Paathshala09 Formed

                                           By this time the 1st Sem was over, Vishal was claimed as the Topper and all of us were pretty set with our daily usual college life. The practical sessions became synonymous with gossiping, assignment/journal completion, parasitic presence and great discussion nowhere related to academics. B1,B2 and B3 were the batches which divided our class into groups of 20-25, and this would later be the foundation of our bond and collective accomplishments.

                                          Copying assignments and journals, utterly useless work, consumed 60-70% of our "creative" time. Moreover, everyday at the end of the college, huge groups of students would have to take photo-copies of write-ups for the next day of practicals. Something had to be done to save all this effort and optimize the entire process. A small step was taken which led to a great beginning.

                                          I remember Sahil coming to my desk and discussing whether we should start some kind of online group which would be a portal where all the assignments, journal material and other stuff could be hosted, in order to be accessed simultaneously by everyone at one go. There was no reason not to go for it. After a quick discussion, I took up the responsibility of creating a yahoo group for the same, and requested Sahil to pass me everyone's email address on a sheet.

                                         THE CHARTER OF PAATHSHALA09

 This piece of paper, is what I call the Charter of Paathshala09. It said, " LETS UNITE !!". And we did!!!

 This was the initial list of email ids that was passed to me along with their suggestions of probable names of the group. The air of our class had mischief filled in it and it was reflected in the names suggested. Here are a few interesting ones, 

Boni :  Somaiya Eagles (Errr!! were u an under-cover agent of Eagle Gang?? chi chi)

Pankeet: Woh Rehne Wali Mehlo Ki ( Dude! It can only be you who can suggest it)

Sunita : Latakti Lash Bhatakti Aatma ( No comments Su)

Madhura: Paapi Gudiya ( Y not !)

Rita: Sukhi Nadi mein Behti Lash ( Go marry Su! )

                                   So, it was not difficult for me to choose what I had suggested and hence we names the group Paathshala09.  Little did we know at that time that this was not just a yahoo group but something that would redefine us over a period of time. 

Semester I : We have a leader and a community ( CR...CR)

                                 The 1st Semester had just begun and classes were becoming a routine. "Professors" like Veena Naik and Chaudary(AKC) were intensifying the chemistry between us and them. No one can forget that Veena Naik always used to mention "roti ka aataa" (dough) atleast once in every lecture, she missed he kitchen in the classroom! And AKC was the epitome of moral values and boredom. The dryness of Borde's lecture was balanced by Shivangi Ruparel's class. Legend has it that she was asked out by "some1" in comps dept.

                                These lecturers woke up the animal sleeping in most of the students. Most of them quickly learned the art of imitating cat, dog, owl and other species effectively. As the lecturer would turn to the board, the humans turned into the animals and off started the barking, mewing and scary screaming. It stopped at once when the lecturer turned to us. This was how we paid back those goons!! We were and are proud of it. We resisted tyranny and oppression.

                                One day we had a few seniors in our class canvassing for "INFRA" (which would supposedly change our life and be a highlight on our resume). I don't understand how, being amongst a bunch of losers, transferring benches and furniture to and fro and enjoying some free vada pav, was going to help me now and ever!! Anyway, they inquired for class representative (CR)! I looked back from the first bench. I saw Sahil and his long hair, Nikunj and group upto some mischief, Saket with Pandey concentrating into books and Varun besides me in silence.We had appointed no CR yet..and who would..this was no school. Suddenly, we found a thin, short student claim, " I WILL BE THE CR".

                                 No one knew this guy. Who does this kind of thing, like a self proclaimed hero! But since there was no one else to challenge, he anointed himself as the class CR. Although it seemed a pretty stupid thing to do, it was one of the first defining moments of our journey. We had a leader, a figure to look forward to ( he could have been passed as one of the tiniest person in the class). The children felt safe!!!

                                शशिकांत Shashikant  ( No one calls him that, some don't know who is Shashikant) was our CR. His ministers were Boni and Nishit. His popularity rose exponentially and the barking, mewing was replaced by .....CR CR and then clap! clap ! clap!! It was amazing and genius. I never thought I'd miss this insanity, but I do!

