Season 7

I haven’t blogged for a while after my... er, passionate Independence Day post. Now that the semester is over, I think it’s time that I tell you people a bit about it. And anyone with an idea of how things work at most engineering colleges will know that the last two semesters are mostly, if not all about placements and admits. In my case, it was sadly all about placements. The ‘sadly’ has been introduced as a result of my summer internship making me realize what work after BTech means for a mechanical engineer.

Anyway, this post is mostly about my placement experience. You’ve been warned in advance, so don’t read this if you’re not interested in such boring stuff. My preparations for placement season were quite thorough, as thorough as most preparations for any exam from third year and ahead. I guess I need not say more. The first company to visit for mechanical was Bajaj. Actually it was among the first companies to visit campuses altogether. Having worked at a motorcycle company over the summer, my dislike for automobile companies had only increased. Yet, being the focused and determined person I am, I sat for Bajaj.

Bajaj is sort of like the Microsoft for mechies I guess. It pays well (best in the market, significantly more than certain companies which think of themselves as Bajaj’s competitors), location is good (Pune), profiles are challenging and the company as a whole is virtually the best indigenous manufacturer of bikes here. So, we all sat for it out of respect actually (the ones who weren’t that keen on it even). I was so confident and keen on the company that I hadn’t even bothered to bring my formal clothes or shoes. I just sat for the test because it would be a good experience. As it turned out, the paper had both general aptitude and technical questions with, wait for it, equal weightage. I focused on the general aptitude questions and attempted a few technical ones. I got lucky and qualified for the interview. Yes, Bajaj were all about quick and efficient recruitment methods. There was just one interview and they said they didn’t bother about what we wore. All the same, I didn’t want to be the only one in casual clothes and ran back to the hostel to borrow pants from one guy, shirt and tie from another and... Well it was chaotic, to say the least. I took my documents and ran to the Training & Placement department. I don’t remember having to wait that long. My interview was quick and enlightening. It was clear that not only was I disinterested in automobiles but I was also quite incompetent at them. Or that’s what the interviewers made me feel like. I was asked a few questions on my project on lighting systems in automobiles (which was pretty useless, I must admit) and then later I was asked a question on how I’d make vehicles more efficient without touching the engine (yes, that was it, it was that general) I told them about making the vehicle more streamlined with the aid of some very clumsy figures, talked about how a vehicle that hugs the road with down force ultimately gets more traction (is that right?) and about how CVT can give more appropriate gear ratios for every speed and thus increase efficiency. I guess that wasn’t enough.

Having not had much hope anyway, I returned to my room to later find out that 5 people had been recruited. Company 1 down.

The next one was Caterpillar. Now for those who don’t know about this company, it is the world’s biggest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment and machinery. They’re a Fortune 50 company if I’m not wrong and are very proud of what they do, rightly so. They are by no means a ‘low profile’ company and don’t want people who see them a stepping stone to higher studies or some 2 year stint. At NITK they are up there with Bajaj in terms of pay and frankly even work I guess. Okay, so the test. This time I had brought my formals, thankfully. I wrote the test, which had aptitude, technical and verbal components. Technical was the most important part this time. The topics which I remember were thermodynamics, hydraulics and pneumatics (major portion, this), fluid mechanics and manufacturing. The test was pretty tough and far more of a challenge than the Bajaj test. I say this because I qualified in this as well. I know, how modest right? I somehow made it through. There was a group discussion which went quite smoothly. I think the topic was about how education is/isn’t necessary for success. I thought it was and spoke a bit. The interview was easy. They asked me about my CGPA trend and why it had a negative slope. To be honest, they didn’t seem very bothered by it. They asked me about my project. Asked me about the effect an open fridge had on itself and its surroundings. They also asked me to define a tool and a machine, which was slightly weird and also fun. Bottles, pens and the AC were used as examples. And then they asked me my interests to which I said strength of materials/structural. They asked me to design a diving board from scratch and it was pretty easy given that to me it was basically about designing a very flexible cantilever. The problem was, I was having second thoughts about the work and the location. They had no guarantee as to whether they would assign me an R&D job or a manufacturing one. I know this was a bit arrogant on my part, but I voiced these concerns and also asked them about the possibility of relocation. They weren’t pleased by this I guess or maybe didn’t find me good enough. All the same, Company No. 2 was down. Truth be told, I wasn’t that sad about this either.

