Days at the Engineering University
The university I was to attend for a good number of years looked towering, exhibiting its red and white painted bricks. The space was kind of small with a garrage at the front and as it was a bloomimg one, it stayed that way for a good number of years when it was high time to shift to a wider campus. And it actually did so in reality. The initial campus was also flanked by green trees, and our class was on the top most floor accomodating around 50 students. As years went by, this number reduced due to dropouts or failing students who had to get readmission in the same year and semester and therefore, fell behind. Our class was hugely spaced and there were both blackboards and white boards. It was upto the teachers to choose the one they preferred for teaching.
Day 1 I was at the university, I was busy spotting out who were going to be my ideal special classmates I am to spend through out the years. One girl (Shapla) first started talking to me and I knew that she was one of those I was looking for. Our class was divided into sections of about 25 students who attended labs at separate times. Well, there was a bunch of us talking at the canteen, and Shapla said it was time for her to attend a lab and that I wasn’t in her section. So all those who were in the other group stayed behind and I had the opportunity to look at a smaller group of girls. Of course, it was a co-educational university but in our time then, girls liked to form groups and stay together. Of course there were other rare girls who liked talking and working with boys. But myself being raised in a family of three sisters (and also a little brother), I felt comfortable and being myself surrounded with girls. So I was in the smaller group and there, I immediately pointed out my other best friends. What I saw in a best friend was not only goodness but special skills and talents that would be complementary with me and we can help each other all through our journey through out the years at the university and beyond.
I am not embarrassed to say that I was very ambitious and my entire target was to be at the top of the class. For this I figured out that I needed to keep my classmates happy and let me happily work my way upwards in the class. So whenever there were class assignments in any course, I helped my classmates all through with solutions whichever were within my capacity. Others were truly inspired and they also volunteered to provide solutions for the next round of assignments. It was a happy and smooth go through.
During my first semester at the university, I worked really hard and God blessed me with good grades. The second semester was also a good go-through. As I waded through the semesters, I made constantly good results, and it was Shirin who pointed out to me that the gals and guys in our class were truly inspired by my performance and I instilled the eagerness among them to outdo as well. Their first semester was not so good; so, that had great consequences on their final GPA but on the other hand I held a prestigious GPA, and I was immensely happy because in reality all along I was not competing with others but only with myself. But I was glad indeed I had motivated my classmates to perform well too academically.
My friendship with Shompa and Shirin grew when we were in lab groups working on electronic circuitry or programming. We waded through our years helping each other. While Shompa was good at building electronic circuitry and digital logic design experiments, I was good at programming and documentation. So we complemented eachother beautifully as a group. Sometimes I even stayed at their homes overnights to complete or work through group assignments and this activity became more dominant when Shompa and I were working on our thesis in the final year on microprocessor-based smart UPS system. While my friendship with Shapla blossomed to greater extents through the fun activities she came up with and when I joined these.
I am joyous to assert that we were the first batch in the university in Computer Science and Engineering department and soon, a second batch had taken space in the university in every department after one year had elapsed. So the first batch in our department brought out their creativities in them and held a reception function for the newcomers. Guys and gals from our batch presented the occasion, cut jokes, sang on the guitar and played games with the newcomers and gave them newbie crests and gifts. We also rounded up the occasion by distributing cake, snacks and gifts. Of course, for this event to occur we had contributed a small share financially. And it ended up so well!! Soon the second batch was welcoming the third btach and the process crawled on till date.
While during this time I was always into books and studying, Shompa found an outlet and opportunity for romance. She started becoming friendlier and friendlier with her top floor’s tenant’s son. I remember the day she made it all known to us that she had a boyfriend simply by delivering chocolates over our laps. The whisper from one to another became a well-known fact. We all congratulated her. Soon she was tracked walking and spending times with her boyfriend in several parts of the city. I can say she chose her perfect soulmate.
While Shompa already found her partner, Shirin and Shapla were still dreaming. I think Shapla was more romantic because when we had to go on windy days to the university, I remember Shapla saying one of those days, “On a windy day like today, I simply feel like getting married!”. And we all had bursted out into contagious laughter.