The art of mind control

Yesterday I had attended a class on "The Art of mind Control". Attending such a class in aryabhatta by a final year is thought to be taboo. This kind of classes are meant for first years who are crazy about anything! My friends rejected the idea of attending a class w/o attendance and that too on a fine saturday afternoon. Anyway I just want to check it out. So I went there. Inspirational quotes by eminent personalities flashed in the screen till the class started. Some people started taking down to get motivated later.The class was conducted by an experienced guy who takes classes for corporate guys. It is his first time with engineering students. The guy started talking about the need of mind control and taught us some basic pranayama techniques and methods to increase the spiritual quotient. The class was very nice but the way in which the nitc guys approched the class was quite interesting. Some doubts which I liked are those which followed the pranayama techniques.

* He taught us that in pranayama we should inhale till he count 2 and then hold for 8 counts and then exhale for another 4 counts. When u inhale take maximum breath and ur tummy should be of maximum size. While exhaling completely exhale and ur tummy should shrink inside. After practising 4-5 rounds came doubts from the ever curious nitc-ians :

Q:Sir is it absolutely necessary to hold for 8 counts...?
A:No.. If u inhale for 1 count hold for 4 and then exhale for 2 counts.
(The engineers figured it out inhale=x, hold=4x and exhale=2x)
Q: Sir, my tummy is moving the other way around. (shrinking on inhaling and vice versa)
A: Check with some doctor!
Q:Sir we are inhaling for x time and we exhaling for 2x time. So where is the extra air coming ?
( questioning the very existence of all theorems " energy can't be created or destroyed")
A: We are inhaling faster and exhaling slowly.
Q: Sir, any how which is more in amount ? Inhaling or exhaling air?
A: Exhaling contains impurities too. There fore may contain more amount.
Q: Sir, but the number of molecules inhaled is same as exhaled rite...?
Then the guy and some chemists started figuring out C4 + O2 -> CO2
then balanced C4 +4O2-> 4CO2. So inhaled amount is Same as exhaled.
Pranayama class thus ended up a chemistry class coz of engineers .

The guy succesfully took the class to the later sessions before avogadro's number and molecular masses would dominated the discussion.

Lots of such interesting discussion came up and I couldn't remember all. But I am sure he would be more careful in dealing with engineers in future.

APRIL FOOL (How many times can you fool the same guy?)

As I dream and as it may sound it is not me who fooled someone. It was HASH who fooled me.
I was thinking of some ways to fool my friends. Then I got a mail from HASH "101 ways to fool people" which came handy for me. But on opening the mail it said "this is one way.. Will send the rest later"! . No one saw that. I buried it!
I had been alert since then. I had graph theory class at 10.15 . As usual I was a bit late and when I reached the class it was closed and so I called Hash. He din take the call and msgd me telling "class has shifted to seminar hall". Ever since I registered for the subject it was taught in db. And why should it be shifted on APRIL 1 ?? My brain analyzed and found out a clear case of fooling. Who is he gonna fool ? ME!!! I went back to room and slept. But it turned out that class was actually shifted which means my bunkometer moved towards the border in the subject.
After all other classes I went back to room and I almost forgot the APRIL fool thing and then 'hash' sent me a link to the blog of an M.Tech guy whom we know and he claimed to have got "Google Internship" . I was happy for him and so I commented congratulating him. Then hash told me he was fooling !
Thus I got fooled thrice!

Ragam 09 :The Best Ragam ever!!

Ragam 09 has just happened! as we say every year "the best ragam ever", it was indeed the best one. Even though it includes a lot of events the major ones were the events in OAT. PRo shows by Benny Dayal and Shankar Mahadevan indeed rocked the thousands. Breath the floyd, fashion show and group dance events in OAT were superb! Benny Dayal performed with Swetha . I have never seen OAT so much crowded. As usual my aim was to enjoy and touch the stars !! (yeah I love it !!). So I had been near the stage with my friends. I Could give a hand to Swetha but Couldn't touch Benny! Most of the songs performed were familiar. So really rocked! After the show there was group dance competition. It was really nice.

Next day it was Shankar Mahadevan's show. It was the best one. The hit numbers really rocked. He even invited some gals to perform on stage for one song. He performed with two other artists. I had to wait near the special gate infront of his car to finally touch him. When he said bye I grabbed his hand! Last day it was Breathefloyd : "Breathe - The Delicate Sound of Floyd" (a Pink Floyd tribute band). Their Dharma tour India commenced with Ragam 09. I am not a great fan of pink floyd, but I love some of their songs. So kinda enjoyed. Fashion show was the last event. I found a nice spot to settle near the stage. As I don't know the rules and formalities of fashion show I was just shortlisting the best gals on stage at any moment based on 'some critirea' and concentrated on them! Any way it was nice too.

Overall the Ragam 09 was amazing... Both informal stages had been crowded on all days of Ragam. Even though it was burning hot in aryabhatta, it was houseful for most of the events. Even in terms of participation from outside collages it would be the best ever. Thousands of people from varous collages came for the event.

Hmmm.. yeah Another Ragam is over. Leaving behind a lot of memories....

(pics courtesy: Bharath)

COLLEGE RANKING FOR M.TECH

Today I met the HOD of computer science with two of my friends to discuss the prosepectus of higher studies in computer science. While discussing he gave us his personal ranking of institutes for doing masters in computer science. We discussed only IITs and IISc.

(This is his personal ranking for Computer Science)
(Top IIT / IISC Ranking)

1. IIT KANPUR

2. IIT BOMBAY

3. IISC

4. IIT DELHI

Unexpectedly IISc is ranked only 3rd in his opinion. IIT Kanpur is said to be the best in India for theoretical computer science with well known professor Manindra Agrawal ( might have heard AKS algorithm) heading the department. IISc is ranked third as he said many former students complained thay you may not get the guide you want. If you are not able to work on your area of interest it is better not to choose any institute on the basis of reputation.

The following ranking is given by my senior Rose doing M.tech in IITB

Theoretical:
1) IIT Kanpur
2) IISc
3) IIT Bombay

Systems:
1) IIT Bombay
2) IIT Kanpur

Neverthless the toppers in Gate normally go for ME in IISc. One of my senior-
Sreedal has got into Bell Labs while he was doing ME in IISC. But those who are interested in theoretical computer science can better choose IITK.
Those who are interested in theoretical computer science and is interested in doing a Ph.D after B.tech can opt for IMSc or CMI. Those are top class research institutes and have separate tests and interview for selection. Some of my seniors are in IMSc. One of them, Aiswarya Cyriac is doing Ph.D in computer science (IMSc). She is one of the prestigious 'Google India Women in Engineering Award 2009' winner and is doing research in theoretical computer science and is an excellent example of a brilliant student who pursue her dreams rather than going after a general trend. According to her IMSc is the best research institute in India for Computer Science. Those guys from CMI and IMSc get opportunity to work in the best research labs after their studies. Those who are interested in teaching can go for that too. Any way choosing the institute and the course should be purely based on one's interest rather than going with the trend. In the long run it would pay off.