The Journey: Six Years In The Life Of A Neristian
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About this ebook
Reviews:
“Fantastic effort! You have really brought back the memories of those Golden days.....”
....Surajit Bhattacharjee
Director (RE & AM) at Utiba, New Delhi.
“Gave me wings and took me back to those fun filled bygone days!..”
Dilip Malla Buzarbaruah
Chief Technical Officer, Vodafone, Bangalore
“Thanks for that jog down memory lane. It really made wonderful reading and left me with a lump in my throat...”
A Rahman (Xufy)
Consulting Engineer, Washington, D.C.
“Made me relive those wonderful student days again and momentarily made me forget my present surroundings. An excellent literary effort!...”
Subhendu Dey Choudhury
Technical Director.
NIC, Dept. of Information Technology, MCIT, New Delhi
“A journey to remember and cherish for all our lives!...”
Asif Khair
Founder & CEO, Techvictus, New Delhi
“A superb portrayal of a memorable period of our lives. Great piece of writing!...”
Bijoy Bora
Co-Founder, Zaloni.Com, San Francisco
“The book definitely takes us down the memory lane and reminds us of those wonderful carefree days..”
Partha Dutta
Sr. Pipeline Engineer at SHELL, Bangalore
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Book preview
The Journey - Jayanta Goswami
The Journey:
Six Years in the Life of a Neristian
Jayanta Goswami
Notion Press
5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane,
Chennai - 600 005
First Published by Notion Press 2014
Copyright © Jayanta Goswami 2014
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN: 978-93-84391-45-4
This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher disclaim the responsibility.
No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Foreword
North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) is a well known technical institute for higher education, located at Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh. Established in 1984, it is a deemed university, functioning under the ministry of human resource development, department of education, Govt. of India. The first batch of students were enrolled in the institute in 1986.
I was fortunate to have been a part of this first ever batch of NERIST students and I have always considered my six years in NERIST as the golden period of my life. Here in this book, I have made a humble attempt to capture the magic of those memorable years in the form of a short memoir entitled THE JOURNEY : SIX YEARS IN THE LIFE OF A NERISTIAN
, followed by eight more short stories of various genres. If, by reading this book, a Neristian, irrespective of his or her branch of study and year of passing out, fondly recalls his or her own days at the institute, and in the process of doing so, feels invigorated and encouraged to meet his or her current situation in life with more courage and conviction, I will consider my efforts a grand Success.
Finally, I am grateful to the Notion Press team led by Yamini Shekar and Prithvee Ravi for their painstaking effort in bringing out this book.
For,
Little Mishka!
This book is dedicated to all NERISTIANS...
past, present and future...
Prologue
In the timeless, boundary less immensity of eternal space, the earth is but a speck of dust. Yet this is the place we humans call our home. Where, every year, millions of man and woman are born, grow up to go to school and college, marry, raise kids and eventually die.
In the year 1986, about a 100 such individuals were pulled by their respective destinies to a small, sleepy village called Nirjuli in Arunachal Pradesh, located in the picturesque foothills of the Himalayas, at the easternmost corner of that great nation : India.
This is their story.
Contents
Title
Copyright
Foreword
1. The Journey : Six Years in The Life of A Neristian
Prologue
Module I : Certificate
Module II : Diploma
Module III : Degree
Epilogue
2. Two Little Flowers
3. The Supari
4. A Trip to Nowhereland
5. Close Encounter at Dawn
6. Showdown at El-kaso
7. The Quest
8. The Voyages of the Starship Veterans :
9. The Circus
Module I : Certificate
1986 – 88
Arrival
Nirjuli.
5.30 A.M., July 12th, 1986.
The Blue-hills night super from Guwahati slowly cruises to a halt on the smooth highway. Three sleepy characters drop out of the bus and collect their luggage from the back.
The door closes, the bus moves off and is soon out of sight.
