May 5 , my last day in college .. returning home brought back its lush memories
YEAR 1
Passing out of school brought about a whole new change in my life, new place, new people, new friends and plenty of new stuff to learn & live with. September 6 2007 was my first day in college and it was all too overwhelming. I had found friends the very first day. Had a few childhood friends for company yet it took a few days for me to settle down and after which it was just a natural progression with a small desperateness to prove myself different from the others and make a mark for myself. It did happen on the freshers day when seniors asked any fresher to volunteer to come up and perform ,that is when I came up with mimicry for the first time, result was an instant hit ( thanks to mom who suggested it ).Classes had begun with full swing. Then I had the usual successful run with plenty of fun during the symposiums, winning my first elocution competition and a state level paper presentation at a reputed college along with an old chum, the occasional cultural and plenty of time with friends. Must mention my first inspiration in college my Physics professor Mr. Ravichandran a fatherly man who has always been my motivating factor and guide. Getting to know the seniors was simply splendid, that is when I found an interesting and wonderful senior Yashwanthy.The climax in the first year was my semester in its annual pattern gave it my best and waited for the result.
YEAR 2
A switch to the new department. After staying as the first year stud in the Department of Humanities and Sciences we got to move into our very own home department and mine being the Department of ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING. Again the fun filled and joyous days had begun. I had found a few besties in my bus mates. The most reliable and trusted who always stood by me and gave immense warmth and love. The first time I was assigned a responsibility of being the class representative by a person who was considered not so pleasant by my seniors. I took it up and moved forward. 3rd July 2008 would be a turning point in life my first semester results had come, eager as everyone I checked them. I had failed in a paper.. shock and disbelief engulfed me. I wouldn't weep, no I knew .. something told me to stay strong. But how would I tell my parents. I had called mom from coll to let her know. I returned home like a coward. That second I looked into her eye is when I got shattered. Dad came home early, I had no strength to face him. I had broken his trust. Shame and grief had taken their control over me. But my parents wouldn't let me live with it. They stayed strong and gave me the strength I needed, I went on with my re-evaluation procedures. A desperate wait and then came the results, I had cleared not with a mere pass mark but a decent score. The hope began surging within me as before. Worked hard on my academics. But a fear always stuck to my heart, I would never mention how I had done the exam to anyone as the outcome was unpredictable. I din't mind if people understood or not , they had not gone through what I had been through. Semester 3 was my big ticket to come back with a bang and yes I did, I was the second highest scorer in my class. Now I could breathe more easily. Then had my smooth progress through Semester 4. I had not indulged in extra curricular activities for long my senior gave me a break. A sudden call to be part of her team gave me great exposure but lead to serious misunderstandings with a few friends. 6th April 2009 was the last day of my exam. Another year had run so fast. My friends wanted to celebrate it. We planned for an outing to the Elliots Beach. A picnic to beach in the mid day hot sun but guess what an ultimate turn over in the weather and we had sizzling showers. The day I had maximum fun and frolic, moreover my first outing with friends. Year 2 ended cheerfully.
Year 3
The tag of being called PRE - FINAL YEAR made the pride within me soar high . Amidst all the struggle to perform in academics and a few family mishaps I had paid little attention to my environment in class. Plenty had taken place. It was high time I got back to my friends. Yup I found a new side to their relationship. I had to put in a whole lot of effort to understand that certain people expect you to take great care and pay attention to their friendship, particularly girls. Big lesson I had learnt during this period was to learn to appreciate even the smallest of deed done and to accept as well as receive compliments. I began enjoying every moment of college life - those unforgettable class hours where we pretended listening while chatting , passing our msgs to friends on small paper chits, playing bingo or tic tac toe, happily munching those tasty snacks brought by any one of the gang member .. best of all dozing :) omg !! its a pleasure beyond heaven.. those lengthy lab session where you don't know what to do after experiments are done or mostly where you never get the required output no matter how much you try and settle down for a chat with the batch mates and wonder if anyone got the output so the others could copy those readings .. well as of me I had two interesting batch mates.. one was so sincere who would never give up , she mostly did the connection part while my job was to somehow bring out the result which I mostly did to satisfy the hardworking soul and then my other batch mate who would never turn up and if he did he would give me hrs of interesting lecture on bikes and racing.. I liked the combo !! Not to forget our movie outings, a gang of 24 girls but some missed it, the first one being Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya where we wanted to make it to the first day first show and we did but not to one of those high class theaters but a normal AC theater with slanting seats ....Well this was college life reaching its pinnacle of happiness for me.
YEAR 4
Being branded the FINAL year sounded more better than being crowned the King of England. Yeah I had survived college and had seen every phase of human emotion. Here I was on the last step of this fantasy combined reality. Final year had instilled just two thoughts in mind, one was to enjoy as much as possible as we had just one year more and next was the complicated question PLACEMENT. As of enjoyment we had gone out for plenty more movies together and beach trips after Industrial visits, bunking afternoon classes and dashing out to the field for sports not minding if it was to play under the hot sun or the mid day Chennai showers. We were kids again. Life had changed lot in those last few months. End of 7th sem brought in placements. Lucky me, got placed in my first interview while my friends awaited their turn. I could see a sea change in my class environment, most were literally worried about their jobs yet they put up a brave face and gave it their best resulting in success after a few attempts. Then came the final project , I wondered with whom I would team up and that's when I had two of my friends who wanted me to team up with them. We were called the 3JI by our class mates tats cos we were - Sree Balaji [my best bro :) ], Viji ( my bus mate & buddy ) and finally me Suji. Project was done successfully with a few hiccups followed by the End sem. There was this urge to get out of college fast, its one of this peculiar feeling in life where we always wanna get to the future but am not complaining I still have my results, better still friends and other factors that still connect me to college...The place which had added bright colors to my life with friendship, understanding, bunking a few classes, long hours in canteen, goofing off , surprise birthday parties & presents, demanding treats for silly reasons, hanging out with friends outside & at their home and those lovely moments with besties where every moment you roar with laughter.
THE END
ah ........ now that's my big story , my 4 years in college. The place that had taught me to be sincere and not serious, I learnt valuable lessons along the way like Silence is the most powerful and best way of being Aggressive, If people remembered you only during crisis it means you have a better place in their heart, Stay positive and cool no matter what happens, I learnt what is friendship practically, despair, sustenance, moral support,sharing, sacrificing,trust, hope, fun, the strong will to survive and live happily ...
well just wanted to share all this here so that in a few years time I can always look back at this and reminiscence the past.
