How to use Web Feeds? What is RSS? What is Atom?

By now, almost every netizen knows the usage of RSS Feeds. Nevertheless, there is a multitude of users who are still ignorant of the concept of Syndication and its advantages. There is nothing arduous about it. Called Really Simple Syndication most of the times, RSS is really really simple to use. You don't have to be a technical hotshot to get wind of the feeds. So why not give it a try?

What is a Web Feed?: It is better to know the answer to this question before moving further. A web feed is, according to Wikipedia, a data format used for serving users frequently updated content. Technically, a web feed is a document (often XML-based) which contains content items with web links to longer versions. News websites and blogs are common sources for web feeds, but feeds are also used to deliver structured information ranging from weather data, search results, top ten lists of hit tunes etc. The two main web feed formats are RSS and Atom.

What is the use of a Web Feed?: Suppose that you have a large number of news sites and blogs, which you like. How often do you check them? May be daily, weekly, monthly or even more than once a day, or at your will. But many a times there won't be any new articles in those sites. Isn't it a waste of time? Yes, and that is where the concept of web feed comes into picture. Instead of visiting each website, you can subscribe to the web feed they provide. Whenever there is a new article to the website, you will be notified by the feed aggregator.

What is a Feed aggregator?: A feed aggregator, also known as feed reader or feed client, is an application which regularly checks the subscribed feeds and collects any newly posted articles. An aggregator can be a software (like latest versions of Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook) installed on your PC or a web application (like Google Reader and BlogLines) that can be accessed anywhere in the world. There is a large number of aggregators available. The choice is yours.

How to subscribe to a Web Feed?: To subscribe to a feed, you've to give the feed URL of the website or the blog you want to subscribe to. For this blog, it is:

http://mgharish.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

or

http://feeds.feedburner.com/mgharish

But what about other websites? To subscribe to a feed, just look around the website for an icon similar to:

and click on that. It is as simple as that! Latest versions of browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari and have built in support for web feeds. Firefox shows the RSS logo in the navigation bar itself, whenever a feed is available for the page you are viewing.

What are RSS and Atom?: RSS and Atom are, as mentioned earlier, two of the most popular web feed formats. Both are similar, with slight differences. Both are based on eXtensible Markup Language, or the XML. But the technical details behind these are unnecessary to subscribe and enjoy feeds.

Nowadays, blogging is becoming second nature to almost every Internet user. You might be having many blogger-friends. You can save a lot of time and stay up to date by subscribing to their web feeds.

Secure your Computer - The Best Things in Life are Free

Lately I have been hearing a lot of complaints from my friends about virus attacks. We all know that precaution is better than cure. It is easy to protect our PC from malwares than scratch our head to get rid of them after they get in. So here are some tips which won't cost you anything, but make your PC as safe as it can be:

1. Web Browser: Most of the malwares and adwares find their way into the PC from the Internet and if your browser application is not good enough to block the harmful contents, what good is that for? Almost all the browsers have pitfalls, but Mozilla Firefox is the most secure web browser till date.
   Download Firefox here
   
   
2. Antivirus: A good antivirus will always keep your PC clean. But it should not eat up most of the PC resources scanning each and every wanted/unwanted files. Avast Home Edition is a simple and easy to use antivirus, that has automatic updates. Its requires a key that is obtained by registering in the site for free.
   Download Avast here
   
   
3. Antispyware: There are many antispywares which brag about their features. Honestly, most of them are useless. SpyBot S&D is a good one, which provides immunity from known threats and registry tweaks. It also has update feature, which enables you to be insusceptible to the most recent vulnerabilities.
   Download SpyBot S&D here
   
   
4. System Optimization Tool: Registry Cleaners, Duplicate / Unnecessary / Temporary File Managers, Internet History / Cookie Managers all fall under this category. But CCleaner and EasyCleaner are two such tools, which provide almost everything you want.
   Download CCleaner here
   Download EasyCleaner here

You can protect your PC from 99% of the attacks if you have the above mentioned softwares. There are some other tools such as Firewalls and Internet Security Suites which, I think, are unnecessary for personal use. Trust me, I've not got any virus in the last two years, apart from w32.USBWorm which can be removed manually using the steps given here. All these tools are freewares, which means you can download them from their site free of charge. The best things in life are free.

