Whenever I had to go to college to attend classes, I had only sufficient money needed for the bus fare. When we used to wait for the city bus to come, there was a samosa stall. Once it was raining heavily and we were waiting for the bus. We had samosa and chai there, believe me I could not pay for the samosa also. Usually my friends paid for that but sometimes I contributed. There were no mobile phones and mom used to wait for me till I came back from college. Even for the examinations also I faced a lot of problems. The examination used to start at 7.30 am, and Jagdeep bhaiya used to drop me there so that I could reach there on time. He has a big role in our life and is as our guardian. He is a gentle person. After examinations were over, I went with Raju to collect mark sheets and migration certificate. Raju told me not to select same college for post-graduation.

There was an entrance examination for getting a seat in post-graduation in our city but I didn’t stand a chance. I failed to make it there. Then there was one of my friend Aashima, whose father was there in the same college as a Chemistry lecturer. I went to him, he said you could go for MA (Mathematics). I told him that it would spoil my certificate, M.Sc. carries more weight. There was very tough competition during those days. But after requesting him a lot in the end I got the admission there. But again, I didn’t get to attend college as I had to teach my students. There was a big rush for students at my place and I was under observation by my locality members as some of them used to count the money that I was earning during that time. There were nine books in total of Mathematics which I had to study. I had planned a schedule for regular study of mathematics. At around 3pm my teaching started and till 8pm it was over. That meant I had to study early morning and afternoon as I didn’t get any time for my own studies. I was habitual of taking a nap in the afternoon which I still enjoy.

I remember in the first year of M.Sc., I was coming back after giving the exams. A boy took the same city bus from college till last stop which I took, then he sat in the same auto rickshaw. After that where I left the auto his stop was also same. I thought he was following me. But no, he was also living in the same area and was my classmate. I didn’t knew this as I was not regular to the college. As my examinations for last year were over, I decided to look for the job of a teacher. And I thought that I would appear for the entrance of B.Ed. By that time Honey has also done his class XII. We both had done a one year diploma in Computers. Aptech Institute was very famous in those times but our financial position was bad so we did it from a private institute only. A gentleman used to run an institute at his place after he attended his job. We did the course there. Honey was master as he had done Accounting from there and he has a good command on this subject. I had learnt typing and shorthand for a month and then I left. I had decided to go for MSc Computers but as it did not create any interest and I selected Mathematics as my specialization.

image courtesy: perfecthometutions.blogspot.com