Gazillion subjects, VBD’s and countless number of annas samosas later, we have reached the final step of our college lives. This is the time of our lives that we would never forget. It is not very me in saying the above statement though! I was once a staunch believer that the school days would be the ones most cherished and missed by us whilst the college was just a four year course which would pass on. But coming to the fag end of my engineering degree, the very thought of leaving the college where we spent most of our days, studying (sometimes), bunking (most of the times!), completing journals or just plain ol’ chilling out in the canteen evokes a weird response from the brain of mine. A sense of emotion grips me with that bone chilling thought of moving on, graduating away from college. How much we have changed as individuals during the time we have spent in college is remarkable if given a thought to. How we as kids on the verge of adolescence joined the college with the will to do our parents proud and how as fully matured men and women we graduate making our folks prouder than the proudest of them all!
First year, characterised by those heavy school bags with baby faces to go with! No belts or watches, canvas or sports shoes to go with formal full shirts and trousers for the boys and similar formal salwar suits for the girls. The utter disrespectful respect paid by them freshers to the seniority of the final, third and second year with bowed heads in shame. Ah! Those were the days! The Dhundi’s and Jadhav’s coupled with the Asok Kumars keeping them busy throughout the year.
It so happens that a final year student as though very magically attains the capability to recognise the year in which anyone in the college is based on his/her looks and attire alone! Second year students evolve out of that school bag look of their first years but are yet to lose their baby faces. Their dressing sense suddenly takes a turn for the worse with horribly designed artistically fancy recognisable duplicate brands dotting the college!! It would be fair to say that the second year students are the most horrendously dressed beings on campus. Third year brings into the students a level of the much required maturity. With the campus placements and concerns for the future in fray, they lose their baby faces and assume the look, the one they would retain for the rest of their lives. In my case, I rarely did any classes during the third year and especially not after the placements! Bunking lectures, canteening at the MIDC (Masala idli dosa center for those of you who don’t know) or the tapri enjoying a cutting chai and bun tikki, catching up on the latest match results, news or just some movie on the hostel TV or not appearing in college for long period’s altogether was a common phenomenon. Even in the rarest event of attending a lecture, many a soul could be seen completely submerged in the pages of their John Grishams or Geffeory Archers or just catching up on a quick nap while the poor lecturer was blabbering away on a topic he/she had so painstakingly prepared for us. The ‘in the end’ and ‘Summer of 69`’ of Linkin Park and Bryan Adams turn a leaf to Metallica, GNR’, Children of Bodom and the like in the third year, finally peaking to the soothing Pink Floyds and Coldplay’s, well at least in my case!
Our batch was lucky in a way. We were the batch that witnessed the record setting 194 placements of our fellow mates by the company Tech Mahindra which was later deemed Truck Mahindra for obvious reasons! We were the ones in front of whom the initiation of the MBA branch, construction of the highly glamorous CS/IT block and the MBA block took place. The revamped auditorium with actual running air conditioners was another miracle we witnessed. We were the batch of under grads who could boast of having mobile phones with bluetooth, mp3 players, mega-pixel cameras and such other technological advancements such as iPods, lappys and who can forget the innumerable pen drives!
Most of us got our first two wheelers (speeding tickets included!), first cars for some, our first handsets, those first crushes and our fair share of backlogs as a result! How can we forget the tense few days before the declaration of results, those rumours which set many pulses racing and hearts throbbing in the middle of the night? The innumerable visits to the press (Deshonatti,Lokmat and The Hitavada) to get a grab of our gazette before any one else followed by the victory celebrations at the adjoining Yashwant stadium pav bhaji stalls! Who can forget the plethora of movies at Liberty, Smruti, INOX and the like, sitting in the reserve section of the theatre just to save a few bucks for refreshments. The fun and gala times at the college gathering Pratishruti, the rush to get good seats for the song and dance shows, the adrenalin pumping brawls with those from other colleges, the hopeless lunches but the exciting moments of the rose day! Those drunken farewell nights (I am a strict teetotaller) and the infamous installation fights, who can forget those days, those moments and memories which would last a lifetime.
