They say nostalgia is the uptopia of the old. So may be 28
yrs younger I am already feeling nostalgic. I felt it the day reached home with
packed bags after my internship. Well till today I haven’t got over it. ” I” never existed in college. It was
always “we”.
Today sitting in the first seat of a dermatology seminar
trying very hard to understand whats being talked about, I was missing that
last seat in college lecture hall,if at all I was there. There was something
special about that seat. You feel pseudoprotected. That’s a part of the “chronic
last bench syndrome” I would say. Most common clinical manifestations would be
hypersomnolence, I knew a guy who would sleep before the classes started and
wake up just in time for attendance(heh heh that’s not me).
There are every kind
of person in the last benches the artists, Proxy specialists, comedians(or
rather jokers),airplane(paper of course) manufaturers, cupids, beauticians,
daydreamers, voracious readers unlike
the first benchers anything other than text books(a novel or prob a magazine),and
of course the dozers.
And the best is when you have a group with
your best friends which includes a crush, a friend u thot u cud not live
without, a funny jackass who would mostly be the dumbest who wud draw the
attention of all teachers to your gang, a smartass who never studies like you
but can get you out of the small troubles (mostly in the form of questions) by
quick prompting. Yes I had a seat in one of these places and 5 years it felt
great. I would have slept more in my class rooms because after classes we were
a busy lot. And nights were party time.
And the occasional
get outs for getting caught with a novel, for a proxy out of the 5 you called,
sleeping(no never for sleeping but not for waking up even when your name is
called). But getting out was easy, occasionally as a punishment you would be
asked to go to the first bench(a whole new world) where you would need to place
bamboo sticks in u r eyes to keep it open, where they would look down on you if
you didn’t answer questions and where only intellectual talks takes place.
But the first bench students r intelligent until last bench students
dont participate in the competition. But unfortunately they never do
participate. They are the kind of people with no ego, no competition, humble
and simple people. Hear there is an association
for us Last Bench association(LBA), I was not a member then and I cant be
now(not in last bench anymore)
And mind you we are not last in everything we
are the first to initiate a fight or debate,to comment on the person teaching
methods, we are the 1 st in movie queues,
and even the first to get out of a class. So we are not total useless.
Heh heh now that’s tooo much
Someday when I teach I would like to know how
it feels to do so from the last bench.
“The Greatest Minds of a
Nation May be Found on the Last Benches of the Classroom.” - APJ Abdul Kalam
