Right then..in the previous episode we saw..well u got to read it if u wana understand what follows..as simBle as that..hmm now what do i begin about my first day of college..?lets see..flash back loading 10%..50%..96%..C'mon don't expect me to remember everything..before i tell u what was going thru=ough my head during that very first day i will tell u how i was in 11th..i was more concerned how my hairstyle was and how well my shirt was tucked in or not..whether my beard was properly trimmed or not and what not..tried my hand at football which i had a little passion for but basically out to charm the ladies..Well the football did click for me at least..I scored a goal for my team GANGOTHRI against a what was supposedly the good teams CAUVERY.Well it was a long range guys but along the ground,but long range still of which I am proud of still now.aAH..! So that framework stuck with me throughout my 11th n then somewhere down the line in the 12th grade it left me and I was enjoying that freedom of not taking care of silly matters.But no it was to return and haunt me again..Only to later realize there's no harm in keeping that trait in my pocket as long as it doesn't envelope me.
It was a rainy August day and I dressed myself up neatly and even smiled at the mirror telling myself "yea you'll bump into someone samir definitely on the first day.." On seeing me my mother instead of giving me that hmm not bad look she tells me.."go change that black shirt..It is an auspicious day..blah blah blah..so there i went to change my beloved black shirt and put on a blue one..kinda now my favorite color.not so much then.So out I went into my new world waiting to be explored.
First thing I said outside my house was : "Shit should have taken umbrella instead of compensating on the embarrassment of holding one". So reached the bus stop on time but the bus did not reach the stop on time. That's the only time this has happened in my life.Afterwards for the whole of first year of engineering I have mostly missed the bus and taken plenty of lifts from bike riders. Well the bus was jam packed. I thought being the first day it would be like this.But no guys..even now the buses are like this..if not worse.
Finally we reached our destination..At the entrance it was inscribed RAJAGIRI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY.eh school?? Man that sucks hope it's not one..was the first though that went through my mind.But seeing the uniforms and everything I was praying that it truly wasn't.
So then the first day we got the facial recognition of the HOD's n lecturers and we were to be sorted into batch wise alphabetically and I ended up being in batch D which later became the "Dosti ki batch" Well the first few days went by like that trying to settle in to what seemed like a turmoil of a choice I took whenever the subject graphics came up.You see I was given the Instrumentation group as a 2nd option and on hold for a place in the Communications branch.Anyone and everyone were jumping into ECE and I was wondering what's all this about; I hadn't heard anything bad about AEI but why then so much hype about ECE?? And the worst matter is the pressure from parents and relatives and God knows from where all..but I put my foot down on this one..the very first time I took a decision on my own.TO STICK WITH AEI. okay I'll admit not cos I was desperate to take a decision but cos AEI sounded more sophisticated.
Anyhow remember as I was telling myself in the mirror "I'll bump into someone today"; little did I know I really would.." Well I got picked up by a senior and was asked to smile in sign and cos format continuously which I too found hilarious..The next day was another guy asking me to write a love letter to a senior girl.I was wondering has this guy lost his balls or what.Oh I forgot he wanted the letter in French too.:) but all that was fun..On the inside, all of us in and out of the class were gelling pretty well with everyone..See here is the point where I started wondering if I should take names. Then I thought if I do someone will feel too good about themselves..heyy its my blog so its all me me me..:-) jus kidding guys..so no names okay.Well the following month was a big time for all of us..the mundu n pookalam time..ONAM and maavelli..Have you ever come across a person who doesn't like payasam..Well I did on that day.
Anyway it's the same day when I got the number of a person in the bus using sign language..Little did I know she and me would become close friends.So then came the onam holidays where as usual family visits were on the top of the agenda and to top that assignments were the pass time..The days of dependency started for me. I was always in the house of the AWESOME TWOSOME..as I would like to call them..Well chuck it they were Ragini and Remya..(BLOGGERED!! courtesy: How I Met your MOther)).. to help me with studies..especially graphics which I could not make head or tail out of..I mean c'mon I studied graphics on the phone with Ragini..Beat that..Well no wonder they both are teachers at our very own college.Don't worry juniors..they have been nicely trained; cos if they could handle me and get some stuff into my head then surely they can too in your heads..So eventually I ended up with just a single arrear which landed me the first 180 DTS-iblack pulsar to be rode into college.That was a proud moment for me.Oh ya another proud moment for me was when I accidentally slapped a now dear friend of mine in a play.Sorry dude I had to slap you for her..hehe :P Well I now had two other bikers for company on the road from my own locality to my own college.That was also something which just popped out from my memory just now.Ride safe guys :)..
