flash back...

28th July, 2005... exactly, four years back we have entered IISc main building, the place where many dignitaries, and renowned scientists have done their pioneering research! I happened to meet one of the best pals of my life there. I am more than happy that it hasn't changed a bit in these years.

Today, it reminds me of that funny attire of mine, when I entered the registration office. Neatly tucked full sleeves shirt, polished shoes, neatly shaved face, and those innocent looks... huh, it was funny. After two years of stay, there were no signs of in-shirt, clean shave or polished shoes! and no more innocent looks too ;-)

It kinda of joy to recollect those memories!

rev'iisc'ed

happy graduates, with old friends after the convocation...

this tree is one of my friends at IISc ;-)

after a gap of five months, we have revisited IISc on the occasion of convocation... met all our old friends, those green surroundings, each and every plant, fallen leaves, new buildings, the work place, good old adviser, tea-board, coffee-kiosk, faculty hall, and last but not the least... the bird-watching session ;-)

It was a different feeling altogether... I felt strange when I received the degree certificate... though the certificate has no practical importance, except that it gives us a proof that we actually have done masters... there is something more to it... it reminded me of those first few days after we entered the institute... our expectation levels of life were really high, and we have tremendous confidence and fire inside to achieve anything under the earth... the two years of stay, for good or bad, has brought lot of changes in all our lives...

there were so many sleepless nights, thinking about future and working for the assignments... there were good, bad, sweet, bitter and funny moments... this short trip to our institute has brought back all those memories, tickling our heart... we got a chance to look back how we used to live here... how different we are now, compared to the secured and yet pressurized lives at IISc... I wish I have an opportunity to go back two years into the past and relive those couple of years, in a better way!!!

snapshots from hell... the end!!!

it's more than two months after I have left my alma mater, Indian Institute of Science... some memories to conclude the snapshots from hell...

it was 27th July'05, a cold morning in Bangalore, that we set our first foot in IISc... we are very much delighted to find few enthusiastic senior students, who came to receive us from the railway station... I know none of those sitting with me in that cab, which took us to the institute... while many of the then current students were walking here and there with books in their hands and glow in their faces, we were sitting on our luggage in front of the hostel office, just like refugees, waiting for the registration... all the delusions that we will be given hi fi rooms were shattered when we entered into those old hostel rooms, where visibility was poor, walls were seeping, and bathrooms unattended!!! of course, those rooms were still prestigious as they have given shelter to many great minds over the last many decades... the whole day went by in trying to make contacts with the new faces, finding the routes etc... we were given a welcome address the very next day in the faculty hall... the scenario faintly resembled the welcome address for John Nash and his batch mates in the movie "A beautiful mind"... we were thrilled to know that the institute was an outcome of the discussion of JRD Tata with Swami Vivekananda a century ago (you can have more information here)... and we were here, to carry on with the standards, and do something... all the faces were very enthusiastic, bright, and nervous at the same time... on the very first day, we were told by the faculty that life at iisc will be hectic, just like hell... and they have proved the same, as days and months passed!!! so, that was the starting point, with lots of hopes, dreams and expectations...

a semester passed by... there were countless situations where we felt all alone... first time in my life, i got less than 10 marks for a test conducted for 100 or so... how can this situation be compared to my four years of undergraduate life where i have never scored below 80 percent... ha hha, that's what we were supposed to learn at this place... learn that life is not a bed of flowers... i have seen almost all of my batch mates crying to tears when they perform badly or got bad grades... i even remember the day i sobbed in front of my seniors that i wanted to leave this place and do something else, rather than continuing with this poor performance and harsh criticism by professors...

well... we sustained finally, and changed the course of our direction... came out of those high expectations from oneself and started taking life a bit easier, while still putting a little bit of effort to meet the requirements... as another semester is finished and we were announced that there is no more course work, we got wings all of a sudden... there was lot of free time and space... institute started looking more beautiful... the same roads, the same trees, the same buildings, and the same people... but, something has changed inside... since the worst period was over, our eyes started to recognize the beauty of this place and its importance in life...

the coffee board, the tea kiosk, the department corridor, the TMC canteen, the gym-cafe, the aerodrome, and the jubilee park... every corner of the institute has its own connectivity with us... the much awaited placement session lasted for a couple of months, leaving us in trance... finally, everybody has got selected and finished thesis work and presentations... some satisfied with their performance, some left with bitter experiences with the whole degree, and some with no feeling at all... at last, the two years of iisc life is over!!! only those memories, lessons, affections, and relations are left...

only after leaving the institute, that we realized how beautiful the life at iisc was... though i have addressed the institute as hell, it was the most beautiful place that i have ever lived... so, that calls for the end of the snapshots from hell!!!

