The second term could be compared to a huge storm. And the start of the second term could be
said to be the lull before the storm. There was gross inactivity after the end of the first
term. Nobody ever cared how their mates were doing. Some people were working hard on their
projects for an event in the capital city. SmartGirl did the smart thing, teaming up with a
senior who provided her with all the inputs that might have been required. She was a
supremely confident little girl. She knew what she wanted. There was ImpressiveBrain who
could do something no one else could. She harried and hankered the new professor,
WorthyChallenger, to such an extent that he became petrified of her. He was just another
victim of ImpressiveBrain, who made others work, so what if it was even a professor!
WorthyChallenger was forced to be all at sea when listening to her unending stream of hard-
nosed questions and queries, which were sometimes worthwhile, and sometimes mindless! Giving her company were her partners-in-crime, BeautifulLady and CatLover. WorthyChallenger could have been forgiven to think of commiting suicide!!! BeautifulLady was another who knew what she wanted to do. She had an unusual knack about her. CatLover would do all the donkey work that was there to be done, usually ordered by ImpressiveBrain. There were some who opted for the physically draining, and less glamorous competition. They were relatively unnoticed at the big event. Only when the snaps were shown, came to be known that they also existed someplace, standing the whole day in the lawns, wearing plastic smiles to anyone who came close, explaining them their concepts everytime like a tape being repeated over and over again!!! And yes, at the end of those days, their cheeks ached real bad because of the plastic smiles.
CharmedLife and BuddhistDude chose to stay out of this groupy-shoupy stuff. BuddhistDude went to Bangalore to be with his sister. TechnicalCalm asked CharmedLife what he was going to do in that week. He said he would be trying to break his non-stop sleep record, which was 48 hours!!!
During the event, there was a wonderful reunion of FrightenedGirl and JackOfAllTrades. His deputy, Youngster, dutifully looked after the stall, happy to do social service, while
actually missing in action himself!
At the main event, ImpressiveBrain gave a good account of her concept, and her partner
BeautifulLady easily quashed a tough poser that a knucklehead from a rival college down
south, had put forth. But there was something missing there. The Ladies'Man got all
entangled and grilled in the question and answer session. The cheerful Shorty wasn't spared either, her partner, Mimicry had no ideas. Her knight in shining armour, IAS Officer, tried to rescue the situation, but nothing seemed to work, although SincereToExtreme managed to hold his own in the face of adversity. Ultimately, it was SmartGirl who got all the
accolades, beating famed competition from down south. Her success was totally unexpected,
but every bit deserved. The large head-to-body ratio had done something extraordinary. Her
award acceptance speech was almost perfect. The plaudits came from everywhere, but deep down she must have thought "What the fuss is all about ?" If there was someone who could have claimed a part of her success, it were her parents, one of the most caring people. They had
arranged for more than half the entourage of everything. Assuming such responsibility for so
many people and carrying it off so well spoke volumes for them.
All this while, there was a jackpot waiting for MuteGoodLooker. Apparently, his laptop had
shed all connection speed inhibitions; like a dodo which suddenly got a set of flying wings,
and was rocking at a crisp 11 Mbps, because of the five-star location. He drooled his way to
goody stuff on the Peer-to-Peer network. On the last night, he got, like drunk real bad,
and everyone tried to control him but to no avail. The mute had suddenly got out of the
MuteGoodLooker, and only RapStar had any semblance of control over him. The next day, the mute came back again for good, and he was the butt of some bad jokes. Some thought it was
bad and he didnt deserve such a raw deal, while the ones who had been at his receiving end
the previous night thought he fully deserved the taunts, just for that one day.
MuteGoodLooker was back to normal again. He had learnt the lesson.
Only 12 people were scheduled to immediately take the train back. Two of them, Shorty and
CatLover trooped in at Platform seven as if there were a red-carpet welcome waiting for them
and the railway minister had ordered the train not to depart without them. They made it a
couple minutes before the assigned departure, much to the relief of the others waiting for
them. The problem was; they were spread over three bogies, but they managed well, and had a
real fun time together. In fact, the return journey was more joyful than the earlier one,
and CannotLoseWeight would take much of the credit for that. In one game of dumb charades, CatLover asked TechnicalCalm to enact one movie name. Now TechnicalCalm was quite well adept at this game, but on this one he was clueless, because he could not find out a way to enact the first word. Try as he might, he failed and astonishingly, CatLover enacted the word correctly. TechnicalCalm thought his pride had been hurt, but later on, CannotLoseWeight consoled him saying it was probably the dumbest movie ever! Like Roger Federer, it is okay to lose one match after winning 50 straight...It is also important to learn being a good loser sometimes.
The week that followed was one of the quietest ever in college. Not many people were there,
the professors were not there, the students had gone home. The ones who were running the
show were TenaciousClerk, Informer and SincereBoy. Informer, as always, blasted the top management and especially TenaciousClerk, behind their back. SincereBoy did his duties superbly well. One couldn't fault him for commitment and effort. Only in the second week some action started. Actually everyone, especially MasterOfCeremonies, were waiting for SmartGirl's return. Everyone showered praises on her, and college was up and running again, although a bit slowly. Realising that college was in cruise control, some students made the most with getaway trips to nearby spots. There were a large number of birthday parties in store.
Suddenly, a trend for such parties had emerged; it would last for 24 hours right from 0000
hours to 2400 hours. It seemed everyone was interested in partying hard. Rather than having
simple get-togethers in the evenings, like good old childhood and teenage days, these guys
and gals had gone way out of control, over the top! There were also some guys who would
always troop in to each and every one of these parties uninvited, like flies in a soup! God
only knew where they disappeared on their days...such was life. Spare a thought for those
birthday boys and girls. The birthday used to feel more like a punishment. In those days,
Coffee Shop became a popular late night joint for everyone. For some guys like RapStar and
PositiveEnergy, making an attendance here was more important. There were so many reasons in favour of doing so. Next ->
A rude shock lay in store for the students. WorthyChallenger had asked them to submit a
project by a specified date. These professors had grown very fond of the words like "SUBMIT"
and "LAST DATE". The girls used to be very nervous about it while the guys would laugh it
off. "Who is he to say such things ?", they'd ask. The whole situation was created by
WorthyChallenger, who sensed that if he wanted to stamp his authority, the time was NOW!!!
