It's been exactly a year for me in Heritage Institute of Technology (a few more days to go for the anniversary party, actually) and trust me, after being on the receiving end, my friends and I are eagerly waiting for 1st August, the official date for freshers' entry. Those pangs of anxiety, the preparation for the first impression, the fear of how we'd ever bond with strangers and if they would like to relate with someone as crazy as me!
Now that it's time to meet my own freshers, I can't help but smile and findly remember those similar frights that I had gone through and in case some fresher of my college is rummaging through this blog, hey! You're lucky because you're getting to know what it's like from someone who's experienced it first-hand!
Heritage, famous for its sprawling campus, greenery that calms you, a fantastic canteen where everything's mouth-watering except for the American Chopsuey (YOU DON'T WANT THAT! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!) and friendly crowds. We officially don't rag our juniors (We've got huge notices in LARGE fonts all around the campus declaring that during Freshers' Season) but we do have introductions which may last from one week to one month (Biotechnology Department had to endure that!).
First of all, before you come to college, you gotta stick to the dress code. It lasts till the Freshers' Party that happens somewhere in October. I know it's too far away, but, hey! We endured it and so did people a century before us! Ummm... okay, okay! Heritage didn't exist back then, but we aren't called "Heritagians" for nothing! It is our tradition! Guys stick to formal full-sleeved shirts and trousers while girls have to do with salwaar kameez. Our college is pretty "shareef" when it comes to leering at girls, but we, the 50% population of the Biotech department (girls, if you're not sure about who we are!) make sure that you don't repeat it a second time till maybe after Freshers, supported (half-heartedly!) by our faithful friends. Our college loves us a lot and gifts the first years a bag each that's anything but hip and we make sure that the newbies appreciate the gift by using it till the Freshers' atleast!
When it comes to the intros session, you're better off when you don't try to stick out of the crowd and do what you are told to do. Every NOs and protests lead to things getting worse for you. Try and avoid the canteen (there are hungry but pennyless souls out there!) and the common room (playful mates!) and you'd be better off if you could carry your tiffin with you everyday. My tip would be, bring munchy stuff that last long, like fruits and
muri (puffed rice)
because the seniors won't pick on you while you fearfully demolish your tiffin. Make it last really long!!!
This was the only season when I could guarantee that we loved studying and preferred the professors to be in class teaching us, rather than a free period. Free periods always meant that we were locked inside a classroom with seniors deciding to "interact" with us. Please be sure that nothing physical or excessive is ever allowed. It was not that they did something bad, but it was the anticipation that killed us. There'd always be seniors waiting right outside the door before the periods ended, some of them pleading to the friendly professors (Sir! Kitna padhayenge? Bachhe hai. Thoda chhod dijiye!).
Introductions may be scary but they are definitely necessary if you want to bond with your seniors. They can be the best help and advisor on campus, helping you, advising you and warning you about all that you need to know. Plus, it is the times of fear that leads you to interact with other people in the same situation, helping you to find friends for life! I found extremely good friends among people who were made to tie my shoelaces and act as a football as I had to kick them around. Being a girl helps a lot, but you're better off while in hiding.
A few last minute tips:
1. You don't want to hide in the library! It's not a lonely place and people are sitting there waiting for you. You could end up being ragged by people who are not of your department and with no pity for you.
2. Freshers' period is also when we seniors sell our old books and notes. Please us and we could offer you protection. Everything has a price.
3. If you're on Orkut, avoid making comments which could harm you in college.
4. A good hiding place could be the front office where people are quite friendly! That was my hiding place where I would sit during the free periods.
Just don't be scared. Be free and interact with others. We're not there to kill you or torture you. Just be yourself and enjoy, because these days will never come back!
Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:02 pm
:cyclops: Arre, traditions after all!