Ganpati Bappa.....MORYA!

One of the highlights of my stay in this college has been the celebration of Ganesh Chathurti.We,students from Maharashtra and neighbouring states organize the celebrations for this fabulous festival.Eight years rolling,it has now become a part of college tradition.We kept the idol from Sunday,and the visarjan(immersion of the idol)of the idol was done today,five days later.

Aarti was conducted twice a day and snacks were distributed in the evening.This time we provided snacks like poha,bhel poori and VADA PAV!Truly Marathi!

The day of the visarjan is a sweet culmination of the hard work put in throughout the week.We place the idol into a truck after aarti and the procession takes an entire round of the college.We dance and shout all the way,wearing a traditional orange band on the forehead.Crackers are burst,colours are thrown and the decibels keep rising .The atmosphere is electric.And the chants
Ganpati Bappa......Morya!
Managal Murti.....Morya!
Ek Do Teen Chaar.....Ganpati Ki Jay Jay Kaar!!
reverberate all around the college.For a brief period of time NIT Jalandhar turns into a mini-Mumbai!The idol is taken to the river Beas for immersion.The river is an hour from our college.A final aarti is done at the bank of the river, prior to the immersion .The immersion is a special event in itself,especially if you enter the water(which i always do),with the chanting reaching its peak.Four years on,i feel connected to the festival like never before.

I'll miss the way we've celebrated the festival in the last 3 years.Every small aspect of this amazing festival will remain in my heart... the hymns of the aarti,the beats of the dhol and a sore throat at the end of the last day...

Engineering :Food For Thought

Every year, lakhs of people in India pass out after an unique experience called engineering How many of them are technically adept?It wouldn't be fair to comment on other colleges but from personal experience i can tell you that 80% of the engineers that pass out from my college are technically gauche to join the industry.Hard to believe? I thought so too,when some people told me,before entering college.Well you might think that he's one of those useless students(which is true)but the fact is that even the so called "good" students don't know much more than me.

Most of us curse the system(which i agree is far from perfect).Let me brief you about everything that is wrong in the system.The value given to practicals is 1/4 of that given to theory.This is very hard to understand when you think that engineering is more about practical knowledge than theoretical.The standard of teaching is pathetic(it really is!).There are few students who make it on their own.Through natural ability or sheer determination.This percentage,as I've mentioned earlier,of students is very small.These are things I've been hearing since i joined college.

Introspection leads me to a flip side.I've never made an effort to study on my own.Labs are available 24*7.The senior faculty is always supportive of people who do projects.There are technical fests where one can showcase their talent.There's a library which has the best of books.There's an internet connection available which is the largest source of data.There are seniors who are always willing to help juniors who take the effort.Lastly,there is an abundance of time.The most common excuse is "I don't have interest in it"(mine too) but a fact remains. Three years have rolled on and i still haven't given engineering a chance.

We keep blaming the system.Whom are we fooling but ourselves??