Not Quite The End

Well, here we come to the end of yet another semester.

But dunno why it feels that as if things have just started to begin. (I have this silly habit of repeating words that mean the same thing, just to highlight an emphasis)

Adding to the fact that i went home for the least number of weekends this sem, and the fact that it was a truly eventful semester, seems that it was just days ago that I came back after the winter vacations.

A close look at the activities I was involved in this semester (I'll try to go chronologically)

• Played the extra-marital interest of a schizophrenic lady(so i was actually part of her imagination) in a play called Dream On when we participated in Rang Manch at Spring Fest, IITKGP. In that same play I also played the elder brother of a deaf 'n' dumb(and schizophrenic) guitarist and a Television Set ( yes I played the role of a TV too, no matter how crazy that sounds). We came 3rd.

• Single handedly made the DBMS project for the HP training we did in the winters. That was me working alone for the software and the other five in my group took care of the report and everything else ( that's the best I could do to make their work sound monumental). Took about three days of learning JSP, a week of designing and coding, and a week of testing and adding enhancements( my favorite being the implementation of AJAX). Special thanks to Anish for sticking through.

• Mukti '08 and Aarohan 2k8 could not maintain the standards they set last year. Mukti not being an independent event anymore, there was very less work involved in the management part. I was approached from the Aarohan management to perform in the DJ nite (you should be knowing that I am an ammature DJ, but it dosn't matter if you don't). The day I was going to perform was also scheduled for my Microsoft Interns written test. I knew I could not do anything great there but I still wanted to give the test. Following days of indecision I finally decided to skip the test and perform. As luck would have it, the test was over well before my performance and due to time constrains neither could I perform infront of the college. Alas !

• Worked along with Debayan for the LUG SDU and the LUG Repository. Hats off to Debayan, he showed everyone how good work is to be done at a Linux Users' Group of a college like NIT Durgapur's. Suddenly three years of Mukti seemed like a joke. Working with him was both a fun and a learning experience. He being a OpenSuse man i had to do what i could for my Mandriva.(my here sounds good). Hope I have been able to make some mark... beside his lovely painting.(sorry, couldn't find a better way to put it).

• Think its a blessing that I am not the General Secratary of my college. Its a very rare feeling but then sometimes you really feel as if you are the only hope. I knew I was the most acceptable candidate in the Bengal lobby and with my clean and hardworking image I was a clear winner. There were a few misunderstandings and a few revolts to which being the kind of person I am, I would have given in to. But then I surprised even myself with the strength and determination that I showed. I would go down in the history of the college as the G.S. for the shortest period of time, but the impact the incedent had on me would last a lifetime.

• CSE database administrator to Pseudo TPR to a full fledged TPR. Now even S.N. Sarkar, our TPO has my cell number. Not that I don't like the job, but its always irritating when SNS calls you up to wake you up in the morning asking why I am still sleeping and that Satyam is supposed to be at the college gate any moment. But I should admit that the D.H. food was quite delicious.

• And then of course my very own Tata Consultancy Services. I was very worried about this campussing thing. Was confident that I wouldn't clear the written, and was pathetic at the interviews. But the Tanmaya Tiwary beside me at the written with the same Question set did help. My Tech was vague enough, but when I told the HR guy that i had the habit of forgetting things I knew I had screwed it. For some strange reason they thought I should be among the 202 selected from NITDGP.

• And now Recstacy. They caught hold of me to make two posters, edit a t-shirt design by Rahul Jha, and I thought I could perform at least this time. The results: In one of the posters I had printed the date as March instead of April, the t-shirts were made black 'n' white to save time and money, and I was not able to perform yet again( there are many reason put forward to explain why, but my personal favorite is that I have a dog's luck). As most events this sem, Recs was a flop too.

• Not to forget my 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. long Courier Tracking JSP and DBMS project which I just managed to demonstrate to the Director today (he takes our DBMS classes) and a Grand Viva which I survived, I think it was a very apt end to a very happening semester.

Now that the End Semester Exams start from Tuesday, I have this helpless blank feeling drawing up. I did not study for a single class test this semester nor for a Viva. Hope i can manage to escape the four supplies looming large.

Also my plan to save enough money to buy a DJ console has to wait now that I did not manage a Internship anywhere.

But on the good side I have big plans to do some Open Source software development this summer. Due to time and luck constrains i failed to apply for even a single Google Summer of Code Ideas. But Mixxx has managed to grab my attention. So has the Firefox 3.0 Betas. Hope I can do some good work.

But then this semester I have proved my potential to work hard and I know some more effort is definitely going to pay off.

With this I'll sign off today. Hope things will be intresting enough for me to keep adding to this mess.