The First Day Of The 4th Year....

23July,2009.

I had a lousy start.. A fully crowded bus stopped in front of me. Knowing i had either this or a 15 minute wait, i grudgingly got in.. Had to keep standing and jostling for space, till i finally got down at Hazra, after an hour.

Then, i had to contend with a queue(for the auto) the size of 2-3 Anacondas combined! I knew i had no chance for the next 20 mins..

[There are supposed to be 80000 autos in Kolkata.... were they playing hide n seek??]

A few helpful college mates called me to share a cab with them, but with the taxi already full with 5 boys,where was i to sit? So i had to let go of that option too.. It was 11:10 and i had to be in college by 11:30..

Felt so angry.... All this on the very 1st day..

If i had been superstitious, i would have left all hope of a good sem!!

Finally, with some luck, a few of us college mates got hold of a cab..

Then began the slowest taxi drive of my life.... How roads could be this clogged with vehicles, I had no idea..

We atlast managed to reach college just in time.. dishevelled and black with the soot n smoke, which the various bus n taxi owners showered on us indulgently!!

[Why do i even bother getting ready and looking into the mirror everyday??]

It was with a relieved sigh that I sat down on a seat my friend had saved for me.. It was good to catch up on the news and views of friends..

After the usual pep talk from the teachers, we retired into our classrooms. Curtains on the windows this time.. good..

Checking out the routine was a drab affair, as it had never held out promise.. always faced with full college days,inspite of lesser subjects and even lesser practical classes..

Next stop, Bus-stop.

But no bus came to give me a ride to my destination.. Interested in some exercise and in saving some money (had to shell out more than the usual for the taxi, remember?), I decided to walk a little distance..

Only to be caught unawares,by a downpour.. My poor umbrella was no match for the fury of the Rain-God..

Fully drenched, I ultimately boarded a bus which took me home, thus ending an unusually eventful (and unlucky) day..

The woes (aplenty) of an ordinary college student.......

THE UNWANTED....

The worst thing to feel in life is to feel overshadowed.. Worse still , if it happens when least expected. without reason.. You have no idea why the other person gets so much more importance than you do.. and you end up confused and depressed..

You definitely want your pride of place.. and when you don’t get it, you are bound to get frustrated aren’t you?

Though the world is changing, and people put up false pretences of discarding primitive beliefs, some notions just don’t seem to go..

But…. It must have been your fault, to have taken your place for granted, to think you TOO matter.. to think you must be perched at the top of the scale of recognition…. But, now, it hurts badly, to fall from such a height.

You know you’ve always done your bit.. even though you may not be as successful as you wanted to be, you know you’ve done all you could..
But if you still are not appreciated, it may not be your fault.. but someone else’s blindness or perjury….

The Bandh Culture

It was like any other day.. I got up early, and started getting ready for college, when it suddenly dawned on me that it was a holiday. No it wasn't a Sunday, but a "Bandh day"....No buses, minibuses, autorickshaws or taxis, no means of transport plying on the roads.. So no means to defy the bandh either.

As is the case today,most of the times i don't even realise the reason why they've called the strike.. I mean if some atrocity has actually happened, why incovenience innocent people who have no hand in the trouble caused?

O.... I forgot.. people do not matter do they?

Things sometimes need to be sacrificed.. and if strikes were "sometimes" called, it's understandable.. but how is a bandh called at the drop of a hat going to fo

rward your cause?

I remember an ad which used to be broadcast on the radio a few years back.. an ad for a biscuit company.. There they would announce a bandh because the company was offering 33% extra biscuits in the pack !!!!

Some people have made it a habit of announcing strikes on the slightest of pretexts and the ad captures this very essence..

And another major hindrance is the public apathy towards these strikes....They consider it an extra holiday.. I guess the people are in dire need of holidays.. but if people start supporting these strikes indirectly, when will they ever stop?

But why would people want the bandh culture to end when they get benefited from it? On the one hand they'll keep harping about no development in the city..and on the other, encourage such lawlessness....

Was getting bored at home....so wrote all this up in the midst of chattin with some friends.... i hope i wasn't too busy that i wrote something incoherent !!

A Recession Hit, Us....

Everyone knows what recession is by now.. Ask a 10-year old, and even he may give you the answer!! Such is the impact of the word, the phenomenon that has gripped the world. And we in India, they say, are not too affected. It's just the west that is reeling under "recession pressure".
Then how come no company is willing to recruit us?? Why is our batch,the 2010 passout batch, termed- The worst affected ??
We students have been the sufferers of probably the worst recession of all times.. And what do we get as consolation?
The opportunity to become a post graduate, as i don't have a job!The opportunity to be the first group of students to experience CAT online!!Lucky US....I admit CAT has never been predictable, but don't you think this sudden change is too much of a damper?
I mean,one, you won't have a job.
two,you have a lesser chance of cracking CAT unless adequately prepared.
three, even if you do crack CAT,people with work experience will be preferred over you,a fresher..
What does everyone expect us to do? We are freshers who don't have jobs for no fault of ours.. As we don't have a job, we have lesser chances of studying at a premier B-school. As we can't study there, we won't get a decent job and hence, are back to square one!!!!
A Vicious Circle.... And whom does it affect? 3 guesses? Yes.... US.One particularly unfortunate batch.
Why US????
[P.S. The situation May Not be as grim as it has been portrayed, but yes, this batch is unfortunate for sure....And US means us.... and not the US of A as some might assume..]

