Workshop Training has been one of the most interesting part of my course till now. The reason?? It could be simply the joy of creating something with your oun hands… or it can also be that it is the first time I have realized that something useful is being taught. Although the training was a very good learning experience, the schedule was simply cruel… Firstly it was planned in the middle of what could have been a nice long summer-break. The temperature was soaring high….and the timing??? 9AM… Who the hell wants to wake up early and then walk up to the workshop and back when the sun is blazing on top of you?? And when you are forced to do so (since the marks you get in this training will be added to your overall percentage) it becomes worse….. and on top of it you have to make practical files for the same!! Huh!! Seems pathetic right?? But No… The experience is still worth it. Workshop has always interested me from my very first class (way back in the ragging days). This time the projects undertaken were more difficult. Inside the workshop there are 9 different shops… Namely Electrical Shop, Electronics Shop, Machine Shop, Welding Shop, Fitting Shop, Sheet Metal Shop, Smithy Shop, Carpentry Shop and finally Foundry. Well, explaining each of them will be a waste of time, but the names of each of the shop speak for themselves. The best thing about the shops was that you yourself work at your job, so you do all the welding, hammering, igniting the furnaces yourself…. At the end of the class you walk out both satisfied and tired.

And now continuing my earlier post….. I WAS NEXT!!
Yes, my birthday in the teens has been an experience of a lifetime (which I hope I will never have to experience again…) Now why would I not like to face a similar experience again? Here is Why…
All my friends had started teasing, taunting and warning me a week before my birthday. That was quite irritating annoying. But this time my birthday was not the same simple and sober as others (beating followed by a cake). This time they asked me to accompany for dinner on the evening of 1st June. Well I was really unwilling to go with them…. Who knows what was in store for me after the dinner. But a few of my friends requested my company and I unenthusiastically went with them. Throughout the time everyone acted as if they had big plans for me… and my biggest fear at that time was that the clock might strike twelve even before we return and those (cruel) friends of mine might start beating me in the middle of the street. So after the dinner I hurried back to my room in a cycle-rickshaw, while others walked back. I made some of my preparations and waited for the hour to arrive. The time flew past a lot quicker than I expected and soon enough as I expected more than a dozen arrived…. The carried me out of the room, dropped me in the corridor, clicked a few photos and then they just left me…
No beating… Nothing. They just told me that they don’t feel like beating me. I was confused… and so I continued lying on the floor. What I was expecting was that as soon as I get up…. they will begin their assault. But on the contrary they threatened to beat me if I don’t get up and walk back into my room. I obeyed. Now back into the room I felt quite unsafe. Thirty odd eyes staring at me… hundreds of teeth…. doing something that I have never realized before. So now the game begun… They started ragging me… “Naach…” was the order. Although I tried to resist… But eventually I had to dance to the beats of “Kajra re”. What’s next…? A box of sweets. Everyone fed me some saying “Mooh meetha Karo”, but at the same time the ragging still continued. The wanted me to have the whole box full of sweets. Aakhir uske baad imtehaan ka waqt aa hi gaya. The just dragged me out into the corridor and gave me a heavy beating. What was originally known as birthday bumps has now changed into the birthday bash (Nice pun naa??). And I was the big time victim. After being kicked, punched, slapped, hit with slippers and bounced around I was thrown aside and my room mate (Mohit Singla – if you want to know his name) was made airborne. As the trend goes… the room mate has to face his share of the beating. Or in other words” Room-mate ka bhi apna quota hota hai”. Meanwhile I crawled aside and found myself being clicked on camera. If it would not have been for those two seniors (one in Geology dept, and the other doing MCA) I would have been crippled. Now next up was cutting the cake. My friends were kind enough t think beyond sweets… a Chocolate Truffle was waiting for me in my room. First I was placed under the birthday cap… As usual the cake was cut and applied allover me (Except….). But then again, after a quick wash, ragging resumed. This time I had to pose for photographs… (Some of them are attached).
Yet after all this I heard voices saying “ Yaar, Souvik… swaad nahi aaya”. And I was dragged back into the battlefield. The impacts continued until my head banged against the wooden balcony door and tears (full of pain) trickled down my eyes. And that was it. I was released. I was given water to drink and I went for a bath. At about 2 AM I was clean and ready to doze off.