A glimpse of computer student's life at IIT

I know that very few people will be interested in knowing about what is going in the life of a computer science student at IIT because their life is the most dull thing at IIT. But I still present a glimpse of their life to give you some idea of the constant trauma under which they live and still they dare to smile. Here I go.....

3 October,2010
12.10 am
terrace of Mercury hostel
(2 days remaining for minor two to go)

Prabhjot: "Yaar do you remember that in first year we would dance after completion of every assignment."
Shashank: "Yaar don't make me remember those wonderful days. We would dance like mad dogs and now even after completing our exams we have no enjoyment. We have lost our emotions. There is no feeling of joy remaining."
Ashwani: "Yaar no one knows of our status. I think before leaving the campus at least once we should let the profs know about our situation."
Sahil Bhaghat: "They are heart less creatures. Nothing going to change."
Priyanshu: "That's correct but at least they should know our state of life."
Preateek Garg: "Its 12.30 am. I have to study a lot.Abhi kal DBMS ka assignment bhi submit karna hai and minors also starting from day after tomorrow. I am going."
Ashwani: "Yaar I have eco presentation too. I am also going."
Sahil: "Chal yaar padhte hain"

Every one leaves.

40 miutes earlier
2nd October, 2010
11.45 pm
Computer Lab

Whole lab is in chaos. Some of the noises which I am able to hear are-
"Have you completed all the questions?..."
"oh no... half is remaining...."
"Hey! how much time...."
"Have you submitted..."
"Yaar net ki speed nahi aa rahi......."
"Moodle is not working...."
"oh Man only 5 minutes have left for the assignment to submit and I have forgot my password......."
"Does any one has a pen drive? I am going to PHD lab to submit the assignment....."
"Take mine too and do submit it from there...."


For those who are not computer science students at IIT Ropar, let me explain you the situation. Minor exam at IIT have 20-25% weightage of the whole semester. Besides that a computer science student have to do a lot of assignments and projects in each subject he is doing at IIT. This time the third year batch has 2nd minor exam from 5th of October. They have got an ADA(algorithm and Design Analysis) assignment due 3rd October, a DBMS(Data Base Management System) assignment due 4th October, some of them have a Economics presentation on 4th.And never the less the pressure of completing module 1 of PINTOS(operating systems Project). Classes will be running till 4th evening (With an extra class of ADA and 2 extra classes of MAL i.e mathematics). 2 papers daily and 6 papers in total in 3 days back to back which means you can either sleep or just revise half of the course before a paper. By the way our cultural fest ended on 26 September which means that the poor souls who worked in it have got just 9 days to do all these assignments and prepare for exams with of course all the extra classes going on regularly. And beside it a few of them have been preparing for Inter IIT sports meet and so they also have to practice regularly.
Sleep! Leave it. This is the most time wasting activity here.

7th November, 2010
2.30 am
My Room(204, Mercury)

Ashwani enters the room and throw his laptop bag on his bed.
Priyanshu: "What happened? fought with her?"
Ashwani: "Nahi yaar. PINTOS ka panga hai. I understood what to do but I am not able to start writing the code."
Prabhjot: "Same here. What you studied there at the lab?"
Ashwani: "Nothing. Just doing PINTOS."
Priyanshu: "Yaar 10th is the last date for Psycho and 12th ko DBMS ka bhi final submission hai."
Prabhjot: "Tune kitna kar liya?"
Priyanshu: "kahan yaar. I have my eco presentation tommorow. I am preparing for it."
Ashwani: "MAL quiz is also there tommorow."
Priyanshu: "yup! and OS quiz on LINUX is at 3 tommorow only."
Prashant: "Yaar jara dheere baat karlo."


Every body goes back to study and again silence prevails in the room.

Major exams(Final exams) will go from 15 to 22nd november and one good news is that the last date for OS project(PINTOS) has been extended upto 22nd midnight which means after the last paper, we have 12 hours more in our hands to work on it. Yuppy!

22nd November
12 noon
Academic Area
The last paper is over and all the students are happy and in cheerful mood. There is a match between the hostel teams and all the people from other branches are in the grounds. While passing by the grounds, I also stopped for a moment to see the match.
12.20 noon
Trin...Trin...Trin
"Hello"
"Ashwani speaking. Where are you? Come to computer Lab. Bring my laptop with you and come quickly. We have to do PINTOS."
And I dragged myself towards the lab. Semester is over for all other people but for us(the computer department at IIT Ropar), only God knows when the semester will be over. :(

My auto adventure

My new semester started from 23rd of July but I reached college on 18th night and thus all this fuss started.

