I was recently reading Halley's blog post on Alumni Funds. He talks about what some other colleges have been doing with their alumni funds and their targets and so on. He goes on to talk about other things like his experiences with the Alumni fund among others. For those who need a bit of a history lesson Halley and I are perhaps the two most vocal critics of the IIIT administration on both the campus and the blogosphere . It's important that one understand what the Alumni fund is doing and why it's very important to contribute to it.
What does the Alumni Fund do ?
Evey year among the many kids who write AIEEE and get ranks good enough to make it to IIIT, there are a few who cannot afford to come here. Yes the fee at IIIT is very high. But this is a group of students who cannot afford to pay for any form of college. They have neither the savings nor any form of holdings to provide a bank guarantee for a loan. This is a situation unimaginable for most of us. But it happens. The Alumni fund is to help such students whom nobody else is willing to help. The money in the alumni funds is given out as a very low interest loan to pay for the tuition fees of such students. This money doesn't go anywhere else. Yes the money does indirectly go to IIIT but they would get that money anyways. If not form this student than another richer one who can afford it.
Why is this important ?
We all know how hard it is to get into IIIT. Some of us took extra time beyond our 12'th class to get year. And whatever one may say , IIIT has provided us with an education, an exposure and above all access to opportunities the rest of the country can only dream of. When a student who clears AIEEE and gets a rank good enough to go to IIIT, drops that idea because of something like money, it is a collective failure on the part of IIIT community to promote merit. In some sense out-pricing somebody from an education is tantamount to reservation; reservation for the rich. As a community IIIT has always put merit on the highest pedestal, and this would be a step in line with those ideas. The situation is best summed up by what Varun Boppana wrote in a mail on our mailing lists.
"It's not like, we are asking money for IIIT..its for some students studying there...for their fees..just to get to where we are..thats it!."
Why this should not be a big deal for IIIT Alumni
Over the last couple of years the average pay of a IIIT graduate has been about 7 LPA. If you gave just 1% of what you earned to the Alumni fund, it would be enough to support all the needy students. 2K3, 2K4, 2K5 and now 2K6 have about 150+ students who have graduated with pretty nice jobs. That's about 600 people. If we assume 25% people contribute that's 150 contributions. If each of these contributions are at least worth Rs.5000 then that would make up 7.5 lakhs, which is almost 75% of what is required to support students. The rest of the money would come from donations from caution money, loans recovered from students and off course contributions from other batches. As a community that has almost 2000 members we should be able to support about 20 students per batch. It's not a big deal. For starters, donate your caution money. Yes BLN might give you a weird mess bill to settle or the office might have something in store for you, but still donate your caution money to the Alumni fund. That will take care of your first year after college. After that it's up to you and your generosity
Don't mix this with other things
Whatever your experiences/opinions of the IIIT administration may be I think it's not relevant to Alumni Fund donations. I have heard classmates say "IIIT never gave a damn about me, so why should I ?". Well, donating to the Alumni fund is about helping fellow students. Donating to the Alumni Fund, does not imply you are okay-ing whatever is happening in college. Rather, it shows your concern for IIIT and that what happens here is still important to you. In some sense you continue to remain a stakeholder long after passing out. And it's the right thing to do, you know it :)
You can donate here
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Al-Qaeda of Jeevan Vidya
For a long long time I have thought about writing this post. I refrained from writing it because I was not sure about my competence to comment on a philosophy so many "educated" people have subscribed to. After attending a Shivir (over the course of 2 years!!) and taking a course that was for all practical purposes JV - 101 (Understanding Work and Life), I think I have some background to make certain observations about JV and it's tryst with IIIT.
The Philosophy itself : Having read a bit about JV, I can say that JV as a whole is pretty much oriented like any other religion is. Do good, be good, be in harmony with nature, surroundings, control your desires and so on. Since the philosophy has roots in a modern society, there seems to be a trend to rationalize every argument presented as part of the philosophy. The validity and thoroughness of these rationalizations is a debate better left to theologians rather than MSbR students :). There is also no component of JV that prescribes rituals or anything of that sort. In it's simplest form, the message of JV is pretty elegant and I couldn't not help appreciating it. If I was an alien visiting earth I could very well believe that JV was yet another among the various religions practiced on earth with a decent following.
Which is where my problem with JV's association with IIIT begins. Today, if the powers that be at IIIT were prescribing to interpretation of a Hindu or Islamic or Christian ideology the same way they seem to be enamored by JV, there would have been an uproar of epic proportions. Since JV doesn't quite have the status of a proper religion like say Hinduism or Islam, people just don't know how to give a name to whats going on. I don't think you can talk about Human values and spirituality without imprinting on the listener, a certain version of your own religious beliefs. Now, no matter what Prof.Sangal or anybody else says, I do consider all JV activities to be religious. Which is in itself not bad. But only provided you do not provide official patronage and pamper only JV. I don't see any Hindu Shivirs or Islamic Halaqas being arranged on campus. Do you ?
One of the reasons the Muslim League argued for a separate Islamic state was that, "Islam and it's tenets extend to every aspect of life, whether it is social discourse or even business. There is no activity that is not religious by nature. A separate Islamic state that understands this notion is required to safeguard the Islamic way of life". While I don't fully agree with this statement I can understand the sentiment. A close look at our lives would tell us that our religion shapes almost all aspects of our decision making in some way or the other. It would then come as no surprise that the philosophies of JV made their way into the decision making process at IIIT. A number of changes in the campus over the last 5 years, can be attributed to a JV or JV-ish justification from the decision makers. As time progresses, JV is firmly embedded in the psyche of a lot of influential people at IIIT. What is the result you ask ? Well in it's simplest form, I am forced to study a course on Literature from Vinish Gupta (as learned as he may be). I would rather take my chances with Prof.Sudhakar Marathe who is conspicuous by his absence. The fact that half the Humanities courses are offered by people strongly associated with JV or even officially associated with it, is troubling. I have already written about this.
But there is more. I see a more orthodox IIIT. I see JV inspired people complaining about girls in skimpy outfits in felicity. I see "Swayamsevak" committees popping up and I see faculty members making sure that they don't miss a single session of JV, all while MS student's can't get placed, IIIT is short of funds, ECE is a mess and we have a new main building reminiscent of a WW2 ruin. I see certain civil engineers have a greater say about the way IIIT is run, than the experienced pioneers of science that grace our campus. I see dance teachers being paid more than the people who help maintain the IT in IIIT. I see a lot of people not being valued for sharing different beliefs. I see a systematic removal of people with non-JV or anti-JV views from the seats of power in IIIT. It's almost like JV-ists are the new communists !
Where there is a religion there are fanatics. A few months ago I was reading Osama bin Laden's biography (by Adam Robinson). The book provides a detailed description of how Osama, fed up with his life, saw redemption in Islam and Jihaad and how he rallied thousands from different nations, from Kings to commoners and from the educated to the illiterate to form Al-Qaeda. The parallels I see with JV in IIIT and the people concerned are amazing. Both started out as small movements. Al-Qaeda had Afghanistan-1989 and JV had this. Boosted by their initial success and the charisma of their leaders the groups snowballed into fanatical movements, convinced about their interpretation of a religion, each wreaking their own version of a catastrophe on the world they interact with. Hell, we even have our own Osama bin Laden and Zwahiri, with a dollop of young impressionable lieutenants. Both believe in catching em' young (JV in the 1st year), and sending them to training camps far away in the mountains (Mussoorie). It is interesting to ponder over the question if it is JV that is to be blamed or the people who follow it here at IIIT ? That said, a more pertinent question remains : Is there a JV 9/11 round the corner ?
PS : The Al-Qaeda comparisons to JV are obviously satirical. But isn't the problem pretty much correctly described ?
----------------------------------
An Update
After reading this post, Prof.Sangal commented via email. His reply can be read here
----------------------------------
The Philosophy itself : Having read a bit about JV, I can say that JV as a whole is pretty much oriented like any other religion is. Do good, be good, be in harmony with nature, surroundings, control your desires and so on. Since the philosophy has roots in a modern society, there seems to be a trend to rationalize every argument presented as part of the philosophy. The validity and thoroughness of these rationalizations is a debate better left to theologians rather than MSbR students :). There is also no component of JV that prescribes rituals or anything of that sort. In it's simplest form, the message of JV is pretty elegant and I couldn't not help appreciating it. If I was an alien visiting earth I could very well believe that JV was yet another among the various religions practiced on earth with a decent following.
Which is where my problem with JV's association with IIIT begins. Today, if the powers that be at IIIT were prescribing to interpretation of a Hindu or Islamic or Christian ideology the same way they seem to be enamored by JV, there would have been an uproar of epic proportions. Since JV doesn't quite have the status of a proper religion like say Hinduism or Islam, people just don't know how to give a name to whats going on. I don't think you can talk about Human values and spirituality without imprinting on the listener, a certain version of your own religious beliefs. Now, no matter what Prof.Sangal or anybody else says, I do consider all JV activities to be religious. Which is in itself not bad. But only provided you do not provide official patronage and pamper only JV. I don't see any Hindu Shivirs or Islamic Halaqas being arranged on campus. Do you ?
One of the reasons the Muslim League argued for a separate Islamic state was that, "Islam and it's tenets extend to every aspect of life, whether it is social discourse or even business. There is no activity that is not religious by nature. A separate Islamic state that understands this notion is required to safeguard the Islamic way of life". While I don't fully agree with this statement I can understand the sentiment. A close look at our lives would tell us that our religion shapes almost all aspects of our decision making in some way or the other. It would then come as no surprise that the philosophies of JV made their way into the decision making process at IIIT. A number of changes in the campus over the last 5 years, can be attributed to a JV or JV-ish justification from the decision makers. As time progresses, JV is firmly embedded in the psyche of a lot of influential people at IIIT. What is the result you ask ? Well in it's simplest form, I am forced to study a course on Literature from Vinish Gupta (as learned as he may be). I would rather take my chances with Prof.Sudhakar Marathe who is conspicuous by his absence. The fact that half the Humanities courses are offered by people strongly associated with JV or even officially associated with it, is troubling. I have already written about this.
