PUNE UNIVERSITY: Expect the Unexpected

The happy days of first year were over. We all got divided into our respective branches. I got SE 1. Very less people from my earlier class F.E 1 were there. Most of the crowd was new for me. I could recognize some cute faces too. The good thing was that, I and Kaushal were now studying in the same class. He had many friends from div 9 into the class and he made me friend with them.

In less time, we all gelled up with the new boys. The topper from the last year, Varun, was also in our class with most of his intellectual friends. The crowd from my first year was more fun to be with. I still remember how we played “catch catch” and table tennis on the teacher table now and then during free lectures in the first year. The people here were divided into their own small groups. There were “mehnati” people from the lateral entry too. Since I was more into sports after the college, I couldn’t hang much with the groups and so the bond was not very strong between us. Now and then, people planned road trips and outings but the lack of pocket money limited my ventures and I found happiness in other extracurricular activities. I only joined them mostly when they planned movie at Alka theatre.

In no time, the semester seemed to fly by and it was time for our exams. In first year, I got a distinction and so I was kind of confident that I will be able to sail through this one too. The subjects were little trickier this time with SSDC and communication being everyone’s fear.

The lab quiz and viva got over and the PL got started. I and Kaushal made sure that we will be economically studying and we bought only one pair of books from the market. Then we tore it into units and then shared it throughout the exams. Many will be surprised to know that, we followed the same routine till our final year. The advantage was that we were paying less individually and were also getting to keep the books unlike the library system.

The exams started after a week I guess. As everyone predicted, the paper was difficult and we somehow scribbled something throughout the 3 hours. Some people even exchanged sheets under the eyes of the invigilator. After some 10 days, the exam got over. We had a train to catch in the evening. It felt enthusiastic. After 6 months, we will be going home.

2 months passed away since our fourth semester started. Now and then, came the rumors of our result. Finally the D day came. Everyone was a little nervous and anxious. I expected all clear with around 60%.A queue was made and the result distribution started. People standing at back were curious to know the result of the people getting it at front. I thought of staying calm and quiet. I made a little joke now and then to lighten the mood.

I was next. The teacher asked my roll number and gave an A5 size sheet to me. I checked the marks. It was depressingly low. The total made an agr. of 52% with two backlogs. I was shocked. My heart beat increased. My palm got sweaty. I was heavily breathing. Few of my friends inquired. I showed them the result. They too were surprised. Since, my school days, I have been a consistent performer being among the best of the class. This came as a big shock for me. The next coming days were difficult. I was a completely changed person from then. I went into depression. Most of the time I remained isolated. It was unacceptable to me. The next semester with 2 more paper will make it more difficult. I was caught in this vicious cycle. I started paying more attention to my academics. No more games, no more movies. I invested all the time I had in books. I was a changed person. I applied for reval hoping for some changes.

2 months had passed by. Our next semester was about to start in some days. The result of the reval was still awaiting. I still remember that day. I was studying in my room when I suddenly got a call from Swapnil that the result of reval are out. I went running to check. There was a huge crowd looking at the Xerox sheet . Most of them came out dejected with NO CHANGE appearing against their subjects. I got my chance after sometime. I started looking turning papers. There I was. SSDC 52 Communication 41. Both the paper got cleared. I felt relieved and a bit happy. The change in marks helped a bit to improve the percentage too. There was definitely a lot of anger in me toward Pune University. First they don’t check your paper sincerely, then they take huge money from you on pretext of reval and will make you wait the whole semester.

I read the rules that if there is a change in marks, the whole money for applying to reval will be reimbursed by the university but after going several times to office, Bondere never mentioned about the money. I guess this is the other way the college made money.

After so many years, what I remember now is that the result came as a shock to me but it also had some positive effect. I introspected myself and realized the real importance of being there. My friend says that I changed a lot during that phase and I don’t disagree with them. I only wonder that what would have happened if such mistake would have happened to a weak hear-ted student who can’t take such burden and would have committed something with him. Who would have taken the responsibility of the teacher’s mistake? Pune University is large with lakhs of student and it is understandable that the pressure on the teacher is huge, but the only thing I would like to suggest them is that it’s a matter of whole career of a student so please pay a little more importance to it.  

I always  share this experience with the new fresher’s and tell them that they should be always prepared for all this with the university.

If suppose University of Pune was a movie, the tag line would be “EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED”