Those enchanted four and half years

Chapter 1

"Ruta, are you ready? Don't forget any documents. And your passport size photos are kept on the dining table," my mom called out. But I was hardly listening. I was busy looking at my reflection in the mirror.

I was looking at an eighteen year old girl, fair, with black curly hair, shoulder length, tied neatly in a butterfly clip, brownish black eyes, wearing a yellow and green floral print salwar kameez with green dupatta. But what caught me the most was the extremely anxious look on her face; well it was rather a mixture of anxiety, enthusiasm, excitement and fear. Am I really going to be a doctor? I thought.

Days were passing so quickly from the day of my CET result! I was ecstatic, happy beyond imagination, especially because I had succeeded after failing to secure a good rank twice before.

I had secured admission for the course of M.B.B.S in Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical College and Hospital in our city. All the official work of admission was over, and today was my first day of the college. But as the case is with all moms around the world, my mom was very hyper and insisted that I carry all the documents, certificates (including photos) with me.

"Hurry up Ruta, Sufee is already here, and she's been honking for 5 min," my mom shouted. Sufee was the only other girl from our city who had taken admission along with me. She lived in the same residential campus as me. We had studied in rival schools, and in elementary college, we had been in rival groups. So I was not very happy to go to college with Sufee. But today, the place where we were going, our co-students, teachers, everything was going to be new for us, hence we were going together.

As I went out of the door, I saw Sufee waiting for me on her blue Scooty. She was taller than me, one could call her overweight. She was fair, with long straight black hair, which she would always stylize. What I really liked about Sufee was the way she carried herself. Being overweight never came into her way of staying stylish. Today she had tied half of her hair loosely with a pin, while the rest were spread out on her shoulders. She had cut a few flicks off her front hair, which played on her forehead. She was wearing a white sleeveless salwar kameez. But most important, there was only excitement and enthusiasm on her face, not a tinge of fear or anxiety.

"Sit pillion with me today Ruta, we'll ride your Spirit tomorrow," she called out. I went and sat behind her, and began our ride to the college, with hundreds of butterflies flying in my stomach.

The campus of Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical College (LBSMC) was vast. There were four main gates in a straight row to enter or exit the campus. Each gate displayed a list of buildings accessible through that gate, even though everything was interconnected inside. On entering through the first gate, we came across two huge buildings. Each was four-storey, separated from each otheras well as from the main road by lush green grass. One was the OPD (Outdoor Patient Department) building, while the other was the IPD (Indoor Patient Department) building. The roads leading to these buildings were packed with patients, their relatives, doctors rushing to and fro with aprons and stethoscopes hanging around their neck, cars and bikes parked alongside, ward boys and mavshi's carrying various carts. "There's still time for us to reach these buildings," Sufee said. I smiled, imagining myself wearing an apron and stethoscope, rushing inside the building.

"I think we should turn right," Sufee said. We had absolutely no idea where we were and where we were supposed to go. "Okay," I said. As we rode further, we passed a six storey building. Many bikes were parked in front of the building. Many young boys and girls were standing in front of the building, chit-chatting. A girl and a guy were animatedly talking to each other behind one of the pillars of the front wall, oblivious to their surroundings. As we slowly passed alongside a group of four boys with books and stethoscopes in their hands, they unanimously shouted "Juniorsssssss!!" and high-fived one another, laughing loudly. Sufee increased the speed of our Scooty. As we took the next turn, I caught a glimpse of that building again. A board on it read 'CENTRAL LIBRARY – MAINTAIN SILENCE'!!