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!!