TISS trip Part 1

The start
Complying with my self set illustrious standards, I left for the private bus office late. Though it was fine according to the standards the buswalas have set and I reached there well in time, I got a good bashing on the phone from dad! When will my parents grow up to know this world??
In the one-minute walk from the office to the place where the bus was parked, I sang a song, whistled a tune and felt an unusual sense of happiness. I’m still trying to figure out the reason. It must have been a mixture of the two day long freedom from home and immobility that I was going to get, the excitement of formally confirming my admission into TISS and the fact that I’m single!

The baraat
I got the bus after 15 minutes and within another 10 minutes; it was in the outskirts of the city where there is a long row of marriage halls which are ‘pompously’ responsible for regularly creating a scene when people noisily attempt clearing the traffic up. As the bus crawled through that street, a strong smell of cheap perfume rushed into my nostrils from the dancing men and women and band members in the baraats!
The band played a hit tribal song that I have heard in three states-Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It said, Amu kaka baba na porya re,gondaliyo kheladu, which means that we are all paternal brothers and sisters and we are going to play tribal games. This song had a music lesson for me. The simple you keep the tune and lyrics of the song, the popular it'll become! I peeped out of the window oscillating my head (almost banging it) in the vertical direction to join the crowd! A couple of men acknowledged the gesture!

The experiment
After half a dozen failed attempts to sleep, I finally reached Vashi in the morning at 5.45 am! I took a train to Gowandi and brushed my teeth at the station using the ‘drinking water’. I wanted to see if anyone shouted at me. No one did. Who cares about public property in our country, anyway? My faith in my people was reassured! They love mutual co-existence and personal freedom.

The roaming

I reached at the all-green campus in the morning at 6.30. I was fortunate that it was open and the watchmen were awake and co-operative! When asked that where I should resort for morning duties, I was told to check out the gents hostel. I met a guy with a Nepalese accent who tried to explain me how difficult it is to get into the hostel because of the stringent rules. Ten minutes later, the watchman allowed me to use the hostel for anything I wanted; making a mockery of the guy’s image building attempt! After taking a heavy breakfast at the dining hall, I was convinced that I won’t curse the mess staff here! There was so much healthy stuff to eat! After a two hour long wait, there were some humans visible in the campus.