CHAT with KASHIF SHAAD....

Hello Guys, today we have with us one of my Bestest senior of all time and my very gud friend Kashif Shaad....A man wid a brainy brain ,very much down to earth, Gold medalist of Mechanical Engg. Department ,Unit leader of NSS(National service scheme) and above all a very nice Human being :)

Kashif:- Kashif Shaad
Me: Sandeep Choudhary

Me: Hello Kashif ,its my pleasure to chat with you on "Rendezvous with Sandeep".
Kashif :Hi, nice to chat with you too.

Me: Please give your brief introduction to our readers .
Kashif : Well, after finishing up with the NIT Durgapur (Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering) I was fortunate enough to bag an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to pursue Masters in the field of Hydro-informatics and Water Management (EuroAquae). For those who are not aware of the Erasmus Mundus program, it’s a unique series of courses in the European Union under which a single course co-ordinated by a consortium of Universities rather than a single university. For example, my course is jointly held by universities in Nice (France), Newcastle (UK), Cottbus (Germany), Budapest (Hungary) and Barcelona (Spain). This allows us to choose where we want to study and of course tour around Europe as wellJ. My travels so far have kept me in Newcastle for two semesters, Cottbus for one, Nice for a project and now Swindon (UK) to do my internship.
My specialization is, as I have already mentioned, in Hydro-informatics which basically means application of information technology and computational sciences in addressing water related problems.

Me:- What feeling you had , when you carry a tag of topper of Mechanical department of N.I.T Durgapur.
Kashif :Haha, the Gold medal is now mostly a relic of bygone times. I am of course happy about it but I sorely miss that I wasn’t able to make it to our convocation ceremony and take it personally.

Me: Well,How did u achieve that mark.?
Kashif :Umm..I just tried to get things done on time, and as we had to sit through all sorts of classes for sake of attendance (I am sure everyone remembers that part ;) ) I figured it wouldn’t hurt to listen to them as well. That was basically it.

Me: How did you manage your studies alongwith the important post you hold as Unit leader of National service Scheme.
Kashif:It was quite a challenge to keep things going but actually, I enjoyed every bit of my time spent with NSS. In fact, I would rate it as the most important learning’s I have taken from NIT Durgapur. The subject matter under the degree (at least for me) mostly turned out to be obsolete but the interaction and public speaking skills that I was able to develop during my work with NSS has helped me immensely to keep a competitive edge here, and as my friends say: keep the Indian flag flying high.

Me: How do you relate your current post graduate study programme with your interest...
Kashif :I find it to be quiet in sync with my interests and intensions. Water management is a field which is coming up very fast and many developing countries like India will need experts in the very near future to manage this precious resource. I hope that I might be able to play a role in this.

Me: What tips you want to give to our readers regarding their campus placement preparation.
Kashif: Know your company and do targeted preparations. Especially for interviews, HR personal usually want to see you know about their company and will fit in. If you are able to paint a picture in which they can see you successfully working with them then more or less you are in.

Me: Tell us something about your research work and project you carried out to strenghten ur profile .
Kashif :I had a few projects, mostly done on my own or with group of friends. Most of these where for competitions, like design papers for IIT kharagpur and one for Birla institute. Things have changed now since then, as brand NIT was very new then and was difficult to get summer interns at good universities. However, the main thing is that all your work should have a common thread of interest running through them. When an independent evaluator is looking all your work he/she should see a logical connection and your interests should emerge, rather than looking like a diverse collection of ‘I did what came my way’ profile.

Me: Please give us some information about IELTS. What strategy one should adapt while preparing for exams like IELTS AND TOEFL. and tell us in brief about application procedure and study material for IELTS.
Kashif :IELTS is basically “the International English Language Testing System. It measures ability to communicate in English across all four language skills – listening, reading, writing and speaking – for people who intend to study or work where English is the language of communication.” Similar to TOEFL, it the basic requirement to prove your English skills for foreign universities and visa requirements. I chose IELTS over TOEFL mostly because score reporting for me was easier with it (and cheaper). If one has good command on spoken and written English there is not much need for preparation as such. I don’t remember doing anything special for it. I was to appear for the exam in kal just 3-4 days after end sem exams of 7th sem. I solved a few sample papers during those 3 days.

Me: From which universities you got the admit.?
Kashif :I had applied only for four courses. Three under Erasmus mundus and one at other. Out of these I got admits in two Erasmus mundus courses. One was EuroAqaue, which I chose and other was in Mechanical engineering, with Trinity College (Dublin) and two other universities from France and Spain part of the consortium.

Me: Tell us something about challenges you faced in your life while preparing to get an admit from good university and how did you tackle it.
Kashif :Well, like most I was confused by what exactly I want to do with my life. I wasn’t sure if higher studies were my cup of tea. Besides that was the question of funding and going away from home and family. For this I had to do a lot of soul searching and so far have no reason to regret my decisions.
Unlike other from my batch, surprisingly I didn’t face any problems with the administrative issues involved (It took me about two weeks to get applications done, starting from references, attestations, mailing, etc). I guess my experience with NSS to deal with authority paid me out there. It was mid November in seventh sem when I seriously began considering higher studies abroad and by mid Jan I had applied to the four uni’s.

Me: What is ur mantra for.success
Kashif :“What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” J
No, but seriously, learning from experience and having a little faith can take you a long way. Take advice from the multitude one meets but in the end decide for your own what your heart says is right.

Me: What else u want to share with our readers who are preparing to pursue their higher studies and want to do research work .
Kashif: It’s really a gut instinct if one wants to do research. But before making any choice please try to get your priorities straight. I see many students dabbling with management and research at the same time (which are like chalk and cheese) to achieve success as quick as possible. It’s good to keep one’s options open but money shouldn’t be the sole driving factor. Ending up doing something you don’t like can be a very frustrating situation. Try and think through what you want to achieve and rationally how can you achieve your goals.

Me: What do u want to say about this initiative (about this blog)?
Kashif : It can prove a good means recording experiences from various batches of NIT Durgapur. Really kool!! Spread it out. We have alumni spread across the face of the globe and hold the key to a treasure of stories waiting to be told. Go Sandeep...go get em J

Me: Thanks a lot for giving ur precious time .
Kashif : Ur welcome. Best of luck with ur intiative!!