Diversity in Unity!!!

One of the many things I had wanted from my class in engineering was a fair amount of unity. However, it proved to be a terrible disillusionment when we realized that the class has been divided into many groups (small and large), each of which are bent on thinking for themselves and nobody else.

In engineering, where one needs to depend on classmates and friends for a variety of reasons, a certain sense of belonging should exist in our minds, which should not be confined to only our own group. I mean, come on, we all from the same class. Can’t we give up our own selfish desires for the greater good of the whole class?

And so it happens, that when only a handful of students remain in the college, having decided to ‘mass’ bunk a lecture (which obviously they don’t want to have), a few of them try ‘requesting’ the professor for attendance! I mean, what does a mass-bunk even mean for these guys? And, at about 3 days before the midsem, when nobody wants the lecture in the first place, just for making sure their ‘attendance’ gets counted, it is just an indication of how divided the class actually is.

Where is the drive with which we cheer our class as a whole? Where is the will to stand up for other people from our class (from other groups)? Whatever happened to ‘All for one, and one for all’? Everything is lost in the huge chakravyuha of classroom groupism and politics. For the sake of their own groups, the wider scope of the class is ignored.

All I can say is that for a class to remain a class, it MUST be united, otherwise it will only be a room filled with empty, heartless groups of individuals with no morals left to boast about!!!

The last exam…

Looking back at the past month (and four days!) it has been almost a whole era that has gone by since the time our exams started. Our great exam time-table setters in the Mumbai University have given this as their final parting gift…one whole agonizing month for five lousy exam dates!

The first four exams have gone pretty decently, and now we’re on the home stretch. And there comes the catch. Almost cruelly, the last paper had to be Maths, the one with the most boring topics (not that we had any better topics in CS, but at least that paper had gone reasonably well!). We had six days to prepare for the maths paper (that was actually much lesser than the holidays we had for all the other exams!) and it might be this difference that may lead to unacceptable complacency on the part of the students (I know that’s the case with me!).

The first two days were spent in the customary relief that the previous exam has gone off without a hitch. The next two days had me starting to get serious about maths. By the fifth day, a sense of apprehension dawned on me. I hadn’t even come halfway with the preparations.

And finally, on the last day, real panic set in. Unlike the previous papers, where there definitely was a stage where I could say, “I can attempt the paper reasonably well”, there were none here. But, human resilience is about to be tested tomorrow, and everyone needs to rise up to the challenge!

And so, coming to the end of the final day of the final plunge, all I have to say is, “Good Luck!” God knows we all need it!

Nahi toh May ’09 hai naa!!

True Friends

We all have friends; some good friends, some not-so-good friends, some acquaintances. But there’s always a special group of friends who are the closest to you. You always share everything together, you always go out together, you always do everything together. In short, you are always there for each other.

Many-a-times, you might feel slightly resentful going around with people you’re not quite comfortable with, just because you dont have anyone else to go with. Happens lot of times. It is these times that you really miss your special friends. Conversely, the times you actually go around with your true buddies are the ones you end up cherishing. Its a wonderful feeling to ‘belong’, and not be ‘just another addition’ to the group.

And this is what i have come to learn quite recently (dont ask how….i just couldnt find a decent group anywhere else!!). You need friends to be with you at any step of life. Even though you’re a loner and believe that you can fend for yourself, there’ll always be at least one instance where you do need your friends to give you the required guidance and moral support. Because after all, we are social organisms, and without friends, we’d soon turn into zombies or robots (considering the fact that i was labelled ‘robot’ in school, this shouldnt come as a big surprise!!!)

So remember, LIFE IS FRIENDSHIP!!! So cherish your friends, and keep them as close to you as possible, coz you never know when you’ll need them!

A New Beginning…

After passing the horror that is the 12th standard, I was caught by a dilemma. Actually, it wasn’t quite a dilemma because I knew that I hated biology, and so a future in medicine was completely ruled out. Engineering was a good option, and I knew that I had to go for it.

But, the dilemma came in the form of which engineering stream to choose. Earlier, when I had been studying for competetive exams like JEE, AIEEE etc, I had not really considered this particular aspect. I was inherently interested in chemistry (pure chemistry, mind you……definitely not applied chemistry!!!!…..we have had enough of that in FE). But, at the same time, I had also considered electronics as a pretty suitable future. To sum up…..I was extremely muddled up! 

