My Teachers again

Well, the second semester is about to get over. Had a few more teachers this time. Some caused even more nuisance, some were understanding. Some knew their subject well, some didn't know a shit about that. Maybe this is the right time to put forth my views on them. After all, here comes another extended week in Thapar University.

This semester consists of 6 subjects, which are

• Computer Programming II: Java(UTA009)
• Mathematics II(UMA04)
• Electrical Engineering(UEE001)
• Applied Physics(UPH004)
• Engineering Design I(UTA008)
• Professional Communication(UHU003)

With that much of introduction, I also have to write about the teachers who took these courses. I prefer to proceed in this exact order, and hence that is what happens. Because hey, this is MY blog.

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Computer Programming II: Java - UTA009

Lectures: Mr Vinay Arora(VIN) One great guy in the semester. A good teacher must have subject knowledge, communication skills, and must be able to inculcate the interest of students in the subject. He is one who actually does possess all three of these qualities. He is one person who actually doesn't give a shit about what the attendance is. What he cares about is if you are clear with the concepts or not. He won't stick to the syllabus, he surely moves ahead and teaches us what will be useful for the real programming. You know how they say that a teacher deserves respect? He is one of those who really do. He ensures that all your queries are cleared, by hook or by crook. He does have contacts in the industry also. Moreover, he doesn't shy off to admit that he doesn't know something. I must confess that when the semester started, I had harsh feelings for him. But as time passed, he proved to be worthy of the much sought after respect. He is just slow, and he has to do that to take the whole class into account. Otherwise, he is one of the finest faculty members in Thapar University as I have seen.

Practicals: Mr Vinay Gautam(VG): Same first name, but totally opposite traits. He is a senseless and not at all understanding teacher in Thapar University. He knows neither his syllabus, nor does he know the fact that students are not his slaves. He is the epitome of nuisance anyone can cause in college. There is an incident that I feel bound to share, after which you will yourself identify who is right and who is wrong.

We have a Reading Week to prepare for Exams and to give Lab Evaluations/Quizzes and other such tests. Now, the coordinator of Java said that the Lab Evaluations must be conducted in the Reading Week only, during the lab timings of the respective batches. Everything was absolutely fine, till we realised that this is the mid of the week and it will hamper us in going home. So I approached this guy to reschedule the Lab Evaluations to some other day, probably after the MST. Now he is one person who won't bulge. He finally agreed to schedule the same on Friday, saving us of 2 days. It seemed to be a fair deal, and then he sent me to check if the labs are available. I checked, and called him up to tell that one lab was available. He agreed then. Seems good till now.

What happened after this is going to show the limit of severity of this. He did not turn up on Friday for the Lab Evaluation, we were all sitting in the Lab. After 45 minutes, after the Lab Assistant requested us, we left the lab. In these 45 minutes, I had called him multiple times, of which he picked up the call twice. Once he said that he will be there, and the second time he said that the lab evaluation was scheduled for 4:00 PM. After that, when I reminded him of the right time, he disconnected the call.

Then our Mid Semester tests started. On the day of my 3rd MST, Physics, this guy crossed paths with me and what he said is unbelievable. He asked where we were during the Lab Evaluation. WTF! I told him that we were in  the lab. After some minutes of repeating the same dialogue, coupled with him saying that we weren't there, he asked which lab we were in. I told him the lab, and the same dialogue followed. All of a sudden, he remembers to ask when we had our lab evaluation. Friday 1:00PM, I answered. Now he starts. He says that we had the evaluation on Wednesday, and when I reminded him of the talk we had, he denied being involved in any such talks. Man, he said that he would mark everyone absent.

Imagine, this level of rubbish happening just before the most difficult MST of the Semester. After that, I tried to ignore his bullshit and gave my exam. Had the next exam for communication, decided I would talk to him after that. Fate had something else in store, he was my invigilator for the communication exam. What worse could things go? Actually there is a whole new level of Bullshit to come.

After the exam, I had a word with him and he scheduled the fuckin lab evaluation in between the MST. Not after them, not before them. A notice of 24hrs and the lab evaluation is to be conducted. Insane, really. And since he had reported the incident as a Mass Bunk, we had no choice but to go for the evaluation. His claim at all times was that he did not send an SMS regarding the reschedule of the Evaluation. Till date, I have never had to wait for an SMS, a word of mouth is sufficient to be relied upon. He never even informed that he would be sending an SMS to confirm. Like we knew it already.

