Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Chronicles of Sathyabama - Part IV - (Placement)

It’s not that I really enjoy writing these posts about my life and times at Sathyabama because it reminds me of moments I want to forget. Trust me, if there is one thing in my life that I would like to change, it would be my grad college and if there is one mistake I regret the most, it’s filling up SIST on my list during AIEEE counselling 2004. I write these only to let the world know about the ugly place and the ugly faces that run it.

It might sound as if I am stretching things a bit too far. After all there were 1500 students in my batch, and 2000 in the one after that. Before me tens of thousands of students had received the degree with the same emblem printed on it and while I was there, the campus boasted of over 6000 students. I don’t know about anyone else but I certainly know one thing. Sathyabama tried to pull me back, push me deep and punch me hard. I don’t know how successful it was, but I do carry a few scars till date.

Chronologically the incident I am going to narrate here occurred much later in during my stint at the place but somehow I felt I should post it now because it says why I want to see the place destroyed and demolished and the people (the ones running it) there punished in the worst possible way.

I don’t remember the date exactly but if i am not wrong it was 18th of July 2007. We had just started with the 7th semester and it also marked the beginning of the placement season for us. That day we had appeared for the written test of the first company that visited our campus. I was as usual disinterested in anything to do with that place. So just a day before, I somehow got my passport photos done and had a new set of formals ready for interviews. It was about 4 o’ clock in the evening and we were waiting since 2 for the results to be declared. I saw my room mate Kartik calling me to one side of the half constructed auditorium. I went upto him and he told me that he had received a call from my mother. She had said that my dad is not well and is hospitalized but that he should give the news to me only after I reach back to my room. However he thought it would be better to let me know immediately as he could feel the panic in her voice.

Now this was the first time I had heard about my dad getting hospitalized and so I wasted no time in borrowing a cell and calling home. On picking up the call I heard my mom virtually breaking down on phone for the first time in life. She told me that dad had suffered a cardiac arrest and was undergoing angioplasty. For a moment I thought it was a nightmare and I wanted it to end right then. However moments later I realised that my mother is all alone in a city where we don’t have a single relative and few people to ask help from. If nothing, she needed a reassuring statement from me and while I spent the next 15 mins gauging the scene and making sure she takes care of herself, the first words I said were, “I will be there on the next flight to Baroda”.

It was decided. I had to be there as soon as possible. I discussed the whole issue with my roommates and we decided that I should appear in the interview the next day (I had cleared the written of course as declared at around 7 pm later that day) and leave on the next flight possible. Thanks to my dear friend Aditya, I was able to get a discounted ticket for 20th morning. Later in the night I was told my mom that by God’s grace, the angioplasty had been successful and things were under control. However I knew that she had had enough already to handle alone and I had to be there as soon as possible to take charge of things. So the next day i had to do two basic things –

1) Appear in the interview

2) Make sure that in case I don’t get through, I am permitted to skip the companies scheduled on the next few days and still remain eligible for placements when I return. (It was a rule in Sathyabama that one had to appear in all companies compulsorily unless he gets placed not abiding which would lead to ejection from the process)

Next morning after another reassuring conversation with my mother I was feeling much better and light headed. Dad was still supposed to be in the hospital for 4-5 days but was doing fine now.

So after appearing in the interview which went pretty fine, I approached the placement officer Mr. Arunachalam. He was initially too busy to listen to me. However, that was somewhat understandable. So I didn’t mind waiting. In the meanwhile I made sure I keep my part of the work ready. So I wrote an application and got it signed by my HoD. Later during the day, when I met him and told him my case along with the application, the first reply I received was –“No that’s not allowed!”

I said, “Yes sir, I know that’s not allowed under normal circumstances but under special circumstances there has to be some way out, right?”

He said,”Ya Ya I know I know! But I can’t simply allow that. Can you produce a proof? A medical certificate or something? Can you get a fax from your parents?”

