Alma Mater

 

Today,our professor talked about the year 2007 when he first joined this institution, a memory so vivid and alive in his mind. The very same year , a six year old also shared the same building, with vague recollection of events. Our college is going to end soon and so does the sixteen years of journey with 11 Lord Sinha Road. With a handful of students in class today our professor shared some of his beautiful experiences, in and around the walls covering the premises. Being in the same premises, we shared a world which was completely different from each other. 

A huge mango tree stands in our school ground. During this time of the year it is filled with green unripe mangoes with a sweet- citrusy scent in the air. But what we often left unnoticed were the lives that lived under the tree's shelter. Well, our professor didn't. He told us how there used to be squirrels, running down a branch of the tree and then landing on his windowsill of his staffroom. Then, without much notice of the other's presence and without causing any inconvenience , it ran around the desk and made its way out through another window. Its sad , that the air-conditioned classrooms attract more students now but the squirrels, not so much. I wish I had seen more of my alma mater through the eyes of my professor who taught in enormous classes with open windows and witnessed rat colonies and pigeon concerts. I wonder, so many people have years of memories attached to this place, yet when the dispersal bell rings, students run out through the gates, as if there's nothing left behind.