How to choose school for MS in US

A friend of mine sent a mail asking me to shortlist the university from the big list he sent me for MIS Program and this was my response.

Now that's a tough question because I am not in that program but MIS is more of management studies in IT and people end up becoming Business Analyst.

There are few factors on which the college should be decided. The order is in priority.

1. Availibility of courses of interest.
2. Availability of Prof. in area of interest.
3. Proximity to Companies of Interest as this will help to get internships and thereafter job.
4. Ranking of University : A higher rank will make you look lucrative and get you more intellectual campus crowd.

Look into these and then decide any college. Its an important decision.

Sorry I am not of much help in this. Hope you understand.

Cheers

Hope it helps few.

Take Care

Amit

My Friend

My Friend
-------------

When I am sad, I think of you
When I am happy, I think of you
The longing for you is ever
The sight of you is joy forever

We started as journeymen in school bus
Sharing few minutes of joy
From home to school and back
Waiting each day holding your seat

One day you said, "I like him"
I confronted, "No you cannot, because I like him more"
You grimly suggested. "Ok..Morning yours, Night mine"
and I said.."No. Night is mine"

In many occasions we fought
In each of them we reconciled
Compromising on few, Laughing on rest
Never we separated

One day, You moved on,
You changed school, 
You changed home
Leaving me alone

At times, I wait outside my house
Looking far left, Hoping for your return
Thereby we could be together
We could be friends forever

How money motivation can actually be harmful in some profession.

Some recent pictures

Here's some pictures from Spring Carnival'12 at UMASS Lowell. I was all by myself and had fun.

New Entry.

Summer
Her White Nails
Her White Nails with red paint
Her White Toes
Her White Toes with Colorful Sandals

You could say summer has started
Or could say summer is anticipated
Either way, she is excited
Excited she is

Prepared to go for a long walk
Prepared to let her hair play with air
She is waiting for semester to end and summer to begin
for she could lie on ground, with toes shining red and hair brown


Memory
There is sadness in her eyes, for she could see through windows
Kids playing on the ground
Reminding to her
How joyful was she then.

The imagination took her to one moment
With father in a nearby park
She swinging on a rope
While him pushing from the back

Tears come to her eyes
For he is no more near
To push her higher
To hold her tight

The future of formal education is exciting.

If you have been on the disadvantage side of receiving quality education and great teachers, you will not regret living in this century.

With the onset of many quality online course providers like https://www.coursera.org/  or http://www.udacity.com/ , you can learn close to what student at elite schools learn. This is just the beginning and I anticipate further revolution where the entire education will happen sitting at home via internet.

I want to share my experience with the very first course that was announced last year. It was Artificial Intelligence by two Stanford Professors Peter Norvig & Sebastian Thurn (the autonomous car DARPA challenge man). It was a great experience to learn from the leaders and I specially enjoyed the applicability of the teachings I had. They did fine job in explaining each topic in detail and supporting each idea with a real life example and not just some hypothesis.

I look forward to taking many more courses online as I know they are worth the time and they are best and free(how can I forget that). I am thrilled to be born in this generation where education is getting democratized and I can compete with the best in the world which otherwise I couldn't.

I would encourage you  have a look at both the links and start this wonderful journey of learning from masters with one course of your interest. Its gonna be fun and maybe we could have a google hangout where you could share your excitement with me and motivate me to take classes with you. I would say that would be a perfect date :D.

Take Care.

Life of Prayer

Here's a summary of Chapter 11, Life of Prayer from the book of "We Must" presented as part of Chinmaya Mission Pune weekly group study class.

Transcript of the Video:-

Hari Om to Swami Jee and everyone present. My topic for today's discussion is "Life of Prayer". Like in each chapter of We Must, Gurudev has emphasized upon a particular aspect of life, in this he talk about Prayer.

My first questions is, why at all we need to Pray?

