Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Hell in the cell

All of you might have experienced the mayhem in CET cell during seat selection. You might have a different opinion about it, but this is what I experienced in CET cell.

I had both comedk and cet seat selection on same day. The comedk selection was at 12.30 pm and cet was at 2 pm. I had no idea how long the seat selection might take so I went to NMKRV College at 12.20 The bad day started when I found that I had left the DD at home. My dad scolded me for almost everything (you know how parents shout at you when you make mistake) I had to ride back home at full speed and get the DD. Finally I was there, 15 minutes late. At document verification counter, I was shocked when they asked me for photocopy of comedk rank card, I had to once again run out and get a Xerox copy of it. I was the last one to enter the seat selection hall. The screens in the hall was so small that even if I had a pair of binoculars it would be difficult to make out which college they are showing right now. After some real hard squinting I got a name of some college and wrote it on the paper they had given. I had hardly finished writing the name when they called me onto the stage. I had selected only one college and without even asking me the guy behind the counter got me registered to that college and asked me to get off the stage. It was already 1.45 pm when I got off the stage. As if this wasn’t enough when my term came for submitting the DD the power went off. It took 15 minutes for auxiliary power to start the damn printer again. When I came out it was already 2.05 pm. The CET seat selection had already started. We had to horn the hell out of other drivers to make way.

It took 35 minutes for us to reach the CET cell. The CET cell was so crowded that there was not even a single parking place. It took 15 minutes to find parking space which was somewhere behind the CET cell. It was already 3 o’clock when I reached the entrance. Somewhere above to right I heard a loud speaker calling for students of rank 1000 behind me. I had to check mine, my dad’s and a neighbor’s watch to make sure it was 3 o’clock. I could not believe that they were still 1000 rank behind me (I was already 1 hour late)

At the entrance of the CET cell they had put a temporary roof and some chairs below it. It was so crowded that I felt as if I was in a ocean of people. The chairs to people ratio was around 2:5. To overcome the lack of chairs people were sitting on walls and other places where they found it was clean enough to sit. I had to stand for next 1 hour until someone in front of me got up and went off ( I had to fight for it with someone who also wanted a chair). When I sat down the loud speaker was calling students (they all looked like uncles rather than students) of rank still 800 behind me. They had done only 200 seats for 1 hour. I had to sit there for 4 hours (god 4 hours) until my rank was called. French invented solitary confinement to torture prisoners, Nazis invented the gas chambers and the CET cell has its own method of torturing students. They make you sit in front of a large screen for hours together, and we have to tick off the colleges which are being filled. When it comes to torture, I am sure even Yamraj is a step behind CET cell.

When you sit in a place for hours without going anywhere (in fear that someone might take away my chair); you will are bound to notice things around you. The things I noticed were, it was literally a beehive. In front of me there was a line of people, no it was actually a wall of people. They had created such a strong fortress that even the combined force of Israel and American tanks would not have been able to break through it. The wall was absolutely invincible as it was constantly replenished by more people. In there it was so jam packed that even a small bomb used in deepavali (small red ones) would have killed more people than the Mumbai train blast. Next was the guy who was using that loudspeaker, I guess he was liquor distributor of last election and it was taking toll on him right now. A girl was sitting beside me and had a mobile phone with her. Every 15 minutes she would call up her friend (as if she had phone with free talk time) and say

Chick with vaccum head: hey XXXX collegenalli seat agogedye yen madle? (all seat are filled in XXXX college what shall I do?)
Miss all known (on other end of phone): houdha ishtbega khali agoytha. (What? It got over so quickly?)
Chick with vaccum head: hoom kane. Nanu ivaga yavdu togollli? Nanu civil thogothini ashte. Civil thumba kashta anthe houdha? Intrest ildaleidre pass agodhu kashta anthe houdha? (Yes, now what shall I do? I will take civil engineering. Is it true that it it very difficult?)
Miss all known: houdhu kane, civil intrest ildaleidre thumba kashta sumne C.S athava I.S thogo. (Yes it is very difficult, take C.S or I.S engineering)
Chick with vaccum head: Aythu kane, innu 10 nimsha bittu madthini baye. (Ok I will call you later bye).

There are many species of people and this ought to be one of the rarest kind.

Finally at 7 o’clock they called me in. they gave me a blue form and asked me to fill the details. Even inside the chairs were not enough and I had to fill the form resting it on the wall for support. i guess the people at CET cell were taking revenge on us on behalf of all the teachers. They had taken every step to make sure that seat selection was one of the worst experience in student life. I finally filled the form with four holes in it (caused by pen due to lack of support to write) I had to wait for another 45 minutes (standing) in the hall. My father met someone (a CET officer and a friend) and they started talking. After 15 minutes I asked the lady behind counter when was my turn? The lady told that I was late and all others of my rank had already gone in. (I was there for 1 hour and they had announced nothing at all). Suddenly the women who was taking our sign started scolding me “yenappa nenge gynana illva, ishtu lateagi barbardu antha gothillva.” (what is in your head? Don’t you know you should come early). I was shocked at this, but I replied politely “sorry nange gothaglilla, adre nanu ille idde.” (sorry I did not know, but I was right here). Then again the women shouted at me “enu kathe kaytha iddya” (what the hell were you doing?) I was already hungry and angry this infuriated me and I replied “nanu lateagi bandre nimgenu. Nim kelsa nevu nodkolli” (what if I came late? Just mind your own job) I just walked off without waiting for a reply.

Next was the document verification hall. They had arranged 2 seats in 8 rows. There was a guy who was misdirecting people. Yes, he was making chaos there. He was shouting at people without any reason at all. He made some people go front and some back and others standing. Everything would have been in order if he wasn’t there. He was just making this experience more worse. Finally I sat on a chair (after changing 3 chairs on his direction). To my bad luck someone in front of me got stuck during verification and it took about 15 minutes for him to certify that he was a homosapein (just kidding).

After half an hour I was in seat selection hall. Here again 4 seats were arranged in 3 rows. At the end they had 3 large screens showing the college status. But the hall was so long (about 1km in length and 10mts in breadth). That it was difficult to recognize the numbers and names on the screen. After another half an hour waiting, they called me. After all this waiting shouting and everything I did not choose any college. You know why………………… because I had already chosen a better college through comedk. I felt like killing myself and all others around me. i was the dumbest guy in the whole world at that time. Finally when I came out it was 9 o’clock (time scheduled was 2-4.30). There were 600 more rank to go still after me. I went to a nearby U.D. hotel thinking of all the mistakes I had done today.

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