If you have anything to discuss about these or have a better solutions/tips, you are welcome to share them.

The Cypress Interview

Days in the last two weeks have been some of the most diverse in my life, for I was busy most of the time (not doing useless things as I usually do), and some important events happened. Well, to begin with, there was Cypress campus interview, function in our native, Passport mela, Shabnur fair... what not?! Between all these, we have also started our project. Let me shed some light on each of these in brief. In this article I am going to write about the Cypress Interview process.

The first one was the Cypress campus interview. It was a long awaited one, for most of us. Although the company is rich, there are not too many workers in it. So, this was going to be a challenge for all of us to get into it. Everyone wanted to get selected, but no one wanted to open the book or prepare for it. Finally, they came on 13th of February, at 1:00 PM (one of those few companies, which came at the time they had told). We had the Pre-placement talk (PPT) which was, if not exhaustive, good enough to get the attention of all. SM, who delivered the talk, was pretty straight forward, and I liked it. Then we had the written test. 30 questions to be answered in 45 minutes. +1 for each correct answer, and -.25 for each negative answer. The test was a mixed bag and consisted of questions from both Computer Science as well as Electronics. It was sufficient for the students to blame that it had only the questions belonging to the other branch. But, in my opinion, it was well balanced, with aptitude questions, C questions, computer science related questions and also electronics questions. There was much time after the test, (they had to check the answer and give the results). So what should we do till then? Some of my friends started playing cricket. But some of us, didn't play, to keep our clothes clean, in case the interview was held on the same day. We sat there watching them play, and due to the afternoon heat, it was sufficient for me to get headache. They had told that they would announce the list at 6:00 PM, and they really had the time sense. A total of 15 students amont about 95 students were short-listed, and I was one among them. I had the interview on the next day, at 8:00 AM. We went home, and I slept. The headache was terrible and I was in no mood to read or even open the book.

I woke up the next day, a little early, but instead of reading, I sat in front of my computer surfing internet. Knowing nothing, what would I do there? Yeah, that was a serious question. But what is lost in trying? I went to the college at about 7:40 AM. These Cypress guys are really chronoholics.. They were there, exactly at 7:55 AM. But the interview started 10 minutes late, because no room was open at that time. (Our college follows Indian Standard Time). There I faced SM, and I was asked about a C question, a puzzle, and about my previous and current careers. The interview was purely based on the resume. I made blunders, one after the other, in that interview. I was sure to get kicked out. They told that they would announce the results afternoon. So we had to wait. So we sat in a room chatting and roamed here and there. We had our lunch and went to hear the results of the first round of interview. Only 3 out of the 15 were selected for the next round. By His grace, I was chosen for the next round too. Really, I could not believe how I was chosen, but it was true that I was chosen. We had another interview in the afternoon. There I faced 3 interviewers and a lot of questions on C and a few on other subjects, and I answered most of them. I was satisfied with this round of interview. We stood outside, waiting for the result of the round. All three of us, me, V1 and SR were called to Bangalore, for the next round. Without any preparations, I was there in the fourth round of Cypress interview. Aw, that is quite an achievement...

On Sunday, I had a small function to attend in our native, Manchale. It was an eventless event. It was announced on 19th that the interview will be on 21st in Bangalore at 9:00 AM. Bangalore, even though the capital of our state Karnataka, was (and is, and may be it will be) quite unfamiliar to all three of us. So we had to have double preparations for that. We booked Airavath to leave Davanagere on 20th night. It came about good 50 minutes late, and left Davanagere at 12:30 AM of 21st. I don't know why, but V1, who generally hates reading novels, was eager to read five point somone in the bus, and was adamant, not to switch off the lights early (Well, I can say, he is like Venkat, if you have read the book). Anyway, we were in Bangalore at 5:30 AM. Courtesy (good or bad?) of the driver, I couldn't have good sleep, even in that Volvo. We then went to Yatri Nivas and booked it for two hours to get freshened. We left it at 7:00 AM, had our breakfast and headed towards the destination. With my little knowledge about the buses and with V1's map, it wasn't difficult for us to reach Cypress.

