God of small things

For the past 6 hours except eating and responding to nature’s call what I did was to feel the taste of one exceptional outcome from Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things. It was not a day when I would expect to finish the long pending novel because it was a week day and usually on these days I remain busy pressing keys in front of a dumb box. It became possible because I had to attend a tremendous boring seminar “VG Training day” where I had to do literally nothing.

So coming to the point without much transgressing, I would state that the novel was one of those kinds for which whatever praise you do, falls short for that. In a nutshell, Mrs. Roy circled the novel around a ‘one-egg twin’ – Esthappen and Rahel and their childhood. Let me not go into deeper of the content of the novel, rather I want to say about different aspects running in the background of “God of small things”.

In the novel the writer mainly highlighted the thinking methodology of a child. Many times we do not care for the thought process of younger ones. But those innocuous children also think wisely in their own way. Their quality analysis of events sometimes surpass the older ones. The viewpoints of those twin like “Everything that counts, counts.” or “It is best to be prepared to be prepared.” or “Anything can happen to anyone.” were much thought provoking.

Another thing which struck me very much in the novel is the character of Velutha. He has been depicted as a lower class boy whose passion is hand crafting. He has been portrayed as a solid and rigid character who can overwhelm anybody with his charm. In the later part of the novel author pictured Velutha as true “God of small things”. Undoubtedly he is the “God of loss, god of small things”.

Minions: pros and cons

Just now watched the prequel of couple of despicable me, minions with souvikda in gopalan signature mall. We went there directly from office. This is my third experience of watching movie in multiplex after despicable me 2 in bangalore and penguins in kolkata. Surprisingly all the movies seen by me in multiplex are animation.

Anyway, talking about minions, in few words , it is far better than despicable me 2 but not as good as the first version of same. After watching the previous couple of parts, it is clear to everybody that minions are a weary-language-telling, obscure-things-performing a total funny species. In Minions, which is basically a prequel of the series, they were bound to find a leader. Throughout the movie they searched for their captain but failed to find so. And finally, they found the despicable Gru who would be the future leader of minions.

The first half of the movie was really well. That depicted the true funny natures of minions. They were surpassing various obstacles wittily in course of finding their leader. They found one but that proved to be a treacherous lady. The encounters with the lady in the very first half of the movie was on the funnier side. But in the second half, to me, the movie makers messed up a little bit. They engaged minions in too much artificial, imaginary fighting which should not be the main theme of this movie. Moreover, the fightings had neither any intelligence part nor any humorous elements which two are most important characteristics of minions as highlighted in previous minion movies.

Drawing attraction of general public and subsequently making more money from it might have added little sour in the taste. In this context, I have some thoughts about this type of sequels or prequels. Despicable Me was an excellent movie undoubtedly. But Despicable Me 2 was a super-flop. iMDB rating of it bolsters the fact. Now, the producer wants to make a new movie but he is not sure of its outcome. He got the idea in his brain but is little hesitant to launch it in industry. So he applied a wrapper of previously popular movie and shotted it. So what is the result? He produced a mixture of oil and water-two things which will never mingle. My point is that, minions is like a mixture of some mutually repelling characteristics. Those high voltage fightings can never suit to minions. Whenever someone is making a movie he should have enough confidence on his idea. But I found a somewhat less confident creator in Minions.

Thousand Splendid Suns

This is the second novel by Mr. Khaled Hosseini I have read after “The Kite Runner” and for the second time he literally baffled me with his extremely awesome writing capability as well as portraying deft. This is the novel where one can enrich his knowledge about how the political scenario of Afghanistan has changed from time to time and what scars the situations have left on the Afghan people. This novel also makes us aware about the conservative and patriarchal Afghan society where women had very little freedom of words as well as action.

There are four frequently discussed characters in the novel – Mariam, her husband Rasheed, their neighbor Tariq and Laila. The novel portrays the socio-economic instability of Afghanistan through growing struggle of Mariam and Laila. Mariam was an illegal child and so her father left her, but he had feelings for her. Mariam grew up under the care of her mother. After her mother’s death, she had to get married with Rasheed, owner of a shoe-shop. In Rasheed’s house she had to face severe mental as well as physical torture which she bore quietly. Laila was a young girl residing in their neighborhood. Laila loved Tariq from their childhood. However Laila lost their parents and Tariq also moved far away from her due to the ongoing political situation. Later, Rasheed married Laila as he and Mariam could not produce any child. But, Rasheed’s growing torture on them became intolerable and Mariam killed Rasheed afterwards. After that Mariam surrendered her guilt and sentenced to death, Laila married Tariq and they lived happily after.

In the entire novel Mr. Hosseini left us many messages from which we can learn different aspects of life. The life of Mariam or Laila simply tells us that life is all about a fight. If someone gives up the fight, he or she will perish. Mariam and Laila in their life fought tremendously to cope up with the situation. They ever did not give up hope of what they wanted. Another thing Mr. Hosseini pointed out that there is nothing which can replace our motherland. Mariam always remembered the place where she grew up. Laila and Tariq returned back to Afghanistan though they were leading a smooth life in Pakistan. Surely, the comfort and pleasure which can be cherished in residing within the place where someone is borne and brought up can’t be felt anywhere else. This eternal truth is the main understanding of the novel which the writer has drawn very efficiently throughout the entire “Thousand Splendid Suns”.

To kill a mocking bird

To kill a mocking bird is a literary masterpiece created by Ms. Harper Lee and she also grabbed Pulitzer for this fictional novel at ‘60s. The novel basically highlights the dark side of severe racism practiced in European culture that time. The story is centered on Mr. Atticus Finch, a lawyer, her daughter Scout and a negro Tom Robinson. The main side characters are Atticus’s son Jem, children’s friend Dil, their neighbor Boo Radley and family attendant Calpurnia. Tom Robinson was wrongly accused in charge of rape of a white girl. Mr. Finch was defending Tom in the story. In course of his work he had to struggle a lot as defending a negro person was the worst proceeding in society as depicted in the novel. His daughter Scoutt witnessed some of his struggle and that experience gradually blend her character. However, Tom was shot dead later while he was trying to flee from the jail desperately and the girl’s father who wrongly charged him for the guilt and also harassed Mr. Finch a lot was killed by Bob as he intended to harm the children of Mr. Finch.