In the following days quite a few companies came and went. I would go to their presentations and get disappointed with some aspect of the job. These were the initial days and some of the companies I skipped were actually gems which I stupidly did not try for out of greed. There, I said it. Others, the work was simply not what I expected and I’m happy to have not tried for. Oh, and I tried for Pepsico but was deemed unfit in the preliminary online psychometric test. That was interesting. Psychometric tests are awesome, you should try one.

Next came the one company I really wanted. Tata Motors, a Tata company, market leader in many segments, a job profile that gave an insane amount of exposure to the industry, good locations and a good compensation package. The test was conducted a few days before they came to the campus and it was online. Most of the questions were general aptitude and verbal. The technical part was varied in terms of topics. I remember questions on gears and other drives, production and operations management etc. The on campus process involved a group discussion followed by two interviews. The GD was on whether Indian television was exploiting the youth. The next technical interview was the longest I have faced. It went on for more than 50 minutes. I was asked questions on my project, manufacturing processes (I was asked what a pattern was, specifically),  Iron-Carbon diagrams and was grilled for around half an hour on why Finite Element Methods are required. Also a question on how section modulus impacts the member’s load carrying capacity where I was asked to quantitatively prove this for an ‘I’ section. That was it. The next interview was an HR interview. The HR guy seemed to be making an overt attempt at an accent and to be honest, trying to emphasize his ‘HR’ness. I guess it is pretty clear that I did not like him in the least, with his. His language was difficult to comprehend and at one point he said ‘crub’ instead of ‘curb’, which I unconsciously corrected. He seemed to have a severe disagreement with some points I had expressed during my GD and he brought them up. When I defended them, I was labelled as arrogant. Well, if that was the case I have no regrets in not making it there. If I was expected to not defend what i thought was right just to get the job, I’d rather be unemployed. Either he used that point to test me (in which case I took the bait most gloriously) or he did something very wrong by trying to impose his personal opinion on me and disregarding me because I did not yield. That or I was simply not good enough for the tech guy, which I have no problem with. Anyway, Company 3 down. I was pretty disappointed this time.

The next few days involved more disappointing presentations and returning to the room.

Irunway. This company was one which I’d never heard of before. They were basically a firm which helped companies sue others by ascertaining if and how patent infringements were made. Good pay, interesting job and a great location made me register for it. The test was interesting. There were some reasoning & comprehension questions with the subject matter being mainly consumer electronics and associated technologies, some mathematical questions (Olympiad type and basic calculus), a few programming questions (C++, mainly logic based) and some mechanical ones. It also has a small essay type question where you were supposed to write about your aims and interests. Anyway, that evening we had the Tata Steel test which I was more interested in. Tata Steel pays very well and although the location is not that great at first sight, it is supposed to be a very fulfilling and secure job. The test that evening was another case. Insanely difficult, it was made for a metallurgy student rather than a mechie. Questions were asked on steel, how it is made, its properties, basic manufacturing processes, fluid mechanics and thermo. Towards the end I was just ticking answers randomly in spite of the negative marking system. I was more hurriedly doing this because at the beginning of the test I was informed that I had qualified for the Irunway interviews happening RIGHT THEN. It had started raining, so I wrote what I could and ran to my room, dressed and went to TnP. The interview was bizarre. Like a sort of HR round, the guy asked me about my interest, football, regarding interesting incidents that happened on campus (I told him about the rickshaw accident I had two days ago) and other such stuff. We had discussions on relativity and how Newton was different in terms of expressing the law of gravity. Yup, it was a very strange interview. I qualified for the next round where I was asked questions on IC engines, Wankel engines and questions on guesstimation (estimating the number of Joshuas in the world, the number of webpages created everyday). I was asked to explain some of my answers in the written test too, and failed miserably at solving the C++ questions. I won’t elaborate, they were really laughable. The impression I got from this interview and the subsequent lone recruitment was that they wanted someone who knew his stuff well (whether that was Rock Blasting or Artificial Intelligence was immaterial to them) and also someone with a fairly high IQ. Expected, given the nature of their work. They wanted a smart person who was thorough. Okay, Company 4 down (or if you include Pepsi, Company 5).

By now I was panicking. There wasn’t any news about any good companies coming in the foreseeable future (read Placement Site schedule). By good, I mean the companies whose profiles seemed appealing to me. There was Reliance, and that was it. My hopes about Atkins or L&T (Bombay) coming were dashed. Reliance had a good reputation. Okay, that goes without saying. The location was not bad, I absolutely adored the CM of Gujarat and some really good seniors were there. The presentation reinforced that. The profile they offered was not exactly in line with my interest but it was good, with great potential for professional growth.

