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B. Tech Victims

They sell their souls and four years of their life hanging on a promise that they will be bestowed with some kind of world-changing ability of technological mastery, only to realize later (when it is too late) that they have been trapped and are left hanging in a vicious limbo for all eternity with a hollow soul, no discernible skill sets, unsure of who and what they are and what they will do for a living. Casualties of misguided career choices and a victimization industry, they are the B.Tech Victims.  I am one. Chances are, many of you who are reading this are too.

But who are they really?

The official government recognized moniker for B.Tech Victim is “Engineer”. But in most cases, engineers of today have got to do with engines as much as Akshay Kumar has got to do with sensible movies. B.Tech Victims:

B.Tech! Fuck Yeah!!
  • Spend and waste years hanging around an engineering college trying to get a degree somehow.
  • Have almost no subject matter expertise on whatever they have “studied”.
  • Are not taught what might be required for a job, forget for engineering R&D and stuff.
  • Are unemployable to a large extent. That is, they possess no skills which might interest an employer.
  • Are frustrated, demoralized, generally lost and have no clue what to do in life or for a career.
  • Spend a lot of time just mugging up textbooks and vomiting them on paper for “marks”, which they somehow think will redeem them.
  • Can waste tons of paper writing exams (not necessarily about the subject).
  • Lack any sort of soft skills like communicative abilities, language, general knowledge and presentability, in addition to low self-esteem and confidence levels.
  • Know how to operate Windows XP and and the Internetz.

Overall, B.Tech Victims are those who have no clue where they are heading. A soul officially becomes a B.Tech Victim on receipt of a sheet of paper declaring so in some fancy Gothic font.

Overview of the Engineer Engineering Industry.

B.Tech Victims are mass-produced in India through engineering colleges. These engineer-producing factories range from those existing only on paper or set up in warehouses or rented-out buildings or own buildings to huge fully fledged campuses. At last count, there were around 13 lakh engineering seats in about 3200 colleges in India. AP tops with 2.5 lakh seats and TN comes second with 1.5 lakh. Even Kerala has around 40,000 seats. So, you have to work pretty hard if you DON’T want to get into an engineering college today! When this poor soul was trying to become a B.Tech victim in 1999, there were only around 2500 seats open for general quota under merit in Kerala. Today, it has become a free for all. For instance, there are 7 engineering colleges within a 25 km radius of my home today, and I don’t even live near any major city!

B.Tech Victims are of different kinds, depending on the type of Engineering College they come from:

  1. The Indian Institutes of Technology, RECs and such snob places, where you have to be super intelligent to get into and then cram your life away so you can get into IIMs. People also get drunk and smoke up on rooftops here and later become famous in life writing books about it.
  2. Government/Aided/”High Quality” engineering colleges are the older and more recognized lot of the non-IIT type with better faculty and standards. Admission to these colleges the the purpose of the “entrance rat-race” as their brand value assures at least some semblance of a career.
  3. Private Engineering Colleges are dime a dozen and form the rest of the lot. They are mostly operations for promoters to make a quick buck and are usually bereft of quality anything. Graduates from these colleges excel at skills like foot-board traveling, movie-watching, assignment copying, chai drinking etc, but are generally unemployable. I would say these are the root cause of the B.Tech malaise.

This post applies to 10% from type 1 colleges above, 50% from type 2 and 90% from type 3, the remaining are the ones who actually achieved something from the entire process maybe by some quirk of fate. Sideline: Then there are these type of colleges. Especially those in TN, with their cruel and draconian rules “preventing” the totally outrageous practice of girl-boy mingling. This cruelty destroys the best lives of a generation of poor kids, killing any chance of having a meaningful relationship in their lifetime… These colleges spend more time and resources playing moral police and acting as virginity keepers rather than imparting education.

The Origin and Evolution of a B.Tech Victim

After 12 years of mastering the art of reading, writing and useless Trigonometry, high school graduates will be told to acquire some kind of professional certificate that can be bartered (hopefully) for them to earn a living. And of course, no one really thinks that “learning” anything has got to do anything with this. Some “Degree” is enough! Clueless kids and parents will look around to find an easy way out, and come to the conclusion: “B.Tech!” Why the hell not? Even in these globalized days, most people, especially elders in India believe acquiring a “degree” is the key to a job, career, love, riches, SUVs, green cards and world domination. Of course, The fancier the degree is, the more your chances are!

