Chapter 1
The glass doors shut behind me. Standing alone in front of the bank after going through hours of paperwork for the student loan. The bank manager's words still lingered in my head: 'Tomorrow morning you will get your loan.'
Hi, I am Aditya Rathore, from Udaipur, Rajasthan, and this is my story. Neither a fancy one nor a filmy one, and I don't think my story is very interesting either. I hope you can relate to my situation. And that is my main purpose to write up my 'aapbeeti', which means 'describing what happened to (or with) one, through their own words.'
I arrived in New Delhi the previous day after travelling hundreds of kilometres from my home, and stayed at a hotel for the night. And this morning, I had a quick breakfast and moved to my new apartment. Well, shifting is a big challenge, I must say.
The main reason why I had travelled for so long is my dream college - The Asterbridge University in New Delhi. Now that I am here, I need money to survive in the big city. At this moment, I really don't have much backup with me. In short, I am just all alone and all by myself in this big city.
The Asterbridge University is known for its no-reservation policy. It has no reservations or other management quotas through which students can gain admission. The only way to get a chance at the university is by clearing the entrance exam, which the university conducts itself across India and even abroad. The University provides bachelor's, master's, doctorates and even post-doctoral degrees. All that you want under one umbrella. As it is a University, it has different branches for engineering, general degrees and management degrees as well.
Yes, I cracked the Engineering entrance exam from this University and secured a seat at my dream college.
I wish I knew my rank, but the college does not provide a rank for the top 50 students. It says it's because they don't want to demotivate any student over a number. Also, the top 50 students are more or less equally intellectually capable. Hence, their rank at the entrance exam, along with their final Grade Point, is declared at the convocation ceremony.
So yes, that's how great the university is, and why it is the dream college of every student.
Well, that was about my dream college. Now my dream house, sorry, the 'reality check' house. Since I had a tight budget, I agreed to live in a shared apartment with 2 other students who were coincidentally from the same university as me.
I was really excited to meet them, but I had to get my student loan first. I had arrived at the apartment too early. I took my duplicate key for the apartment, set up my bag at a corner, and without wasting much time, I headed towards the bank.
And after hours of travelling from desk to desk and signing a whole bunch of papers here and there, finally, the manager told me to come the next day to have my loan amount in my bank account. And here I was, just outside the bank.
After going through what felt like an endless day, I was then able to breathe in the cool air. It all still felt like a dream that would break when I woke up. Getting admission in my dream college, my loan getting almost approved, and having a roof over my head, it was all happening so fast that I barely had time to look over myself.
A low growl from my stomach shook me out of my daydreams. I had literally eaten nothing after the morning breakfast. And it was the time when I finally decided to go to the apartment. I had eaten a full plate of Veg Meal for breakfast at the hotel where I had spent the night. I was indeed very hungry, and so the food tasted even better then. It is said that the hungrier you are, the better the food tastes.
I started heading towards the nearest bus stop, and soon enough, I found many people standing under the metal roof. Mostly, the office workers were starting to depart for their respective homes, and I was about to go to my apartment.
I was wondering, 'just for 4 years I am here at this apartment. And after that, I have no plans. Maybe I would grow a little taller than today, maybe I would have a good number of skills and certificates with me, and so would many, just like me. The only difference will be the loan. If they don't do anything now, they still will not have to worry even after graduation for a couple of years, while I will be bearing this loan. I really need to get this burden off of me as soon as I can.'
This time, the aroma of the street food brought me back to reality. The reality was that I was very confused. 'Should I wait here for the bus, which will now arrive any moment, or shall I just quickly go and have a small bite of something?'
The confused state didn't last for long since the bus came before I could decide for my empty stomach. I left all thoughts of food just to rush into the bus to have a good seat, only to find I had none. When bad luck is at its peak, you don't get the peace of food, nor the peace of having a proper seat in the local bus.
When the bus marched ahead, I even lost the peace of standing comfortably. The bus was full of passengers, or I should say more than full of passengers. A heavily stuffed poultry van! I thought.
After 15 long, uncomfortable minutes of the bus journey, I pulled myself out of the poultry van and stretched my arms and legs as much as I could. The idea of stretching indeed worked like magic on my stressed muscles. Finally, when I was good to go, I headed towards my apartment, Pragati Apartments.
The name 'Pragati' means 'Progress'. Well, yeah, the last building of the apartment was still under construction while all other buildings were completed. I had my flat at the Narmada Block (named after the Narmada River), 7th floor, room no. 702. The best thing about this apartment was its location. The local market was within 5 minutes walking distance, the bus stop was around 10 minutes walking distance, and the best part, my university was about 20 minutes from here by bicycle. I didn't have a bicycle then, but soon I was going to have one because that was a part of my survival plan in the big city.
Before entering the main gate, I saw a vendor selling fruits. The fruits looked good, and my stomach gave the green signal too. I waited no longer and rushed to the fruit vendor. I bought for my roommates and me as well, 'a small token of gift will be good to start a new friendship, isn't it?', I thought.
I paid the due amount to the vendor and headed to my apartment. When the security guard asked where I would be going, I said with confidence, "Narmada Block, flat 702, that's where I and 2 of my friends and I have shifted today."
The guard smiled and nodded in response.
Carrying the bag of fresh fruits, I walked to the building where it was written 'NARMADA BLOCK' and headed towards the elevator. When the doors opened, I slipped in and pressed for the 7th floor. As the elevator rose, so did my heart. I was excited to meet the people with whom I would be sharing my second home.
The doors opened with a monotonous voice, "Seventh Floor"
I walked out of the lift with confident steps and stopped right in front of room no. 702. In the morning, when I came, the corridor was empty, but at that time, there were a couple of pairs of shoes.
'They are here," I thought.
I took a deep breath, straightened my back, corrected my sleeves and brought up my smile, which I was famous for. The smile that I was told to have with me.
When I was small, my Mother once said, "Aditya, if you are struggling or if you see someone else struggling, then just smile. Smile for yourself and for that person as well. You know, a little smile of yours can make everyone happy!"
That time, I had no idea what this sentence meant, but I grew a habit of gaining a small smile whenever I could. And so I was known for my beautiful smile in my locality.
I shook my head and came back to face reality. With confidence in my chest and a smile on my face and fruits in my hand, I pressed the doorbell.