Ms. Lee portrayed the characters and the whole story so efficiently that we can relate the happenings with our daily life. There was a quotation from Mr. Atticus to Scout, “Kill as many blue jays as you can but don’t harm any mocking bird.” Blue jays as indicated in the novel are the filthy minded rulers of the society who discriminate people on the basis of race and mocking birds are the harmless people within us who toil hard to live and always tortured by those blue jays in many ways. Truly these blue jays are waste of any culture and should be expatriated. Besides, Mr. Finch’s mental toughness and serenity are also learnable traits for us. He faced many obstacles from various people while defending his client. But he did not give up and also he did not become rude to anyone despite of experiencing severe jeering at him. His utter care for his children is also a remarkable instance for every father. Wittiness of Scout as showcased by Ms. Lee has made the novel more interesting. Her curiosity of surroundings, her receptive capability, and her friendly manner has provided the novel a unique dimension. Surely, To Kill a Mocking Bird is a worth reading novel for every human being.

The Shadow Lines - A marvelous novel

Just finished reading the shadow lines by Amitabha Ghosh. This is a quite good effort by the writer in which he depicted the cultural difference between India and England as well as the sentimental issues arose during the partition of India and Bangladesh. The story has been written around the author himself. The other main characters of the story is Tridib, author’s uncle, author’s grandmother, Robi, May and Ila. The later three are not the main characters of the novel. Tridib who was pursuing PhD in archaeology was author’s childhood friend. Author’s grandmother was almost his guardian in his childhood. She was basically from Bangladesh. She had to come to Calcutta long before partition but in Calcutta she was living with her childhood reminiscences of her native land.  Once her grandmother wished to go to Bangladesh to take back her uncle to Calcutta. Tridib, May and Robi also went with her. When they had gone to Bangladesh, that time in various part of India and Bangladesh, communal riots were going on due to religious issues. When they were coming back from Bangladesh, they were attacked by a violent mob and during that attack Tridib was killed. This is the gist of the novel. Mr. Ghosh has nicely developed the plot and well executed the sentiments of the characters. Also his brilliant choice of words will amuse any reader. Surely, the author has a unique adroit in writing novels.

But, as nothing can be total perfect, to me some part of this novel seemed little out of track. Mr Ghosh has written this novel little tortuously. In first part he pictured the situations when Tridib was there. Next, he showed the happenings after Tridib’s death. And lastly, he told about Tridib’s death. In between he changed the flow of incident numerous times. This style of writing somewhat may disgust the reader. Moreover, if he would written the whole story chronologically, I think the motto or the message he liked to share would not change. And, there are two exotic scenes in the novel. One of those characterized Tridib and other the author himself. Again, inclusion of these seemed irrelevant to me. Because the lusty nature of both of them had no use in the story flow. Except these two, the overall novel was simply awesome to me.

Cast problems in India – is there any solution?

From years cast system is not only itself a burning problem but also creator of many unsolvable problems in India. Many will repudiate the fact that cast system is no longer practiced in India and so the matter should be disclosed by now immediately. But the documentary ‘India untouched’ made by Mr. Stalin K proves that wrong. Whether cast system still prevails in India or not – let’s not get into the debate. Let’s discuss the unhealthy effects of cast system and its probable way out. If someone scrupulously analyzes the current socio-economic situation in India then it will be clearly revealed that the people who are categorized as SC, ST or OBC are worst sufferers of the cast system. The root of the cast system is laid from the ancient Aryan literatures like Vedas, Upanishads or Srimadvaghabat-Gita as well pointed out by Dr. B. R. Ambedker in one of his famous undelivered speech ‘Annihilation of Caste’. There may be many arguments and counter arguments about this fact but none can deny that whatever be the reason, cast system is surely dragging the development of India backward. Today almost seventy percent of Indian population belongs to any of SC, ST or OBC category. Only few percentage of them are leading a respectable life and the rest is economically as well as socially way backward. If this vast population of India is properly uplifted then India will surely be a far better country in terms of economy than it is now.

So what are the possible ways of improvement of this situation? The one way which immediately pops out of the brain is education. Educate the people who belongs to those backward class and they will automatically find their own means to lead a respectable life. But, if this method would so easy then we should not see people suffering here and there. Moreover Indian Government is already providing reservation in education as well as in government jobs for those backward classes. So where is the fault? Basically the thing is that the advantage of reservation system is enjoyed by a few percentage of those SC, ST or OBC. Those who live in remote villages, toil hard day and night for two-times-a-day-meal are merely benefitted by this reservation system. People who have no food to eat can hardly think about proper education. They are economically so downtrodden that they will not be willing to send their children to school rather their children will be engaged in some labor-work to make little money. There is another question. Why only these backward class people are economically feeble? If someone tracks history then he will understand that these people have suffered immense case of social stigmatism. Varan-Byabastha in the ancient Aryan civilization made them slave and did not let them come out stronger in socio-economic perspective. This tradition went on and till now they are deprived of education, good culture or whatever needed to uplift a society.

But there are other problems too. Even if some of the backward class people are becoming educated and trying to join the mainstream of the society, they are being continuously oppressed by the forward class people. They are not getting their due respect from society. This happens because these upper class people want those backward community people to be remained ever backward. They do not understand that the so called dalits (lower class people) are also a part of the society and so they have equal right to be educated, admired or to have whatever privileges are enjoyed by them. These days, forward class people have a gross misconception that dalits have little intelligence within themselves and if they let dalits to come up then work efficiency in various fields will decrease. But this type of argument is totally flawed as recent researches have proved this thing otherwise (‘Quotas do not hurt efficiency, says study’ – The Hindu, February 5, 2015). So, the privileged class people should be made aware of this fact so that they can participate in the upliftment process of the backward class people. These forward class people have now most of the money and power of India. So, without their help, people in dark can never experience the light.

Another solution of this problem may be practice of inter-marriage. Now-a-days, inter-marriage is very rare incident to happen. Both upper and lower class people mostly do not want to get married with someone belonged to other class. But inter-marriage is definitely necessary for the improvement of backward class. If it happens then there will be mixing in cultures between higher and lower class. Also, the notion of separation between these two will be reduced and vanished gradually. But inter-marriage in India will happen frequently only when the mindset of people will change. People should be free of all prejudices or superstitions if inter-marriage has to happen. Today, many parents do not let their children to marry someone from other caste even if there is no strong reason to prohibit so. It happens because they have fear of society too – what society will whisper if they let their wards to do the same. So, again awareness comes into play for this issue. People have to realize that there is no real threat posed by inter-marriage, rather there are possibilities of good outcomes due to this.

