Life @ IIIT: How it has changed from my 1st year to the 3rd

I was sitting and relaxing at the coffee shop yesterday night (that is the place which has given me the most amazing solutions to problems, technical and in general, about life.) when I started to wonder, “What has changed in these three years, for me personally and in the institute at large”. For now I will just share what I think has changed for the institute. I am really not done thinking about how I might have changed

From my first year till now, there have been various infrastructural changes. A new stage on the ‘felicity’ ground, a newly laid basketball court, (I still remember how it remained dug up for several months before it was re-laid. Its resurrection was something that made all the game’s lovers ecstatic.), improvement in facilities for other sports, too (that includes a new volley ball court, availability of more sports equipment, bigger prizes), newly planted trees, the new building that is under construction (I hope I can see that in shape before I leave), the new bamboo structures (personally i find them uselss), new state-of-the-art facilities in NBH mess, the new tables in Yuktahaar, the new and often mocked at names of the buildings, lecture theaters, hostels etc (I have heard some really weird pronunciations of . these names, but I will leave that for a later post), the new biogas plant (the success of which I have doubts over), new computers having enviable configuration especially bought for the UG1 students in 2007 (we worked with 256 MB RAM PCs ). 

There have been other changes such as increase in the TAship and RAship stipends, the infamous rule of having to eat all your meals in the NBH (or eating none at all in that mess.), being asked to wash your plates in the mess(the rule was only imposed in yuktahaar in my first year, so most of us chose to eat in NBH mess during exams to save whatever little time we could. It was later introduced in the NBH mess, as well), induction of new and ‘interesting’ female staff in the academic office ( ), introduction of new HSSM courses (Going throug an HSSM course was viewed as a certain source of relaxation that would give you some ‘fun’ time away your otherwise busy schedule. Now of course, it is viewed among the student community as a pain, sometimes heavier and more stressful than going through a core BTech course).

There are several other changes I am sure to have missed out in this post. The readers are welcome to make additions. 

What though, is the most significant change, for me, is the pruning depth and quality of interpersonal relations. Not many would disagree that times when we would walk on the road and see several faces greeting you, smiling at you, at least acknowledging your ‘being’, are well gone. The long hours of random talking at the coffee shop, where you started in a group of four, and ended up being 12 or more within just half an hour of your sitting there, are becoming a rarity! The times when we would go to senior students for their advice, their books, their suggestions, about what courses to take, are things of the past now. Some of these courses were dubbed ‘free rides’ by them, so we took them without giving it a second thought!. I am sure students senior to me would say retort saying,  “Humaare time pe is se 10 times zyada interaction hota tha! Tumhara to kuch bhi nahin hai!”. My point isn’t in comparing which ‘era’ was better, more interactive etc etc. What I am trying to point out is that times are changing quite fast. The interaction has reduced to nil, over a period of just a few years.

I hadn’t bought a single book till the end of third semester. I got them all from my senior friends. I was also guided by them as to which books I must buy and keep with me for as long as I have anything to do with Computer Science, and so I bought them. Even when we did buy them, we made that painstakingly long bus ride to Koti, struggled there to find the best bargain. But it was an experience in itself. And this experience is not of the kind to be compared with window shopping in a mall, or watching a movie in a multiplex (that is in one’s comfort zone). It is something that one can learn so much from!

These days, I hear, the incoming batches are being asked to pay for the books at the beginning of each semester and whether or not they want to have them, they are handed over those books. What the faculty is doing (without perhaps realizing) is that one little opportunity for us to have some sort of interaction with the new students, and one opportunity (by that, I mean the ride to Koti) the new students could have had to prepare themselves for certain hardships and experiences they might have to face later on in their lives, are also being taken away! Food for thought, I guess, for people in-charge.

Dilemma about PhD: To pursue or not to pursue :|

Coming to my previous post where I said four years of experience at IIIT would make me sure whether research (as in pursuing a PhD) is really something I want to do, I would admit that IIIT has given a few reasons to believe research is exciting. But there are still a few questions in my mind which have made me keep my decision on PhD, pending for now.

Some of the faculty members here may be in a position to answer this. Does research have to be only ‘successful’ for me to be able to get some recognition for the work done? Can I not ‘communicate’ to the world, formally, that I have tried a particular approach and it doesn’t work? That way, I may be helping a few people by saving their time in case they were going to try something similar. 

