The Chennai Electric Train which taught me!!!

Most of the people would have visited Chennai and would have used electric train probably. Here let me put something what I saw when I made a journey in that and sorry if the contents are boring. I boarded an electric train from Chennai Fort which is the very next station to Chennai Beach, the terminus in one side and I was making my trip to Chengalpattu , the last station in the other side. I know it’s a 90 min journey and mostly I will sleep during that period. But unfortunately I had more than 10 hours of sleep the before night and it was very hard for me to make me sleep again during the day.

 In hurry I boarded into a vendor compartment which is specially made ones for people to carry goods with them. It is normal that people may board into vendor compartments during the 20 sec stop in the stations. The hurry which people showed in getting into the train was not in them in getting the seat. Most occupied the floor. People started talking about their family stories may be they know each other for years. Even a lady with a small child in hand neglected the seat and sat on the floor. I was puzzled and was wondering what may be the possible reason to do so.

 Another lady who sat near me took a bunch of answer scripts from the bag and started correcting it. Her son sat next to her was totaling the papers corrected by his mother. One took some food stuffs out from the bag and started sharing with the co passengers. They behaved more like a family members and I didn’t realize the travel itself. When I turned back another lady started cutting vegetables for her house with a knife and some other co passenger was helping her in the process. It seemed as though they will start cooking if LPG is allowed in trains.

 People came and went, stations passed one after other and they never cared about journey itself. In the gossip group as the train moved after Tambaram station the strength started reducing. A physically challenged man boarded the train and I was taken aback when he too neglected the seat that I felt guilty of sitting on floor but my ego didn’t allow me to do so. I later thought that he could not sit in the chair but again I was wrong. He opened a bag which was full of watch circuits. He started assembling it one by one. In the other bag he had the plastic body for fitting the circuits. He then installed the battery and set the time to the current time. I asked him for the price of the watch and he replied it was Rs 30. I had a watch in my hand and he too knew that I won’t buy it. I then realized the pain behind Rs 30 watch and felt how we bargain for it when we are spending thousands of money without care but fight for five rupees bargain.

 The chat group strength came down to zero and I got down at Chengalpattu. The journey was a small moment in life but it taught me more. The main thing by the handicapped man was his confidence in working with his disability and not wasting time during his 30 min journey and keeping him engaged. Then the gossip group which showed me that comfort alone can’t give happiness and there are many more things in life which makes us to leave our comforts also .

 

MY VISIT TO IITM FOR SHAASTRA-2008

It was emotionally a great day for me when at last I got a chance to visit the place where once I dreamed (only dreamt) of dwelling. Yes ,I am visiting the campus of IIT Madras as my brother was selected for the final round of project presentation for IDP-Industry Defined Problems. I reached Adyar around 4.15 pm as my brother asked me there to be in the college premises by 5.00pm . I walked up to the college gate and could see a lot of people there stranded waiting for the college bus to go inside for the biggest techno fest event in South India.

 “A bus facility inside the college”.  This reminded me of the size of the college. I got into the bus and it started moving I realized that it is not actually a college alone but a small town within the college. Residential apartments for staffs, hospital, fully functioning banks, shopping centre including coffee day , kendriya vidyalaya school inside a lot more . to say shortly its totally self sufficient in all aspects for people studying there. A school for the children of staffs working there and it s a mini zoo and the entire campus seemed to be like of a forest.

 Before me in the bus are two students (probably IIT ians) by the way they look who were discussing about complex chemistry formulae and their properties. One was telling that the component A ( I don’t remember the component name)  should be mixed with component B to improve the efficiency. The other was citing that mixing the component B may cause oxidation.  The discussion proceeded and I didn’t want to break my head which I didn’t even for my studies. I thought what creatures they are!!!

 I reached the Gajendra statue , the place where the event is held. With no mobile in hand I know it s hard for me to find my brother but to my good time my brother identified me in the crowd. Placed there was an ad by Google for hiring people. I took a photograph in front of that, the only thing I can do with Google .Again I dreamt of being in Google , the place where even now I want to work, but I don’t think it will come true forever. :)

 My brother won II prize in the project competition. The next statement made me more happy when he told the  first prize was bagged by PSG. I was all proud to be a techian. In the project presentation a participant from IIT was fired by his own IIT professor. He had told “If you have submitted this project as an assignment you would have surely failed”. This reminds me of one core thing of life “Never over estimate people by where they are and never under estimate people also by where they are”.

