Finally...

i have been on the list of contributors to this blog for wat too much time now - yet i havent posted anything. everytime i see this blogs name on my dashboard, guilt pangs envelope me and i shamelessly ignore them. this morning, however, i decided to give up my lethargy and finally type out a few thoughts...

haven't been out of pilani for too long to feel nostalgic or think about what it is i learnt from BITS. i am one of those who wouldn't think twice about admitting that i am glad i don't have to go back to pilani again.. though this doesn't mean i won't .. in case i ever feel like i will surely drop in for a couple of days - but surely no more. i know this sis a sentiment that not too many of you share, but i have my reasons for it. lets just say that being cut off from civilizatin is not something i enjoy too much.

i hold nothing personally against the institute or the people there (its given me some of my best friends ever), but i do believe that in the 7 semesters that i was on campus my growth as an individual was stunted. i also believe that a lot of people who felt really at home in pilani, find it hard to adjust to the "real" world. i feel pilani is way too protective and cushions us against the biggest realities of human existence today - loneliness and and change.

in pilani u always find some one to talk to or hang out with, in the real world even ur closest friends don't always find the time for you - and vice versa.. you too may end up being busy when someone you care about really needs you. i don't know whether this is good or bad- but i know its normal... its the way the world works. i am given to believe that some people do manage to find time and energy for it, but surely they do so at the cost of either their careers or their personal space (a concept that is alien to a lot of BITSians that i know atleast). its isn't that bad to be alone, and personally i did make an effort to spend a lot of time in BITS with myself... because if you don't enjoy your own company, no one else will. its something that wasn't appreciated when i was on campus, but i am sure will help me in the rest of my life.

the second thing i mentioned was change.. BITSians love the fact that things in pilani hardly change. yes there are external modifications, but the core of their world is constant. lots of BITSians i know find it hard to make new friends and stick on to their BITSian circle for a long time after they pass out. old is gold , i admit, but unless people expand their horizons and interact with people who come from divergent background and have different lives than your own (hanging out with colleagues is just as bad) you restrict your life experience.

what i would really love to see is for BITSians to develop a more inclusive nature, to be more tolerant to people who are different and unique and not find the need to conform, or make others do the same.

these are my thoughts and highly personal. i know a lot of you will disagree or have furher comments to make. but thats the whole point of the blog isn't it??

A quick request

Hi, I have a request for all of you.

I am maintaining a personal list of bitsian bloggers in my blogspot. It currently has about 40 sites and am currently sorting the list by batch so that we have some way of ordering it. So,

1, If you have a blog and your name is not on the list, can you send a mail to rathish_balakrishnan at yahoo dot com or just leave a comment in my blog giving me the address of your blog, your batch, your name and what you are doing presently
2, If your blog is on the list and you have sometime to spare, can you give me the aforementioned details so that I can update the info I have on my page.
3, If there are people on the list who you know, but they dont know that they are on the list, do give me their details too :)

Thanks a million for dropping by. You can find the present list here

PS: Talking of encounters with GSu, here's my favorite quote of his - "Bad words are of two kinds - anatomy and relationships!" - Profound!

A benign hello

To introduce me briefly, this is RL - 1999A7PS035. Presently working for Oracle, Bangalore. I had been waiting to post about something really good for so long, but honestly - I could get nothing - so far. Its just been 2 years I know, but the absence of anything to say - feels kinda odd. Maybe, it hasnt really hit me. So, I just thought I will barge in and say a quick hello!! I have the luxury of staying with a close set of friends from BITS and conversing with many more on a regular basis and I still havent begun missing BITS. Krithika might be missing it sorely for no fault of hers, but "guss", "sac" and a coupla other good-naturedly vernacular expletives are still safely a part of my vocabulary (as is the constant need to check your tongue before it blurts out something terrible before your folks at home). I havent been out of college enough still, to sediment and bookmark my memories into neat racks yet. So, there is nothing much I can add to the wonderful posts so far written. Perhaps, some day when the single thread of BITSian memories dissolves into quanta - an event after another - when I can distinctly remember one over the other, I will get something really good to write about. Not yet....

Visibility in one more dimension

I am Srini (better known as Namka - 97C6), but glad that my sobriquet is dying fast! My compliments to the folks who have initiated this blog idea and am very enthused about contributing to this blog.

"Camel in the desert"- what could be a better name than this? Most of us are carrying memoirs of our BITSian days in our brain humps and those running their term in BITS right now are filling up their humps with many interesting incidents. If each of one us were to right an auto-biography of our lives spent in BITS, we'll be at our best in jotting down (or should I say keying down our thoughts ?) ;). But that is a different story.

