DCE Ist Year

Circa 2003: Context

A batch of young guns walks into the premises of an unknown locality on the outskirts of the capital city of Delhi. Once you start driving from Delhi, the journey never seems to end – you wait and wait and wait, and long after you’ve given up hope of reaching anywhere, this place arises from nowhere, called Delhi College of Engineering.

Most of them from Delhi, a few from the other parts of the country – a perfect amalgamation of confidence and uncertainty – Should I shout and tell everyone around that here I am, making a mark in the most recent chapter of my life? Or should I be quite and observant, looking around for the place and noticing the quest that everyone has, hidden somewhere beneath 8 inches below their left shoulder!

Some take the former as their approach, a few follow the latter. Ultimately, both are unique components of the irresolute batch that has just walked in.

There's excitement for being into an engineering college (of some repute), and there are also thoughts around the testing times ahead. To start with, how will the 'ragging' be? Wasn't it banned a couple of years ago? You try not to look too many people in the eye, because who knows, the other person could be hunting the jungle for a prey, so that their group could get a ransom for having crossed the first year, and a toy to sneak!

Specifics:

I've heard a lot that you never forget your first day in college - but somehow, I don't really remember how exactly it went - I do remember roughly that there were lots of formalities to be done, and obviously, we were trying to avoid the eyes of seniors around, but apart from that not much is there as TOMA. Maybe because our core group came up later on, in the second year of engineering, and thus, the first days never got a recall in any of the pursuing years' discussions.

Anyhow, our first year hostels were very far from senior hostels, and thus, it wasn't very eventful - though there are a couple of incidents that call for a recall - the best among them being the "sandal" incident, which one of my close friends was a part of - what happened was, during one of the interaction sessions with seniors in canteen (read, ragging sessions), this friend of mine was asked to go to this other female senior of ours (read, another hot babe!) and go and ask for her figure. This friend goes over to that female after much reluctance, and poses this question, much to her interest! This babe isn't so easygoing as well, and she hands over her sandal to my friend, and tells him to give it to the guy who actually had sent him! Now this inquizitive friend of mine is in a dilemma - he's in a fix, and what he does is - he runs!!!! He runs with the sandal, and goes and hides behind some bushes, escaping both of the parties of the ragging incident. We could fall laughing out loud everytime we recalled this incident, and hence, one of the incidents with highest TOMA.

My flatmates of first year used to keep their heads very low, and thus, there weren't much interactions we had with our seniors (read, ragging sessions)! Hence, we did miss out on lots of interesting sessions, which I realized later.

Another interesting thing was the cricket tournament that we had during out first year - it was a department-wise competition (a few departmnts were coupled together because the intake in those was very less, as compared to other branches like Civil or Mechanical). Hence, our branch was coupled with Production. (And I remember the days - particularly because no one would have cursed anyone more than S used to curse NK those days, because S invariably ended making ED sheets all the time we used to be in cricket field). Lots of specifics about those cricket matches - K's smashing hits and effortless sixes; A's awesome hand-eye coordination; The partnership between B and S in the final; etc etc - but they'll take a lot of time to elaborate - so this cricket post some other time.

All in all, a decent first year. Other noteworthy things included the first Engifest, various subjects that we studied in first year (subject of Kansal, Jaggu et al) - but these things are immaterial, and I would prefer to cover them in the upcoming years. So we'll halt this year for now. Second year should be better!

It happens only in DCE..

DCE mein ab kya kya hua – kaise bataaya jaaye – there’s nowhere to start from – nowhere to finish either – hence what I’ll do is roughly talk in terms of years of graduation – 1^st year to start with, then combining 2^nd and 3^rd years (quite difficult to distinguish them in memory), and then finally 4^th year. There will be a section post DCE as well, but there’s still some time for that.

S' Call

Yesternite itself, got this call from S - as drunk as always - and as confusingly determined like never before. He seems to be getting along a phase where one gets whatever he needs, but is really looking for what actually he wants - which, at some level, he himself is not sure of. Unknowingly, he touches a string or two, when he talks intelligent (which is dreadfully uncommon). He was with P and R, and they all were having a bash at 2 at night at Shivaji Stadium - relishing the much coveted "Rajma Chawal" - S knows what the significance of this is?!

I've been thinking, and something will need to be done to get these kiddos on the right track - they've been lingering around for long, and should try to validate their thoughts with their aspirations and possibilities.

The call reminded me of the gud ol' times we used to have a couple of months back - when I could relive the hostel days of DCE - the cherished student-hood. Ahhhh! Reminds of those yet again. Guess I'll park this post for now, and start another one.

eCologically eVolve with eColve!

Here's one of the brilliant initiatives taken up by some friends of mine, who believe in doing what needs to be done, actually! Click on the pic below to go to the forum - register - and eColve with the society.

http://pic-talk.blogspot.com/

A picture story.. Click on.

DCE - Take Light!

Another weekend goes by - with some noteworthy things happening on this one as well! And the thing that made most of this weekend included the innumerable thoughts and discussions of the DCE days!

This time around, S also came along to the driving range – so it was S instead of Swap, who was the party, in additional to regulars B and AK – and the incident management (a technical term I recently learned) was uproarious. Couldn’t stop LOL on even the thoughts of whatever we started discussing.

Disclaimer: Continue purely at your discretion – No liabilities to be taken for anything – All fictional, nothing personal!

