First day in SCIT!!
4th June 2014, the day I arrived in Pune with a mind full of excitement. Being born and brought up in Chennai and without knowing Hindi at all, I knew my life would be hard in Pune. And most importantly being the youngest kid at home, I was pampered with love and food by my parents. The idea of staying in hostel for the first time for two whole years in Pune without knowing Hindi.. It’s a pretty scary idea. Right? Well.. I stepped down from my train once it arrived in Pune railway station with all these thoughts running back in my mind and with lots of baggage in hand. Yeah I had too many huge suitcases(I had carried everything from washing powder to notebooks 😛 ) so I was left with no choice but to use two koolies for carrying my luggage. I had already booked a guest room for my parents in college. So we reached college directly around 11 am (Pune traffic.. Ufff..)
Then started the first day at #SCIT for me. The hostel warden did not know English and I did not know Hindi. So you can imagine how much I would have struggled to converse with her to get the keys for my room and for my parents room. And after a long struggle we got the keys and with much greater struggle found the room. The induction was supposed to start at 11.30 am. So I and my parents rushed to the guest room without even going to my room, to get ready so that we won’t miss the induction. We reached the auditorium at 12.10 pm. When I entered the auditorium it was pitch dark except for the slideshow that was going on the display on stage. I was not able to even see where the chairs where and which ones where occupied. After saying a silent prayer I took my first step into the auditorium. And OOOPS, I tripped and fell.. DEAR GOD, WHY ME? After regaining my stand I switched on the torch light from my phone and saw the seats. What I saw was all faces staring back at me and that all chairs were occupied. Asking my parents to mind the step I went ahead cautiously not to trip and fall again 😛
And the induction started around 12.30pm and went on till 3pm. At that time my stomach was playing drums because of hunger :/ I rushed with my parents to the mess and found it was already overflowing with people waiting in queue to get inside the mess. Again DEAR GOD, WHY ME? In the meantime while waiting I went to get my ID card from admin block. A guy in ground floor told me to get the ID card from 2nd floor. After climbing two floors I looked up, a board said “Third floor”. I am like WHAAAT??? I got confused thinking I was so hungry that I lost track of the floors while climbing. And I peeped down to check it and found out that I was in second floor only. I thought OMG!!People in North India count the ground floor as first floor and so on 😛 They are so different from people in South India. And finally after getting my ID when I came down I realized that there was a basement floor which is counted as ground floor. Hunger makes you think so stupidly 😛 And after much waiting I got inside the mess somehow and had my lunch.
After that only I had a huge task waiting for me. Unpacking and settling in my room. THANK GOD!! my mom was with me. With her help somehow I arranged my clothes and everything and settled my room. I checked the time, it was 7.15 pm and it there was still light outside. In Chennai it starts becoming dark at sharp 6 pm. And here even after 7pm it was not still dark. And I and my parents came down to have tea. And there I saw few fellow students joining with me both Tamilians and non Tamilians. And each time someone talked to me in Hindi I would have to explain to them “I don’t know Hindi. Talk to me in English :/ ”. When everyone were introducing themselves to each other, suddenly few guys came and told us that there was an Ice Breaking session, so gather everyone. Many guys and girls introduced each other during that time when I realized that Ice Breaking session was actually a session for people to get to know each other and not breaking ice literally 😀 And after the introduction I had my dinner and went straight to my room after saying Good night to my parents. And there I was lying in bed alone for the first time without my parents thinking about what all happened that day and how I am going to manage here in hostel in a new place for two years without knowing the language. I was in tears and all I wanted was these two years to end ASAP so that I can return home, sleep in my bed and eat my mom’s food. But little did I know that I was going to get so many nice friends the next day itself who are so much fun to hangout and also very understanding. People who missed their home as much I miss mine. And also who were slightly cracked up like me and were as much scared as me. With lots of memories from Chennai and expectations about the next two years I dozed off in my bed to a sound sleep. This was my first day in #SCIT which I can never forget till the end, the day I stepped into a new phase of life in an entirely new world.
