The Idiot and The Educated

My sincere apologies to The Idiot.

The Educated might give me a look…one that reads “Seriously! Do you need to do this?”

Education is a bag full of books. Education is weekly tests, unit tests and term tests.

Ask 10 random students on any random street why they are studying. 8 will tell you that a good education ensures a good job. The other 2 might grow up to be Research Fellows in reputed Institutions!

I am not a Research Fellow. Maybe, I could have been…but I am not. We will shoot off an altogether different tangent if we followed this train of thoughts now.

Let’s just get to the point.

The IT professional has a pretty stereotype life. System, code editor, outlook, coffee, occasional text from that guy or girl you are dating, periodically checking the groups put on mute to see if something exciting is lined up for the weekend. That’s it. Some 9.5-10 hours of such randomness and you are done for the day. If you are lucky to have a manager who believes in the minimum working hours policy, you may get to go home early.

Home is equally monotonous. Food, sleep, book, phone, sleep some more. If you are interested in cooking…add one more item to the aforementioned list.

Three years of a lifestyle as sedentary as this and you are sure to turn into the much hyped and over publicized Idiot.

My sincere apologies to The Idiot. Again.

All the Oh-so-important things that these universities and colleges make us cram into our heads during the semesters and all those industrial trainings, certifications and whatever-whatevers that we do to fill up our semester breaks…all of it…all of it…just leads us to the abyss called professional life.

You are so doomed to turn into an Idiot the moment you step into it.

Being a Bachelor in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, I currently hold the position of a Software Engineer. Irony? No. That’s how it works here!

I have forgotten how a Push-Pull amplifier works. I have absolutely no memory of Control Systems and Circuit Theory. I vaguely remember something called Bode Plot and Laplace.

So what is it that I know?

I know how to google. I know how to read and understand codes…in whatever language it may be. I know how to pretend that I know everything. I know which error message means what and exactly what will make the error vanish. Oh yes, did I mention, I can manage my juniors, assign tasks to them and get the same completed. I can also politely battle with vendors/clients and come out victorious at the end of the day.

Wow! That did make me feel like I was filling up the annual appraisal form.

Doesn’t Appraisal rhyme with Hike!! I like the effect!

The specifics that I had studied in school are long lost.

I still remember certain facts and pointers. Like, Khudiram was the first martyr of the Struggle for India’s Independence. I remember Iltutmish, he founded the Delhi Sultanate. I also remember a reference to the Slave Dynasty. Nothing more…nothing less.

Charlemagne was this French King who united most of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. There was some reference to France and Germany as well. That’s the most that I remember about him from School anyway.

The Nile basin, Thames…Ukraine…which crop grows where and what are the ideal conditions for growing the same. I have no memory whatsoever.

I dreaded Chemistry. Carbon spooked me out totally. Versatile indeed!

I remember the little fellas…Periplaneta americana and Bufo melanostictus. The names fascinated me. But my interest ended there. Of course, I remember very little about them. Heart partitions, some exoskeletons, endoskeletons and external appendages.

That was school for me.

And then there’s Physics. The love of my life.

One of the reasons why I took up Engineering was Physics.

But how much have I progressed in it since I became a Software Engineer? Blaaaah.

Thanks to the sedentary lifestyle and the inherent desire to just sleep during weekends and off days.

That makes me an Idiot. Once educated, now dumb.

I do feel like going back to some School for further education. Like an MS in Physics or Economics. I am good with Data and Analytics. I could Major on that.

Education is a strange phenomenon. It teaches you 12000 things of which most students remember just 0.25% or less …which is close to some 30 or so odd things. These things will mostly be those that somehow stood out…something that affected you in some way…you may have some memory associated with it…something completely random perhaps. In most cases people remember nothing worthwhile.

23 years of life devoted to Academics and all you remember are things personal to you and what appealed to you. Wow!

Life is an irony in itself and so is education. What remains intact is perhaps our sense of not knowing something. That is persistent…all through life. Take it either ways…knowledge is vast and you cannot know everything…or…I learnt a lot of irrelevant things of which I remember nothing.

So tell me. Which one are you… The Idiot or The Educated?

Come on…be honest!

