I don’t remember the date. I never thought I would forget, but I guess I overestimated my memory. I do remember how I felt though. The day that completely changed my life... and not for the better(no I am still not at a point where I can pass it off as a teenage reaction, and jokes on this subject will not be taken to kindly). There are over 50 engineering colleges in Bombay, and I had just one name on the list of colleges I did NOT want to go to. And guess what? That big guy up there played a downright mean trick on me. My stint with anti-reservation began right there. More importantly, my stint against reservation for women began right then.It also started what was to be the first of many sleepless nights. What followed was also the longest time period for which I was in an ‘I-hate-my-life’ mode. The longest time, for which I treated my family to my kind of silent treatment. Well I did suck it up and begin to attend college, although I swore I’d hate every bit of it, and for the most part, I’ve kept my promise. Around a week or so into college, I realized that as anti-social as I may want to be, there are going to be the overtly social people out there, who insist on being “friends” with everyone. Well, I had to talk a little bit, your jaw tends to hurt if you keep your mouth shut for too long (see, I had time for these pointless observations). Well so I spoke to a few people, and four years down the line, I’m still hanging out with the same 5 people. This proves two things. I have very good intuitions when it comes to judging people. And my disinterest in talking to any more people than I absolutely needed too. :P well, I got into the rut of not studying, watching people drop off to sleep in class, scribble stuff on desk-tops, the usual. For someone like me, this borders on clinical depression, and trust me I was quite close, quite a few times.
My respite came in the second year, when a last minute decision switch on my part (switching from trying to go through four years attempting to erase each day from my memory), got me into one of the student councils. Since this particular student body was a 100% college-interference-proof, this was where I got to get away from the hate for a while. Here I was doing stuff because I liked to or wanted to rather than as an act of rebellion against everything the college stood for. Each and everything done as part of the council I shall put away in the ‘good memories category’, even the parts which dealt with sponsorship, and last minute upsets to seemingly good plans, dealing with the other not-so-college-interference-proof societies, etc, etc. I also made some more friends there whom I shall always treasure. The two trips I’ve been too rank right up there on the good memories list too. Both trips have very defining moments that won’t ever let me forget them (not that I’d want to). Speaking of good memories, how can I possible forget all those times with my trusted 6-people group, the times of hysterical laughter, the more pointless, the better. The most recent of which was spending over 3 hours at a food court at a mall, one time when no one really noticed the time flying by. Of course chocolate chip ice-cream kept us good company too. Another brilliant memory, this one more of a personal victory- July 19, 2007 - a date I hope I never forget (given my bad memory, it is a good idea to write it down)
I shall still always hate my college (nope, hate isn’t such a strong word here). Borrowing words from my friend Calvin, ‘I’ve memorized this utterly useless fact long enough to pass a test question. Now I intend to forget it forever. You’ve taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations!’ College also helped me forget around 80% of all the good English my school teachers taught me. Framing sentences that are grammatically correct and with words I can pronounce correctly will never be the same again. Of course I’ve also learnt that education doesn’t matter so much to them as literacy. In a viva, no matter how well you actually explain a concept, as long as it is not word-to-word from the reference book, it is not right. Logic can take a back seat in life, mugging up is the new road to success. But hey, it’s not all that bad. Besides the good memories, I’ve learnt quite a bit. I’ve learnt that not stooping down to other people’s levels may not get me immediate results, but in the end I’m not the one who ended up with a bagful of regrets. I also am extremely thankful to all the “professors”. Thanks to them, I know exactly what I DON’T want to be when I’m older. All those books I’ve been accumulating over the years also helped my pay for my guitar (well, at least the books helped some cause, if not my education).
So hey, I’ve finally written this thing down after saying I would for ages. Will I miss my college days? Probably not. And every time I do start to miss them, ill just read this again :)
