College Concerto Part II

Hello people!
If you've read Part I, then u must be eagerly waiting for Part II. So here it goes.
As soon as we came back to our hostel that day, there was nothing that could put us down. We were on top of the world. We were gonna be rockstars in our very own college and the elation accompanying that thought was hard to get out of our heads. As we went for a bath that evening, we couldn't help but practice the songs that we were gonna sing next week. Yes, we faced an irate mob of batchmates who threatened to stuff unmentionable things into unmentionable places, but we soldiered on.
The next morning, after the first half of college, we were herded down to the seminar hall for practice, or as some of my more enterprising friends would say, "jamming". When I say "we", i don't mean just the performers, our whole batch would be sitting on the benches as we practiced. As soon as we got wind of this new development, some of us got a bad case of the "willies". I'll give u a few examples. Someone sneezed in the crowd, deathly silence all around as if we were the Philharmonic practising for a huge concert. Sometimes the drummer would get cold feet and skip a few beats, no doubt inspired by his heart. This would lead to mistake after mistake, and soon we were doing nothing but "taking it from the top". This led to a few shows of temper till the professor(whom we had all forgotten was still there, right behind us) stepped in and threatened to cancel the whole show. This sobered everyone down a bit and we just tried to imagine that all the chairs were empty. a mammoth task considering every wrong note was met by giggles, pointed fingers and winks in our direction.
Someone came up with a brillliant idea, "Just imagine that the whole hall is empty." Easier said than done. We didn't know half of our own batchmates (girls were a strict no no), and here we were supposed to practice for the show with all of them staring eagerly at us and not leaving a chance to ridicule the smallest error. The first day passed like this, with basically no practice at all. Gradually, we did learn to think that the whole hall was empty and practice went on smoothly.
We continued practicing with a will (it meant no classes in the afternoon) and whats better than legalized bunking?? We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and soon D-Day arrived. I must have neglected to mention that there were a few Malaysian students among the multitude, though i seriously have no idea what convinced them to come to a hellhole like this. They were gonna perform some sort of a fashion show, showcase their culture and all. D-Day was tomorrow and we all skipped dinner that night, mainly coz all of us had a stomach full of butterflies.

College Concerto - Part I

Hey There!!!

Yup, more than a month of classes had passed by in a blur, ok not actually a blur, it was excruciatingly boring, but still the good thing is that a month was over. By now, we had stopped treating our girl batchmates as aliens and talked pretty properly with them. Some of the lucky ones had even found "love", that elusive little bugger who's always out to ruin people's lives.

So, it happened one day that while sitting in DADH class(yes, i had attended class, i'm not making this up), one of the PG students came into the class with an urgent announcement. "Arrangements for the Orientation Day for the freshers will be starting from today. Anyone who wishes to volunteer as well as participate in the cultural programme should approach the HOD". Most of the aspiring bathroom singers, me included, jumped at the opportunity to showcase our talent. We thought it will be like an Indian Idol of sorts, but a huge surprise waited for us downstairs. We gave our names to the HOD, and after normal classes got over, we went down to the seminar hall where we had been summoned to give an audition.

About ten of us were waiting outside the gates of the seminar hall, waiting for the professors to arrive, fully expecting an empty hall where we had no reason to be embarrassed or to be laughed at by anyone. When they finally arrived and ushered us inside, we were stumped. THE WHOLE BATCH was sitting inside the hall, waiting for the show to begin, and these were just the auditions. A collective "Oh, Shit", passed through all our minds as a hundred pairs of eyes(not including the people who had glasses, because they had four each) were suddenly focused on us, and we felt as if we were criminals approaching the gallows.

We all took a big gulp and walked toward the stage where one of the professors waited, with a benign smile and a microphone. As soon as we were all om stage, the hall burst into applause and i kid u not, it made us all blush a deep cherry red. But as soon as the applause subsided, and we were faced with the prospect of singing/dancing in front of them, a shoving match ensued, with no one willing to go first. Soon, we decided that forming a mob was the best idea and we approached in a group. We each told him what all songs we were going to perform and we were each given a number. We would audition in that order.

