At 6.35 AM on June 6th, I was on my way to the bus stop. It was my last exam in my final semester of college, and not for the first time, I was running late. 6.35 was normally the time the bus reached my stop, and left without me if I wasn't there. I dont know how, but for all the lack of punctuality that we see around us, my college bus has been spot on time each time I have been delayed by even 20 seconds.
However, this was my lucky day. There was no bus there, and looking at my friend standing there, I realised I was actually in time for the bus. "No Bus No. 20 today, another bus will come by this route and we will have to take that instead", he declared.
I was disappointed. I had been hoping to get into that bus for one last journey, but it was not to be. The other bus arrived and I found my way through to a 3-seater in the back rows, almost by habit, but they were all taken. I found a hospitable 2-seater, and settled down. I looked out through the window, and I pondered. If there was any rule that my life on the last official day of college should be very different from routine, I would have just won a prize for that.
But then, my experiences with my college buses was never very amiable. With the customary earphones on my ears, and the sun shining brightly on my face, I drowned into the memories of my first ever independent journey to SSN - A journey I will never forget.
* * *
It was the 12th of August, 2008. I was still pretty new to Chennai, naive and quite intimidated by the people here. My neighbours at Coimbatore had warned me that Chennai was as different a place from Coimbatore as different could get. My own experiences had given me reason to believe in the stereotype ! I knew very little about this new big city, and though I was quite accustomed to shifting to a new city every 4 years, this one still wasn't very inviting. The worst thing that could have happened to me - Missing the bus on the very first day of college !
I knew nothing about the MTC. So much so, I thought it expanded to Madras Transportation Corporation. And I was particularly shy of asking for bus routes. The result - What should have taken me a simple 2 buses and 2 hours to college, took me 4 buses, an hour long journey to the middle of nowhere on ECR road because the conductor heard "Palavakkam" when I said "Kalavakkam", another 2 hours of hanging precariously on the 21H bus to Kelambakkam, and finally a 5 km walk from Kelambakkam to the college cos I was stupid enough to think that it was "not that far off" and that "buses dont go there often". When I reached college about 6 hours behind schedule (coincidentally being the first Mechie to bunk a class), and rejuvenated my stamina through the Rs.12 Thayirsaadam (Back then, the canteen served stuff the rest of the World calls "food" at reasonable prices), I set out on a long quest to discover where my classmates were. Eventually, I ended up meeting the "Mambis" outside the Chemistry Department, and I have never been more relieved to meet people. I've stuck like a magnet to the Mambis ever since ! The first "Friends" SSN Gave me !
* * *
Its 4.30, and the last 30 minutes of the Exam. I have just scribbled it all away, not concerned about the mortal stuff like neatness and presentation - the Aim: Get done with it once and for all. I succeeded, though I knew a couple of my answers weren't good enough. I just wanted to pass.
I looked at the page number, ruffled through the pages and put down the number of pages on the cover page and suddenly, I was overwhelmed with emotion. However grudgingly, irritatedly I had reached the end of this last ever exam in B.E, it was still the last ever exam. Never again would I spend that anxious "night before" knowing I had cartloads left to have any hopes of doing well. Never again would those morons come out of the exam hall saying "Sure Fail" and end up getting a 9 pointer. Never again would I celebrate the end of the exams in style going out for a party. Never again would there be those study holidays when I saw a new film every week.
I didn't submit the paper and leave. I just sat there, and collected my thoughts. All those exams I had written. The one time, where I nearly got myself booked by accidentally carrying the cell phone into the exam hall. The one time when we started rofling when a guy in my exam hall started answering the wrong question paper in fine Mr. Bean style. The horror of a classmate getting preposterously booked by the Squad for no fault at all.
Yeah, I was done with the exams finally. Anna University had tried their best to delay it as much as possible. I had joined thousands of others in cursing them, but then was there a subtext there ? Maybe, this was a sign that we were all to remain together for a long long time to come !
