Where the Cover Letter and Resume are the protagonists...

Cover Letter: The first impression, make sure it is worth reading and investing time. Most resumes don't see the day light thanks to a lousy cover letter.

Respected Sir/Ma’am,

Para 1 (3-5 lines): What do u want?
What you know about their business. Make it personal and tailor-made rather than one letter for all. Induct their company’s/ College’s/ Professor’s name and business/Profile into your first paragraph. In one or two lines describe their business/Research as perceived by you.
How you think the future would be for the organization or the concerned person’s research topic.

Para 2: who are you? What are you doing at present? What are your areas of interest? How you have pursued those areas, I would suggest to be vague and don’t give any specifics at this point of time. How you think this internship will help you in your endeavors? Is it some mandatory requirement for your degree or you are doing it as a self-interest!

Para 3: How it is a symbiotic relationship, a mutual benefit? What they/he/she should expect to gain? Talk about how this is a long term investment, how you see this as a start of a long term relationship rather than a one time, 2 month deal.

Para 4: What monetary gains you expect for yourself: I wrote and believe in: "I personally believe in nothing more than Operational Reimbursement and of course that too contingent on performance". Give a thought for a person who is investing both time and money in you without any idea about your abilities or you as a person, at least this is one safety net you should give to that poor chap (buch of chaps).

Closing statements before the verdict is issued: Should you have any questions you may reach me via phone or e-mail.
Thank you for your consideration and wish you every success in your endeavors. I look forward to becoming a part of your team.
Please find my resume attached with this mail.

Greetings and your name, organization’s name you are officially affiliated with, mob no, email-id.

P.S: Emphasize on your delivering capability and how they have every right to kick you out in case you don’t live up to their expectations or not able to deliver what you promised. But let them know that you are confident that such a scenario won’t materialize and how you respect their resources.

Add some humor in case you have something: I added the apology for plausible duplicate mails and how we are not very proud of our bandwidth and internet usage at NITK.

Include this if required: In case the degree you are pursuing has no relevance to your interest or you would not like it to be considered as the basis for the internship (As was the case with me, with my engineering degree having no correlation with my business interests.). Please make a due note of it to avoid unnecessary confusion.

The process of finding relevant contacts: I was looking for startups with my interest hinged upon business and management, so every successful startup was my target. I looked up for startup competitions and found the best companies. For really good prospects, invest time to look into their web-site or blog so that you understand what they do and are better prepared for interviews over the phone.

The process of emailing: Divide your prospective employers in two categories, one you have real enthusiasm for and one just because you stumbled upon them, you should mail them.
So for the first category go for tailor-made, business specific emails.
For the second category spam but not in hundreds, say ten email ids per mail. In the first paragraph let them know about your limitation and how this is not a spam.


Now coming to The Attachment: Duh! your resume. The funda is KISS (Keep it simple and stupid).

Name
Full address
Mob. No.
Email address

Education: Just talk about your current degree and no high school bragging. You can add your percentage or Grade point average in case it is relevant (Your study has anything to do with the internship) or is really good (say a distinction or above 8.0 CGPA) despite otherwise.


Interests: I included apart from the core interest: business/entrepreneurial, some co-curricular interests like writing (and Blog URL), painting, reading and more specifically like SAAS, WEB 2.0 (the domains of a significant number of companies I was applying to).

Achievements/ Activities: can highlight some stellar performance in high school, but don’t go overboard with it. What you won, achieved in the past and what you are currently working on or looking forward to.

Qualifications: Apart from the degree you mentioned about in the first paragraph any certifications or other qualifications like computer languages. For me it was NCFM modules.

Experience: Even though it may be a complete zero in actual terms, tie in the small experiences which have brought you this far. For me some were like a couple of failed ventures and other practical business activities. What I learnt, how was the experience?, and include figures like by how much percentage you improved the performance, or how much was your ROI in the business.

Career Summary: Short and sweet two lines which sum up everything.

Future Goals: Plans for immediate future, don’t clutter with long-distance plans.

Skills: Skills which are expected but not enunciated in broad day light, like proficiency in Office or Excel, presentation skills, aptitude, and leadership etc-etc. Try to include examples wherever possible.


Please care to notify in case i missed on some important point. Good Luck. And yes start 2-3 months in advance with the procedure of searching and applying, this gives you ample time in case they do want you to do some offsite work before-hand and improves the probability of you striking gold.

