Looking back through the rearview mirror, the journey of life of NIT Silchar had brought me with the history. It was just yesterday that all happened and it’s nothing but a history now. Well Karma, Tempa and I were the first person to join this college, the first Bhutanese to be precise.
With the harrowing and arduous journey we landed on the place where no one had any idea of this Silchar. We were lost, in first place scholarship Division in Thimphu had no idea of Silchars whereabouts, forget that the people of Silchar had no idea of presence of NIT silchar (their biggest gem in here indeed), the auto driver would take us to all three universities of Silchar to cross check with the university that we were enrolled. At last we made it to the hidden university, exhausted mentally and physically. We had hard time registering, had longest sleepless nights at old guest house for four nights. After three days we were allotted the hostel, and we had to sleep on icy cold steel bed at hostel 7 without blanket and mattress. I wonder how long that night was. Those were our days. I cannot imagine how Karma walked into girl’s hostel, all alone in the horde of strangers.
We moved on as day’s passes. We would talk at times how happy we would be if we were to be joined by another batch of students from Bhutan. And the prayers answered. There came Sonam, Prem, Tandin and Dawa. We were so excited. We were mesmerized looking at their faces, the Bhutanese smiles. This enthrallment can only be understood by those who are in desperate need of company. We welcomed them, we run to and fro for their registration. Until they were allotted the hostels all four shared my room. It was 1202 of hostel 1 the oldest of all hostel perhaps of 1960’s. I for one didn’t want them to be at guest house spending sleepless night wishing to be dawn soon.
Our joy knew no bound when third batch of Bhutanese joined us. Phub, Dorji, Saran and Ugyen. All we knew was they were simple, kind in their heart and hard working. That was the first impression we had. And now that turns out to be last impression. Opps for Karma its god’s gift! Dorji Dema came to accompany Karma. It was one of the last wish that she had in college. 2012 came, and it was just like a blink of eye that the time rolled over so fast.
Three years had passed and our friends of fourth batch joined our hands in history of NIT Silchar. Kinley, Samten, Dawa, Sonam and Sangay. Its little late but we are proud to have you all. You all brought extra flavor to our lives in college. Big change is visible at the horizon for you all turn out to be stars among our foreign friends. We all landed up here by chance and randomly as stranger and now we are but an indispensable friend. And all we need is to nurture the fiber that bonds us as a friendship. From the dwindling number of three it turns out to be 16 Bhutanese as of 2013.
With the 11 Bhutanese students we became the founding member of BSA. Though our family of BSA is young and still had to scale long journey to gain its firm root in the soil of NIT Silchar, in our small way, within a short span of our togetherness, we have had great times, the bond of friendship we share, the trust we have, the sense of our togetherness has brought far and wide that we can’t imagine. We might not have done so great like in many other colleges in India and abroad, but we need to remind ourselves is we started with only 11 members, which is just one extra of minimum prerequisites as per the BSA guidelines. And the funds that we received were just enough to have a dinner one time. However we made use of it. We haven’t missed any losar and important historic days. At least we made a point to gather around and have meals together. On my part, I tried my best and tried hard to a good president though we were limited in numbers and funds.
Now as I handed over I believe that you all can do much more that what we have been at this stage because we have seen things around and experimented ourselves a lot. The kindnesses in heart, the humbleness in our duty, the generosity we possess, the sense of brotherhood we share make us the unique “Bhutanese”. And having said that we need to keep it in that way and we wish that you all to continue in same spirit. We are only small in number and there will be repulsive effect on us if we don’t understand each other. At times we may misunderstand, may get into mess of argument but it’s us who need to forgive and forget. With the threads of enmity at the end of tunnel it will ruin us only. Looking at nature of current great friends here in college it will never happen but we never know where the twist lies in our life. Time is striking, and it’s really sad that the first batch of Bhutanese will be leaving the college soon. We had been successful with your support and prayers and the same we have for you all.