It has been three and half years since I am out of BITS, but my links with BITSians all over the world has never been stronger than what it is today. It was the BITSAA Alumni first and then the various BITSAA yahoo groups. Of course, you always have specific contact modes with your inner circle of friends. Sandpaper has turned out to be another medium of apprising the BITSian community about the Geeks and Gods, excelling themselves in various fields. Sometime last year (not sure though), there was this Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten who developed the concept of orkut community (They decided to call it Orkut because Buyukkokten was hard to pronounce!). Suddenly, there were hundreds of BITSian communities created along with the uber BITS community as well. As of now it has somewhere around 1900 folks -that's amazing!. I guess the idea caught on with folks so much, that recently I came across a similar community called hi5 (I am sure BITSians are already swarming this community too!)

And today, our new dimension of staying in touch and communicating with each other is through blogging. Blogs have mushroomed so much that the word has been declared one of the words of the year 2004! Having said all this, once again, I am very excited to be right in the eye of the storm. Posting this in the blog site gives me nice feeling and I am sure lot of us would feel the same. Let us all keep the blog rolling and use it effectively.

A note to the on-campus folks:

What is the campus interview scenario this time around? An update on this would be nice to read.

A BITSian is a BITSian is a BITSian ...

Two years it has been since I walked out those gates ... Got me a regular 9 to 5 job and blended seamlessly into mainstream society ... Nothing to remind me of BITS except the handful of BITSians working in my company ... So I was pleasantly surprised one day when after work I accidentally ran into a BITSian who was just visiting town ... We met on the main road, and stood there talking for over half an hour, oblivious of the time or the place ... We were so excited - we were seeing each other after years! ...

It was a very typical BITSian reunion, except for the fact that the guy was my STUCCAN in my first year ... Here was a guy I barely spoke to as a volunteer, out of fear and respect ... A guy who (I thought) probably did not know I existed! ... And here we were, more than 5 years later, chatting away like long lost sidees! ... After all these years, we had one thing in common - We were both Ex-BITSians excited to see a familiar face again ...

It has happened with me quite a few times over the last year ... In the crowds of a shopping mall or a bus stop, I see a face staring out at me ... A feeling of faint recognition, and then I go over and start an excited conversation ... And mind you, these are BITSians I've never even spoken to before in BITS ... And yet the reunion is no less nostalgic than if I had met my wingie again ...

There's another incident that I just have to recall here ... I was at a multiplex a couple of months back, waiting for a movie to start ... In the distance I saw a senior of mine buying popcorn ... Very soon I saw another senior (his batchmate) approach him ... They exhibited the usual signs of BITSians meeting after a long time ... The hugs, the smiles, the endless barrage of questions ... Very normal, except that they happened to be members of opposite political parties on campus ... Never in my stay in BITS could I ever imagine that two hardcore rivals could mingle with such ease ...

So there you have it ... Within BITS, we are indeed a diverse bunch, with our own loyalties and affiliations ... We have our wing, our discipline, our department, our clubs, our regional assocs ... There are all sorts of people - some we like, some we hate, some we ignore and some we don't know exist ... But all these complex relationships tend to be confined to the walls of Pilani ... Guys on campus might not realise it now, but once you graduate, a BITSian is a BITSian is a BITSian ...

Close Encounters of the GSu kind...

You know what? I completely forgot how i had planned to start this post. The moment i read everyone reminiscing about the desert, i too wanted to pen mine. But then as usual the klutz in me dilly-dallied so much that by the time this invitation dropped on my lap, i just completely forgot the flamboyant manner in which the curtains were to rise on this scene. Bah! now who needs them curtain raisers anyway?

Now GSu is no stranger to any guy nor to any gal who knows those guys. To me GSu meant stories that would make you laugh...His nonchalant manner in handling rule-breakers, his "knowledge" on swear words in every known language spoken in the desert, his appearance which belied the terror he created...that's about all i needed to know.

It was in my second year..when M occupied the corner room, facing the mess, in the first floor of Krishna Bhawan. It was around 7pm when i went to give him a Gatecall. I stood there for some 10 minutes but not a guy ventured out onto the corridors.I have always believed that guys in Pilani possessed some supernatural powers akin to the Dolphins that helped them disappear just moments before a girl walks up to their gates to call her guy, who inavriably will have a room that's far beyond reach. Anyways getting back to my story, i stood and i sat and i leaned on my cycle but none of this tribal moves brought the male species out...Then i looked at the road leading to the mess. Now i had been told that this is a common pathway which can be used by girls too. But i never wanted to venture into that territory especially when 'You-know-who' lived close by.