NITK Surathkal And Engineering in general...

Well many thanks to people who have posted comments or asked relevant questions regarding NITK Surathkal or Engineering in general... all of those along with my replies are in the comment section in the post "NITK SURATHKAL: From the eyes of a student (batch-2010)...."
I plan to integrate all that into a new post sometime in coming weeks as most of the doubts cater to all the freshers in general and ain't very case specific. So for now you may treat them as a separate post with some insights... feel free to go through and may be they would answer some of your own questions...
Look forward to help to the best of my capabilities... thanks... good luck...

a couple of things:
1) go with your gut rather than your parents' coz it is your life and only you would have to live it and in case you botch up, to your credit least you did it yourself and this my friends feels much better, i speak from great experience here.

2) KISS: Keep it simple and stupid... don't clutter your mind with more and more mind boggling, unnecessary scenarios. Anxiety and misery have some magnetism, so save yourself... whatever may be the college, if it is known to be at least a good one for some years, and you commit to being in the top 15%, you will sooner than later end up with the same opportunities which a premium college would have provided... the only differences a reputed college makes is in Post graduation resume, recommendations for the same and for placements the benefits just stay with the 1st job....

3) Be wary of the fact that whatever you may like today or feel like having enthu for, can become history in no time, over the time you spend in college.... so go about with an open-mindset and see the things for yourself before clinging to one or another. i.e Go ahead with Dual degrees, MS, Phd courses with a lot of introspection...
before committing to something please explore how much knowledge you really have about that field... Google should be your best friend in this endeavor...

4) don't let yourself be bound by the regional boundaries when it comes to choosing college... explore... this is the best time of your life to do that and there is so much to learn... by living in the cocoon which many parents want (Knowingly or unknowingly) for them to feel secure, will only spoil you for the worse and would be not be unlike a frog in the well with no idea what is beyond....North Indians especially please explore south unless you are getting a seat in IITD, PEC, DCE, NSIT....learn/unlearn... make new friends....JUST EXPLORE...

the month of may...

The business internship i was so eagerly looking forward to has not given much breathing space let alone peace of mind to pull together enough strength to write something if not earth-shattering at least a piece of value, so :-(...

Hate to see no posts in 2-3 months...hopefully the twenty20 WC will help get over the exhaustion. Whenever the topic of home used to come up, i with a bit of cockiness used to claim being non-homesick(tough and resilient like the artificial grass i am marketing here) but this is quite clearly not the case anymore (I have come to realize how friends in college are real life saviors)...life without family and on top of it no friends becomes miserable to very core....

life is full of trade-offs and choices, sometimes your gut works, sometimes it doesn't. in a place where you have no friends, not even acquaintances a backfiring gut can become life threateningly cruel (some exaggeration of course).

still there will be Sunrise on dark horizons...and there will be some more posts... :)

God n Karma

There is God, told was I;
n Karma, outrun can’t I.
But is that true?
Or fooled was I ?

'Coz I see the crap
people seem to pull with ease,
as some labour in trap,
and soon cease.

I don’t know how I flared
the last time I was here…
May be I was the one fooling around,
But the forgiveness, as god men swear
Should bring down the shackles
Don’t? Oh dear!

Sometimes I feel,
a demon in the dark
has a sole job to make it all beyond.
I drive for salvation,
Always telling self
Life is more
and worth fighting for…

God is what I make of him,
An idol of strength and faith,
guess a hero, a character
I want to emulate.
And for that
I guess, i need not look beyond the ether…


Karma is something like love
grasp little and have some,
fathomless and never more…
But is little the rationale
to not care for more!


Likewise Karma I guess,
Is doing the best.
There is a lot of randomness,
and things flying beyond control.
Just not being an underachiever
not unlike God, and fight for more.
May be some day I will outwit Karma,
Shadow my Gods,
and earn my fair share of the cosmos…

terrorists and freedom fighters

The terror artist



A human or is it?
Up in arm against the order or is it?
There is no rationale or is it?

As a child, and even today,
There are things still fathomless and grey.
May be we have missed a bullet or two,
With the whole story engraved through…

The gunfire and the platitude
The cries and the silence
What has brought us here?
Do we really need blood and rust?
To get ahold of the killer!

