The Day Before

Its not really a big deal to start off with college. Just another day in office, as they say. But I'm excited and the fact that I don't know what's coming, makes it a little more adventurous than the idea is. I'm just getting my bag ready, deciding what to wear on the first day, hoping things go well and now getting excited by the minute as I write this:-))
I wish I were fully functional as I stepped into college, but the stomach-upset has put me down a bit. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow to withstand a full day from 8 to 5. I'll write about my first day in college.....Till then, hopefully I'll sleep well and have sweet dreams...

First Pics Of BJMC

In the parking of BJ Medical College

The Torso of Byramjee Jeejebhoy

The Central Garden of BJMC in the parking,

taken from the third floor of the building.

The pic just can't be rotated.

The Parking

The Canteen-Kitchen, from the table right in front.

I'm IN!!!

Lets make it a plain statement: I got into BJ Medical College and am very proud of myself about it. The admission was done today, but we have to go tomorrow to complete the circulation of our progress reports to the respective departments after having filled in our information. I've been inundated with calls from family and my parents' friends who truly understand the meaning of being the next generation of BJ Alumni.
Grandmom says that I've fulfilled my parents' longest cherished dream: to see their child go into their college in the way they did, and then experience what their parents had felt when they made it into BJ.
Grandpa, to say the least is just short of jumping up and down with joy that cannot be put forth outside his heart in any words. And I'm glad I could give them this joy, because I know, there will be nothing more priceless or precious to them than this. Whether I receive the Noble Prize or the highest honour in the world, there will be nothing more happier for them than this seat, which I have taken as a well-deserving candidate.
As for me, I couldn't stop smiling last evening. Because getting BJ in the first round itself, was totally unexpected and a really unreal surprise. It put an end to everything and every question about my survival in a place unknown, a place which may not have lived upto the standards of my expectations. Now I'm in my own city and although that saddens me on having missed out on the experience of living alone, I can now do everything I'd planned out for myself. I would have been more hurt had those dreams not been realised. So I'm glad that I can go to one of the best colleges there are for the study of Medical Sciences, glad that I was able to fulfil my parents' dream, glad that I really liked the college and wondered what it'd be like to be here and now actually be here, glad that things have suddenly become so smooth and glad that every question has now found an answer.
Today was hectic and very disorganised. They didn't say that we had to have a DD and not cash, they didn't tell us what to do and which booth to go to, the booths were so small and there were so many people. There were so many things to do and two poor pairs of legs that had to do everything. I wish my experience of becoming a BJite was a better one, but now that I think about it, it hardly matters. I've got a good group of friends, and actually life couldn't be better. Forget the aching legs and the tired mind, this achievement is more than that. Its about the pain, tears, migraines, terrifying thoughts and the torturous two months I faced. This definitely seems worth all that.......

PS: I wish India didn't have the reservation system. It pushes us merit-holders down to the level of those who don't really deserve those seats. If there has to be reservation, why can't it be in terms of just a marked reduction in fees. Why put aside half the seats for them and reduce the money? Its my personal experience, and although my parents have convinced me that it doesn't take away anything from my achievement, in the end where it matters the most for me, ......it does.......takes away everything....simply everything..

Against My Will

We fought it out for a week. Whether to fill the preference form for the non-autonomous colleges or not. All I've been saying is " I don't wanna fill it. But who listens to me??!!! Do whatever you guys want..". And they did whatever they wanted. Mom and Dad filled the preference form and today I had to go and stand in the line for 2.5 hrs again, before my turn came. Needless to say, my legs are cramped up and I still feel a lot about what I had to do against my wish. Mom comes up with such scenarios, really. Imagine if you go to Solapur and can't bear the food, you get an upset stomach, the air doesn't agree.........the list just goes on. But isn't this hte very thing about staying away from home....managing yourself when things go offwire. I want to grow out of the child in me, and I know I'll be able to do it if these people just let me go and let go of the thoughts to get me back. I know they love me and really can't see me living away from them. But that is my ultimate dream and they have to accept it. Easier to finish with that now itself.
Luckily, I realised that we'd need 2 forms to apply thru the CET and AIEEE this morning itself, or I'd have to spend another 2 hrs tomorrow. We went shoppong 2 days back, hoping to get me some denims for the future. Got just 2 decent ones out of the entire section!!! Hardly anything there. And why does 26inchs mean 10 different waist sizes??? Any way, have to give my aching legs a warm water bath. At least the job's done. I'll rest at home.

