My Engineering Life - 3

My third year of Engineering started with a sad note. I missed my seniors. Few of the senior girls in my bus had become close and I missed them a lot. I stepped in to third year keeping placements in mind and also with a purpose of scoring big in exams as VTU considers the marks only from 5th semester to 8th semester for award of class in B.E. But I do personally feel that VTU should consider marks right from 1st semester for award of class and ranks.

One thing I hated in Engineering was change of teachers in each and every semester. We would have impressed a teacher in our previous semester and they would know how we behave in class and how we score in exams and when new teacher comes, we will have to start all over again. Unfortunately, in 5th semester, 3 out of 6 theory subjects were handled by new teachers and it was like we were put in for experimenting how the teachers would handle the class and because of this I lost that enthusiasm towards subjects and 5th semester was quite boring.

There was one subject called Control Engineering and I should speak about this subject. I feel it is a subject which is not at all required for Mechanical Engineering and was a complete Electronics subject with those stupid circuits and algorithms. The teacher who called me "Angry Young Man" handled this subject and I was surprised by the way he taught and his willingness to teach the concept again and again. That was one change I observed in him which was not there in the past.

A beautiful teacher joined our college but sadly it was for Computer science department. She reserved a place in every boy's heart and I can never forget the way Appanna who was in first bench used to give that Million Dollar smile looking back at back bench boys when she used to walk on the corridors when our classes were going on. I should also say how smart our boys were when they used to stare girls through opening windows slightly and when some teachers saw that and enquired, they would say "Fresh air sir" and all of us knew what he meant by "Fresh air" and teachers would join our laughter which was the best part of Mechanical branch.

Coming to labs, I was relieved that one of the subjects is dealt with computers. ANSYS, which is a Mechanical analysis software, was very interesting. I loved it. I hated the other lab which was Machine shop. I feel the college authorities should give the right protective outfits when there is a danger in dealing with few labs. When I was in PUC, I burnt my fingers many times when working with concentrated Sulphuric Acid and thankfully there was no playing with it in Engineering Chemistry. But in Machine shop, hot metallic chips hit my eyes twice and it was on final exam day too. Wish they would have given a protective spectacle or would have given permission for wearing a cooling glass during that lab. By doing so, it would have helped boys to impress few girls too!! Part-B in Machine shop was funny, operation in Milling machine. It was like switching on the machine, rotate a wheel twice or thrice and it would do Milling by itself and goodness gracious, you have earned 10 marks for yourself!!

Majority of the boys in other departments used to spend their free time chatting with girls. But for us, Cricket was our girl friend, Cricket was our best friend and Cricket was our life. We were never scared of that scorching heat the sun produced during summer and never let it dominate over our love towards Cricket. We played under sun, under rain and in those strong winds which used to favour swing for bowlers.

For the first time ever, we were made to sit next to girls of other departments in 2nd floor when our internals were going on and all boys were in great joy. Earlier, one would give off his answer booklet and go out soon when he did not know anything to write but when it was in a class where girls used to sit next to them, none would move out of class even though they did not know anything to write.

Library was like a temple for us. We would go there only if there was a problem like when Internals were about to start. Library would be fully packed only during internals and exams and one foolish policy of our library was to deposit the double cost of a book if we require that book to be taken home during exams. I am not against the deposit but what's with double cost??

I loved Dynamics of Machinery subject the most in 5th semester. I can never forget the numerical problems we solved about Gyroscopes, Governors, Air planes, ships and other automobiles in this subject. Though the problems were quite complex and lengthy, I enjoyed it. The continuation of Design subject was also very good and I should say our Surendra sir was the right person to handle Design subject. Though Fluid Machinery is a nice subject, the lecturer messed it up with his own strategy saying that he will just finish 60 marks and do revision instead of completing 100 marks.

5th Semester exams began and I was screwed up in all the subjects. It was easy but I did not have that enthusiasm of performing well. I chose wrong topics to study for exams and I paid for it. Though my percentage of 5th semester was not bad, I was not satisfied with my marks and I did not take it forward. I forgot my 5th semester performance and my all focus were on placements.

