Sunday, December 21, 2008

Hurray! nothing Works!

If you are wondering whether I have gone crazy, then you are quite right. Day before yesterday I had a very disturbed sleep. The only thoughts circulating in my mind were: first, whether I will be able to answer the volley of questions asked by the panel; second and more importantly, how will I convince the panel that I did put in genuine hard work but could not get any results.

Confused! Let me put matters in context. I had enrolled for an Independent Study project under Dr. Banerjee. Despite my best possible efforts under the various time and energy constraints, I got no results whatsoever. Zilch! Yesterday, I went to IIT prepared for the worst. There were other dual degree / B. Tech students making last minute changes to their code / presentations. All of us wrote our names, batchwise, on a paper. I was told there would be certain ordering in which names would be called out. As per that ordering, I was to be the last to present.

M. Tech students finish giving their presentations. Time for B. Tech students to present; but my name gets called out. I start the presentation and quickly move over to explain Kruppa equation and Modulus constraint methods. Thanx to Phani, I included these at the last minute. I tell that I implemented all methods but failed; also give some insight into why I failed. Fortunately, Dr. Banerjee is supportive. He tells that for the methods explored, it was more or less expected. Best part, the other profs in the panel dont ask much questions. Dr. Banerjee is also impressed with my presentation style (slideshow wise). Whats more, he remarks, that this is good work for an independent study. That made my day. I had got nothing to show, but things still worked out pretty well.

But what happened after that, was quite unexpected. Almost all students get “flayed” for not putting in good effort. Even though it did not matter much to me, it did make me realize how lucky I was. God seems to have graced me during the presentation, even though I would have really appreciated if He had graced me earlier too ;). Anyways the good part is that semester is over and I will get a much needed break. I am not bothered about what grade I get. Immediate goal is to get some results and do justice to Dr. Banerjee’s faith and support.