Karan (name changed) is one of my closest pals in class. We are pretty similar in many aspects, though (unlike him) neither am I an engineer nor I have a couple of years work experience. But, we both come from middle class bengali families, families that have an ingrained in us a lot of self respect and humility, we both have loads of dreams, and both get emotional at tiny stuffs. But we share all these qualities on different angles -- if he dreams to be the next biggest thing after Vijay Mallaya, I want to be the next Raj Kapoor or at least Sanjay Leela Bhansali.[:P]; if not getting highest marks make him depressed, I shed tears watching Taare Zameen Par / Masoom nth time over.
One day Karan pinged me up at gtalk and wrote that he had been a victim in crude class politics. Now, we have a particular election coming in, for college General Secretary and its perhaps the biggest thing in our academic calender. Like many other colleges, GS in our college too is the next highest position after the Principal (and sometimes more than him).

Karan is one of the most deserving candidates for the position of GS, and I would say he is the most deserving candidate (trust me, I am not being biased). And his sole rival is Nabjot, another famous contender (a nice guy but a bit dumb at times :P). Pretty much like other colleges, our GS contenders here also want to outwit each other.

A few days back, there had been a call to start a new club in college. According to Karan, he was one of the earliest proponents of this club. But, Nabjot grabbed this opportunity to gather prominence and took over the arc-lights in this new campaign. Karan, who was one of the proponents, was intentionally sidelined for obvious reasons.

Karan was upset at this introduction of unfair politics and wanted something to get back. I asked him to conduct something without introducing Nabjot in it. "Why not Saraswati Puja?" I said, "if you can push this idea, you will create a milestone in the history of our institute. We have never had Saraswati Puja. Just see, you don"t hurt the feelings of non-hindus."

Karan thanked me for the idea and said that he would definitely think over it. Days passed by and I forgot about the idea. I, myself, was not very interested in initiating this puja as I was a bit sceptical about bringing in a Hinduism notion.

Saturday evening, when I was coming out college, the guard smiled at me and said, "So, IIFT is having its first Saraswati puja this monday!" I initially didn"t understand what the guard said. But, then it struck me. "Saraswati Puja is happening!" I was shocked as I didn"t get to hear anything abot it in the previous few days. The guard (like all other self-appointed information providers) went on saying, "Karan took this idea to the head-sir and then he started arranging for it."

It made me a bit sad (that Karan had told none of us about it), but I felt happy at Karan"s success. I went back to class to congratulate him and offer my help. When I reached, he was discussing the itinerary of the puja with 5-6 other students of the class. Pretending as if I had left anything in class, I entered the class, looked all around and then went out.

Karan has involved others in secrecy but didn"t even bother to inform me? That too something I had suggested him. It seemed unbelievable. One of my best friend in class, who talked to me when he felt cheated, whom I gave the plan, ditched me like this. Did he do something very different from what Nabjot had done to him. A rush of tears filled my eyes as I walked towards the bus-stand. But, I wiped them off and started smiling to myself. It all seems so funny.

The incident reminded me of a pretty stupid game we used to play in school. One of the guys punched another on the arm. This guy, in turn, would pass the punch to the next guy sitting beside him. And the punch was more often delivered with all of one"s might. So, basically, everybody was getting punched hard for no reason, and he avenged that punch by hitting another guy without any reason either.

The former might be a standalone event and the latter a childish game. But, isn"t man"s basic tendencies on a macro-level pretty much the same? He gets wronged by some at some level. He keeps the grudge growing within him, and takes it out at the next guy whom he faces under similar conditions. "If someone can do this to me, why cant I do this to someone else?" -- this is what he says as explanation. But, is the world a forum of revenge -- where you either get wronged or do wrong to others. Just because my boss shouted at me, I need to scream at my servant. Just because my teacher crossed a right sum of mine, I discredit a good dish prepared by mom. Just because my cricket captain didn"t take me in team, I don"t allow my younger brother to touch my bat --- is this how we are supposed to be? No. Life is too short to hold grudges. Go ahead, forget all that has gone by. Good memories make lives, unfulfilled grudges destroy it. You might face certain unfair practices from someone, but for God"s sake don"t be unfair to those who love you.

I hope you agree with me...
Wishing you all the best
Souvik...