A Hilarious True Story

First Day At College

My First Day at College - A True Story

This real-life true story happened in 1982. It was a bright, sunny day. I left home at 8:00 am to be well in time for the first day of college. The College was a few kilometers from my home in the Army Cantt.

There was no school bus or any mode of transport with me except my father's old bicycle. I started cycling from home. In half an hour, I was near the College. I dismounted to cross the road, because the College was on the other side.

I could see the College gates about 20 meters ahead on the road. It had two gates. One wide gate for a bus or truck to enter, but it was closed. Besides that, there was a small, narrow gate that was left open for students to go in and out. It was barely a meter wide.

As I reached the other side of the road, I saw a boy running from the college gate towards me. He came and stood behind me, or I would say he was hiding behind me. I found it funny and wanted to ask him what he was doing behind me.

But before I could say anything to him, I saw five boys with long, thick sticks running out of the narrow gate of the college. They were coming straight towards me.

I froze and stood motionless. These boys came near me and surrounded me. I had no idea what was happening. By then, one of them attacked the boy hiding behind me. He tried to run but fell on the ground after running a few feet.

That was it. The five guys started beating the fallen student with long sticks; some kicked him, and some used abusive language.

I had never seen someone getting beaten up so badly the way it was happening before me, in my life. The boy lay motionless on the ground. He was still breathing. One of the attackers said, "Leave him. He will die," and they all went back into the college.

I didn't want to have anything to do with what happened there. Still, I put my bicycle on the stand and walked towards the boy on the ground. Suddenly, the student got up and ran away. That is when I realised that he was acting dead to avoid getting hurt more.

I walked slowly with my bicycle, totally shaken up, still expecting the boys to emerge from the college gate. Nothing of that sort happened. The main gate was closed. So I started entering the narrow one-meter-wide gate. No one came out or went in after what happened a few minutes ago.

I was halfway through the gate when a girl came with her bicycle. She looked senior and authoritative. She stood there blocking me from entering, giving me a stern look.

I stood there for a few seconds, looking at her with an expression I didn't know what, on my face after what I had experienced a few minutes ago. I thought I felt I had the right of way because I was already half inside the college. Then I thought she must also be from the same gang that bashed that student.

She said curtly, "Get out of my way."

I said nothing and obeyed her order. I pulled myself and my bicycle out of the narrow gate.

As I stood giving her way, she went past me with a dead serious face as if I had committed a crime worthy of being given the death penalty.

As she mounted her bicycle, she looked back, and I heard her murmuring, "Idiot."

The rest of the day at the college went off well.

College True Story Embarrassed Me

Years passed, and I joined the Navy. In 1989, I was posted in the Helicopter Training School (HTS) as a trainee pilot. I did not know that my first day at college would embarrass me in front of a senior officer's wife.

HTS was a funny place. The moment two flying instructors found each other after working hours, instead of greeting each other, they would say, "Let's party".

They would go and catch hold of other instructors and trainees along with their families. The Party is normally at the Officer's Club, followed by an Ice Cream Parlour in the city.

In one such party, I happened to see an officer's wife. That officer was senior to me by two years. I was not aware that my gaze was fixed on the Officer's wife for an unusually long time.

She noticed it. She immediately got up, came near me casually, and asked. "You wanted to say something to me?"

I came to my senses and felt thoroughly embarrassed for staring at her. I apologised to her humbly and moved away. I kept thinking about what made me stare at that lady till the end of the party.

Before long, I remembered the college gate incident a few years ago when I met a girl immediately after I witnessed five students bashing up one student who had taken refuge behind me. Her face looked almost the same. After a long time, I was sure it was her.

I wanted to ask the Officer's wife if it was she whom I had met. I waited for the party to get over. I went up to the lady when people had started departing after the party. She was about to leave with her husband in their car.

She knew I had something to say. She said, "Finally, you remembered what you wanted to ask me."

I hesitated and asked, "Madam, did you study in a College near an Army Cantt in 1982?"

She said, "Yes. But how do you know?"

I said, "I bumped into you on my first day at the College gate, and you made me backtrack out of the college gate."

Her face lit up after a few seconds as she remembered the incident that happened 7 years ago and said, "I am sorry for the Idiot remark I made that day."

It was her turn to stare at me for a long time, until her husband told her to board their car.

As the car faded away from my view, I felt relieved of my guilty feeling for staring at her.