Avatar!!!

After weeks of watching just the extended HD trailer, I could not wait anymore to watch this movie. Me and my rommates had booked a ticket for last Sunday at Fame Lido. Effin 350 bucks. But I was desperate to watch it. Did not mind.

Here goes the review.....

Avatar - a movie with a typical bollywood story filled with stunning visuals. Sam Worthington, after a brilliant performance in Terminator Salvation comes up with a stellar performance as an ex-marine who lost his legs and a twin brother. He proves his mettle as an actor. Soon, he will join the big league of Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio and Johny Depp.

Hollywood for once shows Earthlings invading another planet and this time the audience will take the aliens' side. Frankly, I'm tired of all the aliens invading Earth and so is everyone. This is a refreshing change. I just hope there are not anymore copycat movies.

I'm not delving into the details of the plot because there isn't much to say, but visuals OMFG. Michelle Rodriguez in the movie says "should see your faces", it so applies to you, you will be so awestruck that you will look super stupid, esp with the 3-D glasses on.

James Cameron conceived the idea for Avatar in 1994, but then technology had to catchup. I thought he was bullshitting, but no shit. Seriously, to create something like this, he sure needed the best equipments of 2009. This $200 million, 15 year project could not have been any better.

Bottomline: 350 or 500, watch it for its visuals. I'm sure you or anyone you know has not seen anything like this in your or his/her lifetime.

THE Final Year - Unarguably THE BEST

Alright. Some time in hand now. And I am not sleepy. The last month has been pretty hectic. Now that I'm done with my work for the year :D I can BLOG.. Final year has been waiting in the drafts for quite some time now.

Placement BEGINS.. First comes TCS, I decided to give it a skip because it had a 2 year bond, then was CTS. Skipping all the details - I got through and got the offer letter the same day. Happy??? Well.... Almost.

After a few days comes DE Shaw, the highest payer - 11.7 LPA.. Who would wanna miss that chance??? But you remember my CGPA fiasco? I was not allowed to write the test because I was NOT A 9 POINTER. I'm sure I would not have gotten through. Not that smart you see......

Again skipping details. I got into interviews for 4 companies. Got rejected by one which said "You would not find the job exciting!!!" (WTH???) Another company after a million rounds of interviews has still not given my result. Another company rejected me because my grades weren't "consistent" and finally got into the company I'm currently working for - Mu Sigma Business Solutions. Was I happy??? Hell yeah.. Though it was not a core electronics company that I wanted to be in, the job profile I thought sounded cool I was gonna be a Business Analyst :P Yippie ;)

Skipping a lotttttttttt more details....... I did not want an internship in the 7th semester (does not mean I could have got one if I had wanted to) because I wanted to spend my final semester freaking out..

All through this, I just felt great being in THE FINAL YEAR.. The guys we looked upto when we were in the first year. The guys who could skip classes, the guys who got to do all the "co-ordinating" work.. You know.. It was us now..

Came the 8th semester - unarguably the best days of my life. No classes. One project which wasn't very time consuming, an understanding guide and awesome project mates. This was when we went for lunch to palakkad and for tea to ooty. That's LIFE.

Any movie that got released, I made it a point to watch it first day. Played basketball everyday like crazy (I sucked at it... Still do ...) roamed the entire city with Rafi in my bike. Checked out almost every single restaurant in Coimbatore. Hung around a lot in friends' places, again organized robotics for Kriya and screwed up big time (http://vineeth88.blogspot.com/2009/03/kriya-09-robotics.html). Above all made many “friends for life”.

It all seemed like it just started, but there it was – the final review right in front of us. All that I wanted was not to get a re-do which will make me stay another 6 months in college. The review went on well in spite of us not having done great work.

After the reviews got over, we had one last week to spend at the hostel.( PSG Tech hostel = heaven – (good food + good looking girls)). We had so many things to do in the last one week. Library clearance, lab clearance, alumni induction and of course having as much fun as possible. We – the entire boys strength of ECE went around race course walking. The next day we had our T-shirt scribbling ceremony where people write random stuff on each others’ T-shirts. Some of them were really great wishes (“Hope you get laid soon” was something that was there in everybody’s T-shirt). After all that fiasco, the last DAY we spent taking photographs of every interesting point of our college – department entrance, the landmark bridge, hostel entrance, the hostel register where you sign in when you enter late (I have seen Jason Bournes, John McLanes and all other Hollywood action heroes in the register), the hostel snack bar, the basketball court and everything we could set our eyes on.

Next morning, guys left one by one. I was the last one to go home. I have heard so many stories about “macho guys” crying during the last day - the last goodbye, but we were “super macho guys” who did not cry. None of us did!!! Really!!! Felt great that we all departed the way we lived life – KING SIZE!!!

