How to go about with an Engineering Project

Its funny actually, to talk about this topic. One reason because, I’m in a state trying to find an answer to the above question, all by myself. Another reason because, even my classmates are, but not necessarily independently. However, the final destination is the same. Scoring something around 240+ marks out of 250. Well… Yeah, that is the idea!

I’m amused and envious of my friends who manage to get their project ready by going to a few institutes (read : Tuitions for projects). Envious because, they’re always in a state of inertial comfort backed by the guarantee of a successful project. The institute provides them this guarantee at a nominal price and at a cost of 2 sessions per week.

Now, coming to the more interesting part, I’m amused because, the nominal price is not so nominal afterall; the 2 sessions per week spent there are probably worth it, but I don’t care to estimate how much; the time and money, if well spent, would aid in so much practical exposure, that if people realised it, the institutes would run out of business!

Before anyone calls me a hypocrite, I’ll clear the dust around ‘my choice’. I tried to do something of my own. Succeeded in bits and pieces at most times. But flopped when it came to the big picture. Very recently, I took part in a competition and thought of presenting whatever I do for this, as my Engineering project. After more than a fortnight’s toil (the reason behind my absence in the blog-o-sphere,) it was time for me to face my first biggest technical failure.

The feeling was bad. Worse, actually. At that moment I thought about my classmates’ comfort and why people choose institutes over the toil and adventure spirit of experimentation. It was for marks. Those bloody God-damned 240+ marks, which speak little about a student’s quality; which speak highly about the institutes’s ability of having a good business; which speak of the sad story that this is an Artificial Life, and make one wonder if this is an Education Boom or an Education Doom!

Whatever happens, I wont give up. Nor shall I give in. Atleast, I’ll try not to feel bad further.

7th Semester Nostalgia!

The 7th semester exams have started from today. What better way to pass time between the dozing study-schedules and flipping pages, than to recall and live in the moments enjoyed in college! Here I am, relaxed after giving my first paper for this sem, and tension-free because I’ve 4 more days between today and next paper . To give a you a one line summary, I’d say that this sem has been the most exciting part of my Life.

To start with, I, along with a handful others, organised a Robotics Workshop in my college, where propaganda, fee collection, enlightening minds, speaking a lot, working a lot too, and conducting the workshop while actually participating in it, will pass down my memory with all glitter, and especially the night when we packed all gadgets and materials into individual packages without sleeping for a second, and working for the whole of next day at the college.

Just after this, it was Internal assessment time. I was summoned by the HOD for having shortage of attendance (49%). I signed some green paper stating I was aware of it and resumed my bunking spree .

So, wassup next? It was the trip to Chennai! 3 ppl including me, went to IIT, Chennai. Not just to take part in Shaastra ‘08 – their tech fest, but to feel what it’d be like, to be an IITian. It was an exhilarating experience. 6 days passed out in a jiffy and Chennai was a fun place to be, except for the scorching heat. ‘Memorable’ would be too small to describe the times we spent roaming around the campus at midnight, dining at a restaurant inside the campus at 2am, and lying on the lawn till the dew on the grass tickled me and drove us away, at 3am.

Sunset at Mahabalipuram beach, midnight ice-cream party, night walk at the Marina beach, dining at ‘Velu Military Hotel’ and ‘Anjappar’ were a glossy set of add-ons to the blessed getaway! All thanks to Pavan’s bro, for accomodating us and more importantly, being there for us.

Again, Internals time and again the same attendance procedure. But this time, the HOD had done some magic and provided me with a relief. The shortage margin was reduced even if my ass wasn’t there in the class! .

As if this wasn’t enough, our juniors went on a one day trip and triggerred a rage in me for not being able to do so. This sparked off the aggressive souls in my classmates as well, and what started as a mere jealousy culminated as the longest class trip in the 8yrs of our college history! . As many of you know already about the trip, I’ll refrain myself from talking further about this, even though I’d love to go through the memories again! (Those who haven’t seen the posts already, you can have a virtual trip yourself. Presenting to you : The Trip Series! )

After coming back from the trip, the class was never the same as before. Almost everyone greeted eachother with a lot more glee in their eyes, thereafter. Whatta way to end the semester. The attendance dwindled after that and the last days of partying in the semester continued (for me) till yesterday, before I sat with the books. Signing off for now, feeling sick about the next two weeks – Exam Time!

At Last…!

Finished my Microwave Communication (MC for short) paper today! The first thing that i did on seeing the paper was counting how many marks i can attend to. Finished! Then I had to set the time frame. Finished! Oh i forgot. I prayed to god to help ONLY me to the max. To all others… not as much as me. Now starts the race. The cap is down, nib on paper, answer in mind and imagination to support it. GO! All the time, i was cursing the paper-setter for being so student-unfriendly! At the same time, i wished that the man valuating my script was some old prof fond of students. Can’t help, it happens in engineering.

Midway, I just woke up and realized that I’d wasted one hour on the first question itself! (We are to answer 5Qs of 20 marks each). Now, that’s bad. So i made a small prayer, hoping that evaluators be given with an ‘any handwriting analyzer’ to understand what I’ll be writing for next two hours. The race just got interesting.

Sometime later, i was satisfied with my progress, but had to halt to think about an answer. I thunk, thunk, and thunk about it and finally started off with a song to relax myself. WOW! it was such a soothing experience. It was one of my favorite song and i got engrossed in it. Later, I was able to recollect what all had occurred in the movie after the song too. Cool! I sure have a good memory!

There was some disturbance in front of my eyes (i was open eyed) and realized that someone moved out of their seat. So, was it interval time? I was feeling hungry and was thinking about having a quick snack. WHAM! It struck me then. I was not in a theater after all! The person before me had finished with his paper so fast. I saw my watch. There were only 45 min left and i had more than half of the bloody answer script to complete.

That was too much. I got frustrated. ENTER WAR MODE! I thought of Adolf Hitler for a second, drew some very important inspiration, and started it – THE BLITZKRIEG ATTACK. Word after word, line after line were completed with blinding speed (i wonder if my pen is still alive after withstanding it). Pages rolled by and finally…, there i was spent, tired, partly angry for my trip to the movie, but rejoicing it more, and lastly, felt like being on cloud 9^(9^(9^(9^(9^(9…

PS: Its gonna rain heavily tomorrow. Because I’ve to come down from the clouds and give ITC (not Indian Tobacco Company… its Info Theory n Coding )