Aey Bhai !! Zara Dekh ke Chalo " Traffic Sense in India"

It was a Sunny day in Frankfurt, Germany. I stood up on a bridge waiting for my friend to head towards Frankfurt airport. I was just watching the fast moving German vehicles on the highway. They were being driven in the lanes. A lane is a division of a road marked off with painted lines and intended to separate single lines of traffic according to speed or direction. Every vehicle switched on/off the indicators each time to change the lane to overtake the other. It seemed like playing a computer game. 

                                         Source: www.news.nationalpost.com

          I checked in and boarded Air India's Boeing 787 to New Delhi. It was after 8 years I was returning back to India. As the flight took off, I dived into the ocean of my thoughts about changed India. Being the developing country, a drastic change was reported in India during the last decade, as heard from the media. Now it was my time to sight the change.

          My parents live in Jaipur. My brother hired a taxi from Jaipur and was desperately waiting outside the Terminal 2, New Delhi International Airport. I was overwhelmed to see him there. His eyes were curiously traversing each passenger coming out of the gate. It was very noisy outside. After a long time, I heard a sequence of horns, blown impatiently for no reasons. I hugged my brother and both of us got down the taxi and headed to Jaipur.

           In few minutes, we entered into Delhi-Jaipur NH-8. In spite of feeling sleepy after a long journey, I was eager to witness the development of the landscape. India is a country of villages. If the country is developed, landscape must be advanced in the same proportion. After a while, I was completely annoyed by my driver. He never noticed any of the traffic signs. Though there was hardly a vehicle being driven in a lane. I instructed him to drive in a lane. He argued with me. My brother intervened and asked " bhaiya, yeh India hain (Brother, it's India)".

          Some sequence of events horrified me. The truck drivers, probably drunk as liquors were easily accessible on the national highways, furiously changed the lanes to overtake the other vehicles. During the journey, I saw pedestrians crossing the highway as they were walking in their homes. I witnessed cycles, motorcycles, bullock-carts and funnily designed overloaded vehicles moving in both directions of the traffic. It was unexpected for me to see vehicles moving wrong side, just to surpass a few meters U turn. Some even crossed the divider to accomplish the task. My driver shouted " yeh gaav walo ka roj ka hain sahab, iski wajah se hi accidents hote hain. aur aap bolte ho lane me chalao (These villagers have normal practice, sole reason for accidents and you say to drive in a lane" 

                                Source: www.viewpatna.blogspot.com  

           After 3 hours of journey, my brother insisted to get relaxed and eat something at the road side dhaba. Our conversation was interrupted by the election campaign going on in the university next to the dhaba. Coincidentally, the candidate raised the issues of number of accidents in the town. His confident voice enlightened me that at least young leadership is committed to solve the traffic problems in India but on way back home, his campaigning pamphlets stuck on the radiators (Radiators are made of radium, gets enlightened when the lights falls on it. It's very useful in the night to direct the traffic) brought down the hope falsely generated few minutes before. 

           The journey came to an end, we entered into the city. Entering Jaipur has always been a pure interaction with the cultural heritage preserved here. We were supposed to meet one of my cousin on our way. He came on a motorbike with his father. He cheerfully asked "Hi bhaiya, how is Germany treating you?" I greeted my uncle and asked my cousin " Where is your helmet ? Isn't that compulsory in Jaipur? " He replied "  Arey bhaiya, is time police wale nahin hote ? ( Traffic police doesn't work till now) ". My uncle intervened " We live nearby, not more than 2 km. There is no need to wear helmet for such a closed travel." That signifies the ignorant and unaware mindset of the people. 

 

                                      Source: www.tribuneindia.com

            Finally I reached home. I was upset and sad that my country became worse, than I left it 8 years back, in the context of traffic sense. The civic sense is lost. The people blame the politicians and they blame others. Wearing helmets and fastening seat belts are used to save the penalty. We don't hesitate to go in a wrong side of the traffic just to save few meters. We like to argue with the traffic police personnel to get the penalty charges reduced or even freed. The people are unaware of the traffic signs and assume the white painted lines, to form the lane, as designs on the road, nothing else.     
             According to WHO, India suffers from the highest deaths due to road accidents in the world, more than 1,00,000 every year. The lost civic sense and the lack of political (system's) will power are the sole reasons for this. What else to expect from the system which issues the driving license after driving 8 in reverse direction. In reality, one doesn't have to form 8 in any of the direction.

