Strange co-incidence?

If you see someone today whom you don't know but seen face to face what is the probability that you'll recognize that person at a later point in life? Maybe 1 in a million. This happened to me recently when we went for a section party at a wonderful hotel near Hussian Sagar Lake. I heard this place is not open to public yet. I met this person R from my section and we started talking.

R, K : the usual hello how are you yadayada
Then R begins.

R: Where are you from?
K: Do you know .....?
R: Yes. I know which area?
K: Are you also from ...? I was in .... area
R: Yes. I know the place. (Curiously continues) Which street?
K: (I am surprised) Do you happen to ... street?
R: Very well. What is your door number?
A "kumbh mela" discussion! Gave my number.
R: (laughing) You know I was living two houses away.
K: What?!
R: I was living there for few years. We might have seen each other
K: Yes.

I don't know if it were our daily routines, individuality, the neighbourhood or the city life. We had never met as neighbours. I recall in childhood when I knew every family in the street. Something has changed the way people lived over years. Today Africa is closer to home than the neighbourhood. The realization brings in amusement.

Team logo

I created this logo for my study group. We are a group of 6 in section E. We wanted to name it "6e" but this one came out as the unanimous choice. The X has the 6 and the e.

Pre term

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe - Abraham Lincoln

That is exactly what we are doing/atleast trying to do this week - sharpening our basics in the pre-terms. I have attended a couple of sessions in accounting and statistics. The accounting class started off really well. Although my knowledge of statistics is not very bad I thought I should attend and get accustomed to the classroom environment. Students in pre-term classes are from different sections. It is an chance to meet new people as well.

In classes there were some who asked interesting questions and others who asked arbitrary questions. We have made it a point to honour students in the second category with a desk-clap. This is to remind ourselves not to hog classtime with gabbing. Most of us want to make good points. But the fact is a good point in your opinion may not be a good point for the rest of the students.

In pre-terms class participation is moderate. Come core terms and Class Participation (CP) will go high especially in subjects where marks are alloted to CP. An interesting point was made the other day by one of the alums - cost of Class Participation interms of $ per minute was more than cost of talking over mobile phone. Learn to CP judiciously!

Some pictures

Pictures I took on the first morning in ISB. I was out looking for peacocks. Yes there are peacocks inside the campus; I am yet to spot one even after one week.

  1 Main Building       2 Boy on bull...do you see it?

 3 Student Village Tower   4 No peacocks on road

Eventful week

The orientation week is being organized by the alumni. They are doing a great job in helping us get to know about placements, processes and the clubs. Officially sessions started from Sunday morning with the Dean and the Deputy Dean's address. I gather our batch has a high GMAT median score. Events are conducted almost all the time and on all days. I have lost track of the day in the week.

The alumni are here for this week and are helping us get to know the departments, processes and placements. Officially these are called the "Gyaan Sessions". Typically they start late in the evenings and go past midnight. Inbetween sessions, they played a couple of pranks - first they informed we needed to write an exam(!) similar to the gmat and believe it or not almost 90% of the batch wrote the exam diligently; some even asking for extra time. Next alum 'Atta' infused wisdom on a make-believe club and more than 100 inspired students wanted to join. It was fun and you enjoy if you take it lightly. A number of ice-breaker sessions were also organized.

My class contains people with interesting backgrounds including a commissioner and a major. Diversity is required in learning. Equally important is to respect individual opinion irrespective of age, experience or background.

I'll post some photos in my next post.

Touch down

Reached ISB early today. From the maingate I was guided to my student village. I was the first to enter my apartment. My other room-mates are yet to join.

The registration was scheduled in the evening. So had some time to look around the campus. The village is well maintained like other parts of the campus. I now fairly know the directions overall but within the main building right now I trust the signboards.

The registration was a smooth but there was some waiting. Met a whole bunch of students sometimes exchanging pleasantaries - I have difficulty recollecting their names. Activities start from tomorrow with the welcome address. I have also been given some reading to do. I'll post more about the campus and the activities later.

RedHat does it

Oracle had earlier pitched for $200m while Jboss wanted $400m. That deal is off and Jboss is now to be acquired by RedHat. That's good news for the linux community. But will jboss support be continued on Windows?

Links:
RedHat website
Marc Fleury Blog

placements

Officially this year's placements are out in the media. TV channels and news sites are once again actively discussing salary figures. I do not want to go into the figures nor draw any comparison with other schools. Simply because salary is not the only factor and each school has its own merits.

Only two things interested me - one the largest offer is from an Indian company and two - a positive trend - indicating people preferred to work in India. Why not? Not only Indians but students from abroad are also coming here for their internships.

That said I managed to complete most of the items in my checklist amidst writing my assessment tests. That's a relief.

Follow this link for placement news from the official site

1984

Read Orwell's 1984. With a blend of love, struggle and war, the story is about the protagonist Winston Smith's voice against oppression culminating in his resentment as well as submission to oligarchy. Replete with literary fireworks this is political novel. The last few chapters of the novel remind me of Steve McQueen's role in the movie Papillon.

Three random lines from the novel

• If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones
• The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon
• Our society, those who have the best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is