I am tired of answering the question "Tu itni zaldi college kyun chala gaya?" So for all those people who are going to ask me the same question, this post carries the answer.

The auto in the title is not for the word "automatic" but has been used for the "auto ricksaw".

The whole adventure started like this.

"bhaiya old delhi chaloge?"
"150"
"I always go in 100"
"not less than 140"
"chalo 110 le lena"
"last 130"
"Not a penny more than 120"
"sit"

It was around 7.10 pm and my train was scheduled to depart at 8.15 pm. After spending a tiring month in Delhi, finally I was going home. My ecstasy was on highest level. I looked into my watch and told the driver that I had my train at 8.15 and so I had less than an hour to reach the station. Old Delhi station is approximately 21 km from IIT campus. He told that if there is no traffic, we can reach well on time.

But traffic light was not in my favour. We encountered red light at two consecutive turns and thus we were just 2 kilometres from our start in first 15 minutes. It was now time to panic. But somehow I kept calm. I started talking with the driver and within a few seconds I found that he was from my state only. Bingo! I talked to him about a few recent happenings of my state and soon we got acquainted. I was successful in pursuing him to break the signals on next turns. I also told him to take all the shortcuts he knew.

Next turn was near Green Park, a fairly crowded area. The driver was flying the auto and we broke the first signal of our way. I kept him motivating with praising his driving skills now and then. Soon we crossed the India Gate and I found my auto on the Tilak Bridge, the bridge joining new Delhi and old Delhi. It was around 7.50 when we entered the crowded old Delhi Chandani chowk area (Delhi 6). The way to station is such that you have to take a round of The Red Fort. It was 8.00 exactly and I was just a one and half kilometres from the station, hardly a journey of 2 mins. We had to take left from the next turn and then it was just a min of drive and it was done.
We were on the turn in jiffy.But........

Why the hell the municipal people can't take care of the stray dogs! A stray dog was hit by a car and thus the turn was blocked. Bulls**t.... I looked into my wrist watch and shook my head. "Nothing can be done now", I said with a sigh. But the driver said that we can still make it. He took right instead of left. Soon I realised that we were on a one side traffic route and all the vehicles seemed to be coming from opposite side only i.e. we were in "NO ENTRY". Fast moving cars and bikes honking their horns hard at us were passing us. Every now and then it seemed that we were going to bump into some car.
Finally we are arrived at the station. I gave the driver 130 rupees, 10 rupees extra for his good job and also I shook hand with him. It was already 8.05 Ten mins to departure of the train. I ran towards the display board to find the platform number of my train. But there was no display board around. I looked for it here and there but could not find it. I asked coolies but they even didn't know. It seemed to me that this train of mine has been recently started. It was 8.10 now and I was not knowing on which platform to go. I decided to check each and every platform.

But even after that I could not find that train and I was out of senses by now.It was now 8.13. Suddenly I saw an old TTE. I went to to him and showing him my ticket I asked "Uncle! Do you know from which platform this train will leave?" He looked the ticket and with a smile he replied, "Beta! you are on a wrong station. Your train was from Hazrat Nizamuddin station and It must have left the station by now."

And thus, no where to go but college, I came here earlier than all of you.

The girl in the bus(Part 5), Final Part

I could not sleep whole night. Every now and then I was opening the blog in hope of finding any comment of her. But it didn't happen. In morning, I stepped towards the bus stop. I knew that she was not going to come but still I went first to Katwaria Sarai. I left two buses in hope that she might come but in vain. Finally I took a bus and reached office an hour late. As it was my last day there,I did not have much work. I completed the pending tasks and after wards kept on talking to other employees and in mean time I also kept checking the blog in hope of something from her.

Finally the office time was over and I was free to do whatever I wanted. I again went to Nehru Place and looked for her on the bus stop. I even wandered on the streets of Nehru Place in hope of finding her somewhere, looking at the face of each and every girl passing me. I knew that I was doing the silliest thing on Earth but I could not help myself.

