Presidential Blues

And its all about Presidency University, whose confluence behaves like those of the College! Of course, the college cannot be undermined, presenting some of the best academicians and thinkers that India will boast for ever.

People used to lick the cream, cast in the yesteryear. The out going Left Front Government of West Bengal decided to play a political trick, of reviving the face of Bengal Education, by releasing the clutch of University of Calcutta, over the renowned college. They passed in a bill that embossed the title University, beside the name, Presidency.

Being a Presidencian (Physiology Hons; B.Sc 2006), I am happy like many. It meant delivering the following:

1) Right to formulate a competitive Syllabus that would help us crack All India Entrance Examinations for Post Graduation.

2) Right to appoint Faculty.

3) Develop an ambiance of Research and Development. Given the Laboratories, many state of the art instruments can be installed to help the Undergrads take the opportunity to taste the fun of research and new thinking, along with the Masters and most importantly, the PhDs.

4) Proposal of Research and bringing in Funding under the Umbrella of Presidency University would be more easier, compared to the work load that rests upon University of Calcutta.

It means good...It means better. And who knows when the Best Days would be shining back from the muskets of history!

Amidst all these good thinking and others, you need funding. Government is an option and so are the Private Funding agencies. But, students also play an important role in the generation of the revenue of an institution. That cannot be undermined!

I am an ex-IC. It really hurts me to see that IC protests against the decision of fee hike. Instead of a general protest, I believe that the protest should have been much more organized. Since this is an University, and we are talking no less than autonomy; the IC or on a general aspect, the present Presidencians should demand scholarship for the students who cant afford fee hike. It will not only stop the fee hike for the poor students, but a scholarship would allow them to study for free. For the well to do family, this hike of Rs. 220 from Rs 110 shouldn't be a pain. Come on! Don't make me believe the CRAP that only poor comes and study at Presidency!

An University should never be like this. This will do no good. we have won this "freedom" to do something useful...not WASTE AWAY!

That's why,

Be productive and Meaningful in your demands. The University can develop if you increase your pay scale and provide scholarship to the poor, from that god gifted money of the richer classmates! Be Sensible. Be Productive. Be Presidencians!

Presidencians. 

Physiology. B.Sc 2006

The Change that Chain...

Is the topic making you feel like a pup? Or like the bigger figure, a bull dog. Recently, I even heard that the present Indian Cricket Team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni would like to chain a Royal Bengal Tiger; ahem... I mean, adopt him. Not only him, many others have achieved the feat. So, how would the chains look like? Studded with Diamonds, as for Dhoni's pet or a simple steel twines round the neck of the poodle, that you may spot in your neighbors balcony? What ever it may be, its a Chain that speaks for the status and also, its a chain that speaks your personality. Compare the widths of the stuff that I been blogging for the past few lines, between the poodle, tiger and say for example an elephant.

Huge jump eh?

Well, in our life style, our outlook always chain in our mood. The way we present ourselves reflects the mood-o-meter's present status; is it the P-mood (Pessimistic) or is it the B-one (Brighter). Changes always synchronize our lives, with our personality and our desires. There are many examples which can be cited, but to bring uniqueness to my post, its me, who would be cited. (after all, that's what blogs are meant for...to do things I like or wish to participate!) By the way, I am participating in a competition entitled "Change is Easy", conducted by Indiblogger, sponsored by Dell's New Series of Inspiron Laptops, which Changes colour. Simply, these laptops are good devices to portray your mood, the way you want. To check it out, click here or here.

So, where was I - Talking about how my devices have portrayed my personality. Taking excerpts from the autograph books, where many of my friends have scribble goodies as well as cons about me, since my school ending years and then college days...

Sitikantha Dh Das: A helpful friend... The gadget that talks all about it is my Laptop. (Although I am participating in a Dell-sponsored competition, I don't know whether this will marr my chances or not!) My Laptop, Lenovo G560, is bundled with softwares that come on handy in any one's daily life. Playing with them from the amateur level, had made me a master of many such stuffs, and thankfully, I am still helpful to my friends and juniors, bringing in instant relief; be it Photoshop to Tally to Powerpoint Presentations to DJ Mixes!