As soon as 5th semester exams finished, the college management ordered us to attend placement training without giving at least 2 days break. We prepared our life's first resume at this time and there were many speeches by many people about placements. Our college made a mistake by giving many mock tests but not discussing the answers which led in building a mental complex about aptitude tests. All knew what type of questions would be asked but very less people knew how to tackle such problems. It was a 10 day training program and they told the importance of in-plant trainings for placements. So a hunt started to approach each and every company for in-plant training. Fortunately, I had a class mate whose uncle used to work in HAL and we got permission to do an In-plant training there. It was for 5 days and my learning quotient was zero there. I could not understand the working procedure of those giant machines and I was just eager to collect a certificate, that's it. You would not believe if i say we bunked in-plant training too and went to a movie. We were four people in HAL from our college. But it was a good experience.

I thought single In-plant training would not be sufficient and hence I approached Bosch for which I got permission and I and Baba did our training for 6 days in Bosch-Nagnathpura plant. Bosch was strict when compared to HAL. There was no chance for bunking here. The food was awesome and I liked the process of manufacturing the spark-plugs, from powder to a solid powerful spark-plug. We finished 6 days and obtained a certificate from Bosch as well.

Our 6th semester began on February 8th and the company for which we would be giving our first placement test was Wipro on February 14th 2008. It was a day where everyone came with their high hopes; high spirits and 9 colleges were invited to our college for pool campus recruitment. I will never forget the way there was a cheer from each and every student present there after seeing a presentation from our college side. It boosted up their spirits and it was a first opportunity to get a job for most of them present there. There were about 600-800 students from 9 colleges and it was a massive recruitment drive. One thing I hated about placements was the time they made us wait to announce the results of our level 1 aptitude tests. For Wipro, we finished our aptitude test by 11 am and they announced the results at 4 pm. I was disappointed not to see my name there and it was same with all people whose names were not there.

My face brightened up when I heard another company called L & T would be coming the next day for recruitment and it would be only for our college. For Wipro, only one person from our branch got placed and no one expected him to be the one who would get placed and it was a major shock to all the lecturers. Around 15 were placed to Wipro from our college including all 4 branches and since it was a one day recruitment process, it went on till 12 am for those who had qualified. L & T aptitude was like never ending one and just one from the entire college was qualified for the next round.

Our college did one more foolish thing by making us all attend another placement training program at our expense which was completely useless and hopeless. The level at which they trained us was like we were attending some CAT exam or something. When we were at a position where we are unable to understand the simple basics of aptitude questions, imagine the level of CAT exam type training!! No one was benefited by that program.

5th semester results were announced in last week of February and I was least bothered about my results as my aim was to get placed to some company or the other and hence all my focus were on placements. On February 26th 2008, we were told that we will be writing a placement test for Infosys in BTL College and all were happy to get another opportunity. Again, it was just one person qualifying for the next round and everybody's hopes were shattered. I told to myself not to have that high hopes hereafter and will not bother if I am placed or not.

March 11th 2008, Monday, Keane (Caritor) came to our college for the recruitment drive. Their aptitude test was one of the easiest tests I ever wrote and I liked them for keeping an essay as well for evaluation. I knew I had done well and was waiting for the results. As expected, many of them had cleared aptitude including me and our next round was group discussion. Fortunately, my group had just 1 girl and rests all boys and I knew I would clear this round as well. If it were many girls in the group, it would have become a fish market for sure as it happened in other groups. I cleared this stage with ease and next round was Technical interview. My technical interview was with a lady and she liked the interest I had towards C language. Though it was Mechanical questions for all, there was no single Mechanical question asked to me and I was happier to give answers for questions asked in C language. I was not sure whether I would clear this round and for my dismay, it was said that results of technical interview would be announced on Friday and HR round will be held on that same day.

