The story of the 'untold' 'hirsute'

'I am sorry, you'll have to leave', said she with no efforts whatsoever to hide the hint of nonchalance. It was indeed baffling to find that a driving license aided with the institute identity card (the institute just happened to be an IIT) proved insufficient to confirm one's identity.

We(I and my friend. Co-incidentally, a third college-mate had also scheduled at the same time) were at the prometric (blah blah) center - the organization which conducts the GRE in Kolkata. Both of us had this queer and nervous enthusiasm about GRE and wanted to get over with it as soon as possible to be able to find how much we scored. We had reached the center not before making rounds around virtually the same plot of land twice in search of the Sarat Bose (Sarat Chandra .. ehh) Road - thanks to the great directions we got from the people around. The eerie quietude inside the air-conditioned room where we stood now was a bit disconcerting, for me atleast (I am never comfortable with falling temperatures, particularly when I had just come in after experiencing the famous Kolkata humidity).

But more than the milieu, the more pressing matter at that moment was the refusal to allow my friend to give the exam because he did not have his passport with him. This seemed outrightly unjustified to me. Is a passport the only identity proof which proves YOU are YOU? Ain't a driving license supplemented with an institute I-card more than enough? The logic fails me. Though, it would be incorrect on my part to blame the personnel there for this. It was our fault we did not read the instructions carefully enough to realize that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the sole countries where the passport is the ONLY accepted identity proof...huh!! I felt helpless trying to reason out with the staff; after all she was on the correct side of the rulebook. The disappointed expression on his face made me feel all the more bad - he is a good friend after all. I certainly feel that the rules could be relaxed slightly in cases like this where the genuineness of the person is irreproachable. After all, rules are to help make things better, not worsen them.

We had to relent, and he had to leave - shrugged. More than the 9-thousandish bucks spent for the test which now got forfeited (for what reason??), it was the futility of all the enthusiasm which hurt. Particularly, when this friend of mine was certain to do well too with all the preparation and hard work put into the build up.

Nevertheless, soon enough after he had left, I was shoved into the test room - again an air conditioned room with the temperature falling by another couple of degrees. Was given a brief on instructions and general rules pertaining to the examination and was soon seated in front of the monitor staring at my first set of instructions.

After quickly perusing through them, I started my issue topic which surprisingly turned out to have familiar keywords - 'formal education', et al (remember the 'Issue topic episode 1' post). Though it was slighty on different lines, but atleast it comforted me to find words I had dealt with no longer than 3 days back. I felt the Issue writing section was decent for me. Next, the Argument writing section was a breeze. I had not attempted such an essay before and therefore was a bit apprehensive about it. But found it quite easy and could point out the errors in the correlations the author drew.

At the end of the analytical writing section, I was satisfied with my performance - something which honestly speaking, I hadn't anticipated. A 10-minutes break followed in which I got the fan directed towards me switched off. By the time I returned on my desk, I took note of an ear-plug provided. I tested it and found myself comfortable in it. Immediately then, I began my next section, which to my surprise turned out to be the quantitative section. I did not know earlier that we could've got either the quant, or the verbal section first. This did stir me a bit, because I had been mentally prepared to deal with the verbal section first. But then, I had to give the test, couldn't have changed things.

I found the quant section to be of a level or two higher than the ones I had practiced from various sources. A bit of calculations were also involved in a couple of questions which were virtually absent from the mock tests I gave. At the end, I thought I might have faltered atleast in one question - something I did not want. But then this could be known only after completing the test and there wasn't time enough to fret about it then.