An all pervading silence greets the three travelers. There is not a single human being or animal to be seen anywhere. The dawn is breaking, but darkness is still there. Beautiful green trees and fields surround them on all sides. Far away to the west, standing proudly tall in the sky, are the foothills of the great Himalayas, their tops obscured by lazy white mists.
A lone dog barks in the distance. On one side of the road, one or two bamboo huts can be seen. On the other side, set amidst the omnipresent greenery, the main gate of a campus, enclosing a few RCC buildings can be seen. A blue and white iron signboard near the main gate proclaims in bold letters :
North Eastern Regional Institute Of Science & Technology.
Nirjuli. Itanagar. Arunachal Pradesh-791109
...which is the destination of our three travelers.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone is approaching them. As he comes closer, the visage of a happily smiling labourer can be seen. He is singing some obscure bhojpuri song and his hands are engaged in the perpetual activity of making Chadha or chewing tobacco.
Khaini Ba ?
…Dr. Munin Sarma, the eldest of the three newcomers, could not resist himself, being a longtime connoisseur of tobacco. The face of the newcomer breaks into a wide smile, as he proffers a generous portion of the tobacco to Doctor Saab. As he moves off, he sings even louder.
Our first acquaintance in Nirjuli – says Prabhu to Madhu, who agrees smilingly.
The Signboard
As they stepped inside the NERIST campus for the very first time in their lives, the three newcomers were overcome with a sense of all pervading desolation. Madhu gave voice to their feelings : what a lonely place !... The other two nodded their heads in silent agreement.
Having come from the small city of Guwahati, they were accustomed to the noise, heat, dust and the daily hustle and bustle, characteristic of any densely populated area. Though they did not want to admit it openly, all three had started feeling homesick already. With a heavy heart, they moved on towards the boy’s hostel block at the back of the main Institute building, along the graveled and dusty road.
Those beautiful roads...!
When they entered the hostel building, not a single soul were to be seen anywhere around. Most of the rooms were under lock and key and hence unoccupied. Only a few rooms were locked from inside and a few gamochas or towels hung in the clotheslines in front of those rooms. Prabhu wondered aloud ; Is there no chowkidar here ?
As if to answer him, a bespectacled fellow in white shorts and white Rupa ganjee, with a red flower patterned gamocha hanging from his shoulder, appeared from somewhere inside the building and started to approach them. As he came near them, they could see him furiously brushing his teeth.
Prabhu repeated his question about the chowkidar. The newcomer replied through a mouthful of Colgate paste : " No thowkidal, but caletakel ith thele...! ( No chowkidar, but care taker is there !)…
As the three guests struggled to decipher this peculiar dialogue, the fellow in white shorts ran off inside the building and returned a few minutes later with his face washed and displaying a bright and friendly smile : Hi, I am Bijoy ! Where are you from ?
The three guests introduced themselves and were shown to the caretaker’s office by Bijoy. After the necessary formalities, they were allotted a room in the hostel, to be shared by prabhu and Madhu.
Thus, the foundation of a wholly new and exciting life was laid on that day, in the life of the two young boys- Prabhu and Madhu .
Dr. Munin Sarma, the eldest of the three newcomers, and also the brother of Madhu, having seen his wards well settled in the hostel, and also having done the academic registration formalities at the Institute during the day, decided to leave for Guwahati, that very evening. As he boarded the lone Blue-Hills bus, the same one which had brought them to NERIST that morning, and bade them goodbye, the feeling of desolation and homesickness deepened in the hearts of the two boys. From somewhere in the depths of his memory, a popular old song passed through Prabhu’s mind..." Sometimes,
I feel like a motherless child…!!"
II. Settling Down
Slowly, very slowly, the feeling of sadness and homesickness started to reduce and then vanished altogether, as the two boys started to make new friends and realized that, for the very first time in their young lives, they were far away from home and Without any parental control at all...
During those first memorable days, their universe consisted of the Institute building with it’s few class rooms and