On your marks, get set, Freeze!

On the second week of January this year I experienced something grand. Though snow clad mountains and terrains were a common sight to observe on television but seeing it yourself is of a different euphoria.

It was raining heaving in the Doon valley. So there was a corollary that it must be snowing in Mussorie. So some of my friends and I decided to bunk our ‘good’ college and head towards the hills. We took the next available bus which was going uphill. It took us exactly an hour to reach there. We checked in at the cheapest possible hotel (where we paid Rs. 250 for triple sharing room, quite a deal!). That evening we roamed here and there in the town searching locations of bits of unmelted snow. I was sheer bliss to percept snow fallen on the streets for the first time. My snow seeing experience only counts on the blocks of ice cubes in the freezer so seeing snow somewhere else was really cool.



But we demanded more. Mussorie was having only some leftover of the snowfall so we headed towards Dhanolti-a place higher up the hills where we were quite sure to get snow. We got it right. The road to Dhanolti was actually declared inaccessible due to heavy accumulation of snow, so the bus left us at a different location which was equally snowy. That place gave a view of the snow covered Himalayan ranges. It had open space as big as a football field fully blanketed with snow. We did the usual antics which one does with snow – throwing snow on each other, attempt to make a snowman, and so on. After spending the afternoon in the lap of solid water we descended back to the valley in the evening. Overall it was fun and enriching experience.

Welcome to second life...

It was 18th of July. The ticket read DDN. The place is Dehradun. Even though the place offered you a full scaped view of the Trans Himalayan ranges but still I was quite surprised to feel the hot and sultry weather. I guess its ‘Global Warming’ at his naughty best ; ). Soon I was at my hostel, deemed to be my second home. After hours of unpacking and settling by my mother the room was all set. Then it was time for sweet slumber. Sweet because it was the interim between the hustle bustle of the day and first day of college.

At the crowing of the alarm clock even after several depressions of the ‘snooze button’ the fact was allocated in my mind that if I do not stir out of the bed now then I’m gonna be late for the first day of college. After the crappy breakfast a nearly dilapidated van delivered us to the college. The entrance gate stood high with the characters ‘University of Petroleum and Energy Studies’ engraved on it. But soon I realised the fact the stated twenty five acre campus was not that majestic. The college area was over by the time my ears drummed ‘Oh! I am in college’. The features and snapshots placed in the prospectus, was that a gimmick? Anyways, the first day was the registration day.
The registration process was such planned by the college that even passing the thirteen years of my life in school seemed more sequential and easy to accomplish. It took the whole day for me to get the I-card with which I can proclaim myself as a student of the university.
After the devilish registration ceremony it was now time for the imp to play its part. The imp was personification of a ten day ‘Personality Enhancement Programme’. It was an attempt by the college to make our personalities even better! It consisted of events like – yoga, mentoring by someone, dance, art of living (business class version of Ramdev baba flight), etcetera. The programme was backed by some lectures too in which we were forced to digest the fact/fiction that your grades don’t matter but your communication skills, manners is what the interviewers eye for.
After ten days I was very excited to see myself on the mirror to audit the tagline of the brochure of this programme which read ‘You will be a changed person after attending it’. To my dismay I found it at the same mark where it was when I left school. Ten days wasted. Maybe I should have convinced my parents for a trip to the nearby places like Mussorie, Nainital, and Shimla etcetera. At least that would have sanctified my distressed soul which unleashed itself due to the demonic registration.
It was 3rd August. The real ‘study’ classes started. Meanwhile my parents also left. Though the college started off with a compromised note but I am hopeful of better days, after all they say – “Welcome to the best four years of your life.”