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.

First day at the Electrical lab and Mainak,one of our group partners tried to kill the remaining 6 of us by shorting the two terminals of a 110 volt dc using a single wire!! Honestly dude,what were you thinking when you actually did that?There was a brilliant flash of current,with some blinding dazzling chromatic display and within a few second,the wires,half the wooden panels were horribly charred with a sick,lung-choking smell emanating from it.The rest of the class our group teacher kept on reminding us that we'd have almost killed him(he was also standing close to the site)as well as ourselves and would have had to cough up a few thousand rupees had any instrument been seriously damaged.

I've finally managed to bring out a survey on the fast food joints in the city.I wouldn't like to compare and state that 'the best so-and-so are available there'.The superlatives are relative.Depends on the food,as well as the ambience,company etcetera etcetera.But here's what I feel:

Roll - 1>Campari(somewhere near Basanti Devi College.I can take you there but hell man! I can't give you the directions.they cook 97% oilfree roll.). 2>Hot Kati Roll( Good ol' Park Street.just opposite the metro station). 3>Arsalan(Chicken..nono..chikkan roll ). Zeeshan roll sucks because of too much oil.4>Bawarchi(Jadavpur 8b stand).the egg roll at Milanda's canteen should be rechristened as 'onion roll'.There's not a single speck of egg visible or tasted,but it's full of onions!and ladled generously with tomato sauce.

idli. It tastes very good>

Chowmein/chilli chicken -No one can beat the rows of 'Chingming Chow' and the likes ,which line the stretch of road from Maidan to Park Street.The whole air near that place reeks of the smell of chicken/fried rice/chowmein.It makes me grow weak in the knees,despite all those staunch resolutions to watch my waistline.Also check out Decker's Lane.It's somewhere between Chandni Chowk and Esplanade.I can take you there,but I can't give directions even with a gun pointed at my head.Btw,Decker's Lane is pretty tacky.Not happy-tacky.just tacky-tacky(if you know what I mean).I never went there personally.just had the food.

And also,there's this small roadside shop at Dharmatolla bus-stand which sells chunks of chilli chicken the size of idlis.tastes good.

Chat/Bhelpuri/Jhalmuri/Alukabli.... -Now,this is going to be difficult.Where do I begin?I like the taste of bhelpuri sold in front of Dakshinapan.But the tamarind juice is way too sweet.The bhelpuri at Deshapriya Park during the puja is also commendable.But the best bhel and alukabli I've tasted so far is I think from some little shack at Dalhousie...let me figure out the direction. If you're walking from Chandi Chowk to Esplanade you'll come across this stretch of road which is again lined with these small shops.You take a left turn at the end of this particular road and reach the road where United Towers and Great Eastern Hotel are located.Understood?

Hmm,I digress. The bhelpuri at this particular shop has the right blend of everything.Have it once.The next time I go there,I'll take a photo of the entire place so that you can figure out the way itself.

Fuchka?? I can't say.Right now,it's the ones sold near Hindustan Park.But our home-grown(parochial me!) Golf Green fuchkas rock too!

I'm not too fond of chats . I think the ones at Dakshinapan are okay.

Kebab -My favorite kebab corner till date is Arsalan.The cheese kebab out there is something I can kill for.And throw caution to the wind as well as my diet chart.

Momo- I can't eat momo.I'm incapable of digesting it.This is not to say that I hate it.Hell no.I just can't manage to keep it within me after like..what??....5 minutes of eating it.I puke the whole thing out. Can you believe this?? The last real good momos I had were from a small roadside shop right opposite of Rabindra Sadan Metro Station,on the diagonally opposite footpath of Haldiram's.And I stood and vomitted in front of Gokhale College for about 5 minutes.gross.My friends pretended that they didn't know me and everyone stared.

Telebhaja/alur chop/muri -Experiences are not diverse at all in this quarter.I love the ones sold at out 8b bus stand.

Badambhaja -Baruipur local.period.

Kochuri/alur dam .- Tasty Corner.near South Point High School.Kamdhenu(8b stand)

Coffee/tea Have money,will spend it on Mochaccino at Barista any day.or capuccino at CCD.no money,cut to dear old Staff Canteen and Milanda.

