Rajanya Chakraborty

This post would come up soon... I am still unsure about the details... Sorry... Hope to update soon...

Sree... Alone...

Sree was sad. Really sad. This kept coming back to her. This was not the first time. Ever since her school life she was a part of a trio but always a third person in the trio. In school it was Sneha, Kirti and she. In the tuitions, it was Soumee, Piali and she. And now again it was Swastika, Arushi and she. Why did she always remain a third person still remained a mystery to her. She was always tormented due to this. She couldn't find an answer. Why was it always that the other two people had to be so compatible? Her overall image had always been a friendly person's. Infact, she was the only person to have interacted with the entire class in such a short span of time.

Finding no other alternative, she decided to sit back with Shakshi. Shakshi was a sweet girl that went without doubt. But she always seemed to have left her brain back home. It was becoming increasingly difficult for Sree to cope with her. If Sree would miss to understand something and enquire into Shakshi, the most common reply was, "Arre, just copy it... Later on we will understand..." This would put Sree off. She hated this concept of copying without understanding. But she knew there weren't too many options. The other girls in the class were worse still. A question kept coming back to her... How could she be surrounded with so many fools... or was she the fool...

In school, she was surrounded with extra-curricular activitites. Here, she didn't come across any such thing in the college. Then all of a sudden, Mr. Biswas asked her if she would be interested to help him with the news-letter of the college. There was no question of denial. And there in the English lab... She meet Mrs. Rajanya Chakraborty... Sree took an immediate liking towards her...

The trio... made or broken?

Sree was touched by what Arushi had done. It was inherent in Sree that she never forgot what people did for her. That day itself during the break time Sree asked Arushi to join her and Swastika for lunch. Arushi readily agreed. And for the first time Sree saw her smiling ear-to-ear. She was evidently happy. For the next two days, the trio met up at Swastika's house to prepare for the exams. Swastika's house was one of those Zamindar times... huge with arched doors and waxed red floors. They had an entire room to themselves and her family never butted in during their studies. Infact her parents were a very friendly couple.

By the end of Monday, they had somehow battled through the entire syllabus of the six subjects atleast once. And when they were finally handed out the question papers for the next three days, they weren't atleast aliens to the topics. Finally the exams were over and the marks were out.

Sree had modestly scored above 25 in almost all subject except Physics. She concluded, this subject would haunt her down her life. Not that she didn't understand well, but never scored well. But to surprise them all, Swastika had topped the class followed by Arushi, evidently disappointed but much to their relief she atleast didnt brood over it for more than 3o minutes... For those who knew her, knew it was a minuscle amount...

Life was sailing by. All of them were happy... if not cintended... But... One fine day Sree entered the class to find Swastika sitting with Arushi. Both of them smiled at her... But Sree couldn't straighten her brow...

a week or so...

What had happened to Arushi that didnt remain a mystery for long. She didn't appear in college the next day. The after that when she finally returned, she was accompanied with her parents and by the end of the day around 12 students were suspended. When she had finally returned to class and had told them the incident. They were dumbstruck. She was closed in an unused room for three hours. How she had battled her claustrophobia was unknown to her. Inspite of her arrogancy, Sree couldn't help but like the courage of this girl. Her urge to abide by the law.

A week passed by. By the end of it they were simply over-burdened with practicals from all the labs which could literally haunt you- it started with graphics and ended with workshop, only to be filled in by physics, mechanical and electronics. They had already started swearing at those people who had in some point of their life told them that 'Engineering is easy...'

Life had lost its excitement. The new flavour had also gone. Ragging was on the backfoot since the incident with Arushi. And to top it all, the first internals were just a week away. This is when Sree fell ill. And the day before she had left her copy in the class and had accepted her fate about failing in the upcoming test. When she finally returned to class, it was just three days left for the exam. This is when Arushu returned her copy. And to her surprise... Every word of the week's notes were scribbled in Sree's copy... but only in Arushi's handwriting...

In the canteen...

The scene at the canteen was worth a sight. There was a queue of first years and parallely were the seniors sitting. An air of authority was so evidently lingering about them. The concept was very simple. You had to give your intro(short for introduction- not used because it sounded a bit 'uncool') to about 40 seniors and finally at the end of it you became the centre of attraction, with a special performance.

