The state of fitness at KGP

//This article is meant to act as a qualifier for the selections of Scholar's Avenue,the English fortnightly of the campus.

When I cleared JEE,I realized I had got it all wrong.I had neglected my fitness for the past two years and had turned a blind eye on my diet.As a result I had gained thirty kilos ,and the nickname golu.I promised myself I would take immediate and drastic steps to improve my fitness.What follows is the account of my year-old experience of trying to stay fit at KGP and the observations regarding the general state of affairs on matters involving health and fitness.

I was allotted the MMM Hall of Residence,which arguably serves the worst food in all of KGP.Being away from home for the first time and completely in shock at the Bengali culture,cuisine,habits(read laziness) and accent,it was an incredibly tough time and I used to stuff myself to make myself feel better.Then a fortnight later,our group discovered VS and its fried maggi and its masala coke.Within no-time it became the midnight hangout destination for our group.Not only us,it seemed the whole of KGP ,from frightened fachchas to gawdly seniors, would come there to have their fair share of maggi,which it seems no one could get enough of.

As a result,after two months I became among the highly selected group of people who have managed to increase their weight after coming to KGP.(For those of you trying to replicate me,sugary drinks and fried food have worked wonders for me.)I was devastated on watching the needle shoot up.While everyone else complained how they were losing weight fast,I looked on with a sore face and decided to join that club.After DP, I came well prepared with a strategy to lose weight as much as possible,as soon as possible.

Firstly,I stopped eating rice altogether.The Bengali rice is sticky as a gum and well known for its inflating effects on the stomach.I also tried to cut down on non-mess food and  to manage at the mess.The curriculum has a compulsory EAA(Extra Academic Activity) subject and offers three breadths;NSS,NCC,NSO.I was alloted NSO(Health and Fitness) by a process that automatically allotted this choice to anyone above a threshold weight.I made up my mind to get up at 6 am in the morning,thrice a week and attend the classes.While my mind was all but made up, the body tried the best it could to resist.The mind-body conflict stayed on but somehow I managed.I also started playing badminton and learning swimming.Here,I would like to add that there is a great mismatch in the number of students and the facilities available for them to play.We had to go to the Gymkhana to play badminton as the MMM court was non-functional and had to wait almost always for an hour or two before we got the chance to play.

There was another problem I had not anticipated that loomed large.After DP,I got my own laptop and discovered the enormous virtual world that KGP boasts of.The virtual 'crib' had everyone hooked to it.Each wing has its god in DOTA,CS,The Age of Empires,Assasin's Creed and lots of other games.I too got addicted to virtual gaming and within no time started spending all my time on it.However,I had the good brains to pull myself out of this habit and stopped it altogether.I have often wondered ,if even a tiny percentage of those playing these games decide to call it quits and to go out and play,the enormous pressure it would have on the already choked up infrastructure.

In spite of everything,the average KGPian is still fit, probably getting all the exercise he needs from cycling(or walking) to the institute,surviving on the mess food and running after the much cherished notes of the maggus.Despite everything, I myself have lost 15 Kg since last year and I am aiming for that again this year.Hopefully I would be able to achieve the goal and when everyone back home asks in amazement 'How?',I can just shrug and say "It's got something to do with KGP"

The 30-Day Challenge

/* This article is meant as a qualifier for the Scholar's Avenue.I didn't originally plan on publishing it but after I wrote it I realized there was something in here for everyone */

Is there something you've always meant to do,wanted to....but just....haven't?
Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a rut?
Wanted to inculcate a new habit,but just haven't been around to doing that?

 If your answer is yes,then this article is just for you.Here I discuss 'The 30-Day Challenge',a methodology to try something new as suggested by 'Matt Cutts',a research scientist at Google.I will also discuss how I implemented it and what I learned from it.

The idea,really,is pretty simple.Think about something you've always wanted to do.Then try it.
For 30 days.An hour a day.

The real tricky part is being consistent.You take a break for even a day and you find that all the rhythm,all the momentum is gone.It's like you never did it in the first place.Once you stick to it,you will realize that instead of your time flying by,you will have an acute sense of it and much more remembrance of it.Setting a fixed time to do it also works wonders.Once you have a hard deadline,it means that that you are more productive,your priorities are better set,you procrastinate less and your mind and body are prepared in anticipation.The secret is not to go to sleep until you have finished your task of the day.You may be sleep-deprived but you would have a sense of accomplishment,worth every extra second you stayed up longer. The reason it works is that small changes are sustainable and if carried out over a reasonable period of time add up to make a big impact.

