Prarambh

What a first week it has been in the land of the Nawabs. Haven’t spent much time in the city, been on campus mostly since I landed here. First things first, the city, right from getting out at the station gives the impression of chaos, and the traffic at best represents Brownian movement. It was so nice to finally reach the campus after what can only be described as a nightmarish journey.

The campus, bless the lord, is a sea of tranquility, and the atmosphere can be best described as “warm indifference”, since although the people are very nice and warm, there is a subtle air of indifference, one that alludes to the fact that it wouldn’t matter to the pacific around if a certain individual existed here or not.. The campus is impressive in terms of facilities, and comes as a much welcome dollop of green amidst the vast tracts of farmlands on the gangetic plains.

The induction module by the institute was quite disappointing, a sequence of long lectures, mostly soporific: the good part was the hall was air conditioned. The induction module by our seniors was meant to prepare us mostly towards getting rid of our stage fear, and handling stress with dignity. Although our senior batch had their intentions in the right place, the repeated use of the phrase “This is not a joke” actually made it a joke! Learnt a few survival skills, primary one being sleep management.

Come Friday evening, we decided to make a dash to the city, and there is just one term I have for it: A jungleraj. The sports bar that we went to had the sign outside “Arms and ammunitions not allowed”, and was manned by security guards carrying automatic weapons. The restaurant next door, a “family” place by their own confession, had a bouncer, who wore a bullet proof vest. Something I have never seen before, or associated with our country.

Another prominent feature across the state, right in the center of the busiest intersection of the city, Hazratganj, is a statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. I do not think I need to offer any explanations for this one.

Now coming to my favorite pet peeve, the weather. On the hot and dry days, the campus is under the spell of Loo, and everything we can lay our hands on is literally roasted. The concrete buildings get so hot, they radiate heat for most part of the night, and make any iota of comfortable sleep impossible. The last three days were a little humid, and that made us sweat endlessly, without letup.. Finally, the rain gods, kind and benevolent as they are, blessed us with the first showers of the season, and well, knowing me, I took a walk in the rain along the “ring road”. It was blissful.

Formal registration happened yesterday, and the institute gave us the books for the first term, weighing around half a quintal!! Good luck to me, more later..

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