Desperation took the better of Intelligence and i started to walk towards the gate.
That was when i saw this boy walk out of the Bhawan. Atlast! He was dressed in some funny pair of jams with a dirty t-shirt. I called out "Can you please call Room no: ***". He just kept walking towards me without so much as a whisper towards that darn room. I lost my cool. I started towards that blessed path to ask that stupid chap why he wouldn't pass a simple gate call. I stopped short of saying 'Hey you!' and just looked at him...my legs refused to move and i started to think of stories to tell my parents on why i was dismissed. You see this was no 'ordinary guy'

GSu walked upto me, gave me a once over while i meekly mumbled a 'Good aft..er..Good evening" and quietly walked home. I did an about turn, walked back to the road and sat on the platform till one good soul ventured out and offered to call M.

I had another encounter with him but then the only thing i prefer to remember from that episode is the way he started 'our' conversation. "Young lady you should learn to control your temper and your words...." I won't say i have succeeded completely but i am making an honest effort :)

Till another day...

Hi All,

The way blogger works , it needs people's mail id to invite a co-author.So Kumari,Satya,Oka,Chitra,and Srini, could you all please leave your email ids in the tag board?

Also, I was thinking, maybe we can all add links from our individual blogs to this one,so more BITsians come to know of this one. :)

Love-ly

For starters, a big thank you for this excellent blog. It's great to see BITSians from all over the place (and with a range of diverse memories) blog in one common spot. Wonderful!

I have spent the last three years with engineering students from all over the place and all of them seem to think that BITS is a greater romantic haven when compared to other engineering schools in India. So this post is dedicated to all those lovely couples that made Pilani all the more special for me.

The thing I liked hazzar abt many BITSian couples was that they often followed a fixed routine. Given a time of the day and a location, you could safely guess which couple was likely to be found out there.

X never attended classes; but Y did. So at 12, just after Mod Phy got over, Y would give X a gate call. The two would walk down to C'Not. At 2 they would make the first of their two trips for the week to Gliding Club. At 5 they would get back to their bhavans. At 7.30, after dinner, X would borrow a wingie's cycle (a wingie who didn't tread the MB route) and come down to MB. Y would not come out even after two gate calls. All the girls entering MB at 7.45 would try and avoid X because they would run the risk of having to pass on the gate call in person. Finally, at 8, Y's sidie M and her knight in cotton shirt N will reach the gates of MB. M will pass on the gate call and Y will come out at 8.15 ... etc. etc. etc.

This is not abt X and Y. M and N also had their schedule. So did A & B, C & D and E & F (even though F claimed that she wasn’t going senti with E and were just friends). I loved this constancy. Often, I would not know who some couples were but would associate them with a particular place or time. I remember a certain couple (one year senior to me) who used to occupy the first tree on the little lane outside MB. I never got introduced to them but every time they were not there I would feel odd. The great thing was that nobody else ever occupied that spot for the three years that I saw them - implying that other people knew abt them too. I remember that I used to joke with a friend of mine that the spot will be auctioned off once the couple graduated. The shadow and proximity to MB (so one could sit there till 10.58) made it a highly desirable spot and we were sure that several couples eyed it. We were right. The sem after the couple graduated another couple (this time a batch junior to me) instantly "leased" that spot and I saw them there till I graduated. The C'Not Wall, the little sitting spot outside Audi, the first table in the old library, the space between the pillars of FD-2 ... I associate each one of them with a particular couple. A BITSian junior recently asked me what I miss most abt BITS and I said that it was "sitting and dangling my legs on the dustbin just outside MB". I dunno if that dustbin still exists but some of my fondest BITSian memories are associated with that spot, where you could find me seated regularly between 10.30 and 10.55. If I ever go back to BITS, I would love to go back to "my spot" and dangle my legs again. Yes, that’s Pilani for me.

A wingie of mine had brilliantly commented (albeit in an inebriated state) that "the big things are there every where; it's the small ones that make Pilani unique". How very true.

A "Profession(al)s" Oriented Gathering ?!

As much as I can identify and relate to Sang's quagmire...I would rather not get started on a whole new train of melancholic thoughts attached to the bygone times at BITS....On a more grassroot level, that's probably the thing that binds us passouts to long for a common forum where we can shoot out ideas and share experiences...Funnily, this is definitely not the first attempt to get bitsians together to build such discussion groups...considering the fact that orkut and the umpteen networking sites, egroups and regional alumni bases had such a thought process as well... I do hope that this new effort does not fade into oblivion like most of the others did or brew into a pad where people stock up apartment and job ads!