A random post

the toughest time of my life...
yes...these are probably the toughest days of my life! so much to cope with....so much to do...so much that is still undone...
uncertainties...options...choices...
the year 2010 was one of the toughest years, till date, that i had to deal with. Criticism came from all sectors. Pressure was at its peak. MBA entrance exams, campusing...projects... and of course personal trials were like that bright red cherry on the cake!
since August, this year, all that i have been doing is hoping against hope...indulging in wishful thinking...and working day in and day out to complete tasks before the deadlines hit me hard. and yet...the deadlines...eventually...did hit me hard.
hardwork...constantly forcing my brain to solve problems...analytically, logically, quantitatively...!!
the entire concept of "next year" is full of uncertainties. next year, this time...where will i be?

i have plans ready. if Plan A fails then Plan B...if that too fails then i shall have to consider Plan C...and so on. alternatives...back up plans... *sigh*
i hope that something works out...i hope by next year i will be settled somewhere with something substantial. i sincerely hope that 2011 will be a better year...not just for me, but for my family too.

CHAOS.

CHAOS...
i call for order.... but who pays heed? None.
chaos in my mind....in my heart. Around me...all around i see....chaos.
confusion...disorder...anarchy.
emotions...thoughts...words....entangled! am still searching for a free end. i need to pull them apart.

CARNIVAL...
lights...sounds...music.....melody lost in the cacophony...
lost is all that were ever pleasant to the ears.
i call out...my voice loses iself in the crowd...
i reach out... but find none to hold.

CARE...
all that i may...
i cry out for order...who pays heed? None.
lost are the sights...sounds...n all...all that were ever pleasant to us.
i care....n so i still stay here, rooted to the spot... not swayed by the disorderly crowd... waiting...for the One.

CHAOS.

Kolkata: my homely project!!

Recently I had been asked to prepare a presentation as a College project. After hours of thinking i finally selected the topic suggested by my friend Nilakshi. According to her we should select topics close to our heart. So, I finally settled for the topic "Kolkata"...what better than my home sweet home...

Thank you Kolkata for being my Home and being the topic of my College project. Where would i be without you!!??

Ohk...here's a short summary of the project i finally made...

I called it "Kolkata: a City in transition...a journey from Kalikata to Calcutta...to Kolkata"

This project shows the changing face of the city over the years...right from the British Era to the present Metropolitan City.

Two major aspects of the city have been highlighted here:

• the identity of the City as the Cultural Capital of India.
• the socio-cultural life of the City

These two aspects have been focussed upon because:

• any change that creeps into a city so culturally rich is bound to get reflected in the culture of the City
• "a city is what its people make it..." so obviously the changes will be evident in the life of the citizens

hence the socio-cultural references.

This project is a tribute to the City that gave India her first martyr of the Struggle for Independence, Khudiram...its a tribute to the City that was home to the first Nobel Laureate of our country, Rabindranath Tagore...its the city of the first Modern Man of India, Raja Ram Mohan Roy...Netaji, Vidyasagar,Vivekananda, Mother Teresa....n so many others...

Excerpts from the project:

"It is believed that India as a whole did not witness Renaissance...but Bengal did, and Calcutta was the centre.  The growth of the Bengali Intelligentsia due to the introduction of Western Education in India under the initiative of men like Raja Rammohan Roy led to an intellectual awakening...popularly known as the Bengal Renaissance..."

"The existence of a distinct duality in the City is evident through the ages. Be it the Babu culture (a group of Bengali intellectuals who though Indian by blood were British in nature) or the Bongs (the globalised/westernised Bengalis)...be it the intellectuals or the modernists...a distinct duality persists."

"Penurious...prosperous...progressive...

a culmination of diversities...

a harmonious coexistence of deep rooted culture and modernisation...

that's the city for you...

