searching

Few days back I was in pune for one of my exams and planned to return in 1 or 2 days but my smart mobile warned me about possible high wind and heavy rains in Kankan region so I postponed my journey. i dont know what is the server of the spb mobile shell s/w but its weather forcast always turns right. infact the day indian wather department warned about phyan my mobile said nothing serious just light rain will occur not even furious wwinds and same happened.

the place where I stayed, there was neither internet connection nor a computer just my pocket pc to connect with world. So it was first time I was out of my home without my laptop (which I gave away to my brother) n net => my lifeline as I m so much addicted to it. But then one of my friend in pune gave me some books And for the first time in my 22 year I read a complete fiction book ‘duniyadari’ The friend recommended it, bt ya it was the first book I mean u know like novel which I read without using google or wikipedia. it was fantastic experience since my childhood I have been reading all general knowledge n how stuff works kind of books. And so now I have realize that a world surely exist beyond computers n without internet which is also wonderful n u can actually enjoy it. And as usual after reading the book my engineering mind started analysis on all experience n stuff of books, relating things from past like,

One of my college friend used to say this to me, ‘sanyal come of of the computers a better world also exist there’….now I am realising it does. But when I realize it that friend is hell busy with her job n all. I don’t know whether I made a mistake by taking my academics way to seriously n practice coz it has made me so professional that I even judge things on basis of computer laws or management laws no emotions. Today I am ‘a none in particular’ engineer just what a bachelor degree is designed for. I am very satisfied with my academics can go ahead for master in any IT related field (infact in graphics too) or can join a B school, all basic are very much clear but what about communication? I always struggle to initiate and get going. The reason is very simple, when a teenager spend his time with friends chatting all time with his girlfriend I was busy with googling on my pc or mobile for elaborating some thing digging for some information. And unfortunately I never got company of friend having similar mindset as me ofcouse I had one friend always with me but he was 300km away in mumbai so can’t had practice working.

I don’t know why this is like a rule that u have be a nerd to become a computer geek or something like that.

distinction: did i earn it or it`s a god gift?

finally my much awaited acclaimed distinction turn out as true as i got the Xerox of  my answer papers. But then the papers brought many new questions for me. I actually don’t believe in god but the results defiantly made me think about it.

Not much just 2 marks but it will be added into my total to change my academic class (of course not sure coz anything can happen in Mumbai university as I remember in 6^th sem I put a paper for revaluation and its result is still pending!!! Oh n I m graduate now so it’s been more than 18months they are evaluating my paper….)

when I saw the papers it looks like the paper checker has pre determined mind for giving away 6 or max 7 marks for answers no matter how good content of the answer is in fact for some question`s answer I literally cross checked book and found same contents in paper (it’s possible in Mumbai university coz 80-90% paper is repeated so with your experience you can guess what they can ask) but marks ware always given in range of 5-7.  Why if a student is writing each and every point as given in book with logic and justifying the asked question then what is the problem in giving full marks??

But wait a minute coz there is another joke, marks allocated to problems after solving problem with every step and precaution mention in reference book with proper steps, diagrams and correct answer…. Still out of 10 awarded marks were 6-7. So in IT you write theory or solve problem you get 6-7 marks!!!  (Citation needed… how they do it???) don’t they have model answer coz in case of problems some teacher allocates full 10 marks to correct solution which is desirable.

Why they maintain this in equality in case of problems and theory? Why they look forward to preserve the outdated system of mark giving, if they ask some analysis based question then 6-7 or whatever mark system was justifiable but if answer is static (just like write note etc.) the answer is fixed so every correct answer will have same contents just like solved problem and if it covers all points mentioned in book or syllabus then what’s matter in giving full marks? Oh n if u say that tech. syllabus goes beyond book and that all, then please see my MM answer book, for MPEG note I have explained main MPEG layers (mpeg1,2,3,4) [all from wikipedia of course] and then technique of MPEG with diagram still I got 4 marks!, well there are many such examples. But d point is if the examiner is not knowing about it then which god is gonna help student???