But there is more. I see a more orthodox IIIT. I see JV inspired people complaining about girls in skimpy outfits in felicity. I see "Swayamsevak" committees popping up and I see faculty members making sure that they don't miss a single session of JV, all while MS student's can't get placed, IIIT is short of funds, ECE is a mess and we have a new main building reminiscent of a WW2 ruin. I see certain civil engineers have a greater say about the way IIIT is run, than the experienced pioneers of science that grace our campus. I see dance teachers being paid more than the people who help maintain the IT in IIIT. I see a lot of people not being valued for sharing different beliefs. I see a systematic removal of people with non-JV or anti-JV views from the seats of power in IIIT. It's almost like JV-ists are the new communists !
Where there is a religion there are fanatics. A few months ago I was reading Osama bin Laden's biography (by Adam Robinson). The book provides a detailed description of how Osama, fed up with his life, saw redemption in Islam and Jihaad and how he rallied thousands from different nations, from Kings to commoners and from the educated to the illiterate to form Al-Qaeda. The parallels I see with JV in IIIT and the people concerned are amazing. Both started out as small movements. Al-Qaeda had Afghanistan-1989 and JV had this. Boosted by their initial success and the charisma of their leaders the groups snowballed into fanatical movements, convinced about their interpretation of a religion, each wreaking their own version of a catastrophe on the world they interact with. Hell, we even have our own Osama bin Laden and Zwahiri, with a dollop of young impressionable lieutenants. Both believe in catching em' young (JV in the 1st year), and sending them to training camps far away in the mountains (Mussoorie). It is interesting to ponder over the question if it is JV that is to be blamed or the people who follow it here at IIIT ? That said, a more pertinent question remains : Is there a JV 9/11 round the corner ?
PS : The Al-Qaeda comparisons to JV are obviously satirical. But isn't the problem pretty much correctly described ?
----------------------------------
An Update
After reading this post, Prof.Sangal commented via email. His reply can be read here
----------------------------------
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Interview Shinterview contd....
Fortunately or unfortunately for me, I did not get shortlisted by IBM IRL. I spent the whole day wondering why I did not manage to get shortlisted by a company where I have enough research work in 3 different areas that I could easily fit into 3 different groups at their lab. I thought it might be GPA, but they shortlisted people with lower GPA's. Was it the level/quality of publications ? Was it the nature of my work ...what the bloody hell was it ? Chunni (aka Anshul )spent an hour calming me down and told me that it might be something as simple as them not having a vacancy in any of the groups that I can fit into !
I also kind of figured out that things like A+ and A are truly meaningless methods of classifying research work when it comes to placements (Many would feel that it's a stupid way of classifying work for any purpose !). One man's A+ is another mans F-. I will take this opportunity to welcome myself to the club of people wondering why they haven't been shortlisted or selected.
I was also happy that Bharat Joshi got his first interview today. The guy is smarter than most 9 pointers you would meet and a bumper job would be fair reward for some smooth work he has done over the years. I am also sure that the IBM people would have liked some nice lessons on secure multiparty computation from Hans :)
more to follow...
I also kind of figured out that things like A+ and A are truly meaningless methods of classifying research work when it comes to placements (Many would feel that it's a stupid way of classifying work for any purpose !). One man's A+ is another mans F-. I will take this opportunity to welcome myself to the club of people wondering why they haven't been shortlisted or selected.
I was also happy that Bharat Joshi got his first interview today. The guy is smarter than most 9 pointers you would meet and a bumper job would be fair reward for some smooth work he has done over the years. I am also sure that the IBM people would have liked some nice lessons on secure multiparty computation from Hans :)
more to follow...
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The rubbish that is called a HSSM course.
After looking at the HSSM's being offered being offered next semester I could broadly put them into 2 categories. The eight courses being offered are evenly divided between the two categories.
1. Courses offered by the brotherhood of JV
2. The rest.
Some of the important areas where we offer no courses are
1. Economics.
2. Finance
3. Literature
4. Public Administration
5. Law
6. Sociology (There are courses offered by Anuja Madan and Romesh Singh but it's more of an exception)
7. Management
8. History
There is much more and I could go on forever .... I hope you get the picture.
Why should students be forced to study such limited offerings, in some cases taught by inexperienced, self styled "Gurus" with no objective evaluation of the course content. Is there no objection from the side of the faculty ?
If a UG student must do 20 credits from within this set of courses, we should seriously reconsider having compulsory HSSMs. I couldn't find more rubbish even if I looked in a garbage dump.
1. Courses offered by the brotherhood of JV
2. The rest.
Some of the important areas where we offer no courses are
1. Economics.
2. Finance
3. Literature
4. Public Administration
5. Law
6. Sociology (There are courses offered by Anuja Madan and Romesh Singh but it's more of an exception)
7. Management
8. History
There is much more and I could go on forever .... I hope you get the picture.
Why should students be forced to study such limited offerings, in some cases taught by inexperienced, self styled "Gurus" with no objective evaluation of the course content. Is there no objection from the side of the faculty ?
If a UG student must do 20 credits from within this set of courses, we should seriously reconsider having compulsory HSSMs. I couldn't find more rubbish even if I looked in a garbage dump.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Kindness of others
At times it is very easy to be ignorant of the all those selfless people who keep our society ticking. I think the biggest hidden heroes our society has, are people who work in life sciences and specifically those who are immunologists, virologists and microbiologists and the kind. I have a particularly dear friend who is a microbiologist. Her name is Deepti and everyday she makes her way to her medical college lab and transforms from a pretty young lady to the scientist in a bio-hazard suit(Yeah!! that's her a few days ago. I think she kind of looks like Storm Shadow). She works on testing live swine flu patients. Most of us would run away at the mere mention of swine flu. But she puts on her bio-hazard suit and gets into the lab to work with live samples of the swine flu virus for the whole day, everyday. There are obviously risks and there are instances when technicians have contracted diseases they were working on testing. People have contracted swine flu in this manner and have died. To put all that fear aside and work with the H1N1 virus, so that others may live, is truly courageous. I wonder what motivates her to take such a risk. Surely it is not worth the measly stipend she is offered. It's not personal either, as she helps in the treatment of people who she will never meet, and who will never even know her work. It takes a particular bend of mind - a truly humanitarian mind to drive oneself to be able to do something like this.
I write this because I feel that somebody should know her contribution. That society should look for heroes, beyond the surface of our social fabric and appreciate the contributions of Deepti and her colleagues who, from behind those masks deliver us from disease and death. It is time we started to acknowledge the Kindness of others.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Happy Birthday IIIT
After reading Maroo's post I too have decided to join the bandwagon of writing a b'day post for IIIT. In 2004, foundation day was celebrated properly. Sadly there isn't much hulla this year. I would usually write what we should do and look forward to and some more pranav-ish blah, but I'm deciding against it :) Somebody recently asked by somebody to give me the highlight of each year I spent at IIIT. I think it's a wonderful thing to do.
The best thing from my UG1 days would definitely be all the hell raisin that was done in GHEB. GHEB was a unique hostel. Imagine a completely isolated building with only ug1 guys :) The awesome part was the birthdays. Birthdays starting on one floor would eventually spread to all three floors and end with pepsi/mirinda and cake all over the place. It was the purest chaos I have experienced. Highlight: Birthdays in GHEB
For me second year was about football. I became part of the college team and our batch officially went football crazy. The year ended with an amazing come from behind win against UG2k3 where we came back from 2 goals down to win 3-2. Highlight : Inter-batch football finals
Third year did not start well at all, but we eventually started to get over it. The first half of the year spent frequenting Ohri's for midnight biriyani and also included a certain record 19 slices at the pizza hut iftar meal :O Then came felicity and lots of work. Highlight : Making an amazing new Felicity
My fourth year was not a usual one. I spent more than half of the year in Bangalore doing an intern. I loved the excitement that placements generated but only because i didn't have to sit for them :P . Every day we used to have a bunch of people coming back with big smiles on their faces knowing they now had jobs. I also got a job this year. I became a Sysadmin. It's a job that perhaps entails only abuse from other people but I found it to be an awesome challenge. Highlight : Seeing all my friends getting placed and kicking them in the aftermath :D
My fifth year was all hard work. I got my first publications. And the best thing for me this year has been the why I've been able to run every morning and play. I've managed to lost quite a bit of weight actually (I know it's a drop in the ocean....) Highlight : Writing papers with 3 people from 3 different areas and being the glue that keeps it all together.
This might be over-nostalgic, but it's a neat exercise. I tag SKP, ORB, mythalez, Sultan of Samarkand, @nks, Daka, Turbo, Raina, Bordeaux, Aniket, Maroo, Himank, Zenwalker and Bitgeek to all write similar posts. Some of you could really do with a post :P
The best thing from my UG1 days would definitely be all the hell raisin that was done in GHEB. GHEB was a unique hostel. Imagine a completely isolated building with only ug1 guys :) The awesome part was the birthdays. Birthdays starting on one floor would eventually spread to all three floors and end with pepsi/mirinda and cake all over the place. It was the purest chaos I have experienced. Highlight: Birthdays in GHEB
For me second year was about football. I became part of the college team and our batch officially went football crazy. The year ended with an amazing come from behind win against UG2k3 where we came back from 2 goals down to win 3-2. Highlight : Inter-batch football finals
Third year did not start well at all, but we eventually started to get over it. The first half of the year spent frequenting Ohri's for midnight biriyani and also included a certain record 19 slices at the pizza hut iftar meal :O Then came felicity and lots of work. Highlight : Making an amazing new Felicity
My fourth year was not a usual one. I spent more than half of the year in Bangalore doing an intern. I loved the excitement that placements generated but only because i didn't have to sit for them :P . Every day we used to have a bunch of people coming back with big smiles on their faces knowing they now had jobs. I also got a job this year. I became a Sysadmin. It's a job that perhaps entails only abuse from other people but I found it to be an awesome challenge. Highlight : Seeing all my friends getting placed and kicking them in the aftermath :D
My fifth year was all hard work. I got my first publications. And the best thing for me this year has been the why I've been able to run every morning and play. I've managed to lost quite a bit of weight actually (I know it's a drop in the ocean....) Highlight : Writing papers with 3 people from 3 different areas and being the glue that keeps it all together.
