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Farewell to my Senior

Farewell to my Senior

Mr. Dibyojit Dutta

When I joined Cotton's hostel in 1982, we were given some household chores by seniors like copying notebooks, practical books or old question papers, on local errands etc. Some smart fresher were even chosen as special messenger to Girls' hostels but luckily I was not amongst them possibly I was not so smart for such crucial task. Though we were new to the new environment and found some difficulty to adapt the new lifestyle but our seniors were too kind to us and because of them, we managed to adjust to the new environment quickly. I am still feeling indebted to a few seniors like Lalitya Das ( now social workers), Sailen da (businessman), Saurabh Da (Lawyer , Sibasagar) for their invaluable supports. During that time, hostels were ruled by traditions. One important tradition at that time was when any senior completed his study and finally departed hostel, Juniors were given the task to carry his luggage to the ASTC Bus station at Fancy Bazar by Auto or Rickshaw by detouring Panbazar over bridge and seniors would reach the Bus station by walking making short cut through RBI Building, Guwahati Rail station crossing over the foot over bridge. At that time the Army Transit camp building was not there and there was no any private bus facility ; ASTC was the only mode of road communication. One day I was chosen for this special task to one senior ,Mr Sukumar, who just completed his degree courses. After my returning from classes, I was briefed about this task and told me to prepare myself. All his belongings as books, beddings, bags were put into an Auto and I was instructed to proceed to the bus station and wait for them. After my departure around 3 PM, a few seniors including juniors started to proceed towards the Bus station by walking . I happened to reach the bus station much earlier as the group was not seen around. As I was new to the Bus-stand, so became curious. There was a book stall at the corner of the bus station and I started peeping through various books and magazines. After a while, I could see the group entered the campus. Immediately one senior rushed to the ticket counter, queued and purchased one ticket for Sukumar which was most vital being the only bus available on that day. It was getting dark and one senior instructed us to carry the luggage to the bus. “where is the luggage ?” one senior asked? “there ..in the corner “ – I showed them . “where ? there is noting - the senior shouted. Oh...the luggage could not be seen there and possibly was stolen. I was asked repeatedly if I could off-load the luggage or not; which I forgot due to nervousness. Immediately all seniors and juniors started to search the campus and examine all autos passing by - but fruitless. After half an hour of endless search, we became tired and decided to surrender. Also it was getting dark and the other bus passengers were becoming impatient to move. Then senior broke the silence and spoke to Sukumar ‘You can cancel your journey and stay back but that won’t help you to recover the items. It is not possible to search the whole city by ourselves We must take help from police. "tomorrow, we will lodge a case in the local Police Station and once these lost items are recovered, we will intimate you and you come here immediately. The duplicate certificates of HSLC and Pre-degree examination can be collected from the office of Secondary Board of Education and University. The clothes which have been gone, better to forget. The degree books which have been lost would be costly and we will request our Hostel Superintendent to help you by providing some financial support." -tactfully, the senior pursued Mr Sukumar to leave. Though Sukumar was initially hesitate but he had no option as everyone advised him to proceed. After his departure, we all returned to hostel with heavy hearts. When the news was spread in the hostel and Hostel Superintendent came to know about it, he was protective towards fresher – ‘why should you send a fresher with so valuables? he asked the seniors . After that, the tradition of deputing freshers to carry luggage to Bus-stand was discontinued.

Last modified: 
Saturday, April 18, 2020 - 21:34