That
night I could not sleep well. Two things were agitating my mind. The first one
was that I was unable to unburden my parents of my expenses; the second was
that I could not get any reward for securing the fourth rank in the PUC
examination. I went on thinking about the next move I had to make. Suddenly an
idea flashed to me.
As
already mentioned by me Chandramouli Rao of Hulgar was the man behind the
establishment of college in Sringeri. He was very proud that the college had
come up very well within a year of its establishment. He was also very well
aware that my securing of rank had made the college very popular in the entire
Malnad and the surrounding places. The Principal and Shankar Rao had repeatedly
told me that Rao was very happy with my performance. Since I had been let down
very badly by the Principal, I thought that I should meet Rao once and brief
him about my predicament.
Next
evening I straightaway went knocking at the doors of Rao. He used to live in
his palatial ancestral house in the Hulgar village close to Sringeri town. He
also had another house at Sringeri close to the Mutt. Part of his family stayed
here for the purpose of education of their children. Rao used to spend major
part of his day time at this house. I was allowed in to his office room. He had
a gigantic personality and commanded respect. He received me with great warmth.
He praised my performance and congratulated me for the laurels I had brought to
his beloved college.
He
could make out that I had come to him with certain grievance. He asked me to
tell him what exactly my problem was. I explained to him that the Academy had
let me down very badly. He asked me the reasons for my going to the Academy in
the first place. I told him that my whole problem was the payment of hostel
fee. He simply asked me to straight away walk in to the hostel. I was also told
to inform the hostel warden that my payment of fee would be taken care of by
Rao himself!
Without
losing any further time I went and met the hostel warden. I have already
mentioned earlier that many new lecturers had joined the college in the second
year. The first and foremost among them was N B N (Narasimha) Murthy. He was
affectionately called NBN by his
students. He was an M A in English literature. He had already served the
Academy at Bhuvanendra
College
NBN was a bachelor at that time and the
position of hostel warden was thrust upon him by the Principal. I had already
reached a high comfort level with him. Later I became very close to him. If I
have to mention one teacher as my mentor it was NBN and NBN only. The
second one was Krishnappaiah, though he limited his role to his subject and in
guiding my education career only. NBN had a major role in guiding my personal
life also. Right then I was pleased to meet him and tell him what Rao had told
me. Of course I had to tell him the circumstances under which I had to knock at
the doors of Rao. He could understand my predicament very well. As it was
already late in the night, he asked me to join the hostel next day evening. He
also assured me that he would collect the fee directly from Rao and I need not
worry about the same. That was a major relief for me!
While
my struggle so far after securing the coveted rank appeared to be definitely
painful, I should also mention the positive side of the results of my
achievement. For the students who had joined the college that year, I had
become a hero. Many students were
curious to talk to me. Some of them were particular to know the strategy
adopted by me in securing the rank! I was indeed very proud to answer their
queries and enjoyed every bit of admiration shown by them for me. Many of these
outstation students had joined the college hostel. The news that I was joining
the hostel was received by them with great joy.
The
next evening I went to the hostel with my bag and baggage. One of the students
just snatched away my bag and told me that I was going to be his roommate!
Another boy disputed his statement and told me that the warden had told him
that I would be his roommate! I was at my wit’s end! But heart of heart, I was
enjoying this fight for my company!
The
arrival of the warden (NBN) at this
juncture put an end to the arguments. NBN
told me to occupy the room of the second boy. He immediately snatched my bag
from the first student and holding my hand took me to his room without any
further delay. It appeared that my occupation of a room had its own premium!
The
name of this boy was Nanjundaswami. He was from a place called Lingadahalli in
Tarikere taluk of Chickmagalore district. I could see his satisfaction in
having won the battle for getting me as his roommate! He told me that he had a
mission to fulfill! He had this great ambition to secure cent per cent marks in
mathematics. He was aware that I had achieved it. He just wanted to know the
strategy adopted by me to achieve this distinction! He told me that by getting
me as his roommate he had put his first foot forward in that direction! The
rest was simply in my hands! It was for me to ensure that my roommate could
also achieve the same milestone!
I
assured Nanjundaswami that I would definitely unfold to him the strategy
adopted by me. By that time other students were also eagerly waiting to meet me
and introduce themselves to me. All the students were in high spirits. I really
found the atmosphere in the hostel very conducive for studies. I was in great
company. I found the food in the hostel excellent. The Mallika-Mandir
management had indeed kept their brand name high in preparing tasty and quality
food. I thought the things had fallen in place at last for me. For the first
time I had time to think about B.Sc classes! My struggle for survival appeared
to have come to an end. A happy end at that!
------
(To be continued)
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