Apr 6-8 I2CT 2014

At IEEE international conference for convergence of technology.. I2ct 2014 held at Pune. It is being held at courtyard Marriott hotel. I am staying at centurion hotel. My paper 'Anveshana-Search for the Right Service' is scheduled for presentation tom afternoon.. Feels good :-)

Mar 22

All 3 papers have gone well so far. Tom is the last paper and 2nd specialization paper. Preparations are on. If all goes well, it would be my last written exam for at least next 3 years! Looking forward to it. Also today something very important event happened. I hope it brings happiness to everyone concerned. I really do. Should wait and see how things turn out. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Mar 7

Its been almost 7 months and a lot has happened so far in my mission... Published my first paper in an international conference held in SIT Tumkur last year. Then my 2nd paper got accepted in IEEE international conference to be held in a month's time in Pune. I was invited to evaluate M Tech projects in SIT Tumkur last month..!

Wow it has been an exciting and and enriching journey so far. And it has just started... So a lot to look forward to!! Amidst all this, I ve started taking Hindustani Flute lessons from my guru Shri Mokashi ji who is disciple of Shri Hariprasad Chaurasiya ji .. It is a great honor for me to be associated  with such great people! I am grateful for this opportunity...

Finally Pre PhD coursework exam has arrived,.. Tomorrow, Research Methods paper is there.. Preparations are on :-)

Dec 14

Its been 3 and half months since my journey as research scholar began. Its been an eventful  100 days of my academic life. Course work is underway and my electives are finalized as well. We have one core subject as computer science. This includes the mathematics foundation and of course the refresher on various computer science concepts. This is handled majorly by Dr Keshavan Sir. 2nd subject is Research Methodology course. This is very relevant course work for us PhD students. This empowers us to have research outlook and is acting as a catalyst for tuning our mindset towards research work. It is more like a bridge between the traditional academics and research oriented studies. I am inspired by the learning thru this course which is primarily handled by Dr Sandeep Shastri Sir.

My 2 course of choice are - Information Security and Cloud Computing and Security.  Text books have been finalized and things are going well although little bit slow. Need to speed up the process of studying.

All in all things are going good and I am enjoying my weekend (sat) classes from 2 PM-7 PM. Have made good friends and teachers are inspiring me to pursue original work. :)

and the journey begins....

The Formal Inauguration of the Ph.D. Program will be at 4 PM on 29^th August 2013 at JC Road Campus of Jain University. Super excited and looking forward to it. Have put half day leave for the same. Cant wait :-D

- With Hope

Got Admitted to Ph.D Program!!

Today, I had taken leave from office at a short notice of few days for completing the admission formalities at Jain University for Ph.D. program. It marked officially that I joined the course and would be committed to it for the coming years. I gave couple of cheques; one on today's date for Rs 31,250 and another for the same amount dated Jan 1st, 2014. Next year, fee would be Rs 50, 000 and last year (hopefully) Rs 40, 000. Both of which can be payed in 2 installments each.

Now its no longer a dream or a hope. It is reality! I have to work harder and smarter than I have ever worked before. It is definitely not going to be a walk in the park or a short sprint to finish line. Its going to be a marathon. Its going to be highly challenging.

On Aug 29th, we have inaugural program of the degree at 4 PM  followed up with course work detailing. I am really excited and looking forward to the same. May God give me strength to carry on and enjoy the journey while it happens. 

Double Dhamaka!!

What a day it was! August 20th, 2013. I received two news which form very important milestone of my academic life. First, I received my results of Master's degree that I had successfully cleared it and secured a modest 8.3 CGPA. It had been 2 long years, a hundred weekends later that I had earned this degree. Truly it is a very dear achievement and I am grateful for all the people who supported me in various roles.

More importantly, it meant that, I  was now officially eligible for Ph.D. degree, result of which I was still waiting to hear rather nervously than anxiously. Later after an hour I received another e-mail. This time it was from Jain University!! This was it, I would know if it was yes or no. I prayed as I clicked to open the email. I calmed myself as the email was loading... I remembered one of the principles which I was brought up with, by my father: "Hope for the Best. Prepare for the Worst". I felt a sense of calm, a steady mind to accept what ever news I received. I had put it a lot of effort which technically started year or so ago and had picked up pace in the last month and a half. By this time, Email had opened and I had no choice but to start reading the mail. It started as below:

Dear Varun Deshpande 

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that you have been provisionally selected for the Ph.D. Programme in Computer Science Engineering,. Congratulations.

I closed my eyes for a second and thanked God for his kindness and Dr MKN for her support. I remembered Venus, my favorite heavenly planet, who is my constant source of inspiration. I felt at peace rather than over joyed. I took a deep breath and continued to read the rest of the mail. It took few minutes to sink in and immediately rushed to Balaji to tell him the good news. It was a major miles stone and a huge hurdle cleared. I had earned my ticket for my journey.

Later that evening, when I reached home, my mother greeted me with tears of happiness and hugged me. I told her there is still at least 3 years to go.... :)