Unlike the integrated students of Radcliffe, we HSC students never actually attended college. Our teachers merely sent us practicals and tutorials to complete — and that too, barely two months before the actual practical exams. We were given just a single warning that these practicals had to be completed and submitted to our college.
By January, I had finished writing up my practical journals for Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, and English. I was halfway through the Math tutorial as well.
We received the practical exam timetable about a week before they were scheduled. They were to be conducted over two days, and I was genuinely excited about them. Previously, we were supposed to have our practicals in November, but they were canceled by Sameer sir.
There were only two things I needed to arrange. First was the college uniform. Thankfully, Maa had taken care of that. Our college shirts didn't have any emblem or symbol, so I managed by wearing one of my father's shirts — it matched our uniform quite well. The pants, however, were a different story. His were black, while the college required blue ones. But I had no choice — I had to make do.
The second thing I needed was three different fruit juices. That's when I realized that sugarcane doesn't qualify as a fruit. So, I ended up bringing watermelon, lemon, and orange juice instead.
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Thursday,9th March 2023
I left at six in the morning, since our practicals began at 7: 30. I reached Kharghar station at half past six. Surprisingly, I saw Sarthak getting off his bike outside the station. I ran towards him and quickly greeted him. It was a nice coincidence that we both were in the same college., tied up with different coaching institutes. He had even called me a few days back when he saw both of us in the college list. But I had forgotten about it.
By seven, I was standing in front of my college. Baburao Shankar - the board read. I had never been to any HSC board school ever in my life. I had heard that they were the best somewhere, while at other places they were not. This one, resembled the latter of what I had heard. It seemed to be a damn old building, and the plants reminded me of Venkatesh school, but it was 1000 times better than this.
We climbed the staircase and on the first floor, I met some students from AOS of the Nerul branch. Timothy was one of them. He was the anchor with me on AOS Day. We smiled at each other and shook hands with joy.
First, we were then called into the physics lab where we acquired tables. I, along with Kirti, was with the B1 students on the table. We were given our sheets where we wrote our names and copied measurements, readings,tables and certain diagrams from our practical book.
It lasted for an hour and soon we were free. Not allowed to leave the premises, we all were sitting in the class. The chemistry students came back and then it was our turn to perform it.
With our lab coats we left for the chemistry lab. The 4th Test match between India and Australia began as we took our papers to write the recorded readings. I had to work on table number 8. where I met two more students from Nerul. One of them surprisingly knew my name, and suggested the other guy to join me in the experiment.
The teacher was showing the procedure while my partner was busy roaming around,taking snaps and going to the washroom. And when he returned, he asked me what we had to do.
"Abe kutte.Tu kab se ghoom Raha hai yaha se waha. You are doing nothing but time pass and then you are coming to me asking the procedure.", I barked at him.
"What did you call me???.a dog??"
"Yes.", I was damn frustrated.
"Now you just wait and watch..", threatening me, he went to his friend.
"Ha Bhai he called me a dog", I could hear him complaining about me. And in no time, my entire apparatus was gone and I had nothing to work with.
On the other hand, the game had begun. Australia were off to a flier, with Travis Head smashing Shami all over the ground. They could not take a single wicket in the first ten overs. Rarely does an opponent team achieve that feat in a test match in India.
I was getting restless then. In the entire chemistry lab, I saw myself surrounded by students running around in their lab coats with their beakers having a purple soln, like potassium permanganate and some having a red one. Done with the first experiment, the students were asked to proceed onto the second one .
I could see everyone in groups performing the experiments. Meanwhile my partner had run off with the entire apparatus and I was standing alone. I had nothing to perform the experiment. I could also see a crowd near the teacher where students were asking her to either repeat the procedure or help them in the experiment where necessary. And I was still
standing alone. Twelve overs were done and no wicket fell.
Head was looking aggressive, and the Indian bowlers were helpless, just like me, who still had nothing to perform the experiment. My partner had successfully done it with his friends and i was still standing alone, looking at the faces of people who did it.
"Tanish..", I looked up to see it was Sanjana. It was one of the rare days when I saw her without a mask. Dark pinkish lips and entire face glowing as always.
