I remember, just like today, it was snowing lightly with slight wind blowing, when I first stepped outside the airport. We were 50 students, all fellow countrymen, in this all year round(mostly) cold foreign place, a Big country, it was early morning, around 5am, -5 was the temperature, we all wore thick jackets and were loading our luggage in the Bus that our university sent to pick us up. It took 7 hrs to reach the campus, we were given our rooms and were brought to Mess for lunch, food was made by the Chef(not really) who was also our fellow countryman, it was one of my favourite dishes. Our dorms were divided into males only floor and females only floor, the whole building was for the same country people; every country had their own.
It was my first time travelling alone so far, also first time in a foreign country, language was new too; no one spoke English even, even if they did, they were too proud to dismiss their own language. Our first lectures in University , before the start of semester, were language lessons(grammar and all); it was my first time I came to know that I might be a genius in learning languages, as I was the only one out of 200 students who completed the course of 3 months(basic intermediate) in no more than 20 days, that too with A grades! And when everyone was still, ramming the foreign words hard in their brains, I took that time to travel locally.
The climate was 99% of the time(as it were winters) cloudy; for some it was gloomy. I fell in love with this climate, it gave me a serene feeling, I used to travel on foot; every
ook and cranny, it was just me, my feet, and the songs playing in phone connected to my ears via earphones(not a bad thing- justin timberlake).
In the first semester, I still studied with the same zeal, although I wasn a topper here, but I was still knowledgeable enough. Fun fact, I had made my first few friends in forever; I was one day sitting alone in the park drinking the same hot coco outside the main building in campus, when suddenly this guy with hair so curly and black, it looked like urnt Maggi, came and said "Oi! we are going out for some lakeside bbq, lets go!", before I could utter a word, I was pulled into the group of 10(boys and girls); I slept with a smile that day after enjoying the bbq.
Before coming to this place, I had made up my mind, that I will try every-last-thing that I could for once; whether it be food, drinks or drugs(It was my teen self who tasted freedom for the first time). So, I did, I tried my first ever double cheeseburger(I was a pure vegetarian before), My first ever pizza with octopus or some other sea food it was named calamari; I never tried any kind of seafood after that. Although, if anyone got caught smoking even nicotine or drinking even beer, they would be restricted and everyone knew it was the truth, as the people who challenged or tried to challenge it were all kicked out; even if they were to receive their degrees in a month. But I tried them too; it was thrilling to say the least.
I remember, one time it was my turn to by the box of cancer sticks(cigarettes), so on the way to our early morning class, in feet deep snow, me and one of my friends(girl), smoked two hiding in graveyard near the hospital(where our class was). Fun fact, I developed a crush on her from the first day; well it went nowhere, also, I discovered that if you rub the cocoa butter by Vaseline on your hands and fingers there would be no smell left of cigarettes(do not smoke and try this at home!!).
It was second year of my college life, the group of ten had become more of a family than friends to me, our group became famous in the entirety of University, as anything out of ordinary and crazy happened, everyone would first question us; it was us 95% of the time but we left no evidence ever! I remember, one night, one of my friends girlfriend(she was one of us too) was feeling famished, but the mess was closed and it was the end of the month so we were all broke, hence, no snacks to eat, and because there was a curfew after 8pm in our university no one could go out to buy anything; lo and behold, that skeleton(couldn lift 2kg dumbbells) bastard for his girlfriend at 1am during heavy snowfall and strong winds slid down the water pipes connected to our building from 8th floor, ran 5 km to and fro and brought her 3 Big Macs also two chicken and few cheese burgers for others(lol)....well she cheated on him later within the group....
It was the end of second year, most of my group had cleared their exams and went on vacation to their homes. I was completing Battlefield 3 on the day of one of my exams and after completing, I accidentally slept, so I had to reappear for it. One day before the exam, me and my friend(roommate too) were revising the topics, when few of our seniors came in the room and brought few bottles of holy water; we called beers that. I wasn in the mood, so I took my revision to one of my other friends room, the room was empty as he was also drinking back in my room. Next morning when I went back in my room everybody had left and there were no evidence left as usual, or so I thought.
There used to be cameras in every corridor on every floor of the building and were monitored 24/7 or so was told; we have y right removed the wiring of the cameras on our floor, and they were only connected back when there were surprise raids, and anyone caught with even a whiff of smell of nicotine or liquor were directly kicked out forever.
That day, when I was supposed to clear the exam and go back home, I was restricted and sent back home; reason being my roommate had a bottle of beer hidden under the mattress of his bed, now in any of the previous secret raids that we have experienced we always got the news about it earlier as it was floor by floor sweep and us being on 8th floor, and the sweeping was always perfuctionary never deep search. This time I was caught in this situation too as I was the one sharing the room with my friend; I was given a chance to simply give a written statement accusing my friend and I will be in clear water, I refused, then they gave same chance to my roommate too, he also refused. Although, I was relatively younger than my roommate and most others in my semester or juniors or seniors, I still felt dread, scared, and once again in my life helpless; my roommate was in worse condition, as his family was going through very tough times at that time and he couldn afford being restricted. So, we pleaded on our knees, tears in our eyes, we asked the dean to suspend us for a semester and not rusticate; we were denied.
When we were leaving for the airport, early in the morning, coincidently, it was the same scene when I first arrived in this country, same temperature, same winds, same light snowfall just the number of people around me were drastically low and instead of hopeful eyes there was only dread. The friends who were left here from my group, all were teary eyed and hugging us, encouraging, trying to give us new hope, the guy who was also drinking in my room with others, whose room I studied for that whole night, was crying the loudest, so much so, that we put up fake smiles on our faces and consoled him, after all he was just like our rother, he also was the weakest emotionally that is; he was also the one who framed us, which I found out later, his reasoning was the girl he loved had a crush on me(I never even talked to her, there was no interaction ever from my side), as for my roommate he was sitting on my bed that day thats why hat brother hid the bottle under his mattress; thinking it was my bed and then went and snitched to the one who conducted Raids.
Although, I never snitched his name to anyone till this day, and even accepted his apology on phone; he was the first link to of the broken pieces, that were to come....
Novel Bin 