College Life: A New Beginning

‘Life takes you to unexpected turns,’ a very common line used by everyone from great philosophers to annoying uncles and aunties in your neighbourhood on a daily basis.

I, for one, tired of living in the monotony of school life, never believed in the ‘ever changing’ nature of life, at least not my life. The final year of school is a real-life Dementor which sucks your soul out of your body along with your youthful hopes and beliefs. But as unexpected as everything else, this one decision I took in a millisecond changed the entire next three years of my life.

I came to Mumbai.

Being a Delhiite, my one and truly one wish was to get admission in University of Delhi.  When I finally decided to move to Mumbai for further studies, I was excited and uncertain at the same time. For days I was anxious, constantly questioning my decision to move to a new city, a completely different state, leaving the comfort of home miles and miles away. On the other hand, I felt this spark ignite within me, the one vanquished last year when I started realizing the mature reality of life.

So here I am – a new city, new people, a completely different culture to see.

My first encounter in this culture were the Mumbai cab drivers, talking like you have known each other for years and showing you around while guiding you about every place you pass by. From politics to family, you name it and they are ready to talk to you like best friends. On one interesting encounter, the cab driver stated, ‘If Rahul Gandhi stays with Mumbai cab drivers for at least one month, he’ll learn how to give a good speech.’ According to him if Rahul Gandhi listens to Prime Minister’s speech carefully, he can give good comebacks by twisting the same sentences in his own favour. The man literally started giving a speech posing as Rahul Gandhi and speaking in Modi’s tone, giving the best comebacks that any politician could never give in a lifetime.

See, as a Delhiite the only experience I have had with auto drivers is fighting, shouting and constantly bargaining the prices with them because oddly they don’t follow the rule of using the price/distance meter at the capital. So if a city where even cab drivers make you feel at home, then one should expect wonderful things yet to happen.

When I entered my hostel, I was welcomed by this unexpected warmth and positivity. It’s an ancient building, centuries old, it is supposed to feel scary, haunted even, but unlike any horror movie, it felt good to be here. There was a meet of the ‘fresher’s’ on my first night at hostel, we were briefed on some rules by the in-charges and had great rapport session. That is when I met some of the most wonderful people and we sat and talked in the common area all night without realising that we only knew each other for a few hours. I did not feel homesick, and my roommate, a third year student, even made sure I was okay after my parents left.

A place is good if the people are good and to be honest, I found some of the best. That introvert side of me completely vanished as if it never existed and I felt at home.

The reason why I fell in love with this hostel even more is because they have a House system like Hogwarts did. We call them Groups. The whole Hostel is divided into three groups: Emerald, Beryl and Crystal. I got Emerald which is evidently my lucky stone. Throughout the year there will be several activities in the hostel and the group which performs the best, the end of the year, they get a prize.

I participated in the first hostel activity which was a literary event where we had to speak on a random quote for one minute without getting the time to prepare for it. My quote was ‘Live and Let Live’. The first person who came in my mind was my English teacher in school, a romantic soul with a special spot for Shakespeare and this quote especially.

Honestly, I don’t remember what I said, except that I said everything that came in my mind. I am not going to repeat it, because as a writer who is very judgemental of work, I abhorred the unprepared material I spoke in this limited time. At the end the warden, our judge, got up to review our speeches and announce the results and the winner was… Emerald! I literally wanted to get up and say: 10 points to Emerald! I know, childish of me but once a Potterhead, always a Potterhead.

The college orientation was one of a kind. Yes, they performed songs, acapella, played several instruments and performed a skit but what came next was unexpected. We had a Chapel service where they sang prayers with a modern twist, with drums and guitars. The unexpected part comes next. We were all told to stand up. They told us to sing the lyrics together and gave us a few steps to dance with.  The whole Chapel was dancing and ringing with joy and a little bit of awkwardness from the First Years. A feeling of enthusiasm and optimism was generated that could be felt all over the place. It was one of the oddest and the most fun experiences ever in a place of worship.

The best part about living here is that Marine Drive and Girgaum Chowpaty beach is only ten minutes away. We visited the beach together one evening and cherished the melting ice creams, street food and the pleasant windy weather. If one year ago someone told me that I’d be living beside a beach in South Mumbai (a posh area), hanging out with a bunch of amazing people I’ve known only for a day, I would have laughed and told them they’re delusional. But here I am.

Maybe this was all meant to be- coming here, meeting all these amazing people, feeling at home in an unfamiliar place. Maybe watching the blood moon was never written in my stars, because destiny wanted me to sit under the cloudy Bombay sky till 2 am, chatting and laughing with strangers I had one in billion chances to meet.

It’s true what one Mumbaikar told me, ‘Don’t visit Mumbai if you don’t want to stay. You easily fall in love with this city.’ I think I just did.

(Pic credits: Wanderpant)