Am I G33K?

After a bad GATE, I was in a NO-STUDY mode for a few days. But ever since I saw IIT Bombay's syllabi for M.Tech - IT (at KReSIT) I have started believing that the course was designed for me :)

My first target is Programming Aptitude (C only). Nothing new or special but since I want no stones unturned; I started searching for K&R. I found it in my e-book library but I hate to read on computer and I don't have a printer or a PDA. It's probably available in college library but who'll go 15 km to issue a book.

So I started thinking to find the best solution. And I found one soon! Here is my solution.

I have uploaded the book on my website. I use a CDMA phone (Nokia 2280) with a Reliance connection. Reliance offers free internet access on phone (like GPRS in GSM phones). Now I am going to read the book online using my mobile. It isn't the best way but it's the best I can afford right now :) And I really like reading on my mobile, especially single long pages.

So what do you say. Am I geek or not?

Google Movie Search

Today while surfing my favorite blogs, I came upon a superb post about Google. They have come up with another innovation - Google Movie search.

It’s all about searching your favorite movies by content. I’ll give a few example to explain it.
Try searching the following in Google for a demo:

• movie: How deep the rabbit hole goes?
• movie: Tom Hanks talking to a volleyball
• movie: Cricket Match

Isn’t that a brilliant idea! I feel it is.

If Google keeps innovating at this pace, I wonder if we’ll see the word “innovate” being replaced by “google”. Well, we all know about “googling”, Don’t we?

Mozilla Firefox is 25 Million strong!!

Great news for this great browser!

Frankly speaking it's the only browser I ever liked on Linux. I hate Mozilla and Opera because they are sluggish and Konqueror for it' s buggy rendering.

I always wanted an IE like browser for Linux and now I want MS to replace IE with Firefox in Longhorn (I know I am daydreaming :) )

The best thing about Firefox (apart from simplicity) is that its amazingly customizable. You can make it look/behave exactly like you want.
I don't use any skins but I use an amazing extension. It's called BugMeNot. It's one of the best utilities I've seen on internet and I am sure everyone online needs it some or the other time. Try it and you'll agree.

If you don't use Firefox yet, Download Now.
If you haven't customized your Firefox, Start Now.

Rediscover the Web.

Maybe, I was never made for it.

I am confused. Actually, I was always confused but I am even more confused now. I guess you'll get a feeling of the state of my mind while reading this.

A day before yesterday i.e. on Sunday, I took the GATE exam. As I've written before, it didn't go too well but I still had some hope.
Yesterday, I got a short-listed for GD/PI for MBA in NITIE, Mumbai. Good enough but as I wrote before I am not interested.
Today, I calculated my marks in GATE exam using solutions from The Hindu. I got less than half marks than my previous attempt. I am doomed.

This is the first time in my life that I am thinking of doing MBA. And I have a good reason for this.

If I can't score well enough in an entrance exam based on basic Computer Science, how in the hell will I cope up with the course at IIT? Maybe it's not the right career path for me. Maybe I am not fit to be a Computer Science geek. Maybe I was never good enough to write computer vision algorithms or develop game engines.

On the contrary and in support of my thought, I performed quite well in MBA entrance exams. Despite the fact that I never even thought of preparing for MBA. I took CAT with ZER0 preparation and scored better than almost all my 230 batchmates, including atleast 20 serious MBA aspirants.

If similar things continue to happen in the coming month, I will probably do MBA, now or after 2-3 years of work-ex at Infosys.

And I'll quit Computer Science forever.
Maybe, I was never made for it.

Why am I like this?

What am I like?
I am arguably the laziest and most careless guy in this world.

Today was my GATE exam and I messed it up :(
Actually the messing up started 10 days ago when I created the schedule for preparation. Of course, I was never going to follow it. I completed my syllabi, that too from short notes, today morning 8’oclock. The exam started at 9:30.

Today I learnt a lesson – “Hardwork IS Important.”
Now let’s see how long I take to forget it ;)

To be very frank, I still have a little hope that I’ll get a better GATE score than last year.
Here’s my wish, loud and clear, “I wish I get admission into IIT Bombay for M.Tech Computer Science.”

GATE - 2005, Preparation starts..

Come February 13 and I'll face the most important exam of my life - GATE - 2005. Well, to be very frank, JEE was more important but it's over for me :) But to make myself happy, I can just say that it's better to pursue M.Tech Computer Science from IIT than B.Tech Civil or Chemical or any non CS branch ;)

Now coming to the real point. I started my preparation yesterday (too late, i know). Well, I have designed a schedule to finish the syllabus in 10 days. Now let's hope, I stick to the schedule.

Yesterday's plan was to complete Discrete Mathematics. But, being the lazy, careless guy I am, I managed to finish only half of what I planned :( So now I have 1.5 times the scheduled work for today. Let's see how I manage it.

Signing off, coz I've loads of work to do. I hope I manage to do better today.

Sify Broadband client sucks... No More.