This might be over-nostalgic, but it's a neat exercise. I tag SKP, ORB, mythalez, Sultan of Samarkand, @nks, Daka, Turbo, Raina, Bordeaux, Aniket, Maroo, Himank, Zenwalker and Bitgeek to all write similar posts. Some of you could really do with a post :P
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Breaking news : Rakhi Sawant is squatting on my TV Screen
Right now I'm staring at a TV where the only thing occupying the news in a country ravaged by poverty, hunger, terrorism and a host of other problems, is Rakhi Sawant. You know other countries have reality TV too, but nobody is nuts like this. You would never see stuff like this on CNN or NBC or even Fox. This is one of those "WTF is the director of news" moments. I'm disgusted and I want my cable TV money back :((
Friday, July 31, 2009
Heart Break
Of all the players Rafa has signed, Xabi Alonso is perhaps the classiest. There hasn't been a deep lying midfielder that good since perhaps ...... wait !! There hasn't been anybody like Alonso in the EPL! I think the closest person to Alonso in terms of impact is Seedorf at Milan. It'll be sad to see him go. I think Liverpool's chances will leave with Alonso. He was the difference between winning and losing so many times last season.
Despite good reviews I had a paper rejected. I did however have another one accepted but fuck the PC for halving my joy. A big Thank you to K.Kothapalli, Suhail, SKP and PJN for all the kewl work that went into the paper that got accepted. Who ever thought you could mix parallel computing, cryptography and GPU's!! The paper that got pawned was perhaps a victim of some rather shoddy writing on my part. Lesson: never write a paper that is double column, 9pt font and 12 pages long in one day even if you are Shakespeare.
This week I Shall be leaving my home of 17 years at Lab Quarters in Hyderabad. For the ignorant it's a DRDO colony and is an extremely beautiful one at that. We will be shifting to a place nearby. I will miss the lawns and Grounds and Badminton courts and the squash courts and all the pretty girls. No matter where life takes me, it'll always be *the* place I'll call home. I grew up there, met my best friend there, and did a lot of other firsts there too. Alvida.
Today also starts my last semester at IIIT. I think I'll spend this semester doing what I can, to help IIIT. This is a unique place in India, and after a few months when I am gone, I will dearly miss the slow, BC filled tension-less life that IIIT offers. Unlike many others I will not hate this place because of some differences with the people who run the place or their lame ass antics. I will remember IIIT for the friends it gave me and the things it taught me.
PS: Rafa Benitez you snobbish little panzie !! Look what happened when you didn't sign Arshavin, look what happened when you didn't sign Owen. Please Please Please sign Huntelaar. Dont make me sad.
Despite good reviews I had a paper rejected. I did however have another one accepted but fuck the PC for halving my joy. A big Thank you to K.Kothapalli, Suhail, SKP and PJN for all the kewl work that went into the paper that got accepted. Who ever thought you could mix parallel computing, cryptography and GPU's!! The paper that got pawned was perhaps a victim of some rather shoddy writing on my part. Lesson: never write a paper that is double column, 9pt font and 12 pages long in one day even if you are Shakespeare.
This week I Shall be leaving my home of 17 years at Lab Quarters in Hyderabad. For the ignorant it's a DRDO colony and is an extremely beautiful one at that. We will be shifting to a place nearby. I will miss the lawns and Grounds and Badminton courts and the squash courts and all the pretty girls. No matter where life takes me, it'll always be *the* place I'll call home. I grew up there, met my best friend there, and did a lot of other firsts there too. Alvida.
Today also starts my last semester at IIIT. I think I'll spend this semester doing what I can, to help IIIT. This is a unique place in India, and after a few months when I am gone, I will dearly miss the slow, BC filled tension-less life that IIIT offers. Unlike many others I will not hate this place because of some differences with the people who run the place or their lame ass antics. I will remember IIIT for the friends it gave me and the things it taught me.
PS: Rafa Benitez you snobbish little panzie !! Look what happened when you didn't sign Arshavin, look what happened when you didn't sign Owen. Please Please Please sign Huntelaar. Dont make me sad.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
It's that time of the year......
When the hot shot magazines (who don't understand squat) start to rank colleges. In the last two years I've tried to analyze these "rankings" and make sense (or the lack of it) of them. This year seeing IIIT Hyderabad ranked 16th is rather disappointing and I feel that these rankings are doing prospective students a great disservice by advising them to join places like BHU or some of the NIT's or even VIT ahead of IIIT (Rofl. How can you take a ranking that has VIT as 10th seriously ??)
This post is for those prospective students, wondering why they should join IIIT.
Firstly, from a purely academic point of view, Only the 5 main IIT's i.e. Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras can compete with IIIT in CS. I don't think any faculty member from any institute mentioned in that India Today list would argue with that. IIIT has about 55 full time faculty members and about 20 more visiting + adjunct + Emeritus + blah blah blah faculty members. Each one of these people has a PhD and has significant research contributions even before coming to IIIT. Basically they are bloody damn good. Almost all non-CS/Electronics faculty (Humanities) are borrowed from the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), located just next door. They too are really really good.
Secondly, the quality and amount of research being done at IIIT is simply spectacular( Why would a undergrad bother ?? read on..). In the last academic year, papers from IIIT have been accepted to almost all top venues in CS. These are not some crappy local conferences that I am talking about. I refer to conferences and journals where the history of subjects is being made, the big league, where all the top notch people in the field publish. For those who understand I'm talking about A+ and A level conferences. But that's not the impressive part. Almost 90% of these papers have Undergraduate and Masters students as the prime contributors!! IIIT gives an extraordinary scope to Undergrads to publish at the highest level. I am confident that nobody in India comes anywhere close to IIIT in this regard. In my experience, if you have a quality publication(s), you can pretty much go wherever you want for a MS/PhD. IIIT students getting regular admits to all the top 10 US universities (except Berkley ... somehow nobody applies there) is proof of this being true.
Third, the future prospects after graduating from IIIT are pretty cool. For those interested in placements, IIIT averaged about 7.2 LpA for the 2008 batch (about 140 people. Includes B.Tech, M.Tech and MS) and 5.3 LpA for the 2009 Batch (about 160 people) All IT companies that visited the IIT's came here too. Not bad considering whats going on with the job market right now. As for MS/PhD admits abroad, IIIT has the faculty that a) Will help you do enough work to get noticed b) Give you a recommendation that will seal the deal. The reach of IIIT faculty members extends to cover all universities of any significance. Basically IIIT will give you all the tools to work and the faculty to push you to your "dream" admit.
Fourth, the Alumni network. You know your college alumni is doing well when you step into any google/microsoft/amazon/adobe/yahoo/cisco/(endless list) office and cant walk 5 steps without meeting an alumni. You know your alumni is doing well when half the people coming to conduct campus intervies on behalf of these companies are alumni themselves. You know your alumni is doing well when you know that there will be some IIIT student in the university where you are going to join a graduate program. Keep in mind that only 8 batches have graduated from IIIT thus far. Imagine what things would be 15..20...25 years from now.
And now what can you expect to find at IIIT by the way of facilities ? Well this isn't a glitzy glamorous college. IIIT as an institute, has a philosophy of simple living. And that's just how the campus culture is too. Facilities are a mixed bag. Basic facilities like hostels are very good and are much better compared to most of the IIT's. Don't expect any VIT/Manipal style AC hostels. Messes are decent. The canteen is rather average, but that has more to do with the subways and dominos and the likes that surround the college. Recreation facilities are rather limited. A Swimming pool, a gym, a basketball court, volleyball, TT and a Football ground is pretty much all you have. I personally find it rather lame.
Computing resources are again a mixed bag. Large portions of the hostels have WiFi as the only network. It's good for browsing but not really good for movies and LAN gaming. But once you are on a wired network, it's smooth sailing. IIIT is unique in that there is unrestricted internet/LAN access. The labs are pretty cool. They stock some of the nicest hardware around. In that respect IIIT is pretty good.
To summarize IIIT: If you want to study and learn, come to IIIT. There is no equal in India period. If you are more interested in other pursuits, especially extra curricular activities you might end up disappointed here. IIIT is yet to evolve beyond academics. I personally don't see a student having to make any significant concessions by being at IIIT. The only limiting factor for a student here is his/her motivation.
And as far as the rankings go, I don't consider IIIT to be an "Engineering college" per se. IIIT has a specific focus on Computer Science and IT and offers no other dimensions as of now. As far as computer science is concerned IIIT is a unique center of excellence. IIIT has 24 research centers that work on core computing and it's applications. If somebody were to rank CS courses in India, IIIT would be far ahead of the rest (including the IIT's) by a mile. But CS alone doesn't constitute an Engineering college. The diversity on offer at the IIT's is truly wonderful. Perhaps IIIT would catch up in a decade or two. Rankings take a lot of stuff into account. An institute that offers only CS and Electronics as courses can't and shouldn't compete for rankings with other places that offer courses ranging from electrical to mechanical to aerospace to marine engineering. That said, I am of the opinion that you should give up a seat at IIIT Hyderabad only for a seat in CS/ECE/Mech/Chem in the 5 Main IIT's. You are likely to regret any other choice you make. Not now, but perhaps while in your 4th year or after you graduate. That doesn't mean other options are bad or anything. It is always ultimately down to the individual. All I'm saying is that IIIT would give you a most competent platform to excel.
