There’s a major problem with the way Engineering is taught in this country. And the problem is that, at the end of the 4 years, they expect you to create some Software Project to prove that you learnt something and didn’t waste your time. And this was a big problem for me. Luckily, there’s one loophole that I can exploit: The Project can be done by a “team” of 2 people. So, all I had to do was to find a victim teammate who could do the project and from whom I could steal credit.

Enter Dyothi. Dyohti is very smart, very good with computers, but most importantly, has a good image of me. So, just as the project is around the corner, I try to make my move on her. This is surprisingly easy, and she immediately agrees to be my Project Partner. And soon enough, we have our first discussion around what project we should be doing.

Dyothi: “I think we should do a server-side project”
Me: “Sure, sure. Why not, why not!”
Dyothi: “How about writing an IMAP server?”
Me: “Sure, sure. Why not, why not!”
Dyothi: “Yeah, and then we can use a commercial client like Outlook to talk to it. That should impress the examiners.”
Me: “Sure, sure. Why not, why not!”

And soon, we’ve agreed on our project topic. We’ve also agreed on our work distribution. Dyothi has gotten to write the IMAP server, and I’ve gotten the job of not interfering with her work. We start with our respective tasks, and soon we discover a very good synergy. Less than half-way through the semester, Dyothi has almost finished creating the project, and I’ve finished almost 12 levels in the Need For Speed Video Game.

The rest of the semester also goes by very quickly, and soon it’s time for the dreaded project demo. It’s the morning of the exam, and we’re about to enter the Lab.

Me: “So, our project is titled ‘A IMAP 4.0 Complaint Server”?
Dyothi: “OUR project?”
Me: “Yeah, it says so right here on the project report. “By Aditya Kulkarni and Dyothi”"

Unfortunately for Dyothi, author’s names had to be listed out alphabetically, and that meant her name came second. I couldn’t stop laughing at this ironic twist of fate.

So we get into the exam lab. It has been my plan to let Dyothi handle the whole thing, because frankly, I have only a very vague idea of what this project is supposed to do. But the Examiner has probably sensed that I’ve not done any work on the project, so he explicitly asks me to demo the program.

And so, we begin. This is going to be risky.

Me: “…and when I click this button, a new email window will open”

I click the button. Nothing Happens.

I glace over at Dyothi, and she’s furiously shaking her head. I’m probably doing it wrong.
Me: “…a new email window will open if we’re not running the server, but we are, so nothing will happen. This is expected behavior!”

The examiner looks at me weirdly.
Me: “…And moving right along. So if we click ‘send email’ now, it will send an email to your account! Fantastic, isn’t it? I love this whole email thing. Once, I sent a email to my Dog, and…’

I suddenly realize that we’re in the middle of the exam, and it would be very inappropriate to tell a joke at this point. Dyothi has a shocked look on her face. She’s pretty sure we’ve already flunked.

The examiner takes over the Computer, and asks where the email is.
Me: “Email? What email?”
Examiner: “But didn’t you just send it?”
Me: “Ah, yes. That email. I’m sure it’s on it’s way. Just give it a few more seconds…”

We’re all sitting there silently. I figure it is appropriate to make conversation at this point.

Me: “The internet is a little slow today. Must be from all the rain yesterday…”
Dyothi looks like she’s going to faint, and I realize that my last statement didn’t make any sense. Fortunately for me, that happens a lot, so I’m used to it.

But the email has arrived on the Computer and the Examiner gets distracted. He looks at it, and seems satisfied. He marks something in his notebook, and sends us off.

The next few weeks until the results are declared must have been like hell for Dyothi. She was probably in the constant fear that I had managed to flunk us, and she had wrecked her career by choosing me as a project partner.

But fortunately for us, we passed and everything was OK again. Dyothi graduated and has been involved in several startups, and now works at reviewgist.com.

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