For those of you don't know, I use Sify Broadband at home. It requires a stupid login client that takes loads of RAM and keeps logging me out every few minutes (now that's real torture for someone with an unlimited internet connection). Adding to my miseries the official Sify Linux client is very bad. It doesn't give any Client/Session info and since a few days it doesn't allow me to login at all :(

After days of torture I remembered Google :) I vaguely searched for "Sify Broadband Linux client" and lo I found a project on sourceforge called EasySify. Putting it up simply, it's fantastic :). Now no more crap. If you are really interested in improving your Sify experience, you can read more at http://easysify.sf.net
I just wish this good guy comes up with a Linux client fast.

Well, I must say something before I finish. I am a final year computer engineering student. Why couldn't I develop it?

Back after a long time...

It’s been a long time since I posted anything here. Well, I wasn’t really busy, it was my sheer laziness.
A lot of things happened after my last post. Ok, I know it’s obvious :)

Worst things first, I gave CAT and other similar MBA entrance exams. I have NO interest in MBA but I am doing all this to keep my parents happy. Anyways, I scored 97.54 %le in CAT. It’s neither too high, nor too low and I am happy, because this %le gives me no chance to join IIM and I can easily convince my parents (and myself) to chuck other b-schools. Staying with MBA, I went to Gurgaon for MDI’s GD/PI this Tuesday after I got a call from there. It was a decent place but something was lacking, maybe because it’s not an engineering college. Anyways I performed quite well in GD/PI though I don’t give a damn whether I get selected or not. Well enough of MBA, I’ll move to other, more interesting stuff now.

In between all these exams, my Semester 7 exams were over and I got a usual 7 point something GPA (on a scale of 10). I always wonder how my grades always remain same whether I top or bottom the exams. Anyways, I am in the final semester now and B.Tech exams are over forever. I have decided to chuck industrial training and do a college project. Simply because this allows me to stay at home and do whatever I want ;). And hey, this doesn’t mean I won’t be working on my project. It’s a cool project – digital enhancement of dance videos to assist dance scholars and students. So I’ll be busy tweaking RGB pixels all semester :).

Well, lots of other stuff to write about including the all important GATE but I think I’ll do that some other day.

And if you have reached here, you’ve exhibited a great amount of patience, so don’t forget to award yourself with a treat :)

I am IN.

The wait was over. Yesterday, Infosys (one of India’s largest IT firm and a more importantly one of the best recruiter) came to our campus. Three other colleges were coming to participate in the placement procedure. All the arrangements in my college were perfect and at times I felt I was somewhere else.

The pre-placement talk was scheduled at 9 in the morning and I reached the main gate at around 8.35. I had just moved near the gate and the guard stopped me and said, “No entry from this gate. All college students have to enter from Gate No. 3.” This was the first time I came to know of the presence of “Gate No. 3” in our college. On asking the guard guided me to “Gate No. 3”. At “Gate No. 3” I was stopped again and asked to display an identity card. Now being the careless person I am, I had managed not to take my newly issued identity card (I lost my first identity card last year). After all kind of excuses failed, I called up my friend Setu who came with my Infosys eligibility certification slip. So finally I was allowed to get into my own college. The Infosys team was on time and the pre placement talk was about to start.

Inside the lecture theatre I was told that there was a new formula we had to use to convert our CGPA (relative marks on the scale of 10) to percentage marks. I borrowed a calculator and began with the job. Meanwhile the presenter from Infosys team was on stage. I was literally awestruck by her sheer beauty. She gave a superb presentation and I felt for the first time the urge to perform well in the exam. At the end I realized that I had not calculated my %age marks as yet. We were asked to assemble in our dear old LT1. We were given a huge form to fill in 45 minutes. I finally calculated my %age marks in this time.

The first test was an analytical test containing 10 puzzles to be solved in an hour. Most of the puzzles were interesting and of normal complexity (I could solve them without pulling my hair). I was able to solve 9 puzzles successfully. After this was the English test containing 45 questions to be answered in 30 minutes. I left the RC (Reading Comprehension) questions and attempted the rest in around 15 minutes. The RC was an excerpt from a thriller and was really interesting. The questions were a piece of cake. I spent last 7-8 minutes of the time wishing that the passage was longer.

The result was to be announced at 4 so I went to the hostel to discuss the test and gossip. Before going to see the results I found that Australia was all out for 235 (2nd Test Match, India vs. Australia). That was great news and everyone was full of excitement. I was waiting in LT1 when someone announced 48 out of 105 students have been selected. I just wished me and all my friends were in the list. The result was announced and I was the fourth name on the list. All but a few of my friends made it to the second round. My interview was scheduled to start at 6.45 an now it was 4.35. I decided that this time I’ll prepare myself well for the interview and not mess it up like I did the last time (Read “Campus placement begins…”).