He wanted to score points over JackOfAllTrades and his deputy, Youngster, so that he would
be in MasterOfCeremonies' scheme of things. Youngster had learnt from JackOfAllTrades not to show all the cards at one time...rather he should do it slowly, the SLOWER...the BETTER. He
made the wise decision to stay out. College politics was shaping up nicely, but unfortunately the students were victimised...BRUTALLY!!! JackOfAllTrades was happy enough to
accept whatever the students had done...really everybody's project was nothing but COPY &
PASTE. But WorthyChallenger wouldn't budge an inch. He made everyone suffer...everyone did donkey work for hours...days...weeks...it went on and on and on it seemed like they were
travelling on the circumference of a circle. TechnicalCalm called it "THE ENDLESS
SUFFERING". His teammates SincereGirl and CannotLoseWeight were quite tense and wanted to "FINISH IT OFF" as early as possible. TechnicalCalm worked hard on it on the last few days and, with some help from his team. RapStar was in a worse situation. The poor fellow had idle teammates, he had everything to do on his own. At a critical point of time, after doing
all the donkey work...his computer went into a COMA...refusing to come back to life, try as
he might to resuscitate it. Ultimately it crashed. All the work had come to nothing. He was
physically and mentally shattered. It led to a drinking binge. Finally he came out of it
with an idea to recover lost ground. Many groups were in a shattered state of mind. The
laboratory used to be a cauldron of confusion and anxiety. It was also in part due to the
timing of the exams, which were now quite close. Effectively, WorthyChallenger had swallowed
the students' "PREPARATION LEAVE" all by himself. WorthyChallenger was a towering figure and his presence was intimidating to most of the students. He was a contraption of dirty
politics. TechnicalCalm also used to be intimidated by him...so he used his height to good
effect, standing tall and upright so that WorthyChallenger would have to actually "LOOK UP"
in order to see eye-to-eye. Such fears were dispelled. By now the guys in the class had
learnt a trick. Always go to meet WorthyChallenger immediately after his meeting with some
girls. That was probably the only time you might have caught him in a good mood and get away
with it.
Actually there was one group which was quite enthusiastic about this whole thing and
wondered why the others were crying foul. They had CatLover, BeautifulLady and NoExpression doing all the donkey work, especially CatLover had mastered it. BubblyCharacter would act as their supervisor, making sure of everything was right, while PositiveEnergy didn't get involved, although later on he had to. WorthChallenger had tremendous affinity towards this particular group for obvious reasons, although he didn't really help them out either. He only gave HOLLOW ADVICE, like the trunk of a tree infested by a colony of termites!!!
Exam day was the weirdest possible and the most draining ever for the students. Most of them
had sat up the previous night preparing for their projects and the exam itself. All this
while, JackOfAllTrades had been a keen observer from the sidelines. He understood
WorthyChallenger's gameplan. Soon enough he too joined in the action to prove he's second to
none in this business. He scrutinized each and every fault, and dissected them with surgical
precision. No one was spared, absolutely no one. His extraordinary behavior was not directed
at the students, but indirectly at WorthyChallenger, probably letting him know,"I am the boss around here. Whatever you can do, I can do better!". That day, WorthyChallenger could not stop his juggernaut and had to be satisfied with second best. Youngster was nowhere in the picture really. Then came the practical exam, which almost everyone runned successfully apart from some of the usual suspects. Then the time came for viva.
He would ask a question to a guy, who'd say,"Sir, I don't know", and another question, with
the same reply, and yet another question, with the same reply. He would make the guy feel
he's the dumbest in the world. Then he would say, "Okay thank you", leaving him wondering
what it really meant. In contrast, whenever a girl had been called up, he would ask them the
simplest of questions...and these vivas were taking longer than the guys...much longer...a
HELL LOT LONGER...call it INVERSE CHAUVINISM!!! TechnicalCalm decided to get back at him.
When his output was to be seen, he deliberately placed the chair quite a distance away from
the computer screen. So when WorthyChallenger came, he did not move the chair and sat on it.
Unfortunately, the momentum incurred carried the chair forward and thudded into the
keyboard (CRASH)!!! OOPSIE, and only TechnicalCalm could hear an almost inaudible utterance, " #$%@*!#@ ". They say there's light at the end of a tunnel...wonderful! More...
Everyone thought that surely the hardest part was surely over, but not just yet...there were also some theory exams coming up. These were lousy exams, with free-wheeling discussion going on, and people copying each other's running files and Googling at the same time too. JackOfAllTrades came back to his normal behavior. He wasn't bashing anyone anymore, he was his usual friendly self. Suddenly, everyone thought of paying back WorthyChallenger in kind next time. The students vowed to be better prepared and harass him so much that whenever he would come to take a lecture, there would be tremendous fear in his mind, and make the classroom atmosphere as intimidating for him as possible. For he had committed a cardinal sin in this game, he had played too well...so well that now he had nothing left to play anymore. This is where JackOfAllTrades had played the perfect possible waiting game. That clever old wily fox was a champion at that. Like in cricket, you give the first hour to the bowlers, you survive it, then the whole day is yours. He had ridden the storm, and had emerged a survivor. The students were battered and bruised though, and had their prides seriously wounded. They would hit back at the man who caused them such suffering and anger and frustration. They decided to hit him hard on every possible opportunity that came their way. What happened to WorthyChallenger ? Did the students have enough courage to thrash him out ? What happened to JackOfAllTrades ? Did he consolidate his standing in the eyes of MasterOfCeremonies ? What happened to the students ? What happened
to Youngster, and the others ?What happened next ??? All the answers in the last and concluding part of this trilogy ->
Story 3...coming soon!
Please do leave your comments...Thanks for reading!
11 September 2006
28 June 2006
Pune is uncool
Pune is damn expensive.
