Following are some of the shocks in General election 2009 that i have found out :-
1. Left front routed from West Bengal and Kerala - Last time they had as many as 61 MPs from India . This time they only managed half of it. This is mainly because of their poor show in WB and kerala. It was expected that their performance will dip this time , but nobody expected a 50% fall.
2. Indian national congress bagging more than 200 seats - This was most unexpected. Everyone expected that they will get around in the range of 160. But they got 40 odd seats too many.
3. Congress bagging 20+ seats in UP - The big players SP and BSP failed this time. And congress ,the underdog in UP got 20 seats in UP. This was mainly because of the Rahul Gandhi factor.
4. TMC getting all the seats in kolkata and 100 Kms away from kolkata - Another big shocker. The left was completely routed from kolkata. What was even more surprising that they lost by huge huge margins in some constituency.
5. SP and BSP giving unconditional support to UPA - SP leader Amar singh before the results said that they will force the congress and humilate the congress by making them beg for Samajwadi party's support. But things are quite different now. Its the other way around . Also SP and BSP supporting the same govt!!... quite a surprise.
6. Congress alliance with DMK doing expectionally well in TN - Everybody expected AIDMK+ to do well in TN this time . Everybody expected Jaylalitha to play the role of kingmaker this time. But nobody now even talks of Jaylalitha .
7. Congress doing well in Maharastra - I personally felt that congress will do poorly this time in Mahasrastra simply because of poor governance there and the 26/11 attack. But congress managed to increase its tally by 2 this time around.
8. The Naveen Master Stroke - Naveen Patnaik broke away from the NDA this time before the polls. He took a huge gamble. But surprisingly BJD managed to sweep polls in both lok sabh and also state elections!
9. Paswan failure - Ram Bilas Paswan the 6 time MP and LJP leader lost in the election for the first time. I was personally shocked to see this.
If you have any more points to add onto this please comment!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Next Version of Internet May Include Brain!
The problem with the web today is, it has no idea what the hell you’re talking about! It doesn’t understand what you are asking of it. Search for an artist you like and you’re OK but ask it “what was the highest temperature in Kolkata week”, and it fails embarrassingly.
A new technology Wolfram|Alpha, a system which is capable of computing answers to questions is likely to be launched this year.So the web is expected to be smarter by the end of this year. However it isn’t limited to any field or type of question. It actually understands what you are asking of it, and computes the answer! It is like as calculator which can give you answers to questions like “What was the length of the longest whale discovered in the pacific ocean between the years 1900 and 1990”. It doesn’t come with preprogrammed questions; considering the scope of the questions it aims to answer, that would be almost impossible. Instead, the developers have actually generated models of the kind of factual questions that it may be asked, and broken them down into units that can be computed.
The potential of this system is limitless, but it itself is not. It doesn’t not plan to give answers that may have multiple opinions, just for facts so don’t expect it to answer question on anything like “Should I marry my boyfriend who has been with me for the last three years, but we broke up for like 3 months in the middle, and he didn’t even call once! Well actually he did, but I wasn’t there, but he didn’t call again! So should I? ”. This means the system has less chance of being biased, i.e. having answered based on the opinions of the people who are entering the data. This also means that it can only supplement google, not replace it. It may never be able to rule the world, but I’m pretty sure it will rule the web!
A new technology Wolfram|Alpha, a system which is capable of computing answers to questions is likely to be launched this year.So the web is expected to be smarter by the end of this year. However it isn’t limited to any field or type of question. It actually understands what you are asking of it, and computes the answer! It is like as calculator which can give you answers to questions like “What was the length of the longest whale discovered in the pacific ocean between the years 1900 and 1990”. It doesn’t come with preprogrammed questions; considering the scope of the questions it aims to answer, that would be almost impossible. Instead, the developers have actually generated models of the kind of factual questions that it may be asked, and broken them down into units that can be computed.