Learn from my stupidity Part 1

It was Sunday evening (14.09.2008) and I had come home after a span of nearly 2 months in Chennai. I was in my friend’s (Ganesh) house talking all useless things and browsing internet, my usual pass time weapon when my friend started asking me about which train I am going to take that night to reach Chennai. I casually told him that I had booked Cheran Express that night and it starts from Erode at 12:05 at night. All of sudden my friend was shocked and I didn’t expect that from him and was wondering the reason. He asked me for which date I had booked the train and I coolly answered that it was on 14^th.

 He said “oh! God!!” and I started realizing that I had done some mistake. He told that since it was after 12.00 at night I should have booked for 15^th rather than 14^th and the train booked for 14^th would have left a day ago to Chennai. Now my ultimate task is just to get to Chennai somehow and to hide this great work I did from my house. Lot of plans went in my mind from boarding train in unreserved compartment or getting a bus from Gobi to Chennai or to change buses on the way and somehow reach Chennai.

 We checked all private travels in Gobi and erode and all buses were full since it was Sunday. All trains have waiting list numbers which have no probability of getting me a seat conformed. Boarding train in unreserved compartment won’t help as most trains start at Coimbatore and its high time I get place to stand still till Chennai. I started from gobi so early saying home that I had to meet a friend in erode which I believe they would have believed what I told. Again hard time struck me when the bus I boarded to erode met an accident in mid way to erode and I was stranded for some time before I could get some bus to erode.

 In erode bus stand the place to get bus for Chennai was all busy. Huge crowds and people discussing among themselves a lot, brokers busy in getting tickets by any means to earn money and parents and relatives who are not at all part of passengers added more to my confusion. Ganesh called his friend in erode and his friend came to my rescue. He somehow got a broker to get a A.C bus ticket for me. But unfortunately that too was not helpful.

 Good time came to me at last. One person who booked the last row ticket in ordinary bus (a bus which looked most of the part like town bus) didn’t come. It marked my favorable time as the broker was much known to the conductor and I got a place to place my asses finally. Since it was cancelled ticket the person who cancelled it, charged me very less amount (around Rs. 100) only. It was the only comforting moment for me. The bus started at 9.00p.m and reached Chennai by 6.00a.m. The mistake I did initially was a mistake of lack of thought for a fraction of second but it costed me so much. I pray to god that atleast this incident should put some limelight upon my brain. 

Distance also leads to Misinterpretation to the view!!!

Distance leads enchantment to the view is an age old adage. But there are also instances where a cause can be misinterpreted in a wrong way just because the person who judges is not near the core of happening. Here I want to recollect once such instance told by my uncle when we meet some time back.

The scene takes place in an international airport. The viewer is at some distance where with naked eye the people inside the airport could not be seen and hence he uses binoculars to view. It is normal that we people tend use it to see what is interesting to see and what could not be seen with naked eyes.

He starts viewing the airport with the sight of some beautiful girls from abroad getting down and so he feels so enthusiastic in the process. It gets more when a beautiful Indian girl gets down and he adjusts the binoculars to have the maximum level of zoom possible .To the sudden an old man around the age of fifty five to sixty comes and starts kissing her and hugging very intimately. The girl couldn’t understand anything but she didn’t take him off from her. The guy who saw this started thinking that he should have been there and felt that old man was lucky enough to make his desires come true with a young gorgeous girl.

Now let me tell you the reality of what happened actually there. The girl was the daughter of the old man who hugged her. She had gone to America to complete her doctoral program and returning home after four years. She called her father when she took the flight from New York and she had to change a flight at London to get to India. She didn’t call after she reached London. Just some hours back when her father reached the airport to receive her, flash news came in TV that the flight from London to India has crashed in midair. He knew that it was the flight she had booked. Then he could not stop himself from crying and he was broken down fully in heart. He was thinking what he’s going to tell his wife who’s waiting in house to see her after long time. He couldn’t console himself and started weeping for hours. To his surprise suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulders and when he stood his face up, it was his daughter. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Then he reacted the way which the guy saw through the binoculars. When asked later she explained to her father that due to delay in reaching London she couldn’t get that flight and she had taken some other flight starting some late time and reached India.