Okay, I’ll cut the crap. I wanted to get placed and get it over with, and Reliance was more than enough. The presentation was embarrassing because of the power cut and the projector flopping as usual. The test involved aptitude and verbal questions which were very easy but required effective time management. Technical was okay, focusing on manufacturing processes, fluid machinery (pumps, pumps and more pumps) and some other subjects which I totally forgot. I qualified for the interviews. Me and the department’s erstwhile topper were sitting together and revising (now that I think of it, this was the first interview before which I actually did some focused study. Thank you Tintin for that little bit of motivation) We were lucky, both of us were asked questions on topics which we had seen moments ago on Wikipedia. That reminds me, thank you Jimmy Wales and team. I shall definitely donate soon. In the interview I was asked about the subjects I had taken that semester, a question on casting defects, some welding question I don’t even remember, a question on pressure vessels and the pressure components associated with them (Hoop stress etc.) and a general question on the role of a mechanical engineer in an industry like Reliance. It was over in less than ten minutes. I assumed that I had been disappointing and was hence dismissed early. Went back to my room in a very bad mood and if not for the salt, I might have really lost it. I slept off only to be woken up much later to Tintin calling me to TnP. The results were about to be announced and I didn’t want to go there to be rejected for a fifth time. But then I got a call telling me that I’d got it. The feeling is hard to describe. You only get it once in your life. I went there to TnP in my shabby jeans and FSUK shirt, got the offer letter, was asked about my attire and berated by the Reliance guys for not having enough confidence in myself. I told my loved ones about it, went back to my room and wore three layers of underwear and also my then redundant ankle crepe bandage in a vain effort to protect myself against the barbarism that was to follow. My butt was blue and pink for a week after that.

Well that was it, the day I got my first job. I honestly don’t know why I wrote this long post, but maybe it has something to do with the absolute lack of work I’m facing now. Hardly any classes anyway in college and now I’m on holiday. Getting placed has been a relief and the whole process leading up to it, a memorable experience. Thought I’d share it with you. Hopefully the next post shall be a little less boring and narcissistic.

And oh, for those of you who are looking for something better than placements, here is a pretty informative blog by a friend of mine :- http://opulentverses.blogspot.in/2012/10/a-tryst-with-internships-part-2.html

Man United, not ManU!

Manchester United. Looong post, be warned.

Inevitable I guess, me writing about this. Those who follow football will wonder about the timing however. Why am I writing about United when they have lost their title to the worst possible opposition, in the most painful manner? Well, those who TRULY follow football will know why. United is one of the most successful clubs in world football. Yet that isn’t what’s special about this club. United inspire awe, wonder and even hate for one trait, to which I shall come back later. Or maybe not.

I started following football during the 2006 WC. I randomly started supporting England, having heard of Rooney and Beckham before. Yes, as much as we would like to pretend, for most of us over here in India, that is how the football mania begins. In essence, we are all cricketiyas J For me, football seemed all the more attractive as a sport. I was tired of always being the one who dropped catches while fielding, who bowled more wides than proper ones and who almost always went last to bat. Football wasn’t about ‘one mistake and you’re out’. In football, you could suck all through the game and no one would notice. I know, good reason right? Anyway, I liked football. And the firangis played it better. So, I started watching.

I saw the Ronaldo-Rooney bust up and got curious about the team for which these two played normally. So, I started watching the EPL that season. I have an uncle who supports Arsenal, and I’d watched the Arsenal vs Barcelona Champions League final with him once (or was it after 2006?). That was all the background I had till then. But I immediately fell in love with the team. United had this sense of speed and forcefulness I didn’t see in any other EPL team at that time. Arsenal were in a kind of recession, and were playing their own version of tiki-taka without any results (and they continue to do so, which is a shame really). Liverpool were under Rafael Benitez. Enough said. Chelsea were the kings at that time. Tyrants, led by the special one.  Jose Mourinho was indeed a brilliant manager, and had established what one of the most effective teams as far as winning a league goes. And it was left to United to do something about it.