Does the child have a choice?
An AK at eight,
Rhetoric for brains,
that could be you or me,
Definitely not the ideal setting to be free…

You can bomb the base
You can assassin the face
You can fortify the hedge
The internal security for all you care…

But no wall is impregnable,
Can u crucify the idea, the thought?
One’s terrorist will be some mother's rebel.
Activity n care for those who rot,
Will be the first to ring a bell…

Someone’s grief is no-concern to others,
He was just a child, who couldn’t run,
You can torture or burn,
But is a lamp going to make the sun?

What is it, which calls for blood?
I know there are issues, and so was the colour,
But somehow I believe, we had a victory to savour…

I am entangled in this labyrinth,
Want to clobber the foe,
fire bullets in his toe,
But what if you just can’t make the unseen bow?

Better now then never
Guess only love n virtue is gonna help us run over…
Only love n virtue...

top 25 movies on my list *jan 2009

Well this is a crude list of my top 25 movies*. Hope m not missing on some.

1. Blood Diamond
2. Cinderella man
3. The matrix/the Shawshank redemption
4. Se7en/Memento
5. Serendipity/City of god(Cidade de deus)
6. Rang de Basanti
7. Godfather series
8. Schindler's list
9. Casino Royale
10. The departed
11. Butterfly effect
12. The equilibrium
13. Hotel Rwanda/ Saving Private Ryan
14. Dil chahta hai
15. Away from her/Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind
16. Enemy at the gates
17. V for vendetta/12 Angry Men
18. Million Dollar Baby/ Mystic River

*thanks IMDB, an awesome source to refer to.
Out of scores on LAN and then there are recos from friends with all different tastes (Three to Teeth and lot many in between), IMDB does make sorting really easy. Yes there would be movies I would have rated higher and vice-versa but a rule of the thumb that works most of the time is- ‘any movie with a 7 and above rating is worth my time’. I tried Rotten Tomatoes (takes a lot of time to load as compared to IMDB)but one credible rating agent is enough and i would stick with IMDB for better interface.



*Jan 2009

Cricket: its just a game...

Delhi to Lahore via POK:
This is not the first time we(or the esoteric leadership of ours) have decided to sacrifice the cricket ties with Pakis at altar of "tough talk". The irony, though is where we(again...) were holding fragile Pakis(and subsequent concern for security of players) as prima facie for calling off the scheduled cricket series; post 26/11 we scrapped it because of carnage that followed in Bombay(our intel, leadership lapses, our pathetic internal security that is just not able to keep pace with the economic boom and attention we seem to allure) . Actually our intelligence, our internal security lapses and of course the democracy have lead to the 26/11, and revoking cricket ties will do little if at all; the terrorist organizations don't give two hoots about the game, let alone stop pulling the crap.

(What do you want Cricketers to be? Symonds was (is) one! Not an angel and certainly not a fiend! )

Chennai has got Mumabi's back:
About the historic win that we were able garner against the really admirable English unit, i think will be anything but anesthetic. Cricket or for that matter any other game is just where some highly talented individuals take the center stage to showcase their talents and it has without a doubt some good entertainment value, but they are not the heroes, the saviors of life. Its at our behest to tackle the proceedings outside the arena.

peach

pics of 2008, courtesy TIME

1.washed away; 2.victim Georgia ; 3.Tienanmen sq. Olympics Beijing

4.farewell S.Pleshette; 5.Swaziland; 6.On his way to first speech after winning nomination

7.farewell Hillary; 8.drunk Russian soldier; 9. Congo


10.coffins, Georgia; 12. adrift; 13. Baghdad normalcy

the sorry tales of esoteric politics in India

It takes a high to scribble
about souls so abominable
nonchalant trash talks
myopic, equivocal semantics
high on platitude
all for lucre, nothing for home
blatant vote bank politics.
the sorry tales of the hypocrites...
the sorry tales...


(repugnant to the sense of decency yet they seem so alien to the very thing; it is so so fugly)

this is a psalm of my beloved: the Nehrus, Gandhies, Thackreys,
Lalitas, Badals, Advanis, Mayavatis, Gowdas, Yadavs
and scores of Singhs.
posterity with all pristine DNA
all incessant immortal souls
readily attesting the progenitor.
the tales of the swivel chair..
the sorry tales...


