17 years.
17 complete years I had stayed at home.
And on one fine day, the 13th of July 2011 to be exact, I was suddenly left alone at my college hostel room to spend the next 4 years away from the comforts of home and, more importantly, away from my mother.
But I had been given an option. A lifeline of sorts.
13th of July 2011 was a Wednesday and I had my TNEA (Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions) Counselling appointed on the Tuesday of the next week. I had 3 days - till Saturday, the 16th - to decide if I was ready for a hostel life.
And this is the story of what made me stay back.
When you are a boy and when you spend your eleventh and twelfth standards at school with a very close bunch of 5-6 boys - boys who do not have even a single friend from the opposite gender - the attraction towards the opposite gender tends to increase manifold. It increases to such an extreme point, at times, that when a girl borrows your pen for a moment, you start wondering as to why the girl chose you in particular for borrowing a pen and you start making assumptions if the girl has romantic inclinations.
Trust me. These things do happen. Especially with friends who, after the girl returns you your pen and leaves, start making a huge fuss about such a trivial thing, shouting,
"En?! En correct'aa unkitta vanthu pen kekkanum?! Irukku.. Etho irukku da! Ithelaam elaarukum amayaathu machi!"
So much so for a simple ball-point pen. Phew!
But this had been the way my last two years of schooling had been. And after my mother left me at hostel on 13th July 2011, to make compensations for the solitude I guess, I would have fallen in love with even a girl who simply looked in my direction.
2 nights and 2 days had passed since my first moment at my hostel room. I had taken a liking to one of my roommates. I had become close with two of my classmates. I also had a schoolmate who had joined my college and our friendship had grown stronger in the 2 days that had passed than it had in the 5 years spent at school together. Things were starting to look good but there still remained a yearning for home.
My schoolmate, who had come to my hostel room that night (Friday), in the midst of our conversation suddenly drew out his phone from his pocket and showed me the picture of a girl. The girl looked extremely pretty. I kept staring at the picture with a wide grin.
"Ennoda 12th standard tuition center la thaan ivalum padicha. Ippa namba college thaan sernthirukaa. Romba close friend. College vantha 2 days'aa ivaloda night laan nallaa chat pannitu irukken. Nethiku night full'aa unna pathi thaan pesitu irunthom!".
He paused to look at my face. I looked at him wide-eyed.
He let out a chuckle and continued, "Bayapadathe da! Inga college la ennaku yaaru romba close nu kettaa. So unna pathi solla aarambichu appidiye poiruchu."
My eyelids refused to decrease the width of my shock.
"But unnaku theriyuma.. Unna pathi pesa aarambichu avaluku unna nallaa pidichu pochu! Un number ketaa. Unnaku text panren nu sonna. Unnaku ok'va?!" He asked me.
My jaw dropped.
My schoolmate placed his hand on my mouth and got up to leave my room.
"Un number kudukren avaluku. Msg pannaa reply pannu. Bayanthutu vitturathe. Nalla ponnu ava." He said and left.
I immediately grabbed my phone and held it firmly in my right hand. It remained so for the next one hour after which the first text message came from her.
About 20 hours later, by Saturday evening, the two of us had become really close. As much close as two people can get over a night's conversation. My schoolmate had been surprised by the volume of messages we had sent each other and had started a pleasant tease. It was in such a situation that my mom called.
The call reminded me of the decision I had to take. I looked at my schoolmate who was sitting nearby and my mind remembered, immediately, my roommate, the two classmates and my new friend. I replied happily to my mom that I had adapted to hostel life and convinced her that a hostel life would change my opinions about the real world. My mom, rightly, could not believe that I had undergone such a transformation in 3 days. But she was happy that her son had grown up and ended the call.
Adaptation to the hostel life, forming opinions about real world did matter. But frankly, the biggest motivation for my stay had been my schoolmate and my new friend.
The conversations with the new friend continued that night and by Sunday evening, they had reached a new level. With a heart filled with happiness, I went to my schoolmate's room. Sharing with him all the text message exchanges I had had with our mutual friend, I asked him if he was okay with the three of us meeting the next day. His face suddenly bore an expression of panic. I asked him the reason for his panic. He did not reply. Leaving his panic aside, I picked up his phone.
"Enna da panna porre?!" He asked, his panic reaching a peak.
