#1
This is my first blog. I don't have any experience as a writer. I am open to any comments from people reading this blog. Criticism and suggestions will be much appreciated.
The one and a half hour - journey back from my college had just started. The traffic was on an unusual high that day. Hot and humid with the summer just starting to set in, inside the bus sat forty odd people waiting for the traffic to clear. I sat at my usual place in the sixth row with my leg folded against the seat in front of me. 'The guy with the curly hair' was sitting next to me sleepy. Reacting to a text he had just received, he shouted "Machan one week leave da!" It was sudden joy. None of us could take it in immediately. My college works under any situation. But what had happened? What had caused my college to close down for a week? As most of us pondered over these questions, we heard that all colleges in the state had been ordered to shut down as part of the Tamil Eelam protests.
Students had begun protesting. We pass by atleast 10 colleges on our way back in the OMR. Students sat at the entrance of a famous college which we pass by protesting. They had posters and placards. It was like it was already planned. That sight made me wonder if the students were really into such political situations. Were they?
The joy of knowing that the next few days were off was special. I celebrated that night with a long drive in OMR . And no there weren't any student protesters at that time. I planned to use the week off productively. I knew the next few weeks were going to be hectic. But as things turned out, neither did I use the week productively nor did the colleges re-open the following week.
Next Monday it was, as I woke up I saw infront of me yet another week off. "I just have to spend this week productively." I said to myself. Not caring to brush, I spoke to my parents about In-plant Training programmes and how I wanted to do something different. This wasn't new to them. They were familiar with this side of me which wanted to do something different once in a while. It was just a morning talk. None of us bothered to talk about it later. But I had serious plans. I wanted to study, it had been quite a while since I did. So did I open my book right after lunch. Some things never fail to happen. I never fail to fall asleep on my book after lunch. After waking up two hours later I ended up reading articles like "How to stay awake after lunch".
Social networking, texting, reading confession pages were part of daily life now.
Friends from other colleges in the state had come to the city. It was time to meet up, game and have some fun! And that is exactly what we did. But as the week drew to a close, I was left wondering with the same question. Why did we have so many days off? Were the students really involved in this? I had read only 10% of the students protested. I inquired how it would be if the rest protested for the colleges to re-open. I kept this revolutionary idea to myself. I had gotten into the habit of lazing around quite nicely and I didn't want to give up on that.
Mid week it was. News channels had gotten into the act questioning the reason for colleges to remain closed. "Students on an indefinite holiday streak", "Colleges remain shut" were the phrases of the hour. For us students at this point in time, it was joy combined with anxiety for by then all of us knew tough days were ahead as soon as the colleges re-opened. My college authorities were as clueless as its students were. None knew what was going on. Results were out all of a sudden. I got grades that I didn't expect. (No, in a bad way)
There were posts on social networking sites now that said students were solicitously waiting for colleges to re-open. I honestly wasn't. I liked the situation I was in all through.
But the fact that a small group of people could manipulate big decisions was a thing to worry about. As my father told me, the truth is out of the 10% that took to the streets to protest a very small percentage knew what they were actually doing. For the rest it was just fun. It isn't such a major thing here after all to shut down more than 500 colleges in the state. The decision by the government was probably an act of over-cautiousness.
Finally colleges are set to re-open. I am no way waiting for it to open but I know I should be. 11 working days aren't easy to compensate at the college level. All weekends henceforth in the current semester are going to be working weekends. Am I worrying about the tough days ahead? Actually no. I have a 'totally worth it' feeling inside me now and hope I don't mind sweating it out over the next few weeks.
This is my first blog. I don't have any experience as a writer. I am open to any comments from people reading this blog. Criticism and suggestions will be much appreciated.
The one and a half hour - journey back from my college had just started. The traffic was on an unusual high that day. Hot and humid with the summer just starting to set in, inside the bus sat forty odd people waiting for the traffic to clear. I sat at my usual place in the sixth row with my leg folded against the seat in front of me. 'The guy with the curly hair' was sitting next to me sleepy. Reacting to a text he had just received, he shouted "Machan one week leave da!" It was sudden joy. None of us could take it in immediately. My college works under any situation. But what had happened? What had caused my college to close down for a week? As most of us pondered over these questions, we heard that all colleges in the state had been ordered to shut down as part of the Tamil Eelam protests.
Students had begun protesting. We pass by atleast 10 colleges on our way back in the OMR. Students sat at the entrance of a famous college which we pass by protesting. They had posters and placards. It was like it was already planned. That sight made me wonder if the students were really into such political situations. Were they?
The joy of knowing that the next few days were off was special. I celebrated that night with a long drive in OMR . And no there weren't any student protesters at that time. I planned to use the week off productively. I knew the next few weeks were going to be hectic. But as things turned out, neither did I use the week productively nor did the colleges re-open the following week.
Next Monday it was, as I woke up I saw infront of me yet another week off. "I just have to spend this week productively." I said to myself. Not caring to brush, I spoke to my parents about In-plant Training programmes and how I wanted to do something different. This wasn't new to them. They were familiar with this side of me which wanted to do something different once in a while. It was just a morning talk. None of us bothered to talk about it later. But I had serious plans. I wanted to study, it had been quite a while since I did. So did I open my book right after lunch. Some things never fail to happen. I never fail to fall asleep on my book after lunch. After waking up two hours later I ended up reading articles like "How to stay awake after lunch".
Social networking, texting, reading confession pages were part of daily life now.
Friends from other colleges in the state had come to the city. It was time to meet up, game and have some fun! And that is exactly what we did. But as the week drew to a close, I was left wondering with the same question. Why did we have so many days off? Were the students really involved in this? I had read only 10% of the students protested. I inquired how it would be if the rest protested for the colleges to re-open. I kept this revolutionary idea to myself. I had gotten into the habit of lazing around quite nicely and I didn't want to give up on that.
Mid week it was. News channels had gotten into the act questioning the reason for colleges to remain closed. "Students on an indefinite holiday streak", "Colleges remain shut" were the phrases of the hour. For us students at this point in time, it was joy combined with anxiety for by then all of us knew tough days were ahead as soon as the colleges re-opened. My college authorities were as clueless as its students were. None knew what was going on. Results were out all of a sudden. I got grades that I didn't expect. (No, in a bad way)
There were posts on social networking sites now that said students were solicitously waiting for colleges to re-open. I honestly wasn't. I liked the situation I was in all through.
But the fact that a small group of people could manipulate big decisions was a thing to worry about. As my father told me, the truth is out of the 10% that took to the streets to protest a very small percentage knew what they were actually doing. For the rest it was just fun. It isn't such a major thing here after all to shut down more than 500 colleges in the state. The decision by the government was probably an act of over-cautiousness.
Finally colleges are set to re-open. I am no way waiting for it to open but I know I should be. 11 working days aren't easy to compensate at the college level. All weekends henceforth in the current semester are going to be working weekends. Am I worrying about the tough days ahead? Actually no. I have a 'totally worth it' feeling inside me now and hope I don't mind sweating it out over the next few weeks.
Exactly the same feeling which was running through all the people's minds! We sure have tough days ahead! Well put :)
ReplyDelete- Arun Agoram