PS: Please don't write any hate comments.
This post is for those prospective students, wondering why they should join IIIT.
Firstly, from a purely academic point of view, Only the 5 main IIT's i.e. Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras can compete with IIIT in CS. I don't think any faculty member from any institute mentioned in that India Today list would argue with that. IIIT has about 55 full time faculty members and about 20 more visiting + adjunct + Emeritus + blah blah blah faculty members. Each one of these people has a PhD and has significant research contributions even before coming to IIIT. Basically they are bloody damn good. Almost all non-CS/Electronics faculty (Humanities) are borrowed from the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), located just next door. They too are really really good.
Secondly, the quality and amount of research being done at IIIT is simply spectacular( Why would a undergrad bother ?? read on..). In the last academic year, papers from IIIT have been accepted to almost all top venues in CS. These are not some crappy local conferences that I am talking about. I refer to conferences and journals where the history of subjects is being made, the big league, where all the top notch people in the field publish. For those who understand I'm talking about A+ and A level conferences. But that's not the impressive part. Almost 90% of these papers have Undergraduate and Masters students as the prime contributors!! IIIT gives an extraordinary scope to Undergrads to publish at the highest level. I am confident that nobody in India comes anywhere close to IIIT in this regard. In my experience, if you have a quality publication(s), you can pretty much go wherever you want for a MS/PhD. IIIT students getting regular admits to all the top 10 US universities (except Berkley ... somehow nobody applies there) is proof of this being true.
Third, the future prospects after graduating from IIIT are pretty cool. For those interested in placements, IIIT averaged about 7.2 LpA for the 2008 batch (about 140 people. Includes B.Tech, M.Tech and MS) and 5.3 LpA for the 2009 Batch (about 160 people) All IT companies that visited the IIT's came here too. Not bad considering whats going on with the job market right now. As for MS/PhD admits abroad, IIIT has the faculty that a) Will help you do enough work to get noticed b) Give you a recommendation that will seal the deal. The reach of IIIT faculty members extends to cover all universities of any significance. Basically IIIT will give you all the tools to work and the faculty to push you to your "dream" admit.
Fourth, the Alumni network. You know your college alumni is doing well when you step into any google/microsoft/amazon/adobe/yahoo/cisco/(endless list) office and cant walk 5 steps without meeting an alumni. You know your alumni is doing well when half the people coming to conduct campus intervies on behalf of these companies are alumni themselves. You know your alumni is doing well when you know that there will be some IIIT student in the university where you are going to join a graduate program. Keep in mind that only 8 batches have graduated from IIIT thus far. Imagine what things would be 15..20...25 years from now.
And now what can you expect to find at IIIT by the way of facilities ? Well this isn't a glitzy glamorous college. IIIT as an institute, has a philosophy of simple living. And that's just how the campus culture is too. Facilities are a mixed bag. Basic facilities like hostels are very good and are much better compared to most of the IIT's. Don't expect any VIT/Manipal style AC hostels. Messes are decent. The canteen is rather average, but that has more to do with the subways and dominos and the likes that surround the college. Recreation facilities are rather limited. A Swimming pool, a gym, a basketball court, volleyball, TT and a Football ground is pretty much all you have. I personally find it rather lame.
Computing resources are again a mixed bag. Large portions of the hostels have WiFi as the only network. It's good for browsing but not really good for movies and LAN gaming. But once you are on a wired network, it's smooth sailing. IIIT is unique in that there is unrestricted internet/LAN access. The labs are pretty cool. They stock some of the nicest hardware around. In that respect IIIT is pretty good.
To summarize IIIT: If you want to study and learn, come to IIIT. There is no equal in India period. If you are more interested in other pursuits, especially extra curricular activities you might end up disappointed here. IIIT is yet to evolve beyond academics. I personally don't see a student having to make any significant concessions by being at IIIT. The only limiting factor for a student here is his/her motivation.
And as far as the rankings go, I don't consider IIIT to be an "Engineering college" per se. IIIT has a specific focus on Computer Science and IT and offers no other dimensions as of now. As far as computer science is concerned IIIT is a unique center of excellence. IIIT has 24 research centers that work on core computing and it's applications. If somebody were to rank CS courses in India, IIIT would be far ahead of the rest (including the IIT's) by a mile. But CS alone doesn't constitute an Engineering college. The diversity on offer at the IIT's is truly wonderful. Perhaps IIIT would catch up in a decade or two. Rankings take a lot of stuff into account. An institute that offers only CS and Electronics as courses can't and shouldn't compete for rankings with other places that offer courses ranging from electrical to mechanical to aerospace to marine engineering. That said, I am of the opinion that you should give up a seat at IIIT Hyderabad only for a seat in CS/ECE/Mech/Chem in the 5 Main IIT's. You are likely to regret any other choice you make. Not now, but perhaps while in your 4th year or after you graduate. That doesn't mean other options are bad or anything. It is always ultimately down to the individual. All I'm saying is that IIIT would give you a most competent platform to excel.
PS: Please don't write any hate comments.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Is the desktop dead ?
In recent years I have seen almost everybody buy laptops. People have kind of lost track of what it is to have a desktop and the power it brings to the table(no pun intended). With people spending as much as 55~60K on laptops with crappy CPU's and GPU's and virtually no possibility for any meaningful expansion, I wonder if they are making the right choice. This post is a must read for those people planning to buy new machines over the summer.
So is the desktop dead ? NO NO NO not in your wildest dreams. In 60k you could buy a desktop that can easily outperform the best laptops money can buy for the next 5 years. So what do we put into this PC ? And what does it have to do ? Simple. You need to be able to watch movies, play games and be microsoft proof :O. Here is what I'm putting in.
1. Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700@ 2.6 GHz : Rs.9,000
2. CPU Cooler : OCZ Vanquisher + Arctic Silver(5gms) : Rs.1,500
3. Motherboard : MSI P6N-SLI-V2 : Rs.5,500
4. Graphics : Nvidia GTX 275(palit): Rs.1,7000
5. Memory : 2x2GB OCZ Gold : Rs.3,000
6. HDD : 2xSeagate 500GB Raid-0 : Rs.6,000
7. Cabinet : Zebronics Antibiotic : Rs.2,150
8. SMPS : CoolerMaster RP 600 : Rs.3,450
9. Optical drive : DVD writer : Rs.1,200
10. KB+Mouse:Cordless Logitech/M$ : Rs.1,500
11. Monitor : Samsung 2233sw - 22" 1080p : Rs.10,000
Grand Total : Rs.60,300 (All these prices are current prices in CTC, Secunderabad)
Some of the stuff put in looks really weird. Let me explain everything.
1. Processor and the 2. Cooler : This desktop is being built for both multimedia and gaming. While a higher clocked dual core will most likely be slightly better at gaming, a quad core would decimate it in any sort of multimedia apps. For those wondering what arctic silver is, it's a cooling compound - that shiny paste you find on the back of the CPU cooler. Arctic silver is damn effective. My laptop's CPU was getting really hot. I had idle temperatures of around 61'C. I purchased a 3 gram AS pack and opened my laptop up and put it on. Now the idle temperature is 36'C. Awesome!! So a OCZ cooler and Arctic Silver will easily allow you to overclock the processor to about 3.2 GHz. I think that's as far as you can go on air based cooling. @ 3.2GHz you can pretty much remove any significant CPU bottlenecks.
3. Motherboard : Why an SLI board and that too such an old one ? Well this board is the best bang for the buck. Intel boards with the same features are just as expensive. I went for this board as it has a better RAID controller and an extra PCIe slot . And I have something special planned for this slot. Stick in a low end card like a GeForce 8600 and use it for PhysX or CUDA :)
4. Graphics : The GTX 275 is about 6% slower then the GTX 285 and costs a good 7K less. Plus the power consumption is about 40% lower. The 275 beats all the cards in the same price range i.e. the GTX260 and the Radeon4890 by quite some distance. This pick was a no brainer.
5. Memory : You really don't need more then 4 Gigs of memory for anything. OCZ modules are a bit expensive but they have lifetime warranty and if you are interested, can be easy to overclock!
6. HDD : I used two HDD's instead of one, so that I could set them up in raid-0. The effective throughput is at least 60% higher. So if you get 70 MB/s transfer rates with one disk, a Raid-0 configuration would give you about 110 MB/s. It means significantly lower load times, and faster seeking in those high def videos that masked-menace downloads :). If you share a lot of data in DC++, your HDD's will experience lesser wear and tear as well.
7. Cabinet : With a GTX275 and CPU cooling you need to have a large and well ventilated cabinet. The zebronics antibiotic has 3 large fans, a temperature display and loads of front ports. Plus did I mention it's got custom lighting and it's transparent :O
8. SMPS : Most people never buy an SMPS seperately. But his desktop needs one. A GTX275, Overclocked quad core, SLI motherboard, and 2 HDDS need a lot of power. Coolermaster's SMPS' are awesome and 600W insures you against all future GPU/SLI upgrades
9. Optical drive : Buy whatever you want. It's all the same shit.
10. KB+mouse : You could buy a cheaper option but I like using cordless stuff.
11. Monitor : This was a no brainer. The Samsung 2233SW is a 22 inch full HD (1920x1080) monitor. DCR 15000:1 and response time of 5ms. And it looks really really nice. It's a steal at it's price.
