Sunday, July 24, 2011

A Different Engineer Story


Well, it has been 6 years since I was (accidentally) exposed to the world of engineering. Though, it was more of a pre-destined path. 90% of the top scoring kids in India are made to opt for science stream and medical/engineering subsequently, and I was no different. Somehow, I managed to crack JEE. What I encountered later has been quite an interesting experience. No, I am not going to talk more crap about the IIT’s. You may have already heard enough of that. Here I elucidate about weird people’s weird opinions about engineers-especially the ones I have seen.
                Well, as they say, the govt institutes with double “I’s” command a lot of respect in Indian society. I am lucky enough to be a student at these institutes. You move out of your college campus and people tend to look at you with an aura of supreme-ness (which is totally over-hyped). But, in this crowd of praising people, one always runs into self-proclaimed superstuds who think that only what they are doing is great and rest of the things are ultimate crap.
                These folks can find the weirdest of reasons in the world to show people like me below their level of intelligence.  Here I present to you some examples:-
  • “Aji aajkal toh IIT’s ka level ekdum gir gaya hai. Isse accha toh yahi hai kisi private college se engineering kar lo. Kam se kam wo job toh dilwa dete hain.”
Why the hell don’t these folks tell that they/their kid was not able to crack the JEE? If the level has really gone down, then why was it that their “INTELLIGENT” kid failed to get through into even such low-grade institutes?
  • “Aji ab IIT kar bhi lo, toh kaunsi badi baat hai. Package toh dhang ka milta nahi. Isliye toh ab inki ranking top-10 mein bhi mushkil se aati hai”
I wonder why the people who say these lines never had the pleasure of even entering into IIT’s. And talking about packages, the IIT’s don’t offer bribe to the companies who dump you 6 months after your placement and neither do they offer bribe to these survey companies to put their institute into the top-10 engineering colleges of India. Here, your kid does not, in fact he/she CAN NOT, get through any management quota but only through an exam that is common and same for all. The packages have never been bad but still, are good enough for your abilities. Plus, there are a lot of top companies that your so-called engineering college may not even get a sight of!
  • “IIT mein toh bas woh bachhe padhte hain, jinke pass private college ki fees bharne ke paise nahi hote.”  
I can only laugh at such people. There is a limit to ignorance and stupidity and this comment is far beyond that limit.
  • Ab toh reservation lag gaya. Ab IIT mein acche bacche nahi aate. Isliye humne apne beta/beti ko IIT mien nahi bheja”
Excuse me! If someone would like their facts right, the number of general category students in all the IIT’s is still the same. If your kid had the talent to get into it, he/she would have done so anyway.
  • Arey, kaahe ka IIT. Bas naam ka hi hai. Kuch padhai nahi hoti inme.”
 Agreed, but the point is that very few colleges in India will grill you like the IIT’s for studying purposes. (its another fact that you may still end up learning nothing). If you really thing that people don’t study in an IIT , then,(BREAKING NEWS!), students in other colleges in India study a lot less. This may be hard to digest, but yes-it-is-true.
Now, a lot of people might think that this post is written by an arrogant person who is proud of his achievement of clearing JEE and doesn’t consider anyone in-front of himself. Sorry, but you are wrong. This post was written because such folks never stop cribbing, I am not proclaiming that I’m the most intelligent fellow of India and, that, IITs are the best and perfect college of India. Sadly, they are nowhere near to what one expects out of the “proclaimed” institutes of the country. But, i am frustrated of people trying to undermine those who study there. We, as IITians, are not asking for your respect. We are not as great as we are hyped to be. But, still, we are not as worthless as people quoted above make us to be. We still study in an institute that is still better than the umpteen bad ones that exist in India. 
               This is just an appeal to people to stop acting over-smart. We are not looking to battle over who’s smarter? That would be a really stupid thing to do. But, we also do not wish to indulge in a battle to show who’s more pathetic? That would be an even more stupid thing to so. Just live peacefully. We just wish to be treated as normal persons. I want no fame and no battle to show each-other down. Just let us be normal and enjoy the beautiful world.

P.S: i know this article is not going to go well with many people in many sections of society.I just wanted to express my irritation to a certain section of people and i have done so. That was the only intention.