So... how do we start?! I guess most of us oldies are wondering about how the new admission process works or who the new chief warden is (Incidentally, from what I heard last, it was Mahesh alias Pottu!!) or how many outstis landed up at Oasis this time around...But that would probably be more "one-way information flow" than a real discussion of sorts...But since Apogee is on the cards on campus this semester, why don't we explore the possibilities of some "industry-institute" linkages ( Nopes, not the PS kinds..) that can be cemented thanks to Apogee? I have no clue how many of you know of the metamorphosized apogee..For starters, the high points are NOT the movies that they screen at the end of the fest or the five days that you get to take trips to Jaisalmer, Nainital or even worse...home!!

These days, Apogee has been transformed into an "event-based" fest rather than being exhibitions-oriented...Last couple of years have seen inventive and interesting competitions like "Whodunit" (An event where you get to the bottom of crime, based on Forensic Science), "KrazyBridge" (For designing a lightest bridge that can withstand heavy loads), "Chaos " (Coding a simple program in the most complicated ways...sort of a coded contraption) etc etc..There are of course the usual flurry of quizzes, the flock of discipline-wise exhibitions, the not-boring-anymore invited lectures etc....

Now that the foundation is carved, why not take it a level further? Bring in industry linkages where such competitions can be pushed to the next level in terms of challenges, participation and prizes....I have been to competitions of these kinds at the IITs...It can work wonders not only in terms of heftier prize money, but also to the ideas that a company can promote, as a result of such events..Personally, I would also like some sort of a NGO backing some event to generate ideas, devices and concepts that have a rural backbone to it...Again, coming back to harsh reality...sponsorship can be tricky when you are at a remote place like Pilani where the only selling point is the grey matter of the BITSians...But hey, isn't that where the focus ought to have been in the first place?

I figure it's easier said than done (especially when you are resting your ass on a comfy chair!!)...but at least it's a start..Not only to a more exciting Apogee..but also to an eventful blog ;)

Damn you KK !!! Your post triggered this whole psenti-missing BITS thing in me again :)

It was 7 o clock. A crowded New Delhi railway station.The jostling crowd.First yearites waiting to go home.I was surrounded by people. I tried to look around,taking in as much of the scene as I possibly could.My mind was reeling with images - a 16 year old,reaching this very same station with parents, hauling luggages, and worrying about razais and heaters.A bubbly first year college girl,with a new found gang of people,axious to create an indentity,going home for my first oasis.A young,impressionable mind,which could not take in the sheer mind games and politics.A year later,a confused,cynical soul in the middle of a very painful emotional and mental metamorphosis.One more year down,a more focussed,mature person,who found her place under the sun.And, oh yes, the usual career related making jobs, and apping in the psenti sem , to complete it.Here,standing for the last time, I looked around , trying to commit as many faces and names I could to memory.

"Damn, this might be the last few days I will ever spend with a bunch of people I have come to call my family.Damn,why doesnt it pain? Shouldnt I be disconsolate now? " I ask myself,as I laugh at an inside joke my friend cracks,silently looking away knowing it will never be the same anymore.It doesnt hit me that tommorow,I wont wake up to orange juice and cheese sandwiches in sky. My lunches wouldnt be punctuated my the incessant cacophony at the Mal mess,my afternoons wouldnt be a Trisha or Kareena bashing session in the common room.Movies would not be some twenty of us huddling in a small room,drooling over a Fardeen's smile or silently crying seeing Maddy in "Anbe Shivam".My evenings will never be the same without gate-calls,my 11 will never be the same without the chowki shouting "Andar aao,time hogaya".My train journeys will never be the same,without nite out cards,lacchas,ragging and dumbcs.Nagpur will never be the same without some three of us juggling the money and thousand different icecreams for the entire bunch.Even those exams,wouldnt be the same as cramming up sitting in the back seat of an almost punctured cycle with a frantic wingie pedalling hard trying to get in time for the 8 o clock test.

Yes, it has been a whole year now.Is it the place? Is it the people? Is it both? What makes it so dear to so many?

Okay..Lest you think this blog is just about some recent passouts going through the passing out syndrome... We'd really like to get different viewpoints on this and many other topics,and what the whole BITSian experience meant for each of you.

Killing me softly....