The potential of this system is limitless, but it itself is not. It doesn’t not plan to give answers that may have multiple opinions, just for facts so don’t expect it to answer question on anything like “Should I marry my boyfriend who has been with me for the last three years, but we broke up for like 3 months in the middle, and he didn’t even call once! Well actually he did, but I wasn’t there, but he didn’t call again! So should I? ”. This means the system has less chance of being biased, i.e. having answered based on the opinions of the people who are entering the data. This also means that it can only supplement google, not replace it. It may never be able to rule the world, but I’m pretty sure it will rule the web!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
My GATE 2009 Experience
GATE is an All India Competitive exam conducted by IISC and the IITs for admission in various post graduation courses in the field of engineering and science. So if u are interested in doing Mtech from these institutions then GATE is a must for u.
I decided to take this examination the moment i took admission in Under graduate college for Btech!! It may sound strange that before even i began studying for Btech , i started thinking for Mtech. But it was planned by me to try to go for Mtech from IITs. The reason was simple - I always dreamt to be an IITian. After i started studying for Btech , i developed the love to study subjects related to computer science. This further increased my hunger to go for Mtech... the intersest to study computer science.
I deceided to appear in GATE 2008 as the GATE score was valid for 2 years. I didnt have much preperation going into the examination . I gave the exam just to know how much tough it really is. The conclusion i got was that if i study a little harder and in a planned way then cracking GATE 2009 might not be difficult. That year my rank was 1904.
The preparation for GATE 2009 began after i got placed in Infosys. That gave me a huge amount of Energy and boost to study for GATE. I took admission in Gateforum , a coaching institution for GATE. Two of my friends also joined with me. I started regualrly attending the classes. I also started preparing slowly and steadly . What it did was it moved me away from the semester exam study and made me concentarte on GATE related study. More than what they taught there , the practice and staying in touch was more important for me.
The person who lifted my study for my GATE exam was our TOC and compiler teacher. I was weakest in these two subjects , but the way he taught us these subjects was simply superb. Eventually TOC became my strongest point! But more importantly he gave us huge amount of confidence and self-belief.
Also the most important point that i personally picked up from his lecture was to go for a plan study. He discussed with us how he planned his study. I would like to discuss this issue here. He showed us a notebook which was divided into 8 parts each for one module in GATE. In each part he noted down some problems and important points that were most important thing in that module. And he believed that if he practices those problems and remembers those important point and tricks then he can solve any problem from that module. He believed that 20-25 problems from a single mdoule was more than enough to cover the total module. Also when we asked me to give us that notebook he warned us that these notes will vary from person to person!!!!!I found this concept and idea an interesting one. I decided to follow his plan ... and i must say it really worked for me also. This planned study saved a hell lot of time. Also another thing that he did was prepare a one page note on some of the subjects. The objective of this plan was to study the important facts and tricks the day before the exams quickly , and doing so will save a hell lot of time.
After all the study it was time to sit for a series of Mock All india Tests. The tests were conducted by Gateforum. These tests were extremely useful for all of us. I must say that it played the single most important role in getting a decent rank in GATE 2009. In fact one of my friends didnt ever study for GATE. He appeared only the test series and guess what he was able to get rank 57! The reason for this is that the test series constantly showed where we stant in the competitition . We were told that if we are able to secure a rank of within 20 in these exams then we will surely rank with 100 in GATE 2009. Also these exams helped us in stay with constant practice . Even if u didnt study previously , here we solved problems of all kinds that covered all the areas. Also the discussion among my friends after the exams was very very important. We were able to discuss various tricks and ways to solve the problems. These helped a hell lot.
The final one month before the exam was all about constant practice and nothing else. Totally dedicated towards GATE study and nothing else.
Finally the examination day came. I was surprised to see such easy questions to begin with. I became too relaxed and started solving problems slowly and steadily. And that was the mistake i made. In the end there were some tough problems and i struggled to finish off the paper. I made a total mess of the whole exam. To make it worse when i discussed the answers with my friends i found out that i made about 8 marks of silly mistakes. All my hopes of studying in IIT was completely gone.
On march 15th the results came out. I was surprised to see the rank(87) that i eventually got.Two of my friends got 37 and 57 rank. I was extremely delighted to get this rank. At the moment i am hoping to study in IIT and fulfiling my dreams.
Some points that are essential for preparing for GATE(might be useful for 3rd years preparing for GATE) -
All The Best to everyone preparing for GATE!