In many Indian villages, besides cast there are practices of sub-cast as well. The lower economic group between shudras (scheduled cast) are called ati-shudras and shudras hate those ati-shudras. Moreover they treat those ati-shudras as untouchables. This type of division between backward class people also hindering their way to improvement. In stead of living together and finding paths of illumination, they are immersing themselves into more darkness.  If these lower class people do not unite together, then how their society will improve? Now-a-days some of the backward class people are coming in the lights of social upliftment as they are getting cast based reservation. But after they are placed in high position they do not tend to improve their deprived society. They forget that they have got the advantage because many people of their community are still in darkness. This situation also has to be changed. The lower class people who are in somewhat good position in comparison to others in the same community should come forward to develop their community. They ought to be the torch-bearers of their society in-stead-of being self-centered. Who knows that their little effort combined, may eventually emerge as an excellent result.

So, to sum up, yes, cast-ism is creating many problems in India. But they have solutions too. These solutions are never easy to be implemented. But, if, people come forward with their logical mind, willing heart, then the problem can be annihilated from root.

A trip to Digha

While we were spending some jobless days in the starting of the semester a short trip to Digha was planned all of a sudden. We five – Debdoot, Abhay, Priyabrata and Siddhartha including me was part of the plan. We decided to start our journey on 16th of January at around 10 PM by a scorpio and come back by next morning. We would have our dinner in some dhaba midway. We were excited from the thought of an exhilarating night journey on the way to digha. We were all set to start our trip and were waiting for the hired cab to come. We rang the driver and he assured that it will take some time as he was repairing the car. Now gradually the clock ticked 10:30 but there was no sign of the driver. Our tempo began to flag. Then we dropped our plan to go by scorpio and hired a mere Omni thinking that going slightly uncomfortably is far better than the cancellation of plan. So we started the journey at around 11:15 PM in an ebullient mood. But we forgot that there was a rule in the campus that prohibits students to go outside the campus after 11. As the main gate approached we decided that we would tell the security that we were going to railway station. But in reality that was of no use as the they were strict enough to let us slip through the gate. Again we became morally down. We then decided that let us drop the plan of experiencing a night journey rather we might change the scenario to a go-in-day-back-in-night type. Anyway in that case also we could make a night journey but that might not be as much enjoyable as the previous plan. We told the driver that we would set out early morning. But he was also not sure whether he could able to take us that much early. But anyway he took my phone number and told that he would reveal his decision in a moment. Being dejected we started to have our dinner in VS. now suddenly there was twist in the tale.
Someone called me and told that a car was ready to pick us up to go Digha and we should come outside VS in no time. We were in such hurry that we forgot to pay the bill in VS. We could not understand the situation and went there hurriedly. Then we realised  that there was a private car to sneak us out of the main gate and from there the Omni would take us and begin the journey. But still we were not sure that this time how we could get out under the nose of the security. The driver of the car assured that they would exempt us from checking as that was a private car. But the logic did not satisfy us completely. Anyway we got into the car and rushed towards the outside of the shell. While approaching the main gate we crossed our finger and to our utter dismay the car passed swiftly through the gate. We were ecstatic then and found resemblance of the situation with that of a scene in the movie Argo. The driver of the car got us down in front of the sub-divisional hospital and told to wait for the Omni. We thanked him and praised his skill though that was not his skill but the nebulous rule of the security which brought was outside in a tricky manner.
Within a while the Omni came and we finally began our journey at around 12. Now we were in full mood of enjoy. Debdoot brought out his newly bought sound box and started to play some song. That made our journey more rejoicing. Meanwhile we stopped by a roadside dhaba and had some eatables as per or plan. In the whole journey we did not sleep even for a while. We spent our time by chit-chatting, throwing pranks to each other and making plans after we reach Digha. Truly speaking a long distance night journey could not be better than this and thanks to my friends whose company made it a worth to remember.
We reached Digha around 5 in the morning. The weather was chilling outside. Outside was as dark as night. When we got down the car we just trembled in the cold. The sea breeze seemed to touch our bones. It was that much cold. We had tea in a shop there. The tea was so awful that we thought the tea-maker mixed some soil with tea. Then we moved to the sea. There was not much crowd then. The moon was up in the sky and the sun was all set to rise. So, the surrounding was like half bright. Some fishing boats were seen from distance. We made our feet wet in the sea water. The water was not as much cold as the surrounding. I then folded my jeans up and went to ankle deep water. But I refrained from going deeper as that would make my jeans wet. After that we took a stroll along the beach. As the sun rose I took some photos of the rising star. We enjoyed the fish-hunting of seagull. We sat down for a while in front of the beach. We gelt hungry and decided to have some breakfast. After the breakfast we headed towards our car and we felt a little tired then. The clock was ticking 7 at that time. So we decided to have a short nap of about an hour and then take the sea-bath. But our nap duration become much longer and we headed to beach again at 9. We bought a ball with which we would play in the sea.
Now this was going to be Siddhartha’s first sea-bath experience. So he was little frightened initially. But as time went on all of us started to enjoy the sea heavily. I was vey excited and shouting at top of my voice. The gorgeous waves roared towards us and when it was breaking on us then we became elated like none else. We created different postures out of joy. We started to play with the ball we bought. But after some time the strong breeze took the ball away from us and it disappeared in the mid sea. As time went by, much people gathered in the sea and took the bath. The sea wave formed higher as I and Debdoot went much further into the sea. As the waves broke on me, salt water was entering through my nose, ear, mouth as well. But I did not pay heed of the trouble and continue my excitement in the sea. We splashed water to each other. After all, we were enjoying in all possible ways. Now it was time to leave and return to the car.
After returning, we changed our clothes. Then we felt immense hunger. We had our lunch in a nearby hotel. The lunch was awesome to me. We took prawn and pomfret with rice. Both fishes were too delicious. Having finished our lunch, we got back to the car and we were all set to go back to our den –Kharagpur. But the driver told us there was a little problem that the LPG gas by which the car was running was almost emptied and it had to be refilled. So, he began to search for gas. Now, this was not an easily available in the street. So, after a tiresome search he was able to find an LPG provider and the driver refilled his cylinder. Now, finally we were heading towards Kharagpur. We told the driver that he would go little quicker as Priyabrata had to catch the train to go home. Now, the driver took this utmost seriously and started to drive recklessly. He ignored the bumps, sometimes broke the speed-checkers, spread dust all over the street, took sharp turns and lot more. Debdoot had his spectacles broken due to his rough driving. But finally we reached to campus safely.
Now, this was my third outing with these sets of friends after Shushunia and Shantiniketan. But I have to admit that this was the most successful trip out of these three. We enjoyed a lot in this night-day trip. Hope, I will able to manage to experience such awesome outing with such awesome friends.

