The Emergency

o The 21 month emergency beginning 25 June 1975 declared under the Article 352 of the Indian constitution effectively made Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, a Dictator.

o It is one of the most shameful periods in the history of independent India during which the press was censored, people were forced to undergo vasectomies, and power of the Government was rampantly abused by anyone who was favoured by the Gandhi family.

o As a result of the Emergency, many buildings were razed, laws were scrapped/ violated by the government, people were forcibly sterilised, innocents were killed, and the constitution was amended while the press was muzzled all throughout.

o The official reason cited for the Emergency was extremely unclear and unspecific. The inside reason for this is explained below -

The Trigger - Raj Narain, who had been defeated in the parliamentary election by Indira Gandhi, lodged cases of election fraud and use of state machinery for election purposes against Mrs. Gandhi in the Allahabad High Court.

The Wound - On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court found the Prime Minister guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign. The court declared her election null & void and unseated her from her seat in the Lok Sabha. The court also banned her from contesting any election for an additional six years. She was held responsible for misusing the government machinery, and found guilty on charges such as using the state police to build a dais, availing the services of an IAS officer, Yashpal Kapoor during the elections, and use of electricity from the state electricity department.

The Real Enemy – All this while, an anti-Indira group had been gaining strength inside Congress for a long time, and many high positioned men were gathering support to take over the position of the Prime Minister namely – Jagjivan Ram, Swaran Singh & the various Young Turks. It is said that she feared not the judgment or the opposition as much as the rising discontent amongst her own party members. As a result, Mrs.Gandhi considered making Kamlapati Tripathi the temporary PM to tide away the opposing uproar from within her party, but refrained from doing so knowing well her party members intent; Jagjivan Ram, the No.2 of the Congress, and a long standing supporter of Indira Gandhi was known to have said that “We shall support Tripathi on the condition that he does not allow her (Indira) to come back”. Which is why Indira later decided against having a temporary PM, as once an investigation begun against her, her chances of political revival would be nulled due to the great damage it had do to her reputation.

The Second Bullet - As per the procedure, Indira Gandhi filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court’s judgment. The appeal was being petitioned before Jutice V R Iyer. While the judgment was still a few days away from announcement, the ruling had already been circulated and passed amongst the masses by word of mouth.
In a complete blow to Indira’s plans and wishes, Justice V R Iyer refused to give her unconditional stay, as demanded by her in the parliament and adjudged a conditional stay allowing her to remain a Member of the Parliament, but disallowing her to take part in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.

The Shoulder and the Brains - Finding his mother reeling in such political turmoil, Sanjay Gandhi readied his own gang of political hooligans to oust any attempt to dislodge his mother from power. For this he sought help from his friend Bansi Lal, the then Chief Minister of Haryana Jagmohan Malhotra & Devkant Baruah.
He along with his friends thought over all possibilities to protect Indira’s stature, position and political career. It was in one such meeting that Sidhartha, a barrister by profession and the then Chief Minister of Bengal came up with the solution of imposing EMERGENCY in India as a possible solution to the situation.

The Resolution - Sanjay who was always in favor of dictatorship and absolute rule took great liking towards this idea. Indira too readily agreed to this idea as this way not even law could go against her as once emergency is imposed, there is no law left in the country.
The indignant prime minister apparently wanted to silence criticism or the possible upheaval of opposition and in her myopic wisdom proclaimed Emergency.

o It was decided that Emergency would be declared at midnight of the day Supreme Court was to formally give its judgement on Indira’s appeal.

o Only five people in the country knew that such a step was being planned, namely - Indira, Sanjay, Bansi lal, Dhavan, Om Mehta, Kishan Chand and Sidhartha. Later Baroah was added in on the scheme of things on 24^th June. Not even the president was aware that he would soon be signing the declaration of emergency in the country.

o Four hours before the emergency was to be declared, Sidhartha and Mrs Gandhi drove to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and explained to the president what the Emergency would entail.

