School starts. The First Day

First day at school. We were asked to sit at the auditorium.I was feeling glum.Because

1>Choi wasn't there.

2>Ching was in another section.

3>Many of my friends from morning had taken up commerce and were staying back in the morning session.

4>Others I knew had taken up Bio and would be in separate sections(unless we were all in Section E)

5>Afternoon school meant I'd be missing my afternoon siesta and I wasn't used to that,being a morning school-goer throughout my life.

6>Lastly and most importantly,I hardly knew anyone in afternoon except for Aritra Gupta and Aashish and to some extent,Chitrak.I knew Trina very well,but she had also taken up commerce.

I remember sitting beside Shreyasi Das on the first day and craning my neck to see people whom I knew.But there were rows and rows of people from afternoon.Now you'd call me stuck-up.But seriously,after spending 12 years of one's life with certain peole,if one fine morning(..err..afternoon)one finds oneself in complete alien territory,one's bound to feel out of place.And besides,everyone seemed to know each other while I knew none!And no one talked to me.Sniff.I saw Aashish and Aritra both of whom said hi but were soon engulfed amidst a group of friendsAnd man! what a HUGE group!I was missing our Section C,Section H group like crazy.And then,for the second time in my life,I was feeling really intimidated(first time was when I sang in front of Pt. Ajay Chakraborty)

I saw Ritadev somewhere in the distance and waved happily.Ah!at last someone I knew.He waved back and mouthed..Stats niyechhi..tui? . Amio..said your trulys and felt relieved.

Then Soloman Aunty came and addressed us and stated certain rules,knowing fully people would be flouting them in no time,thereby keeping up the trend.heh.The newcomers introduced themselves.There were Ushashi,Shubhro,Sankhadeep and others.I knew Shubhro because by that time,our Stats tutions had started and I had met him there.

Then we were sorted in different sections.I went to Section G.So did Payel,Rabindrika,Ritadev,Bishan,Soumya Shanta,Rajarshi Shome,Aritra Bakshi,Indranil,Arja,Aveek,Sambuddha(friends from morning).

I remeber sitting beside Payel and Rabindrika and taking down the routine and trying to stiffle a yawn.Man! Afternoon session was going to be tough.

First day in class

I was late.Yes.Thus began the saga of Shreyasi-coming-late-to-class.Subhankar sir lifted his face from the attendance register and asked...etto late keno??" "sir jam chhilo khub.." I said while scanning the seats and alternately thinking..kar paashe boshi..?? Then I sat down beside Oishi and Malobika. Malobika later very hesitantly said...do you mind? eta neelakshir jayga chhilo...Drat it! ....acchha thik acche.ami kal uthe jabo..aj boshi ?? She smiled and said...nana ...tui bosh... And I liked this girl.She was being honest.

Now,it became a major problem.I had to find someone to sit beside.Sambuddha,Rito,Shome,Biki had all their seats occupied.Then,luckily,I found out that Alaka went to the same Physics tution as me.So,I timidly asked her...can I sit with you and Amrita? :D She said yes(Later I learnt that she didn't like me then at all.But,honestly,I didn't like her too!)

Tutions

So,matters sorted,the classes started.So did the tutions.And I discovered that the position of abhorrence which Life Science had occupied till class 10 Boards was slowly being captured by Chemistry.I didn't like it at all.

The Chemistry tutions were interesting.Rather amusing.NC's wry sense of humor never got down well with most of the people.He had a way of getiing back at people by referring to their families,parents,lineage etc.His famous lines were....bangalir blood e corruption achhe.... I think I got the second highest marks in his first test(Ritwik Giri got the highest,by a margin of 2 marks!) and from that point, the scoldings and highlighting the mistakes in front of everyone increased.And to make the matters worse,he started comparing Madhura Mukherjee with me.Madhura had screwed up her first test somehow.Now I was completely sure that she's far better at Chemistry at me(Heh.I wasn't even ashamed) and she'd pull through.But I hated(and still do) this comparison thing.It makes matters rather uncomfortable and of course there were people who added fuel to fire(you know what I mean)

Maths tutions were by far the most peaceful of all and I loved it.Shreyasi Raychoudhuri was there.So was Sambudhha.Kalyan Sir was his peaceful self as usual as we proceeded through surds,quadratic equations,coordiante geometry.