You may say "Yeah,well.I have heard that kind of stuff a lot.", "Who are you kidding?Its the kind of thing that looks good on paper only.", "Come on dude,go take a run outside." ,"Blimey,I didn't knew you were such a nutcase".This was pretty much my reaction when I heard about it for the first time.But since the holidays were on and I was bored to death,I decided to give it a shot.Here is how it worked out.

On June 1,I decided to challenge myself to work out for an hour daily.Now given my waistline,it was an obvious thing to do,but the whole month of May had passed by and I realized that I had been trolled by time.Not anymore,I thought.And so,the challenge begin.
The first few days were really tough and I had to really use all my will to stop abandoning the whole plan altogether.But after a week or so,I started to look forward to it.I even added another task on the list: learning to play the guitar during the cooling off period.Looking back I think I did fairly well.I completed the gym challenge successfully and probably managed to cancel off the effects of gorging on Punjabi food .Though I left the guitar challenge after a fortnight ,the best part about the whole exercise was the way my mind programmed itself.Every morning,when I would be up,my mind would be ready to exercise and would gently nudge me towards it.After the training was over,I would automatically start thinking about fret positions and strings and (let's be honest) about food.
This I think is the real power of this challenge.The psychological aspect of the whole exercise must be the single greatest thing about it.
July came,and I took up a new challenge.I decided to refrain myself from reading or watching any kind of news.Honestly, Indian media is addicted with glorifying and exaggerating all gory and unhappy news.Besides all the prime spots are taken up by political discussion and after two months of reading two newspapers a day and watching everything from BBC to India TV,I really had enough.I figured I would get the important headlines anyway and I was right.The word of mouth did the trick reasonably well and I don't think (though I can't be possibly sure) that I missed anything important.
For August,I didn't have anything particular in mind,partly because being a second year at KGP is no easy task.Suddenly after the quiet of the first year,you are thrown into this whirlpool of activities,trying to balance academics,sports,Hall Funda and what not.But I did notice that ,thanks to my early morning classes (7.30 am,4 days a week) and morning exercise sessions,I have woken up each day by 8 am.This is really incredible for a late riser like me.I have decided to simply follow this up for the remaining part of the month.I do hope it goes well.

I would like to believe that,by this time. the reader is willing to try out a similar experiment and notice the change in them.
Either way,the next 30 days are going to pass,no matter what.So you might as well want to add some value to it,do something you've always wanted to try.Do it.Give it a shot.Believe me,it is worth your time.

Less is More.

Listen to other's opinions,respect them,accept that they can have their own views,and don't be judgmental.

Perfect Recipe to Harmony and peace.

Less is More.

A bit on Binary.

I thought I understood binary well,but I read about 2 properties of binary numbers which convinced me I had almost zero intuition about them.

1)  a) What happens when you remove the last bit of a binary number.
      1001 >> 100
      1000  >> 100
    This behavior is just the same as dividing the number by 2. It is pretty much the same as what happens in decimal numbers,but I must mention that I couldn't realize this simple property on my own.
     In decimal system :-
     3142 >> 314
     7654 >> 765

    b) What happens when you add  a bit to a binary number
          1001>>10010
          1001>>10011
        Again,thinking about decimal numbers and seeing the following example :-
           335>>3350
           335>>3357
     Now it becomes clear,basically adding 0 at the end of any n-th base number means multiplying that number by n.I was so used to doing that for base 10,but again base 2 succeeded in confusing me.
    So 1001>>10010 means we are doubling the number.Not so obvious.Not to me atleast.
      And adding any other bit at the end at the end of a  base n number means,multiplying that number by n and adding that bit.


2) What does the number of 1's in a binary number represent?
    When I learned binary numbers the basic philosophy behind using binary was that there were only two states.Either the switch was on or off.Now the question I read was "What is the significance of the number of on or off switches there are in the number"
Again,I was clueless (and by now convinced I only had a very superficial understanding of binary system).
111011- what about the number of 0's and 1's here?
So as it turns out,any 0 or 1 at any position simply is the remainder on dividing the number,till that position ,by 2.The quotient on dividing the number by 2 is simply the number minus-the-last-digit.
Hmmm.
suppose there is a loop like
while(n){
if(n%2==1)      //Do something
n=n/2
}
Now the number of times the if condition is evaluated true is precisely the number of 1's in the binary representation of n.
I am still vague about this post.Maybe it's lame.Maybe it isn't.IDK.