Placement: a 3 day experience

I don't know what will I write is whether a worth reading for others, but this is truly an incident worth to remember, at least for quite a few periods.

So, from where should I start? Truly speaking, I'm little bemused about the beginning of my experience about placement. Should I include my (or our) placement preparation in the scorching heat of May, June and July at RK hall or should I talk about my confusion between taking up a job and higher studies. Amidst all confusions I think it is better to keep things short to only my experience beginning from the period just before our campus placement procedure. The preparation phase and the other one is not worth mentioning here to me.

Truly speaking, I was not at all ready for the placement. I was planning to pursue higher study (PhD in foreign universities) as I had no hope to get into a job in some core company (companies related to electronics profile). Because those companies seek students repleted with core knowledge which I totally had forgotten and didn't able to manage to rewind previous courses. There was a thing that I wanted to stick to core because I somehow realized that I would not be quite dexterous to outstay the jobs in non-core like finance or management. That is why I had two options in my hand - get through a core company or fight for a PhD position in foreign universities.

Now, as neither of two were sure for me, I decided to apply for all companies' all profiles coming to campus. Because once I get into any kind of job, then at least I will not sit jobless in next semester for sure. The written tests for the companies started in mid-October - after the Durgapuja vacation.

Throughout the whole placement procedure I had three of my friends - Abhay, Debdoot and Priyabrata accompanied with me. Whatever we have done beginning from the placement exam time, we have done together with a slight distortion in case of Debdoot. I had another two close friends in my group - Siddhartha and Susnata. But these two were quite passionate about higher studies and sat only for core ones. There was Soumyajit too, who was nowhere in the placement scenario but was there for constant support.

Anyhow, as far as I remember the first test was there for ServiceNow. Before the test, we had no clue what was going to be there in the test. To our utter dismay there was questions from topics like C++, database, networking etc. in which we were like a layman. There was aptitude questions too, but those CS questions befuddled us in the very first strike. After that we faced a serial strike from companies like Citrix and E-Bay. In Oracle test I managed to deliver a better performance because most of the test were based on quantitative aptitude ability.
Meanwhile I and Debdoot faced a major problem. I missed the test of Codenation as I had my TOEFL exam previous day and went home after that. Debdoot missed Oracle test for some other reasons. I expected no consequences of that. But our CDC posed a punishment by restricting us to be shortlisted at maximum 20 companies. We took the punishment very seriously and by any means we intended to revert that punishment. But after some time we realized that it was a trick from CDC to inject some seriousness (??) within students. The punishment was not imposed in reality and we continued to write tests after that.
The tests went on like a daily routine. Some of them went bad, some of them were medium but in none of them I was fully satisfied. Looking at the huge amount (around 700) of students appearing for all the tests I had little hope to appear in the shortlists of interview for those companies. Before 1st December we had written tests of Credit Suisse, Citrix, Amazon Express, City Bank, Cisco, Walmart, Xerox, Analog Device, Axis Bank, Qualcomm, and Capital One etc. Priyabrata cracked the test of Oracle and already wrote the second round of the same.
Now as November was coming to an end all of us was waiting for the interview shortlists to be published. For December 1, I was shortlisted for EXL Services. Frankly speaking it was much unexpected to me. Priyabrata was shortlisted for American Express and Abhay was there for massive four companies - EXL, Credit Suisse, Visa and Cisco. We were all sure that he will crack any one of them. As per all of our expectation Abhay was through Credit Suisse. This was a huge day for him. Priyabrata could not do much in American Express interview as he had to face some random questions there.
EXL services was first proper interview I faced in my life. During internship the interviews were telephonic. I was bit tensed before my EXL interview. I practiced some questions like, 'tell about yourself', 'why this company' etc. I also came to know that EXL will ask for some guess estimation and puzzles in their first round. That is why I also had a look on them. Moreover I had to put on formals kike suit, pant and tie. At first it looked somehow awkward. The interview was in TP-206 at Nalanda Complex. My name was 60th in the shortlist of 102 candidates. That means I had ample time to gather the questions they were asking previous candidates. I was preparing my mind for that. I heard that EXL was going to hire around 35 students this year. Therefore I was little hopeful that I may crack this one. The interview process started at around 2:30 PM. As there was a single interviewer, the whole process was moving very slowly. My turn came up at around 7 PM. The initial scary feeling within me had gone that time and I was prepared to face the interview confidently.
As I entered the room, the interviewer greeted me warmly and told me to have a seat. Then he asked a few questions from my CV. Next he asked three questions and I answered almost all of them efficiently with little fumbling in last question. Though the questions were not hard at all, still I was very glad that I performed well in that interview. I was very confident that I would get a call for the second round. I waited in the venue only for that call. After some time I asked the placement committee who was conducting the whole procedure about my second round of interview and to my utter surprise he told that I was not selected for the same. I felt little sad that time as the reason of the rejection was not realized by me. I came to hostel after that and had my dinner. I told myself that there might be something within me which the interviewer did not like at all and that is the reason for the rejection. I treated that as a bad luck and prepared for the next exams. Meanwhile I had to complete the MTP report and send to my guide. I somehow managed to complete writing the report, but it was not that good.
Anyway that day we had tests of Flipkart and Snapdeal starting from 11 PM. I was preparing my mind mentally to give cent percent at those tests. The test were in Nalanda. That evening I and Priyabrata kept our cycles in the stand and the stand was closed after 8 PM. So, we had to call a rickshaw to go to Nalanda. Flipkart test contained normal aptitude and verbal ability based questions. I was much satisfied writing the test. In Snapdeal test there was 50 questions and the time limit was only 12 minutes. Basically it was a speed test and you have to be really quick on your feet. That test also I managed well.
Next day, I got my name shortlisted in Flipkart. It gave me an immense satisfaction as I had performed well in the test and also got the result for the same. In the waiting list of Axis Bank too, there was my name. Priyabrata was also there in the same waiting list. On the same day Siddhartha was also got shortlisted in qualcomm.
So, again I started to prepare mentally for Flipkart interview. The venue of Flipkart was TP-401 at Nalanda Complex. When I reached the venue I came to know that Flipkart will conduct a GD round for elimination. Now I fainted. I had no experience of GD before. Whatever I heard about GD before that, my realization was that, GD is the toughest hurdle to me in a selection process to cross. Anyway, I thought that I would get some time to prepare mentally before appearing in Flipkart GD session. The first thing I did, I went to TP-103 where Axis Bank selection process was going on to check whether my name entered into the main list. There I found that I as well as Priyabrata were through to the main list of Axis Bank. I again went upstairs to Flipkart venue.
But there, I felt an immense shock - my name for GD was being called out. So, at once I rushed to the GD room and to my utter surprise as soon as I took my seat the moderator of GD announced the topic - "Make in India" and allowed us two minutes to think. I was not even fully settled in the room. I was totally confused for around 30 secs. After that I wrote some points on a scratch paper and was waiting to the signal of the moderator. But, suddenly one student started to speak out and the GD began full fledgedly. That left me dumb founded. I was not getting any scope to speak as whenever I tried to do the same I was getting obstructed by others. As far as I remember I could speak and made others listen only two times. Finally, when the moderator told us to summarize the whole session individually then I talked about few points and after some time the session ended. I was little dejected as I could not perform well in that GD due to lack of experience. The placecom members told us to wait for some time till all the sessions got finished.
After that, I went to Qualcomm venue and came to know that Siddhartha's interview was going on. I was very confident that he will convert that interview into a successful one. Then I went to Axis Bank venue and there also the placecom told that my turn will be there after a while. Meanwhile I called Priyabrata to tell him that he was promoted to the main list of Axis Bank from the waitlist. But when I called him, Siddhartha picked up the call and told that Priyabrata was selected for the interview of Qualcomm in digital profile. It was another good news for us as we were all confident about his knowledge in digital electronics. By the way Abhay was also there to bolster all of us and he was also coordinating me as I had two interviews - one in ground floor and another in third floor.
Meanwhile I got the news of my rejection at Flipkart GD. I was expecting that kind of result. And after a while my turn in Axis Bank came. Like previous day, here also the interviewer greeted me warmly. He asked me a guess estimation question (no. of people in Kolkata using specs) and I confidently explained that. The interviewer looked impressed at my answer. After that interview as the placecom told me to wait for the next round I again rushed upstairs to Qualcomm venue and got the good news that Priyabrata and Siddhartha cracked Qualcomm. They looked very joyful there. They were just waiting there for the final confirmation. I also cheered them. After a while the HR of Qualcomm asked all the selected candidates inside and they went into the room.  I also moved downstairs to check the status of Axis Bank interview.

