First Year of Engineering...Embracing and Accepting Change.

 

 Three Years of Engineering... 

(First year)

 

Nagpur

In three days, I was about to leave the city. I was born in Chandrapur but I grew up in Nagpur. As it is said that, an incredible amount of maturing is often observed during the adolescent phase of one's life. Nagpur will always hold a special place in my heart. It was hard to leave the city. As for me, Amravati was a place where most of the relatives live and my father is also planning to settle in Amravati after retirement. But, for me, it was the place where I didn’t have any friends. My ‘friends counter’ gonna start from’ zero.’ So, it was quite challenging for me to study in a college where I don’t even know the names of my classmates. After packing all the required things, we left Nagpur in the last week in July. We reached Amravati and we stayed at my relative’s place.
On the next day, all the allotted students had to report in the college for college form submission and a little guidance by respective class teachers. We four (Aai, Baba any my sister Indrayani (batta)) went to college and parked the car at the parking slot allotted to faculties (it was obvious: p). After that, we went to the college store to meet the slowest Homosapien that has ever existed. He gave us some form to fill up and told us to submit the form to your class teacher. (I’ve emitted 10 mins of waiting time). I started filling form in the chemistry department which is alongside the store. I was filling the form while my mother was trying to initialize my ‘friends counter’ to ‘one’ by talking with another student’s mother. Coincidentally, we both were in the same branch. So, there was no other option for me to pull my social barrier up and look at this creature who was having ‘Tilaka’ on his forehead (which was a really good sign). After looking at him I felt I should at least say ‘Hello’ then I heard his voice and murmured ‘kon chutiya aahe ha?’
After filling the required forms, I with my three partners went to the Electronics department to fill the subject's name in the form and to attend the special induction session hosted by my class teacher. We were moving along one of the best (read-only*) road of college. As walking the road, I realized, there are many unused places in the college, if the college authorities used those placed properly and effectively then, they don’t have to claim that GCOE, Amravati is the second-best engineering college in the Vidharbha region. It’ll be a reality. We reached the department and it was common sense that because it is an Electronics Department, the students whom we were following are students of the E&TC department only. We followed them and we all gathered in the classroom which was having AC’s, Projector. The vibe of engineering was in the air. I was trying to catch that vibe. Soon, a faculty arrived and after that, I started to fill the form. I filled all the subjects told by the teacher and we all were waiting for the teacher to collect the forms. While explaining the procedure, he said something that changed our mood from happy to surprised. We all were sitting in the induction program of ‘Mechanical Engineering’ (facepalm) I filled the wrong subjects. After realizing my mistake, we all left the classroom (and Icing on the cake was, we were sitting on the first bench). We asked the classroom of E&TC and I ran towards it while batta went back to the cooperative store to buy a new form for her small brother. That day I came to know that she can run too… :P
Finally, I found the classroom and entered the class. The class teacher of the E&TC department was ‘Prof. Neha Pardesi Ma’am’ (One of the best teachers in GCOE, Amravati) She was explaining about the new phase of our lives and giving valuable tips to solve the upcoming problems in newly started life. She also told us to call our parents once a day. I received more than I expected. Soon batta bought the form and I started filling it with the right subjects and on that day my respect for batta increased. (slightly: p). After the session, we went to the hostel to check the hostel allotment status and Bingo!!! My name was not on the list. Now, I’ve to spend a year in the room on the outskirts of college.  With this thought, we went back to batta’ s house for some rest.

