By A few days ago, I received an image from Onisha- a picture of 3 bits of paper with the following text:
‘Please keep dinner – 2 roti and sabzi’
‘Please don’t keep dinner’
‘Main department jaa rahi hu Crib session* ke liye (I am going to department for Crib session). Will come back in ½ hour.
Upon seeing these 3 chits, waves of memories came rushing and hit me.
However, first let me clarify that the name of the person whom I am talking about is ‘Anwesha’; the Bengali pronunciation of this name is ‘Onisha’. But then, that is how she first told me her name- even though her father corrected her and said – Anwesha bol- but still Onisha is still what stays in my head – Onisha is how her name is saved in my phone.
Let me begin from the beginning – in 2015, I was allotted Room 404 in the new hostel at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay) to pursue Masters in Applied Statistics and Informatics. As I proceeded upstairs, to what I would call home, and opened the door, I saw two beds and on one bed there was a rolled up mattress; and that’s how I met Onisha’s mattress before I met Onisha.
After a while, Onisha barged into the room and we exchanged the initial pleasantries. She was there to pursue Masters in Chemistry. She was Onisha –my IITB roommate!
Over a period of time, we got to know each other and, as they call it today –our vibe matched. Our time tables, study time, exam time hardly ever matched –but our vibe matched and that was enough.
Coming to IIT as a Masters student can be daunting –as you not only have the pressure and pleasure of learning new things quickly but also un-learning the way you had studied Bachelors in a regular university and embrace the pace and constant evaluation system of the IIT.
Yes! For both of us this was tough –but we had each other. I used to wait for Onisha or vice versa at the end of the day in Room 404 and we would spend time talking to each other; about how our day went, about the people, the professors, the pace and of course ourselves. I cannot point out at just a single thing and say this is why we clicked – No. Just as many things remain unexplained, the reasons why we clicked cannot be explained.
We silently giggled hearing other hostelers complain about their roommates. Well, we didn’t know about the existence of such problems.
For her parents- I was ‘Parboti’ –aunty made me feel like a Bengali myself; so much love and blessings was showered on me when they came; and Trisha di –the perfect big Sister.
After exam seasons, when everyone couldn’t wait to catch the first train/flight home –I still remember Onisha asking me about the last day of my exam and planning her return to home accordingly. Of course, there were also semester breaks where we didn’t mind staying back.
In the second year, even though we got single occupancy rooms, that did not deter us from those small everyday talks.
Years later, Onisha has become Dr. Onisha (oops…Dr. Anwesha).
For those who know the basics of computer science, ‘404’ is one of the popular non-response error codes, but this Room 404 did not make any error in choosing us as roommates. If this was an error, then I wish to make that error again. Among many of the things that IIT taught me and gave me –it also gave me the treasure called Onisha.
*Crib sessions are sessions held usually late night in IITs for talking about the mistakes made in various exams and generally ‘crib’ or complain about the subject.
