Back to the battleground !!

It's been almost a month since I reached Pilani and third year of engineering commenced. I wanted to write sooner but paucity of time, settling in period, insane schedules etc etc didn't let me. The temperature when I reached here was horrible. (It's a desert, what do you expect?) but it's improved over the last few days. It was good catching up with friends after the 2.5 months' gap. Have a mixed bag of courses this semester with a couple of electives thrown in.
 Well, what else, the pressure is on like every time. The curriculum is designed to keep you on your toes. My schedule over the past few days will give you an idea of the rigor. Had a presentation today so prepared till 1:30 in the morning for that and AFTER that started preparing for the 3 quizzes which might/might not have been conducted today. (Fortunately they weren't.) And it's been like that for the past fortnight now. Seriously the most precious commodity on campus is sleep. It probably is tolerable if you manage your time well, but unfortunately I don't, I am a sucker for instant gratification so end up doing the stuff that matters as late as possible.
 If you are wondering about the might/might not funda of the quiz- see BITS doesn't require you to attend classes. It's very chilled out that way and probably the only college I know of so far which requires 0% attendance. Some guys here (I prefer the word Gods) don't even attend a single class the whole semester! People are from other colleges actually are shocked on hearing this and instantly start complaining about the ridiculously high percentage of classes they are required to attend. But they forget one small point. The authorities and teachers here aren't idiots. If they were, they probably wouldn't be here. So the pretty little system they have devised and which is now as much a part if  BITS as the iconic clock tower is the system of surprise quizzes. Also referred to as "tutes" or "SupTs" inpopular BITSian lingo. We students have also devised our own stratagems like checking for the presence of the notorious brown envelope (teachers usually bring the quiz papers in that) when the teacher walks in and if it's not there, we can notify our friends who are anxiously waiting for the SMS which will grant them a reprieve so that they can resume their precious sleep and if the SMS turns out to be otherwise, the plan is to put on pants, take a pen and run as fast as you can for the class and if the teacher is merciful, you might be allowed to enter late. Another tried and tested way is to miss the next couple of classes immediately after the quiz because most (but not all) teachers are so diabolical that they will conduct two quizzes in a row.
But profs (teachers sounds childish) have also found ways to beat the systems, Some of the more infamous ones walk in innocuously without the dreaded envelope but when 10 minutes before the class gets over, their assistant walks in with  a devilish grin and armed with our worst nightmare- the brown envelope.
So it's a constant battle actually, one that we sometimes win and sometimes lose. If you are wondering what's the problem with missing a few quizzes, let me assure you that every single mark that you can scrape here is precious and hard earned and will count when the profs decide your grade, the one thing that most people here would literally kill for.
OK will probably tell more about the arbitrary stuff here as and when I get the time. Besides my laptop has constantly been giving me shocks since I started writing. (My "bhavan" (BITSian lingo for hostel) hasn't been earthed since the time it was built probably 50 or so years ago; hence the shocks. )  I have had my share of electrocution therapy for now.
 WTPA?

A Week to Go ! 7,6,5....

There's exactly a week left to head to BITS Pilani as the holidays are sadly getting over. Back to the chaotic, pressurizing and yet exciting way of life. The late night strolls, coffee at ANC(all night canteen) at 2:00 AM, studying(or "ghoting" as it's called in BITS) for quizzes,assignments and what not. It's a way of life that you both don't want and yet can't do without. Academic pressure is quite high as you are with the best minds of your generation and all of them(except a few, who everyone looks forward to BTW :P) are highly motivated to remain on the upside of the competition., which in turn results in unreal average scores and sometimes it becomes a challenge just to meet the averages, let alone trying to be av+ as we BITSians like to call it.
But it would be unfair to list only the demerits of studying in a good engineering college. You learn to deal with the pressure, you tend to become good in having fun however bad the situations might be, you make lifelong friends, because the experiences you share are so unique that you can't help but become very closely bonded. The fun with pressure actually becomes addictive by the time you have to pass out. :)
So, anyways I am just spending the last few days of the holidays, trying to chill the max I can and mentally gear myself up for the next semester because with me it sometimes is the opposite, I tend to relax when it's crucial to work and when the holidays start I start cribbing over how I could have done things the other way round LOL. Let's hope it's the other way round this semester. :)
See you on the other side!!
Pilani, here I come!!
Ciao
WTPA?