March 15th 2008, Friday, Eight from Mechanical had given their Technical interview and I am sure none of them would have had a good sleep like me since Monday. I did not want to say anyone that I cleared 2 rounds and yes, I was little superstitious. I was waiting for Friday and I was so relieved when I heard my name to be qualified for next round. I had to wait for a long time for the last round of interview. My HR round was a little tricky one. He asked me few tricky questions for which I was honest and gave my answers. It was just a 10 minutes interview and I was not at all confident that I would be selected. The answers I gave in HR round haunted me all the while and I used to think I should have said this, I should have said that. I was so nervous that I skipped my meal and was waiting for the results. When it was 3 pm and still no signs of announcing results, I plugged my MP3 player to my ears and started listening music and forgot about the outcome of my results. They came in at 3 45 pm and started announcing the results. First name was my classmate's, Jayanth. 6 of them from my class had made it to last round and there were about 30 of them from all the branches waiting to hear their name. When I heard my name, I was on cloud 9 and what a feel it was!! There was no end to my joy and I wanted my mom to know about it as soon as possible. 5 from my class and 23-26 from entire college got placed to Keane.

Seeing high number of people getting placed to Keane, many of them started working harder for recruitments and sadly, Keane was the last company in which Mechanical guys were allowed for recruitments. Placement helped me a bit in getting recognized in college. With all these, I was least bothered about the subjects in sixth semester. After few days, while going home by bus, I once heard lecturers talking about placements and how students would behave after getting placed and show no more interest on studies. I wanted to prove them wrong and I wanted to tell them that it is not true with my case and my behaviour will not change no matter whatever happens. I always gave priority to discipline and when I am from NCC background, I knew the importance of discipline and character.

For the first time ever, we had a female lecturer Mrs. Hamsapriya handling a Mechanical subject Engineering Economy and she was very friendly and taught the subject well. But it was Operations Research subject which stole my heart and this was my most favourite subject in the entire span of Engineering. I loved this subject because it was a complete problematic subject with no necessity of learning definitions and other silly theory and each numerical problem was of 20 marks and hence if you know 5 concepts, you were all set to score 100!! Mechanical Vibrations was another subject which was a difficult one but it was interesting. I can never forget the way our classmates used to make fun of the lecturer who was handling this subject.

Elective subject came into picture from this semester. We chose Theory of Elasticity and I repented later for choosing this subject. Mr.KNS used to handle this subject and the specialty of this lecturer was it would be general talk for at least 30 minutes in his every class and our boys were always keen to have that general talk going on and on instead of writing the notes he dictated. This subject did not have a text book written by a local author and it hit me seriously as I referred to 4-5 notes and it got complicated. As usual, VTU skipped off 2 chapters in this subject which I had studied thoroughly and I was "Stamped" in this subject.

The labs of 6th semester were Fluid Machinery and Energy Conversion. The former lab was like playing with water in every machine and we got a chance to play with Mercury as well when we broke a thermometer! Energy Conversion lab was a beauty. I loved all experiments in this lab and the best part was long calculations.

Sixth semester exams started with Operations Research and there were no efforts by me to study that subject in depth as it was all about 5 simple concepts. My aim was to score 626/900 in this semester and I was 10 marks short when I saw my results and it did not disappoint me that much. My Viva-voce in Energy conversion lab went superb and I cannot forget the way the invigilator praised me after I gave the perfect definition when he asked me what Knocking and Octane number is.

Gowda's change of lady-love surprised us all. His preference changed from a thin girl to someone who matches his personality and he became crazy about her. The best part of this semester was 2 sections of Mechanical branch became one and Diploma students joined us and were too friendly. I and Sandy became close friends and I used to admire him for his readiness to mingle with people. With time, I started to enjoy the deadly jokes cracked by Nischith(Patte) and Naveen(Tini).

More about my friends and how they won my heart will be in next blog....

To be continued....

My Engineering Life - 2

http://chetan-myengglife-2.blogspot.com/

I was waiting for my second semester results and it came a month later after our college re-opened. During my first month of third semester, I was least bothered to concentrate in classes as I thought that I will be moving into Computer Science anyway. I used to prefer sleep in those cool early mornings than going to college as the management had told they can do something about the branch change only after the second semester results. Few people from my class and from other branches as well wanted to change their branch. But the sad part was out of 108 students in my class, almost 30 of them flunked and they didn’t allow a single guy from our class to change the branch. I was upset.