I am missing a speaker set :( I could save Rs.600 by buying ordinary RAM Modules, Save about Rs.500 by buying a 1TB instead of 2x500 GB, save about Rs.700 by buying a cheaper KB/Mouse combo, and about Rs.1500 by using a cheap local SMPS. That's about Rs.3300, enough to get you a creative 5.1 system. In my opinion - Buy the speakers later. It's not worth making any of those sacrifices. Thats pretty much it. In 60K you get a machine that
# Plays all present days games @ Full settings @ 1920x1080 >60 FPS (except crysis@35fps)
# Watch Full HD movies on a 22inch screen
# Has expansion space to put in another GFX card/4GB RAM/4 more HDD's
# And puts the current best machine in CVIT to shame (This is the best part :P)
So do you you still want to spend 60,000 on a laptop that's going to be a useless old piece of plastic, incapable of running anything other then PAC-man in 2.5 years time ??
PS. Desktop Prices fall @ 1% every month. By the time you get back from your holidays, this same system would cost 57,500. You could get yourself speakers with the extra cash :)
So is the desktop dead ? NO NO NO not in your wildest dreams. In 60k you could buy a desktop that can easily outperform the best laptops money can buy for the next 5 years. So what do we put into this PC ? And what does it have to do ? Simple. You need to be able to watch movies, play games and be microsoft proof :O. Here is what I'm putting in.
1. Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700@ 2.6 GHz : Rs.9,000
2. CPU Cooler : OCZ Vanquisher + Arctic Silver(5gms) : Rs.1,500
3. Motherboard : MSI P6N-SLI-V2 : Rs.5,500
4. Graphics : Nvidia GTX 275(palit): Rs.1,7000
5. Memory : 2x2GB OCZ Gold : Rs.3,000
6. HDD : 2xSeagate 500GB Raid-0 : Rs.6,000
7. Cabinet : Zebronics Antibiotic : Rs.2,150
8. SMPS : CoolerMaster RP 600 : Rs.3,450
9. Optical drive : DVD writer : Rs.1,200
10. KB+Mouse:Cordless Logitech/M$ : Rs.1,500
11. Monitor : Samsung 2233sw - 22" 1080p : Rs.10,000
Grand Total : Rs.60,300 (All these prices are current prices in CTC, Secunderabad)
Some of the stuff put in looks really weird. Let me explain everything.
1. Processor and the 2. Cooler : This desktop is being built for both multimedia and gaming. While a higher clocked dual core will most likely be slightly better at gaming, a quad core would decimate it in any sort of multimedia apps. For those wondering what arctic silver is, it's a cooling compound - that shiny paste you find on the back of the CPU cooler. Arctic silver is damn effective. My laptop's CPU was getting really hot. I had idle temperatures of around 61'C. I purchased a 3 gram AS pack and opened my laptop up and put it on. Now the idle temperature is 36'C. Awesome!! So a OCZ cooler and Arctic Silver will easily allow you to overclock the processor to about 3.2 GHz. I think that's as far as you can go on air based cooling. @ 3.2GHz you can pretty much remove any significant CPU bottlenecks.
3. Motherboard : Why an SLI board and that too such an old one ? Well this board is the best bang for the buck. Intel boards with the same features are just as expensive. I went for this board as it has a better RAID controller and an extra PCIe slot . And I have something special planned for this slot. Stick in a low end card like a GeForce 8600 and use it for PhysX or CUDA :)
4. Graphics : The GTX 275 is about 6% slower then the GTX 285 and costs a good 7K less. Plus the power consumption is about 40% lower. The 275 beats all the cards in the same price range i.e. the GTX260 and the Radeon4890 by quite some distance. This pick was a no brainer.
5. Memory : You really don't need more then 4 Gigs of memory for anything. OCZ modules are a bit expensive but they have lifetime warranty and if you are interested, can be easy to overclock!
6. HDD : I used two HDD's instead of one, so that I could set them up in raid-0. The effective throughput is at least 60% higher. So if you get 70 MB/s transfer rates with one disk, a Raid-0 configuration would give you about 110 MB/s. It means significantly lower load times, and faster seeking in those high def videos that masked-menace downloads :). If you share a lot of data in DC++, your HDD's will experience lesser wear and tear as well.
7. Cabinet : With a GTX275 and CPU cooling you need to have a large and well ventilated cabinet. The zebronics antibiotic has 3 large fans, a temperature display and loads of front ports. Plus did I mention it's got custom lighting and it's transparent :O
8. SMPS : Most people never buy an SMPS seperately. But his desktop needs one. A GTX275, Overclocked quad core, SLI motherboard, and 2 HDDS need a lot of power. Coolermaster's SMPS' are awesome and 600W insures you against all future GPU/SLI upgrades
9. Optical drive : Buy whatever you want. It's all the same shit.
10. KB+mouse : You could buy a cheaper option but I like using cordless stuff.
11. Monitor : This was a no brainer. The Samsung 2233SW is a 22 inch full HD (1920x1080) monitor. DCR 15000:1 and response time of 5ms. And it looks really really nice. It's a steal at it's price.
I am missing a speaker set :( I could save Rs.600 by buying ordinary RAM Modules, Save about Rs.500 by buying a 1TB instead of 2x500 GB, save about Rs.700 by buying a cheaper KB/Mouse combo, and about Rs.1500 by using a cheap local SMPS. That's about Rs.3300, enough to get you a creative 5.1 system. In my opinion - Buy the speakers later. It's not worth making any of those sacrifices. Thats pretty much it. In 60K you get a machine that
# Plays all present days games @ Full settings @ 1920x1080 >60 FPS (except crysis@35fps)
# Watch Full HD movies on a 22inch screen
# Has expansion space to put in another GFX card/4GB RAM/4 more HDD's
# And puts the current best machine in CVIT to shame (This is the best part :P)
So do you you still want to spend 60,000 on a laptop that's going to be a useless old piece of plastic, incapable of running anything other then PAC-man in 2.5 years time ??
PS. Desktop Prices fall @ 1% every month. By the time you get back from your holidays, this same system would cost 57,500. You could get yourself speakers with the extra cash :)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Why the three political fronts can kiss my vote goodbye
I read an interesting post by Sukesh about who he would vote for and why. I have thought about writing a post about the same for quite some time but somehow it didn't come along.
I will not vote for the Congress(UPA) because
I hate their minority appeasement crap. India is a country with a majority Hindu population. I think India should learn to live with it. There are minorities all over the world, but nowhere is there such a hue and cry as their is in India about them. We talk so much about minorities and caste and stuff like that, that even if a person wants to forget that he is a minority or from a lower caste ,every election year the likes of the Congress and the BSP go out of the way to remind people that they are downtrodden and neglected even if they aren't. The congress has announced loads of scholarships for minorities and backward castes. Why should a upper class person not be eligible for them? Poverty is the same for everybody: Hindu or Muslim, upper class or backward class. Clearly our present government seems to have forgotten that. Also the UPA government has perhaps done irreversible damage to the IIT/IIM system by opening the floodgates to all sorts of undeserving people. Plus the way the new IIT's have been setup and are functioning has to be a scandal. Pulling shit like this pisses me off to the core.
I will not vote for the BJP(NDA) because
Whenever and wherever the BJP comes to power we are suddenly faced with morons like the ones that vandalised a pub in Mangalore and attacked women. I have no idea what divine right, the BJP and it's more hardcore right wing elements feel they have, to be the custodians of Indian Culture. We have had such incidents all over India where couples in a park were attacked and every year we are bored to death by the antics of these so called "Standard bearers of Indian Culture" on valentines day. I wonder where Indian culture allows mobs to beat up women and young couples. I wish that these people were sent some more pink chaddis every year. Honestly these antics of the BJP's more orthodox parts scare the living hell out of me and is perhaps the only reason why most people do not vote for the BJP. Educated young India doesn't care about Ram-Raj. They want jobs and housing and health care and education. Not temples.
I will not vote for the left(the third Front) because
I am personally really scared of communists. Worldwide communists have this policy of "you are either with us or against us". Commies will argue otherwise but history will tell you that once the communists have got control of a country they never let go. They then set out to mercilessly kill any opposition. Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, Kim Jong Il's North Korea and Castro's Cuba(the official line is Socialism) are all fine examples.In India 30 years of communist rule in West Bengal has reduced a state once the Jewel of India to underdeveloped, corrupt state where a company cannot setup shop without being hassled by the goonda like trade unions. The situation in Bengal is so bad that unless you are a proper CPI(M) cadre member you can virtually kiss any sort of government employment goodbye. The shit in that state runs much deeper and is a topic for a book. Their anti-West, anti-Globalisation stances are at times just for the sake of it. Their behaviour on the nuclear deal was also rather immature. The bottom line: I don't want to pay any taxes to a communist regime.
And while I am at it, I would like to drop a line for the Honorable member of Parliament from Hyderabad Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi from the Majlis-e-Ittihaddul Muslimeen(MIM) whose offices are a stones throw away from my house. During the Post nuclear deal trust vote Owaisi sahab said that he would vote for the UPA govt. as he would vote for the party that best helped the uplift of Muslims. Well Mr.Owaisi I thought that you would vote for the Govt. that would best help in the uplift of your constituency at the very least. Seeing as that you don't care about the Non-Muslims around even in your constituency, you can kiss my vote goodbye too.
Will I vote for the Lok Satta or the TDP or even an Independent ? Well the answer is an emphatic NO. I tried 4 times to get a Voter ID made. Alas all those attempts failed. I have no voter ID and have no mention in the Electoral rolls. Whats more interesting is that my parents names too have vanished from the electoral rolls. Looks like the Election commission of India has decided for me that my vote really doesn't matter. I wish I could find those bickering Election Commissioners and give them the walloping they deserve for leaving me and perhaps many more lakhs of legitimate voters our of the rolls.