Now I was beginning to lose it as I knew where this was going. I said, “Of course I will produce all that you require but how can I do that now? My dad is in hospital and Mom already has her hands full. How do expect me to get any of that now? I will submit all documents when I return.”

He did not seem convinced. I wonder what kind of person would ever have used such things as excuses. May be he himself, but somehow he wanted more assurance. But for what??? Bloody, proof for what??? It’s my life, my job. I should have every right to decide whether I want to sit for the company or not even otherwise unless of course it was a recession like in the current times. He told me to get permission from the Director.

Fortunately after an hour of waiting outside the Director’s office, I got my application signed by him. He was in a good mood. Thanks to the strike that had taken place a year earlier, at least this part of the job became easy otherwise this could well have proven to be the toughest thing because the Director was an unpredictable man with a skewed sense of logic.

So I was relieved now. I had the Director’s permission. Things should have been fine now. But how could the great Sathyabama book of rules allow that so easily. When I went back, I found a surprised Mr. Arunachalam ( surprised that I could get the Director’s sign) telling me,” Look Ma, I will try but cannot assure anything”

“Try? What’s there to try sir? I mean what else do you need? I have the Director’s permission too!! And you are the placement officer. It’s all upto you. Where does the word try figure in all this? Moreover, what’s really the problem here? Why is it so difficult for you to allow me?”

“See, the rule doesn’t permit me Ma. A Rule is a rule. It’s for everyone. Today you come to me for some reason, others will come with another. All have big reasons Ma. I have to handle so many such people. I don’t know how the Director signed this as this is not allowed at all under any situation. I will talk to him. Otherwise tomorrow he will question me only.“

“You’ll talk to him about what? To ask why did he sign my application? You mean he shouldn’t have? Sir, at least apply a little logic!! What am I supposed to do then?” I was losing it now. I just couldn’t believe what he had just said.

“OK OK...I am busy right now. I don’t have time. I said Ma, I will see...” and he left the place. And I gave a fuck to what he said. The next day I was off to home.

Fortunately, I never had to rely on his mercy. I got through the interview I had appeared in and after I returned I submitted all the proofs and documents for attendance purposes(then too under lots of questions over the authenticity and sufficiency of my documents though)

21 comments:

  1. All I can say is ...
    "Holy Cow"

    I still wonder how you guys have survived that place.

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  2. Bloody scoundrels, A$$***es, Bull-shits..add all the diction's u have for abuses..
    I can empathize with what happened!! it's like been there done that..
    " It was a Concentration Camp " .. no doubt abt it !!

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  3. hey buddy this blog would appear really appealing to folks who weren't a part of sist. i m also a student of sist, same batch of urs. there are loads of despicable issues in our college. but if you really take a hard look at a few of the rules, they are actually important to control the huge crowd of 6000 plus.
    And coming to your story,i sympathize with you, but you also know there for every true reason who are scores of people with false reasons who might ask for similar treatment...just try to look for the silver lining..its always lurks behind every black cloud....

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  4. @Charan:
    Reconsidering what u have said, all i can say is - you are welcome to express your opinions buddy...I believe i understand them and respect them
    I however, would still stick to mine...

    :)

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  5. i do remember wat kind of ass** they are...dont understand what do they get from all this crap...

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  6. zindagi ne diye zakhm kitne, jaanoo na...
    kitne hare kitne bhare, jaanoo na...


    i may have forgotten about some of my wounds....but those received in those four years are not sth easy to forget...

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  7. Anonymous12:36 PM

    Hey Gajab Khopdi,

    I was at Sathyabama girl's hostel between 1996 and 2000. I enjoyed reading every bit of your blog and having experienced it first-hand, I understand it all. Hats off to your responses. I loved them all.

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  8. @kiran - they get sadist pleasure...
    the feeling of extreme power and control over other human beings...

    @SrG - Yeah that one wound that might never heal

    @Anonymous Senior -
    Thanx for the appreciation...I hope more people come out and speak openly about Sathyabama....coz the very reason I reached there was because no one I asked never told me the negative side of it.....

