Exam Tension

Every six months, I have to sit for my semester examination which transforms my happy routine into a life of torture and despair. starting from the first semester, this examinations have haunted me more than my board exams , this was because i have heard that our great university has some wonderful reputation of checking answer scripts , and these ideas soon turned into a reality when my results were published, now every time i sit for this exam i try to answer in such a way that it is neither too bad nor to good, because i have realized that this is the only way to get marks as expected, if my answers are worse or better than the above, then i get unexpected marks whose probability does not follow any known distributions, this semester , due to some tension in our college, our syllabus was not finished properly and due to schedule of the practicals and the internal exams , we hardly had any time to study, so a week before the exam , i am in the same situation as the previous cases , although, i swear to study thoroughly every semester after it starts, now lets see what happens in this one

My Boradband Connection: A mystery which I haven't figured out yet.

Many of us think that the broadband services offered by BSNL are extremely advantageous due to the high broadband speed which they offer and also offering schemes that can be easily afforded by the general public. I have been using this service for 3 years now and to be candid, I never seen the full extent of the broadband service except for a few occassions. At first, I had 250 plan , which actually served as promised by BSNl but when I changed my plan to 600, my broadband connection started showing bugs. 1stly, BSNL assured 256 kbps speed in night unlimited which started from 2am in the morning to ended at 8, although the timing was horrible, I managed to set an alarm and tried using the unlimited scheme but to my disgust, the 256 kbps speed was not at all realised, rather it stuck to 20-30 maximum and even below 10 in many instances, to make matters worse, the link indicator in the modem started blinking slowly, and even if it got steady after a while it was back to its original in a matter of minutes. It started that day and has been haunting me ever since. If that is not enough, even if there is a touch of rain in the atmosphere the modem starts blinking , I understand the modem blinking in case of thunderstorms but for a touch of rain!!!!!!!!! thats ridiculous. Broadband connections are used to operate telephone and internet services parallely without hampering one another but when any call is recieved or anyone is called using my landline, the modem expresses its disgust by blinking thereby hampering internet services. An official from the BSNL told me that the boradband service will be more useful if my landline connection was more "clear", now what he meant by clear, I did not get, because our phone gets dead once in a while and the person reapiring it always say , this time I worked out your problem., though nothing happens. Now enough criticising the services, my boradband connection has problems and it would be wrong to say that the I never looked to change it. I have often seen schemes offered by other companies and then I realised that giving up my BSNL broadband connection will be a mistake. This is mainly because of the speed which it gives, even not in full efficiency its speed surpasses others , thereby making it the most seekes broadband connection.I have previously criticised its speed in case of the night unlimited but in normal time, it gives a speed from 60-190 Kbps which although is way below its quoted speed but still it serves a lot. Even in the case of night unlimited, I saw in very rare occassions giving speed in the range of 200 kbps. So to have properly downloaded files, I use torrent because , even if it gives very low speeds in cases yet and gives zero speed on disconnection , the download can be continued from where it left, this takes much time but since the process is a faithful one, I use it. Every morning when I start my download, I hope that today will be my lucky day hoping that my interner connection will be intact and rolling for at least 2/3 hours and fourtunately I haven't been disappointed a few times in the last 2 months. May be my modem and my connection is slowly waking form their long slumber !!!! and when they do I will be waiting for it.

Movie Review: Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen

Transformers 2: Revenge Of the Fallen was the sequel to the hit film Transformers released in 2007, then many of us did not watch the movie but still it became a great success in the West, it was directed by Michael Bay who is mainly known for his military based films like pearl harbour. Unlike the previous time , great things were expected from this sequel since the trailers of the film already won the hearts of millions watching it. I went to the theatre expecting that the trailer will be the tip of the iceberg and apart from a few hitches, I wasn't disappointed. Although the film was a bit long but it was exciting to the core. The story starts just after events of the first movie which shows the autobots working in co-ordination with military subduing left over enemy forces in the earth. Megatron who was the main antagonist in the previous flick now returns and this time he unites with the first decepticon called the fallen in a quest to destroy the sun and harvest energon which is the life force of the transformers. The action sequences in this part is much more elaborate than the predecessor. The cast remains the same with shia labeouf, megan fox, tyrees gibson, josh duhamel reprising their roles. although I do not understand the quality of acting in movies, I still thought that most of the actors did a good job. the voices of the robots were also nicely done with peter cullen and hugo weaving continuing the roles of optimus and megatron. the music of the film was also quite well composed and the song "new divide" by linkin park has already received positive feedback worldwide. the transformations of the robots were also shown in details , the credit of which obviously goes to the visual and special effects team. now, nothing is perfect in this world and transformers 2 is also one of them, one obviously being the length of the movie , apart from that some sequences which may not be suitable for minors . the transformers are comic book characters so it is expected that a large section of the movie viewers would be children or boys and girls who have just entered their teens, considering that the director might have tried to reduce those sequences, but like I said, nothing is perfect, to be fair to the movie maker, he added things which will give us the fun. but I recommend watching this movie, firstly, transformers 2 being one of the most anticipated movies of 2009, 2ndly the stunning visual and special effects, 3rdly, watching huge robots leaping, rolling here and there and last but not the least MEGAN FOX , her beauty is increasing exponentially with each movie and the film makers knowing this, utilized it quite superbly (if you see the movie, you will realise what I mean), although her acting may not be up to the mark, yet her appearence in the screen is always greeted with loud cheers form the audience. so guys, stop watching this movie in your dvds and go the theatres to watch it, the movie looks much better in the large screen than in the small TV or computer screens, I realised it when I went to the theatre, so summarising , transformers 2: revenge of the fallen rocks and I eagerly await for its sequel which will be released in 2012, since michael bay said that he needed a break form robots fighting among themselves.

