Tuesday-1: CHAOS THEORY

27/10/2009 

Its odd that Murphy’s Law strikes when least possible. It was a normal submissions-and-no-lecture day for me at college. However, at home, there was a lot of scurry and hurry as Mom and Grandma were supposed to leave for our hometown in the evening. The packing status was nil. So, as obvious, the entire day went away in last minute purchases and stuff. Also, after a lot of yes/no discussion sessions, it was decided that my li’l sis would be just fine staying a few days with my mom and grandma at the village. It would also, supposedly, provide the much needed outing for her. So, she was also going which added another 2 luggage packs to their baggage.

Everything went smooth until the evening. My uncle (sis’s dad) came home early that day. And guess what? There was a sudden show of affection by my sis such that she refused to simply let go of him. Probably, she had got the idea that these ‘evil’ people are trying to place me away from my mom and dad. However, everything was still on and they went to the station. During the course of all this, I was at class and was supposed to hurry to the station to bid adieu at the last moment.

Now, luck plays it and our prof dismisses class at 9.15pm itself (way earlier than his standards). The train was at 10.10pm from Kurla, and I had to reach there from Dadar. Well, given the time, I was successful and reached at 9.55pm itself. On the way to the compartment where my mom, grandma and sis were booked, I met aunt and uncle (sis’s parents). They advised me to avoid spending to much time with sis as she would change her plans and not leave. This was what I heard, which I later realized was half correct. They actually told me to not meet, or even see her, at all. By the time I realized this, I was walking outta the station with sis in hand and the train leaving behind me.

As soon as I entered the compartment, sis came to me, as expected. The train was about to leave in 5 min, so I was told to step out. However, it wasn’t to be. Sis simply refused to leave my side and when forced, started to cry her lungs out. So, it was instantaneously decided that sis, now, wouldn’t go and hence a part of her luggage was packed into a bag and handed over. All this in a matter of 5 min.

Finally, they left, minus sis. Now, the situation is that her clothes have reached there, while sis is left here with little of the clothing, that was given back at the end moment and what was kept behind here, to wear. I still wonder, what if they had taken all the clothes and kept none behind? That would’ve been The Ultimate Mess-Up…

Tuesday-2: The PRAX

03/11/2009 

Today, I had the second Final Practical of the 4 that i have in my semester.

SUBJECT: Digital Logic Design

TIMING (as said): 0900hrs to 1300hrs - batchwise

I) The Start…

As expected, I was nervous since this was the First final ‘practical’ that I had. The ‘actual’ first final prax were of EDC the previous day. However, that was just Viva/Oral, which I had aced.

Today, there was to be Practical session followed by the Orals session. So, we reached college by ‘0900hrs’, since we had the EDC orals at the same time the prev day. Then started the normal Study-Gossip sessions that everyone has prior to exams, all with “This is gonna come 101%…” and other stuff like that. As students, we did what we do best. Slog our a**es off at the last moment. Hence, we didn’t care that the prax hadn’t started yet. Actually, we were glad that it was being delayed. ‘0900’ became ‘1000’ which went on to ‘1030’. Thats when the prax finally started. They called in the first 13 roll nos.

Now, we have a set of roll nos with series as 08-xxx. In our class, EXTC-1, there are 65 students (08-401 to 08-465). Today, the prax were for 08-401 till 08-441, which, is yours truly. So, they called in 401 to 413 roll nos. We were made to wait. We thought it’d be a matter of an hour (max) before they call in the next batch and then finally the last batch (including me). So, it was decided that we’d finish off by 1400 hrs max. Oh, we were in for one rude shock…

II) The Scene…

First batch ended at 1300 hrs! Then, they called in the next batch,i.e., 414 to 429. However, this batch was packed off even before they could actually perform the practicals. Reason? Well, thats coz the profs all went in for lunch and that left nly the lab assistant in-charge. She, couldn’t sign the students papers and nor could she allot the apparatus without the sign. So, she said sent them all out. The vivas were being taken when the next batch was performing.

Till now, of the 30 (approx) students whose prax were done with, a mere 5 could actually perform the expts. Why? All because either the time alloted was less, or there were last minute changes in aim of expt (u read that right, its India).

Now, came our turn. We went in and I got a good expt. The aim was : “Implement following functions using 8:1 Multiplexer(or MUX): (a) and (b) {two, four bit binary functions}”.

So, i started off and finished the first step successfully. The lab assistant, by then, had assumed authority and started signing papers. Now, i got the apparatus and started arranging. However, in came the real prof. So, i went to get the circuit diagram verified with him. Here’s the rude shocker…

He simply picks up a pen, and adds “single” to the question slip. Now, following the normal technique, I had almost finished setting up the ckt using two cascaded 8:1 multiplexers. There was a different technique to use a single 8:1 MUX and design a 16:1 MUX. What else? There were just another 20 minutes till when we could perform.

So, as expected, i fell into the league of those fateful 30 students who couldn’t get an output. However, considering the majority, prof assured us that this won’t affect our marks, provided we had explained everything correctly on the practical sheet. This, I had. Phew!

III) The END…

Now, came the vivas. This was the only thing that saved the day. I outright conquered the vivas. T’was to such an extent that prof even asked me my name at the end of it.

This gave me a winning feeling, not to mention the confidence that enabled me to sit here and prepare this post, having my EI vivas tomorrow… :D

PEACE!