Sethi aunty started telling me about how the prices of food items have skyrocketed. She told me she bought 3 kg of ladies fingers for 80 rupees, and tomatoes at Rs 30/Kg (I was already wondering of the hidden message, that my dinner tiffin may become dearer soon, and I thought 25 rupees was itself too much!). I could hardly believe my ears, especially as compared to Delhi, you get good food quite cheap. Sethi aunty’s son was telling me how in Delhi you could eat one good meal for Rs 15 while in a day there won’t be a need to shell out more than 50 bucks for three meals. Here, if you order a paneer pasanda in a half-decent restaurant (I am not mentioning a hotel), that would lighten your wallet by 50 rupees, if not more. I had experienced the same thing too; I bought a dozen small oranges (in season time) for 30 rupees. They all turned out sour, and I do have some expertise in handpicking fruits and vegetables. That experience told me I had still some way to go before becoming an expert like my mom, or for that matter, King Solomon's garden bees which knew about the real and the fake flowers.
Not drifting away from the gist of it, why does petrol have to cost the most in Maharashtra, and especially, Pune? On an average, it is 5-6 rupees more than any other state. Even the room I am staying in is for one person only, as I think, but it's supposedly "good enough" for two, and maybe even three to "fit in". I am paying 2000 bucks a month for the accommodation. Isn't it ludicrous, insane, naive idea to pay such an exorbitant amount for living in a closet? Well not so if you consider the distance to my college. If I consider a far-off place like Sangvi, then the cost of petrol would balloon so much that on the whole, it would not be an economical option.
Recently, Pune was voted the no.2 most expensive city in the country. I am not against any particular region, but my logic says that if you are living in an expensive city, then all the services that are provided to you should be of the very highest quality. Well, Pune...oh no! You would be forgiven if you think, “Where have I landed up in this shithole?". The roads are filled with big potholes, capable of giving a minor dislocation of the shoulder or the knee, whose recovery would take only six months...and set you back by any kind of five-figure amount. The doctors would say, “Boy, you got lucky! You just beat the inflation in the pharma market that is expected next month; you are going to save a lot of money!” If you accidentally caught a good road, you would be tempted to think elections are around the corner. Just the indignity of that makes me feel sick and nauseated. The pollution just gets worse and worse. The authorities have the temerity to put up "148" on the pollution meter, right next to the respirable upper limit of 50. The temperatures nowadays makes you wonder if some years back it was really called a Pensioner's Paradise ? The noise is worse than the gaseous fumes you inhale. The fumes can only cause you lung cancer; if you are strong-willed you can fight it, but the deafening noise in the jams would make you go into a state of permanent trauma. In all these years, I don’t know of a single place, open to all the citizens, worth visiting. In Mumbai, you got a lot of parks, maidans, beaches, museums, and places of historical importance. Pune is a shithole, it really has become one. I am glad my college is one one the safe havens, an area under military control. The first time I started to dislike it was the pedestrian walks. Either you would not find one at all, or even if you did, it would be a narrow one, fit only for one person to walk in one direction, and that space too was usurped by hawkers. So the authorities don’t want to give any respect to pedestrians. Pune is uncool.
The water supply, it’s like a geyser but an unfaithful one. The water itself can give you frequent stomach bugs and cause throw-ups. The electricity, intermittent. Sometimes, my stabilizer does not get the necessary potential. It needs at least 230 V, and many times it shows just 190 V, and at this instant my computer is switched off. What you see is not what is expected. My hard disk (40 GB is no more a bully these days, in the times of 100 and 120 GB hard disks. Mine is a poor cousin) has suffered a lot at the hands of the MSEB. But it still holds some of its own; on booting my computer 5 times, it is detected once. Can I file a lawsuit against the supplier for permanently damaging my hard disk? Most of you would just laugh at that...I keep getting nightmares of my CPU bursting in fumes!
When I go in for servicing of my vehicle (people, who know me...needn't worry), I want the front headlamp part replaced with a new one, because the one that I see has some condensed vapor on the inside. My logic says, if water can seep into this part, it can go inside any other part too. But for the moment, I just want the headlamp replaced. Now, the executive starts explaining me that on these rainy days, such a thing is bound to happen and you can do nothing about it because this is a problem with the bike model. He says the condensed vapor can be found on all the bikes which are my model and offers me to show some other bikes. Not a single one has water on the inside and it's all clean. Bingo, I caught him with his pants down. Again, trying to defend now, the exec says it's because of some atmospheric pressure change and blah blah blah. I tell him I don’t want to listen to the shitty crap, just get it replaced! He says okay. I have a suspicion that he would just heat the headlamp for a while till the droplets vaporize and tell me about it. Bingo yet again, he does the same thing I had figured out. I still insist on replacing it. Why do these knucklehead execs want to erode my psyche when I am asking them to just replace one part, which is well within my rights and my domain?
In Pune, the education industry is the mother of this financial coup. My fees for one year almost touch one lakh rupees, and what are the "services" or "facilities" we get? Poor (read "NO") quality teaching, no workshops, no college funded programmes, petty politics, and just one lab with intermittent online status, with blocked websites while our staff and administrators are happily chatting away on their favorite messengers and downloading games and goody stuff from the same sites, and one professor asking the other, “Sir, why is this new GTA Vice City game priced so high at $ 19.99?”
If you live here, it would make you think that the one who coined the phrase "Time is Money” must be a zombie from outer space. Need we say anything more? Once my masters’ degree is complete I am outta here! Don't you think Pune is uncool? Or maybe it used to be hip-hop earlier but not so now...?
Sethi aunty started telling me about how the prices of food items have skyrocketed. She told me she bought 3 kg of ladies fingers for 80 rupees, and tomatoes at Rs 30/Kg (I was already wondering of the hidden message, that my dinner tiffin may become dearer soon, and I thought 25 rupees was itself too much!). I could hardly believe my ears, especially as compared to Delhi, you get good food quite cheap. Sethi aunty’s son was telling me how in Delhi you could eat one good meal for Rs 15 while in a day there won’t be a need to shell out more than 50 bucks for three meals. Here, if you order a paneer pasanda in a half-decent restaurant (I am not mentioning a hotel), that would lighten your wallet by 50 rupees, if not more. I had experienced the same thing too; I bought a dozen small oranges (in season time) for 30 rupees. They all turned out sour, and I do have some expertise in handpicking fruits and vegetables. That experience told me I had still some way to go before becoming an expert like my mom, or for that matter, King Solomon's garden bees which knew about the real and the fake flowers.