THIS REVIEW IS ENTIRELY BASED ON MY JUDGEMENT REARDING THE MOVIE, ANYONE CAN HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION , TO JUDGE THE MOVIE I RECOMMEND YOU TO GO & WATCH IT IN THE THEATRES

Shopping Mall- a place , where I am always uncomfortable

Nowdays, window shopping is a phenomenon which is common among the young generation. For those who are not familiar with this word ,its nothing but roaming in departmental stores and shopping malls pretending to buy something but doing nothing, it is nowadays quite a passion among the youth (even me) specially with so many shopping malls growing up. Now enough criticising others, its time to say what I do when I go window shopping with my friends. I go with them with the intention that I will enjoy myself to the fullest and pretend to be as normal as possible but all efforts end in vain. Whenever I move inside any store, the security guard opens the door treating us like some special guests, also when I roam inside the store pretending to be a customer, I always feel uncomfortable thinking the people working in the store is imagining me to be some sort of a shop lifter and keeping a close watch on me, no matter how hard I try, I cannot help but feeling that way whenever I visit in any store in a shopping mall. I do not visit shopping malls very often since being a resident of Kolkata, my visits are mainly restricted to lake market, gariahat etc with my parents where they are the ones deciding what to do and I merely support them and I am needed when they ask me to choose something, to tell the truth I feel secured whenever I am with them but that is not the case when I am going to shopping mall with my buddies, this is one point. Another important thing is my inferiority complex, which haunts me whenever I go to any public place especially with my friends. My dressing sense is extremely poor, believe me, when I say poor, now whenever I go to a mall, I see people around me dressed well and I feel that I do not belong there, I feel alienated there and I feel that it would be better for me if I get out of there. I have tried hard to avoid this, still nothing seems to work for me. Now once, I analysed this , and soon realised that fault lies in my attitude and I am trying to change it. I have now decided to visit shopping mall at evey possible chance hoping to cure my "feeling alien" disease.

My experiences while playing prince of persia: two thrones

when I was in class VIII, computer games occupied most of my leisure times, it started with Roadrash and now its still continuing in full swing currently with NFS. I can descirbe myself as a below average gamer. till now I have played about a hundred pc games and among them the prince of persia series enthralled me the most. it all started with the 2D prince of persia which often saw me making fruitless attempts to procced further and I removed the 2 prince of persia game becuase in both of those 2 I was left stranded at a partiuclar place. in 2003 pop:sands of time came out, i saw its trailer in TV and i never believed that the stunts in the game could actually be performed by pressing some buttons. when in 2nd year, i somehow as able to gather all the 3 parts in the sands of time trilogy and started playing the trilogy which has already received worldwide apprecation for its stunning gameplay. i started with the last part i.e 2 thrones and in the 1st few levels , i found it increasingly tough to time the "Speed kill" and making certain leaps and had to go through several walkthrough videos until i finally got the mood of the game but still i was stuck at many places and i had to download walkthrough videos since watching the same videos in you tube time and time again made no sense. the puzzles in the game for a pop begineer like me seemed difficult and when it came to boss fights I was a total looser and had no no option but to watch each walkthrough video about 10 times, inspite of that i was stuck with that kicking lady in the brothel and had to seek the help of my friend to overcome it, after a few levels i came accross the twin level which left me dumbfounded...believe me when i say dumbfounded, i also realised that why the health upgrades were given, i had to start the game right from the beginning and this time after having encountered all these before i made decent progress and even crossed the brothel level by myself (only after a baffled stare from my father who saw me frantically pressing the "enter" key), before i came to the twins level, i saw its walkthrough video about 50 times and this time surprisingly crossed in on the 1st attempt (boy, that was my lucky day), after that i proceeded and quite well and completed the game, surprisngly noticing that the final boss was a bit of a wimp since the battle with him was rather long and not hard. before playing this game i read its reviews , which stated that it has a wonderful blend of puzzle solving and combat, also the the levels got tough progressively , except for the tein battle, i recommend evey gamer to play this game, the comabt sequences involving the dark prince are quite magnificent and exciting, also if played with proper graphics card the landscapes are a pleasure to watch, finally the new stealth kill feature is also quite exciting but this soon turn into a nightmare once you fail to time it properly, also in one of the cut scenes farah is telling the dark prince ," i've seen the way you hunger of comabt", now why i dont know i liked the phrase "hunger for combat", and there were instances where i shouted these words without any reason often leaving my parents thinking about my mental state, even i shouted these word once in my sleep, luckily only mother heard it and she kept it secret... this is till the best 3rd person game i have played, and currently i am playing warrior within, i will share my experiences once i have completed but one thing ubisoft promised that the combat in warrior within will be breathtaking and till now they haven't bragged a single word,its truly breathtaking, i really hope to finish it soon.

