Random things about engineering!

These are the random little things which are very much a part of every engineering student by the time he's in third year. Didn't put much thought into it, but you'll agree on most of things i feel. Do add more to it!

• Attention span---Even the fiercest of the warriors who could battle the dullest of the lecturers in their lives till 12th grade, would find it difficult to concentrate in some of the lectures after two years of engineering. My attention span has been ridiculously low for this sem in college thanks to the wonderful insight of the subject these people provide.
  
• A Guiltless state--- You are not guilt about so many things. Not guilty about thrown out from the class, not guilty about completing assignments day after deadline. Not guilty coming at 10.45 for 10 o clock lecture and asking attendance. Many more things..
  
• Best invention----Thinking about the best invention for engineers, the one that comes to mind first is the time machine... oops ... err... sorry... The Xerox machine. We spend ridiculous amount of money in 4 yrs xeroxing stuff. Now-a-day's all journals are xeroxes too. Life made easy.
  
• Exams, here I come----After giving so many engineering exams, you are ready for anything in life. Any subject, buy a book, ask syllabus, buy question papers, make few phone calls and excel. So much prepared that tomorrow if you're given a book on 'Human psychology' of 400 pages and told that there's a test in 4 days, you'll surely clear it.
  
• Bird watching---As a engineer, this surely develops as one of your major hobbies. Should I say more. Just that it's interesting only outside the campus. Quick Pj: Girls are also interested in this activity. But the ones that they watch are actually real birds.
  
• Attendance---You come to college daily, go home always late. Are seen around the campus most of the times. Yet, your name shines with florescent color on the defaulter's list. Maybe they don't really take attendance in the gymkhana do they?
  
• Vivas--Here's the fun stuff. Say any crap, but say it confidently. Never show a tinge of worry or fear on your face. Never will you fear vivas again.
  
• Borrowing things---You are in college..1 assignment pending...Deadline today...No assignment sheets...borrow...open bag...pen not working....borrow...pencil...oh wait i have....shit, no lead...borrow...By the time you are deep into engg, you stop using erasers. If any error, manipulate it by adding few strokes of pencil here and there...things like sharpeners are passe...No Stapler.... borrow...no pins...wait...again borrow...Udhaar ki jindagi.
  
• Manipulation---If you cant get it right, make it right. So many things come here. Program gone wrong, take xerox of the one which works. Experiment not working, show on paper that it's working. It started with me quite early. First chemistry practicals, all we needed was a pink ppt. The closest anyone got was orange. Mine was blue, miles away. Saw a pink chalk lying nearby.Put a piece of it inside test tube. Next moment, prof is telling the entire batch, this is how the output should be.

Dont spill your beans !

On the way to my native place all alone, i thought music on my phone would be my only source of entertainment. But i was a little more fortunate when the person next to me was trying to strike a conversation. He was a guy around 5 years elder than me working in some reputed firm.

Back from vacation in Singapore, he was a very happy person with lot of stories to tell. By looking at his face, it was quite obvious he wanted to be heard. He started describing his tour from the beginning. Right from which airline he chose, what does a plane look like from inside, everything including minor details. I kept asking him questions from time and again and he kept replying them. Never did i give him a clue that i have been to Singapore and ten other countries, to the extend that long distant flights make me sick.

But why kill someone's enthusiasm, why kill someone's story? If i had said i'd been there, the story would have been over and my journey would once again depend on the songs in my mobile. Sometimes, you just should not spill your own beans. Besides, i was also making someone happy by listening to his story. Why would i stop that? Maybe i'll learn something new from what he says, maybe i'll not, but that didn't really matter. After that i also got to hear his version of the "Life in IT industry".

At times lately, i'm trying to implement this 'not spilling of beans' technique more often. I missed my college trip for this year. When someone comes to me and says that "Have you heard of a certain story that happened on the trip." I reply saying 'no' or 'i've heard in parts' so that i get to hear the different version of the same story from the other person. It makes the other person happy that he's got something to share, and i too get twists in the tales if any.

Hiding your story and keeping your mouth shut also leads to entertainment in some cases. Take for example this one. Now, I don't really believe in Astrology, Numerology, Palm Reading, Handwriting anaylsis and other such crap. To believe that the position of far-off plants like mercury, saturn etc at your time of birth determines how your future's gonna be doesn't seem logical to me. Stuff like adding or removing letters from your name to favour fortune...Wow!!(I have nothing agains't people who believe, just a personal opinion)

Neways coming back to what I was writing, i've been to reputed astrologers with friends who trust them for generations and listen to what they say. I go to them and ask only one question, when will i get a chance to go abroad. I've got answers like at the age of 30, after 45, one of them said never. I looked worried in front of them, turned around and laughed!

