My Teachers

Sorry for spreading negativity, but my conscience will not allow me to write lies, and my mind forces me to write here. So, I end up writing all the bad things, actually all the things about Thapar University, Patiala.

Today, I am going to share the details of my teachers in Thapar, and the experience with them. I had 6 courses in the first semester. Namely

• UMA003 Mathematics-I
• UEC001 Electronics Engineering
• UCB008 Applied Chemistry-I
• UEN002 Energy and Environment
• UTA007 Computer Programming-I
• UES009 Mechanics

 Look at the irony, of the 6 subjects I studied in the past 6 months, just 1 is related to Computer Sciences, my engineering discipline. This was my first WTF moment in Thapar. Anyway, that is not the main point. The way it is taught is even worse. I will talk of the subjects in this order itself.

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SUBJECT UMA003 MATHEMATICS 1
Hours = 3 + 1
Teacher Names 

1. Mr Pramod Vaishnav
2. Dr Jatinderdeep Kaur

This is the first subject. Starting with Mr Pramod Vaishnav. He is the limit of it all. He knows nothing. He came to the classes two weeks late, and trust me those two weeks were better than the rest of the semester. At least we used to get free time. Then he joined, causing more troubles. He takes an A4 size sheet, and starts noting down from Thomas and Finney, our course suggested book. Then he brings these Quality Notes to the class, and delivers a lecture. The lecture duration is governed by the duration these notes last before he needs more of them. It can vary from 25 minutes to 1 hour(maximum time for a lecture). 3 hours a week, for 6 months. We know how we have been through all this. Attending classes is necessary, as attendance is a must. His accent and his English are no better than his mathematics, 'You know much better'. Right sir, so why do you come here on the first hand? 'Make Silence' Yeah, it's Maggi that we make it. If you come across this guy with such syllables common in speech, you will know it's him. Just run. He teaches ONLY for the exams, something I personally HATE. A good teacher is one who teaches the student the subject, a bad one is who teaches nothing, and the worst one is the one who teaches students to get marks in exams without knowing anything, hence giving the false illusion that they know it all. He is the worst one by this logic.

Now, Dr Jatinderdeep Kaur(JAT). She was fine and bearable. It was never a problem as she used to come to the class and browse Facebook for the 1 hour. She spoke only once, just before we had our MST. And she told us how to put things up there in the exam. It was indeed helpful. Though not what you expect from the best teacher, as she was not the best we could get, but was much better than lectures. And she knew maths at least. She did not say random shit, and she needed no notes.

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SUBJECT UEC001 ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
Hours = 3 + 1 + 2
Teacher Names 

1. Mr Mayank Kumar Rai
2. Ms Manu Bansal

Mayank Kumar Rai(MKR). This is the first thing I associate with today when I hear of electronics. No diodes, no transistors, no semiconductors, but his face. This is the imprint he has created in the mind of every student in our batch. He takes 3 hours of this subject, and all of them are torture. He comes to the class and speaks. We write down what he speaks. He goes. That is all. But recently all this changed. He realised that the average of our batch was less than the overall average of Thapar in Electronics. So he even started asking questions in the beginning of each class. Moreover, he did not turn up for a few(5 - 6) classes. And then, he holds extra classes to compensate the loss after 5:00PM. At the end of the semester, when we should be studying for exams, or by my standards not give a shit about exams and code, this guy wants us to attend his lectures? And he takes attendance in them too. Wow! His volume is exceptionally low in the class, and no one after the first bench can hear him. Sir if you come across this, I have a small message for you.
Firstly, we are not going to be design engineers(at least not all of us). Secondly, we are not interested in giving the PSU exams. Thridly, you know your subject well. I am sure you must be very good at the research work. Can you please stick to that? Pursue your Phd. Don't teach. That is not your cup of tea.

Manu Bansal(MB). Indeed a good teacher. She rarely taught, but all that she taught had a good impact. She took the tutorial classes and Lab classes for us, and she also used to clear some of the doubts we had. And when she cleared the doubts, the concepts were crystal clear. She is slightly moody, but trust me, it is worth it! One of the most fine teachers in Thapar that I came across(Cannot say the best as read forward...)