Moving on to the final verbal section, and this is when things started to go wrong. In the mock tests, I had realized my tendency to make mistakes in the beginning of the test. Knowing this fully well, I was extra-conscious this time - and probably that doomed me. I was asked an antonym in the first question, a straight-forward Barron's word. Unfortunately, in a slight instance of over-confidence, I went ahead with a word with a near-about opposite meaning and realized my mistake as soon as I clicked the 'confirm answer' button that the exact opposite word was given in one of the lower options. A loud "F&*$" was all that my mouth could utter. The blunder had been done and it was just the beginning. A first-question mistake is the worst thing you could do in GRE. You are heavily penalized for it - more than you can imagine. Something to the tune of as much as 30-40 marks depending on the question. At that moment, all those hours I poured into Barron's seemed to have become futile.

Within a couple of minutes, I encountered a question (this time an analogy) in which I hadn't heard words from two options in the answer options ever in my life. The other options were seemingly incorrect, and I had to go ahead with a pure guess. And the final nail in the coffin was a word so commonly used, but the question clearly wanted the test-taker to think of a secondary meaning of the word which he (that is, me) failed to. Barron's had left out that meaning too :( . This time, a pure guess from 5 options. Taking a humble figure of atleast 2 mistakes (shouldn't be more than 3 .. the rest of the questions were not that difficult) apart from these 3, I easily made a total of 5-6 mistakes which included a first-question mistake. I had realized this by the time I completed my test and knew my score won't be impressive at all - which was exactly what happened.

I just wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible. Just imagine the absurdity of having to fill a "feedback" form after such an experience before being allowed to leave. All in all, there were quite a couple of things to learn from today. Apart from the regret I have for having destroyed a chance to get a good, decent score myself; I hope I don't make such mistakes in such important junctures where a step here, a step there could make or break.

PS1: What's my score? Don't ask, don't tell...
PS2: Am thinking over re-appearing for the test .. what do you say?
PS3: Questions not revealed due to a clause in the test which prevents me to do so. Those who would go any lengths to know them, improvise.
PS4: GRE is one of the most money-hogging examinations undoubtedly.
PS4: I have a class test tomorrow .. and I don't yet know a thing :( Someone save me...

Update (around 12 hours after this post):
1. I'm already coughing!! damn those air conditioners :(
2. Wow test .. thanks to my aage-wala, peechhe wala and bagal wala :P

Issue writing episode 3

"The media (books, film, music, television, for example) tend to create rather than reflect the values of a society."

Media has always played a very important role in shaping up the society as a whole. It has been the most powerful agent ever which could change perspectives, instigate emotions, mitigate precarious situations, make someone an overnight hero or bring down stars to dust. Media has indeed often been guilty of having a predisposition to create, but it would be incorrect to say it hasn't been reflecting the values of society.

The pen is mightier than the sword. Truly said. Only that now the pen, apart from maintaining its own potency, has graduated into extended manifestations like the television and the internet which have only worked in media's favor. These newer incarnations have allowed a much wider scope of reaching out to various corners of the world at a much faster rate. And this has contributed into making media all the more important.

Media has indeed indulged in sketching characters and creating situations with which it sometimes becomes difficult to identify with. Characters like 'Harry Potter' and dracula while movies like 'The Dark Knight' present the creative best of the media which hardly reflect the values of society. But on the other hand, there are also examples of books like 'The God of Small Things' and movies like 'Hotel Rwanda' truly gather the essence of various aspects of humanity. ------

The tendency to create and to explore unchartered territories arises from the ingrained character of the human race to desire for what is not, to seek what has been elusive. Media caters to this demand and in the process does stray at times to create unreal characters. But, nevertheless, it won't be correct in its entirety to say they don't reflect the values of a society. Infact, many times it does happen that such characters are inspired from a living example. Also, mostly they are shown dealing with problems the society faces and the idealistic way of going about them.

Both in the past and in the modern times, media has certainly tended to go overboard in a few instances. The tendency to give too much emphasis on satiating the human urge to go beyond the truth of life gets underway at times. But never so much that they shirk from their fundamental responsibility to act as the society's mirror. It is said, our sweetest songs are those which say about our saddest thoughts. Indeed, this goes a long way to explain how media even if tending to create, do not completely lose track of the society's values.

