Wind of Change

I've been bashing my college for quite sometime now. I hope someone from the idiotic management will actually understand the need to bring in some drastic changes. This is the story of a very tiny idea that signalled a wind of change.

Introduction:
Well, I've been to quite a few reputed colleges to take part in their fests. The list includes PEC Chandigarh, NIT Kurukshetra and IIT Roorkee. And I have seen the differences between the students there and in our college. The need of the hour is to bring our college at par with the rest. So begins an experiment...

Description:
Almost all brainiacs I know have tried KlueLESS. If you are a brainiac and don't know what I'm talking about, Google for Klueless. You'll find a link that goes something like www.iimi-iris.com/irising/...etc. Its a real test of general awareness and mental ability. People have appreciated the effort. However, in my college its absurdity mortified. Students can't tell the difference between Ray-Ban and Fast-Track. Implementing something of the sort in my college would be a waste of time.

Preparation:
I was too impressed by the idea so couldn't give up that easy. And the idea turned into a pet project. A small timeline is provided for the benefit of people who want to make one on their own too.

Brainstorming/Thinking up questions/site layout : 2 months.
Collecting data/Photoshop imaging : 2 weeks.
Uploading content/Formatting pages : 2 days!

And the site was ready to go!
Now, the tough part! Convincing the President of ISTE that its a hip event requiring ZERO manpower during execution was easy. Convincing the rest of the college was the real challenge.

Observation:
In my college nobody knew what was going on, as expected. I had to make myself extremely approachable so that the students could atleast try to solve it. Word-of-mouth publicity was done by all organizers and event managers in the college. Even my phone number wass replicated on the site at atlest two places to make the contenders feel comfortable. Even the level of difficulty was reduced to almost 0. Besides, the time limit was changed to a staggering 56 hours. Praying for glory, I left it all to fate.

Discussion:
Occasionally, diamonds are found in coal mines. Unbelievably, my site was solved by a student of MMEC, Shaurya, in 8 hours (The fact that we are friends is not concealed from anyone in college. And the transparency applied made the decision irrefutable). In all 7 students solved the site. And plenty more discovered googlepages. So we have 5 inspired sites competing with each other for glory. A lot more sites on different themes have come up on googlepages courtesy of Mullana students. So everyone learnt something useful while doing something creative.

Result:
Mission Accomplished. End of Paleolithic Age and beginning of Neolithic Age. There IS intelligent life on this isolated planet called Mullana.

External Links:

For beginners: I have to thank my good friend NITIN KHANNA for this.
www.freestuffhotdeals.com/hacker/1.html

KlueLESS: use Google to search the term. Link looks somewhat like
www.iimi-iris.com/iris...game.asp

Return of Moriarty: My own creation.
http://return.of.moriarty.googlepages.com

Head Held High

Okay. This one's about coming to terms with my college. Frankly, everything I write in this blog is true (atleast everything about myself and my college). For those of you who think I did not write the truth, start your own blog. My perspective may differ from yours. Write your side of the story if you want to.

My college is one among the several engineering institutes located in desolate villages that are non-existent on Google Earth. Unbelievably, Google Earth shows only a barren area where our college should be located. I must admit, "Don't see Evil" acquires a whole new dimension!

Anyways, being admitted to the middle-of-nowhere wasn't that bad. As a matter of fact, as much as I hate the place, there was no competition for me. The undisputed leader of the unled. I was King!

Studies are something for which our college is famous. Because of the simple fact that there is nothing else. Sports? The college is meant for Narayan Murthys, not the Bhaichung Bhutias! Girls are reprimanded for wearing tops and jeans (salwar Kameez is the way to go). Boys are suspended if found in the company of any member of the opposite sex. Or if they are discovered in the hostel during college timings. Girls staying in the hostel have to be inside the hostel premises within half an hour of college getting over (Mr Dahiya, how can we ever repay you?). At around 5:30 pm local time, the Girls hostel is Curfew Zone. And if that wasn't enough, the college is located in the scenic surroundings of dung-ridden farms and fields. As a result, the guards do not discriminate much between cattle and students.

Having an above-average IQ turned out to be a bane for me (Yes! Its true! ABOVE average). All my talks seemed to fall on fall on deaf ears. First year was depressing enough. Second year began to eat away at my skills. My talent was rotting in an institute of the pre-cambrian era. Then one fine even semester, I became the organizing member of an event. ISTE, the name is enough. Find the details HERE. The entire third year was dedicated to the society. I even took a PG accommodation near my college because of it. One year after I had organized my first event, I was made Vice-President. The sad part is though, I wasn't made VP because of my skills but because I had no competition.

The sixth semester is about to come to an end. It is certain who the President will be next year. Oh well!

Then comes the story of my department. Computer engineering students are not just good at studies, they are all-rounders. However, to bring about a change, you have to be the change. Every year, 100 bucks were collected from all students in the name of our society. The catch: There was No such society. So I got down to formulate a plan for making the computers department society. And TROJANS was born. Due to the immense effort of a great friend and fellow Infoscion; Nishant; a dream was realized. The Head of the Department was impressed. And I learnt a new lesson.

There are good people and bad people. People who work and those who can make others work. Just put others before self and you'll end up going lower than any self-respecting man has gone before. And finally, I found meaning in my college life. I was meant to change the course of history. Bring the college from the pre-historic times into the modern age.

And I'm happy to be here,
In the middle of nowhere!

Mullana

If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude. See in college how we thwart the natural love of learning by leaving the natural method of teaching what each wishes to learn, and insisting that you shall learn what you have no taste or capacity for. The college, which should be a place of delightful labour, is made odious and unhealthy, and the young men are tempted to frivolous amusements to rally their jaded spirits. I would have the studies elective. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor. - Ralph Waldo Emerson


You know you are in MMEC when:

• Girls are reprimanded for wearing jeans and tops.
• Hostlers can not enter their rooms during college timings.
• The only way to bunk classes is by going to the library.
• Heavy metal/ Death metal/Hard rock/English has has got only one name - Linkin Park
• The snide comment "99% of the girls are beautiful, rest are in my college" actually depicts the truth.