What hails to be an Engineer

Engineering--the most talked about study and profession chosen now a days. In the late 90s or before that when there were only few colleges that used to teach engineering and few companies who recruited engineers, engineering had its own value, its own prestige. With the commencement of IT companies be it Indian or American the urge to study engineering increased like anything. Today it is a common name. Whether you like it or not u have to be an engineer after u pass ur +2. The number of colleges has increased so much and the admission to the courses has been lowered so much that many students who do not even know what they are studying and why unfortunately are emerging as successful engineers. The word 'successful' means qualified in terms of studies not in terms of jobs.

And as a result a lot of comedies happen around us.
Comedy No 1
As soon as your Higher Secondary results and Competitive exams results are out all ur relatives,neighbours,relative's relative ---all of whom never bothered to ask about u all through your life, suddenly become too much interested in your marks . They keep on pestering the topic no matter how reluctant you are in revealing what you are actually upto.

Comedy No 2
All of ur sudden appeared well wishers are more interested in the college you are admitted to and the course you are taking. Dont think people are delighted to hear that you are being admitted to an engineering college specially if you are coming from a family where you are the first lady engineer. People will now start giving their advice.(They do not have any expertise in the field of engineering nor any knowledge about the type of jobs engineers have to do yet they consider themselves as KNOW-IT-ALL , courtesy the long gossips they have with their associated people) .

Comedy No 3
The college where you have been admitted ,its location and specifically the companies that visit their campus for student recruitment is a BIG question hovering in their mind 24X7. No matter what their children have done in their lives, whether they are successful or not it is the common habit of almost  every mortal human being to know whether your college gets a campus recruitment or not. If yes then you are admitted to a good college . If no then forget it your degree is not worth and you are worthless.

Comedy No 4
For the next 3 years you are left in peace, the people will suddenly vanish and you will carry out your studies. But they do not vanish completely. If you stay in a hostel and when you visit ur home at the end of a semester the evil relatives will appear and will start asking you about ur studies. Dont think they are showing concern about you. Because at the end they will surely ask you when will your campus recruitment start? Are you getting good marks enough? My niece studied from an engineering college and now she is working in an MNC. She is now in Pune another nephew of mine is now in New York and so on.....Some even ask how much did you get in your semester? If you say  I got above 70% they will give you a curt smile . Did you cross 80% ever? (OMG do you ever know what subjects I had this semester and how tough they were?) If your answer is yes then they reply"then there is a possibility that you will get a job"( As if  the marks only speaks)

Comedy No 5
The dreaded final year . Well job is a luck and all your competitors are as good as you are . So it is always a tough job to compete. Sometimes the requirement of the company is less , sometimes it is merely a betrayal by the luck. But whatever it is it will not bring peace to your mind unless you get a job. Your family and all those SUDDEN well wishers will make your life as hell. You will not be able to go out freely as you will always encounter one person who is keenly interested in your job.If you do get a job they will ask about ur salary,ur posting and will congratulate you briefly and will never appear again. But if you fail to do so they will nag you to death. They will start telling things as if it is ur brain that has got nothing in it .Either you are 3rd class in ur studies or ur not smart enough to bag a job.Frustrations will kill you from inside and specially what will upset you the most is the sad faces of ur parents who also had to be a part of all this.

Comedy No 6
You got a job. You inform your well wishers. They will give u a false impression of being happy for you. They will burn from jealousy. Now all set and you are back to ur own life. After a year or 2 they again appear asking you whether you have ever been to onsite. No matter how much you explain to them they never understand."My sister-in-law's son also works in the same company but he has been to New York,France,Spain .... so many times why is that they are not sending you?" Now who will make them understand. After all they will not understand.

Comedy No 7
"Do you know my sister's daughter? Her name is Payal . She also works where you work . In the same building." God there are thousands of employees working under one roof. How am I supposed to know each one of them? Then they will answer " You people are so hi-fi you might not be knowing them or even try to know them"

Comedy No 8
"How much did you get ur increment? did you get a good appraisal?" Do you ever know what is an appraisal?

