College days

Pretty dull…that was what my college days started out like. And for those of you who think that by the end of this post, you’ll realise how interesting it finally turned out to be….well, it depends really… it depends on how dull your college days were or are, or will be.

Let’s face it, our opinion of ourselves, is really shaped by what those around us think of themselves.. Sounds strange…but think about it, it is true. If I am in the company of people who all think they have done well in life, I invariably feel…man, what have I done with mine!!!

Let me explain.
Say I am talking about my college days to Bill Gates, you know, the computer guy who dropped out of college and set up a jillion dollar enterprise…so the conversation would probably go like…

Self: You know Bill, I had the most interesting of college days.
Bill: Oh really…what’s your name again…I have the top 10 in the Forbes list memorised.
Self: Man…this coffee is too strong…let me go get another cup.

Or, maybe I am talking about my college days to Rakhi Sawant:

Self: Those were the days!!!
Rakhi: For sure.
Self: The parties…
Rakhi: Yeah and the lays…..
Self: Oh, you got that too…
Rakhi: Hmm? … See you…got a date with a couch.

If you still do not get the drift please see the by-line on my blog title… An innocent bystander to my own-life….anyway more on that in a later post.

Back to my college days:-

I was a casualty of science (a phrase which to this day I believe I coined). This basically meant I plodded through XI and XII standard studying Physics/Chemistry and Maths leading every-one to believe I will add to the venerated demographic segment of Engineers (for some others it would be Medicine).

Needless to say, around half-way I realised no such prospect awaits me at the end of my academic career but it was too late to turn back….(you know…like in the Lakme India Fashion Week when the model realised there is a wardrobe malfunction, she completed her catwalk never-the less).
(Note: By providing suggestive links I am trying to increase my readership while pretending to be clean).

So much the same way as the thousands of disillusioned casualties before me, I joined B Com in a highly pretentious college…SXC. (Loyal Xaverians are welcome to differ on the pretention part)

Now St Xavier’s College (SXC) B Com was a strange beast in the academic landscape of Calcutta in the early 1990’s. I guess it is much the same now.

For those who always wanted to study commerce (mostly belonging to the business families of Kolkata and around) SXC was the equivalent of IIT.
However for the casualties of science (man…do I love this phrase)…it was …well…just Xavier’s B Com.

College would start at 6am and end at 9:40am. So your classes would be over before the rest of the student population would even start their’s.

Coming from Science, I had every reason to not understand Debit/Credit. Of-course, B Com had a lot of other stuff as well…but my level of understanding in those was the same as Debit/Credit.

When I recall my college days I remember…a couple of good friends…lots of time spent quizzing (Calcutta has this rather active quizzing circuit), hours long adda (aimless discussions on issues ranging from international politics to neighbourhood romances), lots of college fests and, before you conclude I am gay…girls.

Quiz question: What was common to all the girls I knew and did not know?
Ans: Well… none of them ever noticed me.

Most of the conversations would be along these lines

Self: Hi. I am Comrade Chakra.
Girl:

Self: Hi, remember we met at …
Girl: Hi, how are you? (looking over my shoulder and walking away to the person she addressed the greeting to)

If you are feeling a sense of pity or thinking how much of a loser I was…don’t bother…because I conveniently positioned myself as one of those who did not give much of a damn about girls. I like to believe that worked.

In the early 90’s such a positioning was generally not associated with you being Gay. A misogynist like Jughead, were he to appear today, would be gently accepted as being “different”. Anyway, Batman & Robin are generally accepted as the first gay superhero couple.

But really, my exceptional humility aside (now you may think I was not really that much of a loser) there was a girl who did seem to notice me initially, it is just that she fell in with the rest a little later in the day…so all in all…not much of an aberration in my spotless track record.

I have often wondered, if I had the chance to re-live my college days, what would I have done different?
What about you?

And what about your college days, interesting ?

(If you answered the 2nd question in the affirmative, you have only me to thank)