I had somehow postponed wearing khaki uniform for labs for a month saying I will change my branch but when it was made clear that there will be no change of branch to anyone, had to stitch the uniform and I hated to wear that. But it was only till I boarded the bus. There came a message from one of the girls saying that I was looking cute in uniform and all my hatredness towards the uniform vanished!! (Do not think much about who the girl was)

One month had already passed and I knew nothing about any subject. The negligence I showed during the classes made me to pay heavily in this semester. Moreover, the second year of Mechanical Engineering is "An era of Thermodynamics". Basic Thermodynamics in third semester and Applied Thermodynamics in fourth semester. The hype created around these subjects will make anyone to get scared. Fortunately, a new teacher called Mr. Balaji came into our college and he used to handle this subject and he made it sure that all will atleast clear this subject. If according to VTU, 4 hours is per subject per week, our college used to design a time-table such that there is 5 hours for all subjects per week. But Balaji sir used to take classes for atleast 8-9 hours per week for Thermodynamics. There used to be no free hours if some teacher was absent. In those cases, it used to be Thermodynamics class by default.

We, being Mechanical guys, there was no stoppage for bunking classes and playing Cricket. I think I was the only one in the class who never feared to say about the real reason for bunking classes. I used to proudly say that I bunked because I wanted to play Cricket. I was perplexed to see the reasons given by my fellow classmates though they were playing Cricket with me. May be my love towards Cricket won over my fears.

There was another subject called Machine Drawing. This subject bugged me a lot. This is the subject which I hated the most in my entire Engineering though it is one of the important subjects one should be good at to be a perfect Mechanical Engineer. Everyone in my class found this subject to be a very easy one. My lecturer for this subject used to come and says to open up the sheets and start drawing and once the time is up, he would leave. No explanations, no tactics. I won't blame him as the subject itself is like that. I still wonder why a subject which will be so easy to all will be a difficult one for me and a subject where everyone would suffer will be the one I would enjoy and love it.

The subjects I liked in my third semester were Strength of Materials (SOM) and Material Science and Metallurgy. SOM is an interesting subject and an interviewer's favourite topic. I liked the way Gupta sir taught this subject. His explanations were simple, understandable to all, used simple words and were giving a perfect example. Unfortunately, he taught just 2 chapters and a new lecturer took over and we all lost the grip on this subject. Only after reading Material Science, I came to know there will be so many inspections and experiments done on a metal like Iron. Those demon-structured graphs in this subject are just unforgettable. We had a lab subject called Foundry and Forging and it was like playing with sand and mud. This is one crazy subject where we had to weigh sand and heat it in an oven, measure dimensions on that black sand, mixing sand and water in a mixer. Gosh!!

Our college used to conduct Blood Donation camps regularly and when I donated my blood for the first time in my life, it was a great feeling, a great sense of satisfaction. There were few who wanted to donate blood but didn't had that minimum weight to donate blood and there were few who used to donate blood just because they give something to eat after you donate blood (Gowda, I am not talking about you). But our class had that maximum participation in Blood donation and that was great. I donated my blood thrice in my entire span of Engineering and there were guys who donated blood more than 6 times.

I should say I was very low when it came to eating. My classmates were like brothers and cousins of Bhima!! They used to eat whatever they get and never used to stop it. If it was Puliogre in my box, I would get just 2-3 spoons and later on I had to carry 2 boxes of Puliogre if I had to eat properly.

I did not perform well in my third semester engineering exams and I was in such a condition that I would become happier if I passed in Machine Drawing. All I wanted was 35 in Machine Drawing and I was scared that I won't get it. It was the only subject in the entire Engineering which was of 4 hours Exam. Rest all were of 3 hours. The best thing what VTU has done now is to convert this pencil-paper exam into a computer aided exam and our juniors are definitely benefitted. Imagine standing for 4 hours and using all those crazy instruments and different pencils. Somehow I got 50 in Machine Drawing, but was really disappointed with my percentage. It was in this semester where many in my class scored First class with Distinction.

