Transition: From School to College

While traveling in the bus one February afternoon, an outgoing senior of mine told me how lucky I was that I still had four years left in school. Being an eighth grader whose exams were round the corner, I thought he must be crazy saying that.

Four years later, sitting in the same position as him, I suddenly realized how true he was. I suddenly became fond of and wanted to make the best of the remaining days, despite the monotonous exams that were held every second month followed by the unpleasant wait for the results, I was loving my school and every aspect of it – its canteen where we spent half the time, its ground, where we spent the other half, the teachers, my beloved batch mates, and even the school terrace which was our bunk refuge. I knew my new found love was going to be short-lived, with the final exams nearing; there was nothing much I could do to postpone them. Just like one cannot hold sand in one’s hand longer than possible, I too could not stay in school any longer than the fixed. And so I wished my school friends good luck, took my teachers blessings, gave the much awaited, yet dreaded Board exams and bid my school goodbye, ready to step into a whole new world.

ENTER – COLLEGE! Or rather the search for a college.

While I had a break of three months between college and exams, there was not a moment to spare, at least mentally for fun & frolic. Scouting colleges, scanning them and then narrowing them down to a wish list was no easy task. So tiring and time taking was this job that it was hard to stay in touch with friends, this was in contrast to our examination days, when we used to talk everyday if only to discuss the syllabus. Then finally after numerous interviews and counseling sessions the wait finally ended and we were allotted our respective colleges in varied cities and countries. But this only added to our woes and brought out the true shortcoming of school’s termination – the parting of friends. It was painful for all of us, especially for those who were leaving the city. With the promise to stay in touch, we parted our ways and entered our new lives – COLLEGE LIFE!

Try as I might I will not be able to describe to you the events of my first class for I missed it! Anxious to look good, on the first day, I missed my college bus, and reached late for the class. Of all the sixty students, I was the only one who did not attend it. It was not a good start.

The first day, the first week, the first month, they all passed away in trying to acquaint with each other and to digest the fact that we were no more in school. While many events like the orientation or the fresher’s party were organized for us to get familiar with this change, many of us found it difficult to digest the fact that our fourteen years of comfort zone had become history now. Then slowly and steadily we got to know each other, we formed our own gangs and discovered the joys of college. And know, I can proudly say that college is looking to be as good as school, and maybe even better!

P.S.: 1. The last line is a bluff and has been added merely to give the story a good finish and a happy ending. The truth is actually the opposite.
2.Credit for this article also goes to my H.O.D - Dr. C P Singh who has edited this article and made it worthy of publishing.
3.This article was chosen to be published in a leading national magazine running under the brand name - Sahara Time, unfortunately it could not go through the press as I lost touch with the editor of the magazine.