On Becoming an Engineer

             It has not been many days after the Convocation day. That day I took my certificate and happened to scan how life was shaping after stepping out of college. The feeling of being a college student hasn't even died and the responsibilities-laden life has already kick-started. “Change happens very quickly...” I said to myself, “...or so it seems”. Life is evolving everyday, at least under the surface, and we are moving from one milestone to other. 'Becoming an engineer' is one such milestone.

            There are millions of engineers out there. I don't feel very special on such a feat, at least not more than my parents. Why? I belong to a very small place, were education has just started to find its roots. When I finished 10^th grade, I was the most educated person in my family, the joint family. Completing graduation means a lot much more, and 'Engineer'- that's way too much! Whenever I hear my parents tell this to me, I get that urge to do something about it, but anyways, that's another part of the story.

            What's part of this story is how life is shaping these days. Take a look around - things have changed dramatically. Some of these changes we have always wanted, some we have not been comfortable with while some unwanted. From college desk to cubicle, the migration is huge. Suddenly, people have started considering us mature and responsible. They have changed the perspective towards us. We are answerable for our deeds. You cannot rise into the bed in the morning and say “Let’s bunk today and do a road-trip” unless it is weekend, or not even then. Oh yes, ‘weekend’ is another important aspect. Now we don’t see a year as 365 days but rather as 52 weekends. We are changing or are we growing up?

Life has become a serious business now. We are falling to stability and security. A ‘rat-race’ in other words. 'Paying fees' to 'being paid' is a hell of a difference, at least for me. Very soon, we will start talking about promotion, raise and what not. It reminds me of the incident from the film Jerry Maguire (1996), when Tom Cruise is fired from SMI. While he is leaving his company he shouts “Who’s coming with me?” and asks a colleague, “Wendy, shall we?” and pat comes the reply from Wendy, “Jerry, I’m three months away from the pay increase”. You see, it’s all part of the race.

           I am not saying anything of this is good or bad. I am not judging. Frankly, I don't know myself. Everything is part of life, yes, goddamn part of life. All you can do is, brag or grumble about it. Or go from one change to other comfortably, enjoying and living in the moment!

Toodeloo- a goodbye letter!

Hi All,

“Robert Gallagher said that change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. It is inevitable that I have to move out. A little bird told me that I have to take your leave in a few days, because someone else is going to take my place. I don't know whether he will be better or worse than me, but he will just not be me. That is inevitable. So before I bid an adieu, I will take you back in time and leave you behind with tears of joy and giggles on your embarrassment!

I came into your lives, about a year back. It all started casually with hesitant and tentative steps, until we started sharing a bond with each other. The name is bond, true bond! ;) I have seen you grow taller and stronger. I have seen you grow from a student to professional, from a man to a gentleman and more. I have been along you in every moment. It has been a jolly time with you- a time where you gave your expertise, a time where you imparted your skills and also a time where you learned great lessons, and all I have done is, watch you do all this.

I remember, when you were chasing those big goals of yours, I prompted 'Go ahead fella!' and you smiled with determination. In return, you not only achieved them, but surpassed them. But mind it, I have enjoyed watching as much as you enjoyed doing. I have walked with you to all the new places you went and with all your friends- screaming, laughing, playing! I have sat besides you, while you were studying late night and greeting you back the next morning, when you woke up on the same book. I extended my ear when you were alone and wanted to talk to someone and calmly waited for you to feel better. I wiped your face, when the shining tears rolled down your cheeks and sometimes even cried with you.

I was with your friends, when they were preparing for your birthday party and you had no idea. I was with all of you, when you celebrated and basked in glory and then yelled at the top of your lungs from the terrace. You thought, nobody heard that. But, I heard it big guy! I was part of your birthday, rather your birthday was a part of me!

And it is inevitable (you remember the change, right?) that you will face new challenges and that things may seem a little different in the year ahead. Yes, life is definitely going to become a little 'shaken up and stirred' !!”

        

                                                                                                                                 Yours Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                        2010

                                                                                                                      "HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011"

Engineering again.....

I want to hear the Principal’s address, I want to go to the FE meet,
I want to be in the workshop, I want to work for Civil, on the street.
I want to be scared of senior’s presence,
I want to stare at the girls’ elegance.
I want to struggle with the Graphics sheet,
I want to reach early for my friend’s B’day treat.
I want to be in FE again…...

I want to program a non-working code in C,
I want to put my friend’s proxy.
I want to help organize the ADDICTION,
I want to give my 1st last-minute submission.
I want to reach E-Square just after practicals,
I want to look into teacher’s eyes thru my spectacles.
I want to be in SE again……

I want to play solitaire in the DBMS lab,
I want to take a treat by giving him a drag.
I want to go for a reasonless common-off,
then act sad for the unique suspension-slog.
I want to sit on the katta so that juniors could respect,
I want to join hands to raise Impetus and Concept(s).
I want to be in TE again…..

I want to go to the class and find it empty,
then call a friend in canteen and have some tea.
I want to run for the project sponsorship,
I want to help in a friend’s so-called loveship.
I want to be happy for my peers’ and my placement,
and laugh out loud for not knowing project statement.
I want to borrow a Blazer for BE photo-shoot,
I want to hug the tree of friendship with deep root(s).
I want to be in BE again…..

