yeno maga....eshtu?.... FCD kano...saaku!!

For all those who are engineering literate (which is about 90 % of the people), the three letters FCD will ring a bell any day...for the remaining few who were not part of this bandwagon, it simple means 'First class with Distinction', the golden term all through the four crazy engineering years...It meant and proved a lot, or so we were made to believe at least...You needed it to guarantee a job and respect in the social circles (read families & friends) and a great career which I discovered well in hindsight to be sheer bullshit... I decided to take a look back at 2001-2005 after a rather hilarious phone conversation with a close pal Karthik who went through these four amazing years that were replete with fun, periods of study, play, bunking and a whole host of other unmentionables at the same time as I did....

May 2001 was when we got done with the 'dreaded' CET (common entrance test) which came about a onth after the boards..getting a good rank there was paramount for the same reasons as getting the FCD (read previous para)...Also, the rank made the difference between a free seat (9k per yr), a payment seat (44k) and a management seat, the cost of which I don't know!..I did manage to secure a fairly decent rank courtesy slogging my ass off for a year..I still missed the free seat in electronics and Communications (henceforth E&C) which was the in demand stream (god knows why!)..I decided that I would no study on a payment quota and took up computer science..considering how bad I am with all the coding stuff...i seriously doubt I would have ever passed that course...! A stroke of luck enabled me to switch to E&C when a few seats came up in an additional round and I then moved to the E&C dept..

We were part of a bunch that got last minute changes to our departments and were all huddled up in a new section I think 'N'..Ram, Vivek (who had been with me from early school days), Swami, Chengu, Chu and many more pals of mine were in this section though not all in E&C. The first year of engg was meant to be divided into two cycles..physics and chemistry cycle..with respective subjects...we started the 1st sem with the chem cycle...The hangover from 12th made me a little bit of a nerd..I did try to work hard on the subjects around but soon realized the futility rather the uselessness of the task...The internals were for 25 marks and played a big role in helping you boost your score if you mucked up the finals..The best two of 3 internals were averaged for the score...I did a fair job mostly in math and average in others...I never ever did try and copy despite seeing that happening all round.. that reflected on my internal scores which usually never crossed 175/200....Most subjects had amazing text books written by the best authors...Indian and foreign..But nobody could really use them to study for exams..for all they cared about in exams was whether you knew to write 2 pages on some topic and blabber some stuff there...we decided after some consultation with seniors that there is a different way to deal with this trouble..cheaper local books written specifically to pass exams...! we spared no efforts in securing these soon and also got ourselves all possible photo copied notes to abet our preparation which was usually restricted to the study hols...

The 1st and 2nd sem had chem and physics, mechanical engineering and workshop and the menace (for me at least)- engineering graphics...I was miserable at workshop and managed to break the models at least thrice and lo and behold the same model I was supposed 2 carve in the finals...with the help of some good luck and lack of attention on the part of the examiner..i managed to clear that lab..while in graphics, the prof clearly told me ..u just learn these 15 questions..ull get one of those...I didn't need much more advice...I went through them real well and squeezed past that subject too...!...76 and 78% (both above the 70% mark i.e.FCD!!)

we moved to the 2nd year into our respective departments..missed all pals in class for all the fun but it was time to get acquainted with a new bunch...the E&C class had its own queer mix...front row nerds and back benchers who made the class hell for most teachers...I did know a few people already and this helped me get along...
Studies have always been boring to me despite nobody ever believing this statement of mine..I really never cared to study except when it mattered...from that day onwards till the end of the engineering degree, I made it a habit to get screwed in the internals..I used 2 dump one topic and that would inevitably turn up in the test..I would admire/stare in disbelief at how copying was rampant everywhere...the stricter the measures, the students found novel ways of writing the internals..even writing it in the canteen and submitting it in class on time..don't ask me how that is done!!...Electronics was not easy..i don't think anything would have been for someone like me..I had long decided that I would just bother about the FCD...!
Godse-Bakshi, Yoganarasimhan, MV Rao and many more books helped us squeeze through!...signals and systems was one subject in the 3rd sem that I had no idea of till the final exam...somehow with some notes, I managed 85+ which made me realize how stupid the system was...I knew jack about the course but still had the marks to show...lol..

The fourth sem was a tad more interesting and probably had the one course all through engineering that I truly cared about studying well...digital logic by Morris Mano...i really loved the subject and learnt a lot...maybe i should have been that way more often..! notes galore kept us afloat..finally came the dreaded fifth semester that had DSP- digital signal processing..though popularly known as Definite supplementary paper!.., microprocessor 8085 and also microwave engineering. a crazy elective reliability engg. all 4 were 'dangerous' and along with the two tough labs..this made for a sure shot death trap...hated the classes and was almost always freaking out..the exams started and notes and small text books seemed the only way out..8085 paper was screwing to say the least..I realized then and there that there is only one way out i.e. write as much as I know though i actually knew nothing...I had perfected the art of blabbering some nonsense and taking up space and did that to great effect...people were in tears after the exam whereas I was quietly confident that I would surely clear the exam..There was a huge uproar the next day and students went to the prof's place and submitted a petition to the univ...all this had no effect except messing up the prep for the next big one microwave...the only exam in my life that I studied for on the last day and even up to the last minute and still never felt confident...I messed it up totally and somehow luckily passed..the reliability engg paper was the worst..we were told we should expect problems galore but instead got a truckload of theoretical questions...at the end we were relieved to get done..!...it was a pleasant surprise yet shocking to see 91 against my name in DSP where almost most others had 40's..but all i cared that sem was seeing the FCD at the end...the sixth sem went through without any major issues except for a fiasco of a project which we somehow managed to present.despite all the lingering doubts that the prof had about its authenticity and originality he decided to spare us much to our relief..!..we came to the next major hassle..the 7th sem...

everybody knew that 8th sem was all about the final project and practically nobody would be in college..so the 7th sem was rather difficult. We had VLSI design, power electronics and couple of other crazy courses which we somehow negotiated...The computer networks lab (CCN) was nothing related to what it was meant to be and passing that was a bit of a task..with all my time devoted to CAT preparation, I had absolutely no time to study that sem....summoning all my nerdy qualities and praying for divine intervention I prepared for the lab and amazing backup plans were made to pass that lab which thankfully weren't required..! another FCD and all that mattered now was the project..

We managed to get a project in BEL in the radar division with a great deal of difficulty.. I always maintain this...my friend Ilias gave the idea that we should get a project there...I (dad's influ) got the project somehow and guru did all the work!!...BEL was so close to my place that we had no effort whatsoever in getting there...We would go...walk around...look like working and eat lunch and get to play cricket soon enough...poor guru rode from about 15km ..did all the coding and completed the project...but when the prof came to see the project and also in the final presentation..the gift of gab helped me get credit, though not deserved!...we were done and dusted with engineering on Jun 4th 2005...end of a crazy period of 4 years which had seen everything...i mean absolutely everything..

now 4 years later, during a convo when I look back at those years..it seems hilarious..especially when some one regards the fact that B.E in a top college like M.S.R.I.T is an awesome achievement..It only makes me wonder if the degree is really worth all the accolades it gets...the 4 years of college hardly saw us work for a sum total of 6 months and we have the so called FCD throughout which is a hallmark of a great performance and consistency...the educational system and approach makes me think in retrospect if it was all worth it...but yeah give me all the fun and frolic of the 4 years any day..i don't mind going back once more..!!