A Mechanical Engineer of my batch would normally say his toughest semester was fourth semester. But I started loving my branch in this semester and it was mainly because of the beauty of the subjects. Maths-4, Fluid Mechanics (FM), Metrology and Measurements (M and M), Applied Thermodynamics (ATD), Kinematics of Machines (KOM), Design of Machines (DME). Each and every subject was beautiful, tricky and enjoyable.

My concentration level in classes increased may be due to the impact of my third semester results and every subject in this semester had problems to solve which I enjoyed a lot. I was curious about AutoCad lab subject and was interested to learn it very well and once I came to know that we will have to draw those same things which we used to do in Machine Drawing; there was no end to my anger. But one thing I was happy about was the return of C programming in this subject. Its not a typical C program which we normally study but was quite different. There were 4-5 long programs and my classmates used to just byheart those. I clearly understood the logic behind those programs and if one know the value of the co-ordinates of the 4 corners of the monitor screen, anyone could create a circle or a rectangle of any size at any point within the monitor screen and those who byhearted couldn't produce this.

I was sad about the way they taught AutoCad in our college. It was like the attender of the lab knew more about the subject than the teacher who handles it. Our college introduced a survey system for teachers from students and my friends rated the teachers blindly without giving any remarks but I begged to differ. I utilized all the "Remarks" section and wrote everything what I felt including my disappointment about how AutoCad was taught. The survey papers should be actually seen and evaluated only by HOD and Principal but to my bad luck, it was seen by every lecturer including the one who taught AutoCad and during my lunch break on that day, one of the lecturers called me and asked about the things I had written and he told "I may take it sportively but don’t think that all the lecturers would be like me." I came to know all lecturers have seen the survey papers, but also I was not afraid of anything as I believed a survey would give me the full freedom to express anything I want and if someone or something contradicts it, a survey would lose all its meaning. I can never forget the way the AutoCad teacher on the dais that day gave a smile seeing me and addressed me as "ANGRY YOUNG MAN". The entire class had no slight clue about why he said that and I returned a smile to him and that issue was never raised again. But I should say he was one of the best teachers when he taught a subject in our seventh semester.

In Engineering, even if teachers are good and they teach well and you have a wrong book to study, you are in a risk for marks. Teachers advise to go for standard books and by the time you read the entire book, you will be just sure of 40 - 60 marks. My choice of books written by local authors saved me in fourth semester. My favourite subjects in this semester were KOM and Design.

No Mechanical Engineer of my batch would forget the way the question paper was set for KOM subject. It was a suicider!! A paper set with a clear aim of making maximum number of students getting failed in KOM. I escaped VTU's net by scoring 46 which was like scoring 85/100! And what saved me was glancing over a particular 16-marks problem for a couple of minutes when I was in bus. Many of them in my class flunked in this subject. All lecturers criticized the way the question paper was set. VTU used to do prepare a bizarre question paper in one semester or the other and in one branch or the other so that maximum number of students will flunk in it. I hated it when a particular chapter in a subject would be skipped and no questions would be asked from that particular chapter.

People would not believe if I say my 40-50 marks of my exams were because of my last minute preparations. It was all I studied while moving in bus and the one hour spent in library prior to commencement of the exam. Psychiatrists and Experts say not to study at the eleventh hour but I strongly oppose it. May be they say that considering average people but I should say it depends on the in-take capacity of your memory and how it works during stress. For me, visualization will be rapid when I am subjected to stress and it has always helped me right from I am a kid.

Design of Machine elements was a great subject and we had a superb teacher for it. I loved it when 20 marks flat was allotted to one particular question and you miss a single step in your answer, your entire answer will go wrong. This was one subject where many would misuse data hand books, a subject which would bring a smile in people who are experts in keeping chits in exams. Though I did not get very good marks in this subject because of its time consuming nature, I liked this subject.