My present gadgets that define my personlity, taste, desire and choice include:

1) Lenovo G560 [for the digital lover], 

2) Nikon 5000D with Nikkor Lenses (18-300; 4 different sets)[for the artistic eye], 

3) HTC Desire S [for those urgent mails, contacts, blogs, skype, fring, ficall, facebook and pubmed]

They change their outlook, defining myself.

When sad, my Lenovo only has the work front on, with MS-Office running through out the eon. When, its jovial, you would see me scrolling through the numerous songs and videos, chrome shows several colours and my facebook gets a mobile update: "lief's cool..."

Its easy to change... as easy as to sink or rise in a mood... develop your personal skills and present yourself to the social world!

Chain..that Changes... may be!

CSIR - NET: A Positive Change.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is the highest funding organization in India and is being considered as the heaviest investor in Scientific research in Asia. It, along with UGC conducts a National Eligibility Test (NET), for candidature in PhD in different arenas of science, in India. The arenas include Geo-Science, Life Science, Physical Science, etc. I have had taken this examination to qualify for the better position and blend a better life style with research. It was never tough to crack the Lecturership position, but it was tough to crack the JRF-position. The pattern of examination, with respect to life science always had two papers. The first one was a general science knowledge paper while the second one was subjective, but in that too... it had all the life sciences inter mingled with it. It was hard for a Physiology graduate to cope up with details of Botany, Microbiology, zoology and environmental science, in the first go!

Now, from June 2011, a huge change have been inducted to the pattern. Primarily, you are allowed to take the question papers home and getting a look into the pattern, the following salient points can be put forward in favor of the students, who have trained their minds into research, only.

1) Instead of two papers, there was a single paper, of 3 hours.

2) Its divided into three subsections: group A (15/20), Group B(35/50), Group C(25/75). (Need to attempt/Total Available)

3) Group A had a parity with the previously stated Paper 1. General Science.

4) Group B was objective, relating to the variety of stuff in Life Science. This section bore parity with the second section  of the Paper 1, that previous examinations used to have.

5) Group C. The most appealing of all. Its a solid 100 marks dedicated to analysis. "Research based questions are placed, and the candidated will have to determine outcome of a particular technique or apply practical knowledge to approach the problem."

Not only students, who have a research oreinted mindset can over come the test, but the people who have already been into the research, awaiting their JRF from LS, would get the spring in the steps to approach this exam. Its no longer clumsy, as it used to be!

CSIR Logo

Planning a Trip: Feeling the Elderly Family Man.

Feels good.

Although these plannings would materialize in the Pujas, but planning a trip for just over a week is really a work that can bring in some grey waves across the curls, you so gently combed in over the years. And then, you start feeling that you have grown up. Similar incidences were common in the past as well; but there was a huge reversal of act. Those days, Dad and Mom used to chalk out all the trips and the finances, while I was too excited to pack my binoculars (bought from the Hongkong Market, Siliguri in 1994). There had been quite a number of trips that I had the opportunity to make with my Dad and Mom. I still remember then thin and thick:

1988 - First ever trip of my remembrance was to Puri.

1990 - Second one was Digha.

1992 - It was Puri again.

1994 - Darjeeling, Gangtok, Rotang, Changu

1996 - Delhi, Agra, Mathura, Jaipur

1998 - The last trip with dad was to Digha.

After that, many equations in life had changed. Although I was frequent within the trip books, making a all new dimensional trip to Mirik, Lava-Lolegaon and Kaimpong with my school excursion trip in 2001 and then in 2005, went to Hyderabad, Vizag and Araku with my Presidency Excursion team; the University trips were great. Infact, it was these University trips that had put me into the practice of trip planning. But again, I had the luck to have Joydeep, Budha, Avisek and Kanad to manage the finances, while Ari and myself, along with Sioma and Ankita made all the jolly go merry stuff. Three trips to be included with this group; 1) Digha 2) Diamond Harbour and the most enjoyable, 3) Ghatshila.

Since, tripping was a very thought productive stuff, hence, in 2007 mom and myself, opted for Kundu Special, the oldest tour operator of India to make a pleasant trip to Kerala, the Land of Gods! Simply awesome, especially Munnar and Periyar although the trip had Kanyakumari, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram within it's grasp!

After 2008, that is Ghatshila, there was a mini trip to Shankarpur followed  by Ravangla in 2011. In between there were two conference trip to Vellore and Shankarpur, yet again.

