for them for 6k!
A pump...which may or may not work perfectly!
Pending bills! (I hope to clear them tomorrow though!)

Anyway, that is it for today. I am off to watch the Indians bat, and then read a book...or maybe play a computer game!

Picture!

This is me showing off my skills (nonexistent) at editing photos. This is supposed to be a cortoony variant of me! :-)

Reviews...Book and Movie

Crusader—Edward Bloor

Well, here is another book review for the week. I was actually heading towards financial distress after spending Rs 220 on a Robin Hobb that I had previously read online, but like someone said, “Mans reach should extend his grasp”, so I had to pick up another book. I used my old picking philosophy that if its fantasy, it ought to be cheap and big. So I ended up picking this big book called Crusader for 80 bucks. At 600 odd pages, it sure was value for money all right. And it featured a girl holding a big sword on the cover. Surely that had to be good!

Only after starting the book did I realise that it was not a fantasy novel at all. Instead it is this rather strange coming of age novel, set in Florida. Young Adult Fiction, meant for teenagers who have just emerged from illiteracy! You follow this teenage girl with a mysterious past through her daily life as a helper at an arcade game store in a failing mall. There was a videogame in the book, called Crusader, from where the title came from, I expect. But do not expect much from that. It’s fairly peripheral to the plot! Agreed, the book did have some very large print, but did it really require over a 150 pages of atmosphere, before the plot line actually began? However, after that the story does move more rapidly, and is actually fairly engaging.

This was a completely unexpected read. I kept waiting for the fantasy bit to begin…and only after about 300 pages did I finally figure out that this is not a fantasy novel after all! But having reconciled myself to that sad fact, I found the story itself fairly good. I have not read very many books written by guys who have written with a girl protagonist (in the first person, no less). And initially the heroine was fairly androgynous. However, she does emerge as a distinct individual at the end of it. There is a murder mystery as well, which is a background to this story, holding the plot down after the first 150 pages of atmosphere! It’s also about ethnic minorities, and attempts to preach about the values of tolerance…and other such things that the average American is supposed to imbibe. To me, who am not American, or Christian, it was fairly wasted. However, you have got to admire the author’s political correctness with ethnic minorities!

So what is my final opinion? I rather liked the book. It’s a good read, and has some decent characterisation. The major characters are fairly well fleshed out, with some fairly neat shades of grey for a few of them. However, you do have the stereotypical bad politician, and the red-faced school principal (which seems to be standard for every novel with a school setting). Having said that, I have to admit that if I had not read it continuously, I would probably not have liked it as much. The big print size actually makes the book seem bigger than it is. I finished all 550 pages odd in about 3 ½ hours, 1 of which was spent on a bus…which is quite a bit faster than my usual. Good thing too, else I would never have finished it. And of course, I did not have high expectations when I bought it!

Poseidon

As for movies, I went out and watched Poseidon this weekend. I have never been a fan of disaster movies, and this one did not change my opinion. Plot: Big cruise ship, hit by a rogue wave, which turns it over. Brave band of survivors must reach the top (bottom) of the ship in order to be rescued. And they actually bothered to make a remake of a 70’s movie with this plot!

Anyway, you have the usual suspects. Mother with kid, the lone ranger, the father with a suitably good looking daughter, and her boyfriend. To make it unique, they added the gay minority with an old gay man. And lets not forget the panicky lady…you have to have one in any disaster movie! The movie is so bad that I was reduced to predicting who was going to die next! And the worst part was that I usually ended up being right! It was that predictable! Worth a miss. Unless you go with a big group and want to throw rockets!

General Gripes

Its fairly strange. Just when I told my boss that I am quitting, and finalised the dates and everything, work is actually getting really interesting and hectic. Not that it wasn't before, but now it looks as if my project might finally see its much delayed launch into production. And the levels of work are now getting fairly serious. Its a wierd combination, where one minute, just the sheer pressure (and pleasure) of the work just forces me to stay there, and the next (when I have a boring bit to handle), I have lost all motivation!
However, I still am optimistic about completing it before I leave. I have already postponed my quidditch date by about 20 days and am trying desperately to launch it before I run. If only the pay wasn't so not great! I would genuinely have considered staying in this job a few more years, just for the awesome learning experience. But feeding my reading habit alone off a 6k or 7k sal in B'lore with my expensive tastes is not exactly feasible. Actually, make that impossible. Ah well, life is full of compromises.