I will not vote for the Congress(UPA) because
I hate their minority appeasement crap. India is a country with a majority Hindu population. I think India should learn to live with it. There are minorities all over the world, but nowhere is there such a hue and cry as their is in India about them. We talk so much about minorities and caste and stuff like that, that even if a person wants to forget that he is a minority or from a lower caste ,every election year the likes of the Congress and the BSP go out of the way to remind people that they are downtrodden and neglected even if they aren't. The congress has announced loads of scholarships for minorities and backward castes. Why should a upper class person not be eligible for them? Poverty is the same for everybody: Hindu or Muslim, upper class or backward class. Clearly our present government seems to have forgotten that. Also the UPA government has perhaps done irreversible damage to the IIT/IIM system by opening the floodgates to all sorts of undeserving people. Plus the way the new IIT's have been setup and are functioning has to be a scandal. Pulling shit like this pisses me off to the core.
I will not vote for the BJP(NDA) because
Whenever and wherever the BJP comes to power we are suddenly faced with morons like the ones that vandalised a pub in Mangalore and attacked women. I have no idea what divine right, the BJP and it's more hardcore right wing elements feel they have, to be the custodians of Indian Culture. We have had such incidents all over India where couples in a park were attacked and every year we are bored to death by the antics of these so called "Standard bearers of Indian Culture" on valentines day. I wonder where Indian culture allows mobs to beat up women and young couples. I wish that these people were sent some more pink chaddis every year. Honestly these antics of the BJP's more orthodox parts scare the living hell out of me and is perhaps the only reason why most people do not vote for the BJP. Educated young India doesn't care about Ram-Raj. They want jobs and housing and health care and education. Not temples.
I will not vote for the left(the third Front) because
I am personally really scared of communists. Worldwide communists have this policy of "you are either with us or against us". Commies will argue otherwise but history will tell you that once the communists have got control of a country they never let go. They then set out to mercilessly kill any opposition. Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, Kim Jong Il's North Korea and Castro's Cuba(the official line is Socialism) are all fine examples.In India 30 years of communist rule in West Bengal has reduced a state once the Jewel of India to underdeveloped, corrupt state where a company cannot setup shop without being hassled by the goonda like trade unions. The situation in Bengal is so bad that unless you are a proper CPI(M) cadre member you can virtually kiss any sort of government employment goodbye. The shit in that state runs much deeper and is a topic for a book. Their anti-West, anti-Globalisation stances are at times just for the sake of it. Their behaviour on the nuclear deal was also rather immature. The bottom line: I don't want to pay any taxes to a communist regime.
And while I am at it, I would like to drop a line for the Honorable member of Parliament from Hyderabad Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi from the Majlis-e-Ittihaddul Muslimeen(MIM) whose offices are a stones throw away from my house. During the Post nuclear deal trust vote Owaisi sahab said that he would vote for the UPA govt. as he would vote for the party that best helped the uplift of Muslims. Well Mr.Owaisi I thought that you would vote for the Govt. that would best help in the uplift of your constituency at the very least. Seeing as that you don't care about the Non-Muslims around even in your constituency, you can kiss my vote goodbye too.
Will I vote for the Lok Satta or the TDP or even an Independent ? Well the answer is an emphatic NO. I tried 4 times to get a Voter ID made. Alas all those attempts failed. I have no voter ID and have no mention in the Electoral rolls. Whats more interesting is that my parents names too have vanished from the electoral rolls. Looks like the Election commission of India has decided for me that my vote really doesn't matter. I wish I could find those bickering Election Commissioners and give them the walloping they deserve for leaving me and perhaps many more lakhs of legitimate voters our of the rolls.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
The one with the horrible mails
I was reading this today and was left with a really big WTF look on my face. I then thought of putting up some awesome(er) mails to remind the alumni what they are missing out on :P
Mail 1
Sub:[Students] Reg:Kriya in yoga tomorrow morning
blah blah blah ...
But tomorrow, sir is going to teach new technique in yoga that is "kriya"
means cleaning of abdomen and stomach by drinking a bucket of water.
It will be, first driking of water as much as you can and doing some yog
and leaving the water out and again drinkng water like that the cycle will
be repeted till white water comes out of us. it will be nice experience.
blah blah blah ...
Mail 2
Sub: True Freedom
Too long to post here. Yet another one of those "Huh!! you talking to me ....WTF are you talking about, please don't put me through this, no stop ......noooooooooooo" reaction evoking mails
Mail 3
Sub: NOT IMPORTANT
The background- 2 people were "exchanging ideas" on a SE assignment, and copied their drafts from a IM window. Unfortunately they also copied their chat by mistake and uploaded it. Their transgression was made public to the batch in a mail by the TA. Original post by BullzY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub: A submission
From: The perennial Software Engg. TA
Mx. X: thr
Mr. X is busy.
Mr. X: ?
Mr. Y: haan
Mr. X: abe idhar aaja ek assnmnt mil gaya hai
Mr. Y: abey ek assnmnt hai mere paas dede wo
Mr. X: usko edit kar dete hain jaldi
Mr. Y: mix kar doonga manish: tym ni bacha
Mr. Y: abey mixing aasaan hai rather editing
Mr. X: thik
well, mr. X and Mr. Y tried to act smart. But forgot that last minute work
makes us more prone to errors + makes us answer questions that we never
asked.
Now, Mr. X and Mr. Y, you know who you are and we also know who you are.
So both are requested to meet me asap before we decide to give a F grade.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and when the TA sent the mail, the TA forgot to remove the attachment that X and Y had originally sent them, consequently revealing the identities of X and Y. Well... we do learn from our TA's don't we :O
PS.1 This post was inspired by sarika's last 2 posts with some awesome mails!! Way to go BullzY
PS2. Naming posts like friends episodes in completely legal.
Mail 1
Sub:[Students] Reg:Kriya in yoga tomorrow morning
blah blah blah ...
But tomorrow, sir is going to teach new technique in yoga that is "kriya"
means cleaning of abdomen and stomach by drinking a bucket of water.
It will be, first driking of water as much as you can and doing some yog
and leaving the water out and again drinkng water like that the cycle will
be repeted till white water comes out of us. it will be nice experience.
blah blah blah ...
Mail 2
Sub: True Freedom
Too long to post here. Yet another one of those "Huh!! you talking to me ....WTF are you talking about, please don't put me through this, no stop ......noooooooooooo" reaction evoking mails
Mail 3
Sub: NOT IMPORTANT
Dear BTP PROJECT STUDENTS ( e.g. Arpit Jain )
Today, we have faculty meeting from 3 PM onwards.
Thus I will be in the LTRC conference room from
3 PM to atleast 4.30 PM.
YOU CAN LEAVE THE BTP REPORTS IN MY
MAIL BOX ON THE GROUND FLOOR
MAIL BOX ON THE GROUND FLOOR
I am on LEAVE TOMORROW i.e. 5th March.
WIth Regards,
XXXXXXXXXX
I had to have one mail from XXXXXXXXX. He has been in scorching form this sem. And yes Arpit was indeed a fine example for many days after that mail :)
Mail 4
XXXXXXXXXX
I had to have one mail from XXXXXXXXX. He has been in scorching form this sem. And yes Arpit was indeed a fine example for many days after that mail :)
Mail 4
The background- 2 people were "exchanging ideas" on a SE assignment, and copied their drafts from a IM window. Unfortunately they also copied their chat by mistake and uploaded it. Their transgression was made public to the batch in a mail by the TA. Original post by BullzY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub: A submission
From: The perennial Software Engg. TA
Mx. X: thr
Mr. X is busy.
Mr. X: ?
Mr. Y: haan
Mr. X: abe idhar aaja ek assnmnt mil gaya hai
Mr. Y: abey ek assnmnt hai mere paas dede wo
Mr. X: usko edit kar dete hain jaldi
Mr. Y: mix kar doonga manish: tym ni bacha
Mr. Y: abey mixing aasaan hai rather editing
Mr. X: thik
well, mr. X and Mr. Y tried to act smart. But forgot that last minute work
makes us more prone to errors + makes us answer questions that we never
asked.
Now, Mr. X and Mr. Y, you know who you are and we also know who you are.
So both are requested to meet me asap before we decide to give a F grade.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and when the TA sent the mail, the TA forgot to remove the attachment that X and Y had originally sent them, consequently revealing the identities of X and Y. Well... we do learn from our TA's don't we :O
PS.1 This post was inspired by sarika's last 2 posts with some awesome mails!! Way to go BullzY
PS2. Naming posts like friends episodes in completely legal.
Monday, March 30, 2009
The one with the arbit things
I have not written a post since god knows how long. I could blame this on the standard guinea pig for all postponed tasks: research, but I will not. Yes I'm lazy.
I have been at home for the last 3 days and it gave me some time to catch up with the news. I think it's become fashionable for politicians to get arrested and have a shit load of cases filed against them. Also I find most political parties to be lame. I am also really pissed with the TDP spamming my phone inbox with loads of unsolicited SMS's. Grrrrr
I will now step into more pleasant territory :D Liv 4-0 Madrid, ManU(re) 1-4 Liverpool, Liverpool 5-0 Villa. w0000000000t!!! I must admit I have never seen Liverpool play this well. I must also admit that I have never seen Madrid or ManU(re) or Villa play that bad. I think Benitez is trying to build a team that will outdo everybody just on brute physical presence and pace. Not a bad ploy. I just hope Villa can get something out of their ManU(re) game so that the league really opens up.
While at home I have been downloading DVD rips of SouthPark. It is the most awesome series I have ever watched. Watching it in high quality all over again is great fun. (Yes ORB, you can take all 12 seasons in DVD quality, in exchange for your PS3 :P)
I also played my last competitive role in the IIIT football team. I have been part of 2 great football teams. Firstly our batch team and secondly the 2007 IIIT team. It has ben awesmoe to play with talented people like Raja, K.Rahul, S.Rahul, Shukla, Kochar,PP, Rakesh,Kabir, Abhilash etc.. I will miss playing with you fellows. It's also good that the present 2nd years like Adhyan,Yasir and Parikshit have been playing in the college team for some time now. I hope Satish can lead them to better things next year.
