Jhooth bole kauwa kaate

I am sure everyone has heard this small adage in Hindi "Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate, Kaale kauwe se dariyo." The following anecdote reminds me of this.

This incident happened during our 5th semester mid-term examination. The paper was one of the most boring and descriptive subjects in our entire course '' Industrial Management''. There was no concrete syllabus for this vague subject since it required you to pen down your own fundas and ideas pertaining to problems faced in the industry. The evaluation criteria was more the pages you write, higher you score. On the night before the exam, we were casually browsing through the internet reading articles on Industrial Management. The intensity of preparation was not too great as there were lesser credits for this subject and moreover it was a mid-term examination, which was equivalent to a warmup match before the final semester exams. One of my friends prepared for the examination by watching the Bipasha Basu movie "Corporate" to garner some management principles adopted by the dusky Bong beauty in the corporate world. (What an idea Sir ji......!!!!!!)

The next morning we went to the exam hall, inspired by Corporate. The questions were fairly straightforward and I had done with almost all of them, but was breaking my head in search of more points for this particular question "Why is IT Industry developing rapidly in Kolkata?'' I had written the usual points like technical skills of people, high demand, availability of SEZ's etc. But the 20 mark question certainly required a few more points and I was running short of them. My neighbour in the exam hall was Mr Crow. (A baseless allegation of crow meat being served instead of chicken in his hostel, led to this bizarre nomenclature). I consulted him for a few more points, but since he was busy writing, he immediately handed over to me the loose sheet on which he had written the answer, and asked me to copy from it. I had never been involved in exchanging answer scripts in any examination before. Tension gripped me. But somehow I managed to regain my composure and decided to go ahead. (I would advise all readers to refrain from such nefarious activities). The very first point which he had written in bold letters went like this :-

''KOLKATA HAS A VERY WELL ESTABLISHED PORT WHICH FACILITATES EASY IMPORT-EXPORT OF SOFTWARE. HENCE IT INDUSTRY IS DEVELOPING IN KOLKATA.''

I was stunned on reading this and was lost for words to express my bewilderment. I was suddenly reminded of our poor Indian batsmen down under, facing chin music and bouncers from Brett Lee on a lightning fast Perth wicket. I simply had no courage and energy to read further points, as I was clean bowled by the first one itself. Somehow,escaping the invigilator's eyes, I managed to return the sheet back to Crow and finally submitted the paper to avoid any suspicions. Software coming and going in ships was something bizarre and unheard of. We all had a hearty laugh at the cost of Crow's ignorance.

A few months later, the placement season began with top notch IT firms like Cognizant,IBM,Wipro first on the list, offering hefty paycheques. Crow always desired for a white collar job in the IT Industry and was spending endless nights cramming C, C++ programs in a desperate attempt to fulfill his desire. I wondered, how someone who still had the idea that Software is exported in ships would make a career for himself in the IT Industry. I never wanted to deter him, and at the same time I didnt want that he should work in an industry, which was simply not his cup of tea. Doing a job which he doesnt like would enervate him and ruin all happiness in future. Foreseeing this dreaded day, I decided to convince Crow to do what he loved doing, what he was really passionate about, which was Machine Design. I explained that since he himself was a crow, once he would leave his nest in search of greener pastures, the cuckoo lurking behind the branches would destroy his nest and ruin his party. After pensive contemplation, Crow decided to throw away the software books, and started off with Machine design, high on confidence. His hardwork and dedication really paid off as he landed up with a job in a top notch design firm.

Follow what your heart tells you to do. (Remember Amir Khan's dialogue in 3 Idiots about Lata Mangeshkar playing cricket and Tendulkar singing songs). Do what you love, love what you do. Wohi kar jisme tera talent hai. Doing something which you dont like may result in temporary happiness, but it will always act like the force of gravity, trying to pull you downwards, and will spread like weeds and get entangled with your happiness. The results may be catastrophic. So do not lie to express your satiety by saying that you love doing this even if you don't, because once you do that, the illusory crow, always hovering above your head, is ever ready to strike...!!!!!!!!

Can you rotate this machine?

This incident happened a few years back during our 6th semester Engineering examinations. The subject was Electrical Machines-III. This was considered as the toughest amongst all the subjects in our four year engineering course. Securing pass marks, that too in the very first attempt was considered as a remarkable achievement. Even a mark above 40 was considered as an icing on the cake, considering the level of difficulty of the questions encountered,which was more than enough to rotate our heads in synchronous speed like any other machine. The stringency of correction never seemed to help the cause and the professors, known for their notoriety had no qualms in flunking a student by even a mark. Clearing the exam in the second attempt was also no walk in the park.

On the night before the exams, all of us were cramming our heads, frantically memorizing unfathomable formulae and bizarre diagrams to avoid the humiliation of appearing for a supplementary examination. A few of us were offering humble prayers to the Almighty to help us clear this obstacle. Pandemonium reigned all around. Some students tried to relax themselves by having an occasional drink, while others turned their lungs into chimneys courtesy of the deadly cancer stick. So amidst this bedlam arrived our hero Mr VS (I would refrain from expanding the abbreviation). He was cool enough to note down the syllabus from me just the previous evening and was about to start his preparations that night only, unaware of the mayhem that lay ahead of him the very next morning. He was fortunate or rather unfortunate enough to sit in a room occupied by 2 students who were busy making chits since evening. That somehow upset my dear friend, and he was searching here and there for someone who could explain him the concept behind the rotation of a machine, but alas! he could'nt find a single soul and cherfully he dozed off. (I remember having handed him a few notes and drawings that evening and asked him to go through them to ensure that he somehow scrapes through). His carefree attitude towards the uphill battle that lay in front of him, raised a few doubts in my mind that he might have been blessed by the Almighty with some divine power to pass the exam. I wondered that, had Constantino Brumidi been alive, this would have inspired him to draw another fresco titled "The Apotheosis of VS".

The next morning the dreaded day came. After 3 hours of racing against time, I was confident of just about scraping through, whereas some were very depressed and were sure of a retest. A small contingent was spotted near the canteen who were in mixed emotions. From them I came to know that our hero Mr VS had bunked the exam..!!!! This was like a shock to me. I was simply stunned and had no words to express my bewilderment. In a flabbergasted state, I somehow mustered courage to take the phone out from my pocket, and call up dear VS. He answered and said," Harish, I am busy giving tuition classes, I shall get back to you in an hour. My student has a major examination tomorrow." My head started reeling on hearing this. Then he called up and said calmly, " Harish, I somehow didnt like the idea of my roommates preparing chits, who also encouraged me to do so, and I thought that flunking was a better option than copying from chits and passing. I accept my mistake of not studying for this exam and I shall surely clear the retest on my own merit."

This incident shows the integrity and honesty of VS. These are indispensable qualities which all of us must possess and never let go of irrespective of any situation. Whenever I see people copying in any exam, I am reminded of good old VS. Then I thought, really this VS means "VERY SPECIAL." Today he is one of my best buddies. I failed in rotating this machine in VS, but then realised an important fact, "A Transformer is also a type of a machine which does’nt rotate. Life itself is a machine and it must rotate in the right direction."