Top Ten Things to do while in college…

I think you might be interested in knowing people's perspective about spending college life qualitatively and might have even gone through some of related articles already, so I thought to share my own views on this matter....
I believe there are few things that all undergrads must be aware of to make full use of their college years in a learnable yet enjoyable way...Here follows the list.
Happy scrolling :

10) Try out new things you've never ever done earlier.

There is so much to learn in a college, not in the classes of course; in the backyard- yes, your hostel! You can definitely try out new things; for instance try out a new genre of music, say rock, if you’ve never listened to it. Try out new sports or games to increase your dimensions. Try out new food and expand your delicacies. Try out learning new languages from your friends who already know them, if that’s your bet. Try out new musical instruments, play that damn’ guitar or that damn’ mouth organ kept in your friend’s rack. Try out new novels, new movies, new activities like skating or swimming there is so much to see and learn. You'll never ever get this much time to do it. Embrace it.

9) Visit hell lots of places

These four/ five years are the best you’ll ever get to see different places with the best of company possible. Once you enter your job, you’ll slowly loose touch with your friends and rarely will you all get together for a famous spot. There is so much to visit out there and even much more time to do it. Make a north trip, a weekend trip, an industrial tour….surely these memories will mean a lot more…plus u will get to see all those place too….

8) Develop your alternate skills.

After living here for three full years, I can certainly say that there is something other than that studious brain that made you get into this college. May be anything- guitar, rock, karate, creative writing, designing, painting, social service, dance, and singing or may be anything else. Believe me no matter where you are, you definitely will get ample of time and enough of space to multifold your knack in this one. Meet people who are better or equal in your interest area. You will never get a better platform to widen out your skill than in college. And even if you do it for one hour daily, imagine how much you’d learn in just one semester, leave alone whole four years. Surely, it would be awesome if you have one alternate skill other than just your CGPA.

7) Get a college T (1).

I read this in some blog and actually found it so much fascinating, I actually have planned to get one for sure before I leave this place. Ok, what this one says is to buy a college T shirt / pullovers, whatever and get your friends and / or even professors sign all over it. You definitely won’t get a better trophy, certi, memento or whatever than this one. Many years down the lane, this could actually be one of the most precious memories of your college life.

6) Remove that "Forget-me-not. Will-call-later" thought!

Yeah, you sure would be having lot of friends, relatives, cousins back there in the prologue to your college. (Remember, I am not including your family in this! because I expect you'll be in regular touch with them). Call some of your old friends, at least a person per week or so. And don't make an excuse for call rates, as you have one of the cheapest call rates of the world. If you can spend nights talking to your girlfriend, you can surely take a day biweekly and call a friend for some five minutes. Keep in touch with them. Don’t just postpone thinking that you will call them tomorrow. Believe me, you NEVER will.
New people stepping in your life don’t mean you need to rub the old footsteps. Try to send them birthday cards by post, even if little expensive ones; at least to extremely closed ones, including your parents. This will definitely mean a lot to them.

5) Participate in events, have ambitions!

Don’t just sit back there and curse everyone for doing the right things the wrong way.
Come up! Be gutsy enough to ask for things, to try for things.
Someone said ‘Be the change you want to see.’ That’s a whole lot true and you will realize it over the years. Any event, whether cultural, technical, social would help you evolve. It will give you confidence, courage and creativity. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll learn at talking to people or managing people than you could ever learn from any of those best selling books. Kiss the criticism you’ll get. Explore the friendships while you climb the steps. Evolve! After that’s the reason why you are here. Believe me, the classes are not teaching you anything new. I repeat, as I feel this very important. Try to evolve!!!!

4) Talk to people. Be social, when in a society.

Remember this one small thing- No one, and I mean absolutely no one apart from your group needs to talk to you and he never will. You are the one who must approach and learn. Any batch in itself is self-sufficient in the strength and surely you don’t require to talk to seniors, juniors or for that matter even people of states other than yours. But you are surely missing a lot of things. Talk to people and you’ll learn what they are planning for their careers. Talk to people and you’ll find how versatile human psychologies really exist. Talk to people and build networks. You never know, you may probably be placed in the some company where some of your senior is already placed in. You never know, you many even choose some further studies program which one of your senior would have already chosen. And not just seniors, your classmates, your juniors- interact with all and make the most.

3) Choose Internships wisely!

