MNS - a menace ?

It comes to questioning the constitution whether freedom of speech be a right to citizens when we are on the progressing phase and communist thoughts by a young face in politics risks harmony in the nation. Mr. Raj Thakrey takes pride in destroying the hard earned peace and unity of our nation for Maharashtra Navanirman (Resurrection) with underlying vested interests fomenting regional chauvinism. 

In this era of globalization, his accusations against north indians stealing jobs, commiting crimes etc are unjustifiable. So what if Maharashtra is blessed with Mumbai, the city of dreams. People all across India aspireto earn here because of the highly available resources and opportunities. When it comes to stealing jobs Indians are outnumbering others in USA. If we had a sena here too, India would have experienced a catastropic economic decline much earlier and so would US. Criminals and Terrorist do not have a region or a cast. They should be punished by law. Targeting people by region is biased in itself. It is shame for politicians to dupe public sentiments when Mr. Thakrey himself has been the part of calamaties like floods and people from all over the nation and all communities contributed to rescue mumbai. 

I am a maharashtrian too, but Indian first. We stand today facing much bigger issues than these like raising an educated future, preserving flora and fauna, fighting against corruption, deploying youth productivity and many others. Its hightime to know that Humanity must be our religion, Science our passion, Art our ambition, Peace our mission, and doing good our profession. It is time to stand united and embrace growth, prosperity and strength.

My interview experience with Microsoft

It was during the winter break after the first semester that I felt like I was somehow managing to survive in the lonely mushy pond, L-1170 at Chapin. It lacked the presence of my room-mate. To add more to anxiety was the preposterous lab work with the pressure of earning some kind of funding for the semester to come. This was when to my surprise an email from Microsoft, interested in having an interview with me dropped into my inbox like a positive ray slit through the dark clouds of apprehension. It was 11th January, the most awaited day so far at Stony Brook.
I wanted to prepare a lot for the interview but I put my lab work to priority. I studied in the most conventional way. I incremented the hits on websites ranked highly by Google for the search string “Microsoft interviews”. It was the first telephonic interview I was going to have and also had to code through windows live meeting. It was 6pm EST in the evening on 22nd January and my heart was pumping at a high rate until it exhaled ‘hello’ in anticipation to Anthony’s. ‘hello, I am senior software Dev Engineer at Microsoft’ he said and we had a chat about my projects and he enquired about what I would like to work on. Followed by this were 2 simple programming problems which made life easier. The interview ended very optimistically for me.
As anticipated, I received an email stating that I got through the first round on 6th February 2008. Well it was time to rejoice because I was invited to Seattle for the next series of interviews. I felt privileged, but lately realized that it is pretty normal. I realized that I had to focus on the interviews and not the fantasies of being at Microsoft. I broadcasted emails to friends and seniors if they could help me with the interview, since a few of them had an interview experience. My seniors provided a bunch of links that had puzzles and algorithms typically asked at Microsoft. To the rescue was “Programming interviews exposed”, which prepared me enough to think and answer questions that I would not even understand [:P].
It was a big day – 17th February and I mis-timed the flight timings from 4pm to 12.30pm, hopefully wasn’t the other way. On reaching Seattle airport I booked a big long white limousine. It was a royal experience worth $60 for a 15 min ride from the airport to Fairfield Inn. I could not resist asking the driver for a photograph with the beauty. I entered the queen suite with 2 double beds, a spacious spotless tiled bathroom and a 29inch television. I was just amazed by the fact that a company could invest so much in a candidate they are not sure to recruit; greeting with – “We believe that you are one of the best”. I believe candidates come to prove their belief a myth, and I hoped that I was different.
“Hi, I am Mike, your co-coordinator at Microsoft. You will be meeting with 2 teams today and will have 4 rounds of interviews with 4 different people. Good luck and see you in the evening after the interviews”. Everything well defined in 3 sentences; I had already started to feel the precision. The Microsoft campus was small to the extent that it had shuttle services to commute. “I am Craig Lee, the Dev Lead at Microsoft. Lets have a talk in my office”. Building 35 room 1137 and the cabin door closed. “so, What would Pratik’s friend speak about Pratik?”. Well, he is an asshole – what am I thinking… “Pratik is a smart guy and a very helpful friend. He manages all his businesses well and is great to have fun with”. End of question1. Woot! I managed it and so did I the entire interview. The rest of the day was followed by running through the maze of cubicles answering questions that would so called prove me a good candidate for the internship. I met Mike with his agnostic reply about my acceptance and left to the hotel tired.
Knock knock - It was 6.30pm and Sowjanya was at the door ready for outing. I was in my bed trying to relax my neurons but to the knock I responded- “coming”. It was time for the fun part sponsored by Microsoft (fully) but we fell short of time and ended up having a bird’s eye view of Seattle through the space needle center, relishing dinner at Bombay grill and watching Atonement. Everything felt so good until I had to catch my flight back to school the next morning with an optimism of getting in.
It was 22nd February when I was expecting a reply about my interview. It was 2.30pm and I was tying the tie knot and polishing my blazer for an interview with Goldman Sachs. I hit F5 and the most awaited result of the year appeared on the web page. “Congratulations, you will be receiving an offer from Microsoft! In fact both teams you interviewed with would like to make you an offer to intern here this summer. Now you need to choose which team sounds like the best fit.” This was the first time when I felt that I was not bad. I was on top of the world and realized late that I was late for my interview. But the interview then was mere a formality. I felt that I was very lucky and life has much more for me ahead…