Not drifting away from the gist of it, why does petrol have to cost the most in Maharashtra, and especially, Pune? On an average, it is 5-6 rupees more than any other state. Even the room I am staying in is for one person only, as I think, but it's supposedly "good enough" for two, and maybe even three to "fit in". I am paying 2000 bucks a month for the accommodation. Isn't it ludicrous, insane, naive idea to pay such an exorbitant amount for living in a closet? Well not so if you consider the distance to my college. If I consider a far-off place like Sangvi, then the cost of petrol would balloon so much that on the whole, it would not be an economical option.
Recently, Pune was voted the no.2 most expensive city in the country. I am not against any particular region, but my logic says that if you are living in an expensive city, then all the services that are provided to you should be of the very highest quality. Well, Pune...oh no! You would be forgiven if you think, “Where have I landed up in this shithole?". The roads are filled with big potholes, capable of giving a minor dislocation of the shoulder or the knee, whose recovery would take only six months...and set you back by any kind of five-figure amount. The doctors would say, “Boy, you got lucky! You just beat the inflation in the pharma market that is expected next month; you are going to save a lot of money!” If you accidentally caught a good road, you would be tempted to think elections are around the corner. Just the indignity of that makes me feel sick and nauseated. The pollution just gets worse and worse. The authorities have the temerity to put up "148" on the pollution meter, right next to the respirable upper limit of 50. The temperatures nowadays makes you wonder if some years back it was really called a Pensioner's Paradise ? The noise is worse than the gaseous fumes you inhale. The fumes can only cause you lung cancer; if you are strong-willed you can fight it, but the deafening noise in the jams would make you go into a state of permanent trauma. In all these years, I don’t know of a single place, open to all the citizens, worth visiting. In Mumbai, you got a lot of parks, maidans, beaches, museums, and places of historical importance. Pune is a shithole, it really has become one. I am glad my college is one one the safe havens, an area under military control. The first time I started to dislike it was the pedestrian walks. Either you would not find one at all, or even if you did, it would be a narrow one, fit only for one person to walk in one direction, and that space too was usurped by hawkers. So the authorities don’t want to give any respect to pedestrians. Pune is uncool.
The water supply, it’s like a geyser but an unfaithful one. The water itself can give you frequent stomach bugs and cause throw-ups. The electricity, intermittent. Sometimes, my stabilizer does not get the necessary potential. It needs at least 230 V, and many times it shows just 190 V, and at this instant my computer is switched off. What you see is not what is expected. My hard disk (40 GB is no more a bully these days, in the times of 100 and 120 GB hard disks. Mine is a poor cousin) has suffered a lot at the hands of the MSEB. But it still holds some of its own; on booting my computer 5 times, it is detected once. Can I file a lawsuit against the supplier for permanently damaging my hard disk? Most of you would just laugh at that...I keep getting nightmares of my CPU bursting in fumes!
When I go in for servicing of my vehicle (people, who know me...needn't worry), I want the front headlamp part replaced with a new one, because the one that I see has some condensed vapor on the inside. My logic says, if water can seep into this part, it can go inside any other part too. But for the moment, I just want the headlamp replaced. Now, the executive starts explaining me that on these rainy days, such a thing is bound to happen and you can do nothing about it because this is a problem with the bike model. He says the condensed vapor can be found on all the bikes which are my model and offers me to show some other bikes. Not a single one has water on the inside and it's all clean. Bingo, I caught him with his pants down. Again, trying to defend now, the exec says it's because of some atmospheric pressure change and blah blah blah. I tell him I don’t want to listen to the shitty crap, just get it replaced! He says okay. I have a suspicion that he would just heat the headlamp for a while till the droplets vaporize and tell me about it. Bingo yet again, he does the same thing I had figured out. I still insist on replacing it. Why do these knucklehead execs want to erode my psyche when I am asking them to just replace one part, which is well within my rights and my domain?
In Pune, the education industry is the mother of this financial coup. My fees for one year almost touch one lakh rupees, and what are the "services" or "facilities" we get? Poor (read "NO") quality teaching, no workshops, no college funded programmes, petty politics, and just one lab with intermittent online status, with blocked websites while our staff and administrators are happily chatting away on their favorite messengers and downloading games and goody stuff from the same sites, and one professor asking the other, “Sir, why is this new GTA Vice City game priced so high at $ 19.99?”
If you live here, it would make you think that the one who coined the phrase "Time is Money” must be a zombie from outer space. Need we say anything more? Once my masters’ degree is complete I am outta here! Don't you think Pune is uncool? Or maybe it used to be hip-hop earlier but not so now...?
18 June 2006
Story 1
Once upon a time lived a professor, called Mr.JackOfAllTrades, who had a very good record as a student in all walks, be it schooling, graduation, or higher studies. He always used to come out as a bright prospect. Then he started looking for a career which would be remunerative to his liking. He tried his hand at various jobs, before he got a chance to work with an institution of higher learning as a professor. He was never satisfied with his previous work, always living to fight another day, hoping that his time would come. But here, he got a semblance of job satisfaction. He also had a enough vision to see the opportunity which could present him with the leadership duties of this institution. At the time of the formation of this institution, he was the only person with considerable experience.
Alongside him was his batch-mate, Ms.FrightenedGirl. She was one person who tried her best to ensure that in the classroom, she looked the teacher and the all others were students, and not the other way round. The students were critical of her, sometimes openly doing so. But she enjoyed the support of the indefatigable JackOfAllTrades, for old times' sake. He was the cushion to kicks that hit her. He was her sponge which soaked in all pressure. He was her pillar of strength.Over a period of time, she gained respect from the students, who could take it away any time they wanted to do so. In the eyes of the students, they were considered best friends.
