Monday Musing. #2

                                                                Pretentious Advice. 

A few months from now as the final year students graduate, they will walk back into the dusty compound (most probably to collect a million documents stating that they are finally out of the graduation rat race) and meet  an old teacher, realize that time hasn't touched her one bit. They will smile wisely at the first year students who are struggling to find classes , trying desperately to fit in and are still unaware that the queues in the canteen can be fatal and decide that those were really the best days of their lives.  But the environment will also seem strangely alien to them, they will be surprised to learn how missing somebody isn’t immediately alleviated by their presence, how uncomfortable it is to imagine that the life they left behind, still goes on without them. They would bash their burden ridden present and shed a tear at the glorious past.

Today if someone asks me about my college experience, I’ll tell them that the classroom shuts exactly at 9 leaving half the college panting and begging the lecturer to come in, that the canteen bhaiya will always let you use his fridge to preserve a cake on a friend’s birthday, so you can surprise her, that every passing train shakes the foundations of the building ever so slightly, and that the sleepless nights I've spent poring over a barrage of assignments, was possibly resulted in the most rewarding work I've ever done. In this hopeless setting, comes to you the realization of who you truly are. It is in this Jhilmil wonderland that we transform every year to finally becoming the person that who we are at peace with.

The best thing about St. Francis was always its people. There is no one here you cannot talk to. There are cliques, far flung classrooms and slightly more than acceptable number of clubs. But what never ends is the chatter, the constant brimming of ideas and also the queue for exam forms. Every graduating batch will say, at the risk of self glorification, that with them ended an era-the old college timings, the old dress code, the old canteen menu, the old auto fares  and much to the chagrin of the faculty, the old course.  When you bid your farewell, make a few promises to yourself, dream a little more and most importantly, try not to get stuck in the inevitable rut of mediocrity.

As for now, try absorbing the most of your college life. Ask yourselves these questions:

1. You have paid money for that course. Are you getting value out of it?

2.   If you are not, you should be complaining. Not to your parents, not to your siblings, not on facebook, but to the authorities.

3.  Your fellow students have as much to teach you as your teachers. Are you allowing your prejudices and snobberies to come in the way? If you are, then you're not learning much.

4. No curriculum ever matches to the real world encounters. Are you volunteering enough?

5.  Our library is one of the finest. Are you checking enough books there? If you aren’t, look back at question 1, you helped pay for the library, why aren’t you using it?

6.   What do you do in a class? Write notes or listen? Whatever your teachers are saying, they got out of books. Or they have put into books (which you can get from the library).

Listen. Think. Argue. Ask. Doubt

7.   Do you think college is tough? And unfair? Look at it this way, you pay the college to do this to you, in real world, they pay you. This makes life outside college, way tougher

8.  Every cheat you use, every assignment you fake, every lecture you skip, gives you less value from your investment in your education. Now think again, do you really want to Google/Wiki that assignment?

Now I may have sounded condescending above there, but I just hope that the fresh batches outdo us, organizing more events, clicking more pictures (not selfies mind you), setting a new academic record, getting the biggest sponsorship, rocking the placements and most importantly, learning how to beat the rush when the canteen serves schezwan babycorn!

Carpe diem people. Lets show the world how its done! Cheers!

Yours truly,

your senior.

                                                                                                                            Bhavya Shah

Bhavya Shah, do I still have to give an introduction? Only kidding. 

An amazing senior, best mentor and one crazy genius I've ever met. I take pride in introducing her as my quiz mate and my teacher. Her love for logic and passion for life is what makes her a better human being. Whilst she is not busy, which of course is quite not possible, you could find her reading books, or painting masterpieces, or watching movies, or baking/cooking, or quizzing mostly. Ladies and gentlemen, Bhavya The Shah it is.

Monday Musing is a small attempt to give a written form to the thoughts and views that are stuck inside our heads. If you've got something to tell the world, and have the right words to describe it all, you are always welcome at Carpe diem. Send in your write-ups to me and on a fine Monday evening your name will find its way to my guest writers' list. 

Soumya Inavilli