During my AutoCad lab exam, I had to sit in front of a computer which did not work properly and was giving no output though my program was perfect. When I told the same to the internal invigilator and asked his permission to try in another computer, he said ok but my valuable time was lost. I showed them the exact output in another computer and then the invigilator told me to proceed with the drawing part in AutoCad. I knew it that it wont help if I ask for extra time for the computer fault. They would have simply refused to give extra time or would have told ok and then would have put pressure to finish off fast. So I removed my MP3 player which was in my pocket and plugged it in the computer, copied all the AutoCad files I had stored in it and put the player back into my pocket. I had to do only the dimensioning part and did it as slowly as I could and showed the same to the invigilator. During exams, I think one should disable all the USB ports in the computers in lab and deny giving administrator rights to students or else everyone could do the same thing like me.

Though many of them in my class had flunked in First year Engg, the class strength was equally balanced by Diploma students through lateral entry. Lots of guys joined in. When we were in third semester, my classmates were waiting to see new faces of first year girls. They had high expectations and that led to disappointment in many when they realized no girl is that good as they expected. Poor chaps!!

Many of them would doze off in bus and Baba had asked me why you don’t sleep in bus for which I told I don't like to sleep for less time and when I sleep, it should be a proper long sleep. He challenged me that I would doze off in bus one day or the other within 4 years and I accepted that challenge. Books in bus were getting opened only during Internals and I used to utilize all my journey time by hearing music through my MP3 player.

I worked very hard during my fourth semester exams, putting all my efforts to the level of getting fully exhausted which paid me well in return. There were only 2 people who scored First class with Distinction in my class and I was one among them. I liked the Grace Marks system in VTU. I got FCD with 3 marks grace and though my Percentage was less when compared to what I got in Second semester, I was very much satisfied with my results and was very happy too.

This was all in my second year of Engineering....

To be continued...

MY ENGINEERING LIFE

October 6th 2005, Thursday, Day 1 of my engineering life: It was an induction for us in my college and even parents were invited. I woke up early in the morning and waited for college bus from 7 a.m along with my mom. The bus came exactly at 7 :45 a.m and the journey to my college was like never-ending one. When we were at Bannerghatta, I thought we reached our destination and later realized that we have just reached the half way!! By the time we reached our college, my mom was already dozing and I was wondering how the hell would I do this big part of journey everyday to and fro.

The best part of our college was cool environment, greenery around and field to play. We sat in the hall where all had gathered and few speeches were done. The only thing which went into my head was our Girish sir saying to the parents: "All you have to do is to ensure that your ward gets 70% in every semester right from 1-8 and he/she will definitely get a job". I took these words seriously and one more thing which captured me was our seniors getting memento for scoring 90-98 marks in external exams on that particular day. I dreamt of receiving the same next year without realizing what exactly engineering would be, how the subjects and teaching would be and most importantly why students curse VTU often!

The students were sent to class to receive introduction from the teachers of the respective departments. When I walked to the class, all I could hear was Tamil language, be it from students or the clerks there or anyone whom i saw at that time. I entered the class and sat on one of the benches. All students came in and settled there. The one who sat next to me started talking to me in Tamil and I was like what the hell is going on here! Am I in right college? Am I in Tamilnadu or what? Will I have to learn Tamil to study in this college? I told him politely that I do not know Tamil and I am from Bangalore. He introduced himself as Sandeep. He started to talk in Tamil again with the guys who were sitting back. The major turn-off was there were just boys and boys only around. Then I realized there will be no girls in Mechanical branch and it will be the same for 4 years!!

Teachers came to the class and introduced themselves but I was hardly interested in that as I thought that this will not be the branch where I would stay after a year as I will be changing my branch to Computer Science. We were sent back to join our parents in the hall. While going, there was a huge crowd at the notice board and all were noting down the time-table. I was disappointed to see that we will have to follow the Chemistry cycle in our first semester coz I was expecting Physics cycle as it would help me in the flow of C language for third semester. I just glanced over the next day's subjects and remembered it without noting down anything. The induction got over at 2:30 and the buses left at 3 pm. There was a lot of fun going on behind me in the bus as all started introducing each other but I preferred to be silent as my mom was there next to me. I was relieved when I heard Kannada from some people there.