REASONS YOU HAVE TO THINK BEFORE MARRYING A GIRL

She will shudder if you use four letter words.

When she prepares food till the final stage of preparation you are not sure whether it s for you or for your dog.

She will use so much oil that a Dubai based company will try to enter into a contract with her to extract oil from her head.

She will burst into laughter with useless jokes for which you have to laugh otherwise she will say that you don’t have any sense of humor.

According to her madhavan is the most handsome man in the world.

In summer she will rose up with a silk saree in Chennai heat when you are burning in your singlet.

According to her praying to god and visiting all the temples in the world is the ultimate objective of life.

The mangal sutra wore by her along with other chains will weigh more than the belts wore by the wrestlers in WWF.

She is open to discussion in criticizing anyone if it doesn’t involve her parents.

Her mother will think you are not intelligent because you didn’t study in IIT and she thinks her daughter is more intelligent that you even though she is not formally educated.

Her father will think that whenever you listen to the words of your wife,you are blinded by her beauty and if you don’t listen to her ,you don’t know how to show love to your wife.

Your wife will think that she is the most beautiful women in the world and you have to accept it even the opposite of beauty is the obvious thing with her.

My Own Quotes

Most important in life is not where you are but who you are.

Winners never quit, quitters never win is an old proverb.
Now if you refuse to quit in some circumstances no better worse thing can happen.

To be creative you have to question. But you can survive only when you answer questions.

All laws are manmade except the nature laws. So better don’t break it.

There is only one community in this world where everyone will be a member one day. It is the community for death.

If you don’t win it doesn’t mean that you didn’t work hard. It means you don’t deserve this win.
You deserve a much better win.

Live your life to the fullest. Because the present moment will occur once in your life time.

The worst thing that can happen is the world believes you and you don’t believe you.

The best thing that can happen Is the world doesn’t believe you and you believe in you.

There is only one companion for you from birth to death. It is only “You”.

There is no use of loving others when you can’t love you.

People believe in life after death. But most fail to live when they are alive..

A child is not born suddenly. But a man can die suddenly. So it’s hard to create and easy to destroy.

Only when you can take a path that is not in common use you can achieve special. Only very few people dare to do this.

It is not that there is a woman behind every successful man. They go behind after every successful man.

40 TIps to Crack Interview's

For some people the below said tips may seem to be absurd and childish. But these were collected from the experience of many people. Just leave the things which you already know and focus on the things where you need to improve because there is no one in this world who‘s 100% perfect. Please pardon me for any grammatical mistakes if found in the passages. Wishing you all the best for your placements as well as in your career.

1) Don’t say that I like the company because it has got some flexible working hours, good remuneration; leave availing facilities, good perks, good relocation options, stock options. These answers will make the interviewer feel that you are born for comforts and nothing more than that.

2) Change your personality on the due before the interview. Changing is not possible suddenly in the interview time itself. Stays focused on what you are and assess yourself on your behavior by getting feedback from friends and try to improve them. This may sound odd but surely it will help a lot.

3) “Whether you prefer working in groups or as individual?” This is a tricky question .If you say you prefer working in groups then the interviewer may ask why you can’t do anything individually. If you say you would like to work as individual then some comments from them may focus on your co-operation with people and ability to accept others may arise. So better say “I would like to work as individual aiming towards a team goal”. With this answer you can speak for both sides.

4) If questions were asked to give your positives, give them examples when telling them the good qualities you have. Citing them with examples will make them clearly understand you and they can know how well you have related your positives in real life situations.

5) Just immediately after entering the interview room doesn’t forget to greet them. Also wait for their mouth to ask you to take the seat. If this doesn’t happen for some time then you can request them “Can I take my seat, Sir”. Never sit before they ask you to sit or you ask them for a seat. If done so, they may think that you are disobedient or manner less and ultimately first impression goes against your favour.