Just as we were about to begin, someone had the bright idea of suggesting that we need guitar as well as drums to accompany us. Slash and Steve Vai left for the hostel to get their guitars, while me and a couple of guys went to the sports room to fish out an old drum kit which was used, yup you guessed it, for marching.
We lugged them back to the seminar hall, and when we finally assembled them, we found that we only had a hi-hat, a tom tom, and a bass drum. No snare, no cymbals, and not even a foot pedal to play the bass drum with. Such was the sorry state of our musical equipment. On the other hand, the guitar people had returned and soon the seminar hall was full of the sounds of tuning guitars. After all this hullabaloo was over, a clearly exasperated professor who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, pleaded us to sing.

After me and A2 sang our respective numbers, we got some serious applause from the crowd, and now was the time for three of the girls to audition for a dance number. As soon as it was announced that the girls would be dancing, an immediate flurry of catcalls and a resounding Hooooo resounded from all of the guys. After a few minutes, and a lot of hand waving by the professor, some amount of discipline was restored(it was aa college after all). Immediately, anyone with a laptop was summoned. S, who had been in the habit of lugging around his laptop around college(for reasons only known to him) stepped up,and soon the dance was underway with a lot of clapping and cheering,

After the auditions were over, we all headed back to our hostels with a solemn promise to practice and get rid of the stage fright that was plaguing our performances. It goes without saying that our neighbours and the people in the adjacent bathrooms were treated to a free concert that night which sometimes resulted in a bucket of water being splashed over the door in order to shut us up.

That was just Part I, keep reading to find out more hilarious episodes from the next two parts....Ciao!!

The Birth of The Pandavas

Hello!
A week had gone by in this new place and i can safely say that coming here wasn't so bad after all. In fact, i wish i had come here sooner. No one to kick me out of bed in the morning, no schedule to follow, no one to scold me if i did anything stupid and most importantly, study at your own leisure(read not at all). But on the whole it was fun, not counting the fact there were some people among us who balked at the very idea of bunking classes and staying back in the hostel.
Anyway, my day began at around 8 in the morning(breakfast started at 7:30), walking sleepily to the mess hall, grabbing some grub and then walking sleepily back to my room to catch up on my sleep. In between this walk to and fro from the mess hall and back, i would run into some people in their aprons, with a very busy air about them, rushing to go to the first class in the morning. As soon as they would see me, their expressions would change. It was as if there would be a pile of dung right under their noses. Hmph, i would think, "F*** you all, I make my own rules".
After i finally woke up at around 11 in the morning, and rubbed away the last vestiges of sleep from my eyes, it would be a mad rush to find someone who had a pack of smokes handy, deftly steal one and rush to the loo. After that episode was over, if somebody was still sleeping, we would all descend on that guy's door like a pack of vultures and literally shake him awake to a constant torrent of unmentionable "adjectives". In 9 out of 10 cases, we would all be expelled from his room for the remainder of the day, but it was worth it just to savor the moment.
Let me introduce you to my friends, the four people with whom i shared everything, beginning from a cigarette to toothpaste.

A1-Son of a doctor, from a city in the hills. Pretty friendly, but with a decidedly rich kid air about him. Everything about him was branded, from his glasses to the boxers he wore. Pretty much the staple rich kid in our eyes, he used a touchscreen phone when we were all stuck with normal ones and one of us was still using his decade old Nokia N72. But, first impressions apart, he was a solid guy, always there as and when any of us needed him. He wasn't physically intimidating,(to tell you the truth, he looked as if a gust of wind would blow him over) but he made up for his lack of physical strength by being as verbose as anyone.

A2-Son of a doctor too(yes i know its strange, but I'm not making any of this up), from the same city as A2. As they shared the same surname, we took them to be brothers, which they turned out to be later on, but "brothers from different mothers" would better describe them. Anyway, this was a guy who had come to experience hostel life. He had made a sweeping declaration to his parents before coming here(at least he claimed to have done so) that he would try each and everything new he encountered and then decide whether to stick to it or not. This broad spectrum covered everything, from nicotine to weed, to cocaine as well. He had a habit of doing pull-ups on the door sill of anyone's room he visited. goes without saying that he was a regular at the gym. Pretty friendly guy, was very down-to-earth and immature. I say "was" because its been 3 years now and people do change.

S-Son of a corporate executive from Kolkata. He was the perpetual joker of the group, always cracking jokes and taking the mickey out of anyone who dared cross him. He was a complete entertainment package, with his repertoire of crass, intellectual and even theological jokes(yes, its true, he did joke about god sometimes). He was a good friend, the eldest among us all and had superb management skills and a good sense of responsibility(that's why he was always the treasurer when we collected money for something). He always had a habit of saying something to diffuse the tension when things got too close for comfort(remember "sir, I'm already married"??).