In the evening, we decided to hunt some rooms at Shegaon, Kathora Naka. At first, we went to Shegaon Naka. Batta’s aunt also lives in that area. Therefore, the task of hunting was not that difficult. We directly went to one green color big house situated in front of the garden. The name of the house owner is ‘Shirbhate.’ The rooms were on the first floor. There was open space like a terrace in front of the room. The room was not that bad but I was not satisfied. So, told the landlord to be on hold and told us that, ’yesterday two students came and ask for the availability of the room and they liked the room they are going to come today for confirmation. If they come before you, I’ll give them the room.’ (She acted like an MBA graduate) Hearing this Aai said, ‘We’ll call you in the evening for the confirmation, wait for our call.’ Afterward, we went to Kathora Naka to search for the room. There were some nice rooms. But baba didn’t like the area. So, we decided to temporarily settle for ‘Shirbhate’s room’. Later in the evening, Aai called her and we confirmed the place.
The next morning, we went to her place to give the advance and to place my luggage in the room. (One suitcase, one bag, and daily use items ). We cleaned the room and kept the suitcase inside the room. As soon as I kept the suitcase in the room, Aai started crying. While wiping tears, she said to the landlord ‘Laksha theva’. We give the advance rent and she told us that, ‘this room is for two people if you won’t able to find another roommate then what to do?’ After hearing this Aai said, ’We’ll pay for the whole room’. Next day I went to the college and collected my ID number which was 170040__ (I don’t remember the last two digits it was something forty)      
(That’s the beauty of God’s greatest creature ‘Mother’ Instead of saying how much she loves her child, she’ll show it/prove it)
Meanwhile, I’ve applied for the fourth round of CET, for the betterment of branch/college. On the next day, in the evening, the result of the fourth round was announced. And, I got the seat of ‘PWD’ in the Electrical Engineering department. (Baba is an electrical engineer, as every child tries to follow his/her parents, I was not different. That’s why I was happy). After printing the seat allotment letter, I went to college and confirm my seat. On the same day, I filled the ‘correct’ form with ‘correct’ subjects and submitted the form to the Sahare Ma’am. I was not alone to submit the form; a girl was also there who was allotted the electrical branch from instrumentation. Aai spoke with her and then we left towards Batta’s house.
The next day, it was Sunday. The day Aai-Baba decided to go back to Nagpur. It was very hard for me to leave my comfort zone. Now, I was going to be all alone to fight my own battles. Also, it was very hard for them too. But they know it was for the betterment of their children. So, we waved each other with a smile and they began their journey towards Nagpur.

Finally, it was 2nd August my first official class of engineering life. I was at my Aatya’s place (Batta’s mother) in Sai Nagar. It requires half & hour to reach to college from Aatya’s place. Batta said she’ll drop me to the college. So, there was no need to take a crowded bus on that day. I woke up around Eight o’clock and did my chores things as usual. We left for college around tenish. I’ve to drop a bag in my room that’s why we first headed towards the room and then after keeping the bag in the room, we rushed towards college. At 10:45, we were at the college gate. I gave a shot sent off to batta and then ran towards the admin building. I was already 15 minutes late. As this was my first day, I didn’t know where my classroom (Room No. 102) is located. I asked a person, he told me the exact location. At 10:55, I was standing in front of my classroom and thinking whether should I ask sir ‘may I come in or not’. After 10 seconds, I asked him, ’Sir, may I come in?’. He looked at me, paused for one second, and said “NO”. I was shocked, this was my first insult that too on the first day and that too before my first lecture. I was thinking ‘Asa kon karta yaar...? mi yavdhya durun aalo sagla ghai ghait kela...first diwas hota entry deun dyayala pahije hoti…’. Just like the most sabhya boy, I stayed in front of the class for the whole time. I didn’t move an inch. At 11:30, the lecture was over and the sir came out. I said sorry to him and told him that it was my first lecture and it won’t happen again. He said ‘okay’ and went to the staff room. Later I came to know that the name of the sir is ‘Rahul Jain Sir’ and he teaches ‘Engineering Mechanics’ (he was from the Civil department (maybe that was an indication for me to be cautious around civil department). The second lecture was of Basic Electronics and I was in the class before ma’am. So, this was going to be my first lecture.
(I think this was the start of different experiences I was gonna get from different faculties in the upcoming years)
Meanwhile, Aai's friend's son was also got the same college, he too didn't have any friends. So, we decided to stay in the room together. He was living in the same area as mine in Nagpur, we had common friends too but still, I haven't heard of him and maybe he too. Although his branch was different than mine (IT), we become friends in a short time.
 When I was in E&TC, I was in the second batch. Fourth round students hadn't received their college IDs. Therefore, I attended my first experiment with the second batch. After one day, one lecture and one practical my friend counter was zero. After practical, I returned to my home. Now the primary task was to arrange things like I want. It was my freedom but it cost my leisure time. I arranged all the things. When the task was over, it was late evening and my first tiffin arrived. I remember, when I opened the tiffin and I saw it was 'Eggplant' (Vangyachi bhaji). There's a point in everyone's life when you should not complain about anything because of the two reasons.
1) you are mature enough to handle any kind of situation.
2) there's no one to listen to you.
I was seesawing between these two things. So, the only option was to eat it without complaining.
The next day, I was in college at 10 o'clock. I reached the class on time and sat on the second bench. At 10:30, sir arrived. He started teaching. After explaining the theory, he gave us a numerical to solve. After giving the numerical, he asked 'who doesn't have a calculator? Stand up!' it was obvious that I didn't have a calculator on that day because no one asked me to bring one 😅 I stood up and with my innocent face told sir that it was my first lecture, that's why I don't have it. In the next lecture, I'll bring a calculator. He said okay and I sat down. While signing the attendance sheet, I came to know that there's one boy who was first allotted E&TC changed his branch to Electrical in the fourth round. His name was 'Abhishek Naresh Selokar'. I tried to initiate the conversation by asking him about the branch change and the next procedure. I told him I was in the same branch as yours. He said okay and then after the lecture went downstairs and then outside the college building. I followed him till the back gate of admin later to realized that he went with his old friend from E&TC and maybe his hostel friend too. He didn't ask me whether I would like to come. He left without saying 'Bye'. The action was inhuman, I was not expecting this kind of behavior. It's a well-known fact that we can't force someone to behave like the way we like.
After Abhishek ditched me, I was walking hither and thither. Suddenly, I encountered a confused homo sapiens. I thought he had no idea where to submit the form and what is the next procedure. I asked him, ‘What’s your problem?'. He said,' I'm looking for students’ section'. I told him to go to the other side of the building and you'll find the section. He said 'ok' I asked him, 'should I come with you?' he said 'yes'. In between the short Journey, I came to know that his branch is also electrical. And, his name is 'Ankush Ashok Gudhape'
(P.S: We met in front of the RTF room)