I got to know that I was selected for the final round of the interview of Axis Bank. They gave Job Application Forms to be filled up by all the final shortlisted candidates. The form was about candidate’s personal bio-data and all. While filling up the form I thought that as they were asking to fill that kind of form means the final selection is almost guaranteed. I was much ebullient at this thought. Meanwhile Priyabrata, Siddhartha and Abhay came to me and wished me best of luck for the interview. Qualcomm gave them a good-looking sweat shirt each. By the way my turn for the interview in Axis Bank came and I entered into the room with a confident attitude.

The interview went on for 45 minutes. One may conclude from this prolonged interview that it went absolutely well. But, truly speaking it went horrible. It went so disastrous that I can tell that I have not felt so embarrassed in front of someone for this much of time span. They asked me a guess estimate question and what I started to guess was childish. They laughed at me, they pranked me and finally they were fed up with me. I was so psyched that time that I forgot the full form of RBI in the middle of interview. I was feeling like running away from them.

After the interview I remained very frustrated with me. I at once came back to my room. The time was around 5:30 PM. At 6 PM the schedule for that day’s test came and there were a lot of written test of Flipkart IT, Snapdeal IT, Synopsys and Texas Instruments. I was not in a mood to appear in any of the tests. Moreover I had my MTP presentation next day and for that I had to prepare my presentation and I did not get my report signed. I called my guide and he assured that it was ok to get it signed next day.

Anyway I made up my mind to appear in those test and perform at my level best. The tests were scheduled to start at 7 PM. I at once went to Nalanda and started to prepare my PPT. I called Debdoot there also to give me company. While making our PPT we were also keeping a look on notice board to know the tests’ venue. But time went on, no such notices appeared on the notice board. We thought that as usual the tests were getting delayed. We also called some of our batch-mates and they were not picking up the call. They seemed to have a sleep after a hectic day. We took first few of those tests got cancelled. So we remained seated in the same room at ground floor. Susnata was appearing for Texas Instruments test which was scheduled last that day. I called Susnata about the situation and to my utter surprise he told that the test of Synopsys was about to start at some room at 1^st floor. We at once rushed to the venue and saw that all of our batch-mates were there. We also came to know that all of the tests scheduled previously has already been finished. Now my frustration level grew twice. What were we doing there? Just seating like morons and passing the time. I had no intention to write the Synopsys test. Before that I thought that I would do well in that test as it is one of the best companies for ECE folks.

Anyway the Synopsys test started within a while. It was a paper based test. There was three sections – Aptitude, Coding and Digital electronics. The duration of the test was one hour. There was negative marking for each question. But I was so nonplussed at the beginning of the test that I wasted at least 10 minutes of time solving the very first question. Then I realized that I had to leave the tough one and should only go for the relatively easy one as there was negative marking. None of the questions were straightforward and it was taking time for all the questions. Somehow I managed to solve a fair amount of questions in all three sections within the stipulated time. But, I was not confident to crack into the interview because many of the students would perform like that. Next, there was the test of Texas Instruments (TI). This time TI came to hire in Analog profile only in which my knowledge was almost null. TI test had two sections – analog and aptitude ability. In analog section there was 20 questions and all of them were germane to my knowledge. I guessed 10 of them. The aptitude section was regular to me as I had appeared for so many aptitude test by then. Susnata did really well in both of the sections and was confident to get into the second phase.