I decided to take this examination the moment i took admission in Under graduate college for Btech!! It may sound strange that before even i began studying for Btech , i started thinking for Mtech. But it was planned by me to try to go for Mtech from IITs. The reason was simple - I always dreamt to be an IITian. After i started studying for Btech , i developed the love to study subjects related to computer science. This further increased my hunger to go for Mtech... the intersest to study computer science.
I deceided to appear in GATE 2008 as the GATE score was valid for 2 years. I didnt have much preperation going into the examination . I gave the exam just to know how much tough it really is. The conclusion i got was that if i study a little harder and in a planned way then cracking GATE 2009 might not be difficult. That year my rank was 1904.
The preparation for GATE 2009 began after i got placed in Infosys. That gave me a huge amount of Energy and boost to study for GATE. I took admission in Gateforum , a coaching institution for GATE. Two of my friends also joined with me. I started regualrly attending the classes. I also started preparing slowly and steadly . What it did was it moved me away from the semester exam study and made me concentarte on GATE related study. More than what they taught there , the practice and staying in touch was more important for me.
The person who lifted my study for my GATE exam was our TOC and compiler teacher. I was weakest in these two subjects , but the way he taught us these subjects was simply superb. Eventually TOC became my strongest point! But more importantly he gave us huge amount of confidence and self-belief.
Also the most important point that i personally picked up from his lecture was to go for a plan study. He discussed with us how he planned his study. I would like to discuss this issue here. He showed us a notebook which was divided into 8 parts each for one module in GATE. In each part he noted down some problems and important points that were most important thing in that module. And he believed that if he practices those problems and remembers those important point and tricks then he can solve any problem from that module. He believed that 20-25 problems from a single mdoule was more than enough to cover the total module. Also when we asked me to give us that notebook he warned us that these notes will vary from person to person!!!!!I found this concept and idea an interesting one. I decided to follow his plan ... and i must say it really worked for me also. This planned study saved a hell lot of time. Also another thing that he did was prepare a one page note on some of the subjects. The objective of this plan was to study the important facts and tricks the day before the exams quickly , and doing so will save a hell lot of time.
After all the study it was time to sit for a series of Mock All india Tests. The tests were conducted by Gateforum. These tests were extremely useful for all of us. I must say that it played the single most important role in getting a decent rank in GATE 2009. In fact one of my friends didnt ever study for GATE. He appeared only the test series and guess what he was able to get rank 57! The reason for this is that the test series constantly showed where we stant in the competitition . We were told that if we are able to secure a rank of within 20 in these exams then we will surely rank with 100 in GATE 2009. Also these exams helped us in stay with constant practice . Even if u didnt study previously , here we solved problems of all kinds that covered all the areas. Also the discussion among my friends after the exams was very very important. We were able to discuss various tricks and ways to solve the problems. These helped a hell lot.
The final one month before the exam was all about constant practice and nothing else. Totally dedicated towards GATE study and nothing else.
Finally the examination day came. I was surprised to see such easy questions to begin with. I became too relaxed and started solving problems slowly and steadily. And that was the mistake i made. In the end there were some tough problems and i struggled to finish off the paper. I made a total mess of the whole exam. To make it worse when i discussed the answers with my friends i found out that i made about 8 marks of silly mistakes. All my hopes of studying in IIT was completely gone.
On march 15th the results came out. I was surprised to see the rank(87) that i eventually got.Two of my friends got 37 and 57 rank. I was extremely delighted to get this rank. At the moment i am hoping to study in IIT and fulfiling my dreams.
Some points that are essential for preparing for GATE(might be useful for 3rd years preparing for GATE) -
- To succeed in GATE u must be truly interested in pursuing Mtech. U must have high interest in computer science. I have seen people who dont have some much love for the subject but want to pursue Mtech. U are bound to fail in such case.
- Participating in some all India test series . I gives u constant practice in the last 5 months. Extremely useful. Also shows u where u stand and how much u need to work harder.
- There is a myth that u need to study the books that toppers study. This is compeletely rubbish. One should study the books that he or she is most comfortable in. I didnt have any book for many subjects.
- Forget ur semester exams and all. Just concentrate on the GATE related study. The CGPA matters liitle(it only plays a significant role in IIT Delhi).
