Yours truly is in final year BTech (Electronics) in a prestigious institute.I am still struggling to figure out just how I managed to get this far. Maybe I have the answer here..........
It was the morning of the day when the embedded systems' viva was scheduled to take place. I reached college to find out that my classmates were busy skimming and scanning through what is supposedly a book on ES. I, however had forgotten even the name of the book which I had got for this beloved subject. The class was abuzz with words such as memory, controller, operating systems, programmers and the like.
I was getting more anxious by the minute. Still I maintained a calm and composed look on my face but deep within I knew that apart from the fact that it was ES viva that day, I knew nothing else regarding the subject.
I was thinking and trying to come up with a smart, witty answer to wriggle out of the awkward situation which I was bound to fall in when I would be asked my share of questions. But...........it is so damn obvious that I failed to come up with one...................just look at the adjectives I have associated with the word 'answer'..................need I say anything more!!!!!!!
After having thought for a long time for an excuse and having failed to find one, I gave up and just prepared myself to meet my fate.
There were a dozen people before me. As they went in and came out, the usual practice of stopping each one of them and asking for their questions and answers begun. I realized that they were asked some simple questions but some very difficult questions as well (by difficult I mean it was difficult at that time; when people (barring a few) prepare for a viva by just glancing through the book, any in-depth question is bound to appear very difficult).
I panicked........I felt that I should glance through atleast one topic. I was doing so when a well-wisher of mine walked up to me and said,"Do you feel that you would be able to understand anything that you are reading now?". (Good question!!!!! why now........I never understood anything that I have read till today.......so today would be no different). I, almost instantly experienced mental peace and was able to relax(all this was happening while my well-wisher was busy answering people's doubts right infront of me) .
Then came my turn.............I entered and a female MTech student asked me to take a seat. I was about to say that there would be no need for that as I would not take much of her valuable time anyway.It so began
She: Have you studied ES????
(She must be awesome at face reading!!!!!!!! And I felt that God had answered my prayers without me even offering one........what a question!!!!!!! now I could take it from there to anywhere I wished to.......)
I:No, ma'am........nothing at all........(Thank God!!! This is what I had been planning to say since morning. I only lacked an opportunity...........and now I have been given that chance....)
She: Not even a single topic???
I: No, ma'am.........nothing......
She: When is the EST(End Semester Exam) ??
I: It starts on the 29th of April.......
She: So, it's just two weeks................when will you start...........what have you been doing all this while?
I: Ma'am, I will start a little later as I am busy with the project work (I have heard that 'lies for a good purpose are forgiven'). I didn't get much time to study because of this.......
She: Ok, so tell me something about your project................
(I got my chance and so I started to blabber about our project)
She: So, your project is mostly Matlab based........
I: Totally..........
She: Alright, you can go now........
Wow!!!!!!!! Absolutely wow!!!!!!!!!!! I might not have got a great grade for the viva but atleast I didn't feel embarrassed when I was in there. I was comfortable all the time. I didn't know anything about ES. So, I would have have never got a grand score anyway. But, atleast I escaped the pain I could have been put through.
Now lets go back to the reason which prompted me to discuss this. How I managed to get this far. It is because of incidents such as this. The whole viva show is a farce..........the examination system is being ridiculed all the time by our institute. There are people who still manage to gain knowledge without complaining inspite of this mess. But there are students like me, who use the very first opportunity to shun away from studies.
The institute is certainly sparing the rod and spoiling the child.
10 comments:
I was staring at page nos. 329 to 345 of Embedded Systems - Raj Kamal ( don't even get me started on that dude!) the other day... and I thought about "learning". I mean, what is that? I know power electronics... all the graphs, explanation circuits. But, what have I learned? For one, I learned that that piece of information is never going to be of any use to me. I learned that you only need to draw the circuit and writs one page after that to get your 9 point. I learned that I associate more with visuals than text, that I really like "Home Improvement", that going to sleep with glasses on ruins their allignment. Power electronics...? I know that.... no learning there...