  • Everyone you know is an “engineer” or is in the process of becoming one.
  • Parents. They think making their kid (who obviously has other passions) an engineer is the “in-thing” to talk in their social circles and to relatives, and some even think that an “engineering” degree will land them an assured confirmed seat in the next Emirates flight to San Francisco (via Dubai)
  • With a gazillion seats available, becoming an engineer looks pretty easy!
  • B.Tech promises no risk or much work, a guaranteed certificate and some “software” job.
  • “A degree for the sake of a degree” people. B.Tech is decidedly more glamorous than, say, a B.Com.
  • There are other more interesting career paths, but why take the risk? This is what everyone does!
  • A B.Tech degree will of course increase your value in the marriage market.
  • And there are also a large lot who believe by become an engineer they are going to acquire masterly powers for technological wizardry that is going to change the world and all that.

Agents armed with glossy brochures showing victims seated at rows of post-expiry date computers, bored seniors run out of ragging victims, “know-it-all” elders full of air and “look at Mrs.Nair’s son!” type comparison case-studies and the sub-industry of “entrance coaching” all help in the decision-making process of creating B.Tech Victims. Once a seat is ensured either by merit, reservation or exchange of currency, the process starts. Most would-be victims will have no clue what “engineering” they would be doing at end of four years. All they would have is some vague idea that they would be learning something about computers and after four years would be boarding a Volvo bus to work as a “Project Leader” with some “Software MNC” in Bangalore or such. Ah, the delusion! Uninformed parents, the reason many students are pushed into engineering courses despite not being interested in it, will be beaming with pride, convinced that their wards will be inventing the next wheel after four years and pump their entire life savings into the process. What a waste of good money!

As time goes on, many students quickly get bored with pointless subjects and meaningless assignments. The really uninterested just ignore it all and pile up backpapers, some as a way to get back at the system that pushed the burden on B.Tech upon them. Some take solace thinking that maybe things will get interesting later. But as time progresses, frustration much sets in, with questions like “What the fuck am I doing here?” will be repeated to the self and to birds in the air with increasing frequency. As time still goes on, the smarter ones will realize the futility of it all, and the devastating feeling of having become a B.Tech Victim slowly sets in. Those who realize that all this is a waste of time turn towards the finer pleasures of life because why not enjoy atleast something, because in the end the “topper” is not going to be any better off than they are.

Sometime during the third year, around 2 months become the year exams, an engineering student will wake up one not-so-fine morning and look back on the past three years with horror and towards the future in terror. In around a year plus he/she will be an “engineer” and they still don’t know shit about any engineering or anything else that could make them bearable for any employer. They realize that the fun is almost over, and a frantic search for “what to do next” ensues. However, the more enlightened of the lot know it is all futile again, and reach for that next peg. The total simpletons, still unaware, will continue to wallow in their bliss of ignorance. This goes on until the day it is all over, and a fresh batch of B.Tech victims are spat out into the big bad world. The realization soon hits them hard that they are utterly useless and don’t know anything else but to stare blankly, and they are at par with liberal arts and commerce degree holders. Out of those who pass, that is. Only 15% of B.Tech students pass in the first attempt and the others toil on for more years to clear off their back papers, ending up in a quagmire and a death trap.

Holy Shit! Engineering! What do I do now??

Career Options for B.Tech Victims

Every year, lakhs of zombified masses are turned off the B.Tech assembly line, and a whopping 78% out of these are estimated to be unemployable. Even after spending 4 years (some, more) of cramming pointless, outdated and indigestible subjects down the throat, B.Tech Victims still lack any sort of skills which may appeal to an employer. At the same time, they are stripped of their natural talents, their brains are stiff and minds numb that most will not acquire any reasonable skills in their lifetime. What skills can you acquire by mugging up “tailor made” textbooks and vomiting them on answer sheets? That just does not work.