My another question is if you have decided that you are not going to award more than 7 at any cost (whether the paper is solved by reference book author also) why should student take affords of writing those long answers? Since if you write just points instead of full answer you get 4-6 marks. So what they exactly look for? strategy and planning also don’t work for Mumbai University. Since evaluation is based on total ad hoc methods. (have faith in god… right )

Another mystery is high scores from Mumbai colleges I don’t understand what they write in their answers to fetch 70-75 marks seamlessly where as we struggle around 60-65. we share same notes still no donuts for non mumbai ITions. I have spend lots of time in field of information security with actually doing hacking cracking and playing with viruses yet I got 54 marks in paper,(dont consider me wrong, i am not saying tht im guru of IS still a lot to learn… but know enough to write IS university paper)  it’s not like that I have not written paper well in fact the answers are inspired from my personal experience + Wikipedia+ the single reference book. Still 4-5 marks…. I don’t know how it works! I can bet on this if ankit phadia also appear for this exams he will also struggle to score par 60, coz that’s how it works. Nowadays I hate no. 54. oh n by the way i have got kaspersky home security expert certificate, (kaspersky knows me ) not a big deal actually the syllabus is same as that of Info. security subject. but for passing u have to score above 80% n i have did it.

my another observation is that all above mentioned things happen prominently in IT faculty than any other branch, for tronix i have seen papers with 83 marks in theory (of course the student didnt knew basic concepts of the subject and couldn`t even justify why she has written it in answer) mech boys get full marks for solved problems in fact last year university topper was from my college itself. IT never gets respect from companies just like other branches get even s/w firms prefer mech n tronix boys over IT! it happens in every college.

Oh and most important it’s not like that I get distinction means I got 70%+ its more than 69.5% so university gives away 10 marks for free??? Why? Don’t they have faith in their paper checkers? Indeed.

I was disappointed coz I didn’t get distinction but there are bunch of students who struggle from passing in-spite they have written answers with potential to get marks but they prefer to be quite just let it be…. People after getting fu*ked up from university prefer to keep mum in fear that it will affect their reputation and term work marks and rightly so. there is no association of students who can take such issue further and most importantly students i.e. the people don’t care for it and just let it be… where as its much needed a strong oppose from student community, remember India is a democratic country and nobody listen to single voice…

For photocopy and revaluation students have to pay more than 600 rupees per subject which is greater than total fee paid for the exams, this is disguising its not fault of student but the university and system still student has to pay for it why? University must have refund policy if there is actually mistake in makes allocation process.

All together now I think this exams from Mumbai university is totally based on luck, a gamble and not test for talent (?) if you get good paper checker you get good marks n class else keep crying. (citation needed… i think it`s violation of fundamental right :- equality.. lets go to supreme court LoL ) Anyways for me the university exams is just way to get that damn degree that’s all matters, but then what about time that we students allocate for exams? the system don’t care for time of students it just cares for reputations of system.

Repeated questions, zero analysis, testing mugging up skills, disgusting evaluation and 6-8 months delay in processing revaluation… where are we going??? i dont know about other branches but for IT branch,  mumbai university is factory of mug up experts which nutritiates ‘mind less brains’ which can be easily enslaved in s/w companies. instead of making evaluation difficult they should bring more analysis based questions, but again that make examiners job hard, but i don’t understand why university conduct exams for examiners or for students?

So I really thank mr. god that all these “reality report” things happen in my last year. really the 2 marks n distinction thing doesn`t matters for me n i am glad that i haven’t failed to satisfy expectation of my own  n my teachers. i just hope some thing will change for new syllabus at least so that after getting his result the fortunate students will be able to say proudly that yes i have earned my distinction.