The Dance I learnt at Microsoft - BACHATA

The internz group at Microsoft is a resource of all the activities going around the campus. Always been passionate about dancing, the dance class at café 34 caught my attention. It was Wednesday and I was all prepared for the dance class since morning. I had a meeting with guys in Microsoft Research at 2 pm followed by a brain storming session with my mentor about the project. We played a pool game to freshen up. All was being so fruitful and I hoped the same for the dance class too :)
I wrapped up my work and headed to café 34 with no expectations as such since I was pretty disappointed with the same dance class concept at stony brook. To my surprise I saw intern colleagues dancing on soothing notes of – the so called “Bachata”. Well sounded funny but I was more or less interested in the name rather than dancing. I was waiting for a while since I was late by 10 min as usual :). I was looking around for a partner. I saw a few gals dancing with other female partners. I wished if I could break their partnership to learn the dance steps. Well since the day was destined to be lucky for me, the instructor called up “Partner change……”
I lately realized that I was in fact waiting for this command of his. A girl named Laurie approached me and introduced her to me and started teaching me the steps I missed and I tried following her judiciously. Well I tried on getting to know the dance but she seemed disinterested as if though I was unable to cope up with her. The instructor resounded “Partner Change…..” I was really hoping to have a partner that would be comfortable dancing with me and then as destined a cute looking girl with black sports inners and a sky blue dance top came close by and introduced herself. Her name was katie. My heart was pumping hard and I thought I wish I were an expert in Bachata, I could make her dance like a doll. I started the steps with a slight hesitation holding her. But suddenly it vanished when she said ‘don’t feel shy, hold me properly….’(she got to know that I am an Indian:)) and that added to my comfort. With me having a good time dancing, it was end of it when I heard the same yelling “Partner change….” The rest of the class was more of learning with different partners.
The class ended up with the announcement that the next hour would be free for open dance and the music was being played. I never hoped that I would wait until Katie asked me for a dance on Bachata. She was talking to me as if she was my tutor – You are the lead and you should direct the dance by conveying through the hand grip and gentle elbow touches. Well like a good student, I learnt things thoroughly and she was happy with what I learnt. We stopped when samba was being played. It was this time that she told me that she lived in Washington DC and did her BS at university of Virginia, PhD at Texas, Austin and was an intern at Microsoft Research. Pretty impressive, she was also the president of the dance club in Virginia. I was happy that I learnt from a professional. Well it is a great experience that I had here at Microsoft.
I am going to attend all the Wednesday dance classes so that I learn a few other forms too. And of course that too from Katie……