           The solution is simple. The government has to build or improve the infrastructure. The system needs a strong leadership to spread the awareness about the traffic rules. Its the responsibility of the people to understand the importance and act sensibly. Children could be the best medium to spread the message. Altogether, the next generation will learn how to behave on the road. I wish that.  

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) by Germans

Background:- Germany is undoubtedly known for its quality of research and training. In general, I found German society very curious about every field it encounters with. This behavior enables them to dig into the depth of the source, they get the information from. The most favored source of information are Documentaries telecast on BBC, National Geographic etc. They deliver precise knowledge about a topic in a short span of time however those curious minds raise questions within, which remain unanswered. These unsolved queries get mixed up in such minds and build up a perception about the topic.

         During Summers of 2013, I was a part of the training program conducted for Master students of our Institute. It was about "Role of Remote Sensing in Glaciology." After dinner, few folks suggested to meet up at the Lounge . Despite I only shared smiles with most of them during the training, I agreed to join them. I was quite shy to proceed towards someone and talk. But being the only International student in the group, that too from India, made some curious minds approach me. One folk asked me to have a beer. His name was Stefan. Despite my denial, he couldn't resist to appreciate the Bavarian beer and let me know what I missed to have. A girl named Anne shook her hand with me and asked everyone to sit down. Though German is the first and most spoken language of the country, they switched to English for my comfort.

However, Florian deliberately asked " Sprechen Sie Deutsch" (Do you speak German ?)
I fluently replied "  Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen aber verstandis ist grosse Probleme. " (I can speak little bit of German but understanding is still a big problem for me. )
Julia and Kathrin high-fived me, completely astounded about my fluency. "It was just practicing of one single line" I broke their surprise.

We were discussing about a lot of things that evening.
All of sudden, Stefan stopped me. "What ? You invited 1000 people in your marriage ? Did you know everyone ? " Stefan bombarded the set of questions. Each one of them equally puzzled.
" Yes. we invited approx 1000 people. My parents and extended families invited them. That's how it is."
Kathrin intervened " I saw in the documentary that Indians spend too much on their marriages. They even borrow money and take the loans. Is that true ? How much does the marriage cost ? Who pays for the marriage ? "
I replied " Its not just a ceremony to begin a legal bond  between opposite sexes. Its a colorful celebration. It happens once in a life time. Above all, Indian wedding celebration is a demonstration of family's status in the society. We strive for maximum."

Julia asked " I had one Indian colleague three years back. He went to India for 3 weeks, got married and returned with his wife. He didn't even know his wife before. "
Florian blurted out " Was hast du gesagt ? (What did you say?) " True emotions and sudden responses often come out in your mother tongue.
He then switched to English and asked me" How come you just go to your country and get married to someone without spending no time. Unbelievable."
I laughed the way Julia asked. " In India, its a belief that marriage is not just a bond of two people but of the extended families. Families play major role in this bond and with the prior consent of both the boy and the girl, they agree to arrange it. This is often called "Arrange Marriage". In such cases, your family shortlists some girls (or families) while you are abroad. Once you are there, you visit the families and finalize one as your life partner. Quite simple" I blinked. ;)
Kathrin praised my explanation.

Anne was patiently listening to our conversation. She then stepped in " I heard that you live with your parents after marriage."
"What's wrong in that !" a thought generated by neurons in my mind, as a response to her question.
 "Yes, of course, we try to live with them if the career choices allow us to do so. But a couple of decades before, all generations lived together under one roof. Its a cultural belief to live united." I responsibly responded.

Kathrin curiously asked " Do the women even share the kitchen ? "  Somewhere down the line, women across the world think of a similar way.
I replied with a smile" Yes, that's what we call family system. Though hardly any system works perfectly in India, the family system always rocks. "
Everyone chuckled.

At the end of the conversation, the table was full of emptied bottles of Bavarian beer. Germans are proud of their beer and its the part of their culture. I am proud of India and its culture. It is well deserved to spread across the world. I was privileged to spread it on my own way and hope to be like the undesignated "Indian Ambassador to the Rest of the World."    

Conference on Mars: Part I

"It is August 27, 2005, according to the Earth's calendar" said Mr. Spatial Mars",  the chairman of the "Solar System Research Platform", headquartered at Mars, one of the important planet of the solar system. The conference date was chosen to be on Mars Hoax, a phenomenon in which Mars gets closer to Earth, a preferable situation for the participants from Earth and its satellite Moon.

