Life of A Representative - A Unique Shadow

Disclaimer: This story is not to hurt anybody's feeling. Its just an expressive way of tribute to Representatives with the hope that the readers will understand the real meaning behind it and try to be a better person.

There is a very famous saying in Geetacharam ‘Do your job without any expectations – Kadamaiyai Sei, Palanai Ethir Paarkathey’.

Do your duty and a little more so that the future will take care of itself. This blog is devoted to the selfless duties of a representative who is among us, performing something better than us.

It was a pleasant Wednesday morning.

‘Rohan where is the board marker?’ The professor asked the class representative. Rohan was sitting in the middle of a bench. Startled, he rose from his bench, pushing his friends on the side to come out of the bench. ‘Mam, I will get it from the office room’ then he ran to the office room and brought the marker. Little he had settled in his place, ‘Rohan, switch on the projector’ came another call. With a smile on his face he came out of his bench switched on the CPU, then the projector, adjusted it to fit to correct legibility and gave the controls to the professor. He was back in his place. Being representative makes any person to be attentive in class hours since they have to maintain their reputation. He started taking the notes. Soon class got over and everyone started to leave for their lunch. ‘Rohan’ again the call came.

‘Yes mam’

‘Please carry these assignments to my room’

‘Sure mam’

Slowly he put on his back bag and then carried the assignments to the professor’s room.

‘Wait’ The professor checked the attendance sheet.

‘Raj doesn’t have enough attendance please ask him to meet me in person’

‘Sure mam’ Then he thanked and left the place.

He took his phone as soon as he came out of the cabin and dialled Raj’s phone number.

‘Hello’ his voice heard

‘Hello, macha this is Rohan. You have low attendance in xxx subject. Mam asked you to meet her in person as soon as possible.

‘What! I thought you are giving me regular proxy. Why are you even the representative then?’ came a harsh reply.

‘Macha I am sorry. I was not able to put proxy for this subject as she is very keen on marking proper percentage of attendance’

‘Ok I will take care’ The call went off abruptly.

Vexed, he began to climb down the stairs of the department to go for his lunch. The moment he stepped out of the department he remembered something Oh! I should get permission from HOD to go for Industrial visit next week.  He retraced his steps to the office. HOD was busy with his works. He waited there for a few long minutes. When HOD was finally free, he called him in.

‘What do you want?’

‘Sir, next week we are planning to go for an industrial visit to the YYY plant. So I came to get permission for it sir. This is the formal request letter. On your confirmation we’ll mail the officials and proceed with other works’ He handed the permission letter. HOD, who was writing something important, raised his head and stared at him.

‘Do you know what happened when your seniors went for industrial visit to this plant last time? They spoiled our reputation.’ Then it was followed by Rohan inadvertently being scolded for last year’s incidents. ‘The letter is not proper. Where is the faculty advisor’s signature? Who has agreed to accompany you? The last paragraph is not justified’, the HoD listed out all possible errors amidst his busy work. Rohan on his part had to assure that this batch won’t be a trouble and he would be responsible for any inconvenience. His talk was bold and convincing, so the HOD signed the letter and immediately mailed the necessary officials from his mail ID. He left with the immense happiness of having achieved something great. Friends will be glad for this. He came out of the cabin and climbed down the stairs to see his friends climbing up already. That’s when he checked the time 1:10 PM. The 5^th hour was about to start. Fooling himself that the happiness of getting permission for IV had filled his stomach, he went to the class, climbed the stage and announced the IV date with a bright smile on his face.

‘Did you consult us? We are not free on that day’ came a fierce reply.

‘I asked in whatsapp group yesterday, nobody proposed a rejection in spite of the whole group having seen the message, so I went on with this date’ his face had already begun to sag.

‘You should have asked in class’ came another voice

‘I am sorry please everyone try to come. It’ll be really useful. Make yourself free and try to attend. We need a minimum of 80% attendance’ He said it in an appealing tone and went to his place.

Little did he know that the toughest part of collecting the IV expenses amount is yet to come.

Soon after the class got over one of his friend came to him.

‘Rohan can you please postpone tomorrow’s assessment examination to the following Monday?’

‘Sure I will try my level best’ He said with a smile.

He went to the professor cabin and requested for the change of date

‘Monday, not possible at all. We are already receiving complaints from the controllers that our department is always rescheduling dates. I can’t change it’.

‘Sir, the exam is to test our knowledge in the curriculum. Most of us have lab semester tommorow morning. Students will find it really hard to face an assessment the same day afternoon. They will not be able to prepare properly’ He tried to list out all possible valid points.

‘Okay, since you are requesting so much, I will keep it on Saturday, on one condition that established timetables will be followed henceforth‘

He was content with the reply.

‘Thanks sir’ He left the place.

Late in the evening he posted in the group

“Tomorrow’s assessment is postponed to Saturday since there is a lot of a portion to study in addition to the lab semester”

 Within next few seconds the replies he received were

“What! I am leaving for home town on Friday night”

“Who will study and write exam on Saturday?”

And the most hurting one came

‘It would have been convenient for him to write on Saturday, so he would have fixed that day’

Having seen this reply, he became frustrated and heart broken.

What am I going to gain being a class representative? Just bad name! He threw away his phone to his cot, went to sleep hoping everything becomes alright the forthcoming day.

Next Day : Thursday morning

‘Rohan , can you please bring the marker?’

‘Sure mam’ He left with the same smile that he had the previous day unaware of what experience the day is about to give him.

Yes, they get blamed for all reasons, they miss their food to help us, they try to protect us by supporting us, they do it as an additional job apart from their studies without having any academical advantage, they put in their sweat hoping that they could possibly do some little change in someone’s life.

This is for every representative out there representing us in a better way. A kind request , If you can’t encourage, at least don’t discourage their work. If you can’t take up the duty, don’t dare to master it from a distance.