PS: also read snapshots1 , snapshots2

reminiscences...

Two years of stay at IISc has come to an end with this week... too many wonderful moments to count... lots of fun... personally, everybody in our batch has decided to take a break from studies... leaving the institute one by one... i can see that this place is being deserted... of course, that is only to be filled back with fresh and energetic faces... here I am, introducing all my batch mates... who shared joy, happiness and difficulties together...

Lakshmanan: most sincere of all... never compromises when it comes to rules and regulations... "work is worship" is his philosophy of life... this is first time I am seeing "sincerity personified"...

Girish: a man with standards... highly difficult to convince him... notorious for his red-hottedness... his regular attire is in a long lab coat that covers his whole body ;-)

Marimuthu: another work-minded master piece with signs to prove the Darwin's theory of evolution... known for his broadcasting abilities and 24x7 working capability... aspires to be a professor at IITM in future...

Santosh: ever-smiling smart boy with incredibly high passion for fotos, food, and fashion... highly informative... recently started dreaming of getting a beautiful girl as his life-partner...

Gajendra: known for his witty humor and take-it-easy lifestyle... doing research on viral dynamics, ranging from bird-flu to HIV... let's see what will be the outcome of his research...

Anjaneyulu: typical filmy-lover hailing from guntur... eagerly waiting for some producer to prove his directing abilities... his physique suits his name... gigantic in style, and magnanimous by nature...

Kalyan: looks can be deceptive... one of the highly confused... known for the massive transportation skills on his bazaz bulldozer... he is the one whom i've tortured during my stay at IISc...

Alok: this half-smiling 27year old boy works as scientist at DRDO... recently caught with phonomania, spending at least 6 hours per day chatting with his would-be wife... god bless that girl ;-)

Mahendra: short man with greatest power... incredibly charming and alarmingly regular with his routine... never deviates from the track... all of us are waiting to go to his marriage...

Mathew: yeah... here is our Mr.M... highly notorious for his PJ's... sincere at work and simple at heart... truly jovial company... heading to BPCL to take rest for a couple of years...

Arun: Mr. Crack Jack... a person hard to decipher... his passion for exploring of technical knowledge is adorable... eating brains, watching naruto, and solving sudoku are his passions...

Aarthi: truly inspiring... stubborn in a notoriously positive way... one of the very few who made a permanent impression on me... truly genuine scientist in her own way... 32-bit smile is her trade mark ;-)

Krishna: intelligence blended with absent-mindedness... this fellow ranks the first who tortured me for the last two years... i often wonder how nothing but technical junk stays in his brain!!!

That's all about my batchmates in a nutshell... i am still unable to believe that our masters program has already completed... and all of have started our journey to different corners of the country to live the real life... shifting from protected zone to self-protecting zone... five/ten years down the line, hopefully, some of us will be hailing as eminent personalities!!!

expressions!!!

hmmm... looks beautiful!

this one is really nice!!!

amazing!!!

oops!

baap re!!!

pchhh...

there comes another one!!!

