The past one month has been nothing less than a rollercoaster ride !! Most importantly, the Third Year of Mechanical Engineering at COEP has finally begun, and boy...its been way more shocking than I expected it to be !! Of course, I had heard from loads of my brilliant senior friends about how 'true' engineering begins at Third Year level und so weite...but that it would begin right from the first day of T.Y.B.Tech (Maaz !!) was a real shocker !!
Shock No 1: For the first time, probably in the history of COEP, lectures began right from the 'theoretical' first day of college. In the sense, it is an understood fact for years now, that when the COEP notice board says: 'College re-opens on 4th July', no one is supposed to even step into the classroom before 20th July, at the earliest. But lo and behold...we enter college on 4th and news spreads that Mech I has a lecture in Room 11 !! What the hell ??!! What's wrong with people ??!!
And that, my friend, was just the begining...
Shock No 2: Dale enters class. I mean, OK we need to attend lectures on the first day of college after a billiant two month vacation, but DALE ??!! Could it get worse than this? And of course, as expected...he went on to lecture us on how we are at a very crucial stage in our lives where everything we do will have a direct impact on our placements, and consequently our careers. And of course, how we should stop acting like 'Pariksharthi' or 'Exam -Givers' (Doesn't he LOVE that word ??!!) and learn more, to bettter our knowledge. And how in the true sense, placements don't really determine our careers, because it's only when we face such setbacks, that we learn to dream beyond our limitations and earn a better life. And how the Indian parents determine that their child should become an engineer and earn a salary of 20 grand, right from the time he enters this big bad world (Khara mhantla tar, 'pair'ents chi hi attitude ach chukichi aahe !!) Christ !! Attending lectures on the first day of college was bad enough, now we have to bear up with the same ol' ghisa-pita, das bar doharaya hua lecture, which I now know better than the working of a 4-stroke petrol engine !!
Shock No 3: We have electives to take next semester. Options are: Finite Element Method, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning, Analysis and Synthesis of Mechanisms, Tribology, Non-Conventional Energy Resources. Do we understand anything of anything? NO. So how do we decide what elective to take? DON'T KNOW. Present status: After a not-exactly-fruitful talk with Dale (!!), we have zeroed down on FEM and RAC as options. Still waiting for Mangesh to arrive in Pune...some expert guidance is necessary !! Seniors..HELP !!
Shock No 4: NO PRINTED JOURNALS THIS TIME !! This was, by far, the worst shock ever. That implies sitting up late nights writing gibberish on one side ruled papers. That implies more work. That implies havoc !! Why introduce printed journals in 'autonomous COEP' (Damn the B.Tech !!) when you're gonna get bored of typing them for us, in 2 years ??!! Right now, one ICE and MD assignment and one 35-page (and 42 with my handwriting) Carburetors submission later, the grave reality has dawned upon us...its tougher than it seems. Ok the true COEP-ians sat up one night and wrote the whole journal out, but we just can't do that ! We have weekly submissions, which are graded the next week, and so we need to do them WELL !! Enter purple sparkle pen, 5 hours of sleep before the BIG day (and 20 minutes, if you're Gaya), GT, good handwriting, and if you're Akshay then colouring your diagrams to get a 10/10...the works. Anyway we are getting the hang of it soon enough.....after all, we have no choice now !!
Shock No 5: Five practicals !! Isn't there a 'standardised limit' for the extent to which a department can screw its students ??!!
Shock No 6: Chowgule tells us that we have a mini-project in MP, where we have to design a jig/fixture for some component which has to be given to us by a company. And the 2-D drawing of the component is to be submitted in a week. Hang on.....WHAT is a jig and fixture ??
Anyway, College done, we began our first GRE Dilip Oak class that evening at 7. Day 1, greeted by Mr. Atul Londhe.
Shock No 7: GRE has tough words !! Ok, so I never expected it to be a cakewalk, but words like vexillology, discombobulated, ameliorate are.....Martian ??!! In D.O.'s words, 'words that we've never heard before, and will never hear again once GRE is done !!'
Shock No 8: AWM is weird !! Its not the stupid kind of writing, like we do while posting on blogs. Here we need to understand, analyse and present in logical order, with fast typing, good language and correct grammar. When has so much thought-process gone into writing an essay ??
Shock No 9: I've forgotten Math. Day 1 of Analytical, and Gauri and I couldn't solve a Sets problem. Dammit ! That's 9th grade syllabus !! I came home and asked my sister to give me her school textbooks. One hour of revision, and things were back on track..
Anyways, the initials shocks had done their job...we were terrified about the days to come !!
Fortunately for us, the Gods decided we were getting too hard a deal. Second week onwards, things were more relaxed !! The off-lectures, off-practicals made their way for the usual timepass. CCD-going, Softy-eating on F.C.Road, Dumb-C playing on BC, Dare-giving to Omkar to tell fat-belly girl on BC that she's wearing disgusting clothes (which he didn't do ultimately !!), gandao-ing Akshay, Gaya getting new cell (finally !!)...all of that rubbish !! A beautiful Wednesday morning, an off MD practical and two over-enthusiastic friends for company (Read: Gau and Gaya) resulted in we watching Dus at E-square, 9:30 am show, first row 40 bucks seats !! And the enthusiasm prevailed even after the movie, so we topped it up with two chocolate mousses and a spicy chana chaat !! Rains played havoc in everyone else's lives, but for us, it was heaven-sent. COEP closed for 4 days !! BC waters had reached an all-time high...the sight was phenomenal !! (Photo below) Can you imagine BC being closed for students, because of perilious levels of Mula waters ??!! Election season arrived soon enough. Again the campaigning, distributing panel members' lists, strategising, serious meetings with Pranjal after D.O....and more lectures to bunk !! :-) The mini-project problem was solved by a visit to my uncle's jig and fixture factory with Gau and Gaya. Was an awesome experience. Finally got to see real jigs and fixtures. Now we're armed with two components, given by my uncle, for which we have to design a fixture. Interesting work...
GRE class was awesome fun !! Our Verbal Prof., Mr. Mukul Hinge knows everything of everything !! From Coppernicus to Desert Rose by Sting. (Did anyone know, by the way, that when Sting sings Desert Rose, he is refering to his dream sweetheart, who, like a rose in the desert, is an illusion ?!) And he has to begin every sentence with 'Okay Engineers....' and end it with a '...., Right ?' Londhe is good too. And of course we have Vicky's wife, Mrs. Chitnis, teaching us too !! ;-)
All in all....finally life is back to normal again !! :-):-)
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