M.E.M.O.R.Y Chapter-1

“Haan Maa, haan. It’s just breakfast, I didn’t have enough time, haan, I get it-I’m going to Coke Station-It’s this canteen, haan maa, veg only, don’t worry”, Eeshan swerved as he almost tripped on the steps leading out of the Lecture Hall Complex. “Yes maa, the orientation is still going on-this bridge course was a part of the orientation week-nothing much happened, just revising old material-Haan maa, I’m studying everyday-the water tastes funny in the hostel but the mess and the lecture hall complex has relatively good water to drink-put peace maa”, something that Eeshan had caught upon in just 4 days into the campus. “No maa, it wouldn’t have made a difference if you had stayed for the orientation, the seniors are really helpful-yes maa, I’m able to survive on my own-yes maa, laundry is also there, washing machine also-”. The reality was, Eeshan was finding it hard to adjust in this setting, with people speaking regional languages and his roommates being Malayalis, Hindi was absurdly never spoken by anybody, and ironically, some of them even refused to converse in Hindi, “Yes maa, my roommates are really nice and helpful, I don’t speak to them a lot-Haan, remember they are Malayalis? They don’t really know much of Hindi but… they are nice people-I’m learning Malayalam by the way!”, Eeshan let out a sigh as he said this, in hopes of reassuring his mother, “Mess food? Haan, the mess food is kind of good, not really satisfying but I can manage”, again, Eeshan tried to convince his mom that he was at ease. “Yes mumma, everything else is good-accha, i’ll talk to you later? I’ll call you as soon as I get some free time-Haan I won’t eat non veg- yes, yes, I’ll take care, okay, bye.”.“Two chicken puffs bhaiya-uhm-I mean, Anna”, said Eeshan as he reached into his wallet taking out a 500 Rupee note.

“12 Rupees paa — change illa” the vendor told as he flung the miniature sized puff on the counter, Eeshan quivered with the note in his hand rummaging through the depths of his goddamn wallet for a mere 12 rupees. “Dude, any problem?”, an inquisitive voice asked as Eeshan turned around to bump into a tall guy who told him that he could pay for the puff, and Eeshan let out a sigh of relief as this person paid the 12 rupees. “Thank you, Uhhm, Hi! What’s your good name?”, Eeshan asked him- “Omar, ICE Department. What about you?”, Omar asked in Hindi. “Oh, I am from Mechanical Department, and what about you?”, Eeshan inquired as he pointed to another person right beside Omar, “I am Raghav, ECE”. Eeshan exclaimed, “Oh, ECE? What Rank? And what about you Omar?”. “2.5k bro ”, Raghav answered, looking at Omar for his part of the answer to Eeshan, who looked startled, “Uh, I am actually a DASA Student, I am technically from Maharashtra, but I live in, or at least used to, live in Saudi Arabia, until I joined here” Omar explained, and as Eeshan and Raghav nodded blindly, Eeshan made a mental note to look up what DASA really meant.

An awkward silence followed as the boys munched their puffs, the sound of chattering people and the smell of noodles surrounding them. Just when Eeshan turned around to throw away the paper plate, he noticed two girls coming towards Coke Station, and one of them waved at him, while the other just smiled. Not knowing who these people were or what to do, Eeshan didn’t wave back, mostly because he felt very awkward doing it. He slowly turned back around to face the boys and found that Raghav was reluctantly waving back at the girl who had waved in Eeshan’s direction. Glad that he hadn’t interrupted their wave by doing something stupid, Eeshan asked Raghav, “Do you know her?”, “Yeah, that’s Yukta with one of her friends I guess. She was in my school only. We never really got along well, but she still continues to talk to me.” Eeshan took a mental note of that bit of information and then said, with the air of a sage, “I guess it’s okay about who you met in school. You’ll make new friends here and probably you will get along really well.” And Omar, who had just come back with a cup of Sprite in his hand, tipped his cup. “Toast to that. Here’s to finding our first few friends in college!” The boys laughed as they wiped their hands down on their clothes.

Just then, Omar’s phone got a message. Omar looked down at his phone, then back up at the boys, and said, “So, who else got called for the Freshers’ Night GD?”. “Anyone but Yukta, please”, Raghav mumbled which Eeshan quickly caught onto, and laughed, “Does she also dislike you as much as you do?” “Um, I don’t think so.”, Raghav replied confidently.

Eeshan smiled as he checked his messages and found that he too, had been called for the GD and had finally made some friends to go with.