Assignment: Once a semester starts, a graduate student shall be doing at least one assignment a week. Most of the assignments may not be that easy as your undergraduate assignments back in your home country. Again if one starts working on it just the day before the submission, one may not finish it in time. For most of the courses, assignment plays a big role in the overall grades.

Bike: Bike or the bicycle is most probably going to be your mode of transportation during your study days in US. It is the cheapest and the fastest vehicle available for a graduate student to go from one point to another.

Credit Card: Your best friend in times of economic stress during your graduate studies. At least once during your studies you may be forced to use the credit card. Always remember one thing – if you don’t use it wisely it would land you in trouble forever.

Dollar: The scarce commodity in the hand of a graduate student. Always try to make both ends meet with whatever you have.

Exams: An integral part of the courses you take. Professors will be testing your practical knowledge rather than your theoretical knowledge as you are used to India. Initially you may find it tough but within few weeks you will get used to the system.

Fast Food: At least once in a week you shall be eating from either Burger King or Taco Bell or McDonalds – the reasons – you are too lazy to cook or you don’t have time to go home for lunch; whatever be the reasons the result of eating from these fast foods will show up on your body in a year or so as you start gaining lots of weight.

Google: Your life as a graduate student revolves around Google. Google has answers for many of your problems J

Hourly Job: The first thing a graduate student starts looking for once he/she lands in US – some are lucky to get an hourly job that can pay for the day to day expenses.

Internship: Getting an internship is the dream of any gradate student. In addition to a good pay, an internship offers real time experience that will be very helpful in the job search after your graduation.

Jobless: When you come to do your graduate studies be prepared for the worst case – not getting any job during the extended period of your studies. The key here is not to loose hope and keep searching.

Kitchen: Never ever cooked in your life time? OK, things are about to change. You will be cooking food on your own or else you cannot survive on the money you make as a student.

Laundry: You wash your own clothes in the laundry machines in the apartment. It might be a new experience for a few.

Manage: Very important factor to succeed. You may have to do so many things (study, hourly job, cooking etc) at the same time and one has to be a good “manager” to succeed in all those.

Night Out: You may have experiences of “Night Out” during your undergraduate studies. But now be prepared for many more “Night Outs” especially during the last few days of the semester.

OPT: OPT or Optional Practical Training is the work permit with which you can work without a visa for a year for all graduates and for 29 months for some graduates (graduates of STEM). OPT process has become complex over years and you will be talking a lot about it starting few months before your graduation.

Party: Graduate study is not all about studies, it is also about parties. Friday and Saturday nights are meant for partying and you are going to have a lot of fun during these parties.

Quality: Whatever it be – studies, hourly jobs or exams or assignments it is the quality of the work that matters. Always strive to produce quality work and rest assured that you will be coming out with flying colors.

Room Mates: Don’t even think of staying in an apartment on your own when you come here for graduate studies. You may have to share a room with one or two or three others depending on the location of the school and your financial conditions.

Soda: You start drinking soda more than water. In some shops it is cheaper than buying drinking water.

Travel: Spring and summer break (total of 4 months) are for travel. You have lots of places to visit in the US and this is the right time to go. A nice way to spend time away from school and studies.

USCIS: US Citizen and Immigration Services or USCIS is the agency where you need to send all your documents for processing your visa and other immigration papers. You will be hearing a lot about this during your study days in US.

Visa: You will be force to think/talk about this almost every day you are in US. The F1 visa status places a lot of restrictions on students and you will be reminded of your visa status during your entire stay in US.

Walmart: One stop shop for all your shopping needs. You get almost all the stuff you need and more importantly at a very low price.

Yardstick: You should be keeping a yardstick for yourself all through your studies and see that you achieve those yardsticks. If you cannot, you should look back and see why you could not meet them.

