It was that feeling of not knowing what lay ahead, across that gate of my new college. I had already fallen in love with the building on my interview day. Now, even after my one semester is getting over, I suddenly experience the same feeling once again. Time went by in a snap. It was just yesterday that I was walking through those glass doors, towards the administration block, to get myself registered; that feeling of belonging somewhere, and that too in an institution this prestigious, this great. I was proud of myself. I could go out there and finally flaunt my being a part of this.

So much has changed, and so much just hasn’t. I remember still being friends with the first girl at my interview, and she happens to be my best friend on campus, and my roommate. I still remember how my perception about people changed, people that I had liked at the first meeting, people that I hadn’t. Surprisingly, not much has changed about the former but the latter, I was so wrong. I have genuine people in college, people who make life fun, in every sense; people, who care, and who are always there, somewhere in the background. I remember talking about my teachers to my friends back home and in various other institutions. They are awed. The only expression that they use it is, “Wow! faculty can be that cool too?” With teachers, we students are so free, so open. Be it social networking sites, on campus gossip, or personal crisis, they are always patient enough to listen, and cool enough to guide.

Studies are fun. In classes, hiding cell-phones and texting each other about how boring a topic is, or how we should just bunk the lecture and go out eat, we always end up being there, on those benches, in that class, because we feel like studying. Teachers are that good. The various activities in every course are refreshing in itself. It is fun, and it’s crazy. A change to the typical monotonous syllabus life. The computer lab is a fun place to go, even when we are tensed to the optimum level with last minute submissions of the never ending projects that we have to do. We crib and yes, we crib a lot, but at the end of the day, we love it. These things give us a hang of researching, making ourselves that apt in knowing, what lies where and what is relevant. We become self reliant and already a step closer to being almost perfect. Yes, someday we will reach there too. It’s just the very beginning.

The canteen would be my second favourite place, after those stairs where we technically live; between classes, in lunch and long after the classes are done with too. The food is hot and homely, and delicious. We get things like momos too. Yeah, now beat that! Talent resides in every brick of the building, every day; I end up exploring something new. And that makes me happy. I had always wanted my college life to be the most memorable part of my life. And I am glad I took the decision to be here. To be selected was a big thing in itself and now, that I am here, still seems like a very beautiful dream. As I watch the gates of my building, smiling, hugging and high-fiving friends, my extended family in a distant land, I thank god. I am still in awe of this place and I know, for a fact, that every morning when I would enter those gates, for the next five years of my life, I would still be awed. This college is my second home, and I am lucky, it became that.

As expressed by…. Aadya Dube, BA LL.B - Semester III (2010-15)