WELL HELLO FELLOW READER!! (I saw fellow because I am probably the biggest reader of this blog at this point…GOTTA GET THOSE STATS UP!!)
I hope you are having a great time wherever you are in life, you are probably extremely smart and good-looking, given that you are on this website <arrogant coughs>. As for me, I am currently in the USA for a robotics competition, so before starting this post here’s a little life update (I don’t wanna have a separate post for it again, most of you probably don’t care). So I finally finished the second year of my Mechatronics Engineering undergrad. The whole ride until now has been wild, something new happening every single day thanks to the circus we call Indian Engineering Hostels. While my hostel journey was probably the most social I have been in my entire life, I am planning to move out of the campus next year. Leasing an apartment with 3 other guys, the whole jazz.
For those that don’t know, I am a student at a college that is often termed as “India’s Number 1 Party School“. Now obviously, what happens when you put me into a college known for having the craziest parties, in a position where I have no adult supervision around me and am surrounded by people who think a pack of cigarettes can substitute for a healthy breakfast?? That’s right! I join a rigorous autonomous robotics student project called Project MANAS where I am supposed to work every day from 6 to 9 pm and every holiday (weekend, festivals, national holidays) 10 am to 5 pm. Now I know how sad it sounds but this is obviously just dramatic effect, I have probably had more fun ever since I joined this team than I have for quite some time now.
This is the team with whom I came to the USA this summer break for a very prestigious competition called IGVC. Now, I won’t bore you with the details, I know most of you don’t care, which is why you get these 2 paragraphs instead of an entirely separate life update. But now that I have summer break I will be slightly more active here, I got plans for branching out this blog a bit but I’ll talk about that later on in another post.
Now that you have context for what I have been upto these past two years, this is a write-up I had drafted a few months ago during my end-semester exams. I was in a pretty bad situation so forgive me if I miss out on a couple humorous undertones but I really enjoy looking back on my old posts where I am vulnerable, so here goes for future me.
So I have my Design of Machine Elements endsem exam tomorrow at 2 PM. It’s 7 PM right now and the syllabus is insane. Stress, torsion, deflection, fatigue, gears, bearings and who knows what else. And till now I have only done 2 of all these topics. Objectively speaking, I should be panicking. And I kind of am. But at the same time there’s this weird confidence in me where my mind just goes “I’ll manage.” And I realised today that this confidence is probably the biggest gift engineering has given me.
I remember in first year when I had come into this degree expecting a very different education than what I was getting. I was expecting to learn how to build the next iron man suit or something along the lines. My cousin brother called me one day and asked me how its going, my reply was not as upbeat as he expected from someone studying my own dream. I told him I hadn’t even learned how to build the most basic of cars and I was almost done with my first year. He laughed and told me that engineering isn’t about teaching me how to build a car, it’s about giving me the tools and confidence to say “I can probably learn how to build a car, gimme a week”. Back then I laughed at him, but now after almost two years of mechatronics, I think I understand what he was saying.
These years have trained my brain to survive. To survive impossible situations, tight deadlines, constant failure while under a boatload of stress. Dividing my time and mind between MANAS, my schoolwork and research, all the while not sacrificing my social life or reading habits. It has been a period to remember. It’s taught me so much more than just the technical skills that I had hoped to learn. Working on a electronics communication protocol at MANAS while I have a tough mechanical exam the next day which I haven’t studied for in class because class is where I sleep and mess around with my friends. But somehow I manage. And I realised today that “manage” is not a small thing.
The ability to stay functioning even when things are objectively bad is one of the most valuable lessons I’m taking away from this place. It’s like when I encounter a impossible situation, instead of collapsing at the sight, my brain immediately starts breaking it down by instinct. Somewhere along the line my subconscious decided that its equipped to handle such situations. Funnily enough, I think this seed was planted before I even went to college.
I still remember during JEE preparation, when I was anxious about everyone saying it’s impossible to land a decent college without taking any coaching in 11th and 12th. I talked to my father about it and he started laughing. He told me he was in arts in 11th and 12th. He had to learn two years worth of math in a month for the naval engineering exams. And he did. It really put into perspective that my situation wasn’t impossible. And with that confidence despite starting preparation a couple months before the exams I still ended up in a good university in the program I wanted.
Throughout the stress, the negatives, the burn out, the frustrations with marks, projects, placements, one thing that I forget is how grateful I am about where I’m headed. Not even the achievements, I’m just grateful for the kind of person these experiences are turning me into. Despite the chaos, I’ll figure something out and I won’t just survive, I’ll thrive.
Alright then that is it for the post. I’ll begin writing more once I get back to India. Or maybe I won’t. We’ll see. Thanks for reading, hope this helps you reflect a bit on your own journeys and maybe you like it enough to tune in for the next few posts (?). TOODLES!!!