Well, back to a book review This time, I thought I should go to someone who is not that well known as an auther.

Glimpses of World History--Jawaharlal Nehru.

This is a series of letters written by Nehru while he was in prison, to his daughter Indira Gandhi. What a writer we lost when he became a politician! Yes, his political views are made fairly clear throughout the book. But his understanding of political situations, as well as the quality of his writing, makes this a unique view of history.
I was given this book when I was about 13...I think. I did not read it in sequence, instead picking and choosing the stuff that looked interesting. And while I dont recommend it for most books, this one, it works, because of its own slightly episodic nature. (It is a bunch of letters after all!). I don't remember the details of the book now, but I do remember raving about it till I was 15-16. By which time I started reading fantasy!
But this is one book that should be bought, kept at home, and read. Unfortunately, I have lost my own personal copy of this book, and am now too broke to buy it (refer gripe above!). But I plan to get it as soon as I save up enough cash. Worth reading and keeping.

Shantaram

I finally managed to read this book. I had heard some very good reviews about it, and thought that it would be worth a read.
Now, after finishing it, I have some pretty mixed feelings. I liked the story itself, and the plot was gripping. But I did not like the authors style of writing. It felt too much like a schoolmasters style, and was stilted and artificial (to me).
But like most books, its worth reading at least once. Though if you have to start, be warned. This is one thick book.

Some Poetry...maybe

I usually hate poetry...especially if it does not even rhyme. But at 1:50 am local time, my resistance collapsed, and I decided to try my hand at that Worse stuff. So here goes.

Visions of tomorrow

Each day I have I see something fresh

A flower blooms tonight, and fills my mind

Fragrances vie for attention

And today is a free day.

Don’t shed a tear when it wilts

Its time is done

And the dawn brings a new surprise.

The world of forever

Leaps out to surprise me.

And tomorrow is already today.

A Long Day!

Sunday was one of my longest days so far. I had gone to sleep only by around 12:00 on Saturday, and was up at 4:00 in the morning in order to pick up some distant cousins from the Railway station.
It was all quite surreal. It was ridiculously early in the morning, and the station wore a really deserted look. There was this solitary pigeon cooing in the rafters which supported the roof of the old Cantonment station at B'lore. I was sitting with my cousin on the bench , admiring the beauty of the station, and glorying in its pristine condition. Then this train comes chugging in, and this sudden crowd of people get off, and then the train itself disappears a few instants later, leaving no signs of the mob that recently crowded the stations. Well, when I say no signs, I meant no VISIBLE signs! There were certainly enough olfactory signs floating around. It ensured that my cousin and I spent the next 20 minutes vainly trying to evade the stench that certain inconsiderate passengers left behind as their calling cards.
Anyway, we finally picked up cousins (who arrived to play the violin and mrudangam for a concert) at about 5:00 in the morning. Got back home, to play a couple of games of Warcraft III, and then to finish "Eldest" (To be reviewed).
Went out in the afternoon, and purchased a laptop for self and sister. Mine is comparitively cheaper, at about 47k...but that is still freaking expensive...especially for the loser config that all laptops seem to have! Got back home at 5:45 to attend said concert, which was actually very good indeed.
Then went to my aunts place to pig out, and dropped the cousins back to the railway station. It was almost 12:00 by the time I got back. Writing this, my computer clock says that the time is 1:01a.m...and considering the way my eyes feel, I think that the clock is showing the right time.
So my book and music reviews will have to wait until my next post...which might not be too soon.

A movie review...Finally!

First, my day today started off with quite a surprise. I discovered that IIT Madras decided that my interview was not bad enough to throw me out, so I have a call from them as well.
However, I am pretty sure that I will take Kgp. Liked it a lot better than Madras anyway! :)
I was doing some basic googling for laptops, prices and features. While I never expected a laptop to be as good as a desktop, the prices and config did come as quite a shock. I would be shelling out 55k Rs, for a config which frankly, seems rather outdated. My current system, which is now almost 4 years old has a better configuration than todays notebook. (My box costed me...or rather my dad:) 35K)
I am starting to take up Batminton somewhat seriously again. Planning to go today and enrol in some place which has a court! And maybe play for about an hour a day.