After all this, I leave it to you to decide if he is worth giving respect or not...

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Mathematics II - UMA004

Lectures + Tutorials: Ms Nishu Jain(NF4) If Pramod Vaishnav was not enough, we have her here. She doesn't know a shit about her subject except a few shitty formulae. Life would have been simpler if she hadn't appeared ever.All she did in the class was to make us write down formulae, that too reading from her notes. It's like, 'you had one job'... And then we have her legendary 'yes do it'. Her words for 5 continuous minutes are sure to include this at least once, this is the frequency of these words. Without explaining a shit about the concepts involved, she starts off with this.
Basically, she doesn't know her subject and she doesn't know how to teach also. I fail to understand on what basis she was hired in the first place.

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Electrical Engineering - UEE001

Lectures + Tutorials + Practicals: Ms Navdeep Kaur(NK) Would not be right to say that she knows her subject and even more wrong to say that she doesn't. Her knowledge is governed to an unprecedented extent by the topic. Though this is not the sign of a very good teacher, she does qualify to be in the list of good faculty members of Thapar University. This should be enough to give an idea of the quality here.
Anyways, what happens is that she is somewhat understanding with the students, but when the limit is crossed she actually goes to the peak of being an irritating teacher. Another major problem is that she tries to communicate in English and struggles with the same. This increases the communication gap between her and the students, therefore making her lectures even less worth attending.

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Applied Physics - UPH004

Lectures: Ms Gudween Kaur(GDS) I think she deserves the tag of the most useless lecturer in the second semester of Thapar University. She has a page, and she will literally read from it and simultaneously write down the same on the board. Then she will read it out again when you ask her to explain the same. If you say that you didn't understand or you ask any doubt, yes you guessed it right. She will read out from the same paper again!

It is all like the same part of lecture is being played again and again on repeat mode. Then what happens is that she tends to ask questions in the beginning of every lecture. Tell me one thing, are we in School? I really thought I had joined a college, where you won't treat me like a primary wing kid anymore. Seemingly, I was totally wrong.

Tutorials: Dr Sunil Devi Well, it won't be wrong to say that she is wrong on some levels. She knows her subject and she also knows how to teach. But her classes are boring as fuck. She doesn't involve the students, and the tutorials were very monotonous in the whole semester.

Even after this, they did teach us something; this was the task lectures failed in completely. She is also very formal, and hence the students haven't been able to open up with her. Doesn't seem good, but not everything that happens in good.

Practicals: Ms Shivani Jindal Was she even present in the lab sessions? I saw her but she was dominated by some other instructor. Actually in the Physics labs, we have two Teaching Assistants rather than one. The second one was Ms Kamaldeep Kaur who was the dominating person in the whole lab. This one was irritating to the core, she never co-operated with the students.

I understand that teachers are not required to co-operate with the students, but this is something which will do some good only. She actually considered herself a power over us, something like Mr Vinay Gautam (UTA009). This is what made the lab sessions a hard time in the week.

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Engineering Design I - UTA008

Lectures + Tutorials + Practicals: Dr Deepa Mudgal(DMG) A fine person who understands her students and actually knows about her subject. She understood the fact that there are times when we are all tired and she actually used to suspend the lectures at that time. Feels bad that she wasn't in some better subject, otherwise things would have been much better.

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Professional Communication - UHU003

Lectures: Dr Diksha Sharma(DKS) On the primer face, she was an irritating person who was very formal to actually be able to understand our concerns. But it turns out that this was a cover on her face for the lectures, just to keep the class under control. She was very formal as long as lectures are concerned, and otherwise she was an understanding person. Any illogical decisions she gave were actually based on miscommunications and she took measures to correct them as soon as the facts were brought to her notice.
Though she was never able to make the lectures interesting, she did earn some amount of respect.

Tutorials: Ms Navdeep Dhillon(NAV) She was another calm and approachable person. For the whole semester, she has not lost her cool on anything which was acceptable. She analyzed the situation well, and measured progress rather than absolute performance. This is actually what is expected for internal evaluations, though most teachers fail to do so.