Comedy No 9
"Why are you in the same company for the past 5-6 years? people generally jump from one to another and thus get good salary increment." Can I do the thinking please? Its my job afterall and I am its best judge.

Comedy No 10
If it a recession going on , the neighbourhood aunty would ask your mother "Is you son/daughter still working (or has she/he been sacked)? Why ask so ? Would you be happy enough if the answer is yes or would you be kind enough to offer him/her another job?


Like on the comedies go on year after year. Sometimes I do think dont these people have any work on their own? I remember it was my brother's reception. Everyone who were invited , was too concern about where I work. After wishing my brother and my sister-in-law the first thing they said was to ask me "What are doing now dear?" I just thought I am so lucky to be able to answer them or else I would have to bury my face somewhere.

Unfortunately or fortunately people will go on nagging like this. And specially it is with the ENGINEERS. Though now-a-days people do not respect its value as before yet they do not stop from being jealous of them too.

Iti Mrinalini--Film Review

In our busy day to day chores we hardly get a time to sit back and think of others. Iti Mrinali is a Bengali film released recently directed by veteran Bengali actress Aparna Sen.The casts are Konkona Sen Sharma,Rajat Kapoor etc. The film depicts the life of an actress as  an unfinished letter and thus the name of the film. 'Iti' is a Bengali word which we used to write at the end of a letter. Mrinalini is the name of the character.

The film starts with the veteran actress Aparna Sen writing her suicide note and then slowly the film flashes back to the past. A heroine no matter how old can she be would never want to leave her position,her fame. She would hate to do a side role. Actually the bitter truth is that no matter how great actress can u be at ur time but slowly when u become older and make space for the new faces no longer does the media or the people recognizes you. You are then just an experienced artist. And thats what happened to Mrinalini. It was the primiere of  new film released where she was given an elderly role but the media was more interested with the heroine. And again she had an intimate relation with the director, who also promised her to cast as a heroine in his next film. But the producer announced the new young heroine to be the lead actress in their upcoming film. Depressed Mrinalini set herself aside from the launch party. She was too shocked to hear the director saying " U are a veteran and u know u r an old face." She decided to end her life.

Amidst the sea of sadness Mrinalini started recollecting her olden days. She ransacked her old boxes and started looking at her old and precious possessions. The film rolled back to her college days when the young Mrinalini played by Konkona Sen Sharma  and her friends were discussing over various poems. She was a student of presidency college and the camera revealed the old College Street of Kolkata , the nostalgic environment of Indian Coffee House , the trams and the rickshaws. Mrinalini's then boyfriend was a Naxal and was killed by the police. Mrinalini moved on in her life and chose acting as her career. She got an offer to work with one of the finest directors and was awarded for her excellence. The film also showed rivalry between the actors.Mrinalini was casted off  of a film where the director chose another famous actress. But nothing stopped Mrinalini to become a famous name. She worked hard and was even got very much involved with her first director played by Rajat Kapoor. She had a baby daughter who was adopted by her brother and sister-in-law. But ultimately their relation broke as Rajat Kapoor was unable to leave his wife and children. At that time another writer cum friend played by Kaushik Sen became her support.

Everything was going fine. But destiny snatched away her daughter. She was on the verge of committing suicide but death was not so easy. Slowly slowly the time went by and she retired herself from the limelight. She refused many directors until a very tempting offer urged her to work again. And while shooting for the film the set caught fire and she lost her only support ,her dresser whom she loved like anything. 

Mrinalini was so engrossed in her past that she didnt see that the rainy night has made its place for the dawn. Suddenly an sms in her mobile conveying the message of arrival of her dear friend aroused a new hope in her heart. She deferred her idea of suicide and went out for a morning walk with her pet dog. But destiny had something else in store. A boy was chased by gangsters. The boy ran past her but accidentally the bullet shot by the gangsters hit Mrinalini.

Though the end could have been made better yet the film was good. The film showed almost many truths of .the film industry. Brilliant acting by Aparna Sen,Konkona Sen Sharma & Rajat kapoor. It was worth watching.