College Queries

I am amazed to see a lot of people enquire about colleges over the internet itself. Apart from students checking out websites and registering for the entrance exams, they get in touch with the Alumni or students of the colleges through forums and chat rooms or in my case through blogs. Their interest is ofcourse to know about the college from the students point of view rather than the publicity or newspaper ads put up by the colleges.

The enquiries are pretty general. A few are as mentioned below:

• How many company placements are done when one finishes the college?
• How good are the faculty and departments in the college?
• What are the facilities provided by the college once a student takes admission?
• Infrastructure of the college is worth while or not?
• If attaining any rank in the entrance exam which branch will one get?
• How is the cultural environment in the college?
• What is there to do during the lesiure hours in college?

As for my college, Vellore Institute of Technology has been performing beautifully in the admission front. In the last few years the number of applications forms for college admission was as follows. In 2004 admissions only 8000 application forms were purchased. In 2005, the number jumped to 44,000 where as the amount of application forms this year went upto 87,000. The price of the application form is not cheap either. The current application form for B.Tech degree admissions is Rs 650 will for B.Sc is Rs 350. The college does make a lot of money off these but they even play their part in putting up more examination centers around India. Even in our college case, this time the centers had increased upto 17 locations all around India.

The education sector has reached a whole new level. Everything can be done through the internet and the colleges in USA and UK are one of the best examples. They provide for prospectus and details from the websites. They go into full details to explain what are the procedures. In India, the colleges put up websites just for publicity and in some cases donot give enough details, making people to write emails for more enquiry. Colleges and Universities should make it way more easier for parents and students to enquire as the admission process is really tiring. More development should be done so that future applicants and prospective students find it easier and more comfortable in applying.

Rainy Weather in Cybercity

Bangalore has been seeing some exceptionally good weather with rain spells for the past few days. In the evenings for the past 4 consecutive days there has been strong breezes prior to the rain. Now this has improved the nights as the temperatures have been quite pleasant. With this kind of weather there is supposed to be some great smiles of happiness but what can one say especially in Bangalore.

The traffic conditions deteriorate and the true conditions of the road are seen. Currently in Bangalore major road projects are underway like putting new layers and extensions of many roads throughout Bangalore. I have seen lots of roads getting extended and even that extension of the road has been asphalted. But I guess no one can use that section of the road as there are electric poles which have not been shifted. Now extending a road, works but without moving the poles is useless. Ofcourse the problem is the huge amount of money needed to move the poles as the wire are live. How can a project like extension of a road be passed without the full consideration and understanding?

The next issue is of the Autorickshaws which was supposed to have improved since the hike of the auto fares from Rs 10/km to Rs 12/km. Currently most of the autos have time till the end of May to get their meters tuned to the new rates. Many have got themselves tuned along with placing their Identity placards on the auto to state that they are registered. But during the last few rainy days has shown something else regarding them. On Friday evening around 7:30 pm when I wanted to return from Forum Mall to my house 3 kms from there, I usually take an auto which I easily get. But on this day, after 50 empty autos passed, (ofcourse rejecting to take me) by then I was able to get an auto which took me around 40 minutes. All the empty autos had their meters up which meant that they were for hire but none agreed to go once I told them the destination. Not only me, there were 10-15 other people waiting to get an auto. Even the ones standing there were not agreeing. In some cases, autos came and demanded for 'One and half or Double meter' rates. Now I really want to understand why is it that after the hike of rates and watch kept by the traffic police still leads to the Auto drivers being arrogant. During Rainy weather the price hike by autos is always seen and they really take advantage of the helpless nature of the people.

If this is the way how Bangalore works then I guess there is no use of the advancement or more modernisation of this city. The ever increasing population has already been a challenge but then again the pending projects which the government takes its own sweet time to finish is also useless. Currently speed and immediate attention to things will get the whole process moving.

My current Status

It's been quite a while since I wrote any post on my blog. I had been on journey and was visiting my parents. The trip was hectic as I took a flight with lot of transit points. While returning to Bangalore, I had stop overs at Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and finally landed on HAL Airport Bangalore. Anyways the trips are alright but I still suffer sometimes from Jetlags and fatigues.

Anyways since I returned, I was kind of a little busy so have been putting less time on the blog. But I ofcourse have tons of things to write about. Also this month's Rave Magazine is out which has come out after 2 months. As I am not subscribing the magazine, its sometimes hard to find. But a good list of new musics and songs have been mentioned. By the way the Head office of Rave Magazine is in Bangalore on Richmond road.

Also this month's Digit Magazine has a lot to offer with reviews of MP3 Players and Speakers (2.1, 4.1 and ofcourse 5.1's) It gives a good insight and options for people looking into buying economical speakers. As for me I have a Mercury 5.1 which I had puurchased in 2002 and it still can blow me away with its power. It had been economical at that time. I guess now in 2006 better choices will be there for people.

Another good stuff to read is the Reader's digest as they provide a lot of hilarious jokes and also beautiful articles. I keep seeing lots of people taking up GRE and Vocab books for strengthing their language skills. But seriously if they spend time on this digest it can do a lot good especially for the school kids as it's worth for them to read.

So I hope everyone is ready as I am back with information on different things for people and ofcourse am going to write about my journeys, good and bad times and other things.