An Open Letter to India’s recruiting companies

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Note 1: I saw this article on NYTimes Blog which was trending on facebook today. These are my personal views.

Note 2: Sir, your post was enriching. This is the other side.
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Dear Recruiter, 

This is your new employee. I agree, life is good - except, it's not. But, it works both ways.


(1) You speak and write English fluently

I am not so surprised you mentioned this, considering that it might be needed in your field of work. I am wondering though, how much? Not that I deny that everyone does not have an impeccable English. But a lot do. Enough to communicate their ideas and thoughts clearly, consistently, and effectively. Especially when we Indians do have a basic foundation in English, and improving it is only a matter of spending some time working. Unless you tell me that we are stubborn enough to not work or improve at all. That would be a different story. Ah, and there are hundreds of blogs on the Internet like this dedicated to resume faux-pas.

My primary concern though with you flagging this as issue number one is that, you really feel that Indians should have an impeccable command on a language when it is not their native tongue. Not that it doesn't help, it does definitely, in an era of global business. But having worked with global teams (Japan, Latin America, China, Western Europe), where their English skills aren't perfect either, I don't see how that is so detrimental to doing business.


(2) You are good at problem solving, thinking outside the box, seeking new ways of doing things

We are. And for people good at problem solving, there has to be an ecosystem which promotes them to think outside the box. Few companies do, but a lot don't. It is therefore hardly a surprise when I find a lot of my fellow graduates complaining that they don't find their jobs "challenging" enough, or them having enough "freedom", for them to continue in their role. This, after they graduated from one of the best universities in the country, and got recruited by companies among the biggest corporate-brands in the world.

We are not dumb either. I don't know enough about chartered accountancy to comment on it, or on your British colleague's views, but here's what the results of 2010 of Chartered Financial Accountancy (CFA) look like:

• India: 9,871 test-takers - Pass percentage 40.
• United Kingdom: 7,373 test-takers - Pass percentage 42.

(Source: CFA Institute Announces June 2010 Worldwide CFA Exam Results)

(3) You ask questions, engage deeply and question hierarchy

We try. At least the first couple of times. And we don't stop until we feel it is futile. Of course not everyone has the determination and stubbornness to keep going on-and-on even if there is no feedback. There has to be an eco-system in place. I know the company I work for takes it seriously, and we see results. It would be interesting to know how many destructively-innovative ideas are taken seriously by the management across companies in India, or see the light of day, to know why people tend to be passive or non-questioning.


(4) You take responsibility for your career and for your learning and invest in new skills

That we definitely do. And the point is put in place by your 5th argument when you say that we hop jobs a lot. Why shouldn't we? We have a career to make. Retention is the company's responsibility, and if it is not able to, it is failure on the part of the company. That's how capitalism works.


(5) You are professional and ethical: Everyone loves to be considered a professional

This is the only argument in the post which I found to be India-oriented. Ethics is a problem here, but not exclusive to the demographic dealt in the post. Not that this is an excuse for us young graduates, but change has to be across segments of people.


I have duly noted that these are five extremely important attributes for a successful career, and I have tried to start with number 3.


An Open Letter to India’s recruiting companies...

Illumination and Rangoli, IIT Kharagpur

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Note 1: Every time I write a post, I think quite a lot about what the heading should be. It is pretty straight-forward in this one.

Note 2: Happy Diwali!
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Every year, some 4000-odd bright and smart students, tucked away in a tiny village/town in India, create Magic. Every year. Students, who are known to be brilliant in "The Sciences", create Magic in Art, beyond imagination, and it comes from a place so unlikely for something like this. A spectacle seen at no-place else, a spectacle a lot of people don't know about. A spectacle the world needs to know about.

Which is why I want to write about it. And I will, knowing that my blog's reach isn't too great, but hoping that I am able to make this grand event reach a few more people than it would have otherwise, and do my (tiny) bit in spreading the word about something that deserves to be known.

