NIT Kurukshetra: the failure story of a successful engineering institution

Before I begin I would like to clear some points about my philosophy. It is common among many people to identify an institution with a living entity. They’ll curse the people running the institution but the institution in itself for them is a second mother. Alma Mater, they say! I am not one of them. For me the institution is nothing more than the people that make it. An institution is good if it is managed well and it is bad if it’s not. For me it’s that simple. I don’t believe that the institution is like my mother or anything because I don’t so liberally bestow the respect engraved in the word ‘mother’ to anybody else than the lady who deserves it. With this in mind I dive into the criticism of the institution that has sheltered me for 4 long years, and which through both satisfaction and despair has taught me a lot.

To all those youngsters who want to pursue a career in Engineering, this might come as a bad news but it is the truth that Engineering has lost its meaning in the present scenario unless you are a graduate from the top institutions. By the top institutions I mean only few of the IITs( mind not all), BITS Pilani and very few of the NITs. And if you are studying in an institution such as the NIT Kurukshetra, as it is in its present state, you won’t dare to include yourself in that elite group. It’s not just about NIT Kurukshetra but about thousands of other engineering institutions which have sprouted out like diseased pimples on the face of this nation. And they are growing in number day by day.

What I see in here every day is not a drive for excellence but an ever growing culture of laziness and procrastination, not only among students, which is so common these days, but even among the teachers. The teacher-student relationship is strained, as much as it can be. Teachers don’t care about the students. For them students are not supposed to have a personal life, anything that does not involve headless work and meaningless labour. Students feel their teachers are a group of good-for-nothing old buzzards who like nothing more than to bore them with their lectures and their inane remarks. No exchange of knowledge is possible under these tense circumstances.

Administration! It’s better not to talk about it. It is possible that even a seven year old kid would do a better job of managing than all those educated fools sitting around wasting their time and the government’s money. Corruption aside, they are downright incapable of managing even a public toilet. Altogether it has created an apathetic environment in these colleges which is becoming more and more difficult to break as the present situation persists on. A radical change is needed, something that can bring engineering back from this path of decadence.

However, we might find some respite from these bleak prospects. As in my case, in NIT Kurukshetra there are still a few teachers who are true to their profession and stick to their principles. They are like lone sentinels weathering the storm and they are the teachers who command the unquestioned respect of their students. But they are few to be found.

Unlike in the case of private institutions, institutions like NIT Kurukshetra have the capability to progress and be counted among the premiere engineering institutes. It has the infrastructure unlike other colleges. But what is wrong is with the people making up these institutions. They are the students. They are the teachers. The are the managers. Perfection is a dream that can only be pursued but the pursuit of perfection is what makes us better and better. There are many thing that needs to be changed here, which when carried out can regain the reputation of old for our college.

Amidst All the Violence-The present scenario.

It is the greatest dilemma of modern times. On one hand where Mankind tastes success in unraveling the far reaches of the universe in search of its identity, on the other hand they are demeaning and polluting all the rationality and logic that had made Mankind into the indomitable force on the planet. Where Science endeavours to give meaning to life and to this universe, the proponents of religion are trying to dismantle that very idea of life. I won't take a cynical approach towards religion because much that is good in the society, much of our rich culture has unobtrusively been derived from religion. But also most of it that is wrong, that is unacceptable has crept in surreptitiously from religion.
Modern India, the brain-child of giants like Nehru, Gandhi, Ambedkar( to name a few), prides on its secular foundation- the confluence point of myriad cultures from all over the world over thousands of years. But that was the past and much of it has now been forgotten over newly found feuds and skirmishes. These words that are written in proud letters on our constitution have been reduced to banal fantasies of these great men. What we see all around us is propagandization of religion, hatred instead of tolerance that had long been the strength of India even in the early ages. What has led religion to be the bane rather than boon of modern society? Is it the inherent shortcomings of the religions or is it something else? If we dwelve into any of the holy scriptures of the world we will find that none are champions of hatred. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism(a very abstract religion) talk only of peace, and the duty of Man to his fellow human beings. So where have all the high ideals gone and why is it that all what is left of these great faiths are meaningless dogmas, superstitions and intolerance towards those of the other faith.
What has led me to think about these matters is what i see around me everyday. Somewhere people murder their own kin because they have married outside their caste, or married inside their caste in other instances. Mobs decimate places of worship under vigilance of the leaders of the nation who later argue for their right of having done so. It is a world full of hatred, a world full of irrationality where we are living. Science has tried to be the unifying force and has succeded in many ways but still there is lot left to be done. The plant of chaos that have been sown throughout the ages is difficult to uproot and to do so we need people to think for themselves, to choose between right and wrong. I long to see that day and I hope it isn't merely a utopian vision.
In the coming posts I woud like to comment on the origin of various religons, the need of it that was in ancient society and that is in modern society, the evils and the goods it has lead people to through all the ages and many other aspects.
signing off for now.

