Proprietary post ....

Tomorrow is my last day at work and boy I am still submitting code, running checklist and debugging problems. Seeing all this, my cube mate Niti reveals her sheer surprise at this...saying 'Why am I doing all this in my last week? I shud be relaxing and enjoying ..'
Relaxed I am ...very much ...but sum how I dunno from where hav i got this sudden urge to get back to work, to check code submissions, to share tips to use tools and debug stuff...Even I am amazed…I wasn’t like this ;) usually at wrk :)

It’s a weird feeling actually…..its like I’ve been studying for the last 2.5 years and now it’s the end of term….and I am vomiting out all that I learnt….cauz after the exam all that I mugged wont be of any use….tats how proprietary stuff is....like the Mumbai University syllabus …. :) ….of no use once one is out of that system…and not commercially viable outside.

Though tats got nuthin to do with me wrkin till the last day…but ya wrkin just makes me feel connected…nywayzzz…so …How am I feeling ….ya well…ummmm ….mab later ……

5 Pointer or 9 ?

Every day when I pass the Gandhinagar to Hiranandani stretch along IIT-B....I curse. I simply curse, the traffic which only seems to increase every day, the authorities for the mismanagement and lack of planning, illegal shops that keep expanding their footprint, the Mood-I crowd that adds to congestion and all the junta who decides to take out their vehicle during peak hours. At times I have taken 40 minutes to cover a stretch that should ordinarily take only 5 minutes.

However today, I decided to go in the afternoon shift. On a warm winter afternoon as I passed that stretch, in the midst of moderate traffic, what caught my attention was the huge IIT campus.
Nestled in the lap of Powai hills and flanked by the scenic lake this campus is the cradle of the Indian brain...a place where the best brains in India are nourished, a campus where even an ordinary looking shabbily dressed guy is a stud in his own ways :)

On this winter afternoon the sun rays were being filtered through the trees, as I looked nonchalantly at the campus..... The sight was usual, pink buildings, the main gate ...the security guards, the SBI branch , and then the breathtaking view of the lake, the strikingly chic looking hostel courtesy Hafeez Contracter and the Renaissance in the back drop

Amidst all this what did strike me was the news that hit headlines last month. Yet again, another IITian ended his life. Reason stated: Stress. Low GPA. Inability to get a campus job.
This aint sumthing new, we have grown up reading such pieces of news. Such incidents happen, hit the headlines and fade away from peoples memory.

What I cannot apprehend is the mindset of such students. What happens? How can they feel so low that they decide to take such drastic steps? What is it that is lacking? Why are such brainy brains unable to rationalize the situation to identify their strengths and see the light at the end of the tunnel however dark things might seem? How do they succumb to pressures such as GPA or job? Are we manufacturing graduates who can analyze Quantum mechanics and its fundas but not the jeene ka funda?
I am sure nobody needs to tell them that even if they are the worst performers on campus, they are still better than the average students outside. If a mediocre guy from an arbit collg can make it big in the world, what stops a JEE stud from giving his best shot and come out strong?? Are the pressures on campus so strong...I fail to understand.

OR is it the other way round??? They know that they r the best...and with the best ...but still they don’t find any motivation to move ahead in life...don’t find any heroes whom they can look up to, don’t know why they are distressed.
And they realize that if this is how the best is then they don’t really want to see anymore? I am not really sure if this is the case....but just a remotely possible explanation that I am trying to use to justify to myself what these guys might be thinking.

Perhaps I don’t have a solid insight into what really happens on campus and mab my friends can help me understand better….Ending this post on an inconclusive note .....

Another RDB

" A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force broke up in midair on Thursday near Kurseong in West Bengal's Darjeeling district and the pilot is feared to have been killed. Air Commodore Chandramouli in Bagdogra airbase told PTI on phone that the aircraft took off for a practice flight from the airbase at around 1.00 pm with Squadron Leader S Pandey piloting it. The pilot is feared to have been killed after it broke into pieces inflight between Norbong tea estate and Shibkhola in Kurseong sub-division minutes after the take-off, he said. The aircraft's wreckage was spread over the slopes of hills in the area, he said.