The most hilarious and enjoyable tution was that of Statistics.There were around 60/65 of us.Majority of them were from South Point,others from Patha Bhavan,Nava Nalanda,Carmel,Jadavpur Vidyapith etc.The first day,I sat on the last bench between Soumita and Advaita and eating peanuts throughout the class and chatting with Soumita and Indra,because there was a general ruckus and I couldn't here or see a word.Giri Sir suddenly loomed right in front of us and asked ..ai tomra shob thikthak bujhechho toh?? I coughed and spluttered with my mouth full of nuts,Advaita who was listening to music on his cell,ducked behind his copy and Soumita tried to hide her copy where she had scribbled only 5/6 words throughout an entire class of 45 minutes! Indra,Sourav and Aritra tried to maintain composure but Indra was already laughing so much that they gave up. Giri Sir sighed and said..bujhbe na bujhbe na...hashchho hasho..haashte toh tax lagena..but bujhbe bujhbe... leaving us behind in various degrees of silence.

But Statistics tutions were immense fun.I made friends with Shubhro,Bando,Antoreep.I already knew Donald(Abhishek Banerjee) who lived in the same para, Oishi,Malovika,Neelakshi .There was Parongoma,who everyone had a crush on.Sayantani Lala, who had a huge crush on some television character and gushed incessantly about him,so much so that in the end I wanted to hit her!

KCD tution was a 30 seconds walkaway from my place,right opposite to my mamabari. The classes started at 6 ,a time I considered myself lucky to be awake.I rushed to the class,wildly combin my hair,nearly knocking an equally bleary-eyed milkman or paperwallah while my dida shouted from the balcony..ai aj o chul badhishni thik kore???? I went and flopped down on the red plastic chairs,clutching a throbbing head.Afternoon school was taking a serious toll on my health.I wasn't at all used to staying awake in the afternoon.That automatically meant,I'd have to stay awake late at night to study.And that'd vouch for my waking up late right?But then,owing to a lifetime of habit,I found myself waking up at 6 and staring at the ceiling,trying to remeber my father's name. (kharap bhasha) .I met Iku (Navoneel), Sourav Sengupta,Shubhro in this class.

The most insipid of all tutions was Physics tution.Deepak Bhowmik droned on and on about Laws of Motion,torque and inertia,while his minions were blissfully ignorant of what was going on in the blackboard.Alaka and I were gradually becoming good friends.Somehow,I always knew Amrita.And I was getting to know other people like Aparajita,Oindrilla.

My mother was already friends with Achena Aunty(Prithviraj Gupta's mother)and got to know that Prithviraj,Aritra,Saptarshi all went to someone called Dibyendu Sengupta for extra Physics tutions as all that Supriyo Ghosh was teaching them went over their head.And late in June/July,I found myself making my way for Dibyenduda's house for classes.

It is hear,that I completely fell in love with Physics.

Jadavpur University.

I live in Jadavpur.So I practically grew up in its vicinity.Watching the big ominous buildings,peeping in through the gates cautiously,running away if I saw anyone looking at me from inside.That place was a source of wonder for me,evoking in me the kind of mystery from which only a 10-year old can derive pleasure.

I hail from a family of Jadavpurians.I've 3 brothers,one sister and an uncle who studied Engineering there.My mother completed her B.Ed from JU.So,naturally it was expected that I'd follow their footsteps(i.e. if I didn't flunk too badly before that).As a result,I often had to hear stuffs like....mon diye poro..Jadavpur kintu mukher kotha na.. The wide-eyed naivete that I was,I wondered how my not-studying would affect the place where I live in!Only my mother refrained from making such comments(bless her!).It was only too apparent that everyone had their hearts set on seeing me studying Engineering at JU.