I am talking about 'Illumination and Rangoli', popularly called 'Illu' by the students, organised every year at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. It is a "competition", among the various halls of residences inside the campus. It involves two events, 'Illumination', and 'Rangoli', fiercely contested among the participating halls. Winning the event goes beyond the pots and pots of Rasgullas given to the winners, it's about pride, honor, the sense of togetherness, accomplishment, the rush of adrenalin, and more...

As someone who had the privilege of going to IIT Kharagpur, I would like to share what I have seen over the years as a student there, as someone who has seen the emotions and the feelings, felt it, and feels the need to shout it out for the world to hear, and can only attempt to describe it in words.

Illumination:

Diwali is the biggest Indian festival, meant to be celebrated with friends and family. For most of the four/five years that the students spend at IIT Kharagpur, it is celebrated with only friends, without the family. For Illu.

So, the preparations begin a month in advance. Huge chatai's, or grids made of bamboo, are used to tie diyas to. Several days are spent in tying up the diyas to wires, which would be used to keep the diya in place on the Chatai. No electronic lights of any sort are used in the whole setup. The diyas are tied to the Chatais to make patterns. Popular scenes chosen are straight out of Indian mythology, like 'The Mahabharat', or 'The Ramayan'.

There is madness on the final day. The atmosphere is enveloped in rush and urgency. The halls are decorated. Huge containers are filled with oil. Pichkaris would be used to fill the diyas with oil. The oil is preheated so that it burns effectively. Wicks are put in place in the diyas. When the moment comes, thousands of diyas are lighted simultaneously by hundreds of students, mounted on tables and chairs, placed one over the other, to reach Chatais sometimes as high as 20 ft. And in that one moment, when the hard work of the past one month comes together to create magic, which will last for a few minutes before it goes out, every KGPian is proud and happy. Once the lighting is done, the tables (one over the other) are removed from in front of the structures in a mad rush in a matter of seconds, for the judges to see. The judges come and do their bit, and it all comes to an end. Ah, and yes, the halls that won't win, will go to sleep feeling sad and hungry  (because most of the eating joints are closed due to the festival) after the month-long sweat and toil they put in. On Diwali.

Tying of diyas in progress

Scene out of the Ramayana

Scene out of the Mahabharat

The Taj Mahal

Gautam Buddha

Lanka Dehan

A video of one of the Illu from '09 is embedded below:

RK Hall Illumination 2009

Rangoli:


If you read the Rangoli article on wikipedia, you will come to know what a Rangoli typically looks like. Rangoli at IIT Kharagpur is in no way like that. You can easily mistake a Rangoli here for a painting, when in fact, it's all just coloured powder. Work for the Rangoli begins days in advance, on a huge canvas (the floor), often as big as 15 ft X 10 ft. The work is done in sealed rooms, so that a crawling insect or the slightest wind doesn't ruin the design. And if that was not enough, we have out-of-the-box ingenuity coming every year, like a Rangoli which looks different in red ambient light, and different in green ambient light (also featured in 'Ripley's believe it or not'.), or one which is meant to be seen in a convex mirror. I know it will not make much sense, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Rangoli-making in progress

Different in Green...

...and different in red. (Video of transition at this link)

Final image seen on the convex mirror in the center

THAT's how KGPians celebrate diwali, and they wouldn't any other way. :)


Now, coming to the intent of this post. Nothing I have said in this post would be new to anyone who has been associated with IIT Kharagpur in any way. I feel that the quality of the illumination and rangoli is of such a standard that it deserves to be covered at least by the national media. If this post is able to give even a little idea about this tradition and culture of IIT Kharagpur to even a random visitor to this blog, I will be happy. Illu and Rangoli is something EVERY KGPian is proud of.


Public album on Facebook - Illumination and Rangoli, IIT KGP, 2010

Public album on Facebook - Illumination and Rangoli, IIT KGP, 2011

Illumination and Rangoli, IIT Kharagpur...

