Seven Point Someone

Well you have heard five point someone...now you are wondering what this seven point someone is..I am the seven point someone!!!Actually 7.6 point someone..(my aggregate is 76%)

When I was reading Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone....all through the book...I can relate almost every page of the book to my life(though I am not an IITian). I dont know which character represents me...Hari or Ryan or Alok.May be, I am a blend of all these characters...I am dumb during the VIVAs just like Hari,some times I am cool like Ryan and some times I am worried about my studies & career like Alok.So,I guess I am all the three!But, I love Ryan among the three and his weird & stupid ideas...my favourite being C2D(Cooperate To Dominate)!


Just like the IITians in 5 point someone,we have got assignments,surprise tests, stupid labs and a very tough & tight schedule.

And of course, we share our assignments just like them...one student breaks his/her back writing the assignment on his/her own and then all the others just copy+paste it into their assignment books!

Surprise tests(actually, they are shock tests)...its a team work! C2D...we share our ideas and these ideas change our life...we are given assignments again as our professor finds our ideas dumb.But our weird ideas are some times good, at least according to me!!


As I am an ECE student, I have got the toughest labs(at least tougher than the CSE & IT labs).Damn the VIVA where our professors become the crouching tigers and we,the students become the hidden dragons.{"A fool can ask more questions that a wise man cant answer". So there is no wonder that we are speechless during the VIVA:)}


Coming to our schedule, minimum 75% attendance is necessary for you to get promoted to next semister.Thanks to the proxy! And of course , we have got our age old excuses..."request to grant attendance as I am severely ill"!!


Though I have got no guts to steal the question papers right from my HOD's office(like the 5 pointers), I am facing a situation more or less similar to the DIS-CO(Discipline Committee)! Till now I have neglected my studies(Ryan's character was dominant in me all these days!).Now due to the economic recession, campus placements are a distant dream in my 3-2.Added to this is the fall of the Satyam reign,which has been one of the major recruiter of our college students.Gone are the days,where an average student(like me) could easily find an entry to major IT companies.As the IT sector is now not ready to waste their money and time on training the freshers, it is searching for students who can start working on the projects right on their first day in the office!

Now all these realizations hit my lazy brain out of the blue! Well, I cant change the past..but definitely, I dont want my future to repeat my past.

So, I am trying to focus(at least now in the third year) on my studies just like the 5 pointers who work sincerely towards their career in their final year!

The climax of the 5 point someone was an happy ending...lets wait and see whats going to be the climax of my college life--- "7 point someone"!!

Life screws you just when you think, you have figured it out!!!

Deserve before you desire

The following year is going to be the most toughest and the most important year for me. Got the toughest labs and subjects in this semester. Got placements too.Only one year left to give my first attempt for CAT(actually, less than one year).And of course I have now got a blog to maintain!!! If I concentrate on one task, then the other tasks are at stake.Apart from these, I have to read (actually,swallow)all the contents of the newspaper(however boring they are!) coz an MBA needs knowledge on various subjects.I have already started praying to God to extend the 24 hrs day to 50 hrs!!

Now that everyone knows about my so called "BIG CHALLENGE"(CAT), you are definitely going to ping me if I fail. And of course, I am going to fail for obvious reasons.The fear of failure definitely makes the dream impossible.SO, think positive and act positive. There is nothing like impossible. Even the word impossible says that "I M POSSIBLE."

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you have imagined." Dreams with deadlines form goals.

If you are a fan of Paul Coelho, then do believe in the principle of favorability (Beginner's luck). Remember, if u really want something , then the entire universe conspires in your favor.

Dr Edwin Locke's research proves that specific and difficult goals led to better task performance than vague or easy goals.So, dont dread the difficult goals. The more difficult the goal gets ,the better is your performance!!

Knowing your destination is half the journey.If you have completed this phase i.e. goal setting, then the next phase is achieving your goal. You cant just move on without any proper planning. Deserve before you desire.Today on 06-12-08, I find myself 0.0001% eligible to do an MBA.
I have to make myself 100% eligible within a span of 11 months!!.

Once you have got the big picture, set goals at different levels by splitting your ultimate goal to a series of long term and short term goals.

Long term goals:

Long term goals present the overall perspective of shaping all other aspects required to achieve your goal.
e.g: My long term goals are:-
1. 80% in my btech
2. Get placed this year or at least the next year(backup profession.No, I am not afraid of failing at my first attempt for CAT. Its just an exception handling!!)
3.Crack the CAT.

Short term goals:

Short term goals will help you to work efficiently towards your goal and keep you on the right track i.e. on the path to your destiny.
e.g:My short term goals are:-
1.Work on every subject every day and be a step ahead of everyone(even the lecturers!)
2.Crack aptitude questions every day.
3.Munch on the newspaper every day.
4.Expand your network(I am an introvert!!)
5.Manage all the above(Multi-tasking and time management)

Extra goals:

where you can go the extra mile.
e.g:My extra goal is to-Maintain the blog..lolz!!