Lessons I learnt this semester - Fall 2007

Apart from the academics which has been the primary goal of me being in stony Brook, I believe the entire semester has been a series of educative experiences (cannot be put on a resume though:)). It gave me a chance to look into myself and learn a lot from others.
The early days in the semester were tough ones getting acquainted to the climate, sparse population and moreover not being close to family and friends. Although hard, these were days of excitement. Exploring the campus, meeting people, discussing about their behavior, gestures, walking in the bright unpolluted sunshine to make our body ready for the cold weather. Calling parents, letting them know about US and keeping their excitement alive was all that I did. At the same time we friends were not together. I was temporarily accommodated in a different apartment. This was the time when I realized that how dependent are we on others and why man turned into a social animal:). Also not trying to be spiritual, but truly praying to GOD imparted a lot of positiveness and confidence.
Lesson: You cannot live without parents and friends. Believe in God and talk to Him.
Then were the golden days when the semester commenced. With full energy and concentration I gathered whatever I could and tried my best in all the courses. I was impressed by the way learning goes in this university. It was altogether different than what we have in India. I managed scoring highest in almost all the projects and assignments. I was very happy with my progress and thought that I can do things well and can beat even the IITians and the BITS,Pillani crowd. But soon came the midterms where I was shattered when I scored average in the midterm of algorithms (course) which I liked the most even when I scored well in other courses. This was a must needed experience. It made me humble and made me realize that many other students possess strong analytical skills which they proved in the test.
Lesson: You are not always the best. Learn what is best in others. Be polite and humble. Modesty is a quality of genius.
With the midterm’s scores out, I happened to lose confidence in myself. This was the phase when my friends came in for rescue. They helped and motivated me and so did I when they were depressed. This strengthened our comradeship. When I look back at this phase, I think that it went a bit long which should not have. I should have cheered up soon and got back to work. This would have helped me cope up with the approaching project and assignment deadlines.
Lesson: Learn what went wrong and get back to work. Extreme thinking on failures is futile. Effective Time Management is the most important factor in achieving success.
I met my Host family twice this semester though I was invited 4 times. I could not make it for the rest two. Although Americans they made every effort to make me feel comfortable by cooking Indian cuisine, being very kind, respecting me as a person, asking questions to get familiarized with my culture. Its expensive to have guests in US. Why did they call me and other students then? According to them they just liked to make international students feel comfortable and also wanted to know about other cultures. They also wanted me to fix up their computer and tell them about how to install things. The fact that grannie and grandpa at the age of 70 wish to learn amazed me because with the strenuous workload in MS I thought I would never study again. I don’t know how do I thank them for all that they did to me.
Lesson: Love and respect others, you get the same back. One should learn until the last breath. The biggest happiness is when you give someone something which cannot be returned back.
With the finals approaching I had to gear up with my studies. It gave me great pleasure helping my friends here in their studies (as in India :)) but the difference was that there were times when I was dependent on them for my studies too. So I felt the other side as well. I knew what I expected when someone had to explain me so would I try to explain when I had to explain them. So it was kind of a great experience in terms of group studying, helping each other and moreover understanding people.
Lesson: TeamWork eases pressure. Contribution to the team is important. Considerable amount of contribution earns respect from the team.
I landed up scoring an ok GPA. I felt bad because I expected more. But this did not depress me as much as I was during midterms. I realized that its not about being the topper that makes us intellectual. I have seniors who scored good grades (not the best) to get into firms like google and Microsoft which even the toppers could not. I knew that I learnt a lot and really enjoyed studying. I have got the requisite gpa to be eligible for interviews but I need to push myself hard to crack them and I will do that.
Lesson: At certain point of time, what matters is knowledge and not the score or the rank that you earn.
Well throughout the semester I met people who were good to me sometimes and sometimes not. Even though I disliked these people who were politically correct in answering, spoke on my back, used me, dint like me; the amazing qualities that few possessed was they knew how to get their work done somehow. I looked out to them as more of management students rather than MS students. I just cannot say “NO” to people which I must learn not to do for my benefit.
Lesson: Try to identify people as in their nature. There’s always something to learn from all. Don’t say “Yes” when you want to say “No”.

Lot many things going around in my mind many more things that I learnt but I guess I bored you enough with this :). Even though I do not like to be in the US, I think it’s a wonderful experience being here once. It can help you learn life.