UPDATE:I am very clear about this post now.I was very very foolish when I wrote it.I am not saying that I was foolish to write it.It made me clear up my mind and ask some genuine questions.To anyone,who would like to really understand bits to their lowest form,I would highly recommend reading about Bitwise Operators.I studied them for a week and now would like to believe I know how computers work,a lot better :)

Plans.

It has been nearly 19 years since I was born.It has been roughly a decade since I began making plans.

Specifically,in the initial half of the decade,these were the good plans.The easy ones.To go to a friend's house,play a game,watch a movie,eat some dish.They were easy to follow through.They had the property of wholeness.Either you did them or you didn't.Simple.

Then as the years passed I became more responsible.I had to.As a kid my mum used to teach me.I always got excellent grades.Really excellent.Like too good,I tell you.Then I took charge.In class 8th , I rebelled and got to study on my own.It's been 5 years since I started planning my own schedule and accordingly executing it.

I haven't really been bothered about how good the execution step of the schedule was.As I recall,my plans used to be grand,optimized,Utopian in nature.They still pretty much are.I would be the world's most well balanced and diligent worker, focused,determined and motivated.Of course this used to be the planning stage.The execution stage saw a lazy,non-serious,immature,unfocused,uncontrolled,irritable me.The adjectives really are too less to properly describe me but let me carry on anyway.

Lately,however I have been concerned about my productivity.It is too bad.I barely do 20% of the work I am supposed to do.The plans are still grand,the vision still visionary,the dreams still enough to conquer the world.However this time there is a difference.The patience wears thin.I have had too many failed plans,too many unfulfilled plans,a lot of unfinished ones.Too many things I thought I would do,too few done,far too many lying in dusty recesses of my mind,many simply forgotten.

I have tried to narrow done the reasons for my dismal record in following my plans.The ones I am sure are the main culprits are-lack of self-discipline,frequent mood swings,procrastination,stress etc etc.
The whole philosophy I am following seems too me now useless.Its good to be be hopeful,good to imagine,good to be a dreamer.But only up to a point.And now I plainly believe being theoretical is just bad.Its far more critical to be practical.So as you might have figured by now,the new philosophy I'm following is Pragmatism.

Google Dictionary defines Pragmatism as "Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations"
Yes,perfect.Suits me just well.

So basically there are three things I have decided on.
One >>  Don't make plans.If you do,start their execution within next 5 minutes.Otherwise peace maar yaar.Why to waste uselessly your precious mental resources.This blog post is the first result of this plan.I got the idea while taking a bath 5 minutes ago,and here it is.I am writing about,doing something  about it.It doesn't matter how good it s.It doesn't need to be perfect.Just go ahead and do it.Stop being a perfectionist.It is better to be very good instead.Satisfy yourself with it.Seriously,trying too hard is one of the reason I tend to be slow at doing things.Get over it.Move fast,act swift.

Two >>  Focus on the present.There is no better future.Nopes,nothing there.All that is there is here,right now.Stop dreaming,start living in the present.Don't analyze the past too critically,don't make castles in the air for the future.They haven't materialized in the past.They wouldn't in the future.Get over it. If you think you are going to do something tomorrow,do it now.Tomorrow would be just like today,you would postpone it again.Believe me,you would.  

Three >> Do anything and everything with utmost concentration.Just think you don't have a say in deciding what is important or not.If you are doing something,if you are devoting time to it you might as well do with your full focus and concentration.Too many times,it has happened I haven't paid full attention to the thing at the time and had to come back to it multiple times to sort it out.I read somewhere-

"I have found the shortcut to success,it involves doing everything all right the first time around.".I have to agree with it,this makes so much sense,now I look at it.

There are so much more I would like to write,but that's for now.No promises,no plans.Otherwise I will have to follow up in 5 minutes.The problem with us is we think too much,but do too less(Thats point no 4 ;)

Still if you like,here are some links I would recommend :-

http://playingwithpointers.com/archives/407

" I realize that my life will not start five years from now, and that this is *it*, as good as it gets."

http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html

http://www.quora.com/Life-Advice/How-can-one-make-the-most-of-his-or-her-youth/answer/Feross-Aboukhadijeh

Excerpts from Sal Khan's brilliant graduation speech.