I returned my room at around 3:30 AM.  Then I finished preparing my PPT within 30 minutes and slept. I could not sleep for more than an hour. I opened the notice board and saw that I was shortlisted for Synopsys. I was little ecstatic at this. From that moment I decided that anyhow I have to perform very well in the interview. In that morning there was test of ZS Associates. I intentionally missed that test as I was not feeling well too. From 9:30 I had my MTP presentation also. I decided to keep myself calm. I went to Priyabrata’s room to get my copy of MTP report which he already got printed. He told me to perform well in the interview. In course of time I finished my MTP presentation.  Even now I don’t know what I told that day in the presentation but it just went on.

As soon as I finished the presentation I rushed to my room to suit myself up and then hurried to Nalanda having the digital notes with me. I was feeling a sheer bit of tension within me. But after the previous 3 rejections I was just thinking that I have to accept whatever would happen. I have to just keep going.

The interview was scheduled to start at 11 AM at TP-304 to TP-307. As I reached the venue, one of the interviewer told each of us the respective rooms of the interview. By the way Susnata was shortlisted for Texas Instruments. While I was waiting for my turn to come up I saw Abhay and Priyabrata coming there. They came at their own risk as there was a rule that the placed students should not show their face in Nalanda. Anyway it was good for me that they came because I was feeling much tensed and I could ease myself a little bit by talking to them. They discussed some digital and data structure stuffs with me which could be helpful in interview.

At around 12 PM my turn came up. I had to look confident before entering the room. So, I pumped myself up and went to the interviewer. There was three interviewers and all of them asked questions separately. Surprisingly, the first interviewer was a Bengali one had our conversation fully in Bengali. Actually, I reckoned later that all of the three interviewer were Bengali, though next two interview were in English. First the interviewer asked me about my current project. Then they asked about some basic data structure and algorithm related questions. Some of them I couldn’t answer at my first attempt but could able to tell when they hinted me. They also asked me about the questions which I couldn’t solve in the written test and also about the procedure by which I solved some of them. All was going well. At the end of the interview I asked the interviewer about my interview. He told me, “If you want to join Synopsys or if we want to hire you, you should do coding frequently.” Now I could not decipher the tone of the interview, whether it was an acceptance or rejection. Anyway, I came outside and saw Abhay and Priyabrata waiting for me. They asked me about the interview and I told them that it went well.

I got the news from them that Susnata was almost selected in TI. There was no surprise in it anyway. After myself there was at least 20 candidates whose interview was yet to be completed. So, I had to wait there for some time to know the result. Now, waiting is the thing which grows tension within you. I was so tensed that for next few hour I didn’t have a seat - I was just moving here and there in the corridor. From time to time I was analyzing my interview and deciding whether I could satisfy the interviewers or not. Sometimes I was thinking that I could not solve some questions in my first attempt and that could have a negative impact on the interviewers. Sometimes I was also have this thought that I solved those problems quickly after having a hint and that might speak in favor of me. Off and on the interviewers were coming outside and having a chat with the placecom. I was trying to hear them by reading their lips from distance. From time to time I was asking placecom what they were saying about the result. I was very much desperate to know the result. Meanwhile I felt hungry and told my mates. They took me to the canteen downstairs and ordered puri-sabji for me. Though it was a favorite food to me, I could not pass that down my throat as I was very much tensed by that time.

Priyabrata told me not to worry much. Again I went upstairs and saw that the interview was almost over. They were waiting for only one person. Eventually that student came and after a while his interview was over. Now it was just a matter of time for the result to be published.

Usually I do not believe in finger crossing or praying to god or something like that. But this time I was searching for something which can bring me some luck. Though I knew that it was not the end of placement season and many companies were yet to come, but I wished to get it done as another rejection would lead to more waiting and uncertainty.

I saw the interviewers were out of the room and discussing something with the placecom. One of the interviewers was telling to a placecom boy pointing to me, if I was not wrong that time. Next moment that boy took me some distance apart. I thought there would be another round of HR interview. But to my deadliest surprise he asked me, “If Synopsys gives you an offer, will you accept it?” I was like telling him, “What! Is this a question to ask?” I told him, “Yes, obviously!” and thus I got placed in Synopsys.

I saw Priyabrata and Abhay standing in a distance apart. I ran towards them and gave them the news. They congratulated me warmly. My eyelids began to wet by then and what I had to do was to control my flowing emotion in front of them. I heard the phrase “someone’s joy knew no bound” but could not really appreciate it before that day. My joy really was not able to know any bound and I was very much ecstatic that time. Except feeling joyous what I was feeling a sigh of relief – no more late-night-early-morning combination, no more waiting in Nalanda to begin a test, no more spending some tensed moments after an interview and lot more. The interviewers also congratulated me and I asked them about the job location which they told Bangalore. Then we left Nalanda and headed towards Tikka. We had Debdoot with us too. Now he was the only one left within us for placement. Susnata, who went department for his presentation after being selected in TI and Siddhartha who was in department for presentation joined us later in Tikka.

Now this is the whole story of three days about how I got placed in Synopsys and the ups and downs involved in it. I would be extremely thankful to my closed mates – Abhay, Priyabrata, Debdoot, Siddhartha and Susnata as they were always beside me for these days even after they got placed themselves. I may not ever forget that after my interview of Synopsys – Abhay and Priyabrata was also with me at my tensed moments waiting for the result to be disclosed. Had Susnata not called me at the night of Synopsys test, whether I would get placed in Synopsys ever, is still a question. I will remember that Priyabrata helped me a lot to cope up with MTP presentation stuffs and placement interview simultaneously. I will also remember the funny discussion with Debdoot about my terrible interview in Axis Bank which helped me to be easy in that situation. Actually I will ever remember a whole lot of things happened so quickly in those three days.

One thing I learned from my three day long toil (though many people toiled a lot harder than me) – not to expect anything from any incident. Because expectation leads to unhappiness if failed. Just perform at best and success will come for sure some day or other. Obviously there should be some luck involved in it. I will recognize this incident of getting placed as my biggest success till date. Whether it will remain as the biggest success, time will tell eventually.

Enjoying life - younger or older

Yes I agree with the statement that "Young people enjoy life more than older people do." There are various reasons behind my agreement. Those are summarized below.