"Do you know what we are supposed to do?", she asked, having an equally helpless smile.
"Nahi yaar..",I replied,"..mujhe kuch nahi pata." further joining my hands, to which her smile only became a laugh, which revealed her teeth, which shined like crystals.
Chemistry practical too ended in an hour. But students were still running from classroom to lab. I had no readings to mention in my practical book. India had taken two wickets by then. And I was peeping into others' books. Sonali shared her readings with me, but she didn't have the readings of the first experiment. So I had to approach Ramesh, who kindly showed me every single reading and also the answers for the short questions, except one question.
"Ha sun. Ye wala isse lele.", suggested Neil, who was sitting beside Ramesh. Pointing towards Sanjana, he said,
"Ae Sanjana, give her your photo."
"Ha..", she agreed, took a pause and we both laughed. "Mera photo??".
"Are I meant…", those words were enough for her to understand what I meant. She kindly gave me her paper and I clicked a picture of the answer I needed.
I again realized she had no attitude. She was kind, just like every other student in the classroom was, and even helped me in completing my practical book by sharing an answer. I
had even forgotten by then that she didn't follow me back on
Instagram. All I knew was that she was kind enough to ask for help.
By 12 we did all our practicals and exited through the college gate. And in no time I found myself with Ramesh,Neil,Sanjana, Lizz and other students of B1.,who were heading towards the bus stop which was a fifteen minute walk from our college.
On the way I heard that Sanjana and Lizz were thinking of going by private auto all the way to Kharghar. And now we all were sitting at the bus stop in a line. I took out my phone, gave it to Ramesh and asked him to take a couple of snaps.
"Ek min meri baat suno..I think we should go to LP. We will surely get a bus from there." one of them suggested.
"LP is quite far from here.", said Sanjana. I was trying to recall where I had heard this word. And it clicked the next moment.
"Yes!! It's far from here..", I agreed with her. I had heard passengers telling 'LP Nerul' to the conductor multiple times. "Bus number 24 is still 25 mins away from here." I informed all of them.
"So where do we go from here??" Ramesh asked. We had left the bus stop and were walking back.
"I'll still ask why we are not going by train??.", I complained. It was the month of March, and we were sweating. The next moment I saw the two girls and Ramesh getting into an auto and we 3 boys got into the one behind it.
On the way I got a call from maa who asked about my practicality and also suggested that I eat something before coming back. We really weren't expecting to see Ramesh and the girls again but surprisingly We found them outside the station, paying the auto driver. We caught a train and were all sitting together.
"So you have any lectures today?", I asked the B1 students
"Yes, Sameer sir ka doubt lecture hai.I'll be attending it." Yash said.
"That short teacher who sits in the office. Vishaka mam na?", someone broke the silence. And this began the gossip on the train.
"Ha ha. You should actually look at her whatsapp status.", I added.
"You even saved her number?," he questioned with a devilry smile.
"Had to."
"She shouts so much at students. Can't tolerate even the slightest mischief."
"Yeah..and that was the reason why Sameer sir shouted at her once.", Yash continued, but I didn't hear this properly.
"Kya??." Entered Sanjana with her question. She was sitting at the right corner of the left seat, away from all of us boys and Lizz..
"Kya?..", she repeated her question.
"Ha?..", Lizz took her eyes off her phone and we both looked at Sanjana at the same time.
leaning forward, she was looking at me. Probably waiting for an answer, which was the topic of our discussion. I still didn't know what to say to her.
"Are…wo..Sameer sir had scolded Vishaka mam.", I told her as much as I knew.
"Haa..so?", but she wanted to know more.
What do I tell her when I myself didn't hear it??
"Maybe because she shouted at us." I blindly said and quickly leaned back on my seat.
She got up when Belapur was the next stop. Bidding us a bye
she got down, so did we at the next station.
Ramesh asked me for the 5th time if bus number 54 really went
through Raghunath Vihar and then Shilp Chowk. Coming out of the station, I directed them towards the big bus number 54 which would take Ramesh and Lizz to their respective destinations. Meanwhile, Sushma and I stopped there to eat
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