It will all be missed; the long bike rides, paan and coffee pangs in the middle of the night, the freedom to do as one wished; the refreshing feel of the campus and the life that is that was and that would not be for long. Amen!
SRKNEC ROCKS, INDUSTRIAL RULZ!
First year, characterised by those heavy school bags with baby faces to go with! No belts or watches, canvas or sports shoes to go with formal full shirts and trousers for the boys and similar formal salwar suits for the girls. The utter disrespectful respect paid by them freshers to the seniority of the final, third and second year with bowed heads in shame. Ah! Those were the days! The Dhundi’s and Jadhav’s coupled with the Asok Kumars keeping them busy throughout the year.
It so happens that a final year student as though very magically attains the capability to recognise the year in which anyone in the college is based on his/her looks and attire alone! Second year students evolve out of that school bag look of their first years but are yet to lose their baby faces. Their dressing sense suddenly takes a turn for the worse with horribly designed artistically fancy recognisable duplicate brands dotting the college!! It would be fair to say that the second year students are the most horrendously dressed beings on campus. Third year brings into the students a level of the much required maturity. With the campus placements and concerns for the future in fray, they lose their baby faces and assume the look, the one they would retain for the rest of their lives. In my case, I rarely did any classes during the third year and especially not after the placements! Bunking lectures, canteening at the MIDC (Masala idli dosa center for those of you who don’t know) or the tapri enjoying a cutting chai and bun tikki, catching up on the latest match results, news or just some movie on the hostel TV or not appearing in college for long period’s altogether was a common phenomenon. Even in the rarest event of attending a lecture, many a soul could be seen completely submerged in the pages of their John Grishams or Geffeory Archers or just catching up on a quick nap while the poor lecturer was blabbering away on a topic he/she had so painstakingly prepared for us. The ‘in the end’ and ‘Summer of 69`’ of Linkin Park and Bryan Adams turn a leaf to Metallica, GNR’, Children of Bodom and the like in the third year, finally peaking to the soothing Pink Floyds and Coldplay’s, well at least in my case!
Our batch was lucky in a way. We were the batch that witnessed the record setting 194 placements of our fellow mates by the company Tech Mahindra which was later deemed Truck Mahindra for obvious reasons! We were the ones in front of whom the initiation of the MBA branch, construction of the highly glamorous CS/IT block and the MBA block took place. The revamped auditorium with actual running air conditioners was another miracle we witnessed. We were the batch of under grads who could boast of having mobile phones with bluetooth, mp3 players, mega-pixel cameras and such other technological advancements such as iPods, lappys and who can forget the innumerable pen drives!
Most of us got our first two wheelers (speeding tickets included!), first cars for some, our first handsets, those first crushes and our fair share of backlogs as a result! How can we forget the tense few days before the declaration of results, those rumours which set many pulses racing and hearts throbbing in the middle of the night? The innumerable visits to the press (Deshonatti,Lokmat and The Hitavada) to get a grab of our gazette before any one else followed by the victory celebrations at the adjoining Yashwant stadium pav bhaji stalls! Who can forget the plethora of movies at Liberty, Smruti, INOX and the like, sitting in the reserve section of the theatre just to save a few bucks for refreshments. The fun and gala times at the college gathering Pratishruti, the rush to get good seats for the song and dance shows, the adrenalin pumping brawls with those from other colleges, the hopeless lunches but the exciting moments of the rose day! Those drunken farewell nights (I am a strict teetotaller) and the infamous installation fights, who can forget those days, those moments and memories which would last a lifetime.
It will all be missed; the long bike rides, paan and coffee pangs in the middle of the night, the freedom to do as one wished; the refreshing feel of the campus and the life that is that was and that would not be for long. Amen!
SRKNEC ROCKS, INDUSTRIAL RULZ!
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