'WARRIORS & THEIR WONDER YEARS' by Aritra Sen

‘Jagmagaate Hain, Jhilmilaate Hain Apne Raastein
Yeh Khushi Rahe, Roshni Rahe Apne Waaste’

When I look back upon those years where we were together, I smile and then I feel sad at the same moment. It pains me to think that only few days are remaining for my college years to come to an end. For me and most of us, it’s been a magical journey so far. No…I am not talking about HARRY POTTER kind of magic. But this magic is called friendship which brought most unlikely souls together.So here I am writing the very first blog on this site. This is the story of all those years I have spent in my engineering college (-partly fictional and partly real) and how I met these beautiful people in my life. Before you start reading this post there’s one request…plz post comments-GOOD, BAD, WORSE, WORSE THAN WORST, etc. so that I get to know about your views.!!FLASH BACK!!
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chapter 1
THE NEW BEGINNING

It was 19th of August ’06. I quickly looked through the headlines of the morning newspaper and directly skipped to the last page where daily horoscopes are printed. I looked at my back to make sure my mother was no where near as she doesn’t want me to believe in horoscopes. She says they write Shit! As soon as I saw she was in kitchen I quickly read, “SAGITTARUS: Your day will include traveling. Those who are seeking for careers will succeed. And finance…” I relaxed.

Like my mother, I too didn’t believe in horoscopes but lately my CET results were worse than I ever expected it to be. I scored 146/200 i.e. nearly 8000 rank in Mumbai, in my entrance exam and I was well aware that these marks will land me in no good college. After a week of tension and stress my application was accepted in an engineering college. Though I was happy to receive this news over internet but my happiness didn’t last too long. Adding to my woes, this college was only a year old and there was no hope for placements!!! But I was left with no choice. I had to make a decision for my future. And so I did…

I and my parents were more than just excited to visit this college. I can’t forget that first journey to this college. Cars running on the road connecting to the college reminded me of formula one races, except there were Lorries too. Thankfully there were traffic signals at a few places. But something more distasteful was lying ahead on that road…OMG! Slums on the left (quite similar to what we saw in the recent international hit SLUMDOG MILLIONARE) and on the right there were railway tracks inhabited by these slum dwellers for morning refreshments! (This was shown respectfully in the same film to suit the Americans) But my college was unlike what I saw out there on the roads. The decent atmosphere inside the campus was quite encouraging for peace lovers like me. I took admission at this place and started attending lectures after a few days.

My feeling of “decent atmosphere” evaporated as soon as I started attending the lectures. The professor was teaching some subject known as BEEE (forgive me as I can’t remember the full form of BEEE…one of those E’s must be electronics). Lecturer was hardly 21. And the numb students surrounding me were 60’s out of 200 in CET. I remember joking it to my mother-“don’t be surprised if I get a 1st rank in this college”. It never happened!To say the truth I had no real FRIENDS even after a week. Days passed by and I fancied going back to Bhavans-my junior college. I dreamt of watching those old faces…the people whom I call FRIENDS. It was one of my friend’s birthday and I called him to wish. To my surprise he shouted at me, “Kaminey! tera admission hogaya yeh mujhe kisi aur ke muh se sunna padha!” Actually I was so much embarrassed by my admission in this new place that I almost forgot to inform these people that I have taken admission.

It was nearly two weeks after the college started I met someone who was so unlike me and at the same time like me in every manner. I was in carpentry workshop. All of us were given saws to cut wood. It was a tiresome job for me and others. At that very moment I saw a fat guy at an end, holding the saw with both his hands and staring at others as if someone else will come and do that work for him. That day I met Swapnil Rane. As far as appearances matter he was the fattest person I ever saw. He reminded me of myself when I was in Vth std. and I resembled a Vada pav then (I am quite slim now!). When I was that big and people used to tease me, I used my extra weight to punch them. But with Swapnil a.k.a Swapy it was exactly opposite. He liked joking about his fatness. One of the most common jokes he cracks while ordering food from canteen is to count himself thrice, adding to our budget. He knows it very well that life is never fair and it plays games with you all the time. Instead of showing his back to tough times in life (that I usually chose to do before I met him), he shows his big fat stomach to it so that the problem bounces back. If I say that I met one of the coolest person that day, then I am not wrong at all.That day I met a warrior…a unique personality who taught me to deal with this unfair life. I made a FRIEND for a lifetime and I am very proud to have him in my life.
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Today I end here as I am too tired of typing. But I will write soon once I get your feedback. There are so many more unique people in this group…I hope you would like to read it.
-ARITRA SEN