Dessert.. Or is it?

Well, here we are. The final leg of your journey in an engineering degree. The fourth year. The Coupe de grace. If you thought during your seniors' farewell that they are getting too emotional, well you'll be doing the same. Or not. The final year is harsh. It's also the time when the placement season begins. Soon, one by one, people start posting status-es on facebook saying "Placed @ -----". While this is good if you are one of those people, things can get really frustrating if you're not. Sometimes it's luck- you reach the last round but don't make it through. Or you past mistakes come back to haunt you- yes, the 12th percentage. The average minimum percentage is 60%, although some companies even ask for 70. It is a tough battle really. Campus placements, you might have already heard this- are the easiest. All you need is one full day of dedication and luck to make it to the last round. And there it is- the offer letter in a really official looking folder with the company logo on it. It makes you feel proud, really. I remember my mum tearing up on the phone when i said, "mum, placement ho gaya(mum i've been placed)". My sister needed some convincing though. All she could text back was "Hai!?" (Seriously!?). Dad was really proud of me that day, although he is a man of very few words.

Coming back to the point, the placement season lasts a really long time. You need to be very patient and never miss a company, at least in your own campus. Off-campus, the picture is not rosy at all. Although there are many openings- supposedly, you rarely get a reply from recruiters on job portals. And going to another college, well the placement department makes sure that most of the students selected are from their college. Yes, that happens. It's not fair, but even they've charged a hefty amount from their students for an engineering degree. Plus, there's always advertisements saying "100% placement record". That draws in more freshers each year. This is also a time when friendships turn sour. Seeing your friend crack the company is great, but suddenly it dawns upon you- what about me? And that's when the comparison starts. Marks, trainings, skills. Everything is put on the table and you end up muttering- "I should have been selected instead of him/her". KAPUT! There goes the friendship. Or you can stay friends, but the feeling is never the same. OR you stay just the way you are. THAT is friendship.

Aside from the jobs and stuff, teachers go easy on you- well, mostly. You start hanging out a lot- just like the first year. Trips and fun are of utmost importance. Taking pictures and posting them on facebook even more. You try to make sure that you have a picture of every one of those awesome moments- someone's birthday, or that club you always wanted to go to. You just need a reason to celebrate- like us, we celebrated my buddy's car completing 50k kilometers. Party. That is the first word you hear everyone saying when you have even the tiniest of good news. You know by now, which people you'll stay in contact with and which ones you won't. So you automatically feel more towards them than the others. The tee-shirt signing day is something you wouldn't want to miss. People mostly have good things to write about you and you feel on top of the world. It's fun. And the farewell party. Dance out of your wits. It's probably the last time you can in college- before getting all too busy and taking a rain check on almost every meet up.

That winds up the gist- mostly, of my experience in an engineering degree. ALU, out! 

Third Course

Well, the junior year a.k.a third year is a time when you basically have settled down and learnt how to and how not to deal with things. Politics starts to play a major role. The rivalry between the first and last benchers deepens. Subjects start becoming more time consuming. You might even start detaching from your family, thinking that friends are all that you have. YOU ARE WRONG. The only people standing by your side through thick and thin is your immediate family. Parents, brothers or sisters. Not cousins, not some extended family people. Adopt this life lesson.

Anyways, college either becomes more like a drag or a place to be in 24x7. People know you for who you are and word spreads fast. Even the teachers get in on the gossip and treat you in a more friendly way. At this point of time, I had decided that i've had enough of the hostel life. I wanted to be free- of the campus, of the area and the annoying people that come along with it, and of the food. It wasn't that i'd started to miss home badly, but I wanted to LIVE, not slog. So, the two of us moved- into the heart of Noida. Shifting is one hell of a task. And if you're shifting into a flat, there comes the expenses. New stuff, rent, food, internet. Everything needs to be brought and paid for. We spent about 35k in the first month of shifting to Noida. This included 1+1 rent, a brand new refrigerator, an internet connection, hardware, plastics and stuff. And a lot of convincing our parents that we won't screw up our marks since well, freedom can be misused. And we didn't regret it a single bit. The trouble started when two more of our friends shifted next door. Conflict of interests, eating and spending habits- all started getting noticed and slowly, the seed of resentment was laid amongst us all. Who was to blame? Each of the four people. " Be not like dumb, driven cattle ! Be a hero in the strife!" Mr. H.W Longfellow sure meant this to be a life lesson, but if you're to co-habituate in the same four walls, you have to agree to some things, understand the circumstances and learn to not mind some comments. We ultimately fell apart in the beginning of final year. Anyways, that is a different story.

