MASTI KI PAATHSHAALA ? Reel vs. real life

We Indians love and are obsessed with movies.Period.We worship our actors,copy their hairstyles,their dressing sense,and what not.Therefore,its obvious that we believe in the colleges they create in teenflicks.

Picture this-A sprawling campus.World-class sports facilities.Rich,spoilt kids coming in BMW’s and Audis.A funny principal.4-5 mushy song-and-dance routines.And ultimately,a love triangle…..

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?No,its ‘Student Of The Year’.Those who have seen the movie will agree with me,that after watching such an amazing(but fictional) college conceptualised by Karan Johar ,we all secretly hoped to get into such a college one day.I started wondering whether such colleges existed in real life too. Therefore,I started searching for them.People around me were ready with their suggestions,as if they had been waiting for me to pop this question to them,ever since I got into class 12. “Go for St.Stephens.” “Hansraj is the best” “Hindu”..”Ramjas”.. “Kirori Mal”….More confused than ever before,I decided that if I had to have the answers to my amazingly vague question,I had to visit each one of them,and see whether the students really broke out into a dance,with the song ready and lyrics learnt in the middle of the classes,while the others joined in,and somehow,knew the dance steps beforehand-also whether some teachers let the students teach them for a change(So cool.3 Idiots,anyone?)Then common sense came to my rescue-visiting each one of them in the blistering 46 degree temperature outside was impossible.So,I started chatting with my seniors who are in college,and surfed the net for some extra info.

The truth left me more surprised and enlightened than ever before.As my seniors told me-----

the campuses are good-but not as huge and awe-inspiring as the Buckingham Palace.Yes,the students are given excellent sports facilities-but please don’t expect an Olympic-sized swimming pool.And just forget the BMWs and Audis.

But the one thing they assured me about was- whichever college I choose,I can be rest assured about actually studying.Colleges are MEANT for studying, remember?Don’t expect it to be some place,where you go to flaunt your designer clothes,or flashy phones,or make a dashing entry,a la Shahrukh Khan,or Varun Dhawan.Because in movies,the college students fight,love,hate,break-up,make-up,sing and dance-but the one thing they don’t do during the entire movie-is actually study.Praying to God that I get the college of my dreams,and don’t just dream about that college!