It wasn't time yet. We roamed around the Cypress office for a while, and entered it around 8:00 AM. Eh, that was too early... Cypress people started coming at 8:30 onwards. We sat there reading newspapers. At 8:45 or so, SM came. He talked to us and went inside saying that the interview would start soon. At 9:10 SR was asked to come inside for the interview. After that we again waited there for some time, before we were taken inside. We sat in the canteen inside. After sometime, I was also asked to attend the interview. I was asked questions mostly on C, centred around Data Structures, by the same panel which had interviewed SR. Data structures! How can an EC guy know about that? Well, Since I had taken CS in PUC, I knew a little about them. So I tried to answer whatever I could. Finishing the interview, I came back to the canteen room. Then V1 went to the interview. He was first interviewed by the director, who had came from US. All three of us sat there after that, chatting and laughing. It was time for the next round of interviews. I and SR were interviewed by the director, and V1 by the panel which had interviewed us. Well, we still didn't know how many more interviews were going to be held before it finished.

It was time for lunch. We had it in the top floor of the same building. After our lunch, we were back to the pavilion, sorry, to the canteen. We were given the Traveling Allowance. Already our friends from our college were eager to know the results, probably more than we three. We were getting calls one after the other. MRM was the topper in that. He was calling every 15 minutes or so. Finally, it was the time to announce the results. We were asked to come to the chamber of SM, where he announced the results. He didn't want to give shock treatment to any of us. So he told many other things, including the fact that only one was selected, before announcing the chosen one. Who was it? Well it was V1. We then all three of us got some feedbacks from SM, and were ready to leave. The Cypress Interview was finally over.

Well, I will leave it here, and will continue with the rest of the things in the forthcoming articles.

PS: I must say, it was a good experience, and certainly better than the interviews of most other companies, which want you to be smart outside, may you be having nothing inside.

The fate of engineering: Jogi Remix

ಹೊಡಿ ಮಗ, ಹೊಡಿ ಮಗ, ಹೊಡಿ ಮಗ, ಹೊಡಿ ಮಗ, ಬಿಡಬೇಡ Copyನಾ...
ಅಕ್ಕ ಪಕ್ಕ ಮುಂದೆ ಹಿಂದೆ ಯಾರೆ ಸಿಗ್ಲಿ ನೀನು ಮಾತ್ರ ಬಿಡಬೇಡ Copyನಾ...
Engineering ಸೇರಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೊಡೀಲೇ ಬೇಕೋ...
ಈ ಕೈಗೆ ಪೆನ್ನು ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ಬರೀಲೇ ಬೇಕೋ...
ಮಗ ಜೋರಾಗ್ ಬರೀಬೇಡ, Nervous ಆಗಬೇಡ
Bench ಅನ್ನು ಮುರೀಬೇಡ, ಬರ್ದು ಬೇಗ್ ಮುಗಿಸ್ಬೇಡ... ಲೇ
ಬಲವೀರ ರೆಡ್ಡಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು Sketch ಹಾಕ್ತಾರೋ...
ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕೂಡ ಯಾಮಾರಿದ್ರೆ Fail ಮಾಡ್ತಾರೋ...
ಬರಿ ಗೋಳು ಕಣೋ... ಇದು VTU ಕಣೋ...
Revaluation ಇಲ್ದಿದ್ರೆ ಸಾವೇ ಕಣೋ...

This is an SMS I got from one of my friends. I am in a dilemma here, whether to appreciate the creativity of the writer, or to commiserate him for being a VTU student.

This message not only exposes the condition of the VTU students, but also describes the wrong paths chosen by the students in order to survive. Hats off to the original author of this message!!