'Engineering starts when you are in the official WhatsApp group of the class not when you attend your first lecture' I think many of you'll agree on this. I think to create the WhatsApp group, someone must have circulated a sheet with the 'WhatsApp group as a title' and two columns of name and phone number. It was a cumbersome task, still, he aced it. Earth needs more people like you. (I don't know his name because I joined after three days of the college and I'm saying 'he/his' because I know my classmates 😂). I was not in that group, so I started to feel left out. The next day I contacted one of the group's admin and 'he' added me in that group. In the evening one of the overexcited boys said in the group that, we should introduce ourselves so that we can know each other. After his message, some four to five students messaged on that group. I thought that I should also message on that group. So, I messaged
'Aradhya Tare
From Nagpur'
After my text, two boys personally messaged me. I thought they are friendly like me so I replied to them. The more I replied to them, the more messages I received. Then I started to smell something is fishy. They thought that 'Aradhya' is the name of a girl. (They didn't tell me this. It was implied) and then I started to send more messages to them so that they can feel that 'unko bhav mil raha hai'. Maybe my messages became their lifelines. I enjoyed the show for two-three days and then I told them that 'R____, Mi mulga aahe, Aradhya mulacha pan naav asu shakta' after this message he did not believe me. But the frequency of messages was reduced and throughout the year it was maintained 'Zero' Many of the people already knows his name. So, there's no need to mention it. 😛
Every day, I used to call Aai or vice versa. And, every time Aai would ask me that, 'Yash sobat changla jamta ka aata, Tumcha bolna hota ka?' She wanted to make sure that her baby boy is doing fine in college and has made some friends (Yash was my roommate).

I was avoiding every kind of tragedy but without thinking I signed on a paper and I was restricted for three days from a lecture. One day, I was late for the Engineering Mechanics lecture. So, I didn't attend it. I planned to attend the second lecture on basic electronics. After the lecture, Rahul sir left the class, and Electronics ma'am entered the class. As the lecture ended, there was two attendance circulating in the class. One was of Electronics lecture and the second was of Mechanics. I signed both of them thinking 'Engineering college me aisa karna hi padta hai' After the BE lecture, Rahul sir came to get the sheet and at that time, I was leaving the class luckily for him (unluckily for me) I was easy prey. He asked me 'you didn't attend the lecture, did you?' I said 'no' then he asked 'what's you ID?' I told him 'Sir, 62' Then with the high tone he asked, ‘how dare you signed the attendance? Now from tomorrow onwards, don't come to my class' I said sorry he said get out. On the same day, four students have marked their fake attendance and out of four, only two accepted that they marked proxy one was me and the other was 'Abid Kha Yakub Kha Pathan' Rahul sir told us to meet Wankhede sir from the civil department if he permits us then and then only he'll allow us to enter the class. Now the first task was to identify Wankhede sir. We found him and told him the incident (Accidentally we signed on the sheet because two attendance were circulated :p) he said furiously, ‘Bring your parents till then you won't be allowed to sit in the classroom' I was like 'Ikde Engineering suru nai zali aani Aai-Babanna college madhe bolvat aahe' At this very moment, I was scared as hell. When you are in the first year, this kind of thing scared you. We waited for some more time and sir told us to write an apology application and mention in it that you won't do the same thing again. We wrote the application and said sorry to sir. He accepted our apology and told us to continue the class from tomorrow onwards. This was from Wankhede sir, but Rahul Jain sir had another thought. Rahul sir told us to solve all the problems that we have covered in the class that appeared in the end semester papers of the last three years. We completed the deserved punishment and were allowed to attend the next lectures. For the rest of the semester, sir called me '62' 