Time: 11:02am

Teacher Enters

Gaurav Malhotra: Present Sir

Shuchi Verma: Present Sir

Gaurav Saini: I am ALSO present sir

Manisha: Present Sir

Rajeev Dagla: ……. (Ghatak says: “he was present last week sir”; In the meanwhile, Shweta and Deepa sneak in through the door at the back)

Punit Kapoor: Vroom..

Lovish Ahuja: Past & Present & Future Sir

Neeraj: I, uhhh, yeAS sir. (Bhagwat wakes up in the hostel now)

Rajwinder: PRESENT hain sir

Rashmi Jain: Yes sir

Arun Kumar: Hum Upasthit hain

Arnab Ghatak: Ditto! (Bhagwat enters the room, and sits in the last row)

Yash: Yes, sir – I am not a dayschee, but I am present

Aniruddha (catching his breath): Sir, I am in time. Present sir

Abhinav: Always here sir

Deepa Bharti: SIR

Shweta: sir present

Shishir Maithani: Atlast, mera number aa hi gaya. Present sir

…..Attendance Over……

Gaurav Jaidka stands up and says, “Mera number kab aayega?”

And Juhi Khushwaha is seen in the class, trying to avoid teacher’s line of sight.

Meanwhile, Tara enters the classroom at 11:55am, ready for the next class.

A few excerpts ….

“…….And remember that Mojo ka paper – infact uska midsem, jisme mere 6 number aaye they!

Arey nahi yaar, tere usmein bhi minimum nahi they, mere 4 they! Aur pata hai, mojo ne calculate bhi kar rakhe they ki mujhe pass hone ke liye kitne number chahiye – class mein mujhe bolta hai – Tumhe pass hone ke liye 28 number chahiye, including grace (hahahahahaha – raavan waali hansi bhi hansa tha wo tab…) isliye padhai kar lena! Aur end sem mein baith ke wo codes hote they na, ISO 456 or something, usmein se maine saare design seekhe they – paper mein baith ke sab acchi tarah se samajh aa raha tha ki mojo ne kya kya nahi padhaaya!......”

“………..Ye Punit ne MBA shuru kar diya hai na? ye bata usko ye idea kisne diya ki MBA karma chaiye? Pakki baat hai Raj aur Arun ne hi usko iske peeche lagaaya hoga.

Aur ye Neeraj kahaan hai? Abhi bhi IAS mein hi hai kya – pata hai, hamaara final year project same tha – jisme Minocha ne waat laga rakhi thi – title sunega ‘Performance appraisal blah blah blah …of some leachate..blah blah blah..with some crap MATLAB analysis..” – huh, sounds like a PhD thesis to me, but anyhow – humein eight graphs banaane they, aur maine kaha ki humein alag alag banaane chahiye……..(and the technical stuff goes on)”

“………Yaar, wo kya maze aate they na yaar Dehradun mein – aur ye dayschees ki bhi kya mast fight hui thi – wo movie dekhi thin a – Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum – uske baad dayschees ki aisi haalat thi ki kabhi ghar se bahar na nikle ho – apne ghar phone lagaana aur ghar waalo se baatein karma – maine jab apne ghar phone kiya tha tab mere dad bole, “itni jaldi khatam ho gaya kya tumhara trip, abhi kuch aur din wahin ruk jao…”!...jo bhi ho, wo mast tha yaar – kya mast surveying ka trip tha – accha khaasa survey ho gaya tha apni class ka…”

“…..abhi bhi wo Bahadur bhaiya se samose yaad hain yaar – kya kya mast dishes banaakar khilaate they – chai samosa, sambhar samosa, bun-butter-tea….kya yaar, sab mast tha – sahi mein, bahadur bhaiya ne hi paal pos kar bada kiya tha….”

“….aur tujhe wo yaad hai, jo humne carrom tournament khela tha – mixed doubles waala – oye jaldi jaldi se sab kara lo – ghar ki baat ghar mein reh jaaye to accha hai!.....aur antakshari mein kya mast tha na, jab main aur deepa ek team mein they – kya mast tareeke se haare they tu aura seem…antakshari to hum kabhi nahi haare!....”

..….to be continued….

"Bheja Fry"

Bheja Fry (n)

1. Chopped and scrambled goat brain, served piping hot. Goes well with most kinds of breads - Not for the queasy

2. A first-time director's attempt at remaking a great French farce. Again, not for the queasy, or those who can't appreciate cheesy.

You really don't have to be a connoisseur to check out "Bheja Fry"! Though it's much more than a gourmet dish, but it could have been named "Re-dial" or "It's Ringing". Bheja Fry may be a film about an idiot but it's so darn intelligent, it simply makes your day

No matter if it has been copied from "Le Diner de cons", it really gives two hours of non-stop eye-catchy fun, with old timers Milind Soman and Sarika also doing their bit in the movie - though the credit undoubtedly goes to Vinay Pathak a.k.a Bharat Bhushan (or Kulbhushan, or Madan Mohan, or whatever).

Quote of the movie, "Kya idiot insaan nahi hota"!

The cast keeps on irritating you to the max, but that's what "Khosla ka Ghosla" did as well - right? And that's what any enjoyable sitcom would do! This irritating pleasure is the call of the audience, and the audience gets it without fail.

This movie is worth a watch "neemboo maarke"!

Why Attrition?

Though I have to update this blog for other things too, but in the interim, here's something academic, but true!

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.

Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave?

Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules". It came up with this surprising finding:

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss. Immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he 's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Mostly manager drives people away?

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information. Dev says: "If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don 't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Talented men leave. Dead wood doesn't.

Jack Welch of GE once said. A company's value lies "between the ears of its employees".