It was 11th May 2015 and I was sitting on an airplane
traveling to Kolkata to meet Somenath’s family. Memories of the past 20 years
came rushing to my mind like a giant waterfall the realization that life is a
one way traffic got me thinking. Somenath was one of my closest friends and has
now left us forever on the 9th. Kolkata, I knew will never be the same place
again. I argued with myself “wouldn’t it be a great way to remember a friend by
sharing some of those golden moments with rest of the world.” The opportunity to re-live those moments once
again got me tempted to this narration. I knew the word processor would help me
bring back incidents from deep inside my memory lanes.
Our college experience would have been half as interesting
had it not for Somenath. With him around there were hardly a dull moment and
fortunately for us, he was always around. No matter how grave the situation
was, it was never serious enough to be serious. For those who do not know, he
was perhaps one of the most enterprising entrepreneur that our alma mater has
ever seen. But he has paid a stiff price for this phenomenal success.
We joined hostel 16 of B. E. College, Shibpur, young,
vulnerable and most of us coming out of our home for the very first time. We
needed hands to hold. We also wanted to break out of the stereotype of
departmental friendship and formed a group with enough diversity to set an
example. Ten close friends settled in adjacent rooms in one of the wing.
What we did made little sense and at times those were so
blatantly stupid that we could have given the three stooges a run for their
money. As time passed, likeminded students from new batches got indoctrinated
and the tribe increased and our legacy continued even after we left. To put it
in an expression of Majrooh sultanpuri ….
“Hum akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil; magar log sath aate
gae aur karwan banta gaya... “
Colleges and hostels, all around the world, have been
fertile grounds for lifelong friendship. So many friends tied in a single
string like us probably is not as common. They say university builds our wings
so that someday we can fly away and live independently. We were became the
birds of same feather who continued to flock together even since. Staring out
at the clouds outside the window, I promised that even death would not do us
apart.
Our time together
Political parties during those days played a significant
role in the campus and often ended in dangerous confrontation. We did not shy
away from openly expressing our political affiliation or participating in
political activities. But politics never came between our friendships. Three
amongst our ten close friends fiercely fought the college elections
representing the two most dominating political parties of our time, CP
(Congress) and SFI (Left Front). This
could easily have qualified as one of the seven wonders of BE College.
Creativity may come in many forms and shades but Nicknames
has its own place in the history. I have not seen another maestro like
Somenath, with such versatility when it came to assigning creative names that
instantly caught up with the general public.
Madness in boy’s
hostel is not a myth and I got the first taste of it quite early in my first
year. A senior student was nicknamed khyapa for his eccentricity and he carefully
cultured it as if to live up to his reputation. One night after dinner, we got
called up to participate in a daring mission impossible…. so to say. We were
excited and proud to be considered worthy of being part of that yet to be
disclosed mission. Later that night he led us to a crazy mission to fox with
mosquito nets. To the amusement of anyone who was still awake at that late
hours, we ended up roaming the campus holding the four corners of mosquito nets
desperately looking for a fox to trap. We were constantly encouraged by
repeatedly swearing and description successful past missions. But over the
years, we realized that those jackals whom we heard growling from our rooms
never came anywhere near the students, leave alone getting wrapped in a mosquito
net.
A year later, another such late night mission to steal
sugarcane ended up in switching off the main power of other hostels and getting
into unnecessary troubles.
Our campus was engulfed with thick smoke one night and we
panicked remembering Bhopal gas leak. One of the professors advised us to run
to the botanical gardens as it was an open area with plenty of trees. While
that decision was questionable during that night, we proceeded in that
direction. We ran out of the campus in our pajamas and bathroom slippers eager
to save our precious lives.
Soon we were joined by a couple of batch mates wearing
trousers with shirts tucked, shoes and the whole nine yards. They cleared our
astonishment stating that it was not about being stylish. There was a fair
chance that the girls from the ladies hostels were also going to join us too
and a few more minutes to dress up properly was a risk worth taking.
Golden Heart:
We all were compassionate to others but he was special. Not
because he was one of my roommate and the closest friend but because he was a
person with a golden heart. He was always there to help others and everyone
used to love him for that. During the time when we used to count our pennies to
manage our finances, he used to pick up the canteen bills of hostel mates
coming from difficult background spending money he used to earn providing
private tuitions to school students.
RIP Somenath, we shall always miss you!
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| 08 August 2017 |
