The NIT Experience: PART 2

Continued from the previous post

The Hostel

Exposure to this new atmosphere was a whole new experience. The second day (Saturday, 29th March) Anand decided to take part in some event or the other. After one day at NIT, Vinit and I were almost in an awful trance - partly because we’d seen a hell lot of vivacious young girls(emotionally numbed at first sight, but later got used to it!), but mainly because we both had high dreams of making it into some reputed college after our schooling(IIT or NIT). But we did not do what was least expected of us and ended up reaching nowhere. We lost interest in everything. Both of us even wondered why we had come all this way after a long boring journey. To add to that, it was just the three of us who had come from our college. All this made us hate our college even more- no participation, no support, no cheering, no nothing. Anand was however more stronger and wanted to take part in some event, no matter what. He registered for the Spelling Bee Competition. He cleared the preliminary rounds and qualified for the finals. However, he could not make it through the finals. That day at NIT can be considered as one of the most lackluster days of my life. My mind was flooded with memories from my past- of my misfortunes, which I myself invited, and made me reach where I am now.

Anand(right), with Vinit preparing for 'Spelling Bee'!

We were running out of money and we had to cut short our trip by one day. We’d planned to return on Sunday, but staying at Calicut one more day literally meant bankruptcy. After we were done with Anand’s Spelling Bee Competition, we packed up, said goodbye to a few school friends of mine at NIT and took the bus to town. We got down at Palayam New Bus Stand. It is very close to the 'Mittayi Theruvu’- which translated to ‘Street of Sweets’ in Malayalam. Calicut is known for its exquisite variety of sweets and delicacies. The city is famous for its Halwa. The best quality and the most popular Halwas are available here. We had a couple of hours to spare. We walked down Mittayi Theruvu- now known as SM Street. It’s a dimly lit narrow street with shops on both sides of the road. We were surprised to see that there were no Sweet Shops except for a very few. The once infamous Mittayi street was now occupied with contemporary textile and footwear outlets. The only sweet shops we found was a very few of them at the beginning of the street. Returning from Calicut empty handed would be a shame. We asked a pedestrian where we could get good quality Halwa. He directed us to a whole sale shop near Moideen Palli-a mosque at the end of the street. We bought different varieties of Halwa for home, hostel and college, had dinner and reached the railway station.

Anand off to sleep!!

The train bound to Thiruvananthapuram was scheduled at 9:30pm. There was a rush of people on the platform, mainly students who had come for the NIT fest. Again, we had not reserved the ticket and that meant no guarantee of getting a seat. As the train arrived, people rushed in to the already crowded compartments. We had the advantage of getting in easily with just one backpack. But we were not fortunate enough to get a seat. The three off us somehow climbed to the upper berth- meant for luggage. There were already few people on the berth and we could barely sit. Vinit and I sat on one berth and Anand on the opposite berth facing us. Even in this rush, there was an asshole who way lying down our berth with a charade of sleeping. We did not mind his presence and took our comfort in reclining on him! Anand was already dozing off, while we were not at all sleepy. The memories still haunted the both of us. It was then that we noticed there was a beautiful 'girl' lying on the berth behind us! We were back to our rascal selves! We could not see her face quite well in the beginning, but she had a perfect shape. She was lying down facing up and her flawless curves accentuated her beauty. We were elated to see the young teen. She seemed to be accompanied with her family. But it bothered us the least because everyone except her was sitting on the lower seats. Her being on the berth behind us, it was a difficult task for us to turn around and get a peek of her. However, it had not stopped me. I even tried to stick my head around the partition and have a view of her over the aisle! The fact could not be ignored- she was pretty. Over two hours had passed by. We would turn around at every station to see if she’d left. Unfortunately, on reaching Thrissur, she left the train, or rather she left ‘us’!! Anand seemed to be comfortable sleeping on the opposite berth reposing on the partition curled up with a posture which Vinit described as “a foetus in an embryo”- so comfortable, unknown of what’s happening outside!! After an hour or so, I too had slept off and when I woke up I found the rush had subsided and Vinit and Anand were sitting on the lower seats. I too got down from the berth and sat down on the seat. A few more hours passed by and we reached our destination- Thiruvananthapuram. We got down from the train, and as we were walking down the platform, we still were trying to figure out why we had taken the trip to Calicut. It did not serve a purpose. But it very well served a treat for our eyes!