Life back on track to college
Cost of 1000 rupees
It was December 2004; time was nearing for even semester admission in my college. I landed the college along with dreams which were the only companion for me. Life was completely different within one and a half years. Although, I was almost two years behind from my batch mates, as they were going to enter in 8th Semester, and I had to repeat 4th Semester. Still, I was happy seeing almost everyone from my batch had a job offer in advance in the 7th Semester itself. It gave me hope to me that now it is just one and a half year away to grab the corporate dream job after completing the study. But the journey was not so straight as it appears to! When I saw the notice board for fee structure, it was changed, and there were one thousand rupees increased in the tuition fee, which was a big amount for me. I had come with the exact what was fees earlier, and it created a new mess for me. The question was now what to do and whom to say? I wanted to solve my problem my self, but I had to bow down against poverty! I could have asked my friend’s father for one thousand rupees more, but he was doing a constable job in the police department and was earning five to six thousand per month only. He had already committed for fifteen rupees for the 5th Semester. Therefore, I did not want to burden him with much. A thousand rupees have different meaning and cost for different individuals! So, was my life at that time! But today it is different!
Stories of unsung heroes
Some of the friends who were still living in the Allahabad with whom I came in contact while preparing for the engineering entrance examination. One of them was Mr Mahendra Maurya, who was preparing for Provincial Civil Services Judiciary was living nearby the college only. I visited him and shared my problem. He rescued me and helped me to come out of the problem, as he was a student and dependent on parents for expenses. Hence he could not support in terms of money, but he said you opt for study only, and with remaining money out of hostel fee and mess fee you manage food from some local hotel for six months and in the evening you can sleep in his room. However, two people, including him, were already living in a single room. But they accommodated seeing the situation. I search for some hotel nearby and found one who agreed to offer lunch and dinner in INR 600 per month. Since, after tuition fees, I was left with INR 4000. So, it was manageable with pocket money of INR 400/- for the next six month. However, it was around 2 kilometres only from college. I used to go to college on foot. At times, he used to provide his cycle to go to college.
Me &my college library
The tight hands with money, the college library and computer centre were the only hope. Even though I had a computer, as I could not get the hostel in 4th Semester, so I was not able to use it. I used to go to college in the morning and used to return in between 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM so that I can complete all my study and assignment of the college. Also, I did not want to bother much to my big-hearted friend, who was already living in a single room. I used to be in the library or computer centre till its end time. The library was the only source for me for a good book as they were costly, and it was not possible for me to purchase. So, I used to borrow and get issued books from the library related to the subjects in my courses. Life was good despite the tough time. I passed all the subjects with even better performance as compared to earlier semesters.
Life after 4th Semester
The fourth-semester life was a total mess, but I sailed through with the help and support of many unsung heroes of my life like Mr Mahendra Maurya, Dr Dinesh and his father, Mr Sita Ram. I got admission in the fifth Semester partly with savings I had and partly with the help from my friend’s father on a returnable basis after getting a scholarship. I was supposed to get a scholarship from the college for the third year and final year, and it was the only hope based on which I could dream of coming back to college otherwise it was impossible to arrange money for all the four years!
However, 5th Semester onward I got the hostel. I told about the financial problem to my hostel ward and other officials there; they adjusted my fee in advance from the scholarship. Life was good. I had got the hostel and mess facilities, installed my computer in the hostel. Life was back to normal, and now the only focus was studying except pocket money to fund expense on Saturday, which was the last priority for me! Now the eyes were on the first job offers in the first round of placement in the final year.
Unforgettable Saturday nights & samosa & Chatni
In my college, mess used to be closed on Saturday evening and arranging dinner from outside was used to impact my pocket money, as there was not much budget for such things. I remember, there was one samosa shopkeeper who used to sell five samosa and chatni in five rupees. The samosa used to be very tasty and famous in that area. It was affordable also for the student while out for evening snacks. But each Saturday I had to think where I can go? The first and obvious option was samosa and chatni! It was the only hope to manage the tight pocket and somehow bad days passed away and com I completed 6th Semester and landed in the seventh Semester and grab the first job. After that, I got the courage to borrow more money from my friend’s father to make life a bit easy and tension free so that it can be focused more on the study.
How life unfolded at the end of college life despite the haunting study gap, how I grab the corporate job offer? Check out the next chapter!