In the first month of the college, I, Abhishek, and Ankush used to spend time together. We've started to give a party to each other on every third day. (That means every day someone will buy snacks for the other two). In early August, I appeared for the test of the Robo-Tech forum and I was not selected. From the Electrical department, only Ankush was selected. We asked him a party for his achievement and soon later he left the trio (later he explained that we two were asking too many parties from him and he got tired of us)
 

In front of the college, there is a Maggie shop owned by Yadav Uncle. Whenever I've enough money and a strong desire to eat Maggie, I visit the shop. Once I was waiting for my order to arrive, I saw someone walking on the road (between guard post and parking). The someone was 'she'. She was walking towards the admin building. And because I was standing opposite to guard post, I could only get a glimpse of her and a full view of her green-colored bag. Time was stopped for me, the only thing I was thinking right now was 'who's she?' My mind was screaming, ‘YOUR CRUSH STUPID'. I smiled.
 

Meanwhile, the troubles in the new room were increasing spontaneously. If you need drinking water, you've to wake up at 8:00 AM and then full fill your requirements and then start your day or go to sleep. Another problem in the room was, there were pushed taps in the bathroom so if you need water, you have to push it. Sometimes you get marks on fingers as a return gift. And, you can't use electrical hitter to make hot water because of the electricity restrictions. So, on alternate days, I was doing 'dance bathing' As the problems were increasing, so as my friendship counter. Rohit(instrumentation), Rushikesh (CS), Aniket (Civil) and Yash (IT) were my first roommates. Our room was on the first floor. Two persons were staying in a room. We helped each other in the settling process.
I was almost settled but an unpleasant thing happened. My roommate had to withdraw his admission because of some document issue. Here I was back to square one. In the same month, the fifth round was organized in the college, and in that round, seven new students came to the department. Milan and Gaurav were two of them. We five became friends. As Yash left the room, I paid ₹2500 as the rent for the room. And after staying for a few days, I changed my room.  

My next room was at Pillai uncle. The rooms were best and he allowed us to use all the high rated electric things. In my first room, my roommate was Milin. And, Gaurav's room was two houses away from our room. So, we were the Golden trio. And that's where my real college life started. Earlier every weekend, I used to travel to Nagpur maybe because of homesickness but after I came to the new room and met friends/roommates (Milin, Uddesh, and Bhagwan (Civil)) my life changed. I was more comfortable and happier around them. Maybe I was ready to become a knight.
 

November-2017, (Aai-Baba planned to travel to Japan to visit my uncle. They planned to stay there for a month. Their flight was scheduled on 10th November. And our second-class test was scheduled on 7-8-9 Nov. I told Aai that I can't come because of my exams and she said okay with a sad tone (because on 11th Nov she gave birth to a wonderful human and she wouldn't be able to see her son on his birthday) I planned a surprise visit on 9th Nov. I told my brother to pick me from the bus stop. He picked me and we went home. When we were to reach the home, he gives me his jacket and his spectacles. I wore them and ride the bike back home. Aai and Aaji (Aaji-Aabu was also in Nagpur) were sitting on the porch. I was excited as hell and I was smiling like an idiot. Aai said 'अथर्व आला, ऐईंग हा तर आराध्य आहे' I laughed and gave a pat on her head and entered the house like a boss. The look on Aai’s face was priceless) (That was the first time I traveled in Shivshahi)
On second December, our end semester exams first paper was scheduled (which was basic electronics). Between the exams, I completed the Sherlock Holmes TV series. On 16th December, the last paper LS (Life science) was scheduled. Believe me, this was the toughest paper for me as it was related to biology. And I had to get at least 11 marks in the paper to clear it. It was difficult for me. I gave my best without expecting the outcome. On the same day, I traveled to Achalpur (my home town for family function), and on 18th Dec, I completed my registration for the next semester, and then I traveled to Pune to visit Aaji. (As she was admitted in the hospital because of the skin burn)

The first semester ended and in the first week of January-18, the second semester started. In the first week itself, the result of the first semester was announced and I got 7.13 GPA way below than I thought. The GPA was not the shocking part. The shocking part was I scored 'C' in mathematics. Believe in Gadkari sir's class, sometimes because of me girls got 'Fadaal' from boys (Sir used to ask questions to girls as well as boys if they can't answer the question, the other used to shout 'Faadaaaalll' (the sound of slap) The next new (read best)person I met knows about the 'faadaaall' )