FRIENDSHIP: The God's Way!

"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade."
- William Shakespeare


Shakespeare had his own way of defining a Friend but now after deciding to dedicate this blog space to something that truly is embedded deep in my heart I realised how hard it is to reach its unfathomable depths. I sat in front of the screen and the blinking cursor thinking why was it so difficult to put anything about the most valued feeling on Earth in writing, and then I realised why? All the time I talked, I played, I laughed and I shared with a friend I never stopped a moment to thank God for the beautiful gift;I took it for granted. But a few moments of solitude taught me that what fifteen years of life couldn't teach me: that life is meaningless without friends just like a Man without a Heart or the Rose without its scent. When i realised this I saw that I could forgive my friends for any pain that they have ever caused me, because it is inevitable that in a relationship that extends beyond the realms of reason and wordly ties there will be a certain amount of love lost at some time. But Friendship is such a relationship whose foundation is based on differences and how best to resolve them than a small friendly quarrel. That is why when I realised this, I saw I could respect those differences, that small differences are what makes our friendship stronger and that is what helps us adhere to each other.
When we see all the traits that makes friends of people we understand the quote we learnt in childhood wasn't at all irrelevant:"Mother is a Childs best Friend." So true.A mother is all the friendship that a child could ever need. When we think deeply we see that all the relationship on earth are wholly, or if not so then, atleast remotely related to friendship. Love is nothing but friendship. Friendship pervades the universe and connects hearts, to harmonise them and bring a stability in all the confusion present in nature.
But it is said that the worst wound possible is the wound to the heart, and a person whom we give so much lee-way to that haven of Man's feelings, a friend, is the person who can hurt you the most. What wound can the sword inflict? The sharp edge of the sword yields not even the tiniest part of threat that a friend holds for another friend. A broken heart is hard to mend. But does that mean we need to stay aloof from friends, to stop being friends(as impossible an idea as that might be because you can never stop being friends, i believe!)? When I tried to solve this problem I saw God's hand on this world and his meticulous ways were laid bare in front of me. The lessons He had set for a Man in his way through life, the Hurdles that He has set are all meant to take us one step closer to His conscience. Forgiveness, the foremost virtue we associate with the Almighty is what is to be learnt from all this. If you can forgive your Friend who has hurt you and forget it, you will see what God intends of you. Inflicting pain, taking revenge is all easy but forgiving is difficult, and everyone who has seen God's way knows this.
So as I now close this blog with this feeling I resolve to forgive from now on and to love, never hate. Maybe another day I'll be back with whether I succeded in it or not. It's not an easy thing to do yet it is the easiest thing, because it is what is meant to be, the only thing I have to do what I need to do and what my heart says is right. Goodbye my friends and thanks for reading. See you!

Following Dreams-a Taboo!

        Well, after giving such an elaborate name to my blogspot I felt it my responsiblity to explain to my fellow bloggers and readers what made me contrive upon such a title. Well this title or rather these words are the favourite in my dictionary and they are a kind of thrust-giver for me. 