Let The Power Be With You

Each thought is a prayer and every prayer is answered. So, watch your thoughts. Each thought creates certain vibrations in and around us thereby reaching the Omnipresent naturally. Each prayer is answered as soon as it is heard and each prayer is heard as soon as it is said. The effort that we do need to make, however, is in ensuring that all our thoughts are positive so that our prayers do not keep cancelling each other’s effects. Everything that we think about receives energy through our thought. When we accept our power, we also learn to send our power packets to the all that give us happiness. We stop sending them to those that upset us because we don’t want to energise them and increase their role in our lives. At times, when we are praying, we might be asking the Creator to help us forgive those who have done us wrong while at other times we might be busy condemning the person for doing the same. Brooding over the past in this manner will give rise to anger and possibly, revenge. In our ignorance, we are sending our power packets to the wrong that we experienced, the person we believe wronged us and to the emotions of anger and revenge. These will then easily negate those we sent during our prayer for forgiveness. Later, we might even find it convenient to blame the Creator for not answering our prayers. Accepting the past and whatever unpleasant may have taken place helps us integrate it in us. Reminding ourselves that the other person in question is entitled to his own way of looking at things and handling his life helps us accept whatever happened between him and us in a neutral manner and move on. Only then we can continue to create positive vibrations to ‘forgive and forget’. It really should be ‘accept and forgive’. Accept them as they are and forgiveness follows naturally. Trying to forget only makes us remember it some other time. Accepting it actually frees us of the burden. It was about four months since we had moved to Chandigarh when one morning on her way to school, the bus my daughter was travelling in met with an accident. A truck hit the bus and a windowpane broke and fell on my daughter’s hands, leaving her with cuts and scratches. While narrating the incident, she also told me that all the children in the bus were concerned about her. She said despite the blood and the pain, she felt good. She recollected earlier incidents in other places we had moved to where it was through some sort of suffering that she got to make friends in the new place. She finally said: “I knew something like this will happen and i will make friends here also.” Needless to say, i pointed out to her that it was this belief of hers that was creating this misery for her time and again and that she deserved to make friends wherever she went easily and effortlessly… All you have to do is to believe in your power to create your life afresh and send the right power packets out to the Universe.

[article by Shivi Dua]

 

A Way To Deal With Frozen Feelings

Did we ever grow up? Well, yes and no! A part of us did and some parts of us didn’t. Let’s find out how that happens.
Every child experiences all that happens around him with total awareness. In the first seven years the child’s brain is like a sponge, taking in all sensory inputs and building his idea of his surroundings. As long as the environment is safe, the child learns with incredible speed. However, when the environment is scary or stressful, the child unlearns past learning just as rapidly.
In the early years of every child’s life, whenever there is shock, violence, fear or pain, these intense emotions are imprinted deeply into memory. Whenever the same activity or situation is repeated, the nervous system and body subconsciously re-experience the memory of that trauma. This creates a blind spot in the child’s neurological process and he literally goes blind to any alternative except knee-jerk, repetitive reactions.
As an example, if a child is happily playing with a puppy and gets accidentally scratched or bitten he might forget the incident consciously but never be able to like being around dogs and may not know the reason why. All compulsive behaviors begin this way and continue into adulthood, until we are willing to make another choice.
For instance, when a child is learning the alphabets, say ABC, if there is stress around him like people shouting or judgments like, ’You’ll never do it right’, or constant comparisons, this activity gets fused together with other sensory inputs like hearing and seeing and one package of memory is formed. From then on whenever he attempts to learn ABC or write he subconsciously remembers past events and feelings and the same stress comes on line. This interferes with his ability to do it well. Over time, the child may even avoid trying to read or write because he believes it is stressful and undoable.
Whenever we feel deeply stressed our brain and body goes into a fight or flight response. It’s good if we can actually fight or run away, but most times we just freeze emotionally. Our ’frozen feelings’ are the cause of this ’glitch’ in our learning process. We know we should be able to make a positive change, but that doesn’t change anything. With a sense of helplessness we fear the future and self-doubt rules our lives.
The process of change need not be traumatic. We need to understand that whatever pain we experienced in the past because of which we made certain choices, were the only recourse we had at the time. We couldn’t have done any better because we didn’t know how to. But we should realize that was then and this is now! We can get help from trained professionals and learn to unblock the negative emotions fused in our past that affect our positive future. We can choose to choose again. It’s up to us. It’s our movie!

