It was a long wait for the 1400 English class at 16- a little confusing nah! But the students and teachers here had grown up a habit of using such codes; outsiders and freshers takes a little time to get suited. Actually this is the notation how our classes’ time and halls are awarded in the routine. 0840, 0920, 1000, 1040, 1120 and so on which means 08.40am, 09.20am, 10.00am, 10.40am, 11.20am etc. Our General English class was determined to be taken, that day, in the hall number 16 which is more like a gallery with steps.
The class was to be taken by Mayuri Mam. I had to wait for about 2 hours to attend the class. My major class ended at 12 noon and then followed the long wait. My friends from Science had their practicals and so they remained busy. I had nothing to do- no practicals. I was searching for a nice place to sit. The Media Centre was closed- the operator, Porag’da had went for lunch. I looked at the Canopy- it was occupied already, no seat there. The Boys' Common Room remained locked- an injustice to the boys. At last I found an empty classroom. I opened my bag took out my tiffin box which my mother had put there forcibly in the morning. I then took out a magazine and started reading it. The time in the mobile phone now seemed to take a faster pace.
After sometime I heard somebody calling me. It was Deep, my new friend. Behind him was Lohit. Lohit had finished his Physics Practical and came looking for me; we go home together. Both entered the room and came near me. “Bolaa, Duita Baajilei Dekhun, Claasot Bohuge”- said Deep. (Let’s go, its about 2pm, let’s sit in the classroom). Lohit said- “Aami Ki Kori?? Eklaa-Eklaa Kothay Ghuri, Bolto??” (What should I do? Where should I roam alone?). I told Lohit to attend the English class with me; after all he is also having the same English paper. He refused at first but then agreed.
We all headed towards the gallery. The bell rang. The students who were having their class there started coming out. Everybody tried to enter the class at the same time. This rush brought to my feeling the situation I had to face to place my foot on the board of the Jorhat Passenger. We went and occupied the second bench of the third row. Lohit suggested that we should sit a little backwards so that we don’t come in sight of the teacher but soon dropped the idea saying that the teacher would never recognize him within the 150 odd faces.
Soon unexpectedly, Rana Kr. Changmai, the HoD English entered the room. Everybody shuffled to their own seats. We all were expecting Mayuri Mam- the sudden entering of Sir made Lohit uncomfortable.
Sir changes his behavior with his classes- his behavior with students of Arts is completely different from the way he behaves with the students of Science. He assumes the Science students to be far more hard working from those of Arts and thus behaves with them very sweetly. The case with Arts is completely different- he feels that students of Arts enjoy the college life more and hence he keeps on pulling strings.
That day was no exception. Sir came and asked what Mayuri Mam had taught us in the earlier classes. A buzz followed- the teacher is familiar with such replies. Sir pointed at me and asked the same question again. I replied that Mam was teaching us ‘Precis Writing’. Sir corrected my pronunciation and suggested to pronounce it as ‘Preci^ Writing’. I sat down on my bench. Sir, then asked a girl to stand up and say what she meant by Precis Writing. She too gave the correct answer and sat down. “Precis writing means to summarize a given piece of writing.” Sir gave a more vivid description on the topic.
Our classes are of 40 minutes. It usually takes 5 minutes for the students to get out of one hall and to get into another. The teachers usually take another 5 minutes to arrive leaving 30 minutes of reading time. Now, included in this reading time are Attendance-registering, Topic introduction etc. So to be true a teacher gets about only 15-20 minutes to teach. In this 15-20 minutes’ time the teacher has to keep in mind his rush of completion of the syllabus.
I could see that most teachers neglect the duty of Attendance-registering when it is to be done in a class of about 200 students. This is clearly visible from Sir’s face. He picked up the register a number of times and then moved on to another topic dropping the register back to the table. At last the time came when he was completely determined to take the attendance. He started it- simultaneously my friend turned uneasy for the fear of being discovered by sir. But nothing bad happened. By the time my turn of giving attendance came the bell had already rung. Sir hurried away after giving us a paragraph to summarize.. to write the Precis.. errr.. Preci^.. remember, the ‘S’ is silent...
