The Little Champ

This was approximately 20 years back. I was aged 6 or 7 when Bangalore had too many vacant sites on the streets with less people around. I had a neighbor who was elder than me by 4 or 5 years. Me and him used to play with puppies and one day he had a crazy idea.

We waited till the puppy's mother went away and he carried a puppy from a group, told me to follow him and we went to an abandoned half-constructed house building's 1st floor. There were sand and bricks lying around. I had no idea what was he up to.

He told me he likes that puppy and he needs it for himself but will carry that puppy to his home later. He made a kind of square maze with 3 bricks on top of another and placed the puppy inside. It was struggling to come out. He was satisfied that the puppy couldn't come out and told me to leave the building together with him. I couldn't tell him that he is doing a wrong thing as he would bully me. 

He went to his home and the picture of that puppy struggling to come out of that brick maze was flashing in my mind again and again. What if he does not set it free later in the day and what if he does not set it free even after the next day? If he really liked that puppy, why didn't he take it to his home right away and why is he making it struggle and cry for it's life? I couldn't take it anymore and decided I am gonna set it free.

I was a 6 or 7 years old kid and I was scared of him. I had to overcome my fears of him bullying me to save that puppy. I ran towards the building, started to climb the stairs to first floor and just then, an aunt saw me and started yelling, "What are you doing in an abandoned building and what if you fall from first floor? Go to your home". I started running back to my home without telling her anything. I hid in my house compound and waited for that aunt to go away. After 5 minutes, I once again went to that building, climbed the stairs and the puppy was still struggling to come out and was shouting at it's peak. I swore a word or two to my so called friend, picked the puppy and left it where it was before we picked it up.

I still don't know whether he went back to check that puppy in that building as I never met him again. I came to know after a week from my other friend that he left town.

I guess Conscience is independent of age and sometimes, you gotta overcome your fear to do something right. Whenever I think about this incident, I give a smile and say to myself you were a little champ out there! :)

My Engineering Life - 5

22 November 2008, Saturday, Bangalore Mirror published a cover story on VTU revaluation system where a student was not given the right marks even after applying for revaluation.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/cover-story/VTU-reval-fails-to-pass-muster/articleshow/22257523.cms?

This was some awesome news to my ears as I knew there will be a lenient evaluation because of this and I was damn right. For the first time ever, I got 3% (27 marks) more than I expected in my 7th semester results.

There were no more labs in 8th semester and Mechanical Engineering guys always bid farewell to labs in style through art on uniform. It's always nice to experience the nostalgia of autographs from lecturers and friends on uniform.

The best part of 8th semester was attending college for 3 days only and the other 3 days we had to spend on the project. Finding a project was one hell of a task and forming a team was another. Somehow, a team of 4 was made which had me, Gowda, Tini and Vishak. Though the initial days of searching project landed us in a shameful act of settling for a project by paying for a prototype in market which is already done by someone else and ready to be delivered, we didn't do that and got a project in Bosch. Thanks to Gowda's father working there.

I still don't know what we did there but ended up getting 98/100 in our project. Those project days made me learn a lot of things. I never knew someone can eat so much until I saw my team mates eat. What an appetite they had!!!! Sometimes my stomach would be full seeing them eat. It was free and unlimited food in Bosch. Though the food was ultimate in quality, I was never an appetite guy and didn't make much use of it as my team mates did. Next, I saw another face of Gowda which I had never seen in 3 years with him. I had never seen him being so angry on someone and was surprised that he was angry on me for being 10 minutes late. He did apologize later but I was astonished with a sudden change in him. Lastly, the pleasure you get when you do something you love after you are stressed to the core! The project was going tough and we were stressed and there came a stressbuster in the form of Cricket. We started playing Cricket for sometime everyday after we came out of Bosch and had a great relief. I miss those days!!

I still have that guilt of doing nothing when my team mates were striving hard to design the component of our project through Catia. I never understood Catia and I never understood design. It was nice to see the workers in Bosch staring at us everyday and we used to admire the heavy machines and the ease with which the workers controlled those mammoth machines. Then came the Project-Report formation. If xerox shops do exist and if they are making profits, it's because of Engineering students! It was irritating to do the report in a specific way and it was more annoying when all the hard work we put to form the report was seen just for 3 minutes and thrown somewhere in library after the project presentation was over. I still remember it was 2 AM when my team mates left my home the night project report was completed.

According to surveys I went through, final year Engineering was the most enjoyed by students and hence I too had a feeling that I am going to enjoy it which turned out to be the other way after our new HOD came in. He was unfit to be a HOD. The fun of being in last semester and the fun in being the seniors of the college were all ruined by this man. What a wrong time he came in! The biggest blunder he did was arranging parents meet for shortage of attendance. That too for 8th semester guys!! And attending 4/5 classes still left you at 80% attendance which is lesser than the prescribed required attendance and it is shortage!

I badly wanted a break and we all headed to Sangam on a weekend and had good time there with all friends. The seminars were fun. Especially to sit as audience and stare at your friend like you are going to eat him when he is on the dais. It is that moment when the presenter thinks why the hell he chose Engineering to make a career. Microsoft would literally die if they see the bloopers we make on powerpoint presentations during our seminars in Engineering.

I got a chance to compere once for a Mech-Tech program organized by our college. I might sound narcissistic but I really fell in love with my own voice there. We had just 3 subjects in 8th Sem, Powerplant Engineering, Composite Materials, Robotics and an optional subject Constitution of India. Powerplant Engg was interesting, gave a wider picture to think. Robotics was a tough one. Composite Materials was boring. Constitution gave a nightmare after the exam as I thought I would flunk in it.

I needed 80% in 8th sem to make my aggregate 70% from 1-8 semesters. I badly needed it. I was very much happy when I saw my results. Received 82% and the biggest miracle was I had cleared Constitution! My objective of getting 70% aggregate was achieved but I need not say how tragic 2009 was due to recession.

Every moment spent in my 4 years of Engineering was priceless. If given a chance, I would love to do Engineering again in that same college, in that same MECHANICAL branch, with those same classmates, with those same teachers and of course with those same beautiful subjects and yes, with lotz of Cricket!!

THE END.