o The President, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed not once thought of denouncing or opposing the emergency mainly to show his gratitude towards Mrs Gandhi for having elevated him to the highest position in the country (as it was on Mrs.Gandhi’s behest that he had become the president).

o The proclamation of a state emergency was signed by the president, on 25 June at 11.45pm, fifteen minutes before when it was to begin.

o The proclamation stated that “A grave emergency exits whereby the security of India is threatened by internal disturbances”. It authorized the government to impose press censorship, suspend court proceedings and so on. It bore a strong resemblance to what the Germany underwent just a few years ago from then when Hitler prevailed upon the President to sign a decree “for the protection of the people and State, suspending sections of the constitution which guaranteed individual and civil liberties”.

o Ironically Indira Gandhi had not a few years ago stated that she would like to go down in history as a strong personality, much like Napoleon or Hitler because they would always be remembered.

During the Emergency

Political Imprisonment

o Leaders from all political parties except Congress & CPI were woken up at 3am in the morning and taken into custody at a police station close to the Parliament

o 676 prominent leaders were put behind bars that day even before the crack of dawn.

o Political Leaders were detained in Haryana on Bansi Lal’s request. “I have built a big modern jail in Rohtak”, he told Mrs. Gandhi

o Big names like JP, Morarji Desai, Ashok Mehta, Atal Behari Vajpayee, & Lal Krishan Advani were put behind bars under section 107 of IPC, a section regularly used to detain vagabonds.

o Signed blank warrants were prepared and kept in huge numbers to fill and use as the situation demanded.

Press Censorship

o No Delhi newspaper was published the day emergency was declared due to their power supplies being cut since midnight

o On June 26 censorship was imposed on all press writings regarding the emergency situation.

o Those that did not abide to the press censorship, and came out with uncensored newspapers either got their presses sealed or the power supply to their press cut indefinitely.

Constitutional Amendments

o The Constitution was amended to suit the prime minister's whims and fancies, laws were modified to overturn court orders

o Mrs Gandhi amended the Representation of Peoples Act and two other laws with retrospective effect to ensure that the Supreme Court is left with no option but to overturn the verdict of the Allahabad high court.

o The prime minister also took away from the apex court the authority to adjudicate election disputes relating to the president, the vice-president, the prime minister and the Lok Sabha speaker and transferred it to a body to be appointed by Parliament.

Forced Sterilization

o More than a million people were forcibly sterilised. People traveling in buses were forcibly taken out and sterilised.

o A very infamous incident in the same respect is when a chartered bus carrying professors for a seminar was diverted to a hospital and all the learned participants in the seminar were forced to undergo vasectomy despite their protest.

o Many women from villages fled to the hills for fear of the police carrying away people for sterilisation by force. There was a sense of terror throughout the country.

o It is said that the orders for forced vasectomy were given by Sanjay Gandhi.

Civil Disobedience

o The sikhs community came out strongly against the Indira government and launched a series of rallies & mass protests. The first mass protest in the country, known as the "Campaign to Save Democracy" was organized by the Akali Dal and launched in Amritsar, July 9.

o According to Amnesty International, 140,000 people had been arrested without trial during the twenty months of Indira Gandhi's Emergency. Of them, 40,000 had come from India's two percent Sikh minority

o RSS was banned soon after the declaration of the Emergency. But despite the ban it came out in large numbers to protest the Emergency rule. It was described by The Economist, London as the only non-left revolutionary force in the world.

Towards the end of tunnel

o On January 23, 1977, Indira Gandhi called fresh elections for March and released all political prisoners.

o Indira and Sanjay both lost their Lok Sabha seats, as did most of their loyal followers. Many Congress Party loyalists deserted Indira, who herself lost her constituency seat. The Congress was reduced to just 153 seats, 92 of which were from four of the southern states.

o The Janata Party's 295 seats (of a total 542) gave it only a slim majority, but opposition candidates together represented more than two-thirds of the Lok Sabha.

o Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.

o The emergency requiring renewal by the parliament every six months was renewed thrice before being finally called off

o Emergency officially ended on March 23, 1977

o In Indira’s own words, Emergency brought democracy “to a grinding halt”

Aggresive! Chinese Army or Indian Media ?

