Srishti Rajoria

“It’s Vijay’s call”, my dad said to me when I was sleeping like a log after running around to get admission in Jamia Hamdard Campus. I took the phone while my eyes were still closed but couldn’t keep them closed as I could see that my dream had come to pass!

I sprang up from my bed when he told me that the results were out and I need to go to NIPER Mohali in 2 days to appear for GD PI to get a seat in MBA Pharma.

After a few days I started my new life in a single occupancy room in the Campus Hostel. It was as if I was at the confluence of all the possible diversities of India. And I was simply loving it! Although I had many options but I chose to learn Punjabi and Gujarati. 

This time fortunately all the subjects were interesting and as usual I used to sit on the front desk, ask questions and take notes in gibberish. I remember, one of the top scorer’s of my class asked me after the first semester exams about how my exams went and how many marks I was expecting. And again it was shocking for everyone when I was no where in the list of top scorer’s.

I went to NIPER without a clear vision. I had no interest in getting the top rank but in just relishing the experience of being there. Unlike many others getting a job was also not the reason although I was fortunate enough to get placed as soon as the placement season started. But soon I found something that was possibly the reason why I’d landed there.

I found that I really enjoyed intellectually stimulating conversations, HBR articles, tracking news of Pharma companies and further using them for discussion. I loved solving all the case studies which Angrish Sir used to curate for us and I believe he was one professor who had identified my interest before I myself could.

Once I went to him asking for more work and he gave me a proper project with PBTI Mohali and I worked on it with some of my class mates. Seeing my interest Anand Sir and Pooja Ma’am gave me the opportunity of being a part of an article which later on got published in a European Journal.

Except for sports and dancing, I don’t think there was any event where I was not involved. I used enjoy it all and I even used to win some of them. But deep inside there was something which was developing in me that I wasn’t good enough and God knows why am I getting these awards and recognitions.

Soon I was able to make some really nice friends  we would roam around, eat, celebrate and as my friend had called after a tiring day full of running around to get admission I came back to home after getting myself admission.

When I got in to the college I had no idea of what was waiting for me. And even if I had, I’m not able to recall whether I was happy, excited, sad or indifferent. School and College were like two different planets! Only 5 days a week – The only good thing I could quickly relate to. And fortunately, I was able to make some great friends from the day one.

The syllabus was immense and we had so many practical files to make. I remember my first year of graduation went into just making the practical files over the weekends. So many diagrams, and loads of theory in the practical file. My art hobbies like a true friend took a place on the back burner.

Both myself and my parents thought that I was studying but the annual results revealed a totally different story. Even some of my classmates were shocked as I used to sit on the first desk, take notes and I looked sincere. No, I didn’t fail, but my marks were less AND they were the least in my group. And I think the story was mostly the same for the rest of the three years of my graduation.

But if we keep my marks aside, I really loved studying some of the subjects, especially pathophysiology and pharmacology as they were really insightful. Amid all this, drawing and craft was just limited to making greeting cards or collage for friends on their birthdays.

I think, once or twice I participated in a poster making competition as well. But as I’d described in my school time journey, drawing was mainly copying from somewhere and colouring it. So whatever I used to do it was copied from somewhere or if I made something on my own it used to look AWFUL to me.

I never even tried to learn how to draw without a reference OR appreciate what I made on my own. I never felt the need of it actually. We used to look at the transverse section of seeds in the microscope and put that out on a paper, observe the multiplication of microbes in culture but I never realised it back then that it was pure ART.

That it was coming very close to the not so visible part of nature. They were just subjects! There were few more in my class who used to draw or do some craft work, but I don’t think I ever went to anyone of them to talk about it.

Talking about it was not a necessity let alone being a priority. Back then, I had no idea that I’d transformed into someone who’d be looking for avenues to talk or indulge in art-related activities.

During all those four years, I just used to pay attention to whatever was right in front of not only just my eyes but everyone else’s too. I did not have much interest in going beyond those thick books. But there’s got to be a life outside that. So I just used to follow what my seniors or friends around me were doing back then.

Some people started preparing for MBA entrances and it looked like a nice option so I joined the club. A couple of firms came for interviews towards the end of the fourth year so I sat for it like others did.

But ultimately I got something which I feel changed my thought process or I’d rather say it laid the foundation of my OWN thought process. It was my experience during my MBA days.

My mom tells me that when I was in primary school, the subject she used to worry the most about during my exams was Drawing! I was terrible at it! The colours would always go out of the OUTLINE. I think I mostly used pencil colours, wax crayons and sketch pens.

I learnt about oil pastels when I was maybe 8, and since then they are my favourites. But drawing was not my first hobby, it was just a subject for me. There was something that I started much earlier in my life, it was stitching. As per my mom’s memory, I was maybe 5 or 6 when I started it just by looking at her doing that.

She used to learn it from my neighbour auntie and I learnt it from her. I loved doing it! I used to make clothes for my doll, I tried really hard but could never make a teddy bear for myself. I used to try different ways of stitching with a clear my aim – a tight stitch so no one can tear apart what I make.

I don’t think I ever got a fresh piece of cloth, my mom used to get the left over pieces from her class or sometimes from a local tailor. As a habit (a bad one ;)) I always used to sit on the bed and pull up the shutter of my tailor shop. I had standing instruction from her that I should first spread a newspaper on the bed and then use a needle.

But! I remember once I was playing out with my friend, Anuj and all of a sudden I heard my mom’s voice to which I turned my head. I’m sure even Kaali Mata wouldn’t have horrified the demons the way my mom was looking at me. My heart skipped a beat. I think she does that sometimes even now. She was walking at a normal pace towards me with anger in her eyes and a needle in her hand.

Unfortunately, it was found unattended without a thread on the bed! And then she would start her lecture that if it gets inside the body it can go anywhere and cut the body from within (I somehow still manage to ignore her scary lectures).

Seeing this as my regular pattern, my dad came up with a solution and he got me very tiny stapler like machine for stitching from Red Fort Market. I remember I had started looking the dresses of the kids who used to come to my home for getting tuitions from my mom, just to get some idea for making dresses for my doll. 

I’m a 90’s kid so my summer vacations used to be full of Doordarshan series. Suno Kahani, Natkhat Rani, some shows in which they used to make toys, a house with mud, etc. used to keep me glued to TV. So apart from stitching, I used to try all of that and do a lot of craft work like origami, thread painting, bhindi painting, thumb painting, etc.

Whenever I used to fall short of supplies, I used to call my mom in her office and I’d have everything by afternoon. I had stitched a world of my own and one day it all came to kind of an end. It was the entry of algebra and multiple books for one subject. I gradually started devoting more time to studies.

I think around that time only I started drawing. Cartoon characters, scenery, animals, that’s all I used to make and I used to copy them from somewhere and colour them. That was drawing for me. I even tried glass painting and emboss painting.

I think I also used to do some fun with waste, I remember I made something with left over wool and broomsticks. And that’s how my school days went. NCERT books became my pals and drawing or any craft work became a weekend affair and later on only after my exams used to get over.