I' m posting here some of my favorite bits of a truly amazing speech given by Khan Academy founder Salman Khan at the MIT convocation.I especially recommend the parts about building better relations.Seems I had forgotten most of it :(

"Many of you will soon enter the outside world and be somewhat taken aback. It will be far less efficient, far less fair, far less productive, and far more political than what you may have imagined it to be. There will be pessimism and cynicism everywhere. It is easy to succumb to this, to become cynical or negative yourself. If you do, you with the potential that you have, it would be a loss for yourself and for humanity. 


To fight these forces of negativity, to increase the net positivity in the world, to optimize the happiness of yourself and the people you love, here are some tips and tools that I like to return to. 


Start every morning with a smile — even a forced one — it will make you happier. Replace the words “I have to” with “I get to” in your vocabulary. Smile with your mouth, your eyes, your ears, your face, your body at every living thing you see. Be a source of energy and optimism. Surround yourself with people that make you better. Realize or even rationalize that the grass is truly greener on your side of the fence. Just the belief that it is becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

View stressful, political interactions as nothing more than a deeply immersive strategy game. One that can be won if you stay focused on what matters most and your emotions and ego are not tied to your argument. 
If you find yourself arguing with someone whom you respect and love, try to surrender your own ego to the shared identity you have with that person. In the heat of an argument, do the opposite of what your pride tells you to do. If you have the self-control, stop talking and give your opponent a random, intense minute-long hug.

Make people feel that you care about them. And here’s, a well, a little secret, the best way to do this is to actually care about them.

Make people feel that you are listening to them. Another little secret, the best way to do this is to actually listen.

When you gain or lose material things, remember how silly they really are. How little they mean relative to your health and relationships.

When you feel stressed, look up at the night sky and ponder the distance to the next star and the age of the universe. Think of all the other stressed sentient creatures from other star systems and galaxies looking out in the vastness of space in wonder and awe and take comfort in your shared experience. 

When you feel overwhelmed, walk alone through the woods and forget your name, your title, your education and view yourself for what you really are — another mammal wondering why it is here but appreciating the fact that your civilization has not as yet been evaporated by a supernova. 

Try to build true empathy. Regardless of your actual spiritual beliefs, it is sometimes helpful to imagine that time is not linear; that in past or future, or I guess parallel life, you literally are, have been or will be every person. That after this life, you will go back in time and be reincarnated as the person you are arguing with, or passing judgment on (and will then have to put up with the current version of you). 

Remember that real success is maximizing your internally derived happiness. It will not come from external status or money or praise. It will come from a feeling of contribution. A feeling that you are using your gifts in the best way possible.  

Also remember that whom you choose as a life partner is a far more important decision than what career you choose to pursue. If you are lucky enough to have a true equal, someone who fills you with joy and emotional contentment, with whom you have deep shared values, who respects you and loves you for your innate you-ness; no superficial, external failure or conflict can faze you. 

But keep in mind that if you care about someone, but not enough to commit to them, the most selfish thing you can do is not let them move on.


One of my roommates when I was two years out of college, who had formerly been a bit of a track star at MIT, and I had finished watching Chariots of Fire one night at 2 a.m. I told him that it made me feel like running. He simply told me “Don’t waste inspiration.” I reminded him that it is 2 a.m. He said “so what; don’t waste inspiration.” I looked at him for a few seconds and realized that he was dead serious. I jumped off the couch, threw on my running shoes and took to the streets. 

If you ever feel inspired, take action with it. Don’t let anyone tell you why you shouldn’t; at least lace up and give it a try. 

On a similar vain, inertia, pride or fear should never be the reason why you close your mind to opportunity. 


So go forth with your careers, but leave space for your passions. Remember that you are much, much more than a title or a bank account. You are dancers and poets, inventors and athletes, musicians and innovators. If you give your passions room to breathe, you might find that is all they need to help you move the dial forward for everyone. 


So with all that said, let me leave you with a thought experiment I use to help keep my priorities in check.

Imagine yourself in 50 years. You’re in your early 70s, near the end of your career. You’re sitting on your couch, having just watched the State of the Union holographic address by President Kardashian.

You begin to ponder your life. The career successes, how you’ve been able to provide for your family. You’ll think of all the great moments with your family and friends. But then you start to think about all of the things you wished you had done just a little differently, your regrets. I can guess at what they might be.

Sitting in 2062, you wish that you had spent more time with your children. That you had told your spouse how much you loved them more frequently. That you could have even one more chance to hug your parents and tell them how much you appreciate them before they passed. That you could have smiled more, laughed more, danced more and created more. That you better used the gifts you were given to empower others and make the world better.

