Hello. Long time. Yeah. Wont delve into the reasons for the hiatus. And wont promise to be regular from now on and gibber stuff like that. Just to let you know that I won't be here for some more time to come. I'm going out to search for myself. Its high time I did that. If you find me somewhere before I return, please tell me to wait. 20.5 years is a hell lot of time to chase the elusive me in me.
ps: happy new year in advance. I'll be travelling back to college on 31st n 1st, so this time my new year will be on the go. humph.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
#29 Budday :)
My blog completes her(obviously :P ) one year today .. It has been amazing having her in my life. She, like a perfect friend, has let me vent out whatever i had in my mind, though most of it might not have made any sense at all; and understood even more when i did want to make sense but would fall short of words. There have been times when i would leave incomplete drafts and chose not to publish them. When i would open the dashboard, start typing my mind and suddenly decide to scrap it all off. When i would be unable to share my feelings with anyone and run to her, stare at her for a long time but feel at complete loss of expressions. When i'd get irritated and tired of her that i would contemplate dumping her(delete her that is),then somehow decide against it but not speak to her for long. She would still tolerate my eccentricity with utmost patience and maturity, and stuck around with me throughout. Cheers to the space that i am absolutely in love with !!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
#28 CATastrophe
A complete wtf situation. CAT decides to go online, outsourcing the process to Prometric for a hefty $ 40 mn. Prometric is known to conduct the online exams GRE and GMAT for years now and since CAT is touted as one of the toughest and sought after entrance exams, going online to save on the paperwork and provide flexibility to students to appear per their will felt like a good decision. Only until the C-day.
Servers crashing, exams cancelling and mismanagement on the first day created chaos everywhere. I can only imagine the extent of inconvenience and trouble the examinees might have gone through, but refrained from jumping right onto conclusions and censuring the process simply because I felt this was the first time and certain hiccups were bound to be confronted with when one tries to introduce something new. But four days on and more than 7500 students unable to take their exam is extremely vexing. Instead of owning up or trying to provide some respite to already frantic junta, the authorities have been displaying utterly irresponsible behaviour with all possible weird explainations. Latest being virus attack .. Virus attack !! How could a virus possibly communicate with the computers, since it’s a Computer Based Test connected to a local server and not ‘online’ in the real sense. ( Or am I an ignorant here to have not understood the virus-deal? )
Leaving the technical snags aside, how does one explain the negligence and incompetence shown by the invigilators in the centres, talking shamelessly on their cellphones while some students suffer near heart attacks on failing to take the test and others desperately trying to concentrate on their tests through the mayhem. Also Prometric failing to make a dry-run of the CBTs well in advance to ensure the fool-proof performance (saving them the mockery they have made of themselves now). Din’t they announce that they were well prepared and had ‘strategies’ for, like they said, ‘terrorist attacks’ and ‘natural calamities’ ? These people really have a nice sense of humour I must admit.
Amidst the usual failure on part of the authorities to account for the faults and our dear ministry keeping a convenient mum over the matter ( yea, how come none of the politicians have come forward and blamed the other parties or our favourite “ foreign hands” !! ), the real sufferers are the lakhs of aspirants whose careers are at stake. I’ve seen some of my own friends taking CAT to be their life’s ulterior motive and who have turned nearly insane during the rigorous preparation. They were already showing symptoms of dementia ranging of frequent tempramental outbursts to anorexia to blackouts to insomnia as their test date was approaching. I just hope they don’t get a nervous breakdown if their computer screen suddenly refuses to load questions for them !
Its very unfortunate to see such a farsighted initiative landing in a fiasco. And its more unfortunate to see the way these people aren’t even able to manage the situation properly ! Weren’t they supposed to be the management gurus?
Announcement of CAT going online next year too is what gives me the jitters now, since I am also supposed to ( until I change my mind which I think I should contemplate) sit for the exam.
Servers crashing, exams cancelling and mismanagement on the first day created chaos everywhere. I can only imagine the extent of inconvenience and trouble the examinees might have gone through, but refrained from jumping right onto conclusions and censuring the process simply because I felt this was the first time and certain hiccups were bound to be confronted with when one tries to introduce something new. But four days on and more than 7500 students unable to take their exam is extremely vexing. Instead of owning up or trying to provide some respite to already frantic junta, the authorities have been displaying utterly irresponsible behaviour with all possible weird explainations. Latest being virus attack .. Virus attack !! How could a virus possibly communicate with the computers, since it’s a Computer Based Test connected to a local server and not ‘online’ in the real sense. ( Or am I an ignorant here to have not understood the virus-deal? )
Leaving the technical snags aside, how does one explain the negligence and incompetence shown by the invigilators in the centres, talking shamelessly on their cellphones while some students suffer near heart attacks on failing to take the test and others desperately trying to concentrate on their tests through the mayhem. Also Prometric failing to make a dry-run of the CBTs well in advance to ensure the fool-proof performance (saving them the mockery they have made of themselves now). Din’t they announce that they were well prepared and had ‘strategies’ for, like they said, ‘terrorist attacks’ and ‘natural calamities’ ? These people really have a nice sense of humour I must admit.
Amidst the usual failure on part of the authorities to account for the faults and our dear ministry keeping a convenient mum over the matter ( yea, how come none of the politicians have come forward and blamed the other parties or our favourite “ foreign hands” !! ), the real sufferers are the lakhs of aspirants whose careers are at stake. I’ve seen some of my own friends taking CAT to be their life’s ulterior motive and who have turned nearly insane during the rigorous preparation. They were already showing symptoms of dementia ranging of frequent tempramental outbursts to anorexia to blackouts to insomnia as their test date was approaching. I just hope they don’t get a nervous breakdown if their computer screen suddenly refuses to load questions for them !
Its very unfortunate to see such a farsighted initiative landing in a fiasco. And its more unfortunate to see the way these people aren’t even able to manage the situation properly ! Weren’t they supposed to be the management gurus?
Announcement of CAT going online next year too is what gives me the jitters now, since I am also supposed to ( until I change my mind which I think I should contemplate) sit for the exam.
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