My first day at college

It was Monday, the 20th of July,2008 ,8:50 AM, when with the proud feeling of a budding Engineer I first reached the territory of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology,Allahabad(M-N-N-I-T).My stomach was spinning in circles.That college-waali-feeling was sprouting up.All sort of how,what and when's were hammering my empty head (tin-tin-tin-in) which was absolutely idle since the past 84 days.

 After parking my scooty ,I headed towards the Dean Academic Office to enquire about the schedule of I'st semester students(MECHANICAL ENGINEERING in particular).There I met another girl who was also doing the same. There were exactly three similarities between us. First, we both were localite ,second we both were anxious and third both of us were in suits(no need to tell, why ? :P).Well, after a minute of our interaction a person from the office  informed us that they have not yet received the new schedule and  directed us to the Main Building(where the classes were to be held). We hastened our steps  for it was already 9:00 by then.

Somehow I managed to find the Mechanical Engineering Department. There I met a Lady professor who by chance happened to be the then warden of KNGH(our girls hostel).I asked for her help. She said--"Oh, dear I do not have the time-table right  now. It's there in the hostel no? ".Now this statement of hers was sudorific enough. I was dumbstruck. What to do now?  . She probably figured out my state of mind and asked me my section .And I gave-W-H-A-T- like expressions. "Ma'am my branch is Mechanical" ,I said. To this she very humbly replied-"Beta but this does not ensures your section no?-A,B,C....we have 'six' in total you know.(She bragged and I was almost nerve-wrecked) .Ok let me see what I can do". And she asked me to wait.I had no other option. It was 9:10. She made certain calls and exactly after five minutes another lady arrived .Finally both of them confirmed that 'Saumya Srivastava ,Reg No:2008**** ' was admitted in C section.She handed me the corresponding time-table. After seeing it, I ,for the very first time realized the relevance of the saying 'kaala akshar bhains barabar' .Oh My God (No,it was rather like O--M--G)!!!What is this? MAT I, GS-7,IMP,IEP PHY(T),FN-5,EEE(P).It was like some encrypted code of FBI. I pitied my empty head. The other lady perhaps noticed the question mark on my face and before I ask her for more help, she stood up to show me the way to GS rooms— where  my first class was scheduled- GS-7. I saw my watch and it read 9:19.Another O-M-G. After thanking the two, I finally  hurried  towards the GS, the GS Maze.Yeah, it was nothing less than a maze at the first sight.

My excitation was escalating almost exponentially with each step I took forward. And there it was - GS-7 at the dead end which almost took my breathe. About ninety set of   unfamiliar eyes googled at me. I stood at the door for the nonce  trying to intake the embarrassment of being twenty minutes late in the very first class of the very first day of college. “May I come in sir?” , I managed to ask. The professor looked at me and then at his watch(which was quite obvious) and then again at me and after a thought of second or two allowed me to get inside.I hurried myself to the first empty bench which was unfortunately the very last . “It was not supposed to be like this”  ,I thought and settled down. By this time my watch read 9:23.I took out my register ,a black pen and a blue pen (for I had planned to start off neatly)and gave a quick glance to the room. To my utter surprise I was the only girl amidst the batch of 90 ‘to-be-mechanical-engineers’ .This was a bouncer to my cerebellum. I shook my head.(“kisne kaha tha mechanical le lo,aaraam se electrical mil rahi thi ".Phew!!)


 I kept aside all the disgruntling thoughts for the time being and tried to concentrate .The professor had the looks of  Einstein’s grand grandson. And it took me a minute to realise that he will be teaching us ‘Theory of Relativity’ (what a co-incidence you see) and what he has written on the board was the syllabus for the entire sem. I took a deep sigh and started penning down the things. Exactly at  9:50 two more girls entered the class and while they were explaining their reasons for being late I send a few thankyou’s to God. Well the Sir left the class exactly at 10:00  with the general warning of being punctual from the next lecture.

The next class was supposed to be of EEE(L).???.Everybody was excited to see the next professor and to know the new subject as well. Alas! No one came .Nor did anyone moved out(with the fear of being ragged).I was trying to hide my uneasiness by admiring the ‘interior’ of the room-the grey walls, whirling fans, spider-webs,olive-green 'black-board' and ‘open-forever’ window panes. It was 11:00 by now and the next lecture was to be 'ELC ’ .???. We were again excited. We waited for 5minutes,10 minutes,15 minutes but nobody arrived. And I started wondering if this is a good college?. Well somehow another hour passed. 

The fourth period was scheduled MAT I. And my common sense said it must be Mathematics (my favourite ).And I wondered if anyone is going to come. Atlast the mathematics professor entered the room at 12:05 and he gave the impressions exactly of ‘tension lene ka nai,dene ka’. He started off with 3-D Coordinate geometry without any prior interactions."AARGGGHHH",I murmured. Well he made us solve some questions and I was among the few who raised their hands for having solved them. “My brain is not that idle” , I thought. The class got over at 1:00 PM.

I again browsed the time-table.The only thing which I could get was that 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM was  the lunch time and the entire second half was vacant for the day. Vacants are always blessings you know. But that day it couldn’t appeal us. .I exchanged a few words with the girls and finally left for home.
 
I reached my place at about 1:15 PM .Papa was also there for  lunch. Both ma and papa were surprised to see me home so early(after all they knew it was scheduled to be till 5:30 ). I told them the entire story. My father just said "Beta it's a government college.But it's good.”. My mother was happy that the lunch is of one and a half hour duration  so I could very easily come home ,have my lunch ,take a half-an-hour rest and then again leave for college. Mothers always love to cook for their children(and their husbands too).It gives them immense pleasure .And so she served her tired daughter with the best food in the world.

It was 2:30 by now and I was feeling very sleepy since I got up at 6:00 in the morning to ensure everything goes well.Huh!. So I switched on my AC, lied down on my cozy bed, still wondering how to manage a cryptographer who could decipher my encrypted time-table for the next day.

PS--My branch is now Electronics after two successive slidings from Mech and IT..... :)

love and prayers