Almost a week after it was received, was I informed of it's arrival. Better late than never, they say, in retrospect I can only mull over that day when , at the 11th hour was I given the information which would lead to a series of events all directed and guided by the supreme human desire to appease everyone including oneself in every possible way and to the greatest extent.
Before I commence the tract fully, I would like to say something about the people of Delhi. And when you talk about the people of a place you automatically have to talk about the weather. Like Delhi's weather the people out there also exhibit extreme emotions , surprisingly all at one time.
The word contradictory does not apply here for these emotions seem to compliment each other very well(to my dismay). They are short tempered and tall ordered. Warm and cold. Detached and indulgent. In an AC NIELSEN survey they were rated as the most street smart people residing in any city in thew world( 1/3rd of the Delhiites who fit this criteria can be found loitering around in the corridors of the parliament)
By the way that survey thing was a joke.
Like all humans and for that matter living organisms, even the Delhiites are concerned about their well being, it is but another thing that invariably their embellishment means the pro rata spoliation of their neighbours (the word should be given a liberal construction).
In the sweltering heat of June did I find myself brushing shoulders with these street smart people who in spite of themselves out did each other in pushing me to the back of the queue and convincing me that I was not meant for the streets.(something which I took for a compliment)
Fortune favors the brave and success comes running to those who persevere . I can't see how this applies to our story here, but at the time when I was writing it it sounded good. Hence why bother deleting it.
Had I stayed in Delhi and taken admission there may be I could have devoted and would have devoted an entire chapter to the people of this great city, but as fate had already intervened I found myself sitting in a Sahara air carrier bound for Pune , a day after I received the information that a law college there had shortlisted me for admission .
What I call the beginning is thus the time which starts running when I landed in Pune all ready and set to spend the next five years of my earthly life there.
Nested in the pristine and serene environment of the law college hill lies The I.L.S. Law college.
Primarily it is a happy hunting ground for all morning walkers; The college timings are quite unique , for when people commence their journeys from home to office the students of this prestigious college can be seen packing their portmanteaus ( if they brought one in the first place) to start a similar trip , only towards their homes or p.g. s, as applicable.
To be sure the day for the students of this college starts only when the college ends. This gives them not only the latitude but also the conviction to embark upon various paths and journeys relating to extra curricular exploits and amusements.
During my stint at this legendary institution I personally witnessed students completing 101 diplomas, certificate courses, language courses , higher degrees all quite comfortably and without breaking a sweat, during the semester and after it. It is but another thing that there were many candidates who got so excited by this prospect of adding to their qualification that they ended up missing the law exams or failing in them due to the pending workload brought about by their various allied pursuits.
Although it reflects quite poorly upon me, I would not shy way from declaring that in those five years(yes it was a five year course) I managed to avoid any such constructive activity and devoted myself entirely to the ardent adulation of existential concepts like loneliness, depression and the like which often mark the lives of those who have nothing to do and a lot of time to do it in.
When I first entered the college I had a rather limited vision when it came to the legal profession. Since I had entered the course by chance and not choice I could also not boast of nurturing and entertaining fantastic aspirations regarding my growth in this particular field.
It is another thing that my limited vision completely fizzled out by the time I reached the final year, in spite of the fact that not a single person I came in contact with outside the college , failed to impress upon me the bright avenues linked with the legal profession in these days of harmonious litanies.
True to my shy and indolent nature I was pathetically slow and infirm when it came to socializing and hence even at the end of Two full years(or as some of my more progressive colleagues put it four semesters) I could hardly call any single soul in the I.L.S law college compound my friend. I had many acquaintances, all on amiable terms. Some say that it was because of my monstrous moustaches that I could not break into the social circle. I would beg to differ( not on the monstrous moustaches point, yes they were indeed gigantic) on that point , for if anything which could have brought a shy guy like me into any group , it would have had to be something so striking as those preposterously thick and long moustaches( not to mention unkempt).
