“Xerox hoga! Iss copy ka ek xerox kar do,jaldi.” Sometimes I wonder how many times have I heard a student conveying such sense of urgency. Why to talk of others? I myself was compelled to spend around 200 bucks every semester for xeroxing notes to bolster my exam preparations.The venue for this is any of the dozen xerox shops flourishing in the areas circumscribing a college.
These prey on the proneness of students being mundane and lazy in writing class notes. ‘Caz’ public are compelled to use the ‘Xerox trump card’ to study the collected notes on the final day. I struggled in my college for 4 years and am ready to admit shamelessly that I fall in the same stack. In this context the so called ‘gatus’ (book worms) are requested not to relegate us and feel pity. It is not just a ‘pass the exam funda’ but if studied properly can emulate the performance of the daily note crammers. The warm,fresh Xerox from the machine does summon a temporary will to study, but although being short lived it needs to be nurtured for at least a day per exam.The source copy which clones itself is worth applauding. Its owner deserves credit for showing immense grasping concentration and ability to convert words of a professor to notes. There a few handful students who exemplify the above.
Often the studious are defamed by group B(group of laggards)for being so called ‘gatus’(book worms). Counter attacking, group A(studious group) beams petulant behavior towards them. But ahead of exams group B becomes subservient and consequently their studious cronies shed their initial temporary repulsion towards sharing their notes. Let’s be optimistic and say that its the friendship that finally prevails. I myself neither suited to group A nor group B completely, thus ensuring my being unbiased towards the topic. It can be taken as a victory of the ‘Xerox machine’. The dominance of machine grows and the role of master and servant thus getting eventually swapped.
I wonder, what would have happened if Mr. X hadn't developed the Xerox machine. Perhaps the ‘caz public’ would have switched over to writing their daily notes to the delight of our professors.
PRASENJIT CHAUDHURI
