About J(aa)NU.
The twist to the ending of my previous post Bye Bye Bachelorhood is this: I didn't end up registering myself at Azim Premji University.
No, Plan B (which is really A) is not in action, either.
Something I had not expected in the least, happened. Something I had dreamed of, before this year. I was among the Chosen Ones.
Seriously, not Hogwarts or Voldermort stuff.
I made it to Jawaharlal Nehru University for my MA in Sociology. For those of you who live under a rock, JNU is one of India's best Universities, it's almost the best it can get for a student in the field of liberal arts/humanities/social sciences.
The timing was just fantastic. I landed in Bangalore on a Saturday afternoon, taking in the city that could be my home for the next two years, excitedly making plans to go to Coorg, getting geared up to run behind my overly energetic almost two year old nephew. Saturday night pretty much rocked my world. I had forgotten about the JNU results. A friend of mine kept bugging me to check it and see if I made it. I was so convinced that there was no way I made the list. On the day of the exam, I had been stuck in traffic, had felt nauseated, reached the building (not the classroom) the minute the exam began. May is a hot month in Delhi. And afternoons aren't fun to write exams in, either. I didn't think I wrote the exam well enough to crack it. So imagine my surprise when I see 'Selected' against my name on the JNU website. My Jeeju claims that he had never seen so many different expressions on my face in the span of a minute. After consultations with my professors and jumping around a bit, we celebrated with Naturals ice-cream, while cracking really bad jokes (Kamala Nehru to Jawaharlal Nehru. What's next? IGNOU? Congress?; Kamala Nehru used to be 3 kms right to our house, JNU is 3 kms to the 'Left'.).
The excitement was too much for me to go sleep that night. At one level, I didn't want to go back to Delhi after having almost made it to a hostel! It felt like a cruel joke - arriving in the city, away from parents and home, almost buying a bucket and mug and getting a local number, only to go back to living at home and attend a university I had dreamed of. At another, I wondered if Development was a better course to pursue in terms of career and job prospects. Any argument that came to mind would be silenced by 'But it's JNU!' - something that obviously makes all the sense in the world. At the same time, I was expecting certain other names on the list - of friends who I thought deserved to be there and with whom I would have loved to share the JNU experience.
And so, instead of spending two years in Bangalore, I ended up spending one week which turned out to be an awesome vacation.
No, Plan B (which is really A) is not in action, either.
Something I had not expected in the least, happened. Something I had dreamed of, before this year. I was among the Chosen Ones.
Seriously, not Hogwarts or Voldermort stuff.
I made it to Jawaharlal Nehru University for my MA in Sociology. For those of you who live under a rock, JNU is one of India's best Universities, it's almost the best it can get for a student in the field of liberal arts/humanities/social sciences.
The timing was just fantastic. I landed in Bangalore on a Saturday afternoon, taking in the city that could be my home for the next two years, excitedly making plans to go to Coorg, getting geared up to run behind my overly energetic almost two year old nephew. Saturday night pretty much rocked my world. I had forgotten about the JNU results. A friend of mine kept bugging me to check it and see if I made it. I was so convinced that there was no way I made the list. On the day of the exam, I had been stuck in traffic, had felt nauseated, reached the building (not the classroom) the minute the exam began. May is a hot month in Delhi. And afternoons aren't fun to write exams in, either. I didn't think I wrote the exam well enough to crack it. So imagine my surprise when I see 'Selected' against my name on the JNU website. My Jeeju claims that he had never seen so many different expressions on my face in the span of a minute. After consultations with my professors and jumping around a bit, we celebrated with Naturals ice-cream, while cracking really bad jokes (Kamala Nehru to Jawaharlal Nehru. What's next? IGNOU? Congress?; Kamala Nehru used to be 3 kms right to our house, JNU is 3 kms to the 'Left'.).
The excitement was too much for me to go sleep that night. At one level, I didn't want to go back to Delhi after having almost made it to a hostel! It felt like a cruel joke - arriving in the city, away from parents and home, almost buying a bucket and mug and getting a local number, only to go back to living at home and attend a university I had dreamed of. At another, I wondered if Development was a better course to pursue in terms of career and job prospects. Any argument that came to mind would be silenced by 'But it's JNU!' - something that obviously makes all the sense in the world. At the same time, I was expecting certain other names on the list - of friends who I thought deserved to be there and with whom I would have loved to share the JNU experience.
And so, instead of spending two years in Bangalore, I ended up spending one week which turned out to be an awesome vacation.
Also, it was tough to make of what friends thought of this achievement of mine because their principal concern seemed to be about the good food at the dhabhas at JNU. "You'll now have crazy canteens twice in your academic life, man! WOW :D", said a friend. People began making 'Chai scenes' with me - to which I reluctantly agreed to since I am a coffee person (but I realise that I may be becoming a campus-chai-drinker in the making).
There were others who would simply tell me that they have seen Raanjhana. I would nod or say okay, cool, I haven't. Of course, the tragic incident of 31st July on campus got older people to tell me to be careful who I spoke to or who I smiled at, you never know what could trigger an axe-attack.
As I type out this post, I am only about a week old, or essentially 4 days old in JNU (I'll tell you why it's only been 4 days). There is stuff that I had heard of before starting classes. There were certain things I wondered about, was curious about. And the general tone of this post probably comes across as one that is overly enthusiastic and in rhomba too much awe of the University. Perhaps there is no need for such a pedestal love for JNU, yet or ever. Maybe this will wear off in the coming weeks. And so, as I explore JNU - academically and otherwise - I will try and post regularly about how it is working out to be.
At the end of week 1, my mood is enthusiastic and keen on exploring the culinary side to the campus - after all, not everyone seems to be blessed with two crazy amazing canteens twice in their academic life.
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