PS: These are the expressions given by the author during one of those bird-watching hours at the tea-board of our institute. Thanks to the photographer Krishna.

a cup of coffee with "my fair lady"

I have been dining in the same A-mess of our institute since last 22 months... It is always fun to eat that so called food, which is actually like a dried grass, while doing all sorts of blabbering... and bird-watching too... here is where I found this girl (with short curly hair, cat eyes, head always turning all sides as if there is no steering control, a charming smile always on her face, and of course, that hasty walk)... i refer to her as 'my fair lady'... so, there i am watching her since my first semester... that means, almost from 22 months... many times, i wanted to go to her and tell "you are the most energetic girl i have ever seen"... but, no good luck :-(

we are left with only a months period to stay here at iisc... i am scared i will never be able to tell her those words... the other night, i was walking from my department to the hostels, where i found her walking ahead of me... i thought of asking her for a coffee... oh god, she is so cute... i started walking faster so as to reduce the distance between us... we reached the F&H coffee shop near the hostels... just when i was about to ask her, she turned around and found me... (she knew that i was looking at her since so many days... every time she catches me red-handed, she kills me with a tinge of smile... making me more and more dumb)... those words have stopped inside myself... all i could do was to pretend as if i was looking this side and that... oops! i screwed that chance...

can somebody tell me how to ask her for a cup of coffee :-)

saawan...

in the evening, i was feeling utterly bored and watching some lowsy movie on my SONY (this is my computer's name)... slowly, the cold breeze started coming from my balcony and in five minutes the entire scene has changed... first drop, second drop, more drops... and, it's raining... wow! we were longing for it since a month... the smell from soil during the first rain is too good... what a romantic aroma!!! i've started dancing and humming "hu la lla la laa lla laa llaa lley"...

these summer showers have brought with them some old sweet memories... last year, we were staying in those old (old is a very small adjective, i should say ancient) hostel rooms... and bangalore weather is too good and there used to be rain everyday... our rooms are in soo pathetic condition that, there are cracks in the walls and window glasses are broken... due to that cold breeze during nights, by the time we get up in the morning, my nose is filled/blocked with loads of phlegm, my voice changed to some vibrating south indian cinema hero, and head spinning like a top!!! thankfully, we are comfortably alloted rooms in new hostels (without cracks in walls and unbroken windows)... but still, those days were so sweet... of course, only to recollect but not to reexperience!!!

though the spring season is almost ended, most of the trees are still blooming with their colorful flowers... particularly, gulmohar are too good to see these days! thanks to ecological sciences department who are giving lot of scientific information about these flora... haaaaaaaa... i love this place!!! hope this cool weather remains till we leave iisc!!!

few observations!!!

life is monotonous and boring these days... after spending around 20 months in this campus, finally the time has come for wrapping up everything and get out/lost!!! only three more months left... the countdown has started... 90... 89... 88... i remember how my senior batch students left this place, smiling (trying hard to conceal their sadness) at us!!! and now, it's our turn to do the same...

two days back, i was walking with krishna towards coffee-board... he was damn too silent, and i could hardly resist myself from keeping a grinning face... i asked him, "shall i tell you a fact?"... coming out of his thoughts, he looked at me with an affirmative look, curious to listen what i was about to tell... i told, "indira gandhi was shot dead by her body gaurd"... he was so annoyed and cursed me with his usual words "worssst felloooooow" and started laughing... a bad joke, but it worked!!!

last week, i happened to watch the movie "the pursuit of happyness"... it was truly inspiring story... at that very moment, i have decided... decided to work hard, really hard to become great!!! after that, i thought why shouldn't i start working from tomorrow? and that tomorrow has not yet arrived!!! and i strongly doubt whether it will arrive at all ;-)

yesterday, after a very small nap of 4 hours in the afternoon, i went to our gymkhana terrace, with an intention to watch sunset... by the time i reached there, sun was still bright enough to stop me staring at him... my eyes caught a beautiful girl sitting on the stadium steps (incidentally, with marvelous curves), and i kept watching her... after a while, i realized that i was not watching sunset and turned back... sunset is over already... still, it was a beautiful evening!!!

say it with a flower...

my balcony friend!!!

here is a squirrel (my friend from today!), which often visits my balcony... this morning, it was fighting with its enemy making big sounds... whenever i see this one jumping from one branch to other branch, swinging its tail in its own elegant way, it is interesting to watch how active it is... after all, it is just a squirrel... but, to me, it seems like a philosopher reminding me how to live life happily... :-) i tried to capture it closely, but no luck...

snapshots from hell... #2

here is a feast for the eyes with some of the snapshots from the same hell... but, beautiful and marvelous!!!

A place to reach great heights...

Chemistry Department

One of the peaceful locations...

The main building...