I don’t know of other colleges, but for my college, one thing you’ll probably hear every time about is internships and how much they’ll be helpful in getting a job, getting a PPO or even a better career. Industrial internships, research internships, in country internship, abroad internship. Whatever! You’ll hear how much you’ll have to toil through during the internship. Internships could actually be one whole topic to discuss in itself; but to shorten it out, I’ll say that they are definitely going to be an amazing step of your life, leave alone the college life. If you’re sure in which career you’re going to land into (for instance, designing, simulation, core field etc) an internship will surely add a plus to your experience. Abroad interns are charmy - they offer for most of you the first international experience, plus an opportunity to explore new places, meet and greet different cultures and most of all, learn self-dependency.
Industrial interns on other hand are supercool too. Because unlike research interns, they actually give you a glimpse about what you’ll be doing the rest of your life after you finish off with your studies. In this respect, industrial interns do add a big valuable experience to your quiver. Whatever it is, try for interns; just don’t sit out there on that sofa and wait for others to manifest an offer for you. The more you’ll undergo these sessions, the more clearer you’ll become about how comfortable will you be with future prospects- jobs, ph.d, ms etc.
Also wisely choose an intern. Remember that just because it is an intern, doesn't mean that it has to suck!

2) Take lots, lots, lots and helllll lots of photographs (2).

I found this in one of an MIT graduate’s blog and I am not mentioning this just to add weight to this point; in fact I am mentioning this because most of you will have all four years without any pictures to share college memories or reminiscence them later. Take as much cool snaps as you can. Have a snap for every special moment you share- your birthday, your trips, your achievements or even your treats. You might still be sad about the fact of not having pics of some trips for those school picnics, but don’t miss out now. Go get yourself a cam or even grab some friend’s cam or cellphone and start clicking some memories.

1) Learn the ‘B’ for business.

College is a whole bag of days and you will find there are enough ways of making money. With the growing craze about entrepreneurship, at least every two out of five kids claim you that they will end up being an entrepreneur sooner or later in their life. In fact that’s what people claim to be their satisfactory position. There are lots of ways for making money. Freelancing, Website Development, Starting up a business, writing a book, writing articles for newspapers or whatever, college surely offers you lot of time to at least start up with a business plan. And yes, there will be lots of college-mates you can take help off. Don’t just discard this one, saying it to be overmature.. Just go through Rich dad poor dad, The Warren Buffet Way or some business book for that matter. In fact click here for knowing how to earn money through web or here to just motivate yourself for making money , and you may probably strike on some idea of your own.

Enjoy the college life. Hug it, kiss it, live it!

References :

1)http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1722722/top_ten_things_to_do_before_college.html?cat=4
2)http://sengupta.posterous.com/mit-admissions-blog-entry-50-things-0

A&I 1 : Never make anyone feel small

Foreword : A&I stands for 'Aspire And Inspire', a series of articles on the topic I love the most : Observations and Predicting Reactions.
I'd try to pile up articles based on my personal learning and understanding.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once attended a meeting in which he was the shortest man present. "Dr. Holmes," quipped a friend, "I should think you'd feel rather small among us big fellows." "I do," retorted Holmes, "I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies."
Do you think Holmes was really impressed with the concern the fellowman showed for his height? And do you think the fellowman would have not felt offended when Mr. Holmes charged against him and had his mouth shut?

Make anyone feel small and I bet you have hurt his self-esteem. If you have money and show it off in public, be sure that someone would plan to rob you out. If you have degrees and try to boast off in public, be sure that someone would pledge to buy you out. For one thing is certain, everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, is interested in his/ her own life. I, you, we are least bothered about other person's life. A sleepless night would mean more to you than thousands of sleepless people due to a thunderstorm in some African region. That's the truth! None is interested in how much rich you are unless you prove to be a potential asset for them. All your boasting of richness are doing nothing more than making me feel small and weak in front of you. Consequently, I'd lose respect for you.
Let me describe one of my personal experiences.
I was in my home preparing some tea for one of the uncles who had shown up all of a sudden. The uncle after having praised me for my education and summer project began a discussion, supposedly to show his own knowledge. While I was busy adding some sugar and tea leaves to the hot vessel, he was busy asking me about the position holders in m.p. state government system. He told about how certain roads were built by person X. And then he asked me, do I know who person X is? Clearly, I didn't and he did. And then he'd continue how I am unaware of this current situation (as if it was more necessary than air I was breathing) and told me what position that person X held in mp. state council. Then he began a discussion on some another person Y and again questioned me about whether I knew who person Y was? Eventually, he'd reveal the life saving secrets to me one by one about the MP State Council members.

