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When I had first heard of it, I had begun to consider it more as a phenomenon. Remember, what Sourav Ganguly had said about the Wall’s consistent performances? So that was the scenario until 31st December, 2010. However, on this day I learnt that I too had gate-crashed into the hallowed circle(s) of first, nine-pointers of the institute and secondly, scored a perfect ten in my 5th sem. The fact that it came in a semester in the department would dampen the value of it to some. But that would be the onlookers, strictly. To me, it was the victory nonetheless. And to top it all, I had secured an intern with Tata Steel for the summers of 2011. Quite a semester, it had been.
Fortunately, the contagion called GRE and CAT have no effect on me. I am perhaps immune to these conditions (maybe in lieu of some other crucial limitations). Consequently, this semester sees a similar tone on my face and intent, as the previous one.
9th march, 2011 was the Bhawan Day for us inmates (?) of Govind Bhawan. As usual there was some hullabaloo regarding arranging passes for friends and Kshitij people to be invited over from other hostels. R-land faces terrible times at the mess; so the spring semester with these special days is more than a relief to many taste buds. And once again, I was sure of dining out. I had submitted my passes with Ayush who probably took good care of them…and was to head off for Pandit. Only, I had to wait until collecting my award. Yes, for being the ‘Best student of the Bhawan’, a distinction for which I had qualified owing to my ten point 5th sem performance. Reportedly, I had dubiously superseded some more deserving candidates in the forms of Anurag Paul and some more. But, it was J-batch poly that got me in, and left the others fuming(?).
At about 9:15 pm, my name was announced by the honourable PSR Akhilesh for the honourable award. I went up on the stage to receive it from the honourable director of the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. ‘Chalo Badhiya hai.’ These honourable words escaped from his mouth to grace the honourable occasion. This time I waited long enough for the photographer to click a decent picture. (I don’t know where to collect a copy of it from). And then climbed down the stairs. The memento reads ‘…for his contributions to Govind Bhawan services’ and the certificate mentions my name, ‘best student’ and the all important ‘ten pointer’, but only in brackets! Thereafter, I proceeded for Pandit Bhojanalay with a certain Changu.

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