First Year's First Day

24th July 2004

"Yahan se seedhe chale jao.. left meh sulabh sochalaya aayega..uske saamne MNR ka main gate hai.." told the listless rickshawwala as I moved to the place where I would be "sweating out" with the best brains in the country. I had cleared the entrance exam with quite a good rank helping me get into NIT Allahabad. I had many other options too, but they were in the southern part of the country, which I had rejected because of the scarcity of good chicks and good north indian food there. The concept of college has a very rosy picture in most new entrants - lots of chicks, bikes and no studies at all. Perhaps, this was a reason I didn't want to give the "just-for-geeks" IIT entrance another shot. I have no idea about the origin of this school of thought but perhaps the good old bollywood movies of 90s propagated it most.

I reached the college and it seemed dead to say the least- No bikes, no chicks and geeks all around. The Panditji canteen, as the crumbling board called it, seemed to have been long abandoned by everyone with only the birds interested in sitting there alongwith a few old babus who were sipping in the morning chai. I wondered that maybe the cool guys hanged out at sum other side of the campus. I was guided to Tagore hostel where our registration was to be held. The place seemed crowded with hordes of anxious faces. I looked and found a long queue with confused moustached uncles in it.

I went up to one of them and asked "Hi Sir, Where is the queue for the BTech admission? "

"This is it" he replied in the least interested tone.

I had presumed it was the Mtechs queue seeing the people standing but I guessed perhaps he was one of the parents who had come for his son's admission. He wore filthy rubber slippers with a loose shirt and outdated pants.

" Ohh hi uncle.. this is Shubhankar..from Baroda.. Gujarat.. I have come here for B Tech admission in Computer Science and Engg... What about you? You are here to register for someone ? "

"Hi.. I am Chandrashekhar.. from Chennai...n even I have come for my admission in B Tech Computer Science and Engg. "

Clearly, not the best first conversation with sumone. I left the place immediately and after a while, turned back to see him. He still was giving me that stern look, I acted to look somewhere else and engaged my dad in a conversation.

I felt bad as I knew I was going to be a misfit in this place. Most of the guys had dropped years to slog out and get into the college and I was just a fresher. They must be knowing so much more than me and would be so intelligent, some may even have IIT seats as back up and preferred NIT Allahabad in greed of a better branch, I wondered. I, meanwhile, was a mortal who barely got through IIT screening only to be slaughtered by the Mains paper and I thought I was very lucky to get into this college by clearing the exam for NITs. I would be dumb as compared to these guys and would be an outcast as there would be noone of my "age group". I got registered and left the place with my dad to stay at my relatives for the night. I couldnt sleep that night wondering what was to follow from the next day . My life was about to change and the start surely had not been good. All the images of hot girls and bikes in colleges seemed to be fading away.