This and that

Ok, to say that I have a been a lazy blogger for the past few months would have been an overwhelming understatement. Nevertheless I hope I’ll catch up with you guys.

Here’s some news:

• I am working on a new theme for this blog; a phrase which here means “limited to simply selecting a favourite skin among the multitude which comes with a WordPress blog, because the undercover agents at WP do not allow you to edit CSS as Blogger does.” Google, I have great respect for you guys!
• Get ready for fireworks in the sky, as the Geminid meteor shower begins this week. The number of meteors passes through a peak during December 13 – 14, with no moon around during that time, this amounts for perfect viewing conditions. The weather’s playing spoilsport here in Coimbatore, alternating between cloudy and clear…and, brr, it’s cold. No wonder I feel feverish. (then again, it could be because of the ice cream and milkshake I ate rather than the weather) Hopefully, it will be a clear night for the next few days.

• Speaking of Coimbatore, my friends’ friends – a couple of subah-talented guys – have started a new hilarious blog called KickStartCoimbatore, dedicated to rediscovering the true flavour of this great city. All Kovaiites this is a must visit!
• I am going to buy my first guitar tomorrow! What do you say? Future member of Linkin Park? (braces for impact from several organic and vegetable projectiles)
• Wondering which techfest to attend… Kurukshetra at Anna Univ or Kshitij at IIT Kharagpur? Yes, I would have loved to go to both, if it weren’t for the malady that plagues all colleges of India except BITS: attendance!

Cheers!

Etc.

Sometimes, an expression can perfectly describe the exact opposite of the situation you are currently facing. In my case for instance, the expression is “All’s well that ends well”.

All is not well and it did not end well. Ok, if you are wondering what the hell it is I am talking about, it’s my first semester at NITT Incorporated. More specifically, my cycle tests and the end sem exam. (read “modern equivalent of medieval torture”). Sometimes, I feel that it is better to be a five point someone than a nine point no one.

Oh well, it’s finally over and I am back in Coimbatore now which is as cool as ever (more literally than figuratively), and I have a month of freedom ot look forward to. And I owe you guys an apology….maybe someday I will learn to blog regularly.

Back home

When school was over, I though I would be eternally depressed for the rest of my life. Seriously, the guys from my class were the coolest – and I would cringe at the thought of leaving all of them. But that hasn’t happened. I’m happier than I’ve ever been before…the guys (and girls!) in college are equally fantastic. I’m learning to play table tennis from friends, and learning to play guitar from another friend who is equally interested in string theory as he is in guitar strings. Friends may change, but friendship is here to stay.

But now, I’m back home after a five hour journey by train. Suddenly, everything comes back washing over me like a torrent of freezing water. The moments spent dreaming, reading Fundamentals of Physics and science fiction instead of school books, gazing alone with a telescope. Today, as I went past the countryside, I saw two boys in uniform standing under a sunshade sipping juice packets. An ordinary sight – but it hurt me like a stabbed heart reminding me of childhood happiness.

I will be going back to Trichy by bus tomorrow. It is strange, being just a visitor to your own home, isn’t it?

Writer’s block

I once heard that the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once had a writers’ block, and it was the worst ten minutes of his life. Apparently, my writer’s blocks last much longer than Asimov’s. You know what it is like when you simply stare at the blinking cursor for minutes together, wondering when it would move rightwards in a flow of Times New Roman characters…I felt in such a mood for a really long time. Maybe its because life has changed dramatically, that I am no longer as contemplative as I once was. It was then I remembered these lines from the movie Finding Neverland, which finally brought me back to the keyboard again:

Peter: I still have no idea what to write.
J.M. Barrie: Write about anything. Write about your family, write about the talking whale!
Peter: What whale?
J.M. Barrie: The one that’s trapped in your imagination and desperate to get out.

Sharp and crisp, don’t you think?

NIT-T Report Two

Having survived the previous attempt by secret agents to capture me, I write this article to disclose more never before heard data.

Again, we begin at the hostel codenamed Diamond at the National Institute of Technology, Trichy. The place is a wide, two storeyed building; close to the other honourable first-year hostels Agate and Coral. At the hostel entrance, we find an armoured gate, which could withstand attacks from heavy gunfire and even Hellfire missiles. Despite the presence of this gate, there is little or no fencing surrounding the hostel, a minor vulnerability. It is also rumoured that the hostel contains considerabe quantities of plutonium, and even perhaps antimatter canisters left by experimenting researchers. However, despite the availability of such advanced compounds, I should also remark that drinkable dihydrogen monoxide (H2O) is a relative rarity in the hostel.

It would be injustice to ignore the bathrooms. Despite the hostel’s considerable population, each floor contains only 5 rooms for enjoying baths. After spending a good time in the queue, we finallly enter the bathroom. Some rooms even have broken holes in the doors, thus revealing the occupant inside. When the bucket is finally filled with water for the exciting bath, a young and avid chemist can research the process of sedimentation, or an avid physicist can research the scattering of light; for the water is actually a colloidal solution containing major amounts of dirt. Students of both categories may also contemplate the possibility of being captured and beaten if they spend too much time researching.

Finally, we enter the classes. All the classes take place at the LHC – the Lecture Hall Complex, although few know that the abbreviation is a codename for a secret Large Hadron Collider replica located underground.

OK OK, enough kidding around – I’ll cut the crap, I want to talk seriously about this one:

The lecturers are really not good. We have the subjects Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Humanities, Engineering Mechanics, Humanities, environmental engineering and engg. graphics; along with practicals. Not one teacher, from the above subjects impressed me. I mean, guys, this is NIT we’re talking about. Even the ones from school, or the IIT coaching centres were way better. To digress, the teachers simply seem to assign work to the students, merely repeat religiously what is given in some textbook and do not teach with gusto or engage the students in any way. Like, as if we’re just 10th grade students or something. We’re asked to take notes; not to express ideas. It is a one way monotonous digress from the teacher to student; never an exciting discussion. Above all, it seems to be about working and memorising, not much about thinking. Many teachers do not even speak proper English. Maybe all of it’s because we’re just first years or something (just?). Or maybe most of the things people learn here are from the library. Still, I expected captivating Carl Sagans; but I found thoughtless bureaucrats.

Thats all for now. Until next time, loads of love from graffiti. Got to go, feeling hungry…