Coming back to college life. Well, mine was swell. I had finally started getting the recognition I craved for, friends became an integral part of my life. I had returned from a big ass internship and couldn't feel more proud of myself. New friendships blossomed, we started going out on more and more night outs, random short trips were easily planned since the group was getting larger by the day. We even had some good out-station trips. This is basically the buildup- it reaches a peak point and after that, there's the fallout. Enjoy this time- bask in the glory, have the most exciting time of your life. It does not get any better than this.

Second Course

Okay, so you've finally got rid of the "fresher" tag, Sophomore.(Wiki - In the United States, a sophomore (/ˈsɒfəmɔr/ or /ˈsɒfmɔr/)^] is a student in the second year of study at high school or university. The term comes from Greekσόφισμα (sophisma), “acquired skill, clever device, method”. The term sophomore is probably a compound of the Greek σοφός (sophos), "wise" + μωρός (moros), "foolish, dull".)


So true. You might be wise enough to get through the first year of classes and examinations, but then again, are you really wise? Or is it a state of bliss? Anyways, whatever it might be, the second year comes with a lot of perks. Firstly, you get to be the senior. This means that you can officially "rag". But that doesn't mean you should. A lot of juniors take things personally. Here's what happened with me: We had shifted to a hostel outside the University(read "my hostel is way too crappy man"). It was a pretty good place compared to what we had gone through in the first year. A couple of days later, a fresher walked in the room next to ours. We were quite friendly, hell we didn't know how to rag. But the guy was courteous addressing us as "sir" every time we ran into him. A few days later, a senior popped up on our floor and asked whether the rumors are true. They were, so the poor guy was confronted with a whole group of people ready to throw in some mannerisms into him. What followed must have been an excruciating week for the fresher. A week later, we saw no more of the guy. That night, the hostel manager came to our rooms and said, "I have heard about some incidents taking place in this section, were you people involved?" We casually denied since well, we did sit there, but none of us asked him to do the things he was subjected to. But that did make a difference. Early next morning, we received an official letter stating us to vacate the premises, the junior had pressed charges. We were taken aback and tried hard to convince the manager that it wasn't us. He asked us to state the names of the culprits- we refused. The seniors were in their second last semester, and all of them had received offer letters from reputed companies. This would be a really sore mark on their CV. We had to vacate the next day. Fortunately, the manager did not report this to our University- it would have been a full stop on our careers. We found another hostel nearby and shifted. A series of apologies to the parents followed. Ours and his. We were flabbergasted, but life moves on. Till the day we passed out, neither the victim, nor us were able to see eye to eye. We were really sorry since our parents were at the receiving end too.
Life Lesson: DO NOT TAKE PART IN RAGGING.

Sad stories aside, the second year involves a lot of transitions. The large group that went out to hang together no longer exists. Differences rise up during the summer break. You have to choose sides. Friendships break up, people get into relationships, but the class as a whole- becomes a unit, somewhat. People start to recognize you. And with that kind of story, well, people walk up to you and ask- "did that really happen?" And you can't help but explain the circumstances and the outcomes. There is a serious loss of trust among so called friends. The education part though, becomes simpler. You have successfully given final exams with last-minute preparation, and done well too(hopefully). You have the wisdom to select the people you hang out with carefully. There's the wise part. But, you end up hurting people. Making stereotypes and taking part in things that you regret later. That's the foolish part. But it does not mean you should stop doing that. These are priceless memories, something that you get to talk about when you run into each other 10 years later. The road ahead promises much more fun and if lucky, a lot of love. Your spendings increase. Suddenly it's hard to manage your money and the stories of last-week-of-the-month hauntings become true. Buckle up sailor, this is one helluva ride.