Traveling by Air: A First timer's experience

I have fantasized it for long enough - traveling by air back to my home. Finally the day came on 20th february when i boarded DN-606 from Bangalore HAL airport to fly to Jaipur. I had booked my tickets some fifteen days back, thanks to a very attractive facility provided by Air Deccan to get the tickets booked through post offices. Indira Nagar post office system was out of order so I had to book it through the Koramangala Post Office and what a mess that person created !! He clicked 'print' before the page had loaded. And as was expected nothing came out of the printer.
Oh did i mention- the post office had been using a 1942 model ( the man himself told me) dot matrix printer for printing the flight tickets ! Well ! somehow I got the tickets when a wiser man refreshed and clicked print after the page had loaded. It had to pay more than i had anticipated. Coming back to the main day, flight DN-606 was scheduled to depart at 10.15 hrs. i arrived at the airport by 7.30 and checked with the Deccan counter about the status of the flight. flight was on schedule but check-in was going to start only by 8.15. Right at the starting time I checked in and got a window seat (5A). I also wanted to experience the baggage handling so i gave my only baggage as a check-in luggage. Everything went smooth, from check-in to security check to boarding. It was a good new A320 aircraft and cabin crew was nice and helping. Flight got delayed by half an hour in mumbai so we landed in Jaipur little later than expected. Jaipur airport seemed to be much smaller and baggages were on conveyor instantly ! My cousin had come to receive me.
Well ! The main thing i wanted to post is about the return journey via DN-605 from Jaipur to Bangalore. Even this flight was good enough. Flight landed almost on time and Deccan exceeded my expectation. But after arriving at Bangalore airport, i moved to an empty conveyor to receive my baggage. But Deccan announced that baggages were available at another conveyor which had already been supplying baggages for a Kingfisher flight ! There was a lot of rush and confusion. i received my bag after waiting for almost half an hour. No Body cross checked my baggage with my boarding pass !! It effectively meant that anybody could have got away with any baggage of their liking.
But apart from that one issue my travel was quite comfortable and I enjoyed it.

Rise of H-X International Inc

This idea was crawling in my mind for long. It came into being two days back. I have created a blog http://www.bitshugx.blogspot.com for all hug-xs. I hope everybody contributes to it. It can be a good platform for all of us to stay connected and keep in touch. A kind of group chat. I urge all H-Xs to be active and participate in this online bakar. :)

Missing a BUS !

I saw 'Jab We Met' and thought how could one be so dumb that it missed a train for some stupid reason. I came to know it the hard way ! wo days back, I left for home to attend cousin's marriage with my friend. I had to take a bus from chirawa(15kms from Pilani). I knew that bus arrived at chirawa at 8.45 AM. We were on schedule and reached chirawa by 8.30 AM. As the fate would have it, Bus was on time. We boarded the bus. And as it left for its next destination, I suddenly exclaimed to Prabhat(my friend) that i left my bag on the bus stand. I remembered the exact location where i put it. I rushed to the conductor and urged him to stop the bus for two extra minutes at the next stand(which was a minute later-within chirawa.). Again as i would not like it, the conductor was the most rude i had ever seen. He told straight,"For a second. Not more than that."

And all my hopes of making it back to the same bus with my left over bag diminished. We got off at the next stand, took an auto and hoped that some miracle happened and we caught the bus. Miracles don't happen when you need them the most. And this is how I missed a bus !! For as stupid a reason as to forget to take a bag. There could be a few reasons why it happened:

1. I was too careless

2. five minutes earlier, i put the bag on a bench and went to the nearby shop to buy 'uncle chips'. I DID NOT PUT THEM IN MY BAG. They were in my hand !

3. Just a few seconds earlier to the arrival of our bus another bus arrived and i hurried to get its details. In the meantime our bus arrived and in haste I committed this mistake !

