India saw some tough times in 2008 with bombs blasts / terrorist attacks in Mumbai, New Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmadabad… All of them bring on a flurry of travel advisories from foreign countries, which gives a nice excuse for the SAT-wallahs to charge an extra security surcharge in India and Pakistan. Apparently we live in some kind of a war-zone according to them. Man do I live recklessly without a bullet-proof jacket. Now I know what my birthday gift should be.
We all know, of course, that the root of the whole problem is dustbins. Those things just kinda with absolutely no regard to whether a terrorist is hiding a bomb in them. Shame on such dustbins. I fully support Dilli Pulis in the steps it took earlier in overturning all dustbins. People don’t get it, but it was a two-pronged strategy to save the city and make citizens healthier by making them walk all the way to garbage dumps to throw away waste.
Guilty until proven innocent
Intelligence sources have now confirmed that the bomb threat has passed. This is proved by the fact that dustbins across the city aren’t kept overturned any more. Rejoice people! We can finally crawl out of our bomb shelters, then call up long lost relatives to inform that we are OK.
That leaves just one question to be answered: आप को कैसा लग रहा है?
Seats available at VIT after first round of counselling
Some people have already had their counselling for admissions done, like those who qualified for VIT 1st round of counselling. These would have been the top 5000 students, so in case you have been called for second phase of counselling you should be aware of the number of seats left in each branch after the first phase.
Those who got their DCE CEE results today should be aware that if your rank is lower than 1000-1100, getting in will be well nigh impossible (and this is including ‘less’ in demand streams). Rank cutoffs for NSIT are usually higher because students who want to focus on computers / IT / electronics generally opt for NSIT.
Another option which opened up last year is IIIT Delhi (note the extra ‘i’). Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi belongs to the IIIT universities ‘series’ and functions independent of DCE / NSIT / DU. It’s functioning out of the premises of NSIT Delhi at the moment while its own campus is being built and teaches only CS / IT courses. No, it does NOT fall under IP University. Read this FAQ about IIIT Delhi for more details. IIIT Delhi conducts its own entrance examination – unique in its own sense because topics covered are English, maths, and logical reasoning. You need 80% and above in PCM Class XIIth Boards or an AIEEE rank of 10,000 or higher. Download IIIT Delhi 2009 admissions prospectus here – it contains the admission brochure, information about the entrance test, and sample question paper. IIT Delhi is mentoring IIIT Delhi (a lot of IIT-D faculty currently teaches at IIIT-D), but a lot of new professors are joining this year as full-time faculty. Unlike other Indian colleges IIIT doesn’t do a foundation course in the first year, instead choosing to dive straight into CS / IT subjects. (Unfortunately the application period for IIIT-D has closed.)
photo credit: .Zickie.Staying on the CS / IT topic, it’s true that there is a lot of demand for this. Going through the comments on my blog I find that many want to get into this. Now I know that many of your are genuinely passionate about IT, but in case you’re one of those folks who hasn’t really decided which branch to take up then this is time for some introspection. Are you choosing branches just because of what relatives are saying is a ‘hot’ career? The fact is, that in any field you join you have the prospect of an amazing career – if you’re ready to work hard and go that extra mile.