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Another Interaction - Dr Maninder Singh

Dr Maninder Singh is the current head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department and my mentor for the 4 years of my study at Thapar University, Patiala. He is very cool and approachable as a person, and he tends to analyze things logically rather than on the basis of power. This is something which comes as an inherent characteristic when you interact with computers more than humans for years together.

The question comes that why I interacted with him. Well, I have described an incident with Mr Vinay Gautam(UTA009) earlier in this Blog Post. Actually, we did approach Dr Maninder Singh regarding the unfair means which an instructor was adopting because of his designation. We actually wanted to bring to his notice that even such activities are happening in his department.

The way he handled the situation is commendable. It is indeed noteworthy that he listened to all of our side of the story patiently, and since he was busy at the instant he decided that he would have a word with Mr Vinay Gautam later. He asked someone in the CSED office to take a note of the problem and assured us that the issue will be addressed satisfactorily by Monday (this interaction with him took place on Thursday)

Sure enough, he was true to his word. On Monday, I had a WhatsApp message from Mr Vinay Gautam asking for my E-Mail Address very desperately. I know the level of desperation was very high as he was unable to wait for a minute before calling me up. I was, unfortunately, in a lecture at that time so I couldn't receive the call. But I did share my E-Mail Address on WhatsApp.

No sooner, I got a mail from him that the Re-Evaluation for the MST Lab shall be conducted on Wednesday. In fact, I noticed that a cc of the mail had been sent to the Head of CSED as well.

This was the strictness Dr Maninder Singh dealt the issue with. It is important to note that Mr Vinay Gautam didn't stop here. He actually tried to ask us in the Lab who exactly approached sir. Probably he wanted to cut some marks. The unity of Q1 stands till date, and he didn't get his answer. He had to mark us with good scores, probably it was a part of the instructions given to him.

Till date, he did not dare to mess with us again. Hope he stays calm and in his limits...

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I have also decided that on a personal level, I shall be awarding faculty members with certain awards. That shall follow in a post soon.

CGPA

No no no. The CGPA has not been declared till date. But at least twice in the past one week, I have heard rumors about the GPA being declared soon. And let me tell you, this is something causing more tension than what the JEE or CBSE results caused back then. This is not good. It's not even acceptable.
GPA is just a number which tells nothing about me. I mean, the environment score of a computer science engineer will not tell how much understanding of data structures he has. His electronics score will not tell how good a web developer he is. These are absolutely no parameters to judge the competency of student. Not only me, but even the industry believes so. In fact let me prove it for once.
When was the last time someone got a job in any company without interview, because of his GPA? Probably never in history. Because companies know that the college graduates are not talented enough to be employed as such. They need to have some more skills, which they will learn only when they are interested. Those are the skills tested n the interviews. Google has over 40% of their top engineers who never even went to college. This is evidence enough that GPA is not anything which needs to be given a damn about.

But hey, something called people around you. When everyone is creating a hype of a particular situation, it automatically gets undue importance. That is what happens every time it is expected that the GPA will be declared. Pathetic.

I am afraid

I am afraid of joining the rat race after the end semester results have started to pour in. One day, someone had told me Depending on how much I know you, I know you are not like them but the fear is that competition might derive you to become like one, be safe my friend don't let that evil catch you. Actually, I have to admit I am a bit scared. Actually very scared. I don't even have the confidence to write this whole thing without a background music.

How unfortunate. Yes I always knew Indian Educations System sucks. I never expected Thapar to be any different. But this is a whole new level of insanity. Never had I actually felt nervous for any results, let alone such an insignificant one. Even the JEE results came in a lighter mood. Those from engineering (most of you readers) know how big an event JEE Advanced results day is. And the server crash had made even more people nervous. But I still remember I was calm. It was my mother trying to refresh the page again and again. And I didn't seem to care.
Thapar changed me. It did to me in 6 months alone what 12 years of schooling failed to do. And yes, what it did is nothing close to good. Rather, it is pathetic. And I hate this college for that. For making me nervous regarding the GPA, which I, by the way, know is very inconsequential. In fact, I wouldn't blame Thapar alone. Yes, I do admit my family has also played a crucial role in this transition.

