The great mad rush for engg/med..

A week back I found a family at my village in allepy going to the near town changanassery to enrol for medical entrance coaching. The head of the family is a soldier and for sure is striving hard to make a living. The fees at the entrance coaching centres will surely be high enough for that man. But medicine is still a job that many parents like to gamble for. For a student from a general category to have an admission in a medical college, he has to secure a rank within 500 to have that seat. So you have just 500 from the 77000 who took the exam this time. If he/she is not that brilliant enough will end up doing a nursing or a veterinary which will be something that they’ll have to bear because they dreamt of being a doctor and has nothing else to do now.

During my journey to Hyderabad I met a girl who is the 2^nd among 3 girl children and their father a driver is the sole bread winner of the family. They invested 4 lakhs at Hyderabad again with the so called medicine mania and later the dreams of getting 6 digit salaries at foreign countries. But the truth is majority still remains here itself. Nowadays conducting strikes at almost all hospitals due to the extremely low wages which a student with that much education can’t imagine. The care that they provide is another matter which makes us think whether they are having a fraction of what they deserve.

Medicine is surely a respected profession no doubt unlike engineers who are the ‘chendas’ for all pedestrians to bang. The insult of being an engineer is surely not there for a medicine student. People see engineering as a low class course nowadays. But for being an engineer you can rely on the numerous colleges which give you education with nominal fees which you can repay if you work a bit. But the fee at a private medical college is definitely not the same. It’s still a rich man’s cake.

Trying for a medicine seat from my view is a gamble for only if you are sure and that passionate you should try it. Engineering still is not so because it can give you ‘n’ number of avenues (engg languageJ) to have an opening like that of a software sector. The options in other areas are not at all looked into nowadays.

Repeating for entrance is a waste unless you make it into iits, nits or the best ones in the state. So its an advice to my juniors not to go for repeating unless you are sure to make it into the top brass

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Again education is not just confined to engineering and medicine. People should look beyond it. Btech is a 4 year course which pulls out a lot from your pocket. The degree courses in literature, commerce and all has a 3 year duration and won’t cost you too. All the options like bank, civil services, defence etc are available to a degree holder too. Any degree holder with a grip in computers can opt for a software job. You need not be an engineer for that.

So parents, teachers and gentlemen please turn your eyes to the brighter options in the other areas too. Just don’t ignore engineering but do consider others too.

AHMEDABAD

As I had read in some books, gujarathis were always known to me as good bijiness people. It was fun to observe the business too. The yatra was also to give an interview to learn business.

A ride to the grocery shop once in a week is a routine affair for my parents to get all vegetables and palavyanjanangal. Things were different in ahmedabad. The person who wakes you up is the Fruit wallah who shouts “ Appal wallah, Orange wallah, kela wallah…….”a pause and then…”with xtra energy charged”..ankur wallah, mosambi wallah………”That  song rocks your ears for about half an hour.Then comes the kachara wallah, doothwallah,sabjiwallah….Delivery at home..

The streets are always filled with people which may be due to the reason that gujarathis seldom stay indoors if they are free. Either you can see them sitting in front of the house and chatting or sitting in the roadsides.. The government  also seems aware of this fact and has put up concrete benches all along the road near KK nagar char rastha..

Lots of food shops everywhere which you seldom(I haven’t) see without business happening. The scenes at the beverages outlets are seen at a Pani puri wallah in the ahmdavadi evenings..But gujarati pani puri consumers are not as disciplined as the keralite drinkers.. Those people do crowd around that man like a swarm of flies which usually happens during a small accident at the road sides in kerala.

The journey to Nirma was the very next day. It was a long journey in auto with my uncle. The rickshaw wallah put on the meter. He asked not a penny more than the meter reading of 80 unlike our great meter less rickshaw wallahs…The return journey was again smooth with the person not fighting with me and talking with respect . Had it happened in kerala, I would have given him a tip of 10.

Next day I went to my uncle’s house. I asked my cousin brother for a walk at night after dinner and he suggested a ride through the city. I took the bike after some time and started riding.. Vastrapur lake, an artificial lake which was constructed after rehabilitation of the slums resided there is what I understood. IIM Ahmedabad was near and we headed to the dream destination of any CAT aspirant. 11 45pm was a bad time to go to iima but as the college won’t sleep  I felt like its day time. Saw it from the front and drove back. A funny thing that happened was he took a wrong shortcut and we went away from the right path. At last we had to drive back to the same road we took to return to the place.  This happened because he studied at anand and uncle’s family went to surat for 2 years from Ahmedabad due to their transfers. Although he stayed in that place for 17 long years he couldn’t understand the roads since the fly overs built on the roads were such in number and the roads were widened a lot.. And I drove into one fly over and took a toll on the 12 pm drive. Developmental hazards.

Next day we had a temple visit and the drive back to kk nagar. Driving is not as easy as it is in kerala. Rashness is so common that people won’t stop to call bad words at the fellow who did it wrong.

Drive-in is a cinema theatre but not a multiplex or an ac theatre.  The idea that we see in the festivals in temples screening on open ground. But what’s different? People can drive into the ground in their cars, spread the sheets you brought from home or take out the chairs you brought. You can sit near your vehicle. There are bumps on which you can park the car so everyone can see clearly.  Speakers with size of a small stick are installed in between each parking spaces. A different experience it was.

Pandit deendayal petroleum university was my next destination which was a university that had constructed buildings and excellent to see. The interview finished by noon. The sun was too hot. I saw a new Mercedes benz car being brought in a truck hopefully for some exhibition to the campus.

BRTS(Bus Rapid Transport System)-  A system which encourages public transport system. I saw it all along my journeys. The 2 middle lanes next to the divider in usual system is converted to another way. It exclusively carries a particular group of Public buses called BRTS buses. When the CEOs in Audis and bmws are stuck in the heavy traffic of amdavad the BRTS passengers will fly through the road. No other vehicle enters that way. Bus stops dedicated for these buses are in middle of the road. Its comparable to delhi and Bangalore metros since the ticket is taken before the journey. Info about the next bus arrival timing(which is exactly how many minutes left) and the destination flashes through the electronic display. 

Kangeriya lake was the place we visited in BRTS. A lake which is now modified and made a tourist spot with many rides, boating, laser show etc. Cost is too high inside for the rides.

Overall I had some good time at gujarath and got admission to deendayal and nirma too. Hope gujarath will make my life a splendid one…..