Stories

My Days at PCMT

Pailan College of Management and Technology, 2005, MCA First year. 
C++Class.. 

A quiet environment. Teacher teaching and student gazing at him. Only I was kidding with my friend Sudipta Sen. Suddenly teacher had his eyes on me. 
Teacher : Ei ! You the Boy!. Uthe por ( get up )… 
Me: Yes, Sir.. 
Teacher: Are you following the class? 
Me answering very smartly : No, Sir.. 
There was sound of laughter. 
Teacher: Then why are you in the class on the first place ? 
Me: For attendance, Sir.. 
The sound of laughter got louder.. 
Teacher( looking to score this one ): Tell me, what is abstract class? 
Me: Don’t know, Sir.. 
Teacher : What did you do for Graduation? 
Me: BCA, sir.. 
Teacher: So you must have idea about it..Tell me.. 
Me: Forgot.., Sir.. 
Teacher: Do you forget your name? 
Me: Yes…(Pointing at Sudipta).He calls me every morning and reminds my name. 
The class roared in laughter. 
I surely won the argument but a teacher usually rewards a student with something inevitable at situations like this one and yes I was rewarded in the same manner. The teacher asked me to leave the class. It was surely not a punishment for me but in circumstances like this you have to behave as if you feel sorry. I did the same. I said, I am sorry.. 
But the teacher was unmoved. He said to me that he would leave, if I don’t leave. So I had to leave for greater good. Things could have ended here. But perhave I expressed my happiness bit more as I was preparing to leave the class. Suddenly the teacher said “never be in my class again..” 
This was bit problematic, as much you want to stay out of the class but at the end of the semester you need those attendance.This time I seriously put in some effort, tried hard to look sorry and pleaded for mercy.But the teacher simply asked me to get out.. 
Couple of days later I sneaked into the class, tried to stay hidden. But during the attendance call the teacher called my name and I responded, he noticed me and asked to leave the class. I knew this had gone far. I pleaded to be allowed in class. But in vain. The teacher asked me to meet our batch coordinator Sudipta Kundu Sir..Sudipta Sir had a history of rescuing us from situations like this in the entire tenure of 3 years of the course duration. Else our college days would have been much tougher. Sudipta Sir asked me to submit an apology letter and thing got sorted for this time. 

Couple of months before the incident. 
I got late in College. The class was nearing to its end. From my experience in previous college I had an idea that even if you could make it to the class moment before it gets over you can get and attendance. I gave it a shot. But this time I was completely mistaken. First the teacher asked me “Why late?”.. 
Me: There was an road accident.
Teacher: Were you in the accident? 
Me : No..Actually an accident occurred in the street and because of that there was traffic jam. 
The bus I was travelling in was also in the jam. So.. 
Teacher: Where is your uniform? 
I was wearing a tshirt. We had college uniform at that time. However I was not in possession of that at that time as my admission in the college was late. 
Me: Sir, I haven’t received it yet. 
Teacher: Why? 
Me: Sir, I was informed that my dress has not yet arrived. 
Teacher: When will it arrive? 
Me: The issuing authority did not informed me that, sir.. 
The teacher burst out suddenly.. 
Teacher: Is this a fish market? 
Me: No Sir, 
Teacher: Do you think you can get in any time you want? 
Me : I am sorry sir..Did not meant to.. 
Teacher: What is this? Are you guys getting me? this guy is disturbing my class.. 
I had to stand and listen to a lecture of almost 15 minutes and finally the teacher said “Go to your seat..” And As I was about to sit, there was another knock in the door.. Monimoy Dasgupta poked his head out and asked for permission to get in.. 
The teacher got furious and I was really wrong to think my turn was over. We both had to listen to great deal of lecture and we were asked to submit an apology letter to the batch coordinator. Monimoy like always, copied my letter and as we went to submit the letter to our batch coordinator Sudipta Kundu sir, he smiled and said “again? Now which teacher?” 
It was not our first apology letter and not our last either. I guess my writing skills developed a bit by writing tons of apology letters during those three years in PCMT. Just to let know the teacher had an habit of putting a star mark before the name of the student in the attendance sheet to point their degree of his indiscipline. Monimoy had quite a few marks so did Sudipta and Rimli but by the end of the semester my name got literary hidden with the star marks. Few of the girls of the class gathered around me to pass this news one of them said “you are really the star of the class. You have so many star marks. All the other girls giggled and left..” 

