IITB : Ban on Foreign Internships

An article in Mumbai Mirror , DATE : 16/06/08

Premier institute will make it compulsory for students to undertake internship in in a bid to expose them to local conditions, reverse brain drain

In an bid to contain ‘brain drain’ and meet the needs of Indian industry, IIT-B will make it mandatory for B Tech (4-year course) and dual degree programme (5-year course) students to enroll for internship in Indian companies or research institutions. The internship is part of the course curriculum.

Hmm… a very basic question : does an internship for 3 months really change your outlook so much you feel like goin abroad after ur BTech… another question : Is doin a PhD abroad and then comin back to India an example of Brain Drain or is it a matter of manpower enhancement for India… yet another ques : How many students really end up gettin jobs abroad once they pass out of IIT… for those studyin in IITs.. you know there are harldly… for those who are not.. you know the situation now..

An internal report by IIT-B says over 60 per cent of the students undertake internship in foreign companies or universities hoping the experience will come handy while seeking admission for post-graduate programmes abroad or getting jobs in foreign companies.Academics feel this is one of the reasons for losing its talented youths to other countries.

60% !! I thought the figure might actually be just 6%… these are overtly exaggerated numbers… it will be interestin case in RTI to find where it got exaggerated… I think with the kind of articles Mumbai Mirror is puttin up these days, I can safely assume its the reporter himself…  for everyone around… trust me.. the figure is much much lower than what is being stated…

Arguments.. hmm… most internees end up in Europe… some in Australia and Canada.. scarecely in US and other places… however..  the favorite destination for PG programmes or anythin for that matter is the US… I dont see what usefulness this experience carries… if at all.. its just widens the perspective of the students in the field of research.. so they are better equipped in their curriculum in IITs… its what happened to Shaun Marsh in IPL..  I dont see how it harmed the Australian Cricket in any way…

The bigger deal : IITians tend to go abroad only because of lack of proper infrastructure in India… they are a hard workin lot (yupp.. it might be a case of self appraisal here) … and they will obviously reject workin in Indian companies which mostly dont pay much… and have a terrible work culture.. When big companies like TATA, ONGC and some IT giants have not been able to sustain IITians for long… how is it expected that other companies improve the scene… A 3 month intern in any part of the world will not bring about any change at all here.. its fruitless.. the purpose looks only worth some nonsense talk among old 70 year olds… there is no sense at all…

But with the Indian economy looking up and local companies complaining of a talent crunch, it was time to stop the ‘brain drain’.

Ashok Misra, director, IIT-Bombay, says, “Students will have to undertake internship in if they want their course credits.

Instead of foreign universities, they will now get to join Indian institutes such as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Saket Narayan(BARC), Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

“This move should help both the students as well as the country. We took this decision to retain the engineering talent of the country. Students get attracted to foreign companies and fail to update themselves on the developments in industries in . It is very shocking for us that students are unaware about what’s happening in Indian companies.

We want our students to experience the excitement of engineering companies and research institutes in and have a glimpse of the developments here. At the same time, we want our industry to interact with our exciting and highly talented students.”

Well.. i wont argue here.. this is not even worth it.. With due respects to the IIT administration for blessin their ideas on the only bright thing in ‘India Shining’… Consider the Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science Department of IIT Bombay… with just 90 students at present (this is before reservations and other crap)… lets consider some companies who will be interested in actually takin students for interns.. not just showin interest in front of reporters… Tata Steel… well.. they take 3 guys… Jindal, ESSAR.. another dozen… ITC.. 2-3 more… some other big names.. another dozen… that totals to around 30 guys in big companies… what about the rest 60… they work in road side enterprises… in companies which cant affort to have internship programs… in companies which makes them enter accounts on to excel files for 3 months… in companies which are useless but assure them of a certificate… what useful is this experience.. what good does it do to the country… Unless you go out to see what the developed nations are doin.. you really cant progress… lets face it.. Indian companies are dull, dumb and slow.. the scene might be changin.. but then.. if 60 out of 90 students are to be wasted like this… there is no point callin them the cream of the nation… wonder which base they are gonna strenghten this policy on.. ??

Industrial Internships are anyways very rare and difficult to get… There was no point in bannin it and creatin such a big issue… and it definitely wasnt worth the big issue… A look at the comments on Mumbai Mirror online and its shameful… Nobody understands what this talk is about.. everybody draws out their own conclusions… there is criticism all around…

I would suggest Mumbai Mirror to look for other things to make fun of… I think there will be a point when Journalism will the most hated aspect of the country..  I hope they dont face a ban soon… !!

