I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned this in some earlier blog entry, but let me reiterate. My father was associated with my current place of “study” ( am laughing when I use the word ) over 2 years ago. And when choosing this college, it was a major fear of mine that played on mind and I guess I’ve become a clairvoyant and everything I sort of saw pretty much happened. Okay here goes.
On the joining day, the current head of admissions introduced my dad to everyone present in the audience as a professor who was associated with the college. And then he went on to do the worst thing ever, he calls me out and asks me to raise my hand. Apparently, this was to prove the sort of faith ex-faculty have in the college that they would subject their own offspring to the course. Anyway, I could pretty much see everything going downhill from there, downhill like a train on the top of a hill gaining momentum and you’re tied to the tracks at the bottom.
Thanks to the brilliant power of misinformation, the students sort of came to understand (misunderstand) that my dad still works here. Now different versions of the story seem to be making the rounds. One version is that my dad is the head of the placement committee; hence I am going to get the best company and pay. Another, that he’s the marketing prof, which is why I am choosing marketing, and would be topping the subject. All of these are untrue. I know they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but they are wrong. I would rather do with the sort of publicity which states – Nikhilesh is always smiling because he eats warm fuzzy cute kittens for breakfast and adorable bunny rabbits for dinner all while drinking blood….rather than be seen as the guy who’s on the side of the management.
People who know me can imagine my angst when I discovered the stories. I quite literally blew my top off and screamed at some of the girls for making the allegation. (Score Nikhilesh..score!) Well, I guess the rumour is slowly turning into the truth and more and more people are realizing that what ever bonds I might have had with the college were severed 2 years ago.
Now, here’s another part of the problem. Men like my father have this tendency to leave a mark wherever they go. And the man is fairly revered by all here. And it’s completely justified. But then, there is this unfortunate bit of having the expectations spillover on to me. Everyone expects me to be my father. And so does my father. Hello ???? I am me !!! While the apple does not fall far from the tree, I do have a lot of habits of the paternal unit, but at the end of it all, I am me and there is no way I can hope to emulate my dad in every respect. For example, I like accounting, but not enough to ace it. Am sure my dad would have aced the paper without the “ Know-it-all” arrogance with which I go about my world. And after getting a not so acceptable results in the mid-term, I feel almost as though my father may disown me for ever making such fundamental accounting mistakes. Needless to say, when the scores were reported over the phone, there was a very long silence followed by, “ speak to your mother.” And then I think I distinctly heard a vein pop in my dad’s forehead.
Anyway, I think I have to get used to this. There is not much I can do about status quo. I could continue yelling at more people that my dad isn’t around the college. But the hard truth remains that he will be around. Reports of me missing class, not submitting assignments, etc will be reported promptly. Even the profs who have discovered this fact are keeping a close watch on me. I have no intentions of informing the others of this fact. That would just drive my closer to the edge of suicide. And alas, I have to watch my every move as Big Brother is watching…not a step out of line. Owing to this, I decided not to join the student committee owing to the fact that it will become a fairly ‘confrontational’ committee and the management might see me as one of them rather than one of the students. Oh well! C’est la vie !!! Life just keeps getting more awesome by the minute.
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