I love the lebu cha (lemon tea) sold near Alliance Francais..umm...somewhere near Park Circus or AJC Bose Road...(maane jekhane LMG).Otherwise,I hate tea.

What else is left??(..etto khai ami??..) can lebu-logenze fall in the category of fast food? Guess not.Anyway,a useful piece of information.A bald man sells it in the buses plying between Ballygunge Phari and Dhakuria.It's the best.It had saved my life once,when I was stuck in a traffic jam for like 3.5 hours during the period of mass khorakhori by the KMC(read:grave digging).

Buss,that's all for now.Opinions,discussions,debates are welcome provided the suggestions are good enough for me to go all the way to these places and actually sample the food.And I hate tacky places.The really tacky ones.

ps: due apology to all the random roll/fuchka/kebab/momo/bhel corners I've been to and enjoyed immensely,but 1>have forgotten about them or 2>couldn't write due to lack of time.Good food is next to God.

The cities don't make you insensitive or indifferent.This overbearing rat-race doesn't make one a cold cruel person.We confine ourselves inside concrete jungles.But deep down we're all pining for freedom.For the warmth of touch.The sense of security that stems from small little things.Like an early morning hot cup of coffee.A jovial "good morning" on a smiling face.A warm "hello", a friendly slap on the back,a concerned voice asking whether you're okay or you've eaten your lunch properly.A walk round your favorite corner(I'm a total walk-freak and can go on and on rambling about this :-) )Small little things that do not tend to blow trumpets but are there all the same to bail us out of the dark pit of depression.Optimism is a foolish thing,but it can be useful in bringing back the lost smile on our face,the hope back in our hearts.We all need to believe in something good for us.For all of us.This is a short life and we all deserve to be happy.Happiness is a relative term indeed.What makes me happy might make someone else sad.So we need to be careful.A little care on our part will go a long way making the world a much better place to live in.
This is not a typical Libran rant.I believe in goodness for everyone.I do.I believe the world is still a beautiful place to live in.As there're people to ask me if I'm happy.whether I've finished my lunch.If my studies are going well.etc.We all have someone or the other around us who cares about us.We just somehow miss the sight of them.Either we're too wrapped up in our own concern.or we just plain don't care.What good will it do to us by isolating ourselves from the human world?I had a friend who did the mistake (that's my take on it)of doing this.And now she feels cut off.What good would it do by being obscure?So much so that people can't reach out to us and we soon find ourselves sinking deep into the bottomless pit of hopelessness?

Okay,now this might come across to people as tremendously melodramatic,straight out of those glossy self-help books that claim to be bestsellers but in reality does little to actually help(again,that's a personal take on it).True,I've these sudden sporadic outbursts of optimism and verve.But that definitely is not just my trip.I mean them.To be honest,everything I've written so far is entirely my personal point of view.I don't want to impose them on anyone.It's your life and your personal choice how to lead it.Just be happy.

I just refuse to be bogged down by the hazards that are trying to cripple the lives of people,including mine.As long as I'm alive,I'm capable of doing good.Come what may.

God! I'm so happy.Never felt so happy and fresh in my entire life.Every morning I wake up,I feel rejuvenated(groggy as well).Every music,every food,every book,just everything makes me happy.Call it insane,I'm happy to stay like this.It is like I've just celebrated my bar mitzvah .More powers to me.The world is a good....no GREAT place.

ps: best of luck to all the medical students who had their semesters preponed by about a month. :-)

1. What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up? "Mangsho ranna hochhe!!" :-)

2. What did you do last night? Talked to Arnab.texted people.read Garfield.made some horrible pjs.brushed my teeth.then fell asleep all of a sudden.

3. What is the most important part of life? family.friends.studies.

4. What would you rather be doing right now? sleeping.watching a horror movie.

5. What did you last cry over? After watching Mumbai Meri Jaan.

6. What always makes you feel better when you're upset? good food.sleep.people to talk to.

7. What's the most important thing you look for in a significant other? erom bhabe bola jay??...intelligence.sense of humor.ability to enjoy without being overtly critical all the time and under any circumstances.

