Gooooooooogle

It was the start of 5th semester. I was standing in line with a friend X outside BLN's office for paying mess fee. This was the time I was really pissed from IIIT, I used to hate this place . It was even more irritating because i got a 6 in the last semester.

Now starts the real story. A decent looking gentlemen was standing behind me. I came to know that he has just joined the M-Tech programme and that it's his first day in the college. I thought of troubling him . I started criticizing IIIT there, saying that it is a hellish place to be in and that there is no worthy outcome you can expect from this college. I said " yahaan kya log badi badi ummedein lekar aa jaate hain apna jeevan barbaad karne". In some time I could see this gentlemen becoming tense. I could see the insecurity on his face, all his dreams being washed away in a sec. I could see a man who entered IIIT with big dreams and high aspirations but depressed the very first day because some idiot tried to weaken his faith in the institute. I gave a monstrous smile to my friend X and he started laughing.

Recently I came to know about a guy from IIIT being selected by Google. Somebody told his name but I didn't know him by face. I kept on asking many of my friends to tell me who is it. They used to describe his appearance but I could never recognize him. Finally I asked my friend X. He told me that he is the decent looking getlemen I troubled one and a half years back. I was stumped.

Moral of the story :
Moral 1) Never never never lose hope
Moral 2) Never ever demoralize anybody

Placement fever and me

Placement process started on 3rd of december with Adobe and TCS. I decided not to sit for TCS. Prepared quite a lot of DIP for Adobe but everything went in vain , I couldn't even clear the written test. An ironical thing the day of Adobe was Sagar could get into Adobe and not TCS . I remember we all congratulating Sagar on the ground floor near the samosa vala, discussing the questions asked and his experience of the interview. Sagar is the real topper of our batch, cracking CAT, getting into dream company day 1, Internship at MS IDC ..... . With Adobe the feel of placement process started, though for me it was a shock that I couldn't even clear a written programming test.

Next was Sarnoff, I volunteered to manage it's process. Natraj was the first guy to get it. I remember again congratulating him near the basketball court. Mani, Vardhman and Ranjith could also make it.

Next IBM, my first job . IvyComptech may be my dream job but there is something special about the first job . I am glad that my first job is in the world largest computer company. My interview was mainly C++, Web Services and a bit of RDBMS. I remember the time when a hot IBM babe(bitch ) sitting on a bench and looking into an IBM laptop announced the name of candidates selected for IBM. Almost everybody in the room could make it. Was quite relieving to listen my name in the ocean of names. The real nervous guy was Yash because his was the last name called because of the unfortunate "Y".
I was real happy after getting into IBM. My family was also happy, atleast I got a job. I also told by brother at IBM US. He works in ASM, get's more per month there than what IBM ASM pays here per year . He was quite happy for me because according to him at an age of 20 getting into the worlds biggest computer company is a bid deal.
IBM is the real savior of the IIIT placement this year, they placed almost half of UG4.

Then came my dream company ......... "Microsoft" , the company I had the maximum desire to get into. Couldn't even clear the written . This was the biggest shock for me.

Then Synopsys. Couldn't clear the written again. I came in quite a lot of depression.

Then came Novell and Nvidia. I did a careful analysis and decided not to sit for them, instead giving a try to Yahoo and IVYComptech. This risk payed off bigtime for me. Someone has said it rite "Fortune favours the brave" .

Then Yahoo, I could clear the written test. This was the first dream company written test which I could clear. But just missed getting into the interview round, could run both the programming problems but was rejected because the second problem was working with 80% accuracy . Gowtham and Sudhanshu made it. I was especially happy for Gowtham because he didn't even have a non dream job. Yahoo's procedure was I think the toughest iin the campus. I remember Sudhanshu's party, I was an uninvited unwanted guest. Chutneys and Dosas at "Chutneys" were awesome . I was enjoying the party but I never could have imagined that the next day was the D Day in my life , IvyComptech was coming.

The next day it was IvyComptech on the campus. I was sitting on the first bench in their presentation. They gave an interesting problem of folding a hankey on the hands. Some of us took the presentators hankey, some others took out their own hankeys and tried but nobody could do it. The presentation started.They ensured that people selected will only be put in development. Then came the compensation slide , I lost hope of getting selected after seeing the astronomical 7.57 l.p.a package. I could clear the written test. 40 minutes after the test was over I got a call informing that I was the first guy going to be interviewed. I reached the interview room in some time. They took my CV and asked me to wait outside the room. They had a look at my CV for 5 minutes. I could hear the voices inside. In some time I was called inside. I was assuming that I will not get selected , so was quite cool. I sat on the chair. I smiled looking at the lady interviewer. Actually I wanted to laugh at myself because I knew that I would not get selected but the lady took it the other way. She thought that I smiled looking at her . I was lucky that she didn't take it personally. When I entered the room I thought she might be some dumb HR but after the interview I came to know that she was IIT Kharagpur B-Tech CSE .