This incident in my junior college i'll never forget. During the college chess tournament for seniors, there was a guy who was telling time and again that he went upto the quarterfinals of the university tournament. He apparently lost with some guy in round one. Later on, when i talked to the guy who won, he said to me that he had won the same tournament in which the other one was in quarters. Sometimes better to keep your mouth shut and laugh i guess!!!

Travel Companions

You been with your school friends, junior college mates, college guys. You begin to think that you’ve figured them all out. Go out for a trip together. You’ll see them in different colours. The ones they are actually made of!!

Being a frequent traveler and traveling with different group everytime is fun. Every journey has led to meeting people of different taste. These are some prominent types of travelers I’ve come across.

1. The loner - This person, even if in a large group, likes to be alone for most of the time. He seldom talks to other people, sits alone in a corner. At tourist places he/she likes to wander alone. He never really is a part of the group. During journeys, he’s stuck with I-pod/ Music Player/ FM radio into his ears. Likes to be lonely thinking something on the beach when all the group is playing beach football.

2. The Boss—He’s the type of person who’s always busy in issuing commands to people. Usually when I go for trips, normally I’m the one taking all the initiative, getting all hotel bookings done, tour bookings, cab rental and stuff. These people just give orders. Sanket bring me tea. I take the initiative so what. I am not a tour guide whose traveling free on your money. Go get it yourself. Probably this could be a better answer to this people but why spoil the trip mood.

3. The initiator—These are the people at the heart of everything. They are the best kind of travelers you’ll ever meet. Always ready for work. Ready to find a hotel in an unknown city when rest of the group is feeling tired. Ready to walk an extra mile to see another visit point. Ready to bump out of the hotel room earliest and plan the day tours.

4. The entertainers—Very essential part of the traveling group. These are the guitarists, flute players, people making Donald duck voices and other such talents. Without them the fun quotient is not quite upto the mark. They keep the liveliness intact even amongst the most boring parts of the journey.

5. Camera Lovers---Two kind of people come into this category. The first ones are the one who like clicking photographs of almost anything. Always busy at clicking something or the other or Video shooting. They like to keep memories I see. Sometimes, in search of these memories, they actually fail to enjoy the moment. Memories are fine, but temme the last time when you saw the 2 GB photographs of the last tour you went. You would rather enjoy the calm and cool sunset instead of being worried about capturing the exact moment of sunset on your cam. That’s again a personal opinion. The second kind of people here are those who love to be clicked themselves. At every spot, he/she asks someone, 'meri yahan pe photo nikal na'. These people need not be photogenic either. And yes, they have to be in every group photo.

6.The Chatterbox---You sit next to this person in long train or flight journeys. They have lots and lots of stories to tell, lot of topics to discuss. I’m sure you wouldn’t get bored. The chatterbox would find someone who listens to him and he’ll be happy and your friend for rest of the trip(Some people like listeners, just as this blog would like readers).

7. The Critic--- Some people derive immense pleasure in finding faults in most of the things and speaking them out. In a perfectly well organized trip, they’ll keep finding little shortcomings. One more thing that these people love is to compare this trip with the previous ones and say how that one was better and things have worsened. That Simla is not the same that it used to be.

8. Late latif---Always late. Tell them to wake up at 7, they’ll be in bed till 8. Every tourist spot, they are late. They never really value time. Without doubt they are the worst travelers to be with. You need to be with the group, not ahead, not behind. That’s the idea of a good travel group.

9. The crybabies---They’ll always cry to get what they want. Cry for the window seat. The ‘I don’t want to go to this place’—Cry. “This food I can’t do with, I want proper restaurant food”. Basically they don’t really adjust to the situation and try to turn things to their favour.

10. The everpraiser--- They’ll see the place. Praise the place. Then praise the organizer for showing them such a beautiful place. Then thank the crowd for accompanying them to such a beautiful place. They’ll praise the food even if it’s average. Trust me, there are people like this who still exist in this world. I remember in one of the tours, a person would call me ‘Sirjee’ for the entire tour. I initially liked that but was pissed off at the end of the tour.

And if you are not one of the above, you are the aam-aadmi who’s forgotten at the end of the trip. Try to acquire one of the above characteristics so that you are remembered by everyone on the trip. Maybe for the good reasons….-:)