Just as you’re thinking this, a genie appears from nowhere and says, “I have been eavesdropping on your regrets. They are valid ones. I can tell you are a good person so I am willing to give you a second chance if you really want one.” You say “Sure” and the genie snaps his fingers.

All of a sudden you find yourself right where you are sitting today. It is June 8, 2012, at Killian Court. You are in your shockingly fit and pain-free 20-something body and begin to realize that it has really happened. You really do have the chance to do it over again. To have the same career successes and deep relationships. But, now you can optimize. You can laugh more, dance more and love more. Your parents are here again so it is your chance to love them like you wished you had done the first time. You can be the source of positivity that you wished you had been the first time around."




To read the full transcript go to this link -->>
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/commencement-khan-address-0608.html

JEE

I'm sharing this great take on JEE,hope u enjoy it.
http://jsensarma.com/blog/?p=109

On IIT.

 The IIT doesn't owe you an education.
This is one of the hardest lessons to learn and I've seen people crib their whole  4 or 5 years on campus over this single fact. Take it to heart: This IIT or any other IIT for the matter doesn't owe you anything in the name of education - not even a degree. The only thing that an IIT gives you is a rubber stamp on a certificate. It is your responsibility - I repeat - YOUR responsibility to teach yourself everything that you should know at the end of the 4 or 5 years of your course and make yourself worthy of being an IITian. Whether you learn it from books, from Youtube, from other people - it doesn't matter. You make yourself worthy of being called an IITian, the IIT doesn't make you worthy of being called one.

#Found this on Quora.

Update:-04/10/2012


Another answer I found on Quora:

1. Be liberal
If you asked me for the single most important lesson college life taught me, then it would without doubt be the ability to take a liberal stand on any issue (moral, philosophical or legal) that may or may not affect me directly. When I came in as a freshman, I must admit I was as dumb as one can get. I had strong ideas – they were strong not because I had seen the world and come to well thought-of conclusions. My ideas were just a product of my upbringing, the popular media (that too mostly Indian), and the conversations with self that one usually has when they’ve been sitting alone in a room for hours. So what happened during college? Surely, not all those ideas changed. What changed was my approach to them, what I thought of my convictions, how I defended them and how I urged others to see my point of view.
For example, I used to be a vegetarian in first year, and still am, but unlike then, I no more think that eating meat is “wrong”. I have realized that all my opinions are results of my thoughts, and no more right than yours or those of the local brigand. Contrary to what a lot of people think, being liberal is not about trying your hand at everything – yes you can be liberal and a vegetarian, a teetotaler, and staunchly religious all at the same time. By being liberal, I mean the ability to take into account everyone else’s point of view, all the data available, and then consciously and justifiably form your opinions. It incorporates the basic premise that no opinion is sacred, and as long as people are happy with their choices and lives, you have no right, or reason to meddle. This is the simple secret to leading uncomplicated lives.

2. Think independently and explore recklessly
I strongly feel that we have stopped thinking. As a student community, there seems to be less emphasis on independent thought and charting out our own course. Most of us (and I’m no less guilty) just try to follow the golden path laid down before us. It’s either that high-paying job, or the highly ranked university somewhere in the USA. While there’s nothing wrong with these choices, what’s wrong is making these choices just because they are the in-thing. Do we ever stop to think what our motivation in life is? We all need to ask this question to ourselves sooner or later – do we really plan to do something with lasting value, something different? Are we willing to take risks, do something our peers aren’t doing? College may or may not be sufficient for us to find our life’s calling, but just the realization that one needs to do what they love the most, is important. It might seem trivial to think about, but if you look around, people easily forget this.
Independent thought comes out of knowing a lot of things, which is in turn borne out of having explored a lot of avenues. You like watching that sport? Try playing it. You like music? Try your hand at learning how to play your favourite tune. Learn how to write code. Learn a new language. Explore how it is to work in a company. Dabble your hands in research. Explore other fields of work, try to figure out the arts. Don’t waste your time sitting upon things you already have. You will never have the kind of freedom you can afford in college, so don’t let it be wasted on nothing. Learn to get your hands dirty, learn to make yourself curious, who knows you might find diamonds in the mud?

