College Days of Girlfriend Past

I came across a random post and realised that I have never really written anything special about my college days, maybe I have- memory is weak pa.

I joined college quite late, exactly two days before Onam vacation. Thanks to the amaze marks that I scored for Maths in 12^th, getting admission into a government college was beyond difficult. Between the end of class 12 exams and my first day of college, there was some 6 months gap. And finally, I got into the BA English Honours course in GCW- Government College for Women. I entered a class that was already acquainted with each other. People already had nicknames and friends groups, and I freaked out. I thought I was trapped amongst a bunch of absolute bitches. DD was the first person who sat next to me. Neeta Sasidharan, I think it is Sasidharan, was teaching Willy boy’s Romeo and Juliet. And DD was airing her views and takes on the scene that was being discussed, and I was sitting right next to her, trying to glare at her. I remember Kinnathu trying to get me talking, she thought I was a bitch because I didn’t engage that much or at all, it’s a haze. The next day was the Onam celebration, I didn’t even dress up and half the class had gone home. I tried to read and catch up during the vacation- I don’t think I did.

BA Honours were the orphans of the department, nobody gave a single fuck about us; except for our beloved Parasu, and Sajeev sir and Salim sir. Most of the teachers liked us because we were a bunch of smart, opinionated girls who participated in class discussions and made the entire hour un-boring; but nobody really cared. We were given a new class in the Statistics building. I swear, I’ve seen cleaner kennels. It was a fuckall class with zero air circulation and direct sunlight, filled with cobwebs and covered in dust. No college staff helped us with cleaning. We got brooms and dusters and mops from the department- well Parasu gave it, while some dumbfucks suggested that we ask the cleaning staff (I didn’t know there were cleaning and maintenance staff, how sad!). DD, who is deathly allergic to almost anything, started dusting and cleaning and I remember thinking “This Bitch!!! Showing off chumma!” We cleaned the room and made it awesome- no kidding, our class was the cleanest and prettiest in the building.

The next year we were asked to move to another class in the Economics building- we had to climb some hundred flights of stairs to reach it. Also, cue round two of cleaning. But this class was and is my favourite. If somebody asks me to spend another five years there I would gladly do it. It used to get fucking hot because it was right on the top penthouse! But the rains were equally beautiful. And we had the best time of our lives. Since classes rarely happened, we created a huge bed of sorts on the back end of the classroom- it was a long room and we were just 28 students. We brought an old mattress and blanket, had a power socket and a fan, what more could we ask for. We used to play cards, watch movies, eat or simply lie down and sleep there. It was the best of times. It was while we were in this class that most events happened- Fresher’s for 2017 batch, MERAKI, Farewell for the 2015 batch.

The final year, and final classroom shift, was good enough. We were given the classroom right next to the department. Even then classes didn’t happen as much as they should have. This new class wasn’t that great for playing card games or for lying down, but we managed. We had film studies, so that meant we could pick up a projector from the department and watch movies- we watched Coco and Ragnarok, for educational purposes, obviously. The most tiresome time for me was during the planning of the tour- a whole lot of planning and unplanning and begging teachers to escort us and cancelling and agreeing and cancelling. But that also worked out somehow and Tour e Constipation happened, and it was beautiful, like everything else.

I had the best time of my life during college. I met the most important and special people in my life. Realised that girls can do anything, my feminism peaked there. We realised we could do pretty much anything without the help of men, in fact, the biggest problem we faced there was because of a man (do not get me started on it). We came across people who were, and still are, simply amazing and were awed by the quiet strength of many. We were favourites of many teachers- not every teacher, we were obviously favourites of canteen and store uncles and brothers and sisters. We named and owned spots, we ate ice cream and Funtoo three to six times a day- well I did, we clicked photos and came in at 10 am for 9 am class, pretty much wore the same old clothes on loop without bothering, cut classes- we didn’t have to cut classes actually, and went out for movies and to eat from SFC (a moment of silence for SFC), we rebelled and protested against gate rules and were the nightmares of Cerberus and Co. We made memories that should last us a lifetime and made friends who always got each other’s backs. It is the only kind of hell I’ll go through again if I get the same girls with me.