A trip with Hera Pheri

As the project fever began, we were seriously thinking of starting the project. So, we decided to go to Bangalore to get the required components. It was a mess right from beginning, as each of us (project-mates) were in different places and some of us were out of contact. Finally, after a lot of this and that, we settled onto the plan of going to Bangalore on 17th Jan 2007 morning, by intercity train.

We thought that it wasn't necessary for all of us to go, and hence V, who was in a far more distant place, didn't come. J planned to take off from Davanagere. C, who was in his village, came to my home the previous day and halted. Both of us planned to go from Harihar. We should be thankful to V2, who agreed to come with us to Bangalore to help us find the right areas to look at, as all of us were strangers in Bangalore. All went fine upto this, and only upto this...

The next day, we (I and C) had our breakfast in a hotel. In the mean time, V2 sent a message asking us whether to take train tickets or not. As we had much time, we said no. Then I realized that time was nearing, and I sent a message to V2 asking him to take three tickets. We finished our tiffin and headed towards the railway station.

V2 was waiting there. I asked him whether he took tickets. He said no (The message I had sent was not delivered yet). So I stood in the queue to take three tickets. S, who was also going to Bangalore for his project work, came to the station at the same time. So I had now four tickets to get, and I took them. All of us started chatting, waiting for the train to come.

I had the train tickets, and I asked them whether I shall keep them or someone else will take the responsibility. Only then, V2 told that he had his ticket. We had already started our day with a mess! We were four passengers from Harihar, and we had five tickets with us!! What to do now?! V2 and S came with an idea, and we asked J, who was yet to take the ticket in Davanagere, not to take the ticket. Thanks to the distance metrics, difference in charge to Bangalore from the two places was only 2 Rs...

During the same time, we met some other friends, who were going to Tumkur and Bangalore. Train arrived at about 8:25 AM to Harihar. After reaching Davanagere, J and some more friends also joined us. So we had nothing less to enjoy and we had a full compartment for ourself (Totally we were 10 friends). We spent most of our time chatting with each others, enjoying the best part of the day...

We had tiffin again in the train, after Arasikere. As we neared Bangalore, it was time for some FM stuff. Those who had FM radio enabled mobile phones were in two minds, whether to hear to it or save the battery!! With a little bit of music and a lot of chatting we reached Bangalore at about 1:50 PM. It was time to depart, and some of the friends headed to their destinations, and we headed towards the places where our destiny led us to...

We decided to have our food, and the roam around. While we were trying to find the place to go, a friend of C, R, came and joined us. We went to hotel Kamath and had our lunch. Then we came back to the city bus stand and took the daily pass, thinking that we have a lot to stray. But we were wrong, as we shall discover later...

We went to Sadar Patrappa (SP) Road. It is a street full of electronics shops. You can't even get water in there. We searched for the major component of our project, the Bluetooth module. We searched many shops, but in vain. The main purpose why we had gone to Banaglore, was not served. No shop in such a big city had a component we needed. I contacted BCS consultancy to query whether they had any Bluetooth kits which may be of use for us. But they told that it wasn't available in whole India itself, and the project we have undertaken is next to impossible one (I know it is an utter lie, but can't argue with them, eh?). V2 purchased some components he needed for their project and other purposes. Apart from that, it was entirely unworthy. For having come, we thought of purchasing any peripheral we needed. We searched for DVD writer in nearly 5 shops. All we could get was either a white LiteOn writer, or a black Sony or LG writer. I wanted a white LG or Sony writer. After a much exploration, we found a shop where they had a writer with replaceable front panel, and I purchased it. Then V2 I purchased a Bluetooth dongle each. (I needed it for project, and V2 for experiment). He also bought a 2 GB pen drive. Our next aim was to get the books of eight semester and hence we headed towards Avenue road...

