The Cross(ing) Roads

There are some moments in life we never forget and also those we never even noticed as special!!!....What seemed so important for us yesterday at that particular day,at that situation,that particular moment,today doesn't even qualify as a precious thought.

I come from basically a small town, Udupi, that is still waking up, to be a part of the process what we call as "India Shining".I was very fortunate to have very good accessibility to every transport facility available there as i live in a place that is located very near to the national highway....NH-17.
Back in my school days, crossing road was a very important thing as the highway is always plied by various vehicles of every type,keeping it busy during my waking hours. I crossed highway every time I needed to catch the school bus. It was a weird thing for me..a time when my small world of family,teachers and chocolate friends merged with the worlds of sooo many people's worlds.Even a slight lapse on my part could have ended my world right there in the midst of everything.....

I really don't remember, the first time I crossed it all by myself but I still remember the feeling.I was proud of myself, to be able to take care of myself (at least that is what I believed at that time!!)to be able to do an adult thing.It kind of gave me a feeling that I after all this time am able to judge between the RIGHT and the WRONG/LEFT( however small it may be).

Come to think of it now, i hardly regard crossing road as important.Sometimes even encouraging my friend to zoom past the police or jump the traffic light.It is an irony after all.My world....is it getting bigger as I am growing up after all???I am in a very crucial year with respect to my career and the time has come, to cross roads once again...to choose which is RIGHT and what should be LEFT behind....

Submitted By: Ashwij Mayya, 5th Mech, SJCE Mysore

Life at 100Kmph

The battery was gone. I had to kick start the engine. The engine came to life. Raised the throttle. Engine revving the gun silencer of the bike made an enormous hissing sound. Sound made the kids around me move away from their game of cricket on the road and fix their eyes on the beast with two wheels.

In a very thoughtful movement my left leg pushed the gear lever down and in that moment my body was armed with a power of 225cc engine. Even though the bike was two year old, the bike showed off remarkable robustness. With all the skill mastered by years of riding experience, I released the clutch simultaneously increasing the throttle. The bike galloped for about 2 meters and involuntarily my left foot made an upward move. With a split second precision the clutch engaged, throttle lowered, gear shifted, clutch released, throttle raised. And as if there was no time to waste, as soon as the needle pointed 6x1000 rpm the gear shifted. The bike transformed itself to a lightning bolt hissing all its way. In less than 6 seconds the bike was zooming at 80kmph. Soon as I reached the straight stretch of road right in front of my college the bike was ripping at 100kmph. At this speed all the convulsions, confusions in the mind seemed to vanish. The mind became pellucid as if it never were, as though I was born few seconds before. There is no room for dilemma in the mind.

At this breakneck speed mind thought faster and deeper than it ever did. Every doubt getting thrashed in side the walls of the mind, the dark grey clouds of the distress getting cleared and giving a view of a pellucid conscience. Every thought rejuvenating, mind rejoicing. The hawk eye turned, relaying the optical signals to brain at its most efficient speed, on a lookout for any possible obstruction. The palm suddenly became sweaty. The wind cheated and I was wearing, flapping against the wind. Eyes did not dare even for a nano second blink, gauging the entire of stretch of road ahead in a flash. The face pretended to maintain the reserve and poise. Every nerve, every muscle was on red alert to dodge any obstacle. One could feel the rise in the mercury inside the helmet coz of the increased pumping of the blood. The ear pinnate grew red, scalp sweat. Nose tip grew cold. Every bone clamped to each other maintaining a posture to pierce through the wind. Entire body was warm with hot blood gushing in its veins. Heart thumped faster with every little movement in the speedometer needle rightwards, the heart beats resonated with the silencer sound. In no time, as if you have apparated from the start to the end of the road, you find yourself gazing at the end of the road. Without even a conscious effort the left hands engaged with the clutch while the right hands deployed the disc break, the left leg worked the gear lever, the right leg stamped the rear break pedal. And suddenly you find that its not the end of the road, its just a bend in the road. The body swaying itself to bend the vehicle to the required angle to keep myself from falling, straightening up I see one more stretch of road. And I went again gears shifting throttle raising. The life at its best, the life at 100kmph.

Submitted By: Sudeep B H, V CS, SJCE Mysore,
Age: 21

Placard Of Placement

In the season of job recruitments, I think its wise for placement cell of our college, to take their sign board shouting "Placements" off. The reason to be stated is quite simple. For the last month placement cell of our college has been the hottest and busiest place in the campus. And a big bunch of students always green near the cell can easily make out a P for placements with their hands and legs stretched!.

The funniest thing I noticed about placements is, the guy who is supposed to be the cream of the placements procedure is pushed down the stack!. ( I am not talkin about myself (neither am I saying that I am very much intelligent! ( may be a little I am))). And every morning the procedure for placements is simple. Wake up, head down for break fast as always the mess is closed, and try justifying quality of idlis and versus the amount we pay for it. And head back to placement cell with an orange belt.. sorry tag with an ID card hanging around your neck. And wait till _time+2 hrs where _time is the time mentioned in the placement notice board.

And just before you are frustrated and are about to leave the cell cursing the placement, they appear suddenly from thin air!. Everytime the vehicle is same ( INNOVA) and only the colour keeps changing ( company has found an efficient transportation media to stuff their workers in :) ). Now that they have already made you wait for 1 1/2 hour, 1 more hour doesn't matter to them. The crowd then blind steps towards the auditorium. Every one knows where they sat last time and they take their respective positions ( this has become a routine).

Then follows the lame, volume less, energy less, hardly humorous, little understandable, unheard presentation by HRs of most of the teams. They try their level best to portrait how big their pond is and how many fishes dwell in it. At the end of presentation only thing that matters to everyone is HOW much space do they get in that pond. Most of the people are just bothered of getting placed. SOMEHOW, SOMEWHERE!. Sad to say I too became one ( convincing family can be little tricky ).

And the mob diverts towards the PS block and everyone is on run to get the last seat in the drawing hall( even though everyone knows that they can't copy and will not). Once seated you can't help your mind wonder what will be thrown at you that day. Then comes the question paper and irony is as follows. The distributor keeps the question paper in front of you and shouts " Please don't look at question paper" I mean, are they testing our loyalty or what ?.

And when you do open the question paper, in the name of aptitude, they ask you to calculate logarithm of shuffled variables, re-invent the algeabric maths, and count number of numbers divisible both by 2,3 and not 5! Not just that, some completely insane and useless questions are put forth to test your level of craziness ( there were of course few questions which made a lot of sense). As if this job wasn't already in mud, they (Mys**t trac) start outsourcing aptitude? same old questions repeated over time and again. I got them all printed in my mind after I wrote it thrice!. Somehow, you are tested on the basis of how much you can remember of what you have read in last two weeks. They don't give a damn to that stud who has created wonders and done a marvellous project in Perl and has scored 60 in engg. The fact is they just don't let you in and they never get to see that you are really that brilliant!.

Submitted By : Sameer.A.M, VII CS SJCE Mysore