 I used to travel in the Shivshahi (विना वाहक विना थांब) because of her ability to reach Amravati in two and a half hours. On 15th Jan, it was Monday, I was traveling from Nagpur to Amravati. At the bus stop, I saw something familiar (maybe face or a thing). I waited for Shivshahi but it didn't come (because I was late: p) So, I had to travel in 'Neem aaram 2x2'(the familiar thing was also traveling with me) which meant I had to miss the first lecture. I was kind of okay with that because it was not of EM. I reached Amravati at 10:20. Now from Panchavati, you've to take an auto if you don't want to walk 2.5 km distance. I called for auto and, in that auto, again I saw something similar. But this time a similar thing was sitting beside me. It was very hard to avoid the thing. Nearly after 10 seconds, the thing broke the ice and asked a question which was 'तू शंतनू ला ओळखतो का?' I said I was going to ask the same question to you and then we both laughed. (Shantanu is our common friend) We talked about some things and I asked her 'which is your first lecture and who teach it?'. The person told that it is EM and Rahul Jain sir teach us. I said to her, don't go to the lecture, I'll tell you my experience later. Please listen to me don't go (: p) the person said okay with a smile (I'm assuming because the person was wearing scarf) and I got down at Shegaon Naka after saying bye. The person said bye.
And that's how I met 'Adiitiiii' (The ________ after integration)
 

In GCOE Amravati, even semester is the semester where you get to experience the real engineering life that is a cultural festival, technical festival, and most important 'Traditional day'. The Interviews of different committees started. I was having some knowledge of photography and in the same year, we had purchased DSLR. So, the photographer in me was suggesting to me that, I should be in the photography committee of the fests, and due to this I give the interview of the committee. They asked me one question 'Do you have a camera?' I said yes and kudos I was selected in the committee. The cultural festival 'Zenith' was planned in the second week of February. Before that, the committee organizes different days viz red day, blue day blah blah. 

On a traditional day, I was in no mood to go to college because I was at my aatya's house (batta) which was nearly 15 km away from college. According to old me, it was very tedious to travel such distance in traditional outfits and with a camera bag. After thinking for more than half an hour, I decided to go to college. I arrived at college with my camera. As I arrived, I became a celebrity. Everyone was calling my name to snap a photo of them with their significant other (they were hoping). Some of my friends treated me like their personal photographer. Whenever they want to snap a photo with some other person, they called me as they paid me to do the job. Till afternoon, I didn't have any photos of me or Abhishek (he was still my friend). We both went to 'Shantanu bhuti' (college garden) to take some photographs of each other. I captured his photos and I don't know-how his all photos were blurred. And till today, whenever I say something about photography, he taunts me and I know he’ll always taunt on that topic. The best part about him, he'll irritate you like a small brother and he'll take care of you like a big brother. But the truth is, he's chutiya. 😂
After photographing some events in the cultural fest, I didn't want to handle camera pressure. So, I sent the camera with Aai Baba who was returning from Amravati to Nagpur. I told the committee conveners that, I don't have a camera so I can't come to the event. I attended Prajwalan-18 with my cousin's. Those were the Golden days for Prajwalan. There were people everywhere and they were participating in every possible event.
As my last semester's math record was poor, I was giving extra time to math and practiced regularly. Gulhane ma'am used to give us too many problems to solve and she used to check random copies in the classroom. If she caught you, you can't mark attendance for that day. So, I was solving every assignment given by her. And that helped me to improve the score in the end semester exam. 

In the third week of April, our end semester exam was scheduled. On Monday, our chemistry paper was scheduled. And, on a Sunday, instead of studying for the paper, we did party. And, maybe that's the reason I got my first 'D'
On 26th April, I gave the last paper of the first year and we all friends were in the canteen, I saw Adiitiiii (then Aditi) with her friends. She is from the IT department and their last paper was scheduled on 28th April. So, this was my chance(*another) to tease her (: p). I told her that I'm going to Nagpur today itself. She said okay and asked, ‘एकटा चालला का?' I said, ‘नाही बस मध्ये चाळीस लोक असतील ना सोबत 😛' I thought she was going to beat the crap out of me but she ignored it with a smile and we said goodbye.
The first year ended on that joke.
Later on, on 2nd May, we traveled to Andaman and Nicobar Islands a family trip with my uncle's family. 

Fast forwarding one month. Results of Second semester were out and I was happy that I scored 'A' in mathematics. And, my pointer was also improved.  

Before the start of first year, I did not have friends and now at the eat I can't even eat a chocolate without sharing with them. They are my new family. 

P.S: I've not mentioned some incidents because I'm planning to cover them later. 

 

 

 

To be Continued...

 

:Aradhya

 30/8/20