Firstly, to enjoy life one has to be full of energy, enthusiasm and fearlessness. Young people have that level energy and courage for which they can do whatever they want to do. But, older people are generally lack of energy. May be, the older people wish to do a lot of activities. But their level of energy does not permit them to perform those desired activities. For an example: Skydiving is a thrilling activity which a major portion of young people perform. They are able to do so because they have necessary amount of energy and enthusiasm within them. But, an older person is generally incapable to skydive because lack of courage as well as energy. So, due to their energetic and courageous feature young people enjoy life more than older people do.

Secondly, older people are generally full of tension. They have been exposed to various incidents throughout their life. They have gathered much verisimilar experiences. This incidents and experiences left them tensed all over the day. They critically judge every incident and foresee the worst outcome from them. So, they can not enjoy their life. On the other hand, young people possess a careless like attitude. They do not think much of future rather they believe in present. They are confident enough to handle any situation. So, they are brave enough to explore various stature of life. From that they get immense enjoyment which older people generally unable to achieve. For an example: if there is a plan to travel in a hilly area then the older people will always think about the accidents there may happen, the landslide there may occur. So, they may refrained to go there. But young ones will tell that they will manage themselves whenever such situation will arise. This difference between old and young matters to enjoyment.

Thirdly, young people have not their family burden. Mostly they are student. They are dependent on their parents for their fooding and living. So, they can spend a great amount of time towards enjoyment. In contrast to that, the older people have family. They are bound to feed their family. So, they always have to think how the family will survive. For that, they spend most of the time of the day in earning money and get exhausted in the later half of the day. Therefore, they are not getting any time for enjoyment. For an example: if someone visits a cinema hall in an evening show they can realize that there are more number of young people than the old people. Because, older ones are tired then after whole day of hectic schedule. But, young people are not. So, they are enjoying the movie.

Finally, in their old age people are worn out of various chronic disease which is a huge hindrance in the way of enjoying life. But, the younger people are generally disease free. So, their health permits enjoyment. Therefore they can hang out with their friends, party with their closed ones which older diseased people can not do. For an example: many old people become down with spondylitis which prevent them to go and enjoy in some party. Which is not in the case of younger ones.

Therefore, the energetic, restless, fearless, tension-free young people enjoy their life more compared to the worried, burdenful, diseased old people due to the reasons discussed above clearly.

Professors going to TV

In the lecture the woman stated that there is no real benefit to anyone when a professor appears on TV.

Firstly she told that the professor who are attending TV programs may miss important meetings or conferences. Their motivation changes from education to entertainment. For that they may face difficulty to get money for their research work. Moreover appearing on TV wastes a major amount of time of the professor which he could utilize in university research. So, neither the professor nor the university is getting benefit from this phenomenon. And by making this point clear, the woman also opposes the points made in the passage as it has been stated in the passage that both university and professor becomes beneficial by getting in touch with public when some professor appears on TV.

Secondly, in the lecture the woman also refused to agree with the argument made in the passage that people watching the interview of the professor get a deeper knowledge in a specific subject area. The woman told that actually the TV channel company does not want to telecast a serious conversation on TV. So, what they telecast is a mild, narrow discussion with the professor about an academic title or a brief incident. This can also be accomplished by a mere reporter with some background work.

So, finally, the woman in her lecture cogently repudiated the fact that there is a huge benefit to university, professor and public on attending a professor in a television conversation.

Altruism - human and meerkat

In the lecture the professor told that the meerkat group was observed very closely than before. Then some interesting facts came out which oppose the arguments made in the passage.

Firstly, the meerkat who stand as guard eats before its work. So, being in full stomach it has no need of food any more. Therefore, not taking food as stated in the passage is not altruism.

Secondly, when the guard meerkat cries an alarm upon approaching a predator then the sentinel has the greater possibility to escape as it sees the predator first. Moreover, when the meerkat group hears the alarm then they will gather together or scatter. So, they will catch the attention of predator putting themselves in danger. Therefore, actually the group of meerkat are in danger when predator comes. This also opposes the altruistic behavior of the sentinel.

Finally, the group of meerkat not the sentinel go in search of food which also is dangerous for them. Now, it can be told that the sentinel is nowhere altruistic.

There are example of human being also in the lecture. In the passage it has been mentioned that, when a person donates his/her body part selflessly then it can be an instance of altruism. But the professor opposed this point saying that the donor achieves much appreciation and recognition from the acceptor as well as from society. So, the donor is actually getting something which may be non-material, and that's why this cannot be regarded as pure altruism.

Cooperation or competition

In the given issue it has been stated that the best way for society to prepare its young people for leadership in government, industry, or other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation instead of competition. I am readily agreeing with this statement. There are several reasons behind my agreement. Those are summarized below.

First of all, leadership in government, industry or any other field is such a position where the leader has to think constantly the good for his followers. If his followers are not in good situation physically, mentally or financially and if the leader is the reason for this then the people will no more follow him. For an example, if a state minister randomly hikes the prices of essential commodities without any reason then the residents of that state will surely not elect that minister in next election. So, the leader has to cooperate with his follower. He has to understand their needs and work accordingly. This cooperative attitude should be grown from the very young age only. Because youths are malleable enough to assimilate anything good.

Secondly, it is also important for a leader to create good relation with other leaders in same fields also. If he cooperates with other leaders then he may learn some leadership traits from them too. He can know whether those leaders are more successful and if yes what are the reasons behind their success. But if he has a harsh competitive attitude then others will not cooperate with him and that may lead to an unsuccessful leadership. For an example, suppose there are two industries - A and B. Both industries are successful in some extent. Now, A's leader want to collaborate with B's for betterment of both. In this case, if B's leader wishes to cooperate with A's then both industries together will become a huge success. But if, B's leader has competitive attitude and refuse to collaborate then A's leader may ask some other leader's help and they will make a huge industry together which in turn affect B's success. So, here B's leader's attitude is directly linked with his success.

Finally, leadership is not a rocket science that if it is executed, the leader will be a highly successful one. A leader has to always keep in mind that whom he is leading. He has to realize that he became a leader because his followers and other leaders have chosen so. If he does not cooperate with them rather try to compete then his position will not be intact. So, cooperative attitude is mostly required to be a good leader. But, they have also to mark his enemy with whom he should compete. Because he has to go much further than his enemy.

