Sayonara

‘Dream. And your Dreams will Come True…’

Everybody has reveries: dreams about the distant future, near future and a thousand other things. The disappointing results of my senior year and the still unnerving mark of JEE shattered many a dream of mine. Yet the hopes of getting admission in my “dream college” were far from getting extinguished. While attending the selection process for minority students, my dream was getting soured with each candidate choosing their college of choice. XIE was a disappointing distant choice as I never wanted to get admission through any quota.

I remember walking out with my parents after my admission to the Xavier Institute of Engineering through minority quota, when reverend Fr. John Rose called out to us and told me not to be disappointed and that I should work hard and make my parents proud for they have sweated out their hard earned money for my education. It has almost been four years since that day but I can’t recall any occasion when my parents showed any disappointment in me.

I had only heard about XIE when a few school friends spoke about some far off engineering college that existed next to St. Michael’s Church in Mahim. Today I spend an average of almost four hours daily, travelling to and fro from college, sometimes physically hurting but always energetic. As tiring as it may be, I’d still say XIE has been one of the best experiences of my life.

Meeting plenty of like-minded individuals and being nurtured by a hardworking and kind staff, I’ve grown from being a first year floundering Junior to being a final year exemplary Senior. Building relationships – be it with students (juniors or seniors), professors or with non-teaching staff – played a huge role in XIE as much as being engrossed in books did. It isn’t important how many of the relationships lasted or got lost but what mattered was how it shaped us to become what we are.

What many colleges fail to understand is the importance of nurturing the growth of students from their own comfort zones without burdening them with excessive stress by pressurizing them to fit pre-fixed moulds. At the same time it is necessary to ensure that students don’t take the Institute for granted. XIE created such an atmosphere for me that I could manage to keep calm and focused on my goals in tune with my abilities without letting lethargy overtake me, thereby bringing the best out of me.

Those long lasting moments of friendship, attending routine lectures to bunking a few, holding serious as well as funny conversations in the canteen, cheering and playing games at the ground, the never ending submissions and viva phase, loud and bright festive events and activities, fun filled picnics, post exam stress to nail biting result days are memories that I will cherish for life.

True, my dream wasn’t fulfilled in terms of getting admission in the college of my choice, but all my dreams came true exponentially in terms of what I wanted to achieve during my college life.