Finally I dragged myself into the bus. There also I could not resist myself searching for her. I left my seat and I was inspecting from front to back of the bus at every stop. I was not conscious. Everything was happening by itself. I thought I have gone mad. People were staring at me. I had my ticket of returning home on 15th i.e 5 more days in Delhi. But I decided that I would leave Delhi tomorrow only. I had nothing left here. I felt failed for the first time in my life. Once it occurred to me that why am I being so serious? There was nothing between us, then why am I lamenting. My training was over and I was returning home and so I had every reason to cheer. But this was of no help. I felt like screaming. I was out of my senses.

Bus reached her stop. I decided to leave the bus here only, still in some hope.I looked around, but she was not there. I looked towards the bus and gave a sigh thinking that perhaps I was seeing it for the last time. With heavy legs, I walked away. I again reached the same turn in the road but this time I was sure which path I had to take. I started moving towards my hostel.
Suddenly I found that my purse was missing. I looked around and searched my pocket and my bag twice. Finally I realized that someone picked my pocket in the bus. ohh God! A new problem.
I was more disheartened. I kicked a stone lying near my foot and spoke out louder in anger,
"kamino, tumhe main hi mila tha? you sonovab**ch, pickpocketers..."

"aajkal ye log badi manmani karne lage hain". A voice came.

"haan haan aajkal inki himmat bahot badh gayi.....". Wait a minute, this was the same line which I used to start talk with her on the first day. I turned around to see who it was. It was Priya! Oh my God! She was standing right in front of me with a smiling face. I was going to die out of ecstasy. But I kept a serious expression on my face and said,
"Are you following me?"
"Yes".She replied with a smile.
"I don't like girls who hang behind boys. Ek... sharif ladka dikha nahi....... ki peechhe par gayi......" I was stammering, my eyes going moist.
"But I am not of that type."She replied with moist eyes and smiling face.
"I don't want to listen." I said trying hard to show artificial anger and trying harder to resist my tears.
"You dumbo!".She burst into tears and almost ran into my arms. We hugged while tears tickled down from our eyes.
"You idiot! You keep everything telling to the world"
"ohh! only my friends know it. I have given the url only to them."
"And can't you even put your contact number there."
"Oh I forgot!"
"But never ever dare to forget me."
"Never",I tightened my arms around her while looking into her innocent eyes.



And thus my this day ended. What you said?..... Want to know more....
Leave at least something yaar! I am not going to tell you anymore. Samajha karo :P

And one more thing, Don't disturb me tomorrow. We are going out together. Oops! I did it again :P

The girl in the bus (Part 4)

I don't know what is going to happen with me. In just last four days, I have seen a lot of changes. I doubt whether I am going on right track or the track is misleading me away from my goal. One more day to go and everything will be finished. Either my life will be no where or it may be now here. Keeping faith in the God and believing that whatever will happen will be best in my favour, let's see what happens. Let me tell you what all happened with me today.

Today I got ready an hour earlier, took an auto from the Ber sarai and reached Katwaria sarai bus stop by 8.30 . She had still not came. I was doing calculations,"two days left which means at most four meetings. If every time there is a traffic jam then one hour in bus each time. So I have at most 4 hours to act. But what should I do. I kept thinking the same question last night also. I did not know what I was going to talk today and even if I was going to talk or not."

She came there right at 8.45 with a friend of her.

With a astonished look, "hey hi! today from this stop?"

"yeah , I told you yesterday na, that this one is nearer to my hostel."(I lied again but this time there was a hesitation while saying. Some part of me was forcing me to tell her the truth that I was there for her only but I could not gather that much of courage.) Her friend was giving me a disbelieving look.

"So your second last day to office . Feeling relaxed?"

"yeah."I could not see towards her face. I was tensed. What to speak out? How to start? Suddenly this occurred to me, "Hey! we still don't know each others name!"

With a little laugh she replied "oh! I too forgot. Who is going to be first?"

"Ladies first." I said.

"O that i s old day's talks. You go first."

"Okay, I am Priyanshu."

"And I am Priya."she smiled.

Wow! What a sweet name. And moreover "Priya" is a part of 'Priyanshu". This thought gave me a boost. May be this is going to be real.

We kept on talking through the whole journey. From talks on some movie to the star plus drama serials and another time on Shahrukh Khan and finally on movies again. Mean while her friend was gazing me as if I was going to kidnap priya (Oo how much I like this name). The topic of discussion was around love stories when Nehru place came. She waved her hand and got down.