Chinese troops intrude in the Indian Territory. Chinese spy planes enter the Indian territory for more than 10 minutes. Rocket launched by Chinese military kills 2 & injures 3 soldiers. Another incident of incursion reported in the N-E region by Chinese aircraft. Chinese army spray paints boulders in Ladakh red, scripting it red in Mandarin.

Seriously its getting a little too dull hearing the same headlines repeat day after day. Not a week passes without some newspaper or news channel shouting EXCLUSIVE and then repeating what's been said a hundred times already. But no matter the repetition these stories do make sense and reason. There is a valid reason behind the continuous repetition and highlighting of such incidents by the Indian Media... Or is there?

The past few weeks have been full of newspapers either reporting of some boundary violation or highlighting the strength of the Chinese army. In other words, creating a war like hysteria. Such stories being aggressive and highly suggestive in nature are sending panic waves across the country, putting the Sino-Indian relations in jeopardy.

To this effect the government is taking all possible measures to down play these stories and ridicule these incidents thereby shaking the validity and credibility of these happenings.

And because of the contrasting stands taken by the government, & the media, the public is left in a predicament so as to decide whom to lay their trust with. For while the media is reliable and trustworthy and is known to bring such eye-openers at the forefront without anyone asking it to; the acceptance and endorsement of the government is still sought for to add credence & evidence to such events. As despite the negative image surrounding the parliament & its word, in matters of defense at least, it is expected and more often than not, received the unadulterated scenario from the government.

Also, the media alone cannot be relied upon completely, due to its thirst for news stories and hunger to create a public hype that can translate in TRPs & higher readership. It was also noted by an acclaimed specialist of Chinese studies that these news stories conveniently appeared mostly in the weekends, with the weekends generally being the dry days for news events.

But while the media may be criticized for overplaying such incidents, one wonders why is the government downplaying them?

There is an old saying that there is no smoke without a fire, so if the whole of the media continuously raves on the issue, reporting yet more incidents week after week, could it be that there bi some truth in them? And if yes then why is the no action being taken about it? If there is even a slight possibility of Chinese aggression then why does the government remain silent & prefer to silence others?

It is well known that the Chinese have illegally acquired control of the north east region of Kashmir, also known as the Aksai Chin. It is also known that China has always staked ownership of Arunachal Pradesh & have refused point-blank to even consider otherwise. The government is well aware how the Chinese eyes gaze sleazily towards Sikkim hungrily waiting for an opportunity to capture it, derecognizing it as an Indian territory at the first possibility. The world is well aware how the Chinese have for years dictated the Tibetans, oppressed the Taiwan’s and thus shown their hunger to expand their land and spread their malice & dictatorship that they hide under the cloak of communism. Still the government has refused to take any concrete measures to protect the Indian Soil.

China is buildings roads, bunkers, and other military installations all around Arunachal Pradesh. Whereas at the Indian side, the soldiers do not even have fully functional weapons let alone modern ones.

The Chinese have twice the number of Indian tanks, FIVE times Indian Naval force, three times Indian War ships & subs, twice as many Air force personnel, and more than thrice the air force fighter jets, spending US$70-140 billion on defense expenditure for the year 2009, it is spending at least three times more than what India is spending at US$26.5 billion. Needless to say, that had a war take place between the two countries, the Indian Military would be outnumbered 2:1, and would suffer a crushing defeat, much like it did in 1962 (3,968 Indian soldiers were captured, 1,696 went missing, and over 1,383 were killed in this dreaded war, contradictory to 722 deaths reported by the PRA with no POWs).

And with the current diplomatic conditions favoring the Chinese, India would be surrounded literally from all sides, with Pakistan, Bangladesh and now, Nepal & Sri Lanka favoring China over India. It would only be a recap of the 1962 War with only a lot more losses being counted on the Indian side in terms of life, property & territory.