I must have started smiling, cos when I rose my head up, the invigilator from St. Joseph's was eyeing me suspiciously. Careful to avoid any kind of trouble on this last day, with a heavy heart, I got up and left the exam hall, hopefully, for the last time !
* * *
At 5.15 pm, the Stores starts to swell with people. The Stores was originally supposed to be the Centre of all the departments, but over the years, it kinda drifted away from the newer blocks, and finally became some kind of a Mechie hangout.
Still, the people there that day were practically all the guys in the college who had an exam. I waved to a lot of people, talked with a lot of them. I made a looot of friends in SSN. Friends from the two years I spent working for Lakshya, the brilliant team mates of the "Content Development Board" which we created, the brainstorming sessions with the I-Cell leaders from departments. Somehow, last couple of years, the Clubs at SSN really came alive, old clubs getting active, new clubs being formed, and people like me who have been here during these years, have something to be really glad about.
It led me back to memories of the E Week in the second year, when we attended classes for hardly 10 days in the whole semester, when we went on that sponsorship spree to 43 different shops in Pondy Bazaar. Then the E Week in the third year, the TedX and the massness of Pawan Agarwal and Krish Ashok, my interactions with Atul Chitnis.
College certainly was more about the classes I didn't attend, than those that I did !
But maybe I should have attended more of them back then, now I cant even if I want to !
* * *
At 5.45, the buses are ready to live, and as I look through the window, I can see the place which I, and 65 other people with me, shall always remain indebted to - The Department of Mechanical Engineering !
When I joined the college, the Mech department was only one year old. My friends at Amrita University had advised me against moving to SSN where "core companies never come for placements". But I still came to SSN, and I have never been happier about a decision I took in my life ! Under the roofs of the SSN Mechanical Department, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most brilliant minds I shall ever know. Every classmate of mine is an achiever in his own right, every single one of them an inspiring role model ! In fact, I dont think the diversity of achievements that people in my class have achieved shall be replicated for a long long time.
When I decided to take up Mechanical Engineering four years ago, it was a decision driven by my love for the subject. But as I have realised now after my experiences as a Mechie, it is also the Beshtest way to have fun. Everyone everywhere acknowledges the fact that Mechies have a couple of horns sprouted on their head, like it or hate it. That comes, I dont know from where, but it definitely comes, how much ever you try to avoid it. You cant attribute it to the "absence of girls" as many people do, because as I have seen, girls too generally tend to become "Mechie" in spirit. Its some kind of initiation by a divine power when you decide to take up Mechie - You know you are awesome, you dont know why. Hard to understand ? You probably arent a Mechie then :D
I feel up my head for the horns, and I can feel them, still going strong. Yeah, I am stuck with it for life - as obnoxious as you may find it, the Attitude will never go. Not that I am complaining.
* * *
I always thought College life was over rated. I grew up listening to stories about how the 4 years in college would change your life forever, always reacting sceptically. But then like they say, experience is the best teacher. The four years that we have spent here in this college has transformed us from innocent/not-so-innocent school kids into young adults ready to take on the World. I never subscribed to the view that leaving college would be painful. I have been waiting for that moment to get out of college and explore life that lies beyond those walls. But now I feel that the excitement stems from the fact that we are confident of living a life on our own terms, and that confidence is what College gave me.
It is almost magical that this particular song plays on my Shuffle playlist right now:
Aankhon mein sapne liye,
Tanha Dil !
Yeah we all now leave our homes with dreams in our eyes, and we go on, not knowing where the roads will take us.
* * *
My mom walks up to me behind my back, and says,
"Rohit"
Startled, I turn back and ask her "What ma?"
"Going to College tomorrow?"
"Yes, ma"
"Er... Isn't your college over ? When will you stop going to college?"
I think, I smile, and in a low voice, I reply to her,
"Never !"