Now for a movie review that I promised. My Cousin Vinny, which I watched on Sunday.

What can I say, this is one great movie. Funny as hell, and some splendid acting. Marisa Tomei (I hope I spelled it right) acted brilliantly in this movie, and really stood out. The plot itself follows two hapless college kids from New York who are accused of murder in Alabama. And they end up hirinng Vinnie, a rookie (of sorts) lawyer, who is handling his first case. Watch the movie. I doubt you would regret the choice!

Eventful Week

I got a couple of results in this last week. First there was IIT Kharagpur, where I got through...and then there was IIT Delhi, where again, much to my surprise, I got through as well.
Anyway, I spent a couple of days thinking over what I wanted out of an MBA, and I have finally decided on IIT Kharagpur rather than delhi. The final reason was fairly simple. With a focus on management systems, and recruiters who are mainly IT firms, I did not feel that I would suit my own interests all that much taking the course.
I am just not focussed enough now to say that Systems is the right way for me to go. I would like to have an OR/Operations look, and even finance and marketing before making a choice. And taking IIT Delhi would have foreclosed those options even before I tried them.
Yes, placements are said to be a bit better at Delhi. But honestly, as long as you find a job that satisfies you, and earn more than you spend...does it really matter beyond that? And the difference is still only quite small. So I put placements out of my criteria in order to make my decision.
So anyway, that is done. I have mailed the DD for the 1st sem fees...of 50K! Which again brings me to one of my pet points. These courses, whichever way we look at it, are still aimed at the middle class...or upper middle class. Where are the management classes for those who are educated in their vernacular languages, and who are more likely to be entrepreneurs? We don't seem to have too many courses for those types, and the exams, frankly handicap anyone who is not great at English . Something for all of us to think about...and a problem that has few easy solutions.

Today is also my Birthday, and I spent it with some of my friends. Had fun watching My Cousin Vinny (which i should review some other day), and playing batminton...after several years! I shall sign off now, and probably write again sometime later.

Freedom at last!

Yeah! Today was my last interview. IIT Madras this time. And this one was truly different. I decided to be a lot more assertive during the interview process this time, but I think that I overdid the assertive, and went a bit overboard there.
Anyways, this was more a testbed of whether I could handle a group interaction and interviews. And while I can't say that I am one of those born leaders, I do perform well in an interview situation, and usually have all the answers...or most answers.
So what is my advice to all you aspiring MBA candidates? Apart from confidence, there is a bit of prep that can be done. Knowing what you want out of life (or an MBA) is always useful. And if you are a confused soul like me, remember to hide it under a cloak of certainty! :-)
Know something about your area of studies. ie: If you are an engineer, know something about your branch and subjects. Work related questions are another certainty, and are a great place to showcase your abilities. So that is about it. If any doubts still exist...contact me. I shall confuse you properly then.
Till my next post...
Ta Ta.

More Interviews

Yesterday was the IISc Interview. I actually decided right at the last minute that I would attend the interview. So I landed up there completely free from the pressure of having to perform. I have to say, I was not terribly impressed with the way the event was handled. While interview time was a lot longer than the 10-12 minutes that the IIT's had, the profs failed to realise that in order to ensure 40 people get 30 minute interviews, it would take 20 hours with 1 panel!
A lot of people had to end up waiting ages for their interview. And for an already nervous candidate, the waiting can work very badly indeed. Anyways, my interview was OK...although I could not answer a whole flurry of questions on Operations and Costing...not my strength areas anyway! But I did very well in the technical questions about my work, and in justifying my need for an MBA.
So all in all, I doubt I would get it, simply because they are looking for someone who is academically brilliant (which I am not), and has a large base of mathematical and formulae knowledge (which I don't). But the interview was interesting, and even though I will probably not join (even if I get the call), the campus was worth a visit.