Supporting them in their duties were two women, Ms.Supermodel and Ms.Adorable Girl. Supermodel had done her masters in a subject that should better be left to men. Complained some students(especially three of them; LostInMusic, FastBowler and RoboticSmile), as they always had a right to do so,"She's not fully aware of the concepts, maybe I can teach her something". One of the common complaints made by students was that she made everyone in the class answer her silly question, the answer of which everybody knew, but still didnt know. Apparently, the reason for that is, the students answered in their own way, but she wanted it in HER way, even though the end result was the same. Still, she was liked by the male students, maybe because she somehow resembled a wannabe model who would have not made the grade in any talent-hunt. She had a good command over language, and a nice, controlled accent. She was also looking ahead and had planned her career. She was not going to stay forever with this institution as a lecturer. She had started looking elsewhere. She was simultaneously doing a management course from a reputed college. That, coupled with her nice accent and confidence would augur well for her future.
Then there was the ever-present, yet the one who went unnoticed, Ms.AdorableGirl. She was the lab administrator, so what if she didnt know how to edit an attribute table of a shapefile, leave alone extracting the IP address of the server!! She was a nobody, yet she was made a somebody. But she was cute, adorable and easy to be with. She was the one who was easily accessible to the students. She was in-charge of the lab, to make sure that everyone's conduct was adhered to by so-called rules. She wasn't the dicsciplinarian type, but since she got along well with students, nobody would raise a voice against her, barring a few exceptions here and there. Later on people would find out she was also a part-time teacher who taught school-level environmental science to the masters-level students!
Then there were people who would look after the administration of the institution. There was the office-clerk, Mr.TenaciousClerk, who was very friendly with students. His main job was to mark attendance, and put up notices, and a thousand other errands that a clerk is supposed to do. The thing is, he wasn't viewed as just a clerk, he was something more, much more than that. In fact, he would have a long face when a student walked in to ask him open the library shelf or renew a book, because he would have to temporarily abandon the chat being enjoyed on yahoo or rediff and force him to type a BRB in haste!
There were the peons, Informer and SincereBoy. SincereBoy was, well, a sincere peon. He was excellent with his duties. In fact he was too sincere to a fault. He was meek and gullible. Informer was not very fond of TenaciousClerk. In fact whenever there was some good news in the institute, which was always hyped-up, he would say what the fuss was all about. After the initial euphoria had died down, he would act informer to the students. He would scratch the surface for the students and show them the shades of grey underneath. He would hurl obscenities on TenaciousClerk and others on their back, cursing them. He only had one friend, and that was SincereBoy, apart from some of the students, who supported him. The students also thought that SincereBoy got a raw deal, and was over-used by the administration.
A weekly 3-hour communication skills interaction was presided by Mr.Bored-With-Wife. Usually, only the girls in the classroom used to take interest with his way of interacting. Apparently, he did not come to the classroom with any plan, he just asked the students "What do you want me to take today ?" It did not sound like a request, it was more like an order. He never used to make such sessions more interesting. The boys would be forgiven for thinking -> When would all this get over ? There was a feeling among the boys that they were being jailed for 3 hours every week. The frustrations got to them and attendance decreased. Bored-With-Wife would get angry at the dwindling number of people for his classes, and would demand an explanation from the rest who were present, who could only drop down their heads, cursing the man from within. Actually, there was not much need of a weekly communication skills session considering the fact that these students had passed rigorous group discussions and interviews not just at this institution but everywhere else in the country. Sure enough, he was indirectly shown the door, fuelled by the lack of interest by the students. On his way out, he made a lurid statement, that was the last nail in the coffin.
Then there was Mrs.Mid-Life-Crisis, also the dean of the institution. The probablity of her coming to the college was equivalent to a full moon making an appearance in the night sky. And when she did make an entry in the college register, she was invariably a couple of hours late. And to think that she was brave enough to lambast some students who trooped in after she made her presence felt in the classroom, for being late in coming back from the canteen! She was nowhere to be seen on most days, yet she used to pop up like an unwanted internet advertisement on the big days, the days when the senior students were getting placed in big companies, and also being given the credit. It was always a mystery whenever she would be seen sitting in front of her computer in the staff room, as to what work she was doing ?
Then there was a visiting faculty, Mr.AdvancedScientist, easily the best professor the institute could boast of. He came on time, did not expect a full house in the classroom, taught his stuff, which was the toughest and also the most interesting subject, and would go home. He would answer queries from the students, which would range not only form his subject, but all the other domains as well. He was only too glad to help out. In the true sense, he was the only real professor. His way of teaching was such that, if you understood it, then its ok, but he didn't wait for anyone and everyone. Surprisingly, many people used to bunk his classes.
As time went on, FrightenedGirl got an opportunity to work elsewhere, which was a job more to her liking. So she opted out of here, she had had experienced enough problems and probably figured out teaching was not for her. So there was a need for a replacement, and soon enough, in came Mr.Youngster, a young, athletic person who also happened to be a batch-mate of FrightenedGirl and JackOfAllTrades. Apparently, that was the single biggest reason for his appointment. He became an instant hit with the students. He changed the way of teaching in classroom and lab, making it more exciting and challenging. Suddenly, every student wanted to meet him and ask him several doubts and queries. Nobody gave a damn to JackOfAllTrades. He was only too happy to be a spectator, for he knew one thing about Youngster that others hadn't realised yet. He was still raw, a kid, a bacha. When you start out, you have big plans and ambitions, and want to impress everyone. Slowly you come to terms with the nuances of the game. JackOfAllTades knew that very well, he was a master at the game. The game is simply this - Try not to use your aces on the very first time, keep them for later, use them only if you have to!
That was the cardinal sin that Youngster committed, now he was too exposed. He did not have much left to really teach the students. The students were now at par with him.
Behind all this drama, was the MasterOfCeremonies, the man who held the whip, the director of the institution. At first, he took into confidence all the students and their parents, and assured them of the very best learning experience and the best on-campus placements. As time went on, students would see less and less of him, and whenever he would barge into the classroom, it would be to make some announcements, all hyped-up ones. Two of the students, PositiveEnergy and TechnicalCalm would agree on most points, but would disagree on this one particular topic, about MasterOfCeremonies. PositiveEnergy used to assert that MasterOfCeremonies would be good for the students, using all his influence and skills to rope in big names. TechnicalCalm, was however of the opinion that the MasterOfCeremonies was a greedy soul and the chinks in his apparent shining armour would show later on.
Throughout the first semester, there were enough indications to support PositiveEnergy's claim, but it was at around this time that the tide began to turn. The next semester would tell the truth about the MasterOfCeremonies.
