Spardha

Spardha 2007, the annual Sports Fest came as a well-deserved break from the daily quizzes and assignments. While the boys started sending out invites and nominating their names for different sports activities, the girls kept checking the list of probable participating colleges and teams.

While I was proceeding on the memory lane, “Rohit” flashed on the taskbar.
‘Lunch?’ he asked.
‘In 10 min’ I replied.
I was transported back to the college years when we ate in the last class before lunch just to wander in the lunch time.
That carefree and frivolous Rohit has become responsible now. The times when we had to remind him to have lunch are passé now.
Had things been the same then may be the pings I was receiving from him today would not have been possible.

The last day of Spardha 2007 was a game changer day both for the teams and few individuals.

A disagreement which finally led to a fight between teams and a massive upheaval followed.

The following day, the matter was brought to the management and the decision of suspension of people involved was taken. There was a mob protest by students in disagreement .The punishment was then changed to not let the student involved in the fight participate in any of the placement activities.
Rohit was one of them. While the faculty members and other students asked him not to stand for the students found guilty, he maintained his stand and chose to support his friends.

TCS had announced its registration process for placements in our college and Rohit was not allowed to register as per management instructions.

Negotiations and talks with the ED and other faculty members concluded with no fruitful results and registration were to close in 3 days.
I did not register hoping I would register once he gets a heads up from the ED.

Just few hours for the registrations to close and there came Rohit in the computer lab where we were sitting.
‘It’s a yes………….open the link and lets register’
We registered and started mugging up Barrons to clear the written round.
In no time the day reached and we cleared the written round.
Our interview was scheduled in the last slot of the day.
It was 9:30 pm and I went in for the interview .It went well and I knew I had nailed it.
I came out and I told everyone how it went.
Rohit sat at a distance and as he told me much later, he felt I was bragging: D
As I wished him luck and left for home without waiting for the results, I thought reaching this stage itself was a big achievement for him considering he was not allowed to sit for the entrance test.
It was 1:30 AM when my phone rang and the news of success was imparted to me.

My heart pounced as I asked “What about you Rohit”

“Yessssssssssssssss, I did it.”

I was overwhelmed and thought I was dreaming.

I did not sleep that night and memories of everything that happened so miraculously kept flashing.

I took out my tiffin box and proceeded to the cafeteria.

Rohit waited near the lift area as usual and we proceeded to join our friends for lunch.

Times change and so do people. Life is a Spardha (competition) indeed .
Everyone has some challenges and disparities in life at every stage . While some succumb and live with it others stand for what is right to make things, people and situations better.