Study Habits

I have got my own way of studying. This study habit is quite difficult to change at this stage of my life. It can probably be changed only in highly critical situations (not normal examinations ). Otherwise, I stick to that habit always.

Most people tend to expect a lot from me in terms of studies, be it my parents, relatives, friends or teachers. They expect me to study on a regular basis i.e. daily or they think that I study daily (in case of friends and relatives). Only my parents and my close friends know my real study habits. Infact, I can decide to call my friend ‘close’ only if he knows my real study habits . Still they expect a lot from me!!! To all others, if I say anything about my study habits, they would hardly believe it . Some would think I am lying; some would think I am showing-off; some would think I am playing a prank; some would think I am being humble.

Consider these:

• There is a chair in a tank. I am sitting on the chair and sleeping. Water flows into the tank and the tank is slowly filled. I would not awake from my slumber until the water is up to my nose level; sometimes eye level or head level or over head level. Then I try to swim in the water and try to find a way out.
• 6 runs are needed of 6 balls. I don’t even try to hit runs of the 1^st 5 balls. In the last ball, I would try to hit a six!! (strictly hypothetical situation).

My study habits are something like that. I don’t study until the last day (very rarely last few days) for the examinations. When I start studying, I barely have time to study all that I need. I start studying at what I call break-neck speed; maximum amount of knowledge should be gained in minimum amount of time i.e. optimum utilization of time.

Now, after knowing this, some may think I mug-up or by-heart…. Maybe…. Sometimes, on the last day before examination, with no time, such drastic measures are necessary if you aren’t able to understand anything; something is better than nothing. However, I am pathetic at memorizing without understanding (I was terrible in social studies during my high school ). On the other hand, I have always experienced better results with understanding first and memorizing that if necessary.

Most people wonder how it is possible to study well, with not even one day, a huge amount of syllabus!!!! I feel it is possible, for the examinations, as well as for knowledge. However, for knowledge, it would take more time than that for examinations. Only if the subject I am trying to study is alien completely i.e. I don’t know anything about it, then it may be difficult to do so and I will require more time or to do it in less time, I may have to mug-up or by-heart and in the end, suffer.

The credit for my good results in my II PUC and CET examinations should go to the tuitions I went to . Due to the tuitions, I was constantly in touch with those subjects and I had understood it quite well. Regular tests were being conducted there and I was trying to study for them sincerely, though the study habit remained the same (previous day study). Since I had already understood them, I took very little time to study them for the examinations. This ensured that I achieved good results in the main examinations, even though I can’t say that I gave my 100% or my best efforts (maybe considerably more effort than other examinations, but still not the best effort I can put in).

Now, in engineering, attending some classes and understanding something, helps for the internals; and studying for the internals as sincerely as possible helps for the semester examinations (The studying habit hasn’t changed).

The results of II PUC and engineering examinations aren’t comparable as the efforts I have put in aren’t comparable (tuitions and tests throughout the year makes a lot of difference). Though I would say that if I put in the same efforts for engineering examinations as I had put in for II PUC, the results would be almost the same, though not the same as paper-setting and evaluation matters too.

Subscription

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Heres what you might have asked…

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Talent Hunt – Take 2

Fate has its way. I was watching 2 of my favourite movies, LOTR and Sarfarosh yesterday. At one time, both the channels were showing ads. So I started channel-surfing and accidentally I watched Sony television – “Indian Idol” broadcast.

It seems the judges had walked out of the show, since according to them, the contestant Amey, who was thrown out of the contest by the audience, didnt deserve to be thrown out. I viewed the telecast just when the judges were brought back to the show by Mini Mathur. There was a heated talk between the judges and the audience. The debate started.

Both of them were right in their own ways. The judges wanted a re-match since they felt that Amey(leftmost – top row of heads) was more deserving than Anuj, who survived(rightmost – top row of heads). They said that they had had enough of seeing good singers(their favourites) been thrown out and they were going to complain to Sony to have a rematch. The audience said that what is done is done and Anuj has won fairly.

