3. First Day

I joined MIT on Saturday the 26^th of September 2009….and here’s how my day went….

OMG!!!! It’s my first day and guess what!!!!

I’m terribly late for the class….!!!!

You know that fate always plays pranks with you when you are really in need of luck….that’s what exactly happened in my case….

I woke up late by half and hour, didn’t iron my shirt properly, missed the bus, boarded the wrong train (a fast train which doesn’t stop at Chrompet) so wasted another thirty minutes, the campus didn’t allow me since I didn’t have my ID card yet and had to fight with him and use Indian techniques such as asking him, “Do you know what will happen if the Dean knows about this?” and finally I arrived at the class. I entered the class and a lecture was in progress….the lecturer saw me and saw my admission allotment order and shoved his arms symbolising me to go and take a seat. I went to the last seat and sat down near a lady. She was in her thirties. Her ID card said ‘Dr. Jayakumari’….

I guess by the time I reached the class was over and the professor had finished his lecture and so everyone was silently talking with one another. The sir’s name was Elamaran. He looked thin and fair and was probably in his 50s. There was no ringing of bells like it was in the UG courses and sir just left the classroom and everyone else got up to leave too.

I went across the classroom to get introduced to my mates.

And hence my intro began and everyone else introduced themselves too. It was my first day and it was a bit tough to remember all their names at once. I got my name added into the attendance registers and exchanged phone numbers with my mates. It was really a tiring yet adventurous day.

The rest of the day was spent with my touring of the college and the department (our classroom, the lab and the toilet….). I was asked to give an intro to the classmates and I gave one.  The most peculiar characters that I met in my ‘new’ class were Jay, Ram, Indran, Balu, Selvin, Pankaj and Vikram.

I knew Pankaj before I joined college because he was my classmate in primary school. Jay was a sturdy built guy who really looked bossy at first sight but turned out to be really soft. Now Ram….well he has all the looks that a bookworm would have!!! He wore a microscope for spectacles and I immediately knew that he was a bookworm. Other guys in the class told me that he was nicknamed ‘Search Engine’….All historical dates, royal descendants of a royal family, all the possible places on Earth and their historical importance…..in short there wasn’t anything that he didn’t know about. Indran was a crazy guy who was so similar to me in attitude. He never cared about anything that others said. Balu was Indran’s best friend and they both hanged out together most of the time. Selvin was a thin and tall and thin built guy who wore a spectacle and was the laughing stock of the gang. Vikram was an NRI who didn’t care for anything in college (though was not spoilt!!!). He was slim built and fair and had the guts and toughness to deal with any problem. He was a bit self centred but loved his friends like his family. His dad was a renowned engineer in Finland and many big hands in college were close to his dad and there was practically nothing that anyone in college could do to him. That’s all for now about friends and it’s time to move on to the story….