(bloody terrorists failed to blew up the Parliament, the Pentagon; the Pandemonium...
Now how dare they feast on the innocents, feeble lives of merry???)

once in a while
more frequent off late
namaste, a spurious smile, jai bharat mata ki
door to door, the same tantrums
dusting out the old promises, the very same speeches,
for the nth time
as if his father has come back to life.


(the real outsiders were here, but the uncle-nephew rather hid in their cowardice... but when quoted on camera they have the all season-ready BS to deliver)


an unwilling resignation is at loss to convince
obfuscating elections,
like straightening deck chairs on the titanic
up against a brick wall
templates of attrition
so jaded to vote, Meh!
yearn for the sunrise on the dark horizon,
sunrise on the dark horizons...





(who to vote for, leaves us as comfortable as a bum on a porcupine, so i prefer a nap over the ordeal... but very often we pay a heavy price with sleepless nights for the very nap we just could not fight )




they have left million in the tracks,
but unwittingly we've made a paradise,
for them to encroach n change
caught in the thick on thin,
now run helter-skelter for cover,
the echos of gunfire, grenades are here.
pointing fingers have spun into pointing guns.

(Sir, i wonder if you could not shake a leg, shove that fat ass of yours a bit more!
Son, Pakistan, China, US, the former governments, lack of resources, time lines, opposition, the govt.... scores of alibis, apocryphal.
oh man, i wish i could deport them to Moon, only if we had hundreds of chandrayans )

u know what is really petty?
staunchest ally of evil ain't
the Islamic green or Hindu saffron
or Sikhs' khanda sahib or cross of Christ
it is these demons who take us for a all round spree.

(the derogatory remarks: aisa chota mota hadsa itne bade desh mein to ho hi jata hai is what they have after all is blown away)

Play it down, they preach
as they race away with their entourage
in guzzling, fortified SUVs.
the talks of theirs retaliation catches eyeballs
only when cricket is called off.
media abuzz with tearful anecdotes
all fizzles out as anger instills
when we hear them speak.


(we condemn, we stand united, my heart goes out, we ll teach a fitting lesson, tribute to martyrs,
this inhumane act ll not be tolerated, common minimum program, fight against terror, secularism, equal opportunities.... the list is endless, all no gospel...)


some years down the line,
democracy such a stunning beauty,
demagogues shoot her point-blank.
all in cold blood
anxiety in the hallway,
don't know if she will make it through.

(but don't u think we're as responsible as they are supposed to be, the sorry tale is as much our's as it is their's)

the present is what we have,
to recuperate her well being.
i don't trust god for them to rot in hell
can't help feeling dismayed, loosing drive
but don't you see?
no fire, no nature, no grave
can put this endemic to rest.
We've got to do our shoelaces, stand up
to stop the chicken on its way to the butcher.


as our heroes die, do we've a leader who would give an arm and leg for the country? If we want f#%*$#g CHANGE then we better be that CHANGE.

The favoured child

Insomnia is the bite,
sour grey eyes,
sweat in bed 'n' cold vibes.

A demon is loose
i don't know, who?
I guess
i just left my job undone...

Death, suffering is all around 'n' beyond,
with no fault, no cause...

Today, ages ago, crying on my way
i said this hell, hey!
As a child i used to fight,
a hero will make i,
slaying the demon, salvaging some pride.

Nothing has come true,
I've turned twenty odd,
yet so f-dumb...
as i celebrate the day, my birthday, eh!
without a care for the less dear...

I've forgotten the chance, the dice
no longer care,"'I'm the favoured child".
Its just not my fight, not in my might;
but i lie,
am sorry for those,
who ain't phony,
ain't the favoured child!

I've got to do something.
My life has been so mean,
can i, will i paint a silver line?
Sand is slipping away
the fist is clinching by the day...

Oh! I've to, I want to... yeah
Oh! I've to, I want to... yeah
yeah! yeah! yeah!
Oh!Oh!Oh!
Nah! Here i go, all dreams,
a plunge into sleep,
the dark so bold,
the night so cold.
The favoured child has one more day to mourn....
The favoured child,The favoured child,
it is so cold...

Transience

The world as I see,
the beauty which has bewildered me, is in transience...
Not the world but me,
not the world but me...

Eyes have grown a shade of Grey
We all play, but don't admit, not say
The smart-asses, we think we all are
Just morons inside the bar...

