I can vividly remember my first day in Christ University. It
was a warm July afternoon that I somehow managed to make my first ever local
bus ride on time. Or rather way ahead of time cause Bangalore traffic is very
disproportionate in its timings. It is either too early, just on time, or very
late. Probably we can refer to them as the flavours of the BMTC buses.
The University is big. Back then, I never realised how big
it could be because gratefully they conducted it in an auditorium right close
to the main gate. But what an auditorium it was. The biggest I have ever seen.
And at that moment, one thought passed through my head – this university is
going to be an integral part of my life (probably retrospective bias… but if I
am biased, then it is as real as it gets) and another thought should have
entered as well – that probably this campus is going to be huge.
Sitting inside the auditorium was daunting. Like climbing
all the way to the top of the hill and realising that you are truly
insignificant to the environment and the cosmos enveloping you. It was the same
feeling, realising your star0gazed eyes are just one among thousands sitting
inside and while the number is never too big to comprehend, somehow its
comprehensibility made the feeling that much more evident cause you could
almost sense all of their thoughts, dreams and desires and they signed one more
invisible line in the Christ Unviersity declaration form – the orientation.
Fastforwarding to the part where I first encountered my classmates, I managed
to make 5 friends that day. All of whom would fascinate me and encourage mutual
growth in us through these years. I truly love and still love my class for
this.
Now once again, as is routine, before I continue, I need to lay
some background and ground work for my feelings on that day and the decision
that I made later on in that day that changed everything for me and those
around me. I was not the most popular boy in my higher secondary school. In
fact I was considered my two terms – one, my knowledge of random trivia and
two, I was the only boy in humanities. This was not the greatest legacy that I
left behind for myself there. However I was known among the teachers for more
than this – I was considered smart, responsible and more or less capable. I
guess that’s where those aspirations started from (humility is clearly not one
of them) And then I found myself in the one college that I did apply to that
was interesting, relatively good enough and would accept me for the marks that
I got (marks and academics were never my strong point. Most possibly cause the
pen point and the exam paper did not agree with me). However walking with my
class of about 104 students (a big change from just 8 students) to our new
classroom and the beginning of a new chapter in my life, certain thoughts arranged
themselves in my mind inconspicuously for the greatest leg trip of my life –
all the way down to a whole new level.
But where I truly fell was in my first class we had for the
entire day. I was just getting acquainted with my new classmates when suddenly
our kind sir decided to make us introduce ourselves using an adjective that has
the same initial letter as our name does. This way it sticks with our names and
it is easier to remember (the game never did finish since sir started the idea
pretty late and by the time the second row was done, the bell had rang) for all
the good it would do, keeping in mind that there were 104 students in the
class. My newly found friends and I sat in the back and were proud that we
definitely would not be called to talk in the beginning itself. I guess sir
never got the memo of that plan of action and decided our row was the best to
start with, a unique way of getting the rest of the class to exercise their
neck muscles. The third person was me in that row and while my friends used the
words ‘kind’ (pretty common) and ‘spritely’ (not so much; to be honest, till
then I didn’t even know there was word after ‘sprite; that could mean
anything), I stood up to say the word ‘bold’ and then I froze. I realised that
the entire class of 104 were looking at me. That in some way here was a chance
to make an unforgettable memory that could change my destiny forever and help
me craft a future that would be better for everyone, including myself. And with
a deep breath and a grudging acceptance of my eccentric side, I said the
adjective ‘basketcase’. It was, according to me, mixture of many things,
showing the diversity that was me. However most knew it in the context of a DSM
classification of a casual, layman term for ‘crazy’. But it did the trick.
Everyone in that class either tried to talk to me or I found
them awaiting for me to talk to them. They were surprised at the confidence and
arrogance I could display. It was like I talked like a bad boy but acted like a
good one. All of this built an image that motivated me to add to that image.
That week alone, I did more than I ever thought I would do across campus. I
joined every organisation, club or student activity I could be a part of. I was
living on a self-made entrepreneurial high and I kept trying to reach greater
heights. Eventually I became the lie and the image that I put up. All from the
decision to be strategic in one word that I said. And the resulting dominos
that decided that being a leader and a go-getter was the way to live life to
the fullest in this campus. I was never the same after that. Call it PTSD - Post-Transformational Situational Direction
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