Placed!!!!

I finally got placed in Siemens Ltd. today. After being rejected by TATA SED this was the company I was looking to. The company had some really strange criteria which ruled Salil and Amit out of the apti. I got through the aptitude test easily enough and it was time for the interview.

I had scored highest on the aptitude test and so i was asked to go in first. Three people were in the panel and one of them was the techie while one was the manager type. The third lady was the HR lady who did not ask anything but was observing me all along.

After some personal questions the techie started asking me about induction machines and soon had me in knots. After I lost my bearings, he was at least kind enough to give me hints and guide me back on track. After screwing me by asking me basic electrical engineering questions like phasors and stuff he finally let me go. Then management guy asked me some questions on future plans and which field I would like to work in. It seemed a terribly short time to me but I was in there for nearly half an hour. My interview ended at 3.15 and I had to wait till they were through with everyone. I spent my time telling people what I was asked and stuff and finally at 8.30 the results were announced.

They said they selected 15 people totally from Electrical , electronics and mechanical combined. I started to get a bad feeling about it when they started announcing the names of people selected from trical. When they were through with 5 names and my name was still not announced I started to think I would have to come back the next day for Reliance when they announced the name of Rooomesh Bhandari. I got up from my seat only to sit down again. But then they announced my name and then Ganapati's and we were suddenly employees of Siemens.

Vineet has also got placed and in doing so we have created a record of sorts. We live in the same building, went to the same class in junior college, went to the same IIT classes, joined the same branch in SPCE and now we would be working in the same company. Weird isn't it?

So now that i have been placed I can relax and stop going to colege in damn formals. The things make me sick. Hopefully Salil, Kedar, AG and so on get placed in Reliance tomorrow. Here's wishing them all the best.

P.S. Debu, Kd and Deeps got placed in L&T so party from them.

A Prisoner of Inspiration

One book I wanted to read for a long time was Jeffrey Archer's newest release - A Prisoner of Birth. It has been ages since an Archer book has really impressed me and I thought this would be a welcome change from the drivel I had been reading for some time. From the description on the back cover itself, I could guess that the book had been heavily inspired by "The Count of Monte Cristo", an Alexandre Dumas classic and one of my favourite books.

The story is simple. Danny Cartwright is falsely accused and convicted of the murder of his best friend and brother in law to be Bernie Wilson. The testimonies of four men - an aristocrat, a lawyer, a well known actor and the youngest partner in a well known firm, are instrumental in ensuring his incarceration in the high security Belmarsh Prison, from where no one has ever escaped. These four men are the ones responsible for the murder but only Danny knows that. The typically prejudiced jury ends up believing the four rich men instead of the commoner Cartwright.

A much grieved Danny begins his sentence in a cell shared by Sir Nicholas Moncrieff and his crony Tom. Nick who is a Scottish aristocrat begins to educate Danny who is an apotheosis of the bourgeoisie. A fast learner, Danny excels and in no time he becomes soft spoken and cultured like his mentor. His thirst for revenge rages as strong as ever as his girlfriend Beth, who is pregnant with their child, carries on an arduous struggle in the courts for his freedom.

Under extraordinary circumstances, Danny slips out of prison in search of revenge and also the fabled Moncrieff fortune, which Nick bequeaths to Danny before his untimely demise. The usual tomfoolery follows with Danny eventually proving his innocence after a protracted legal battle.

What amazes me more than the story is the manner in which Archer has contemporarized an age old classic. One can almost see Archer turning the pages of his copy of Dumas' great work as he seeks to find a plausible parallel between the characters of the classic and his own effort.

Danny Cartwright is what Edmond Dantes would be in the 21st century, a garage mechanic and a coarse lowbrow. Nicholas is a very suave Abbe Faria. The four bad guys are caricatures of the four villains Danglars, Cadderouse, Villefort and Fernand. Belmarsh however, does not sound as formidable as its equivalent the Chateau d'If. But the funniest analogy is that between the treasure of Monte Cristo and the Moncrieff Fortune. Before I discovered that Moncrieff is indeed a surname, I believed it to be an unholy amalgamation of Monte, Cristo and Jeffrey. Dark humour indeed.

Does the book live up to its hype? Certainly not. It is definitely not a masterpiece as it has been almost entirely sourced from a magnificent work of literature. Full marks to Archer for finding ways to get the hero out of sticky situations though. If more people would read the original work, they would discover there is nothing new in this book. But for those who have not, it is entertaining enough. After all Archer will make a fortune out of this one.

A 6 on 10 for this one and I hope to God Jeffrey does not start reading the three musketeers after this.

Mew P over !!!!

Microprocessors and Systems was expected to be a really tough paper but it was surprisingly easy. I wrote more in this paper than I have written in the entire exam. 2 to go then I'm a 4th year. Damn....

Industrial Economics and Management beckons.........

Addicted

It is the wrong time to get addicted to something, but I just cannot stop reading stuff on www.onemanga.com. Check out the one called Death Note.

And I keep reading this stuff after the most horrible paper of my 6 semesters on a dial-up connection which gives me an incredibly fast surfing speed of 45 kbps.

Someone please suggest a good broadband service which I can switch over to.

Exams upon me again

These things never seem to end. I have my first paper in just over 3 hours. Power Transmission is a real pain. This time I dont even want to try. And at 3 pm, I will be dozing. Freedom on 16th June. MU exam is actually getting over pretty soon this time :-)