No matter how miserable your college life was when you were in it, when you look back, those would still be the BEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE.

I finish off with a quote from Shawshank Redemption:

“I tell you these walls are funny. First you hate them. Then you get used to them.Enough time passes... You get so dependent on them. That's institutionalized”

Just replace walls with college, the sentence holds so true.

Miss my college life… No matter how much fun I have now, nothing equals the fun in college..

I dedicate this series of posts to all the people who have directly or indirectly been a part of the 4 years and made it so WONDERFUL.

Third Year - Pre-final in a lot of senses!!!!

Hey all. I'm back to my dear old blog of more than a month's hiatus.

Q.Why did i not blog?
A.Well. Nothing. I was plain lazy.
Q.Why do I come back to it?
A.Two weeks of joblessness will rekindle your blogging spirits :D

THE THIRD YEAR....

Third year was a major transformation period. Whatever seemed too important in the second seemed trivial in the third. Class "interaction" is one perfect example. I spent so much time thinking how good the class would be if everyone spoke to everyone else, but by the time we were in third year, I realised we were better off the way we are.

All the trivialities apart, this was when we (I, Vijay, Karthick and Sundar) started spending all our time in the PSG Tech - Infineon Embedded Systems Lab. We first started off developing a Robot - An Autonomous Pathfinder. That was one major disaster. It worked well till the moment it mattered. When we were being evaluated, it bombed. One of my teammates (name better not mentioned, but everyone who knew our group would have guesses by now :P ) was almost in tears, but the others were the usual joke cracking, babe watching self. Our other project took one major chunk of our time in college. There have been days when we were in the lab for 3 continuous days - without break. All that paid dividends when we won so many awards for our project. It was even published in an International journal. Even the Robot which we thought was a disaster impressed people from a company called Atmel that they ended up publishing that in their own online journal.

These two projects taught us a lot of things. It was because of these two projects that I learnt to be level headed. Whenever we were commended, I remembered the wild stares we got when our Robot bombed. So we never really celebrated much.

Pre placement preparations had begun in full swing. There were some sections who were busy preparing for GRE and some who were busy with CAT preparations. Overall, it was time to get serious. But me being me, decided to do GRE, but thought learning words to get scores was too stupid. As a result of which I did not prepare for GRE. CAT really was out of question back then. I thought my project would fetch me a job in some decent core company. It was not to be so because my already screwed up CGPA got all the more screwed up as I went further downhill in the 5th semester.

So, we (entire ECE strength in hostel - even though I wasnt a hosteller, I was almost always in the hostel) decided to do combined studies for the 6th semester. We split the syllabus of each subject among 10 - 15 odd people and learnt only what was allotted to us. End of the day, we would discuss what we learnt. We thought this was a good way of conquering the monster called End Semester Examination, this too proved to be a disaster as my CGPA tumbled to an all time - unimaginable low. I had people from other departments asking me what happened. Most of them thought it was because of some fallen relationship. But hell, nobody was ready to believe that I was getting LAZIER.

At the end of the 6th semester, I was nowhere near my classmates. Those who started preparing for GRE with me ended up getting good scores and started the app process whereas I was still in the FIRST WORD LIST from BARRONS because I thought I was smarter in not learning words to get a score. Since I wanted to do GRE, I did not prepare for placements and they were about to begin. It was then that the realization dawned upon me - I HAD SCREWED EVERYTHING UP :)

To be continued......

Second year!!!

After a long time, I come back to my dear old blog. Work kept me off it for so long. My work as a Business Analyst at Mu Sigma is fun. I'm enjoying the work so much that I even dream of numbers, insights and excel spreadsheets :)

To begin with, one thing that stands out in the second year is Intrams. For people who don't know - Intrams is PSG Tech's intra college cultural fest. There were a variety of events like Footloose (Dance), 2-D, Movie Spoof, Woodstock. I was a part of 2-D. It was supposed to be a skit that examines two sides of an issue. We started off with "Reservations based on caste" and did well. When the prelims came, we were asked to change the topic as it might "hurt" many people. That hurt nobody but us. After weeks of story and dialogue writing and rehearsing all nights after attending college in the morning we were rejected. We had one day to come up with something new. We decided to do something on "Democracy". Saagar wrote the entire script in one night, I and Niranjan came up with a few punch dialogues here and there. Finally we finished the script that night and did one or two rehearsals in the morning. Nirmal Davis was in charge of Music. When the moment came, we were all bloody nervous. Still, it went on with punch dialogues, good music and some REALLY BAD ACTING :D still, we won the FIRST PLACE. Our joy knew no bounds, we all jumped, hugged each other, hooted, howled, whistled, screamed and literally flew over to the stage. After all that we went through, it was simply amazing. Felt great. ECE won in footloose, 2-D, Theme show, Woodstock and many other off stage events. The name Blitzkriegerz became so famous that we had people who passed out call us and ask who that is :)

Apart from Intrams, I alongwith 3 other guys decided to make a Robot for a contest in Anna University. We were the only second years, even though we were eliminated in the second round - by the eventual winners, we felt good because we actually did something in Robotics. Then, I did not know that Embedded Systems lab and Robotics would become my identity in the next two years.

