The last 100 days
I joined College of Engineering Kidangoor on August 1st 2018 to start my undergraduate studies in Computer Science and Engineering under Kerala Technological University. CE Kidangoor is nearby the banks of the river Meenachil which starts from the western ghats and drains to the Vembanad Lake. Kidangoor is a small town and has impacted almost every student who had studied there. Impact in the sense that it have taught people how to cope with shortcomings and to move forward even when an adversity looks straight to your eyes and is ready to shoot you at point blank. The “പോട്ടെ പുല്ല്” mindset. This mindset is with almost every student under KTU.
CEK wasn’t a theatre of dreams or the best college nearby to get the UG degree, it’s decent enough that people don’t even know much about this college. It’s not lush with greenery nor with fun side activities. It’s like a school with another hierarchy and structure of operations. But there is something in CEK that’s worth enjoying and I can’t understand what it is. Some say to enjoy college you must be live in college. That’s something I still haven’t achieved yet, and I’m not sure I’ll achieve it in these last 100 days. I had 4 years(remove 100 days) to achieve this but haven’t yet.
As the title says “The Last 100 Days” is actually not correct but not incorrect too. I’ve got like 5 months of college left but 1.5 months will be gone for our exams and the rest some for project works and you remove all those non-working days and I’ll get roughly 80 days.
There is something strange I felt when I understood that college is going to finish soon. The helplessness that I won’t get to sit in the same classroom and discuss about all kinds of stuff. Sleep on the backbench after eating lunch and listening to lullabies which are actually just computer science theories. Microprocessors, Automata, Omega Networks, Hashes, Transactions and all kinda of theory.
The helplessness came from the thought that I didn’t get enough of college. 2 years of my supposed college life was snatched away due to COVID. The lockdown actually happened when we were actually getting along. The thought that there is a lot to explore, a lot to learn from college and all these just went down the drain. I couldn’t even explore much of the local leisure spots.
CEK taught me many things that I forget to recollect. It taught me that people will be good most of the time if you deal with them in a good manner. The only exception were the self imposed dictator of CEK and a few faculty. CEK was nothing like the college portrayed in movies, when I joined, it felt more like a school, but it later changed and felt more like a tight knit group of people, just chillin out in daylight when classes were on full swing. It was better than school and here everyone’s voice was given equal value unlike the gangs at school.One thing that’s best about CEK was the students. The senior students who became good friends and mentors, my classmates and my junior students.
CEK gave me a lot of room to grow. My seniors motivated me to scratch the surface of the technical skills of my classmates and my juniors. This paved off my way to become a GitHub Campus Expert and to be part of a college community. Later I had the luck of leading it and start a new hackathon at CEK(The hackathon didn’t pan out well). It also made me attend many more hackathons and join other communities. To strive for the vibe I can find at hackathons rather than trying to win. To become the Athul you read today.
With all these said, I never have regretted studying at CEK. I thank the books I’ve read while learning for the entrance examination and my parents who never asked me why I should pursue Engineering.
Looking back CEK was the theatre of “my” dreams!!!