I was fortunate to view some drug synthesis at the Central Drug Research Institute (of CSIR), at Lucknow. It takes years (some times a scientist’s lifetime) to produce something of some sort of significance to even reach the pre-clinical trial stage. I am sure there are problems in Computer Science and in other areas, where Computer Science has aided research and development, which can take a person his lifetime to solve completely and sometimes, may be even more than that!  So do we discourage people from even imagining trying these problems out, let alone cracking them just because their future/degree might be at risk, if they failed?!

This may require change in thinking at the world stage, but for starters, IIIT could do it in its own little, but what I believe, could be a very significant way. Tell the students, “whether or not you manage to publish, you will get your degree, if you ‘deserve’ to get it!” Give them that confidence that it is alright to fail! I will tell you why I think this could be an important step towards convincing more and more people to take up research. We take away the fear of failure and we know we can produce some quality work from some confident and fearless individuals.

This brings us to another question. In the circumstances where a particular line of thinking has failed, who decides and weighs whether a student really ‘deserves’ to receive his degree. And how does the person in authority decide? How can a student convince him/her she has spent sufficient time with her work?

Is there anything IIIT can do to ascertain students enrolled in MS by research program decide to stay on for PhD rather than they having to look westwards? I am a student of MS. What will give me sufficient incentive to stay? If I believe I got my degree at IIIT worth, in terms of experience, exposure and knowledge about the breadth and depth of the domain, and that I am in a position to decide whether or not I am suited for research and if yes, what is it that I would like to work on if I pursue my PhD. (may be even the Prof I wish to work with), then why would I not join here for PhD?!

Another relevant question is whether research in India ever be able to give one enough incentive (monetarily) to be able to carry on for as long as one wants to, without feeling the pressure to start earning? We have such examples in our center (Center for computational natural sciences and bioinformatics) who even after getting married, having children, still feel the excitement for research and are pursuing it with all the vigor and zeal. I am sure they must be under tremendous financial pressures because it is next to impossible to support the entire family with the meager stipends that are on offer. Can IIIT make exceptions for such cases and hence treat them differently? I am sure they will produce better results that way.

One of my professors at St Stephen’s college told us once, “Research in science is done best when done at leisure!” Personally, I am one of those students who carry out their work and research at an average pace, but if made to rush through things, fumble.

As it stands now, I am going through a phase where one morning I would wake up thinking, “Yeah! I would love to pursue research as a career!” and by evening, I would be so sure it is not my cup of tea. So, whether or not I do pursue it, I will keep that decision pending for now.

My Interiview Experience @ IIIT-h

This post may be of some benefit to those who have decided they want to perhaps join IIIT-H for a dual degree program in BTech (Computer Sc) and MS by research (in computational natural sciences and bioinformatics) after having completed  B.Sc., honors in Physics or Chemistry.

Even though I had decided I would appear for the interview at IIIT-H, I was still keeping all my options open for MSc. I wrote the entrance exam for admission to MSc at the University of Delhi and caught the first flight to Hyderabad soon after that. I was told I would not have to take the written exam since I had qualified the joint admission test for MSc conducted by the IITs. My interview was scheduled for the next morning. My father had butterflies in his stomach but I felt no such nervousness. I don’t know about him, but I had a good night’s sleep.

When you first go to a new place with the intention of deciding whether or not you would want to make it your home for four years, you tend to get judgmental about things, big and small. And you try to find reasons to convince yourself about what you want to do if you were given a choice. I have been used to big, sprawling campuses (at both my schools and my college) and could not have imagined being at a cramped, untidy place.  We reached IIIT-H and I must say I was quite impressed with the lush green campus, wide roads, and immaculate reception area in the main building. This made me want to be associated with a well-maintained institution that IIIT-H is. I was also used to being at disciplined places where every moment was precious and keeping someone waiting was considered a crime. It was so ingrained in the very culture of these institutions that it came naturally to all (students, teachers, library, lab, and administrative staff). This is where I was (and still am) disappointed with IIIT-H. The interviews started an hour and a half late because all of the six people who comprised the panel for the interview, had not made it in time. What was even more surprising, and I realized it only after I joined this place, was that most of these professors were staying on campus.

There were 15 candidates and I was slated to go in at number eight.

Some parents asked Prof Mitra how many seats there were for the course. His answer to this was that they would create seats if they found worthy candidates and if they did not find even a single students ‘right’ to pursue the course, they would not take any at all! This gave me another reason to believe I would be coming to a quality conscious place.

