First Day In The New World

fateful days those were. i was making choices by the minute. what college to go to? where to stay? who to stay with? all these questions were answered soon enough.

october 26, 2002. after having registered the previous day at the administrative wing of the college, i walked in with a neatly pressed attire, top to toe not costing more than rs 700 (i was told expensive clothes attract the wrath of the seniors). the first class in my medical life was physiology. the class was full. the year had already been a week underway. friends were made, gangs formed. i stagger to the men's end of the gender-segregated class and make myself comfortable in the first bench, alone. enter tutor. she was this rotund woman who stood at the mike but forgot what it was for. she kept yelling to make sure she was heard at the other end of the campus. as attendance was being called, one guy sitting behind me tapped my shoulder and asked if i had a place to stay. i didnt like him, instinctively. i lied that i was living with an uncle and didnt intend to room with anyone. and an hour passed. i had fresh new notebooks to make notes in and i wrote everything, in the best handwriting i could. after all this was medicine, defining moments of the man i were to be.

soon enough the class dispersed only to file into another nearby building for the anatomy lecture. i walked in late and found a seat in a corner next to the window. the tutor there yelled too but this time with no mike to assist. i wrote and i wondered. i didnt know anything of what was going on. this was a general anatomy lecture and a glance around the hall had people bobbing their heads up and down, studiedly jotting down things they apparently understood. freak! what was i to do. the week i missed started seeming like a year. and at the end of it all, one guy went up with a copy of grey’s anatomy and asks a doubt regarding endarteries. holy crap!

classes are done for the day. i walk out and dont know my left from right. no way to know where my grandparents were. they had been on the hunt to find me accomodation. i wasnt going to stay in the mens hostel. i take an auto ride to subbiah hotel and get an ac meal. something that would anger my grandma later. i always wondered why. they too ate the hotel.

later that afternoon, my grandparents showed me the setup. the crib, pad, den, whatever was to be. it was five rooms end to end. three rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. my possessions now included a mattress, a plate, a glass, a tube light and a ceiling fan along with my suitcase.

later they got onto a bus at balaji cheruvu off to samalkot. it was a sunday afternoon. the roads were empty. it was the october heat. i forgot to ask my grandparents where i now lived. i didnt know who to ask for what and where. i walked. i walked all afternoon looking around at small shops and torn down posters of x-rated movies. where have i landed myself?

the next couple of days i would walk a circuitous route to college and lock myself up when i wasnt out for food. i would read newspapers, three or four years old, which i had borrowed from the owners to spread on the dusty shelves. hours at end i wouldnt talk to anyone. everyday was an ordeal. always lost my way and too proud to look foolish if i asked, i would walk till i found familiar surroundings and eventually get home.

october 29, 2002. physiology hall. the other nri i knew walks in. abhishek, a kid from hyderabad sharing the first bench experience with me, and i walk up to raj c. wassup!

days pass.