Myth is a reality that reveals the truth. Happy engineer is a myth. One might be a rich engineer but rich doesn't always translate into happy. For those who think it does, smell some coffee dear, think beyond Nandan Nilekanis and Chetan Bhagats and Anil Kumbles. What about the millions whose life took a tragic turn in Class XI when his parents told him, "Coaching join karlo munna, Vidyamandir sabse accha hai". The slugfest that started then, reached its dastardly culmination after 6 years of kung fu with books, in which most of the times, the books prevailed.
Apology to the readers for the persiflage, my mind is a myriad of thoughts and my semester notebook is a myriad of cartoon drawings that I made during all those somnolent lectures which made me ask, why, why did I pursue B.Tech, inspite of the various warning signals telling me not to.
My father's best friend's son got into IIT-Bombay and also topped state boards, he used to study for 18 hours in a day, my cousin's daughter aced JEE and got into IIT-D, never did anything apart from studying; no T.V. and no cell and my etc. etc. cracked some god damn bull shit entrance and studied for 1800 hours a day and did not even have Doordarshan on his T.V. Hardly met anyone in the last year of his preparations. These anecdotes might appear hypothetical to some and funny to others. Actually, they are not. We all must have encountered such amusing stories from your parents, or chachis or mamis or other (forever complaining and comparing) relatives of your family. These people tend to perennially carry measuring cylinders in their pockets and take it out at the spur of the moment. Comparisons and constant monitoring is the most dreadful part of an engineering aspirant life. You're expected to conquer the Everest , but you know that even crossing a footbridge is beyond your capabilities, you're expected to be a Barcelona striker but you know that you can't even be a 12th man for Mohun Bagan. It hurts.
Inspite of being aware about these conspicuous indicators, we unrelenting in pursuit to have the prefix Er., slog. Making Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics our girlfriends', we try to win over their hearts, on the way forgetting that performance is directly proportional to expectations. Sigh. When you perform well, the sense of achievement gets subsided by the mountain of expectations that are bundled on your fragile shoulders and volatile minds which is trying to distinguish aldehydes from ketones and relations from functions. Limit of pressure tends to infinity as the threshold of tolerance exceeds to give you a perfectly distraught graph of your future.
Alas, you cross the hurdle of the wretched entrance exams and brimming with pride and prudence enter the gates of your engineering college. "I'll become an engineer after four years", says your exorbitant mind.
The battle with books continues for another four years, reality strikes and your prudence takes a beating implying that, "Beta, warning di gayi thi, ab bhugto". Seeing the end of the tunnel, you aimlessly and helplessly embark on the journey. Then comes a day, when the beleaguered, tired warrior wallows across the finishing line. He graduates.
The story reflects how important it is to check out for warning signs and those subtle indications that prohibit you from taking life changing (some life somersaulting) decisions. Don't be wary of the complexes, don't worry what your good-for-nothing door ke rishtedaar would think or what will the patronizing and officious society say if you'd taken Arts after getting 95 in Class 10. Follow your heart, build on your interest and do what makes you happy will self-belief and dedication. You won't have to regret, and say 'If'. That's what the moral of the story is.
This article has been written for the Colgate initiative My Healthy Speak and Indiblogger.
Apology to the readers for the persiflage, my mind is a myriad of thoughts and my semester notebook is a myriad of cartoon drawings that I made during all those somnolent lectures which made me ask, why, why did I pursue B.Tech, inspite of the various warning signals telling me not to.
My father's best friend's son got into IIT-Bombay and also topped state boards, he used to study for 18 hours in a day, my cousin's daughter aced JEE and got into IIT-D, never did anything apart from studying; no T.V. and no cell and my etc. etc. cracked some god damn bull shit entrance and studied for 1800 hours a day and did not even have Doordarshan on his T.V. Hardly met anyone in the last year of his preparations. These anecdotes might appear hypothetical to some and funny to others. Actually, they are not. We all must have encountered such amusing stories from your parents, or chachis or mamis or other (forever complaining and comparing) relatives of your family. These people tend to perennially carry measuring cylinders in their pockets and take it out at the spur of the moment. Comparisons and constant monitoring is the most dreadful part of an engineering aspirant life. You're expected to conquer the Everest , but you know that even crossing a footbridge is beyond your capabilities, you're expected to be a Barcelona striker but you know that you can't even be a 12th man for Mohun Bagan. It hurts.
Inspite of being aware about these conspicuous indicators, we unrelenting in pursuit to have the prefix Er., slog. Making Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics our girlfriends', we try to win over their hearts, on the way forgetting that performance is directly proportional to expectations. Sigh. When you perform well, the sense of achievement gets subsided by the mountain of expectations that are bundled on your fragile shoulders and volatile minds which is trying to distinguish aldehydes from ketones and relations from functions. Limit of pressure tends to infinity as the threshold of tolerance exceeds to give you a perfectly distraught graph of your future.
Alas, you cross the hurdle of the wretched entrance exams and brimming with pride and prudence enter the gates of your engineering college. "I'll become an engineer after four years", says your exorbitant mind.
The battle with books continues for another four years, reality strikes and your prudence takes a beating implying that, "Beta, warning di gayi thi, ab bhugto". Seeing the end of the tunnel, you aimlessly and helplessly embark on the journey. Then comes a day, when the beleaguered, tired warrior wallows across the finishing line. He graduates.
The story reflects how important it is to check out for warning signs and those subtle indications that prohibit you from taking life changing (some life somersaulting) decisions. Don't be wary of the complexes, don't worry what your good-for-nothing door ke rishtedaar would think or what will the patronizing and officious society say if you'd taken Arts after getting 95 in Class 10. Follow your heart, build on your interest and do what makes you happy will self-belief and dedication. You won't have to regret, and say 'If'. That's what the moral of the story is.
This article has been written for the Colgate initiative My Healthy Speak and Indiblogger.
No comments:
Post a Comment