‘Life is a race’, realized when I migrated from Deshbandhu College to Sri Venkateswara college a.k.a Venky. The experience of this transition is worth sharing. Some call it a transition but I consider it as a “miss appropriation”. The changeover was not a cake walk; acclimatizing to the new climate was extremely difficult owing to not only the fact that students over here were brilliant at academics but also that they talked like any top notch journalist or political commentator.
Turns out that academics became the least of my worries; one can’t expect from a 20 year old who spent most of his life in a mundane boy’s school to concentrate on studies if he his presented with a chance to study in one of the most ‘glamorous’ colleges of D.U. As hard as you try not to stare at them, every moment in college you are spellbound by some or the other girl. Things become worse, when after all the deliberate effort to avoid it, one has to ‘unwantedly’ sit in the lecture hall beside some of the most beautiful female folk of our college. All your sensory nerves are on high alert, you become conscious about every move you make, pretending like everything is normal but you only know that your world has turned upside down.
‘Unwantedly’ not because one doesn’t want to savour these moments, but because one hasn’t mastered the art of being comfortable in such a situation. You feel inferior and out of place when you see your co-educated metropolitan classmates extremely confident and well situated in such occasions. Here the situation is analogous to the movie “Love Aaj Kal” where our metropolitan counterpart is similar to Jai (the younger Saif) who had loads of affairs and people like me can relate to Veer Singh (sardar ji) who had only one affair in his whole life (in our case that one affair is also quite rare).
So boys like us usually end up forming groups like FOSLA (Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association) or NGO (Non Girlfriend’s Organization).
If by any chance one of our FOSLA* brothers gets lucky and enters into a relationship, it improves their social status. The telecom sector is the core beneficiary of this status elevation. So much so that a couple or more of such cases could actually recover the losses of the 2G scam. Speculating about this former FOSLA member’s love life becomes a more important discussion than the Indian economy or Barack Obama.
A year has passed now and even after opting for Feminism over United Nations as a subject in my third year political science course, I still lack the mannerism required to converse with a female colleague. Engulfed with inferiority complex, fighting with “identity fracture”, I have no clue how this war between middle class values and college corporate culture will culminate. But one thing I observed and would like to convey to all our FOSLA brothers that one doesn’t need a Royale Enfield, dolle-sholle or ek liter doodh to mark his presence in Venky.
Disclaimer: – The writer does not intend to offend any group or sex. It’s a mere depiction of one’s experience. If there is any kind of resentment caused, it is deeply regretted. Your feedback is welcomed at [email protected] .
Vyom Anil
Pol. Sc. (H) III year
Sri Venkateswara College
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