From stand-up comedies to being discussed at those long-awaited college reunions, an engineer's life is more of a conversation starter than any other topic about college life. Ask any engineer you know and he can tell you a number of stories worth listening to. From waking up late and moving heaven & earth to mark the attendance, to those late-night daaru-parties and untimely munches. From endless indoor-cricket sessions to group studies just hours before the exams, the life of an engineer has always been a roller coaster ride!
With Ups & Downs to tos & fros, an engineer is all the more different than any other undergraduate, but it is no less interesting and fun to be with! This Engineers' Day, let the nostalgia of engineering days reign over your soul!
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So today, let's commemorate those awesome days and the brave warriors our engineers used to be. Yes, it's almost a war to earn your way up to the degree in 4 years. And this Engineer's day, let's get back to those times and feel the nostalgia of engineering through this!
The First Year - A Redundant State Of Life
The first year at engineering is more like online shopping. What you see is not never what you get. As not every engineering college is like Amazon or Flipkart. Instead, you'll be promised the world, but the reality is far from anything near to it. From the seniors to the studies, it's more like a flashback to the +2 curriculum and only worse if you ask me. With you still to find a place in the pecking order, it feels like a nightmare at first.
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The Touch Of Love
Finding a companion is only by the grace of God and talking of grace, you'll need it throughout! And if in case you do land a relationship in the highly competitive environment that an engineering college is, even then, it's just the tip of the iceberg, the water goes deeper and deeper than you can imagine.
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Bursting The Bubble
Because in no time, the studies come barging in upon your romance. With so much to study and when every-one around you buried in the books, all you can do is run along with the wheel. And they say it right that engineers are like commodities sold per Kg in the market! So the only options left for them are rotting away to dust or getting in the grind just like everyone else does. And that's something your teachers and mentors would tell you, every day of your pathetically burdened life! Reality strikes harder when you know it's true.
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Re-Birth
And before an engineer knows, the first semester exams clock in. Without him having any idea about what to do next. And that's when they become real engineers, by studying the entire syllabus hours before the exam. Also, it's better to stick to this habit, they need it a lot in the time that follows.
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Redemption Alas!
Also, it's not just about these downsides of being an engineer, but there's something good as well. It's the first once they have had a taste of freedom and that my friend, is definitely worth the effort! Because engineers may not know anything about engineering, but they sure know about how to make most out of a situation, period!
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The Jack Of All Trades
So, by the end of the 2nd semester, they get seasoned enough to be the masters of this trade. They get all braced up for a ride that'll man em up for the world thereafter! And it has nothing to do with the knowledge obtained, but it's about how to get the job done, by hook or by crook!
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The Second Year - When The Buds Bloom
The Second Year awakens the Draken from within. From how to cheat in exams to asking out random girls, his true colors surface above to world. In a nutshell, there's no one more confident about life & other melodramas than a second-year engineering under-grad.
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Hostel - The Safe Haven For College Fun
Also, studies start to finally make sense. With subjects in the curriculum that he formerly signed up for, the real journey of engineering starts. Getting across the loopholes in the system and he gets to know the ways to exploit its vulnerabilities. And this is when most of the students move into hostels, for life's much easier in there. You know to get your way across anything.
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The Real Fun Begins
From boozing to other vices of life, an engineering hostel is a safe haven for all. Its doors open to adulthood bliss and everyone's welcome to have a bite. Enter an engineering hostel and it defines the sustainability of life within the realms of chaos. From making bread toasts on clothing iron to making Maggi in an electric kettle, they can even make it to the moon if that's needed.
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The King Of Good Times
The second-year under-grads are the undisputed kings & lords of these reigns. They are senior enough to pull ranks and juvenile enough to be party to the fun. From getting booze in the middle of a night to marking proxy hostel attendance, they're just a favor away from getting the job done.
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The Ultimate Troubleshooter
And so is the case in a lecture hall as well! These geniuses know of every door out of any of the problems there may be. From getting the CR to delay an assignment submission to organizing a mass-bunk when even darker clouds appear above, there's no one more capable of handling the situation than a 2nd-year engineering student in such things. And when it comes to keeping your back in a fight, he's your best mate in the need as well.
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The Third Year - Recognising the path ahead
The third-year strikes you with a feeling that your hostel, the engineering wing, is all that you need in this world. You know every nook & cranny like the back of your hand. It's also when the truth about time gets clear, it passes before you know it. And by now, that young college going lad within starts to fade away. From flirting to bunking and boozing, he has done it all, there's not much left after all. What's needed in his head is looking up to a job instead and a piece of advice for the ones behind - to not do what he did and not be who he is.
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Racing To The Purpose of Life
Suddenly, he's seen more in the lectures than at the dhabas outside, leaves the booze to occasions and the long-led romances become commitments for life. Moreover, the engineer in him starts to take shape. He's practical and philosophical, he's out there yet he's not. There's still some time before it becomes more clear to him, but he's still that young hopeful engineer within.
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By the end, he's more aware of his position in the market than anyone else in the world. As life for once seems worth a reason to be something, and that's when reality strikes!
The Final Year - When Reality Strikes
The realization that it all is about to end, strikes hard. And the engineer rebounds to the first-year state of mind again. From boozing to casual dating and what not?! The final year and the first year engineering grads are not many stages apart. They make it a point to enjoy life for the first once and the last, just before the exams or placements come barging in.
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Looking Back In Time
And you can always see these two similarly contrasting with smiles all the time. Because for the rest of them, it's either how things are, or they've had it all.
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No matter what people may tell you about, but these 4 years prove worthy of all the efforts needed to put in. From handling life to others' businesses, these 4 years teaches them a lot. With moments that make you smile and events that leave you in sorrow as well, this course teaches you to take a beating and also to stand up after you stomach it away. An engineer's life is difficult but definitely no less exciting. By molding a blank slate of a mind into someone who can handle the pressures that come in, engineering makes a young boy into a seasoned individual!