The buzz of the alarm interrupted my sleep. I opened my eyes with a jolt and saw the ceiling staring at me. But how had the colour of my bedroom ceiling changed from peach to white overnight? I looked around me to find walls of red bricks that reminded me of colonial architecture and had a feeling that I had time-travelled back into history. I felt as if I was in a totally different time and space and just when confusion and panic had started creeping into my mind, my eyes fell on the Martyr’s red and Cambridge blue prospectus on my corner table which said “St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi”. The confusion was replaced by a heart-warming joy as the realization of where I was finally dawned on me. Rubbing my eyes and stretching my arms, I could feel the anticipation, excitement and nervousness, all playing in my mind at the same time. Then I looked at the bed beside me and saw that my roommate wasn’t there. Wondering where she had gone so early in the morning (I had set the alarm for 6:30 a.m.), I threw a surreptitious glance at my cell phone and saw it was 8:15. I had unconsciously put the alarm at snooze and drifted back to sleep refusing to wake up at its successive 20 - minute wake up bells, finally heeding to it 1 hour 45 minutes later than the set time. I had just 15 minutes to get ready and head for breakfast!
I hurried out of bed, grabbed my brushing kit and rushed to the washroom. I turned on the tap and in the meantime started brushing my teeth. Seconds later with the toothbrush stuck in my mouth, my heart almost skipped a beat on seeing that there was no water in the tap! I rushed back to my room and saw there was some water left in my bottle. Quickly I rinsed my mouth using it. I had some ten more minutes to bathe and dress up. In a furious race against time, I flew with my bucket to the bathing area but there was no water in the taps there either. Just then I saw a senior passing by and asked her if there was any other place from where I could get water. She directed me to an emergency tap from where I eventually filled my bucket and dragged it all the way back to the washroom spilling water all along the way. In the next 4 minutes I took what was the quickest bath of my life and just when, dressed in my brand new kurti and jeans, I was ready to head for college, a pigeon shat on my new puma sneakers! I ran back to my room, quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped off my sneakers. Then I raced down the hostel staircase, almost crashing midway into a short- legged white dog. Recovering from the minor shock that little creature had given me, I traversed the distance between the hostel and the dining hall with blinding speed and I broke into the mess at exactly 8:28, just two minutes before the closing time. The mess incharge stood in front of me. For the brief second I looked at him, I could sense a hint of anger on his almost expressionless face. Quickly I registered my name in the Hostel Fresher’s list he gave to me and then took my place at the table. I grabbed two buttered toasts and poured some coffee in my glass finishing it off in a jiffy. After inhaling my breakfast, I headed for the fresher’s morning assembly. While my heart was still madly beating against my chest and the morning marathon had left me out of breath, the deep resounding voice of the Principal flooded the place drowning all the buzz in the hall with the words “Welcome to St. Stephen’s College”. These words seemed to deafen my own heartbeat, overwhelming me.
Stephen’s made me believe in love at first sight because I fell in love with the college ever since I laid my eyes on it. In one of the morning assemblies, Mr. Deepak Mukarji told us “This old lady will give a lot to you. Years later, just remember to come back and give her a hug.” And while the pigeons still shit on clothes, the water still refuses to come from the regular taps compelling us to resort to the revered emergency tap (part of our college’s endeavour to help us deal with emergencies I guess :P ) and one can bump into a crazy white dog in the hostel at odd hours, the love only seems to grow stronger with each passing day. Lady, you will sure get back the hug J
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