And the very thought of one such incident, shakes the jitters out of the Indian government. A recall of the 1962 War, the only war that India ever lost, which also happens to be the only war fought between India and China ever in our 6000 year old history stops the government from even considering the possibility of a War. The outcome of a possible war scares me too, as it must scare any nationalistic Indian. But is being frightened of the situation a solution? Is believing that there would never be a war between India and China a good enough reason not to prepare for it?

We chant Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai, send peace proposals across the border while China smiles on our face and stabs on our back. (examples. Blocking the loan by the Asian Development Bank; outbidding us in all oil block purchases in an attempt to make us energy deficient; silently opposing the Civil Nuclear deal; vetoing our acceptance in the UNSC)

I think it is time we woke up from our fantasy of friendship and bhaicharya and accept the fact that India-China are no more friends, and only competitors in terms of trade, world power and technology with each bidding for the same pie of a very small cake.

Shame on us

I'd like to ask you a question, Are you satisfied with the government's performance today (the outgoing government, not the newly elected government)? If Yes, leave me your number I'd like a dose of your positive spirit too, If No then tell me what are YOU doing to change it! If you are NOT satisfied with something, then why do you accept it. Why do you ignore it, WHY don't you CHANGE IT!!! W H Y ?


I don't need to take your permission for this; I can say this clearly and confidently that Indian politics today - sucks! BIG TIME! NO Doubts there. So my next question is, what do we do about it. This problem has been lying around with us for such a long time that it has become a part of the system, Hell it has become the system itself! So my next Question is, what practical, feasible, and permanent solution do we have to tackle this impossible-like problem?


I believe that educating the politician is both crucial and necessary today. A certain educational program should become a pre-requisite to contest the elections. A special course\degree should be made mandatory for all aspiring politicians for which a rigid entrance test should be taken, and only those who pass their final examinations with good scores should be allowed to contest the elections. I say this with many reasons. One, this would entail the public with a natural and trustworthy system for rating the politicians. Two, because it is senseless and idiotic to allow an illiterate, uneducated, and untested person to run and command a whole nation of learned men.


Think of it this way, while an uneducated \ unqualified person is not considered worthy of an ordinary 9-to-5 job, he is given the privilege to govern the brightest and the most cultivated minds of the country !If knowledge is power then how and why are the politicians given such supreme power when they don't have an iota of knowledge or intellect?


A Politician holds the highest and the strongest position in the world. He controls the whole society, his thoughts and philosophies are legally enforced upon millions, they have the power to influence a billion lives; they have the power and the responsibility to better a billion lives so how and why should we leave such an important position of the society for the unchecked and the unknown? When we choose to empower the most knowledgeable and the educated to run the companies of our country then why do we employ such unsuccessful and unpolished people to run our government?! As somebody has rightly said, "If we won't entrust our children to the politicians then how can we entrust them with our country?"!!!!


It is time that we, the educated drop down and participate in national politics and change the perception of politics itself. It is time that we assume responsibility that the development and growth of us individuals and eventually our country rests with us, and by not participating in it and by calling it names, we are merely running away from our responsibilities.

Politics is not bad, it has only assumed a bad reputation and it is up to us to change that!

If we think that the current horde of politicians are inefficient and corrupt then we need to step down and prove that we are better than them by doing their work better than them or else we should accept that we are worse than them because despite realizing their ineffectiveness, we fail to do any better than them and rather we continue to allow them to be re-elected to power and at times even help them get re-elected for our own greedy needs! And then we go on singing to the world that these politicians are good for nothing, they are the reason that the country is in shambles. Helloo, excuse me who do you think has elected these politicians? YOU YOURSELF so why throw mud at them when you yourself are engulfed in dirt, at least they are decent enough to do misdeeds in the open and then accept them openly, but we don’t even have the courage to accept it! And to top it all, we call ourselves a Democracy, the world’s largest Democracy. Shame on us!




More Suggestions in the same regard are on their way. Meanwhile you may give suggestions about how I can better my article or my thought process. Thanks!