Friends we just knew in the first year, became BEST FRIENDS in the second. Went into a relationship which like most relationships progressed from very sweet to really bad. Finally we broke up in the third year after a lot of contemplation.

Second year was when I got an 8 point CGPA for the first time. I thought it was just one off and I would return to be a 9 pointer next semester, it was not meant to be. I remained an 8 pointer from then on. Getting a 9 point CGPA seemed too easy in the first three semesters, but became almost impossible since then.

The second year also had us trying to improve the "Interaction" in class and failing miserably. Thinking about it now, I feel like a fool for having attached so much importance to things that were actually not important. Then, it felt like if we did not win in Intrams, we would not be respected. The very next year, we did not even go see what was happening in Intrams. What seems extremely important in one year, seems very trivial in the very next year. That is how you can realise you are GROWING UP. I certainly GREW UP a lot in the second year. It taught us a lot of things because I made a lot of mistakes in the second year.

My Experiences in P.S.G College of Technology - First Year.

First day – We all go into Y-201 for the department orientation. Our HoD Dr.Jayaraman talks about how proud we must be to be a part of this great institution. Well, I guess I was – that day. He calls out roll numbers, asks everyone to introduce themselves. People I knew used to call P.S.G College of Technology heaven - for the number of good looking girls it had. So expectations were high indeed. But roll call didn’t seem to reflect on what I had heard outside. The best looking girl of ECE was not even half as good looking as the average looking girl of my school. Being in a school that was well known for the number of good looking girls didn’t help my cause. But life had to go on.

I made quite a few friends on the very first day. Like Saagar once said, the first friends you make in any place will always be special to you. No matter how the relationship ends. First internals, I flunked in 3 subjects. But made up by getting great scores in 2nd and 3rd. P.S.G Tech had a great system in which best two of your three internal marks are taken for assessments. Apart from that, first semester was completely eventless. We felt like school kids in a college. College was nowhere near what Indian films showed them to be. Films based on colleges should be banned in India for misleading the students. So, that was some disappointment too. The second semester opened up new avenues to us. We had KRIYA 06. P.S.G Tech’s own tech fest. We all were looking forward to it because that would be our first real exposure to college fests. Being first year GUYS, all that we were asked to do was:

1)Move tables.
2)Move chairs.
3)Move boards.
4)Move more tables, chairs and boards.

The first year girls had more interesting things to do:
1)Wear a saree.
2)Welcome participants.
3)Write down their names.
4)And just simply look good.

In spite of the lack of good looking girls in P.S.G, they somehow managed point number 4, maybe point number 1 helped :D (on an average, girls look better with saree).

Well, in what way Kriya 06 helped? I guess it didn’t. But it got me more friends, and got me interested in organizing events which would become the most important part of my life later in life college life.

Then we had internals, semester exams n all dat. I got a 9.13 in the first sem and 9.25 in the second. I expected a 9.5, but when it came to marks, I’m always happy with what I get.

Fitting my entire college life in one single post would not make sense as you would have to read through pages and pages of personal experiences. So, the next post would contain my experiences in the second year.

-Vineeth

Life at the end of 4 days in Mu Sigma Business Solutions Pvt Ltd.

If there is one question that goes through the mind of every engineering graduate after he actually graduates is - "What next???" Well, luckily I dint have to wait for really long to get that answer, the company that hired me called Mu-Sigma business solutions had asked me to join on the 1st of June (It was actually advanced from 28th of september which incidentally happens to be a holiday for Mu-Sigma according to its calendar :P ). Things that I had been putting off for later had to be done. I applied for my PAN card and got it before I left. Even thought PAN is issued by the Income Tax Department which is a part of Government of India, the entire process went about without much of a fuss because it was actually outsourced to a company called Karvy consultancies. So that was pretty cool :) The other important document I had to get before I left was my passport. I have been postponing it for the past god knows how many days. Finally I did drop in at the passport office, application had to be done online and I did, I was given an appointment on the 8th of June which actually happens to be a working day for Mu-Sigma and I could not take off during the first one month because it was the training period. So poof, there goes the passport.

