It's been almost a month I have last blogged. Wow!
A mixture of highs and lows happened in such a short period of time for me.
Brief info of the happenings ~ First I presented a
poster about my research at a national conference and won best presentation
award. Then, we had farewell from the juniors, last ethnic day, last class
assignment, last class presentation, last project submission, last college day
event, last lab classes, last class lectures and finally my last day at college
ended at 14th march 2016. I also attended my first official interview at an eminent
college for MBA and hope I get a positive response.
So final year has happily ended but I still have
semester exams to finish during last week of March until then I am temporarily
freed from my college. I have experienced happiness, sorrow, jealousy, fights,
stress, boredom, separation, desperation, headaches, and so many other things of
which I saw in fast forward mode during last few days of my college life.
- The conference I attended was at Madras veterinary
college which was situated in Vepery, Chennai. My friends were so nice to
give me a lift to the place without any hesitation. I was so lucky to see
so many pets and it was a heaven for me to see so many cute creatures.
They are non-judgmental at the same time each pet has its own
characteristic style and behaviour. I admired them. I and my classmates
expected the conference was about food but all that was shown, presented,
researched, and spoke was only about meat industry. We saw ethical ways to
kill meat, different images of meat and some of my vegetarian friends were
in disgust seeing those images. Even though the price to attend the
conference was above 1000 rupees which is technically too much for a middle
class student like me but I think it’s okay for something that can't be
bought anywhere i.e. hanging out with besties. By the way I got a bag,
pouch, key chain, stationery items, fancy designer green umbrella and a
book in which my research abstract was published. When the speaker was
saying animals don't feel much pain I made a sly joke that even it has
kidney and heart like we do in hushed tone. My besties heard my words and
could not hold their laughter and that also made me to laugh out loud but I
tried to hold my laughter as much as possible. The Day 1 of the conference
I presented my poster and attended the sessions. Later, the day was
becoming night so my friends did not let me go home alone. I visited my
friend's place and aunty insisted me to eat. So I eventually gave up and
ate a delicious crispy murruku (Indian fried snack) and drank a cup of Brahmin
aathu kaapi (the coffee made by Brahmin people). I and other friend were
waiting for her mom to pick us up. Then, my friend’s mom and her sister came.
She and my Brahmin friend's family discussed a big discussion on the
future education of their daughters and I was very tired and desperate to
reach home and sleep. I was envy of my friend's sister who was happily
skipping and was not involved into such an intense topic by the elders.
They finally wrapped up their talks and decided to leave. Out of nowhere my
friend suddenly gets reminded of the shawarma promise she made to me long
ago and made her mom to stop at an Arabic cuisine restaurant and buy me a
shawarma. I waited in the car while aunty went and bought a shawarma for
me and their daughters. I was too happy for getting a delicious food that
I have been craving for a long time. They left me at my home and said good
bye. I went straight into kitchen, took a knife cut the shawarma into 3
pieces for my mom, my brother and one piece for me to devour it's glorious
flavour on my taste buds. It wasn't that tasty as I expected because it
was too bland and filled with too less veggies and mayonnaise. My personal
preference would be spicy, tandoor style chicken pieces with lots of fresh
cut veggies, succulent amount of mayonnaise with neatly cooked roti. But
still it is a caring gift from a dear friend which made it extra special
regardless of its taste. On Day 2 they delayed like anything with
elaborate presentations and at last announcement of winners initiated. The
names of my best friends were announced and I was overwhelming with joy
and clapped till my palm hurt and reddened. Then immediately my name was
announced. My mind was like it's definitely a delusion, things like this
can never happen to an unpopular, lame person like me or this must be a
weird dream they must be some mistake. The people beside me were started
staring at me and I felt vibes of jealousy, judgmental look indicating
their thoughts like how could a person like me getting an award? But
most of them stared plainly which reminded me to get the hell up from my
chair and receive my accomplishment. I walked.... nope I ran like a
deer jumping over obstacles like chairs, bags, people and finally reached
the place to receive my only proud accomplishment in college life. My
heart was beating to its full extent like I was experiencing a bungee
jump. The prize was a torch light with 3 batteries. But proving certain
people wrong and achieving something that people believed in you is the
best gift I got that day.
