My Tryst with Ivy League

Never in my wildest dreams fantasies, did I imagine that someday I would be inside an IIT Bombay classroom. Sure, I have been to the campus a few times, but for strictly non-academic purposes (it’s the most romantic place in the whole of Powai), but yesterday, I was actually INSIDE the classroom, and ON THE DAMN PODIUM…

So the question is how the hell did I sneak in there and what business did I have in the most revered engineering college in the country which has given multiple orgasms to both parents and students over decades.

Well, I was there to attend a ‘creative writing’ workshop conducted by writersmelon. Obviously, I know nothing about ‘creative writing’, so I wasn’t the one conducting it. There was a professional writer/journalist who was taking the session and I was just there to look pretty and talk about the journey of a struggling writer who has a cushy job but in her heart of hearts, is a wannabe Chetan Bhagat. Talk about low aspirations! Apparently, nerdy brilliant teenagers connect well with such stories. And the fact that I live and work in Powai makes it logistically easier to invite me.

Anyway, so I had my fifteen minutes of fame: my first brush with talking nonsense in front of 50-odd people (college presentations aren’t counted, because there was a strict quid pro quo there: you scratch my back, I scratch yours). Here, they had every right to boo/throw chappals/walk out and I was prepared for all such eventualities.

So I took the safe way out: humour. I made a joke, I waited for the crowd to burst into laughter/roll on the floor.
Silence…
I waited for some more time…
Silence…

Ok, either my joke was too subtle to be appreciated by normal people or worse, it wasn’t funny! But, but, but these are IIT kids, therefore they are NOT normal people. Ergo, my joke wasn’t funny. Horror, cringe, run…

But I moved on and continued. There were a few laughs, much to my relief. Also, the fact that I have names like Company D and Company C on my resume seems to work with kids, because both are popular recruiters in campus placements. They were reassured that if this dumb girl can get in, so can they. Thankfully, noone asked what is it that I do in these companies.

My moment of glory: they clapped in the end. They were just being nice, but they clapped…