6) It is always better to have a smile on your face. At least this can make the interviewer feel relaxed. But don’t unnecessarily laugh during the interview’s especially loud laughs can be avoided. Do not crack jokes in the interview. It is not the place to show case your sense of comedy, else it can make your life to be so.

7) Be loud in whatever you say whether it is right or wrong. Murmuring can’t turn your answers from wrong to right side. Also if you murmur it will create a sense of doubt in the interviewer’s mind that you are bluffing him.

8) Be matured during the process of interview. Do not act silly or childish. At least try to play a role to show you as a matured person. Mocking interviewers and making fun of them should not be done at any cost even though you may feel doing so with the gestures of him. Also do not tease him, even if he teases you. This is not the place to show your talent in teasing people. These things are used by people from companies to test your patience and your anger.

9) You should be up to date in the current events. Some times the interviewers may not know anything on computers and they will try to carry the interview by talking on some general topics. In such a case Current affairs are their favorite one’s because they also feel that you can speak on such topics.

10) Learn something and do tell in the interview’s something supporting your documents and resume details and any certificates if you have that during the interview. If you can’t support your documents then it is better you don’t have that in the interview.

11) Don’t ever feel that the interview is a strict place. Think it as a place for exchange of thoughts for the like minded people. This thinking can make you relaxed and you will feel free in answering questions without any pressure or fear. If you want you can even ask the interviewer to turn the A.C off or ask for water in case you are so tensed. Asking for water is not a big crime and they won’t mind that and it’s perfectly normal.

12) The normal question asked in most of the interviews is “Tell your positives and negative?” Positive’s you can tell easily and nothing big to think. While telling the negatives make sure that your negative is an advantage for the company. I) I like to work hard without any relaxation. Ii) My mind always works. Iii) I don’t take much entertainment for me.

13) You have to be very good in your attitude in approaching people. Stay positive and be calm during the interview. If you are a short tempered person, do not let your anger come out else it may be suicidal.

14) Don’t say that I like the company X, just because I hate the company Y. This will create an impression on your overall personality .This simple question can drastically impact the attitude of the interviewer’s upon you and ultimately the interview results.

15) Never contradict yourself in the interview. There will be some questions asked to make them know whether you are consistent in your replies. Ex. I have done a project using Oracle. After some time if a question is asked in RDBMS, the reply that I don’t know much in RDBMS can make the statement come true.

16) Make the interview lively. Don’t stare at them. It is not a viva-voce session but it is a two way discussion. So try to ask some questions and make the person on the other side be interested in interviewing you. Remember if you win him they your process is almost done. So try to impress him by your talkative skills if you can’t show case your technical skills.

17) Understand the personality of the interviewer. This process has to be completed in 5 minutes. Try to know him more and his behaving. Till that do not do anything in extreme. Try to be normal till that time. Don’t take advantage till that time.

18) Some interviews will be fully HR. In such a case you have to speak more and speak sensibly. Try to make him know more about you and more importantly good about you. In campus interviews there is no place for salary negotiation. If asked for the salary expected, say them that it can be as per the company norms for a fresher and no particular figure particularly.

19) During the tech part of the interview speak clearly and also concise. Don’t tell stories unless there is no other way to explain them. Speaking too much during the tech part will make them feel that you are not good in explaining tech stuffs to them and you want to while away the time with some unrelated things.

20) Be what you are and never act. In the sense never act as a person who is good in a particular thing or the person whom you admire among your friends.

21) Never tell the interviewer anything wrong about your college, school, place, professor at any cost. Some interviewers may ask you to tell at least one bad thing about the college. In such a case tell them you can’t tell anything wrong about them (Even though you can write a book on the topic). Also tell them that you cannot lie for getting selected in the interview.

22) The only question which you should not as at any cost is the attrition rate in the company. This may make them feel that you have intentions of leaving the company. One guy escaped for this question by saying that “I just wanted to make sure whether my colleague’s will be with me forever”. It is always better to have such a presence of mind to escape in critical situations.

23) Most of the interviews will have one question “Do you have anything to ask?” This can be dangerous if you don’t ask meaningful questions. Make him to tell some good things about the company. Ask interviewer about the kind of projects they undertake, technologies they use, and growth opportunities in career. These are some easy questions to ask and you can make them tell stories on what they know and what the rest you have to do is just to nod your head.