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  9. Hi,i just want to clear one thing that all r not the same in sathyabam...but the problem is those who have the power to change the system dont have brains and no heart for feelings...

    I remember my first day in sathyabama...my parents took all the pains of travelling from surat to chennai and when we reached hostel gate the F*****g wathman stopped my mom at hostel gate and said that he has clear instructions from f*****g director that no female should be allowed to enter the boys hostel. As my parents had to return the same day we did not had time to meet and take permission from director so my mother waited at he hostel gate an my father helped me in arranging luggage in.

    i dont know what they think before making such kind of rules...but atleast they should be flexible. enough

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  10. yeh toh sai mein bacho ki jaan lenge...

    you cudnt beat them off thru your logical ans too??

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  11. Hey this is like online deja vu to me! More so, as I'm presently pursuing my degree and getting f***** at every turn!
    I think there are a few bas***ds in every college.... those guys who matter the most and who have no feelings in them whatsoever. And they derive this strange, crooked sadistic pleasure in fu****g up our lives whenever and however they can!
    I absolutely loathe them... Wish they jump down into hellfire or something...

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  12. WTF!!! Saale ko kaan ke neeche deta.. I can fully empathize with u bro.. was not far from u (read SASTRA) and trust me I guess my life was quite parallel to urs... almost similar stuffs happened .. n from that time I hate bloody southies..my 4 yrs journey of engg has been like hell

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  13. Anonymous11:04 AM

    Love your blog man. I am also a student studying in SatB(I refuse to call it by it's full name coz it's so blah). Entering my second year. If it's alright with you, I'd like to contact and stay in touch with you via e-mail since the few seniors I know are one dimensional, uncouth dumbasses.

    Like you I screwed up my AIEEE,JEE(rather I didn't bother going for coaching and studying for it like the rest of my friends) but I managed 89% in my boards. And for some reason I opted for this god-for-saken college. I'm aspiring to get into one of the IIMs but I'm getting really apprehensive about my chances coz so far my college resume doesn't read much. Any guidance on that and many other things will be hugely appreciated. What say?

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  14. @Shendu: Sure buddy...would be my pleasure to be of any help to you..
    you can catch me at
    jha.shashank@gmail.com

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  15. guys ur scarin me man!!!!!! i didnt join yet and am gettin shivveres!!!! yikes!!!! ok tell me about female public der!!!! hws it?? cant we even talk to the girls and spend a night out with friends and stuff???

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  16. Dude, I totally know what you are talking about. Back in Sep 2004, my ex-employer (India's largest company) had sent us for the initial training to Chennai. And guess where were the classes supposed to be held? Why, Sathyabhama of course!
    By the good grace of the flying spaghetti monster, we didn't have to stay there at least. The girls amongst us didn't have any such luck. Their accommodation was also in the concentration camp you had to call your college. Believe me, even those few hours we spent in the place attending the classes were a nightmare. Can't even think of having to survive four years there. Cheers!

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  17. Anonymous1:22 PM

    Kill this jpr ,director all the asshles motherfucker, burn him, throw him to hungry dogs,force feed the bastard shit,he's worst than north korea's dictator kim jong il, take a bat and smash his face 10000 times, his screams of pain would be music to the students who are violated and abused in his schools

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  18. Anonymous11:56 PM

    this arunachalam should die a dog's death

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  19. Anonymous9:17 PM

    Hi
    Very nice and intrestingss story.

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  20. Anonymous11:27 AM

    if that happens to me i'd surely find where he lives .. chop him to pieces and feed his deick to his mother hang his parts of the body outside the door ... dickfaced motherfucker..

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  21. Classic Sathyabama behaviour. Total Gestapo attitude. I was a student there from 1997 to 2001 and that's the only thing I would change if I had a chance to go back in time.

    Interesting to see that the place continues to be a concentration camp well after 2001.

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