So it was that I went and applied to UICT. I had come to the temporary conclusion that I could get a seat for Electronics in Mumbai University if I wanted, so I wanted to see if I could have got one in UICT. However, I could get in, but not in the coveted Chemical Engineering branch. Though it was a fairly obscure branch (Food Technology), I thought I would give it a go. It seemed too good to be true that I was actually a part of the famous University Institute of Chemical Technology!! Two weeks it played host to me, and I was most pleased with the atmosphere there (one actually felt like going to the library and studying in their freetime!!).

So far so good. Then comes the turnaround. The CAP rounds had started, and I decided to check out what I had missed in MU by taking up UICT. Turned out that I could have got SPIT Electronics! If I was confused earlier, I was infinitely more confused then! What to choose? Should I leave Foods and go for Electronics, or should I forget the whole thing and stay happy with UICT? Finally I made the choice, and hung up my UICT boots.

The SPIT era begins. It was completely different as compared to UICT. People here were less geeky (in fact only one guy seemed to fit this adjective, and that was, and still is, Rishkul!!!) and more playful. I warmed up to this new atmosphere. I realized that the syllabus here was completely new, and involved idiotic subjects like applied physics and chemistry (in the first year, where the syllabus is common to every branch), as opposed to the purely chemical subjects in UICT. Like everyone, even I had my share of hurling well-chosen expletives at MU.

Then came the exams. The first semester exams had been hopeless. I had known right from the moment I had finished them, that I wouldnt have scored as much as I would have been expected to. I was right, of course. Result? 65%. Equivalent to FAIL!!! (by my own standards) I got blasted by my family and friends as always, and as expected, this had absolutely no effect on me, as I continued my ‘insolence’ and managed to get the exact same percentage (give or take a fraction of a percent) in the second semester exams as well! So basically I had finished up on an aggregate of 65.5% in my first year of engineering, when all my friends (and mark the word ALL…..no exceptions) had bounced up at least 3% or more than their first sem marks.

I was left thinking…is this what I really wanted from life? Had I made the wrong choice by leaving UICT and coming to SPIT? Was I giving electronics the justice it deserves? Was I screwing it up just like the guys in Five Point Someone? The answer was a resounding YES, and there was nothing I could do to avoid the truth.

But then, I realized, this was only the first year. The channelized ‘Electronics’ branch was going to start from the second year. And, looking back, the subjects I had scored the poorest were physics, chemistry, drawing and maths. Barring maths, I had done pretty well in all the other subjects, which would actually be needed for electronics. All the failures in these subjects seemed irrelevant in that revelation.

This is actually a new beginning, and this time, I have to pull myself together and make sure that I do not slip up. And believe me, this time I WILL RISE FROM THE ASHES!!!

Malhar ’08!!!

Somewhere near end-July comes the realization that Malhar is just around the corner, and that I could get some passes (Yay!). Start inviting my classmates for Malhar. Almost the whole class ready to go.

Contact my cousin (who happens to be in the Malhar committee this year) and ask for passes. She says she cant get the passes beforehand…that we had to go online and download “e-passes” like other students (Damn! there goes my chance of impressing the new chicks in my class!! ). The e-pass distribution to start on 11th August.

11th August : Bombshell!……. Realize that our college is not on the invited colleges’ list! Check up with my cousin to ensure that we could still find some way to go for Malhar. Negative! That means all my mehnat gone waste! Spend the next two days apoligizing to friends.

13th August : A new hope!…… Get a call from mom towards the end of the day saying that she has managed to get her hands on 8 VIP passes (which essentially means that the holder would get an entry irrespective whether he was invited or not). Again start inviting friends. Get hold of 8 guys (actually 7 guys and a girl!).

14th August : Complications…….. Abhishek calls up saying that he cant make it due to some domestic problems. Two hours later, Siddharth calls up saying that he’s feeling ill. Two coveted passes still available….. Try calling up other friends to give the passes. Turn out that all of them are either busy with the next day’s Raksha Bandhan preparations or gone out for the extended weekend or worse, refusing to come due to bomb scares! Finally decide to chuck it and take only the remaining guys along! The final squadron consists of only me, Rishkul, Arjun, Sai, Nisha and Raju.