I grew up,without much bothering about it.JU stayed at its own realms and never really veered off into my course of life.Occassionaly,if I was taking a walk inside with Ma,I stared curiously at the huge buildings and envied all the people who got to play and sit and talk in the lush green fields.Man! what splendid fields!I remember,there was no staff canteen then.But,overall,JU and I were blissfully ignorant of each other's existence and purpose of living.

Class 10. After Boards.

Our whole family happily sped off to Sikkim,a state we have visited 4 times so far and plan to do more.As I had left right after the Boards, I had no idea that...ei sir er kaache na porle Joint e pawa jay na..Everyone got enrolled to coaching classes in that vital 2.5 weeks I was away.

Now,this is the first thing that struck me about class 11-12.People joining tutions.This was almost a total unfamiliar territory to me.So far,I had just 2 tutions.One for Hindi(that was extra work.not school stuff.My Hindi teacher,Pallavi Aunty was not even from school.She was my kindergarten teacher actually :-)).And Mechanics in class 9.So I never had this tension hounding me that what would happen if I didn't get admission to this particular teacher's tutions.And all of a sudden in class 11,practically everyone started discussing tutions and competitive exams.It was a radical change of scenario overnight.

Taking up Science was a conscious decision.But I put my foot down when it came to choosing additional.I simply refused to take up Biology.I had been PATHETIC in Life Science throughout(it's an understatement).I loathed that subject with a vigorous passion which hurt my mother who's a Physiology glod medalist.She,for her whole life's worth,couldnt figure out just how can her daughter be so hopelessly bad at it.She coaxed me,tried to make me see reason...arrey Bio nile tor shubidei hobe..ami toh guide korte p arbo..tution lagbe na...But I was defiant.I knew I'd flunk it,because it never agreed with me.So in the end she had to give in.

Meanwhile we came back from Sikkim only to find that all vacancies were filled up in all tutions.A friend called me up.......ai!!!what have you done??why havent you taken admission before going away??..ebar ki hobe??...That was precisely my question.What'd happen now??I asked him..tui kothay bhorti hoyechhish re??...He rattled off the names.Each one sounded unfamiliar except Bidhan Bhattacharya(Chemistry).My brother took tutions from him.I turned to ma and said..ma ora shobai enader kaache bhorti hoyechhe.amio hobo?? My mother looked worried...dara re.ami toh kaukei chini na.Shubho dada ke jigyesh kor...

Shubho Dada was my cousin who was,at that time in 2nd year of Construction Engg at JU.He gave me a list of names and warned me that most of them wont take me because I was already running late.Late??You call two weeks late??...welcome to the new jungle ..he laughed.

I remembered calling up Deepak Bhowmik for Physics.Supriyo Ghosh was out of question as I was dreadfully late.And I didn't know Subhojit Bhattacharya's(SB) namethen.I put on a tone dripping sincerity and apology..sir..ami thik jantam na..maane ekta oshubidhe chhilo..so bhorti hote parini...After a 30 minutes verbal fencing match,he agreed to place me in the Saturday morning's batch.

Next came Maths.I knew I'd go to Kalyan Sir.He had taught me Mechanics in class 9-10 and I was familiar with his ways.He is the most humble,down-to-earth,kind,gentle and helpful teacher alive on earth.And what was good about him was,when he got stuck with some problem,he never made fuss of admitting it.I worshipped him.As expected,he didn't have a problem with me asking for admission so late but took me in.

Then I took the admission test at KCD's.I saw no point in going to two teachers for the same subject.Didn't they teach the same thing?(Mind you,I was completely naive in this subject.)The test had a few tricky questions.I remember getting stuck with a surd problem while KCD sat right in front of me staring at my copy.It was so darn unnverving.But I managed to do well.I came around 5th/6th in the exam.

