Dear Junior,
The name Presidency College invokes a rather wide array of emotions in me. Even today as I walk through that gate or climb up those stairs, history whispers to me tales from a glorious past, a splendid heritage inspires reverence. I have been lucky to be taught by some of the best teachers at Presidency. That I could ever sit in a classroom, where the likes of Prof. Taraknath Sen and Prof. Bhabatosh Dutta ever taught, overwhelms me. Yes, I am a very proud Presidencian! Presi was my first citadel of freedom. Be it good or bad, whatever I am today has much to do with those two years I spent there.
I also know of another Presidency; a dim and dark dungeon where a girl, about your age was most thoroughly brainwashed. The thought of this Presidency makes me go numb in fear! Let me share her story with you. Once there was this inexperienced and foolish young girl who wanted to usher in positive changes overnight. Her restlessness made her vulnerable. Thus started a process to indoctrinate her with a dreadful ideology. Her seniors (some of them are now in Police custody) whom she looked up to would give her left radical literature to read. She would be taken to Naxalite congregations. Her faculty for reasoning however had not totally subsided, she could still see through their insincerity, but she would be snubbed off every time she tried to voice her doubts. Her logics would be deemed as ‘inherent reactionary tendencies’. As it happens, after a point she gave in. She somehow stood convinced and even before she realized it herself; she was editing pamphlets for the PCAPA. That girl was I. When the chief minister in her imperfect English tries to put it across that frontal organizations of underground groups are active in the elite institutions of the city, she is speaking the truth and I know it from my experience.
The name Presidency College invokes a rather wide array of emotions in me. Even today as I walk through that gate or climb up those stairs, history whispers to me tales from a glorious past, a splendid heritage inspires reverence. I have been lucky to be taught by some of the best teachers at Presidency. That I could ever sit in a classroom, where the likes of Prof. Taraknath Sen and Prof. Bhabatosh Dutta ever taught, overwhelms me. Yes, I am a very proud Presidencian! Presi was my first citadel of freedom. Be it good or bad, whatever I am today has much to do with those two years I spent there.
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| Image Courtesy: IBN Live |
I also know of another Presidency; a dim and dark dungeon where a girl, about your age was most thoroughly brainwashed. The thought of this Presidency makes me go numb in fear! Let me share her story with you. Once there was this inexperienced and foolish young girl who wanted to usher in positive changes overnight. Her restlessness made her vulnerable. Thus started a process to indoctrinate her with a dreadful ideology. Her seniors (some of them are now in Police custody) whom she looked up to would give her left radical literature to read. She would be taken to Naxalite congregations. Her faculty for reasoning however had not totally subsided, she could still see through their insincerity, but she would be snubbed off every time she tried to voice her doubts. Her logics would be deemed as ‘inherent reactionary tendencies’. As it happens, after a point she gave in. She somehow stood convinced and even before she realized it herself; she was editing pamphlets for the PCAPA. That girl was I. When the chief minister in her imperfect English tries to put it across that frontal organizations of underground groups are active in the elite institutions of the city, she is speaking the truth and I know it from my experience.