Joyboy... I hope that you overlook this hijack of your space, but as of now I have a lot of thoughts but no blog of my own...
I read several of the forwards that come to my inbox... and then read several comments on them like "sahi he", "Liya...", "Sahi he", "Sahi he" and some more of it.
Is it just me or are these comments actually devoid of any comprehensive expression? Does "sahi he" mean: "Yes, thats correct. I agree." or "WOW! Amazing!" or "You loser... you think you are too good?!" and if they do mean any one of the above, why not say it instead? Why use this intricate Jacobian transformation to say the same thing all the while?
People lose their creativity through laziness... nothing else. This seems to be a mundane matter, but such tendencies play a strong role in shaping your future. It is a fact that articulate people are more focussed and frankly, do you think that ANYONE is EVER going to be impressed by..."Sahi yaaarr!!"?
p.s. Please guys... no comments like "Good one!" all the time. Some variety, expression and style will be thoroughly enjoyed by the blogger as well.
I don't mean to be patronizing... Its just the stress of DCAN and the irritation of the crap known as ES.
this is a situation that most of us have gone thru mate...i still remember my EWP viva..and i was the second student to go in and i came to know 5 mins prior that we have a viva...and only i know what i blabbered in front of the gr8 ms.dhabade..
the thing in our college is that...if u are articulate enough...and if you can throw in technical jargon...u do well in the viva... ur knowledge is not tested here as it should be..
one of the reasons why we are getting half-baked engineers..
@ Shaunak
Yes, it surely gets boring to hear the same expression over and over again.....it gives you sore eyes (while reading) and sore ears(while listening).....afterall, change is the way of life.....the language is vast....so why not use different expressions and words to say the same thing or different things.......
**regarding the hijacking issue--
I am speechless......abslutely loss of words.....it's like 'your neighbour simply walks in with his own pack of tea,milk,sugar,spoon etc. but using your stove,cup n saucer and sitting down on your easy-chair, sipping way to glory.'
@ Bala
Atleast you can claim that you are a half-baked cake.....and the half that is baked is completely because of your own efforts......
I am not even that.....I am the dough which has not been kneaded properly.....which is usually discarded....or used in some down-market bakery.
@JD
Well put... The spark of my life is that I have kind neighbours who dont mind the occasional trespass.
Don't worry neehba... I brought along two cups of tea... we'll have a tête-à-tête!
"the dough, which has not been kneaded properly"- this was a gem!
Vivas remind me of dear old Mrs.Gadre. We were so bad- I, Vicks and the guy who wears shirts with embroidery- that she started hyperventilating! We made a quick exit before she choked :D
And yeah...I'm glad you bamboozled the poor M.Tech woman with gyaan about our project. Way to go!
P.S.: I have an idea who that
well-wisher of you might be...the same guy who wears shirts with embroidery?
@ amogh
haha...........I cant stop laughing.......yes he's the one....the well-wisher is the guy in the embroidered shirt.....good guess pal!!!!
hey joy.....I was going through ur blog and this incident which u have brilliantly described reminded me of our "beloved" VJTI. Man, what a place it was....sigh ! After seeing d real VJTI, I used to wonder "Is this the no.1 coll of Mumbai ?? This??" It does not have good lab facilities, professors suck big time (leaving aside a few) then what d hell makes it no.1 ? But soon I realized tht it is we the students tht give it the BRAND name. The caliber of d students is wat takes it to d pinnacle and attracts companies in a same way as a bee is attracted to d nectar of a flower! So, be proud of yourself and dont under-estimate yourself by referring as a dough tht is not kneaded properly. :)
First oo all thanks to JD for all this.
I am from his native place, he is just like my younger brother.
This very proudful thing to his father & monther for such a tallented son.
I don't have words to say anything.
"Born & Deatrh is the rule of the nature no body can run away from that"
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