PS1. I wrote my first research paper this year !!!!
PS2. The new sysadmins are being kept really busy by the server room staff :O
PS3. I loved Button and Barrichello finishing on the Podium for BrawnGP. New life to F1
ps4. I hope Sachin scores some 2nd innings runs today
I have been at home for the last 3 days and it gave me some time to catch up with the news. I think it's become fashionable for politicians to get arrested and have a shit load of cases filed against them. Also I find most political parties to be lame. I am also really pissed with the TDP spamming my phone inbox with loads of unsolicited SMS's. Grrrrr
I will now step into more pleasant territory :D Liv 4-0 Madrid, ManU(re) 1-4 Liverpool, Liverpool 5-0 Villa. w0000000000t!!! I must admit I have never seen Liverpool play this well. I must also admit that I have never seen Madrid or ManU(re) or Villa play that bad. I think Benitez is trying to build a team that will outdo everybody just on brute physical presence and pace. Not a bad ploy. I just hope Villa can get something out of their ManU(re) game so that the league really opens up.
While at home I have been downloading DVD rips of SouthPark. It is the most awesome series I have ever watched. Watching it in high quality all over again is great fun. (Yes ORB, you can take all 12 seasons in DVD quality, in exchange for your PS3 :P)
I also played my last competitive role in the IIIT football team. I have been part of 2 great football teams. Firstly our batch team and secondly the 2007 IIIT team. It has ben awesmoe to play with talented people like Raja, K.Rahul, S.Rahul, Shukla, Kochar,PP, Rakesh,Kabir, Abhilash etc.. I will miss playing with you fellows. It's also good that the present 2nd years like Adhyan,Yasir and Parikshit have been playing in the college team for some time now. I hope Satish can lead them to better things next year.
PS1. I wrote my first research paper this year !!!!
PS2. The new sysadmins are being kept really busy by the server room staff :O
PS3. I loved Button and Barrichello finishing on the Podium for BrawnGP. New life to F1
ps4. I hope Sachin scores some 2nd innings runs today
Friday, November 07, 2008
A draft
I remember reading last year that of the 250 seats offered in the december course of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) only 84 people joined. For a country of more then a billion that is just amazing. As much as this may say about the youth of our country it says as much about the Indian Army as well.
Entry to the armed forces is after 12th class or after graduation. I feel that the class and caliber of people the armed forces are looking for, do not want to quit studying after 12th or in case of graduates, want jobs that have something to do with what they did in college. Somehow the armed forces haven't quite made arrangements to accommodate such people.
I have had decent exposure to the armed forces way of life. I have a lot of friends who are serving in the armed forces. It is in all honesty a reasonable life. Yes, it is at times hard, but is nowhere as near as "hostile" as it is perceived to be. For what it's worth I feel it is a much more comfortable and meaningful life then the crappy "BPO/KPO dream" that thousands of young Indians seem to want to pursue.
So back to the original piece I had read, The cheif of army staff had suggested that a draft might be a good option going forward. While this works in countries like the US and some EU countries I really don't think this would work in India. Our largely agrarian/service oriented society is a far cry from the gun slinging cultures of the west. Plus I don't think this is something politicians in our country will ever embrace.
The armed forces need to be thinking in other directions to attract people. One of the areas where I am personally disappointed with the armed forces is their capability to absorb and more importantly, utilize the skills of highly educated people. In the west, working for the armed forces and/or law enforcement is a very attractive proposition for the best graduates. For example the US armed forces, intelligence agencies and federal law enforcement make it a point to try and absorb the best talent graduating from top notch US universities. Today the Indian armed forces do not have a place for high skill graduates. It is time that the armed forces realized that there is much more to forming an effective military then conscripting able young men and packing them off to 18,000 feet. Yes we need people to do that as well, but there are high skill graduates in India who might wish serve in the armed forces, whose skills the armed forces could very well do with, who don't see a place for themselves in present armed forces setup.
And as for those people who join the armed forces after their 12th class, it's really not much of an education. In other countries joining the armed forces is a route to college. In India sadly, the options of education for a young officer are rather poor. The so called engineering that people study through the technical entry scheme of the army is at the college of military engineering which is really not much better then any B-grade college. I feel that people in the armed forces who wish to study must be allowed to do so at top places like the IIT's or AIIMS. For those who cry about merit: These people have committed to serve the country. Letting them study in good colleges is the least we can do for them. At any rate 50% of people in these places aren't exactly meritorious.
It's time the armed forces offered something concrete to those who join them. Simply calling India's youth unpatriotic and driven by the greed for money is just not on. It is a lame excuse to sidestep the problems the structure of the armed forces faces. The armed forces must wake up to the reality that they face direct competition from India Inc. They must face this competition with the same flair that has made them a respected force in the world. A draft will not do!
Entry to the armed forces is after 12th class or after graduation. I feel that the class and caliber of people the armed forces are looking for, do not want to quit studying after 12th or in case of graduates, want jobs that have something to do with what they did in college. Somehow the armed forces haven't quite made arrangements to accommodate such people.
I have had decent exposure to the armed forces way of life. I have a lot of friends who are serving in the armed forces. It is in all honesty a reasonable life. Yes, it is at times hard, but is nowhere as near as "hostile" as it is perceived to be. For what it's worth I feel it is a much more comfortable and meaningful life then the crappy "BPO/KPO dream" that thousands of young Indians seem to want to pursue.
So back to the original piece I had read, The cheif of army staff had suggested that a draft might be a good option going forward. While this works in countries like the US and some EU countries I really don't think this would work in India. Our largely agrarian/service oriented society is a far cry from the gun slinging cultures of the west. Plus I don't think this is something politicians in our country will ever embrace.
The armed forces need to be thinking in other directions to attract people. One of the areas where I am personally disappointed with the armed forces is their capability to absorb and more importantly, utilize the skills of highly educated people. In the west, working for the armed forces and/or law enforcement is a very attractive proposition for the best graduates. For example the US armed forces, intelligence agencies and federal law enforcement make it a point to try and absorb the best talent graduating from top notch US universities. Today the Indian armed forces do not have a place for high skill graduates. It is time that the armed forces realized that there is much more to forming an effective military then conscripting able young men and packing them off to 18,000 feet. Yes we need people to do that as well, but there are high skill graduates in India who might wish serve in the armed forces, whose skills the armed forces could very well do with, who don't see a place for themselves in present armed forces setup.
And as for those people who join the armed forces after their 12th class, it's really not much of an education. In other countries joining the armed forces is a route to college. In India sadly, the options of education for a young officer are rather poor. The so called engineering that people study through the technical entry scheme of the army is at the college of military engineering which is really not much better then any B-grade college. I feel that people in the armed forces who wish to study must be allowed to do so at top places like the IIT's or AIIMS. For those who cry about merit: These people have committed to serve the country. Letting them study in good colleges is the least we can do for them. At any rate 50% of people in these places aren't exactly meritorious.
It's time the armed forces offered something concrete to those who join them. Simply calling India's youth unpatriotic and driven by the greed for money is just not on. It is a lame excuse to sidestep the problems the structure of the armed forces faces. The armed forces must wake up to the reality that they face direct competition from India Inc. They must face this competition with the same flair that has made them a respected force in the world. A draft will not do!
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Truth about Pranav Kumar Vasishta
We all know pranav as the elderly IIIT thinker that he is. This post will expose the evil behind the mask of innocence that he puts on.
The victim was mythalez (a.k.a Ramachandra :O )
The year was 2006. Rama had just checked his mail on Dilip(also from ug2k2) room PC. After he checked his mail, he exited the room without logging off. Enter Pranav. Seeing rama's console open, the devil inside Pranav took over. Encouraged by Dilip, pranav changed the title of the putty window (putty window bar->right click->change settings->window->behaviour->window title) to vasishta@students. This was followed by a change to the prompt(the .bashrc file) to make it look like [vasishta@students ~]:
So we have Ramachandra's putty session looking like pranav's session.
Thus the trap was set for Rama. In some time Rama entered the room and saw a putty session titled vasishta@students . Ramachandra eyes lit up like 1000W bulbs. Encouraged by Dilip and sensing a once in a lifetime opportunity, Rama quickely composed a tullu mail to his batch from that putty session. Rama then went to pranav and with a big smile on his face asked pranav to check his mail. Pranav opened his mail box and lo and behold there was a mail:
Ramachandra Sub: I am the greatest tullu of IIIT.
And that is the story of how Ramachandra was *pawnd* by Pranav Kumar Vasishta. I have seen lots of tullu mail in IIIT. But this has to be the mother of all tullu mails.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Rats
Yes Rats.... They chewed up the link between the NBH-GH and the rest of IIIT.
PS1. At times working in the server room is a real education as to the flexibility of the protocols of TCP/IP and the amount of abuse cisco hardware can take.
PS2. I am happy ganguly and dravid managed to get some runs.
PS3. After a long time(6~7 years) I played four continuous days of badminton. It felt good.
PS4. I saw kulbir saini's cam. The auto click(when you smile) thing either doesn't work or I don't have a happy enough smile :(
ps5. Played far cry all over again. Not in the mood for "research" these days.
ps6. My gfx card(7800gtx) is totally and utterly useless. I need a new machine. Donations please :)
ps7. I think most of your batchmates leaving makes for a very lonely and boring existance. I think the life in the OBH is kinda dull these days. No longer see people out in the corridors BC'ing.
PS8. Somebody download some good series .............
Monday, August 25, 2008
Arbit Post
I have had to work a lot in the past few days(MS/r) I learned quite a few new things. First that there are more then 15 ways of doing binary multiplication. Second there are at-least 10 ways of doing binary exponentiation!! Boy people do have a lot of time on hand :) And the worst thing to happen was that a conference date was advanced by a full 20 days :( Now I have to work even harder !
