Shivani’s Journey From A School Kid to A Fresher | Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College
Shivani’s Journey From School Kid to Fresher
A ROLLER COASTER – MY POV!
It was the first day of kindergarten, and the craziest part of my life started. I was geared up for the roller coaster with my seat belt(backpack) on and turning back, giving sight to my mother; I could see tears roll down from her eyes. My mother narrates this situation to me as I am waiting for my college bus to arrive. It felt like I was going to ride the YUKON STRIKER (the world's scariest roller coaster), and I kept checking if my seat belts were correctly fixed. It's not about the seat belts but the self-doubts about whether I am really ready for this phase of my life at Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College. Every fresher carries a different feeling within him/her, and every feeling is equally important. Few might be excited, some might be nervous, a lot would be clueless, and many would have had a mixture of all these feelings. I was one among them, and honestly, I was a toddler who was nervous about her first injection. The overwhelming feeling of missing my school days and a sudden change in the environment was flowing all through my blood. As I boarded the college bus of SREC, I looked at my mom; she was happily waving and not crying this time. That's when I realized I really grew up! This was too quick to handle. The transition that every teenager has to go through from being a school kid to becoming a fresher is really like a caterpillar building its cocoon just to break it one day and become a butterfly. I wasn't aware of the methods to build my cocoon, but one thing I was sure of was that I was going to meet so many caterpillars in SREC who were clueless, just like me.
The bus reached the college, and the countdown began. The countdown to becoming a better version of myself and creating an identity. No doubt SREC is one of the best platforms to create one. It was a task to find my classroom, and I somehow figured it out. Now I know I have to break the ice and introduce myself to the other caterpillars. Being an introvert, I found socializing very hard, and adding justice to being introverted; I was always anti-social. There were so many caterpillars, all decked up for this new ride, and it was no wonder I could see so many being 'all smiles,' a few puzzled, but I know for sure all of us would figure it out. Then came the artists - the professors of SREC - the exceptional tutors who would be tutoring us about the DIY (Do It Yourself) cocoon! I wondered how they would have aced their college days and now so confidently with pride are they standing in front of us in spite of knowing they would have to handle different caterpillars with each having different scars. After all, it's not new for them because they get to see new caterpillars and butterflies every day.
One thing that I loved about going to college is that everyone is new to one another, and everybody is learning to build a bond with neighbors. Finding friends was not a difficult task, but finding friends who matched my vibe was indeed very difficult. A sense of incompleteness was always with me; a side of me missed my school buddies, and a side of me was longing to find friends of my type at SREC. SREC actually created an environment for all the students to socialize with each other and introduced us to various teams inside the campus, such as the placement cell, The COIN, The SPARK, and limitless clubs with so many fun things to do, as well as platform for learning. Earlier, it was a tough phase, but as days passed, I somehow built the courage to wake up every morning and go to college to meet new caterpillars. I realized that this phase wasn't permanent, and somehow, I was given a chance to meet and talk to new people every day. It made me reconsider my assumption about not having any friends in the next 4 years. My people are here; it's just that I haven't met them yet, and of course, it takes a lot of time for good things to happen.
I understood that college is a unique place, and nowhere can you compare it with school. It comes with some extra fun like the extra toppings you get with a pizza, a little extra freedom just like a dog whose belt was removed and it's free to roam, some extra friends with whom you would be making plans, and of course a lot more work than we ever imagined. College is just like a jigsaw puzzle. It might be confusing at the beginning about where to start and how to start. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel. There is always an upper view of every giant wheel. There are so many people here at SREC to guide us in the crystal-clear way. It gets easier when you start turning the pictured side of every puzzle piece. It feels lighter when you see the picture that you want to finally create. Then comes the hope that you can build the whole puzzle by just finishing one part of the puzzle. It makes one realize that nothing is really hard when one is clear about what one wants to present in the end. You know more caterpillars will join you in finishing the puzzle. In the process of completing the puzzle, you might not see your buddies for some time because you'd be busy shaping the cocoon. All I know is that one day, all of us would break the cocoon and become beautiful butterflies of SREC, and we would fly all night long all over the city. The sense of satisfaction that we get when we're freely flying is worth all the hard times that we have faced in college. I'm sure SREC would have made college life a bit easier, accompanied by so much guidance and nurturing its students with confidence and hope. It's all worth it!
- SHIVANI S
I B.E CSE – C