3. Lose some inhibitions
I’ve had a few friends who’ve been living frightened lives – inside a cocoon of their own making, one that keeps them far away from things they’re scared of. I was no different when I started, and unfortunately, I believe I wasted a couple of years sticking to myself, until I found friends who would pull me out of my shell. I’ve realized that college is the first (and probably the last) time when you have the opportunity to overcome your fears, to make an effort to challenge yourself on the personal front. Have you ever tried singing in front of few dozen unknown people? Have you ever taken part in a debate and publicly made a fool of yourself? Are you afraid of wearing shorts in public lest you show your sexy (or ugly) legs? Are you enraged if your beliefs are questioned? If yes, then are you doing something about it? Shouldn’t you?
Why all this trouble? It is because quite a few of the qualities developed this way surely help later in life, directly or indirectly. And you would never know you had those qualities, unless you loosened up and dirtied your hands with a few scary-looking activities.
While I’m not saying that you should try everything just for the heck of it, but it does make a lot of sense to put yourself in situations you have no idea how to handle yourself in. This teaches you one very important life lesson, which is that of standing up to unexpected scenarios and deal with new kinds of emotions. Isn’t this what life is about anyway?

4. Interact with the opposite sex
In a society as prudish as ours, this is always a tricky issue. More so in an environment like IITB, with a highly polarized sex-ratio.  Firstly, why is this important? From what I know, males and females have very conspicuous differences in their points of view. Understanding this is important. Life will eventually make you interact with people from the opposite sex. You will have colleagues, a spouse, friends. You will want to know what they find offensive or how open you can expect them to be etc.
From a guy’s point of view, I’ve seen some guys becoming excessively abusive, and outright disrespectful towards the females they see daily. Blame this on a testosterone-intense environment, but unless you’ve been friends with a girl, you might tend to develop sexist attitudes, or be uncomfortable in one-on-one interactions. And this will surely cause problems at some point, on a personal level. Learn to look at boy-girl communication in an uncomplicated way. Encouraging and taking part in healthy interactions with the opposite sex are a certain step towards creating a healthy society based on mutual respect. The same applies to girls, while interacting with males.
So meet people of the opposite sex. Make friends with them, learn about their ideas, opinions and constraints. Don’t worry about being close to someone. These exchanges go a long way in making you comfortable in any group.

5. Procrastination will take you down
Procrastination can be a bane for anyone, even the most brilliant mind out there. Truth be told, it can’t be avoided. We all do it, we all probably need it. But when it gets out of control, it threatens to take over all of your time, and leave you irritated and frustrated with a feeling of zero-accomplishment in the end. I’ve learned this the hard way. For most of my college life, I’ve procrastinated like any outrageously shameless and careless procrastinator you’ll see out there. On days when I ought to have worked, I spent my time doing stuff like finding patterns in the genres of the songs in my iPod, or adding every movie I’ve watched to my IMDB account. Not bad things to do, but when a deadline is looming, not the kind of stuff one should get into. An hour before final exams, I’ve gotten bouts of compulsively playing Minesweeper, or of just lying down and day dreaming. Yes life seems to have passed very peacefully, but all the procrastination didn’t do me much good. When I was supposed to work, I wasted time, and when I ought to have partied, I was suddenly hit by the stark realization that I hadn’t worked at all, and I could not party. Now that’s a bad situation, isn’t it?
I’m still learning my lesson, and trying to correct this habit. This isn’t uncommon among college students, but I have the feeling that unless you’re brilliant as fuck, and can earn your living based on momentary strokes of brilliance, you can’t afford to procrastinate too much. In other words, if you’re a reasonably smart and motivated person, then motivation is the biggest gift you have. It is a gift that is easily lost, so make it (and your time) count.

6. Make friends with all kinds of people
Close friendships formed in college are special. They are not immature like the ones you form in school, which usually weather down with time and physical distance. A college student is more mature, and the connections that form here are based on mutual interests or similarity in points of view. These are on an abstract level, and hence tend to last longer. Meeting a friend from college is a sureshot way to reminisce “those old days” when you had the time of your lives. Having friends teaches you various things – it opens you up to new points of view, it teaches you how to compromise, how to be part of a motley and still enjoy yourself. Friends support you when you’re down, share your joy when you’re happy, and empty your purse when you accomplish. Friends fool around with you, discuss with you – from gossip to philosophy. Friends introduce you to new experiences, help you lose inhibition, motivate you to follow your heart – be it love or work.
I’ve had a wonderful group of friends who’ve done all the above to me, and I owe a major chunk of my development to them. A few years down the line, I shall not remember the grades I managed to score, what will be remembered are moments that shaped me as a person, and those moments will invariably have been spent with friends. You need memories to live life by, and memories should have other people in them.
Additionally, also make friends with some professors that you like. They might not fool around with you, but will be of great help and guidance when it comes to choosing your career. Additionally, a lot of wisdom can be gained from friendly professors – wisdom which is often quirky, amusing and might apply to you directly. Also make friends with people in the administrative divisions, so that you can break free of the red tape and get your work done faster.