An IAF team has rushed to the spot but was yet to locate the body of Pandey, Chandramouli said.This was the first MiG-21 lost by the IAF in nearly a year.The last accident involving one of the ageing Russian jets had occurred on March 21 last year. "

In this year when the Indian Air force is celebrating its Platinum Jubliee, is another RDB staring us in face? Is this just a spurious incident or a start of something more?
When I read the above news article last week, i thought ...there we go again. However I didnt see any news updates after this. Is the pilot alive? What went wrong? Are we attributing it to human error yet another time? But I found no follow ups. The article just came and went away. And as civilians we never bothered to find out.

Today I decided to dig a lille and I was surprised to find the numerous MiG crashes that made way to headlines in all these years and then just vanished.
In the process I also found out a some not so known facts about MiG. The first Mig used by IAF was way back in 1963. MiGs comprise of about 60% of the IAF fleet and that is also a reason why it contributes to 70% of all crashes. IAF's annual loss due to MiG's has seen a steady decline over the last few decades from 40 to 30 and now down to 20. Fair enough. I also happened to come across an interesting read by Retd Air Cheif Marshall AY Tipnis who in his 'An ode to MiG21' sums up as:

"My parting lines on the demonising of the MiG-21 are thus: Heed not the barbed taunt of "widow-maker" my lovely filly, for you are in fact a man-maker of boys. Were I to go down with you, my soul would have been tortured to have anyone call you my "flying-coffin"; but my soul would have been mercifully becalmed would that our joint epitaph proudly proclaimed: "In life you offered this pilot a seat more coveted than that of a king’s; in death you took an air-warrior to his glorious Valhalla." But I live, so I hope that I am there 10 years from now, along with your many disciples and admirers and our progeny and theirs too, to sing your praises for your half-a-century of relentless, superlative service to the nation and the Indian Air Force. Others may continue to call you vulgar names when there is a choice of prettier ones, as some that I have used, but there be many more, more appropriate, but inadequately so. One day surely you must rest your hard driven limbs, but to each one of us whom you took to your bosom, whether in service or in retirement, you will ever remain "My Fair Lady"! "

Agreed, MiGs have contributed more than they have taken away. But even after being aware of various possible pitfalls with MiGs, errors occur and occur again. Question still remainsCan we afford MiGs at the cost of our pilots?

The platform kid

6:03 pm. Borivalli station. I m waiting for my 6:07 churchgate fast, whiling away time by looking at the ocean of people around me. Peak hour, working day. The adjoining platform is crowded with people waiting for the train to Virar. Every time I am here, I thank my stars that I am traveling against the rush and don’t have to be a part of the madness called Virar fast.

So while I am still waiting for my train .....the loud speaker announces the arrival of the large hearted Virar Giant. I call it the Giant for its energy, aggressiveness and enormity. Though it’s the same train that calmly clambers its way back to Churchgate, it looks boisterous and roaring when heading to Virar. And large hearted because when it arrives it is Oh so crowded! ...with an equally sizable junta waiting to get in....But it takes them in all.

I see a young lady carrying a small baby and a big bag get into the ladies compartment....she can barely manage to stand and is half hanging, a usual sight for Mumbai train travelers. The compartment is so crowded that some girls who had been waiting for the train decided to let go of it....And then a see a small street kid trying to get into that ladies compartment...or here should I be saying platform kid...for it was evident that he was one of those hundreds of underprivileged children who find shelter under the roof of these railway stations and practically grow up here. Nevertheless, he is taking this train to ...God knows where. He caught my attention because he was getting into an already overcrowded ladies compartment ...

But then that’s normal as you do find small kids tagging along all the time....Such kids usually sweep the compartment floor to earn some money, or use their marketing skills to sell safety pins; sing songs that bring us some customized and classified entertainment and earns them some pennies; or sometimes they just wail and cry to earn our sympathy and supplicate.

By then the loudspeaker speaks again, announcing the arrival of Churchgate fast...and I comfortably board the train. However by now there is a lot of chaos on the adjacent platform...the Virar Giant has left but the lady with the baby is standing at the platform, the platform boy is there as well. Apparently the boy has tried to pick pocket the lady’s purse....as alleged by the lady’s husband who was trying to get into the adjacent compartment. The boy has been caught red handed with his loot still intact. He is being beaten and abused. He is pleading not guilty and asking for mercy. "WHy did you open her bag?" is the man’s question. The boy has no answer. He cannot help but cry and plead. They call for the railway police....as my train pulls away from the station.

I wonder about the fate of such children and feel sorry thinking about what would be in store for this boy now....To divert my mind I decide to listen to some music and open my bag in search of my mp3 player. And boy what do I (not) find in there..... My missing wallet.