Nevertheless I long—I pine, all my days — to travel home and see the dawn of my return. And if a god will wreck me yet again on the wine-dark sea, I can bear that too, with a spirit tempered to endure. Much have I suffered, labored long and hard by now in the waves and wars. Add this to the total — bring the trial on!

My first year at R-Land was a weird transition into adulthood and one of those cliched self-discovery journeys that high schoolers pine for hype up to be a very insightful and eye opening. Lets just say that it was more of a mixed bag of emotions like a bag full of chocolates. Unfortunately I do not possess a sweet tooth to fully appreciate and enjoy this gift to its full extent. Instead it's the bitter sweet mint chocolates that I hold dear to my heart.... Don’t let all of these frivolous things distract from the fact that I have basically wasted an entire year of my stay at an institution of such prestige.

I was never a hard worker. Ever since 5th grade, my teachers have always stressed on my work ethic being as strong as the legs of a polio stricken kid (not exactly this but it does paint a rather grim picture ). So I have always been a top tier slacker in terms of academics. As soon as something starts to feel like work, corners are cut faster than you can say “end term phod denge”. I skipped all the classes I could and and proxied most of the others to create a “work-life balance” and explore all the avenues ahead of me. Studying for midsems started only when the anxiety of failure was too hard to bear and the thrill of the hunt kicked in, ensuring maximum efficiency. Despite all this I didn't end up exploring much and instead fell victim to the vicious cycle that plagues many students at R-Land at one point of time. Somehow I emerged out of my first semester with a branch change and a silver medal in football Inter-IIT. Though I was in no way, shape or form happy with the way things were, I continued with the same lack-luster lifestyle as there were results to show for at the end of it.

Now that there is a rough outline of what my journey has been, it's only right that I fill in a few blanks and sprinkle some personal anecdotes to further build upon the foundation laid above. In my first week, I met one of my (soon to be) closest friends during orientation and I still think it was the mango juice that I saved for him while he dozed off during the orientation that started the whole adventure I would have with him. Also during the first week, I managed to injure a professor during a faculty vs. student exhibition match which would result in me waiting for him outside the LHC at 2pm for a whole month to wheel him to his lectures (Yes I relegated him to a wheelchair. Lets just say I was given a “nice” talking to after the match). Fests are nothing more than a slugfest for who can get more hammered and gracefully twirl at the edge of intoxication. They are the days you won't remember but the nights you’ll never forget. A certain scent, an eerily familiar melody will trigger some fun or some embarrassing deja vus which in turn will give you the PTSD of a war veteran stuck in the trenches of Normandy. The only campus group I joined was Geek Gazette and it's the first time I ever got an opportunity to write for a magazine. My previous english teachers would have bet their lives that I wouldn’t be caught dead reading a student-run magazine, let alone be the part of one. I guess that’s life.

Though this memoir seems a little devoid of positives (or a coherent structure), I would be lying if I said that this entire year was not a learning experience for me. It is only when something is gone do you realise it's worth. I discovered how much I loved my life back at home and how large a role football and running played in my life. The friends I made, some of the experiences I most vividly remember were possible only because of the former. It was the only time of the day all the chatter inside my head would diminish and I would enter a zen-like state. It was the only time I was truly alone with my thoughts and no-one could Trojan Horse this castle with its unbreakable walls and impregnable defenses.

Gratitude is what I have been blessed with this year. Even though I had self isolated far before the pandemic, I am grateful for the company I had during my first year, the wild experiences, the opportunities, the questionable actions I took and the outside eateries for some edible food.

" Though the college has countless canteens which serve a wide variety of food, it is the cutting chai served outside the campus post midnight that a lot of students can't resist." -Security guards at the main gate of IIT-R.