End Of College Days

And so a beautiful period came to end just days ago… I am talking about my B.Tech at ITER, Bhubaneswar. Those lovely four years of my life that I am going to miss like hell. Fun packed and full of delight were those days that I have just left behind. I haven’t seen heaven nor do I wish the Gods put me there when I leave this earth but now that I am home after a rueful farewell with my college and friends, I sense that maybe the place where I lived and studied are actually places in the abode of heaven. It is common human attribute that one gets world-weary and feels boredom doing the same daily thing and staying at the same damned place every day. Routine work has been known to suck since days of the kings I suppose. Now that I am home, I feel even hell would be better than living like this, away from college and buddies, staying indoors, sitting glued to my laptop all day long, having got nothing to do, no damn business, no partying and no hang-outs. The list of complains now seem endless. But in months from now when I shall embark upon my professional career, I will realize that there is indeed nothing like home.

Anyway, no point stressing on human attributes. We are the way God has made us. There has to be this absence of a harness on our demands. Otherwise we wouldn’t be humans at all. So is my case now. Presently I am missing my college and college days a lot. It’s that feeling inside since days now that if only there had been another couple of semesters to study at ITER. Though doing classes was never a first priority and teachers could never appeal any student on earth, yet the feeling persists in my mind. The main reason for this feeling, as can be inferred very easily, is the ever-appealing word- FRIENDS. Also, speaking rationally, lawns, playgrounds, cafés, cake shops, restaurants, etc. inside college premises have never been known to suck, however ill-reputed or strict the college management is. Classrooms only, when donned by teachers, have the universal repute of being the most boring and life-threatening areas in the world (:P). But again, those tiny breaks between two periods – yeah yeah those five minutes which we used to gain tactfully by screaming ‘no sir/ma’am please not anymore... next class, next class, next class sir/ma’am please’ - are again wonderful moments in our lives. Now who would negate this?

If I recollect from my student days, those wish-they-never-end minutes of gap were used for a variety of activities. It’s a pleasure recalling them actually. Some, mostly females, go to fetch water from the purifiers installed in the corridors, that later on, others, mostly boys, find pleasure in gulping down with just a ‘thanks’ or sometimes not even bothering to say so; boys, like me (;)), who go along with girls well (and sometimes, warmer with girls than boys :P) come out of their seats to the other row where girls are seated and some topic always crops up in between that lasts for the whole time and often goes only half-way; guys take out their cameras or mobiles-equipped-with-cameras to take snaps of the class and zoom in on pretty girls (this, I mean photography, happened almost every day towards the end); girls start hullaballoo-ing over a thousand topics they always carry along with them; a plump girl dies laughing in the front benches and two or three guys stare at her and say ‘sala pagili’ (she’s gone mad); boys and girls together engage themselves in severe leg-pulling of the other sex citing the victim’s ways of saying certain things, doing things, gait, nature, behavior and the like; some find it the right time to talk to their special ones over phone and yet some others find it the best time to sleep or do pending assignments (sometimes the same person does both of these and that’s when you call it time-management :P ). Lastly some guys also find pleasure in thrashing one of their friends over no reason or talk with a friend from another class standing at the door or moving in the corridor. All this and much more before the devil enters the class and robs you off your (sleep? No way :)) joys and continues with the latest portion of the syllabus.

So when a classroom can be place for so much activity during a short break of a couple of minutes, one can very well comprehend the amount of pleasure we students have derived from other areas of the college premises. Playing games inside campus; relishing ice-creams and delicacies at the cake shop; sitting with your partner in one of the many seating areas across the premises; hitting the road on your bike with full speed with the stereotyped idea of getting the attention of girls moving around; canteens bustling with noises and shouts and khatti  (gossips); restaurants doing hefty business; boys flocked in front of the ladies hostel waiting for their acquaintance to arrive or already engaged in conversation and the like.

College days just promise so much of fun by only screwing us a bit. And at the end, we realize that we had actually joined the institution wholly for academic purposes and to gain qualification in studies. But with passage of time, academics gradually got pushed to background and other things gained dominance. And what if we get screwed a bit? We have to study (a bit, at least) to cross the hurdles and leave the college as graduates. A little thrashing and screwing is mandatory otherwise why would the college have us in the first place? But in the end, it seems whatever happened, happened for our good. We got what we aspired for and in fact, we got more than that. We made a family, our own family comprising of a good number of friends. And as we set out of our alma mater, we can assure ourselves that though the education that we got inside the gates might not help us, but the friends that we made inside, will surely be there with us wherever we go and however time elapses from now on. And even worth mentioning here is that, some teachers also influence us during our time of stay. Now exceptions breed the difference, don’t they? Not all teachers can be bad. Some inspire us by their intellect, some by their humane side and some by their guidance. So all in all, college life has so much to learn and experience, more than what several tens of books or a carefully designed syllabi expect us to learn.

And just as so many have done before, I too enjoyed my college days a lot. I had my own family of friends, my own ways of enjoying, I studied a bit, I treasured my relationships, I adored certain teachers and mentors, I carved a niche for my own self in my batch and now, as I sit at home, I have got plenty of things retained in my mind about my golden days in ITER. I have got many people now who truly miss me, I have got people who care for me and ask me to meet them asap, I have a whole set of wonderful memories that I have collected over a period of forty four months- the time I stayed in ITER, I now have an elaborate and neat collection of photos with my friends taken on several occasions and sometimes without any occasion and they have now become my prized possession. And last but certainly never the least, I am a graduate now who is awaiting his joining letter from a renowned company.

Thank you people who accompanied me in this unforgettable journey of my life; thank you guys and gals who have lent me the privilege of using the amazing word ‘friend’ for them; thank you teachers whom I have genuinely shown respect and who, at some point of time, influenced my stay in ITER and helped me survive the obstacles.

I dedicate this piece of composition to all the people who made my life worthwhile in ITER and who now make me say that ‘I thought I was entering hell but now as I walk out of the gates I realize that if there is paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this’.