College - It's simply different!

Time flies. It really does. It feels like just yesterday when I was at Janpath with Ali, Jasmine and Kritika and being yelled at by Vritti. But nope, it’s a more than a month later. And I just realized that I can still update you guys through blogs! So here’s the story of my first day in college, and everything after that. What it’s like to be a Hinduite. Why college is worth all the toil in High School. So read on!

My First Day: Well, I kind of did write about this in the last article that was published in HT. I was nervous. Like, really, mind-freezingly, extremely, ridiculously nervous. I tried to be friendly with everyone – I did not want to end up being that snooty kid. I did make friends. Two people that I hung out with the most on my first day. I was pretty sure that these people would be my friends for the next 4 years, and I was busy wondering what it’ll all be like. Interestingly, I’m hanging out with a totally different group of people now. The orientation was quite a lot of fun. Our department had experienced a boom in the number of people. In fact, I’m certain that the number of philosophy freshers exceeds the total strength of 2^nd and 3^rd years combined.

I was also pretty apprehensive about ragging. Sure, it’s banned and everything, but do people take it seriously? All around the campus, you’ll find boards with “This is Hindu. We don’t rag.” Written on them. And, yes, ragging seriously does not happen in Hindu. (Except the poor Ibtida people… but more on that later.) In fact, our seniors actually came up to us and introduced themselves as “our friends from 2^nd and 3^rd year!” – Nice touch! As the week passed by, we became more at ease.

My First Week: Crazy schedules, random offs, society applications and beginning friendships. The first week is dizzyingly fast paced. I found the random street plays and shouting of slogans very interesting. College is very, very different from school. A lot of my friends are busy moping about how much they miss school… But if you ask me, college rocks. You don’t have teachers breathing down your necks. You don’t have annoying uniforms and codes to wear those uniforms “correctly”. You can ditch a class without everyone making a huge fuss about it. You have long breaks (well, at least I do.) You can stroll out to your neighbourhood Subway, fill up your energy pack and come back for the next class. You can be yourself and do whatever you want – the choice is yours.

I got to interact with a lot of my ‘fans’! Okay, let me not go all Bieber and swag about it – but hey, it feels great to be recognized! I, luckily, made a lot of friends in the first two weeks. And what I absolutely love about Hindu is that the crowd is diverse. You will, literally, find all kinds of people. And that’s what makes going to college even more fun!

My Course: The best thing about Philo is that it’s not mainstream. So it’s fun to look at people’s faces when you tell them what course you’re doing. If they, by any minute chance, are able to differentiate it from psychology and spirituality, they typically do not respond at all for 3-5 seconds. And then you may often find one of these two replies. “IAS?” or “Sanyasi banna hai kya?”. Ah, the little pleasures of life. Anyway, so I currently have two Main courses. For those who don’t know about the new University of Delhi education format, here’s what it’s all about: There are two types of courses in the first year. The Discipline Courses (the subjects that count towards our major) and the Foundation Courses (4 per semester – common across all streams). This semester, I have Logic and Ethics in my DC. Both are very interesting. Ethics, a tad more than logic. Now what about the great Foundation Courses? Honestly, they’re a waste of time. I won’t say that they’re completely useless – one does learn something new, no matter how elementary a lesson might be. But it’s simply kiddish. And completely insensible. The teachers are as dissatisfied with the course content and books as the students. I feel, this should be taught in class XI and XII. And the decision of choosing streams should come after this.

My friends: It’s true. What makes college worth going the most is your friend circle. A lot of my ex-classmates roll their eyes when I say this – I mean, it’s just been a month since I’ve been in college, right? But I have been lucky enough to get the most diverse and fun group of friends that anyone can ask for. It looks like it’s straight out of a TV ad! There’s a brand conscious sports guy. A skydiving golfer. A talkative all-rounder. A level headed cool kid… you name it, and we’ve got it!

But speaking of friends, before I end this post, I would like to officially thank each and every one of my readers – who showed their love and support – the numerous likes, comments and shares.
So is college better than school? I don’t know. But it definitely is more free and fun. Stay tuned for my next blog: I have a lot to share about the courses, the teachers and the campus and the gossips from the Hindu corridors!

(Note: I’m not sure till when I’m allowed to post here… so make sure you find me on facebook. It’s ummangsb. And here’s a shout-out to Radhika, because she wanted one.)