Most B.Tech Victims are easy fodder for institutes like NIIT, where they spend tens of thousands of bucks more and 6 months trying to find the soul of Java or C++, after which they can settle down to become code-coolies. Many get through to some companies by merit or sheer hard-work and even get trained by them! But those employers are not dumb. They make sure that the Victims are totally utilized till the last drop of life blood is squeezed out of them. Then there is MBA, which is another scam altogether and the same story all over again, after which the B.Tech Victim will become a B.Tech+MBA Victim, and make excellent peddlers of personal loans and pre-paid SIM cards. Then there are BPOs/Call centers, various sales jobs, teaching and a plethora of other non-engineer-y options to make a living.

But believe it of not, there is a silver lining to all this.

Since B.Tech victims are not going to exactly create the next engineering masterpiece such as inventing the next wheel or build the next Google, Taj Mahal, Boeing Jet or Space Shuttle or maybe anything related to “engineering”, the world is their oyster! They can choose to do anything you want! For example, I know a civil engineer managing mobile advertising products, a computer engineer selling loan products, a mechanical engineer who is a JAVA wizard, another computer engineer being a BPO team lead, a chemical engineer who is a bank branch manager and so on. Which other course offers such a wide array of career options? Let me know some if you know in the comments…

A part of this year’s B.tech Victims probably at a job fair.

It may be important to get an education and a job. But not as important as getting a degree! This “Degree Fixation” is one of the colonial hangovers the British have left us, along with Cricket, the (creaking) Railways, “do the needful”, Fair & Lovely and Victorian Culture (which people today mistake as ‘Indian Culture’). A generation ago, a degree, maybe B.A., was considered the thing to have made it in life. Only that today it has shifted to B.Tech. If we think our parents were frustrated that they did not achieve anything in life because of useless education and we are doing it differently, we are wrong. We are going exactly the same way. We are all just Kittunnis who are Elephant B.A.s.

Tailender

Many people were of the opinion that students of “engineering” are too complacent themselves, with no effort being put into doing real projects or putting real effort into acquiring subject knowledge. Well, take these below into account, which are the real reasons for so many B.Tech Victims:

  • Uninformed parents forcing kids (who have other passions) into engineering streams thinking easy job/made life
  • Uninterested kids somehow trying to finish the course and get the hell out
  • Colleges with no trained faculty, no facilities and no infrastructure other than fleets of government reject buses
  • No real knowledge imparted, bought out projects and mugged up degrees.

As 80% of students have no interest in the subject and somehow try to finish the course, the remaining who have some interest will be affected by the same complacency. And even if thy do have some spirit and interest in the subject, there are no adequate support systems including knowledgeable faculty members (who are usually ex-students of the same college, joining after they just graduated) to help them materialize their ideas. As a result, B.Tech Victims who after spending 4 years in these concentration camps emerge in some cases with no skills, no ideas, no talents and their souls dead and in some cases with serious relationship issues and some even become alcoholics. And parents, of course, blame the kids. However, reports that tens of thousands of seats are going vacant across the country is welcome news.

So what can you do? Make most of your time there.

In any case, there are some things that B.Tech Victims take away from their college, which are the fun that they have, the friends they make and the pleasures of the finer things in life.  So all B.tech Victims, make the most of your time there and have fun while you can. Go around a bit, explore the country, get a girlfriend/boyfriend, laugh a lot, have fun.  Because you won’t be having any after those four years.

Also, Make good plans for your future, what you initially wanted to become. Do not let your dreams die in those morose building,s there is still time. Treat these four years as a black hole in your life.

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clemenzz

lol… nice one dude..

vadakkus

Thanks! :)

The Half-Blood Geek

I want to say that I don’t have a degree, but a diploma in Computer Engg and I’m a Software Engineer!
Who wants to chew my head now?
“What? How come you become an engineer without a degree?” The bloody f**kin question I encounter often is another example of people’s conception.
I’m now doing b-tech as an evening course not as a way to enhance my career, but just for sake of these morons who give ratings based on degree in which ever part of your life!
Couldn’t agree more on that paper wasting, book vomiting thing! Btech is such waste of time and I’m doing it unwillingly just for sake of it? I need a break!