The next day, I was again early for my college bus. The bus was crowded and teachers, seniors, all were there. I sat at the last row of the bus and dint know who is who there. It was a big silent journey again. After entering the class, I saw a couple of people who were in my bus and I went close to them and smiled and talked to them. Soon, we became friends. They were Santosh (Baba) and Kavali. It was 8:45 a.m and still 15 minutes were left to start the class. I went to notice board and was seeing the time table structure and subjects and the lecturers who will be handling them. There came a guy, innocent (just by external appearance) and decent who started talking to me. He dint see my face but was seeing the notice board and said: "You were coming to YKJ tuitions for Chemistry right?" I saw him but never had seen him before and told: "Yes, how do you know?" He said even he used to go to the same tuitions but no one recognized him as he was sitting at the last bench. He introduced himself as Pradeep (Gowda). We went to class and I introduced him to Baba and Kavali where Baba said he already knew him.

I dint want to make the same mistake which I did in my PUC days by opting to sit on last bench on first day and completely failed to score big in PUC. I was into Engineering with a purpose to strike big when it came to marks. Though my entry to Engg was decided while I was standing in the queue to pay the fees for the BCA course in National college, I always believed in excelling wherever I am or whatever I do. My strategy to Engg in first semester was the same I used in school. Impress the teachers first, study hard only in your first test and the rest will follow you. So I decided to sit on first bench where I came across Emil and Appanna. Emil was a funny guy who was never serious and Appanna was just the opposite to Emil. I came to know he is a coorgie by hearing his name itself.

According to our time table, we had Chemistry lab on that day itself and when we entered, we saw a guy who was so friendly with us asking all our details of our past and interests and hobbies. I initially thought that he was an attender and did not believe when he himself told that he will be handling Chemistry to all of us. It was confirmed only when he came to our class the next day to teach us Chemistry. I have never come across such a lecturer who cared for us so much after my school days. He was just like a school teacher in Engineering college and HK sir will always remain in my heart for all the good he did to me.

My strategy went just fine and within a couple of weeks, I had impressed few teachers. One thing I have observed in the first semester students is the level of Enthusiasm. It will be so high that all will be seen with a book-in-hand always, either in library or in the bus or at the free time in class. It used to be the same with me too. If this level of enthusiasm is carried out in all semesters of engg, there will be the right engineers emerging out of every colleges. But this rarely happens. I used to study more while I am in the bus, especially those early mornings which helped me a lot in my entire span of engg. You wont believe if I say I just used to study during that 1 and half hours while I am in the bus in that early mornings when there was internals going on and used to score the maximum in my 4th and 5th semesters.

Normally, the first semester students would have higher aims to score marks and study whenever they get time. When that is the mindset of them, imagine them stepping into the bus and seeing all their seniors with books in their hands studying as if the clouds would fall on them if they wont study at that particular time. Well, the situation is quite simple. The seniors having their first internals and unfortunately, it has clashed with the day 1 of the freshers. Thank God, that did not happen to us but when we were the seniors, the juniors had to face that. Poor chaps!!

Our batch was quite lucky when it came to ragging. None of them either ragged us in the bus or ragged us in the campus. But it was not the same when we were the seniors. Though I strongly condemn ragging and never did it, our classmates made it sure to have fun in the bus when it was freshers coming in. I am against ragging and will always be against it.

Back to my first semester days, I had impressed few teachers before my first internals and after my first internals, I almost impressed all. And it was C language which I was most interested in and I enjoyed Maths too. They say that Mech guys do not have interest in C and I broke that rule. I enjoyed C upto the core and it was like I was able to follow even the complex programs. I impressed Mr. Pasha, the C language lecturer and he had challenged openly in the class to many of our classmates to get pass marks in second internals as he will set the toughest paper. I still remember that question paper which was of only programs and there was a Switch program to be written using only characters as datatype and not int. I was the only guy to get above 20 in that internals. Many of them thought that I went to tuitions for C and that is why I am able to follow it so easily. I believe if there is strong determination and dedication towards a subject, no matter how much ever complex it is, we will be able to crack it. By the end of 3 internals, my total was 172/175 and keeping this in mind, I was so over-confident that I believed I will get the marks same way in my external exams too.