How I understand is, like the physical body, which get's cleaned every morning under shower and set out for a fulfilling day, mind does equal amount of work, if not more and hence there are times we might be physically active but mentally exhausted. To replenish mind for a fresh start, daily shower does not work out. As we still remember the pain of yesterday.

For mind to re-vitalize, it needs stimulation. For that, we need to study inspiring scriptures which have the potential to calm our mind and make out self emotionally strong. It is no magic. Many a times we feel relaxed by being all alone. Mental silence is what we gain with reading the scriptures.

The effect of this activity cannot be measured in scientific units. They are perceived. Prayers have the potential of transforming someone's behavior because it promotes contemplation and evaluation of self.

Talking about other necessity of why we should do prayers, Prayer help us control our desires. You may question why do we need to control them at all. Aren't they our natural behavior. The answer is, indeed they are but they are also the reason for pain. Fulfillment of one desire breeds a new one and the seeker is in  a never ending cycle of fulfillment of desires and one day he will be frustrated with himself.

Man is capable of higher achievements in life. He is capable of doing everything his/her mind could perceive. The only blocking stone on his/her is their self-doubt which is a product of mind.

Prayer, like I said is mental gym-ing. It helps us flex our mental muscle and prepare ourselves to for higher achievements in life. It cleans the mind of self-doubt, instill confidence and calmness.

Prayer help us connect to supreme self. We should embrace it with love and tune our mental self to his message through scriptures. There's only one output of this effort and it is reaching higher.

It will be strange to say but I will be honest. I do pray regularly but not sincerely. It is more of a mantra-jaap we hear in marriages. With this discussion I would like to convince myself and convince you that it is a worthwhile effort to be pursued with full faith onto him for reaching your best potential.

Thank you & Hari Om.

Brown Skirt

Brown skirt with white berries on it.
She is quiet and intense.
Always sitting equidistant from me.
Confusing me, is it love of the furniture or me.

She looks up, catching a glimpse of what's around.
Holding a water can and sipping as if making an excuse.
Studious she is, Immersed in her work.
Scanning the pages and reading sometimes.

At times she hold her pink pen wondering what to write
Scribbling a bit here, a bit there.
Taking a deep breath, as if the long journey has ended.
Only to bring a brief smile on her face.

I tried speaking to her, each time took step back
Fearing, what if she stop coming.
I fail to focus but I know she is far.
Far from being mine, far from being yours.

How to set Goal in Life?

Swami Chinmayananda, a hindu spiritual leader talk about "What is true Work?". I often visit this lecture to remind myself of what should be my attitude towards my work and life. At one point he says "You should never reach your Goal". Check out the video to know why?

Enjoy.
Amit

I don't mind scars.

Name : Om Prakash Yadav,
Age : 11
State: Uttar Pradesh, India
Award : Sanjay Chopra Award for saving children out of a burning van

Yadav has burn marks all over his face. On September 4, 2010, he was going to school along with other students in a Maruti van. But all of a sudden, the van caught fire because of a short circuit in the gas kit.

The driver immediately opened his door and fled. But not Yadav.

He broke open the van door and pulled out the others, caring little about the flames that had spread to his face, back and arms.

"I could feel fire burn my body but then I could hear the cries of my friends who were still caught inside the van. I threw my bag and entered to pull them out," he says.

He saved eight children.

Source : Internet.
====

Fools

Some get love too easily to realize how Big Fool they are to just let it go after all the years of commitments over demanding parents. Fools.

The child is grown, the dream is gone.

A friend of mine posted on facebook

"The child is grown, the dream is gone."

 It means a lot.

A Plan is a Plan only if it is thorough & written

I thought, "Well I know what I am going to do in next 7 days, I don't need to spend time on writing that on a piece of paper with hourly target, that's waste of time. I would rather spend that time on achieving my target".

I was so wrong. I drifted. There was no clear goal. I felt I could easily achieve what I am set out for in few hours of day and wont require full 24 hours.

