300!

There was a hit film named 300. It was about King Leonides and his 300 soldiers who bravely stood against the Persian invaders in Greece. This is the story of 300 days at the Goa University that decided how I would face the world at the end of my student days. When I enrolled for Masters in political science, ‘one last time’ I told myself. ‘Within two years, I am getting out of this racket.’ That was my attitude towards the university but one should not count ones chickens before they hatch. Those 300 days were the most agonizing and yet enlightening days in my life. Countless fiascoes, acidity and a self learnt lesson in stress management from GU with love!!

I still remember the first day at the university. Fear about the unknown seniors and tales about ragging were always there. But on the very first day, the H.O.D.’s speech proved to be demoralizing and totally devoid of interest. He said something like ‘the schedule here is a damn hectic one’ and ‘if u don’t do your assignments, we will call you on Saturdays, make you stay on Sundays…’ and a lengthy list of reference books he gave drained whatever little color my already ghostly white face had.

Then came a heavy rain of administrative and academic fiascoes of varying magnitude. I forgot to apply for the i-card till the clerk reminded me. I forgot that I had a temporary library card till the original came and thus sat idle, panicked when the 25 marks mid point tests came. I thought that this was some casual class test and stayed at home. Result, fiasco!! Then one day I neglected the class work and went home. The next day I was staring blankly at the H.OD.’s enraged face. I don’t remember what he said to me but I came home that day, vomited, and than everything went black.

Fiasco apart, the university teaches you many things other then just academic. Here you actually have to use your brain. They compel you to analyze and have your own opinion on every issue-local, national, international anything. I wonder why reporting facts as they are is considered good in school. The teachers will kill you if you speak for yourself.
Here they view you as a responsible person. Circumstances are such that you learn to believe in yourself. You have to.
Above all, the university shows you how a government department works. How to face bureaucracy. Letters, applications and formalities. They expect you to do certain things but its not like school. They have faith in you here. You become responsible not because somebody tells you to, but because that somebody believes you will. I feel that work is done here perfectly because nobody really monitors it. Ones you are used to constant monitoring, you just tend to surrender everything to the superior authority (a.k.a. teachers in school.)

Secondly here you have to deal with people. Workaholic, wayward, people are unavoidable. To the hard you have to be hard and to soft you are soft. Another striking thing in the university is that people are polite to you and so you become to them. Professors have power but they never manifest it without need. They never tell or order you to submit assignments. They always request. Here I learnt that power and hostility are not the means of getting a job done. Co-operation and co-option are. These are extended to you anywhere and anytime on demand in the university. Authority is more effective when it is combined with politeness. A combination that is never present in school. Earlier when I excitedly sprinted up and down the silent corridors of the university, I saw stern looking and busy people everywhere. I thought why do they look like they are all just back from a funeral? Am I the only happy man here? But no, that stern look is not grief. It is confidence and self command. Today when I look at myself in the mirror, I find the same expression on my face.