It has been exactly 25 years since I joined first year of engineering. Honestly, decision to join engineering was taken two years before that when I opted for vocational electronics for 11th and 12th in erstwhile Parle college. Now I think it is known as Sathye College. That saved me from studying biology and one additional language, mainly Marathi. Was it a conscious / well thought out decision? Absolutely not. My grandfather had died without medical treatment in our village so my father wanted me to become doctor. Noble thought. But I had been thinking something else. My cousin brother who was doing Medicine was staying with us that time. And somehow seeing him studying so hard, I had decided that I would not become doctor. Secondly, I was scared of dead bodies and I was told that time that we have to work on dead bodies in the medicine!!!!! So I definitely did not want to become a doctor. So my father said, you become engineer. That time there were only two options. Doctor or Engineer!!!
I was rank-holder in 10th so opting for commerce or arts was out of question as per then social norm!!!!!! I was told, Commerce and Arts was for kids who are not academically good and who want to just enjoy college, who are not serious about career!!! So serious studious students like me should take science in 11th and 12th to eventually join engineering. Oh, and one more thing. Taking vocational electronics was a fashion then. Did I know anything about electronics or did I have any flavour of electronics? Nope. Did I have any inclination for electronics or doing any thing hands on? As simple as breaking open a old transistor, or making any working model of aeroplane, car. Nay. I had not even made kaleidoscope using mirrors and broken pieces of bangles which was the most standard practise of engineering minded kids. I did not do anything of this sort. Still I joined vocational electronics!!!! Follow the standard path and listen to your parents / elders. That was the mantra.
Then I did a lot of ghasugiri (slang for burning midnight oil studying) for 2 years. And got 97% in PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics) and aggregate 94%. I was rank-holder, 4th in state, 2nd in Mumbai. And because of vocational electronics, additional 5% were added to my PCM percentage. So I had secured 102% in PCM!!!!!!!!! So what do you do? You opt for engineering, of course. I could have got into any course in VJTI, or SP, reputed government engineering colleges in Mumbai. Did I take admission there. Noooooo. Again, College of Engineering Pune (COEP) was the only college in Maharashtra which was offering Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (E&Tc) and there were only 6 seats for students from Mumbai. So board rank-holder like me, who secured 102% in PCM must go to Pune. There it goes. I landed up in COEP in E&Tc department.
Oh, I forgot to tell you something. Since somebody had gone to court that year (just like every year), our admission was delayed. So in the meantime, I had taken admission to Chemical Engineering at UDCT!!!!! As usual, no clue about Chemical Engineering. But since at 97% PCM, I got admission, I took it. By the way, since I was mainly ghasu (again slang for students who mug things up and reproduce the same things in toto in the exams!!!) and not really application oriented student, I was not selected for IIT. I was not that intelligent either, I guess. I just knew how to crack the SSC and HSC system quite well. In fact, I did not study much for IIT-JEE. I was not cut-out for it. Within my own heart, I knew I am not an IIT material. By the way, that time we did not have additional monster called CET. You just had to study for 12th and if you are smart, you appear for IIT-JEE. So bottomline is, I joined engineering by process of default / elimination rather than any specific choice / interest.
Now that I was in one of the oldest engineering colleges of the country and in the most sought-after branch of engineering – Electronics and Telecommunication- things should have worked out smoothly. I really wish I could tell you that I was topper throughout four years and completed engineering with flying colours. Sorry folks, that was not to be.
After first year itself, I realised I was not suitable for engineering. But there was no alternative. Rank-holders like me do not drop out and opt for something else mid-way. So somehow I persisted and completed my engineering without losing any year. I turned out to be quite an average engineering student. Thank god, I did not make my career as an engineer. I did job as an engineer for one year and immediately went to US for my MBA and pursued totally different, not directly related to engineering, Banking career.
However, there are lot of success stories from my own engineering class. Some appeared for GRE and TOEFL and went to US for doing Masters as well as PhDs. They successfully completed their Masters and PhDs and joined companies like Intel or started their own ventures and became successful entrepreneurs. Some appeared for GATE and joined IITs for doing MTechs. Most of the fellows continued in the engineering field and then joined IT industry which was sunrise industry then and really took off in 1990s.
Even for me, though I pursued career as a banker, engineering did not leave me. I might have forgotten all the technicalities which I learnt during those four years. But engineers way of solving problem stuck to me. I always had an edge over other MBAs without engineering undergraduate degree. So afterall, the four years of engineering were not waste at all even for average engineering student like me. It really helped even in the banking career!!!
Let me tell you something which is quite unusual. You may not believe it. I had a 6 years working stint in Kuwait and Bahrain recently. In the Gulf countries, the Engineers are so highly respected that even on the business cards, just like doctors, they print Engineer before the name. Even I had a business card which read Engr. Milind Kulkarni!!!! It helped in getting things done. I am proud to be Engineer!!!!!!!!
This is just a beginning folks. You might be wondering why average engineering student like me who hardly worked as an engineer in his entire career of 17 years is still saying I am proud to be Engineer!!!!!!!!
Lets me explain to you some aspects and you will realise.
Milind Kulkarni
31st March 2010
milindinpanhala@gmail.com
Though I knew most of the things, it was very nice to read this story and I am sure this concept of sharing your life story will encourage parents to realize various options available for their kids.
ReplyDeleteBest Wishes
Dr Mahesh Sabade