Tuesday 24 March 2009

And soon we'll leave...

I remember joining my college about four years back. Not exactly excited about studying Electronics and Communication engineering, the first Professor I met asked me,"What's your state rank in AIEEE?" I said:111. "Then why don't you join NIT?" "Sir, I won't get the branch I like." "So you love ECE that much, eh?" I didn't know what to tell him. I gave him a broad, you-may-be-right-but-you-can't-get-it-from-my-face sort of smile and escaped. It is very difficult to smile like that. It needs years of patient practice to produce the perfect smile.

My first year was rather uneventful except for garnering more points at the Genesis that the entire CompSci department put together. I was trying to make out what I wanted in my life. I had become almost an atheist - tried agnoticism, went to the verge of atheism... and not a soul knew my inner turmoil.

God pulled me back. You know, He has made this habit of letting me go away from Him and then pulling me back with such force that makes me wonder how I could go away from Him. It was a miracle that saved me. My mom had a serious brain haemorrhage during my study holidays. I was not supposed to be at home that day, but purely accidentally, I was. Doctors weren't sure about the outcome of my mom's operation, but she's really fine now. 

The second year was less trying. The proper study of electronics began. I remember sitting almost clueless in the classes at the beginning - not able to decode what my Professors were saying. I was scared of the internal exams - I used to start preparing at least the week before. Now, it is two hours before the exam starts that I deign to open the book. I was made the Secretary of ISTE's college chapter. There were some tech fests. I remember winning a prize in a Science Quiz with DJ. Fourth semester was one of the best semesters I ever had. We had some of the best faculty at the college teaching us. We fell in love with the subject, a love which only two years of horrendous lectures by some other teachers could break. This year also saw us talking more to our classmates. Got to know more about them and felt really grateful to have such intelligent and more importantly, such good human beings as friends. You wouldn't believe if I tell you how simple and how noble most of my friends are. Before coming to college, I wouldn't have believed if someone told me that such human beings existed. Satsang, it is - my group of friends. 

The third year saw a remarkable downfall in the quality of our teachers. I will tell you, that all the teachers are qualified well to do their jobs. They teach us well, most of them. But we would like to see more passion in them, for the subject. I believe that more than knowledge, it is a passion for teaching that is required. A teacher should make the students more thirsty for knowledge, not spoon-feed them. We had great teachers during this period too.

I am currently in my fourth year. The seventh semester was, till date, the worst period I ever had in my life. I hope never to have such six months again. The eighth semester got better and soon, we'll be leaving this great institution. Many have their lives temporarily secured - I mean, they have got jobs; some haven't. It has been four glorious years of joy and tears, hopes and fears, inspired moments and desperate times.

I do not know what to say. I do not know what my friends might do. The institution boasts of its stellar alumni-ISRO Chief, Madhavan Nair, many, if not most of the top brass of ISRO, numerous officers in the Civil Services, people in all divisions of the Defence forces. What lies in store for us? God knows.


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