Admission formalities are over, and classes have started for various courses across the country. The orientation, grooming, and handholding sessions have given way to course work as the freshers get adjusted to campus life.
Many students have got the seat of their choice, but many others have settled for a compromise. Some have been lucky and some others unlucky during the admissions. Some have been failed by their judgment; a careless attitude during admissions will have made some end up with suboptimal choices.
So a good number of the new students spend much of their time thinking about what could have been — about what they missed and what they could have got. There is no end to woes and remorse.
An engineering student thinks about the MBBS seat he could not get. An MBBS student in a State college is bothered that she could not get a seat in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. An engineering student in a reputable college is bothered about the Indian Institute of Technology seat that he missed by a whisker. A Commerce student is worried about her missed opportunity to become a lawyer. A Civil Engineering student is bothered about the Mechanical Engineering seat he could not get. It is perennial cribbing going around. For many, time will clear the clutter in the mind; but for some it will stay lifelong.
Students should recognise that life has brought you to this spot. It may be what you wanted, maybe not. Whatever it is, you will not do any good to yourself by living in the past — thinking about what could have been. You may not love what you are in now. But if you intend to stay there, better start loving it or at least find something in it that you like. And sooner you do that, the better.
Today, we have more than a thousand engineering colleges and more than a million engineering seats. Still getting good engineers — in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics or Computer fields — is difficult. Industry sources keep complaining about the poor employability of engineering graduates. This is because a big majority of the students just do what is needed to go through the system, which has, over the years, watered down its standards.
Without an intention to excel or continuous self-improvement, the students complete their degrees but are of no real worth to the employer.
Of a whole
Everything in this world, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope, has a place in the system of life, says King Mufasa to his cub, Simba, in the famous Hollywood movie The Lion King .
Each one of us has a place in the system of life — be it as historian, linguist, artist, scientist, businessman, architect, engineer, doctor, lawyer, reporter, politician, homemaker, policeman or government servant, to give examples of some of the myriad roles you students are likely to play in the future. None of these is intrinsically better than the other. Whatever role you take up, it exists because of the requirement of society and you should understand that society rewards the better ones in each of these roles.
Whichever field you are in, strive to be the best in that and you will never have to look back in life.
The writer is the Co-founder, Kengcyclopedia.com