I want to enjoy my engineering all-over again !!

the TWO sides

In engineering, the most famous pass-time is watching movies. And when I came to engineering I succumbed to this ‘law of pass-time’! I wasn’t a movie-freak before. These hormones were induced by engineering. I found people who could watch more movies than the number of hours they slept that day. Language- no bar, genre- doesn’t matter, cast- who cares? I loved it !! I met people who loved discussing movies after watching them. Slowly, I joined that herd too. I started watching movies closely, so that I could participate in the discussion with heavy database. And then, we spent more time in discussing movies than it needed to watch them. There came out the movie-critic in me. I always wanted to use this movie knowledge of mine.

It was in the beginning of final year (BE) that someone came up with an idea of making a short-film. We were four. Enthusiasm was unlimited, excitement infinite but practically zero. That movie never happened, and we stuck back to routine. In February (2010), we met again with a higher determination. Burning midnight oils for writing stories, asking people for a HandyCam, going places for locations and so on. But lack of resources always pushed us back.

One fine day, I came up with a simple story. People responded positively, but it couldn’t still get converted into a hardcopy. Things started getting back to normal and I got enraged. I called my friends to ask them to do it JUST NOW !! Replies were not enthusiastic enough. A Wednesday, I called Akshay Chougule, and narrated the story in detail and after his wise suggestions, it was penned down. No matter what, I was adamant to do it, how hard or how expensive it may be or whatever we face I’M GONNA DO IT, I said!!

So, the duo (akshay-suresh) came together and met early at 9am, the next day, at akshay’s alternate flat in kothrud. Things went perfect, as expected and till afternoon they were going smoothly. After lunch, we started facing problem with battery, lights and energy. But now there was no looking back. The shooting was almost complete in a single day by 8pm. I don’t exactly remember the date, but its not difficult to find out coz its written in the history. It was the date when the Master-blaster made a double ton. We missed the cricket-God hitting the ball to every corner of the ground, but on the positive part, we came up with our film. While going back home on my bike, scanning the entire shoot through my mind, imagining Sachin’s game and thinking of a movie title, I met with an accident. I missed death by the skin of the teeth and I wanted to beat the man who didn’t know how to cross the road. Just then a gentleman interrupted and said, ‘look at the other side of it…atleast you are alive’. And there I got my movie name- ‘the TWO sides’. I ran off to home with wounded limbs, looked for softwares and started the editing work.

Within two days, editing was done. Akshay came and put some really mesmerizing background scores. Some flashback scenes were shot and put. The movie was ready to be released. The entire movie was a product of two people’s dream, ideas and effort. Each and every single part was done jointly- be it writing, directing, cinematography, editing or sound effects (although the credits are distributed). Compromise is the key my friends. If you do anything with your rock-solid determination and insurmountable will-power, nobody can stop you- NOBODY !! And what’s the end result ?- An adorable film!

Although the film wasn’t meant to be released to the public, listening to some extremely inspiring reviews and comments, we decided to share it with all friends. The positive reviews were flooding in, and there some well-wisher (KAPS), uploaded it on youtube and gave us our so-called fame. So the movie was officially made available to the public on 2^nd march. With continuously incoming comments, we decided to put it into competitions and to our surprise, it got us prizes. Life has been so kind to us. Its truly rewarding when you put your whole and sole into something and it doesn’t go unnoticed. This movie has taught us (atleast me) some very important lessons of life, which will stay with me forever. And in future, if my life seems difficult I will just try looking on the beautiful side, because I know there are always TWO SIDES!!

For people who are wondering what movie I’m talking about, here’s the clarification:

How i got into Mimicry

I donno whether it is the right topic to start a blog with, but thats a thing very close to my heart n has given me sum recognition. The whole story dates back to 2002-03 (my 9th grade), where i had an habit of learning movie dialogues n impressing friends by uttering those without a stop. I wud love when my frnds giggled over it. Slowly i started giving stress on the voices also n unbelievably i cud get sum voices right!!!
Then i wud also imitate my teachrs in front of my frnds n they wud support me lik hell (coz every1 had grudge wid sum1 or d other...lolz). I kept polishing my mimicry as the days passed by. At the end of the year i found i cud impersonate sum very famous actors lik Amitabh Bachchan, SRK, Raj Kumar, Dilip Kumar n few other contemporary actors. Anyways the voices of these actors wer not very difficult ones n may ppl can do after a li'l practice, but still i was happy wid whatever i cud. After i moved to Junior colg, once i gav a thought of putting it on stage, on sum colg event, but cudnt gather courage coz i didnt hav many accolades til then, so i gav up.
It was in senior colg (PICT) wher i 1st displayed my act at FE meet wid an astonishing 13 actors' list, without practice .....n ther d crowd rose wid applauds serving as a huge motivation 2 me. Many ppl started knowing me, not by my name but by my act, n that was my 1st prize !! Then it was no looking back....i tried mimickin more n more actors, spent time watchin actors closely n watchin other mimicry artists' perform...
After my highly acclaimed 'Bollywood colg of engg' act in Addiction 2008, I was cocksure of my capability to make ppl rolling wid laughter. It was then i got a chance to do sum voice-overs at Radio Mirchi n got calls to do acts in ceremonies. But my mimicry is sumthng very dear to me n i wil treat it as an hobby, not as a money-makin medium. Til date i can mimic over 40 actors, wid sum Hollywood stars n sum singers.
These days i spent time writing new scripts for mimicry n performing it 4 myself !!!!