Let me confess friends, I didn't utilize last 3 days. It went wastefully. I had no target to motivate me. I spent time leisurely. Now I am doubtful if I will be able to achieve what I wanted as the no. of days have suddenly shortened.

Every time I miss on plan, I remember an incident from my job days where I was in the committee of people arranging for business event for the employees and I saw my manager going by nanoseconds( OK, I exaggerated but it was surely in seconds), on each event timing and execution. Initially I thought, what a fool he is to be so pricking but after the wonderful success of the event I realized how right he was and what role his thorough plan played.

Unless I change myself it is going to happen repeatedly. As said in one quote "Life will keep repeating the lessons until you learn from it".

Why Start Early

Recently I learned the importance of "starting early". One morning I woke up at my first alarm and not waited for second alarm which was due 15 mins later. I told myself, "Amit, it is good to start early" and I was up and got myself ready for the conference I had to attend in Boston.

After I got ready, I waited for public transport but none were in sight and when I looked up their website, it was day off for them. Little anxious, I called up campus police for escort service and they were not servicing either. The lady police suggested if she could get me cab but I said "No, it will be very expensive. Thank You." Now, I decided to walk to railway station as it would take 45 mins which means I will be reaching 3 mins before my train departs from my station.

The good part was, I was not anxious but very calm and steady. With confidence to catch the train, I was walking briskly and kept my GPS on to help me correct in case I was going in wrong direction or path which was not shortest. On the way I asked a lady (who was about to enter her car) for directions to train station just to be doubly sure. My mental directions got confirmed and I resumed my journey. After sometime, while walking down the street I saw the same lady waving and asking if I need ride and I said "Only if you are going in same direction" and hopped inside she car. A small talk followed where she said "I still believe in giving lift to people even though the world has become a big crime place now". I nodded but at the same time got into thinking, "The problems are the same be it India or US. US is 100 times safer than India in terms of police response to crime but look here I am meeting someone who is bothered with the exact same thing what people back home are bothered with. Isn't life problems are similar(if not same) everywhere." Anyways we reached the station and I bid he goodby and thanked her. Next I had to wait for half and hour for my train. In the mean time I spent time reading a conference paper my professor asked me to read and give my opinion.

Coming back to the motivation of this blog, I realized that this control over the situation is due to the fact that I woke up in the first alarm and not waited for final alarm to buzz. This gave me lot of time and I was capable of absorbing any unforeseen situation. Doing things early could be boring and its benefits are mostly unnoticed until we start cramming in last moment which results in stress and anger and frustration and god knows what not.

P.S. It takes me more than one experience to change and hence I am not sure if this will change me.

I Dare

Let the New Year Begin with many Dares...

P.S : NYE = New Year Eve.

When High Priority ≠ First Thing to Do

Like a rational mind, I had my plans in order of priority for this ongoing vacation. Things which I thought of high-priority were put on top and things with medium put on bottom. Sounds perfect, right? Well, I don't know about you but I have discovered that vacations are not same as regular days. Vacations are time when if you pick up boring stuff, you could go on and on w/o coming to any conclusion until it becomes dire need. It needs lot of discipline to do boring stuff early in time and no pressure. I have yet to reach that level but for now let's consider I am normal normal.

I started reading a subject (Let's call it S-2) which I like, in the beginning of the holidays and I thought, wow, I am actually utilizing my vacation. I was able to utilize around 50% of the time. One day my roommate suggested that I should rather focus on subject S-1, considering that is higher priority than subject, S-2. That put me into thinking and I started loosing time. I thought that my roomie has a point and I should indeed do S-1 before S-2 at the start of vacation. But there is a caveat. None of them have deadline before start of college so I could play around the schedule and still reach in time. (S-1 is connected with college course while S-2 is an independent study )

I took his advise, moved S-1 on top and kept S-2 away. S-1 didn't had great start and I was fine with it. Slowly I was loosing interest in S-1 and eventually I was dragging myself, losing days. Simple reason, I don't enjoy S-1 as much as S-2 but to take up S-2 over S-1 was tough. You see, I invested time in S-1 and couldn't go back to S-2 just because I like it. But, today I should say, during vacation its better to start with things we like to do than things we don't enjoy. That way we would not waste time on some mundane thoughts of priority as it hardly matters when in vacation. I have decided to record what I have learned & explored in S-1, keep it handy so that when I resume it after finishing S-2, I will have a background and not clear puzzled head.

