Weight lifting

I am very tired. Did a lot of weight lifting today. Oh! The college library sucks. The infrastructure is terrible. And the most interesting trouble is that while one part of the library is on the 3rd floor the other is in another building. So, today was my unlucky day. I never step into this stinky library. However, today I did, and I also spent good 4 hrs in it. Gosh! How did I do that?

Well I wasn’t in the library for most of the time. As I mentioned I did a lot of weight lifting, so coming back to that. I wanted certain judgments, quickly, just as always in an attempt to spend as little time as possible in the library, I breezed through a few books and jotted down some relevant citations. Then began my ordeal. I had to go to the peon with these citations and then he’d give me the relevant judgments. Oh! But he was out for lunch and the other peon didn’t want to leave his place so I waited for an hour for the peon. Finally when he did come, we had to go to the other library.

This library reminded me of an old haveli. It had a huge lock and its door creaked just as it does in ghost movies. Then we entered this haunted house and rummaged through the cupboards for judgments. And then I left with three heavy (extremely heavy) books. I had to go up to the third floor to get them issued then down again to get them Xeroxed then up again to return them. And no lift to aid me. After repeating this twice I felt like dumping the books somewhere instead of going up to return them.

A GUIDE TO my ex-college CANTEEN AT LUNCHBREAK

The moment the bell for the lunch break rings, you should begin to run towards the canteen. Or else the mob that comes out of all the innumerable classes will block all routes to the canteen. And then reaching the canteen will become a mammoth task. You will encounter minor skirmishes, long lost friends (who insist on blocking the stairway while chatting hours on end), and those who don’t follow the traffic rules, blocking your way to the desired canteen.

Well, once you have some how managed to reach the canteen, then you will realize that getting across to the canteen counter (to acquire food tokens) is like trying to get across the road while a cycle race is in motion on the same road. You’ll have to battle with famished girls to get this blessed token.

Now you’ll have to wade through a sea of ravenous girls and give this token to the guy behind the counter. This has to be followed by a long wait. Wait. Wait. Hey! What? That other girl took your order away. Wait. Wait. Ah! Finally you’ve got it. But wait again. He has made a mistake and has given you veg fried rice instead of non-veg. oh!

Yeah! Congrats now that you have finally received your lunch you will realize that there is no place for you to sit and gulp it down. But don’t worry, any way the bell has gone. So now fight the same battle amidst the hordes of people to get back to your class.

And your food?

Don’t worry. The crows will finish it for you.
(the cat can help them)

P. S. Keep trying

A new beginning

A new beginning has never been so tough and easy at the same time. Transition from school to junior college was easy for me. While most of the girls missed school, I had no pangs of longing. In fact I fervently hoped that I shouldn’t find someone from school in college. I was pretty excited about this new beginning and wanted it to be new- without any traces of the past. And that it was – new- I began afresh, no one knew me. So I made new friends and a new image (or so I thought). Everything was nice and fun. I loved it and never missed school. Not that I had an extremely bad experience there, just that I enjoyed the freshness of everything around me. I felt different and this excited me.

I left junior college to join senior college, once again filled with a lot of excitement. I had high hopes and many dreams. My new college set my pulse racing. It was lovely and again I didn’t miss junior college. However, this time I missed my friends. Missed them a lot. It felt like a physical pain. I am a very reserved person. It takes me a lot of time to settle down in a place. It was different in school I’d make friends with the girls around my seat. So I had rotating friends- they’d change as and when teacher would change the seating arrangement (we had to sit at a fixed place allotted by our class teacher). But that wasn’t a problem I always had company I enjoyed. But in junior college things had changed, I had changed. Or may be it was a result of my freedom to sit wherever I liked. I ended up spending two years of junior college with just four other girls. Yes, just four, no more friends. We were like a cloister. We didn’t attend college unless three out of the five of us were present.

So in senior college I felt lost. I had to sit with other people- after a gap of two years. Oh! I was so used to sitting with just them. But then slowly I got integrated, made new friends. And I began to enjoy again. Senior college was fun. In fact it was excellent. I didn’t get stuck up with a few people as I had done in J.C. so when I left senior college to join Law College I thought this transition will be a cake walk. After all I wasn’t attached to anybody as such.

But then for the first time a new beginning was so tough and easy at the same time. Easy- because in post-graduation people seemed to become friends pretty easily. There was no need to get adjusted; people were not interested in that. So I made acquaintances in the first 5 minutes, despite being late by a week. The delay didn’t seem to create any problem. The atmosphere on the whole was very casual.

However, I was very uneasy. For the first time I didn’t feel excited while going to a new college. For the first time I missed an institution, not certain people, but an institution.
The campus, the canteen, the bookshop, the Xerox shop, the coffee vending machine, the trees, the corridor, the benches, the blackboard, the long climb to my class, the view of the Arabian sea from our classroom’s window, everything. Without realizing I had developed a bond with the institution. And I miss it.

As I go to Law College daily, I miss my college. And what makes it tougher is that I won’t be able to love my new college in the same way. Despite being the best law college in Mumbai it is as dingy as can be. The only solace is that the staff here does teach well.