Well i had spent most of higher education (if you wanna call that an education) in Chennai determined to be a comp sc engg but after my 12th fate decided to play spoil sport. I go to counseling only to find no chennai college (the govt colleges in which my mom decided to put me in for reasons i could not fathom) offered me that branch. So i chose to go to Madurai TCE to study comp sc. I packed up an got on my train to the town called Madurai.
My station is 10 min away. I pack all my stuff an go to the door.Something was very wrong. I was the only one at the door. Damn. Train arrives at the station and i get down quickly. My first thought "Where the hell are all the people?" for the station was not full of people. "Perhaps people have other means of transportation here". As i keep walking i sense something else is also odd. I can't quite find out why. I was about to leave the station when my eyes fell on the dust bin in a corner. "Ofcourse. This station s clean. Too clean for my liking anyway."
Next i go to the bus stop.A fully crowded bus. "Ah finally something is right." Out of sheer habit i leave it knowing i ll see 2 or 3 buses following it. No. "Buses seem to come in singles here it seems". I wait for half an hour and reach my grand mother s place at around 9pm.
Before i even think about what to eat my grand mother brings a bowl full of a white powdery food which looked vaguely familiar. Ofcourse. "Puttu". It had been ages since i ate those. She gives me 5 rupees and tells me to get some more. (And it wasn't April 1!) I go to the shop. He gives me so much i take my 50 rupee note out.He asks for change. I give him the 5 rupee coin while searching for more change. And he gave me 2 rupees back. "What the hell?". I stay home the next day.
College orientation. Everything goes as expected.
First Day First Period. A Chem Sir enters. "Good Morning students. Today we ll see about water. It's formu...". "What the f...?" The guy was actually teaching. Shock of the day. My class mates seemed all quite calm and seemed to be padipalis. The feeling of something gone wrong again creeps up. Can't place it. Rest of the day is pretty dull.
Few Days Pass By. I try speaking to my class mates but fail miserably. I find out what was wrong. My interests were totally different from most of them. Next shock. Someone asks me "What s harry potter da?"."Holy mother of God". No one seems to have the habit of reading books. I later find out there were few but too few.
As days pass by i notice few boys shouting some girl's name in presence of a boy whenever the chance came. They called it "otifying". I later find out tat the reason behind all the shouting was because the boy had borrowed a pen from the girl. In college i also notice another strange phenomenon. Few boys keep disappearing whenever their cell rang. Seems he doesn't want anyone to know he s talking to a girl. "Great. Now i ll never talk to a girl myself." Well i was never great at "kadalai" anyway. So no harm there.
With no one to discuss Godfather or LOTR or Potter or Warrior Within i live like a nomad during my first sem. I pray to God to do something. And he did do something. Second sem i am put in another class. This time the whole class is from my dept. My eyes fall on three people. Something stirred in my heart. "Maybe God has answered my prayers." I talked to my class mates. Salvation. I am now no longer an atheist.
