Circa 2008
IIT Kharagpur
“… Of TIME you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.
…Yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
...…. And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.”
---KHALIL GIBRAN
Sometimes it takes a lifetime for a minute to pass (IEMians know better),sometimes a whole lifetime passes in a matter of minutes (only a fortunate few should know). To reproduce properly that empyreal experience yours truly dons a bird’s eye, and sitting atop the convex gleam of the sky (Shelley anyone?) gains access to the minds of three IEMians, one a poet, another super-intelligent, and the other an innocent, quixotic child of a man. If you endure the entire ordeal you might put these traits to names,but for now, their names in no particular order are, Dwip Sengupta, Debrup Ganguly, and Abhishek Dutta .
JUMP CUT:
VIKRAMSILA FOYER
ROBO RELAY,2ND ROUND:
“Oh God ,please..please keep it glued..”-murmuredt Abhishek while Dwip stared fixedly at the bot ,confident that the sensors could not go wrong this time.This was the 3rd and Final restart and he had been warned in the 2nd for uttering what is chaste French to the sane, expletives to some. Debrup soaked in the palpable vibes-a whole gamut of emotions openly swarmed in the arena;greed, anger, hatred ,joy ,relief-they were all there, as if there were faces no more ,pure human emotions to the fore, and the progressive tightening of three clasped hands perhaps provided a curious trimpot to their emotion sensors. 32 adrenaline soaked seconds later bliss took on as the hands were replaced with hugs, and the loudspeaker blared the latest entrant into the finals of ROBOTIX 2008, TEAM BMN.
IIT Kharagpur
“… Of TIME you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.
…Yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
...…. And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.”
---KHALIL GIBRAN
Sometimes it takes a lifetime for a minute to pass (IEMians know better),sometimes a whole lifetime passes in a matter of minutes (only a fortunate few should know). To reproduce properly that empyreal experience yours truly dons a bird’s eye, and sitting atop the convex gleam of the sky (Shelley anyone?) gains access to the minds of three IEMians, one a poet, another super-intelligent, and the other an innocent, quixotic child of a man. If you endure the entire ordeal you might put these traits to names,but for now, their names in no particular order are, Dwip Sengupta, Debrup Ganguly, and Abhishek Dutta .
JUMP CUT:
VIKRAMSILA FOYER
ROBO RELAY,2ND ROUND:
“Oh God ,please..please keep it glued..”-murmuredt Abhishek while Dwip stared fixedly at the bot ,confident that the sensors could not go wrong this time.This was the 3rd and Final restart and he had been warned in the 2nd for uttering what is chaste French to the sane, expletives to some. Debrup soaked in the palpable vibes-a whole gamut of emotions openly swarmed in the arena;greed, anger, hatred ,joy ,relief-they were all there, as if there were faces no more ,pure human emotions to the fore, and the progressive tightening of three clasped hands perhaps provided a curious trimpot to their emotion sensors. 32 adrenaline soaked seconds later bliss took on as the hands were replaced with hugs, and the loudspeaker blared the latest entrant into the finals of ROBOTIX 2008, TEAM BMN.
“Its only half-done” ,declared Dwip ,carrying the bots with motherly care. The pleasant spring breeze(the ISHA breeze,as per Debrup) caressed their delights, on the way back to hostel. Abhishek was still busy exchanging ‘pleasantries’ with people who had previously sneered at their naiveté. Naïve they were,and their mechanism was simply ludicrous. But they had the moody mistress called luck by their side,for reasons best explained in THE ALCHEMIST. They had wanted it with all their heart ( they’ve always shared a single heart and they know ‘noun numbers’) and to their astonishment the universe did conspire to help them achieve.(Thank You Mr Coelho, both from me and on behalf of Farah Khan!)
“ ...We reached the dizzying heights of that dreamt of world”
---PINK FLOYD
Theirs is an adolescence grown on DIL CHAHTA HAI. More precisely, that opening note and the 3 bikes have always been their vision of freedom,of joy and camaraderie. That image was replaced forever with the sights of the lush lonely but filled lawns, the entwining complex of roads, the queued toilets, the constant buzz of activity and the taste of the DREAMLAND RESTAURANT.
Dreams prove deceptive when realized , dreams do not appear like dreams in the process of realization .
The biting February Kharagpur Station was far from the warm kolkata spring, the auto ride to IIT-K (and the fare) was not the shortest, and the first view of the place was overwhelming in an uneasy way. This place hosted a failed dream, gallons of midnight oil,sweat and the hefty sum paid to FIITJEE-its surely not that dream, just a 3 day stay. Or so they thought.
2 comments:
I Couldnt have ever thought of a better way 2 patronize and coronate a teacher.Well done on the card.
This one was another glimpse of your brilliance.Congrats on the achievement!!!!!!!!!But I thought Dwip said the job was only half done.What about the remainder???????
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