WHY THE HELL AM I DOING AN MBA ? ( PART 3) The story of a poet who never gave up and………… perhaps that was his problem.

It rained in the evening on August 3 , the election day . I had great trouble returning home . Next day , Tuesday was bright and sunny , but the troubles persisted . I found out that our classrooms had been shifted to the third floor , room no. 303 . Not only was the room one fourth the size of the last one, but it had several other problems . It had no switch boards for laptops , the fans did not seem to move , the projector was not functioning properly . Moreover the room had been new painted and the smell was prominently felt by all of us . Since we were students of Kolkata , our first reaction was ….. Revolt , some friends also pondered over a fast unto death . “ What the hell are we paying 4. 5 lakhs for? “ we asked . The Institute director assured us that our concerns would be looked at . Our head of the Department told us that airconditioners were not good for health and that the throat gets seriously affected . I looked around the class for a seat . I located Prapti’s bag on a chair and placed mine next to her’s . Aritri Banerjee , who was sitting behind me asked me , “Pranay you are the events coordinator , do something .” She had to be joking . I was here to organize events not allocate classrooms . . As the classes continued we soon found out that the place was an oven . The only advantage this room offered was that during some of the more boring classes Wrik Banerjee and his friends from his side , Sreekanta Dash and company , me from our side , would start to act like crazy and the teachers would eventually give us a break .


As days passed ,some of the classes continued to be boring , specially the Management Processes and Principles , and the Management skills and Ethos classes. The next week on Monday , when I entered the classroom , I found Prapti and company had changed their seats and migrated to the other side . I don’t know why , but I was dead adamant that I would not change my place . Hence I found a new set of people sitting infront and beside me . The people alongside me no longer sit there, thanks to my regular absence due to the events team job , but the people sitting infront of me are still sitting steady . Let me introduce them to you , Priyanka , Prantika Bandopadhyay , Tanushree Bhagat and Shubhadeep Majumder. The first thing that intrigued me about the first three was that they drew rats on each other’s notebooks . I thought it was some sort of feminine code that they had developed ( only this Friday was I able to break the code). I remember how Aabir and me would crack jokes during the classes and would always find them uninterested , something that made us doubt the standard of our jokes .

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This is what Priyanka has to say about the changing seats and life with Pranay Tiwari at their back ..
PRIYANKA says
“To begin with, your coincident existence behind our backs was not welcomed at all. You might not feel good after reading this but, this was the truth. To be candid, you were the last creature we wanted in our vicinity, the reason being, we had our own ways of interaction (scribbling encrypted gossips on the last page of our notebooks that you always tried to peep into, drawing symbolic mouse which is supposed be our lucky mascot :P. .and many more). You were a threat to our peaceful existence. Don't know how on earth you managed to hear everything that we conversed that made us even more uncomfortable leaving us with a feeling of " Areeee yarr. .koi isko leke jao re". There were many incidences of non-agreement arguments between us and many-a-times we were pissed off by the "I am the best" look that you passed all the time. But then things started improving with time and we developed a fondness for you after you fought for some of our " rights" (hope I got that correct :P) and we also started enjoying your witty jokes which were sick at times. We had become inured to your constant presence behind us and gradually you became a part of our close knit circuit.”
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It was during this week that the senior events co-ordinator Tony Edwin introduced our team to the senior events team and informed us about the first event of this year , INSIGHT ’09, a corporate panel discussion . We announced in the class for write ups on which the discussions would take place . But soon the seniors forgot about INSIGHT. The only thing on their mind was FRESHERS DAY and how to make our life a living hell on that day.
FRESHERS AND MORE .

It was Tuesday , that a group of seniors entered our classroom and told us about FRESHERS . We were instructed about our dress code . The boys were to wear Kurtas , shorts and two different sneakers on each feet . The girls were to wear a T- shirt , dhoti , and were asked to sport five pony tails . I remember that immediately after the announcement some girls huddled together and decided on mass bunking . Even I wanted to skip the humiliation of wearing shorts , but I knew I was the events coordinator and it just would not be right .
We were asked to prepare a 30 minute program for the freshers . We were informed that the program had to be ‘decent’ since the teachers would be present . I asked the seniors if I could do a play . After getting a nod , I started writing the script . On Thursday I had the play ready . I gave it to my friends and informed them about their roles . I begged them to learn their dialogues by heart , since Friday would be the only day we would get for rehearsals. On Friday we were lucky to get the last period free . However , we could manage just one rehearsal . I remember that evening Prapti was returning with me on the train . The entire journey , I didn’t talk to her . As her station Khardah came , she told me , “Pranay relax , everything would be fine .” After she left , my mind went back to the play , I didn’t know when I fell asleep , but when I opened my eyes I found that my destination station Shyamnagar had long gone . I returned home very late that night. In the night around 9.00 pm Sandeep who studied in the second year ( he also studied with me in Kendriya Vidyalaya) rang me up and asked , “ Pranay you have your freshers on Tuesday na ?” ( the reason why he asked me that question was he had not been attending his second year classes since he had got a job at Intelligence Bureau ).
“yes “, I said .
“ Be prepared , you are on the target list .” I didn’t understand what he meant by ‘target list ‘ and pleaded him to explain , but he simply refused . I thought of all the things they could ask me to do , with the shorts . I was fine with all of them . It was just the ‘ without the short ‘ options that made me shudder .
On 18th August I reached college around 10 am. , located all the play participants and practiced the dialogues the last time . The other boys and girls were busy changing to the prescribed dress code . I remember the announcement of the play was really abrupt . Infact I was caught unawares . We quickly went to the stage , arranged the props and the play started . It took me just one minute to realize that the play would be a hit . I , by the way , was to enter at the 5th minute . On the stage I find myself at ease . Its at that time that I feel completely under control , somehow having the feeling that I was born to do this. I remember that at some points , the punch line was so strong and the laughter so loud , that we had to wait for the din to stop before blurting the next line . In the end we managed to pull it off . Subrata Rakshit , who played the role of the channel editor , was the best performer in the play . I remember , how after the play the senior who was hosting the show said , “ From this we can tell that the new batch holds great promise .” I heaved a sigh of relief that I had not messed it up . I changed to the prescribed dress code . After the teachers left ,a senior went to the stage an announced , “ Now the real fun begins.”
What followed assured me that Sandeep was right , that he knew it all along , and that I was on the target list , the only piece of consolation on offer was that……… I was not the only one .
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Next week ……

Freshers - the humiliation continues ….. the class bunking for INSIGHT ….. the calls for the panelists …. Teachers Day ….. the accidental hosting …. A mouthful of STREPSILS….. the music director in me….
Sleepless nights ….. promises to keep ….. expectations to live up to …..another drama …choreography …..puking …. Fights …. And a hell lot more….
The tragic saga of the poet only gets worse …. Next week
Only on www.pranayandlovingit.blogspot.com my blog ….my style …
Please post your comments here … don’t scrap me or tell me about this in the class…॥

Pictures from top to bottom

1) Our first reaction on seeing the classroom

2) The classroom made some people do strange things … to me …

3) The three people sitting infront of me

Priyanka ( the calm) Prantika ( the sweet) and Tanushree ( the gentle)

4) Me on the freshers day in the play