College…

A word, which means different things to different people... Everyone enters it with a vague idea and generally passes out with a different perception. A blow was delivered to mine the day I took admission in an all girls’ college as I’ve always had a prejudice against it… so I entered it with no expectations at all and a few things struck off my list of ‘things-my-college-will-be’…
In the 1^st sem, I found it hard to even ‘see’ so many females within the given space of a classroom… after all, I had never before seen so many together in my life! had always been in a co-ed school and the no. of females in non-med stream were even lesser… 12 girls in a class was 50 was considered pretty decent ! but 1^st sem passed off in a jiffy coz of a small accident I had… as a result I had to skip 3 of my end-sem theory exams and gave my pracs with a bandage on my nose (it sure made them a cake walk)…! and with that went my chance of upgrading to ECE branch.
2^nd sem was when things turned into reality and began to take a definite shape. The 2 rigid facts sank in… MAE in an all-girls college… People all around began to get to know each other… trying to find out which group of people do they gel with, they identify with… I was also experimenting and discovering… one of my friends introduced me to a new philosophy (Ayn Rand)… I made friends with a few of my seniors (3^rd yr)… 2 of them were just amazing… I picked up interest in F1 and furthered my liking of rock music coz of them… there batch had some real nice people… I’m glad I got to know them… and now when I look back, I think the biggest reason I could identify with them was coz you couldn’t classify them as ‘regular’ females… or lets say not like most I’d known till then…
So I^st year of college saw me getting accustomed to my new surroundings, my need to constantly stay in touch with my male friends, beginning of me travelling by myself using public transportation… undergoing a surgery, changing and formulating ideologies in life, and starting of a good friendship.

II^nd year was my true intro to my chosen-by-default field of engineering… began to look at things around me in a distinctive way, from a ‘tech-perspective’ so to speak… went to Maruti (MUL) on a trip and for the first time got a feel of what my subjects practically mean when implemented… it was a huge influence… I became aware about few things I had always been ignorant about (I still have amazingly zilch observational skills!)
3^rd sem – something I never thought could happen to me… I gave 3 supplies of my 1^st sem along with my 3^rd sem exams… 1 day 3^rd sem, next day 1^st sem, next day 3^rd sem… I was relieved when I cleared all the exams decently and thankfully never had to give another back paper (though with passing time, the possibility always seemed to be escalating)
at the start of 4^th sem, I attended an international Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) mobility conference held in Delhi in the capacity of a volunteer as I was a member of SAE club of our college… it was a good experience… I interacted with professionals from the industry, saw things of near future taking shape… and made a good friend (glad I am still in touch with him).
But 4^th sem Majorly saw me waiting to take the summer trip of 15 days duration… me and my friend H, we organised the entire trip… a group of 33 girls went to Bangalore, Mysore and Pune… visited various organisations like MICO Bosch, Tata Motors and Toyota Kirloskar and ARAI… just a reinforcement of the impact I experienced when I went to MUL earlier… but the summer trip came to an end way too fast… I spent some time with one of my cousins and her family in Bangalore… a perfect family ! I also met with a cousin (A) of mine in Pune for the first time and got a friend for life… I always had a fancy for living in Bangalore but Pune has a strange attraction I cant pinpoint but strongly felt… no wonder A never left the place all these years and doesn’t have any such intentions for the future either…
One of the best things about the trip : the small new family of 4 girls staying together within a room, synchronising in a certain way, with some things understood without being said… one of them was kinda balanced out, 2 of them sharing a close bond and one very outgoing… they still had a way with each other… if only that family-feeling continued even afterwards with more such experiences…
I learnt a few things about organising and planning… the fact that be responsible but don’t let yourself be taken for granted… that no matter what you do for people, but you slip once and they hold that against you… from the various unexpected friendships formed and a few broken ones, that you will probably get to know someone in a span of 15 days of companionship more than you might in the entire span of being with them in college everyday (no first hand experience though)… after the trip almost everyone in class had finally found the group of people they could call their own… and those groups still exist…

The III year was when I got involved in college activities and stuff in a decent way… I became the Vice-chairperson of the SAE club in my college… me n H (Chairperson) planned out various things, but the year was big time jinxed from the start… most of the plans didn’t materialise due to varied reasons at different times… a huge inter-college national level event was also given a shot, but that didn’t take off either… nevertheless, I came in touch with a few people and made 2 real good friends…
I became a part of the TnP cell of my college in 5^th sem and worked hard for it… being in it, I realised how ridiculously political things can be even in an educational institute, how people can be extremely inept, completely irresponsible and highly blatant and how difficult it can be to get even trivial things done…
I was also one of the organisers of the annual techno-cultural fest of my college the same year… I saw up, close and personal, how much planning, thought, energy and dedication goes into such an event… that things done as a team are much better… how important it is to be capable of working with all sorts of people and get things done… no matter how much you plan, glitches always arise and then being able to calmly think on your feet is all that helps…
By the end of it all, I become conscious that I had a strong tendency of being involved in planning and organisation of events, preferably as a leader, no matter how much I detested the inherent fallacies and evils involved…
Soon after the exams of 6^th sem, I began my summer internship in MUL… it was something I had been looking forward to since 2^nd sem… due to a certain connection, I was unexpectedly placed in the best possible division I could ask for… for the first few days, I was just too awed by the intricacies involved in the larger scheme of the manufacturing plant… I enjoyed my work routine of 9 to 6 for 5 days a week and then attending classes on weekends… it was just the kind of schedule I always wanted… with not a minute to spare as each one counts… and for the first time I realised I could eat enormous amounts of food in a single meal!
The two months passed by real soon but not without revealing to me how obsessive, rude, and selfish I can get… that I don’t like incompetent people and work not done on time if I’ve done my bit… didn’t really like these aspects of mine… and also, that I have a very forgiving friend…

3 complete years in college and a few signs could be seen… the process was gradual, but the result was a drastic change in me… I’ve become a withdrawn and glum person… I feel lonely and left out most of the time… I don’t know when or how did it happen, though I have some really good friends and nice people in college, but it surely has happened… it was a breath of fresh air when I was impulsively myself again when I sat for an my TCS interview…
I guess the change is a consequence of prolonged exposure to the feminine species !!
I know it sounds ironic, but balance is very important to me and extreme situations can really unsettle me… and we are talking about prolonged exposure…

Now I am in my final semester… it’s all about being the last few carefree days of life… I’d like to spend as much time as possible with my friends coz after this we all will part ways and I know I will miss them…