CDAC: My Second Home (Part Seven)

April: Trip to Tikujiniwadi

Sitting on the stairs

Eight months passed doing a lot of stuff. Knowledge-wise I got to know new concepts. Career wise I got a glimpse of how the interviews would be and how soft skills do matter a lot. On a personal front, I learn how to be a part of unknown crowd and make friends and try to accept people with their pros and cons. I usually sat on the stairs alone and thought of what-next. What if I do not get a job after doing this course? All my friends got jobs by the end of 2010, some even got married by the end of 2011 and I was called a jobless single by many, sometimes even loved ones. It was a self taken risk; no one to blame. In such situations of uncertainty, I remember the quote...

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

And I get back to work.

The month started with Web Quiz. It was very tough for me. We even had a project review wherein many corrections were suggested by the reviewers. And we had to complete the project by mid-Apr. So there was lot of pressure. And the series of sleepless nights working for project in the lab began. EJB lectures were on. We had to study for the EJB Quiz also. Again a day prior to it, there was power-cut to wish us good luck. I did not have a laptop; somehow managed to study using the notes. At last the project was complete and we did present it to examiners on 20^th. This marked the end of ADWE module. Such a stressful three and a half months. Once the presentations’ were done everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

On 21^st, CDAC arranged for a trip to Tikujiniwadi for our batch. On the very same midnight, our doorbell rang. “Who the hell has come at this point of time? After a tiring day, a peaceful sleep was desperately needed!!” Bhavya opened the door and to our surprise it was Namrata and Sunita. They booked a room in the hostel for that night. What a much needed sweet surprise it was; brought smile on our (myself and Bhavya) sad faces. We spent an hour doing masti; then decided to sleep as we had to leave early morning for the trip. This was not the first time for the Girlies to enjoy in the Room no. 201. Ritika, Sunita and Namrata had frequent visits here. We had to make an entry in the register of the Security guard who was on duty between the first and second floor of the hostel. The reason we wrote was “Study”. Every time Namrata came to the room; she used to politely take off her sandals at a corner. Then she used doze off on my bed using my pillow and blanket, putting her specs on my table. Rest of us then used to trouble her and make her join the fun. I even played carrom and chess with her in the T.V. room. Not to forget those evening rounds.

We had breakfast in the morning at 7am and then left CDAC at around 7.30am. Two CDAC buses were arranged: one for students and one for the staff. Litty brought her kid, Rushil. Laxmi, Ritika and Neha could not join in. Sharvari was there for company. I got to see the Thane-Panvel route railway stations. Till noon we were in water slides. We had our lunch and rested for an hour at the location. Lunch was Chinese food, my favorite. Post lunch, we got into other rides. Those rides were scary but we both had fun. We could not cover all the rides because 5pm deadline was given to us. We assembled at the same location and departed to CDAC. We reached around 8pm and had delicious dinner. The day was memorable.

 

The next and last module OOSP (Object Oriented Analysis and Design and Software Engineering with Project) began in the last week. Urja Ma’am gave an energetic start to the module with introduction of OOAD and UML. She even explained some of the UML diagrams in details. The overall module was going to be supervised by Ranjith Sir and Cini Ma’am, both from CDAC Juhu. Both were very friendly with all of us. Again we have to make a project. Now the team size was big. We were divided into four groups. The members in my group were: I, Litty, Sharvari, Laxmi, Pratham, Karan, Madhur, Ashley, Ram Maurya and Abhijit Avhad. Our project title was Online Retailers’ Portal. Ranjith’s group and Naveen’s group got projects from Sasi Kumar Sir. Niket’s group was going to do Online Tests.

CDAC Kitchen:

One fine evening after dinner, three of us (I, Bhavya, Neha) wished to see the CDAC kitchen. We were welcomed by chef Birje uncle. They showed us all the containers, juicers, mixer grinders, toasters, etc. We got to know where rotis were made, where rice was cooked, where Chinese was done, etc. The kitchen was damn clean. Everything at its place; after all it’s the CDAC kitchen.

May: Re-Exams and Revisions

The project result was out on the very first day and I was not at all happy with my marks. I was irritated, angry, disappointed and what not. The ADWE module increased the distance between me and the trophy. But all happens for good; I did put my 200% in the final module. All the Re-MGPAs were going to be conducted on Saturdays and I was there in the lab to help others to clear their doubts. Lectures were on as usual. Cini Ma’am took rest of the UML diagrams and Design Patterns. Ranjith Sir took Software Engineering and the SDLC models. On 4^th, we did hands-on the new avatar of Parikshak. The C Re-MGPA was on 5^th; only Sudhanshoo and Shivshankar cleared it. We had OOAD Quiz on 10^th. I was well prepared for it. The next Re-MGPA was Java on 12^th; many cleared it. But there was an exception: Niket and the one X. Since he did not clear, there were no celebrations in the hostel that Saturday night. 

The next set of lectures were on Software Architecture; taken by Padmaja Joshi Ma’am. She was also our project guide then. I scored highest in OOAD quiz. We completed with the Requirement gathering and Analysis and Design of the project. Again the usual tit-bits while doing the project; I want to do this only; I will not do this, etc. We had to complete most of the work during day because no one was hostelite, except me. Other groups were also working on their projects. This Ranjith made Pratik write countless stored procedures. Namrata had to keep changing the CSS. Anshu’s UI design was talked about by all. Pratham used to co-ordinate from home for the JS. Shivshankar was group leader. So his team members used to call “Pathak ji” from every section of the lab for checking the project work.

The Math’s Re-Test was on 19^th; many cleared this time. I was helping out others during this re-tests; indirectly I was revising the concepts. I realized the same at the end of month. Finally I was able to submit the Paragraph Formatting program (that became a story during my interview! You will get to know in coming parts). It was Laxmi’s birthday on 24^th and all the Girlies celebrated it at McD Kharghar. Neha and Laxmi went ahead on her AVIVA scooty. Ritika had already ordered a cake. We (I, Sharvari, Bhavya, Ritika, and Namrata) got the parcel and left for McD in Litty’s car. Boys were lazing out on the grass on either sides of the CDAC gate. All were astonished looking at the car. We gifted the bday girl with a photo frame and card. Happy meal was ordered and yes Icecreams!! It was truly a Girls Day Out. Many photos were clicked and posted on Facebook making the boys more jealous.

Bhavya, Neha, Litty, Laxmi (bday girl), Namrata, me, Ritika, Sharvari

The last Re-MGPA was of DS on 26^th; few could clear it. The lectures on Testing were taken by Shweta Tyagi, she was our senior. Then the testing team started the testing of our projects. And again the arguments between Testers and Coders were on. The CDAC Placement cell was decided based on voting. Abhishek, Ritika and Sharvari were given the responsibility to call companies for campus placement. Naveen, Nirgun and Piyush were given responsibilities to look after everything during the placement interviews. We got forms to submit our latest data. The Placements were about to start from mid-June. So all were damn serious now; no fighting’s, no time pass, no project work, only study, only study!!!

Read next: CDAC: My Second Home (Part Eight)