After all that visiting relatives and temples formalities that goes on in South India (Esp Tamilnadu), I left for Bangalore with friends and relatives waving their hands at the bus stand(you actually don't get trains from anywhere on earth to bangalore, you have to book it a millenium in advance). I roamed around aimlessly in Bangalore for 3 days as I landed quite earlier because I had to meet the house owner and there were loads of other formalities to finish.

Finally, THE DAY came. It was June 1st. I had to join office. I was all excited about it. I woke up at 6 A.M without the Alarm. Wow. That was some day. It normally takes 3 alarms, a bucket of water, music at full blast, some yelling and the smell of lunch to wake me up at 12 Noon :D

I reached office earlier than I was expected. I was in the office by 8.25. Saagar who happens to be one of my best friends from the first year was with me too. It was a great feeling. People started coming in, we had to fill in one cartload of forms and meet another boatload (Mu-Sigma Jargon) of people. It was hard remembering most of their names because apparently, the part of my brain that was supposed to hold memory had some malfunction, I still haven't been able to figure out how to fix it. Well, getting back to what I was saying, I made quite a few friends at office in a very short while. One thing I noted the whole day was that there was not even a small glitch anywhere. Things went on really well. It only showed the amount of pain that had gone into the planning. Hats off to guys at Mu-Sigma for having done such a great job on the very first day.

Second day was AWESOME. We had real fun exercises to be done. First we were paired with one seemingly unknown person and were asked to introduce each other. Helped in knowing one extra person than we already knew. Then came a team building exercise, we had to build a tower out of paper, clips and glue stick and market it :) we were split into groups of 5. Fortunately my group had one genius called Abhishek who did most of the design part. We did all the cutting and pitched in with a few suggestions gere and there. Most of the presentations were highly creative and witty. I started loving the people already. Then we had a session on "office etiquette" after which we had to organize a meeting. Again we were split into groups of 6 and our group had really enthusiastic people. The meeting went on well too. End of the day, we knew a lot more people than we actually did at the end of the first day.

Third and fourth days were full of classes. Maybe I now roughly get the idea of what people at Mu Sigma meant by a "hectic schedule". We had sessions non-stop with no real breaks in between. The way they make it sound, the work actually seems exciting. If it really is as exciting as it sounds, I'm sure i'll end up having a hell lotta fun. I'm LOVING THIS PLACE and THE PEOPLE.

Signed off at the end of 4th day at Mu - Sigma.

My Favorite Movie DIalogues.

"This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object" - The Joker in The Dark Knight.

"Keep your friends close, your enemies closer" - Don Vito Andolini Corleone in The Godfather.

"We'll make him an offer he'll not refuse" - Don Vito Andolini Corleone in The Godfather

"Why so serious???" - The Joker in The Dark Knight

" I tell you these walls are funny. First you hate them. Then you get used to them.Enough time passes... You get so dependent on them. That's institutionalized" - Ellis Boyd Redding a.k.a Red in The Shawshank Redemption.

"In a prison, a man would do anything to keep his mind occupied" - Ellis Boyd Redding a.k.a Red in The Shawshank Redemption

"Do you wanna know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... ...little emotions. You see, in their last moments... ...people show you who they really are. So in a way, I knew your friends better than you ever did." - The Joker in The Dark Knight

"If you are good at something, never do it for free" - The Joker in The Dark Knight

"This city deserves a better class of criminals" - The Joker in The Dark Knight

"I believe... Whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you stranger..." - The Joker in The Dark Knight

"I don't wanna be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" - Frank Costello in Departed

"When I was your age, they used to say we could become cops or criminals. Today, what I'm sayin to you is this - when you're facing a loaded gun........ What's the difference???" - Frank Costello in Departed

That's all that I can remember now. Will keep updating as and when I remember.

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain" - Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight

"I believe you, but that doesn't save you" - Bryan Mills in Taken

"Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period. All right? " - Chris Gardner in Pursuit of Happyness

"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do.. That defines you" - Rachel Dawes in Batman Beginds.

"Introduce a little anarchy.. Upset the established order.. and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos??? It's fair" - The Joker in The Dark Knight.

"You see, madness, as you know, is... like gravity. All it takes is a little push." - The Joker in The Dark Knight.

"The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you... The dawn is coming." - Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.

P.S - GP's tribute to The Joker ( http://gpgraffiti.blogspot.com/2009/04/do-you-know-how-i-got-these-scars.html ) inspired me to come up with this. Hats off to you GP for such a wonderful tribute to the most memorable movie character.