     On the conference day, participants from all the planets gather at Mars, majorly from Moon and Earth, as a lot of research being carried out at these planets. During the lunch break of the first session, Mr. Prithvi Raj, a PhD scholar from Earth Space Agency (ESA), Earth met Mr. Chand Eclipse, another PhD student from Moon Space Research Organisation (MSRO), Moon. They soon got acquainted and decided to meet after the conference schedule for that day.

     "Did you see guys from Pluto having fun in the CLUB right there ?", Mr. Eclipse pointed at the Club Marsomania. 

"What else they could do? Pluto is no longer a planet, it belongs to Kuiper belt now. SSRP is going to stop funding Pluto's research from next year onward. Its a life time opportunity for them. Let them have fun." said Mr. Raj. 

      Mr. Eclipse curiously asked " Does Mars appear as big as Moon today, from Earth ? I heard people from Mercury having this conversation." 

"Certainly not. It can't be. They absolutely have no idea of the gravity because Mercury hardly has any. It revolves very fast around the Sun, perhaps that's the reason why its people are fast and furious in spreading the rumors around." laughed Mr. Raj " Its a misconception. Mars can't appear as big as Moon because it will lead to imbalance the gravitational forces of itself and Earth."

      "OK. Thanks for the clarification. You know a lot. Its a sign of the kind of work you do on Earth. I am willing to know about how a research work is carried out on Earth. I have heard from my professors who got scholarships to pursue PhD on Earth. I am fascinated about the infrastructural facilities and freedom of research, you get there."  

"Thanks. Interesting to know but I have to review my presentation for tomorrow. What about tomorrow at the end of the session ?" said Mr. Raj. "Perfect, See you tomorrow" waved Mr. Eclipse.   

PS: In the next conversation, they will discuss about the difference of research work at Moon and Earth. Would be fun to know about that.

Gear 3. Getting a Job

BACKGROUND: Semester based Engineering curriculum is like Shatabdi Express which only stops at few important stations along the route and one can't even read the name of in-between stations because of its high speed. Semester Exams and their Results are the two NIGHT stops of Engineering. Why NIGHT STOPS ??
The Night before the EXAM plays a tremendous role in an Engineer's life >> The night of exploring the syllabus, xeroxing the toppers' notes (always GIRLS' notes), building a roadmap to crack questions based on last 5 year's Qpapers, making numerous phone calls to spread paper leak rumors etc.
In addition to it, the Night before the RESULTS is also very critical >> In my times, folks used to gather outside the regional print media office which published the university results. As soon as they released the print of the results, the whole sight turned into a kind of wild protest which demanded for "Right to Know the Results." Intolerable shouts consisted of two crucial words "All Clear (Pass in all subjects)" and "Back (Fail in one or more subjects)".  In general, nights are very essential for an engineering student. They talk (BC), watch all sort of movies, smoke, drink, copy the assignment, in short everything except sleeping.
Anyways, that's how a normal school pass-out becomes an Engineer ("or rather gets the Engineering degree) !! Nevertheless everyone expects a good JOB, which is an obvious expectation.

TRAINING: As we entered the 5th semester (III year), the Head of Training and Placement Cell addressed to us and handed over the Placement Forms. She claimed " Last year we got (> 300) offer letters and this time I expect more." That politician's like speech was full random statistics and expectations which left people wondering. Who crosschecked the statistics and cared about her raised expectations ? But we clapped after her speech.
The team also distributed "Placement Forms". Those were the funniest forms I had ever filled in. It asked questions like >> What is your dream company ? Which sector you want to work in (like IT, Embedded or so on ? It was hard to believe that TPO team created the form like that because they seemed like ones who needed training and placement both. My friend laughed at the form and doubted " Do we have all choice in life ? "  
Interestingly a new subject "Soft Skills" was introduced, dedicated completely to train us for the upcoming months of campus placements. On the first day, the teacher jotted down five English words down and asked us to raise hands if anyone knew the meaning of any of the words. I was amazed to see that few of my batch-mates in the class knew the meaning of the words, I was not even sure if they existed in the language. My friend whispered" they all go to CAT coaching classes". (In this semester, the class was broadly classified in two strata >> Going AND Not Going to CAT coaching classes)
"Okay, that's good to know that ~ 10 % of the class is getting job during placement, very impressive" He said with pride. I didn't understand how that correlated with jobs. May be, only CAT aspirants could withdraw that conclusion. For me, it was the class of losing self confidence and self respect. Tough aptitude questions and never heard words of English were the only attributes of the class. That's how Soft skills were taught in a hard way. 

