When I saw the entrance to the college some 15 years back, I was thrilled. I didn’t know what awaited me as I embarked on the journey of being an engineering graduate. I was following the rat race. I was a rat in it. But over time I realized that you are always in control of yourself. You have the choice to keep running in it or away from it.
The four years at the College of Engineering Trivandrum or as we fondly called it CET was one of the most memorable times of my life. I am sorry for hiding this fact. I didn’t know if I had to mention it or not. But the sight of the front gate and the surroundings and the subsequent flooding of memories made me realize there was no point in hiding it. This place molded me to be the person I am. I have no reason to hide it. If fact I adore this place. I am proud to have passed out from this institution. My current group of besties is my classmates. There is a sense of belonging amongst our peers and the professors who taught us.
We did our college days at a time when technology was slowly disrupting the whole human society. Mobiles were already present among the crowd. It was the time of long calls made free by the various new networks vying for a piece of the pie. The pie was huge. Money was to be made in the numbers. This and the free SMS were what got us through the four years of our college life.
Smartphones were slowly emerging. I have seen the change in those four years. In the first year, we all had a basic phone. In it, we were happy with the ability to make long calls and send free messages. The first smartphones made their appearance. Nokia was the one leading the way. They were already an industry favorite. If you remember the number 3310 then you are actually old. Let that sink into you.
In the second year, we were official seniors. Having shed the moniker of being first years, we were bold enough to buy better phones. Most of us had the ones with a basic camera and the ability to load micro SD cards. In it, we watched movies and blue films in our classrooms. Most of the classes were boring. Some professors managed to hold our attention and actually take an interest in the subject.
The third year saw us being comfortable with where we stood. We had our batch tour. We had our college cultural festival, which turned out to be a great success. It was a year of celebrations. We were enjoying our college life to the fullest. It is rightly said that the third year is the best year in your engineering life. We were bunking classes frequently and doing what we liked. We frequented festivals hosted by the various colleges in the state as well as outside it. We explored the city and took to outdoors on the weekends. Every week there would be a drinking night. Life was great. Apple released its iPhone in the International market. It quickly became a sensation. Samsung made its mark in the android industry with its Galaxy S1. Facebook was becoming popular. It was replacing Orkut. The Internet was evolving at a very high pace. We were only witnessing a small part of it in the limited speed broadband we all had in our hostels.
The fourth year saw these smartphones upgrade. 3G was already in the country. It was being propagated more vigorously by the various telecom networks. It was costly. But it was amazing to have access to good internet at your fingertips. Most of us had an internet-enabled phone. With that, we downloaded games from the store and played them. These games were much better than the ones before. Gone were the days when one found solace and comfort in controlling a pixelated snake to find its food in a Nokia phone. With color touch screens that were becoming better and better, these next-generation phones were really a leap into the future. Ask any one of us if we could have predicted such a change in our lives in the coming decade. The answer would be a big no. technology was changing daily.
One of my besties had an HTC smartphone. It was small and sweet. It was very much handier than the beefier N-series phones by Nokia. He had downloaded a game in it which became an instant addiction among us. In class, we would take turns to play and beat the high score. When the novelty of the game faded another one would take its place. These were simple games that used the touchscreen for actions. We had grown up in an era where the games we played were either through the keyboard and mouse on a PC or through a joystick or gamepad in the gaming consoles. Touchscreen was new to us. It was exciting. Actions like swiping and drawing specific patterns were the novelty.
Since it was our final year, we bunked classes and stayed back in and around the college premises. We realized that our time was coming to an end. We were all asking ourselves if we had made the most of it. Sometimes we felt we didn’t. Sometimes we felt we did have a great time. There is no singular answer to it. I have the point of view that it was a beautiful period of time. We did what we could with the facilities we had. In that regard, we did make the most of what was given to us.
