I, percieve........

There was this day, when me and one of my friends D had got attendance and wanted to get out of college. For the lesser informed, our college has a no-open-gate policy and has tenacious watchmen just waiting to rip you apart, as if you were a rag in a bull dog's mouth. Let me just showcase a bit of my college's hypocrisy here. To start of with, there should not be any verbal exchange between boys and the girls. Not that we are craving for male attention, but why bloody make it a co-ed in the first place when you want to follow a quarantine policy? I mean yeah I'm all for the separate buses(you should see how the bus overflows with people at any given point of time) I really wouldn't want to compete with the guys for the remaining half inch of floor space. But different canteens? What does the management think? We would charm the guys over a plate of rock hard rice and a daal made with a vegetable, which would surely give me rashes? Yeah I do know that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but hello, when you have a half an hour break, a growling stomach and a queue to have the last scrapings of something edible, trust me the opposite sex is the last thing on your mind. I mean, are they really that dumb I always wonder. People will meet, they will become friends and more than friends even if you oppress it. I've become friends with P and a lot of other guys, good guys at that and I'm pretty sure I haven't exploited their EEE modesty, contrary to the beliefs of a notorious member of their faculty.

You see thats the thing, hypocrisy, its prevalent everywhere. I mean P and the other guys think that there is no gender bias, but well there is, I've been at the recieving end of it. I mean, I can list out faculty who have said it on our face that, it isn't necessary for girls to study engineering. Why? A half of them think we girls and our wily charms would "distract" the guys. Yeah right! As if! And the other half, the half who know better, just think the infrastructure isn't good enough that the girls are at their competitive best. For example, I do score better in exams than my most male classmates. But in the end, they are better informed and technically sound. Ok, not only me P, the girls who actually want to learn as well. We sit in the lab and trust me, the male lab incharges are so reluctant to come to the girls section of the lab(yep discrimination). So the department decided, they would just appoint female incharges, who then start flirting with the guys and castigating the girls for why they wore high heels or left their hair and the rest. Mostly, they have zero working knowledge! In the end, the guys learn on their own and we are clueless yet again. Sigh. Yeah, thats the way it works.

If you thought that was the height, beat this. The day D and I got attendance, we were stopped by the bull dogs, oops I mean watchmen, because *drum roll* we were girls. When my male classmates, cruised out smoothly(pun intended. There is no tar road which leads to college and the journey is back breaking) on their cars and bikes. When we growled at the watchman,"Dude they are our classmates, let us out!!!" All the bull dog had to say was,"Yeah I did, I'm not going to let you out, what are you going to do about it?" I mean, the audacity of that guy! The worst thing is their word is always taken against ours. P said, maybe they thought that the stretch of road wasn't safe and didn't want two girls to walk alone. There's a point in that P, but he had no right to talk to two students like that! Especially when we were all respectful and called them "Sir". Yeah, and hypocrisy personified is the attendance finalization time. When you have less than 75% and more than 65%, you are left to go, because you paid *drum roll* 300 rupees as compensation. For people less than 65%, 3000 rupees. Thats how, I figure, guys who I've never seen in a single class the whole semester, keep getting promoted to the next. Well why can't you just bloody put an open gate and stricter attendance. Ohh wait, that way, the management would lose, the maximum profit they make! Nice... They are actually pretty good businessmen! What about the ground, where you are supposed to get your own equipment to play? And also has an unwritten boys only rule? I you are a girl, and you are seen playing there, and its not a sports event(???) you are stared at as if you have committed blasphemy. Sports fee is duely collected every year. Hmm... So much for equality.

Actually, before we cry foul, I think, girls, there is as much fault in us. I mean come on, when was the last time you went towards the ground. Yeah I know its very hot and dirty there and you don't want to chip you toe nails or get sweaty, its time we stood up to our needs. Us getting complacent, is well, just sending a signal that we don't care, which is hardly the case. I know a lot of S's M's and A's who are brilliant sportswomen. And about labs, come on, we badger them, they have got to tell us. Forget H's high heels or Al's loose hair. That is not our agenda. Of course, H and Al, we love you and will stand up for you treating college as a ramp, but hey sorry our jobs matter the most. Somewhere down the line, we've been so dazzled by you that, we forgot to take our stand for, well better faculty. Think girls, think, be it Helen of Troy or Cleopatra or Panchali or Sita, women changed the course of history. Let history repeat itself. Lets stand up for what we need, for once, united not thinking of lab marks or snide remarks or blemishes in character, certified by non descipt faculty and take up the initiative. Lets fight our own wars, instead moping and lamenting. Viva revolution!