24) If questions were asked about whether you will be ready to relocate yourself to any part of the world just without hesitation tell “YES”. Remember your aim is just to grab the job and the rest things can be decided later. You can support this by saying that you love traveling.

25) Never get into a misunderstanding with them. Don’t argue too much or make the argument so heated that he is irritated. All the words from your mouth should be directed towards your ultimate aim and not to make the interviewer know his mistakes or trying to make him understand things.

26) If you have no other go and only lying can help you, then don’t hesitate in that. The speed at which you tell the lie is directly proportional to feel the lie. So if you are so quick in lying, they may not know. Remember do not try unless you have no other go.

27) Be always optimistic in HR interviews. Some times you may fear on seeing them. To relieve this just think the person before you to be a fool but do not express it outwards. This may relax you. Sometimes only hard things can help us.

28) Never get dejected if you are rejected in the interview. In some way it is true that almost all companies choose some wrong candidates and the best people are left behind. Think that some other good company is waiting for you and only that has made you to get rejected today. This has been proved for many years and so don’t research on this issue.

29) Do not treat your friends based on the company they got. It is really the worst thing that can happen. After all placements are just the outcome of your performance assessed for a very short period only. There are many more things in life than this and anyone can reach any destination in future and this is just a start to career. So separating friends based on such issues is very regrettable.

30) Never panic to give the answers during the interview. Take some 5 seconds to think and answer. Even if you know answers give some delay otherwise they may think that you are just recalling what you memorized. This 5 second gap can make your brain think more and organize answer.

31) Your answers should be well organized. You should make them understand very well what you wanted them to tell. Hurrying things may make them confused and this might necessitate them ask more questions to clarify themselves. For every question you should reply in the way that it is the best answer one can give for that particular question. This should be your tendency while in interviews. So naturally your moral boost will improve once he is satisfied with an answer from you.

32) Maintain a good body language. Never play with pens in your hand. Do not sit as though you are not interested in the conversation. Face the interviewer boldly and see at the interviewer with eyes straight at their eyes. This will make them feel that you are bold enough and confident. Do not put crossed legs or move legs. Jewels are generally not advised.

33) Help the person who is going to the interview. Organize things for him because it is quite normal that people going for interview will be tensed and have good probability of missing things while going to interview. Just cheer them up and say some good words. Don’t speak about the hardness of the questions asked inside the interview to him. This will further increase his tension.

34) Tell some inspirational words and keep him relaxed. Get him some food or water before going to the interview. Make sure his attire is fit and be with him till the end of the interview. Even if one person is rejected, do not tell him the reason why he was rejected but just encourage him or divert the topic to make him forget this. Take him away from the place. Good movie or outing with friends is a good relaxation to get relieved from the loss on that day.

35) Never do any mischief in front of the interview hall or talk some non sense or talk bad about the company. You may not know and some people may be there at that time. This will cost you that company if that is your bad day.

36) If you get into a situation where that the work you have shown them is not yours and was lend to you by someone, do not accept it at any cost. Try giving them proof that it is your‘s. If accepted then the game is over. You can win only from the next game.

37) Tell hobbies in such a way that he may question you on that. This is just to drag him to your side and use most of the interview time in your way. Remember the interview will be easy if you direct him, else he may ask some stuffs which he knows.

38) The normal first question in any interview is “Tell me about you?” Since this question is already known to you, prepare the best and deliver it there. Like this there will be some questions which you may expect in that particular company. Prepare well in advance for such questions. Answering for the questions prepared is the easiest thing.

39) Some interviewer’s may ask you about the quality of the written test you had before the interview. Don’t tell them that the test was easy. Instead tell them that it had some tricky questions and it was very interesting to solve the paper and it posed many challenges. If you want you can tell them some examples of such questions and explain them.

40) When the interview is going on and if some people from the company enter your panels do stand up and greet them. It shows your interpersonal behavior.

The tips may have some mistakes and do tell me if you feel anything wrong in it, please do tell me and I will correct it for the others sake .Mail me any criticism if you find so to vijendrapsg@gmail.com .