Dear, ...........,
Namaskar. In my last blog, I wrote in what conditions and circumstances, I first took the exams for the recognised examining body. It would on completion grant me a Grad.I.T.E certificate. Grad I.T.E. meant, Graduate Institution of Telecommunication Engineers. There was another parallel but very old examining body those days called AMIE. AMIE was mostly in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical streams of study. After I started my studies for Grad.I.T.E, the examining body did some changes in the subjects and introduced more papers. They called the new degree as Grad.I.E.E.E. (Graduate Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineering.) After I cleared the first paper, the fear of exams and my feeling of inferiority evaporated. I decided to next concentrate on appearing for four papers. I bought books and would study almost round the clock. Even in office, I would take my books and study most of the time. In one month I would prepare for one paper thoroughly. Thern I would start for the other paper in the next month. While this was happening, I got involved in the accident at Transmitter (my face and hand burning - already described in my blog on 06 June). The exams date was getting close. I had to go to Jammu for the exams as there was no examining centre at Srinagar. I was having difficulty writing with my hand because of injuries sustained during the accident. Frequent skin softening cream had to be frequently applied to relieve pain during the process of writing. I sat for the exams on the due date and performed well. The results were declared. I had cleared three out of four papers. Mr. Krisnamurthy had by then left Srinagar but he had seen the results. He sent me a letter congratulating me for my progress.
I decided to appear for four more papers (Three new ones plus one which I had failed in my previous attempt.) But here was a hurdle about which I was fearful. It was the drawing paper. I was used to see my elder brothers engineering drawings sheets. His drawings were excellent. The remarks of his teachers on the drawings were great. There would be no mistake and the lines would be drawn in very clean manner. My brother would always tell me that my drawing skills were very poor and in fact it was that way. But I had to pass the Drawing paper. He helped me by referring me to one of his teachers (Mr. Moza) I met him and he agreed to coach me two times a week. I was to go to his house at 8 AM. I went to his house on the first scheduled day at the appointed time with a book that he had recommended. He explained the first chapter. Then he asked me to make a drawing and come to him with the homework done. On my way back home, I bought some A2 Sized plain paper sheets and ordinary geometry instruments. In no time, I completed the drawing. Then I studied the next three chapters on my own and did three more drawings. With all these I went to Mr. Moza for the second class of the week. I remember that he was still sleeping when I reached his house. His wife prepared the place for the coaching hurriedly. Mr. Moza came and started looking at the drawings that I had made. He found that I had done them correctly but were not drawn on a proper drawing sheet of A0 Size. He also pointed out that I had not drawn the margins on the sheet. He also was not happy about my lettering. I noted the points. Then he started teaching me the second chapter. I requested him to move to the fifth one because I had already done three chapters without him. I told him that I was in a hurry to complete the course. He taught me the fifth chapter. By the time it was to be the third session with him, I had completed the book. I knew how to draw but had not actually drawn properly. I would roughly practice how to draw the lines at home without actually drawing them professionally. I told him after the third session that I would be reading and practicing on my own and thanked him for his guidance. I bought another book on machine drawing and learnt from that too. Till then I had not ever used a proper drawing board and a Tee and proper drawing accessories.
On the day of the exams, my brother arranged a drawing board plus Tee for me in Jammu. I picked it up a day before the exams and dropped it back at a predetermined location after the exams was over. I did well. The questions set in the paper were a deviation from the past. On my return to Srinagar after the exams, I met Mr. Moza and showed him the question paper. I told him that I had done well and hoped to pass the paper. After the results were out, I received the result sheet. I had passed the Drawing paper. I again went to Mr. Moza and informed him. I thanked him for his help. He later met my brother and conveyed appreciation for my hard work. He told him that when he had seen the question paper, he was sure that I must have failed although I had showed confidence.
This was my third six monthly test. By the end of first two tests, I had grown confident. I found passing much easier than I had imagined. It was so because some staff from Delhi who would pose as experts in the office would repeatedly fail in clearing the exams. I persuaded my friend Mr. Omkar Nath who was so good in dealing with technical issues in office to also sit for the exams. He was not ready and was not prepared to study. At my repeated requests, he gave in. I helped him with books and study material. I helped him especially with Engineering Maths. He was also with me when we had to appear in my third six monthly tests. The day the maths paper appearance was there, there was a stir in the hall after the question paper was distributed. The questions were unexpected for everyone. It appeared that there would be a boycott. Omkar Noth Jee was also confused looking up at the paper. He sought permission from the invigilator to smoke. The permission was granted. He smoked while I had started working at answering the questions. I spoke to him in hushed tone that he should calm down and remember what he normally knew. In the commotion with others shouting in the hall, I conveyed to him some hints in solving the problems set. We two were the only ones to start working while rest of the six or seven other students then calmed down and also sat to answer the questions. Some of them adopted unfair means to copy by visually looking at my on paper answers. This was later reported that there had been protests in a large number of exams centres in the country. When the results were declared, less than 20 students from all over India out of thousands had cleared the paper. I along with Omkar Nath Jee and one more fellow who had copied from me at the Jammu centre had passed.
More in next blog. Bye for now.
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