Hi Friends,
My life has been a constant roller coaster ride and as I think back of the time when I started preparing for the Engineering Entrance exams and then finally being a student of Class of 1997-2001 of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. It was a long dream fulfilled and the awareness level at that time was way too low as I came from a small city in Haryana. It might be my excuse for all the mistakes I did during those times and later too but overall I did faced a lot of hardships as well as fun times during those engineering years.
Engineering is one of the most sought after career stream in India after CA and Medicine. People do try to enter Civil Services or any kind of Public Sector jobs after completing their graduations in Arts and other streams. For Engineering as Graduation studies, you need to have been a good student of Science subjects mainly Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. I was never a great student of Chemistry but in other 2 subjects, I could manage myself well. I wanted to be an Engineer but never thought about the branch of subjects, I wanted to study. My family made that choice for me to take up Electronics Engineering as at that time people were looking forward to enter the technology market and electronics and computers were picking up speed.
Engineering was the first chance when students comes out of their comfort zones into the college and stay at hostels and PG's accommodations. Ragging is another thing that used to happen in those times behind the scenes and you always try to run away from the same. After a while you will understand that there is no running away and will become a part of the same. I was a day scholar for the first 3 semesters and used to daily travel to my uncle's home some 60 kms away. It gave me an opportunity to meet some new friends and experiences never sought after. Experiences like running after a Trolleys (tied to Ox/horse or Tractors) and catching them to go to the Bus station, even sitting once on a container truck without anything to hold to and most of the time walking several kilometers at one go.
I met one of my best friend and I am still friends with him and it's been more than 21 years that I have met him on and off from time to time. I miss the time we spent together understanding student life and life afterwards at IT Corporate sector. I was not able to clear my first semester exams in Physics and Economics. Economics I could strike off after the re-evaluation of examination paper but Physics took me to my last attempt in my 4th Semester where I had to clear the same by all means else I would be sitting with my juniors in their classes from 5th Semester onward. One of the my teachers, joked about the same in the classroom and that was the turning point in my career to take studies seriously and from then onward, I cleared all my examination in the same semester only. Finally, I got supplementary in 3 Semesters (1st, 3rd and 4th) out of total 8 in 4 years which I still think as an achievement. It could never have been achieved if that teacher didn't enticed my mind to think out of the box and what my life has been? I will be eternally grateful to him through out my life.
Life in the last semester is more about the placements or the future exam preparations for GATE, CAT or GRE. Most of the people choose any one of these and keep their extra time devoted to the same and me myself kept preparing for CAT examinations throughout but never wrote the exam itself when I was in last year. I don't know what happened there but I was interviewed by Wipro Infotech and selected but final joining letter never came in 2001 slowdown. I was not aware about directly going and sitting into the TCS walk-in happening in Delhi and other students also didn't tell me. I felt so sad and took a wrong course selection to do VLSI Design Diploma from ERandDCI (CDAC) Noida which didn't fetched me any kind of job. They wanted to make me a teacher there but I was not thinking of becoming one as Corporate life always attracted me.
What happened after that was a life of struggle and pain day and night! Engineering was fun though as you were within the walls of education and learning. I would say to the young generation to take care of your studies and explore other opportunities and be always aware about the things going around you. Be close to your teachers or meet them every week with whatever problems you face in your student life. They are there for our welfare and we shall always think of them as our mentors and not afraid of them. They will guide you in the right direction as they know your strengths and weakness.
Always make a good and respectful relationship with the junior staff as by the time, you will move out of the college, they will become senior and hold posts in the various departments for your degree certificates and provisional certificates etc. Always be close to Admin, Principle office and finance guys too. It all about managing your business and getting things done.
Thirdly, you shall always buy your own books as soon as possible rather than lending from library etc and start marking all the important chapters and notes captured in the classroom and tutorials. Those will never go waste as you can always browse through them and read them before on your weekends. Always be prepared for those 7-10 questions which are always asked in your Semester exams to get good marks in your engineering exams. Keep asking your heart and mind, that if you know the subject thoroughly or you need more study in the same. There is always some bar which needs to be cleared to pass the exam and that's always known to your heart. Once you cross that bar, you will pass if not with flying colors.
What happened in my life after engineering will be in another post soon!
Cheers!!!
What happened after that was a life of struggle and pain day and night! Engineering was fun though as you were within the walls of education and learning. I would say to the young generation to take care of your studies and explore other opportunities and be always aware about the things going around you. Be close to your teachers or meet them every week with whatever problems you face in your student life. They are there for our welfare and we shall always think of them as our mentors and not afraid of them. They will guide you in the right direction as they know your strengths and weakness.
Always make a good and respectful relationship with the junior staff as by the time, you will move out of the college, they will become senior and hold posts in the various departments for your degree certificates and provisional certificates etc. Always be close to Admin, Principle office and finance guys too. It all about managing your business and getting things done.
Thirdly, you shall always buy your own books as soon as possible rather than lending from library etc and start marking all the important chapters and notes captured in the classroom and tutorials. Those will never go waste as you can always browse through them and read them before on your weekends. Always be prepared for those 7-10 questions which are always asked in your Semester exams to get good marks in your engineering exams. Keep asking your heart and mind, that if you know the subject thoroughly or you need more study in the same. There is always some bar which needs to be cleared to pass the exam and that's always known to your heart. Once you cross that bar, you will pass if not with flying colors.
What happened in my life after engineering will be in another post soon!
Cheers!!!
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