Preference Game

Thats actually it. The game of preferences. We went for the counselling which was open to all, at COEP today, simply 'coz there were two seats left in the Department of Metallurgy ( I'm actually quite game to the course now...!!!). The first thing that struck me out there was, a big crowd and oh my god, a hell lot of a crowd. Didn't know what to say, when Mom left me there and went to park the car. I felt so lonely out there really. Not knowing anyhting and back to that Oh-I'm-so-scared thing. Still, managed to reach the place where the admissions were actually going on and all I could say was," Am I getting outta here!" Didn't happen. Mom came and I had a surge of relief flooding into me. But that was just the start of things and confusion and everything really.
She pushed through the crowd to a place where they told us that if we were first timers, we had to get our documents certified and scrutinized. Got the form from a good samaritan student and filled it and went and stood in the line only to know that we had to get a stamp from the college of "Scrutinized". Went back only to get almost squashed in a crowd of angry and absolutely dishevelled parents and their children. Made through that, got the stamp and then went to wait in the line for our numbers to be called out. There actually started the wait. Dad couldn't make it in time with the D.D. so Mom (without a cell) went to get it, leaving me in a crowd of stuffy, foul-smelling guys. Can't imagine how I stood there waiting for a two hours. My cell kept losing range, my parents made no signs of trying to come. Dad called in the middle saying he'd left with the D.D., only to have me yelling at him to stay put since Mom was gonna do that for me and I didn't want further confusion with both of them having lost each other on the road. at my end, the crowd and stuffiness was increasing and no breeze actually made life miserable. My legs hurt, my head spun and I was getting angrier by the minute. The fact that I couldn't see how many seats were left only added to the anger boiling inside me. Surrounded by these noisy parents from all over the place and sweatting to the core, I actually wanted to play the Wimbledon Final of Sunday. Seriously, twas much easier for Rafael Nadal to move around the court running outta his skin to make things work. God, I was exhausted!!!
Nobody to talk to, things just getting more and more rowdy, I almost made up my mind to just forget the entire thing and just go back to cool and soft comfort of my bed. Ten phone calls to my parents ( mom went home to get her cell.), about six cut short due to anger, and they finally arrived.
My dad refused to see my hand waving frantically, bout 30 yards away from him, directly opposite to him. A parent next to me told me to just go and get him, after listening to me screaming down on the cell, for sometime. Mom came then and we stood together in the line, till our chance came and my legs couldn't stand any more. We knew that there were no seats left, but we just went in do that I could sit for sometime, before we walked out having proudly preferred to have waited to go through the entire experience.

The Start of The New Start

We went for the preference form filling on Friday. It was kinda fun......We had to first fill the scrutiny form and then had to go for the first scrutiny where the people checked our originals and whether we had the attested copies, whether there wasn't any discrepency, and finally , whether we had usual certificates or not. I say this because, I did my 10th from an ICSE board. So my 'Statement of Marks' ws different from the rest, who went in for a state board. The two people who were checking our certificates spent almost half of my time of scrutiny, looking at my certificate, because it was sooo different! They said they hadn't this one in ages and that this was the first on that day, which incidently was the first day of counselling. It was funny!!! My mom was like " See, nobody from the ICSE does well, and might not have come to this level either! You're the first!" My turn to swell my chest up and stand tall....( as if I haven't already, a million times since the day the results were out....)
It was quite organised, the whole procedure. After the first scrutiny, we went for the second and after that to get the preference form. Once, you'd done with filling as many preferences as you liked ( max 60 to be given), you had to go to the counter where they looked at the attested xeroxes they'd got, your originals and the preference forms. Once all that had been checked you had to go to the 'Computer Counter' where they took the preference forms and then made you wait for the Datasheet to get printed. Seems really confusing written, but it wasn't. They had a small 'Explanation Session' where they told us all this and then the students had to do all the work. Fun, I'd call it. Mom sat away from me and Dad when we were filling in the preferences because she felt that the 'Unlucky Air' shouldn't reach them. ( she's always doing that!)
I had an 'Angry Young Girl' session, because I didn't want to fill in some choices that my parents gave me, 'coz I'm just not going there. But, my parents rule and I had to give it. 14 choices in all, as its my lucky number. I think I'll get the 7th choice, 'coz the code no.'s got a 14 and its the 7th, which has played an important role in all my career until this day........You might think me crazy, but this is me. I don't believe in Numerology, but I believe in the play of numbers.
Mom had a suggestion to make that apart from me and my friends from class, everyone looked so outta it, that she wondered how I'd stay surrounded by those kinda people for 4 yrs. But I'm used to it now, having had the same experience for the past two years. It actually made me feel special.....different and outta it....I really enjoyed it and still remained the same person that I was. So why not now???
Any way, that choice still has to be made. The list's coming out on the 17th and till then its party time!!!!!

