At Cotton what I found interesting was politics. There were groups of students who would sit huddled and discuss politics. There was one group, I remember vividly, that called itself Young Marx privately. They were Marxists. Their favourite theme was Globalization; they were against it because they believed it was against the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. How can any sort of globalization help the cause of the poor, they would question, and debate on and on. Many found their discussion outdated because of the rapid advances made by different aspects of globalization. During those days it was fashioble to be in support of globalization. I too wanted to appear fashioble. Therefore, the choice for me was obvious: I had to ridicule that group that called itself a diehard follower of the Marxist ideals. However, one person in that group fascited me: Rupam. His parents used to work in the corporate world, both being MBAs. So, in that sense, he was brought up in that sort of culture, the corporate culture. His parents would visit the office club in the weekend and have parties there with a good deal of drinks. But he never accompanied them because he found it a waste of time. He thought people had better things to do in this world. So he would rather stay back home, read Marxist literature, ponder over it, and then the next day would discuss all with his friends in the group. He was an extremely intelligent boy. He was also into poetry, and his poetry was deeply influenced by Marxist poets. He also wrote newspaper articles. When his articles were published, his friends would call it a vindication of their stand against globalization and their support of the communist cause.
