Start of Classes and...Big Disappointment !!!

After that spectacular first night at BIT, Durg, a new dawn stood before us. I woke up first at 06.00 and immediately went outside to experience a breath of fresh air. I wasn't disappointed, mind you. Beautiful lush green garden next to our room, though the grass wasn't trimmed down so I didn't try to pursue my favourite activity of walking barefoot on it, fearing the sinister presence of snakes which I couldn't deny as I had met them on my very first day.

Towards the west central end of the garden lay a Hanuman Mandir - Soon to be visited by seniors and juniors alike, some praying for good luck while others for a few marks...

The path is front of our wing wasn't paved, but looked as if it was in regular use. I later learnt that the path that begins from the hostel gate near the main entrance and ends at the checkpoint near the workshop was the primary route used during the college's initial years. Though I couldn't confirm this.

Also, about the different hostel wings. Our wing (100s wing) along with management wing (41-50) are the only two to have attached bathrooms. The other two wings => (1-10) wing right opposite the 100s wing and (11-20) wing do not have them and people have to use the common toilets at the northern end of both wings. 

The reason being that the two wings having attached bathrooms were used as hostels while the other two were used as college classrooms during the institutes' early years. Again, another story which can't be confirmed.

Anyways, after filling chilled water in my water bottles, I set off to experience the hostel and came across some interesting characters. One of them, Yashpal (Room-103, Mistaken to be a senior by me initially), was walking around the paved path repeatedly that lay in the centre of the courtyard. When enquired about it, he responded by saying that it was his hobby.

Anyways, since we had nothing to do, I packed the notebook lent by Nirmal in my bag and got ready by 09.30 to go - which for the record is my personal best performance in terms of punctuality. 

Just as we were getting ready to leave, Vaibhav walked in for the first time - Complete with a mini-drafter, a drawing board, specs, puffy bag and innocent looks - He looked like a certain 9 pointer & a 90% scorer in school.

And then then whistle rang again - This time to assemble us near the gate so that the guard could guide us to the safe zone (vehicle checkpoint) like a teacher escorting kindergarten kids.
And there we went to college - In a pack comprising if 2 nice rows. And dare I say - As we were passing in front of the senior wings and through Gaali-chowk, I could see a wry smile on the seniors faces as if alerting us of the bashing still to  come in the following days.

The classes weren't as good as the excitement before. The day was started by our class teacher and Physics lecturer Mr. Lalwani in the ELS-12 classroom assigned to our section G. All the periods usually started with teachers feeding us with necessary guidelines and procedures to be followed - As if they had become accustomed to reading it every year from a manual. Recess came at 12.30 and we dashed to the mess. The food on day 1 wasn't bad - Rice, dal, vegetables - In short everything you could have possibly hoped for.

It was also here that i had my first encounter with a senior. He was in 2nd yr and was probably frustrated with the fact that I was wearing casuals while the rest of the pack came in senior-defined formal uniform(Plain shirts and plaited pants). He asked me my year and on getting the desired answer told me to ward off. It was the beginning of an interesting battle with him over the new few days. 

Post lunch, the classes looked even duller though I attended library and treated myself to two days old news in the Times of India (Mumbai Edition). My visits to the library every Monday gradually decreased as I was told that the library didn't any hold importance as no marks were awarded for attending it.

Two things about the Library -
1. You'll get your library cards (5 in all) after 2-3 weeks which will enable you to issue books, and
2. Your ID cards won't arrive till the 2nd sem. So, if you want to surf the net, you'll need to deposit a photocopy of your fee-receipt that contains a passport-size photo affixed to it.

And finally, here's what disappointed me the most. In the evening, the  3 roomies of R101 decided to pay a visit to the local market. In fact, we'd even got ready with our bags when we got the shock of our lives when 1st the guard on duty (His name's Sahu and He is the most evil of them all) and then the warden Mr. Trivedi told us that we require what ? Yes, right guess - LG in order to go out anywhere. In fact, this devastated us so much that we remained depressed for the remainder of the week until we were finally allowed out on Saturday after letting the warden speak to our parents for our homes in Raipur (Nirmal & Me) and Bhilai (Vaibhav, though he went along with his uncle initially)

Anyways, that evening the guys from room 102 came in and even before I knew, we were laughing & socializing like never before while the night was spent eating food (which suddenly tasted worse than lunch), studying and sleeping. And yes, over the next few days, Nirmal and Vaibhav got goosebumps whenever there was a loud bang at the door. Nirmal pretended to be rock in such situations while Vaibhav straightaway made for the bathroom. It was me who answered these calls.

And lastly, true to prisoners, we were constantly demanded at the sound of a whistle to the warden office where warden gave long speeches addressing our problems and assuring us of a zero-ragging campus. 

But ragging can be hard to stop, right Vaibhav and Nirmal ?