Doctors vs Engineers

A couple of weeks before I went to meet my doc friends back from school days. It has been ages since we met. I had gotten busy with my work and career plans. While these guys have been chasing their dreams of making it to AIIMS. Dr. Gautam is an M.B.B.S from MMC and Dr. Guruprasad is a B.D.S from the same college. Both of them were my closest pals at J.G.V.V., the place I have spent my entire school life in.

I still distinctly remember the endless chats we used to have about our careers.

Me: "Guys. I just can't imagine myself sitting in a small clinic and cashing in on others diseases. I want to become a great scientist and spearhead some new technology." I would proudly say

Guru: " I love Biology and I don't understand how you ppl manage to mug up those formula in physics and math. I have always dreamed about being a doctor and thats it". This guy would get 199/200 in physics and still make such pathetic statements no one believes in.

Me: "OK fine what about the endless slogging that is required. I will start earning in 4 years You ppl will have to study till you are 35. Ready for that? hahaha "

Gautam: " No comments" (He is one of those silent kinds who never speaks up. but does it instead)

So they went on the take up the obvious choice and I ditched a precious doc seat to become an engineer.you see i am still proud of that :))

Were we really mature enough to take our decisions in the first place? I mean what were the tools we used to short-list our career options? We were probably being carried away by other's advises. weren't we?

Waidaminnittt!!! That was 6 years back. And we were supposedly proud of our decisions. But what do we think now.?

Me: " While I cribbed about working in a small 12x12 ft clinic, now I am apparently sitting in a 6x6 ft cubicle staring at a machine craving for freedom. Intherrrsting..?? :)"

Me: "Well atleast if I had been a doc I would have been rendering services for a person who trust me and who I can see. Now I work for a client who never trusts the Indians and never gives a damn about knowing us. The worst part is I am earning $$$ for the company just to carry home a bag of peanuts."

It might seem an exaggeration for my fellow doc friends who haven't started earning. But ya dudes my salary is still just peanuts for the ppl running the company.

Gautam: "I have never seen a guy from software who is satisfied with his job. Every profession has its pitfalls. I face a lot of hassles in GH everyday. People take it for granted that these doctors at GH only work for money. Its very sick when someone show me a recommendation letter from dean instead of his transcription to get admitted. "

He started unraveling the mind of a physician slowly. It was so nice to know how docs really felt about their profession. He will have to sacrifice most of his personal life in the formative years. We discussed about the lack of proper rooms, ICUs being occupied illegally by politicians, deaths due to poor infrastructure, frivolousness of nurses etc.

Its indeed true that the problem is not with the profession but the kind of work we do, the place we do it in and the people we do it for. With that thought we found salvation. :)

Slowly our discussion digressed towards another important facet of life. Making money. I had once stated him, "At the end of the day its all about making money. And I don't want to confuse that with rendering service to the society. The inherent nature of a doc's life is so that he will always have to live among such ethical dilemmas. Whereas I can make a lot of money and still manage to serve for the society and I can do that without losing integrity" Seems a pretty hard statement to refute right??

My doc friend didn't seem to have a perfect answer for that. But one thing's for sure. All these thoughts about money haunts you only till you earn a decent living. Once the food,cloths and shelter are taken care of its only the human might that decides what it wants to chase next. Search for more money or otherwise.

The story doesn't end here. I will be joining IIMA, a place synonymous for making huge money in this world. Lets see how my life takes shape and whether I take back my words of wisdom soon. :))

Monty Python Hysssteria

Yesterday was yet another deja vu. It reminded me of those good old school days when we had finished all our exams and we would proudly say "I don't have to study for next two months." I woke up only to remember that I don't have to work for others anymore. Atleast for the next two years. I am quitting TCS finally to join the Big League.

I have been giving treats back-to-back and my schedules are already running out of time, not to mention orkutting and chatting throughout the day. Yesterday I was supposed to meet Viju, my fellow cegian and a serious IIM aspirant. We had my treat at Pizza corner and were planning to go for a comedy show by Evam, a small drama group based in Chennai. It is conceived by Kandanaal Mudhal famous Kathik. Not many would forget his guest appearance as 'America maapilai's thambi' in Alaipayudhe.

I stopped having fun at variety shows from 2005 which is when I passed out of college. I was just wondering whether there was something seriously wrong with me. I had been completely confining my social life to orkut off late and the fact that I went to this show shortly after I was set free is something not to be overlooked. I feel so thankful to my friend for having dragged me to the good ol' days.



The show was indeed spectacular. It was a classic British comedy with dance sequences interspersed. We also managed to catch few celebrities including Trisha and Radio mirchi Suchi. It is so sad that I won't be able to catch their second episode of Monty Python Hssssteria since I'll be slogging hard at Ahmedabad. If you do find time log into www.evam.in and block your tickets asap. Fortunately, they aren't still popular so you can directly walk-in and enjoy the show as I did :)

Quake III Arena I miss you...

