Memoirs Part 2

As soon as X entered the room, the cold hit him, literally too. Prof. Y was on the phone talking with someone and curtly pointed to the chair in front of his huge table. X obediently took the chair. Not wanting to worsen the situation, he lowered his head humiliatingly and kept staring at his own fingers. Time seemed frozen. The banter on the phone extended to eternity.

And then as abruptly as things had happened all day, Dr. Y hung up and asked X, ‘Mr. X, How do you find the courses here? Are they up to your standard?’ X thought of the damage control mode he had decided to adopt. So he just looked at Y pleadingly. Y stressed, ‘What are your thoughts on my course and International Marketing? Write them down on this sheet.’

X took the sheet obligingly and stared at it. His thoughts were racing. Should he write anything at all, the least now he wanted was to make Y more furious? So he timidly started writing the course names. Y was waiting with his hands folded. Seeing that, X timidly started writing.

Good structure and content. Case studies extensively discussed. Live strategy games could be held to make the class more interesting.

X now wondered what made him write that last point. Why is he habitually pointing out things? Will he ever change? Maybe the dressing down today will achieve that. He meekly extended the sheet forward. And then something hit him on the face. He was surprised although he expected anything to happen. Then he realized it was another sheet of paper. He slowly picked it up. It was THE FORM.

Y spoke calmly, ‘I had to study all the handwriting in the answer papers to zero down on the one who wrote this. Now what made you write this?’

X was wondering if that was really a question or just figurative. So as always he kept quiet.

‘I have had some mistakes pointed out in feedback forms. In fact there were 5 negative forms from your class, but nothing this outrageous’, said Y, still very calm and restrained.

X was still pondering if at all he should say anything. X went through his form again to get a grasp of things he was hearing. Then he noticed the word, ‘FAMILY’. What made him write it? Who in their right senses would have mentioned that in the feedback form of an academic course?

X had his reason as always. X had had his share of trouble with Prof Y prior to this. Once he had rejoined college 2 days late as his dad was due to fly back home then. His father told him that he will call up the administrator. X had insisted, ‘This is no primary school dad, I can handle it’, thinking of how much an arse he will be made to be by Y in class, after his dad’s call. But X, to his rude shock was awarded 4 DGPs (Derogatory Award Points) for joining two days late. And as the trimester progressed he found that people were joining weeks late. But the only thing they did right was they were in Y’s good books. And meanwhile Prof. Y was rescheduling all his classes to take a break and go home.

DGPs are awarded in extreme breaches of code of conduct. If one gets 8 of them, they are duly asked to forfeit the course. Y had sarcastically remarked when awarding the DGP’s, ‘What if you had started out of home and then wandered away and then joined late. This will teach you a lesson.’ X was slipping away in his thoughts. But this was no time to think of all of that. He needed to imagine something good about Prof. Y so as to have a real pitiful expression. He knew he could not fake his feelings now.

Dr.Y ’s voice brought him back to reality, ‘What is your CGPA Mister? What makes you think that you are eligible to advise me, when the toppers have all given me a good review? Tell me, what is you CGPA?’

X was cornered now. He did not recall his CGPA. 20 years of education and thousands of scores. How can anyone remember them all? He tossed between 3.1 and 3.3. Trying to be modest, ‘Sir, it is 3.1’.

Dr. Y was getting hysterical. X could clearly see the signs. X was wondering where was all the usual nervousness he had had during interviews in the past. Strangely, he was feeling quite calm unlike the other side of the table.

Dr. Y screamed, ‘What makes you think, you can do this and get away with it? Do you know my history? If this thing happened anywhere else, you no longer will be alive. I studied in Loyola in Chennai. You should know about its notoriety. How long have you lived in a metro? You have no idea about the kind of contacts I have.’

X was stupefied. How can anyone kill someone for writing a feedback form? Under the influence of his new found temperance, he was even laughing at the irony of the statement. If it really gets down to it, he was wondering who would be in a better position. A college guy or a man 10 years into teaching?

‘You had no right to say anything about my family, forget the teaching part which is also false by the way’, shouted Dr.Y. X now made up his mind to answer. ‘Sir, I never thought any faculty member goes through these feedback forms. I just wanted to sound funny to my friends. Nothing in it, I ever meant’, said X politely, knowing that it dint even convince him. And as expected it fell on deaf ears.

‘Even those DGPs have not helped. Now I would not punish you. I will let you go and I never want to see you again. Don’t attend my lectures. I will give you an A in Business Management. Don’t even come anywhere near my classes’, barked Y.

‘Sir, I am sorry, I never meant any of it’, pleaded X.

‘Do you know what I can do to your career? Just one minute, and you would be a loser even before you start’, said Y, snapping his fingers demonstrating the fickleness of X’s career. X was wondering if he should have used the college fee and started a kirana store rather than joining here.

‘Now get lost out of here. You will get an A. Don’t come to my class. I will make sure you repent for this, till you leave this place’, said Y tapping THE FORM.

X rose out of the chair, turned his back and walked out of the room with a sheepish grin across his face. What more could he have asked for? An A, full attendance, a one on one with the boss and special treatment for the rest of his college years. He took out his mobile and dialed. He sure had a grand tale to tell her.