Alright, now let's analyze all this. Do you really think, it'd have made me happy to learn about the members of MP State Council after each realization of how 'unaware' I was! Absolutely not! In fact I don't even remember the names of those candidates today. And do you think I'd really praise him for his awareness and knowledge when I'd talk about him to my parents or friends? :P
That's it! Make anyone feel small and you have done the greatest crime you could mentally do to any person.

I might sound a preacher, but I hope it helps you that when next time you're in front of any person, don't try to make anyone feel small. :)

And I miss them...

Its really strange how we feel sometimes that those particular moments we spent with our friends should be frozen, that they should never end....and yet as time passes we somehow lose the nostalgia...
Today when I visit my place, often there is a whole long list of people, I just don't find time to meet with.....About Them? Yes, of course they are too busy with their lives as well...
Once, it seemed almost impossible to spend a day without greeting them, and today, it seems the whole life possible without meeting them...
You think, I don't care for my relations? I do. And seriously, I do.
But it just happens.....we miss the moments we spent together...sometimes cherish them when we meet..but we have lost that warmth, we have lost that comfort down the lane..and yes, I miss them..
When I check my mails, it is highly frequent to find those glowing green dots in front of my friends' names....yet neither do I take my cursor to the name, and nor do they do it.
So, here we are...
This is it....and this is how it is always....
in my case, in your case, and I'm quite sure, in everybody's case...
Sometimes I know they have arrived in town and eagerly wait for them to come up and meet me...but alas! they don't..
And no wonder I do the same with some.....
It is what we call..."MOVE ON"
Yes, life moves on....time moves on....people move on....relations move on....only the moments get frozen forever in one of the leaflets of our life,
and surely you find it chilled, cold, frozen right there in your memories...but with it you'll realize you have lost that warmth... :(

CHOICES = f(x) ; x = ???

So, this is one of the most interesting puzzles....at least to me...I have always believed that there is a connection between choices of a person..obviously of entirely different fields....
Let me state an example...Suppose there are 4 completely unknown persons standing before you and you are bound to select one person as a friend for ur whole life...You know nothing of either of them...then how'd u choose one??? And do u think all the people will have a common choice???
No...we all would have independent choices...While some of us might be choosing a sincere face, some might be tempted for person with attitude..others might get fascinated by looks..or whatever..
So, in all we have different choices...Now, what I have always thought is that our choices resemble a pattern...
That means, if I have a certain choice in one stream, I'd have a definite liking for some option in another genre, which will be associated to my previous choice in some manner..
Seems complicated???
It sure is...
It seems complicated when i try to describe my own choices to others...
For instance, I love horror movies, I love wrestling, I am a big Kajol fan...does that resemble any pattern..??
No at least not apparent.. But still I believe there is a connection to what I like and what I dislike and my love for one genre somehow determines my liking in a completely different genre..
Well, if at all there is a pattern, then on what variables does this function depends???
For one, it is how you are raised up and what your closest people liked (they may be ur parents, ur big bros and sisters or even friends). There cud also be an inherent liking for things...but this again must be a factor of the first variable somehow...
Yet another factor cud be out of revolting, i.e. u tend to like things because others condemned it.....The reverse cud be true as well....sometimes ppl may irritate u with something by praising it a lot...
Finally u may also develop forced liking or disliking for something as well......
And so what ultimately happens is that ur choice shows reflection in different streams as well....
So, in all three variables = environmental factors :) , inherent liking and likes/ dislikes of others around u..
But again this is my opinion...
Hope to deduce a pattern someday soon 8) and will tell u when I am done ...
For now, if u can think of any more factors, do let me know... :)

It's time to think

There are many things we just accept as they are. Never ever do we give a thought, as to why so and so thing takes place? We have a self-coined answer for the question. Gradually we convince ourselves. Later we make them our perceptions, and forget to ponder over the truthfulness of it.
I'll tell you few examples of some common perceptions we usually make and forget to think about.