                       

Once in BEE lecture:

  Hetal Doshi: " So you have to submit this assignment on next Wednesday, alright??"

CR rises and says, "Ma'am, we already have an assignment to submit that week, won't be possible to submit two in a week".

I thought ( so did many ), "Huh!! Which assignment do we already have?? Did I miss something??".

Hetal Doshi: " Ok, then next to next Wednesday you submit it."

CR: " Ma'm, but we an assignment that week also, all other Profs have lined up then assignments for us!". 

I thought again, confused," How did I miss noticing 2 assignments!! Shame on me, I sit on first bench!. 

Hetal Doshi: " Uff!! Ok submit it at after a month".

CR responsibly agreed. He had won his bargain.

Later I went to him and asked, " Abbe ..kaunsa do assignments hai re?? ". He replied, "Koi assignment nahi, ye to aise hi delay karna k liye. Sab aish karo! ".

Our respect for our leader increased.                           

Semester I : The beginning

                   Although its more than 5 years plus, some memories are very fresh. All the new students gathered the OLD workshop building(the dungeons) to check their roll numbers and class allocation. The Old building seemed like a punishment, where only the mechanical department was housed. It was a rainy day and quite uncomfortable.

                   I remember the 1st lecture was most probably UBJ's lecture and remember my brother saying that he is quite a pain. Then came the stalwarts.. Shivangi Ruparel, Borde (poor guy was ragged big time),the famous Hetal Doshi,YT and his hand and the soft skinned and no beard Patwardhan ( also the whistler,we imitated him quite a lot later on)!.Our long journey had kicked off.

 Work Shop Building

                    It was a 2 floored dilapidated structure where everything except students was old. I don't think anyone who used to toilets once, used them again there. It gave us a nice country-like feeling with wild bushes behind (and Krushal towers behind them) and a stream of black water flowing besides. All the expectations were brought to ground zero when a new student entered that establishment. The never showed this building during admission, the hid it behind!! It was a nice welcome.               

  

                   Even though Herr Hitler committed suicide after World War II, we felt his soul in Workshop sessions. He seemed to be the dictator of 1000sq ft workshop and was successful in spreading his terror amongst many ( he favored girls though!! ASS!!). He expected us to be carpenters like him and make male-female joints!! And when you would toil hard, fast to complete your job (only guys did)... you were asked to do the girls job so that the girl child of India was not put through hard labor. After the long hard work you put into metals, wood to make them look like some scrap material, you could find them in a sack lying in the badminton court where we discovered out "jobs" ,"safely stored". I don't know how useful the entire exercise was for computer engineers....any engineers! 

                   I remember once we had our furnace session in workshop and the main instructor being absent, his assistant विश्वकर्मा (Vishwakarma .. someone whom you would see and by instinct call Pandayji !!) got his long awaited chance to give a public speech. We could feel his long suppressed childhood dream of addressing a crowd, was now turning into reality. He made the most of this opportunity and boredom was redefined for our batch. But God comes to the aid of the needy..this time a Goddess. Aparna had a sunstroke ,the session stopped, Vishwakarma's dream remained unfulfilled and we smelled fresh air again. Aparna was treated later that day with coffee and snacks from canteen.

More to come soon..

  

Engineering - La Tour De Somaiya

Frankly, I am inspired by my friend's blog which wonderfully describes the adventures of his engineering in Somaiya. I felt I have much more to write and share.








Preface

After scoring reasonably well in the entrance exam, I was set to enter the realm of engineering. It was fairly easy to secure admission in K J Somaiya College of Engineering, an "upcoming" college in our times! It was an easier choice as my brother was already in the same college and even an easier choice to select Computers as field of specialization as my brother was already in the same field. More or less this is how people are duped into this field!

My background was pretty scholastic and so were my intentions. I had missed my merit in 12th grade by a single mark and hence had decided to make a mark in engineering that followed. My perception of engineering was of a professional course, where we would seek academic excellence, engineering brilliance and foothold into the booming IT industry (घंटा).

Little did I know of the adventures to come, the completely different, life changing experiences that would follow.I was about to meet some amazing and crazy people who would remove all the study crap from my brain(it took sometime). The adventure is about the begin guys.