The world has been on the path of progress socially and in the most harmonic way possible. If nothing, media can certainly be applauded for having played a major role in that. Yes, it has tended to create at more than one occasion, but saying it does not reflect the values of society and always relies on just superfluous creations would be stretching it too far.

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This is the essay topic I got in a test in the powerprep software sent by GRE conducting organization - ETS. Under timed conditions, this is what I could render. Not my best work, but I tried to be have a more poised approach instead of taking an extreme stand. But my first instinct after finishing the essay was that I had repeated ideas a lot. Let me know if you think that too.

PS1: 3 hours to take the train to home .. damn!
PS2: I realllllly need to be sure of the meanings of the words
PS3: I faltered in the verbal section which I gave immediately after this essay. I guess the 10 minutes break is indeed necessary.
PS4: I haven't yet attempted an argument-type essay :(

Issue writing episode 2

"It is often asserted that the purpose of education is to free the mind and the spirit. In reality, however, formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free"

I completely jibe with the statement that formal education does tend to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free, when its purpose is just the opposite.

Education is supposed to provide the much needed impetus to mankind to strive for achieving newer heights instead of just being didactic. It should be able to instigate the human intellect to think what has not been thought till now; to express in a way never seen or heard of and to reach out to what has been elusive ever since. It won't be incorrect to state that formal education has been quite doctrinaire in its approach. This dogmatic tendency forces an individual to walk down a pre-laid, predetermined path - severely whittling the ways of the unrestrained human mind and spirit.

Numerous examples dot history which conform with this statement fundamentally. Thomas Alva Edison would probably be the most famous instance. Someone who was never interested in social sciences and even mathematics in school, essentially a drop out, is now known to have more than hundred patents to his name which includes the electric bulb - something without which even getting formal education in a classroom might be difficult. Even Einstein wasn't a great student at school and did miserably in subjects including science. He even acknowledged the fact that he did not like studying the way he was taught at school. These and others are countless examples of people making a name in the world of science after having rejected by the society for being unsuitable to get formal education. This only goes on to show how formal education tends to manacle our mind and spirit hardly leaving any room for creativity. It's infact ironical that those very people who never received formal education should form an important component of formal education of future generations.

Go on to the social world and there have been figures like Dalai Lama and Swami Vivekananda, who have actually tried to show the world what the axiom "Education leads to salvation" implies and have gained exalted status due to their approach. Not that they themselves did not undergo formal education, infact Swami Vivekananda was a great scholar, but they always stressed on their view that one needs to free their mind and spirit to experience redemption and this is not possible by the formal education system. These are examples who broke away from the structure of education in search of their souls.

Art, Industry, Literary - you name it and you'll find innumerable instances where formal education has mostly served to pare the wings of young minds and restrained their ebullient creativity. This has been reactionary to the human progress and it would do us a lot of good if we break out of our reverie of formal education being the best thing that ever happened to us. Evidently, formal education does tend to restrain our minds and spirits rather than setting them free.

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40 minutes exactly. 491 words - ehh .. considerably less than last time. I kept restricted myself to 40 minutes instead of 45 because writing an essay sitting in the comfort of my room cannot possibly match the pressure of writing in an examination. My personal feeling just after completing is that I wrote really badly. Infact, somehow I feel I might have digressed from the topic also. Do let me know if you feel that too.

PS1 - #200 in GRE list - again, my bro :)
PS2 - mmmm, maybe you could just leave your comment instead of all the rating thing
PS3 - Tomorrow, viva voce for design lab ... :(

Issue writing episode 1

With this I begin the part I've neglected most for GRE till now - the Analytical Writing section. Here's a look into what makes a 6-pointer essay (the maximum points you get in essays in GRE)

• The essay develops a position on the issue through the use of incisive reasons and persuasive examples.
• The essay's ideas are conveyed clearly and articulately.
• The essay maintains proper focus on the issue and is well organized.
• The essay demonstrates proficiency, fluency, and maturity in its use of sentence structure, vocabulary, and idiom.
• The essay demonstrates an excellent command of the elements of Standard Written English, including grammar, word usage, spelling, and punctuation—but may contain minor flaws in these areas.

