In my drop year in class 12, despite being one of the strongest believers in myself, I almost started thinking that all my dreams were going to die. Maybe this was my destiny. Perhaps my chemistry teacher was right about me, and maybe I would not be able to achieve anything in my life. All my dreams started fading. But engineering college was my way out from my darkest time, and it was like a dream come true....

Upon arriving at college, I encountered people from outside my state who didn’t know Bengali, and I didn’t know much Hindi. We stayed in a hostel room with six students, located in a vintage building that used to be a jail of the King of Burdwan. I saw a vintage Kaman in the jungle area of the hostel, and there were also some old locked rooms that used to be the nachghor (dance hall) of the king....

I used to travel 30-40 kilometers for chemistry tuition in Sonarpur, a city area. I struggled with my studies so much that my teacher said if I could crack the engineering entrance exam, he would stop teaching and leave the center. One of my friends from near my home, named Manideepa, was the most talented student of all. Initially, I thought my teacher was ignoring me because I was from a rural area, but then I realized that Manideepa was also from my area....

I forgot to tell you something. When I was in middle school, we got our first mobile phone, a Nokia 2626, around 2009-2010. My mobile was GPRS enabled, allowing us to access the internet, although it took about two minutes to load a very basic internet page. The cost was around 1 rupee for 100 KB, and we used to buy a 20 MB pack for 5 rupees, valid for three days, all on 2G data....

I still have my first cricket bat that I received from my father. I was very less active in outdoor activities. This was largely because my parents often isolated me to help me focus on my future. Whenever I did have some free time, I would go to the paddy fields, climb trees, sit under the shade, and enjoy the greenery, feeling at peace. In my childhood, like every Bengali, I dreamed of becoming a poet....