Chapter 1 - "Are you sure you want to go upstage for counselling ??"

For those who don't know me,myself George J Palathingal currently doing final year @ ECE,BIT,Mesra and I am basically from Kerala.During my 4th semester I read this book "Five point someone"by Chetan Bhagat in which he describes 3 IITians eventful college life. I liked the book very much as some incidents were closely related to my real life experiences till then.After reading that book I got this idea that even I should write abt my college life after completing my engg.

But later on I almost forgot it.Now,after almost 2 years I read this book named "2 states" by the same author in which he describes his IIM life in the starting of the story.Now that earlier idea I had sprang back to my mind.At the first thought itself I realised that this is the right time to start writing it.And all of a sudden here I am done with the first chapter.The whole blog is abt my experiences @ BIT and and the first chapter abt how I ended up in BIT.The best part is I didn know anything about BIT till the moment I went upstage for my AIEEE counselling.I hope u lyk it and if u took pain to read the whole blog pls leave me a sincere feedback so that I can improve.

Let me start by telling you where I stood as a AIEEE candidate.My AIEEE AIR was 15875 and my state rank was 426.So even by Kerala standards my getting into a NIT with a circuit branch(It was all that I was interested in) was very difficult.So I started my journey to Calicut

with limited dreams.At that time my dad had been working in calicut.So I left for calicut a day before counselling.I was a 4hrs bus journey from my place.I reached there by evening.I met him in his office and went with him to his flat.Then he went back to office.It was a busy day for him.So he said he won't be back before 10 pm.So I sat in the flat all alone till midnight watching World cup football.As he said he came around 11..We had food and I went to bed.I had a lot of thoughts going on my mind abt tomorrow's counselling.And those thoughts drove me to a solid sleep.

Counselling Day

We woke up early in the morning,I think around 6am.We started our journey from Calicut city to Mukkam,place where NIT is situated,by around 6 45 am.It was a 30 mins journey like the journey from Ranchi city to BIT.When the conductor yelled "REC Mukkam,REC Mukkam", we got down.'Still the college is locally called as REC' (Regional Engg. College),I thought.Well,it was my first journey to an NIT.I was pretty excited."Atleast I am eligible for counselling at NIT",I thought.I was the first person from my family eligible for an AIEEE counselling.Though all my family members are well educated,no body made it to an NIT( or REC as known earlier).I felt

proud about that.Even if i didn get an admit,there was sm thing I could be proud of.There is this thing about Kerala, though it is the highest educated among the Indian states, there is very less competition in the education arena.I mean 85% of students just try to get into good technical institutes of Kerala only.They are not interested in IITs or NITs outside.I really felt bad about

this when I heard IITians are mostly students from less educated states like Uttar Pradesh,Bihar and all.What the hell are we doing ?? Or firsly what the hell did I do..I didn even try for an IIT.I can tell you;it's the lack of insipiration and awareness.I heard people from these states tell the students.."You get into an IIT,you succeed in your life,or else your life is a failure".So they start dying for an IIT admit and students here,I think they hear these names,IITs and NITs when they start going for Engg. coaching.Even I went for engg. coaching only for getting into the best engg. colleges of Kerala.Only by the second half of my twelth

did this thought get into my mind that even I should give AIEEE a serious shot.May be I can crack it in the first attempt itself..(There was no second attempt for me.I had already decided whatever college I got into in my first attempt...thats it..I couldn't even think of jus studying these PCM stuff for one more year just for cracking engg.entrance).By God's grace here I am standing before NITC for my AIEEE counselling.

NITC looked good for an engg. college for it was only the second engg college I had seen in my life; first one being my sister's engg college,UCE,Thodupuzha.It didn even come among top 15 engg. colleges of Kerala.She didn hav other options as her Kerala engg. entrance result was not good.But she was a hardworker and it always pays off. Now she's working in DELL COMPUTERS earning a good package !!..Whatever..NITC was an 300 acres+ campus..and it looked pretty impressive.As I was hungry we got into the college canteen for some breakfast.Maaann...College canteen didn look impressive at all..atleast by NIT standards..We only had very light food from there..We went to the counselling hall..The hall was really big..I was expecting some of my friends to come over..but we were pretty early I suppose..We sat in the hall waiting for the process to start.After a short while an announcement came."The process is delayed by 1.5 hrs as processing is still going on at NIT,Allahabad."..'come on man....don do this atleast in an AIEEE counselling'..I said to myself..But then he added.."The process closed at NITA at around 5 in the morning due to the large no.of candidates"...Wow....These may candidates in the first 10,000 from UP...So it was a proof for what I heard about students from UP..So we waited for 1.5 hours more...Finally..announcment came..We are about to start the process.

