On cloud 'Ten'

The third semester has drawn to a virtual close with most of the grades being declared. We, as students, look forward to or dread the ‘symbols of proficiency’ as rewards for the effort or the lack of it during the semester. Some wear smiles of success while a few others start soul-searching. A few others adopt a ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude. I must state here that, in my experience, the last category is rather superfluous, for most who profess to that category are internally as much concerned over the grades as anyone else. The Bhagavad-Gita has not yet made such an impact in the country of its origin.
I have my share of the ups and downs of the institute’s much despised yet pretty effective relative grading. After hitting a rather discomfiting and possibly discouraging trough in the first semester, I came to realize that a change of approach was necessary. Failure, particularly when it hits you the hardest, gives you the opportunity to stare at defeat in the face and understand what needs to be done to get away from it. It teaches you not to chase success but only excellence. The former is something pretty difficult to define in the paradigm of relative grading. But the latter is something very tangible and readily digestible. As some poet put it, ‘There is no ecstasy parallel to that got when you lie on the battlefield exhausted and victorious’. The victory is according to me always personal. If you have the satisfaction of having given the battle everything you possibly could have, that is ‘personal victory’. This is independent of the outcome and hence helps you come to grips with reality better.
Coming to more mundane stuff, the best thing about the third semester was that I didn’t have to attend the workshop in the most odious of uniforms for the drill of having to chip, file, press, turn and so on (is there any end to it at all!). The drudgery had been compounded by the fact that it had been my undoing in the first semester. I got a ‘decent’ A-grade in the second semester after what I thought was dedication to physical labor that I had never ever displayed before in my life (much to the disdain of my father) and never might display again. Nonetheless, I gave more than a serious thought to burning the workshop uniform in the hostel quadrangle. Possibly what prevented me was beginning the course ID 120 on Ecology and Environment on the wrong foot even before the first lecture began. After all it didn’t seem to be in harmony with the environment, did it? It later turned out that the course did deserve the dread quite a few of us had in out minds after the ID 110(its elder brother) ‘experience’. The physics lab, where you get an ‘A’ even if you leave no stone unturned to impress the guides there, was not there either. The lack of a physics (theory) course was the only thing I could cavil about. But as they say, you cannot have everything.
The semester, I realized, demanded greater application than I initially thought. All my dreams of an easy-paced semester where I could devote more time to extra-curricular activities came tumbling down. Particularly, after a rather rude wake-up call in EMC (short for electromagnetic circuits), I realized the need to make some corrections in my approach because there was really nothing much I could do on the studying front. Getting six on twenty in a quiz where the class average was twelve and half a dozen blokes got the maximum was not something that could sink in easily. Clearly, with nothing inadequate on the preparation part by way of studying, it had to be the ’approach’. Comporg (short for computer organization and design) with its leviathan syllabus was the only exception to the rule. The most important achievement, if there is anything at all, was conquering the ‘inner demons’. That included not letting my confidence slip. Slowly but surely, things began to fall in place. I was set for the consistent performance in the end-semesters that the results have so far verified.
While looking forward to a possible ‘perfect ten’, something prized by any sincere IITian, I realize that one of the worst enemies for anyone is complacence. I realize, more importantly, that grades are after all only one of the several things that I should try to excel at in my stay at the institute. Grades are indubitably vital but for someone with my kind of aspirations independent work approaching research is the lifeline of true progress. Of course, I intend to hone my skills in the extracurricular stuff and such sort. Nonetheless, better time-management remains the key to doing all I intend to do in what is turning out to be a truly wonderful journey of self-discovery at this premier institute of engineering education.
PS- This was written before I got to know of AM110 grades. I did get a ten this sem. The inordinate delay from the ApMech department did rankle my nerves. However, all's well that ends well. This certainly did.