The Olympics are over and it's fair to say that none of us expected 3 medals for India. It's an outstanding achievement.On he whole just when we thought that it couldn't get any better then Phelps, along came Usain Bolt. WOW is the only word I have to describe him. He ran the 100m as if it was a morning jog.
This was the first time I really followed the Olympics. I was getting used to life at IIIT when the last Olympics happened and was too ignorant in 2000. I think our generation has seen something of a miracle in the performances of Phelps and Bolt. Odds are we won't see anything as spectacular anytime soon. I'm glad I was around to watch Beijing 2008.
PS: I watched only the last 10 mins of Liverpool vs Boro :) Awesome awesome awesome
The Olympics are over and it's fair to say that none of us expected 3 medals for India. It's an outstanding achievement.On he whole just when we thought that it couldn't get any better then Phelps, along came Usain Bolt. WOW is the only word I have to describe him. He ran the 100m as if it was a morning jog.
This was the first time I really followed the Olympics. I was getting used to life at IIIT when the last Olympics happened and was too ignorant in 2000. I think our generation has seen something of a miracle in the performances of Phelps and Bolt. Odds are we won't see anything as spectacular anytime soon. I'm glad I was around to watch Beijing 2008.
PS: I watched only the last 10 mins of Liverpool vs Boro :) Awesome awesome awesome
Monday, August 18, 2008
Why IIIT will not have 50 PhD's anytime soon
There is just one reason why many people don't want to pursue a PhD at IIIT or any other Indian university - Money.
American Universities pay PhD students anywhere between $1500 and $2500 per month. You get paid something like Rs.9000 in India. There is just no comparison. For those wondering why money is that important: A PhD would start at-least at the age of 23 and would take almost 5 years. By the age of 28-29 you would come up against at-least one of these issues if not more.
1. Repayment of Loans
2. Family Obligations
3. Marriage
If you have any of these things to deal with you can't afford to earn the paltry 9K per month that a PhD gives you. You could however, possibly do all of the above while doing a PhD abroad. Just think of it like this. As a PhD student abroad, it would cost you a quarter of your monthly pay to buy a laptop. In India it would take you 5 months pay to buy a laptop. In India, we have the universities, we have the faculty and we have the level of work. What we don't have is a realistic stipend structure. Somehow academics in India think that there is some novelty in Poverty. There is *no* novelty in poverty.
IIIT is a place where things can happen. It just needs some will. Still paying TA's and RA's peanuts and not paying MS students like myself and many others anything, doesn't help. If any faculty member is reading : Fix this !
PS: The "Novelty in Poverty" phrase was originally put forward to me by Jimmy.
American Universities pay PhD students anywhere between $1500 and $2500 per month. You get paid something like Rs.9000 in India. There is just no comparison. For those wondering why money is that important: A PhD would start at-least at the age of 23 and would take almost 5 years. By the age of 28-29 you would come up against at-least one of these issues if not more.
1. Repayment of Loans
2. Family Obligations
3. Marriage
If you have any of these things to deal with you can't afford to earn the paltry 9K per month that a PhD gives you. You could however, possibly do all of the above while doing a PhD abroad. Just think of it like this. As a PhD student abroad, it would cost you a quarter of your monthly pay to buy a laptop. In India it would take you 5 months pay to buy a laptop. In India, we have the universities, we have the faculty and we have the level of work. What we don't have is a realistic stipend structure. Somehow academics in India think that there is some novelty in Poverty. There is *no* novelty in poverty.
IIIT is a place where things can happen. It just needs some will. Still paying TA's and RA's peanuts and not paying MS students like myself and many others anything, doesn't help. If any faculty member is reading : Fix this !
PS: The "Novelty in Poverty" phrase was originally put forward to me by Jimmy.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Building a Gaming Rig in 60K
I can't play crysis better then medium@1200x800 on my laptop This state of affairs is not limited to crysis and the situation is simply unacceptable. I have decided to purchase a new system. This time I won't go for a laptop. I plan to build a monster desktop. I have 60K in savings and that will be my budget for the new machine. I want to build this desktop without having to sell my laptop. My laptop, having served me very well for almost 2 and a half years now, will retreat onto my dads desk where he will use it for his word-processing needs.
Processor: The 3 contenders
1. Core 2 quad 6600
2. Core 2 quad 9300
3. Core 2 quad 9450
For those wondering where AMD is, there is a simple answer: AMD is totally absent in this segment. Their best processor is in the phenom range and doesn't even come close to the intel ones listed here. After some head-breaking I have decided to go for the 9450. It's damn expensive. But overclocked it comes into the performance range of an stock core 2 extreme processor. Not bad. I don't want my processor to be a bottleneck.
Pehla Jhatka : Intel Core 2 Quad q9450 @ Rs.15,500
Motherboard
1. Intel DP35DP
This was rather straightforward. I want to buy a single card solution. SLI is a pain. You have to buy a higher power supply that will cost a little fortune on it's own. Plus not all games leverage SLI.
Doosra Jhatka : Intel DP35DP @ 5,750
Grafix Card: When I sat down to research the situation on gfx cards I was shocked by how abnormally high these cards are in India. Check this out.
XfX 9800gx2 Price in India 33K. Online price in America converted to rupees: 14K
Xfx gtx280 Price in India 45K. Online price in America converted to rupees: 18.5K
Generally other components like processors and motherboards have a variation of 15~20% from their American prices. But this is fucking insane. The gtx280 and 9800gx2 cost almost 2.5 times their original price. Whats more they come with lifetime warranties in the US as compared to the 3 year warranties here. I will wait for somebody to get me a card from the US. I'm not going to waste money buying them here. As for the card I am going to buy a gtx280. 9800gx2 has outperformed it some games, but not all games are optimized for multiple GPU's and there is also the advantage of higher texture memory and phyXis.
Teesra Jhatka: XfX gtx280 xxx edition @ 19K
Other stuff:
RAM : 2x2GB @ 4K
HDD : 2x250 WD @ 4.6 K
Stuff I already Have:
Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Wireless card, TV tuner, DVD writer.
Lets see where I am in terms of money
15,500 + 5,750 + 19,000 + 4,000 + 4,600 = 48,850
Which leaves me with roughly 12K to buy a cabinet, SMPS and a monitor. I am terribly overshooting!!!
Assuming a basic cabinet costs 2K and a basic 600W power supply would cost 3K, I am now left with 7 K for a monitor.
I am looking cutting costs possibly on the processor. I don't want to fiddle with the rest of the stuff. The next post when I figure out what to cut out!!
Processor: The 3 contenders
1. Core 2 quad 6600
2. Core 2 quad 9300
3. Core 2 quad 9450
For those wondering where AMD is, there is a simple answer: AMD is totally absent in this segment. Their best processor is in the phenom range and doesn't even come close to the intel ones listed here. After some head-breaking I have decided to go for the 9450. It's damn expensive. But overclocked it comes into the performance range of an stock core 2 extreme processor. Not bad. I don't want my processor to be a bottleneck.
Pehla Jhatka : Intel Core 2 Quad q9450 @ Rs.15,500
Motherboard
1. Intel DP35DP
This was rather straightforward. I want to buy a single card solution. SLI is a pain. You have to buy a higher power supply that will cost a little fortune on it's own. Plus not all games leverage SLI.
Doosra Jhatka : Intel DP35DP @ 5,750
Grafix Card: When I sat down to research the situation on gfx cards I was shocked by how abnormally high these cards are in India. Check this out.
XfX 9800gx2 Price in India 33K. Online price in America converted to rupees: 14K
Xfx gtx280 Price in India 45K. Online price in America converted to rupees: 18.5K
Generally other components like processors and motherboards have a variation of 15~20% from their American prices. But this is fucking insane. The gtx280 and 9800gx2 cost almost 2.5 times their original price. Whats more they come with lifetime warranties in the US as compared to the 3 year warranties here. I will wait for somebody to get me a card from the US. I'm not going to waste money buying them here. As for the card I am going to buy a gtx280. 9800gx2 has outperformed it some games, but not all games are optimized for multiple GPU's and there is also the advantage of higher texture memory and phyXis.
Teesra Jhatka: XfX gtx280 xxx edition @ 19K
Other stuff:
RAM : 2x2GB @ 4K
HDD : 2x250 WD @ 4.6 K
Stuff I already Have:
Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Wireless card, TV tuner, DVD writer.
Lets see where I am in terms of money
15,500 + 5,750 + 19,000 + 4,000 + 4,600 = 48,850
Which leaves me with roughly 12K to buy a cabinet, SMPS and a monitor. I am terribly overshooting!!!
Assuming a basic cabinet costs 2K and a basic 600W power supply would cost 3K, I am now left with 7 K for a monitor.
I am looking cutting costs possibly on the processor. I don't want to fiddle with the rest of the stuff. The next post when I figure out what to cut out!!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Zidane Vs Ronaldinho Vs Ronaldo
Three truly great players, lots of fun, lots of eye- popping tricks and some uber-cool moves. Zidane is retired, ronaldinho is in a super slump and ronaldo is setting the world on fire right now. Who do you think has been the most prolific player at their peak?
My personal favourite is Zidane. He just made people look stupid with his skill. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo have a lot of pace but Zidane was about elegance, daft touches and some awesome 360 degree spins! Ronaldinho's flip flop is something out of this world and Ronaldo's eye for goal is
outstanding but nothing quite matches the creativity of Zidane!
My personal favourite is Zidane. He just made people look stupid with his skill. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo have a lot of pace but Zidane was about elegance, daft touches and some awesome 360 degree spins! Ronaldinho's flip flop is something out of this world and Ronaldo's eye for goal is
outstanding but nothing quite matches the creativity of Zidane!
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