- Ethnic day was the next big thing in the recent
events. It is the day when everyone in the college wears ethnic wear
mostly sarees. I wore an orangish red saree with maroon border and gold
zari work from my mom's wardrobe. That was the only saree that was proper
without any leaching of colour from the floods. I then accessorized it with
black beaded magnet necklace, gold coloured bangles and a golden earrings
studded with maroon gems. I went on the street in this attire which was an
unusual sight for most of the neighbours. I walked till the bus stop and
prayed that the bus would be less crowded but fate always get tempted to
test my abilities. I ended up taking the extremely crowded bus. I kept one
hand to a metal rod and other one into my purse which I was holding with
my mouth to get a ticket. I hung near the foot board for while then slowly
went into the middle section of the bus in a haphazard manner. I finally
got down from the bus and gave a secret pat to myself for surviving such a
crowded bus that too in a saree. I reached college and saw everyone were
arranging their pleats of the saree, some taking selfies, some were
putting make up on their friend's faces and some just admired the moment like
me. Then I also joined them to take some pictures in saree and had a
beautiful day to remember forever.
- After that came the special gala event for every
final year student from their juniors - The farewell! The invite came as a
surprise during the class hours. It was a woven basket containing
beautiful LED light arrangement along with seashells, decorative flowers,
non-alcoholic Pomegranate juice in a fancy corked bottle and a beautiful
card with blue ribbon to it. The card had the details of the theme, venue,
date and timings for us. The theme was "50 Shades of Blue!" and most
of us were only having our wardrobes dominated by shades of pink, black
and white. The plans to shop new dress evolved and the hunt for a gorgeous
blue dress was on everyone's mind. And for me no new dress because of
various reasons. So I ended up going in a kurta and legging. I did pack a black
and white striped dress that was gifted to me by my besties during my
birthday. I came 15 minutes earlier that the time specified. The juniors
were the people who expected us to reach 1 hour late than the specified
time. I went to prep up for the occasion in the change room. I asked if
they needed any help but they denied the offer, then I roamed the
hall, and finally waited for my classmates like a little pup
waiting for its owner to come home. Then slowly few people showed up and
it became a crowd and filled the hall. They didn't kept the A.C. on which
made us to sweat a lot and I was craving for some fresh cool air like a
zombie craving for human flesh. We took lots of pictures, played
games, ate food which was not as delicious as the reviews of the hotel,
saw a video of ourselves and our alma mater which got us emotional about
leaving some of our prized possessions - Our friends. We had a group hug
and a group photo. The farewell gift was something we all will never
forget it was a calendar with our group photo on the cover and a picture
and birthday of each classmate on each month. This gift was the best part
of the farewell.
- My last class assignment using a PowerPoint
presentation went so well that the teacher could not believe her own eyes
and enquired me in front of the whole class whether I put my own effort
and made it or downloaded it somewhere from the internet. The truth is I
was so impatient with the too long wait because my name which starts with the
letter “S” and I had a long queue of people i.e. my classmates to be
presenting before my turn comes. So, I was adding pictures and extra information
into it in the mean time and surprised everyone or I am just that unbelievably
talented at presentations.
- We spent last few days of our college life by
wearing colour coded days. We wore combinations of red and black, blue and
green, orange and yellow and final day was twin dressing. It was very fun
to dress up for a purpose.
- The final day of the college arrived and everyone
were scribbling on each other’s lab coats for their memories to be
remembered forever. Some brought slam books and were immersed into it. So, that’s what happening in the last few days of
my life hope to see more such wonderful experiences in future. The end to
my college life! Or the beginning to a new journey of my life!