Zest: The most important thing – the zest or enthusiasm to accept the challenges you face during the graduate studies and zest to overcome it. If you have that zeal everything else will fall in place.

for all mumbaiins

Even though maestro A.R. Rahman has proved he has impeccable music sense – as is evidenced by his twin Oscars, when it comes to following fashion trends, he completely trusts his wife Saira Banu, says his stylist Vijayeta Kumar.

‘He is a very simple person and doesn’t believe in doing anything flashy. He is not at all brand conscious and blindly depends on Saira for the final call,’ Vijayeta Kumar said. ‘The reason behind this is that Saira is more aware and keeps herself updated about the latest trends,’ she added. This Mumbai-based stylist who is also a filmmaker has been associated with Rahman for over a year now. She had met him on the sets of a musical show ‘Mission Ustad’ on 9X, for which she was the stylist.

It’s been a wonderful experience and after his win at the Oscars, Rahman has proved that he is the best,’ Kumar said. In photo: Composer A.R. Rahman (R) and guest arrive at the 81st Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on February 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Rahman bagged the Oscars for best original score in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and its theme song ‘Jai Ho’. At the Oscars, Rahman was wearing a black Lanvin tuxedo and for the live performance he wore Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s creation – a black sherwani.

‘The red carpet dressing is very strict so we were very clear from the beginning that he is going to wear a tuxedo. There was no question of opting for any Indian attire or repeating any outfit,’ Kumar explained. In photo:Composer A.R. Rahman attends the opening for ‘Bombay Dreams’ at the Broadway Theatre April 29, 2004 in New York City.

‘We zeroed in for Sabyasachi for the sherwani because he is the best. We had to make sure that Rahman was wearing something comfortable while performing. So what better than a sherwani and that too a Sabyasachi,’ she added. Was it a coincidence that both Rahman and Saira were wearing black? ‘Both of them just love black. So it was a conscious decision,’ Kumar maintained. In photo: Composer A.R. Rahman attends the 2009 Oscar Nominees Luncheon held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 2, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.

Elaborating on Rahman’s style statement, Kumar said: ‘It is very easy to dress him because he doesn’t believe in brands. He gives importance to comfort levels.’ ‘He is a jeans and shirt man. Sometimes he wears kurtas with churidars also,’ she added. In photo: Composer A. R. Rahman attends the ‘Bombay Dreams’ opening night after-party at Spirit, April 29, 2004 in New York City.

ROBIN JOHN

S4 CSE

IF YOU LOOKED IN THE MOONLIGHT
WITH MY HEART OPEN WIDE
YOU WOULD SEE THAT I LOVE YOU
THE STRONGEST LOVE DEEP INSIDE

AND IF YOU SAW IN A DAYDREAM
US TOGETHER ALONE
YOU WOULD SEE THAT I LOVE YOU
AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU

SO DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
DO YOU KNOW THAT I CARE
DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU

AND AS YOU LOOKED AT ME SMILING
OH WITH YOUR EYES SHINING BRIGHT
DID YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
WELL NOW I THINK YOU JUST MIGHT
AND WHEN YOU STARTED TO FOLLOW
OH WITH YOUR PULSE BEATING FAST
I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THAT I LOVE YOU
OUR LOVE WAS BUILDING TO LAST

SO DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
DO YOU KNOW THAT I CARE
DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU
SO DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
DO YOU KNOW THAT I CARE
DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU

AND IF YOU TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS LOW
OH WHEN THE NIGHT COMES ALONG
I WILL SHOW YOU THAT I LOVE YOU
AND SHOW YOU THAT I AM STRONG
SO IF YOU GO OUT OF MY LIFE
WELL THERE’S JUST ONE THING TO KNOW
I HOPE YOU REALIZE THAT I LOVE YOU
BEFORE YOU GET UP AND GO

SO DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
DO YOU KNOW THAT I CARE
DO YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU
AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU

ROBIN JOHN

Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web design, home staging, sports, or mobile technology. Some are more eclectic, presenting links to all types of other sites. And others are more like personal journals, presenting the author’s daily life and thoughts.

Generally speaking (although there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in common:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories.

• An archive of older articles.