Yes GPA matters. But for the average. I know Google employs people without a Bachelor's degree, let alone those who have a low GPA, courtesy subjects like Chemistry. But yes, man is a social animal. And after a point of time, you do become impacted by what people around you are saying. And that's not good. For me, it's not at all good. Yes, peer pressure can help you, but outside the coaching life of the 2 years, it is a very rare event. In fact, it is impossible.
Yes, our education system aims at bringing down the confidence of the students to an unimaginable level. Yes, engineering is a field as hard as described. They are no exaggerations. And I certify this fact. I no longer feel what I used to feel 6 months ago. Why do people suicide. Yes, this is no longer a question in my mind. In fact, it seems reasonable enough. Yes, the engineering colleges of the 21^st century are nothing but pressure cookers.

God, I have to admit, I hate this place. Not for any tortures it inflicts. They are temporary. Not for the reasons described before today. They will all go away with the 4 years. But for the reason I just described. For taking away my confidence, my carefree attitude. For I don't know how that will come back.
And today, I am opening this Blog for all prospective readers. If anyone comes to this blog and reads this post, and knows how to deal with this utter nonsense, please drop a comment.

Trust

Politics. Backstabbing. Hypocrisy. And what not? What is something bad that this college does not have? Sorry to say, I can't find any such things. These are all more common than following your passion in this college, which makes it's level fall drastically.
I surely had heard that these will all be experienced in real life. You think like that, play these games with others, and it feels fun in the beginning. But when this becomes a part of your life, when there is nothing but this you need to think of, in fact when this becomes your life, it is nothing but a torture. Rather than chasing your passion, you try to stop others from chasing theirs. Ridiculous!
Joined college nearly 5 months ago. And thought relative grading is a good concept as a difficult paper does not mean your grade will be impacted. But no. This is not true. In fact, the normal system would have been better. Because now, students are more inclined on reducing the scores of other students. And this leads to unnecessary politics. Which is bad.

Lack of trust. You just can't trust any person completely. Something which was easily found in the coaching life exists nowhere in college life. And people say college life is better. With a thousand worries, it is not at all easy for you to chase your passion. And I thought college is for that!
But unfortunately, I was wrong. Someone had, sometime ago, anonymously asked me if I repent the decision to join Thapar University. First of all, whoever that is, please do come forward. I don't see a reason to stay anonymous. Secondly, I will answer this question again. I don't have any regrets as all Universities are like this only.

There is not a single person in the 5000+ people at the campus who can understand you. Not a single person who knows that I want to chase my passion, which is not at all scores. Scores are something which, unfortunately, the world uses to judge you. But you don't use scores to judge yourself. You know where you stand. You know you scored well because luckily the complete paper was based on that one topic you prepared. Or that you didn't score well because the complete paper was based on the one topic you are weak in. Or that the teacher's prejudices have impacted your scores. And what should have been your standing actually.
But what to the students do? Score more, and make the other one score less. Ridiculous, but unfortunately true. Hope one fine day, we do away with the examination system. Because these tests are too crude to be used and should be abandoned - Fredrick J Kelly, the man behind the current testing system.

Monotonous

Life in Thapar University summed up in one word. That one word is none other than this word 'Monotonous'. Noting very special comes up here. But still... We have to be here, because they have scheduled tests at all absurd times. What is the sense of scheduling the MST paper from 2:00PM to 5:00PM, we are in the tension of the paper from morning. It would surely have been much better had these people scheduled the paper form 9:00AM to 12:00PM. This would have solved more than one problems.

• First of all, it would have reduced the tension levels in the campus drastically
• Secondly, the paper is of half a day. This setup would have ensured that the other half will be productive.
• Moreover, I would have got to go home earlier. Not only me, but many people.

3 benefits, and they missed it all. Just for keeping papers in this fashion. They could have scheduled papers for more days, and scheduled it in such a manner that no student has to take papers for more than 12 days (remember, there are 6 subjects in all semesters). They have clearly said that in case of need, papers can be scheduled on Sundays also. Why not use this leverage? It will make the papers less stressful.
I mean these are supposed to be End Semester Tests. They are to test the student. I will not go into the details now, because that is a topic for a different day. For now, the point is that they are NOT meant to build pressure in the campus. Students pulling all nighters for the semester exams is disappointing. All nighters need to be for something more worthwhile. You are disturbing the metabolic cycles of your body, should it not be more productive than just getting a damn grade on the score card? I think it should.