I had decided to take up Statistics as an additional.Why?Because my father had Statistics in his graduation.And I liked the look of the book Giri & Banerjee!(Hehe....my future was to be decided by the look of a book cover!).We went to Giri Sir's class.He turned to be a very amiable,jovial old man with twinkling friendly eyes and a shimmering infectious wit hovering underneath his grey hairs.Getting admission to his tution proved easy.

The most harrowing experience was at the Chemistry tution.It was Narayan Chakraborty,more popularly known as NC.(I didn't get admission to Bidhan Sir's class,as it was already packed).

Thus,I came to get admission to all the tutions.And waited,not so eagerly for them to start.

I hate to bring this up on the eve of my semester, because everytime I do so, inevitably I don't follow what I'm planning.But somewhere down the line,I think it's high time to sit back and get a grip on oneself.

I hate procrastination.Period.It doesn't pay AT ALL.

Au revoir.See you after 16th.

Wishing all students of JU, WBUT, St. Xavier's and other colleges a very very good luck for your semesters.

ps: purple for a regal performance.*no puns intended*

How many times have I said "Like D'uh! As if I care??!!" and then ended up caring more than what's heartsmart??
I've lost count.
But now, I've got to learn not to care so much.So much that in the end, it hurts.
No more.
There's more to life than all these.More,some of which I've discovered in my books,-Peter Atkin's Four Laws that drive the Universe,to be follwed by the one on fundamentals of AI.

And music.There's no dearth of peace that I discover in the lilting voice of Denver.And I'm addicted to heavy metal bigtime.My ma has threatened me with eviction.
And friends=my extended family.

And my guitar( a mental note to Subhayuda=I hope you don't mind that I'm calling it mine.It's yours truly and will always be.Thank you for the sudden random scrap in Orkut 5 months back.And everything that followed.Sometimes, one shouldn't actually ignore complete strangers in Orkut :=)) )

And driving.The car has a freaking excellent pickup and I love speeding past the snake of lorries almost clogging Anwar Shah Road.It gives me an exhilarating sense of freedom.That I'm actually in charge of this mechanical-electrical wonder and I can escape to all the coveted places on my own without having to depend on others.
And sudoku.I've gone all ga-ga over it.Especially the Diabolic Sudoku that comes every morning in the Telegraph supplementary.

And pj-s.Thanks to Aashish for reviving my penchant for it! He has an amazing(amazing is an understatement)..mind-boggling stock of some of the most hilarious pj-s in the world.And I actually laugh my heart out at them.

And Ma and Baba for being the best parents in the whole wide world.

And Choi and Tutu :=)) (I nicknamed him. So he's Tutu to me,though probably both of them will kill me after they read this...*nonchalant shrug*)
And Ching and Yahoo.Hope the network strenghthens with time.My uncanny sixth sense tells me it will.
And people who became real close friends within a very short span of time-like Prithviraj,Prithvi,Aritra,Arnab,Trina,Shruti,Goto and everyone.

And cooking. Someday,the kitchen will be on fire and hit the headlines.But I'd emerge as a successful cook and the world will doff its hat at me.

And the sprawling fields of JU,the jheelpaar,the staff canteen,Milanda's canteen,the bedi near the union room,cheering for cricket matches,the endless processions,the 29 sessions,the long walks,the setting sun,the sudden gust of wind,the old guitar and everything that's JU.

And someone who changed the course of my life,moulded it into the way it is,egged me on to achieve what I've always wanted.And still does.

Everything that makes me feel good(the list is endless thankfully!!).
There has been hardly any moment when I was truly depressed, or ill-tempered or feel pessimistic.The sudden but short-lived phases aren't worth-mentioning.I love being happy.

Cheers to life.

P.S:The blog title is misleading.I meant every word I wrote.