Rain, Ignorance, Ego and the University

It was 2015.

I returned from Dehradoon after a week.

and I had barely carried all the luggage inside when my father said;

“Beta, tumhara koi chitthi aaya hai (Son, there is a letter for you).

“Chitthi, baap re (Letter, Oh my god)”

‘Dekhlo, kya hai (Have a look)”.

So, I saw the envelope and it was written in big bold on the upper right

“University of Leeds”

I was not ready to face it.

Fast backwards 6 months:

My “then” dream of studying in Europe had taken root due to a stupidly caring phone call and a bad decision (next newsletter, watch out!!).

The tree eventually bore 5 fruits (read applications) to the University of Leeds, Southampton, Brighton, Plymouth and Leeds Beckett.

I got selected into the first three for a BSc in Geography/Geology.

And I chose to accept Leeds.

So

I already knew about the selection.

But

The letter was an outline of fees and living expenses, along with other formal documents, which ran in 7 figures (roughly 1.2 crores or 1,20,000 GBP).

Of course, we did not have that kind of money.

But I had to enrol somewhere.

The University of Calcutta (CU) was infamous for low grades and Jadavpur University did not offer geography then.

That’s when my sister suggested -

“Presidency me dekh - shayad ab who CU ke under nai hai (Check Presidency - maybe it's not under CU anymore).

If it had a university affiliation, it would grade independently.

I was clueless - what Presidency?

“You mean, where Netaji Bose studied”? I inquired.

“Yeah, that one - are you stupid? How can you not know - you have been to College Street (the world’s largest second-hand book market) so many times and you do not know Presidency (the university was bang in the centre of that area). Just stay busy with your books and that girl”- she blasted me off.

In my defence - I was obsessed with going abroad and was ignorant. Still am.

Don’t chuckle, you are ignorant too – have you read my previous newsletters? ha – caught you. Oh, you have read it – I will let you off the hook then!!

Apparently, (I mean actually) Presidency University was/is a big name in Kolkata, alma mater to Nobel laureates, India’s first president, cabinet ministers and other hotshots. So yeah, it was big, and I was ignorant (like you!!).

We agreed on my ignorance and opened the website to fill out the application form. Coincidentally that was the last date - talk about destiny (if you believe in it) or something else, up to you.

So, found the form, and started filling it. While submitting, we had to pay 350 INR (~3.5 GBP).

We had 0 in our bank account?

How do we pay for the form?

It was around 1530 then and the bank closed at 1600 hours. It was not possible, the bank was far, it was raining and

Honestly, I wanted to let it go - I was comfortable basking on the failure of not making it to the UK.

But the year would be wasted. Wasting a year - Blasphemy.

I took a 500 INR note, shoved it in my pocket, took my father’s motorbike and rode into the rain like Tom Cruise (I did not know who he was then).

Try riding in the rain - my face felt like hitting 100 acupuncture needles at the same time. On top of that, I wear glasses. Would have loved a wiper on it but did not know if it was invented then. Guys, I was ignorant - I have said before.

The glasses were foggy except for some patches which would clear for a split second before getting foggy again.

I looked through those dry patches just enough to not hit someone - talk about pulling through a dry patch!!!

On the shortest route, there was (and still is) around a 50 m section which only allowed one 2-wheeler to pass at once.

The unsaid rule was to wait for 5 - 10 sec, honk to signal that you would be passing and then take the leap of faith - because if someone came from the other side, one would have to back off.

Fragile male egos and backing off - not an ideal situation.

I knew I could not wait!!

What did I do?

I came honking from two blocks away and rode straight into it. If you have ever caught a metro/tube/train with automatic doors and made it just before the door closed - you will know what I am talking about. Does give you a kick - the rush to make it, barely!!

Deep down we know we want adventure - just too afraid to live it.

I safely made it out of the fragile ego tunnel and after some rowdy riding, unlimited honking & wet clothes I managed to deposit the money.

The ride back was relaxing - it was raining but this time I waited patiently outside the fragile ego tunnel. Enough said …

The 5 years in Presidency, were some of my best times and I almost didn’t get it.

Almost