**INSPIRED FROM ONE DAY**
IIT Kharagpur, the biggest IIT campus in India hosts its biggest cultural fest every year, The Spring Fest, or the SF as IITians call it.
Yamuna Shankar, a small-town Telugu girl from the city of destiny, Visakhapatnam(Viz...
"BHAAG BHAAG DK BS DK BS BHAAG BHAAG...", Shruthi played the song on her JBL speaker while the rest of us were vibing to it. Kharagpur station is yet to arrive in 10 min. We are a group of 52 people who are travelling to IIT Kharagpur to perform at their 64th Spring Fest as we are a part of the biggest cultural club from Vizag, the city of destiny.
Our club consists of various sub-clubs. The dance club, acting club, singing club, anchoring club, and creative arts club. I am a part of the singing club though I'm pretty good at anchoring too. I just like talking about random stuff with unknown people. Shruthi turned off her speakers as our club president ordered us to get ready with our bags as the stop at Kharagpur was only for 10 minutes.
Our vice president appointed two male students on either side of the entrances to help us all unload our heavy luggage bags which we packed for 10 days.
This was my first time travelling alone without any of my family members. I have been to places without my parents, but my cousins used to accompany me every time. This was the first trip I was travelling solo without any of them. I did feel homesick albeit my best friend Kavya was along with me.
"I'm excited Yamu!", Kavya chirped with her big beautiful smile while I smiled back at her. But deep down, I was nervous and excited at the same time.
With difficulty, we got out of the enormous railway station of Kharagpur. Two guys, one dusky and tall with a beard and the other fair and short without any beard or moustache came to pick us up with two buses. It was my turn to get onto the bus and I was not able to get onto it with my heavy baggage. Then, the bearded guy took the luggage from my hands and placed it inside the bus. Then he gave me his hand to help me get onto it. I am not gonna lie but I was attracted. The way he looked and the little gesture was cute!
I smiled at him and went in to sit beside my friend Kavya. The bus started and everyone shouted in glee as all of us were excited about this new chapter. I took pictures of my friends, especially Kavya, and sent them to our remaining friends in Vizag to make them jealous of course!
We entered the campus and the cute guy said "WELCOME TO IIT KHARAGPUR!!!", to which all of us shouted in excitement. We got down from our bus and the guys told us to wait near the lobby, which is named Technology Gymkhana which is a cultural office where everything related to Spring Fest is handled. The auditorium also has a gym, hence the name Gymkhana.
While we were waiting, Kavya and the rest of my girlfriends were simping on the bearded tall guy. "He is just soo cute isn't he?" Kavya said. "Not cute, but hot!" one of my friends said to which I replied "True that!".
Later he introduced himself and we got to know that his name is Harsha. One of my friends then said, "I'm starving! Is there any canteen nearby?". Harsha then said there was one right opposite to Gymkhana and accompanied us there.
Harsha suggested not to have shawarmas in that particular canteen, so me and Kavya ordered two naan's and one butter chicken... I know, it is a typical American's choice but hey, there is nothing wrong in having it once in a while! The bill came out to be 123 rupees which was quite shocking to us because if we order the same thing in our college, the bill would be 400 bucks! Perks of studying at a government institute we thought.
Later, Harsha sat with us while all my friends started to eat our food. Then we all got to know that Harsha is just 17! Not a major yet which made most of us sad as we all were 18 plus except Kavya, as she was 17 too! We had a friendly conversation with Harsha and later my guy friends joined us too. It was fun without my family. For the next ten days, my friends are my only family. I smiled at the thought of it and looked at all my friends around me happily singing and dancing in the open canteen.
I felt cold as the temperature was 10 degrees and the time was 11 pm. So, I went to our allotted room to have a warm bath after that rather long journey. Ours was not a room but a hall filled with more than 50 mattresses. And the washrooms, my god the unhygienic washrooms I have ever seen! Just 10 days and I can go back to my clean washrooms. The good thing about the washroom is that hot water is always available.
So as planned, I had a hot bath changed into my comfortable night pants and a t-shirt and layered it with a sweater. I started walking on the main road of IIT KGP in the chill of the weather, all alone to the open canteen where my friends were. The walk was about 7 minutes and I deeply felt that this was the place where I belonged because I was not missing home but rather enjoying the beauty of the campus. I regret that I didn't study much harder in my 11th and 12th. I got a rank of 10,000 in JEE ADVANCED. But, being a girl from OC has its cons as caste reservation plays a peculiar role in getting a seat. I did get into mechanical engineering, but my parents wanted computer science only which made me join the university near my home.
Keeping my regret aside, I went to my friends who kept a place for me in the open canteen. Since it was frigid outside, I craved a good old Horlicks at 12 in the night. Luckily there was a stall for Horlicks in the canteen itself. "Dada ek Horlicks", I ordered with an extra spoon of Horlicks in the last. "20 rupees madam!" he said. I opened my Paytm upi to pay him but the internet was very bad. I turned on the flight mode and switched it off to refresh my connection but nothing changed. I still see two dots in my signal.
"The network here is pretty bad!", said a deep voice behind me. I turned slightly to look at the guy. I only saw his chest. I then looked up to see his face and my god! Are all the guys at IIT this handsome? He was tall. Way taller than Harsha. Probably 6'3 or 6'4 whereas I was 5'5 and a half so I figured it to 5'6. Yet, I felt like a smurf in front of him. He wore a maroon leather jacket and had a thick beard and moustache which complimented his height. He was not as fair as Kavya nor dusky as me.
"Let's do one thing, I'll share my hotspot and you can pay. What say?" he said, making eye contact. I nodded my head and whispered a shy thank you.
"SF guest?" He asked while I was paying my bill. "SF?" I asked in confusion.
"Spring Fest," He said. How dumb I was to not know the abbreviation of Spring Fest.
"Yes! And I assume you're an IITian."
"Yes Ma'am!" He replied bowing to which I chuckled.
"Enjoy your stay at IIT then!" He said waving a bye. It's just very new talking to guys here because of the vibe they give and my god their speaking skills are just way different than guys from my university. Though I only spoke with two guys from IIT today I can't generalize them all. But forming opinions is normal.
The only thing is that I wish I could be more flirty when it comes to guys rather than being serious. I wish I realized this before talking to the guy I met just a minute ago. I wish I could have been more flirtatious before talking to the ARUN SHETTY, I know now.
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HEY MY LOVELY READERS!!!!!
IK I'M BACK AFTER A LONG TIME BUT THIS TIME I CAME BACK WITH A REAL STORY!! YES, GUYS... THIS IS A REAL STORY TO WHICH I'LL BE ADDING SOME DELULULU TO MAKE IT MORE SPICYYY!! THIS STORY WILL BE 20 CHAPTERS LONG.
THANK YOU FOR READING. DO LIKE, SHARE AND COMMENT ALL YOUR QUERIES! HEHEHEHE
