My Life at IITD !!!

Did you expect another Chetan Bhagat's 5 point someone kind of a story? Sorry, to disappoint you then. No Professor Cherian, or his daughter Neha, no Ryan, and no 5 point grades, in this story. This is my story.
I hail from a small township called Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, I feel this place is well known, though. This place is not only known for the Bhilai Steel Plant, which is now the back bone of SAIL, but also for one other thing, producing lot of IIT JEE qualifiers, and is not far behind KOTA(Rajasthan), in this race. Since I am from this place, I also shared a dream of beating the IIT JEE screening test, failed though miserably, after which I realised that I don't deserve a seat in IIT, then. But you know what, the dreams which are dearer to your heart, try to break and eventually break all barriers, which prevent them from being fulfilled. A slightest of the chance smiles at you, and you smile back at it, for giving the opportunity to fulfill your dreams, long subsided. Same happened to me as well. I got the opportunity to get into IITD, without much hard work. I say so because, I didn't have to write GATE exam to pursue MTECH here in IITD. I am a sponsored candidate working in a government organisation. So getting an admission was almost a cake-walk.
The first semester, in particular the first minor, was a disaster for me. I scored "praiseworthy" marks in almost all courses I took - most notable of them was a 6.5 out of 25 in one of the courses. It boosted my belief that I am going to be thrown out of the IIT at the end of the semester for not being able to conform to the IIT standards. It is said that when you are afraid of something, you prepare yourself better for the big confrontation and always pray to avoid such a confrontation. Thankfully, I managed to avoid a confrontation with such a situation, guess I was better prepared for it.
Well, I learnt a lot, during my stay in the IITD so far. I learnt how to score good marks without having much stress and minimum studies. Back in our Engineering days, we used to take "a one night stand" towards any exam. Hey you!!! It doesn't mean what you are thinking, it means that we used to study only the previous night of the semester exams. Initially I thought that it won't be applicable in IIT. But then I found out that "a one night stand" is applicable to this institute as well.
Studies apart, there are quite a lot of things worth enjoying in IITD. Firstly, the "Dilli ki sardi". This is one season in Delhi I like the most, but guess what, good things last for a short duration. Secondly, I enjoy the "Aunty ki Chai". Now all the IITDians must have enjoyed it too. Then there is the "Shashi Parathe Wala" where almost all the hostelers have there meals, almost twice everyday. At least I do. I spend, I guess at least twice the amount I pay towards the mess bill, evey semester, eating out at Shashi. Then we have the "Mezban". Another place (actually it is a canteen cum restaurant) where at any given point of time, you can find at least half of the IIT students dining.
So many, memories of this place, in this short duration. Only 4 more months to go, before I get deprived of all these enjoyable things. People say that it doesn't take time for the time to pass by. True every word, because I still can't figure out how almost one-and-a-half years have gone by and in another couple of months, it would be 2 years, time to go back to Hyderabad.
I ponder over and over again about why was this stay enjoyable for me? A couple of reasons for that. Its not that after a long time I got to make friends. I make friends anyways. Its because after a professional life, its really overwhelmingly refreshing to be a student again. You get to make new friends with whom you don't have to act professional. For me in particular, there was no pressure of maintaining a minimum SGPA of 7.0 else lose the stipend. No pressure of any campus interviews, of catching hold of some job before leaving an institute. No pressure of selecting a major project about which I have to boast in the campus interviews. No pressure of learning C, C++, OS, DBMS ... blah blah ... things to compete with other students, for a job. No preparation for the Apti rounds, Technical rounds, or HR rounds. In a nut shell, a comfortable, and memorable part of my life.
When it comes to the most memorable day of my stay, though its quite difficult to chose from so many contenders, but yes, I will never be able to forget the night when the first student of our Control & Automation got placed, inspite of the global recession. That night 5 of our batchmates including me, sat the whole night in front of my hostel, on the bare road (believe me), and then climbed on roof-top of the Bharti Building, and sat there discussing our lives, till morning 6:30 AM.
I hope, may be, I will again get to relive the moments, like spent in IITD, probably, at some other place, some other form, with some other friends and a new environment, apart from my professional commitments.

SC SYNDROME

Well, this post is not about Breaking Codes, Crypto or Computer Games, of some medical disease - its symptoms, causes and cure, as the title might sound like. This post is about those people, who show signs of suffering from a fatal disease called "SC Syndrome" - the superiority complex syndrome. Harsh as it may sound, but true though. Life teaches lot of things everyday and here I am today telling you what I have learnt in the recent times.
I always thought that life is full of people who are ready to help others, have no disregard for others, and are less meaner than are perceived to be. Submitting to this line of thought, I have already made a fool of myself amongst my friends. I am not saying people are not as good as you want them to be. They are, but not many of them. I have met with a countable number of people who are selfless, met a lot of people who are self-centric, and then I met the third kind - the "self-obsessive" kind or the people who show symptoms of "SC Syndrome". This class of people is not very rare to find. You find them all the time, and are mostly in the top slot of a group. The person suffering form this disease, shows symptoms of being toppers all through life, and doing everything that they can, to retain the top spot. They are very determined to win everywhere they compete, have the feeling that whatever they start, will be successful, and that everyone will appreciate there talent. If you appreciate someone else in front of them, the patient shows signs of agony and restlessness. The causes of the disease are not known exactly but is believed to be genetic in nature and is passed on to generations through the parents ...
Competetion is a good thing to have in life, when it doesn't break the boundaries and drive you crazy. But the people suffering from SC Syndrome, take competetion as a challenge (well nothing wrong in that, but read ahead ...) for which they can't accept anyone else other than themselves winning. "Winning" is a word, which assimilates such obsession in them, that their actions aim only at it. For them, end result is of prime importance than the means. For the word in question, everything is justified, from misleading others to misguiding them, from cribbing to defaming others, and from learning everything your competitor knows (whether you actually need to learn them) to doing everything what he does, in an effort to stay ahead of your rivals.
I always ask myself, why do people get obsessed with "Winning no matter what", why do they get crazier and crazier day by day, why do they can't accept that others also can win, why do they can't feel happy when others prove better than them ... I guess all my questions are worthless, a projection of my stupidity, in this "competing" world, with such "maniacs" who are suffering from SC Syndrome.
And then I find my answer, how does it matter to me, if I find myself inferior to someone who is having the "SC syndrome". I wish that, I should never be exposed to such deadly virus, as there is no cure for this, neither is any vaccine available !!!