Amidst the sweltering air and the uncanny feeling of loneliness, it was the end of the three-day journey. At first, a question came to my mind, ‘Is this the right place for me’?…And a timid sound at the back of my head says. It’s gonna be alright.

Unaccustomed to being in a strange place, unknown to the people, their culture or tradition, their societal norms, their food habits. It is indeed the ‘unusual day‘. Coming out of the unacquainted auto-rickshaw, all their eyes were constantly staring at us. Wearing shorts and our hands tied with our bags and luggage, combined with their tea break and being in the college front gate, this is the best spot to be unusual. There came a call from one of the supervisors and told us to wait, after a while, he came towards us and welcomed us with open arms of gratitude. It was a delightful moment, and now we can breathe. He showed us the college campus, hostel facilities, canteen and explain to us the admission procedure. And for the next three years, I named him ‘the guardian angel‘.

It was totally different than we expected. When enquired about such a grooming program from our hometown seniors. They were unaware and we thought we were cheated. Fear and anxiety engulfed me and again told I myself why did we come here. The hostel was empty as if no one had stayed there for years and this empty feeling of loneliness of being in a strange place won’t cease away. We were all alone in this unusual place. But we somehow managed.

With our empty stomach, we waited there for hours, and there was no response from the principal nor the management, We contacted our superiors from our place and they told us it was protocol not to contact the management during the admission procedure. At this moment, I thought what is so important that we should follow protocol, either we are a threat or a victim of Sherlock Holmes, I could not find the answer till today.

There came a man with his white cassock, his shoulders back, his head held high, and steadily approached us. He must be the manager or the boss who runs this institution. And, I was correct, he is the boss. After introducing himself and spoke a word or two, he went on with his daily schedule. Seems a practical person and a man of integrity. In fact, I named him ‘the independent boss’. That day was never-ending, with the hot weather and the sun seems to never set. It was one of those worst days, but the worst teaches us the best lessons. Lesson number one; Knowledge is a by-product of patience. If we want education we need to pay the prize…Patience !!

It took a long time to digest this lesson because as the days went by, there were endless numerous lessons to be learned. After a long wait, another man, again with a white cassock, habitually approached us with a smile, took us to his office, where he showed us how the admission procedure works, he seemed to be in love with computers and I named him ‘the technophile‘. Following his instructions, we registered our names on the college website and it was quite embarrassing to note that it was the first time I knew what an e-mail account is.

At least our admission procedure was partially completed. The supervisor, whom I called the guardian angel, for the second time explained to us what the grooming program was and how it could change our life. Guided us all throughout the day, we owe our gratitude to him. It was already dark and to refresh ourselves, we went for a walk to see the city, but by the time we arrived at the college, we were again in the unusual spot because the gates were closed. Again, whom to call??, what to do?? …

At last, we did the ‘boys thing‘ and reached the hostel. Despite the hurdles we encountered, we had a delicious dinner and it was time to go to bed.

The challenges of our first day did not end, there was another one, we had to battle our first night, usually, the first nights are demanding, and yes it was. Our last fight was with the ‘lord of the mosquitoes’, I have never experienced such a situation wherein mosquitoes could attack us despite the force of the fan and mosquito net.
It was a long fight, applied odamas, burned good-knight (A superior Liquid Vapourizer to kill mosquitoes) and at last, we won. We slept peacefully and hope for a better tomorrow.
A day full of surprises had abruptly ended.