A blissful morning...

Even monkeys are addicted to our coffee...

Mathematics Department...

A road we feel proud to walk on...

Green everywhere...

A crane... enjoying its solitude!!!

PS: these are only few of the beautiful locations... and i am not the owner of these photos either... will upload some more nice locations soon after i get a camera of my own ;-)

snapshots from hell... #1

from the day one we started staying in this institute, we are constantly been encountered with all sorts of shocks and difficulties, which made us call this place as a hell... life is always uncertain here (of course, it is everywhere... but, the degree of uncertainty is very high here), keeping us always in a state of worry and loneliness... a few snapshots from this hell...

being the premier institute, the cream people from all corners of the country enter here with lot of expectations and dreams to achieve... but, more than ninety percent of people lose their confidence/interest in academics just in few months after joining... reasons are yet to be explored!!!

the usual period for a student to finish his phd is four years... but god knows when he will get the degree!!! here too, the reasons are many... bad choice of problem... poor relations with the faculty... or even ill-fate!!! a student who was doing active research for last five years, has lost all his data in a fire accident recently... how valuable is a period of five years in anybody's life? that too in twenties!!!

the key things/findings of the defined problem will be known when the student is about to finish his coursework/research... what next? to explore more or just get off from the place? the choice is often difficult!!! even after successfully cracking the defined problem, the researcher himself will be in confusion to answer the question "why did i do all this?"...

coming to the settlement of life after research... many companies come with specific requirement!!! at the end of the day, everything ends up in playing game with luck... the question "why am i not getting selected?" keeps eating the brain until getting into one or the other lowsy job... by then, the remaining interest/confidence in life dies off!!!

but, at the end of the day, people from this institute are THE best... life is still beautiful and colorful for these students... because, the most difficult stages have been crossed here already!!! this is only one side of the coin... will write about the other half soon!!!

3 years... and those sweet memories!!!

Exactly three years back, we have written GATE... the entrance test conducted all over India for admission into post graduate courses in engineering!!! We used to be very ambitious and used to think about one and only one thing... that is to secure a single digit rank in GATE... those days were really wonderful and unforgettable... i cherished those countless number of hours I spent with my study partner and my best friend, discussing about whole bunch of problems, and those jubiliant smiles on our faces when we succeeded!!! we always kept our positions in top first and second in a class of eighty... and that too for all the four years!!!

Finally, we both cracked the exam and secured good ranks... after months of vacillation between higher studies and a lousy software job, we have finally decided for higher studies!!! but, to our badluck, we both got in different institutes... my dreams for further studies are buried now, at least temporarily!!! she got into one of the best openings a chemical engineer can dream of... and i got into one of the best challenging jobs!!!

three years passed... lot of changes have taken place... both personally and academically... that enthusiasm and zeal to achieve something is not at all there... just the memories remained... again the same lines... We always know that looking back on the tears would make us laugh someday. But we never know that looking back at the moments we laughed together would make us cry someday!!!

i got a job... hurray!!!

after successfully screwing up three successive interviews, i am finally successful in getting a job... of course, i told a few lies to the interview panel this time, which i didnt do during previous interviews... incidentally, it worked... i told that i am not at all interested in further studies, and seriously want to go for a research job... partly, this is true as well as false... right now, i dont want to go for higher studies... as well, i dont want to stick to some company for my entire life... so, there ends my job search, fetching me an opening in Computational Research Labs, a Pune based company, started by a renowned scientist in association with some retired professors from IITs... I am more than happy that there is no uncertainty, at least for the coming year... anyone who is interested in working for High Performance Computing or interested in developing application software, you may contact Dr.Sateesh at email id: asateesh@c-r-labs.com

my best friends' wedding...

this is one of the funny videos we have captured during some joyous moments spent here at our institute... hope you will like it... the voice dominant in this video is mine... watch it, it is funny... hope you will enjoy... adjust the brightness if you feel it is too dark...

sankey tank park alias joggers park...

as part of my weight reduction program, i have started jogging agaain... bangalore weather is getting to its extreme in coldness... sun can be seen nowhere until around 8-9 in the morning... air is completely filled with mist and fog... it is a blissful experience to run upto this so called sankey tank park, which i felt should be renamed as jogger's park since the whole track around the pond in the park is occupied by people who come for their morning walk/jogging... watching so many different kinds of people is a different experience...