Few days after the incident 
We came to know that we need to pay for our college uniform. Our seniors called for strike. We joined in. We were having fun. The gates were locked. The teachers came and asked us to leave but we did not. The management guys came and asked us to be back in class but that too was ignored. The situation started getting tensed. As the argument started growing more student gathered in the scene. Soon the junior classes joined the strike as well. There was a huge gathering near the college entrance. We left the place and was hanging out somewhere else. All of sudden we heard a loud sound, something like a giant cracker and students started running. We were not sure what happened. Sudipta came running and said .”run.. they are firing..” Actually someone from private security fired a cell in the air, and it made everyone frightened without understanding everyone was running and another security was chasing. We were running too and suddenly I saw Rimly got tipped by something and fell down. Rimili was bit bulky. I rushed to her. Helped her get up and hold her and ran out of the college main gate. The girls were more frightened even we the boys too were frightened. I comforted many of them. Soon press and police was there, it became a highlighted news. Every bengali news channel was running the news. Few of our classmates gave long standing speech to media but they were not to be found the next day. Following day the college owner arrived and the situation got controlled. This incident got some of us very close and we bonded really well. During this incident Rang De Basanti got released and the mixture of the film and the incident changed something in all of us that day. May be when we look back at the incident, it was not that important. We were young and bit emotional. We were driven by adrenalin flow. But there was a scope of learning. The incident was a good lesson on teamwork and bonding. 

It all started after our results for JECA examination was out. 
I secured a rank of 1289. In 2005, WBUT colleges teaching MCA was less in numbers compared to that of today. So with this rank getting admission in any college inside kolkata was tough. I sort of made my mind to prepare for the exam, next year. But one of my school friend Sayantan De Sarkar, who was in MBA informed me that there was some vacancy in his college, PCMT as there was some cancellation. I get in touch with PCMT management and I got admitted. 

In the first day of college I met a girl. She was bit round in shape. I recognized her as she used to take tuition for JECA in the same place as I did but in separate batch. There I saw her few times. I talked to her, She was nice but after each of her sentences she was using a particular word that rhymes with the film Taal. Initially I thought I was mistaken but later realized that I heard it right. Now she is proud owner of online blog “Scratching Canvas”. She reviews foods. She makes them. She is an excellent photographer and equally good painter. It was Rimli. 

Next, I met a lanky talkative most irritating disturbing boy I have ever met in my entire life. His collection of pj’s will never end and he never stops his mouth for a single moment. It was Sudipta Sen. During our viva exams people used to rush in the hall specially to listen to Sudipta’s answer. Once the examiner questioned him – “What is Domain and Range in mathematics?” He answered “Individual computers called domains”. The teacher did not risked asking more questions. 

We were in love with the same girl once and we had a long fight about that. We abused each other quite a bit and I still like doing that and my guess is that the feeling is mutual. The girl is now married to someone else. 

Sudipta was especially good in english. Never bothered to use correct verbs in his sentences though. Till the day when I talk to him abuses pops out right from my mind and yes few moments back I was talking to him and used quite a bit of adjectives to say the least…By the way he works in Java, have worked in almost all the big MNC’s in India and earning quite a handsome amount. 

Next, I met with a oversmart boy. He had a huge imaginary lats, one that could gave Arnold a run for money. But only he could feel it and used to walk with arms wide apart because of that. In all his images his lips would stay curled up. All his interest used to be in girls. He had a condoms packet preserved as souvenir for his first time, which unfortunately got into his mom’s hand found you one day. But he still managed to escape with some well cooked stories.This was Monimoy. He is also doing well. 

Then there was Joydeep, he was known to me since our graduation days.We were in same college during graduation as well. And then there was Suman Malakar and Shantanu Maity both are now happily married with kid and doing very well too. There was Ayantika, married and settled in US, mother to a cute little girl, wife to a loving husband and and working woman. We formed a gang and we had plenty of fun during the college days. The middle row last bench was reserved for us. Actually the last bench chose us. 
As for me I look great, I am married and trying to explore life in my way. 

College days were best days in our life. Small things used to be so important to us. And when I look back at those days it’s the wrong we did that made us laugh and not our grades. In the end every one of us are settled in their own way but we had the blessing of living life to the fullest. We are not the same person that we used to be then, but we still have kept the kid in us alive somewhere. College days taught us that it’s ok to commit mistake in life. Because those mistakes are foundation of the right you do in life. And as the saying goes in the end all dots will connect looking back so it’s important to keep the dots going. Yes, I may not have the best grades in our college days yet if I get a chance to go back I will live those moments again and would not change a single thing.