Alibis, blames all but gain
we choose to close our eyes n ears
to reject the transience as is here

Take a stride, bring a change...
Does he have to comedown
to chivvy and set the pace?
The journey has to start with thou...
It is u who has to come true...

The transience is what we need
to kill the demon we all feed...

CRICKET - the latest fray "3rd umpire review system"

"The Beauty of the game is in the glorious uncertainties", the statement, the prophecy which we so desperately want to unsettle. The recently promulgated 3rd umpire review system for all kinds of decision is one such effort. The system which is under heavy scrutiny, in its very early days has depicted some flaws.

It seems that the logic behind reviews has not been established clearly. The cleanest one would be to have the on-field umpire give the decision first. Clear evidence should be required to overturn 'that decision', whatever it is. The assumption is that the on-field umpire is correct unless the technology INCONTROVERTIBLY proves the decision was wrong. It can't be that you need clear video evidence to give someone out. The batsman can always stand and hope that the cameras didn't catch something clearly. What if the umpire saw it clearly? If the umpire gave the batsman out, and if the replays are not clear, the on field decision would stand. Otherwise, the rule becomes "not out unless you can prove it on replay". Not fair to the fielding side. With the method above, decisions will never be worse than what they would have been without the replays. It will also be a blow to an umpire's self confidence & belief if he has to overturn his decision despite lack of damning evidence. With the method they are using now, decisions can indeed be worse when the cameras are not clear.The conspiracy theorist would be wondering whether ICC deliberately nobbled the review process, in order to ensure its failure and preserve the sanctity of the on-field umpire...

But like on so many other issues in recent times, the ICC just can't seem to do anything right. Technology is introduced, but only half-hearted and more likely than not as an alibi. Why not go the whole hog and allow the best available technology even though it may not be perfect at this stage? It probably is better than the human eye anyway and is void of any human perception or bias. Hawk-eye, the snick-o-meter and the hot spot are all tangible technologies, which, in any case, eliminate any ambiguity and have a much higher degree of acceptability between the teams involved and the public at large. How can a batsman (Dilshan) be first perceived and given out and then the decision be rescinded although the applied technology is non conclusive? Maybe Richardson should try explaining that away instead of giving lectures on how the umpires are "in any case" 94% correct in their decisions without stating the mathematical analysis upon which that conclusion was made? Are we that gullible?
All but the most biased fan can accept an umpire giving a batsman not out if Hawk-eye says 0.5mm of the ball will hit 0.5mm of the top of leg stump, but few can stomach the clear-cut shockers we saw in Sydney. The review process, if properly implemented, removes these.

Another interesting twist in the tail occurred on Day 2 of the Colombo Test. Zaheer Khan had a marginal no-ball called, but there can be no referral because, as, "the batsman might well have changed his shot selection upon seeing the no-ball signal." That tilts things back toward the bat over the ball rather heavily! A simple solution: Let the 3rd umpire make all no-ball decisions based on the perfect camera. He can radio the result to the 1st umpire who can make the signal 'after' any shot has been played. This would virtually eliminate incorrect no-ball calls, and release the 1st umpire to focus attention solely on what is happening 22 yards away at the other end.

Autumn rain on her doorstep

I dream of the place where your garden has no walls
Despite the past,
I’m holding on to your rope too fast
Longing for you to roll and end this cold
Just wonder why you are making this all a bet

It seems sometimes we need to roll the dice to end the dicey
I know it sounds a plunge
But if it’s from the beat,
it is more than mere heat.

The only things we share are the vast sky,
the red flesh which makes the living corpse live.
We’re made of blood and rust,
Wearing along with every thrust.
With dark shadows and hovering black clouds,
beats resounding the chilly quiet nights,
Unless we find something to cling on,
Someone to trust, love and sing…

As I travel the lonely, seconds are like years
Everything is turning blue
Sun is trying to kill the moon
As we look back
May be, may be, just may be
Had we taken that call
It could have been altogether a different trail
May be, may be
Nah, nah, nah I am sure
Just if the message went through,
if we had called it true...

Forever won't be like a moment
With tears rolling in the rain
But I’d take another chance, take a fall, take a shot
So tell me when you are gonna let me in
I’m holding on to your rope
Longing for u to roll…

how life sucks!!!