Out of the four possible meetings, one was gone. Now I was left with just three in hand and I was not getting any idea. I kept thinking on this the whole day and finally decided that today in the evening I will try to be more friendly with her and after deciding tonight what to do next I will act tomorrow.

I left my office a little earlier than usual and took a bus for Nehru place. I was on time since as I reached there she was coming along with her friend from the lane just in front of the bus stop. She saw me, and with surprise,

"hey! what are you doing here?"

"Nothing just I got off from my office a little earlier and so I was returning back when my bus got punctured and so I am here." I lied confidently.

"Then where is that bus?"

I did not expected this question from her. My heartbeat went high.
"Aaaa..... It would... be..."

"Are you following me?"

Oh my God! I was not prepared for this. I saw towards her and I found clear sign of anger in her eyes.
"..No.... Its nothing like ...that. Its just a coincid... "

"Listen. I hate those boys who hang behind girls. Those silly fellow. They will start moving their tails before any girl they find. They don't even know how uncomfortable it make us feel. Seen a girl and started running behind."

"But....."

She left with her friend and stood at another corner of the stop. What the hell is this. Where have I gone wrong. Till morning everything was fine and now....... It must be this friend of her. She seems to be Hitler from her look only.
I wanted to tell her that I am not like that. She was the first girl about whom I felt something. But how?

I was standing at a distance not very far from her seat in the bus and was trying to listen what they were talking. She seemed to be depressed while her friend (I will like to call her a bi*ch) was pouring something into her ears. I could not think of what to do and finally I decided to leave everything on tomorrow.
But just a stop before Katwaria sarai I managed to listen a little bit of their talks and what I found that she was on leave from office for tomorrow. A new problem. So whatever I had to do I should do today only. I can't get even slightest of idea how to act. Her stop came and she was moving out. Suddenly I thought this. I brought my book out, teared a bit of paper from it and scratched on that and just when she was to step out I reached her.
"Priya! I am not of the type you are thinking." I handed the paper in her hand. She said nothing and moved away. I cried from behind,"Please read the paper."

The paper had the url of this blog.

"Priya! " I don't know whether you will see this today but I am sure that someday you will visit this page. I confess that I was following you but believe me it was first time I have done something like this. I don't know what is this but I just know that in these last four days I have been thinking mostly of you. It may seem idiotic to you and I might be a matter of laughter among your friends but believe me this is real, somewhere deep in my heart, I have started liking you. I don't have to say anything more. Good bye."


Next Part

The girl in the bus (Part 3)

Hi Friends! I don't know why but today I am in a dilemma. I am on a turn on the road where there are two paths leading ahead. My mind orders me two follow one of them and my heart asks me to follow the other. Without riddling anymore, I am going to tell you what happened today.

I woke a little earlier today and did shaving (I had read somewhere that girls prefer clean shaved men.... hehehe). I took a little bit of time in deciding what to wear and after looking myself a hundred times in the mirror (still not satisfied!! ), I reached the bus stop a little earlier. I got into the bus and finally the bus reached her stop. I confirmed my looks into the window glass pane. My heart was pounding. I looked towards the door. People were entering one by one. My heart beat was competing with the bus engine. She could enter any moment. But what the hell! The bus started without her entering! I looked for her outside the window. She was not there! In fact there was no more passenger on the stop. Damn it!

"Her vacations might have ended. No no, this can't happen. Probably she would be late today. Late! Not possible. Girls are very punctual. She might be not feeling well. The weather is changing frequently from hot to cold and vice-verse. But she seemed to be alright yesterday. May be she has some important work to do. What important work can she have in a vacation?
Or may be she has left her job and she is not going to come in the bus any more. No no. That cannot happen. What rubbish am I thinking." All these chit-chat were going in between my heart and my mind .

I could not do any thing today in my office. Even my boss and the colleagues asked me if I was alright. I was getting an intense feeling that I would never get to see her again. I was watching clock, time and again, and was waiting eagerly for the office hours to end. Finally the clock ticked 6 and I came out with a little hope to see her again. I dragged myself any how to the bus stop and got into the bus.

