On two consecutive days there was news-making in the Campus. The Principal was seen scurrying around with an angry frown in a pushing manner when on other days he is sober and peaceful. Two burly policemen and a couple of lady constables around him gave more importance than you would otherwise associate with a rampant Principal inspecting the college. In ten minutes, another class-less day had become significant to the gossiper’s mouth. The scattered crowds had gathered together like vultures on a piece of meat and the subject of derision had only to face more shame. Endless tales had suddenly been born and the original story buttressed with spices to ten different versions in no time.
A senior was caught smoking behind the cafeteria the first day. It was a clear coincidence, some of us knew for some time how much fun they had pulling smoke behind the Canteen. But that you could be caught too had not appeared as a risk. There is great fun in making mockery of the system; proving efforts at making DU a smoke-free zone meaningless has been consistent. Now the officials proved they really meant what they professed. Mayhem had followed immediately. The policemen led him outside, much to his own embarrassment and to the dilution of the college’s good name. Next day there was a notice put up on the board. “Mr. So-and-so has been restricted from entering the College ground till further notice. His brother has been informed about his misbehavior”.
It is not one of unusual incidences. Amongst the little number of people that I know in DU, a good proportion of them are smokers. And girls are no exception in this puffing race too. One of my friends in Satya Niketan told me the other day of a pretty girl she found in a corner of the locality, “She looked lovely as an angel in her elegant composure and beautiful face. Then she turned around her hand to smoke on her red lit tobacco”………. “And she broke my heart”, she said with a sad look.
What is it that leads you to this menace? Plain curiosity? Mere acting silly develops into habit and later into addiction. And I have also heard of smoking increasing your concentration power and helping you stay trim. Isn’t that a loser’s way of saying it is too sunny for water and therefore you needing an energy-boost? In trying to be a sport, and the self-determined assumption of being adventurous that goes along with it; the curse may follow you for a lifetime.There is nothing more disdaining than campaigning for cheap popularity. Sometimes, I tell off a smoker classmate with such harshness; the avoidance seems uncompassionate by human standards. But he has got the hint now, I am not invited anymore.
Booze is still considerably ok, because you can see the bottle draining in front of you and you can tell yourself to stop, unlike a smoke which would appear small but harm you in greater magnitudes. I am not here to stick up for Booze though.
The next day again, someone from another college had smuggled his way inside Motilal. He had a feud to settle with a boy who he felt stole his girlfriend. The gatekeeper had been alerted somehow when the love-strucks dueled each other near the cafeteria. The Principal had found his way again in time, accompanied by policemen. We were sitting on the front lawn that day, class-less as ever. It seemed all funny to us; how love-blind can you be? That is another reason why we pride in being singles: no jealousy, no competition, no extravagant spending, no insecurity and most importantly no crazy shootouts.
The boy had given a chase it seemed, the police were all over the place. The boy was crying when he was led out. The Principal had supposedly slapped him hard. Someone in the crowd said,”Rula diya bechare ko”.
Funny, this love!!!
by Tonmoy Barua
Image Courtesy: Google
by Tonmoy Barua
Image Courtesy: Google
KNOW YOUR FRIEND FROM DU
After completing his schooling from MVM, Guwahati, Tonmoy Barua spent the five most glorious and beautiful years of his life at the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun. Being a war enthusiast he had an ardent desire to join the defence forces, but before he could gather the technical skills of war and strategy his keenness to serve the nation and don the star-studded uniform came to a halt when he was rejected on medical grounds. But as life goes on, he is now pursuing B.A. (Hons) Political Science from Moti Lal Nehru College, New Delhi and yearns to serve the country on different fronts.
