My Bombay relatives were incessantly chattering about what my next step in life should be and it was the same story, MEDICINE, LAW, ACCOUNTING and COMPLIANCE! I could have lived a life of idle luxury with my wealth but the voice of my late father Paneer incessantly advised, if not nagged, me to improve myself and my fellow human beings by my actions. I could not see how my idleness would do either.
Having nothing much better to do I applied to and was accepted by the University of Cote St. Luc Law School in Montreal in their 4-year National Programme to obtain an LLB (common law degree) and BCL (civil law degree). I was accepted. I turned down McGill University Law as the United Mutations had funded a study by the Cote St. Luc Law school to further define how Canadian mutants were discriminated against by the judicial system and the United Mutations held the view I should be heavily involved with the project.
It was 4 more years in Montreal this time and instead my lodgings at the Presidential Suite at the Four Season’s Hotel in Montreal it was an “executive suite deluxe efficiency suite” at the Cavendish Congress Centre Hotel in the Montreal suburb Cote St. Luc. This eliminated the 45-minute commute from Montreal city centre. Food was much more basic in my new digs. I ate many a meal at the Ben Ash Restaurant in the nearby Cavendish Mall and at Delly Boys on Westminster Avenue. I developed a fondness for Cote St. Luc Bagel Bakery’s blueberry Danishes and pickled eggs at the Robert Burns Tavern.
Day one at law school witnessed a friendly and encouraging talk by one of the professors who said look to your left and right and amongst the three of you only one will graduate. So supportive and nurturing. What devils had I got myself caught up with? The professors liked to demean students although a lot could be said about students demeaning professors. That professor with his fly open. The hot shot professor who flew in from Quebec City to give lectures on “Being an Effective Tool for Megacorp Profitability”. For his exam he overloaded students with so many questions no one finished that exam causing student mass trauma. He later joked about it saying this is the stress you will have to live with in practice so get used to it. Nice man. I could go on but suffice to say these male professors were mostly nasty.
Being an “artsy fartsy” graduate it was difficult to be treated like a receptacle for judicial decisions. Were they good or bad? That was not important. The trick was to reduce all judgements into four sentences and memorize all those sentences and spew them out. The critical mind was not necessary or appreciated.
The competitive atmosphere fostered the aims and ambitions of the cutthroats. The most successful students had a tremendous ability to parrot and memorize but possessed limited intellectual ability. They were excellent regurgitators. One shocking incident involved 4 students I saw give a wad of cash to some janitorial employee who passed along a large brown envelope in return for the cash. It no doubt was meant to be secretive but word soon circulated about a bribery to obtain advance copies of several final exams. These students were award winning model students! I wonder why! One was eventually arrested for homicide and one other became the Minister of Justice of Quebec.
After 4 years of tough slogging I did indeed graduate and it was off to indentured servitude called articling before I could take my final exams and be a full fledged lawyer.
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