Finally her stop (Nehru place) came. I did not wanted to look for her outside. I was sure she would not be there. But still, just when the bus started moving again, I looked for her. There was a great rush inside the bus. And since it was a cloudy evening, it was somewhat darker inside. I gave a quick searching look towards the rush and consoled myself that she was not there :-(.

Bus was moving slowly in the traffic and was just crossing the Savitri cinema flyover. I saw an another girl standing at a little distance from me but her face was not visible. But it was not she because this girl's hairs were untied whereas she use to keep ponytail. This girl brought her phone out of her purse and started typing perhaps some sms. Oh my God! In the dim moon light of the phone I saw the gleaming face of the girl. It was she only, today in a different hair style. Yes yes yes! It was she. She looked stunningly beautiful today. I looked again into the window pane :P .

Next stop was Pumposh colony. Usually many passengers get down here. Today also the same happened and the person sitting beside me got down there. She moved towards the empty seat and while moving, she noticed me and gave smile. But suddenly a men came from somewhere and before she could sit. #!%!#!# Doesnot these people have even this much of manner to give seat to a standing lady in the bus. Hey! wait a minute, this man has manners! He stood up giving her the seat. WOW! She was seating just beside me. Is this real?

"Hi!" she said.
"Hello!" We met again today (I replied with a smile).
"Ya".
I was having goosebumps. kya bolu? How should I start? Every topic seemed to be silly to me. Oh God! 30 seconds passed without any talk. What a time waster I am.
"So which department you are in?"(she asked.)
"Computer Science". Thanks God! she started. Without any further delay I asked
"And you?"
"I am doing Economics honors."
"Cool So what are your further plans? Job or higher studies?"(I could not think of anything better at that time. :-( )
"I am not sure. Actually I have not decided yet."
"Oh same with me"
She smiled in reply. This time I got a close look of her face. What a beauty! She was looking awesome in untied hairs.
"Which company you are working in?" I asked.
She replied..........., aaaaaa, I don't remember the company name she told. I was just on cloud nine. We kept on talking till her stop came. Time seemed to be flying. How early we reached to her stop.
"Ok I will leave.Bye."
She climbed down. I too stepped out of the bus behind her. She saw me.
"You go to Ber sarai na?"
"Yes I do. But I found that the gate through Katwaria sarai is more nearer to my hostel." (I lied :-) )

I walked with her upto the turn from where she had to turn right and I had to take left. She went away. But I kept standing there looking at the two paths, the two paths that I mentioned at start, not getting any idea which one to follow.

I thought about my self. I had just two more days left for the internship. After that I would be not going through the bus. Perhaps after that I will never meet her. Then why am I being so serious about her. Nothing can be done in just two days.

Wait a minute. TWO DAYS. 48 HOURS. 2880 MINUTES. 172800 SECONDS. Its not that much small man. Its enough. Be positive....

Let's see what tomorrow brings for me..........

To be Continued..............                     Next Part

The girl in the bus (Part 2)

Today I again found her in my bus. She got in at two stops ahead of my stop. There were not many people in the bus. The seat besides me was empty. I put my bag there and thought that as she will come near my seat, I will take it away making room for her to sit. She entered from the front gate of the bus. She was in deep blue-green suit with light pink and cream coloured duppatta. She was looking awesome. As she came near she noticed me. Without a moment's delay I waved my hand and said

"Hi!"
"hi" she replied.

I was ready to act as per my plan and took away my bag from the seat hoping she will sit there but....#!@!#.

The man sitting just in front of me stood up and thus she sat in the seat in front of mine. What should I do next? I was thinking how to start talk without let her know that I was eager (actually extremely eager :-) ) to talk to her. Thanks God! there was a traffic jam today, giving me extra time. I am sure I was the only one in the bus who was happy to find the traffic jam.

Bus was moving slowly and time was moving out even slower. All the tricks and dramas used by hindi movie hero swayed through my mind but none seem to be helping. At last her stop came and I was not able to say even a single word.
oh! she stood and started moving towards the door :-( . Suddenly I saw that her hanky was lying on the floor. Perhaps she had kept it in her lap and it fell down when she stood up. I came in action and jumped out of my seat, grabbed the hanky and rushed towards the gate. She was just to step out when I cried,

"your hanky...."

She looked towards me, took the hanky from me, gave a smile and stepped out.
I was not on earth.
Thank you god, thank you, thank you, tank you............Whole day her face was hovering around me.