Why Journalism?

India is a country with a population of more than a hundred Crore, so to bring about any positive change on the national level, the main requisite is communication. Thus my interest in Journalism & Mass Communication

A person of great intelligence with even greater ideas may not be able to do any good unless he is able to communicate well. And herein lays the role of Mass Communication. A journalist while acting as a middlemen between the masses still ends up playing as crucial a role as the masses itself for how can a person travel between two cities unless there is a road connecting them.

I believe media holds the power to make or break societies. What it chooses to talk about, becomes talked about, what it perceives as interesting, becomes interesting. Even a small mention of some work in jeopardy can pave its way to glory.

Thus the role of media today is as important as that of the doer. As they say, It takes two men to make great things, one who is great and does great and two, even rarer, who is great enough to see greatness and appreciate it.

A day at work

It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.

It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.

It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock. 

An aggravated and totally annoyed me woke up to these very words at 8 in the morning everyday to begin another day at the office. Putting in motion my new routine centered around the office.

Brushing my teeth taking a bath putting on the office gear and basically making myself presentable for the office took about 30 minutes of my time, which was highly accelerated by the mental pressure of reaching office on time. Having the breakfast in a rush, gobbling up the milk making supreme efforts not to spill it on myself and my hastily worn formal shirt (Office code, formals on all days except Friday) I am all set to hit the road. On the street rushing towards the bus-stop to catch the jam-packed DTC number 764, a glance on the watch confirms that I am on time today, and unless I meet some unforeseen incidents on the way I’d be well on time in the office today.

After some anxious waiting at the bus stop and then some pushing and shoving in the bus, I reach my mid-way halt Nehru Place, from where I change buses for my next destination, from where it’s a five minute walk to the Corporate Voice – Weber Shandwick’s Delhi headquarters a.k.a my workplace. 

At the entrance I was greeted by a smiling receptionist alias Gayatri and a register lying in front of her which I, like all employees of CV|WS was compelled to fill. The choice was that if you were on time that is, if you reached office before 10.15 am then you could enter your name in it with any ordinary pen, whereas if you dared to enter the office even a minute above 10.15 you would be handed a RED pen to fill in your attendance implying your having taken half day’s leave and thus a half day’s worth of sum being deducted from your salary. Thankfully I never got my name in red leaving quite a lot of scope for defaulting. 

Sitting on my desk in front of my BENQ computer I begin to go through all the pending works that I have with me and simultaneously look around for today’s FILECOPY circulating around the office. For the uninformed, FILECOPY is a compilation of all the leading and important newspapers of India; it includes the majors like HT, TOI, IE and the local leaders like The Telegraph, The Pioneer etcetera.

After glancing through the newspapers for today’s news and for any mention or coverage on my clients I move on to more pressing matters like sending the daily coverage reports to clients. This requires to be sent to the clients by 12pm sharp and takes up most of the afternoon. Thankfully I wasn’t single handed responsible for this, and a whole media team was set up to commission this job (which also happened to be the most sought after team of the office, as nearly everybody kept jumping on them time and again to check whether their coverage came in or not). 

After this I move on to other pressing issues like making the monthly dossiers or preparing for the next Press Release event, lending a helping hand to my seniors wherever possible.

Around 1pm in the afternoon hunger starts to hit in, and slowly and steadily we all queue up to give our lunch to Narendera Bhaiya, Office’s Man Friday who would reheat the lunch and then serve it on a dinning plate. All my colleagues of the same stature gather around a table, which was nearly always mine (as it was always so neat and clean, free of the heavy files the others had to bear), to share their lunches and to dig into others. This took up nearly an hour of hour time as it included the long wait for the return of the lunch from Narendera Bhaiya. At around 2pm we would all get back to work with full stomachs and an energized body.