Auslay - with an attitude to fight :)

Okay. Just for the sake of clarity.
People(morons) ask you, how come you are not a degree holder and you are an engineer?
You are personally fine with no degree.And have absolutely no problem in being degreeless. (Hats off on that attitude Bro!)
But you still go for evening classes for a degree “just” because people ask.
You yourself have mentioned they are morons, but you are spending the the best of evenings to satisfy the morons.
How are you to like something which you dont want in the first place?
KFC is hell for vegetarians and heaven for meat eaters.
I fail to see the point when a Vegetarian sits in KFC, and keeps on complaining, when he always has the choice to walk out.
You dont have to eat chicken, “just” because every one is eating chicken.

You are just stuck in the wrong store. Find the right one. But before that, understand what you want :)

The reason for that is these morons contribute a good percentage of population and they can cause you serious trouble in future.

Auslay

The whole world was against MichelAngelo when he said earth was round !
Van Gogh still painted when his only pal and mentor, ridiculed his work !
Charlie Chaplin never made it finals in “Charlie Chaplin Look Alike Contests” !

The Half-Blood Geek

Wasn’t those examples an overstatement of the subject? But as per that idea, people take time to realize. Can being stubborn make you anything better than a martyr? How can I say whether a system is wrong without trying it out?

Shibu K T

Good one. Unfortunately, cant agree more.. :(

ranjuus

aah replace btech with medic, and it’ll be my story :-/ Anyways wonderful post :)

vadakkus

So doctors also become doctors by mugging up? Scary :/ :)

Thank you! :)

Auslay

Dont blame the system alone !
How many students in Enginnering Colleges today are ready to do their projects on their own? It is not a secret that the biggest business in and around colleges are Ready made Seminars and Projects .
It is not the colleges problem that you are not making the full use of it.

If you do a technical project on your own, the research work you put behind such an effort is alone worth the four years.
BUT NO ONE DOES IT! They don’t want to even the twitch their fingers for their project work which is going to lay the very foundation of their practical knowledge.
For some reason, they just want the degree with some marks. You are absolutely right on that base. But ridiculing the Btech system as a whole a bit over the bar.

The window that engineering open up is by far the most awesome that I have ever seen.
The depth in which every subject takes you is so real. It is the base for any technical specialisation you need to pursue.

The right course done by wrong people isnt the systems problem.

I am sharing a video below. This is to give an idea for what Engineering Institutes were setup and what not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBk4Z4q1fEg

vadakkus

I was in no way ridiculing the whole system. Just for that, I had mentioned: “This post applies to 10% from type 1 colleges above, 50% from type 2 and 90% from type 3,”

I gather you are an engineer too, but from a more prestigious institution.

The idea is, 90% of colleges d not have knowledgeable faculty or provisions to unlock engineering talents (if any) the students might have. Faculty also find it good enough to push students towards cramming up and get marks. What facilities do colleges have to make students do their own projects?

In fact, many faculty suggest students buy projects from their contacts, so they will also get a cut.

Incompetence is a by product of the system/

Elizabeth

I agree with AUSLAY….The problem with Engineering is that people do it for the sake of getting a degree which means that they are not ready to put even a hour of hardwork per week in the four years. There are engineers who has spent 4 yrs or more in an engineering college without entering its library or without coding and executing a single program by themselves. Believe I am talking about computer science engineers too…

In that way Polytechnic engineers are better because they cannot get through the course without grinding their heads. Yes, the assessment system in Engineering colleges may be wrong, but I believe students are also to blame. I have seen people get away in software lab exams by stealing it from other computers. IF they are intelligent enough to do it infront of evaluators, why not put some effort to learn the programming…

Just like there are lakhs of useless “Engineers” in India, I do believe there are quite a lot of so called “MBAs” who doesn’t even know a single concept of Financial Management…

How can companies give jobs to people who cannot answer the basic questions of their specialization? So as auslay was saying “The right course done by wrong people isnt the systems problem.”

vadakkus

My college did not allow us to touch computers till we were in the third year. Our teachers simply did not know the nuances of programming, and all. Many learned basics of coding from private institutes like NIIT and SSI.

