My experience with Microsoft and why Cisco rocks!!!!
Its once again back to examination time for me. After 4 years of "write the exam----go to the temple and promise I will study better the next time around----wait for the results-------then after the results who the heck cares!!!!" syndrome, I am back writing various certification lol this time around they are international certifications and the great one (who else? me of course) is doing his own self study.
My first exam was a Microsoft exam (Win server 2003). I called up NIIT and the conversation was itself so funny. I started talking in Tamil and he responded back in english. I talked back in english and he snapped the phone down. (May be my English has become too bad, because of my German influence !!!! who cares ). I once again called him and spoke this time in english and then he answered back in tamil. I too answered back in tamil.....lo this time around he didnt snap up. Buoyed with the initial success I managed to fix up the dates.
Then came the D day I went to the NIIT center and there was no one in the reception nor in any of the nearby rooms and somehow I went to the online exam conduction room.
There was only one lady and she was busy speaking on the phone, I was standing just opposite her and was really nervous. 10 mins still there was no sign of her noticing me.Finally I went and told that I want to write the exam. She immediately disconnected the phone and rushed inside. What the heck was going on??? She then came back brought a big sheet and asked me to fill it up. I obliged and then she went back and came after ten minutes and told me to leave all the valuables in the locker. I was still in a state of shock.
Later I was taken inside the room and I was given a PC. Now is the funniest part!!! I clicked the only available icon and guess what? instead of the exam there was a survey!!!! I was frustated that I wanted to kick the PC!!!. Again I went out of the room and then lol again she was busy with the phone. But i went straight and yelled yeah literally yelled to her that the exam is not starting. Then she went to the PC and did something and again just pointed me to the computer. This time luckily the exam started and I finished the exam. Now comes the biggest part
She had mistyped my name and it came out on the exam result and when I pointed out this to her she had no idea about what i was talking and I had no idea about what she was talkig ( may be my english is really that bad) btw I finally came out of the center. My god!! I was still a touch nervous and no marks for guessing what that lady was doing while I was on my way out!!!
Why I am writing all this is because two months back i took the Cisco exam and the whole process was so organised. I was asked to come 1 hour earlier, my name and adress was typed on the registration form in front of me and I was asked to verify the name and etc and the proctor came all the way and helped me with the initial registration process and so on.
Therefore Cisco is Cisco and MS is MS
Today for the first time in my college life I missed my college bus. Generally I catch up the last bus in my route, but today I was so late that I was not even able to catch up with that. I was swearing at my cell phone. Btw the reason for me missing the bus was my cell phone!!! No not my laziness!!!! I set up alarm n my cell and today the cell phone ran out of battery so I continued with my castle building!!!
Today I had to go to college. I couldn’t bunk it since I had a very important lab session. So I decided to go by public transportation. That was by any means no easy job. I had to take an auto to reach the bus stand, and then take a bus ride for half an hour and finally walk for 15 mins. The very thought of this will make even the most sincere and dedicated student put off the idea of going to college that day. But then I decided to embark on the great adventure.
Immediately I found an auto to the bus stand. The ride was for 10 mins. I being the talkative type just enquired him what he felt about the traffic in our locality. The auto driver started talking about the traffic, the traffic police whom he bribed, the little kid whom he almost ran over, the old men who gave him Rs. 50 instead of Rs10 and he hates engineers (Aaaagh!!! I am studying B.E.) Because in his locality there are more engineers than masons. He badly needs a mason to construct a wall in his house. Finally there was this “govt trashing” for increasing the petrol prices. Luckily there was less traffic and I was able to go to the bus stand quickly. This guy literally ate my brain!!
Now, bus stand is one place where you can see different genres of people. It was only 7:30, but still the stand was full. There were the young corporation school students in their trade mark white shirt and khaki trousers (“trousers are their slang for the shorts which they wear”) with hawai slippers with half open bags. Also near the bus stand there was this young girl looking disinterested, standing with her mother to catch her school bus, her mom holding her posh “tweety” school bag and matching lunch box.
There was also this queer guy walking towards the bus stand talking with someone!!! Yeah I thought he was crazy!! But as he neared me I could see his wired earset. Meanwhile the bus came and even before it stopped everyone tried to enter the bus. I entered the bus and took my favourite seat which is just opposite the conductor.
These are the new buses introduced by MTC and the conductors are supplied with the ticket printing machine which they still don’t know how to use it. This particular conductor however was different; he was using the ticket printing machine with such awe and passion like he has just bought a new Mac laptop. Within 5 mins just 5 mins he was able to tender ticket and change to everyone in the bus.
I have the tendency to notice very funny incidents. One guy glued to his earset, got up from his place and came a few steps back to ask when his destined stop would arrive, the conductor told him it will take another 15 mins, the guy turned back and went to his place and Voila, someone else has occupied his place and I didn’t know whether I should laugh or I should feel sorry for this guy.
Finally my stop came and I got down and crossed the OMR highway and walked to my college.
Thinking back, I experienced real life during this travel. Every other day I would disinterestedly catch up my college bus sit in a corner seat and probably sleep. But today I felt really active throughout the day.
May be I should switch off my cell phone every day before I sleep!!!!!!!!!!
Creepy shadows under the sky of knowledge………
Over the last 5 years, something that really impressed me was the 24/7 news channel. It was a blitzkrieg revolution that really changed the way prime time television was in the preceding decade. Over a period of time it became a medium of education…..yeah u read it correctly!!! A medium of education for lots of people, people suddenly became aware of what is happening over the world and it helped them to get together.
Everything good should have something bad…That’s a real theory of the universe!!!! Today the news channels are more of sensationalisation and glamor, u don’t really know whether u are watching a news channel or whether u are watching a 24/7 entertainment channel. Is it really important to discuss about a film’s success or failure during prime time?...when, there are kids wandering on the street, forced to sell tickets in black just because of poverty. Do we really need to know how many people ate during some big star’s wedding?....when there are scores who don’t even get a decent morsel of food everyday. And do u really need to cover about some xyz fashion shows, when people on the streets are wandering with bits and pieces….
I do realize, and accept the fact there are lot of “successful impact” stuff done by the media. But then in the name of popularity and TRP ratings sometimes these channels just overdo a lot of things that really undermine the very objective of the media. Once, three different channels had three different types on the same news and this not only confuses people it reduces the trust that we place on them. In the name of competition, they tend to doctor certain statistics. If these trends are allowed to go on, then we may end up having a news channel with more drama and entertainment with less news on them.
And by the way there is also a competition among all these channels to put the best music tracks for their opening and the closing theme and also a deep competition within them to really complicate certain news stuff. !!!!!Its like making common cold look like pneumonia!!!!!
So, I believe that the unwanted weed growing out, should be cut before it could really spoil the very meaning for which the channels are setup for……
