CDAC: My Second Home (Part Two)

October: Dangerous Data Structure and Magic Matrix

We had to complete minimum of seven assignments in order to appear for Java MGPA on 7^th. Many copied the programs of others and submitted. There was copy case detection software through which all these cases were detected. I was very angry, “Do we complete our programs for others to copy?” Shekhar Sir replied to this, “Do not blame the robbers, it’s your fault, you did not lock your home properly.” He then taught us about the chmod command. Gaurav Bhansali topped in Java Quiz and Piyush Singh topped in MFCS Mid Quiz. The Java MGPA 1 was again not completed by any of us. Chef Uncle Birje asked me, “Even you did not clear?” I said, “No.” I need to work harder. Exams are getting tough and also people are expecting good performance from me. I was good at numbers but not with string problems. 

The Data Structure lectures were taken by Sagun Baijal Sir. The sessions on Sorting Techniques were taken by Archana Ma’am. Post lunch Data Structure practical sessions were taken by Shivnath Sir and Manoj Sir. In MFCS, Theory of Computation was going on, by Akshay Sir.  Data Structures was an interesting subject. The basic element was the Node and then we have all rest starting from types of Linked Lists to types of Trees. The theory part was easy to understand but implementation of the same using Java was difficult. But this time everyone was seriously into doing the assignments. I was not able to make a Linked List!!! Then how will I submit the DS assignments and be eligible for DS MGPA 1 and how do I clear it!!! At last, Niket helped me out. Niket was like “Main hu naa”; he is always there to solve our doubts and explain concepts in simpler way. Another one was Shivnath Sir, who used to solve our doubts post practical sessions till 7pm and sometimes even after dinner.

We had one week Diwali vacation. Many stayed out of Mumbai; so all were set to go home after two and a half months. On 20^th, Bhavya and Neha left for home post lunch. Others left in groups for their trains, post dinner. Everyone was happy to go home, but it was not so easy to leave from CDAC. All the localites (including me) were still there in CDAC that night. We were discussing over this topic only; it’s going to be very hard on 31^st July. “Arey 31^st July is yet to come, why to bother right now, just make memories.” And I did make one memory by almost scaring Mithil that night. The next day, there was Diwali celebration in CDAC. All the staff was dressed in traditional attire. We made a flower rangoli at the reception area. In the evening the rest of us left for home.

We were so used to CDAC timings:

• Breakfast at 9am (each day something new, delicious, healthy dish to eat; we used to make guesses from the aroma while coming down to canteen; though parathas on Saturdays and toast sandwich on Sundays were fixed). Not to forget the bread butter and the toaster. I should proudly say, “Maine CDAC ka butter khaya hai”.

• Lunch at 1pm (included special delicacies on occasions and also Chinese food)

• Tea-time at 3.30pm (each day a different dish, similar to the Khau-Galli)

• Dinner at 7pm (this was too early, but we kind of got used to it; then the boys had 10pm chai and maggi parties and also not to forget the midnight snacks in the lab)

The week passed by. Everyone was back to CDAC on 30^th. On 31^st we had Java MGPA 2. The MGPA 1 was not cleared by anyone. So now this was our second and the only chance. I had a bet with Namrata. If I clear the MGPA, I will share my Dairy Milk (which I never do) with all. There was a lecture on Hashing in the first half. MGPA started at 1.30pm.

Question: Find the Magic Matrix. The input was a matrix of m*n. A magic matrix is the one which satisfies the following criteria (I have simplified the question; actual question had twist in it):

The size of magic matrix is (m-1)*(n-1), sum of all the rows should be equal, sum of all the columns should be equal, sum of the diagonals should be equal, sum of rows=sum of columns=sum of diagonal, and each element should be unique.

All the intelligent coders missed out the last criteria. We checked for the sum of rows and columns and diagonals, except the uniqueness. The MGPA result is irony in itself:

If you get    

    

 X.X.X.X.X.X.Y       

  

 then you are the happiest person, at least one answer is correct.

If you get       

  

X.Y.X.Y.X.Y.Y          

then you have mixed feelings.

But if you get              

 Y.Y.Y.Y.Y.Y.X          

then you are like “God, where the hell I went wrong?” It’s like getting out at 99 when it is only the century which counts. (Niket has experienced this the most).

It was the first time I got the above result, I was angry on the keyboard for no reason. An hour passed, Atul Chavan submitted his program and then Nirgun Dave. And I am troubling my brain, where my code is failing!! Many were getting stuck at the very same input. Shekhar Sir kept on repeating “Read the question carefully, you guys are close to it”. I must have read it 10 times by now. Another 55minutes passed, now I seriously read it word by word and found “unique”. I added this to the code and at 4.30pm, “Whew, my program is submitted!!!” Ranjith submitted around 5pm. As per the bet, I had to share my Dairy Milk. The happiness of clearing that only one X cannot be expressed. Only four of us could submit the program. The rest were disappointed, more after getting to know the unique constraint. So the hostel was quiet that night.

Shekhar Sir used to say, “It’s not that you are not a good programmer. Today was just not your day”. 

November: Wrapping up with programs and numbers

The last topic in DS was Graphs; it was taken by Shekhar Sir. In MFCS, Probability distribution lectures were taken by Prashant More Sir. We had to complete five assignments to be eligible for DS MGPA1, one from each set (Linked List, Tree, Sorting, and Graph). This time no copy case was detected. Only nine of us were eligible to appear for the exam, of which four cleared (me, Ranjith, Niket, Nirgun). Bhavya scored highest in DS Quiz and I scored the highest in MFCS End Quiz. We had open book test for MFCS and viva for PRGF. There was a Re-Quiz for PRGF and MFCS for those who did not clear in the Quizzes. Both the modules were completed.

The midnight birthday parties:

On 23^rd, we celebrated Shadab’s birthday. The birthday boys will obviously remember those birthday bumps (with sport shoes) and the Relispray and cakes (bought to decorate faces, not to eat). After this is over, we had the McD burgers as usual (got McPuffs once on request) and soft drinks. I was more of interested in writing messages in birthday cards; I still do it in our office as well. We really had good time playing Dumb Charades. We had singers like Gaurav Singh, Salman Khan, Ranjan Kumar (The Manoranjan of our batch). I still remember the duet sung by Shadab and Mithil on “Why this Kolavari di”. Mithil and Shadab were best buddies. Like singers, we had dancers too. “Sheila ki jawani” by Nitin Bathija was way better than Katrina Kaif. Not to forget the “Auro dance” by Nirgun. Sudhanshoo Mishra had his own dabang style. Even I sang some songs like “Yaaron dosti”, “Dil chahata hai”, etc.

Those were Golden days and nights, now as memories.

Read more: CDAC: My Second Home (Part Three)