Good things about the program:

• It is promoting the alumni
• Health awareness talk by Dr. Vamsi
• Promoting the companies and literary works by the alumni

Things that could be improved

• Not really improving the networking and synergy
• Most of the people who met on 27th might only meet again sometime next year for the 6th Alumni meet. And that too we hope to.
• It has loose ends, things can be more closely coupled and coordinated
• Fun part has been missing. It was too formal. People could have shared their experiences about their college days, ragging and fun. This can spice up the event.
• Trivia about the college
• The program list and agenda can be worked using a web-based discussion forum well before the start of the event. Say two weeks before the event, alumni can be contacted and asked for ideas.

I hope to get the pictures from Animesh in the next few days. More after I get the pictures.

IT-BHU is the place where I did my B.Tech (engineering). Old students are meeting at Hyderabad this evening, 27th October 2007, at Family World, Begumpet, Hyderabad. Mostly the ex-students who are in and around Hyderabad may attend this meeting.

I have some really fond memories of my college. Ragging is one thing that always strikes to my mind. Ragging is the best thing that can happen to you IF done right. I am not endorsing ragging that leads to physical bruises and pain. Ragging should make one feel ‘at home’. It tears down the walls of ‘formal’, tie-and-suit type of conversation. It gives you the freedom of speech and action, that otherwise may not be possible. It gives you the ease of uttering the so called bad language. And let me tell you IITs and IT-BHU are all about that. In hindi slang, you can give some one the most imaginative ‘gali’ and yet get away with it. We literally had a ‘gali’ competition. We were divided into two teams and made to say the most creative/imaginative/out-of-the-world ‘galies’. It can get unbelievable. ‘Hearing is believing’ sometimes

Animesh called me to tell me about the meeting. First thing I asked him was, “How is ragging these days?”. I could hear an instant giggle on the phone. Seems like he too enjoyed it. But he told me that ragging toned down a lot. Some students were given the job of spying to reduce ragging. I feel they are already missing some fun atleast.

Here are the pictures of my college building. We had our classes in the ground floor. First floor was reserved laboratories and engineering drawing rooms.

More pictures

One day after our dinner in the hostel (C.V. Raman Hostel), we were going around the girls hostel (GH), behind our hostel. Luckily there was a temple just beside the GH. It was already 10:30pm then. And police caught us. One of my friends told them that we were going to temple. And police man said, “Ab mandir jaoge tho Bhagwan rolega yaar. Chalo tum log idhar se “. And he chased us away.

Art and religion have always completented each other. Paintings of ‘Gods’ and ‘events related to Gods’ have always been the intriguing subjects of painters.

Flight Into Egypt is one such event. This is the episode where Joseph, Mother Mary and Baby Jesus flee to Egypt on a donkey. Various painters tried to portray this event. Here I am listing three of them.

• Adam Elsheimer
• Rubens
• Rembrandt

I liked the one by Adam Elsheimer. Rembrandt is my favourite painter though. Here are the paintings

Adam Elsheimer

Rubens

Rembrandt

It Happened In India: The Story of Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Central and the Great Indian Consumer

It is a good book by Kishore Biyani. It is probably the first book you will see when you walk into the “Depot”, the book selling section of “Brand Factory”, “Hyderabad Central” or “Big Bazaar”.

Marketing Genius By Peter Fisk

This book contains good case studies. In authors words, the purpose of this book is to inspire entrepreneurs, marketers and others involved in serving the customers and shareholders.

Execuition By Ram Charan

The only reason I started reading this book, is becuase of Ram Charan. I happened to see a video on him in Youtube. He is just amazing. Visit www.ram-charan.com to know more about him. He is on a 30 year long business trip, with literally no home and family. His goal is to help get entrepreneurs where they aim to get.

7 Habits Of Highly Effective People By Stephen Covey

It is a very popular book. I think most people have already read it

Awaken The Giant Within By Anthony Robbins

This again is a popular book.

Coming to other books, I have been reading “Alchemist” and “Witch Of Portobello ” by Paulo Coelho. I just loved Alchemist.

I hope to blog often from now on. Will try.

Here is the page

I will not get in to the details of analysis now.

If anyone has any interesting conclusions based on these trends please do let me know.

You can find more pictures of the building here

I have seen the lecture halls at ISB, Hyderabad. They are really good too. I do not know how they compare with the facilities at Wharton though.

ISB was setup in collaboration with Wharton Business School, London School Of Business and Kellogs School Of Management.

The specs:

• Max passengers if used with full economy class: 853
• Max passengers if used with standard three-class configuration : 555
• Max Speed about 900 kmph / 560 mph (Fastest train is about 550 kmph I think)

The main reason why I am writing this post is, travelling by A380 is cheaper than travelling by Indica (a hatchback car). Surprised? I was.

The cost of travel for one passenger per km by A380 happens to be less than the cost of travel for one passenger per km by Indica.

A380 will largely be commissioned in the “hub and spoke” model. Meaning, A380 will connect bigger cities. Smaller planes will carry passengers from other smaller cities to and from these bigger cities.

A380 costs less!

Following list includes movies that I have seen so far. If I come across a movie that I have not seen yet or a new movie comes out beating this list, I will try to update the list below.

1. Gitanjali - Telugu
2. The Sixth Sense - English
3. Sholay - Hindi
4. Schindler’s List - English
5. As Good As It Gets - English
6. Company - Hindi
7. Sita Ramayya Gari Manavaralu - Telugu
8. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro - Hindi
9. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade - English
10. Kalyug (Old one Starring Shashi Kapoor and Rekha) - Hindi

Lets analyse. Jurassic Park is a famous movie by Steven Spielberg. It is a also a book by Michael Chrichton

• Jurassic Park - Book
• Jurassic Park - Movie

Which one would you prefer? AFAIK most would prefer to watch the movie Jurassic Park. And how about the following

• Flatliners - Book
• Flatliners - Movie

Most may not know about Flatliners. Flatliners is based on true research about what happens to people when they die. How they feel when heart is dead but brain is still alive.

Difference here is, Jurassic Park was a book that was later made into a movie( ‘Movified’) . And Flatliners is a movie that was later written into a book(’Bookified’).

What happens when you are reading a book?

You imagine characters all by yourself. The faces of the characters are not predefined. They can be as pretty as you please. Or as ugly as you need. Then you can think of the noises, the screaming, the sounds that you think suit the situation in the book. Not all readers see the same face of the hero in their brain while reading the book. Your hero could be white while some one else’s could be black.

What happens when you are watching a movie?

A certain level of freedom is gone. The faces are either Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie or some other defined face. And the worst part is all the viewers see the same face. Music, the sounds, the noises everything is defined for you in a movie. Movie director does all of this on your behalf.

Author of the book may not like the way director portrayed it. Take the famous example of “Guide”

• The Guide - Book by R.K.Narayan
• The Guide - Movie by Vijay Anand

R.K.Narayan the author was not very happy with the way Vijay Anand and Dev Anand made the movie.

Directors of the movie think on behalf of the audience. They need to work real hard and understand how a story can be presented. A writers job is easier compared to that of a film makers. The readers do the thinking. They do the photography, sound editing and direction. Best example is Star Wars. How does an alien scream? How does a laser gun sound? Showing it in a movie is difficult. Writing in the story keeps the readers thinking.

I recently watched the move The Da Vinci Code after reading the novel. I was not able to accept Tom Hanks as hero in the movie. I was thinking of some one else. It is a different experience to first read the story and then watch a film made based on it.

What do you say?