My turn came after about two and a half hours of waiting. I was pretty confident going into the interview room. The only little apprehension in my mind was what if they asked me questions on computer science and biology! I did know a little computer science and had namesake experience with programming in C++ but none whatsoever in Biology.

I remember Prof. Abhijit Mitra (head of the center of computational natural sciences and bioinformatics), Dr Nita Parekh (faculty at this center), Dr Harjinder Singh (a new faculty member for the center at the time), Prof Kamal Karlapalem (Dean, Academics), Prof P. J. Narayanan (Dean, Research and Development), and another professor (I haven’t been able to recall who, since then, because he did not speak at all!). (Actually I think it was Prof Govindarajullu, but I was surprised he did not ask me anything!)

Prof Mitra asked me about my favorite area in Chemistry. I was pretty well prepared with chemistry of coordination compounds and so, even though it isn’t really my favorite topic in Chemistry, I wanted to answer questions about it more than organic chemistry. (I loved Organic more than any other area in Chemistry, so it was an emotional decision to name coordination chemistry as my favorite. )

I was grilled on stereochemistry of coordination compounds which I remember having answered correctly. Prof P. J. Narayanan said, “I do not understand the concept of stereochemistry! Assume I am your student. Explain to me, from the scratch, what it means.” I tried to explain and I think I did okay. He followed this one up with a rather interesting question. “If I were to communicate the idea of stereochemistry to a set of aliens, how would I do it?” He also mentioned that it was a bonus question! I think I did attempt the question but I also remember equally well I did not make much sense.

Prof Kamal, in his role as Dean, Academics, warned me I would have to work extremely hard in order to survive, let alone shine in this institute, given my lack of background in computer science. He told me I would have to work 60-70 hours a week, and sometimes even more. He asked me I was up for the challenge. The affirmation from my side was not an instant one, I have to confess. I was having the best time of my life at St Stephen’s then and I could not imagine how it would be not to get to do a truck load of activities i was engaged in, but just to work/study! Then suddenly, one of the professors looked at my transcript of the first and the second years of college, and remarked, “St  Stephen’s College! Where is this?!” To be honest, the question, offended me a little bit. But that was to do with the feeling of pride that comes with being a Stephanian. In the hindsight, I don’t think the Prof meant any malice or offence.

I was also asked about any research experience I had gained through any summer projects I may have done. I shared my experience at CDRI, Lucknow and IIT, Delhi where I had worked on organic synthetic chemistry. Then there were some questions about that project.

The last question I remember being asked was by Prof P. J. Narayanan. He started by explaining how I would have to do some of my courses with the students of M.S., by research program in Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, and some of them with students of undergraduate course in Computer Science, fresh out of school. He asked me if it would be awkward for me to study with these ‘kids’ and how I planned to cope. I was surprised by the question and also impressed by their frankness in warning me about the nature of problems (working hours, peer group for the course etc), I may have to encounter if I was selected and of course if I decided to join. Such questions cannot be prepared for in advance, and sometimes the impromptu answers are the best. I told them about the forced-drop I had to take in class 12^th (year 2002) due to illness and that I had to go to school for another extra year in 2003. I got along pretty well with my ‘juniors’ at the time and I could cope back then. I told them I did not see any reason why I could not do it again, specially with greater maturity I had attained in those three years at college! Dr P. J. Narayanan smiled at this.

They asked me any questions I might have about the institute or the course or anything else in general. It had been over 45 minutes in the interview and I wasn’t left with any energy or willingness to grab the offer. I could only ask them when they were going to declare the results! Everyone in the interview room was in splits.
That day in the evening I was watching ‘Krish’ (i know i could have gone for a better movie, but that was the nearest to our guest house ) , starring Hrithik Roshan, in a theatre near Lingampally, when I received a phone call informing me I had made it to IIIT. I don’t remember how happy I was to receive the news, but I do remember my father was overjoyed. What I do remember clearly from that moment is the tight hug that we shared!

Has Science really lost a ‘devout follower’?

The interesting thing about IIIT-H is that it gives endless opportunities and a great deal of freedom to its students, to pursue what interests them the most. So I as a student of pure science, have found sufficient interest and motivation to carry out research in computational biochemistry and bioinformatics. 

There are many such examples at IIIT-H. A case in point a student of B.Tech. Computer Science at IIIT  finding the ‘love of his life’ in exact humanities and actually deciding to pursue a Ph.D. in the field at the same institute! It is also equally unbelievable that three students from strong background in pure sciences but no background at all in Computer Science could come here and publish quality research work in renowned journals in theoretical and computational sciences! 