Just Goes On

That's just it... The confusion goes on.....We didn't go for the counselling today...Coz there are no seats for the Open category.
I'm seriously ready to go anywhere, however scary it might be, but Mom and Dad refuse to let me go! Its like I'm still a kid and try as I might to grow out of it, they're just gonna push me down....
Waiting for the Medical counselling tomorrow. Imagine if I actually get BJ!!!!!!

Thank God!

Its over!!!!.....I found the admit card...Strangely enough, it never left the car after we took it to get my scorecard. I had put it in the compartment near the front seat, and when I closed it, the card slipped into a gap behind the compartment. So the next time when I opened it and looked around, I didn't see it all and thought that I had taken it. My mom checked the car thrice, but nobody thought of looking behind the compartment.
Yesterday, when we were driving to a get-together, mom just asked me to look around and I noticed the gap. Thank goodness, I'm as thin as I am, 'coz its only because of that, that my hand went in and then came out safely with the card. Seriously, its a relief. Imagine saying, my admission went because I didn't have my admit card.....!
The atmosphere's back to what it was before and I had the most amazing sleep last night after a day of eating way too much!!!
Looking forward to my counselling, after the nerve-wracking cleaning of the house for the last two days. At least it will bring a moment of relief!! And I still have my options!!!!!

I feel like an angel again:-)

Major Soup Now...

The admit card refuses to be found and things at home are tense. Slightly better today. Yesterday, God! I can't imagine a worse friday than the one that just passed. I really wish, we find that card.
I went through the brochure today, n there was a line stating that if the admit card was lost, you have contact the Centre Incharge of the District. We suddenly saw a glimmer of hope, which was dashed to ground and way underneath it, when the Admissions' Officer said that that rule applied to an admit card lost before the exam. I seem to be a unique case, really.
I think she recognised us, coz my parents and I have pestered her before, when I needed a second form to fill. My parents appealed to her Head and that really angered her then. Now the Head can play no role, so she's having a great time. I just hate her really......
Mom says that we'll find it. After two months or so, coz thats what happens in our house. She's angry with Dad, coz he was the person who kept on saying that I wouldn't get the admission, n now it is what things look like. I don't believe in all this crap, but it reminds me of something else.....
About three weeks ago we went to rajasthani restuarant, where there was a palm-reader. Since I was confused about what I wanted to do at that time, we asked him about it and he said that I was going to do engineering and then an MBA. I'd remarked at that time that there was no connection between me and the medical field at all. And then, I got a rank that gave me a medical seat! but I got enough to do engineering and had to choose. You know all the time I was undecided, the card was there. And now when I decided that I'd do medical, BANG! its gone.....
I believe in Karma, Fate, Destiny, the play of Numbers, that Life has already been decided for you, n if I like it, what fortune-tellers and palm-readers have to say. So this seems like, when I tried to go away from what had been decided for me, there had to be a Heavenly Interruption to change my path. So, you can't defeat God. I tried to change what I had been told, n well, here's the result! I'm still hoping that we find it or that the attested xeroxes( luckily, mom remembered that my class had one xerox, which they'd taken before the CET. How much I owe you guys!!!) do the job for us at the counselling. Till then its fingers crossed....I'm praying, really. 'Coz the blame of losing it all has been put on me, and I can't take the blame......I don't think I've done anything.........But still, things are better today than they were yesterday, in terms of mood, so have to take the burden of the blame..........Fingers Crossed......Please lemme find it....

Oh Crap!

Amazing!!! The one thing that was always with me in the past one month is now gone! Mom n Dad can't find my admit card and I'm dead nervous. Strange enough, I remember about it being somewhere in the many files I use, but as usual, my memory refuses to help me out here. I'm so scared that if I don't find it, I'm gonna be in such a mess really. Just praying that Mom finds it.
And the plan to see the colleges has been cancelled. My counselling is on the 4th n we don't wanna do things in a hurry, so just hope for the best and I want a good place to live in.....