20 n still counting

I am a sophomore from BITS Pilani presently pursuing my B.Tech in Electrical n Electronics Engg..Today on my 20th birthday, when I ponder over my bygone days, I reckon it to be an awesome tumultuous journey from Assam to Rajasthan.Life is facetious and I have always looked upon it with rosy eyes.Why take life seriously when noone is going out alive??????

Ruminating over my chidhood events,I feel I was a docile chid complying to the wishes of my parents(maybe sometimes at the fear of the rod).I was full of ebullience and loved playing games.My parents inculcated good habits in me and a spirit of fair competition.They were always elated at my success and eloquently inspired me to move on in case of any failure.Its bringing sparks of joy ot their faces that drives me the most to overcome any hurdles.Although my mom's reluctance to allow me to go out sometimes and her stance about me not getting too friendly with girls( till class 10) though irritated me then,now I realize that her anxieties and concerns were just a different form of expressing love.And my sweet little sister was always there searching for my flaws and foibles and reporting them to the higher authority(my parents).

I am an affable person and always love playing games and hanging out with friends.Though I won't go to the extent of saying I am altruistic, the plight of my friends/an unknown brethen do move me.My college life in class 11 and 12 was the most enjoyable as I became a free bird breaking the shackles of a rigorous school life. Freedom brings responsibility and I am glad that I performed decently in academics but honestly speaking( not intended to show modesty ) I reckon it to be a fortuituous happening.

Then the most defining moment of my life was my moving to BITS Pilani.I initially was a bit reticent and skeptic about how i can survive in an environment where talents flock in myriads.Two years have gone and I feel I am surviving well in the midst of tests and assignments that test your resilience and guts.But what I love here most is my friends.We(me,sag,sam,ali,raja,abhi,venky....) are a close knitted family in a home away from home.Our chit-chats on love, girls and future plans make this a fun-filled paridisal environment.

INDIA -- A SUPERPOWER

Gone are the days when Indians aspired to do a job in the US. We all were attracted by the higher standard of education and living, and a more liberal economy.The US supposed to be the power house of brains drained off the best talents form the developing countries.But today we are witnessing a shift in the balance of brain power towards India & China.

                     

                                       With India becoming a hot favourite destination for MNCs,a 'reverse brain trend' is the norm of the day.Thousands of Indian IT professionals working abroad have returned India. The "INDUS ENTREPENEURS" ,an association of Indian IT professionals in the USA estimates that some 80,000 IT Professionals returned India from California's "Silicon Valley" in the past year. Today Brand INDIA is booming & Indians abroad want to be a part of the development process.The negative aspects of being a second citizen abroad ,the greatly improved India's education system,family roots & greater avenue for advancement bring them to their motherland. The result of this influx is that India today has a large pool of talented technocrats and managers with global expertise and India is ready to take the world by storm.                                                  

                                  The US companies' foreign policies have also helped us. In 1980s & 1990s, only blue collar manufacturing jobs were outsourced to India for two reasons - quality labour at cheap cost..But late 1990s they started outsourcing knowledge -engineering technology,product design,research,software development to India. INTEL CEO Barret has warned the US Govt. that this outsourcing has created about 250 million highly skilled innovative technocrats in India and China.From the US perspective,its true that they are boosting profits in the short term.But in the long run, they are eroding their own creativity to generate new products.US presidential candidate Barack Obama mulls tougher tax scheme on companies outsourcing to India , but with 3.5 million jobs to be outsourced to India by 2015, the trend is set to continue. 

                                      India's education (technical) institutes have also come a long way.Today India produces 3.5 lacs engineers while US churns out only 70,000 engineers per year.Even George Bush admitted that Indian students fare better in maths and science as compared to their US counterparts.With India Govt. providing greater incentives in Research,Space Technology, the future looks rosy for India. The worrying factor for the US is that it has few home grown talent. 53% of the employees of Silicon Valley are foreign born.Since the post 9/11 clampdown on immigration,people applying for visas to work in the US in technology sector have come down by 55%.

                                      Thus India's pool of talents is increasing by manifolds but USA's pool has eroded.That India will overrun the US as the powerhouse of brains in the near future is ,therefore, definitely there on the cards.