Memoirs

Phone: +939373312767

By Shishir Avasthi, Electrical Engineering.

E-Mail: shishiravasthi@rediffmail.com

Friends,

INTRODUCTION

I never thought of writing some auto-biographical passage like this, but recently one day when I had some free time, I had taken a glimpse of our old days, while walking down memory lanes I remembered the request cum order of our common friend Manish Shrivastava to add something in member speak of our very own site http://www.gecra.org. This is dedicated to 1992 pass outs of Government Engineering College Rewa (M.P.). Manish has taken a lot of effort in preparing this wonderful site for all of us to be in touch with and sometimes I feel guilty on all of us part that we were unable to support him much in his endeavor to the extent we could have.

PROLOGUE

Before you proceed, please forgive me if I had tried to take an Ariel view of things, but I am sure that you all will empathize with me as the stories resemble and sometimes I really wonder how the graphic plotter in God’s territory works, because some of us had almost similar destinies without any internal connections with each other. Also please try to understand if, I have tried to be philosophical at times, because that is what constant ups and downs and struggles teaches you, so may be for those, with whom I was unable to be in constant touch in last few years, I risk of sounding a bit strange.

THEME

Life never offer you anything on a platter, you have to struggle for it. Life is un-deterministic, we never know, what future has in store for us. And that is why, life is always a challenge.
END OF SCHOOLING AND ENTRY TO GEC REWA
In schools I met guys like Sameer (shukla), Anil (soni), Suresh (soni) and Charan (singh) in my last few years of schooling. While Vikas (tripathi) was my mate from very junior classes and Amit (shrivastava) and Madhurima (saxena) were our seniors. I have learnt something or other from each of them. We all sailed through PET and, as not much guidance or not many ways were open for us, we all took admission to nearby engineering college and our (beloved?? And hated too??) alma matter GEC Rewa, though most of us had fairly good ranking in PET and we could have taken admission anywhere in MP (MACT or Indore were also available for some of us and REC MNR Allahabad was also possible). In those days the counseling was not done in Bhopal and we had to give options at the time of filling the form for PET. One more thing was that in those days the branch was allocated to you based on your 1st year marks and not like in initial admission counseling today.
INITIAL DAYS IN COLLEGE
Once in college most of us found all bounds broken as we found new friend, new freedom and a lot of masti. Many things were new for us and many things we did those days are what I see now as utterly foolish and crazy. We were just flowing with the wind and I think college days are known for that only. Isn’t it? In some ways the hostel-life or days choler’s life in GEC Rewa was really like a tough commando training, many times we had to cook with minimal resources and for small things we had to run here and there. After few shocks we (most of our batch) started concentrating on studies but we had to find new paths as we were the first batch to pass out in semester system in MP engineering colleges, ironically neither the university nor the college knew how to handle things and we had to suffer because of all those.
Nowadays, I’ve heard that the college is a complete autonomous body, I don’t know it has gone for positive or negative.
I was very fortunate to have got a chance to stay with a lot of the people in hostel, as somehow it happened that my room partners were never repeated for consecutive years. In this way I had a pool of friends who were all very close to me. But in last year of hostelling in Rewa, when we all were aware that we have to depart, I think the bindings of friendships were most powerful. I still feel the shiver, when I remember those days (September 2005, so it has been 12 and half years now, when we departed, if I take the date as January 1993). Even memories start to fade, because it is a complete era’s duration.
POLITICAL SKY IN THOSE DAYS
If I see back to the political sky of India in last 20 years, I found that those days (1989 -1992) were the worst, turbulent and no one knew that in which direction we were heading, we have seen it all in our college days, the reservation stirs (self-immolation of one of our fellow student), the temple movement, the death of Rajiv Gandhi. This all had its impact on us and on our studies and in some ways on our future.
OUT OF COLLEGE WITHOUT ANY CERTAIN FUTURE
The worst thing which could happen to any college pass-out, now I realize, is lack of direction for future. Very few of us knew deterministically that what we want to do in future and we all were thrown out of college to the real and harsh world of unemployed engineering graduates. "Apply apply and no reply". One option was public sector, where the selection ratio was as low as 2-3 percent of total appearing in the examination. It was really heart breaking. I can proudly say that many of our friends got selected and are employed as senior/middle level management in public sectors now. Some of us entered the private engineering industries only to realize the harshness lying there. Some coped with that, some faze out and some changed path after initial struggles (like I did).
STRUGGLES
After giving an initial try to public sector, I realized it requires a lot of patience. I tried for GATE and was unable to secure percentile which could have been satisfactory. I decided that I can't take it any more and entered as an electrical maintenance engineer in a chemical industry in Shahdol district. When I see back I find that my life was really very hard those days. I worked very hard in fields, supervising workers, as timings were as worst as from 7:30 AM to 1:30 AM many times; I don't remember how many sleepless nights I spent in fields supervising the replacement of faulty electrical equipments. There was a lot of chemical pollution. For few months in between I worked in shifts also, where I was given night shift continuously.
The only available town was 9 kms away and the friend circle was small, workers under me reluctant to work, also abusive, job was thankless as if there were breakdowns, they said you guys don’t work properly, and if no breakdown, they said, hey you don’t have any work at all. Luckily, I was having some of our college mates with me there (some juniors some seniors).  I decided to quit after an accident in which we lost one of our colleague, while on a picnic at Amarkantak waterfall.
Before realizing that I will have to switch over my domain, as it was in my destiny, I also worked as lecturer for few years in Govt. Polytechnic Satna. In the mean time I was able to clear some public sectors written exams (like IPCL, GIC, LIC, HPVNL etc.) but was unable to get cleared through the interview barrier.
DOMAIN CHANGE
