College that changed “me”...

Canara Engineering College, Bantwal. – I owe a lot to this college. I will not forget the moments I spent here, I still recall each n every event that made my life better and some moments which could have been better. Below I am just recalling those wonderful days and some of the events which changed me.

September 21^st 2003: I am getting ready to leave my house to pursue my Engineering degree. My parents are uncertain abt my life. I myself not sure what is in store for me. Holding a suitcase and a bag in my hand I left my home after praying to god and taking my parents blessings. Alone, started my journey towards an uncertain world.

I Reached “MY” college around noon. I entered thru the hostel gates looking at the hostel, Just then aditya and his father got down along with me and we started walking down the road as I started speaking to them. Came to know that he had already got the room booked and had found a roomie. Somehow a thought started running in my mind, who will be my roomie n more importantly where will be my room. As I entered the hostel block, I had to go and meet “PD” - our hostel warden. He gave me a form to fill and asked me to select a room and he gave a list of rooms which were still unoccupied. I went around searching a room which I thought was suitable for me. Met another Batch-mate none other than our own Abhay manjeshwar with his family trying to select a room. Finally I selected room no- 202.

I was cleaning my room I saw a boy passing in front of my room. I called him and introduced myself to him. He introduced himself as Umesh Kamath. Then I met Sadanand Kamath his roomie, Akshay Aithal his college classmate. All 3 from Thirthahalli. I also met Shivprasad, Akshay`s roomie. Then I had this privilege to meet Pradeep Shenoy and his roomie Vaman Nayak. Felt good that most of them were speaking Konkani – My mother tongue. The day passed well, we all speaking with each other and thinking abt the ways to escape fro getting ragged. We all went together to the mess which looked like a heaven for me. People won’t believe it, but that day I had the dinner which tasted very good. As the day ended and I was sleeping on my bed lot of things going in my mind. First time away from my house, away from my parents, away from my place, far off, came to do my bachelors in a college which was in a jungle to be precise. :) Somehow I felt a little uncomfortable thinking all this but still I slept nicely on the new “kurl-on” bed.

September 22^nd 2003: The orientation program: I got up early, went on to brush my teeth wishing Good morning to few who were awake. Had a nice bath and was getting ready and then there was a knock at the door. I opened it n there he stood along with his brother, Subramanya T M my roomie :) both were extremely tired and by the time I went to pradeep`s room and was back, they had locked the door from inside and were sleeping. I tried my best to wake them up but was successful only after 10 mins when my roomie came and opened the door for me.

We all went to the mess had our breakfast and then started walking towards our college to attend the orientation program in the seminar hall. We had each member of the management speaking about the glory of “Canara institutions”. :) Though we were just the 3^rd batch of this engineering college we were made to feel that we had done the right thing by choosing the college. And to put it in a better way I did not have any other better choice than Canara Engineering College for the 18027 ranking I had scored in the entrance exam.

After the round of introductions and speeches and the welcoming from the seniors we had some snacks to eat and we were shown our way to the classrooms.

From there we all were taken for a trip showing us all the labs etc. After this, we were free for the rest of the day.As i was coming back from the college towards the hostel I could see someone waving the hand out of the ambassador car and trying to call me. I couldn’t recognize who it was as I did not know anyone. Suddenly the car stopped and two people got down and came towards me. Suddenly I remembered it was Abhay`s parents whom I had met the previous day. His “mother” couldn’t control the tears in her eyes, somehow controlling herself, she told me to take care of her child and to be good to him. I agreed and told them there was no need for them to worry about anything. I remembered my mother and I had tears in my eyes as I thought of her. I walked back to my room, with all mixed feelings. Another day passed, met few more people from my batch and some people from the seniors. Got to know more about my new roomie. That’s it for the second day.

September 23^rd 2003: First day of college: The “classes” were supposed to begin on this day. After the breakfast we were off towards the college building. I saw so many people around, some getting late for the classes were running; these were basically our seniors, and some speaking to each-other in a carefree way most of these belonging to our batch :)

I reached my classroom. Our class had the door from the back and I had to walk towards the front of the class. A new beginning and I wanted to sit in the first bench :) I still remember many in the class turning and looking at me as I walked towards the front and this was obvious because of the way I looked. A dark guy with grey hairs and a laptop bag in the hand looked more like the lecturer than a student. :) But then I knew pradeep and vaman in the class. Pradeep was sitting in the first bench and I sat beside him. We were supposed to have the class at 9 in the morning, but we were free for the first hour. I thought in my mind that I indeed had entered engineering. I just turned around and started introducing myself to people seated behind me, Just then a guy gets up, goes straight back, closes the door comes to the front of the class and starts “ hi Friends, We have to be together for the next four years, so lets introduce ourselves and get familiar to each other. Let me start – I am Ashwin Shenoy, I studied in Canara institution my whole life right from 1^st STD to 2^nd P U C and now again joined Canara. I am from Mangalore itself”. I saw some people quietly getting up from their places and walking out of the class. I also wanted to do the same thing as I was afraid of facing the crowd, but then gathered some courage to sit where I was, admiring the way ashwin had taken this initiative. Frankly, I don’t remember many people in between who came and introduced themselves because I was trying to think what will I say when my turn comes. I wanted to appreciate ashwin for what he was doing, but then I was too scared. :) My turn, I went up looked at everyone staring at me :( I was nervous like anything, but I had to say something so I started “Hi friends, this is Devidas S Maller from beautiful place of coorg district, Madikeri, I studied throughout my life in madikeri itself right from 1^st STD to 2^nd PUC” … No reaction from anyone, I continued “thank you” and I ran back to my seat. :) Then some more people came gave their intro, went back. Each one coming up saying their name, where they studied and the place they belong to. I don’t remember anybody else, but then how can I ignore this girl. Bhavya bekal comes up from her seat and starts “First of all, I thank ashwin for taking this initiative and introducing the whole class. I am Bhavya Bekal from Mangalore. I studied in Canara P U College, Nice to meet you all”. And all the while I was thinking “SHIT” I had to say this before her. :( Another few more intros and then we had some few mins free before the start of our class. I don’t remember who came for the class. Guess it was upadyaya sir for Physics. The usual classes were started, again with intros before the start of each subject. Another beautiful day had passed, met more people from our batch, also almost the whole 2^nd floor in the hostel. Met people in the neighboring room, room no -201, both mallus. – Vipin nair and vibin o Balakrishnan from kerala. :) This was the first 3 days of my unforgettable 4 years.

Its 5 years since all this has happened. Time really flies; it brings along with it some beautiful moments, some sad moments some mixed moments. All these moments were in my engineering life. This was just the sweet introduction that I experienced.