Eventful month

Yesterday was the day my GATE Results came out. Rank 1200 odd, which is really not very good. Admittadly, its a lot better than what I was expecting though. Which led me to consider again, whether our country really produces quality engineers.
I know my own skills, and while I am not a bad engineer, I have to say that I lack the knowledge to be a complete one. I need to refer to my formula table for almost any calculation. Any real life problem has to be broken into tiny bits for my mind to take it in. And most importantly, my technical and mathematical knowledge is truly abysmal (and I should know!).
Having said this, I must say that I am an excellent problem solver, and given enough time, I can analyse and solve almost any problem given to me...at least in the concept stage. I still lack the mathematical skills to make a rigourous proof stand up to scrutiny.
As for work, I have to say that what with attending the interviews and generally being in limbo, I have not been paying as much attention to it as I ought to. Besides, with most of the development already completed, I am left with the documentation to complete. Which is fun in its own way, but it tends to pall as the day wears on. But it would be good to release a product that is all mine...and mine is pretty close to being that! :)

My Life, and interviews

I had an interview with IIT Kharagpur for their MBA Programme today. Must say, it was not all that bad...though I took it rather bindaas indeed. I was impressed by the sincerity of the team there, and their obvious friendliness.
As for the interview, I hope I convinced the man about the working of a variable displacement vane pump. But the rest of the questions were rather entertaining. The last part of the interview was the killer...where he asked where I would go if I got both Delhi as well as Kharagpur...and I answered Delhi.
But now, sitting back home, I am beginning to wonder. IIT Delhi does have a better reputation as a mgt. school. But both are quite close to each other in quality, and as for first impressions, I liked the attitude of the students from K'pur. They seemed less well...prepared with pat answers (though there were a couple of those as well), and happier to share gyan with us.
However, Delhi WAS more professional (checking your id and proof of education, rather than taking your word for it). And they had larger interview panels. But on the upside for K'pur, they kept centres in at least 2 other places, which is far more friendly for me. (I had to take 2 days off work and fly to Delhi for their interview!)
So what should I do? Considering neither has made an offer, that might be a wee bit premature! :) But now I am confused, and am looking for more data before I make a decision.

Book Reviews!

Well, its been a while, but that is life! Been a bit too busy to write...but not too busy to miss reading, so here review of a couple of books that I (re)read this month.
CJ Cherryh--Fortress in the Eye of Time
Now this is a book that I vaguely recall reading several years ago (at least 4...probably 5 or more years ago). I remember reading it while I had a splitting headache, and thinking it was a bit wierd. A couple of weeks back, I spotted this book in an otherwise normal (ie: Filled with self help and Da Vinci Code books) bookshop in a Gurgaon mall. Of course, I had to buy it to see whether it was the book that caused the headache!
Well, I have to admit, the book is pretty good. VERY SLOW...but good. You follow the protoganist, Tristen as he meanders along the plot that the autheress takes him on. Very good writing, although I can't quite place why I liked the book. At any rate, I am going to read book 2 once I get back to Delhi (or can con my sister into couriering it back to namma Bengaluru!).

Caves of Steel & The Naked Sun -- Isaac Asimov
Again, books that I read back in my student days at school. But the opportunity to buy a hardbound edition of these two books for 200 bucks was just too good to resist. And reading them again, I have to say that these are the best books that Asimov wrote. Brilliant in concept, and with an awesome plot, the essential buddy story is amazingly written, and should be recommended reading for every fiction fan...and not just Science Fiction. Well worth the price...and Elijah Baley is the best SF detective I have found so far!

Well, that is it for now. I hope to review a few more books when I find the time to write. Suggestions on author and book recommendations are welcome, and ought to be directed to basel_gill--at--yahoo.co.uk. (Hmm....wonder where I got that name from!)

First post!

Well, here I am...And here I hopefully shall remain!
First an introduction though.
I am a 24 year old Indian (from the orient...not the Red). I enjoy fantasy novels, physics, and lazing around. Frequently (when the mood strikes me), I tend to pontificate on any or all of the above. Or maybe something else entirely.
So oh audience, wait with bated breath...or considering my incorrigable laziness, that may not be a great idea. :)