Spotting an IITian on f***book 101

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Note 1: This post is written by analyzing only 'guy' IITians, because 'girl' IITians is too small a sample-space to be useful for any meaningful statistical analysis. A previous post on f***book can be found here.

Note 2: This is NOT a Fool's Day prank!
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This post has been named 'Spotting an IITian on f***book 101', because, this is like a course. It has no real-world applications (unless there are a host of people [read girls] that I am unaware of trying to discover IITians), but reading this would give you a lot of (useless) information.

Below, I will list out traits, one or more of which are invariably found exclusively on the profiles of students from Indian Institutes of Technology. (Caution: This is applicable mostly to people currently studying)


1) Single

It is a glorious badge displayed on the profile. "Hey there, I am single. ;) " Their "Looking for:" will read "Friendship, Dating", and their "Interested in:" will read "Women". They will also have an awesome profile picture, a picture which they feel makes them look really cute/smart/sexy, but they end up looking like a jack-ass. And yes, an amazing "About Me:" section, which will tell the world that they are as good as a guy can get. Of course, all this seldom works.


2) Friend of the Day

They will use such applications everyday, and by some magic/divine intervention, the friend f***book picks is ALWAYS a girl. Other variants include 'Date of the Day', 'Who has a secret crush on you?' and the like. If, by any chance, the application has a name such has 'How many girls secretly admire you?', the answer will be a number greater than their age, which is ironic, because often they don't have that many girls on their list! :D


3) Cuteness Index

They tend to use applications which tell them how cute/sexy/romantic they are, or how well they know girls, and the result that they get from these games/quizzes is ALWAYS the best possible anyone can get. This does not impress anyone who reads these updates on their wall, but it does help them boost their ego a little bit, and enable to see them the light at the end of the tunnel. Because, hope doth set you free...


4) Intelligence Quotient

IQ is one thing every IITian is proud of. So, he feels obligated to show this off to the world by playing any and every quiz that tells them that they are "among the top 0.5% intelligent people of all f***book users". These tests have become so credible, that soon there will be no need to conduct silly examinations like JEE, and cracking these quizzes will be enough for somebody who wants to study at an IIT.


5) What's on your mind?

Because the homepage is refreshed every 5 minutes, they see "What's on your mind?" every 5 minutes too, and then say to themselves "Oh crap! I will have to share what's on my mind again :| ". Not only this, they feel it imperative to post the results of each and every quiz they took and game they played on their wall, so that its updates are displayed on EVERYONE's wall. And yes, if they don't get any new updates from their friends on their homepage for more than half an hour, they will post something like "Whats wrong with everyone today? No activity on f***book!!! :( ".


6) Friends List

No. of friends > 500
No. of girls in friend list < 10% X total friends
No. of girls in their list who are committed > 90% X (10% X total friends)
No. of boys in their list who are committed < 10% X (90% X total friends)


7) Photo Album

Yes, they will have an overloaded album just to show the world how "happening" their life is. Also commonly found are pictures of inanimate objects shot with a weird angle to show that they are passionate about "photography". 


P.S. : These traits statistically apply to 90% of all IITians. Also, 90% of all IITians reading this will tell themselves, "Thank God! I am in the other 10%!". Meanwhile, of course I belong to the other 10%. :D :P

Spotting an IITian on F***book 101...

Love (and Networks)

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Note 1: This is how (crappy?) my life is, I am "blogging about love" on Valentine's Day. :|

Note 2: By writing this post, I have ruined even that minuscule chance of... :'(
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Q: When do you know you are in love?
A: You can never know, you can just feel it.

Four years at IIT has ensured that I do not feel love as a 'human', but four years at 'The Royal Department of Electrical Engineering' has ensured that I have a feel for love as an 'engineer'. I know what I am about to write is not going to impress my B. Tech project guide (nor any girl reading this :D ), but, why do I care? He is not impressed with my project either. :D

Let us examine a simple resistive circuit.

Surely, this cannot be love. That is not how it is supposed to be! A straight line? There definitely must be something more to it. Let us try an inductive circuit.