Well ! I think it was the reason no 2 which was the culprit. Human psychology is all about thoughts. I had a bag in my hand before i went to take the chips(and put the bag on a bench). Later i had chips in my hand. Probably i felt no difference. So when in hurry, i didn't think i was lacking something ! That's my logic (seems absurd, doesn't it ?). What do you say ?

PS: Yeah ! After the incident, I scrapped the idea of attending the marriage and returned to Pilani by next bus because there was no other bus for at least two hours. And by then it would have been too late !

Placement Tips : Part 1 : Cracking the Aptitude Test

After writing quite a few aptitude tests and having gone through many rounds of interviews, i think i am capable enough of advising fellow bitsians and may be others as well about placements. There are a few things which must be taken care of, if you want to make it really big. Most of the following observations are in bitsian context -

1) CGPA is the first thing, companies look at from your resume. It's always good to be in a top few but you should try to keep it around 9.

2) Don't ever think you should learn each and every thing you ever studied to go through an aptitude test. You should never even try to attempt all the questions. You should always concentrate on the problems which you can try. Don't bother about the ones you never heard.

3) Try to attempt a decent number of problems, concentrate on accuracy rather than speed ( There may be a few cases where speed might be of importance. That you can guess yourself. (It happened to me while writing Oracle Application aptitude test. )

4) Software companies which come to BITS for recruitment, including the biggest names , generally put a significant number of questions about basic C concepts and logic. So learn structural C well. You can practice logical problems as well. These are generally small problems about probability, permutations and combinations, basic mathematics or small puzzles.

If you consider above things carefully, you should easily go through to the next rounds.

Helpful Resources:

1. The C Programming Language : Kernighem and Ritchie

2. http://www.c-faq.com
excellent website for clearing basic doubts about C. It contains a lot of common problems related to C arranged topic wise. It was of great help to me.

3. http://www.geekinterview.com
Contains placement papers of various companies as well problems and their solutions course wise.

4. Puzzles to Puzzle you - Shakuntala Devi
Probably the best book to prepare for logical questions and puzzles.

5. More puzzles to puzzle you - Shakuntala Devi

again a great book !

Graduation Party

It seemed like just another day, even boring then the others. I thought we are gonna listen to a few traditional speeches and then a little refreshment will follow. I had already got to know that party begins on time. And just half an hour delay is not late enough by Bitsian standards. I filled a form for BITSAA membership. It was the first blow which ripped my heart apart. Suddenly a thought crept in mind, You'll no longer be a student of BITS,Pilani. Within a few days, you'll have to leave this lovely town which has given you so many memorable moments.

Then came the VC address and now it was taking it's toll. I somehow managed to stay calm. It was amazing to listen to him. He used apt words to motivate us. Few batchmets too took the opportunity to share a few of their experiences, some sang and a few others told poems. All in all, it was a great feeling to be there. I was sad but i didn't want to be happy either ! It was an unique feeling, something i may never witness again.. I wanted to enjoy it to the fullest ! Then i witnessed the best part :-), snaps with my dear ones, with my wingies and batch mates.

When finally it got over, I was content. I knew, this place has given me much more than I ever anticipated. So many friends, wingies, lovely juniors and above all a humanistic approach to life. This place has brought man out of this little child. I will always cherish those amazing moments. Those were the best days of my life.

Farewell

कल शाम आँख से एक आंसू नीकल पड़ा था ,
हमने पूछी वजह तो कहने लगा था

आये थे जब तो न सोचा था इस दीन के बारे में
जो अचानक राह के बीचोंबीच पडा था ||

कल लगा था जींदगी शुरू हुई है
कल देखा तो यम् बाहें फैलाये खड़ा था

क्या पाया क्या खोया कुछ न याद रहा
बस अचानक दिल तड़प उठा था ||

लम्हे खुशियों के अनगिनत थे
पर कल लगा वो भी कम थे

मन ने कहा ये शाम फीर ना आये
पर सूरज डूबने को तैयार खड़ा था ||