Clearly, the only reason this happens is that all nighters tend to serve the purpose. What if the papers were conceptual? Then this all nighter, weekly study, and mugging sessions would be useless. You would need the whole Semester for getting a good GPA, and that would need say 30-45mins a day. Now this is reasonable. But as questions are repeated, most students don't need to think. So the number of questions is more than that which we can do if we think. That is the point. So those who go by concepts can't get scores.

Man, this is a college, and not pre-school. Come on! Step marking? Of all the concepts, this is what they find better? Amazing! And when the concept oriented students try to solve all questions, steps is what they will surely lose. And they will also lose marks on that. And this happens. Pathetic.

Freedom

Finally. The End Semester tests have started! Today was the first one, as crappy as the Mid Semester tests. Useless as hell. Not testing concepts. But as the title suggests, this is absolutely not what this post is about. This post is about freedom. Freedom in Thapar University. Freedom given to adults here. Freedom given to those who deserve, and to those who don't. Freedom to do something you like.

Asking me, the level of freedom in here is ZERO. There is absolutely no freedom in Thapar University. And by no I mean no. It is not a matter of perspective. I am NOT talking of freedom to booze, that will definitely not be given. I am not talking of freedom to smoke. Not of freedom to do anything unethical. The freedom I am talking of is simply 'Freedom to Speech'. Yes, that's right. It is a constitutional right we have that I am talking of. It has been just 3 days since my post on teachers, and I realised this so soon. Actually, I am having second thoughts if it is actually the students who are wrong or the University just wants to prove it's authority. Not that any teacher from those, or even any other teacher confronted me. Not that I saw it's impact indirectly with them. In fact, my interaction with my Computer Programming teacher was quite normal, and I don't think he has come across this. And he won't be able to come across this. But still, some fear that haunts you. Some other person you interacted with tells you it is wrong. Amidst all the people praising the blog post, that reaction was a complete shock. No, I won't tell who it was. That person knows, and that is all what matters.
It may reflect on your grades if they read this. Does this seem like a concern or a warning? It's both. It was the realisation that this is not my coaching class where I can say anything I like about anyone I want, and it will be taken ONLY in the right sense. It is not the place where people want to improve. It is the college. Filled with a bunch of arrogant teachers. Yes, some good ones exist, but they are clearly rare species in this mad dog's crib(GTA fans know what this is)!
It was a reality check alert that I am being judged by everything, everyone. That college is not a place to be honest, it is a place with unlimited politics going on here. It was a realisation that gone are the good old days (golden days as I prefer to call them). It is what made me migrate the URL. It is what made me make an anonymous account. It is what told me that everyone should have the details of that account. Will share it with all soon. It is what made me insecure.

This is what is freedom. Freedom to express yourself freely, without a fear of judgement. This college, as well as rest of India, lacks this. We are judged on every step. The person who gave me this advice will probably read it after a long time. But still, thank you. And there was not just one such person, it came from multiple sides at almost the same time. So hey, you are not the only one. Someone else also cares about my well being!

But that is not the point. The point is again freedom, which is missing. The college needs to buckle up, get ready for constructive criticism. Recently, few 3^rd year students from Mechanical Engineering department contacted our director Prakash Gopalan for an issue anonymously. And his reply made me feel good about this University. It had these exact words. Why are you guys remaining anonymous if the crib is so genuine. Please have the courage to come out in open for a healthy debate. This touched the heart of every student on campus I suppose, shame on those whom it did not. The director is encouraging us to come in open for addressing our issues, and we still hide! For whom? The most authoritative person in the college is ready to listen to everyone, he even invites you. Isn't it great? No, I don't think so now.

Few days ago, I had thought of this and put put up that post in open. And we all know what the consequence was. I had to move the blog. That is because he is the Director. Not everyone in the University staff thinks like him. Once they will, our life will become better. Till then, we have to bear with the current situation.
This is my definition of freedom. Anyone having a different opinion is welcome to drop a comment down below, once this blog opens for you. I am sure we can get to a healthy debate. But as I said earlier, I WILL NOT GO ANONYMOUS. Thank you. Will be putting another post soon. VERY SOON.