At evening while returning back, I was praying God that she comes again in the same bus. Since this was the only bus on this route, there was some chance of that.
I waited restlessly till her stop. This time there was rush in the bus and I was sitting in one of the seats at back. Finally her stop came. I gazed out side and searched for her on the stop but she was not there :-( . Bus started slowly. My heart sank.

Suddenly the driver pushed the brakes. I looked out and to my surprise, she and a friend of her came running and entered the bus. She was standing in the front part part of the bus and there were many people in between us. But I still managed to get her glimpses. She was panting and and was tightening her hairs with a hair band. I am unable to recollect how the time elapsed and her stop came. She moved out. Bus started slowly.

Suddenly I decided to leave the bus here only. I grasped my bag and jumped out of the moving bus and looked around for her. There was rush outside. She was lost somewhere among the people and I could not find her.

Finally, I looked towards my bus. It was hardly visible now. I started walking towards my hostel hoping that I may find her again next day.....

To be continued......


Next Part

The girl in the bus (Part 1)

I don't know when this bug of blogging entered into my system. I tried the best of the antiviruses like laziness against this horrible bug, but at last my system crashed and as a result this post is here.

In the first post only I don't want to bore you (I do not guarantee the same in future. :P) so let me tell you a story.

First time when I saw her was when she was late for her office. She was sitting on the seat in front of mine and was continuously glancing at her watch. She has just taken bath (that I guessed from her wet hairs).I tried to see her face but could only catch a glimpse of side view. Ohhhhhh myyyyyyy Godddddddd! She is so pretty. I have seen many girls but she was.... just awesome. She was in no makeup, wearing a white kurti and a "sania mirza nathuni" and seems to be coming directly from the heaven. Her fair colour had more glow than her tide washed white kurti. I completely lost my senses. I wanted to see her face again. I was just wondering how beautiful would be the front view of her face. "Ticket Please........"

"Where will you go?"
"kalkaji"
"15 rupees"
But it is just 10 rupees. I travel daily,this was what I was going to speak out when I heard the sweetest of the sweet voices ......
"bhaiya one ticket for Nehru place."
I was gone.
Its a lie that Lata ji has the sweetest voice, this was what came to my mind.
I thought that I should not create a scene and should pay him 15 rupees without saying anything :-) (First step of making good impression :-) ).

"10 rupees madam"
"kya bhaiya! its only 5 rupees, I travel daily..."
"Nahi madam its 10 only.."
"Aap jyada charge kar rahe ho.."
"Haan haan aap jyada charge kar rahe ho (this one came from me), in the other buses they charge lesser than you (dekh ke mauka, mara chauka..hehehe :P )"

I saw towards her after saying this "impressive" dialogue to see her reaction.
For the first time we both gave a glance to each other. Oh my god! superb, fantastic, outstanding, mind blowing, ra, rapat, rapchik, rapchundas, fantaas.................. all the words used by the judges of the reality shows poured into my mind. She was uniquely, amazingly, outstandingly, ................. blah ......blah ...............blah.........."beautiful"(spare me for my bad English) .
I felt like sitting in a air conditioned Mercedes Benz.

She gave a ten rupee note to the conductor without saying anything more. Now It was my duty to follow her example ("ahimsa parmodharma").I gave out 15 rupees.

As the conducter went away I said "aajkal ye log badi manmani karne lage hain" just loud enough to be heard by her. She turned back at this and nodded. Without wasting a moment I asked "Aap daily isi bus se jati hain?"
"no I use the one just before this one."
"Ohh so today you are late."
"yes"
hastily, without giving her time to turn away"So you work in nehru place."
"Yes"
"But you seem to be a college student"
"Actually I am. I am doing a part time job here in summer holidays."
I asked "Which college you are in?"(this was the question I wanted her to ask me)
"Lady Sree Ram"
"Ohh I am in IIT" (I thought that its safer to answer before she ask just in case she does not asks)
"oh Nice."
"Thanks"

"Nehru place wale taiyar ho jaye" cried the conductor.

"Mera stop aa gaya.Bye"
"okay. Bye!"

I kept watching her till she disappeared in the crowd. Then suddenly I recollected "Oh shit.... uska naam to puchha hi nahi? "


To Be Continued................    

Next Part