         To quote George Bernard Shaw "You see things; and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?"

         This immemorable quote presses the point I want to make understood. How many great men have you seen who were the ones who followed mundane routines? If Thomas Alva Edison had decided that dreaming about giving the world something as wonderful as electricity is hopeless then we would all have been bereaved of the pleasure of reading my blog!Jokes apart, if every man who had ever touched the world and said" I can change it" thought like most of us do, if all of them had been afraid of their own dreams then where would we have been? I have passed my school life and am midway through my college and it is what I have noticed everyday and what I despise this world for doing is destroying the Dreamer in every kid. It is as if they want these kids to be like mechanised beings who can do only what they are told. It sometimes leads me to believe that this world is being run by the mere contrivance of a very evil and brilliant mind who is gaining control over us by his devious means. Why is it that parents are so energetic in destroying the imagination in their kids? Why is that from the day their kids learn to spell "Mother" they are taught that they are meant to attend the most prestigious institutions present in the nation in all parts of their career? Why do they burden them with stupid textbooks when they should be encouraging them to play around or maybe read children's novels, because I'll tell you-these novels can impart more wisdom to the kids than hundreds of those dumd-cover textbooks read for days and days to end. And what we see in front of our eyes is a direct consequence of this-thousands of engineering colleges all over the country like cobwebs producing engineers like maggots in a stagnant pond. And what use are these engineers coming to? They take on some stupid job, marry, and then bear kids upon whom they impart the same infinitesimal and evenso completely twisted wisdom they have acquired in their fruitless lifetime.

           To quote the famed singer John Lennon "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you will join us, and the world will live as one."

            I haven't heard words this relevant in my entire career.To quote from another of his songs "They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool."

           This is exactly what happens everyday,everywhere. People who have a vision are despised everywhere by lesser people who are happy with their good-for-nothing selves. It is like a disease-how good men who have capability are brought down to the level where they could no more think for themselves. I have seen boys with a conception ,even now when in their youth they should be vigorous and fearless, that the boss at any workplace is right to shout at you even though you might be hundred times more capable than him, the boss is always right. Even now they don't have the guts among friends to say something like "I'll whack that idiot upright." That is what I would have liked to heard. Instead they start sermoning me on how you have no control over what happens in your life after a time, that you have to accept it as it comes even though it might kick you around like a football. I have known people close to me to have walked out upon remunerative jobs only because their boss ,who knew next to nothing about their own work, derived pleasure by abusing his juniors. The person I am alluding to tried to adjust as best he could but every dreamer has his limit. If you believe in yourself and your dreams you wouldn't be afraid of anything at all.

              So "Dream on, dream on, Dream on till you dream comes true" and don't ever compromise your pride for anything. Because I believe you are more important in this world and your dreams are more important to this world than what you are trying to do that is nothing but follow the 'sheep down the well.'

          "On Wings of Dream I fly up high,

            Never to turn my eyes

            Upon the ground that now so lowly lie.

            Above the sky and into the clouds

             Where the farthest reach of all mankind

             Lay in shattered ruins under the wanton sky.

             But I who rule the day and night

             Won't give up ever on this fight

              Till I be Master

              And Slave be Time." 

      Friends, welcome me as a newcomer in the fraternity of bloggers or another hopeless soul trying to burden the planet with my point of view, but here I am and I hope to stick around for quite a long time and indeed throw some of my own hard-earned wisdom for all to catch. This poem I have written for my first post as I seemed it fitting as the beginning for something I have high hopes for, both for my interest and the interest of my fellow bloggers.

      SO farewell till I be back with something even more interesting. Maybe I'll put down about myself but fear not, it won't be another one of those dragging self-eulogising peice of crap that aren't half as true as I am the president of India. i'll be sure to spice it up for you guys and it won't be a single lie.

See You till then.