Trrrringggggg!!! Yrrrrring!!!
The alarm clock rang at the scheduled time in the morning. Had it been any other day I would have put it on snooze, just to hear the song "na jaane kabse... ummedein kuch baaki hain..." once again, fantasizing myself in place of Farhan Saeed. (Yah, this used to be my alarm tone right from the day ICSE exams commenced and it continued to be till..well my friends know that, I guess.) But it was not just another day... at least for me and other students, who out of their (or their parents') immense desire, aspired to be 'Engineers', and to put it to effect, had submitted the AIEEE application form. Shaking off all thoughts of of early-morning-sleeping pleasure, I dragged myself out of the bed. My head was still dizzy with all the formulae and 'concepts' that I had tucked into my mind the last night. With a toothbrush in my hand I cast a bewildered look into the mirror, trying to recall some of the formulae I found difficult to trust my mind upon. All that happened after that was the result of my trustworthy reflexes. Time flew away and the next time I pondered upon my state, I was in a taxi, on the way to Kendriya Vidyalaya II, Salt Lake, Kolkata, my centre for AIEEE 2011.
One can easily guess the state of a student's mind, when he has such a deal to finish, which the course of the rest of his life relied upon. I had already spent an year in a college that was below my standards (as my teachers used to say). Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, was something I could only 'earn' in my first year (yah, I know, a very meagre earning...), because I was too clever not to appear in AIEEE 2010!!! So, I had a sort of added pressure in my already pressurised AIEEE 2011.
But, NSEC is something that I will cherish throughout my life, though I will be getting my B-Tech degree from some other college. One can undoubtedly compare it to sort of 'first love', because, technically speaking, that was where I experienced my first college life... the ecstasy, the joy and the freedom that one feels just after stepping out of school life... and all the moments that I spent there, those were sort of "best days of my life", till now. That one year of life, even I never thought, I would spend it like that. Not that I learnt some great deal of stuffs (that's nothing out of the box), but the people out there made me feel very special. I don't know why. Children generally have a tendency to segregate their friends' circle into best friends, and just acquaintances. If I am to name a few of best friends in college life, the names that come into my mind first are Arnak, Avishek, Sourya, Syamantak and Nitesh. And they still continue to be among my best friends in Kolkata.
The journey to the KV sort of filled me with an unknown excitement and enthusiasm. I had almost leapt out of the taxi and headed directly for the main gate, while my mother was still busy clearing off the taxi fare. One explanation that my friends might suggest is that owing to my natural talent of getting late everywhere, I was late that day too. But I know that was not the reason, because, I soon found out what it really was.
It is a general tendency among students to remain tensed on the day of exam. The tension attains its peak value just before the exam, and it gradually vanishes as one undergoes the process of examination. My case was no different. And I was not at all prepared for any surprises in that condition. How can one forget that "Man proposes, God disposes"!!! One will surely not expect to see students leaving the exam hall, even before the exam had started... and that exactly what I saw! Keeping my tension low I approached the gatekeeper... only to find out that the examination had been postponed due to the leakage of the AIEEE 2011 question paper! I did not know how to respond to this news. As I turned back to get the news to my mother, I saw something that I hoped everyday, but never expected to see throughout the rest of my life. It was a girl, my classmate till 9th standard, my first love! Though some misunderstandings had drifted us apart, I always longed to be with her. And lo! I found the time just when I thought I didn't have any! The funny part was that I recognised her and called out her name, and in return, it was her mother, who called out my name! She was as speechless as I was. Her father did not allow her to wait for the 3 hours, and drove her back home. What I regret now, is that I didn't ask for her new contact number....
Nevertheless, I finally wrote my AIEEE paper and hoped for the best... both in results and love, though I never saw her again after the exams.
This was 'academically' exactly an year after the previous date. Yes, it was the date of AIEEE 2012. As, NIT Durgapur was one of the examination centres, my mind was swept across by those fond memories. I went to the Academic Building after the examination ended, to see the faces of those students who have been striving like everyone else just to get admission in an NIT. Some were full of smile, while some were dejected. In addition to that, the expressions on the faces of the parents were worth noticing!
May 8th, 2012 :
The second semester examinations ended today, the last exam being Engineering Economics and Accountancy. This is the second time I have taken this examination... no not because I did not pass last year, but because I passed a greater examination. Yes, the AIEEE results got me into National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, where I am currently pursuing B-Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Sounds pretty interesting... huh! Yeah! its even more interesting because the college life that I have experienced here is something that everybody does not experience everyday. First of all, Its feels great to tell someone the name of the college (provided the person is aware of the value of the acronym 'NIT'). I feel proud to have lived up to the expectations of my parents and teachers, though my parents never pressurized me to get into engineering.
However, I found a very good friend in class 11, perhaps the best friend in recent times, whose friendship was a motivation for me leaving NSEC and joining NIT Durgapur. He loves to be called "Psi", but his family name is Apurva. When I came to NIT little did I think that my life will see such things as these... First and foremost is staying away from home, away from parents, especially my mother. But now I know that one needs to make oneself feel at home. Now this is possible only when you get loving and caring people around you. Even by the end of the 1st semester, I could not accept the hostel as my second home. But as time passed, We the residents of the "Maggi Wing", room no 102,103 and 104, S.N.Bose Hall of Residence, ,made each of us feel at home. (The food served at the mess normally used to be a mess and we relied on wholesale maggi to satiate our hungry souls; hence the name.) A student of NIT Durgapur will know and understand the 'hardships' (no pun intended) that a 1st year student has to undergo in the initial months. Under such circumstances, I owe my smiling moments to my roommates - Supratim, Harshit, Bhuvan, and our noble neighbours - Abhishek, Neelmani, Himanshu, Mayank, Niraj and Shammi. In addition to them, I always had my robotics team-mates - Abhishek, Sayantan and Kaustav; my quizzing mates - Avinav, Mayank and Abhishek; and last but not the least our guitarist Karan, to keep me from boredom.
Now that we have been here for a year, living as a family, a dilemma of feelings haunt my mind. On one hand there is a joy to go back home; on the other hand I am parting from this family for nearly 3 months. One by one my room-mates and wing-mates are leaving for home... even I will be leaving shortly. The emptiness of the hostel surges back and reminds me of my first night in the hostel room. But only that, I feel lonely just because 'they' have made a significant place in my daily life over the year. Even when I will be back at home, the gap will partially remain unfulfilled, reminding me of them, every instant... Perhaps, I may also feel the holiday to be very long!
Tomorrow, when I go back home, I will have returned not only with a 'senior tag' from college, but also with a feeling, a learning how friends can be so good a family. It is my utmost desire that I keep with this family through thick n thin, these four years and even beyond...