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(Success story #11) It was an alumni gathering organized by my College. I was being felicitated with Shawl-Shreefal and Promising-Entrepreneur award. Entire audience present in the auditorium including students, my teachers, my batch mates and all present were giving me standing ovation but I was in dilemma how to wipe the involuntary tears rolling down my eyes due to strong emotion of joy. I turned my back towards the audience, slowly pulled out handkerchief and secretly wiped my tears. For me, it was an unfathomable feeling as it was the same College where from I did graduation a quarter century ago and immediately thereafter joined as a teacher.  It was also the same College which had asked me to leave  due to some misapprehension, after serving for about three odd years. I descended the dais, sat silently on my allocated chair and closed my eyes. Although the audience was cheering to other awardees, inside me I felt total silence as if I was no more seating in the hall and...

“NEVER LEAVE THE VESSEL UNTIL IT LEAVES YOU” this is what is written at his "all the time floating and most of the time moving" work place. He was one among hundred in the mass just like you and me, without any specialty. Being from Chandrapur - a coal rich town of Maharashtra, he was mentally very tough. He learnt swimming soon after he learnt to walk. One of his all the time hobby was swimming in river in opposite direction of the water currents.  When in school he went to Goa in school trip. Most of his friends were interested in various places like Dona Paula, the fort, Mangesh temple, Portuguese Mansions but he would just seat on sea shore and look at the sea waves for hours. He had fascination for the roar of the sea waves. In evening he would look at the distant blinking of the light house. He was interested more in the fishing boats, the cargo vessels, oil tankers and the aquatic life. He wanted to swim in salty water but his teacher was not allowing anyone to enter i...

Actually he was a mediocre guy in the crowd from a small town Pandharkavda close to Maharashtra-Telangana border and not much serious in studies during his schooling.  No one in his family had the courage and resources to go for engineering studies.  He had the passion of playing cricket and his cricket idols were Anil Kumble, a mechanical engineer, Javagal Shrinath, an Instrumentation Engineer,  cricket veterans such as hard hitter K Shrikant, an electrical engineer,  S Venkatraghavan, EAS prasanna and of course the god of cricket Sachin Tendulkar. He wanted to be an engineer and play cricket like his idols.  He put in all efforts in his 12th and cleared the hurdle in distinction.  Somehow he could convince his family for engineering and started the search for a good engg college that not only provides good academic environment but also allows sports and extra curricular activities.  He chose one of the good college in Amravati that supports all he wa...

He was one of the brilliant guy from an upper middle class marathi family. He always stood among first five in school.  He had the same dream most of his peers had. To opt for engineering, get into corporate world, rise in salary and position, have a nice bungalow, get married and lead a peaceful life. As he was brilliant, had no difficulty in securing admission to the top engineering college of his home town.  On day one of the campus placement he got selected in a multinational with a fat salary package.  Then there was a training at Bangalore and finally he started his morning 9 to evening 7 routine at Pune. And lot of fun with friends thereafter till late night. This continued for three consecutive years. He was assigned a project that involved local collectorate. And thus he came in contact with the DM (collector). He was fascinated to see the way top officers stood in front of the DM and the way top police officers salute him. He saw the crowd outside his office and...

I met this guy Mr XYZ, one of my student barely 5 feet tall, along with his dad at lord Shiva temple at Tapovaneshwar on Shivratri after 6 months of his Electronics Engg graduation.  He was trying for a job and the market condition was a bit slack at that time. His dad asked ' Sir what he should do now?'  I advised them that the slack job market is best opportunity to add higher qualifications to one's arsenal and asked him to take MBA/MTech/MS course. He prepared for the entrance and got admitted for MBA program at Symbiosis, a reputed management Institute  of Pune.  After completing his masters he co-founded a company along with his Engg class buddies and put up the highest possible efforts to grow.. Currently his company has a footprint through out the globe. He travels a lot for business meetings and simultaneously pursue his photography hobby. He now is a well known wild life photographer. (Success story #7) Success is a subjective  term. But why not to wal...

She was a born fighter, a single kid to her parents. Was not a meritorious student but had full of life dancing, singing, music, gymnastics, swimming and what not. She was very social and had many many friends.  But from childhood she had a dream. She wanted to pursue engineering in a metro city of the state and earn livelihood abroad in a well developed nation.  But the terms 'single kid' that too a 'girl' were a big hurdle for her in traditional middle class marathi joint family.  All elders in her family were discouraging her from pursuing the dreams.  Her parents were in dilemma what to do but very supportive to her by heart.  So they cut a deal with her (in writting 😄), do engg in home city and Mtech / MBA in metro city.  But She was a tough negotiator, she could convince her parents on pursuing MS if cleares eligibility within two years.  She wanted to be an Electronics engineer but her grades did not allow her to pursue Electronics and instead ...

She was not good in her grades but could maintain the bare minimum eligibilty requirement for campus placement without any backlog.  But she had a dream company in her mind and a strong desire to excel in campus that led her to intuitively work upon and sharpen her aptitude and programming skills..  Alas, on the day of campus she forgot to bring passport photos to college as she had a big fight with her dad in the morning as he wanted her to study further and she wanted to enter into corporate world! She was running from pillar to post for relaxation to this photo requirement but the HR was adamant. Elders have said, something is better than nothing. I told her to login to her FB account and download whichever photo was available. I somehow cropped her face from the group photo, got it printed in black and white on simple paper, cut to size and asked her to contact HR with that pic.  HR laughed but allowed her in round 1. She cleared that hurdle and thereafter all hurdles...

In lab, explained the FIR filter algorithm, octave programming concepts, gave the reference code and asked students to type, modify and execute the code. Almost all were working on the assigned task and struggling to get desired output except one student who was just looking at the computer screen and hardly doing anything. I sought the reason why was she not executing the code.. She said, "Sir I forgot my contact lenses today" Oh, sorry...I murmured and asked her not to forget lenses in next practical session. She is now a highly respected poetess among her peers and many renowned singers are working on her lyrics for private albums and films. (Success story #4) Success is a subjective  term. But why not to walk en extra mile?

Was asking Qs one after other (rapid fire) in viva-voce. In response to every Q, with his right hand he was doing rapid clockwise rotation as if he was cranking an old 1940 make Ford car, his left hand tapping his head and simultaneously murmuring something inaudible.  Finally I asked in angry tonr: Did you visit Pawanar Ashram yesterday?  He: No sir, but Why?  Me: Because Shri Vinobaji Bhave had a strong belief in power of silence! He has done masters, earned a PhD and now working as Professor in a reputed Institute. (Success story #3) Success is a subjective  term. But why not to walk an extra mile?

Me asking a Q in Viva-voce: why does a capacitor block DC but pass AC? He: Sir, a capacitor has a small gap between it's plates. So AC being jumpy in nature can pass easily through this gap but DC can not. Presently he is in US, works in IT sector, holds green card and drives Mercedes Benz (Success story #2) Success is a subjective  term. But why not to walk an extra mile?

In the journey of teaching profession, we come across many brilliant minds.. viva-voce story of one such brilliance.. I placed a PRESET in front of him and askeed :  "what's this three pin device?" A very careful examination follows as if that abject was a three headed alien recently landed on table from  Mars, he confidently answers: "It's a transistor Sir"  Me: Unipolar or bipolar?  He: I guess it's tripolar.. Currently he is an entrepreneur, deals in electronics and the turnover of his company is more than ₹100 million Success Story #1 Success is a subjective  term. But why not to walk an extra mile?