J-Son of a doctor once again(Damn, it seems that no doctor wants his son to go through the the torture of MBBS) from Kolkata. One word for this guy, HANDSOME(though not a hunk). Very reserved, not very talkative but poke him too often and he will retort with something that will have us rolling around on the floor in fits of laughter. He had spent almost his whole life in hostels and was a kind of Guruji to us. When anyone needed him, he was always there for us and he was the one person we could always rely on for good advice whenever we were in a sticky situation.

This was our little band of brothers. We did most of our activities together, including skipping class and general tomfoolery. I can't say that we did "everything" together because that would lead to a lot of raised eyebrows(get my drift? if you can't, just ignore this part). Anyway, we called ourselves the Pandavas, because there were five of us, and we were as thick as thieves.

This is just the beginning, just wait and watch, i have a lot more stories and mishaps waiting to happen...
Stay tuned.

DADH, Warden's Wrath and Nicotine

Hey!
After all the "ragging" and weekend fun, we finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we will have to attend SOME classes, if not all. We consulted with our seniors and they unanimously said, "Don't create a bad impression in DADH". We heard them, nodded our heads, and decided that we'll just go and see what transpires there. Tuesday was the next class, and we, like the "good" guys that we were, decided to attend class. We got into the practical hall, four tables, 40 chairs and a big table where five, and i emphasize FIVE professors were sitting and eying every single one of us as if judging which one to crucify first.
I was least bothered by all this and was happily downloading songs on my mobile phone, even while sitting at the table closest to the professor's table. By some unfortunate stroke of luck, my roll number was 13, and i would rue the day that i was cursed with the unluckiest of unlucky numbers. Class was normal, nothing out of the ordinary, no excessive scolding or dressing downs. This gave us the impression that this department wasn't so bad, maybe its over rated, just a figment of people's imagination. I decided, "well, fuck this, I'll attend when i want to" and thus the saga of bunking classes began in earnest for me.
The rest of the departments, namely Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry were a joke. every Monday morning, we would sit in the anatomy practical hall, beside a dozen corpses and spend our time shooting the bull, taking photos and keeping a count of how many people fainted each day. Lectures were spent dozing in the last bench, keeping up an impression of utmost concentration while dreaming about unmentionable things while the professor droned on and on. Believe me, the professor would start dictating notes at the beginning of each class, and would go on without a break for an hour. At the beginning, everyone would be writing, then some people would miss a word, and stop, then some more people would follow suit. By the end of the class, only the front benchers were keeping up with the professor's steady stream of knowledge, while the rest of the class dozed, played games or stared glassy eyed at the professor's face.
The rest of the day was uneventful. When we returned to the hostel in the evening, we were all summoned to a room adjoining the manager's office. When we entered, we were greeted with the sight of an empty chair and table with a flowerpot and a register on it. We stood around the table in silence, all of us, around 100 people, waiting with bated breath for the person who had summoned us there. After about ten minutes of waiting, a guard ushered in a guy, more like THE GUY, six feet tall, muscular and a perpetual annoyed expression on his face. This was our hostel warden, and i thought that no one else could fit the bill so perfectly. His first two questions to us were, "who smokes?", and "who drinks?". As expected, no one had the courage to barefacedly admit that they indulge in those vices. Complete silence. After a bark from the warden, some of us nervously raised their hands, including S, J, A1 and A2, (I was a good guy back then, though good is really a matter of perspective). Immediately, it felt as if all those "brave" people were in the glare of a spotlight. As soon as the warden looked at each of them and asked them their names, they wilted, and i mean literally wilted. After the interrogation was over, and after heaving a huge sigh of relief, we thought finally that the worst was over. But the Warden had one final card up his sleeve. Just before leaving, he said, "For all of you aspiring as well as accomplished troublemakers among you, just remember, There Is Only One Goonda In The Hostel, And That Is ME!" These words didn't just wash over us, they were branded onto our minds and we learned one thing, "This guy is trouble personified".
After our "enlightening" meeting with the Warden, we went to our rooms. I went to S' room and found them blowing clouds of smoke. Of the five of us, only me and A2 were non-smokers. The rest of them were akin to chimneys. As soon as me and A2 entered his room, they started telling us to smoke along with them. I vehemently refused(at first), but gradually gave in to the temptation. The first puff of a cigarette, the first shot of nicotine into my system sent me into a tizzy. The room started spinning and i had to take a time-out while becoming the laughing stock for the rest of the evening. Pretty soon, i was smoking along with the rest of them, though on a much smaller scale, and here i stand, three years from that day, a two pack-a-day man. Two life changing things experienced in a single day, taking DADH for granted and taking up smoking. Two things i would rue ever considering for the rest of my life. That's enough sentimentality for one day, I'll trouble with more of my experiences and problems later.
Peace out, bro.