Err...well this can never be love! True, this is often how some of the modern relationships are. Decreasing with time, exponentially, until it reaches a zero value! Oops... something's gone terribly wrong here. Surely, this cannot be true love. Lets try a capacitive circuit instead.

This seems like a good plot. We can see love increasing progressively with time, and the rise is exponential. But there seem to be two problems. First, it reaches the maximum value only after infinite time :D , and second, the rate of increase of the graph decreases exponentially, so, the relationship seems to get sluggish after sometime.


So, lets come straight to the finale now. An LC circuit. A resonant LC circuit. Here's what it looks like.

Perfect! A charged capacitor of the right rating, coupled to an inductor of the matching rating, and they fall in love. What follows is perfect resonance, in a beautiful sinusoidal wave, going on forever. True, there ARE ups and downs, but love lasts an eternity. One's weaknesses are complemented perfectly by the other. Everlasting support. Energy transferred between them constantly. Forever. In Harmony. Never dies. That's love. True love. And, if you look at that graph very carefully, and let your imagination flow a little, what you see is this...

Love is in the air....
And all you need is love!



P.S: I Love You <3

P.P.S: Yes, I really do! Its ok that you don't know me, but yes, its true...


Love (and Networks)...

BCD

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Note 1: After the overdose of 'girls' in my previous two posts, I thought I should focus a little on 'guys' now. Girls are not the most important thing in life after all, or is it? :D Though, I intend to complete a series of 7 posts on 'girls', sometime in the future maybe.

Note 2: This is probably my first post that can be classified as a 'Personal Rant', something which I have tried to avoid all along. One man's nostalgia is another man's boredom. But, IDGAF. It is MY blog after all. Though, I will try to keep it interesting. And in any case, who reads my blog anyway. (including the fictitious people mentioned here...)
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The years at college give us the most amazing friends we are probably going to find during our life. I found none. Sad. That is the reason why, when I am on the verge on leaving college, getting nostalgic and all that crap...I am forced to write about 5 fictitious people I hoped I would have met. Also the precise reason why the title of this post doesn't mean anything. I would have been extremely lucky had I got the privilege of meeting such cool people.


Anubhav Sahoo

Have you seen 'The Matrix'? Remember that guy who did weird things into the computer and got Neo into the Matrix. That character personifies Sahoo. He can do weird stuff using computers. His heart doesn't pump blood, it pumps Javascript. His girlfriend is 'Age of Empires', and that is the ONLY reason why he is single. Girls, you can give him a try if you want to, but let me warn you in advance, he would like to kiss his 2 GB RAM before he would to you. He is also the inventor of a super-secret submarine, which also flies :O. The Indian Armed Forces doesn't know about this yet. Also, his stomach has been known to store 15-20 litres of an inflammable volatile liquid at a time.



Abhinav Shashank

He is THE 'Man from Earth'. He has graced this planet for thousands of years by his august presence. Only, in the process, he ended up a little...ummm...errr...slanted. Believers believe that he has the entire universe inside his mouth. He has walked on water, and turned water to wine. His boons have made billionaires. He has been there and done every possible thing on this whole wide Earth. So much that soon there will be a school in his name at IIT Kharagpur - (A)bhinav (S)hashank (S)chool of (H)VAC (O)r (L)iquid (E)ngineering.



Dhawal Nanda

@All single girls, this cute and handsome guy is single and available (just like 4 out of 5 people in this post are). He is also a good dancer, his favorite number being 'Kajra Re' (his favorite role in that song being that of Aishwarya Rai's). I would advise you not to make any delay, go to his profile, and send him a friend request, he WILL accept it. A true gentleman, he will be the first to strike a conversation, and will ALWAYS return your calls. He is a good listener, and is always ready to lend emotional support during times of distress. He is what you call a perfect package. I wonder why the package has been left unopened yet. I challenge any guy out there who can claim he can boast of a better figure than him :D


Nitesh Mishra

His army background gave him the opportunities of his lifetime, but the gentleman that he is, he let it all go. His traits has often been likened to a crow, and there have been several documentaries on him. He is proud to have eaten only 'French fries' all his life, which earned him the name, much to his dislike, 'Aloo-man'. He doesn't believe in getting married, but instead, in getting marriages done. He knows all the mantras and shlokas by heart, and can be of very good use for all his friends some time soon in the future (hopefully...). He is also known to get violent in the company of small creatures (read Shobhit Singhal).



