VidYouth

It was a pleasant Tuesday morning when students headed to the college, geared up for work after a long spell of “holidays”. Soon, the lecturers were giving enthusiastic lectures to the students, trying to inspire them to be more creative and students in turn, were absorbing whatever they could from the lectures. The aftereffects of leisure were evident from the hunger for work. The students were not even drowsy with the lectures when, suddenly, the whole college was startled by a group of people screaming at the top of their lungs. The screams slowly turned into slogans as they progressed from class room to class room with a deafening “JAI TELANGANA” booming from them.

The class rooms and staff rooms were vacated and locked before the students were forced to come out of their class rooms before any violence could take place. Some students were forced to join the group to scream their way to glory with ‘JAI TELANGANA’ while others were forced out of the building, not even being allowed to loiter in the corridors. Some students waited anxiously outside the college building for the classrooms to re-open as they had their bags, money and the most important of all the vehicle keys locked in there! Some became human walls against their vehicles to protect them from the ‘possible’ damage. The road to freedom was not even in the scene.

Locked Up Classroom. Credit: Whacked out Brain

The reason for this bandh was being flashed as ‘breaking news’ all over on the news channels- A student had committed suicide for the cause of Telangana state formation. “I personally feel that such agitations must be stopped. I have seen such things happening on T.V. But today I got absolutely terrified seeing all this happen right in front of my eyes. All the students were made to leave the building and wait outside which I felt was utter waste of time,” says Karishma Adhia, a 3rd year Fine Arts student from JNA&FAU

Things returned to normal when the police arrived (after the climax as usual) and the hope for the classes being re-opened revived. The classes did re-open but the lectures weren’t conducted. The students were more than happy to retrieve their belongings and head towards the rescue. What’s more? With policemen playing cricket with students, it was the most pleasing sight to see students relax and chit chat around the campus, enjoying chai-nashta in the canteen. College life was never so much fun! “We come to the college, pretty sure about the fact that it won’t be long when we get another set of holidays,” says Nidhi Inani, a 3rd year student at JNA & FAU.

Right Hand Fast Bowler. Credit: Whacked out Brain

“We are so used to this kind of schedule now, all thanks to the Telangana bandhs,” continues Nidhi. The home environment is nothing compared to the professional working environment of an educational institution. “I have to admit that I’m not doing much work at home. I have become lazy moreover because of the absence of workaholic surroundings that we have in college. There’s absolutely no competitive spirit. It feels like we are working hard for nothing,” says Gunjan Ashtaputre, a 2nd year Applied Arts student. “The quality of our work has deteriorated due to lack of practice because of this,” adds Japheth Paul, a 3rd year student.

While the academic performance goes for a toss, the students are worried as the news of extension of their semesters for 6 more months are making rounds. Clearly, this will be like a waste of one academic year. “My plans to do my Masters have gone down the drain. I’m keeping my hopes high that they’ll conduct the exams on time,” says Priyanka Aelay, a 3rd year Painting   student. After a long gap, the college had just started getting full attendance and there comes another bandh. Students living in different parts of Andhra Pradesh found it difficult to commute from their districts to Hyderabad.

Some might find this vicious “bandh” circle traumatizing, but the free spirit prevails. Now a bandh is nothing but just-another-holiday for the students. With mostly no homework on their hands, the students are now assigned with only one job – HAVING FUN! “There’s no point worrying over something you are totally helpless about. One might as well make the most of it,” concludes Nidhi.