A tale of two Universities - Jadavpur & Lancaster
theres a striking contrast or similarity(choose whatever uwant)
between two universities that i have once been a part of. one is Jadavpur
University(JU) in Kolkata, india for 3 months and Lancaster University(LU), UK
for 2 months.I was registered as a undergraduate engineering student in the
former which I left after 3 months and i had done my summer internship in the
latter during my 3rd year at IIT.And the similarity is, in JU campus you would
always find some boys in their "undies" whereas in LU you would
always find some gals in their "undies".ofcourse its in UK..where yeh
sab to chalta hai..but as the "rituals" of
sunbathing on a lush green ground away from academic
complex.But yaar, in JU, the boys in their shorts and most of the time in
"10,000 BC" way play football on a ground, inscribed in the academic
complex and after their "gladiatoring" they gather at the famous
"jhil-paar" ( a pond like area) to wash themselves and take bath.this
place hapens to be the best hang-out zone for the university students and
mainly for couples for their cozy tryst. But these boys with the football dont
want to miss the chances to catch the attention of the gals. It really happened
many times, though I dont know whether coincidentally or not, groups of gals
are seen to roam about in paricular that place, where our boys are taking bath
in their undies and cotton towels. Its needless to say the boys do everything
they could to give the airs of smart, handsome, well-built guys..passing by are
some gals giggling, whispering into each other's ears and giving furtive
glances at the "gladiator" boys!!..once I saw 2 girls walk up to the
ground to talk to some guys. the guys were in shorts only!!..and the the gals
and the boys were chatting in the same way just on the campus road, circling
the ground facing the academic complex..where all the ppl (other students,
professors, may be ppl from industry ) use the road !!..inside the campus
!!....It really signals a great "bindaas" campus life...it may act as
a good treat to the gals' eyes when they are tired of 3 hrs
"compassing" or "lathe-ing" ..but what about us??..the
guys??...some of us are out there on the ground to play "Jack and
Jill" and entertain the gals (may not be true, with "dew"
respect to the gals; coz I dont " do the dew") with their soccer and
swimming skills, but now its the gals' turn..kuchh kar dikhaneka!!..but they
are studying in india..they cant forget that mann!!.though they forget the
exact number of times they have had break-ups!!!...but for that they have
UPS...uninterrupted power supply!!...The JU bridge!!..jus in front of the arts
faculty.If you enter the campus the scene is pretty conspicuous !!....In LU..1
thing is open !!...u might see couples kissing each other..though not in front
of the academic complex...but its india again!!..our students have kept it
behind the bushes only..(though not absolutely true...its another topic, but
" beyond the purview of this blog")...our gals keep the UPS!!...they
cant join the boys in roaming about the campus in shorts and taking bath in
"undies"!!...but they have to resort to the UPS!!...and here the
power supply is from fag and "ganja" in a secret place on a bridge
over a pond. Obviously few in number!!...but the point is the openness of
indulging in this thing!!..it may be rampant in all the colleges and even the
leading ones!!..but its so close to the classroom..so conspicuous like giving a
damn to our sense of sobreity, humbleness and the respect an academic area
deserves. Now, rupee is fast catching up the dollar,euro..its value is
appreciating, but what is our campus-culture catching up??....