It was during that season that I saw the greatest midfielder of his generation, Paul Scholes. I mean, this guy’s passes were brilliant. Quick and incisive short passes, and lobs from another world. And he had the perfect target to aim for. Wayne Rooney. Temperamental, passionate, foul-mouthed and now United’s heartbeat, this guy could pluck those long passes out of the air as though the ball was a magnet and his boots were iron. Or vice versa. Ryan Giggs, the EPL version of Tendulkar. This guy had been playing for what 15 or more years by then, and he was still ripping teams apart from the wing. Give Ryan Giggs an inclined board in front of goal and 1 second on the wing, and you have a goal. Cristiano Ronaldo with his stepovers, speed, killer free kicks and unsurpassed cockiness chipped in with almost as many goals as the strikers. I remember Saha used to play for us back then.  The other two players I really admired were Nemanja Vidic, our brilliant CB whose absence cost us the league this time and Edwin van der Sar. VDS was a brilliant keeper, perhaps United’s second greatest after Schmeichel. But more than that, it was like having an extra outfield player. VDS’s ball distribution was simply superb, comparable to Pepe Reina’s. Anyway, that first season I saw United destroy Roma in the CL semi-final 7-1. That game defined United for me. Counter attacking at its best. United didn’t pass the ball all the time or have insane dribblers. Or not that many atleast. But just the sight of those red shirts running at full pelt, scaring the shit out of the opposition, it was amazing.

We bowed out of the CL to AC Milan, who at the time were still giants. They still are actually. With the departure of great but highly paid stars, they’re sure gonna be able attract some real good talent next season. AC Milan, the team I like most in the Serie A. Ok, so we were out of the CL. Anyway, that was ok. That first season, I saw United lift the Premier League title again. I didn’t know much about them yet, but I saw what it meant to United. The Premier League was everything to United. United had ended Chelsea’s reign. And thats when it started.

The next few years were glorious. Ronaldo was the main driving force. He scored goals like crazy despite being a winger, and Rooney played the perfect partner. We had Nani coming in, Carrick was there. Anderson, the da Silva twins and many more. The 2007-08 season we wrapped up the League title with ease. But there was more. I watched my second CL final, this time with a team to support. Cristiano had scored a brilliant opener with a header. But United didn’t finish things off early and Chelsea got back into it with a typical helter skelter goal from the overhyped Lampard, who celebrates his fluke goals as though he meant every little deflection. I seriously don’t like him Gerrard is better. Anyway, the game went to penalties after a very heated last few minutes. And who better to miss the penalty than our man, Cristiano. Of all the people, he missed as he had done in the SF against Barcelona (oh yes, people can defeat Barcelona by playing football). John Terry stepped up to take the winner. And he slipped. I hate being negative, but that moment is one which I shall savor for ever. And then, VDS saved Anelka’s penalty. Manchester United were kings of Europe again J

I grew even more crazy about United. Ronaldo was at the height of his powers and was scoring goals for fun. Berbatov was there, scoring insane goals at leisure. And we had the engine of Rooney, Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, Vidic, Rio and the others. We won the title again. And a few teacups along the way. Chelsea regained the title once, but we had won it thrice by then. United were back, and I was hooked on to United for life.

I didn’t realise how crazy I was about United till the end of the 20080-09 season. One of the greatest comebacks at the Old Trafford happened that night (night in India). We defeated Spurs in a season defining game. But what was more special, even ominous for me, was what loomed the next day. Not something I write about where my mum can see it anyway :P

Why are United so successful? Do United have no problems at all? Well, read about the Glazers. I'd rather not get angry and start using the beautiful words. United have a history, a proud history. we have overcome adversity time and time again. Not just on the pitch, but elsewhere too. If you've time, read this.

But if you want to read something really awesome, read this. This man is Manchester United, as far as our generation goes. I know, how lazy can I be right, with all the links? Well, if you want, you can stop reading now. Its ok. Just check out the previous link before leaving though.

Some other moments I cherish are the title wins, the Macheda goal against Aston Villa, the Scholes screamer against Barca with Messi looking on, the CL knockout win against Arsenal, seeing the 1999 CL final for the first time, the 8-2 over Arsenal this season, the Rooney bicycle kick against City last season and the way we lost to Bayern in the CL QFs. 

I’ll tell you why all these matter, even the loss. It’s because they are example of the thing I love most about United. United thrive on adversity. We just never give up. Love them or hate them, a United team in full flow is one of the most electrifying sights in football.