The rest of the day passed away with the usual activity revolving around work and with the wait for the clock to strike 6. The atmosphere at this time was always quite relaxed as most of the reports to be sent to the clients had already been sent out by 12, so it was quite normal to find the a decrease in the number of office personnel at this time as most had left for their homes or to prepare for some upcoming PR event. The rest that had decided to stay either sat around gossiping with each other or smoking outside in the ground. The only highlight of the evening was the welcoming sight of Narendera Bhaiya with tray full of his special cardamom tea rejuvenating every soul in the office. 

At 6pm sharp a race amongst the remaining staff members began to finish their work and then head back home. Every other minute a chair could be heard moving backwards and the main door opening and shutting announcing the departure of yet another colleague. By 7pm the office would be nearly empty with only a select few remaining to complete their unfinished work.

I too would head back to my place taking the same route back home. Bringing another day at the office came to an end.

 

 

P.S.: I really cannot finish this article without mentioning the extreme support and help that I received from some of my friends-cum-colleagues there, like Dipanjoy Seal & Nishant for their ever readiness to help, advice and most importantly teach, without them, I can easily say that this internship would have been fruitless for me as all I learnt, I learnt from them; Shivani Ramiah, who apart from cheering up my day with her friendly gestures also taught me the importance of valuing and appraising that what I have even if I personally dislike it; Chiteshwari Anand for being so kind enough & patient to pick and drop me off from the office (thanks to her I was cry goodbye to the disgusting service of 764); Sanjeev Singh for rather than being a boss was always a friend or an elder brother towards me; and last but not the least Neha Singhvi for having gotten me this opportunity. Thank you all for making my first venture in the professional field so personal for me.

Leading the Way - a starting for me!

• Lounge

Leading the way

Why the young adults of your family must vote and how you can encourage them

Seema Chowdhry

The general election this year will see 43 million first-time voters. This means that people who are your son or daughter’s age could have the power to change the way our society and politicians function. We asked four parents to tell us how they are encouraging their young adults to vote and what could help their children make up their minds.

Ballot talk: Anjali (in a red T-shirt) discusses the coming election with her parents Vijaya Kumar and Rina. Hemant Mishra / Mint

Sanjiv Vinayak Nadkarni, father of Sayali

Concentrate on leadership

Every day, my daughter takes the road where the taxi bomb blast happened on 26/11. It was terrifying to know that she could have been hurt and no one did anything to prevent that attack. To live in a better society, to feel more secure and to change things around us, it is important that the younger generation understands why voting is essential. They must learn early to pay attention to their choice of political leadership. The 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai really drove home the point that if you want good governance, you have to be involved in choosing your leaders. The only way the common man can do that is by exercising his right to vote. At home, we often discuss the forthcoming general election and the need to choose the right leadership.

Vijaya Kumar, father of Anjali

Stay informed

We are encouraging our daughter to read the newspapers and take special interest in the upcoming general election. Her job at Janaagraha (a citizen’s group) is keeping her clued in as well. We regularly exchange thoughts and she keeps abreast of all panel discussions on television. To be able to vote means having the power to bring about a positive change that the country will benefit from, and we want our daughter to understand that.

Rakesh Gupta, father of Anchit

Candidate over party

I tell my son that he should cast his vote based on what a candidate is likely to do rather than vote for a political party. My son is very interested and excited about being a first-time voter and is even a part of the Jaago Re movement (a campaign promoting voter awareness). In fact, he is motivating other youngsters in our colony to vote, too. At present, I am helping him get his voter ID card. He had applied for it but the application was lost, so we have re-registered him.

Anita Kumar, mother of Neha and Kunal

Meet those in power

I have two children who will be first-time voters in the general election this year. My husband thinks it is a waste of time, and they should concentrate on their studies, but I am very keen that they go out and vote. Thankfully, their voter ID cards were made last year. As a student, both during college and postgraduation, I was never counselled or encouraged to vote. It is only two elections ago that I have made it a point to start voting. A friend of mine is related to the local MLA and I intend to take my children to meet him too so that they can get first-hand exposure to how people in governance work.

THE DECIDING FACTOR

For me, the candidate will be more important than the political parties. After 26/11 it is very important that Mumbai has a strong chief minister and that is what will help me decide which party to vote for.