My view on this whole episode is that it wasnt really necessary. To me, it was absolute CRAP. I strongly agree with what Sonu says. He is right in supporting the better singer. The best singer has to win and obviously, the judges are in the better position to see who is the ‘best’. On the contrary, the format gives the judges no weightage. The audience rule the roost. If you want it to be like that, why are the judges sitting and giving their comments there? The fault is in the format. The format is CRAP.

At this stage of the contest, you cant change the format. So it has to be followed. Then whatever the audience decides has to be followed – no rematch, no change. The best singer may not win but the rules cant be changed in the middle, can it????

I think the judges have had late realisation that the format is faulty. They should have protested way back, atleast after the first version was over. Then those changes could have brought about in this version. But sadly, nothing like that happened. So, if we follow the rules, our loss is that we dont get the best since its not possible to change the rules now.
MAX MESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let the debate continue. Atleast next time around we may get shows where pure talent wins.

PS : (I forgot to tell a very important point) The voted-out contestant Amey didnt accept the rematch offer but said what is done is done, accepted his defeat and quit. Kudos to him. It takes a lot of courage to do that.

Qualities of Me

One of my orkut friends sent a link to me, with the heading Johari’s Window. I liked its concept. Its about describing your friend’s qualities – to the point and precise. Its absolutely easy, fun and no hassles at all. So I made such a window of my own. Now its my friends’ turn to describe about me. Of course, all of you are invited to do so too.

To have your say about me, click here (You are free to say anything you want. No restrictions)

To see what my friends say I am, click here

(I hope so, anyway)

Internet

i just read a post on one of my frens blog.. he is of the opinion that internet has a negative influence on the generation now….

i dont quite agree.. u cant blame internet for stopping us think.. the notion that technology n internet have made us lazy is wrong… its a different era now.. infact it has made us more intelligent n has given us more access to knowledge..

the accusation against internet is like this.. if a person needs to submit a report, he uses google n takes the printout.. he gets a good grade n everyone’s happy even though he hasnt put enough efforts n doesnt know much about the topic…

my view on that is like this… he gets a good grade only if he has organised that info.. for organising, he must have gone thru all the info n deleted those info which wasnt needed n so on..

so internet never stops anyone from thinking.. the person who does stop thinking or becomes lazy due to the internet is the one to blame, not internet….

Feb 16th

i had said that we would resume playing cric.. but i didnt expect it would be so early… we were back to our best cricket playing ways… n it coincided with the indo-pak match too… so we played cric for some time n then came to watch the match n by that time India were in a commanding position… so we ate out n went to our col to check about the time table.. there were going to reshuffle us n put us in diff sections.. we wanted to know about that too…

we met our HOD n other teachers.. Asha maam was incharge of the division… HOD said it was going to be 1st 50 usn in one class n the rest in another class.. but we tried negotiating with Asha maam so that we were all in one class.. she said she would try.. but i dont think that would be possible.. so most likely, i am in B sec… the biggest loss is – HOD isnt taking FAFL, he is taking ADA.. FAFL is tougher it seems.. so it would have been nice if he took ADA.. anyway, the biggest loss would have been that we couldnt get the division of class as we wanted but i had never realistically thought that it was possible..

when i came back, my hero RD was batting superbly.. i watched the rest of the match.. n then.. in the evening, my mom had to go to a student’s bro’s wedding to iskcon.. that student was coming for the tuitions n it seems he had requested a lot.. so she had to go n i had accompany her since it was far.. i wasnt interested but went anyway…. the wedding was grand but it was boring..

