College life comes to a dawn

The end of an epoch....the end of a saga....a new beginning...what do I say? My college life comes to an end. I'm not exactly sad, for when the cold water of wisdom embellished by my college falls on the hot rocks of pleasent memories associated with these four prestigious years, the fumes are bound to mesmerize me for some time before they fade away, creating a vaccum which nothing else can ever fill !

These four years have fortunately witnessed more downs than ups, but I have enjoyed each moment. I made lots of friends while lost some, saw ups and downs in relationships, enjoyed the gush of maturity knocking out the child within , only to make me a fuller, more complete individual. What I have gathered from my experience is not how to do a thing...but how NOT to do it !, be it getting the bonafide certificate signed by the college clerks within a record 27 days or the bus pass in a matter of a few months ! but what I have really enjoyed doing here is spending time with my friends and realizing that a bunch of good friends is worth a treasure.

Today when I am writing this article, my mind is again and again going back in time, so let me set my clock to 16th July 2002. This was the day when I visited NSIT, my alma mater for the first time after clearing the entrance test. Happy was I, but not as much as my parents and younger brother, who had a great role in motivating me to this day. We happily attended the admission day and confirmed a seat in my preffered branch and college. This young school passout then waited for the session to open.

1st August 2002, the first day at college...after all !...it all starts when I enter the 0930 Manufacturing Processes lecture late by 10 minutes only to be seen by the lecturer with scornful eyes...and then meet my small new world...my friends! Also what was concomitant with the new session was Ragging !! ...So on the very first day we were warmly welcomed by our seniors...you would definately understand how 'WARM' the welcome would have been...infact anyone who has ever been or has even heard about engineering and medical college ragging will quite comfortably.

I still don't know how it all started but if you strain your memory a little, you will remember in those days, a movie 'Mere Yaar ki Shaadi hai ' and the sexy shamina shetty starred song 'Sharara Sharara' was a super hit.I must have told my seniors that I liked that song...and axed my own foot! For the next three months I was asked to dance everywhere I went...on sharara sharara...be it my classroom desks, the canteen tables, the library or the central workshop!.I won't say I didn't enjoy doing it ....it did yield instant popularity and a temporary ankur sahni 'dance' fan club...but at times it can be extremely embaressing...especially when you are wearing a full sleeve shirt with collar buttoned, plain trousers,black leather shoes with white laces, no belt or watch...in a nutshell looking a complete ullu !! (owl).

November 2002...First end sems!! what the helll...time evaporates....my celebrations weren't yet over that I got the first end sem date sheet...hell!...so I started slogging for the exams.Engineering first semester students have to undergo immense torture making stupid 'modern art' potraits, which some bright , disillusioned souls called professors call 'Engineering drawing'..and a year later even more dreadful 'Machine drawing'. Electronics, Computer people have it not so bad as compared to Mechanical guys who have it in every semester , but unfortuante if compared to IT, which has it only in the first sem. Each sheet can take as much as 10 hours to as little as 10 minutes...depending on whether you make it yourself, fool your professor by using the trick of trade called 'glass topo' or 10 mins if you ask a hosteller junior to make it for you. I was quite fortunate in being a dayscholar , as my hostel friends spent nights after nights first doing 'cabaret' for the seniors, providing them ample tax-free entertainment and thenmaking their sheets !.

From second to the fifth semester, time evaporated pretty much like petrol and even I was EXTREMELY CONSISTENT in my academic performane....exactly 65% in each sem regardless of how hard (or soft) I studied.!!!!! It was now that I realized what to do after engneering....MBA was cool as it gave me enough money, power, status for distributing 'gyaan'...and moreso because I enjoyed my technical subjects very much(I hope you get the message)....ab toh MBA hi karna hai!

So the next few months passed by preparing for this ruthless exam which cost me my consistency...as now the numbers were in descending order as much as my attendence, my time, real efforts and a cool 25,000 bucks!!

This line I am copying from a previous article of mine...four years of enginering can be daunting(or BORING) if you enjoy studying DSP,Microprocessors and Communication as much as I did and that too ...from world class faculty such as ours ..the result ... sub standard marks and you make it to the most sub standard business schools in the country!!

Now, everything is over...CAT, college classes,placements, everythng,but what remains is a project , eighth semester exams which will be easy to clear...and above all....the SEVENTH SEMESTER result.....first exam was one day before CAT and one the day after...so you can gauge my anxiety...especially because DU allows you to leave only one core subject in case you fail !!

So while attending a lovely farewell party organized by my lovely juniors at NSIT last evening, and also while dancing in the jam session thereafter, my mind kept meandering over these years of my life...a nostalgia fills the mind...but then life has to go on...the mother comfort will now hand us over to a new mother..the goddess of struggle, to create a space for ourselves ...an identity in this world. Some of us will be far ahead of the others, some of us will be far happier and satisfied than others( these two sets might not be identical), but we will make new friends for sure.

So...this was my experience...I would be glad if you pen your comments on the same.