"CAP kya logon ko topi pehnata hai?", pat came a wisecrack reply from a friend, when we were discussing our next course of action in what was supposed to be the most important transition of our life.
Yep... we had just completed our HSC (CET to be more precise) and stood with our results in our hands. One and a half years of toil followed by one and a half hours of brain boil was supposed to measure the capabilities of a student and put it in its place. Nopes.. Im not complaining. We've lived with it. And we'd also given back crap to the system .... considering we made a complete mockery of the 75% (really dreaded figure I tell you :P) attendance rule the education ministry (thats what they like to call it) had supposedly set a few years ago. We'd learnt to give Junior College no more respect than an office that gives you your CET hall ticket, or an institution that you need fill in a valid JEE form. Anyways it was all over in time short enough not to blow your head off, and long enough to make a few good friends. (People suffering from the same misfortune always make good friends in life: Ive noticed).
Anyways, coming back, the admission procedure sure was pretty well managed, I must say (though highly scary when you first brief yourself about it). Neat forms to be filled online, with minimal amount of data to be filled in (considering they were the authority in possession of most of it). The procedure of printing them out and re-submitting them really beat the meaning of being called an 'online procedure', but was nevertheless not 'much' of a pain. CAP centres were spread all over the city, and journeys to them were quite adventurous, filled with deep trecherous thoughts and sometimes wild daydreams. I was quite unsure of getting into my dream college+dream course combo, but nevertheless I kept all hopes. Not minding the fussy clerks (may they be dammed) and the constant site crashes at the CAP centres (may DTE be dammed), and the tedious calculated risks I took to be allotted only the course I wanted, and not any else, with some limited backups (may the procedure be dammed too), I finally sailed through. It felt like being redeemed. I had made it through... YES... those late night tussles with the books and the expensive sleep I had sacrificed finally paid off. I was on my way to being a proud student of Sardar Patel Institute of Technology : Computer Engineering branch, also fondly called as SP Comps..!