Personally, I did not find Computer Science very exciting till I first got to use a tool for visualizing molecules in two dimensions. It allowed me to twist and turn atoms, bonds; draw virtual bonds between atoms, to visualize how different/feasible the molecule would have been if it were not the way it were, found in nature! In those two days of time I spent with the tool, all the concepts in Chemistry, I had picked over school and later in college, came flashing. At the risk of exaggeration, I would say all the Science I knew till then, seemed worth the learning.

So if my friends from St Stephen’s think Science lost a student to Computer Science and IT industry, I can now tell them with some conviction that that hasn’t been the case.

Why I joined IIIT-H?

At the time I was about to finish integrated B.Sc. honors in Chemistry from one of the premier institutions offering under graduate education in humanities and science subjects, St Stephen’s, I wanted to do an M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry and probably a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry. Suddenly, while browsing the internet one day, my father came across this ad on the IIIT-H website about a dual degree program which promised me a B.Tech. in Computer Science and an MS by research in Computational Natural Sciences. It was the first time IIIT was introducing such a course for such graduates in Physics or Chemistry who have ample background and flair for Mathematics, too. It was really a risk at the time, considering IT, Bioinformatics and Computational Natural Sciences were unknown terrains for me, and also since I could have no inputs of any kind from any one! I would be part of the very first batch, if I did join!

Till I came across this ad, I thought I was sure I wanted to do a Ph.D. and possessed a lot of self-belief that research would be a perfect choice of career for me. Now when I think about it, I have no idea how at that young an age, I could be so sure of what I would want to do for a living, for the rest of my life! And it scares me even more now that I wonder what if I had made that choice then, and not liked it later!

At first, the idea of joining an IT institute for some one with my kind of background may sound weird. And I did have to contend with a lot of diatribe from my batch mates back at St Stephen’s, about the wisdom behind such a choice because after all, we were all students of Science, and were supposed to convince people that pure Science is the way to go in research and all applied sciences are really borrowing from us. And they viewed it as the religion ‘Science’ losing out on a ‘devout follower’.

This is especially because I had always projected myself as some one who was confident she would pursue a Ph.D. from one of the best US universities! Again, I have no idea why that projection!

After my father insisted I should look at IIIT as a serious option for higher education, since these four years would give me time to be absolutely sure about wanting to pursue research as a career. I started reading a lot about Bioinformatics research center at IIIT-H and what kind of research they were carrying out back then. I realized that their work was very relevant and probably also, should I say, appropriate for some one like me. I wish to also perhaps mention why I thought it was suitable for me to join IIIT for this course. One of the reasons, like I have mentioned already, was that I needed time to decide whether I really did want to slog it out for five years for a Ph. D. These four years would give me ample time to get sufficient exposure to what research really means and if I really want to do it. Till then, I wasn’t even sure as to what it means to take up research! And at the time, I thought that even if I did realize after the completion of this particular course, that I and research would not get along, I would still be sufficiently professionally qualified to take up some sort of job and earn myself a respectable living. A part of the reason also was that I was considering giving up wet lab experimentation due to my problem of migraine getting triggered by exposure to the smell of chemical reagents.

Once all this realization seeped in, and I was confident that it may be a not-so-conventional choice of field for the future, but it is definitely not something that was not worth a try! I know it may sound as too much risk taken at that time, but I was pretty confident that IIIT being the premier research institute it is and was at the time, I would not regret my decision of joining it!

So, I decided to appear for my interview for the course.

Played and Learnt :)

I have always followed various sporting events with some keenness. I like to read stuff written about these sports by the people who play them at the highest level. I find their stories quite exciting and inspirational.

But playing throwball for UG2 this time really has put a lot of that theory about them to real experimentation. It has given me my two great realizations about their lives.

I always failed to understand why most of these sports persons I read about, would put at risk their hamstrings, their backs etc. and still play competitive sport at the risk of sustaining career-threatening injuries. They would argue that it was out of passion for the sport and representing their team. That brought me first of my two realizations.

