Blog 502: May I help you !!

You know, when Jack Adams said...

"If it's free, it's advice; if you pay for it, it's counselling; if you can use either one, it's a miracle",

...he wasnt joking!!

Have been busy for the last 4-5 days in counselling kids who've cleared IITJEE...about the subjects they should opt for, abt the scope of the different courses, blah blah...

Wait...flashback first...

Circa June 2002: My counselling too had been in Kgp...on the 19th of june...and lotsa things became immensely clear on that day. First, Kgp was pretty much like the Liluah railway colony back in Calcutta! Red buildings, lush greenery everywhere, absolutely serene environment...the calm and laid back picture-postcard-type town. Second, there were no A.C markets here!! That had been my tentative benchmark to decide whether or not this place was developed and all along the bus ride from the station to the campus, i had been on the lookout for one!

Remember the first glimpse of the institute gate...and a feeling of something big imminent making my breathing go slow. Sure as anything, the campus wasnt a disappointment. What was a disappointment, though, was a giant spider in the bathroom! That was the first thing that made me seriously wonder if i wanted to come here. I mean, i had seen spiders, but they dont come in such titanic sizes back in Cal!

Dinner in the mess was just as cool as that spider...ppl here had made their version of what the rest of the world calls kheer and my dad cudnt help wondering...'is this their attempt to impress us??!!'

That led to our student counselling session inside JCB mess. And it sure was of great help...getting to hear from students about some of the 'ground-realities' that profs dont talk about.

Actual counselling took place in F-127...and i must have made a million choice-sheets by then! And yet...the actual filling of the choice sheet was a heart and brain wrenching affair. At the end of the counselling session, there was nothing i wanted to do more than immersing my head in liquid nitrogen! Okay that too would have been a brain wrenching affair...but what the hell!

It was a poignant moment when i was leaving the institute again in the insti bus...not knowing whether i'd be back here...whether i'd be confined to the walls of BHU or ISM...whether i'd even take the subject i finally got or drop a year... hadnt even given any other entrance exam...it had always been all-or-nothing all along.

Anyways...cut to the present...

Its been a refreshing experience...being on the other side of the counselling table...giving ppl free flowing funda on everything under the IIT sun! From the intricacies of metallurgical engg...to the difference between energy and electrical engg...never knew i knew so much!! Ah well...as a matter of fact...I dont...its just a matter of putting across things u do know in a way as to satisfy the other fellow!!

Sitting on the podium of Raman, trying to look important, ppl approaching u as if u really were a possible passport to heaven...( not in the Scent of a Woman sense !!!)...telling ppl actual stories about various depts, changing their minds, convincing them, encouraging them...getting umpteen thankews from them...its been cool to say the least. And oh...the food thats been arranged for lunch...awesome!

Most people asked sensible questions...but i'll give u a few samples of the kinda questions that really made our day!

1) which is the hall of residence for computer science and engg students?

2) is there any discrimination against Int. M.Sc students?

3) Do ppl from maths and comp get any jobs??

The tragedy of this year's jee has been the near total absence of girls amongst those who made it through...at least in the Kgp zone. Now there's some good news and some bad news...and for any feminist out there...this is to be taken lightly...

Good news...there were a couple of good looking girls during counselling!

Bad news...both were sisters of candidates!!

My sympathies to the incoming batch!!!