So, young people should be taught the cooperative attitude from the very beginning of their life. If they adhere to this marvelous trait then they will implant this attitude into their work or action in future also. They should know the stories of successful leaders. These can make them a successful leader in future also. And successful leaders in a society make it a more healthy place to live.

Movie production

In the given passage the advertising director of the Super Screen Movie Production Company has made a conclusion about the betterment of his industry. He has some arguments behind his conclusion in the memo. But, there are some questions which need to be answered before taking the decision. Those are discussed below.

The first question which needs answer is what is the cost of those movies when it is screened in cinema halls or sold through digital media. The movies produced by Super Screen Movie Production Company may be good enough but the cost also may be so high that it prevent people to attend those movies. There may be other production houses which are producing similar type of good movies but at lower cost. So the cost factor is a big question behind the success of the Super Screen Movie Production Company.

Secondly, it is written that the percentage of positive reviews about specific Super Screen movies increased during the past year. But, the actual number and the comparison with other production company has not been discussed here. May be, other production companies are making many good movies unlike Super Screen's "specific" movies. It also may be the case that other production companies' increase in positive review is much higher than Super Screen's. So the real improvement in quality of movies produced by Super Screen Movie in comparison to other company is another question which seeks answer.

Thirdly, who exactly are the reviewers discussed in the argument and how exactly their review is matched with common people is also a point of doubt. The reviewers may judge Super Screen's movie as a good one but their judgment may not be unanimously accepted. The reviewers may not be aware of current trend and they are judging the movies of Super Screen Movie Production Company from their viewpoint only. So the quality of reviewer is a question which need to be answered.

Next, it has not been mentioned about the current advertisement policy of Super Screen Movie Production Company. May be they are already investing enough budget to advertising and it is also reaching to the people. But, people are not liking it. If it is, then there is no need to increase the budget. Because increase in advertising will have no more positive effect on people. So, current advertising quantity of the production company is also a question

Finally, success does not depend on a single parameter only. When multiple criteria meet together then success occurs. Here also, to get success, the director of Super Screen Movie Production Company has to concentrate on various aspects rather than thinking about a small change. He has to talk with public to know the public demand. He should not realize only on reviewer's words. Because ultimately he is serving the public, so their concern matters largely.

Therefore the director of the movie production company has to closely analyze the above questions before taking a final decision.

Invention

If you could invent something new, what product would you develop? Use specific details to explain why this invention is needed.

To create something new which was not familiar to the world is something called invention. Every creative mind in the earth wants to invent something. May be the invention is in the field of arts, maybe it is in the field of science or maybe it is related to some other field. Whatever be the invention, to me an invention is successful only when it is of some use to human being to facilitate their living.

In spite of the massive advancement in science and technology there are many issues with which human are still uncomfortable. One of those issues is cancer. Today biological science has got its stature but not enough to produce some treatment of cancer. There are some techniques like chemotherapy which can slow down the pace of spreading cancer in an affected body but no permanent cure of cancer has been discovered till date. Truly speaking, if I could invent something new, I would invent one medicine which can cure cancer totally from an affected person. This would be an invention from which many people from different parts of the world would be benefitted. There are several reasons behind my choice of inventing treatment of cancer. Those are summarized below.

Firstly, a large part of premature death in USA as well as South-East Asia occurs from cancer. Many people lose their near and dear ones due to cancer. There are many families where the earning person dies of cancer. One of my nearest one was suffering from cancer for a couple of year. I have visioned the pain of suffering with my own eye. Recently he passed away. He was the head of the family. Now his family has been totally ruined. They have no income source now-a-days. So cancer snatched away all from them. I want to prevent this kind of massive destruction caused by cancer and I believe that my invention would do that.

Secondly, cancer is almost a hereditary disease. Once a family is affected with cancer, its descendants have high probability to get affected too. So, cancer is like a curse to human and none can remove the curse - once spelled, nothing can be done. If I would discover a cure for cancer then it would no more be a curse. It would just like a mere disease as cough and cold.

Moreover today the adulteration of food has got such a height that the chance of affected by cancer is increasing day-by-day. If the situation sustains like this, then getting down by cancer will almost be inevitable. The death rate due to cancer will be so high that mankind will be at stake. So, my desired invention will prevent this life taking disease from destroying mankind. People will at least feel safer than before.

So, my development of the treatment of cancer will restore many precious life throughout the world. Not only it will save people from premature death, but also it will bring smile in the faces of large number of people.

River sports

In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating, and fish - ing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Mason River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park department devotes little of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational facilities. For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river’s water

and the river’s smell. In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is, therefore, sure to increase. The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year’s budget to riverside recreational facilities.

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

In the above argument it has been stated that the city government of Mason city should devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities as city park department devotes little of its budget towards maintaining riverside recreational facilities and people are complaining about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell while they rank water sports among their favorite recreational activities. But there are some assumptions taken behind the argument and the implications of those assumptions may prove the argument unwarranted.

First of all, it has been said that Mason City residents rank water sports among their favorite recreational activities. It implies that there are other recreational activities also in their favorite list besides water sports. And it may be the case that if city government devotes money in this year's budget to other leisure activities then also the residents would be happy. Currently residents are complaining about riverside recreational facility because there may not be any other option of recreation besides watersports. So, that riverside recreational activity is the only activity which people of Mason City love to do and government should pour money is a one unstated assumption and it makes the arguments an unwanted one.

Secondly, in fore stated argument there is no information about the usefulness of the survey. The usefulness of a survey depends on the sample space it is considering, questioner it is preparing and efficiency of the people who are interpreting the survey. So, if the survey has not efficiency then it may mislead to a wrong result. Therefore, the statement 'Mason City residents rank water sports among their favorite recreational activities" may no longer be valid. If the survey's sample space is too small then the result should be interpreted as “a part of Mason City residents like water sports". In that case, if government spends money in a field where most of the resident have no or little interest then the investment may be a total loss. Therefore, the survey is an efficient enough is the second unstated assumption and this also is making the argument unwarranted.

Finally, it has been described that the residents of Mason City have complained about the water quality and the foul smell coming from water. But whether the complaints are strong enough or the residents are making one small issue a big one is another area of concern. Therefore the weight and truthfulness of the complaints are also an assumption of the argument and which in turn may oppose the argument.

So, looking at the above facts, it can be concluded that the government of Mason City should take the decision of devoting money to riverside recreational activities only after treating those assumptions scrupulously.