The perfect planning is completed now and here comes the real big picture-implementing your short term goals & daily to-do lists and time management! Distinguish between the urgent and important activities.Work not only hard to achieve your goal but also work SMART!

• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Attainable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound

Along with all these goals, maintain a good health coz health is wealth.Healthy body-healthy mind!!(old sayings but definitely true).All work, no fun makes Jack dull!!So, take regular breaks from you hectic schedule.

Last but not the least(perhaps the most important), enjoy your work!!

Inspiration

The books I've read form the greatest inspiration in my life!

NO, I am not a nerd!!!

Friends, I am talking about novels(not about my stupid Electronics & Communications text books)

My biggest inspiration among all the novels I've read is THE FOUNTAINHEAD BY Ayn Rand. I love Howard Roark, the hero of the novel. What a great character!!

The principle guiding his life is "integrity".Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea-single principle,single thought. Roark came to know what to make out of his life at the age of ten years!! He did not like the shapes(buildings) on our earth and so he wanted to change them. He became the change he wanted to see in this world . He became an architect.He loved his work...his work was his passion.

There is another character in the novel-Peter Keating,the exact opposite character of Roark. He is a parasite who feeds on everyone, a second-hander who follows creators and other second-handers. When he was a kid, he loved painting.But it was his mom who has chosen the field of architecture for him and so he simply switched from painting to architecture.He could not decide for himself.He let others to decide for him... his career... his life.

Now here I am ..who has never ever decided anything for herself...a parasite, who has always depended on others...a second-hander who has got no creativity,no imagination...a little person, who has always felt every other creature in this world superior to herself...a sluggard,who has not spent more than a hundred or so calories in her life.

But I dont want to be a Peter Keating!!!

I was lazy ever since my childhood and I am lazy even now...at the age of nineteen! But I dont want to be lazy for the rest of my life too. I have recollected my childhood memories so that I can realize the work I love the most. But all I could analyze is that -I was shy(even now)...I dont want myself exposed to people coz I was afraid of being rejected by them . I would feel inferior before anyone and everyone. I was afraid to express myself, as people may mark me as a gigantic fool and then they may either avoid me or ignore me or even pity me! And I hated all these options.So,I was shut inside and thus all thoughts were directed towards me...inwards.I became an INTROVERT.I did not want people to take notice of me.It would have been better if I was invisible or it would have been much more better if I dont exist at all in this stupid world!!

So my only sources to kill time were day dreaming and sleeping!!

Day dreaming slowly became such an obsession that I was lost in my thoughts even during exams! I loved being lost in my own world without being disturbed by anyone.Whatever be the work I was doing-reading,listening,talking-anything, I had always been dreaming in another track of my little brain and thus I lost the sense of reality.

Sleeping-it has been noticed by almost everyone around me that I am a sleepohalic .If I cant succeed in my work and thus get depressed,I would just go to bed.I have found my anti-depressant! Nothing could touch me or hurt me,when I am sleeping.No tension could reach me.

Recently, I found another means to forget my loneliness-Reading

I love reading novels or even any other short article that interests me. I love thinking about the characters of the novels made alive by the authors. They seem to be more real than the people around me.They inspire me.They provide some great thoughts to munch upon.Paul Coelho says-"Books tell their incredible stories when you want to hear them.But, when you are talking to people,they say some things that are so strange that you dont know how to continue the conversation." True enough!!

While Chetan Bhagat's novels pushed me to believe in myself & to be self-confident, Paul Coelho's "The Alchemist" pursued me to believe in my dreams. While Sidney Sheldon's novels leave me in a spider-web of plots, Dan Brown's novels take me to new horizons running my imagination wild. Agatha Christie wakes up a James Bond or a Sherlock Holmes or probably a Hercule Poirot in me !! But my journey to this new and beautiful world started with Harry Potter series by J K Rowling, which had forced my lazy brain to read other novels patiently.

Now, its Howard Roark who has given me the greatest inspiration and also the toughest question-What is that I want to make out of my life?

I did my schooling coz I was probably forced by my parents when I was a kid. I opted for math instead of biology coz everyone said that math is better and easy(i agree...its interesting too).
I wanted to be in BITS, when I was in my +2 coz everyone said that its one of the best colleges in India(of course,that dream is already shattered).I opted for ECE in my engg coz everyone said that ECE is the best stream to mould my career

I did everything as directed by others but not directed by my heart.Now I am in my 3rd year of btech.Sooner or later, I will be doing a job.But is that what I want---programming a tiny module of a project if I go for a software job(thankfully there is no IT boom this time) or struggling with the VLSI designs if I go for a hardware job.

Now I am interested to do MBA. And I am trying to bell the CAT next year!!Yes, you heard me right.I want to be in IIMs. I hope this dream doesnt get shattered like my BITS dream!! Actually, you might be wondering that how all in the hell could an introvert choose an MBA career...but thats the big challenge, right?


Believe in your dreams coz if you have a strong belief in them, they will definitely come true!