Nothing on my mind!!

I wish I could say so!! Lots of questions are playing about my mind. Placements, graduation and growing up. I am in the final year of course and I have no clue where I am heading. A lot of my school-mates are already carrying the "engineer" tag and flaunting it with ease.

I seem left out trying to decide between studying further and working. Oh!! There is also the matrimonial path available as my grandmother casually highlighted over the vacation. I am leaving her suggestion out of scope for the next 10 years (on a realistic note 6 would be perfect).

Varied opinions on what is best for me as been analyzed by my entire array of acquaintances. Even last week I was briefed on the "Impact on Recession" by fifty-something co-passenger uncle on the train. Why does everybody seem worried about how I am going to end up but me?

Yesterday we had this one hour of lab class swindled in the name of pep talk on "how to face the world" with recalled moments from his experiences. Since I was the sole person who found the whole thing funny and inappropriate he questioned me on my plans. Clever me blurted the first thing I could come up with. I intended to take each day as it comes. I was made to realize by the same prof that I was thinking like an "average" person.

I wanted to retort I was happy being "average" but the truth is I do have my plans in life. I have read enough self-help books to make me run at the sight of one. I know about "where do you see yourself 5 years from now" and the whole lot of succeeding questions which seem to check primarily "Are you man or animal".

Well, don’t they. All they want to know is are you capable of thinking. I have dreams about my future. Everyone does right from the time they are kids. Just that it is not like me to go around saying “I am so and so. I am going to work till Sep 9th, 2014. I am planning to get married after that".

After a lot of thinking I have decided to step in to work after my graduation. I want to get a head start on the work life and realize my true academic calling before I embark on higher studies. I am not for further studies right away. Definitely not immediately after five years of assignments, tutorials and internals.

And so my final year at college starts...

P.S It is so nice to know that college life is ending as well it is not so nice... ;-) ;-( I will miss having fun!!

Can I make a difference?

Last Sunday, we had a musical concert at college with performances by Harish Raghavendra and Mahati. It was hosted by "Erode Mahesh" who is (maybe was) a contestant in "Kalaka Povatha Yaaru" on Star Vijay.

In all it was a great show with nice music and dance(by some of my class mates).The host kept the audience(especially the guys) in good humor by jokes on "docile" girls, “lack of cooking skills" girls, "always-nudging-your-friend-for-volunteering" girls and so on. Well, he was catering to the majority of the crowd and hence was well-received and applauded. My friends and I had a great time thorough out. What rubbed me off was the incident post-show.

The show got over around 8 p.m and the master-of-ceremonies asked us girls to wait till the boys cleared the quadrangle. I was surprised by the need for such gender-based exit strategy. Surprise might be a kind word as my friends would say. The announcement completely irritated me. Why should we have to walk back to our hostels separately??

While I was seething with anger the guys around me where shooed away to hostel under threats of confiscation of ID cards. The whole scenario was lame and comical (now when I think of it).It must have been definitely funny with a security cordon separating the two groups. But the other day, even after getting back into hostel I could not figure the "reasons".

My friends told me the reasons ranged from safety to prevention of untoward incidents. Safety seemed stupid considering the fact that we would be walking for less than a kilometer from our college campus to hostel premises. Agreed it was night and dark but the whole place was scattered with khaki-clad security personnel.

Next reason read prevention, prevention from what??? They retorted that the college was doing this to avoid mishaps. I said "separation of exits" may be just an immediate solution. Something you do for that night, something for that very show. To have this "behind-our-back" strategy every time there is a student gathering just does not make sense.

My suggestion was something proactive, something that would make a difference for time to come. An attitude change that "guys will misbehave" and "girls cannot and shall not fight back” is desperately needed. Guys (maybe not all but definitely some) look down upon the girls as delicate and submissive. Not quite the truth be it a village-grown chatterbox or an urban hippie. All of them have the ability to speak out but are never convinced of the need to. Guys are painted a picture of girls being "not-up-to-the-mark" for anything but domestic purposes all through their lives. Please don’t read me as a feminist. I am just stating that the way we are is a reflection of the exposure we have had through our growing-up.

I wish there could be a day in my college when a host would focus on humoring without taking gender as a criterion. Could we have guys do what they to do without being eyed suspiciously. Would girls be allowed to perform on stage minus any “cover-yourself-up” dressing regulations? Will the world believe in platonic relationships? Would colleges allow guys and girls to co-exist with their differences?

I believe as educational institutions, colleges and schools should bring about this change in attitude. The people must out-shed mundane viewpoints and be forthcoming in accepting change. I am not asking for a youth devoid of culture and principles. What I am asking for is conscience-driven youngsters free of the clutches of "age-old" notions.

I hope I am making a difference in stating what I feel and believe and wish for. I wish to make a difference. Do you wish the same?

I am back!!!

Well well.. This has been a long holiday off blogosphere.. I am not complaining as I was pretty occupied the entire time with my academic obligations..

Back in Coimbatore and in college, trying to find off-time has been impossible.My to-do list seems ever growing and not once did I manage to get things to count as done(Part blame goes to my hobby of procrastination)

Talking about life back in PSG Tech, it was a nightmare of sorts.Getting into the assignment-lecture-internals routine was like hell.Constant reminders from faculty to return from industry mode fell on deaf ears.

Me being the "chosen one" for the least coveted position of class representative.had to constantly be on my best behavior with faculty and friends.Never get out of line,attend classes everyday,take notes without dozing,book halls for extra classes,carry around OHP projectors,give bad news(lab exams,assignments and tutorials) to my mates,beg for class cancellation.. In short my calendar was filled with tasks to do without any time for a social life(I cant count my time spent in the faculty cabins right).

Thanks to my mobile I was in complete contact with the faculty once I was off-the-campus.I had to frequently apologise to one and all for the goody-goody act I was staging. Credits should go to me here for effectively convincing every faculty to trust and believe in me.I really don't know how my notoriety in the previous years had been so quickly forgotten.

On the better side(if at all I could say so), I have managed to bring down my habit of procrastination(though I have to admit I was given no other choice). My semester is almost at an end with just an month to go and a tableau of events from package submissions to intra-college events in this time span.

Well well.. That reminds me I have some work awaiting me(me and my working partner are supposed to embark work on our mobile computing assignment) and here I am in college lab blabbing away about my descending trend of procrastination!!

So then off I go to code and code till it is Cinderella time...