A FRESH EXPERIENCE!

Anything which is the first time will have special significance to us. Be our first day on this earth, the first steps taken with our little legs, our first day in school, first day of college…the list is endless. Every time it is a new beginning. A new discovery. Speaking of college almost the whole of our first year is of great significance. It is definitely a new beginning. We discover surprisingly our new potentials, talents which were hiding in us all through our school life like how I discovered my potential for writing. All through school I have never written a proper essay for my English class!

Entering college….having no more dull boring school uniforms, big bulky bags, and two plaits. It was like entering a whole new colorful world. When I asked my first years if they share my opinion, I was really surprised. ‘It does feel great, but I actually miss my 2 plaits!!’ said Aarthi a first year commerce student. Many actually missed there school uniform and two plaits (though the other side of the story is they never properly wore two plaits in school so they are missing them now!!). A sociology student said that now there are no more school uniforms, there is freedom of expression. Well for the bag part –‘the bags have not changed, they are still bulky’ said Tejasvi and Bhavitha, both commerce students. (Of course being in commerce you will have to carry your big bulky R.L.Guptha book even through your second year, nobody can help you!!!.)

We have one of the finest campuses in the city. ‘The campus is great-only thing is at times it is dirty’ was the unanimous reply from the first years. While Meera of sociology had a better idea, she loves the campus so much that she said she wanted ‘cleaning day’ on campus on a Sunday every month!! She doesn’t mind spending a few hours in college, but it has to be accompanied with credits! (Maybe our students union will look into this idea, and improvise on it!)

One great regret they had been that they were not been ragged!! ‘Seniors do not behave like seniors; they are just like us’ says Aarthi. While Tejasvi was of the view that ‘They say they are friendly seniors, yes I agree with it. They are quite approachable. But I have my friends to be friendly with. I want my seniors to be seniors, really bossy and should rag us’. Well but officially ragging is banned in our college we can’t help it! ‘Seniors are approachable but they never approach us’ said Shristi of the fine arts department.

What is college life without a little bit of classes...Ok I am a bit exaggerating; we have a good amount of classes to attend in college that is supposed to be the prime reason for us to come to college! Our college actually has a great attendance system to draw students to their classes. It is attendance every hour. ‘It is actually a fantastic way to make people come to college’ said Meera. Most of them felt that it was terrible, it was standing in there way of bunking classes. (You see our administration is much cleverer than us! They have got 60 years of experience handling students like us and have come up with this master plan of attendance every hour!!)

As for the transformation from school life to college life, most of them were missing school life ‘College life is great, but I actually miss school at times. It takes time to settle in a new environment after being nurtured and guided for 15 years in school’ said Nikila rajiv of the commerce department. Most of them feel that school is best…as they are just in their first year, in two more years I am sure they are likely to change their opinion! While some prefer college is best as it gives them more responsibility and independence, and helps to define you better than in school.

Our journey of life is never ending, we walk through paths and passages, hills and caves, we meet a number of people, and some become our best buddies, while others just go past us. But in the end we have to leave our best buddies and move on with our life. Like joining a different college that suits us. When asked the first years how did it feel to leave their best friend and come to a new place and make new friends? The responses were varied. Some of them were lucky enough to have their best buddies still in the same college. ‘It is just a one way road, you have got to travel along it, I do miss my friends, yet I made great friends over here’ said Michelle of the BCA department. ‘Making new friends just happened effortlessly, without me realizing it’ said Sristi of the fine arts department. ‘It is awful to leave your best buddy, but I have made a great many friends here. And it also gives an opportunity to interact with different types of personalities’ said a first year literature student.

Well all is well that ends well. The three years of college life is definitely going to be great as we are in one of the best colleges of the city. And like how we treasure our school life with all those nostalgic feelings that arise when you see a student on the road wearing your school’s uniform we will treasure our college life in three years up the lane. And the same nostalgic feeling will arise when some one says they are from our college! All I could say is we are in one of the best parts of our life. So live like there is no tomorrow, rejoice each and every moment as it won’t come back again!