Faces

Interview day: Among the new faces, one was extremely alluring. She was a namesake of an Indian beauty pageant winner but was more beautiful than her. Of course, that time i was committed and I didnt have any excuse or willingness to flirt with her. And another thing which was stopping me was the fact that she was almost a 6 footer and was quite charming to not to be proposed before or not to be engaged at that time. As these thoughts clouded my mind (Note: without any intentions to lech), we picked up a conversation which veered around the time tested and 1000 times heard prospects of journalism and stuff about it. She was working with some channel in Mumbai at that time and said that she was very casual about ACJ. It wouldnt matter to her if she did not get through. Anyways, She didnt and I dont know whether it mattered to her or not. It sure didnt matter to me. Also because, later on I heard from a common friend of that girl and mine that she was once knocked-up. There was another girl from Calcutta at whom almost all the men in our college leched about afterwards. Another bengali girl from Pune became a good friend later on, more so as she went on to replace my room buddy's girlfriend and become a source of my inconvenience whenever I strolled in my buddy's room in shorts and tee. There was another bong from Asansol, at whom I looked and made up my mind to make her my sis in college. Well, i coudnt help. She looked so much like a sis. Maybe that's the reason why I almost made up my mind to hit out when a drunken bastard on chennai street teased her, when i was interrupted by my friends. There was another guy who later on went on to become one of closest roomies and i still miss him a lot-the quintessential F-1 expert and a know all about business. He is working with reuters now and is being paid a whopper. He was a guy's guy, really and is currently mending a broken heart due to a girl whom I never thought would be a perfect choice for him. There was another guy, a passout from jadavpur university who I hoped would make it to the college as he was turning into a friend. But he didnt. In the midst of all this sat a mouse-faced guy, smiling at everyone from a distance but never opening his mouth to utter a single word. I felt weird and he didnt looked like a bong, though he was one from Silchar. He turned out to be one of my best friends in ACJ and arguably, the best guy in our college. When I was ushered into the longish room, with a longer table and men and women with even longer and well fed faces, I was a little taken aback seeing the sight of around 8 to 10 people sitting opposite me and the thoughts of them trying to grill me after a few seconds. But then they were sweet and they believed that I was made for television-a thought that did not for once crossed my mind in the last 20 years. I was aghast and said that I want print and only print. But later on, I was offered television and within a few months I found myself fumbling with a microphone in front of a camera which looked like a scary sten gun. But then, such was the environment and our instructor and the ringing faith in me of the teachers, that soon I began to love the medium.

I still remember the interview day distinctly, a day which was a sort of prelude of things to come in an eventful and learning period of 10 months.