Welcome to Kolkata" 

"Kolkata Kolkata dont worry Kolkata...amra tomari Kolkata..........tumi je naya Kolkata..." ~Usha Uthup

update

ohk...it'll be grossly unfair to say that i have been thinking a lot about others things and too little about academics these days. its true that numerous others things have been going on in my life...but, academics were never out of my mind. 6th semester is quite important. we've got seminars to prepare for. we have an industrial training to do at the end of this semester, and of course 5 subjects to master before exams come knocking at the door.
been going through several training programs...have selected a few and applied for them. seats are limited almost everywhere...and competition is, needless to say, very very tough. hopefully i'll get selected for training somewhere. wish my dad would let me go out of Kolkata for training. wish he could bring himself to trust my merit a bit more. anyway, that's mere wishful thinking...and should be avoided at all cost.

been thinking a lot about my future...post grad prospectives... Finally, i came  up with several ideas, most of which require hard work and taking loads of chaap. There really is no substitute for hard work...and its very unfortunate that am....er....a bit lazy.

anyway...that is basically my life's update...will again update later!

wish i could enjoy the misty mornings

Nehiiii!!!!...finally they are here! yes friends...its exam time again! just 7 more days...n then the torture begins!
exams are in themselves very very horrible but preparation time is even worse...
Preparations=books+notes+scale, pencil, graphs+more notes+a terrible headache!
yep! thats what exams are all about. Mugging up 6 monthes worth of notes, scanning text books for the most uncommon topics that perhaps even the teachers have never ever heard of and wondering what's in the syllabus and what's not!
sleepless nights and early mornings...night lamps and alarm tones!
since its winter, exams mean sacrificing the warmth of our blankets n quilts and dedicating the beautiful misty mornings to our course books.
basically exams are an excellent way to skip meals, fall sick and go mad!
Exams also mean that i do not get to update my blog often...and that is really really bad!
Ok, i know everyone complains but come on...its true...Seriously, exams are not a very effective method to judge a student's true merit and should not be given so much importance to. But unfortunately, the Indian Education System is such that it demands us to dedicate our life to the very cause of giving exams and getting the best possible marks in them.
Now, trust me, "possible" is a very relative term. it totally depends on the mindset of the student, his/her parents and the society he/she lives in...and it is often synonymous with coming first in every exam, u knw being the "topper" n all...phew!
What a life!
What are we racing against??...is it time? or maybe the intellect of outer space aliens or ETs? (oh no!!) :P
What fear drives us to such a level of insanity that we sacrifice our life to a cause as futile as this?!!
seriously,
"give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance i wanna grow up once again..."

 Wake up Ind!a!
its time to make some serious changes...

wish exam preparations could be fun...exams could be interactive and educative! wish there could be a chaapless (pressure free) environment in which healthy competitions would be encouraged. Wish...i wish...

whoaa....exams!!

OMG! OMG! OMG! its that time of the year, rather semester, when my brain starts oscillating furiously between pending college work...academics...and fun....
my mind remains totally messed up...too stressed out by tension to think clearly!! yes, its almost november, and am living in the last week of october now. Semester exams are scheduled to begin in december....and i am freaking out at the very thought of it...........omg!!
this happens almost every sem. all though the semester i chill out thinking that yaar kal se padhai start karenge... but tomorrow as usual never comes!! this semester, especially, i should have started studying seriously a little earlier. the subjects this sem are simply horrible!! Z-transforms....omg!! mp 8086 n peripherals....analog communication...control theory and industrial instrumentation. the last two i'll be able to manage. and perhaps analog comm can be handled. but, DSP and 8086.........i seriously need help!
Trust me attending classes regularly and paying attention in class has not helped me at all! In fact, maybe it would have been better if i'd bunked some classes and studied by myself in the library....sigh!
But, hey! exams were never meant to cause such mental disturbance...were they??!! exams were never meant to ruin the peace of mind...
when viewed on a larger scale, exams were never meant to steal a child's childhood from him! parental pressure and the absurd dream of creating an engineer or a doctor out of every kid is ruining the nation's future!! seriously!
but the growing competition has induced in students the pressure to do well. Students have started expecting higher that what they are actually capable of achieving...and they are shamelessly taking to means that make them stoop to levels beyond dignity to acheive such high aims. the desire to outdo others at any cost is eating into our social system.
Trust me, there are a lot of things around here, in the education system, that need serious amendments. Just sitting and complaining wont help, i know, but protesting singularly will not do any good either. what we need is a movement...a mass protest...but alas! hum system ko badalne jayenge toh system hume hi badal dega...
that's the irony of our Democracy!
so like obedient citizens we accept the crude and unjust system and start preparing for a set of three-hours papers that are supposed to assess our merit!! All the best!!