A dream unfulfilled!! St Stephen’s and me…

It is something that i had been planning to write for long. Well, to a some extent this might have been pushed a bit too far because I had spent whole of my School life harboring dreams of making to St Stephen's and even if that meant studying English hons over there.

While all of my friends had been busy preparing for their entrance exams for various Engineering colleges, I had started dreaming about my grand entry to Stephen’s.

Not many people had heard about this great institution in Bihar because of a so call "Engineering mania" that has gripped this state for many years now.

Stephen's was a revered name in our family because my cousin (I hate him calling a “Cousin”, he is more than a brother to me..:)) had made it over there in early 90’s after topping the CBSE exams from Modern, Barakhamba.

I can clearly recall those days where I knew the name of every Sportsperson and Parliamentarian who had ever made it to St Stephen's .My bro would often ask me as to why I did this? I used to reply him

"I want to be like you and study at St Stephen's".

My relatives who had never heard of anything besides IIT's and NIT's and of course were not close to my cousin suddenly had something new to suggest to their children. But aha!! Hold on!!

Stephen's only gives you a general degree and not a professional degree like Engineering or MBBS.

"Stephen's ho ya Marie, dega to general degree hi na" I would just comment back at them "U would never understand it".

Things had gone to such a frenzy that all I did was only tried to concentrate on my Board exams and that too on the Chemistry papers (Chemistry was my favorite subject and only my realistic chance of making it over there and somewhere I knew one good day!! and I could score a cent percent in that subject while Math’s and Physics wasn’t something that inspired interest in me).

My Engineering entrance examinations had gone for a toss. Rest of my life hinged on the board papers. I had worked very hard at it, gave my best shot. I had done reasonably well in the Pre Board papers, getting a 100% in the Chemistry paper and suddenly when it came for the board papers, each and every paper was a disaster.

It still hurts today..:(. I wish I could blame anyone; life had pretty tough years stored in for me. My dreams came crashing down and I was down in the dumps only to recover 4 years from then on.

Post B.SC when I could not get in any of the B-Schools. I had applied for the M.SC course at St Stephen's and not any other Delhi Univ. college. Marks wasn't an issue here as I had topped my college for two continuous years.

I was shortlisted for the interview, and just for the heck of studying at Stephen's, I had decided to attend the interview also, only to abort at the last moment after my father and mother had started crying. They believed M.Sc had no future (perhaps they were right!!) and they always had this lurking fear that once i get in over there, it would be difficult for them to convince me against opting out.

I wanted my Sis to fulfill my dream, but she perhaps never understood me (anyways, she too would never have made to the Cut off’s over there).

I wish one day, when I am married and have my kids, I would like them to join this great institution.

U see, I am not asking much..:)