Whenever I feel bored, tired and feel like giving up even trying.. I see someone still moving. Like a fun friend.. an inexplicably innate inspiring influence… But most of all Utkarsh.. With you I feel I have a partner in crime. :p
It was like a perfect start. There are a few times in life when you get something completely unexpected, that makes you so happy…………………..t
hat words just fall short. Pure happiness.
It was one of those days. Teddy bhaiya(for the world he is “Ankush Sir), the person who made me fall in love with problem solving and programming, made me his TA.
I was still in that state of ecstasy, when I first saw him. I entered the class, and at the other end, there was another TA, totally engrossed in his MAC.
To me, someone who had learnt to code just a few months back, he seemed like a pro( okay, he actually turned out to be a pro :p). A few classes went by. We didn’t talk, didn’t need to. It was a testing time. All that was on my mind was to not let Teddy bhaiya down.
Strangely, we didn’t talk. Re solving assignments and revising all lectures beforehand was all I cared about. It would have been okay had it been someone normal. You might remember that one person in your class whose seat teacher had given up changing. They started talking wherever they went. I am one of those OCD talkatives who has got just one remark consistently : “She is very talkative”. :p and I didn’t talk to someone I was with for straight 4 hours.
Then after 4-5 lectures, came the intro day. :D. His name was Utkarsh. We happened to be in the same college, and he happened to be my junior. I had that same fleeting feeling of being late to learn coding. But since its not possible for me to be sad, I said, its okay, I still am lucky to have learnt it first hand from Teddy bhaiya himself before I finished college.
He had learnt C++ in his first year from Daredevil (You might call him Anushray bhaiya), and just like me he loved him too.Then he had learnt android from Teddy bhaiya, and I had learnt Web D from Daredevil ,so thankfully, we happened to be on a similar level technically. :p
We hardly talked during classes, but could comfortably switch students according to our comfort zones, and discuss codes without feeling like an idiot.He was modest, pure, reliable and austere. To deal with him was just instinctive and easy.
But only when I came to know this.. did it make sense.
We both happened to be from VMC.
(I am really sorry for you if you are not from VMC:D .. I truly am.. 😀 Only VMCians would understand this kind of extra terrestrial instant bonding.. )
Till now our chats were confined to Teddy bhaiya, Daredevil and coding but now we had a whole new world (The VMC time and our favourite bhaiyas ) to talk about..
Learning, exploring, coding, CB, teaching..And then like all good things in life, our batch ended.
It was the farewell day.. In more than one sense.. Only that I didn’t know it then.
With pizzas and ice creams, we both started reading the reviews of our batch. It was natural that every student was feeling as changed as we once felt, having learnt problem solving and programming from the legend himself..
Reading those reviews full of praise was a different feeling in itself. People loving Teddy bhaiya was natural, but reading our names with him was just.. Beyond words..
We actually read those reviews so many times that Teddy bhaiya asked us to take them home. :p.
I had never thought I could be a teacher, but that day I realised I was actually not that bad. All credits : Teddy bhaiya.
And that was when I met my first co-TA :D(I am sorry, I am at a loss for a better title).
Everything was just perfect..
Its said that after the darkest phase of night, there comes a sweet innocent morning.
But here in my picture perfect world, there came the dark phase. Stuff happened, stuff worse than a nuclear holocaust, a catastrophe..
For a Harry Potter fan, it felt like the reign of Voldemort, for bollywood fans its like Shahrukh Khan leaving his family in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. :p
Everything changed.. There was everything.. Sleepless nights and secretly crying..
I got a chance to be a TA again. Only this time Utkarsh won’t be there. He was going home for vacations. Yeah, I knew, being myself, I could befriend anyone I got, but you know that feeling :P. It was like it would be different if he would have been there.
And then one night I get an email.
Crux 2 : TAs Vidhi, Utkarsh
I am like.. He was going, this must be someone different. I was so confident that it is not him that I didn’t even confirm. After a few days, there was a team meeting.
And it was him.
It was like the small ray of hope in a pitch black night. It was like one of those “choti choti khushiyaan “ that mean more than a big gig.
Because amongst all the new faces, he was like a friend I had known for a lifetime, and yet it was just 2 months since I had first met him.
It has been a month again and I have met someone again 🙂
Who looks like someone who has a hangover every night, only it turns out he doesn’t drink even once in a while.
Who least of everything looks like a teacher, but happens to be one of the most dedicated, sincere and gifted teachers.
Who looks like a 24-7 coder, whose only solace is his case his Mac Book PRO ..and every single time .. he proves himself to be .. okay accepted more sporty than me.
Outdoor games was once proudly “my thing” .. It still is.. But now there is someone who is better than me..
Because of his swimming stories.. I signed up for swimming classes..
I am the one who makes plans, of which 9/10 don’t even see the light of day.. All credits to our boring busy team.. 😀 and in that depressing sedentary atmosphere, he was the one who brought in “tick tick terrace cricket”.
I usually lose hand wrestling matches from boys,but that is one on one. But losing two on one, that is too much ..
Be it any variation of push ups.. pull ups.. any sporty challenge .. any coding challenge..or anything for that matter. He will be like “Bring it on”.
A true sport.. In every way..
Rarely do you find people you know will always be there .Its not possible for me to be tensed.. With Utkarsh, I know, I don’t even need to ..:p.. If I am sick, or have some pressing task.. he is so confident ..like
“Di aapko jaana hai to chale jaao.. Tension mat lo.. Main sambhaal loonga”.
And what is more.. I know he will..
I happen to have been blessed with more “bhaiyas” than my friends and family put together. And even younger bros.. :p But Utkarsh stands the first person to call me “ di”. And it will always be special..
Thankyou for everything Utkarsh !!
Cheers
Vidhi
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