2011 promises a new challenge for me. For the first time I am planning a week long trip, to North India, taking mom alongside. I had several portals at my aid, to plan the trip, find the hotel availability. This article is a testimony as to what one should keep in mind, while planning a trip, all by him/herself, as an amateur. Small experiences did help me, but, I had faced new avenues to make a trip successful.

Salient Points:

1) Plan the trip considering spare days in hand. This is important as the convenience may face hindrance, natural or political.

2) Survey the packages offered by the different travel portals. If you follow my advice, I looked into the costing at makemytrip.com, cleartrip.com and even at Thomas Cook. But what allured me and helped me to plan my trip was the IRCTC website, governed by the Indian Railways. They had proper information about the railways as well as helped in planning the trip with all the available stations and hotel contact details.

3) Always consider the maximum possible price, especially in the transit. In this regard, to get an idea of the transit price, you ca visit wikitravels.com. In this case, my moto is, travel less but just don't be monetarily harassed at an unknown place. The magic equation is take 30% extra cash, of the total trip cost.

Hope, you all will have a success, amateur trips in running. You all will be beautified, with the trip, due this October, 2011. Till then, keep reading.

Somnath Paul, 2008. 

Bungdugri Artificial Lake, Ghatshila.

Finances: Getting hold of Nothing!

It is a simple story of a simpleton from a simple-town. He wanted to invest and dream of winning the races in a very short go. Just like the famous song of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. The famous film has significance in everybody's life. The one, who has always been dreaming of money, house, car, servants...better food, drinks and girls/boys! Well, RBGG has SRK in everybody's mind. It was a dream come true for the slum dweller to dream big and become big, thanks to the luck of meeting a GM who has the desire to love the slum dweller. Who doesn't want the properly waxed legs come walking in their life.

Today's Raju is different... he is smart, is gizmoed... he smokes heavy, party hard, even spends too much on the deo! You have the online solution for everything... finances come fast, mutual funds, insurances, public provident funds, fized deposits and then we have the share market as well... money runs in hard as well as easy. Today need the luck to have the easy lips kiss your forehead, rather than the hardcore to set you hollow or satisfied to the brim. Still there are hard players, who like to play with fire!

And then we have another type of Rajus in the Indian Market. These Rajus make money by just simply clasping their hands every 5 years! Not all fall within this category, then that will be a slang in the name of good leaders, after whom the term leader was coined. But there are many, most infact, whose money in the foreign banks led these banks issue information that if all these money are summed, then presently, each Indian above the age of 18 years will get a stipend of Rs. 2000/- for the next 60 years, every month, without a fault! A billion strong Indians still dwell in the gutters of being a THIRD WORLD Nation, while the politicians; I mean not all.... make their life in foreign banks!

Following Shri Anna Hazareji, Baba Ramdev have become physically ill, but I protest against the barbaric action of the government and the police over the people who were sitting on a peaceful fast at the Ramlila Grounds, Delhi. This is not done! Its time to Throw our Shoes at the Specific Politicians...and this time, let some mud fly in as well... they deserve that!

Lineage: Mobiles and Me.

Of 25 years of its inception, since Motorola introduced the world of mobile phones, an eon has passed over, making the mobiles from a Bulky Black Monster piercing holes in your pocket to the sleekest smart phones, symbians and androids! The requirement of mobiles, to just be an "in touch" device has evolved into "touch screen" device, bringing a plethora of apps that not only counts your heart beat and pressure, but can even drive your car along with its bluetooth... and then you have a deserving sleep.

Of the 25 odd years of its operation, I have had the fortune of coming in contact with them for the past 9 years. Since, 2003...its being a really great experience... sigh and sometimes alleviated!

I have created a small illustration of my mobile lineage. Simply from the world of black and green screens (Nokia 3315), I shifted for the colour and then came the music system and camera, which now follows the 2G internet facilities. Life mould along with the needs, that creates the stress of requirement. I have tried almost all the known and preferred brands of Indians, except one. Thats Motorola and that is what I am next going to buy in, Motorola Charm (MB 502).

Recently, the World Health Organization officially declared that usage of mobile phones at a heavy duty rate for more than 10 years, can generate neuronal carcinoma.The reason are the electromagnetic waves, have a look here But whatever, this small device is the part and parcel of our lives...ever. Please have a look at my mobiles in these 9 years...

Next up, coming this August, its Motorola Charm. Any suggestions?