7. Get along with people who are better than you
There’s one thing one would do very well to realize as quickly as possible – that in almost any conceivable activity, there will be someone better than them. In a college like IITB, with so many talented and diverse people, a very essential lesson I learned was that of humility. Whatever high opinions of myself I might have had when I joined were shattered when I realized that there were people who could do a lot of things I was very bad at, or I couldn’t do at all. And I benefited a lot from having such an amazing peer group around me. By learning from people who did things better than me, I either got better myself, or realized where I was going wrong. Respecting others for what they’re worth is an important trait for dealing with people, and is also a quality learned simultaneously with humility.

8. Keep your health in check
Unless you’re planning to become a gym instructor after college, or get into a job that requires basic physical fitness, you’re going to regret not exercising in college. Most of us are careless individuals, we eat whatever is served to us, we don’t care to lose the calories, we ignore the slight paunch or the double chin. We think that just a little exercise can put us back in shape. The truth is that the more you postpone it, the harder it will be to regain fitness. It is easy to be lazy, but everyone should get into some sort of activity. Once you get out of college, exercising regularly is going to be real hard so it is essential to build up great fitness during college. If you bloat up during college, then god save you afterwards.

Source:http://www.quora.com/Indian-Institute-of-Technology-Bombay/What-did-you-take-away-after-completing-your-degree-from-IITB

Wow,Just Wow

This one is a quick little post on something amazing.
Just now I was browsing through the traffic sources to the blog and something incredible caught my eye.
(Yes,you can view the traffic sources to your blog,the OS people are using to view your blog and a region wise distribution of your audience.Google Stats,incredible,I tell you.)
So what amazed me was the fact that Google was returning my blog-post when a user typed a search query "Renaissance Quote".And do you know what is the mind-blowing thing about it?
My blog post comes as the 5th search query!!
Can you believe that??

Out of the 10,800,000 results Google comes up with in response to the query,its algorithm ranks my blog post as the 5th most relevant source!!
Just to clarify,I searched it in incognito mode,without signing up on Google.
Here is the pic :)

It is easy to understand my amazement, as there is a whole industry, SEO(Search Engine Optimization),which works on ways to get their results as up as much as possible .
Man,I am so hyped up!!
Wow,Just Wow.


PS-I seem to have a lot of audience in US.Almost 50% of the traffic comes through there.Seriously,who are you guys?

Fake Plastic Trees

Somehow,I am taking out time from an incredibly loaded work-schedule this week to write this particular post.'Fake Plastic Trees' is the name of a song from the Radiohead album 'In Bends'.If you haven't heard it yet go ahead,listen to it,its well worth your 5 minutes.

Fake Plastic Trees

Ok,so the main reason for this post is finally after months and months of contemplation on this song,finally I guess I figured out the meaning of the song.More on that in just a bit.I never really understood the song all this time,yet it had a magnetic pull on me.The emotions that the band mange to put in the song are really heart-touching .Go ahead and check these out
Fake Plastic Trees at Manchester
Fake Plastic Trees Live @ Glastonbury 2003
If you are short on time,check out the second video from 2:30-3:30

So finally the explanation,here goes:

"I always find myself coming back to this song year after year. As we progress from Children to Men the humanity, the genuine pure white emotions we once had erode. The sun shines a little less brighter, the flowers look a little less colorful, our minds become a little less creative. The society of this earth suppresses us as natural beings. Religion, Politics, Economics, Justice, Rank, its all to our detriment. We end up in a job, earning money, mindless of others, living as fake plastic trees."

I think there is nothing else left to say.

Simran,you rock man

tere kuch quotes

• dont worry...
• jo hota hai acchhe ke liye hota hai
  
  
  to hont ghumao siti bajao siti baja ke bol bhaiya all iz well
  
  
  bhaaji tusi taan rough and tough ban jaoge(In refernce to adversities at iit)
  
  
  me:

  koi mili?
  paaji:
  • koi mil gaya
  • hrithik roshan ki movie hai...no double meanings
    
    
    
    
    arre yaar ab to tension chhod de...cllg mein nomberon kaa kya karega?
    
    
    baba ranchhodaas!!
    