Amongst the students, not very many of them were really bright ones. Most of them just wanted to have fun. But there were some students who had a plan in mind, and would make or break relationships in any manner and go to any extent to achieve those goals. One of such ambitous people was RattofyGirl. She first teamed up with BubblyCharacter for a pipeline project, and then started searching for a partner for another project for which the idea was hers. She approached many boys, but she found TechnicalCalm was willing to partner her. TechnicalCalm hadnt thought of any idea as yet, but he listened patiently to RattofyGirl's idea and instantly liked it very much. But his question to RattofyGirl was "How would we implement it ?" She did not have an answer to it. She would say, well, we would look into it later on, but at this point of time, the partnership was forged. When D-Day came, for the choice of students presenting the project, RattofyGirl would face a nervous breakdown with BubblyCharacter when faced with some seemingly unanswerable questions. She cursed the people asking the questions. She would be so down mentally, that she would go up to TechnicalCalm and ask him to abandon their partnership. TechnicalCalm, being a nice guy, obliged to the request. Little did he know he would be betrayed by the very same person later on.
There was, of course, PositiveEnergy, who was a friendly person to be with and the whole class liked him. In fact, many girls queued up to be his project partner. He thought a girl called TomBoy would be his best fit for a project partner, and initially, TomBoy thought likewise too. Later on, TomBoy would start to lose interest in his project and spend her time having so-called fun with her so-called friends. PositiveEnergy did not expect such a thing from her, but he remained calm, and thought maybe she will come back. But she didnt, in fact, she spent the whole day whiling away time with her friends. The situation had only worsened. That was the final straw, he dumped her from his project.
There was one person, who, though tiny in frame, was the shrewdest of them all. She was SmartGirl. She seemed to have no enemies, everyone liked her. She was canny, smart, direct, friendly, helpful...A hundred other similar sounding adjectives could be added to it. She a favorite with the teachers, and especially the MasterOfCeremonies liked her very much. Though externally, it looked as though she was having a whale of a time with close friends and having fun, deep within she was quietly working at her plans too. She was doing her work and enjoying life to the fullest too. One reason that TechnicalCalm suspected of her smartness was the unusually large head-to-body ratio, as told to PositiveEnergy. TechnicalCalm and PositiveEnergy would talk for hours about anything and everything related to their classmates and teachers and the administration.
There was one group of girls, the Hostelites, as they were called, which had a distinct identity in the class. They were viewed as one entity, all credit to them. Their common sin was; always being late for class, like Maharanis. One of them had no expressions on the face at any point of time, which was definitely a hard thing to do. Another was a confused soul, but the thing about her was that she rattofied quite well, ensuring very good marks in the tests. One of them was the only certified "Beautiful" lady in the whole class. Another one of them was a shorty, and was also very friendly with everyone. But the apparent leader of this group, ImpressiveBrain, had one quality in large amounts that no one else could even think of matching, and that quality was - Getting things done, more by others than by herself. The "Others" group included not only the students, but the teachers as well! It was an art skill really. At one point of time, TechnicalCalm told PositiveEnergy, he thought there was a cold war going on between ImpressiveBrain and SmartGirl. PositiveEnergy would just shrug off such suggestions.
TechnicalCalm was called so because many classmates, both boys and girls would need his help when faced with a seemingly complex problem, the solution to which would be equally easy, such that those same classmates would curse their oversight and say "Oh ! just how did I miss that ?" or "It was so easy, I should've known". TechnicalCalm was doing such social work in lab, until one day he finally grew frustrated. He finally vowed not to help out anyone unless he or she was a very close friend. One of such instances was with ImpressiveBrain, but this time, he genuinely could not help her out.
Another such social worker was BubblyCharacter. He would help anyone and everyone at any time with anything. His reasoning was - Your concepts only get clearer when you troubleshoot others' problems. He used to make fun of Youngster and JackOfAllTrades, citing the instances when he knew a solution which they didn't.
Another of the peculiar characters was BuddhistDude. He lived life on his own terms. He was never afraid of speaking his mind, be it in any situation. That was one good thing about him, which won him many admirers. He also kept his word everytime, and would fail no one. He had a girlfriend, a beautiful and an innocent lady. He was also the tallest person, and used to experiment a lot on his haircut. He liked to keep a goatee.
BuddhistDude's best friend in class was another dude, RapStar. RapStar was someone, who had never known how to be serious in life. He was forever making jokes, pulling someone's leg, amusing others and making comments which invariably resulted in unbroken laughter. He knew how to make people laugh. He liked listening to 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg and Eminem, the lyrics of which only he could understand and sometimes, translate for others!!!
Finally it was all down to the exams, and after it there was speculation of who would be topper of the class. RattofyGirl was the hot favorite for that position although TechnicalCalm and PositiveEnergy had secretly hoped for one of the Hostelites claiming it. They were disappointed. RattofyGirl had rattofied too much and won by some distance. She left behind DisgruntledBoy and SincereToExtreme to take the top spot. TechnicalCalm and BubblyCharacter were just happy to be in the top ten, knowing they had only studied at half-pace. SmartGirl and PositiveEnergy were a disappointment, even further back. But deep within, they all knew, such marks don't count in the final analysis.
Meanwhile, JackOfAllTrades was a bit perturbed, when at the end of the semester, a new professor, Mr. WorthyChallenger was drafted in by MasterOfCeremonies. Obviously, it was a gameplan devised by MasterOfCeremonies to decrease the growing clout that JackOfAllTrades held within the staff, to keep himself safe.
A war was in the offing, and the big players in this high intensity chess match were some of these big names, and students were the sacrificial pawns! How this chess match played out? Wait for Story 2!!
Alongside him was his batch-mate, Ms.FrightenedGirl. She was one person who tried her best to ensure that in the classroom, she looked the teacher and the all others were students, and not the other way round. The students were critical of her, sometimes openly doing so. But she enjoyed the support of the indefatigable JackOfAllTrades, for old times' sake. He was the cushion to kicks that hit her. He was her sponge which soaked in all pressure. He was her pillar of strength.Over a period of time, she gained respect from the students, who could take it away any time they wanted to do so. In the eyes of the students, they were considered best friends.