The question papers in the first semester were so madly set by VTU that all were like out of syllabus and I knew I would not get good marks but I expected a little more and only after the results were announced, I came to know how exactly the valuation is done in VTU and never to expect more marks. I was disappointed abt my results and realized that it is not Internal marks which are to be targeted.

It was in second semester where we played Cricket like hell bunking the class everyday. We were playing Cricket in first semester too but in second semester, it was like all were coming to college just to play Cricket! All used to be ready for mass bunk. May be this is the biggest advantage of just boys and no girls in the class! The one who was very much frustrated about our mass bunk was Physics lecturer. He went up to the level of complaining to the Principal but what can they do when all 60 were involved? If he had suspended us, it would have been turned out to be more fun as everyone would be found again on field either playing Cricket or Football!

I should say the Physics cycle subjects are more better and interesting when compared to Chemistry cycle subjects. All were problematic (Numericals) subjects and I just love solving problems and scoring marks than reading all that silly theory and writing stories on that. Once you understand the concept of solving problems, no matter how much ever they twist the question, you can solve it easily.

My favourite subjects in second semester was Maths and Civil Engineering. Civil engg is just awesome. I appreciate the separation of theory and Numericals in that subject and mind you, Civil engineering concepts are used in defense forces interviews (SSBs), the structures, the rigidity, support, preparing a cantilever structure, etc. The outdoor Group Task activities in defense is all about these concepts. We had a great teacher for Maths in second semester. Her way of teaching was so simple that she used to teach even the most complex concepts in simpler terms so that even a below average student could understand easily. I got 82 in Maths though I could write for 90 marks only coz of time shortage and all credits should go to Mrs. Shanthi. I am a slow writer in exams.

The toughest subject was Electrical Engg and we had a teacher for that who used to give max marks for just writing the question again and again in the answer booklet. All were happy in getting good marks in internals and later all paid for it in our externals. Many of them flunked too! Then comes the workshop; this subject is all about the power and stamina you have. I hated this subject. It used to be fun to see girls working heavily in workshop and I always imagined how the hell would they lift that heavy hammer for Forging. If I were in VTU, I would have banned this subject or would have just put this subject only for Mechanical related branches. I am sure many girls would support this.

There were cute girls in other branches and guys from our class were desperate to see them in every opportunity they get. Few of them were so happy that our class was just opposite to Girl's restroom in ground floor and I still remember the way one of our classmates went behind a girl to introduce himself and ask that girl's name though he knew it. I couldn't suppress my laughter seeing him and the girl's reaction. We had College day and my friend Gowda was so impressed by one girl's performance that he fell in love right at that moment and he told us all. I can never forget the way he made it sure that no one is watching him when he wanted to talk with that girl and by chance me watching that and telling it off to the whole class and what fun we had after that! The first girl with whom I talked in my college was Sheetal and I wonder why I always wanted to call her as Shirley. She was my senior and one of my friends in my bus had introduced her in his class. We never talked much but it was a girl named Sowmya who became my close friend and she too was my senior. My seniors in the bus wanted to play with her using my mobile and later when I revealed that it were her classmates who were playing with her, we became friends.

I was very much confident that I would get above 70% easily in this semester as all were problematic subjects. I got above 70 but I was not satisfied with my marks as I had fixed a higher target. It was in second semester we played more Cricket and mingled with everyone easily and had good friends too. My classmates recognized my potential as a fast bowler and everyone appreciated and encouraged me. I had that feeling that I may miss this people as I will be shifting my branch and I was more interested in knowing about the teachers in Computer Science, students who studied good and whom should I beat there in terms of marks.

This was all in my First year of Engineering...

To be continued.....