    
    • chod saale unka cg ke bina kuch nhi banega
    • tu apni development par dhyaan de
    • 
      
      
      aur apne aap mein confidence rakh..antt mein sacha pyaar hi jeet ta hai
      
      
      me:

      yaar sacha pyaar kahaan se
      simran:mujhe pata hai tera...tera dil pavitra hai..tu moh maya mein nahi phas sakta 
      
      
      
      

Quote Unquote.

Since I have some free time right now,(I have an exam tomorrow,but I really don't care),I think it would be a good idea to share some of my favorite quotations here.

"The key is deliberative practice: not just doing it again and again, but challenging yourself with a task that is just beyond your current ability, trying it, analyzing your performance while and after doing it, and correcting any mistakes. Then repeat. And repeat again. There appear to be no real shortcuts:"
Peter Norvig       Click to read an amazing insight into programming.


“Have a bias towards action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”
If you’re going to be biased, be biased towards making something happen today.  Tomorrow never comes, any progress to be made, must be made today.  It must be made right now!
If you don’t act now, you don’t have a future, just a longer today.  Gandhi said, “The future depends on what we do in the present.”
Indira Gandhi


“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.”
T.E.Lawrence



"I think for the most part, if you are really honest with yourself about what you want out of life,life gives it to you"
Ted Mosby
S02E22  How I Met Your Mother


"Kids, you may think your only choices are to swallow your anger or throw it in someone's face, but there's a third option: You can just let it go, and only when you do that is it really gone and you can move forward."
Ted
S04E06 HIMYM

On comparison
"Don't compare yourself with other people. It is a wasteful pursuit, and you could be doing something better with your time and energy. Know what you, personally, want and expect from yourself, and focus on attaining those things. The things that you want and expect from yourself don't have anything to do with how you measure up to others."

Thats all for now.Will keep posting as and when I am motivated enough.


Some more .......

Think hard about, and analyze, the past before you dream about the future.


You can do anything ,but not everything.

A Quick Thought

I just realized something.Everyone has a past.You may not see it,but it's there.
And furthermore everyone is haunted by their past.Some are just good at concealing it.

I would like to quote Russel Crowe ,who played John Nash,from 'A Beautiful Mind'.

Martin:What about the,....you know,are they gone?
Nash:No,they are not gone.And maybe they never will.But I have got used to ignoring them and as a result I think they have kind of given up on me. You think that's what its like with all our dreams and all our nightmares,Martin?You have got to keep feeding them for them to stay alive?
Martin:John,they haunt you though...
Nash:They are my past,Martin.Everyone is haunted by their past.

As an afterthought I would like to mention that this was the last movie that made me cry.

A Love Song.

Found this awesome song on the net,It's called 'Sham' from the movie 'Aisha'.
Usually I am not the person who listens to such songs but really,there is something about the song.I really don't know.The melody,the vocals,the guitars,the ambiance all just seem to fit perfectly to create a beautiful song.

                                            है खामोश दोनों, है मदहोश दोनों..

*The Hindi translation didn't quite come out as expected.I am still learning...
*I am also learning how to embed music to the blog.So maybe some time in the future,the song will play on its own.


The composer is Amit Trivedi,who also wrote music for 'Dev-D','Wake up Sid','Udaan','No One Killed Jessica ' ,which is also some of the best music to come out of Bollywood in recent times.The guy deserves a thumbs up.


Also writing is an incredibly relaxing activity.I am loving it :)

Going Live.

Okay, so after months of procrastination and a lot of feeble half-hearted attempts to write a new blog entry,finally today the blog goes live.Believe me when I say that because from now on onward there will be a lot of activity on this blog.

As of now,the last (and the first) blog entry was nearly 7 months ago,written at Chandigarh ,when I had a sudden rush of adrenaline to start my own blog.Well the rush is back today and I must say that the past few months have been very interesting and I have got lots to write about.This and the fact that my mid-terms for the second semester are beginning this week ensured that I am sitting in front of my laptop and typing this at 5.30 in the morning when I should probably be studying or sleeping.

Anyways, a couple of days after the first entry,I started my 28-hour journey to Kharagpur,a sleepy(?!) town in West Bengal to study at the IIT there.And that's where I am going to spend the majority of my time for the next 5(now 4.5) years.There is so much I want to write about and I cant wait to get started!

Bye for now.Keep checking for real time updates.

Shubham