GETTING A JOB: In the beginning of 6th semester, several companies (Only IT companies) visited colleges of my city to organize centralized placements for eligible students. Everyone was so desperate to get a job in whichever company one was eligible for, quite contradictory to what one had filled in the so called "Placement Form". I was NO EXCEPTION.
Few smart folks downloaded Model CVs and others including me copied from them. Including a fascinating career objective was quite a challenging task because one could hardly make plenty of changes in Freshers' CV, however   majority of folks had more or less the same career objective, some of them had the same even (word to word). Hard to believe but sometimes while making changes from others' CV, few folks even forgot to change Father's Name, DOB, Gender (quite funny but you cant help it if you copy from girl) etc. Some folks thought why to waste energy in changing the hobbies' section ? 
After all who actually knows what they love to do in spare time ? They all do BC or sleep in spare time :) 
Written exam has to be qualified prior to Interviews. For interviews, either one had to buy "Let Us C" (Beginners guide to learn C language) or borrowed from someone who had not qualified the written. Buying was rather better option. Anyways some programs like "Fibonacci series, Calculate the factorial" were quite famous programs among the interviewers. I mugged up all of them though was not much sure of explaining them to the interviewer. In addition, answers of some FAQs were also mugged.
A group of 10 students were told to wait outside the room of Panel-1 interviewer. On one hand, majority of them explored "Let Us C", I whispered to my friend "Let Us See who all get through". I became very nervous as my name was called. Interviewer was very busy with his seemed like new "Blackberry Phone" (Blackberry was known to be a status symbol those days and reflected your social status. Iphone was not quite popular, so as Samsung).
He asked me to sit without deflecting his eyes from his BB and put 3-4 questions.
1Q Tell me something about yourself ? He stopped me in a "Not Interested tone" when I said " .... my hobbies are ..."
2Q Why do you want to work in IT industry despite you are from EC cadre ? I wanted to answer " Do we have any choices ?" but I answered what I found on Google.    
3Q Do you want to work in Development or Testing ? I said " Development" because that seemed more creative than Testing, though I was completely unaware of both the terms. I argued but interviewer explained with sarcastic smile " There is no creativity in Development, we develop what our client says and Testing Team tests what Development Team develops"
4Q Write a C program to traverse the string ? Oh my god, I didn't mug up that program even few strongly recommended me to do so. I confidently picked up his pen and jotted down the basic structure of a C program then he said " You may go now and send the next one". "Okay sir, thanks. Have a nice day" I said with smile.
I wondered what did he see in me and the folks like me. But that's how I got my "First Job".
My photo was printed on next year's college advertisement which claimed " Highest Placements for 2008 batch" OR "100 % Placements" (Some studies claimed that ~47 % of Indian graduates are unemployable for any job) !!  OR "Best Placements" 
They took all the credit to attract next year's aimless mass. That's how it is :)