I request you to please give me what you feel I should get out of 6 (with a least count of 0.25). Please see to it that your personal bias to the topic does not come underway in giving points, because the stand we take in GRE hardly has any impact on the score.

Here's the first topic I've taken up -

"No one can possibly achieve success in the world by conforming to conventional practices and conventional ways of thinking."

The statement does sound iconoclastic but I happen to concur with it fundamentally. If not impossible, it's indeed very difficult to achieve success in the world by conforming to conventional practices and conventional ways of thinking.

Undoubtedly, the conventional approach is imperative for the stability and growth of our system. Conventional ways are time-tested and give expected, guaranteed results. But, inspite of this all, conventional practices offer almost no scope of thinking out of the box, to discover, to invent and to venture into unknown territories. Infact, come to think of it, the methods and practices now being considered conventional, were at some point of time a revolutionary idea which brought success to the proposer. Only then, with prevalent usage did it become conventional.

Had no one dared to think beyond established practices, we still would've been in the early-man era. Newton would never have gone one step ahead and asked the question, 'Why did the apple fall down and not up?' We won't have known about Archimedes who broke conventional practices of finding purity of jewellery by his principles of buoyancy. We would still be resorting to age-old simple machines instead of the now available complex ones. Countless examples in the field of research corroborate the fact that a revolutionary approach begets success. The scientific world, infact, can hardly advance if they stuck to the conventional ways of thinking.

A look at the industrial world would tell us how much of a fierce competition exists for survival and successful growth among companies. Conventional practices ill certainly keep them running but only until one of them breaks the norm to do something ambitious and succeeds. Yes, the risk factor is high when one does so, but the dividends that could be reaped far outweigh the risks involved. All the successful names we know - Microsoft, Google, Unilever, Shell - each of them are at the pinnacle of their fields because they dared to think different, to break the conventional trends. There are a number of organizations in the market which follow the conventional ways, but then, do we even know which are they. The slogan of Apple Computers - "Think different" captures the essence of the idea beautifully.

The sphere of art has always thrived on breaking cherished and established trends. Every successful name you take - Picasso, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, MF Hussain - all of them command reverence only because they have a style of their own, one which distinguishes them from the conventional themes and practices of creating art work. Indeed, their talent was fundamentally raised on established principles and rules guiding art, but success betrothed them only once they chose to define a style of their own.

Even in the social scenario, the ones successful are those who defied prevalent practices and ways of thinking. Martin Luther King is an apt example who made it a point to express his views about the black-white divide openly and fought for the blacks' rights. In a time when seeing blacks as slaves had become a convention, even thinking that blacks could gain equal rights was unthinkable. But Martin Luther King did not only think about it, he made it a reality and recorded his name in the annals of history.

Examples can be sought from every facet of life, and the conclusion would always be the same. Conventional ways of thinking and conventional practices could hardly bring success to one's doorsteps. The quintessential human mind is always on the look out to explore new avenues and improve upon existing ones, and this very quality presses us to break the fetters of conventional wisdom for good.

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That's it. It comes to 607 words. The recommended length being 400-700 words. Though I took a hell lot of time to write this, much more than the time limit. But I've written something like this after a really long time, and hence I believe I should be able to write fast enough after a couple of more such essays.

PS1: Please do not forget to give suggestions to improve the essay. It could be the one I get in the exam
PS2: There are a list of around 240 issue topics given by the examinees. This is one of them.
PS3: This is #100 of the list - suggested by my brother
PS4: Have to wake early tomorrow .. 5 am :O
PS5: Don't forget the 0-6 rating (and be serious about that, chap!)