n while i was coming back thru ‘good shed’ road (have i spelt it rightly?), an auto infront of me hit another auto.. n i had to brake suddenly.. i was trying to move my bike to the right when another auto tried to overtake me from the right.. n the back or left wheel of the auto went over my ankle…

whose mistake was it?.. i had to ground my leg to balance the vehicle n move it to the right.. the driver would not have known my leg was on the ground n its difficult to know where the auto’s back wheel was though he should have known.. but such things happen.. u cant blame him or me.. so i didnt create a scene there.. i went ahead n stopped at the left side of the road n checked my leg….

thank god… the auto wasnt going in full speed, i guess he also had stopped behind me n then accelerated.. thank god, i listened to my mom.. she had forced me into wearing shoes even though i didnt like.. that saved most of the damage to my ankle… so no serious damage done…

the biggest loss of the day was i couldnt find time for blogging…

Talent Hunts

i had watched the first version of Indian Idol with lot of interest.. though my fav contestant Prajakta didnt win, Abhijeet Sawant was a deserving winner as he peaked at the right time…. his first album was brilliant.. i loved all his songs.. it was as good as Sonu Nigam’s first album…

and then came Fame Gurukul.. i had some interest for it.. i didnt follow it regularly… i liked Qazi’s personality but i think there were many contestants who deserved to be in his place.. Rooprekha was good.. but the quality of singing had already started losing its place in a talent hunt for singers….

and one thing i liked about India’s choice in both these contests is that they chose golden hearted people.. i liked the acts that – Abhijeet said that Rahul Vaidya was better than him and both Qazi and Rooprekha gave their frens another chance…
and now we have Indian Idol II.. i have no interest to watch it.. but i have watched bits and pieces once.. n yesterday’s result show.. i have read an article on talent shows in TOI… n i have taught a lot about it… yesterday too the judges were saying that sur wasnt getting its due, the contestants who sang well were not doing well in securing the audience’s votes…

i think the whole concept has a flaw.. first of all, the sole intention of these shows is to make money, not promote talent.. if it was to promote talent, then they would have done something like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.. now even this show is going for audience votes but here, atleast imp is given to singing, not X-factor, etc..

talent is there in all talent hunts, no doubt… but the best talent isnt being rewarded.. if talent had to be the priority, only people of good knowledge in that field should have been given the responsibility of judging.. in a talent hunt for singers, singing should be the only priority, not X-factor, dancing, style, make-up, etc.. if not name it as a talent hunt for entertainers n all people who can dance, make jokes, etc will come…
k.. if u want the audience to be the judges, then why do ask other celebrities to sit there n comment.. n when u give audience the power, dont give them incentives of glamour and dont talk about their decision, no judges, no celebrity talk on it… the only thing shown to them should be singing.. even background, feelings, etc shouldnt be shown.. but instead glamour is used to woo the audience..

n one more thing, if u have to take the audience votes, why charge them.. those who have money will vote many times n others wont… i didnt vote even once for any contestant.. i didnt think one vote would matter n i wouldnt have put 10s of votes…
such talent hunts, where audience get a chance to vote should be timed well.. doing so many hunts is no use.. too much of anything isnt good..

to me, the Great Indian Laughter Talent was the best talent hunt.. the format for a talent hunt should be like this.. no glamour, no background.. only after Sunil Pal won the contest, we came to know about his poor financial situation n other problems.. the judges were in the best position n they took a good decision.. now its second installment is coming.. i will have to see whether it retains its freshness or it goes the same way as Indian Idol…

Feb 14th

i had 2 very disturbing thoughts in my mind, nothing concerned with the speciality of the day though.. they subsided slowly with little help from my fren Rajath… and most of the day belonged to blogging and net…

and now lets come to the speciality of the day.. Valentines day..

my belief on things like Valentine’s day, new year resolutions, Mother’s day, Father’s day, etc, etc is very less… to make a resolution u need not wait till new year.. u need not remember ur mother only on Mother’s day.. and so on.. i havent celebrated all these with lot of vigour due to this reason.. but its not bad to do such things once in a while – to value these things more on this special day once in a year.. but as usual it has been as normal a day as possible today except listening to more romantic music in the comp…

so heres my take on love…

“a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside in this world.”
- Albus Dumbledore on love, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

i believe that love is the most powerful n wonderful feeling in the world.. love can make the impossible, possible.. n on this special day, i salute the power of love…

Intro

THE MAGICAL ME:
The spiritual side of me

mmm.. spiritual.. i couldnt find a better word… its actually.. spiritual, philosophical, more thinking, more logic, more complicated part of me.. in short, the part of me which others find difficult to understand….