As i am juggling on,
a thought is nurtured on its own
why am i doing it? why not stop?
ain't it better to let it go,
may be just a nap or for a while
tired body or soul?
lethargy or just cold?


Well as seasons change,
fortunes turn into pain
life is being sucked into infinite boredom
we go on switching fields
the green grass always eluding
you raise the bar
but attitude, heart yet not eccentric...


Sooner or later you cut the chase
dreams seeing the sun rays...
you should be buoyant,

with gung ho zeal
but as it comes to fore,

the past catches you on the roll
seasons make a 360 degree
you now know it was just a respite,
phantom still high...


Is it too tough to crack a whip
may be life sucks, i need not kick!
life is not all roses, i was told,
but ain't leash too close
or something i am yet to unfold?


It seems life sucks big time...
but is the perception legitimate first?
i can't juggle, i can't switch,
there ain't anything as big
as a prophecy, we have to follow,
you can't call life tomorrow!!!


Looking for the answers, i took a stroll
in the hedge i explore...
i am far from what i thought of being,
got bullied and never followed the call from within


Soon i freed myself,
finally unrevealed the love that
i long back hid in the bushel
life doesn't suck,
it is the choices that we make,
which take hostage our fate


The darts make lot more sense
fractals fuse into coherence...
and i encore,
life sucks, no more...

Ma, i'll be back soon

Ma, you know
my distant memories
have a thing in common
all have you in every moment.

The callous may make the boulevard,
with the memory lane all red and green,
yet its your love in the breeze,
your aura in the greens,
which makes me laugh and breathe.

You gave birth to my soul,
the world i own
where bodies are commonplace,
like in a mud hole...
you gave me voice,
all in this noise.

The values you instilled,
are the uncanny wings
the aegis to my quest,
make me defy every blue
and sail through...

I'm sorry eminem, unlike you
she is my world, my light
the one
who seems to make it all right.
i can't imagine a world without you,
it is you who has made all this so true...

Ma, i love you more than anything else
but now it seems
you will have to let me go...
to explore this piquancy on my own
may be i will have to burn some fingers,
to realize what is not so cold,
to let the red flow,
and to know how the heart skips a beat or two,
in this beautiful world which has given you...

But please don't worry
please don't pray
it is just part of the play,
i am not going to stay...
all i can say,
i ll be back soon,
i ll be back home very soon...

You Know sunshine only when she is gone

You know sunshine when she is gone,
she was someone you could not hold on to
someone who just came along ,
'coz you felt the warm beyond the dawn
you don't remember all,
to deserve her all day long
you abandoned her, deserted her
without a care in the wind
only to realize her being your very wings...

as you dive below almucantar,
you get the lunatic within
she is fading away,
with a smile anyway
but why is she smiling?
why is she not running away?
probably coz my brother,
love is not digital as u say...

now you know what she has been,
vigor is water within,
makes blood only when you cut a string
you run to bring her home
but you just can't fly anymore...

she is sitting someplace in the dark,
how could you miss such a painter's dream
you wonder
you wonder dumbfounded...

but before you could say a word
you see, she is not lonely any more...
apparently spring has finally arrived
you amble your way to wine
alcohol is not going to make it all right, is it?
it was your fault
you've to live with it now on...
but now you know,
how pearls have to be valued back,
and how, you know sunshine
only when she is gone...
when she is gone...

Walking in the misty Moon

Life is a journey, not a destination
one moves amid all confusion
with the strings, taxes and toll,
we rust as we shove on...


There is no fun in driving alone,
unless you are stoned
so i call someone to walk me
walk me
past this misty moon


Looking all around, all over
sometimes staying awake till the first sun rays
dreaming when i get some respite
tired of walking alone
not withstanding what i owe


In a world full of souls,
why is this misery bestowed?
Is this such a tall order
or i just need not bother...


Having hallucinated many times,
presumed having found you
as it happens to be,
the quest still beats me
am i done with this?
but still writing this!!!
am i done with this?


People have changed and so have i
but solitude doesn't save hurt or cry...
it haunts me, it tames me,
still i walk on awaiting the dawn...

