Goutam, Sarthok, Sayan, and Joy made their way to their seats in the back row.
A few of their classmates were already seated there, their graduation gowns draped over their shoulders.
“You finally decided to show up,” one of them whispered over his shoulder, leaning back against the wooden bench.
“We were here,” Joy muttered, sliding into his chair.
“Just…
a little late at the security gate.”
“A little?”
Sayan sat beside him, pulling the dark fabric of his gown over his trousers.
“Don’t start.”
Goutam took his seat at the end of the row and glanced toward the brightly lit stage.
The principal had already smoothly recovered his rhythm, continuing with his address into the microphone.
“…and graduation isn’t the end of your education,” his voice echoed off the concrete walls of the auditorium.
“For some of you, there will be further academic studies.
For others, your first professional job may begin within the next few months.
Whatever path you choose from this day forward, take it seriously, but don’t be afraid to change your direction when you need to.”
Goutam leaned back in his plastic chair, his fingers brushing against the stiff cardboard folder in his lap.
For some reason, he felt strangely calm.
Maybe it was because he’d spent so many consecutive years imagining this exact morning that, now that it was actually happening, it no longer seemed real.
He looked down at the graduation gown resting over his daily clothes.
College was over.
He’d thought about that sentence many times before in their flat, but sitting here in the crowd made the reality feel entirely different.
Beside him, Sarthok leaned over slightly.
“Are you nervous?”
“A little,” Goutam admitted, his voice quiet.
“About walking up on the stage?”
Goutam shook his head.
“No.
Just…
feels strange.”
Sarthok understood without asking for further clarification.
He nodded once, his eyes fixing on the stage.
“Yeah.”
The principal eventually concluded his closing speech, and the ceremony moved directly to the manual distribution of the degrees.
One by one, the departments were called forward.
Names began to echo through the loudspeakers.
Each student walked toward the left stairs of the stage, received their folder, shook hands with the head of the department, and posed briefly for the official photographer before returning down the right aisle to their seat.
The stiff atmosphere in the auditorium gradually became lighter.
Whenever someone from their row came back, their friends would clap a little louder against the wooden armrests.
Some students looked instantly relieved the moment the paper was in their hands.
Others couldn’t stop smiling as they walked back.
A few had their phones out and ready before the person had even reached the stage steps.
Goutam watched all of it, the flashing cameras blurring into a steady pattern.
Then Sayan nudged his arm.
“They’re getting closer to our roll numbers.”
“To us?”
“Yeah.
The Mechanical section is next.”
Goutam looked toward the printed list being held by one of the junior professors near the podium.
His name was coming up soon.
A few more students from the previous alphabet block were called forward.
“Goutam.”
For a second, his muscles didn’t move.
His boots stayed flat on the floor.
“Oh,” Goutam muttered.
He stood up, adjusting the hem of his gown.
His friends clapped steadily as he walked down the narrow side aisle toward the stage steps.
He climbed the wooden stairs, shook hands with the dean, and accepted the heavy leather folder.
“Congratulations, Goutam.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He turned toward the tripod camera near the center aisle for the official photograph.
The bright flash went off, stinging his eyes for a split second.
Then he stepped down the right side of the stage.
The entire process had taken less than a minute.
But when he returned to his seat and slid back into the chair, Sayan gave him a quiet smile.
“Done.”
Goutam looked down at the degree in his hand, his thumb running over the embossed gold lettering.
“Yeah.”
A few minutes later, Sarthok’s name was called.
Then Sayan.
Then Joy.
The four of them eventually sat together in the back row again, each holding the exact same certificate they’d spent years working through the night to secure.
Sayan looked down at his own folder, flipping it open.
“So…
that’s it?”
Joy nodded, his eyes on the stage.
“Looks like it.”
Sarthok glanced across the row at Goutam.
“Feels a bit anticlimactic, doesn’t it?”
Goutam smiled slightly, closing his folder.
“Maybe it’ll feel real tomorrow morning when the alarm doesn’t go off.”
The ceremony continued for a little longer.
There were short speeches from a few graduating students from the topper list, followed by more faculty photographs and the usual routine congratulations from the management.
Eventually, the principal returned to the podium for the formal closing remarks.
“Congratulations to all of you,” the microphone crackled slightly.
“You’ve worked incredibly hard to reach this day.
Whatever comes next in your careers, I hope you remember the people who helped you get here.”
The students applauded, a loud wave of sound filling the auditorium.
Goutam joined them, his palms striking rhythmically.
He didn’t think much of the principal’s sentence at the time.
After the ceremony finally ended, the crowd slowly began filtering out toward the exit doors.
The four friends stepped outside together into the bright courtyard.
For a moment, the relief was visible on all their faces.
“We’re officially graduates,” Sayan said, breathing in the fresh air.
Joy laughed quietly.
“Finally.
It’s over.”
Sarthok looked down at the certificate in his hand.
“After all that nonsense.”
Goutam nodded, his bag strap shifting on his shoulder.
They started walking across the main campus lawns.
The stone courtyard was completely crowded now.
Students were taking photographs everywhere you looked.
Some stood with their parents, who were busy fixing their crooked gowns and telling them exactly where to stand for the lighting.
The four friends slowly decreased their pace, their steps faltering.
Nobody said anything.
Goutam watched a large family gather around one of their classmates from the civil department.
The student’s mother was crying quietly into a handkerchief, while his father tried very hard to hide his own smile, his arm resting proud on his son’s shoulder.
Goutam looked down at the folder in his hand.
Then he looked at his friends.
Sayan had gone entirely quiet, his gaze fixed on his shoes.
Joy’s easy smile was completely gone now, his thumbs hooked into his pockets.
Sarthok looked away, his eyes focusing on a distant brick building on the other side of the courtyard.
They had known this day would look exactly like this.
There was nothing surprising about the crowd.
Still, seeing everyone else surrounded by their families made the empty space directly around the four of them very noticeable.
Goutam swallowed the dryness in his throat.
“Should we take a photo?”
Sayan looked up at him, his expression clearing a bit.
“Yeah.
We should.”
Joy nodded.
“Let’s do it.”
They found a quieter, less crowded spot near the stone wall of the old laboratory building.
Sarthok placed his degree folder flat against his chest.
Sayan stood right beside him, shifting his weight.
Joy moved closer into the frame.
Goutam looked at the three of them through his phone’s front camera, stretching his arm out.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
A student passing by with a camera bag noticed them struggling to get the angle right and paused on the gravel path.
“Want me to take it for you guys?”
Goutam handed the device over immediately.
“Yeah.
Thanks a lot.”
The student took the phone and stepped back, waiting for them to settle into position against the brickwork.
The four of them stood shoulder to shoulder, their arms touching.
“Okay, smile.”
The shutter clicked.
“Got it.”
“Thanks,” Goutam said, taking the phone back.
Goutam laughed quietly, the tension in his chest releasing.
Then he hit the save icon.
For a few seconds, none of them spoke.
They didn’t need to say anything out loud.
They had reached this day together, from the very same room, without anyone else helping them clear the path.
That was enough.
It had to be.