So, after all this, the plan of action is, I am going to spend coming two days preparing myself for upcoming conference in computational geometry and after I am done, start with S-2, finish that up and then take up S-1, since I will be pushed not by interest but by deadline to finish S-1. As always, don't know if this is going to work but let's try it out and I will come back with how it went.

Giving an example of a sailor who doesn't have modern compass, its only with time he will know where did he go wrong and the sooner he change his direction, the better are chances he will not be laughed at through generations for his foolishness.

What do you think could have helped me realize that before or how do you think I should have drawn my initial plan? Do let me know.

Take Care.

Happy Holidays with Video Podcast.

Do let me know if you liked it. Not sure how it came out as I can see the image blurred :P.

Bbye.

Waiting for Holy Onsite Opportunity for Years.

If you don't understand what the title means, possibly you wont understand what I am going to speak below, but if you wish, read on.

ONSITE, chance to work on client position which is usually US, UK or other developed countries, is portrayed as the coveted Champions Cup which each IT Professional needs to win. For many first timers, the lure is of visiting these so-called developed nations where the general perception is, that robots will be seen flying in sky and everyone is super happy as shown on Hollywood movies and it is easy to hook up with the opposite sex and then a small interest in some corner of the heart is to save some money(1$=50). From 2nd timer and above, it is the lure of money.

For both 1st & 2nd timer their bosses use this lure of ONSITE as golden pot which he or she is promised of either in the interview process or after slogging in job for months. Interestingly the distance between the gold pot never seems to increase. It is intelligently placed either the same distance or brought in close proximity to raise goosebumps and Managers will pronounce "You were too close this time, never mind keep trying".

You might observe that some of your friends are indeed getting the gold pot which bolster your confidence in the words of your manager and you keep going round and round and round in some infinite loop until one day you are awaken by a slap on your face. The figure could be rejections in marriage proposal due to low salary, your wife (lucky you.), your mirror reflections when you toothbrush sitting on toilet seat and in no hurry. For many, the realization is painful because it has costed them more Time than the goodness the ONSITE would have brought. As a result of which the employee is disgruntled, will get into arguments with boss and management and finally leave the company.

I am not going to talk about how much he is missed and managers eye opening experience but from the perspective of candidate. Now, coming back to our protagonist, he fails to understand many things like how not every manager is your father like and why he don't give damn to your career progress but is just interested in his/her own which means he would like to go Onsite before he gives you the opportunity (for reason read above). Second, the novice fails to realize that if the manager is dilly dallying ONSITE, then probably he is not worth the company's money which should actually ring a loud speaker to his ears that his skill knife has gone blunt and needs sharpening. He need to seriously look towards taking more challenging projects and move on with life. Getting too comfortable in one chair is understandable but even the chair is tired of your butt marks and wish to get some change. Take chance at least once in Life and you won't regret your cowardly self.

To me, Life is not "A Risk, A Success" but "Series of Risk, Series of Success".

Yatri (Traveller)

मंजिलें तोह मिल ही जाएँगी, भटक कर ही सही

गुमराह तो वोह है जो घर से निकले ही नहीं

-   Shivani Raina Facebook Feed.

From Homeless to Harvard

I am just moved by this movie called From Homeless to Harvard. It talks about Liz Murray, child to drug addicted parents and homeless but determined. She changed her life from nothing to something.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Murray

It is just big dream and she is perfect example of "Nothing is Impossible if you work Hard".