Many of us, who were seeing it for the first time, were astonished by the number of second hand books available there. V2 was seriously indulged in getting the books. Rest of us spent much of our time seeing here and there, and sometimes towards the books. And finally after two hours, we went to Sapna Book House. We needed some reference books for our project. Closing time was 7:45 PM, after which no one is allowed to enter the shop and we went inside at about 7:35 PM. Fortunately we were able to find two books we needed and purchased them. Then it was time to decide where to go. All of us were in dilemma whether to stay there and search further in other places where we had left, or to come back. I thought it won't help to stay there and decided to come back. V2 was also of same opinion. J and C decided to stay there to meet their relatives. Both of them didn't know where to go, and it was already 8:30 PM!! J called his sister, and after a lot of thought, decided to come with us thinking that it would not be good to search the home in the night. So we were three now who settled to come back. C went with his friend to his room.

After having dinner, we three went to the bus stand. Since it was too early (we thought we get ended up in Davanagere at 4:30 AM if we leave Bangalore at 9:30 PM). I desired to have an ice cream (yeah, it is funny... but I myself am funny). Each of us had a pineapple flavoured softy. OMG! What a tasty one it was!! I wanted another one!! Both V2 and J refused to take another. So I alone ate the other one. But it was so tasty that I couldn't stop with two. (After all, you won't get it whenever you need, right?). So I decided to have one more. V2 seemed furious and headed towards the bus. I hurried to get the ice cream. When I came back, both of them had vanished!! I searched all around, and couldn't get a hint about where they had gone. Thank you mobile, I called J. I didn't call V2 because V1, twin brother of V2, was fed up having called V2 five times, without the calls being received. I don't think V2 is deaf either, not to hear the phone ringing. So V1 had called me twice instead. (Sometimes we can't tell why people use their gadgets, just for show off or for real use). J didn't receive the call, but came towards me seeing me. Couldn't the mobile operators wait? The call was being forwarded!! So I cut the call. And we met again.

We got on board of the bus. Aw! There was a smell of desi liquor!! Rules are meant to be broken. Liquors are meant to be drunk, no matter where and how. Unfortunately the bus was almost full and we got seat in the last but one row. V2 didn't seem to have noticed the fragrance!! (Did he have cold on that day? I don't think so... He hadn't refused first ice cream). I kept insisting to get down, but even some intelligent people act like silly at times. So, we didn't change the bus and continued the journey. The bus left Bangalore at 10:15 PM.

Both fortunes and hazards seem to strike in bursts. That person who was spreading the aroma was sitting just in front of us! So I and J started to contend for the window seat (V2, who is a third generation incarnation of Gandhiji, didn't bother about it at all). Then I and J had a agreement between us. I should sit there till Tumkur, and then we should interchange our position.

All of us took tickets to Davanagere, since I and V2 had student pass from Davanagere to Harihar. The journey wasn't bad, as we had all topics in the world to discuss about. J had a cat sleep in between, and was struggling to sleep properly. He didn't seem to have noticed Tumkur passing (Actually, none of us did, since the bus didn't go inside the city at all). At 12:20 AM it was time for the bus to stop for dinner!! (Some are weird, and some are more). There was some time, and we did what we needed to do. I got a biscuit pack, and V2 brought a chilling water bottle. (Where in the hell did he get the idea of getting cold water in that late night?!). But it was useful in a way, and the bottle was emptied in five minutes by three of us. By this time J had come to know that Tumkur had passed, and sat next to the window. (Thank God, that aromatic person was sleeping with his mouth shut, and there was no smell as such now). I and J started recalling the moments of our engineering life. V2 was sleeping. After Chitradurga passed, I and J got sleep. But V2 was awake by that time. Making all our calculations wrong, the bus arrived at Davanagere at 3:30 AM!! We distributed the books among ourselves, and waited for the bus to come. Both of us, I V2, were thinking whether student pass will be allowed at that time. We caught the bus at 4:00 AM. Unfortunately, we had to no place to sit other than the last seat. The bus was literally hopping, and we got free horse-like-ride!! Yes, free, because the pass was allowed...