I would now like to move the scene to The beginning of the third year when slowly( as slowly can be) I started finding a few fellows with whom I began " hanging around"( no pun intended)
As it often happens, courage and creativity develop in solitary settings but can only germinate and ripen when one is in the company of fellow human beings and the society at large.
My shy and bashful nature could now find an outlet for expressing it's inner most desires on almost every issue available.
It is rather ironic that the first issue which presented itself to me was regarding something which occupies the imagination of each every individual at least four times a day.
Our college was designed by someone who was quite fascinated by the prospect of providing the passers by with adequate opportunity to peep inside the lavatories and feast upon the site of the male species urinating.
Had females been equipped by The Creator to pee in the same way as the males this would have been equally true for the female lavatories also. But as things stand, Females have been forced to urinate behind closets from times immemorial , some say to preserve their modesty, others say to prevent the male species from exhibiting crude animal like behaviour.
Luckily, not many individuals are interested in exploring the interiors of the lavatories ( at least by peeping in) . I however cannot afford to be so presumptuous when it comes to males , who have had folklore written in their names whenever they have been able to make an adventurous excursion to the female lavatory's precincts.
It came to me more as an epiphany than anything else. It so happened that while a person was busy relieving himself he could be watched by two sets of onlookers: ones who were going to the lecture hall( through he strategically place window) the others who were waiting in a queue lined up before the administrative office right in front of the obtuse angled door to the lavatory.
Luckily this revelation dawned upon me when I wasn't inside the rest room myself. Though it cannot be denied that it was due to the continuous and persistent feeling of good natured disgust
that the roots of the toilet committee took shape.
Before proceeding further let me just give the reader a brief insight into the plan and layout of the whole arrangement . We had two sets of rest rooms. One in the library block, the other in the academic block. Both these rooms for both the sexes were so designed that everyone could get a clear view of what was going inside them. For reasons mentioned earlier , the females were protected from the public gaze, but the same didn't hold true for the unfortunate males who were subjected to this humiliation and discomfort daily. I won't deny that some males drew pleasure out of the whole thing. But that percentage was quite small as compared to those who genuinely wanted to do something about the unacceptable situation.
Since the toilet block had only recently been renovated the college authorities were more than happy with whole arrangement. After all , why should the students be bothered about who is watching them.....this is India where privacy is is an alien concept.
As far as the female toilets in the library block were concerned they were located just next to the book issue counter. May be the designer saw a poetic angle in this.
On a wet monsoon day ( urghh.....) me and a group of my now closer acquaintances (totally five in number) formed an informal association called the toilet committee so as to scientifically analyse the situation and then approach the authorities to rectify the same.
This whole idea was initially marked by subdued embarrassment for obvious reasons. Those who were quite comfortable talking about much more sensitive issues conveniently failed , neglected,avoided, refused ....................ad infinitum (long live legal drafting) to sympathise with us and our cause. To bring credibility to the whole thing I even tried to fit in Labour laws to justify our demands. Ridiculous as it may seem this move did work, as the bright and legally aware students of the college who till then were looking upon the whole thing as a joke now began to see sense in the movement( what a joke).
After campaigning for our primal rights for most part of the semesters mostly through(as they later proved to be ) ineffective methods like meetings and discussions we were able to gather 10 people to support our cause. As for the rest , may be they relished the thought of being the objects of everybody's affection or really trusted their fellow students' maturity levels.
Those were days when my stay in Pune was unbelievably short and i was always on the look out for any circular which would announce the commencement of various vacations,( we had a preparatory leave which was longer than the actual vacations).
The plan was to moot our proposal which involved a massive structural overhauling of the current arrangement before i left for the P.ls.
SCENE II:
Last day of the 10th semester exams
As I close the zipper on my faded jeans( not washed for the last 2 months) my instinct tells me that there are about 34 students standing outside who have a clear view of me and hence can easily embarrass me. the scene is the same throughout the length and breadth of the college wherever the rest rooms are located. While i was packing my stuff to bid farewell to Pune I had come across that very morning a piece if paper which bore the names of the magnificent 5 who were the esteemed members of the I.L.S. TOILET COMMITTEE.
