Engineers lost

The below reminiscences owe not a little to the movie '3 Idiots'...
--------------------------------------------------------------
It is the story of three friends - N, B and M. Engineering came to them without choice. Quite like Religion. Coming from middle class families, they were automatically marked as 'engineer material' for their capability to get good marks in exams. They were fed specially prepared milk, suitably mixed with almond paste, given extra pocket money hidden from their envious siblings, and paraded proudly as the eighty-percenters before the relatives and family friends. They were not particularly gifted with any obvious talent and convinced themselves of their calling as Engineers. To be fair to them, they did not see it as anything more than a few advanced Physics-Chemistry-Maths lessons for four years, with some additional cars and motors thrown in for good effect, which will give a well-paying job.

All three of them passed out as mechanical engineers from a fairly reputed state engineering college, lesser than IITs, better than most others. While B was amongst the branch toppers, N and M also managed distinctions throughout their tenure. B diligently triangulated information from his seniors, batchmates and self to develop notes that were in three different colours and best-in-class. N worked by himself and concentrated more on calligraphy then content to write his A's and G's with the pride of a schoolboy who has recently learned writing. M did nothing semester after semester and just shamelessly let his head hang low in front of B while he berated him with 'Saale, you could also develop these notes, if you don't be so lazy...' B, of course, always rewarded him for his humility with select notes to copy and make the grade.

They were best friends though and through. Even when some bitterness crept towards the end between B and N, they crosschecked all their answers before submitting their papers. Their different marks, B usually got 90 percent to N's 75, remained a mystery though. B was one step ahead even in the workshops. While N usually broke three models before finishing one, B got his models finished finely by his roommate. By the end of second year, B had dispensed with that courtesy as well, and simply stole all the previous models from the workshop to reproduce as his own. M was a little more diligent, even if equally un-endowed with any talent in his hands. He managed to get one of his fingers crushed, while he purported to count the number of gears of his colleague's machine lathe. Later, he redeemed the pain by entering his 50-member class with a middle finger that was heavily bandaged and unable to look anywhere but at the god almighty.

It is not that their engineering knowledge, or the lack thereof, took some time in coming out. Early in the second year, M discovered the use of a starter when his considerate friends simply made it vanish from his tube light. For three days, M slipped his chair a little more towards his roommate's desk to get a little more light. He did not go beyond the plug-and-switch routine in his investigations over the lost light of his life until given a physical demonstration by his incredulous friends. N was inclined to show his talent more in Mechanical drawing when he managed to become the only mechanical engineering student to get an ‘ordinance’ (pronounced 'audi' and implying failure marks) in the first year itself. Later, he was to enhance this reputation further when he made a two-dimensional drawing for a perspective figure, and considered it absolutely ok even later with a shrug 'I mean it looks 'perspective' from certain perspectives'. B, on the other hand, developed a reputation for being exceptionally diligent and getting things done for himself. He got hold of all the right notes, studied hard, had all his drawings glass-traced by juniors, and his room sound-proofed with thermacol by his friends.

By the third year, having brutally lost the case for 'mechanical engineering', they strove for and got jobs in 'Software Programming' and 'Sales'. Couple of years down the line, they convinced themselves of their new calling in 'Management' and went on to do post graduation from various reputed colleges. Now, they lecture their teams on how to stay focused, align their goals with their organization's, and derive happiness from their jobs. And they earn fat pay packages for doing this.
--------------------------------------------------------------