Friends, Fun & Facebook

Hola!
Almost a week of classes had gone by, I mean the classes had gone by, whether I had attended all of them or not is another story.Oh, all the dreams that we as well, as our parents had. I bet they had a mental picture of their son going to college everyday, clean shaven, having a perfect conduct record, sitting on the front bench, answering any questions that the professor throws around and earning an admirable smile from their batch-mates. I wish it were as easy in real life.
I tried, I really did, to live up to that image and I did, for one week. Then someone suggested, "Let's bunk class today", and I rose up to the occasion magnificently. Barely, five days of class had gone by, and here we were, me and my new-found pals, chatting the whole night, without a care in the world about what would happen the next day in college. Just imagine, we didn't even know what class there would be the next day, as it would be our first Saturday of the term, but we had already thought, "Bah, this is more important".
We swapped stories, immersed each other in piles of bullshit, and generally had a blast. S and J were room mates, as well as A1 and A2, and i was sharing  my room with another guy. We all stayed in my room that night, all six of us, and had a wager going as to who would nod off first. I boasted that i would outlast them all. I never knew when the Sandman had come to pay me a visit and the next morning, i was treated to pictures of myself with toothpaste on my face. Such was the outcome of my sheer bravado.  
As it was a weekend, the seniors were all idle and suddenly, i found two of them in my room, calling me to come upstairs to their room. I gingerly followed them, unaware of what lay in store. At times like this, my imagination goes into overdrive, and i imagined a roomful of seniors laughing at me as i struggled to croak out a few words. As i knocked on the door, my heart was beating as fast as if i had run a 100m dash. But all my worries were laid to rest when i saw what waited inside for me. All of my pals inside, sitting on the bed, everyone with the same expression on their faces, "What the hell am i doing here?". Presently, two seniors entered, an athletic one who looked as if he was ready to bash in our faces if we even dared to speak, and a young, youthful one who, i kid u not, didn't look at all like a senior.
General bullshit ensued, with each of us being asked a bevy of questions, till we reached the clincher, "Do you have a girlfriend?". As soon as the question was asked, the room took on the aura of The Sistine Chapel, the silence so complete it felt like it was palpable. Suddenly, out of the blue, S blurted out, "I'm already married". Complete turmoil. Half the seniors on the floor, laughing their guts out, and we exchanging a few nervous smiles. God knows what made him say that, but it did reduce the tension quite a bit, and soon we were exchanging jokes and laughing at each other. This continued till lunchtime, till we were herded out of the room and told to tiptoe to our rooms, as being caught by the warden would be like meeting The Grim Reaper. Overall,,,our first experience of the universal term, "Ragging" wasn't so unpleasant.
Remember the girl P? The one who had the guts to say "Personal Choice", in he class? I must admit, i had taken quite a fancy to her(blush blush). Being generally very timid and afraid to approach her directly, i did the next best thing, searched for her in Facebook. Agreed, i was a jerk and a coward and a few other unmentionable names, but at that time it seemed like the logical thing to do. As soon as i did, i found over a hundred P's there. I applied my very limited intellect and zeroed in on the one who was wearing an apron in her profile picture. It goes without saying that she would reject my request, but there was a slight very slight chance that God would come through once again, and she would accept my request. As Imran has so rightfully said in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, "Insaan ka kartavya hota hai koshish karna, kamyabi, nakamyabi sab uske haath mein hai".
But that's part of another story, you wouldn't want me to spill all my secrets at once, would you?

The First Day

Hello there, if you have read my first post about the beginnings of my life here, you would have surely thought, "Damn, what a pessimist". But trust me, I wasn't a pessimist before. Its just that this place, the people in it and all the experiences you go through here change you, your personality and your mindset.

