It was supposed to be the second best college in Airoli (a small town in Navi Mumbai). My happiness was however short lived when I realized that there were only two colleges there.
So I began my professional education in this modest college that operated out of rented floors of a school, the college occupied the lower two floors and the school the top floor.
Apart from the infrastructure, there was nothing to complain of, the professors in my department (Instrumentation) were at least knowledgeable in their domain and in case they weren’t, they were at least courteous enough to look up the doubts and clarify them offline.
The four years that I spent here were the most memorable.
We were ragged the first day, were asked to clean the fans in most of the classrooms, do breast strokes lying on desks, propose girls, get beaten in return, and were also made to sell combs (that were collected from other seniors) in trains. Those of us who were lucky enuff got spared after a day of ragging, but the really unlucky ones, ended up writing assignments for seniors for a whole semester.
The first year started off with a low note, with most of us just getting introduced to professional subjects, ogling at girls had taken a back seat for now, reason being that there were not many girls to ogle at, just a few handfuls and they too had vested interests by seniors, so we spared them just to avoid getting beaten up.
My performance improved in the first semester, was spared of any “failures” but got a grace in Engineering Drawing, and it kept improving in the years ahead.
I finally started speaking to female colleagues in the second semester, it was in this semester that I realized the importance of having a sibling; I had a sister in college now. We still are the best of friends (me and my sister… not to be confused with my cousin referred to in the chapters earlier… my sister referenced here was more closer to me than my parents) and she still knows me much better than my parents.
Life is much better if you have a sibling with whom you can share the happiness and sorrows you meet as you walk the way… and to know the worth of a sister… you need to be deprived of one for a major portion of your life… in case of mine for about 18 years.
I also had a new crush while I was in the first year, and the crush was all the more obvious to my peers, but even then I was in love with my babe at Kelkar that I never let the relationship grow, we are good friends now.
I stood second in my college in the first year, came close to getting a medal for the same, but had to be satisfied with a certificate. I had tasted blood.
My winning streak continued in the second and third years, in which I stood first in my college (across departments) to the final year which was the most memorable pinnacle that I had ever reached in studies, my final year results secured me a third position in Mumbai University (Instrumentation department) and a First position in my college that I shared with a colleague of mine from telecommunications.
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