It was 6.45 and I was ready to face my interview (Read: I had mugged up the answers to common interview questions). I learnt from the feedback that they were asking very difficult puzzles inside for e.g. “What’s similar between lemon, page and light?” Now there was no way in hell that I could answer this in a tense interview environment. So I closed my ears to any further feedback. And then, I was called. I went in amidst confusion and best wishes. A man escorted me to an open cubicle (I was wondering how I had never been to this part of my college). I was told to wait for sometime. After sitting there watching myself in the glass cabinet door for 5-10 minutes I was called inside.

The interviewer was a middle-aged and graceful lady. After some casual questions like my name, city of birth etc., she asked me the first question, “What kind of person do you think you are?” Oh my God, It was not in my list of my interview questions. I ran around my mind and thought that I should frame my answer around my strengths. I did that and she was impressed. Then I told her about my interest in Computers and how the interest developed into passion. Again I kept embedding lots of strengths of mine in my answer. The second question she asked was, “What do you do to keep yourself updated about technology?” I answered her giving names of websites and computer magazines I regularly read along with the recent articles I read on each of them. The third question was “What are your other interests?” I said Cricket. She asked me different questions like “When is the second match between India and Australia?”, “How do you rate the current Indian team and it’s captain?” and “Have you ever played cricket?” I answered all the questions easily and I could see the balance tilting my side. After this she came to teamwork. She asked me the roles of leader and member in teams and whether I have played any of the roles. I answered the question giving one positive (successful member) and one negative (unsuccessful leader) answer. I supported my answer with the fact that I have learnt a lot from my experience and now I have perfected myself to play any of the roles. Then she asked me something I dreaded, a puzzle. To my relief the puzzle was easy and I managed to solve it quickly. She was done with her quota of questions and asked me if I had any. I asked two questions, “What is the growth tree for an Infoscion?” and “Is a management degree necessary to continue climbing up this tree?” She satisfied me with her answers, wished me all the best and asked me to leave.

I narrated the above interview experience 4-5 times to different people outside and went into the waiting room (Lecture theatre). All the interviews were over by 10.15. We were waiting for the results when a friend came and announced 41 out of 48 students have made it. I felt the height of mixed feelings. Only 7 students had been rejected but who were the unlucky 7 and what if I was one of them. In 5-10 minutes the same astoundingly beautiful lady, who gave the morning presentation, came to announce the results. She requested us to be quite and announced the names quickly. I and most of my friends were IN the list.

The atmosphere was filled with happiness. Everyone was shouting like hell and the news spread like fire. Our college managed 40% success rate in Infosys in the very first year of placements. I went to my friends house as it was too late to go back home.

As of now, I am back to normal self. I am eager to study hard and get admission in one of the IITs for my Post Graduate studies.

I wish that all my classmates who couldn’t make it get better jobs by the end of this semester. In the end I want everyone to have his/her Messenger status saying "I am IN."

GMail = Good Mail.

GMail is the best. Google is great.
Sounds clichéd? Oh Yea, Now it does.

A few months back my friend Swaroop sent an SMS to me saying that he has sent a GMail invite to me. I ran like hell, booted my PC, typed “mail.yahoo.com” in IE and logged in. Yes, it was there. My heart was beating like anything. Shit! username chirag has already been taken, same with chirag.gupta. Phew! I got gupta.chirag. I thanked Swaroop and went on exploring GMail. I thought it was a big day in my life.

But now, the GMail hype is almost over.
Almost everyone I know has a GMail account and most of them have completely switched over to it (Not me though, I still use Yahoo and Rediff for some mails). Most of us love GMail mainly for the 1GB trend it kicked off. But there is more to GMail than 1GB.

I want to share with you the reasons why I really love GMail.

1. Size.
2. Clean interface and keyboard shortcuts.
3. No Advertisements.
   I know text based ads are there but they are rarely as bad as banners/pop-ups.
4. Speed.
5. AutoComplete enabled address book.
6. It enforces security.
   All the new accounts are required to have a non obvious password. Some people might feel it’s useless but it is really good as it enforces some kind of precaution that will be a must in the coming digital age.
7. Uniqueness in Email Ids.
   This one needs explanation. Let’s take an example. Say your GMail Id is first[dot]last. At the time you register, GMail reserves firstlast (without [dot]) and fir[dot]st[dot]last and all other Ids formed by the combination of [dot]s in your Email Id. So if someone misreads your Email Id and adds/removes a [dot], you need not worry. You will still get the mail. Try this if you haven’t, it’s a great feature.
8. Search. It's quite obvious.
   Let's think about near future. You’ll have a Google search client on your system. It will first search for the query in your local disk, then your GMail account and then go to the web. Good for guys like me who tend to forget there recent search queries.
9. It’s from Google.
   Google is one company I really trust. If they do something, they leave no stones unturned. More importantly everything they create is designed to make your life better and easier. Expect the same from GMail.
10. All we have seen is the Beta version. I am sure all user demands will be incorporated into the final version to make GMail the best email service.

And yes in case you are one of the rare species who does not have a GMail account, mail to me at echirag [at] gmail [dot] com.

I have a few GMail invites that might make your email experience a bit better.