Supporting them in their duties were two women, Ms.Supermodel and Ms.Adorable Girl. Supermodel had done her masters in a subject that should better be left to men. Complained some students(especially three of them; LostInMusic, FastBowler and RoboticSmile), as they always had a right to do so,"She's not fully aware of the concepts, maybe I can teach her something". One of the common complaints made by students was that she made everyone in the class answer her silly question, the answer of which everybody knew, but still didnt know. Apparently, the reason for that is, the students answered in their own way, but she wanted it in HER way, even though the end result was the same. Still, she was liked by the male students, maybe because she somehow resembled a wannabe model who would have not made the grade in any talent-hunt. She had a good command over language, and a nice, controlled accent. She was also looking ahead and had planned her career. She was not going to stay forever with this institution as a lecturer. She had started looking elsewhere. She was simultaneously doing a management course from a reputed college. That, coupled with her nice accent and confidence would augur well for her future.
Then there was the ever-present, yet the one who went unnoticed, Ms.AdorableGirl. She was the lab administrator, so what if she didnt know how to edit an attribute table of a shapefile, leave alone extracting the IP address of the server!! She was a nobody, yet she was made a somebody. But she was cute, adorable and easy to be with. She was the one who was easily accessible to the students. She was in-charge of the lab, to make sure that everyone's conduct was adhered to by so-called rules. She wasn't the dicsciplinarian type, but since she got along well with students, nobody would raise a voice against her, barring a few exceptions here and there. Later on people would find out she was also a part-time teacher who taught school-level environmental science to the masters-level students!
Then there were people who would look after the administration of the institution. There was the office-clerk, Mr.TenaciousClerk, who was very friendly with students. His main job was to mark attendance, and put up notices, and a thousand other errands that a clerk is supposed to do. The thing is, he wasn't viewed as just a clerk, he was something more, much more than that. In fact, he would have a long face when a student walked in to ask him open the library shelf or renew a book, because he would have to temporarily abandon the chat being enjoyed on yahoo or rediff and force him to type a BRB in haste!
There were the peons, Informer and SincereBoy. SincereBoy was, well, a sincere peon. He was excellent with his duties. In fact he was too sincere to a fault. He was meek and gullible. Informer was not very fond of TenaciousClerk. In fact whenever there was some good news in the institute, which was always hyped-up, he would say what the fuss was all about. After the initial euphoria had died down, he would act informer to the students. He would scratch the surface for the students and show them the shades of grey underneath. He would hurl obscenities on TenaciousClerk and others on their back, cursing them. He only had one friend, and that was SincereBoy, apart from some of the students, who supported him. The students also thought that SincereBoy got a raw deal, and was over-used by the administration.
A weekly 3-hour communication skills interaction was presided by Mr.Bored-With-Wife. Usually, only the girls in the classroom used to take interest with his way of interacting. Apparently, he did not come to the classroom with any plan, he just asked the students "What do you want me to take today ?" It did not sound like a request, it was more like an order. He never used to make such sessions more interesting. The boys would be forgiven for thinking -> When would all this get over ? There was a feeling among the boys that they were being jailed for 3 hours every week. The frustrations got to them and attendance decreased. Bored-With-Wife would get angry at the dwindling number of people for his classes, and would demand an explanation from the rest who were present, who could only drop down their heads, cursing the man from within. Actually, there was not much need of a weekly communication skills session considering the fact that these students had passed rigorous group discussions and interviews not just at this institution but everywhere else in the country. Sure enough, he was indirectly shown the door, fuelled by the lack of interest by the students. On his way out, he made a lurid statement, that was the last nail in the coffin.
Then there was Mrs.Mid-Life-Crisis, also the dean of the institution. The probablity of her coming to the college was equivalent to a full moon making an appearance in the night sky. And when she did make an entry in the college register, she was invariably a couple of hours late. And to think that she was brave enough to lambast some students who trooped in after she made her presence felt in the classroom, for being late in coming back from the canteen! She was nowhere to be seen on most days, yet she used to pop up like an unwanted internet advertisement on the big days, the days when the senior students were getting placed in big companies, and also being given the credit. It was always a mystery whenever she would be seen sitting in front of her computer in the staff room, as to what work she was doing ?
Then there was a visiting faculty, Mr.AdvancedScientist, easily the best professor the institute could boast of. He came on time, did not expect a full house in the classroom, taught his stuff, which was the toughest and also the most interesting subject, and would go home. He would answer queries from the students, which would range not only form his subject, but all the other domains as well. He was only too glad to help out. In the true sense, he was the only real professor. His way of teaching was such that, if you understood it, then its ok, but he didn't wait for anyone and everyone. Surprisingly, many people used to bunk his classes.
As time went on, FrightenedGirl got an opportunity to work elsewhere, which was a job more to her liking. So she opted out of here, she had had experienced enough problems and probably figured out teaching was not for her. So there was a need for a replacement, and soon enough, in came Mr.Youngster, a young, athletic person who also happened to be a batch-mate of FrightenedGirl and JackOfAllTrades. Apparently, that was the single biggest reason for his appointment. He became an instant hit with the students. He changed the way of teaching in classroom and lab, making it more exciting and challenging. Suddenly, every student wanted to meet him and ask him several doubts and queries. Nobody gave a damn to JackOfAllTrades. He was only too happy to be a spectator, for he knew one thing about Youngster that others hadn't realised yet. He was still raw, a kid, a bacha. When you start out, you have big plans and ambitions, and want to impress everyone. Slowly you come to terms with the nuances of the game. JackOfAllTades knew that very well, he was a master at the game. The game is simply this - Try not to use your aces on the very first time, keep them for later, use them only if you have to!
That was the cardinal sin that Youngster committed, now he was too exposed. He did not have much left to really teach the students. The students were now at par with him.