I realized what it meant not before I got hurt myself a day before the match, while practicing. it was my wrong hand, but the pain and the inflammation was too much for comfort. I kept trying to make it feel better. I tried using everything from ice packs, to ointments, to sprays, and pain killers and what not. Friends kept insisting I should not play. But after all we had practiced hard for this one against UG4 and I thought it would be terrible to let my team down at the last moment. Just then dad called up for a general chit-chat. I shared with him the dilemma my mind was going through. The call was a God-sent and he backed my instinct and his that all will go well and that I should play.

I did play that day (It is a different matter that it was the other hand’s turn this time around and this one is worse!! ). We lost the match. But the loss brought me to my second realization.

From a spectator’s point of view, I would always think how bad it to see the team you are supporting, lose. I would curse the cricketers, the tennis players if they lost. I would almost unconsciously forget about the pain and emotion the players themselves go through after a loss. That day the entire team was quite down after the loss. It was hard for each one of us to believe we had lost the match which could have been so ours. We had practiced for this one more than we thought we would . We analyzed together and I am sure individually, too. It has been 2 days since the loss, and we still feel bad about it.

Honestly, the whole of last week, learning to play this sport, has been an added chapter (read lesson) to my ever-incresaing book on ‘Education’.

PS @ UG2 : The support was great. On behalf of the entire team, my heart-felt thanks to all of you.

PS @ Himanshu Sharma : You are a man of your word . Thank you for carrying drinks to the court.

PS @ Charvi : Your spray was a great help. It had that magical pain relieving effect during the match.

PS @ Sagar, Lav, Sahil, Kazeem : Thank you for the practice sessions. i know you had a hard time in OBH defending your involvement in that one.

PS @ Vinushree, Ankita and Shraddha : It is not Steve Waugh’s autobiography only

Lastly, PS @ UG2 girls : We will go all out to win the tournament. I really believe we can do it.

Military games….

I have always followed sports of all kinds with great interest and enthusiasm I especially loved the grandeur with which opening ceremonies for big tournaments, Olympics in particular, were organized. And I always hoped and prayed that I would be able to witness something similar in my lifetime, even if it were on a smaller scale.

Yesterday evening, after giving a presentation, I was coming back from my lab in Motorola when I saw 4 helicopters in a formation. They went out of sight, but to my delight, another group of four followed. Soon after, there was a buzz of excitement around the campus. There were civilians getting out of 3 tonnes, 4 tonnes and army buses, entering the stadium. I felt like I was back at school (Army men all around ). Suddenly, everyone started to look skywards. I looked up to see para gliding at display, there were 2 men with the American flag, and 3, one on top of the other forming the Indian tricolor. The sight was simply marvellous!!!

I don’t know what, but something inside me made me believe that watching the full-dress rehearsals of the opening ceremony of the games is going to be my best chance to watch an event of such a magnitude live.!! I got a friend to give me company to the stadium. Starting with March past, CISF flag hoisting and a lap by Major Rajvardhan Singh Rathore, ace shooter and Olympic Silver winner, and the flame lighting, it all looked royal and grand. Then the cultural program followed. There were villagers from small districts of A.P., all dressed up traditionally, and some under dressed, too . This was followed by a ’swarm’ of some 1100 school children, all dancing in sync, all excited and enthused. It made for a great sight with all the colorful lights on in their full intensity. The best part was that none of the speeches from the President of India, CM of AP and the chief of Armed forces had to be ‘jhelofied’. To conclude the ceremony ,the National Anthem was played and sung by the Military band. It has been four and a half years since I left school and it was after that long that I sung ‘Jan Gan Man’ along. And it felt really nice.
I am really looking forward to Monday. That is when the actual games start. And for all those who are not really interested in sports in general, you must make an effort to go and watch some of the events. the arrangement is really good and the experience should be one of a lifetime.

The ‘Institution’ that made all the difference…….

I have a lot of work to do today. I still choose to write today, primarily because this ‘overworked state’ makes me miss ‘My’ college even more. I wonder why?!! There were equal number of classes, loads of assignments, term papers, physically and mentally draining Chem lab sessions (stand next to the Bunsen flame with the outside temperature 45-48 degrees). When the lab staff of all the DU colleges went on strike, we Stephanians would still be working…thanks to the HOD who would make sure he picked up the lab assistants from their houses…in short, NO MERCY!!

Still, why do I love St Stephen’s college as much as I do? There is not one answer.

Even while at St Stephen’s, I did all the regular coursework (did not study as much as I do here in IIIT, but that is purely because the course requirement is such. The hard work, to be honest, is essentially need-driven.). But there was a leisure about the way I worked there. And Science is done the best, when done at leisure. So the mantra for me was, work only when you are absolutely convinced you should.

