Friday 4 May 2012

The Fire!

This is yet another post on my time spent during my engineering days, unlike my previous post I won't be cribbing much in this one. This post is about what kept me running.

It was 17th May 2002, I was in the second semester of my engineering. My branch of engineering was Telecommunication. And it was "World Telecommunication Day". I came to know that there was some function arranged by my seniors of my branch. I went to my department to check it out. (In the first year we had classes in the college administration block hence we were fairly disconnected from our department ). I was pretty excited to know that the function was some kind of a department festival, and the celebration was mostly in terms of having contests, technical paper presentation and exhibition of engineering stuff done by students of our college. I didn't take part in anything, I just observed the events. It was completely organized by my seniors, while the professors and other staff members of the department were very much there to witness the proceedings. I could sense the excitement in the crowd. I felt like being part of a very fresh and super interactive club. I felt awesome!

The first year of my engineering was fairly insignificant and less eventful. I hardly have anything to say about it, where as if you ask me about my second year I should have so much to talk about. The subjects in my second year were very specific to my branch of engineering. Since my dad was also from similar background he had many books related to my subjects. They were very quality books mostly by foreign authors (rather from international book publishers). Turning the pages from those books made me feel like I should some day be equipped with all the knowledge to create stuff, solve problems in engineering and do advancement in technology. Seeing my enthusiasm, dad bought me some more books which were useful for my studies and also for the long term reference. Many of my classmates were comfortable reading the books written by the local authors which were tailor made for the syllabus. In my opinion they were bad books. They helped a student to get good marks but the authors of the book didn't communicate the engineering ideas quite well, though I guess there were few exceptions. While I took my own time to understand the concepts from the books I referred, I was also losing out on the race of scoring marks. Since I wasn't answerable to anyone, I didn't care much about scoring high.

During my third semester and fourth semester holidays I happen to spend most of my time in a state-of-the-art electronics Lab which was located some where in the industrial hub of Bangalore(in Peenya). Dad knew a person who was a trainer in that lab who made arrangements for me and my friends to use the lab for doing any electronics circuits we wished to do. The lab was pretty much a paradise for an electronics geek if you ask me. Some of my friends who came with me were super excited about trying out all the circuits we learnt in theory but never got a chance to do the same in our collage laboratory due to limited time and components. The place was pretty far from my home and almost took two hours to reach there, however the bus journey wasn't less interesting as I had lots of discussions with my friends regarding the circuits we were about to try and other things pertaining to electronics design. The time spent in that lab was so influential that I convinced my dad to setup an electronics lab on top our house when I was the third year. Incidentally I currently work in the same lab.

Some day in the mid of fourth semester, our third year seniors came over to our class to do an announcement. It was about celebrating "The World Telecommunication Day", they also mentioned that unlike previous year, this time they were planning to have the fest for two days and at an inter-college level. They were accompanied by a lecturer who wanted to assist in organizing. I was super thrilled to hear that announcement. They wanted volunteers for the fest from our class, but unfortunately none of my class mates including me raised our hands. I was waiting for some one to raise their hands. Looking at the nil response, our seniors were forced to pick few people whom they already knew in our class to volunteer. I felt like killing myself when they left the room. After the class I went to that lecturer's room and told him that I wished to volunteer. Looking at my enthusiasm, that lecturer immediately took me to a member of the organizing committee, a senior, and told her to include me. She was very glad that I wanted to volunteer. She was part of the creative team that was mostly into stage decoration and advertisement of the fest - exactly what I was interested in.

During the fest preparation I became friends with many of my seniors, especially the third year folks(The final year students were mostly in the verge of leaving the college hence weren't visible in the college much). I could infer that they were very inclusive and kind towards me. When I told them that I had an idea for the backdrop for the stage they supported my idea with great conviction. I must say that it was a fantastic experience working with my class mates and my seniors in creating that backdrop. I also did lots of posters for the fest with them. All the skills that I had acquired in painting and craft during my childhood came in very handy while doing the posters and the backdrop. I gained great attention from all, including the teaching staff. I felt damn good, I felt like I was building my own identity.       

When I was in the third year it became our responsibility to take the lead in organizing the fest. I did no injustice to it. This time I was more confident and as a matter of fact I was a bit aggressive as well. We started off much early. We did posters that were just like those TV promotions saying "coming soon" types. Two of my class mates were equally excited in doing the posters for the fest. We had great fun in doing them. I requested more funds for art materials which helped us literally pant the campus walls with posters and banners. I had this bunch of juniors who were ready to do anything and everything for the fest. I still remember running around the city market with them to get thermocol sheets, card-boards, paints and many other things for the fest. Like my seniors, I did encourage my juniors, especially this guy called RP. He was super creative. We did lots of posters together and almost all were his ideas. We also made a back drop that was partially lit by LED lights - which were powered by our laboratory power supplies and made with bunch of electronic components from the lab. All in all we had kick-ass fun before the fest and during the fest. Well, after the fest I was pretty much the guy I always wanted to be :)

I was in the final stages of my final year engineering project when the fest was organized by my juniors from the third year and the second year. I could some how make some time to attend the fest. The same bunch of juniors who worked with me were the most active members of the organizing committee. They told me quite many stories that happened while arranging the fest and also introduced me to some of the second year folks. The fest was more successful than any other year. I could see so many students from various colleges coming up with self-designed electronics gadgets for the project display, high-funda topics on communication for the paper presentation and many participating in contest like dumb charades, quiz, JAM, gaming etc. I could see the same excitement that I saw when I was in the first year. At that moment I felt I would miss my college like hell. Though I hated the education system, I could never deny that it was the same system that gave me the chance to do some thing worth while, something meaningful - an experience that I would remember forever.               

2 comments:

Supertramp said...

Nice post boii !! reminded the last scene of "its not a funny story" .. :)

ganesh said...

thanks boii! :)