Then came the days we all were to be separated from our batch mode to the branch mode and it did break down quite a few but most of them withstood the test of the tide.These were the times when including me, many were wondering oh no we are all in separate classes and now there will be the communication gap and sinking into one's own business when suddenly my phone rings at around 1.30 in the night. Dude we made a pact "THE RDX" its named and you are one of the elite members.Half into my deep slumber I said whatever dude.ROCK it.:)The following day was the huge discussion among the "elite members" about the group in orkut to be created with logo and all the minor details.Sad that I couldn't be part of the many early expeditions/adventures of RDX coz I was the mama's boy and didn't want to leave her home alone.But no regrets..The wait was worth it.Later on I also got to get together in my later semesters for the fun part and we totally rocked it..That was nice phase to have lived in.
Now then jumping across unchartered territory came the barren semesters for me S3-S5 where I was in the same mood as my 11th..Totally wasted in short.And hence landed myself with a rich loot of 9 arrears.You see what an arrear does to is that it makes you stronger in the mind, gives you the will to fight those irritating subjects over and over again till they are truly out or the count.Show no mercy was my mindset after that.But In the meantime people who didn't have any arrears were getting admitted into the dream companies and my confidence had hit rock bottom more so because of my parents comments which was natural from their side :"If you could have sat for the test at least..These are all dream companies".Yea I thought,that was a very genuine demand from the parents to their son. And I disappointed them. But njaan aara mon(sorry guys I had to use my language..(transalation I was a clever guy) I realized something that whenever I am under a lot of pressure or all negative things are hovering all around me I tend to make use of it unknowingly.Guess thats why the teachers at CHOICE branded me as a "PRAGMATIC STUDENT".
So as the 6th semester results came the overlooking 9 arrears had all been dealt with but, one inevitable arrear- the one and only CONTROL SYSTEMS(yeah thats the irony..I'M DOING MASTERS IN THAT VERY SAME SUBJECT) remained..Guess some were on the verge of losing the dream job they earned through placement and a particular lecturer was on the verge of losing his job too..25 students from a single class got arrears for his subject.But he stood firm and got many of us through in the next semester right Mr K.K Sir.:)
The final 2 semesters of our college life were approaching.There was something different starting to become with all my peers..The nostalgia was slowly kicking in their heads.The idea of Rajagiri being a school was being washed away letter by letter.So there I was sitting in the class and as usual sleeping during the lecture time when my my placement cell representative stood up and told "there is a company named UNITEK coming for placements,so interested students please give your names".I thought it will be the usual cut-off and hence everyone wanting to attend the interview and almost about to tell myself there goes another chance for me , when suddenly he also added those who already have got placed are not advised to apply.His words totally drove me out of my sleep and in a flash I was there to give my name.My head thereafter was filled with the notion of somehow landing this job so that I at least can say that there you go I got a job through campus placement;more so to people not concerning me than to my parents.It was an ever pricking question I had to face whenever I met i the family circle and so I was desperate to change that.The day of the test came and the questions were a mix of both technical and managerial.One question I have to quote is "HOW WILL YOU SELL A REFRIGERATOR TO AN ESKIMO" I smiled and led to writing my answer and after I finished I was like nice one dude.If this one answer doesn't land you this job then just accept it as it was not meant to be.Later I was shortlisted and outside the interview room were all passerby's wishing luck and asking how many will be taken and what not.There I was sweating profusely and the only one to be wearing a tie.Then the comments were.."ah you got a tie so surely the job is yours..!! bah.."
