Rewind: Sathaye College

On my return to Mumbai it felt as if my vacation which had just gotten over was but a dream. It was back to the old routine. The same early morning class and studying. The only saving grace was Kewal’s company and the early morning drive to Pace which was the only exciting thing that managed waking both of us up (I yet remember Kewal’s face after the first one).

 It was now admission time with form filling and discussions about which junior college to choose and once again my decision was affected by Pace. Sathaye College was chosen as it was said that minimum attendance was required there and you could drop biology to take up electrical maintenance, a subject which didn’t require much of studying. The only drawback ( a major one) was the crowd sucked.

First day of college I am treated to the sight of a dingy classroom filled with more than a hundred students such that there is not even enough place to sit. Well actually that’s a boon as you wouldn’t even want to sit for the only empty place is next to a girl dressed in a salwar kurta who seems as if she wouldn’t understand a word of English and must have never heard of the word ‘waxing’ for one glance at her hand assured me that my arms didn’t even have half as much hair as hers.

Finally I found a place next to one of my school friends (also from pace) and try to settle in. The teacher starts to mutter something in Marathi which at first I try to comprehend and finally give up and instead look around my class to analyze how bad my situation is. I see a couple of guys from my school and feel a bit relieved, My eye is then caught by two girls sitting on the bench next to me who look familiar. Siddarth tells me they are Radhika and Sakshi. Again both from Pace and Sakshi is also from our school he tells me, wondering how come I didn’t know that. Well neither did I know that Radhika would go on to be one of my closest friends and Sakshi (whom I didn’t even know in school) would become my best friend. After this a visit to check out the canteen ends the first day of college.

So except for the jokes on the college and on how the canteen food was dangerous to ones well being (I don’t think that is a joke though) the first day had the potential to depress anyone coming from a non SSC background especially those with the dream that the two years of college would the most chilled out and happening years of their life.

 Note on Sathaye College: Sathaye College made in 1959 consists of two buildings (old one and new one) though no one has ever figured out how calling the new building was ever justified.

The classrooms seem as if they haven’t really been cleaned since a decade. The toilets can be smelled a mile away. The peons in the office never do anything when you go to them except for say some fancy Marathi words and tell you to come tomorrow as they don’t feel like opening the file right now. They are the moodiest specimens of the human race one will ever encounter. One of the chemistry labs make you feel as if you suddenly gone back hundred years in time when dark torture rooms with poisonous substances in glass bottles existed (the burner once blew up suddenly almost burning my face). The teachers generally try to compete with students in bunking class. The level of the English language paper was such that it could be aced by any fifth grader. The female NCC cadets advancing towards you with guns would be one of your worst nightmares. The canteen is an epic story in itself.

 You may feel that this note is a work of fiction and I must be hating the college. Well it isn’t and I don’t hate my college. It just wasn’t what I expected my college life to be and if it was not for the friends I made in college (kudos to Sakshi, Radhika, Devika, Sharmila, Sonal and Ashutosh) maybe I would have hated it but thanks to them it was worth bearing the college.

Also now after going to VJTI I think Sathaye college was way cleaner and the crowd better (at least it had some girls who could actually be called girls without insulting the rest of the fairer sex).