Now that Rathish has set the pace...Giving an intro in the signature bitsian style these days does fill me with a sense of pride...hardly the feeling I had when this disciplinary routine was drilled down my throat some 4 and a half years back ( Boy! has it been that long!)....In any case, My name is Krithika Kalyan, id no 2000C5PS446...BITSian name - thadi or KK..... ex-inhabitant of room no 211- MAL and a flock of rooms at MB...graduated last May....And hell, it's been all downhill from them on....Life after BITS seem to have triggered off some sort of a rampant voyage replete with roadblocks and bumpers and burly bosses and what not...In short, the "crests" of my life seem to have to a definitive halt...Decided to have a drastic change in habitat - from the barren desert lands of Rajasthan to a place where a fresh breath of oxygen is the rarest commodity - BOMBAY....they say it's "the commerical and fashion capital of India"...the city of vada pavs , bustling traffic , overcrowded trains...heavy duty night life et cetera et cetera....I say - BLEH!

Let me get this straight....what is a city if there aren't bitsian roomies to come back home to? Forget that if that's too much to ask for - I don't even see any trace of bitsian blood anywhere in hindsight....Sure,.,,seven months in your job is time enough to get hold of pals at work and all that jazz....But then again, what good is it if you have to explain and elaborate everytime you nonchalantly churn out a "guss that dude". and "sac out maaan" ?! What good is it if you have people raising their brows when you ask them whether you can pile on them for an extra coupla bucks cuz you have an empty wallet.?! What good is it if people sush you when you whisper out some nasty comments while you are watching a movie?! And what good is it if the one or two bitsians that you know stay at a distance which is almost half of the distance to the whole world and back?!

OKay so...I guess this is more of ranting than raving...but seriously... heaving a big sigh thinking of the glory days at BITS will not probably yield anything productive - but the least I can get is spend the after(BITS) - years amongst our kin...I know I might have to take most of the blame of this state of affairs of mine on myself because these days the thin line between my professional and personal line is not exactly a line, but more like a miniscule dot....But the point I am trying to make is - if you know someone is a bitsian, there seems to be natural bond that crops up making you feel at ease....that sort of feeling is hard to get even after deliberately trying to bond with the outsiders (!!) for n+1 months.....I imagine all you folks who have crossed the seas and ventured out into distant lands would have a even worse story to share than me....But hey! at least we have the blog now :) Yaaay!

There used to be a time,you know in my early blogging days(I have been blogging for a little less than a year now, if you can call that "long"!!)when I wanted to write a post "100 Things about me". My first entry looked like this :

"1. I am a BITSian".

For most of us,being a BITsian is a very integral part of our identity, as is being a Blogger.Being a Blogger,to me entails a lot of things.There are some things you know quite a lot about, some things you just can keep talking all day about or some things you just feel strongly about.I know some BITsian Bloggers who make very,very sound technical writers,some expert movie critics,some political writers and so on.But I guess the one thing we all are really good at,is being BITsians.Yes,you can explain "gussed tuts" "sam-chats" and "anc" in your blog all you want,but nothing like a place where people can get the real feel of what you are talking about.

So thats what this blog can be..Recollect compree niteouts,crib about missing Pappu's chai,discuss "Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential Business Persons in the World names 2 Indians - Both BITSians",or simply why you think Nagarji rocks!!!

What is this?

Let me introduce myself first - I am Rathish. 1998C6PS289 (feels so good saying it after so long!). Last seen in 119 RP and currently am reporting from A1.107 cubicle in SAP Labs India, Bangalore.

This blog is a wonderful idea - For the last few months, I have been collecting blogs written and maintained by bitsians and have to come to realize that there's a sizeable population of BITSians blogging their way to glory. For all of them to share thoughts, experiences (as brilliantly shown in the previous blog) in a common place is a really nice thing. But it's very important how we place this blog - this blog can be anything from an assorted collection of articles, a newsletter, a bulletin board to a BITS specific forum where ideas and developments (the new admissions for example) are discussed.

Most of you here have an amazing style and I am sure if each of us start contributing blogs, this will soon turn out to be a fantastic read. But there's just one issue - I personally hate to cross-post, as in, publish the same thing that I am publishing in my blogspot over here too. I believe, if someone wants to read it they as well read it from my blog. Also if I have anything to express, I write it in my blog first. So, I am not sure how far this blogspot can work as an assorted collection.

What it can be, however, is "BITS specific forum where ideas and developments are analyzed". I am not sure how many of those listed in the right site of this blog spot are currently on campus. They probably can keep us posted on what's happening and what's changed. So many of us who have passed out but had wanted to do something but couldn't can pool in ideas as to how few things can be changed/introduced. People on campus can then pick cues, argue, slit it open, analyze it and if good enough, can implement it. Of course, there are umpteen bitsaa chapters and the sandpaper etc. But this blog spot can be an unofficial, no-holds brain storming ground that transcends batches, locations or vocations.

Of course it can be much more - but what's important is, it has to be something and, preferably, something that binds us a group than just an arbid list of netizens.

Let me know what you think.