"education for all":a nonsense

recent statistics reveal that west bengal is one of the states having lower percentage of people who have passed the secondary board exams. the percentage is only above jharkhand,chattisgarh whom we consider as illiterate states. keeping view of this information, the west bengal government has started a plan that will reduce the number of school drop outs, employ teachers to improve the performance of the students who are lagging behind and also certain changes in the secondary syllabus that plan to relieve the students of the huge academic load which they had to endure in the old syllabus. unfortunately such implementations only took place in the urban schools and some in the towns that contained schools having some sort of infrastructure, here it was noticed that the teachers were told to collect information regarding the no of dropouts, the no. of unsuccessful candidates, etc. the humourous part of such a process is that, it lacked the proper driving force where it was mostly needed- the villages. there the poor infrastructure, high percentage of incompetent teachers and some other influences..made the situation a standstill. the money for such a scheme was provided by the central government and hence large amount of it was engulfed by some unknown agents.the state government however showed the authourities the progress in the cities and towns claiming that they are making proper usage of the money . the society is itself detoriating, the government is only concerned about how to win the elections and hence preventing the villagers a proper education, which will help them to think independently and perhaps make them vote against the government.. lbut one should know that one of india's main problem is population explosion, which is mainly caused by illiteracy,apart from that child death,dowry system,women torture..all are consequences of this illiteracy. these problems are gradually penetrating more and more into the rural society , which helps no one. west bengal once remained the cultural captial of the country ..but it has progressively detoriated from its status and the latest problems ar helping it no more. superstitions is another curse which has its ugly influence over the rural society, it remains the cause of death of many but none of them had the courageto complain the authourity since they are of the belief that they are in the mercy of god. the only way to eradicate such belief is to enlighten them with the influence of education, but the government thinking that saving their vote bank is of primal importance doesnot let it happen..already a portion of the ruling party was fed up with the incessant ignorance of their high-society counterparts and formed another party which aims at eliminating ruling party members who stand in their way, the main reason behind heir rebel attitude was poverty, illiteracy..which is currently prevailing in rural westbengal..its high time that the govenrment put their hands up and intend to rectify the situation otherwise they may have to encounter a rural rebellion that will be too hot to handle.

IPL: ruining or enriching cricket?

Ipl was BCCI's answer to ICL.It constitued 44 days of non-stop entertainment, and virtually reduced the TRP ratings of soap operas.IPL witnessed some spectacular cricket actions and ultimately the under dogs rajasthan royal stole the show being lead by the spin wizard shane warne. the tournament ends but some questions steal remain. what did it do, to improve the standard of indian cricket? most of the selections were done on statistics and performances that were in a mini version of the game where the dazzlers steal the show.one may argue that many played proper cricketing shots and excelled there..but guys those were the ones from international cricket. if we consider our guys from the domestic level , most of them applied cross-batted shots to score runs..which may help them in 20-20 but not everyday in 50-50 or the test cricket.even the selections of bowlers were not justified..manpreet goni was favoured , pragyan ojha was selected but ashoke dinda, yo mahesh, dhawal kulkarni were not far behind. selectors said that goni was a better batsman but in indian cricket we need bowlers, the purpose of all-rounders can be served by many in the indian team, if even some-body says quality allrounders, then guys the only 2 quality all rounders of indian cricket were ravi shastri and kapil dev, the one with true potentail was irfan pathan and he is an automatic pick for one dayers. so the question still remains..what did IPL do?

yah rite, it provided us with entertainment..that what should it be restricted to, not the criteria for selection. also its chairpersons are presenting some irressitible offers to cricketers,cricket is now an important source of livelihood, so enticing cricketers with money often prelude them in accepting the offers, thereby ruining the classic forms of the game. also not only that ,such offers are often detrimental to spirit of patriotsim in cricket..players are getting more interested in playing for IPL rather than representing their nation. IPL also winessed the birth of corporate culture in cricket, which to my mind is rubbish, sportsmen aren't machines or employees so that they can be fired or hired at will..excelling requires certain things that often are governed by luck..no CEO/FRANCHISE/OWNER can set its rules..so from some incidents it may seem that if IPL fever had incorporated some unwanted things in cricket. but overall its huge success and its spectacular, spell-bound entertainment impressed the world a lot and it is heard even people are trying to organise it twice a year, this is stupid, too much of anything is bad for if that happens cricket will lose its glory..but once in a year is fine. so keep on watching IPL but respecting the classical version of the game.