Gear 1: Entering Engineering College

"Electronics and Communication (E&C) is an evergreen branch". While filling up the option forms to get an engineering branch in the college, it was the only rule I followed knowing all the illogical facts behind it. I got Electronics, Instrumentation and Control (EIC), a newly introduced branch in the curriculum of the university and not much people aware of it. My parents had a sigh of relief (knowing at least name Electronics in the branch) but Mr. Gupta clarified them the difference between E&C and EIC. In spite of my repetitive attempts explaining him the insightful facts about EIC, which I got from the first 5 google results on EIC, he was not convinced at all at the end. But the discussion ended with a suggestion made by Mr. Gupta that gave new hope to my parents. He said that first few rank holders of I year had the possibility to change the branch in II year. It was the VISA for me to enter the engineering college. 
I was completely unaware of majority of the facts that makes a college "A COLLEGE" !! I chose to stay outside the college campus. The area seemed to me like an education hub consisting of colleges and hostels. As I was dragging my luggage from the bus stop to hostel, a group of people, who had hockey-sticks, chains and punches, stopped me and asked "First Year ?" I stammered "NO, I am searching Vrindavan Hostel. They laughed and showed me the direction of my hostel. One of them whispered "ek aur aa gaya, aaj hi lete hain saale ki" !! I was scared like hell. They seemed like senior scholars who rag I year scholars. Once my friend informed that whenever whoever asks you "Intro De", it's ragging.
Anyways, I was relieved by being helped by few folks at the hostel's gate to get me in. A bunch of people caught me after dinner later that day. In addition to the conventional "Guide Book for I year students" and some obscene games, a list of tasks were assigned to me for the very first day of my college. I was asked to write the name, city, contact number and few other specification of the girls of my class in a tabular format. The task worked for me as well. On one hand, I gained the sympathy from the girls saying that it was an exercise under ragging, on the other hand, my database was also updated ;) Now the database was well analyzed later that day by seniors. The specifications were well cross verified with II year girls who shared the hostel with the girls. Seniors classified and allotted the girls amongst themselves by mutual understanding.
On Fresher's Eve, they celebrated because they were happy that no one among them could have got a girl. The chances of getting a girl for I year scholar (junior) were even lesser. How could anyone cajole a girl with all your hair cut, worst pair of shirt-pants, shoes with awkward laces and no style till Fresher's Eve ? Even then if you were caught with a girl during the day, a long overnight ragging session had been called for you.
II year scholars (so-called immediate seniors) were classified into "All Clear" (Pass in all subjects) and "Back" (Fail in one or more subjects) after their I year results that also declared during the crucial time till Freshers Eve. This classification doesn't exist for girls. Statistically, all Back class students were very good at making a group for fights, ragging and trying to get a I year girl. Their majority of discussions took place at "THADI" (An exclusive place for smoking, fights, ragging, creating accounts etc.)    
Engineering could be explained in terms of visionary Mr. Gupta at HOME and the way it's pursued at THADI. What a difference ?? :)

College Life: Reverse Gear

"Your son got 84.6 % in class X", said Mr. Gupta to my father. Mr. Gupta had both internet connection and particular interest to check the board results of the children of his colleagues. 

Once the results were out, a tsunami of free advices hit my family. The major advice was that which coaching institute in Kota to join to prepare for JEE. My parents and I didn't even know the full form of JEE and were unaware of the benefits after qualifying that. I was indeed so curious to know about that. Just after the basketball match one day, few of my school mates were discussing about the examination, which one has to qualify to enter the coaching institutes in Kota. One of them claimed that if got an admission in "Jain Classes (Famous Coaching Inst in Kota)", selection in IIT is guaranteed. Now what is IIT ? Were IIT and JEE two different things ? Later that day, I saw a big fat book in the book store, printed "A complete guide to IIT-JEE" on it . That made me so confused, it was not the time where one could google anything easily to clear the confusion and asking Mr. Gupta was also not the good choice either. 

I assumed that it was the only way to become whatever you want to become in the life. Just passing the class X, going to Kota, entering one of the institute there and finally qualifying IIT-JEE and if not qualified, then no options !! 

When I reached Kota one month prior to the entrance test of "Jain Classes", I was amazed to see the city. The city was flooded with institutes' banners, advertisements of food suppliers or messes and "TO LET" boards on every house's entrance gate. Almost every banner was full of pictures, especially of KT sir, PK sir, SM sir etc presenting something to AIR 1 candidate !!! ?? !! AIR 1 was printed on each one of them, one more short form ? One of the advertisement caught my attention which claimed "Prepare for Jain Classes, Gateway to IIT-JEE". I joined that class however failed to enter Jain Classes. 

The day when the results of Jain Classes were out, aspiring students got separated in two classes: One being studied in Jain Classes (Upper Class) and others NOT (Lower Class). Upper class candidates thought of everyone except them were good for nothing and wasting the money of their parents. I felt like I failed the last exam of my life. I didn't want to come back to my hometown and study there because it was hard for me and family to defend my return so early. It was expected for 2 years not 2 months. I joined "Rank 3" coaching institute in Kota. I didn't know where the Rank came from but one has to breathe in the air around. 

Two years passed like hell. Attending hours of lectures, solving unrealistic problems, reading dozens of uninteresting books and talking about the marks/ranks after every monthly test. I wanted to give up that "life with no charm" but defending the reason to quit it in front of society seemed far more difficult than being there with stress and trauma. 

After two years of stagnant life, I came to know 3 things: IITs (Indian Institute of Technology)are the premier technical institutes of India, JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) is the name of the exam to get into IITs and third, get into an engineering college is not a tough task either. I ended up getting into an Engineering College. I didn't know where I was heading to but indeed it was a new beginning :)