- A planned study is essenstial as i described above.
All The Best to everyone preparing for GATE!
Friday, May 15, 2009
How NRIs celebrate Pujas
My cousin who stays in florida(doing phd from university of florida) described me the way they celebrate various indian festivals like durga puja etc . I was highly impressed by their way and it also shows how they utilize their precious time.
The NRIs also celebrate the pujas the way we do... but there is one difference. They dont have any fixed date to oragnize the puja. They always perform the puja and celebrate on weekends. For example if the durga puja here starts on tuesday , they wouldnt perform the puja on tuesday. Rather they will do it on the coming satruday and sunday!
In this way the manage to not waste their working days and also utilize the weekends to good effect. According to me when u perform the puja or when u celebrate doesnt matter. We should utilize our time properly and also celebrate the festivals equally.
The NRIs also celebrate the pujas the way we do... but there is one difference. They dont have any fixed date to oragnize the puja. They always perform the puja and celebrate on weekends. For example if the durga puja here starts on tuesday , they wouldnt perform the puja on tuesday. Rather they will do it on the coming satruday and sunday!
In this way the manage to not waste their working days and also utilize the weekends to good effect. According to me when u perform the puja or when u celebrate doesnt matter. We should utilize our time properly and also celebrate the festivals equally.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Cricket Fantasy Games
Some Days ago i found a nice cool time pass option in the internet. Its a website where you can act as the manager/owner/coach of a cricket team. All you have to do is create an account and start! The website is -- http://www.cricketfantasies.com/ . Its an extremely interesting fantasy game. Currently fantasy games for the IPL 2009 are on.
There are two stages for this . First stage is Bidding for the players and the second stage is picking up playing 11 for each round of matches. The overall concept or story is as follows - Leagues are created containing 8 teams. So after u create an account u will be randomly placed in one of the leagues.U will also be give 2 million fantasy dollars to bid on the players. After u are placed in one league u have to bid for players. U have to compete with only rest of the 7 teams in ur league. U have to bid for players like its done in the real IPL! Each player has a starting bid price. U have to bid 1.1 times the current highest bid for a player. For example - Suppose current price for Mathew Hayden is 1000$ , then u will have to bid for 1100$. This bidding process continues till the closing time for Auctioning. U will get the players for which u have won the bids. This is just like Auctioning for real IPL. This whole process is extremely interesting. U have to pick some players and leave some players. This gives u the opportunity to be the mallays , ambanis.
After getting ur 15 players u have to select the playing 11 for each round . The nth round is the time period in which all the teams play their nth matches. After u select the playing 11 points will be allocated to ur players based on their performances in the real IPL matches. So u have to continously change ur playing 11 for different rounds based on the performance of the players on field. Also during the fantasy rounds the left over players(for who nobody bidded in the auctioning) will be available in the bazar. So u can also buy players from bazar during the matches. Also u can sell ur current players by putting them in the bazzar.
Unfortunately u can no longer participate in these fantasy games for the IPL . But these games will continue for various event and the next event is T20 world cup. Looking for ur participation in the T20 world cup. Its a nice time pass option specially after the exams are over!
And one more important thing -- The top three teams(With the highest points) walk away with cool prizes like PS3 ,Nintendo wii , X-BOX and lots of cash!
There are two stages for this . First stage is Bidding for the players and the second stage is picking up playing 11 for each round of matches. The overall concept or story is as follows - Leagues are created containing 8 teams. So after u create an account u will be randomly placed in one of the leagues.U will also be give 2 million fantasy dollars to bid on the players. After u are placed in one league u have to bid for players. U have to compete with only rest of the 7 teams in ur league. U have to bid for players like its done in the real IPL! Each player has a starting bid price. U have to bid 1.1 times the current highest bid for a player. For example - Suppose current price for Mathew Hayden is 1000$ , then u will have to bid for 1100$. This bidding process continues till the closing time for Auctioning. U will get the players for which u have won the bids. This is just like Auctioning for real IPL. This whole process is extremely interesting. U have to pick some players and leave some players. This gives u the opportunity to be the mallays , ambanis.