Feb 13th

first of all.. this was the day i started blogging.. i had been postponing it for about a month.. i wasnt able to find enough time for it.. atlast i decided even if i put just a single post, i am starting now.. and u know fortune favours the brave.. my cousin bro Ravi who introduced me to blogging, met me online in the evening just when i had published a few posts.. he guided me and suggested a few things on which i worked… thanks bro…

the rest of the day rounded on cric.. both playing and watching.. india was superb.. when kaif got out, it was looking really tough, but they showed again that they have it in them to be world beaters…

something happened in the day about which i thought a lot.. on how to put it here.. i have decided that i am going to write what my mind thinks here.. but this was restricted and too personal info… so i thought of not putting names in the case where i want it to be hidden… those who can understand will be close enough to me.. so i will not have a problem if they understand.. and here it goes..
so i played cric with my frens.. it wasnt a fight or a quarell that started.. i think heated argument would be a right word.. we decided that we r not going to play cric further.. i wanted to say a lot to them.. and heres the space for it.. i have sent them the link.. and let me see if they read it.. this is what i like about blogging.. i am not sure whether i would have told all this to them in conversation…

here comes the chance for a lecture..
i do what i like to do.. i do them the way i like to do..
at some point, i felt i wasnt interested in ncc and army, so i left it then.. it doesnt mean i didnt enjoy it before or that i dont have respect or gratitude for that.. i loved it when i was in it.. same here, i liked playing cric with them.. and it stays that way..
but there is something more to it too…
i played with them even if i had better things or forms of entertainment to do in my mind..
i play it for fun.. i played fairly.. if i dont get the same fair play from others, i will not play.. i am not playing just for winning.. its for fun… if u get more unwanted factors in the game, then it loses its interest and so i left it..
its not a fight.. i say it again.. we r still the best of frens.. something similar had happened before but we resumed playing cric after a short while.. so this time too we will play cric again.. when?.. i dont know.. who will compromise?.. i dont know.. but i am sure that we will play cric again..
i dont know whether i did the right thing or not.. i dont whether i was rude… but its gone.. so no more thinking about that… i have done it… i thought it was right then.. i will believe that i have done the right thing.. if i am wrong, when am i going to realise it?.. god knows.. but until then, i am what i am.. i would like people to accept me and like me as i am.. i have changed and will keep changing, for better or worse, god knows but i will.. there r some instincts which take a long time to change though.. no regrets…

and this is just for the person with whom i had a heated conversation..
such thinking never leads u anywhere…
and quicker u understand that the better it will be..
from
ur loving fren
sorry – i hope i am not becoming a philosopher

my fren told that he understood only 20% percent of what i said here, so i am adding this under the “The Magical Me” category… lol

Hi

atlast i am entering the world of magic – blogging.. i love the world of internet.. and the best thing is u can think and say what u want.. it need not be a split second decision but a well thought one.. and more than that, u have no one interrupting u in the middle of it…. one can interact with another in one’s free time and do it at will..

ok.. enough of that.. let me come to myself..

my thinking over the years has changed a lot.. so this is the new me.. and moro, it is going to be another new me…

i will try to post both my usual routines like a diary and things that i would like to talk in this world..

hoping that all of u would love me… and have patience to read my posts.. i would love criticism too.. guide me with what knowledge u have..

i dont know how many or who is going to read this.. but i think and feel that i am saying this out loudly to the world (including god)

i wish that i would be the Harry Potter of this magic world..