A NOTE FOR FRESHERS:

A NOTE FOR FRESHERS- if you didn’t make a cut in IITs or got a rank in excess of 2700(when most of the good 4 yr courses are done, IIT Roorkee's Civil, aeronautical being the last available better flavor) u may go for another shot, it s worth it. I won’t say it matters for any of the non IIT colleges but these 6-7 top ones deserve another shot, subject to your thinking and ability to strike a chord. If you are genuinely interested in engineering my answer would be definitely yes for some guy who has cleared JEE in first attempt. Others who doubt their real interests need not bother much.

Remember any ok college in India has more than enough opportunities at least for their toppers wrt placement. And you will sooner than later land up with what you deserve.

When you enter a college your AIR becomes a thing of the past, the same way your college becomes nothing more than a mere ticket and an eligibility criterion when you land up with a job. When u make a switch in jobs it’s the last one, u had that matters. In the long run everything balances itself out.

PLEASE BE RATIONAL- FOLLOWING WILL HELP YOU TO FIGURE OUT WHICH ROAD TO TAKE

The journey doesn't come to an end after cracking some entrance exam, in fact it just gets a heads up form there;There are so many branches which paint the canvas to become even more illusory.
Think rationally, THE WHYs::

1) Why have you chosen engineering?

2) What are your interests in here or what are you really up to?

If the picture is not clear here are some checks which may help you-

1) if you are passionate about engineering- go for the branch of your interest, name and reputation of college takes the back seat, the 2nd priority.

Now how to decide the branch of your interest?

Well if you are some comp geek, there is absolutely nothing wrong in being one (already have some languages up your sleeve) or have some real passion for games and the Internet then you are expected to have a coding gene or two in you. Or if you have some coding experience and it was to your liking go for Computer science as your first preference and Information technology as your second. Note IT is not available in IITs. The drawback with IT is, it is not much recognized as a branch but is seen like something that has manifest itself due to demand and boom in IT sector. The smart money is on rather normal growth and potential in this sector or even some dip following the economic crisis that has been lurking for quite a while now.

Well not a coding warrior? You can go for Electronics and communication/telecommunication (ECE/ ETE), the ever green branch with good scope as well as nice pay checks. Please note it is different from Electrical and electronics (EE), the difference being the scale of electronics involved while the later has heavy electronics under its purview, ECE has semiconductors. The stress in case of the former is on the small components that make our electronic devices like semiconductors, ICs, chips, printed boards, example being the core hardware of any computer. In case of the later you will take on giant electronics which we see all around us, the line cables, transformers, motors etc. it is a millennium long trend that people prefer ECE over EEE in NITs and EEE is one hot branch in IITs only after comps (There is no ECE in IITs).

The hardware fantasy, the very base of the world we see around us, Mechanical, is arguably the coolest branch in engineering, definitely not for most girls (Said at the risk of sounding Chauvenist) due to the heavy duty, physical pain and prosaic dresses that these warriors have to wear during those eternal long hours in their labs. From robotics to automobile to aerospace all has mechanical at its heart. It is not all sweaty hard work in non-ac labs but has a fair share of auto-cad designs and other easier on glucose activities. Has a lot of scope with specializations in Aeronautics, Automobile, Thermodynamics etc.

Civil is expected to become one major player in the infrastructure and construction boom in most developing nations including India. Architecture is seeing growth like never before. Fascination for structure and skyscrapers a must for any aspirant.

Chemical is an evergreen branch and boosts a constant growth. Do you have some interest for chemistry the mystery? Higher studies and you will be among the most sought after few.

Metallurgy can be preferred over mining engineering because it has a wider scope.

2) Not a genuine engineer inside? Go for the coolest ones the ones with good packages and yet involve minimum effort. Comps, IT, Mech, Civil make the cut. They are listed in order of my preference. Name, reputation of college takes control, tags really matter in your case. I made a mistake in this regard. You are anyway going to take a different road, non engineering one. So it will be better to be known by the reputation of coll, that establishes you as some sort of performer, a guy with apti or tenacity or whatever. For example an IITian tag is much better than some good branch in non IIT coll when your concern does not involve branch, at least the tag signifies you cracked JEE.

But as is the case with most people, we have little idea afresh from high school if we do have an engineer inside or what we want to do with life in the first place + the madness about engineering/medical and a rather misplaced euphoria doesn't help the cause either. So consult, open your heart to people who want the best for you in order to realize what you want.
Google all your doubts and concerns.

I can sum up for the time being with a well realized statement: sooner than later you would end up with what you deserve, just don't let your ill-choices or circumstances to bog u down.