Till someday before there was only one thing disappearing with the setting of the sun- the power supply of the ASEB. Now there are more to provide company- the BSNL network and the power voltage.
In a 100 m of overhead wire one may find at least three joints anywhere in Asom. Each month one of these would snap and then follows a full day of ‘no electricity’. After that one may go on dropping applications in the complaint box, dialing the number of the control room (which will often go on ringing without response)- No help, No power!
Now-a-days, costly digital meter-boxes are installed in most households, service tax of the department has also been increased, still the situation is same, no development in the basic need- production of electricity. The pace of production doesn’t increase at the same rate of the number of new connections provided each day- No regular development!
A common story of the newspapers of Asom is that students don’t get to study under electric lamps, even before the exams. I would add by saying that they don’t even get the kerosene required for the lanterns! In a state where at an average area of each 100 sq. kms. one can dig up oil, the administration fails to provide kerosene for its brilliant students, what a joke! No support in education!
There is more to add; a student in Asom may also have to sleep with an empty stomach- no gas cylinder at home. This is a story of the same state where unused natural gas is burnt at Gaurisagar, Rudrasagar, Sivsagar, Tengakhat every year; but no fuel to cook a hand-full of rice, no kerosene to light a lamp in a place where there is no electric-connection and also where there is! Yesterday, PET’s NewsLive revealed a story ‘Black market of Blue kerosene’. Kerosene which are provided to be supplied in the rural areas of the state are sold at Rs. 40 / litre against the original cost of Rs. 13 / litre, how sad! No fuel!
हिन्दुस्तान बोल रहा है..India is speaking.. But what about the disturbances in speaking. A person with a BSNL connection in Asom is familiar with all sorts of error messages that his cell phone can pop-up. Thanks to BSNL, one may easily see such a message while having an important discussion over the phone. ‘Out of Coverage’, ‘No network connection’, ‘Error in Connection’, etc or just a ‘!’ sign- inserted a BSNL SIM and one can be much sure to find one like that. No network!
The main fact is that we don’t even have the time. No time for studying, no time for completing the day’s works, no time for carrying out official works, কাইলৈ আহক, আজি একেবাৰে সময নাই , no time to go to the bank. Finally, no time for dying also. Still atleast we have time for going round and round around the college, time for going on haha-hihi, hi-bye on road sides, time for stunts on the bike, time for tick-tuck-tick-tock in the cell phone, time for forming unions and call Asom bandhs, Tinsukia bandh and also for making way through the highways in hundreds and ‘Ei jui jolise..’, ‘Tarun Gogoi Murdaabaad.. Jindaabaad..’ No time, but a bit!
At a time when all the roads in big cities of the country gets a ‘day in night’ experience, we are deprived of it. We have to sit in homes in a plunge of darkness for hours. No technology!
If we don’t have good marks and money, even the government colleges have no seats for you. No seats!
Oh, we have something- pride of the dying tea industry, illegal refugees or IBM (Illegal Bangladeshi Migrants)- a name preffered by most of my friends, now-and-then called bandhs, study-void-students and lots more. I think it will not matter much even if we don’t have these, but we have and will stay forever! Yo, we have something!
It’s 2010, my friend. We are so buzy. We have no time, nothing to support ourselves.
Only that we have the oil resources and the Asom tea- we can rest in peace. Oops sorry, সুজলা-সুফলা আমাৰ সকলোৰে মৰমৰ অসমভূমিত শান্তিও যে নাই!No peace!
-Shubhadeep Paul-
(The idea of this content has been taken from the book, ‘আড্ডাৰ সোণালী সপোন‘)
Clarification:Even if Asom doesn't have the facilities to bring ease to life, it is the best place to live for me.
ব্যাখ্যাকরণঃ যদিও অসমে সহজ জীবন যাপনের সুবিধা কম, তবুও আমার কাছে এটাই সবচেযে ভালো জাযগা
English Concentration Student at Tinsukia College, Tinsukia, Asom.
The choices that we made years ago has a lot to do with our 'TODAY' and so we must take our choices carefully today to live a happy 'TOMMOROW'.
"...I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
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