The Bottom Feeder’s First Term

    It is said that when Socrates first entered the Acropolis in Athens, he was dazed by beautiful marble sculptures and the majestic statue of Athena, the patron goddess. But since he was a philosopher, he remarked “Human beings feed on illusions”. St. Stephen’s College is no Acropolis, and I am no Socrates. Yet, I was dazed and shattered by the sudden realisation that I was a ‘no-body’. I was a doubly doomed sciencie and dayskie, and so a bottom feeder in the complex food chain of Stephania. After a few uneventful weeks, in which I was barely glanced at by the contemptuous eyes of seniors, I realized that I was not even worth ragging in this new eco-system dominated by shake-soc’ians and deb-soc’ians. I started on a quest to write a new history on the weathered bricks of this institution. A quest to become analogous to the smell of hot sams and the sight of scampering squirrels. The quest is difficult. In my battles, I was bombarded by jargon that failed to register in my mind - is it good to be ‘shady’? There are new definitions of cool (they don’t even call it that anymore). I confronted a plethora of attitudes that would ‘pearl harbour’ any shreds of self esteem. My classes that take place in a dark uninhabited (by the artsies that is) abyss which is called the science block. ‘Cannon to the right of me....cannon to the left of me’. I moved on waging numerous battles. The battle of debsoc. The battle of shake-soc. The battle of ‘I am so desperate, please be my friend’. Some days I won. Some days I lost. But every day, I dissolved into this giant concentrated (I am a science student after all) solution of Stephania. Unknowingly, I became a part of this wonderful harmony of emotions, traditions and aspirations. The process had begun. Soon, like all the past and present students of the college, I will be synonymous with St. Stephen’s and it shall be reflected in me. Before tears roll down from the eyes that read this, let me be your tissue (believe me, this sounded good when I first thought of it). Sometimes, I still sit under the dhaba tree and look at the people  who run this college, and look at myself who has yet to accomplish much. I question myself in the words of a very corny advertisement, ‘What’s he got that I ain’t got?’, and silence follows. So I, like a prudent observer in this ‘dog eat dog’ world, console myself with the words: ‘Human beings feed on illusions’.

Astitva Chopra
 I B.Sc. General (Computer Science)