"Onnum illa. Oru phone thaan! Nee ava kitta pesi sollu.." I said, smiling, and started typing her number (I had memorized it by then). My schoolmate tried to grab the phone from my hand but I managed to keep it out of his reach.
"Dai.. Call laan pannathe da! Ava thappa nenachippa da! Phone'a kudu!" He started shouting. I did not understand his fear. But I finished typing in the number and pressed the call button. Exactly two seconds later, the screen flashed,
Calling..
Jim (roommate)
I looked at the screen puzzled. At the same time, I heard a phone ringing in my schoolmate's room. I looked around and saw a guy in a bed, nearby my schoolmate's bed, holding his phone and looking at me with an awkward smile. It was his phone that was ringing.
My mind could not grasp the occurrences. I looked at my schoolmate. He had sat down by the corner of his bed, placing his left hand on his forehead with a blank look at me. I ended the call and dialed the number again.
Again, it showed the same message. Again, the guy in the nearby bed smiled awkwardly. Again, his phone had started ringing.
It took me a minute to put together all the events and as my mind arrived at the conclusion, I looked at my schoolmate shocked. He turned away his face. I could not believe it.
I had been prank'ed!
I silently placed my schoolmate's phone on his bed and walked out of his room. He came running behind me and started pleading forgiveness. I did not reply and proceeded silently to my room. That night was a very difficult night.
But the next day, thinking about the prank and more importantly the replies I had sent, I couldn't help laughing. I went to my schoolmate's room that evening and we had a nice hearty laugh about it.
This prank, whenever I thought about it in the first year of my college, seemed a very funny and silly attempt at making me a fool. But as I recall it now, it seems much more than a prank. It could have probably had much more serious consequences but it didn't. On the contrary, it partially helped me in making one of the most important and probably, one of the best decisions of my life.
The prank, however immature it might have been, played its own part in making me stay.
A life-changing prank, I guess, in that sense.
(The College Diaries is a shameless attempt to increase the number of posts in this blog in a short span of time and in the process, recall and cherish various instances and incidents of my college life that strike pain and pleasure in the heart in this last fortnight I spend here.)
17 complete years I had stayed at home.
And on one fine day, the 13th of July 2011 to be exact, I was suddenly left alone at my college hostel room to spend the next 4 years away from the comforts of home and, more importantly, away from my mother.
But I had been given an option. A lifeline of sorts.
13th of July 2011 was a Wednesday and I had my TNEA (Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions) Counselling appointed on the Tuesday of the next week. I had 3 days - till Saturday, the 16th - to decide if I was ready for a hostel life.
And this is the story of what made me stay back.
When you are a boy and when you spend your eleventh and twelfth standards at school with a very close bunch of 5-6 boys - boys who do not have even a single friend from the opposite gender - the attraction towards the opposite gender tends to increase manifold. It increases to such an extreme point, at times, that when a girl borrows your pen for a moment, you start wondering as to why the girl chose you in particular for borrowing a pen and you start making assumptions if the girl has romantic inclinations.
Trust me. These things do happen. Especially with friends who, after the girl returns you your pen and leaves, start making a huge fuss about such a trivial thing, shouting,
"En?! En correct'aa unkitta vanthu pen kekkanum?! Irukku.. Etho irukku da! Ithelaam elaarukum amayaathu machi!"
So much so for a simple ball-point pen. Phew!
But this had been the way my last two years of schooling had been. And after my mother left me at hostel on 13th July 2011, to make compensations for the solitude I guess, I would have fallen in love with even a girl who simply looked in my direction.
2 nights and 2 days had passed since my first moment at my hostel room. I had taken a liking to one of my roommates. I had become close with two of my classmates. I also had a schoolmate who had joined my college and our friendship had grown stronger in the 2 days that had passed than it had in the 5 years spent at school together. Things were starting to look good but there still remained a yearning for home.
My schoolmate, who had come to my hostel room that night (Friday), in the midst of our conversation suddenly drew out his phone from his pocket and showed me the picture of a girl. The girl looked extremely pretty. I kept staring at the picture with a wide grin.
"Ennoda 12th standard tuition center la thaan ivalum padicha. Ippa namba college thaan sernthirukaa. Romba close friend. College vantha 2 days'aa ivaloda night laan nallaa chat pannitu irukken. Nethiku night full'aa unna pathi thaan pesitu irunthom!".
