PART 14 – THE LIFE AFTER…

It had been in my mind since the beginning of the sixth term… I always wanted to start it. Yet I couldn’t…

When my exams got over, I found myself in a different world… like most other students. Uncertainty and fear of unknown orbited around my small world all the time. I wanted to do something in the operations or systems management side, but the markets for both were down. Tension swelled up with each passing day… Many times I felt like compromising on the profile… but something in me gave me the courage… the courage to hold on…  

Days dragged… I felt that I was sailing my ship to nowhere… Pressure for doing something mounted up… At last on 28^th April, I convinced myself to start what I wanted to start for a long time. I opened the Microsoft word file & named the first part as ‘The boy who lived the reverse biological cycle”…

That marked the beginning of my ‘writer life’…

Well, the secret to being creative here is simple: Just create your own world and dwell there… and never let anyone smash it…

I did the same. I spend most of the time in my room, either thinking or writing… Again, the best thing about this world is that you can create anything, you want, here… at anytime… It was wonderful. I was enjoying each and every moment of my new role. I almost forgot about everything else in the materialistic world…

***

“dude results are out. Did you check yours?”

Somebody asked me when I was writing in my room…

“Oh! I didn’t know that. Thanks buddy… I’ll check it now…”

But I wasn’t that keen at that time. I continued my work and in the evening I went to college to check the final results. I wondered what my results were… I had already crossed 5 by then. So I wasn’t worried in anyway. Besides, these grades never played much a role when we were out of college. All that the business world cared about was the student’s capability and the potential to be a part of their team…

My memories travelled back to the previous year. I thought about the letter they had sent to my dad… That time I had made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t let my grades fall ever after… and it never did…

It was around 7’o clock in the evening when I reached my college. The college corridor was deserted. Dead silence prevailed there except for the occasional hissing sounds of summer breeze… Once the most happening place… I thought! It used to be the realm of couples in the evenings… always full of life… but today!!! I walked towards the notice board tossing those thoughts in my mind.

But the instant I laid my eyes upon the results, all those nostalgic thoughts vanished to nowhere…  

I was satisfied and pleased to see my GPA. I had hit ‘6’ again…

A GPA of 6… and my CGPA touched a new level: 5.27… The final score…

“The war is over!” I declared to myself like a great commander of ancient Roman Empire…

Yes, it was a great relief…

After a while, I walked back to my hostel… leaving my college to sleep peacefully in that lonely summer night…

***

The days were warmer during those times and the brutal summer sun forced the people to stay inside their artificially cooled rooms… But the nights, on the other hand, were cold and chilly. I guess that was what I wanted!

I locked myself up happily in the dreamland… ‘My life at XIME’ was growing steadily…

One day, a phone call broke my chain of thoughts…

“Hey champ! Whatz up?”… It was Inder…

“Listen buddy, I am coming on this Friday evening. We will have a great time there. Call Vijayanand too. It’s my treat on this Sunday!”

“Oh that’s wonderful, dude. Let’s make the last day memorable” I was so happy that we three were meeting again.

Vijayanand had moved out some days back to a rented house in Bangalore. Also, he had started working with a BPO. I rang him up and communicated the message…

“That’s great. The final get together… Cool man.” He was high on spirits…

***

“Do I look like a bat!” Kadavanthara was bit anxious about his looks.

As a matter of fact, we all looked like that when we wore that convocation gown! It was a thin black open cloth which was thin and fragile… Luckily, it reached, at least, till our upper calves! I thought that we would get full gowns… but never expected handicapped ones like that!!! It was only then I really understood the true feelings of ‘Ron Weasley’, Harry Potter’s best friend, who always ended up wearing some silly old gowns, send by his parents, for important functions!!!

On top of that we had to put a green velvet shawl… just to make sure that no one escaped that ‘buffoon’ look!

“Batman! I thought you looked like a clown….” Pakru scanned Kadavanthara and gave a dirty look!

“Where the hell is the bonnets, by the way?” Kadavanthara asked Pakru, ignoring his comments…

“We don’t have any…”

That was weird… Convocation without bonnets!!! May be, management was afraid that we would hurl it towards them rather than throwing it up!!!

“Come… we’ll take some photos…” I called out.

“Hello, Mr. Batman, come along if you want some of your photos in this fancy dress!” Pakru shouted.

I don’t remember how many snaps we took then! But we went on clicking until dean told us to enter the hall…

“Ready for the show?” Sau asked me while we were standing in the queue outside the hall.

“Well, I guess so” I smiled…

“Now you must be relaxed, right?”

“Ya, I am… no more CGPA threats” I laughed as I said that.

“But Amal, I guess you would miss your favourite sleeping spot!” She was the same… Never missed a chance to pull my legs…

“Ya, same goes to you too, buddy” and we both laughed over it…

“Hello, everybody listen… You may enter the hall now!” Dean announced.

We proceeded slowly to the hall which was well decorated and illuminated… The soft music that was played on the background added charm to the situation… The podium too was beautifully decorated… As we entered the hall the relatives of the students, who were sitting on the left side, rose and applauded.

I looked around… Everyone was beaming at us… The camera men turned their complete focus on us… Lights flashed from all directions…

That was a great moment…

Slowly we occupied our seats and waited for the dignitaries. The hall was silent except for the vague murmurings from here and there…

The dignitaries entered the hall in a while. Our president led our guests to the podium. They were all dressed in charming gowns, like the princes in fairy tales. The shawls they wore were colourful and attractive… They settled down in a while…

Happiness filled the air…

Gradually, the proceedings started…  The chief guest and others addressed the function and wished good luck to us.

When the presidents turn came, he, as usual, boasted about the college and the placements… He even declared that all students would be placed by June or July end… Yet another unfilled promise… as proven by time…

Time passed by …

“Now you may rise …” the chief guest announced! That was the moment… We were honored with the prestigious degree… Camera lights flashed… The cheers and applauses reverberated in the hall…

I looked around… everyone was enjoying that magnificent moment. I waved my hands to Kadavanthara and Pakru…

“Congrats buddy! Finally all our hard work got paid!” That was Singh, who was standing next to me. He winked as he said that!

“Now say good bye to all stupid assignments, seminars and presentations!”

“and exams too” I added & we both laughed.

“Yeah, true… Thanks dude & congrats to you too…” I wished him…

Soon our National Anthem followed…

 

To go back to the main page:

https://lapillus.wordpress.com/its-my-life/

To read the previous chapter:

https://lapillus.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/part-13-%E2%80%93-the-batch-13-farewell-%E2%80%A6/

To the next chapter:

https://lapillus.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/part-15-%e2%80%93-something-comes-my-way/