The Number 66 !
If you are guessing that, it is going to be about Bible, well, you are wrong. This blog is something, more important, interesting and valuable. I dedicate this blog to one of my good friends and a classmate. She was the one, who asked me to write on this topic.
We were not rich. Money has always been a criteria for most of us, if not all. That criteria, brought us together, for a journey, that will continue till death. With lot of dreams and hopes, in our eyes and minds, sixty six of us, started this journey. Most of us were, for the first time in an English medium, first time in a co-ed, first graduates of our family/village. We were a collection of teenagers, from different walks of life, destined to co-exist, for the rest of our lives.
The easiest way to reach any destination is to take the straight route. If we take college, its to redirect the a,b,c,d's....from the vocal chord of a lecturer, to the brain, through your ear drums(and of course, from there onto some paper). We were no bad at that. My scores of 1177/1200 and 286.5/300 in class XII looks great, until I start comparing it with my class. Most of us were school, district and state toppers. We continued our consistency in college too. If marks are no real representatives of our knowledge, our intelligence was. I can say with a lot of audacity that, our class the most intelligent in our college. Our intelligence never failed us. We knew, which guy dated a particular girl, given a particular period of time. We knew the grave torture our tongues would experience on contact with our hostel food,. We knew that, We won't have a girl friend/boy friend by the end of college.
Give 65 candies to a child. He will love 'x' candies and like '65-x' candies. He will not throw away even a single. 65 characters to be explored, 65 faces to remember and 65 hearts to be loved. The only thing that comes free with college is Friendship. Most of us were friends. I am saying this with a included variance. In a large group, you will eventually stumble upon some bullies, loners, and all these kinda unlovable. But all that, did not keep us apart. We have learnt to live for ourselves and for others as well.
Four years is a long period to be without facing problems and hurdles. When we had difficult situations, we stood united and did fight together. When we had problems, shoulders were there for weeping heads. We had rode storms, not by running away from them, but by facing them hand in hand. With a lot of proud, we can say that, we were the first in the history of electrical engineering in PSG to have achieved the dream of "A job everyone". We helped each other in getting a job. For most of us, it was a destination. So, most of us were right on target. But that did not stop us form taking diversions. We did quite well in sports, cultural, and social contributions. The voice of pessimists were restricted within the walls of our class. They never got out.
And i had to preserve one thing till the last. FUN. Fun and Enjoyment are entities that differ from one to another. Well, to sleep in class, to irritate the teacher, to make fun of him, to listen to his class, to score marks, to do projects, to win prizes, to eat and sleep, to walk alone, to watch porn, to take a shower in the rain, to have coffee at 4.A.M., to bully others, to undress someone with eyes, to secretly chat with a girl, to be held up in phone for hours, to empty the dust bin on others head, to fore go bathing (sometimes for weeks together), to rate girls, to sleep together, to play games, to chit-chat, to give and get bumps, to get drunk, to roam the city, to date, to treat and be-treated, to become great and earn some name, t listen to music, to dance, to act, to help, to teach, to preach, to learn, to laugh, to cry. It does differ. And by all means, we enjoyed all these. But, we enjoyed one thing in common. TO BE TOGETHER. We were.
Only our tears spoke on the final day of college. Lot of things to remember. The class rooms, benches, labs, teachers, hostel, its horrible food, the old man at the canteen, puff at the bakery, lunch at Arunachalas, early morning walks and tea, strange movies, moments of fun and friendship, times together and those 65 sweet faces. An experience of our life times.
Nowadays, when some one asks me the shortest route to a city from Bangalore, Well, I say, its between my heart and one of those 65 !
We were not rich. Money has always been a criteria for most of us, if not all. That criteria, brought us together, for a journey, that will continue till death. With lot of dreams and hopes, in our eyes and minds, sixty six of us, started this journey. Most of us were, for the first time in an English medium, first time in a co-ed, first graduates of our family/village. We were a collection of teenagers, from different walks of life, destined to co-exist, for the rest of our lives.
The easiest way to reach any destination is to take the straight route. If we take college, its to redirect the a,b,c,d's....from the vocal chord of a lecturer, to the brain, through your ear drums(and of course, from there onto some paper). We were no bad at that. My scores of 1177/1200 and 286.5/300 in class XII looks great, until I start comparing it with my class. Most of us were school, district and state toppers. We continued our consistency in college too. If marks are no real representatives of our knowledge, our intelligence was. I can say with a lot of audacity that, our class the most intelligent in our college. Our intelligence never failed us. We knew, which guy dated a particular girl, given a particular period of time. We knew the grave torture our tongues would experience on contact with our hostel food,. We knew that, We won't have a girl friend/boy friend by the end of college.
Give 65 candies to a child. He will love 'x' candies and like '65-x' candies. He will not throw away even a single. 65 characters to be explored, 65 faces to remember and 65 hearts to be loved. The only thing that comes free with college is Friendship. Most of us were friends. I am saying this with a included variance. In a large group, you will eventually stumble upon some bullies, loners, and all these kinda unlovable. But all that, did not keep us apart. We have learnt to live for ourselves and for others as well.
Four years is a long period to be without facing problems and hurdles. When we had difficult situations, we stood united and did fight together. When we had problems, shoulders were there for weeping heads. We had rode storms, not by running away from them, but by facing them hand in hand. With a lot of proud, we can say that, we were the first in the history of electrical engineering in PSG to have achieved the dream of "A job everyone". We helped each other in getting a job. For most of us, it was a destination. So, most of us were right on target. But that did not stop us form taking diversions. We did quite well in sports, cultural, and social contributions. The voice of pessimists were restricted within the walls of our class. They never got out.
And i had to preserve one thing till the last. FUN. Fun and Enjoyment are entities that differ from one to another. Well, to sleep in class, to irritate the teacher, to make fun of him, to listen to his class, to score marks, to do projects, to win prizes, to eat and sleep, to walk alone, to watch porn, to take a shower in the rain, to have coffee at 4.A.M., to bully others, to undress someone with eyes, to secretly chat with a girl, to be held up in phone for hours, to empty the dust bin on others head, to fore go bathing (sometimes for weeks together), to rate girls, to sleep together, to play games, to chit-chat, to give and get bumps, to get drunk, to roam the city, to date, to treat and be-treated, to become great and earn some name, t listen to music, to dance, to act, to help, to teach, to preach, to learn, to laugh, to cry. It does differ. And by all means, we enjoyed all these. But, we enjoyed one thing in common. TO BE TOGETHER. We were.
Only our tears spoke on the final day of college. Lot of things to remember. The class rooms, benches, labs, teachers, hostel, its horrible food, the old man at the canteen, puff at the bakery, lunch at Arunachalas, early morning walks and tea, strange movies, moments of fun and friendship, times together and those 65 sweet faces. An experience of our life times.
Nowadays, when some one asks me the shortest route to a city from Bangalore, Well, I say, its between my heart and one of those 65 !
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