However, this was my lucky day. There was no bus there, and looking at my friend standing there, I realised I was actually in time for the bus. "No Bus No. 20 today, another bus will come by this route and we will have to take that instead", he declared.
I was disappointed. I had been hoping to get into that bus for one last journey, but it was not to be. The other bus arrived and I found my way through to a 3-seater in the back rows, almost by habit, but they were all taken. I found a hospitable 2-seater, and settled down. I looked out through the window, and I pondered. If there was any rule that my life on the last official day of college should be very different from routine, I would have just won a prize for that.
But then, my experiences with my college buses was never very amiable. With the customary earphones on my ears, and the sun shining brightly on my face, I drowned into the memories of my first ever independent journey to SSN - A journey I will never forget.
* * *
It was the 12th of August, 2008. I was still pretty new to Chennai, naive and quite intimidated by the people here. My neighbours at Coimbatore had warned me that Chennai was as different a place from Coimbatore as different could get. My own experiences had given me reason to believe in the stereotype ! I knew very little about this new big city, and though I was quite accustomed to shifting to a new city every 4 years, this one still wasn't very inviting. The worst thing that could have happened to me - Missing the bus on the very first day of college !
I knew nothing about the MTC. So much so, I thought it expanded to Madras Transportation Corporation. And I was particularly shy of asking for bus routes. The result - What should have taken me a simple 2 buses and 2 hours to college, took me 4 buses, an hour long journey to the middle of nowhere on ECR road because the conductor heard "Palavakkam" when I said "Kalavakkam", another 2 hours of hanging precariously on the 21H bus to Kelambakkam, and finally a 5 km walk from Kelambakkam to the college cos I was stupid enough to think that it was "not that far off" and that "buses dont go there often". When I reached college about 6 hours behind schedule (coincidentally being the first Mechie to bunk a class), and rejuvenated my stamina through the Rs.12 Thayirsaadam (Back then, the canteen served stuff the rest of the World calls "food" at reasonable prices), I set out on a long quest to discover where my classmates were. Eventually, I ended up meeting the "Mambis" outside the Chemistry Department, and I have never been more relieved to meet people. I've stuck like a magnet to the Mambis ever since ! The first "Friends" SSN Gave me !
* * *
Its 4.30, and the last 30 minutes of the Exam. I have just scribbled it all away, not concerned about the mortal stuff like neatness and presentation - the Aim: Get done with it once and for all. I succeeded, though I knew a couple of my answers weren't good enough. I just wanted to pass.
I looked at the page number, ruffled through the pages and put down the number of pages on the cover page and suddenly, I was overwhelmed with emotion. However grudgingly, irritatedly I had reached the end of this last ever exam in B.E, it was still the last ever exam. Never again would I spend that anxious "night before" knowing I had cartloads left to have any hopes of doing well. Never again would those morons come out of the exam hall saying "Sure Fail" and end up getting a 9 pointer. Never again would I celebrate the end of the exams in style going out for a party. Never again would there be those study holidays when I saw a new film every week.
I didn't submit the paper and leave. I just sat there, and collected my thoughts. All those exams I had written. The one time, where I nearly got myself booked by accidentally carrying the cell phone into the exam hall. The one time when we started rofling when a guy in my exam hall started answering the wrong question paper in fine Mr. Bean style. The horror of a classmate getting preposterously booked by the Squad for no fault at all.
Yeah, I was done with the exams finally. Anna University had tried their best to delay it as much as possible. I had joined thousands of others in cursing them, but then was there a subtext there ? Maybe, this was a sign that we were all to remain together for a long long time to come !
I must have started smiling, cos when I rose my head up, the invigilator from St. Joseph's was eyeing me suspiciously. Careful to avoid any kind of trouble on this last day, with a heavy heart, I got up and left the exam hall, hopefully, for the last time !
* * *
At 5.15 pm, the Stores starts to swell with people. The Stores was originally supposed to be the Centre of all the departments, but over the years, it kinda drifted away from the newer blocks, and finally became some kind of a Mechie hangout.