15th August : Am late to reach Andheri station where all the guys were supposed to meet. Turns out Arjun is even later (which is saying something!!!). As he doesnt have any cell phone, we wait in anxiety on the platform for every train that he might be coming in. With the result that I manage to get separated from the rest (this time including Arjun) and travel in another compartment of the same train. Get off at Dadar and get in the other guys’ compartment. Together, we get off at Marine Lines. Nisha meets us there. Then the actual journey begins!

Malhar : Get to Xaviers by around 10 am (decent enough time for entry). Find entrance blocked by hordes of participants. Try to ‘patavofy’ the security volunteer by showing him our VIP passes. He humours us by asking us to wait in line for around half an hour!

So finally we got in. Watched the Fusion Instrumental event (incredible quality I would like to add!) before going for a snack in the woods. Sai, Arjun, and Raju got their hair styled (and some free Brylcreem satches!). After being shooed off the walkway every time we slowed down (that seems to be the theme of Malhar every year) or being jostled to one side to keep the woods free, we tried to figure out where to go next. Science exhibition was closed, so we went for Antarchakshu.

Antarchakshu was awesome, and we got to experience the life of physically challenged people up front! Also, I got to give my worst TV interview for a marathi news channel!!! Anyways, I also got a Cadbury Celebrations pack, so it made up for that!!

Went back down to the woods. Set a new record for juggling a football (22 seconds…huge, isnt it?? ). Arjun tried his hand (or should I say, foot) at kicking the football through a hoop. Not so successful! I couldnt have a bite at it, so I cant comment.

Tried hitting darts. All six of us tried, but not even one could get a prize (Musst Chips and Stix….as if we reallllly wanted them!!!). Had some (free) coffee (who says no to free stuff eh?). Time: 2.00 pm. Sai realizes he has to go home early. Decide to get out and do some timepass outside.

Go for a walk on Marine Drive. En route, Rishkul and I use up the Brylcreem satches and end up making our hair look worse than they already were! Nisha gets hit by a truck (Dont worry, nothing happened to the truck!!!). At Marine Drive, we pass sick comments on the crabs there and discover that crabs like ‘poha’ (courtesy Raju (who else!!)). Finally go to K Rustam, have ice cream and some Litchi sherbet.

Continue to Churchgate station. After a squabble as to which train to go by, Arjun and Sai leave by the Virar fast train while the rest of us sit back in a Borivali slow. The roller-coaster of the past few days had finally come to an end. And we all thoroughly enjoyed it! (Didnt we???? :P)

Lonely!

Have you ever felt as though at times you’re completely alone? Irrespective of whether you’re a complete outcast or indeed, the most popular guy in college, isn’t there at least one time when you feel as if no one wants you. As if no one will ever give you the happiness you deserve from life. At those times you just want to go away….away from everyone around you….away from your parents, away from your friends, away from all those people whose mere presence can bring a smile to your face. Alas, such is life!

You feel utterly destroyed by life. You feel as if you’re a small nobody in this big bad world. You wonder why all this has to happen to you alone. But then there’s no one who can comfort you. Because deep down, you feel it doesnt seem dignified to ask for help from anyone. This is one battle you have to fight alone.

So you mope around, trying to think about what has happened, trying to blame someone else for no one’s mistake, trying to prove to yourself that you have done no wrong, but have been done wrong to. It’s futile of course. Because at the end, you know that it is YOU who has done the wrong thing by expecting too much from the people who care about you. It is YOU who has taken every little joke or every silly statement the wrong way. It is YOUR ego that keeps you from accepting all this and coming back to your loved ones. YOU are what you make yourself!

And that forces you to become a Lone Warrior!

Boooooooorrrrrrriiiinnnnnggggggg!!!

Thats right….what DO you do when you’re bored?? By bored i mean so bored that you start thinking “why god…why…..what did i do in my past life to deserve this????”

It all starts with first thinking what you were doing to get bored in the first place. Then it comes down to seeing if there’s anything you can actually do about it. And then you realize that what you’re actually doing is nothing. And then you start sulking again. And that leads you to the situation mentioned above!

I say his bcoz i’m going through a similar phase right now. Just started getting into the concept of “blogging” jst coz my friends were egging me on…..and also bcoz i didnt have anything else to do at the moment. You can call that as a mild form of boredness. But anyways, college starts from tomorrow. Lets hope that there’s something to keep all of us from not getting bored.

Thats all at the moment. As i said, geting too bored to even keep this stupid thing going!!…anyways, will continue blogging later sometime….hope to get into the groove (so as to speak)!