Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Darkness decends on the banks of the Bhramaputra

"There will always be more manual robotics' events than you can ever conceive, and every single one of them will be coordinated by a senior, who has asked you to pull your pants down in the recent past." - The IIT G equivalent of Murphy's Law.

Ola.

Its not like the days in IIT are not like what they seem in the books (40 girls, 400 guys and what seems to be, 4000 goats.) but its at night that my alma mater truly comes into its own.

Okay, Imagine trying to break into your College Director's abandoned residence, at 1:00 am and running into the guard... Bad eh? Back here in Guwahati, THAT is the best case scenario, I mean, really, I would take being caught in flagrante delicto by a guard, to loosing a leg to a leopard any day.

And the seniors, well they make the leopard look like a tame kitten you can feed milk to. I remember reading the freshers' guide and drawing the conclusion that the seniors here were hard working, honest people who would treat the freshers like their siblings...bah! Imagine a person who loves you based on the amount of robots you are willing to build, take twenty of them, and add the fascination for doing a 'muski' to anything that moves. Brotherly isn't it?

To the leopard and the seniors if you also add the minor points like a dwindling academic career, and a near certain Chetan Bhagat CPI, you get a real good idea of how being awake at 3:00 am (and blogging about it) at IIT Guwahati feels.

So here I am 3:00 am and all, wondering why on Earth would soomeone with a friendly name like Robert T Morisson write 4000 pages of organic chemistry, and then proceed to sell them to innocent 18 year olds thus ruining their goat plagued lives even further. Chemistry quiz tomorrow. And I would have gladly taken to my date with destiny if it wasn't for the 8 dc motors (here's where the robotics comes in) lying on my desk, which i might have to solder (Don't, worry i don't know what that means either...) with something else (I soo know what I'm doing!).

Every 30 minutes or so, theres a knock on the door from one of those loveable seniors. Followed by a conversation that tends to go like this:

HIM: Hows the robot coming up?
ME: Prety sweet. I just haveto solder.
HIM: Hmm, what will you do now?
ME: I will... umm... solder!
HIM: What about the ketcher plug mechanism?
ME: Right after I solder!

See there you have it. End every sentence with the word 'solder' and you get a precious 30 minutes. Which you can dedicate to a newer alibi for next time!

So there's your bit off a place, where you can escape a guard at 1:00 am, and then be forced to celebrate your close shave by building a robot, 2 hours later, never for a second pausing to wonder about the chemistry quiz, and its impact on your future earnings potential.

Me?... I have 800 acres of it.

ciao.

P.S: I know I've spelt 'Brahmaputra', incorrectly in the title, at least now I do, Thanks to the know-it-all who pointed it out in her comment.