Shobhit Singhal

'Shobhit ka dimaag Chacha Chowdhary se bhi tez chalta hai'. True Story. What I don't understand about him is where does he store all that brainpower, because the frame of his body is too small for a brain of that size. He is also known to carry a wonderland in his bag, open it, and out comes "one matchstick, 2 GB RAM (just in case of an emergency), one eraser, no pencils, a book on 'Power Systems' (incidentally his favorite subject, has scored a 'P'erfect in all Systems courses), a toothbrush, a railway ticket to Kolkata, a used condom, a crumpled agarbatti, and a dinosaur's egg". He is also dead-against smoking, he can put off any lit cigarette in his vicinity, even when he doesn't want to. He has vowed to get back at Nitesh Mishra, and any other person that has/will get violent with him, and has joined Gym to this effect.



PS : Due apologies to the people missing in the first pic, I will replace it when I get a pic with everyone in it...

BCD...

The Pandora that is KGP

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Note 1: This post has been inspired by a cocktail of nostalgia and one of the most visually spectacular experiences the celluloid has had to offer yet.

Note 2: Please discount a little if at any point this post starts to seem over-the-top. I don't intend to, but it is easy to get carried away by nostalgia, and by the experience that this movie gives.
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The most hostile environment known to man - Pandora.

"This is why we're here, Unobtainium. Because this little gray rock sells for twenty million a kilo. Thats the only reason. Its what pays for the whole party, its what pays for the science."

One of the best institutes in the country - IIT.

"That is why we're here, a dream job. Because six-figure is the secret to success in life. Thats the only reason. Its what keeps the party going, and keeps the three-lettered fantasy alive."



Col. Quaritch: "You are not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora, ladies and gentleman. Respect that fact."

The Avatar program requires a person to be strong, and extensive training. Humans can be used to control the human-Na'vi hybrid called Avatars. A diplomatic solution was intended by trying to persuade the Na'vis to move and let the humans mine Unobtainium.

The joy that Jake Sully has the first time he stepped into his Avatar body. He feels the rush, and runs, and enjoys, and becomes the Avatar.

The most rigorous exam in the country. The handfuls who manage to scrape past others in the rat-race. But, the joy, that first day, when you step in, and you look back and say, it was all worth it, these years are going to be the best years of my life. Let me live it!



Neytiri: "You are like a baby, making noise, don't know what to do."

"We will teach you our ways. Learn well, Jake Sully, and then we will see if your insanity can be cured."

And he learns, the Na'vi ways, and the language.

Thank goodness there is a system in place. The hostels, the groups, the people, the culture, the lingo, which is there, to cure the insanity, or maybe to induce it...



(when Jake first flies the banshee) Jake Sully: "I may not be much of a horse guy, but I was born to do this."

God knows how many people realize what were they born to do! And if they don't, then at least they realize that they don't know what they were born to do, and eventually one day, they just might.



Jake Sully: "Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream."

"Everything is backwards now, like in here is the true world, and out there is a dream."



...and the sky-people came, and they destroyed the home-tree, all that was so pure, simple and divine, all the time running after something that was unobtainable. And the tree fell, the sky-people saw the destruction, and some were filled with remorse.

They came, took a system which was well-oiled and worked perfectly well, and vowed to bring it to a grinding halt.



Toruk Makto, the rider of the 'Last Shadow", re-unites all the clans, and they fight, to protect something that is for them to protect, and they do it. Eywa helps them do it, and they save the 'Tree of souls'.