*Ever imagined why the keys of the keyboard are in such haphazard fashion, particularly in the QWERTY style? You think you have an answer, don't you? And probably the answer is- because it makes typing easy. Well, the reality is that this style was initiated to actually make typing difficult, so that the keys don't get damaged easily. Did this ever occur to you? May be yes, may be not. Well, let me tell you another of common wrong perception.
I was surfing through Wikipedia yesterday, and had a chance to clear another of my misconception. Jesus Christ! Oh, that wasn't just the exclamation. That was actually the misconception I was talking about. As per the meaning, as some of you might already know, it should have been popularly known as Christ Jesus, i.e. the anointed one Jesus (covered in oil / pure one). And yes, Christ is not the surname of Jesus, as some of you might be thinking.(I actually thought that :D). What I wanted to point out is that- we hear things, we see things, we accept them and never give a thought as to why they occur in a particularly fashion. Had we been that inquisitive, numerous wrong perceptions in the history would have been solved well before they actually got. No wonder it took 1700 Anno Domini to realize that apples fall on ground ;)
Had the people not been self-convinced, no sentences would have been given by the church when postulates regarding sun-centered solar system or regarding roundness of Earth were proposed. There might be numerous cases around us still waiting to be discovered, but we are unaware of them. Why? Because we just don't seem to have time. Some are busy with jobs, some with exams, some with playing. Who has time to wait and think on simple concepts? And why should it really affect one's life? Would it have mattered, had I continued to believe that Christ is Jesus's surname? Would it have mattered, had I believed that Earth was flat? Apart from lowering my G.K. score, which actually is of little use in my stream; I would have had a perfect normal life. Had I been a strong self-convinced person, I could have lead my life actually inventing new polymers (if at all I do that) and devising new synthesis procedures, and it wouldn't even have occurred to me that my perceptions were wrong. That's one reason, people so busy with their own lives hardly ever pay attention to life around them. Apples had been falling over for hell knows how many years, but went unnoticed until 1700. And the man who noticed the falling apples, became a name in the book you and your 1700 generations would remember. Things had been floating and sinking for billions of centuries, but was noticed by just one name. And that name since 212BC floated through the pages of physics and history.
The world is doing inventions. Bombs are made, clones are designed, extraterrestrials are explored. Yet,the most fundamental and simplest things might be still craving to be discovered. Aha! Neither the apple-man, nor the buoyancy man received a noble prize, but you my friend still have the chance :)
Just be alert, be questioning, and who knows, you might find your name in my books too.. ;) lol

Wish karo, dis karo (discovery karo...) :D

*(The first example is taken from 'Veronika Decides To Die')

Why do people behave so different in public???

You ought to do things in group that you might not have done, if alone. Yesterday, while I was attending some Dussehra ceremonies in a temple, I found these guys with T-shirts carrying the captions : ‘Girls are like drugs…’ , ‘Wanna date with me?’ , ‘FCUK you’ etc. and I was really shocked to see guys wearing such clothes at a famous temple like this. They all were with their friends. And I believe, that it could be the only possible reason they’d wear such clothes. Why?? Did they wish to show their immense knowledge over girls and English Literature? Of course not !!! A few days back, I reread the book ‘How to win friends and..’ by Dale Carnegie. And the only phrase that came to my mind on looking these guys is the one used a hundred times in that book; and the line is : ‘Because it gave them their feeling of importance.’ These same guys if abused for their religion in some foreign place may actually prove themselves to be the greatest saint of the nation. Then why did they do it? Because that gave them a sense of doing something distinct, something courageous, something their friends would regard as ‘boldness’ , something that yields a sense of importance among their friends’ circle.
That reminds me of an article by Baxi sir, in which he wrote how students misbehave in class. Ever thought why it happens in college and not at school? Because, their group cheers them for doing the act, while in school it was jeered.
People tend to act bully or rowdy while in group, but they’d seem peaceful, if alone. They do it exactly for one reason – Bond banane ke liye. As that ‘bond’ thing gives them a sense of pride, a sense of importance.
You wouldn’t do a single thing, willingly, if it does not give you a sense of importance. Of course, your sense of importance might vary from others. One may get a sense of feeling by being a topper, the other might get by being an all-rounder, another might get by doing things other would hesitate to do and some other may get it by showing how careless he is. Absolutely! It can range from anything to everything. Just hope your sense of importance doesn’t come from the one I tried to point out. Cheers !!!!

Arz kiya hai....

Now this was long due....



jeevan ki kashti ke kinaare badal gaye,
yaaron ki dosti ke sahaare badal gaye.
ibaadat ko jo band kari ye nigahein,
kholi to jahaan ke nazaare badal gaye.

that were among the first few lines I wrote.. :)