This Day - Four Years Ago

19^th July 2017 – my very first day of college life... It was a rainy day like today. In fact, my whole neighbourhood was flooded. I remember waking up super early that day, disappointed that I won’t be able to make it. I remember asking my dad if he could drop me. It was a gamble for his car, to say the least. You see, when I say floods in my neighbourhood, it is not the usual water here and there, difficulty in walking kind. It is knee-deep water capable of seeping inside cars, jamming parts, and everything associated with the chaos.

Dad still chose to say yes. And so we began, my very first day of college with an adventure... I still don’t know how my dad managed to pull the car out of the ocean surrounding my house. But he did, and I will always be grateful that he did.

And so I arrived, on the pedestal of Daulat Ram College at 8.05 am on that chilly Wednesday morning. By then, it was only a light drizzle, the kind that makes you believe for a split second that all is well with the world.

I started to walk around the college, memorizing every room’s location, the places I can sit to watch people make their dreams come alive. All the places that would make the next three years of my life beautiful...

I remember sitting on the bench outside my department, writing in my journal about my feelings that day. I was excited and petrified, but somehow at peace too. After the common orientations were done in the main auditorium, we were called for departmental orientations. I remember sitting at the far end of Lab A, observing the rest of the class.

I don’t remember much about what happened after. But I do remember the happy and confused faces I saw. The emotions people around me evoked in each other. The general feeling of admiration and love surrounding the class that day...

More people would join our class in the days to come, there would be groups formed. I saw friendships getting redefined. People transforming, changing, growing...

New leaders emerging, unexpected talents rising... All the lectures we attended in the department, all the freshers and farewell parties we hosted. The ones we couldn’t host or attend. All the conversations in the corridor, sitting on the floor and jamming to random songs as if it’s our own house.

All the deep conversations that would give us constant existential crisis. All the walks back home, the metro rides, the momos hogging sessions, the Kamla Nagar rides. Society practices, days when we would sit in the department till the guards shooed us away. We almost got locked in one day.

It has been exactly four years since I first joined college. The peace that I felt that very first day hasn’t left me yet. That day would prompt my early morning walk routines, 8 am practice routines. That single day managed to shape a huge part of how life would turn out for me, the kind of people I would meet, the memories I would share.

And I sit here on my balcony today, reminiscing every single memory that my feeble mind can recall – what I remember the most is the growth I have had, watching the people around me grow stronger, confident, resilient, brave and happier.

Dear DRC Batch of 2018 – 2022, you will always be one of the reasons why I am who I am today.

Thank you for letting me stay!