to mention a few interesting observations: i could see more number of old people are coming in couples or with their good old friends, whereas, most of the youngsters are coming alone... most of the people, irrespective of their age, looked worried rather than relaxed... majority of girls, who must be working (i guess!!), lack smile on their face... people who are slim are doing their brisk walk with more seriousness than those who really need to do it!!! the variety of people coming here is so varied that one middle aged woman is doing meditation sitting on one side of the pond, and a couple of young girls are smoking cigarettes on the other side... the traffic level is increasing at an exponential rate between 6:30 to 8:00... water in the pond is far better than all other lakes i have seen so far... the mist dancing on the surface of the water is an awsome view...

though the park is located nearly 2km away from our institute, i found it very joyful to jog till that point to make my day more beautiful... the laziness, the fatigue, and the feeling of cold are vanishing within 2 minutes after starting from room... to add to the joy, i found another task into my routine... i am watering the plants in the lawn of my department!!! some said it is weird, but i found lot of satisfaction in that!!! yes, the way i look at these plants has changed... now, i can feel that they are smiling back at me!!! hope i can continue this routine for long...

this is how to capture huuuuuge objects ;-)

photographer: krishnababu
object: kalyan

few kodak moments...

At last, as my bubbly buddy Kalyan brought a digital camera, I have started enjoying the companionship of photography... these two photos are captured by me today, after the convocation at our Institute.

A beautiful view near our Faculty Hall in a pleasant evening...

The journey begins...

what was i doing all these days?

it's almost 20 days after i have returned from home. what was i doing all these days? well.. i must confess that i have become very lazy these days... almost i did nothing progressive about my project. since my guide is away for around two weeks, i have safely neglected my duties and was relaxing myself... planning to do this and that everyday and failing to execute them has become my daily routine... of course, this is the case with many i suppose ;-)

but, in this drowsy and lethargic period, i have succeeded in completing one of the books on vocabulary building... it's always a good feeling when i finish doing something...

one more good and colourful thing i have done is that i have actively participated in the cultural night conducted in our department... imititated one of my professor as a part of the skit we performed on that day... sang a song too... "huzoor is kadar bhee na itaraake chaliye"... what a romantic song it is!!
my senior batch students have completed their degree and going out soon... our life at iisc would have been tougher if they didnt support us... so sad that they are not going to stay here anymore to guide us...

all of a sudden, my guide appeared in the department yesterday and was asking about my progress in project... i was dumb... of course, got some relaxations from him too... now, it's time for me to work seriously... one paradoxial thing is that i am still not clear about what i am going to do with my research work and whether it will be useful to somebody after sometime etc.. still, it is quite interesting to involve in some area of scientific research and scratching head to find solution for the problem defined...

"nucleation of silver nanoparticles in reverse micelles".. this is the title of my project... sounding quite fancy... and proving to be equally complex... i must wait for one more year to see how far i would achieve in this field!!!

a beautiful evening with rain...

whole last week, it rained almost every evening... one fine evening, i went to sanky road park near our insti along with two of my friends... it's a beautiful place to spend the evening sitting at tbe bank of the pond located there...
at one end of the park, we saw a boy and a girl cuddling each other without caring others as if they are the only two persons living in this world... it's an awesome view... leaving aside the issues of 'what is happening to our culture and discipline??' stuff, i felt it is an example to show how beautiful the ph(r)ase "mad(e) for each other" could be...
in no more than 10 minutes, clouds started gathering and a big rainbow is formed connecting one end of the pond to the other end... wow!! it's so romantic!!! it started raining heavily with thunders... perhaps, clouds are showing their joy of colliding each other in the form of thunders...
we started from there on our bicycles drenching in the rain... it's so cool riding bicycles in heavy rain.. we headed towards our tea-board (most happening place of the insti. where you can always find so many beautiful gals.. of course, with their boy friends) and ordered tea.. the taste is so good... after having enough fun there, we started walking from there... and one by one others followed us sharing the joy of wetting in the rain...