The monsoon had finally arrived in Jaipur to give the citizens respite from a long grueling summer. Unfortunately, my season of despair was far from over.
I hopped on the metro at civil lines and settled into a seat at the end of the coach. I then took out earphones from the bag and plugged them into my ear. I didn’t turn on the music but closed my eyes and sat with my arms folded over my chest. This was my daily routine after getting into the metro and all of it was a part of a ruse. A lot of students from my college used to board the metro from the next two stations and this was the best way to avoid any sort of conversation with them. Very rarely someone used to move further away from the doors as the journey would finish within 12-14 minutes. Even if someone would have recognized me from the college, closed eyes and a pair of earphones stuck in my ears would have dissuaded them.
I had been doing this for the last 10 days but now I was getting tired of it. It began to dawn on me that JEC College is the place where I will graduate and there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it. That day is still fresh in my memory when my father’s first sentence after returning from the office confused and startled me at the same time.
“Arrange all your documents. We’re going to JEC tomorrow to complete the admission formalities”
“What?” This was a bolt out of blue for me “JEC … I don’t understand Dad”
My mother and sister were equally surprised by this sudden announcement by Dad.
“First get me a glass of water. It’s still so hot outside”
Usually, I ignore such requests and divert them to my sister even if they are directly made to me. This time I swiftly went into the kitchen and emerged with a glass of water just a few moments later. Ignoring the amusement on my sister’s face, I kept the glass on the table in front of my father. Once he had gulped the whole glass of water, I reiterated my question.
“I had to keep a lot of my desk work pending due to this mess created by you. Even ‘Saab’ (my father’s boss) got a bit irritated today as I was not able to complete the work on an important file” Now my father had started testing my patience. Even my mother had felt the same. So she asked my father to come to the point straightaway.
“I called up Bhalla Sahab today after reaching office. I couldn’t think of anyone else who could guide me”
Bhalla Sahab was an old neighbour of ours when we lived in Malviya Nagar. All 3 of his sons had done engineering from Jaipur only and he had keenly involved himself in the process of selecting the right colleges as well as stream. It was a prudent decision by my father to consult him.
“After listening to me, he told me that the decision of dropping the year should be taken only if I was fully convinced that Anshu will be able to get a good national level college next year. If not, dropping a year will be a mistake. Seeing how things had unfolded leading to the exam this year, I decided against dropping …”
“Dad” I couldn’t stop myself from interrupting him “The same thing is not going to happen next year. I am serious, I …….”
My father raised his hand and I had to stop abruptly. He then continued.
“Bhalla Sahab then gave me very significant information about JEC which I didn’t know. This college is being promoted by the son of Vinod Kumar”
My mother and sister didn’t get it in one go but I now understood the reason why my father had a sudden change of heart.
Vinod Kumar Group or VK group was a business group based out Jaipur which had been running some of the most successful private colleges in Rajasthan. In fact, out of the top 10 private colleges in Rajasthan, 3 belonged to this group. But it still didn’t make any sense. My sister shared the same sentiment.
“But Dad, it’s a new college. Even if it is being set up by the VK group, is it a wise decision to take a chance on a new college?”
“Yes,” I added “The other two colleges by them were established more than a decade ago when there were hardly any private engineering colleges in Jaipur. That’s not the situation anymore. How can you bet on the success of this college?”
“It is still better than betting on dropping a year” my father snapped “Bhalla Sahab told me that even though infrastructure development will take some more time, JEC is trying to get the best faculties around. Moreover, the second counseling is still there. So it is not all doom and gloom for you. We will go to JEC tomorrow and see the things ourselves."
The metro had arrived at the last station. I neatly tucked the earphones inside my bag and after confirming that the other students of my college had already left, I got down from the metro. Now I had to hire an auto which would take another 10-12 minutes before I could reach the place where I was destined to waste the best days of my adolescent life.
To be continued ...
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