Finally we reached Harihar at about 4:20 AM, and V2 took an auto and took all the books with him. I came to home, but and opened the gates in silence. I realized I was offline for too much time!! So I switched on my computer. But then I remembered the DVD writer and shut the computer down to put it. I had too many surprises to come along my way. The tray of the DVD writer was not opening at all. Cursing it, I went to bed, at 5:30 AM.

PS: The Hera Pheri hadn't ended yet, but the journey had. I will be jotting all of those shortly...

The Project - Conjuring the idea

Once the struggle began, everyone was searching for the project. Some got it from seniors, some decided to go for consultancies, some tried to get from the companies they were recruited to and some others tried do something new. Our batch is of last category. Everyone in our batch inclined towards doing it on our own. And one more important thing is that everyone in our batch, in one or the other way, wanted to do a project on embedded systems!! V wanted to do a digital electronics project, I & C wanted to do embedded systems, and J was one step ahead, he wanted to do a remote control like project.

So, it was not difficult for us to find the domain of the project.. "Embedded Systems". But the real hard thing came next, finding the actual project.

At first we had an idea of doing a water level controller. We had even sketched the basic things about it. But it was just an idea, not the final one. Everyone was peeking at every place for any project ideas that may come to their mind. Not to mention, I was also looking at everywhere, where I could find a good project idea...

One fine day (actually night), I was about to sleep, and I forgot to put on the fan. Being a little (err... a lot) lazy, I thought of doing something which makes me control the fan from the bed itself! But how? Putting the switchboard near the bed is not an option in my home. So, I thought of any other way, and I got it! Controlling it using a remote controller. But having that remote controller near you always isn't feasible. So what? Having a mobile phone certainly is!! So, the idea is to control the switch using mobile phone. But again, how? Using Bluetooth!!! And that became the basic idea for our project...

The Project - The beginning

It is a known thing that every engineering student needs to do as a part of his academic career, a project work. And I am no separate in that. So, I too need to take up a project in the coming semester. The project should (ideally) be related to our branch, and my branch is Electronics and Communication.

The completion of the project consists of these phases:

• Searching the project
• Writing the synopsis
• Doing the project
• Submitting the report
  

It is a common practice to have a group of students (project batch) conducting the project (Although there are some one-man-armies). I am one of the four, others being C, J and V.

We were told to search for a project well in advance and submit the synopsis as early as possible. But you know, engineering students are the laziest fellows when it comes to academics (Perhaps that's why India is still developing). So we kept it pending, and didn't bother to search for anything at that moment. But it was only then, when a deadline was given to submit the synopsis within two weeks, that we realized that we wasted two months doing nothing! Hence the struggle begins...

Engineering and Law

I don't know who got the noble idea of keeping Constitution of India as a subject for Engineering students.

Do all students (not only engineering) really need to know about all the rules and regulations of the country? Is it so much a necessity in today's world?

Well, before coming to those topics, let us know what we are taught of: We are taught about many articles regarding freedoms, rights, duties and about the union and the state governments, emergencies, amendments, commissions, case studies etc etc.. Then what do the law students learn? All of these in detail, plus some more case studies.

So, here is an indigenous idea: Why don't keep the subject for two or three more semesters and award a law degree also?! Well, it is certainly a notable point to be considered! After all, this is not new for VTU to provide two degrees if the student studies one more year...

Now on to the necessity of the subject: It may be necessary in the minds of some people. But I tell you, perhaps no student learns it as a means of learning, but as just another subject. So, nothing to be gained, either by students or the university.

Modern Education

There is a verse in Sanskrit:

न चोर हार्यं न च राज हार्यं न भ्रातृ भाज्यं न च भारकारि ।
व्यये कृते वर्धत एव नित्यं विद्याधनं सर्वधनप्रधानम् ॥

A rough translation would be:

Knowledge, which can't be stolen by a thief, which can't be seized by a king, which can't be shared with brothers, which isn't heavy either and which goes on increasing as you spend it, is the most important wealth

Let us discuss this in the current situation. Knowledge can not be stolen by thief, and it is true. But in modern education, it is being stolen by copying in the exam and other means. As per the next condition a king (or the ruler) can't seize it. But nowadays, it is common for the government to take control over the educational institutions and ruin the students. (You know what a government college means, eh?).

