Luck by chance

How true. 

How of us really think what we're learning right now in college might be beneficial to us? Forget those who have not taken their course seriously, I am talking to those who have. How many of you are satisfied with your education?

Most of the times we end up where we don't want to. At the same time, some of the most wonderful opportunities come our way when we least expect it.

I suggest keep trying newer things. However, it's also important to let go of stuff that's not helping you in anyway. Be it stagnant projects, past memories and undesirable people.

I am all for perseverence and hard work. But what about that initial spark? The first crude idea? College can't help you there. Well, not entirely atleast...

(Image courtesy: xkcd)

From Digital Print to the Fine Print: Online Media hitting the stands

I can never stop talking enough about Mutiny Media. What might have at first seemed like a social experiment 5 years ago just became too big.

An amalgamation of several voices (which many a times have conflicting views amongst themselves), Mutiny.in,ventured into the print space becoming Mutiny Magazine. Obviously, its been quite a challenge but we have been just too optimistic and above all believe in citizen media. The website has been revamped recently with some new features.

What I want to say is, can social media resurrect the presumably stagnant print media. I came across this awesome experiment the other day. It's called the Printed Blog and does exactly what Mutiny was doing. They take in user generated content and publish it. They have already signed up a lot of bloggers (300 when I last heard) and have got advertisers readily accepting to associate with them. I wish them all the best and will be closely following the venture.

And ofcourse there is the inspirational story of the photoraphy magazine JPG (whose content is user generated), which is unfolding as we speak. The magazine was about to shut down had it not been for the heroic acts of the readers who found new acquirers for the 8020 Media, the media house that publishes JPG.

As everyone as been saying, this will also be a very interesting time for the publishers for obviously the credibility factor will come into play. The views will have to be backed up with facts and bloggers will have to take responsibility of what they publish. 

It's the same story as that of the indi music scene I suppose.

BTW you can download the first issue of the The Printed Blog here

To subscribe to the Print issue of Mutiny, click here

Winter classes and attendance

Here's an effective way to reward dedicated students in class during winter. Give them marks for attending early morning classes instead of bombarding them with tutorials.

For example:

Janurary in Pilani is a nasty month. Coffee can't be left unattended for more than 5 seconds, baths are postponed by a week and mist gives the campus the appearance of a dream sequence.

And since BITS doesn't believe in shifting the 8-5 timetable to a more convenient 9-6 one, a student is left with 2 choices: Either force himself to wake up using all necessary forces or give up.

In economics one always reads about the work-leisure trade off. In this case the trade off between being wrapped up in the quilt and attending a lecture is little. So while the student will come for the tutorial where the marks are at stake, he will not bother with the class since there's nothing tangible at stake. Give them a little incentive (and no, education isn't good enough) and they will come.

Ofcourse, the other way is to threaten to cancel their registration from the course :)

How will you feel at your high school reunion?

Richard Millington while trying to bag an internship with Seth Godin came up with an excellent post which I feel deserves to be shared.

Someone will have a better job than you.

Someone will have a more attractive spouse than you.

Someone will have a better home than you.

Someone will be more famous than you.

So what?

Measuring yourself against others is dumb. It creates tension, rivalry and you might end up chasing someone else’s goals just to beat him.

The only thing you should measure yourself against are your own objectives. Are you where you want to be in life? Are you as far along in your strategy as you should be?

The moment you begin comparing yourself against others, you have missed the point of having a dream.

Pretty true. And what fascinated me here is how easily we forget this advice. Just think about this for a minute: When was the last time you wanted to do something or take part in something just because others were involved in it?

BITSians in CAT 2008

Here's a list of BITSians who have cleared CAT, I'm sure there are many more, just add the names, %tile and the calls that they have got in the comments section below.

Update: There are rumours flying around that BITS Pilani, has the highest number of call getters from any single institution in India. I don't know the authenticity of that claim though.

Abhishek Humbad 2005-2009, 99.93%,

Aditya Radhakrishnan, 2005-2009, 99.8%,  C, I

Akhil Puri, 2005-2009, B & L

Aravind Vijayasarathy, 2005-2009, 99.96%, 6 calls

Ashwin Iyer, 2005-2009,99.9%

Astha Modi, 2005-2009, C (and some more)

Ayshwarya Vikram, 2005-2009, 99.7%,

Bharat Mimani, 2005-2009, S,                                    

Gaurav Lunia , 2005-2009 99.43% B, K & S

Harshit Didwania, 2005-2009, S

Ishan Bhanu, 2005-2009, 6 calls

Karan Dhall, 2005-2009, 99.83%, 6 calls

Krishna Mohan Radhakrishnan, 2005-2009, 99.7%,

Krishna Prasad 2003-2007, B

Kuhu Sharma, 2005-2009, K

Manav Preet Singh, 2005-2009, all calls,                       

Muralikrishnan Nair 2005-2009, 99.7%

Navin Madhavan, 2005-2009, 98.8%, B & S

Narayanan 2003-2008, A,C,L,K

Nikhil Agrawal, 2005-2009,S

R Vijay(Psyche), 2004-2008, S,L,A,B

Ritesh Agarwal, 2005-2009, A,B & S,

Shashank More,2005-2009,B,K,S,I,L                               

Sri Harsha Majety, 2003-2008, 99.97%, 6 calls

Meeting brother after a while

I am home for a couple of days to spend the remainder of my winter break (to read about my road trip click here). And what's the first thing that greets me here? My brother.

I am 20 and my brother is 11. That’s a difference of 9 years.

However, I believe he’s all grown up now. He’s started playing GTA and started referring to Bipasha Basu as “that sexy thing”. It’s brought a tear to my eye. I have been waiting for this coming of age for so long. Sigh.

He asked me if I'd watch Bachna e Haseeno with him. I obliged and listened to him explain how Deepika Padukone is simply too simple in the movie and hence isn’t worth the hype. Bipasha on the other hand is the real deal and deserves Ranbir.

Also, the other day I was asking him if he plays a character of African American descent in GTA San Andreas. With a look of contempt as if mocking my ignorance, he says “they’re called niggas bhaiyya!”