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SUBJECT UCB008 APPLIED CHEMISTRY-I
Hours = 3 + 1 + 2
Teacher Names 

1. Dr Satyendra Kumar Pandey
2. Dr Diptiman Chaudhary
3. Dr Amjad Ali

Satyendra Kumar Pandey(SKP). If the name of the subject is not enough to scare the shit out of you, here comes this guy. He surely will scare you off. After his lectures, if I die and come to know that there is God(I am an atheist BTW) and he asks me how was hell, I sure have an answer. I also know what he will be referring to. He has a lot. A laptop, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel. And not to mention, that remote control of his. It is enough for a lecture. No brains needed. He will come, connect his laptop to his projector. Then starts the slideshow. This slideshow will now go on till 50 minutes have elapsed. Oh, the PPT just got over, no worries. He has another PPT in store. Then he will take attendance. And the way he takes attendance is innovative(read as pathetic). He has assigned his own roll numbers to all the students. And he just wants you to answer attendance using them. All those roll numbers are quadrupled. I mean 4 students have the exact same roll number! And you must answer ONLY when it's your call.
Diptiman Chaudhary. He at least knows Chemistry. No wait, he doesn't. He knows nothing. He is confused between molar conductivity and specific conductance, something which is clear to students in class 12. And his accent, don't get any of his students started on that else before you know it you'll be laughing as hell.
Amjad Ali(AAL). He is a good teacher, knowledgeable too. The only problem is he takes a Chemistry course, which sucks. And he takes the lab, which means we don't get to interact with him a lot. But he was never a real trouble.

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SUBJECT UEN002 ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Hours = 3
Teacher Names 

1. Dr Venkata Subramaniam(Sorry for my spelling.)

Dr VSUB. He was the lecturer of this course. The name of the course explains a lot of shit. But this is the review of the teacher, and not of the course. VSUB is the limit of nonsense. He used to come to the class, speak irrespective of if anyone is listening or not, complete the hour, and get lost. Seems decent, isn't it? But that is the thing of the past. He changed, and not at all for good. Now, what must be mentioned here is that he had the first class twice a week, and he expected you to be exactly on time. If the class starts at 8:00AM, you have to be there by 7:59AM, else you won't get the attendance for the day. Still, attendance is a matter subject to his discretion. If he feels you are not attentive, he will mark you absent. He randomly points students and starts asking them questions in the class. Wow! In a subject like this, it is surely so thrilling. He is epic. His grammar is amazing. He feels we are all interested in the course. And to top that, he has some dialogues(Q batch students, if you read this, please drop comments if I have forgotten)

• Okay
• Go out of the class
• See if you don't pay attention, it will be very difficult to pass this course
• You can go out of the class and I won't give you attendance
• You can go out of the class if you feel you have enough attendance
• If you are regularly coming late to the class you won't get the attendance
• No you were late, right?
• See if you do like this, it will be very difficult
• Things are going to get complicated

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SUBJECT UTA007 COMPUTER PROGRAMMING-1
Hours = 3 +2
Teacher Names 

1. Mr Ashish Girdhar
2. Mr Ashish Agarwal

Ashish Girdhar(ASG). He was the lecturer. Seeing his face, I surrendered. It was clear that he knows nothing, and it proved to be true for the entire semester. He has not been able to clear even a single off track genuine doubt. He says recursion is a better implementation of the Fibonacci series when compared to looping(CS students will know how wrong this is). He calls cin and cout functions(THEY ARE NOT FUNCTIONS). He says recursion is a stack. He asks questions like 'What are Logical Operators' in exams. What rubbish! And when you say anything, his constant reply is that there are others who don't know. Well, you do I guess. Get it clear, O(n) is much better than O(2ⁿ) anytime, and there are no exceptions to that. One advice, if he takes your lectures, study before hand and don't listen to him. He will do the best possible job to confuse you.

Ashish Agarwal(ASA). He was the lab teacher for our batch. I found him good. Kept quiet and minded his own business for the lab. Good enough. He was never a problem. Sort of the stereotyped 'dumb teacher', but after the experience with Ashish Girdhar, this is what you pretty much want. This is much better.

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SUBJECT UES009 MECHANICS
Hours = 2 + 1
Teacher Names 

1. Dr Ashish Purohit

 Dr Ashish Purohit(APH). You remember I just mentioned that someone can't be called the best teacher I had(Ms Manu Bansal)? Well, here is the guy who gives her tough competition. He was the best teacher I had in the first semester. He knew all the students inside out. He knew everyone by their name as well as face. He knew our strengths and weaknesses. He was the teacher whom we could talk casually to, put forward complaints. Though he never had the authority to do anything, telling him helped somehow. He has the magical power of increasing your score when you feel there is no scope(personal experience).  He can make the lectures interactive. He can address to everyone's problems. The best thing is that even if the syllabus is lagging behind, he will give it an off on Friday when Thursday is off. He won't need extra classes thereafter. And he won't skip or rush. That, my friends, is talent. Check once, if this guy has a slot in your time table, you are among the very lucky ones.




So, that was all. These were all my teachers in the first semester. Full of nonsense, this is the truth. The level of teaching is zero. I read somewhere that lecturer is a term that stands for someone who comes and yells incomprehensible shit for an hour in the class, and yet you sit there just because you have low attendance. It's true my friends. Very few lectures are actually worth attending.
Remember, what I wrote was my personal experience, uninfluenced. Now if you have the same teacher, don't judge. See for yourself. It's a guide, not the verdict here. Any different opinions of the existing students shall be most welcome!