I may forget the past, I may forget the landscape of Silchar, I may not find the ways to Vishal and Nahas at Big Bazaar in later life but I shall remember our togetherness here in college. Thanks for adding the beauty to the college. I owe my dear friends. I owe you Tempa and Karma. I am blessed and lucky to have you all.
With the harrowing and arduous journey we landed on the place where no one had any idea of this Silchar. We were lost, in first place scholarship Division in Thimphu had no idea of Silchars whereabouts, forget that the people of Silchar had no idea of presence of NIT silchar (their biggest gem in here indeed), the auto driver would take us to all three universities of Silchar to cross check with the university that we were enrolled. At last we made it to the hidden university, exhausted mentally and physically. We had hard time registering, had longest sleepless nights at old guest house for four nights. After three days we were allotted the hostel, and we had to sleep on icy cold steel bed at hostel 7 without blanket and mattress. I wonder how long that night was. Those were our days. I cannot imagine how Karma walked into girl’s hostel, all alone in the horde of strangers.
We moved on as day’s passes. We would talk at times how happy we would be if we were to be joined by another batch of students from Bhutan. And the prayers answered. There came Sonam, Prem, Tandin and Dawa. We were so excited. We were mesmerized looking at their faces, the Bhutanese smiles. This enthrallment can only be understood by those who are in desperate need of company. We welcomed them, we run to and fro for their registration. Until they were allotted the hostels all four shared my room. It was 1202 of hostel 1 the oldest of all hostel perhaps of 1960’s. I for one didn’t want them to be at guest house spending sleepless night wishing to be dawn soon.
Our joy knew no bound when third batch of Bhutanese joined us. Phub, Dorji, Saran and Ugyen. All we knew was they were simple, kind in their heart and hard working. That was the first impression we had. And now that turns out to be last impression. Opps for Karma its god’s gift! Dorji Dema came to accompany Karma. It was one of the last wish that she had in college. 2012 came, and it was just like a blink of eye that the time rolled over so fast.
Three years had passed and our friends of fourth batch joined our hands in history of NIT Silchar. Kinley, Samten, Dawa, Sonam and Sangay. Its little late but we are proud to have you all. You all brought extra flavor to our lives in college. Big change is visible at the horizon for you all turn out to be stars among our foreign friends. We all landed up here by chance and randomly as stranger and now we are but an indispensable friend. And all we need is to nurture the fiber that bonds us as a friendship. From the dwindling number of three it turns out to be 16 Bhutanese as of 2013.
With the 11 Bhutanese students we became the founding member of BSA. Though our family of BSA is young and still had to scale long journey to gain its firm root in the soil of NIT Silchar, in our small way, within a short span of our togetherness, we have had great times, the bond of friendship we share, the trust we have, the sense of our togetherness has brought far and wide that we can’t imagine. We might not have done so great like in many other colleges in India and abroad, but we need to remind ourselves is we started with only 11 members, which is just one extra of minimum prerequisites as per the BSA guidelines. And the funds that we received were just enough to have a dinner one time. However we made use of it. We haven’t missed any losar and important historic days. At least we made a point to gather around and have meals together. On my part, I tried my best and tried hard to a good president though we were limited in numbers and funds.
Now as I handed over I believe that you all can do much more that what we have been at this stage because we have seen things around and experimented ourselves a lot. The kindnesses in heart, the humbleness in our duty, the generosity we possess, the sense of brotherhood we share make us the unique “Bhutanese”. And having said that we need to keep it in that way and we wish that you all to continue in same spirit. We are only small in number and there will be repulsive effect on us if we don’t understand each other. At times we may misunderstand, may get into mess of argument but it’s us who need to forgive and forget. With the threads of enmity at the end of tunnel it will ruin us only. Looking at nature of current great friends here in college it will never happen but we never know where the twist lies in our life. Time is striking, and it’s really sad that the first batch of Bhutanese will be leaving the college soon. We had been successful with your support and prayers and the same we have for you all.
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2 comments:
We'll miss you guys.. lahiru You, karma & tempa were the only ones we had ..we'll never ever forget u..tnk u for being there 4 us..
thanks for your comments... sure we will miss you all too
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