MY JOURNEY AS A LECTURER

24th January- The Best Day of Life (SSB RESULT DAY)

Today I am going to share with you for the LAST time about this journey.

Link👇

From a little child to this phase, I have witnessed enormous difficulties in life. A guy from a very poor family with problems in every stage has reached here. I have remembered that day when in the morning there’s nothing to eat. How many mornings have passed away with an empty stomach is uncountable. And if a lucky day comes, only one bowl of puffed rice is served to all 5 members; the amount on each side you can imagine. Daily problems between father and mother for the lack of money. Only with the 10 rupees we had to adjust the groceries. God knows if once or twice a month a good meal is prepared in our home. And every rainy season was a curse to our home; we feared to watch the dark clouds. Raindrops will circulate in every corner of the room. Umbrella will help us to protect the bed. On the opposite side, near the umbrella in a very little place, I open the book and start reading. The raindrops make my backside a little wet. Still I continue reading, believing that one day I will end all these problems; then I just look at the book and cry silently. Then I suddenly remember my father’s line, “If you will read, then you can eat rice with milk, and if you don’t, then green leaf with water rice.”. This line is the constant phase of motivation throughout my life. I have never shared this line anywhere before. Class 9 was the turning point of my life. Till then I used to go for tuition class, but due to some reasons I can’t go and read at home only. For financial reasons, I was unable to buy books for myself. But it was God’s plan to open a new chapter in life, I believe. The only book that I bought was a Sourav meaning book by collecting one rupee and 2 rupees from those returns from the grocery shop. My love for literature came from that book only, and spontaneously I started loving other subjects too. I liked English literature and Sanskrit literature then. I was fond of essay writing. I found so much satisfaction that I had written the essay on leaf, sand, dust, wood, etc. Then came class 10; I thought I had something to do here to make my village proud. I continuously studied nearly 14 to 15 hours per day and secured a sound mark in the board. It continued till plus 2 with the same flow. I topped there. Next, +3 times, the first time I lived in a mess, the first time I started cooking. Daily, all the time passed away in college and in cooking. The struggle to cook on the stove is unspeakable. And all the physical and emotional problems started right there in this graduation. I secured the highest mark there too. Then a chapter came in life where we had to become homeless due to Cyclone Fani, our home destroyed completely. That feeling I witnessed live for the first time. We went to another village to live. And in someone’s house I go to prepare for PG entrance. I remember, within our auto rickshaw, I used to watch videos from YouTube. From there I was selected for Utkal University. The selection of Utkal University is a landmark incident that happened in life. I know if I hadn’t gone there, you couldn’t see me here. The journey there is a mixture of happiness and sorrow. I have witnessed the actual problems there. I fought my emotional battle alone; no one was there to help a bit. In university, God knows what I eat and how I live there. But I got many helping hands there from my friends as well as seniors, and I remember each and every one of their help. When I couldn’t secure sound marks in SSB written their support is unforgettable. In the Hostel no. 3, after reading till night at 3 AM and waking up at 9 or 10 AM in the morning, I can’t understand where life is or what I am doing. Daily 10 to 12 hours of reading by controlling the family and emotional problems was not easy for me. In the midnight if my eye wanted to sleep, I used to go and wash my face with Amrutanjan. I failed; I stood up and again walked there. I promised there that if I crack NET, then I will go to Ram Mandir; for JRF it was Lingaraj Temple, and for SSB it was ISKCON. I hadn’t seen those temples before, though I was living in Bhubaneswar. It was God’s grace that I went to all these temples after fulfilling all these wishes. The university taught me what life is and what struggle is. Where survival of the fittest is the only theory that reigns. I cracked different exams like NET and JRF and got a PhD there. I was selected for JNU PhD viva 2 times but couldn’t physically go to attend them. I became an SSB lecturer too, but the Utkal University will remain in my heart forever. I went there with an empty hand but returned with everything. When the result was out in nearly 8.30 PM, I felt all the sufferings and sacrifices made throughout my life. I promised to dance near the pond of university long before. But my friends were not selected, I felt sad for them. Still I went and danced alone there. It may be something immature, but the struggle that I have gone through is known to me only. My parents were so happy to hear this. In that time I recalled and said my father’s that line of motivation to them. The tears in my father’s eye after listening his own line from my mouth that time was priceless feeling in the world. Really, I became an Alchemist. I got everything near me, but I had to fight with the world to get these within me. I am blessed. And if a poor, ignorant, Odia medium, remote area man, myself, can do and reach here, I will say every person who will dare to go through this line can get it easily, I swear! Life goes on, thanks to all who continued their beliefs in me, thanks to all the helping hands.

Finally, it is your Krushna Keshab Das, Lecturer…🙏