By the time Sree and Swastika had reached the front of the queue, they were witness to some classic scenes. Some of which could make you role on the floor with laughter when you were a mere spectator- but things took an evident U-turn when you were the victim.

Two boys and and girls were called out from the line. The girl was asked to play the fire, and the guys were asked to take 'pheras' around her...

A girl was asked to recite the table of 'quack'
quack ones are quack
quack twoes are quack quack
quack threes are quack quack quack...
and this continued until both the speaker and the listeners both lost count...

A timid looking girl who seemed to have never smiled in life was asked to Laugh in sine curve fashion...

The boy in front of them was called, soon it would be their turn...

The boy seemed to have just stepped out of his mom's lap, he was asked to do a cat-walk. All he managed was to walk three steps, and then somehow his feet got entangled and he fell flat on the face. Sree's heart ached for him. She turned around to look at Swastika. But the damage has been don by then. Swastika was in the middle getting him back to his feet. Much to their surprise, Swastika was allowed to leave....

Sree was asked some mathematical riddles which she managed to get by...

Next was Arushi, she was asked to pose  a burning candle...
She clearly said," I wont do it..."...

The first few classes...

The teacher who had walked in was meant to teach electronics and that is what he exactly did. In fact he didn't think it was worthwhile enough to even mention his name. He walked straight towards the board, started scribbling in there. And so it was for the next 45 mins. Simple incessant scribbling. Though, it is needless to say that the scribbled stuff was not exactly so simple. Until the break, they had two more class. One of English and the other of Maths. The students took an instant liking for the English teacher, because it being the first day, he had decided not to teach them. The Maths teacher was the irony of nature. He had certain pronounciation problems and his name just amplified them. Parents had named him Puspendu Jana, but the maximum he could manage to spurt out was Fusfendu Zana. More famous among the students as PJ (read PhiZe). He was one among those whom students would think twice before bullying. Just when it had started seeming to Sree that the break wouldn't really come, the bell rang. There was a audible sigh of relief. And PJ frowned.

Until the break, even Sree and Swastika couldn't talk much. Very soon Sree found that there was a complete assortment around them. Just in front of them were Arushi and Shakshi Patel. Shakshi had a ever smiling face, but very blunt eyes. And given a chance she could speak incessantly about the greatness of Gujratis. And just behind them were Mallika Naskar and Priya Roy. Mallika was a resident of an almost rural area, but that was until you saw her ID card. She was flaunting such a dress which even the city girls would think twice before wearing. Priya was a simple and sweet girl. They kept on talking in general over the lunch. The only question Arushi had put in throughout the entire discussion was, "What were your totals at the plus two level...?"

Irritated, Sree decided not to mingle much with this girl anymore. The second half was a lab. And thankfully indeed, the teacher just made groups of three, gave them the lab manual and left them for the day. All of them together started tramping towards the college gate. Just when they had left the main building, a group of guys and girls, evidently seniors blocked their way, "Ei, first year... what's the hurry... come let's go to the canteen..." ...an inevitable welcome to the hell...

The first day at college...

Sree and Swastika went together to GEMI the next day also. And thankfully enough, Swastika wasn't late anymore that day. They had reached well in time to find a big spacious room in the first floor awaiting them. ROOM 102 CSE, a blurred print out on the doors declared. Behind the doors was a spotless room, 4 rows of 12 benches each were neatly arranged. Each of which was meant to seat two people. By then very few of the benches were occupied. Thus they had enough options to choose from. Since, both of them were of the same opinion...'benches shouln't be too far or too near'... So with mutual understanding they chose the 4th bench by the window.

The view from there was excellent. There was a long stretch of free space which ended up at the college gate. It was dotted on the right with several deciduous trees. Moreover, from there you could see each and every person entering and leaving the college. Sree was more than happy with that location. Life seemed to get back on track for her. Unknown to her, a sad smile passed her face.

The class had started filling up. The girls had occupied the first few benches and the rest of them by the most foolish collection of boys Sree had ever seen ever in her life. Uncanny, but true. The shrill bell caused them to turn their gaze back to the green board. Sree was just in time to watch the 'Nerd' walk in through the door followed by a grim faced teacher. There wasn't much space left, so Arushi came up and sat in the free seat just in front of Sree and Swastika. Sree couldn't stop a giggle...