Now on to the next one, sharing with brothers. It is true that the knowledge can't be shared directly. However due to monetarization of education, if your sibling goes for medical or engineering, you are certainly deprived of higher education if you are not from a rich family. It is bitter, but true.

Knowledge is not heavy(?!)... Ask engineering/medical/or any other graduate/post graduate student, and you will come to know. There is so much of cramming that no one can probably finish the entire prescribed syllabus. When this is the case, remembering them for a long time is a distant dream. And there remains no question of telling it to others, when you don't have the time to read and understand it yourself.

Hence, in my opinion, education has entirely lost its meaning. However, it has emerged as the wealth in its entirety, not in the true meaning, but because it can be exchanged for money.

Distaster Management

Now the exams are coming to an end, and I have something related to them to be shared among you. Well, not about the exams, but about the preparations. Majority of the students reading for the exams can be classified in three main categories:

1. Regular readers: who remain up-to-date with the portions covered,
   
   
2. Those who read during the study holidays: category in which majority of the engineering students fall and
   
   
3. Eleventh hour readers: those who do not open the book until a day before the exam
   
   

Unfortunately, I can't describe the first two categories in detail, because of my scarce cognizance in them. However I can tell many advantages and many more disadvantages of the third kind...

I can't tell whether it is a hobby, or has become a habit. As far as I can tell, it was neither, until that fine day when I joined this engineering. I used to study the books well before the exams. But this technical course changes the way you live! And I can tell, I am not alone in this minority category...

Many of my friends wonder, how I manage to be online for the most of the time. It is not a problem at all when I have nothing else to do! Yes. Since I fall in the third category, I won't be reading at any other time. So I have all the time in the world to be online. One more advantage of reading at the last moment is that you don't have to do revision (In fact, there will not be time for it)

Now on to the other side of it. It has some serious disadvantages. If you are not mentally fit, or don't have the capacity of reading more than 80 pages per hour, be ready for the disaster! You can't finish the syllabus. Also, health adds to the consideration. If you get headache or some other problem at that time, having read nothing, it would be better not to go to the exam. So beware! this is not for the faint heart!

Having said this, it is time for me to go for disaster management... It is up to you to decide what not to do.

Examination point of view

This is exam time for VTU (Vishweshwaraiah Technological University) students and I do have exams going on. But as I said in my previous post, it doesn't make the difference for the netizenship.

The reason to post this is neither to tell how the exams are going on, nor to discuss how the preparation should be. On the other hand, it is just an overview of the process of VTU that makes every (every should be read as almost every, since I am not considering nerds) student feel like going out of the college as early as possible.

VTU has the tendency of discouraging students, in as many ways as possible. Some of the oxymorons can be listed:

• It has started Edusat, a distant learning program, from the last two years, in which you can ask questions directly to the professors via SMS. They will answer them online. But you know what ? Mobiles are banned in colleges ! VTU has even seized mobiles in many colleges.
• One of the goals of VTU (as I understand it, and it is my personal opinion) has been to provide cutting edge education in every field. An obvious way to make it is to keep books that give detailed and in-depth coverage of the subject. But the time for that ? Hardly 100 days, and the students should read 6 subjects of that kind in that period.
• VTU is following the One for an over rule of cricket promptly. If the cricket rule deals with delivering a maximum of one bouncer per over, our VTU has adapted in as a minimum of one bouncer (insanely difficult paper) per over (exam). But, ridiculously, it is apparent that the result will always be 10's complement. When you expect 65, you will get seal (35) and vice-versa. And one more thing, every student is guaranteed to pass, if not the in the valuation, certainly in revaluation!

So, with all these considerations, I can say I was born intelligent, VTU ruined me !

Disclaimer: If you are a VTU student, you don't have the right to oppose it.