8. What are you worried about? screwed semester.assembly language programming.virus in desktop.

9. What are you looking forward to most in this week? weekends.will be meeting friends :-)

NINE HAVE YOU'S:.

1. Have you ever had your heart broken? dunno.

2. Have you ever done something outrageously dumb?yess!

3. Have you ever been totally backstabbed by a friend?yes

4. Have you ever had the cops called on you?no.not yet.

6. Have you ever read an entire book in one day?yes.of course.mainly crime thrillers.love 'em :-).

EIGHT WHO'S:

1. Who was the last person you saw?. Nuruddin Uncle.

2. Who was the last person you shared a bed with? Choi.

3. Who is the person you wish you could be with? Heh.

4. Who was the last person to call you? Ria.

5. Who was your first crush? Capt. von Trapp.

6. Who is the last person you freaked out on? Puta.

7. Who did you last hug? Anoja.

SEVEN WHEN'S:

1. When was your last shower? this morning.

2. When did you last see your mom?Just a few minutes back.

3. When was your last time you saw your dad? 4 hours ago.

4. When did you last dress up? as in dressy dressup?? last sunday.

5. When was the last time you cried and why? 6th December.After watching Mumbai Meri Jaan.

6. When did you last listen to music? 30 minutes ago. Desi Girl-Dostana soundtrack.love that track.

SIX WHERE'S:

1. Where does your best friend live? They know.

2. Where did you last go? Dakshinapan.yesterday with Puta,Anoja,Ushashi.

3. Where did you last hang out?same as above.

4. Where do you go to school?South Point :-)

5. Where is your favourite place to be?Home.school.Choi/Ching's place.DP.random adda corner.

6. Where did you sleep last night?ami s'posed to sing it aloud?My bed.and am not lying to you

FIVE DO YOU'S:

1. Do you know the Muffin Man? again,do you want me to sing it?? here goes:

Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,The muffin man, the muffin man,Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,Who lives in Drury Lane.

4. Does the future scare you? a bit....not really.lot more than that.

FOUR WHY'S:

1. Why are you best friends with your best friend? because we understand each other without having someone actually say what he/she's been thinking.we are always together even if we are physically away.

2. Why did you get a MySpace? because back then i didn't like Orkut.didn't know about Facebook/any other social networking site.

3. Why did your parents give you the name you have?because they liked it.and they had a preconceived notion that back then not many girls were named Shreyasi.proved wrong though.

4. Why are you doing this survey? because i like it.

THREE IF'S:

1. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? ability to turn invisible.

2. If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you? yes.

3. If you were stranded on a deserted island and could bring one thing, what would it be? cellphone with an active network and infinite balance and charge.

WOULD YOU EVER'S:

1. Would you ever shave your head to save someone you love?Yeah, I would.

ONE LAST QUESTION:

1. Are you happy with your life right now? yes.i am.

Yes.

I listen to a lot of Hindi songs and I simply love them.Even the 'sidey' ones.Ones you can dance to.I like watching soaps.I'm smitten by this serial Balika Vadhu. I love watching Hindi movies.I don't watch mush much.I can never make myself listen to some song I don't like,just because people rave about that particular song/genre.I have never heard of Michael Buble before yesterday.And I do speak and write a lot of wrong English(that's not good though,but am improving)

You have a problem with that??..umm....what do you say...that makes me "chomu" right??

heh.go get a life.does it look like I give a damn??

:-)

Why Georgia-John Mayer
Where do you go? -Fort Minor
Superfantastic- Mr. Big
I'll follow you into the dark-Death Cab for Cutie
Vertigo-U2
A Stranger-A Perfect Circle
Dani California-Red Hot Chilli Peppers
A Sorta Fairytale-Tori Amos
Immigrant Song-Led Zeppelin
Ain't Seen Love Like That-Mr. Big
Let's Call The Whole Thing Off-Harry Connick Jr.
She Don't Know She's Beautiful-Alan Jackson
Man In The Box-Alice In Chains
Home-Chris Daughtry
Guzarish-Ghajini soundtrack
Money For Nothing-Dire Straits
You Oughta Now-Alanis Nadine Morissette
Chop Suey-SOAD
Toxicity-SOAD