Individuality

Finally I have understood the real reason why this place feels like a torture. It is NOT the mess food, it is NOT homesickness (I used to think this). In fact, I have the same feeling at home sometimes, so it CANNOT be something college-specific. It is lack of Individuality and personal freedom. It is lack of trust on each other. It is the fear of being constantly judged. It is the absence of a person whom you can be yourself with. No, I will not post anonymously. What I am saying is right, and remember truth triumphs. The anonymous account is for those who fear and still want to post.

One fine day, someone tells you that the 4 years you spend in college will be the best 4 years of your life. And you compare it to the current life you are having while preparing for JEE. As a consequence, you have high expectations set from college life. And the college has nothing compared to what you expected. Not because the college actually lacks something, but because you lost something very worthwhile to actually come here. It is NOT home I am talking of, moving out of your home was always known to be a reality. This is what came as a surprise. Oh, and by the way, it is not you I am talking of, the person is ME...

You lost your individuality. You lost a carefree attitude. You now have to be bothered about a million things that you never cared about, being judged by the people around you is one of them. And not just one of them, the worst of them. This is something I feel I will never get back, and it feels pathetic. It feels helpless when you can't share what you feel with anyone, literally anyone just for the fear of being judged. And yes, that anyone includes your friends, your family, your teachers, and pretty much anyone you know. It is somewhat better at home for you are slightly more comfortable with them. But let me tell you this, even after all that I said about students, Thapar is a shitty place.
I had to migrate my blog for the fear of being judged. For the fear of being judged by the teachers. Those about whom I wrote something just 3 days ago. Now, I have to think of a thousand things before I take any decision.

Had only 15 friends in coaching. Have over a hundred here. But not one of those hundred is as close as anyone in those 15 was. Those were the people I could actually be myself with. For we all knew each other, trusted each other. Poked our nose into the other's matter as if it was a birthright, and never minded when someone else poked a nose into our matter. The level of transparency we had with each other was exceptional.
Now, everything changed. Sure, we do have fun in college, but it is nothing compared to what we had in those days. Those were the real golden days of life.

Not only I lost my individuality in Thapar, I also lost a comfort I had. No person in my life now knows the real me. And that is not good I feel. But hey, that is how the world is. You keep secrets. You overload your mind with secrets, what you have kept from whom. This, and not engineering, is the real cause of stress. This, I feel, is the reason I prefer to be in my room with headphones on rather than being out in the campus with some friends. I may blow up a cover. Why do I even have to keep a cover? Why can't I be myself? Why do these people have to judge me? If I sleep early, I don't see any logic to conclude that I wake up to study when the rest of the college is sleeping. If I like to code, I don't see a single logic to conclude I am preparing for placements. This is all bullshit, and this is all the students here can come up with.

Now I don't know if the students, the teachers, the timings, the environment, the course outline or what else is responsible for this, but there is something I do know. That I was a better programmer when the semester started. And the difference is a lot. I was enthusiastic, keen on taking up and finishing projects. Today, even when I have a project, I don't want to code. I don't know why, I want to get out of this. But how?? And in fact, this is something I cannot discuss with anyone.
My family will say that I need to figure out a way out myself, and all this useless human psychology thing, and not admit that it is the system which is somewhere at fault. For the system is always good. I should attend every class according to them, because I may miss something important. What?? They have given me a 25% leverage. And I have decided, next semester onward, my attendance will be around 75% at the end of the semester, not 90%.
My friends will start irritating me on this. Like you already know so much and shit. I can't expect a solution from them. On the contrary, they will try to make me believe this fact, which I know for sure is true, is false. Like those are the people proud if their attendance is low. I mean, if my family is one extreme, my friends are another extreme!

What no person realises is that programming is not a means to earn a livelihood for me, it is my passion. Money is secondary. It is an asset.
Though I know that for long, no person will at all read this post, I will say this. If you can help me with a solution to any of the above mentioned problems, please do drop a comment. Anytime. 5 years, 10 years, 20 years from this post won't matter. Maybe it doesn't help me, it will help some junior. And the way this college is progressing, the juniors need much more help.