[original article from times of india The writer is the co-founder, AJNA Centre for Learning, Pune. ]

Where’s My Nobel Prize?

this is an editorial published in times of India, contributed by  famous novelist chetan bhagat,

The recent news of a person of Indian origin winning the Nobel prize while based abroad sparked off a series of discussions at home. “Why don’t we win Nobel prizes here?” became the question of the week. The standard points were raised: we don’t have the facilities, too much government interference, the selection process is rigged, the prize committee is racist and, finally, who cares about the Nobel anyway (of course we do, that’s why we discuss it).
Like all media stories, this one too will die soon. However, maybe it is time to look at the core issue: why India doesn’t excel on the world stage on a fairly consistent basis. We don’t win a significant number of Olympic medals, we don’t create global brands, our IT industry is essentially a job transfer model but we haven’t created even one Google, Facebook or Twitter. (Of course, there is plenty for Indians to be proud of otherwise, so please don’t jump on me because of my observations.)
The real issue comes down to the treatment of talent in our country. So, what is talent? Talent refers to a special ability and aptitude that give people an edge in a particular field. In sport, science, films, business or the arts, people who dominate the world stage all have a gift that makes it easier for them to excel. Of course, along with talent there is preparation, hard work and a certain amount of luck required to achieve success. However, talent is usually a necessary ingredient. Talent is rare, and randomly distributed across the human population, irrespective of pedigree, connections or wealth. Some may call talent an unfair gift. However, it is talent that allows ordinary people to come up in life. Otherwise, rich people would stay rich and poor people poor. Thus, this unfair talent actually makes the world fairer.
However, we don’t put talent on the highest pedestal in our country. Talent’s stature is below that of someone with connections, with hereditary entitlement, pedigree or even experience.

Even in an IIT, a truly gifted young faculty cannot jump ranks and scales set by the system. And the people designing the system never took talent into account. Even when talent is identified, we are unable to train it, and find it difficult to reward it.
It is difficult to say why we have this attitude, but there are many possible reasons. One, talent conflicts with the traditional Indian caste system. Two, Indian cultural values revere the older generation and its experience, and talent zooms past it.

Ask yourself, have you seen some of this in India? Maybe because so many dreams have been crushed in India, someone else’s success reminds us of our own pain. The US (only as a contrasting example, not recommending we become like them) has an opposite value system. Talent is respected, seen as something to be emulated. That is why they have teenage boy bands and college dropouts who open outcomes as national icons. We don’t.

There are grave negative repercussions for a community that doesn’t respect talent. It leads to a society where connected people do better than people with ability. It leads to a lot of talent being unused, a tremendous waste of a national resource. It causes frustration in the entire new generation as they see people with less capability doing better than them. It also reinforces the old Indian values of fatalism and the helpless-common-man theory. And it means India’s excellent people may not excel worldwide to the extent possible.
So what can be done? Well, we definitely can do something – both at the macro organisational level and a micro individual level. At the organisational level, we have to let go of corporate hierarchies and the lifelong promotion ladders of government, particularly in talent-dependent organisations like R&D, companies requiring high innovation or sport.

at individual level we have to encourage and appreciate talent emerging around us. We have to make incentives in line with what attracts talent, as there is a global battle for it. Exceptional talent demands exceptional reward. We have to take away the moral judgement associated with rewarding talent. Just as it is morally okay for a rich man’s son to be rich, a person with talent also deserves to do really well.

Change needs to happen amongst us, at the individual level as well. We have to acknowledge that talent exists, and we need to respect it. Frankly, isn’t it better a talented person gets rewarded than a minister’s son? Talent shouldn’t cause resentment, it should become an inspiration. I think the young generation is already on board with that. It needs the older generation’s support to make this change in values. It may be difficult, but it is worth it.
Because if we do become a talent-driven country, we will become a more progressive nation, utilise the new generation’s skills properly, become a fairer society and, along the way, win a few Nobel prizes too.