External Examiners cut marks.So now we've got bad blood !Here are some tips to get through engineering vivas.

1. When you're nervous,shake it off.

2. Whatever you say,be confident I guess.

3. When you're asked what you did in lab all year,looking at the Internal Examiner would be lack of foresight.Lie back to back if you don't want to lie back.

4. When they yell at you when they're hungry,make a mental note to apologise to your mom and best friend.

5. Don't lose your hair over it.You might just be saved by a hair's breadth.

6. If they ask you "Are you sure?" more than thrice there might be a teeny tiny chance that you're wrong.

7. You've been under a lot of pressure lately.Go pee first.

8. When the questions get harder, turn to the internal for soft spots.

9. Don't eat too much before the exam or you'll stuff it up.There is too much to digest anyways.

10. When you don't get a question,say "pass" but do add a "please" before it.

11. FAQT:Remember,anything that can be asked will be asked. 

12. When none of your friends are understanding it,dis-cuss it.

13. Do not under any circumstances give the external your file.

• Hold it tight.Say you have a firm grasp over it.
• Sit on it.Say if you want it I'll have to sleep over it.

14. If you overslept and didn't read the file,nothing will ring a bell.

15. In the long drawn silences,ask yourself important questions like "Why I am here?".Pretend to contemplate these too.

16. Do not pray aloud that you shouldn't be asked a particular question.They're taking notes.

17. When you leave the examination hall,enjoy your five minutes of spotlight as you put everyone in a spot.No-one is going to care about you again.

18. You will always know the answer to everyone else's questions.Well,say that anyways.Who's checking ?

19.  Trick question:If there are three people in the room and 2 of them are laughing ,who's the joke on?Observe the intricate detailing of the flooring.

20. Understand ,the word viva didn't originate from vivacious for a reason.

The Roommate. A poem on battling depression.(Written for a Competition in a time-limit of 1 hour)

On an endless winter night as in the cold I lay,
A stranger at my doorstep,begging for a place to stay.

Dressed in blue,her pale glassy eyes shone,
How did she know I lived here alone?

Unfolding the blanket of time,her tiny legs she spread,
Melancholy of my soul exposed,filling me with dread.

I fed her fears,my dreams she starved,
My skin a canvas for the scars she carved.

Dark circles under my eyes,shadows of the night,
The monster now on the bed,hiding in plain sight.

Her thoughts so dark,off the edge they would wander,
Should we end it on a high?We would often ponder.

We met in secret,between her shadow and  my soul.
Alone in our togetherness,will I ever again feel whole?

"Are you okay?" they ask,But they don't want to know,
In a dark place like this,what can ever grow?

She screamed out the quiet confusion of my heart,
Where do broken hearts go, I ask ,to mend and start?

She handed me a blade,beckoned me to be brave,
But I wondered,will life stand proudly at my grave ?

She'd changed me so much that I'd stopped being me,
When you're your own enemy how does one truly flee?

To welcome my future,I had to show her the door,
With every passing day,lifted my spirits off the floor.

Some days its hard,but to my hope I cling,
The day she left I realised,it had always been spring.