22nd March has been permanently etched in our minds. The well known apathy of B C Roy Hospital within the campus premises reached its highest point and it claimed the life of a bright lad, one of us, Rohit Kumar. He belonged to my own department. But I didn't know him. It's difficult knowing people here unless they belong to your hostel. But I was connected to him. He was an IITian. An intelligent guy who came here after 2-3 years of hard work and did his parents proud. He dreamt of a bright future perhaps wanting to clear CAT this year after witnessing the bad placement scenario owing to recession. And he would have known that he could easily do it, like all IITians can. In KGP a 3rd year's life is most exiting. He is not pushed to do things he would not want to as in 2nd year. He has made gud frends in his hostel. If he has pursued some extra-curricular activity zealously then he has some experience in it. And no tension of placement. Plus the feeling of becoming a senior. Life isn't better. But all these feelings, all these joys were snatched away in 1 stroke. All his aspirations, dreams crushed. His parents hopes shattered. An Invaluable life lost. A Rohit shaped void in everybodys' mind.
His untimely death prompted us to leave our rooms and take matters into our hands. Students shed there famous "Peace hai" attitude for once and gathered outside the director's house demanding immediate steps. He came out his house an hour late and just like any sick politician smiled and said "What's the big deal?( This is KGP....It happens here all the time.) The responsible wud be punished." I wasn't there when he said this. But I shuddered in fear and anger on hearing it. Is this the man who claims to be our guardian in this shithole called KGP? He considers us crap bags. Worthless, without any value. Within a few hours of shouts of "Director, Resign Kar", the director agreed to resign. More drama followed. An Open House was called. I sat on the front rows. I did not have any thing on my mind. But the Acting Director went on" Things will be looked into"...."I assure you....". And so on. But what hurt most of us was the way our dear Dean of Student Affairs behaved. He had no remorse on his face. Yes, I saw it. And he sat there like he was attending a ceremony where he wud be declared a Knight.(for his feats)
But what blew us apart was the answer he gave to the question whether he has any moral responsibilty. He started....I was out of station and came back only in the evening...... This enraged the students. His Resignation was demanded. He did resign. Again with no shame, no remorse. The chairman of B C Roy hospital also resigned. A meeting was to be held next day to improve the healthcare facilities. Then all left with a million unanswered questions.
Back in my room a strange question came to my mind. What is the value of my life? OR anyone's life? I don't control it. Noone does. All it takes a bullet from a terrorist or indifference of hospital staff to take my life. HE didn't control it. But he had to pay with it for their apathy. And with no fault of his. All he wanted was a good life. And he came to IIT Kharagpur for just that, little knowing that a knock on his head was all needed to take his life in this village. Why shouldn't we be a called a third world country? If someone in KGP needs emergengy trauma care, he needs to travel 130 kms to Kolkata. What a progress for a communist state where individual liberty is considered most important. Life of a person is not considered a property worth retaining here. The value of our lives are being reduced each day with these events. Chunks are falling. It's a shame that Rohit had to pay with his life for KGP to shed slumber and take steps which had to be taken years back. And this is not the only problem in the campus. All of us know it. We just need to understand that we cannot lose any more Rohits to resolve them. Let's all promise to ourselves that we will not let our the Invaluable loss go waste.