Still, the people there that day were practically all the guys in the college who had an exam. I waved to a lot of people, talked with a lot of them. I made a looot of friends in SSN. Friends from the two years I spent working for Lakshya, the brilliant team mates of the "Content Development Board" which we created, the brainstorming sessions with the I-Cell leaders from departments. Somehow, last couple of years, the Clubs at SSN really came alive, old clubs getting active, new clubs being formed, and people like me who have been here during these years, have something to be really glad about.
It led me back to memories of the E Week in the second year, when we attended classes for hardly 10 days in the whole semester, when we went on that sponsorship spree to 43 different shops in Pondy Bazaar. Then the E Week in the third year, the TedX and the massness of Pawan Agarwal and Krish Ashok, my interactions with Atul Chitnis.
College certainly was more about the classes I didn't attend, than those that I did !
But maybe I should have attended more of them back then, now I cant even if I want to !
* * *
At 5.45, the buses are ready to live, and as I look through the window, I can see the place which I, and 65 other people with me, shall always remain indebted to - The Department of Mechanical Engineering !
When I joined the college, the Mech department was only one year old. My friends at Amrita University had advised me against moving to SSN where "core companies never come for placements". But I still came to SSN, and I have never been happier about a decision I took in my life ! Under the roofs of the SSN Mechanical Department, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most brilliant minds I shall ever know. Every classmate of mine is an achiever in his own right, every single one of them an inspiring role model ! In fact, I dont think the diversity of achievements that people in my class have achieved shall be replicated for a long long time.
When I decided to take up Mechanical Engineering four years ago, it was a decision driven by my love for the subject. But as I have realised now after my experiences as a Mechie, it is also the Beshtest way to have fun. Everyone everywhere acknowledges the fact that Mechies have a couple of horns sprouted on their head, like it or hate it. That comes, I dont know from where, but it definitely comes, how much ever you try to avoid it. You cant attribute it to the "absence of girls" as many people do, because as I have seen, girls too generally tend to become "Mechie" in spirit. Its some kind of initiation by a divine power when you decide to take up Mechie - You know you are awesome, you dont know why. Hard to understand ? You probably arent a Mechie then :D
I feel up my head for the horns, and I can feel them, still going strong. Yeah, I am stuck with it for life - as obnoxious as you may find it, the Attitude will never go. Not that I am complaining.
* * *
I always thought College life was over rated. I grew up listening to stories about how the 4 years in college would change your life forever, always reacting sceptically. But then like they say, experience is the best teacher. The four years that we have spent here in this college has transformed us from innocent/not-so-innocent school kids into young adults ready to take on the World. I never subscribed to the view that leaving college would be painful. I have been waiting for that moment to get out of college and explore life that lies beyond those walls. But now I feel that the excitement stems from the fact that we are confident of living a life on our own terms, and that confidence is what College gave me.
It is almost magical that this particular song plays on my Shuffle playlist right now:
Aankhon mein sapne liye,
Ghar se hum chal toh diye,
Jaane yeh Raahe abb le jaayengi kahaan
Mitti ki khushbu aaye,
Mitti ki khushbu aaye,
Palkon pe aansu laaye,
Palkon pe reh jaayega yaadon ka jahaan
Manzil nayi hain
Anjaana hai kaarava
Chalna akele hai yahaan
Tanha dil, Tanha safar
Dhunde Tujhe phir Kyun Nazar
Tanha Dil !
Yeah we all now leave our homes with dreams in our eyes, and we go on, not knowing where the roads will take us.
* * *
My mom walks up to me behind my back, and says,
"Rohit"
Startled, I turn back and ask her "What ma?"
"Going to College tomorrow?"
"Yes, ma"
"Er... Isn't your college over ? When will you stop going to college?"
I think, I smile, and in a low voice, I reply to her,
"Never !"