.. and as far as IITs are considered.. well.. with so much being done to dismantle them forever.. this is just a small.. minor move….

24 hours later

Hmm… so post the first 24 hours of this blog goin public… it had 126 unique hits…Even though I was expecting a late surge, this has far exceeded my expectations… Thank you all for visitin… your comments eagerly awaited..

Keep visitin this space for more…..

life’s cool !

cheers !!!

Maggie.

Dust Storms in the city

Well… they seem to blow everythin away in Ahmedabad.. literally… and nature’s fury seems to have planned it all quite cunningly… An analysis…

STAGE 1 : Storms blowin at pretty mild speeds at ground level inhabited (and crowded) by most men and dogs.. but removin any clouds up above that could come close to causin a pre-monsoon shower…

STAGE 2: Nevertheless.. rain gods decide that not all the water in the country will be sprayed on to Mumbai… up come the clouds.. too many of them to be cleared out completely… up comes the next smart move… efficiently bring into low altitude orbit sand particles and their cousins and project all kinds of cyclonic movements possible… screw up the traffic.. worsen the dogs’ madness… whistle through the packed highrises of the city (and that sound is screechy ! )

STAGE 3 : … and then comes the knockout punch… selective cloud clearance in decreasin order of saturation… so the black ones are gone…

and the useless ones left behind as the sightseein option of the already irritated earthlings.. !  Talk about strategies…

CONSEQUENCE : heavy clouds on the horizon… Heavy clouds up overhead… Dusty Storms… Useless white and grey clouds left overhead… Drizzle.. heavy clouds on the opp horizon with no sign of them ever returnin…Just a drizzle… Humidity… Madness… Bloggin.. !!

The Origins of Maggie

Hmm… So all was goin well as I was into my third year at bansal classes (did a diploma course there I reckon)… when one fine mornin our very beloved Bansal Sir ceded our request for a grand party… and announced that there’ll be another very fine mornin in the coming few days… A day party… 12th and 13th combined (13th being the acronym for the repeaters there)… clear blue skies, lush greenery all around… trees waving… eagles flyin at a distant height… this is how we were to picture the upcomin grandeur celebration… and it wasn’t unexpected… there were 2 official reasons… His son Sameer’s marriage and New Year (On record for the max no. of selections from Bansal, 955 is an awesome figure afterall)…

Anyway… So the venue and menu finally got decided… No problems concerning either of them… You dont have options in Kota for an expected gatherin of 3000+… and if u can arrange for chefs from the north… there is no point lookin for other options…

Some of the enthu ppl like us started practicin their various creative forms of art… music, dram, dance, masala, mimicry, comedy, PJin etc… It was a good excuse to ditch studies for a while…
All this time… I pondered if the show cud do well with an anchor and most certainly an anchoress… But the management had different ideas… different until noon the day before… when everyone actually realised… we needed one…

2 ppl volunteered… (there were only 2 coz no one knew they were supposed to do it )… and the second fella didn’t turn up… for whatever reasons… and the one fella left was the automatic choice… That happened to be me…

So… while the hunt for an anchoress was still on… I think of the stage scenario… clear blue skies, lush greenery all around… trees wavin… eagles flyin at a distant height… somebody just got married… and new year which we all were lookin forward to with high hopes… So I somehow figured out the classical approach of hosting to be the best one… It was a silly idea, but I realised it only after the show…

And by evenin… I was introducing myself to the anchoress after she had gone through a lot of screenin process by the other guys… I saw her for the first time in the insti… And after the usual intros… all we decided on was the costume… (The only part I think that went correct that day)… and that she would do all the talkin in Hindi… while I’ll take up english… (another blunder, I guess)…

The new year eve passes by preparin the script for the event… a 8 page text of what I intended to read…and by the time I am over with the thing, the birds are chirping all over the place.. and its mornin already…

Ok… so we meet again at the stage next mornin… the supposedly fine New Year mornin… with that fresh ray of hope and lot of other things… (Seemingly a good day till then)… and we finalize the script… mine full of colorful quotations… while she had the hindi shayars supportin her… Also, Kota has this powercut problem… and the nearest xerox machine being 2 kms away… I had to make certain number of trips to get the photocopies on time…

So, finally we r on the stage… with the people cheerin initially…last time they’d cheer for me atleast… So I first started with the routine thanksgiving to Bansal Sir for continuing splendidly with the traidition of housie… not to mention the fabulous way he directs the game…

So then when I praise the crowd for the elecrifyin atmo around… and read them out some of the most beautiful quotations of some of the best philos in business… they decide to give it back… “sutta” from pakistan had just gained popularity in this part of the world… and they decided to throw it at me… Till… I actually suggested a group of muggers to actually come on the stage to sing it for the rest of us…