The belief that “students are all to blame” is absolutely wrong. 4 years in a mediocre college will kill any spirit and spark any student might have, as faculty, support systems and facilities are all created for manufacturing degree holders. My college, for example, spent most of it’s resources to ensure guys and girls do not mix. (No, I am not from that infamous Chennai college).

No one was interested in imparting real knowledge. The course is wrong, people are wrong, everything is wrong.
Just because everyone needs a degree, everyone decides to become an engineer and demand shoots up, diluting quality to unrecognizable levels.

In this mayhem. people who have real affinity to the subject are drowned as well.

Noble

awesome hilarious and bitter truth of our times :), every parents want there son’s to be b.tech and daughters to be doc’s . day is not far wen we see B.tech will be min qualification for the bus driver

vadakkus

Five years down the line, your prediction has come true. Though it is not a min qualification, I know B.Tech graduates who are bus drivers :)

Vishnupkd

lol

Jhingalala

As soon as I joined the college, not only I realized that it was a C grade shop for B tech degrees but also that I had invested in the ‘wrongest’ deal. Since then, I’ve been trying just to clear the exams and be a successful graduate, if not an engineer :P
These four years of engg will be the darkest blot on the pages of my life. Within few months my tenure at hell will come to an end.. and I’ll be a free soul once again.
Next time when you see my university’s advertisement on TV (and I bet you must have seen it already :P ), remember this victim of India’s biggest overrated course…torturing people “beyond boundaries” ;)

adi

I too facing frustration in btech college loosing interest in those activities too which I really love only getting worse here….
i am being bullied here and facing depression and frustration but have to complete it out of compulsion

George

I cannot believe it.. this is practically my life story every word of it. i am currently moving on to my last semester of engineering and cant wait to finish of my exams cuz next sem there is going to be only 2 days of college due to project work. in these months i have to somehow reclaim my life which i stopped living due to 11 hours of utter dross i have to go thru in college daily. to every person in india thinking of taking engineering please reconsider your decision as you are going to waste 4 years of your life doing things noone can be interested in.!!! let of a lot of steam rite now by posting this.

thanks ,
vadukkus

B.Tech Victim

I am a girl from Kerala. I joined in a private college in Kerala 2006, hoping to “learn” something.  I really wanted to design/create something as I was totally interested in the subject of Electronics. I had done many hobby projects when I was in school and I was very interested in technology. I was very sound in Computers too. So I took up Electronics & Communication Engineering.

Within 1 week I realized I was sitting in a class full of morons who didn’t know anything (never seen a resistor) about the subject or engineering (I still remember, some of them mentioning they joined for B.tech as their parents forced them to.) and the teachers were dumb as hell!!   Pathetic, as you said they were seniors who had just passed out from the same college. I had expected an experience faculty instead of them when I opted to join in that college.

There were teachers who would come to class and start teaching with an introduction that went like ” this topic will come for 10 marks in University Exam”. Marks! It was all about marks. Nobody cared for knowledge! Nobody cared to “learn”.

I lost interest in everything, I was totally depressed. I couldn’t learn anything… or rather “study for exams”.

When 1st year results came, I got 8 back papers out of 10. (I was an above average student in school).

As time went, I met like minded people who were really talented and technically sound and at loss like me,  I didn’t care about the academics and completely ignored it, even though I “learned” the subjects that interested me and did the projects myself with my newly found friends (while the toppers got ready-made projects from institutes outside).

As semesters went on, my back papers piled up. I completed the course in 2010 with 23 arrears out of 59 papers we had for the course.

I never cared about getting a degree anymore if that is how I get a degree, mugging and spitting random sentences on a piece of paper. I was sick of the system, that spoiled me, my life, my dreams.  But I learned as much as or even more than the toppers who graduated with high GPA.

I was and I am still a technically sound person. 80% of my classmates were/are technically challenged even  with  a “degree” of Bachelor of Technology. And of course, they can’t say a single sentence in English without grammatical errors. Their General Knowledge is worse than that of a 5th standard student. 

