Monday, April 30, 2007

Over a cup of cold coffee


Summer is here to stay in Mumbai and most of the student community is busy with its vacation plans. Most of my non-engineering friends have already completed their graduation examinations & are raring to break free in the much awaited vacations; following which their colleges would never ever reopen again !!

But for all my engineering friends and I, vacations are a distant dream. Our plans for this summer?.......what else but to dig our summer-baked heads into those heavy-weight engineering books. That's because we are not as blessed as our non-engineering counterparts. Now for those who are not acquainted with Mumbai University engineering, here's a fact file - the semester usually is of 5 months; 3 months of lectures (and 'extra-curricular' activities) & almost 2 months of examinations (including vivas, practicals and a teeny-weeny preparatory leave).

Now enough of grievances and back to the point. Simply put, its a long haul for us. But then its an experience which we would cherish when we will look back after becoming engineers. The clock ticks relentlessly & time flies at apparently supersonic velocity. At the end of the day, we realize that only a single chapter was studied during the entire day. So now, the obvious necessity for us is to burn the midnight oil.

Its said that "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". But that hardly applies in our context. If we were to follow that, we would be in a soup. As far as studying at night is concerned, its something most of us are habituated with. The studies have gradually turned us into insomniacs.

So now, the night session of my studies commences. After relaxing a bit after dinner, its back to the desk again. As the clock approaches midnight, the silence of the night makes me feel isolated (though books keep me company !!) & then I turn on the music, usually instrumentals like Kenny G or Enigma, so that I don't get distracted by lyrics. And then, like a cherry on the cake, to create a perfect 'ambience' for studies, there's a refreshing cup of cold coffee kept ready by mom. Sipping slowly on it, I make sure that the coffee experience lasts about an hour, before its finally time to catch up some required quota of sleep. What a way to end the day's studies.... over a cup of cold coffee enriched with a dash of mom's love and care!!

Coffeelicious!!

3 comments:

chinmay said...

COLD COFFEE!!
A romantic's idea of perfect preparation for the examinations!!For the lowly mortals sentenced to 4 years outside mumbai,even a cup of warm coffee is a luxury comparable to the delights of heaven..
The war at our end lasts a month too..a month fraught with climatic battles..and an anti-climatic finish..a truce tht lasts another six months..until we go to war again..
how do we exiles cope?without cold coffee?we bolster our morale through endless discussions about how the world is actually a dictatorship,the head of which is our HOD!!

Jayee Patil said...

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise..this is something they should never teach in school...i am one of the fortunate non-engg almost graduated person!!and a MAJOR COFFEE ADDICT!! coffee is long been my dear friend!! who has been there for me through all the rough times when i was about to give up on studies thanks to the whole lot of sleep taking over my brain!
All those months of 2-3 hrs of sleep a day and sitting at my study table..for 15-16 hrs was frustrating!!!
but now that it is over i do miss those days ..somethin like the rush and thrill of finishing wht u have to in time and i see & hear the clock tick!One doesnt have time to catch up on a breath!!so to all u ENGG GUYS.."enjoy" these days!!!!and good luck!!!

Unknown said...

I m too a coffee addict love drinkin coffee anytime of the day..especially during rains hot coffee french window heavy rains beautifful and roamntic [:D]