The thing about St Stephen’s that separates it from the rest is that it helps you discover yourself. From my first day there (in the form of interview for selections in the college) to the last, I learned something new EVERY SINGLE DAY. The form that one required to fill there prior to the interview posed some intriguing questions about what my goals, aspirations, achievements (not academic) in life were……the first real occasion I was made to think such issues. I did not really have any achievements at school level that I could boast about. There were activities that I had always wanted to indulge in (theater, social activities, organizational activities, editing journals). But I did not know whether I would ever get an opportunity to try my hand at them and was apprehensive about my success at them. That form therefore, taught me my first lesson, that of striving to be a well-rounded personality, and refraining from leading a one-track life.

Participating in Street plays, organizing blood donation camps, reading for the visually challenged students of college, teaching children of the ‘karamcharis’, meeting the destitute in Mother Teresa’s home for them were unique experiences, ones of the kind which taught me more than my 18 years of being till then On the way, I learned various lessons in life, those of team work, of leadership, of compassion and firmness, of forthrightness.

On the enjoyment front, our college fest ‘Harmony’ was the most rocking fests of all Delhi University colleges. The festival days form the most memorable moments of my life…..from adventure sports to face painting to chocolate/ice cream-eating competitions……did the most crazy things. The Graduation dinner (parallel of farewell dinner ) was another magical experience. From first year till the third, finally most ‘Sciencees’ learnt how to dress formally for the occasion. Another learning experience (I dressed well, though, at least tried to )

This is actually turning out to be more of an advertisement for St Stephen’s ……. But no amount of blogging or writing can express how much gratitude I feel for the institution……..For me an ‘Institution’ in every sense of the term.

If there was an unfulfilled dream in St Stephen’s, that was of being a ‘Rezzie’ (parallel of a hosteler)…..That would really have been a ‘cherry on the cake’ if that wish had come true too.

AD DEI GLORIAM

My first blog……

My first very first attempt at blogging comes ever so slowly and consciously. I had been resisting it for quite some time now, fearing that it would turn out to be like one of the many addictions (gtalk, orkut etc.) that I have tried so hard to give up, but not succeeded . And while I was sitting and watching some stupid, old cricket match, I asked myself, “Is there something better I can do to so as to use this time better”. Thanks to Sanrag’s new post and the related link provided on gtalk, I decided it was time I started blogging. If what I write gets along fairly decently with most of you, then I can take the credit, else all of us, together, can curse Sanrag for this .By the way, this also gives me an idea about what is going to be the content for my first post. This is going to be a kinda thanks-giving to a lot of people in IIIT, especially UG2K6. Why I chose IIIT over St Stephen’s because one, I will be spending more time here than I spent in St Stephen’s and two, I have made far more ‘friends’ here than there. All those who ‘know me’ in IIIT would know what a hard time I had about first 6 months or so, trying to convert a pure ‘Sciencee’ inside me into an IT professional and trying to find my footing amongst 180 young, bright, and enthusiastic young boys and girls. All this while, I was also aware of the fact that if I were to entertain any thoughts of surviving here, I would have to work very very hard. Initially, it was also difficult to accept that a bunch of people, all atleast 3-4 years younger to me, is going to be my ‘batch’ for the next four years because I somehow believed that my ‘mental level’ may not match with theirs purely because of the age difference. It was here that a senior of mine in MTech helped me realize that it was all in my mind and beyond a certain age, the age difference ceases to exist. As I met more and more people from ‘My’ batch, I started having a sense of belonging to a group which also gave me a lot of confidence, a feeling that there are people who will be there for you when you need them. One and all, in UG2K6 helped me, at every step, guiding me as to how I should go about approaching a particular problem and even sometimes, an entire subject. Their patience in dealing with me taught me a lesson of its own kind, the one that had not learned till then. How can I forget my friends from UG2K4 (Meghna, Kritika, Swati(s), and Yash, my MS friend, Madhu) , who offered unconditional love and support to me!! I can never thank them sufficiently for accepting me so fast. I don’t think there’s anyone who would disagree with me when I say that we have all been extremely lucky to have a CR like Himanshu. And to end my first post, I am mentioning one of the reactions on the rasmol thing that me and Swati did. Someone said, “Of the 6 people mentioned in the mail sent by the Director 4 are from UG2K6 and which is why UG2K6 Rocks!” It DOES ROCK!!