Anyway… the items were all fantastic… I mean… considerin you dont get much time to prepare them… and with the costumes and stuff they managed to arrange… it was all really cool… huh… cool for the audience I guess… things backstage were a lot different… Most of the shows exceeded their previously recorded timings… either spontaneously or deliberately… Which meant my estimates given to PK Bansal sir went all haywire… and he was almost on my throat for this… The drummer had his own tale… he wanted to leave early… and wanted all the song items first… Our sweet mausiji wanted to have some people performing before the others… and no one can certainly ignore her requests… she hardly makes any… So, when I did that, the other performers were furious… Personally for me… there was sutta on the stage as well as backstage… No one was even willing to fill me my bottle of water (which emptied like anything in the scorching heat)…

Hmm… and the cycle went on like that… PKB remindin me sternly about certain punctualities… Sameer Sir wantin me to add substance to my text… Mausiji wantin certain performances beforehand… the audience wantin sutta (without a mention of matchsticks or matchboxes)… backstage performers repeatedly askin me about their turn to show up on stage… My text which I was not sayin at all… yeah… I could only manage to recite about a fourth of what I had written… rest was all stage fabricated… without substance though… and then the hot sweaty noon… and my leather jacket givin me no respite… PKB–punctuality–Sammeer sir–performances–night-out before–sweat—anti-cheerin–sutta—give-up–lack of substance—poor comparin–blaah blaah blaah….. All this and more… not to forget my continuously ringin cell phone… with ppl from all over the country callin to wish a new year…. wish luck to a scapegoat….

Anyway… after all this brunt… finally the teachers came on to the stage… singin dancin or watever… Till then it was sutta and my new nick Maggie all around… new year… new dawn… and a new name… And this name went on to create history… Ever since then, half of Bansal Classes called me by that name… and even here in IIT… ppl hardly know me as PrateeK…. its maggie all over… Hmm… the party endin on a high note… coz the teachers were always entertainin… and also coz half the people didn’t get any food to eat… while the other half couldn’t arrange for a means to get back to apna vigyan nagar… But somehow… things got over… hush…

Lessons… never take english seriously… never think of things formally… and never underestimate ur audience… the numbers are lethal… and what they can do to your day is…

Cheers mate… Its time for Maggie…!!

The Car Accident

Hmm… so we were all drivin from Ahmedabad to Mumbai… on one of India’s fastest highways… and we were cruising around as it has been all the time… I think its worth a mention that our family is crazy about driving places… so much that we’ve even driven a non-AC Maruti 800 from New Delhi all the way to Jorhat (an isolated town in Assam)…at a certain point of time in this journey we decided to break at one of Reliance’s petrol pump cum junk food joints….. 10 km post the industrial and historical town of Vapi… Now Reliance has this fancy thing at least in Gujarat where instead of openin one joint and asking for a break in the divider, they let the divider be( which at most places happens to be even broader than the highway)… and instead open 2 joints just opposite each other…

Anyway… so that meant when we came out of the joint to hit the highway, we’d certainly look only in one direction… to see the oncoming traffic… and this is when a container loaded trailer (the heavy 32 wheeler, hundreds of which ply on this highway) driving down the slope from the wrong side at no less than a 100 kmph tangentially grazed our vehicle… based on the distance we estimated a second before we felt it was a graze… it didnt appear it would be more than a graze… but the impact was far more than expected…..

The car completely thrown off the ground… My dad behind the wheel lost his grip …his specs flew out… the mobiles and other stuff in our pockets popped out… and the car took a full 360 degree swerve before resting… my mom in the rear seat feelin the least impact…

I was the first one to get out of the car…It was raining outside and my first response was to chase that trailer down to get the RTO number…This is when I had this sudden urge to see what state the car was in… And I seriously froze when I saw that the entire engine had collapsed…The car looked no better than a van… and soon the engine and lubricating oils had made a mini-highway for themselves on the rainy road…

Being in Gujarat though has a lot af advantages… it took precisely 20 min for 2 medical vans, 1 taxi, and a crane to reach us after we made the call… it was all unnecessary as it was only the car which needed repairs… we had so luckily escaped unscathed… but a second late… and IIT would have had an empty seat… and lots more…

We stayed in Vapi overnight at one of my friend’s place… and left the next morning to Mumbai…

So yeah… thats given me all the lessons in momentum conservation… never underestimate a big vehicle… never ever… !

And if you are planning to get a car soon… get a big one… small ones tend to blow or fly off very soon…