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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...
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...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLOl....got 50 marks when u were praying for 35!...and common let the guys do what u did in Autocad lab, why disable USB ports...haha
ReplyDeletewho looks cute in kaki uniform? the girl who said u were cute had really crush on u i guess....