He paused to look at my face. I looked at him wide-eyed.
He let out a chuckle and continued, "Bayapadathe da! Inga college la ennaku yaaru romba close nu kettaa. So unna pathi solla aarambichu appidiye poiruchu."
My eyelids refused to decrease the width of my shock.
"But unnaku theriyuma.. Unna pathi pesa aarambichu avaluku unna nallaa pidichu pochu! Un number ketaa. Unnaku text panren nu sonna. Unnaku ok'va?!" He asked me.
My jaw dropped.
My schoolmate placed his hand on my mouth and got up to leave my room.
"Un number kudukren avaluku. Msg pannaa reply pannu. Bayanthutu vitturathe. Nalla ponnu ava." He said and left.
I immediately grabbed my phone and held it firmly in my right hand. It remained so for the next one hour after which the first text message came from her.
About 20 hours later, by Saturday evening, the two of us had become really close. As much close as two people can get over a night's conversation. My schoolmate had been surprised by the volume of messages we had sent each other and had started a pleasant tease. It was in such a situation that my mom called.
The call reminded me of the decision I had to take. I looked at my schoolmate who was sitting nearby and my mind remembered, immediately, my roommate, the two classmates and my new friend. I replied happily to my mom that I had adapted to hostel life and convinced her that a hostel life would change my opinions about the real world. My mom, rightly, could not believe that I had undergone such a transformation in 3 days. But she was happy that her son had grown up and ended the call.
Adaptation to the hostel life, forming opinions about real world did matter. But frankly, the biggest motivation for my stay had been my schoolmate and my new friend.
The conversations with the new friend continued that night and by Sunday evening, they had reached a new level. With a heart filled with happiness, I went to my schoolmate's room. Sharing with him all the text message exchanges I had had with our mutual friend, I asked him if he was okay with the three of us meeting the next day. His face suddenly bore an expression of panic. I asked him the reason for his panic. He did not reply. Leaving his panic aside, I picked up his phone.
"Enna da panna porre?!" He asked, his panic reaching a peak.
"Onnum illa. Oru phone thaan! Nee ava kitta pesi sollu.." I said, smiling, and started typing her number (I had memorized it by then). My schoolmate tried to grab the phone from my hand but I managed to keep it out of his reach.
"Dai.. Call laan pannathe da! Ava thappa nenachippa da! Phone'a kudu!" He started shouting. I did not understand his fear. But I finished typing in the number and pressed the call button. Exactly two seconds later, the screen flashed,
Calling..
Jim (roommate)
I looked at the screen puzzled. At the same time, I heard a phone ringing in my schoolmate's room. I looked around and saw a guy in a bed, nearby my schoolmate's bed, holding his phone and looking at me with an awkward smile. It was his phone that was ringing.
My mind could not grasp the occurrences. I looked at my schoolmate. He had sat down by the corner of his bed, placing his left hand on his forehead with a blank look at me. I ended the call and dialed the number again.
Again, it showed the same message. Again, the guy in the nearby bed smiled awkwardly. Again, his phone had started ringing.
It took me a minute to put together all the events and as my mind arrived at the conclusion, I looked at my schoolmate shocked. He turned away his face. I could not believe it.
I had been prank'ed!
I silently placed my schoolmate's phone on his bed and walked out of his room. He came running behind me and started pleading forgiveness. I did not reply and proceeded silently to my room. That night was a very difficult night.
But the next day, thinking about the prank and more importantly the replies I had sent, I couldn't help laughing. I went to my schoolmate's room that evening and we had a nice hearty laugh about it.
This prank, whenever I thought about it in the first year of my college, seemed a very funny and silly attempt at making me a fool. But as I recall it now, it seems much more than a prank. It could have probably had much more serious consequences but it didn't. On the contrary, it partially helped me in making one of the most important and probably, one of the best decisions of my life.
The prank, however immature it might have been, played its own part in making me stay.
A life-changing prank, I guess, in that sense.
(The College Diaries is a shameless attempt to increase the number of posts in this blog in a short span of time and in the process, recall and cherish various instances and incidents of my college life that strike pain and pleasure in the heart in this last fortnight I spend here.)
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