The  real “B.Tech Victims”. (Comprising 10% of my classmates).

What did I get in the end? I met people, wonderful, amazing people with real talent. Some of them were too brilliant to have wasted their life in that college. It is a miracle to find such great young minds in “private colleges”. They were also wasted like me though. Some of them completed the course with 40 plus arrears. But they were 100 times employable than the “class toppers” (or rather pseudo engineers).

The B.Tech Survivors (another 10%)

These were the group of students  who had some skills and talents and still adapted to the system and survived it somehow. They got a “degree” and a respectable job/higher degree. They are employable too.

It’s 2012Most of these “B.tech victims” including me got Govt. Jobs/Bank jobs (As these jobs test your GK, English etc more than mugging and spitting skills).One of the class toppers got job in BPO and some of them went for short term courses in C++, Java, CCNA etc and wasted a lot of money as they continued to “study for exams” there also. Some of them got into Software companies with the help of relatives. Some of them went to private colleges in Tamil Nadu for M.tech. Very few have learned some skill and got jobs.Some of  the “pseudo engineers” are now going for “bank coaching” (where they continue to apply their mug-spit rhythm and it works sometimes!),  the new trend after B.Tech in Kerala. 

There is also an emerging trend of M.Tech in Private colleges as AICTE norms say the lectures should have an M.Tech (bloody hell someone just ban these colleges!!!).

P.S. I still have 12 back papers, I have decided to “learn” those subjects :D

Anonymous

I can Simply compare my story to your’s…
It was like I reached a wrong place after few weeks of my First year.
The result – 5 back papers out of 9 in First Year.
Finally I had 20 back papers in total… I only studied what I liked..
But because of some good programming knowledge and skill I have a job now. ;)
But majority of my classmates who have high marks are still jobless.
P.S I still have 7 back papers, and I’m picking them one by one now :)

jerrysparks

If you had back papers,how did you get the job.Right now,I only have my course completion certificate.What to do when asked about marksheets?

vadakkus

Most companies, especially the smaller ones know how the system works, and they aren’t really picky about marksheets as long as you have a completion certificate and are knowledgeable. They will take you in as interns or contractors and you still can earn while picking off your papers. There are many, many people like this, doing intern and freelance work for companies who want work to be done at a not-so-heavy price. In fact, it is a whole industry now. Then there are monitoring jobs, call centers etc.

vadakkus

Haha. I know many people like you. And like your classmates. We have reached an ironical situation where people who got good marks mugging up textbooks are unable to land jobs while those who have loads of backpapers but are smart can land jobs! :)

Arjunlal

when I was reading this comment of yours, I felt like reading my own story! only difference  – my ‘wasting’ was little better in a govt. college, with some extremely good experiences and that I could also meet some real respectable teachers.

Ajith Memana

You said it right…. Each and every line of you is My story :D

Ronnie

So have you reached the other end of the tunnel as an engineer?

vadakkus

Know what, there are tens of thousands of people just like you, eager to learn and interested in subjects, but whose interests are killed by the system run by people who do not really have any interests in life but to “just go with the flow”, be it classmates or teachers. Many people just lose interest, become depressed and then waste their life mechanically doing something. Kudos to you that you could blaze a different path and keep your spirit alive. It isn’t easy. You are awesome and your comment is the most upvoted on my entire website :)

rrr

study sexology…then problem solvedc

Devesh_pandey

its true…….nd i m seein my future in engineeringgg………………….

vadakkus

All the best! :D

Shanu

Hi … can u give me your facebook profile link for contacting you my vadakkus:)

jitin

i m 2011 batch victim..had 29 backlogs…..reduced to 17….ur words r 100 per cent correct….i had so many options to look on…

ss

stop all private engineering colleges they are money making machines only iit nits n govt colleges should be allowed to continue

ss

iit n nit s rock others f**k

bad

same’s my story,even better i say.after the 4 years all i earned is 44 back papers and some suspensions & condenation as well.

pratyush97

HOLY SHIT! I’ve go no f’ idea of what’s coming at me.