Sayali Sanjiv Nadkarni, 21, professional dancer, Mumbai

I believe the only way we can change the way politicians function in this country is when educated, knowledgeable people make an effort to go out and vote. Three things will matter when I decide who to vote for—the past record of the candidate from my constituency, his or her educational qualifications and what plans he or she has to improve infrastructure in our area.

Anchit Gupta, 18, student, New Delhi

I will be looking at the code of conduct of the candidates and also which party they belong to before I make a choice in favour of a political party or a candidate. In today’s context though, you have to take both the political party and its ideology as well the candidate’s track record into account before making a choice.

Anjali V. Kumar, 21, NGO executive, Bangalore

My mother marks out articles related to politics in newspapers and magazines these days and makes my brother and me read them. As of now I am not sure how I will cast my vote. I think what will tip the balance will be the projected prime ministerial candidate of each party.

Neha Kumar, 21, student, New Delhi

---------------------------------

Following is the link to another article that was published recently in INDIAN EXPRESS featuring a photograph clicked of me and my fellow JaagoRe! CTMs (Its published under the title FACE THE ELECTIONS, on the page TALK in the NEWS (p.25), you'll have to do lots of scrolling down to reach it)

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/IE/IEH/2009/04/07/INDEX.SHTML

Transition: From School to College

While traveling in the bus one February afternoon, an outgoing senior of mine told me how lucky I was that I still had four years left in school. Being an eighth grader whose exams were round the corner, I thought he must be crazy saying that.

Four years later, sitting in the same position as him, I suddenly realized how true he was. I suddenly became fond of and wanted to make the best of the remaining days, despite the monotonous exams that were held every second month followed by the unpleasant wait for the results, I was loving my school and every aspect of it – its canteen where we spent half the time, its ground, where we spent the other half, the teachers, my beloved batch mates, and even the school terrace which was our bunk refuge. I knew my new found love was going to be short-lived, with the final exams nearing; there was nothing much I could do to postpone them. Just like one cannot hold sand in one’s hand longer than possible, I too could not stay in school any longer than the fixed. And so I wished my school friends good luck, took my teachers blessings, gave the much awaited, yet dreaded Board exams and bid my school goodbye, ready to step into a whole new world.

ENTER – COLLEGE! Or rather the search for a college.

While I had a break of three months between college and exams, there was not a moment to spare, at least mentally for fun & frolic. Scouting colleges, scanning them and then narrowing them down to a wish list was no easy task. So tiring and time taking was this job that it was hard to stay in touch with friends, this was in contrast to our examination days, when we used to talk everyday if only to discuss the syllabus. Then finally after numerous interviews and counseling sessions the wait finally ended and we were allotted our respective colleges in varied cities and countries. But this only added to our woes and brought out the true shortcoming of school’s termination – the parting of friends. It was painful for all of us, especially for those who were leaving the city. With the promise to stay in touch, we parted our ways and entered our new lives – COLLEGE LIFE!

Try as I might I will not be able to describe to you the events of my first class for I missed it! Anxious to look good, on the first day, I missed my college bus, and reached late for the class. Of all the sixty students, I was the only one who did not attend it. It was not a good start.

The first day, the first week, the first month, they all passed away in trying to acquaint with each other and to digest the fact that we were no more in school. While many events like the orientation or the fresher’s party were organized for us to get familiar with this change, many of us found it difficult to digest the fact that our fourteen years of comfort zone had become history now. Then slowly and steadily we got to know each other, we formed our own gangs and discovered the joys of college. And know, I can proudly say that college is looking to be as good as school, and maybe even better!

P.S.: 1. The last line is a bluff and has been added merely to give the story a good finish and a happy ending. The truth is actually the opposite.
2.Credit for this article also goes to my H.O.D - Dr. C P Singh who has edited this article and made it worthy of publishing.
3.This article was chosen to be published in a leading national magazine running under the brand name - Sahara Time, unfortunately it could not go through the press as I lost touch with the editor of the magazine.