Remembering.... A Friend..

This is one topic I’ve been wanting to write about for a long time.. In fact This is the main reason why I thought of opening “a blogging account”.
A feeling of loss has been there inside me for the past 3-4 months, though I find it inexplicable..
IT, the row that happened, was not unexpected and I had been waiting for it to happen for some months, though.. I didn’t WANT it to happen..
Have always felt that it’s good to be on talking terms with Everybody.. whether you like’em or not.. Especially at a time when you’re going to leave college and start a new life in less than a year’s time, you wouldn’t want to go off on a sour note.. I guess some things “Just Happen”.. you may never know whether they were meant to..

I won’t go into the details of what happened as most know about it.. Someone who had been close (at least she seemed to be), suddenly turned foul.. I don’t know for what reason..
But the sudden change in the character of people you’re close to, does Upset..

I Now understand that this was how she had been all along.. It is only My Point-of-view that has changed.. For till then, I’d always been doing things the way we both favored.. I thought we felt the same about matters.. And this friendship was probably the best thing to have happened to me in college..
But this was just the initial phase.. As opinions differed, so did the moods and attitudes of people.
I know it’s not possible for 2 people to be in Perfect harmony, but to expect everyone to toe your decisions was childish.. It’s one thing to stand up for something you feel strongly about, and another to wish to crush out all opposition.. by hook or by crook. To force your opinions upon others could only have resulted in discord, and that’s what happened ultimately.
But was it for this climax that the bond had existed in the first place? On the one had I’m happy that I’m distant from a shrewd and dominating being. But I can’t say I’m Not disappointed with the way things ended.. This friendship, after all, had given me many memorable moments.. And now it has made me wish that people never changed..
I do not regret my decision to put a full stop, for it was I who took the first step towards a premature end, as I may put it!! But the way I was forced to do it.. could have been different.
You, my friend, shouldn’t have gone astray..

The City I Spent My Life In

This is how I’ll always remember Calcutta.. Kolkata..
A city full of smoke
A city full of traffic
A city without sidewalks
A city full of open drains
A city with overflowing buses
A city teeming with the poor..
A city without an industry..
A city in utter chaos
A city of lawlessness
A city of the unruly
A city without a rulebook
A city completely mismanaged
A city…. deep in slumber..
A city of content people though they want to complain..
A city that gave me an ENT ailment
A city without a future.. if people don’t wake up

These.. are not just my problems.. but of all those who live here, grumble and complain about things, and then become silent and carry on with their work as if nothing happened..
People need to wake up.. they need to do away with their “Cholche cholbe” attitude..
You are a citizen and hence have a right to a better life.. People need to question. It’s not like “I’m satisfied with what I get..”
It should be “I should get exactly what I deserve and nothing less..”
I admit, I myself don’t have a habit of practising what I preach.. but things can’t be done single-handedly.
People need to be united..

All said n done…. This is a city, which I’ll miss when I go away one day.. for what this city has given me in terms of friends.. is something for which I’ll be indebted to it forever….

THE LAP BEFORE THE LEAP

So…. I’ve reached the final year of college.. the last n final yr of engineering.. Waiting for college to reopen..
Actually I wish college would remain closed for another week or two after the 21st.. Then I can continue taking the liberty of waking up at 8 in the morning.. and not have to worry about missing the 8.15 bus.. and not have to pretend to pay attention during an exceedingly boring lecture which probably will never aid me in future.
I can continue “preparing” to bell the Cat.. and continue going out with friends n not be content with just meeting them in college.
But eventually.. college will reopen..
and before I could say Abracadabra,
another year will zoom by, and I’ll be in this very same month next year..
What then?
Will I be waiting to join a company?
Will I be in a B-school?
Will it be a good one or one that’ll just help me pay my rent?
This year will see and decide it all.. It’ll shape up my future.. It’s the last yr before I would say goodbye to things familiar and take the plunge into this big bad world….
And what will be out there waiting for me??
I don’t remember who said this.. (was it Shakespeare?).. “Some people are born Great.. Some achieve Greatness.. And Some have Greatness thrust upon them..”
Does this allude to what I or my friends will be like in future????

My Own Blog....

Here I am.... Writing a blog…After seeing a few friends do it.. I thought I might as well give it a try.. Who knows what good might come off it.. But not all things are done with gains in mind.. Though this blog may well prove to be a good vent for what I feel… and yes, I do feel strongly about a lot of things.. And I’m here to write about them. I hope you guys like reading it.. And maybe one day, I’ll be paid to write more of these!!!! Ahoy......