• A way for people to leave comments about the articles.

• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.

• One or more “feeds” like RSS, Atom or RDF files.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not. A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.

The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers.

As well as text, blogs often contain audio, music, images and video. They’re also really easy to make, so you can have one even if you aren’t very technical. Anything can be posted instantly to a blog.

What is a weblog post?

A weblog post has three basic attributes: title, link and description. All are optional. Some weblogs only have descriptions. Others always have all three.

Blog-related terms

Blaudience :

The audience, or readership, of a blog

Blog client :

(weblog client) is software to manage (post, edit) blogs from operating system with no need to launch a web browser. A typical blog client has an editor, a spell-checker and a few more options that simplify content creation and editing.

Blogger :

Person who runs a blog. Also blogger.com, a popular blog hosting web site. Rarely: weblogger.

Blog feed :

The XML-based file in which the blog hosting software places a machine-readable version of the blog so that it may be “syndicated” for further distribution on the web. Formats such as RSS and Atom are used to structure the XML file.

Blogroll :

A list of blogs. A blogger features a list of their favorite blogs in the sidebar of their blog.

Categories

This is a method of organizing blog entries by assigning each entry to a predetermined topic. Each topic (category) will link to a list of entries, all with related content.

Hits :

Number of users visited is often referred as hits. (website / blog hits)

Linkroll :

A list of recently-bookmarked links with brief descriptions, in the sidebar of a blog

Permalink :

Permanent link. The unique URL of a single post. Use this when you want to link to a post somewhere.

Template :

Templates, used on the “back end” of a blog that work together to handle information and present it on a blog.

Theme :

CSS based code that when applied to the templates will result in visual element changes to the blog. The theme, as a whole, is also referred to as a blog design.

Alex Jose

S5 CSE

Tama, a 9 year old calico cat is appointed as stationmaster of Kishi Station in Kinokawa. She has been officially working for last two years. Two other cats were named deputy stationmasters at the same Kishi Station. Stationmaster Tama, wearing a formal railway uniform cap, and two other cats often welcome passengers at the unmanned Kishi Station. The railway company feeds her in lieu of salary.

 In Japan, you will often see small sculptures of lucky cat called Maneki Neko. These cats are supposed to bring luck.  Tama is also bringing luck to Kinokawa town. The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the railway line was losing money. But since Tama was appointed as the stationmaster, number of passengers using the line increased dramatically. The Wakayama railway company  expressed its appreciation of the cat’s role in boosting business by promoting her to super stationmaster and also by giving her a spacious stationmaster’s office equipped with a ventilation fan and a toilet.

The operator of the grocery shop at the station has been keeping the three cats. Tama became a national star when she appeared in books and documentaries.  She is also set to appear in a French documentary film about wonder cats around the world.

Tama has been doing such a good job of raising revenue for the troubled Kishikawa train line that she was recently promoted to ‘super-station-master.’
‘She never complains, even though passengers touch her all over the place. She is an amazing cat. She has patience and charisma,’ Wakayama Electric Railway Co. spokeswoman Yoshiko Yamaki said.

‘She is the perfect station master.’

Appointing a cat to turn around fortunes makes cultural sense in Japan, where cats are considered good luck and are believed to bring in business.

People are snatching up novelty goods – postcards, erasers, notebooks and pins – decorated with Tama’s photos. There’s even a special 1,365 yen (£6.65) book of photos of Tama, called ‘Diary of Tama, the Station Master.’

Tama had been on the brink of losing her place to live, with the nearby store where she was raised being torn down. Now, the station is home.

Kishi Station started running without any workers in April 2006 as part of cost cuts. The Kishikawa line had been losing 500million yen (£2.4million) a year as passenger numbers fell steadily to as low as about 5,000 a day, or some 1.9million a year.

After Tama’s appointment last year passengers have been gradually returning, recently rising 10 percent to about 2.1million a year.

In December Tama was rewarded with bonus pay – all in cat food.

Article By          

Praveen K.P.

S5 CSE