Forward and Backward

From School to Computer Science Engineer to a Mark – Ops manager, in a short span of years, life sure seems to have moved a lot forward, and well, let’s be honest, I am glad about it. But the thing that really makes me glad is that as life has moved forward, my bench in class has moved backward.

From the typical nerd in school who could not think beyond algebraic formulas and the various forces acting on a body in free fall, and to whom matters of the heart meant being elated to the extent of jumping in front of the class and humiliating himself because he had scored a hundred in a maths test, to a guy who is despised by all his teachers in an MBA institute (Yes, that very famous illusive eureka, that most kids today dream about but don’t know shit as to what it actually means) because they know wherever the seat me in the class, the distance of the bench from the teacher not withstanding, I shall exercise my birthright of sleeping profoundly in their faces and react weirdly if they even think of disturbing me. Well, I sure have come a long way, and that’s just a little part of the story.

I came into the untowardly world of the “Tenthies” in the fortunate year of 2001 and was thrust upon with the burden of my first ever board exams. To be honest with u people, my parents luckily weren’t as pressing as those of some of the less lucky kids in my class, and the only thing I had been asked to achieve was to get enough marks so that all subject options are open for me to choose from. Trust me, being from the state of Rajasthan where anything below 90 is considered ordinary at best, (for a fact, for consecutive 7 years now, that very state has had the maximum selections in JEE) my parents gave me a treat (which according to somebody was the epitome of weirdness) for my 87 as I had overshot my measly target of 80 by 7 PER CENT. But then, that doesn’t exactly imply that I was a cool chap in school who didn’t give a damn to studies.

Let me help you understand this, the education cycle, at least in my times, went like this. There was the jovial kid phase where one was ignorant to all worldly influences and would only follow their own hearts and dreams and would secretly call themselves the ace sportsman, super pilots of UFOS (that’s particularly true for me) or what not. Only thing that truly mattered in those times was that how many “Tazos” I had?

The above mentioned phase lasts until your parents are bitten by the BUG. The BUG is the phenomena wherein some bitchy distant aunt of yours would come and tell your mother about her neighbour’s brother’s sister and law’s uncle’s grandson who had gotten into one of the IITs a couple of years ago and had now got a job in some company you couldn’t pronounce properly and who were paying him a blasphemous amount of money and sending him to some God forsaken lands your aunt would always refer to as “PHOOREEN”.

When the BUG bites, GOD help u. In my case, he did. He turned me into a NERD, what with being the oldest son in the family, the obedient one of sorts, a little (very to be honest) dumb. Perfect nerd material so to say. So began my journey forward into life, from the first bench engrossed deep into trigonometric ratios as opposed to the back bencher friends devoted to Books( I m not talking about the good ones :P), movies, cars and the girls college right behind our class window.

Anyhow, as life moves forward, so do I, move backward. I think it was almost the end of the fateful year of 2002 when the next development in the cycle happened. I had been working my ass off for more than a year and half now for that charisma called the IIT – JEE, when I realized what the hell, I could have had so much more fun for these two years, and so I moved towards the benches at the back. This is the beginning of the Rebellious Kid phase. But old habits die hard, and so by the time I graduated yet again with a 87 percent (I think the work I put in for 2 years payed off here) and also got into an NIT (luckily not an IIT) and somehow earned the approval of all the aunts and the uncles to be a decent child. Unknown to the elder generation, beneath the calm demeanour, I had developed into a complete brat, and that was unleashed when I reached my college.

Imagine this. A kid, who is a giant for all practical purposes, 6 feet 2, 44 Inch broad, weighing close to 90 Kilos, wearing a round grey hat, black leather jacket that’s extremely wide, carrying a long steel chain around his arm, looking for a fight almost every other second, mouthing abusive superlatives like helping verbs. I guess you get the idea. Scared anyone??

I had a couple of fights soon into my first year, and soon realized this ain’t working out. And the nerd that I used to be, I finally settled into the next stage. The GEEK stage. Studious, nice fun loving energetic enthusiastic guy, always pretending to not care about studies, still working hard for it and getting good marks, known around college, into college activities, a typical middle bencher. Not disliked by all my teachers, barring a few AD- HOCS, (yes, those cranky headed freaks you suddenly seem to realize are teachers rather than students of some weird local college), and cruising along in some of the happiest years of my life. Yes, I had definitely moved backward from the nerd. Be careful, don’t be mistaken, this is still part of the rebellious phase, or should I now call it the independence phase. This is the phase when a kid starts moving out of the shadow of his parents and what some people coming into his own. The relationships formed with friends, seniors, juniors and even teachers at this level last forever, because these are the ones you value a lot. Also, you miss the place almost as much as you missed your school when you left it or even more.

Before I move forward, I would like to draw your attention to two very important facts. One, if you ever get a chance to be an engineer, don’t leave it. Those four years are the golden years of ones life. Studies are only restricted to exam nights, that too if you want good grades. If all you want is a degree, boy a boy, trust me, heaven shall descend to your abode. Secondly, since I am talking about the rebel phase, I would like to motivate you to rebel against that idiot called Arjun Singh, who ironically, being as inhuman that he is, has been given the charge of the Human Resource Ministry in our Gods own beloved Country (I call our country God’s beloved, because that’s the last hope we have. Only God can save us from the wrath of Maniacs like the aforementioned fellow). What he has basically done is that he has divided our student population into three types, Namely the OBC s, the ABM s, and the pretty much helpless kids like us. ABM here stands for Admitted By Merit. Thus after those who get into great colleges courtesy Mr. Arjun Singh, and those who are studious and intelligent enough to get in by our own merit, are left people like us (if you fall into any of the first two categories, how come you are still reading this) who as a fact actually drive this nation as most of the first category are incapable of doing so and most of the second kinds go out of this nation. On a more serious note, although I said only God can save us from this wrath, he can only help us if we do something about it ourselves. Here is a call to the fabled youth of this nation to take up this challenge.

Anyhow, moving forward into my journey backward, I graduated again with a degree saying something like 87 % (Some consistency right? Don’t be baffled, getting marks in a grading point based engineering college is almost as easy as eating pie, or even more may be.) And from there I came here, to My MBA College. And I can proudly say, I have now moved the farthest possible from the front bench, being a consistent pain in the neck of my teachers, and committing quite a few acts I wouldn’t mention but what I would mention is that life is the best here, and if you do not believe me, you should look at the competition some of us have for acquiring those. It really doesn’t matter how much you scored in that nth quiz you took, in the end, only thing that matters is the person you are. Be yourself, sit back and live life. Hail Backbenchers!!

Life is an ice-cream, have it, before it melts!!