Intially 2 people started interviewing, one tech and one HR. But later one more tech interviewer joined. Since I was quite relaxed because I was not expecting anything I think I answered well. Guessed while not getting anything and tried the problems given by them quite coolly. I answered HR questions quite since I was well prepared for it. My interview went on for some 30-35 minutes, got over at 1:00 PM.

At 3:00 I was going with Priyanshu to the OBH hostel for lunch when Priyanshu got a call for list of students finally selected. He listened looked at me and smiled. I should not say this in a blog but "Meri to gaand phat hui thi". It was when he told me that I got selected all the problems in my life seemed to have been solved. I remember people in the OBH asking me who got selected and I answering "me and Meher" .

I was selected on 25th, took offer lettor on 26th and left for home on 27th

My cricketing history

I always had loved cricket, especially Sachin. I used to dance on the sofa of my home when he used to hit fours. After my 9th class I said to my dad that I want to be a Sachin. My dad rejected my idea and instead asked me to study as that was the second thing after cricket that I knew how to do well. I used to join the summer camp every year and also used to go on regular days to my cricket club 'Khanuja Cricket Club'. In the summers it was two sessions a day , one starting at 5:00 in the morning and the other at 4 in the evening. It was quite a bit of struggle, I mean I had to go to the Club on my cycle that was quit far off from my place with my cricked kit loaded behind the cycle. Then after reaching the club we were made to run 5 rounds of the full stadium and then strenous exercising. Then the net practice used to start. I never used to get to bat. I used to bowl leg spinners. My line and length were absolutely horrible. I also used to flight the ball a lot, so if a good batsman is standing on the crease he used to blast the ball like a nuclear bomb. The only thing good about my bowling was that I used to turn a lot. I was known to bowl outside the leg stump and take the stumps. People used to call me 'Warnee'. I also bolwed Amay Khurasia once and believe it or not he couldn't hit even a single bowl of mine properly. I also beat him once when he was trying to run down the pitch and hit me for a six, he was stumped. He encouraged me and called me 'Sharnee'. God it was such a good feeling.
I also used to play matches in the club. I used to be the last player in the worst team. If sometime I got to bat, since I couldn't even touch the bowl properly I used to get run out to escape the criticism. I also bowled once when I was hit for 4 fours and 3 wides in an over by some 'Malinder singh', son of a bitch. All this net practice and club was only for two years 8th and 9th.


I studied in 10th , got a good percentage. During the summer holidays after 10th I joined a cricket club run by my school. Since I was the best of the worst batsmans out there because no good players joined the club, I used to open the batting in the nets. That is where I really started batting.

Then the god dammit IIT-JEE preperation. All cricket was left behind. Fortunately or Unfortunately I joined IIIT Hyderabad ( some guy seriously advised me to join IIIT becz he knew a professor at IIIT that he was sure will make a very good environment at IIIT. guess who it is ?. will tell you at the end of this blog entry .). I used to play with my batchmates, used to batted well and came in eyes of people as a decent batsman. As far as I know I am known to be classy. Pandey , Joon , Ruchir , Yash , NMC , Lu , Akshay are the cricketers I respect most in my batch. Pandey is inspiration combined with lethal bowling ( he is the only bowler in IIIT that makes my pants wet, the way he jumps during delivery is frightening for the batsman ), Joon is perfection, Ruchir is leadership , Yash is technique , NMC is real class , Lu a batsman who can keep and Akshay deadly bouncy bowling.

The first time I tried to get into the Agni team, I was kept as an extra. That was god damn frustating. The second time it was Pandey who brought me into light. He asked the then captain to keep me in the team and gave me a chance to go first down to bat. I played well that day and from all the matches after that match I used to open , face the new ball. I suppose I am partially responsible for some wins for my House and Batch. My highest score is a modest 48 and I have hit only one six till now in the past 3 years . My dream is to hit Pandey for six sixes in an over . People say that I am responsible for a lot of run outs but I think this is a false impression of mine. I run like a laggard but intelligently. The bolwer I love hitting most is Phanindra. Hitting him makes me feel like a Sachin hitting an Akhtar .

Enough for today. At last let me open the suspense of that professor at IIIT. Believe it or not it is our own loving , funny DEAN IIIT Hyderabad Prof Govind Rajulu.
Byeeeeee