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Something I loved about that time was the compact size of the smartphones. They were really handy. Over this decade it has only grown in size. Now it wouldn’t even fit my palm. I need to stretch my fingers to reach the top corners of it when I hold it single-handedly. From 4 inches to 6 inches, the difference is huge. The HTC model was really cute. It was chunkier than the ones we have now owing to the larger battery size. But it was really handy. The iPhone was really handy too. None of us had it though. I saw it when I joined for work. Some of my colleagues had it. Others bought it in a couple of months. It was the rage back then. Even now. Android phones have made a mark for themselves. The two factions have regular arguments as to which one is better. It is pointless in my opinion. Both are very different as the design philosophies in which they are built are different. So the end product will obviously be different. I have used both of them and I like to keep them separate. Each has its pros and cons. I will not go into this. It is a never-ending topic. Better to stay away from it and enjoy the product in hand.
Having seen the changes happen right in from of our eyes, I have always wondered how our juniors fared. They would have been exposed to it from an earlier age. Kids in their tenth standard have smartphones with them, even younger. They have found even more penetration during the Covid lockdowns. These came in handy for conducting online classes to ensure uninterrupted classes. It did not have the classroom feel, but something was better than nothing. Students lost a year or two in terms of going to school, sitting in a classroom, and studying with their friends. I feel sad for them. But we survived through it all. We have almost overcome the deadly virus. It is still mutating and coming back in different variants. But I feel the bad days are behind us.
The third wave is upon us. There has been a steady rise in cases in the state from the start of the new year. December was a month that saw fewer cases. This prompted folks to get out of their home, travel, and make up for the lost days. The holidays were celebrated with much fanfare. Parties were being organized in popular destinations. Tickets were being sold out like hotcakes. Everyone wants to get out of their house and have a breather. Maybe we became complacent. She was telling me how the medical college was gearing up for the third wave. Covid duties would be resumed again with the increase in wards to tackle the incoming patients. One can only hope this wave isn’t as bad as the second one.
The second wave was horrible. The country felt the brunt of it. There was a lack of oxygen cylinders in some cities. People were finding it difficult to find a bed for their sick kin. Doctors were on overtime. Nurses were running helter-skelter in the multiple wards that were springing up one after the other. A lot of people succumbed to the virus during this period. I think this period saw the most number of deaths. Surprisingly a good chunk of it was in the age group of thirty-plus. The virus in this second wave was affecting more adults than elders. This was heartbreaking. I remember her coming back from her Covid duty and telling me about the kind of patients she was dealing with. Half of the ward was occupied by patients aged between thirty and forty-five. These were people who had started their lives and were still young. They had small kids back in their homes, waiting for their return with eager eyes.
Through her, I have seen a different side of the pandemic. Every time she goes for her Covid duty, I would pray to God to keep her safe and sound. She had already contracted the virus in the first wave. She was scared that a second one would prove to be bad for her. I dismissed this. I am sure she wouldn’t get one. She was very much conscious and extra careful about taking the necessary precautions on a daily basis. This was one of the reasons that gave me confidence in her. She was meticulous about it, which is good.
As I stand in front of my alma mater, none of this matters. This structure, or this institution and its concept of higher education has been dissolved when the human race was made to disappear into thin air, save me. Whatever is left is what I carry. I am the bearer of all the worries that we have seen throughout our history. I am the bearer of a million dreams that have gone kaput one fine morning. I am the one to see my species through. It seems like there is a lot on my shoulders. There isn’t actually. In a way, I am actually free. Free of all the constraints imposed on me by my own race. Free of all the rules and regulations that were in place for me to be a part of society. There is no more society. Or community. There is only me, the individual. I don't belong anywhere. I am all by myself. A lone wolf.
I am the bearer of the various diseases that have populated the human race. If the pandemic is alive then it must be through me. I doubt that. I am good and have no signs of it, thereby confirming that the great swipe took away the corona virus and its variants along with the people it had affected. There is no longer a pandemic. The planet is free of it. No more corona virus and thus no more masks.
The great swipe. That is an apt name for it. Like how you swipe in those popular dating apps or in those famous mobile games. I like the name. I have been looking for a name to describe it. This kind of resonates with what has happened. With one swipe, the intended action is put in place. With one big swipe, this city is devoid of all the people who called it their home. Since I am crippled by a lack of information I can only confirm for my city. It has the making of a global phenomenon. I guess the pandemic gave way to something even uglier. In that sense, the pandemic was far better than the current situation. Can I call in a trade?