After getting ur 15 players u have to select the playing 11 for each round . The nth round is the time period in which all the teams play their nth matches. After u select the playing 11 points will be allocated to ur players based on their performances in the real IPL matches. So u have to continously change ur playing 11 for different rounds based on the performance of the players on field. Also during the fantasy rounds the left over players(for who nobody bidded in the auctioning) will be available in the bazar. So u can also buy players from bazar during the matches. Also u can sell ur current players by putting them in the bazzar.
Unfortunately u can no longer participate in these fantasy games for the IPL . But these games will continue for various event and the next event is T20 world cup. Looking for ur participation in the T20 world cup. Its a nice time pass option specially after the exams are over!
And one more important thing -- The top three teams(With the highest points) walk away with cool prizes like PS3 ,Nintendo wii , X-BOX and lots of cash!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Its Over ….. Farewell
Farwell is always an emotional affair for all of us.It marked the end of our college life and marked the beginning of a new life. We wish each other all the success in our life.
Our Juniors yesterday gave us a warm farewell. It was a grand function organized by them. The hall was nicely decorated by the juniors. I was surprised to see the amount of hard work that they had to put in for the function. The function started roughly at 1:30 with a boring speech by a junior. Then several of our teachers gave speech. They wished us all the very best in our life. After that all the students were given mementos and gifts. It was quite a lengthy affair. After that there was a quite funny event. Here some peculiar prizes were given … like the most “pakaoo” student , the cutest couple etc etc. We liked that event a lot. In the mean time cold drinks was served to us. Then there were some performances by our juniors. One 2nd year guy wrote such an amazing and exciting poem titled “pagli ladkhi”. Everybody was impressed by his poetry skills. Not only he wrote the poem well but also the way he presented the poem was simply superb to say the least. Then there were some songs sung by our juniors. After that there was a lunch break.
After the break there was quite a surprising event. There was an announcement made that one of my close friend had proposed to his girl friend(also my classmate) and that she had said “yes” to him. Hearing this thing both of them ran away from the function because of shyness. Some of my friends chased them and got them out of a auto standing at a traffic crossing! Then they were brought back to the function . After that there was a virtual (Demo.. whatever you want to say) marriage between them. All of us enjoyed it a hell lot!
At last we gave the football trophy that we won in 4th year to our juniors and wished them all the best for their future. Then there was a cake cutting ceremony.
Through out the function we captured many photos and videos. Literally everybody had cameras of all kind and thousands of photos were taken. Everybody was posing for a picture.
I will never forget this farewell and also the four years of life that i spend with my friends. I wish all the success in life to all my friends…
Monday, February 23, 2009
Its an extremely good news for the Indians. Slumdog Millionaire has won 8 Oscar awards this time.
Though its a British film but it has an Indian connection to it. The technicians , musicians etc etc are Indians. Three Indians headed by AR Rahman have won Oscars. This makes the occasion even special for the Indians.
AR Rahman finally got the award and recognition that he deserves the most. Probably the western world listened to his music for the first time other wise he would have and should have got Oscars much before. He has given even better music in most of his Indian films like Rang de basanti , Roja etc etc. Now he is the only Indian to win two Oscars.
Gulzar also got one award along with AR Rahman for the best origninal score(for the song JAI HO) . Though he gives all the credit to Rahman , he too desrves this award. He has been lyrist in numerous Hindi songs.
And at last but not the least .. Resul Pookutty won an Oscar for best sound mixing. Another Inidan making us proud ....As he rightly said -"History has been handed over to him".
Though there was some controversy on the film highlighting the slums of India , but it has done more good things for the Indians than Bad things. The Indian technicians , musicians etc will get more recognition in the west now.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Failed to perform in the JU tech fest...
I and two of my friends participated in the Jadavpur University Tech fest in the C-Thru event. On the first day we had prelims. It was an online exam. All mcq questions. We some how managed to qualify for the finals though our performance was not up to the mark.
Next day we had the finals.It was a 4 hour exam on programming on real life problems. We did extremely poor there. Could solve only one out of eight problems. Pathetic performance . Quite naturally we didnt even manage to come in the top 6. My friends were really upset because they manage to win everytime thet take part. For me though it was nothing new...:-)..
But we did have some fun there.....A nice experience.
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