All we need is a symbol, to unite us, and save something that is ours, before it is too late.


Jake Sully: "One life ends, another begins..."
Mipa zìsìt lefpom ngaru!

The Pandora that is KGP...

Maslow's (Reverse?) Hierarchy of Needs

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Note 1: @Maslow, I am extremely sorry to turn your theory topsy-turvy. Couldn't help it, that is how things are. :P

Note 2: @Everybody, for those in the dark about @Maslow, here is the Wikipedia Article
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There is a very interesting concept taught in "B Schools", by one Mr. Maslow, from his 1943 paper on "The Theory of Human Motivation". (There is a theory about it? :O That explains a lot of things :P ) This states that there is a "hierarchy" of "needs" that people have, and one moves up (or, is motivated to move up) in the hierarchy once the lower order needs are met.

This can be depicted in a pyramidal figure as shown below for a better understanding of the concept.
The figure is not really difficult to understand. First you fulfill the basic needs (as given in the bottom layer), and then gradually progress upwards. Let me not explain it, I ll come straight to the point.

Now for the twist! At college (true for Kgp, I am pretty sure it will be true for other IIT campuses, and for the rest, let me not comment on it. Let the comments to this post flow :D ), we fulfill this hierarchy in the reverse order :O . So the revised figure for us would pretty much look like as shown below:

A little explanation would not hurt.

1. We come, we join. Suddenly it hits us, and we start accepting the facts, and get rid of our prejudices. We join dramatics, music, blah blah.....societies and let our creative juices flow, and discover how talented "hidden artists" we all were :D

2. We gain confidence, we achieve, we see "GODs", we respect them.

3-7. We love all of it, and begin to develop a sense of belonging to this place. (Yes, you can only love what you do, because real love eludes you for quite a long time :D )

8. Security. (Job? CAT? GRE? GMAT? ... ) :D

8+. And finally...the basest need according to Maslow, we finally get what Maslow thought we should have gotten first. Food, sleep, sex (:D), and (hopefully...) better toilets. \m/ \m/

The Maslow's (Reverse?) Hierarchy of needs...

Fachcha doubts, or is it?

Come July each year, the "cream" of the society has doubts. Doubts regarding their underwears, buckets and mugs in toilets, air conditioners, internet connectivity and a plethora of other (useful?) things. These doubts originate in the most brilliant minds, which obviously speaks volumes about the brilliance of the doubts itself.

In case you are still wondering, I am talking about the students entering into the hallowed portals of Indian Institute of Technology, or lovingly called the IIT. Each year, the new entrants into this institute ask their seniors about various doubts that they have, like will the mosquito bite them, or will they be served food in the mess, or will they have to study. Frusst with the recurring doubts each year, I decided to clear a few doubts for the fresher students. Below is the query, and the reply, as posted on the IIT Kharagpur community on orkut.com

Vishal:

i m new to kgp

in aerospace dept. btech course
can u tell me what books will be required
how are the hostels allotted
and will we have to stay there from the registration day?

Pulkit

Hey vishal,

Now that you are into IIT, the premier technological institute of the country, there are very high standards of education, especially at Kharagpur, now that it is ranked No.1 in most college surveys.

You have to study a lot of books, studies is going to be everything now. And now that you have joined the Aerospace department, you will be expected to know a lot about aerodymanics and flight simulation before you come here.

Have you read "harry potter" series? It gives a lot of insight into flying, especially brooms, and the subtle art of Quidditch. Also, Microsoft has released a software called "Microsoft Flight Simulator", which will help you very much.

There is also an excellent book by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, "Wings of Fire", which gives you insight into a more subtle form of flying.

For allotting the hostels, there is a gadget called the Sorting Hat, developed by the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering. Just hope you are not sorted into SN or RLB, you will not like to go in them.

Yes, you have to stay here from the registration day, there is no going back even if you want to. Its like a sentence you have to serve for four years.

Post any more queries you might have, we will be glad to help.