Mystory@Mohit Kohli: How I accidentally discovered my course of study in college

By qualification I am a Mechanical Engineering graduate. However, while in school, engineering as such was not the first or even second career option on my check list. My first option was to join the NDA (National Defence Academy). I was so sure of getting through all the rounds that I had not given much thought to a backup option. As a science student, the analytical and reasoning part was simple for me.  English was not a problem as that had been our language of instruction and communication at the Irish Catholic Convent, Delhi, where I did my schooling from. GK (General Knowledge) too, was a cake walk as I was a voracious reader and also had the habit of going through the newspaper daily (not as a task or homework, but because I generally like to be aware of the latest happenings in the world around. For instance, at that time no one had a clue or idea that a software like Google would bring up all the information at our fingertips within micro seconds in the times to come!). I was well prepared for the GD and all the psychological and physical tasks required. I got 46th rank all over India in the entrance exam. The entrance to various professional courses was still going on and I skipped most of them after getting the NDA result. All this might seem to be not even remotely connected to the topic, but I’m sharing this with you because I learned a very valuable lesson at a great cost and would like the youngsters to always keep this in mind. Never lay all your eggs in one basket and don’t count your chicken before they hatch.

To cut the long story short, I cleared all the tasks and tests mentioned above but towards the end I was disqualified for what, at that time, I thought was a foolish decision by the Service Selection Board. My chin did not touch my chest no matter how hard I tried to flex my neck and lower my jaw. Now in the hindsight, with cervical spondylosis, I can appreciate the reason why I was rejected. The other option I wanted to pursue after the NDA debacle was to join the merchant navy. I got a job as a deck cadet with Barber Shipping Co. which was a Hong Kong-based company. But the folks at home emotionally blackmailed me to decline the merchant navy offer, as they wanted me to complete graduation as a minimum qualification. I know whatever they suggested was coming out of love. But where they were wrong is in the negative assumption that if I wanted to quit merchant navy I must be at least a graduate to secure a job. The Universe always returns the frequencies to its point of origin. This effectively means that you always get back from the universe whatever you desire. This is known as the intention theory. The stronger and positive your intention, then if you work towards it you will definitely succeed. Another important thing is that the universe does not understand negative affirmations like ‘not’ and ‘don’t’.  Students will probably identify with the statements such as, “I don’t want to be distracted”, but universe cannot identify ‘don’t’ and understands the intention as “I want to be distracted”. So, the merchant navy job was also put on hold as maybe even I probably sub-consciously had reservations about this option. Otherwise, had I been as positive about merchant navy as I was about NDA, then I would have positively convinced my parents about my seriousness for it. I could have also rebelled if I had been unable to convince them and taken up the deck cadet job.

Another false belief of Indian parent at that time was that either you have to be a doctor or an engineer. If you pursue anything else then you’d be doomed to a life of poverty and misery. So my parents were able to coax me to join a minority status Engineering College in Whitefield, Bangalore.

I had not given much thought to pursuing engineering as I mentioned above that it was not on my priority list. I now faced the dilemma of the choice of stream, I wanted to specialize in. I had not done any enquiries or checked with other guys pursuing engineering to check which subjects are there in each stream and which are those subjects which you have to be outstandingly good at. Neither had I come across this phrase which basically sums up the importance of doing something you love and are outstanding at. The phrase which is very common now is “if you love what you do, then you won’t have to work even a single day in your life”.

I chose Mechanical by excluding the other streams, based on the job requirement at that point of time, subjects I had problem with because I couldn’t comprehend them because I couldn’t see them working physically before my eyes, subjects which were too saturated with engineers in the field compared to jobs required. To show how wrong and warped my thinking was, I’d like to give some examples. Computer Engineering was a straight away NO because in 1990 at least I hadn’t been able to comprehend or foresee the tremendous growth this field would see in the coming years. A computer being used at home was something I couldn’t even dream in my wildest fantasy. Ours was the first school in India to acquire computers and introduce it as a subject. Those systems were the old ones which had to be booted with a floppy disk and the programming language was Basic. I thought if this gibberish is called Basic then imagine how Advanced would be like.

Electrical and Electronics, I didn’t chose because we simply couldn’t see physically much of what was happening inside devices like diodes, triodes or induction motors for example. We had to depend on how these devices behaved under various test conditions to base our findings on. Industrial and Chemical engineering at that time were just spin offs of mechanical engineering with very few jobs in the market. Civil engineers were available like dime a dozen, so I excluded that as well. Mechanical was the stream in most demand with mechanization of most of the processes taking place, and the most sought after during those days.

But now when I look at friends who are from mechanical as well as other fields, I realize that I was suffering from ‘analysis paralyses’. All these guys from all these streams are doing exceedingly well for themselves. I should have kept it simple while choosing my stream by just checking out that which were the emphasis subjects in various streams and which were the subjects that I was good at and enjoyed studying. It really doesn’t matter what the job market is like, which streams are most in demand or whether there is over-saturation in any stream. If you love and excel in your chosen field and have a positive and unshakeable intention about the career path you have chosen, then there is nothing that can stop you from achieving what you aspire for.

About the Author: Mohit Kohli is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and has worked as Quality Engineer at Eastern Medikit Ltd. and various ITES Companies, Research Associate at IIT Delhi and as Associate Editor at Northern Escapes. He’s given up corporate life and has taken up freelance writing as it gives him time to update himself with latest technologies such as Cloud computing /architecture, deep/dark web and Quantum Physics to name a few. He’s also associated with Drug Free World to expose the malpractices of Pharmaceutical companies /Doctors. He’s also planning to write about Lifeskills Management Program and spread awareness among street children who don’t have the luxury to attend schools.