CAMPUS: “Like back up dancers”

Balance your life I thought life on campus was just like sailing on water without waves to hinder your movement. If there is anyone out there who thinks like I used to, well by the time you are through with reading this article, you will know what really is inside here. Just like me, I think you’re told that life here is free style. You study when you want. Everything is served to you on a silver platter and no hassle when you get to campus. I know many of us would want to go through that life where there’s no pressure. So you can imagine the happiness that filled my heart and every part of me when my name appeared in the newspaper highlighting my admission to campus. Well, maybe I didn’t believe it until I got the admission letter confirming that I had entered the hassle-free life that I had always dreamt of. The first day I got my admission letter just gave me an opposite picture. We were so many waiting in a particular room. This was the last thing I expected to find in my hassle-free life since there was need to run and push others to get the admission form first. However, I didn’t look at this issue as a reason to change my earlier belief, but as it is said ‘time tells”, I realised something different. The hassle starts just from the rooms in halls and hostels. The first time at campus instils a picture of a luxurious life. Most girls want to have nice looking rooms with television sets, radios, fans, a lot of make-up, big cases of clothes and many more that would identify them among ‘those who have’. Though this affects mostly the girls, some boys have fallen victim to the situation too. From an interview with a friend, ‘they’ said that at the beginning of any academic year, one can tell a fresher by the way they dress. In the case of boys, they appear “like back up dancers” in a Sean Paul video (one of the international singers), while girls tend to look like the Obsessions either waiting to perform in a concert or having shots for their video. Anyway, this is all because of the tension found on campus as everyone fights to be smarter than their neighbour. No one should feel bad because everyone goes through the initial stages. Therefore, this merely gives a picture that one starts hassling in life to reach to the standards of those around them. Some do it even in dubious ways like indulging in ‘cross generational sex’, theft and many other unclean ways. I would try to ask some of you there, can this be termed as good and hassle-free life considering the tension involved? Someone out there might say, one cannot get everything perfectly on this earth, but a lot is coming our way to show the hassle-full life at campus. Imagine coming to a lecture theatre and the instructor denies one access to the room claiming one is 10 or 5 minutes late and at the end of the day, he makes roll call. This turns up to be a secondary follow-up because when one doesn’t appear on his a roll call twice, one qualifies for a retake (re-sitting exams). Many people come our way and tell us that everyone at campus passes. No, some pass with first class degrees, some with a second upper, others with a second lower, and others with a pass while others betray their three years at campus when they don’t appear on the graduation list. Another scenario shows that a retake is easy to get. If one doesn’t attend lectures or doesn’t do some course work or assignments. Someone might come up and say that it’s quite obvious, but a caution for you is that many people go through different hands in their course of growth so each of you was advised differently. I have a word for you today as a way of thanking you for perusing through this experience with me. Just like nothing comes on a silver plate anymore, education at campus trains you for your future, so you have to guard it jealously and fight for it whenever necessary. You should decide to live in the present because those who live in the future are like those who sleep-walk at night. Balance your life and prepare for your tomorrow but don’t repair the failures in the past. Live without postponing pleasure, commitment and responsibility. Come to campus knowing you have a lot to hassle with and let nothing or no one blind you or show you coated pleasure. Contact: faimimmy@yahoo.com Mulekatete is based in Kampala