Its not that I wanted to change myself, I was perfectly happy with what i am. But circumstances and a couple of bad experiences have made me what I am today.
Lets get back to business. Class on the first day was made up of checking out the girls, getting to know where the guys are from(no one had the guts to approach the girls) and general chitchat. In the first class, the professor asked each of us three questions. Name, place and reason for choosing Dentistry as a career. It was as if we were being threatened on the first day itself, "How dare you have the courage to choose Dentistry?" and all that.
Anyway, almost the whole class gave either of two reasons for joining Dentistry. One, they didn't like Maths and Physics. Two, they wanted to join MBBS but didn't have the required marks. I could just go on and say that I was the different person, who quoted an amazing and impressive reason for my choice. But to tell you the truth, I wasn't a trailblazer. I threw my lot in with the people who cited the first reason. But there was only one girl in the whole class of 96 students who had the guts to say, "Personal Choice". That brave lass was, lets call her P, a batch-mate of mine(obviously) and a completely unknown quantity to me.
After that, we were led up to one of the practical labs on the upper floors of the building. There were strange machines and dummy human heads beside every bench. We sat apprehensively, with a dummy head for company, in total silence.
At that moment, I thought of finding out how many people are from Bengal. I found four people, excluding me. A1, A2, S and J. I had listened carefully during class and i had clearly heard a girl say that she was from Bengal. I looked around and there she was, right behind me. This is the person whom i didn't know would change my life in a completely different way.This was R. I asked her, and she said yes, she was from Bengal but not a native Bengali.
Class came to an end and the prospect of spending a night in a completely unknown place wasn't actually inviting. To add to that, the seniors whom i had met after coming back eyed us like fresh fish and i was reminded of the opening scene of The Shawshank Redemption. Night fell and we all huddled together in one room, me, A1, A2, S and J, dreading the moment when that fatal knock would be heard on the door. Trust me, that night was the most dreadful night we ever spent together. We swapped stories the whole night, looking toward the door every two minutes and falling silent every time we heard footsteps approach the door. Luckily, and thank god, no one came that night and we slept some time around dawn.
That was the first day I spent in this place. Got to know some people, but not very well. I had begun the day with hopes and fervent prayers that nothing untoward would happen. Seems like there is a God after all.

Intro

Hello there, this is Me, just another student among the multitudes in India. I just wanted to create this blog to share my feelings, my views and my opinions and of course my stories about the life that i lead here.
It all began on 22nd August 2010, when my dad gave me the news that i was going to pursue BDS in a remote unknown place called Davangere.
At first, i never knew where i was going,  was told that I'm going to Bangalore. Bangalore, as u know, is one of the metros in India, an IT hub as well as an educational hub of south India. Little did  know that my life was about to change, starting from the littlest details to the truly life changing decisions that would shape my future in the years to come.
I reached this place called DAVANGERE, on 22nd August, 2010. The first impression wasn't that great. Two main roads, a drizzling rain, mud all over and surprisingly, lots of people in white aprons all over the place.Oh yes, i forgot to mention the pigs, which at some places, even outnumber the residents. Al said and done, i reached the college. Again unimpressive. Being brought upon mainstream movies showing college campuses having acres acres of green fields, shady trees and huge stadiums, i was visibly disappointed when i saw my college building. A dreary, blocky building with all the pomp and show of an industrial warehouse, it was like a monumental letdown of sorts. That was it, just the building and a parking lot. No lush fields, no stadia, no shady trees, just the building and a parking lot.
Admission process over, we went to the hostel next. A big sign proudly proclaimed "Dental Colleges Boys Hostel" in big black letters, and a driveway bordered by green hedges led inside. At first glance, I WAS impressed. A shiny building, with sentries outside, spick and span in all respects. This was to be my home for the next five years?? Not bad.
I didn't know that there was a surprise waiting for me. As our car turned into the driveway, it drove past that shiny hostel, which beckoned to me with promises of joy within. We drove down to another concrete block, five stories high. This was the "Dental Colleges Boys Hostel", heralded by the sign at the gate. Bad things come in threes, they say, and it rung true in all respects for me. After a meeting with the manager, (not the warden), and signing something called an "Anti Ragging Certificate", i was shown into my room which i would have to share with a roommate who hadn't even arrived. As soon as the door was unlocked, I found two guests inside, flying around, dropping feathers all over and generally making a mess. As soon as the two "guests" had been shown the window, i looked around my humble abode. Humble it surely was. A bed, which looked like it was lifted straight from a hospital, a desk, a chair and a recessed closet. That was all the amenities I had to ensure my existence. Amen to that.