United set the standard in England. Atleast as far as the PL era goes, United have been the one constant in England. Even now, when our noisy neighbours splashed their money around and other teams whimpered, we stepped up to the plate and gave City hell. We are still at the pinnacle of English football. United can only improve. I’d have said we’ll be back. But seriously, have we gone anywhere?

United, for life J

P.S. You shall not refer to United as ManU and call yourself a fan. It is a derogatory term used by our rivals in connection with a tragic incident. Thank you :)

The past few weeks...

A blog entry after quite some time. I’ve been quite busy over the past few weeks. Exams kept me occupied from the day before the first to three days before the last (refer to our crazy time tables for further details). I’ll go on typing whatever comes to my mind. The stuff I say might not even be in chronological order.

Incident and midsems...

The highlight of my month so far (and this holds good for most of my college mates at NITK) was our college cult fest Incident. The Fest To Die For, The End Of The World Party and other titles abound, the fest really was a masterclass in planning and finances, from what little I saw of the workings behind it. With a dedicated bunch of students working on everything from how to get the money for the fest to how to spend it, Incident ’12 was perhaps the most meticulously and creatively conceived fest to date. Few people from outside NITK (or even inside for that matter) realise why Incident is different. Let me put it simply. EVERYTHING that happens is handled by students. Whatever can go right is done by students. Whatever can go wrong... well let’s just say that is taken care of by enemies both foreign and domestic (I’m sorely tempted to use emoticons right now, but I won’t. Instead, I shall continue to misuse parentheses). Anyway, there you go. Incident ’12 happened, but not quite as we planned it.

The Empire struck. Well actually it did not strike, it just lay back in its cool cloistered abode and watched the dream of its ‘subjects’ come crashing down. Incident ’12 was an example of how the actions of many can be negated by the inaction of a few.  The midsems came and went in the week before Incident and now we await the results of the same. I’m not even bothering to cross my fingers.

Notice the amount of space Incident took up in comparison with the part about tests? That should tell you the story.

Our consolation was a performance by a GNR tribute band, Jailbreak. I heard that this was pretty good, and so was the opening act by a local band which actually performed Tulu rock songs! I missed it all as I had to leave for Bangalore that night.

Tiruchi Venganur Sundaram...

Yup, that’s the full form of TVS which I finally checked after a very namkeen reminder. Why TVS? Well, a week before our midsems, we had a test conducted in college. It was on a Saturday, and for once I actually took the effort to go back to college on a Saturday. The test was by TVS Motocorp, who by the way make 3 wheelers as well, to hire (on what seems like a subsistence wage basis) a few young engineers to work for them over the summer. To be honest, before I wrote the test I wasn’t even sure the Apache was a TVSM product. Yes, I still aim to be a mechanical engineer.

Anyway, I wrote the test. After some really shady elimination process (inverted pyramid stuff, I tell you!) 14 of us Mechies were invited to their plant in Hosur for a day. So, back to the last day of Incident. While the rest of the college swayed to the tunes, or whatever it was they did, of Jailbreak, we set off for Bangalore. I won’t tell you stories of my trip to Blore. But I shall give a few points.  I like saying things in points.

1. Never switch off your Nokia 7210 thinking you’ll conserve battery life. You’ll end up without a mobile for days. Unfortunately for me, this happened on this trip. Allow me to say “Saavu marre!”.

2. Bangalore, despite the myths, doesn’t always have great weather.

3. If any place needs a change of name, it is the supposedly Majestic bus stand of Bangalore.

4. Cousins are indeed your first and best friends for life, no matter how infrequently you meet.

5. Infosys, Biocon and all those fancy companies you hear about are NOT in Bangalore. They’re a torturous bus ride away. And Hosur is in Tamil Nadu.

6. TVS Motors has one of the finest manufacturing/assembling facilities for bikes in India.

7. Songwriters beware. The Tamil film industry is always on the lookout to ‘improve’ your songs.

8. We seriously need a national language. I vote for Tulu.

9. But seriously, I vote for English.

10. No one knows Bangalore, which in my opinion is a case study on how NOT to connect a city. If you have so many awesome places (which you do, no doubt), please set up an efficient transport system.

11. I saw the Manchester United bar. I just saw it.

12. Mangalore Special Bhel Puri exists. Supposedly we make it sweet.

13. If you want a cool new phone, please don’t take your recently deceased phone to the service centre.

Well, that should be enough for now.  I’m trying my best to keep this blog from turning into a diary and yes, I’m failing miserably. Time for an abrupt ending.

No seriously, that’s it.