Look around you and you will find numerous institutes guaranteeing admissions in IITs, innumerable tiny faces on banners with praise and laurels of that coaching class (which is a temple of knowledge where monetary donations surpass the recently found treasure of Satya Sai trust or Padmanabhaswamy temple). Each middle class teenaged citizen of India of the age group 15-19 enters one of these temples (sometimes even two or three of them to please all the deities) with only one wish which he/she (or their mummy, papa, chachi, dada, uncle… ) want fulfilled: To be an IITian. They immolate their 2-4 years to intensive learning (kind of Vishvamitra's vrat devoid of any worldly pleasure, emotions full of hurdles in the form of test series to be solved). Immured in a room full of formulae and equations, they are cut off from the world outside.
After persevering for an aim, with undeterred will to crack the most difficult paper of India, they enter the exam hall on the D-day. These 6 hours would decide their future. Anxious faces enter the hall and when they return the anxiousness gets tenfold. They have marked their fate. It has become 'read only' with no edit option. There's a sigh of relief. Then a tempest comes which takes away the short lived tranquility. An un-ending list of exams to appear for, forms of various colleges to be filled come into picture: Hullabaloo. The worst part of the chaos comes when the results are displayed. The shrewd college authorities display the result one by one adding to the confusion and tension just to pocket more money (students). Everyone gets busy in surfing best colleges, ringing 'padosi ki friend ki beti' who is doing engineering, long discussions as to what will be best for Bunty and Pinky. Poor Bunty or Pinky due to peer or dear ones or just by following the latest trend enroll in a college(as expect few, others don’t exactly know their aim in life. Engineering is synonymous to secure future to them).
A new chapter opens as they enter their respective colleges. Once the senior most adolescents, they are now toddlers in the world of adults. Contented of being a would-be engineer they enjoy the new phase in their life. It's a whole new experience for them. New friends, Hostel dormitories and the new environment of the campus is relished by them. In college a whole new dimension of everything unveils. There is always so much 'happening' in the campus. They participate in each and everything just for the sake of fun and experience. They expose themselves to the vast possibilities. Campus is a mini-world. It is full of people having different tastes and while interacting with everyone they learn. And in these friendly informal interactions they shape up their future. They develop various facets and get to know where exactly their interest lies. At every step, let it be semester exams or event management or internships or just painting or writing. 1 year passes at light's pace which is full of unforgettable memories. 2nd year comes with regrets of wasting a year unfruitful, and worries as to what they will do in their future. But they still have the hangover of 1st yr's masti. 3rd and final years again set out on a journey to build their career. This time its different from the previous quest, as they know what they want to do, or will soon get to know as the cycles will repeat unfolding many latent talents, giving direction to their life with greater exposure. As life herself is a teacher mightier than all. (Good judgment comes from bad experience which itself is an outcome of bad judgments.) At the end (when they become toddlers of professional world) they get what they want, or more appropriately what they need as they have well developed various traits of personality. In a nutshell, engineering teaches us many things other than the information in class room lectures.