We all miss so much fun that we had during our undergrad days. Quake III Arena is just one among that endless list. I took up gaming soon after joining college. I would do anything to lay my hands on a piece of software that possesses a potential to flaunt skill and mastery. Be it Adobe Photoshop or MATLAB or Quake they have thrilled me a lot and continue to thrill me as I get better and better at dealing with them. This piece of article is a tribute to Quake III Arena that brought me fame and name while in college.

To the uninititated, Quake III is a game developed by id Software and released in 1999. The company was founded by John Carmack and three others. They scaled the gaming industry with their famous titles Wolfenstein 3D (1991), Doom (1994), Quake (1996). But even though many games have been released including Quake 4, Q3A continues to provide the best gaming action across multiplayer competitions and Quake fans worldwide.


So what makes Quake 3 the King of all First person shooters?? Is it the Unique openGL platorm, the technology that introduced vertex animation and spline curves in 3D modelling? Or is it the novel gameplay where people meet in an Arena and frag ( an euphemism for "killing" in the virtual world ) anything and everything that moves?

To me the endless opportunities offered by multiplayer gaming appeals a lot. I would say the LAN connection in our hostels attained its purpose of existence only after I introduced this game to my friends. There would be deathmatches at midnights for which people would gather to merely spectate the battle that lasts not more than 5 mins at times. Doesn't it feel great if someone just gawks at you and says " How do you do that !!"

The game has five difficulty levels. The nigthmare level forms a technical barrier to the extent a computer can think and react. We were a couple of hardcore gamers who were bored of continuously taming the bots at their toughest levels and often resorted to multiplayer mode for some nerve racking, relentless action.

I went on to organize gaming competitions as part of Vision, a technical symposium of our department. Thats when I came to know there were too many crazy people who played it full time. My friends from engineering colleges in and around Chennai had already formed professional clans. This is not just a patronizing blog. Although I would seriously recommend you to play this game if you call yourself a die hard gamer.

Now it has been two years since I played this game the way it ought to be played. I can't wait till I could con some of my fellow b-schoolers into this. I am sure I will find atleast a handful of buffs like me. Hoping to take it forward to the next level.

A useless post - Just to keep my blog alive :)

Sometimes I wonder if my last two years can be permanently deleted from my life chronicles ? First of all why am I thinking of such rubbish ? Is it because I have gotten head weight after securing admit to the Best B-school in India? Was my tenure at TCS so bad that I can never mention it anywhere? Definitely No.

And why does these two years specifically seem insipid to me? Is it because I haven't accomplished as much I did during my academic life? If that was it, is it a problem with me or TCS? Or is it simply a compatibility issue that I find it difficult to plug-in with my fellow TCSers?

One thought led me to another... and another... instead of rubbing my past two years, if i could rub off my four years @ Anna University? Would that have made a difference?? voila! this question holds the key to all the answers... If it had been this way, then I might have struggled a lot to get the same job with TCS. May be I wouldn't have had big dreams right away and appreciated every small things that TCS had to offer an entry level graduate. That would have pushed me to perform better and look for every opportunity to prove myself. I learnt this valuable lesson from some of my mates in TCS.

I realised that how much ever I want my life to be ordered, that much it gets deviated. So why plan it ahead? We have all wasted our precious time before.. I mean whatelse could we have done when we were one-year-olds.. :) does anyone repent for that? So no matter how much ever time I may consider wasted I still have enough to make a difference in this world. There's something to be learned from every moment in our lives. Its called EXPERIENCE.. And I have had enough of that in TCS. The future has got much more to offer and there's no time to crib over the past. Anyone with the passion and determination will no doubt rule the world. What say??

Why I wanted to blog..

I came to know of this culture of personal journalism pretty late in my life. When I began googling about this new art I was instantly drawn towards it. Not because I am a great writer or like reaching out to people. Infact I have tried hard not to flunk in my English II papers but in vain. But then why take the risk of wasting other people's time?

Firstly, I believe good written skills is gonna be a vital part of any successful individual in this world. People have to reach out to others more often than ever. These bloggers are already the driving forces behind the information revolution thats still happening. Secondly, We ponder over many things that happen around us. But the thoughts get a structure only when we pen it down somewhere. This platform offers every freedom to express all your weird thoughts. Thirdly, there has been many friends asking me what I have been upto these days. While its always possible to call them and stay in touch, I also feel indebted to inform them about every important thing happening in my life. When they are taking every pain to visit my blog I shouldn't dissapoint them. Can I?

With these purposes in mind I seek to reach my long lost friends and loved ones with this journal. No matter how hard the syllabus of IIMA hits me I will continue to post everthing thats happening around my life and mind.

PS: Please consider this as my first post :)