What are the thoughts that run through your mind when a class is going on? Nah...I'm not asking you to divulge your personal little fantasies & secrets :p Just the basic angry & frustrated ones.
When the class chugs, the sudden shrill voice of the teacher calling somebody to pay attention, alerts the rest & they all sit up straight! Then the guys (& girls too, in this case) take notice of the teacher who has just walked in. She literally adds colour to the usual lacklusture classes. Her preference of dress colours & more importantly, the carefully matched accessories & make-up, make her a perfect catalogue for a Nerolac ad. Everyday, she would be attired in different shades of a single colour. I’ve had to fight the temptation of asking her handbag or lipstick or even once, her sandal to get the perfect colour palette for my room.
It is during such humdrum times, that I try to think of ways to make my ongoing class somewhat less dull. The questions that keep coming back to me are – ‘where am I going to use this?’, ‘is this study of any use at all?’, ‘why am I wasting my time?’, ‘when will this get over?’, ‘how will I pass this paper?’.
We have been made to study technologies & concepts prevalent at the beginning of invention. We have been told, without the basics how will you understand the advancements? Ok, agreed. But we were never taught beyond it. And the expertise used now, is light-years away!
By God’s tremendous grace, I graduated! Graduated in ENGINEERING...ha ha ha! Being an ‘engineering graduate’ invites a lot of lucrative career prospects (as told by everyone)!
But of what use?
The other day my mobile phone-bluetooth was giving some problem. With all my engineering skill & knowledge, all I could so was- switch it off, hope it worked & switch it on. But, its an electronic gadget after all, not a sentimental little creature, to take pity on my plight! Why would it work? So, I had to take it for repair. The repair shop uncle was an old & sweet fellow. He carefully took the delicate instrument & asked- did it slip & fall from ur hands? I sheepishly nodded.
“Ahh...IC needs to be changed”, he concluded after 2 minutes. As I was waiting, we started talking. First it started with where I hailed from, what I was doing at present & then he asked, what I had studied. In a very casual manner, looking around the shop I answered, ‘electronics & communication’. He looked at me intently for some time, then broke into a smile. I understood. I was embarrassed. I dare nor ask what he had studied, to have such precise knowledge. The only escape route I found to divert, was to ask him about his family & promptly did so.
I'm sure we’ve faced similar situations at home too. When there is a power failure, there would be someone at least who would call out our name saying ‘beta, tum electrical padhi ho na...zara dekho to kya hua hai’. Arghhh....
And this isn’t only my situation. This is the condition of everyone. Previously engineers were an elite class. But now, with engineering colleges mushrooming in every nook & corner, its a different story. And my state itself has countless good colleges. And to finally answer the question I had been asked every time I mention that I belong to a different state, as to why I chose to study where I studied- fate had it planned!
So finally to end this on a positive note, I quote a famous dialogue “Success ke peeche mat bhago, excellence ke peechhe bhago. Success jhak marke peechhe aayegi...” ;)
Whenever an Indian Engineer writes something he/she represents 99% of Indian Engineers :)
ReplyDeleteDidn't get the privilege of being taught by too many teachers like you have described. But for the few I did get to study from, it was like
"Kya tune kaha, kise khabar, kise maloom,
Main to teri aawaz hi sunata reh gaya..." :)
And I totally understand your frustration with the dozens of subjects being handed over, which everyone knows is not going to come in handy either in career or in life.
And it is also normal to feel dejected at the thought of not being able to do basic electronic stuffs, even after getting a degree in that subject.
But there is a difference between you and that shop uncle. He learned only the "skills" he needed to learn in order to earn his living. If you go on and ask him to solve a few basic numericals or to derive a mathematical theorem I am sure (or at least I hope!) he won't be able to do that.
Engineering in India teaches nothing but the basics. How we build on these basics from here onwards is up to us :)
Good Post!
Sure, that uncle might not be able to solve numericals...sure he hasn’t invested 4 years into learning something which he’d automatically forget in the pressures & deadlines of a IT company. :) Again this pressure mounts up as soon as one graduates- to join the more money-spinning IT job, or a (self-satisfying) core job or continue studying.
ReplyDeleteAnd this post wasn't a vent for my anger, it was just a reminiscence of a not-much-productive (purely my feelings) four years.
When did that bluetooth incident happen? Never knew you had a blog... ;-)
DeleteAs for not being able to do something real out of your degree... it's simply not possible to teach all the stuff in 4 years. If you're interested in something, you can always research about it and learn and apply. What the 4 years teach you isn't meant to be an answer to all of life's problems. You can do stuff if you put your mind into it... :-)
Lecture ho gaya na... Sad you can't see my attire ;-)
Good post btw...
I dare not expect them to teach 'everything' needed for life (else it would never be complete in 4 years! :P). All I had intended to say in the post was, whatever we are taught is obsolete. 'Instead' we could be taught something that we can use!
ReplyDeleteThanx btw..:)