They distributed tokens to students according to their ranks and also asked the candidates to sit alone seperated from their parents.I don remember my token no...but it was towards the beginning of the second half of the students for the days counselling.They also distributed some forms to be filled up by the students.so I waited in the queue for my turn..and so it came after around some 1.5 or 2 hrs..The counsellors and the computers were on the stage.Just in front of the stage on the base level there sat a panel of people for checking the documents and the forms.So when my turn came I was called by the panel.They went through my documents..and passed on to the next one in the panel..One woman in the panel,a pretty old lady,may be around 55yrs old told me that I won't be getting an admit in any south indian NITs..I said I knew..She asked me my Kerala engg.entrance rank..I told her 588...It was a good rank by the way...but AIEEE state rank was better :P ..With my Kerala entance rank I could hav got into

COMP.Sci @ CET,Trivandrum...the second best engg. college in kerala next to NITC...And she told me the same..I said again,"I know"..

Then she told me that my only chances are north Indian NITs and even there getting into circuit branches may be difficult..Then she asked

"Are you sure u want up the stage for AIEEE counselling ??"..I gav her a smile and said firmly.."YES"..She advised me to give my options carefully...."Are you sure that going for a less-boom branch(I mean branches lyk prod,civil,polymer n all) at north Indian NIT is better than Comp.Sci @ CET..??",She asked..

"CET can never be an NIT..Its a brand name..I won't give less-boom branch at any NorthIndian NIT and I am not going beyond NIT

Durgapur.or NIT Surat on the other side..I am here jus to try my luck.I am not even filling the form 2"(where u can only give d clg name without branch preference),I replied..

She smiled and wished "All the best" and passed on my documents to the next guy in the panel.

He asked me,"Are u applying to DCE.??"

I said,"What ??Excuse me.."..

He replied,"Delhi college of Engg."

I was confused...First time I came across this name was during the mock AIEEE counselling..I didn know how the college was...But Delhi sounded gud..So I replied.."I don know..May be I'll"...and added "Why ??"

He said there was sm age limitation and sm thing else and after going thru the documents he said I am clear to apply and he also asked my Kerala entrance rank and all..finally he too came to the same question.."Are u sure u want to go upstage for counselling??"...I said .."Yeah..I am sure".

So I went upstage and students were waiting in a queue for their turn.So I sat on the last chair in the queue.The guy sitting just before me smiled at me.I smiled back.He enquired my rank.I told him..and I enquired his...I forgot his name..I wonder if I ever asked.But I am very thankful to him..becoz if he hadn't told me smthing may be I wouldn't be here writing this..He was like an angel God sent to me.He asked me what all options I planned to give...I told him,whatever branch left in south Indian NITs + selected branches in North Indian

NITs..He exclaimed,"You applying to North Indian NITs ??"..

I said,"Yes,only selected branches..Aren't you applying??"

He replied.."I don think soo..I don want to go far away..".And then wat he added was smthing new to me..

He added,"May be you should try BIT,Mesra..!!"

This time I excalimed,"BIT,Mesra..!!

In the options I had thought of there was no BIT,Mesra...and I didn even have a clue how the college was..but unlike many other Keralites atleast I had heard the name before...as it was not a NIT I didn even care to enquire abt it..

I asked him,"Why?"

He repied,"Becoz most of the candidates are unaware of the fact that there is statewise reservation in this private institute.No other private institute has statewise reservation.Moreover the fact that we haven't received the AIEEE counselling brochure till now adds to the unawareness about the reservation."

Wow..Dats sounds gud...I thanked him...and a lot of questions started whirling in my mind.shortly he went for his counselling and not before long me too..My counsellor first briefed me the process.He looked lyk a man in his early fifties.Then he started showing me the remaining colleges and branches.I remember my first option..It was prod @ NIT,Trichy after that I don't remember till my nineth option.The name BIT,Mesra came on screen.He asked me,"Do you want to apply in BIT,Mesra??"..I was confused.So I sought his advice.He gave me a positive feedback.But added that the fees is more compared to other NITs.But that was nullified

by the fact that there is always a 100% placement in the college.I asked whether I could consult my dad for a second.He gave me permission.I went quickly to my dad who was curiously observing me discussing with my counsellor.

I told him abt BIT Mesra and fees and all.He told me not to worried abt money and apply if the college is gud.So went back and looked at the options left there.All branches were left.So as my friend said I had to believe that ignorance is playing the game or else why would all the branches be left in a highly reputed engg. college wid 100% placements.Finally I gave my 9th option as CSE-BIT and my 10th as ECE-BIT.The only one I remember after that is IT @ NIT Bhopal.That's becoz my friend only got that seat.Anyways I remember that I gave a total of 24 options.He then asked me whether I wanted to fill form2.I replied quickly,"Nooooooo".So I came back to my dad..showed him the options list.Among those BIT was among the farthest colleges I applied other being Durgapur and Jamshedpur.

I came back to calicut town and had a nice chicken biriyani(Maaaaaan Calicut biriyani is too good !! I still get it's taste in my mouth.If u ever get a chance to visit Calicut..do remember to hav one..You will never forget it.).I got into 'Limited stop' bus and headed towards my hometown.On my journey back I had many thoughts most of them based on that that unknown guy's words abt BIT,Mesra.Somewhere down the line I had a feeling of hope hovering around BIT,Mesra !!