Behind all this drama, was the MasterOfCeremonies, the man who held the whip, the director of the institution. At first, he took into confidence all the students and their parents, and assured them of the very best learning experience and the best on-campus placements. As time went on, students would see less and less of him, and whenever he would barge into the classroom, it would be to make some announcements, all hyped-up ones. Two of the students, PositiveEnergy and TechnicalCalm would agree on most points, but would disagree on this one particular topic, about MasterOfCeremonies. PositiveEnergy used to assert that MasterOfCeremonies would be good for the students, using all his influence and skills to rope in big names. TechnicalCalm, was however of the opinion that the MasterOfCeremonies was a greedy soul and the chinks in his apparent shining armour would show later on.
Throughout the first semester, there were enough indications to support PositiveEnergy's claim, but it was at around this time that the tide began to turn. The next semester would tell the truth about the MasterOfCeremonies.
Amongst the students, not very many of them were really bright ones. Most of them just wanted to have fun. But there were some students who had a plan in mind, and would make or break relationships in any manner and go to any extent to achieve those goals. One of such ambitous people was RattofyGirl. She first teamed up with BubblyCharacter for a pipeline project, and then started searching for a partner for another project for which the idea was hers. She approached many boys, but she found TechnicalCalm was willing to partner her. TechnicalCalm hadnt thought of any idea as yet, but he listened patiently to RattofyGirl's idea and instantly liked it very much. But his question to RattofyGirl was "How would we implement it ?" She did not have an answer to it. She would say, well, we would look into it later on, but at this point of time, the partnership was forged. When D-Day came, for the choice of students presenting the project, RattofyGirl would face a nervous breakdown with BubblyCharacter when faced with some seemingly unanswerable questions. She cursed the people asking the questions. She would be so down mentally, that she would go up to TechnicalCalm and ask him to abandon their partnership. TechnicalCalm, being a nice guy, obliged to the request. Little did he know he would be betrayed by the very same person later on.
There was, of course, PositiveEnergy, who was a friendly person to be with and the whole class liked him. In fact, many girls queued up to be his project partner. He thought a girl called TomBoy would be his best fit for a project partner, and initially, TomBoy thought likewise too. Later on, TomBoy would start to lose interest in his project and spend her time having so-called fun with her so-called friends. PositiveEnergy did not expect such a thing from her, but he remained calm, and thought maybe she will come back. But she didnt, in fact, she spent the whole day whiling away time with her friends. The situation had only worsened. That was the final straw, he dumped her from his project.
There was one person, who, though tiny in frame, was the shrewdest of them all. She was SmartGirl. She seemed to have no enemies, everyone liked her. She was canny, smart, direct, friendly, helpful...A hundred other similar sounding adjectives could be added to it. She a favorite with the teachers, and especially the MasterOfCeremonies liked her very much. Though externally, it looked as though she was having a whale of a time with close friends and having fun, deep within she was quietly working at her plans too. She was doing her work and enjoying life to the fullest too. One reason that TechnicalCalm suspected of her smartness was the unusually large head-to-body ratio, as told to PositiveEnergy. TechnicalCalm and PositiveEnergy would talk for hours about anything and everything related to their classmates and teachers and the administration.
There was one group of girls, the Hostelites, as they were called, which had a distinct identity in the class. They were viewed as one entity, all credit to them. Their common sin was; always being late for class, like Maharanis. One of them had no expressions on the face at any point of time, which was definitely a hard thing to do. Another was a confused soul, but the thing about her was that she rattofied quite well, ensuring very good marks in the tests. One of them was the only certified "Beautiful" lady in the whole class. Another one of them was a shorty, and was also very friendly with everyone. But the apparent leader of this group, ImpressiveBrain, had one quality in large amounts that no one else could even think of matching, and that quality was - Getting things done, more by others than by herself. The "Others" group included not only the students, but the teachers as well! It was an art skill really. At one point of time, TechnicalCalm told PositiveEnergy, he thought there was a cold war going on between ImpressiveBrain and SmartGirl. PositiveEnergy would just shrug off such suggestions.
TechnicalCalm was called so because many classmates, both boys and girls would need his help when faced with a seemingly complex problem, the solution to which would be equally easy, such that those same classmates would curse their oversight and say "Oh ! just how did I miss that ?" or "It was so easy, I should've known". TechnicalCalm was doing such social work in lab, until one day he finally grew frustrated. He finally vowed not to help out anyone unless he or she was a very close friend. One of such instances was with ImpressiveBrain, but this time, he genuinely could not help her out.
Another such social worker was BubblyCharacter. He would help anyone and everyone at any time with anything. His reasoning was - Your concepts only get clearer when you troubleshoot others' problems. He used to make fun of Youngster and JackOfAllTrades, citing the instances when he knew a solution which they didn't.
Another of the peculiar characters was BuddhistDude. He lived life on his own terms. He was never afraid of speaking his mind, be it in any situation. That was one good thing about him, which won him many admirers. He also kept his word everytime, and would fail no one. He had a girlfriend, a beautiful and an innocent lady. He was also the tallest person, and used to experiment a lot on his haircut. He liked to keep a goatee.
BuddhistDude's best friend in class was another dude, RapStar. RapStar was someone, who had never known how to be serious in life. He was forever making jokes, pulling someone's leg, amusing others and making comments which invariably resulted in unbroken laughter. He knew how to make people laugh. He liked listening to 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg and Eminem, the lyrics of which only he could understand and sometimes, translate for others!!!
Finally it was all down to the exams, and after it there was speculation of who would be topper of the class. RattofyGirl was the hot favorite for that position although TechnicalCalm and PositiveEnergy had secretly hoped for one of the Hostelites claiming it. They were disappointed. RattofyGirl had rattofied too much and won by some distance. She left behind DisgruntledBoy and SincereToExtreme to take the top spot. TechnicalCalm and BubblyCharacter were just happy to be in the top ten, knowing they had only studied at half-pace. SmartGirl and PositiveEnergy were a disappointment, even further back. But deep within, they all knew, such marks don't count in the final analysis.
Meanwhile, JackOfAllTrades was a bit perturbed, when at the end of the semester, a new professor, Mr. WorthyChallenger was drafted in by MasterOfCeremonies. Obviously, it was a gameplan devised by MasterOfCeremonies to decrease the growing clout that JackOfAllTrades held within the staff, to keep himself safe.
A war was in the offing, and the big players in this high intensity chess match were some of these big names, and students were the sacrificial pawns! How this chess match played out? Wait for Story 2!!
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