MJ

well i am a B.E- M.E Victim and the same for pharma also

IKAN

Finally got something interesting to read..this world runs on a system..a system made by some people for their gains. every day is a game and rules are set by some others, all we have is to run on same old road with some new syllabus and facts. after all what education really matters is to fulfill someones job done. And what qualifies you is BTech in hand.

vadakkus

Excellent! Very well said. The system was created only to meet some vested interests. We have no option but follow the road, or make humongous sacrifices to try and break free. Which is mostly an impossibility.

The Artful Dodger

I am one of the thousands of people you described in this
article – albeit a late 90s version. I’d say, in my case, I was pretty much
doomed before I started saying ‘appa’ or ‘amma’ because my dad was a Chief
Engineer.. as was his dad before him. So, under the extremely mistaken
impression that I had the bloodlines to ace this engineering thing – I went to
an engineering college in Chennai which is now a stand-alone university
(apparently). I came in last in class – literally and metaphorically for 4
years. Let us not get into a discussion about how many more years it look me
finish the ‘arrears’ or ‘suppli’ or ‘back’ or whatever it was called in the
places that you and the rest of my brethren here got their souls crushed. At
the time, because I was terrified of where this whole scam was going, I did
what came naturally and drank a lot of cheap rum with poisonous cola on the
weekends. Thank god for that – I at least have one party trick to show for
those years. Meaning, I’m the token mallu dude who is the last man standing in
an office party with a bar service – along with the token koorgi/sir-jee/or the
occasional hyderabadi who wants to go mano-e-mano with the token mallu. No rewards
for guessing I’m now an IT slave in Bangalore. What is my point? I have none – that
is part of my charm. But some people might say “Be careful what you wish for..
you might actually get it.”

vadakkus

Haha. Your story is alike that of so, so many Mallu Btech victims, the parental pressure, the recognition of the scam, the being terrified, and of course, all the run drinking, and ultimately ending up as an IT slave in Bangalore! And of course, for having no point to present – just like me.

underground

You have truly reached at the heart of things. However I already
know all this. A fraternity of btech victims does not lead me anywhere. I need
strong pragmatic advises not condolences. The upshot of the article – “to enjoy
the finer things in life” is not applicable in my case since I happen to be in
one of those private institutions in TN with their ‘draconian’ rules. I want to
drop out of college but I don’t see any prospects after doing that. Please do
advise me on this. I apologize for the grimness of my comment though I am sure
you will be able to appreciate my impatience. I happen to be in my second year
of eee.

vadakkus

Sorry for the late reply, been tied up recently. I also have been in one of those draconian places, which by virtue of Karma is near closure today. The first thing I did was get out of the hostel. The rest came automatically. If your college does not allow staying outside the hostel, tough luck. However, if you KNOW that you are really good at something and are passionate about it, try your luck. If you can see something working out, dropping out can be an option, rather being stuck in that hole and ruining your life. Try to polish your skills at something you are good at, you can always acquire degrees. I know a guy who dropped engineering to become a nurse – and a very good one at that – and he is very happy today.

Baby banker

what a realistic expression, life is pretty messed up. so whats the solution?

vadakkus

As far as I can talk from experience, nothing. There is nothing we can do about controlling our lives or what happens in it. All we can do is take it and handle it as best as we can :(

Bijoy Thomas

Completed engineering course with 37 arrears.is there any hope

VJ

I can’t believe I didn’t find this blog until now! This post specifically, must be printed out, framed and sent to every parent in Kerala with a 15 year old child.
I am a “B.Tech Victim” of a different sort.
The kind who was actually good at building stuff and fixing things all through my childhood, who turned up wide-eyed at Engineering college, believing that this shit is going to help me build and fix better things.
To make a long story short, I never touched my tool box or made or fixed anything in my life after week #1 in engineering college.

29un

OMG what am I going to do now??
Last semester results haven’t been published and I am totally depressed….Even if I clear all the subjects I am pretty sure I will not be hired by any company…I don’t have any skills and I am too clumpsy….
There is nothing in life to look forward to….Every night I pray to die in my sleep so that another depressing day won’t happen….I am not brave enough to suicide…yet.

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