My chance came and I greeted the three member panel who all gave me a sit your ass down look.Then trying to present the perfect pose I was getting ready to answer the toughest of technical questions when one of them asked me "is your watch TISSOT.I was like ehh..and I too was wondering was it.Yes it was but it did not click me as I was in a totally different frame of mind."ah yes sir it is:)" ..Then the other person asked me "tell me Mr. Samir about yourself".After hearing that I was a CHOICE product the usual "ohh CHOICE eh" remark from another panelist came.<span style="font-weight:bold;">Among all the answers we came across; yours seem to stand out from the lot and so I wish to read it out to you again he quipped and began to read : "Mr. Eskimo If you buy the refrigerator from our company we offer you a month's supply of fish as well as a free heater on full cash payment" Well I smiled again because I kind of knew from their expression they liked what they saw.Then the remaining general questions and I was told thank you. As I was preparing to leave the HR panelists commented nice choice. Looking at my shirt pocket. I asked him "you mean the pen sir..It's Parker.Kind of my lucky pen.I stole it from my father a year back.They retributed with a laugh and I was off"..Phew I flushed out all the air that was stacked in me and then a dear friend of mine "payyans as I call him" told me "dude you coming to church?" I instantly replied yes and that's how I think because I went to church on that day I landed the job at UNITEK which I had to quit coz of the present situation I am in now.We'll get to that later :) Well another happy news was that myself and thabaan landed a job on the same evening and there was a lot of pressure of us.Oops forgot to mention thabaan- he's kinda like my brother from another mother so as to put things into perspective. I think he will be suprized when he sees this pic of us on that evening after the news was out..
Soon after that ordeal followed the arts festival..A point to be noted is that for the past three years I had never been to the arts festival.I was simply loitering in the class when "Thabaan" quipped we'll make "sandra" here the girl for the dance this time. I was like yeah yeah laugh it up..Little did I know because of his single statement I would be owing him a huge thanks for getting me on stage.Yeah I had never been on stage before for dancing.We practised everyday at my house in the evenings and roped in a reputed Bibeesh annan:) as choreographer..All this time my parents were a bit suprised.."whats got into him was the face they were exhibiting".I ended up dressing up as a girl wearing my ma's saree ..Oh special mention has to go to dagini n pinda our make up women oops i mean make up ARTISTS as they would like to be called..We won first prize at our college as well as for the thematic(P.S I was as myself in the thematic..haa)
Everyone was surprised as they saw the feminine side of me.Some really showed their manhood intentions..hahah..that was quite a laugh.I think I really gave a shocker to the girl who was going to perform before me.She went like "Whats this"..But no that didn't stop me from enjoying myself to the fullest.AEI won the first prize for arts and I was a lunatic at that moment.Jumped on top of the table and grabbed the trophy from the principal and it was barbaric..Like WE ARE AEI(similar to the THIS IS SPARTA TUNE):-).Many a disgusted faces I noticed but after all we had to celebrate.We ended up going to another reputed college for the dance and looted them of 7000/- as first prize again.That was truly an adventure.
So all that fun had to come to a standstill when the university exam dates were released..All were cool about that cos you know why..This was the era I like to call "mind setter" the GOA trip- which changed the routemap of all the AEI students.It was the year 2008 somewhere in August..
The day when i realized that smugness is the most pleasant emotion for any person..I ended up turning completely from the calm non-dancing guy to the gelled hair, freakishly dressed dancing guy in the bus trip.Wonder what went wrong with me.I guess there's someting funny whenever I am on a vacation..Well later on we had a campfire and had received the most inspirational talks from Murali sir about how we lack unity and that if each of us help each other it would make a world of a difference.AEI AT GOA '08
And true to his words it did make a lot of difference,thats how I ended up clearing all my previous backlogs and passed my 7th and 8th semesters with clean hands.Also to aid me were my partner in crime "FROOTI and the LINE OF SIGHTS i kept a tab on..right grv:)"
"Of course there where times when certain people where so worried that their percentage might fall down due to this and ended up not coming for the combined studies..But as I said before some stuck with it and so what if they got a0.2% less than the others..They can carry the satisfaction of helping his/her peer get through the exams successfully. Three cheers to the combined studies which the AEI'ans made it work!! :=)
The last few days of college still fresh in my mind where we had John's guitar playing, where everyone was pretending no to cry but ended up crying..The shirts which were scribbled upon by everyone is nicely wrapped safely in my cupboard and I look at it and I say to myself "Don't wish I could come back and do it all over again but wish that the future would be as lively and nail biting as it was during college days.."
