4 years of my life

18th april was the 18th convocation of Sathyabama University. I was there, one in a few thousand waiting to get my degree (yes, my college has thousands of students graduating each year). I was not called upon the stage to be presented my degree by the director; apparently only the gold medalists deserved to receive their degrees on the stage (I’ve got nothing against them). Nor did my HOD it to me at the department with a congratulatory message. The way I got my degree was anything but normal. Ever seen a stall at local fete where freebies are given away, people crowding near the stall and fighting for the freebies; that is exactly how I got my degree. Had to push few of my classmates, squeeze through the crowd to get my degree. I was not surprised by the way things were organized, but I was disappointed.
Heck, I was always disappointed with sathyabama.

The College
Sathyabama is in Chennai, the city which has the tag of being conservative. Sathyabama was almost the same but it was ultra conservative. So conservative that there were no trees on the campus so that boys and girls wouldn’t sneak behind the trees and talk to each other (ya ya girls boys no speak in my college). I think even the staff were restricted at some level (I don’t know, maybe, never bothered to find out). The college prevents any kind of activity that may lead to a girl boy interaction and the worst part is, there are even barricades in the bus separating the two sexes. Boys are looked upon like serial rapists who would pounce upon girls on seeing them and girls are looked upon as sluts who are trying to seduce every guy that comes their way. (That is the way I felt).And they were watched upon by irrational bunch of losers who were called the ‘SQUADS’ (I say ‘were’ cos they don’t exist anymore). Other rules comprised of dress code, 90% attendance and any fucked up rule u can come to think off. This was the scenario when I entered the college, things changed, for good or worse I never bothered to analyze.


1st year
haa…25th august 2005, how can I forget that day, it was my first day in the college. We entered the college and were directed towards the pandal by some shabbily put up sign boards. The view at the pandal where our chancellor would supposedly greet us and introduce us to the college was jus overwhelming. I guess there were around 6000 ppl gathered there, I was shaken a lil bit, I never saw such a huge gathering of people right in front of my eyes. As a person I don’t like crowds and places with too many ppl, seeing so many people gave rise to many apprehensions. And the very first day itself I became skeptical about the way college would function. Everybody was there students, students’ parents, their grand parents, their uncles and aunts, their cousins, almost everybody. I skipped the program and strolled off to look around the college, I noticed people from every corner of the country, felt that was nice. After lunch (where ppl fought and waited for their right to sit and eat in the mess hall) I reported in the hostel. The rooms were reasonably big, I was told that 5 of us would sharing it, I was ok with it (thought 4 would be comfy but 5 was ok). Then enters a 6th person in the evening, we cribbed for a while and gave up cos we HAD to adjust. Next day was my first day at the college academically, it was routine.8am to 4pm (classes) 4-6 break then 6-8 study hours (oooo yea!!) followed by dinner and 10 was the lights off time. No electronic items were allowed into the hostel, even magazines and books were not allowed, I felt it was more a correctional facility than a hostel. 1st semester was very ordinary, no major incidents took place.

The events in the second semester changed the way sathyabama functioned. Everybody would boss upon the students from the peon to the squads; there was no respect for the student. The frustration among the students was very evident in the ways they carried out their daily activities. There was dissent all over. Helpless enraged, suppressed and frustrated we dint know what to do. Then came the AICTE recognition dispute, this led to the famous ‘STRIKE’ in sathy history. What a day it was!!! People brought down everything from fans to blackboard and from furniture to computers, chased and beat up people who annoyed them the most. It was a beautiful sight, although everything lay in ruins. This was the first of many to come (just youtube). We were sent home periodically strike after strike, there were hardly any classes that semester. It was fun but also a little bit scary. We were left to wonder how the management would react.


To be continued............