In last two years of 20th century, I knew I had to take some very hard decisions in life as the option to shift to software was originated in my mind (mainly after few discussions with some of our batch mates who successfully did that). I decided to go for a 6 month course in CEDTI Mohali for advanced diploma in software technology. Those were the year’s upward trend in IT started and I got an entry in IT industry. I came to Pune chasing my dreams and fortunes, did a lot of struggles, changed few jobs and moving along in last few years, currently I am a part of Asia’s largest software and consulting company TCS, Pune, a job I like, there are enough challenges to keep me motivated and there are new opportunities every day.
TRIPS AND VISITS
In one of my previous jobs in software (in Baroc, where I stayed for nearly three and half years) I was fortunate to have visited Switzerland many times, the country of cheese, chocolates, Alps and nice people. I visited Jung-frau, the highest mountain range in Europe, wonderful cities of Zurich, Basel and Luzerne. I was fortunate to interact with Spanish, German, Swiss, French, Dutch and Italian fellow workers in the parent company and I found them very positive about life and very supportive. I had learnt a lot from each of them.
Currently I am in Honolulu, Hawaii on deputation for few months for representing TCS for the project I have been working since more than last one year. Hawaii is the place of beautiful beaches and it is really fun working here at client site. I am trying to establish contacts with old pals, who are in USA.
ABOUT HAWAII
Hawaii is 50th state of USA and it comprises of many small islands and Oahu is one of those. The Honolulu is the capital city of Hawaii and situated on Oahu Island. It is a small and lovely island and has many tourist filled beaches with sky high buildings. The Hawaiian Islands are located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean approximately 2,400 miles (4.000 km) southwest of California. Anyone can reach here only by airplane or boat. Known for beautiful white sand beaches, water sports, and unique traditions, Hawaii is the most remote chain of islands in the world. Consisting of eight major islands, the Hawaiian Islands also include 124 minor islands, shoals and reefs.
There are six major islands: Oahu, Maui, The Big Island of Hawaii, Kauai, Molokai and Lanai. These tropical paradises attract about 7 million tourists each year, but most visitors only see one or two of the islands. The climate is consistent and enjoyable. Temperatures seldom fall below 65 degrees or rise above 80 throughout the year. A pleasant breeze frequently cools the day. The famous Hawaiian surf is among the biggest and best in the world. The islands only have two seasons: summer and winter. The summer season is considered to be May through October and winter is from October until April. Light showers are normal in most areas while other areas are totally arid. Overall, the Hawaiian Islands are comprised of an array of alluring islands, captivating cultures and delightful weather.
IN THE LAST
Thanks to the information technology revolutions we can see that many of us had almost similar stories, but I proudly say that people from my college and my batch are all achievers.  I don’t want to be limited to my batch only, I can see people from junior and senior batches also, and all the achievements are really significant.
Till the last few years of 20th centuries, many times I used to wonder, hey, what happened to all my batch mates, people with whom we spent our days and nights for nearly four and a half years, where are all they “Kahan gaye wo log”, what is their life stories in all these years. In those days the e-mails were not that prominent and sometimes we were getting information about someone from world of mouth, but many names we never heard again (even many names I don’t hear even now). As the groups and people with whom you are in touch with physically, are limited once you pass out from the college, we all had information about one or two or a bunch, but this site (GECRA) was really needed in order to collect the information, and we all are thankful to Manish for this.
I don't want to count names here, but many people from our college, our batch, our junior/senior batches can be counted as successful and that all after being passed out without any job (no campus recruitment except some very rare cases) or without any direction and from a college which is rarely known outside MP (even inside MP). Nowadays I see students around me knowing exactly what they want to achieve in life, what path they want to take. I hear names of courses I never heard. I see how easily people go for studying abroad (and it has become such an easy thing) as they know exactly what to do. And this reminds me of our days. Ohh GOD, at least the circle of friends I had, I hardly knew anyone, who was sure of his directions... But most of us passed the test and that also with flying colors.
I agree that success can not be mapped and being successful is a relative term, I also agree that success never ends; it should go on and on. As many more years are there to come as professionals for all of us and many landmarks are to be achieved, but it really gives us tremendous amount of energy to see the inspiring life spans of many of us in last twelve years.
I know everyone of us is busy as almost we all have moved from junior-entry level professionals to middle level or top level managements, some of us to the topmost levels also, so life keeps us busy, also there are families for us and we have to devote time to them as well, but I will request all the members on the site to add their life journeys in text format for last one decade/s, also to make it possible for all of us to add their details to the site, I can still see many names missing from the profile list. It is really surprising that sites like batchmates.com and alumni.net have more members from our college/batch than our very own site designed by Manish.
QUOTES
Few quotes I like most from my personal collection

The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.

Powell, Colin - 1937-, American Army General

I am always doing a thing I can’t do, that’s how I get to do them.

Picasso, Pablo - 1881-1973, Spanish Artist
Don't forget until too late that the business of life is not business, but living.
Forbes, B. C. - 1880-1954, American Publisher
The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.
Plutarch, - 46-120 AD, Greek Essayist, Biographer
Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need is to open the door for just one more good idea.
Rohn, Jim - American Businessman
It doesn't matter to me if a man is from Harvard or Sing Sing. We hire the man, not his history.
Ford, Henry - 1863-1947, American Industrialist
There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.
Roosevelt, Theodore - 1858-1919, Twenty-sixth President of the USA
Anybody with a little guts and the desire to apply himself can make it, he can make anything he wants to make of himself.
Shoemaker, Willie; 1931-, American Racing Jockey and Trainer
In the last, I will like to thank all of you for reading, and cheer up friends, we still have lot more to achieve in coming years and I am sure as WE HAVE DONE IT IN THE PAST AND WE CAN DO IT TIME AND AGAIN.
Cheers…
Thanks and Regards,
Shishir Avasthi