My Engineering days.... Part 1

I will be sharing how i spent my days during engineering. It might run into a few parts.(Because i have a pretty hectic schedule ahead in the coming weeks and Blogging is one way of relaxing :-)) Here comes the first part. It all happened b/w 1998-2002..

Got a free seat in E & C at PES College of Engineering, Mandya (my home town). The college life was about to begin. Was using a old bicycle (1960 Hercules)of my grand father for first and second PUC. Continued with the same for the first semester. Then as it normally happens with all youngsters entering college, started to get a feeling that why am i riding an old cycle. Started putting pressure on dad for a new gear bicycle with the reason that the college was 5 kms away from home :-) (But the fact was i used the old cycle for my PU and the Government PU college was hardly a km short to engineering college :-))

First sem results were out and had got distinction. Dad relented to my sustained pressure (the distinction came in handy) and i had a gear bicycle (Rs 2700) at the start of 2nd semester. Didn't even care whether dad had enough money to purchase.

So 2nd semester began with a new bicycle with gears. Was feeling on top of the world. Used it for a month. Then the distance to college got halved. No no college didn't shift..... :-) I used to park my cycle at friend's place (Praveen alias Shahrukh) and then went to college in his Splendor Bike.

Was not at all a studious guy. Somehow again managed to get exact distinction in the second semester. I remember using only a single sheet for Graphics semester exam because there were rumours that if we write everything in a single drawing sheet we will get some grace marks. If i find the guy who started it will thrash him. After writing whatever i knew in a single sheet the drawing sheet looked clumsy :-) :-) Fortunately barely managed to clear the graphics paper.


Strength of Materials was my favorite subject and it was handled by Dr. Eshwar Prasad. He was amazing. Loved that subject like anything. Graphics was the one i hated. Didn't understand concepts of projections.. It was too confusing. You come out with the solution and then suddenly you realise that the initial assumption was wrong. Then redo it all over again.

Along with Shahrukh organized one day picnic to Madikeri. It was a great experience and it served as a platform to showcase my organizational ability.

And 3rd semester entered into E & C department. Was wondering what on earth am i studying. No subject was interesting and circuits, formulas, ... Oh God.. Where was I... Then they called for change of branch option. 7 had got detained in Computer Science. So in effect there were 7 vacancies. I applied for change of branch and the merit list was out and i stood 6th. :-) Got the change to Computer Science. Was feeling great and also relieved that i need not study any circuit stuff :-) Was happy but missed Shahrukh. He continued in E & C. (Shahrukh alias Praveen is now in Oracle.. )

I entered Computer Science department. The branch where my best friend Sudi was there. He was my neighbour and we were classmates from LKG to tenth. We had an amazing relationship and I was happy to join him again as a classmate...

In between all this the youth mania caught up again :-) and started asking dad to get a two wheeler for me. . The gear cycle happiness quotient was on a decline and needed a change :-) Dad relented again and i was a proud owner of Hero Puch (The results and the change of branch thing helped. Rs 18000. Dad had taken loan from Bank to finance. ). He thought me to ride a Bajaj two wheeler (it was his friend's). Dad had a Hero Majestic (1985 make, moped) and i knew to ride it. After a week's training i was ready to ride Hero Puch. Trust me guys riding a Hero Puch is not easy. Putting first gear and releasing the clutch is a very tough ask initially. I learnt it the hard way. But once you learn it then its an easy job to ride.


Just to Summarise everything... I got carried away with this youth mania.. I realised it later that a gear cycle is as good as a gearless cycle and the interest on something is sustained only for a while. My dad gave my gear cycle to a distant relative freely.

Moral : Its natural to crave for many things (bikes, latest mobile handsets, costly branded dresses, etc..) when you enter college but think twice before pressurizing your parents relentlessly. They will have their own constraints and see things from a utility perspective. (I agree i didn't follow this but have realised its importance )

Still tonnes to write... But rest will be in my next part.... Take care...