College is Now!

The clock ticks, announcing the start of a fresh day… time is flying, and I am seated there unmoved and steadfast. The clock, moves an inch again, and after a while it calls out a new time, and pleads me to go into slumber. Its dark, midnight came uninvited, and went unanounced. It’s already way past midnight, and the dark presses against the window sill. I flinched a little, recoiling to its advancement as I liftedmy head up gently to look at the time-proclaimer, standing forebodingly over the window sill. With a pen  fused to my hand, my surrounding fade to blackas I become ever engrossed into my anticipation.,As I scribbled away the uncertainty,the only source of light is that of my computer turned on. I would be receiving an important update shortly, I can’t sleep, can I? With thoughts traversing my head, I am lost… I have been pulled into the wormhole of a space-time continum… to put it simply, I have lost all sense of time as I had entered a dimension all my own with all my thoughts to accompany me.. Silence engulfs the room, with only the sound of the rifling boughs of evergreen forest brushing up on the roof overhead. 

As shallowvoices of insecurity echoedinside my head,  I craved an escape. So, I decided to plug my earphones on, and I naturally floated away with beats of, "A Kecha-Mengu", and "Hiyo Hiyo". A sigh came naturally, followed by droplets of a light shower over my notepad…I looked up for a second and nostalgia got the better of me. I looked over at a picture next to my desk… the light shower was no longer light… and it started raining. That portrait  was from the prom… who knew, that things would end so quickly. My first day at high school- it seems just yesterday. With that in mind… time was lost again, and seconds became ages, as my cerebrum began processing whatever was happening. I lost count… who am I? The things before me now appeared as a fiction from an anime, as I faded away with time. I became one with, as my forehead touched the face of the desk, and a droplet of all those years gone by, fell with gently from the edge of my cheeks.

An hour or so had passed, without my notice… with reassuring music still playing int he background of my contemplation. Then a melancholic sound pierced through the emptiness… beep beep… I was startled, and the rooster began attacking the delicate sleep that had given me solice. Then, like a lighthouse in a stormy night, my phone flashed out to me, beckoning for my gaze. Half-dazed I proceeded to pick it up, and there were a couple of emails. Is it, it? The thing that I was waiting for? With each tap of the screen I shattered layers of built up tension as I navigated through my emails, looking for the diamond in the coal mine, and to my despair… I found some clunky advertisement regarding some student loan. Call it amazing sleepless luck! How long should I be waiting?

It’s already 4 in the morning, and the sun will be rising anytime soon, perits usual morning ritual. As a minute or two passed by, my brain gushed itself into a mental marathon regarding the outcome of what I had been longing for. My phone buzzed again… and after pushing through my initial skepticism there was it, an email proclaiming an update has been posted. I prayed, and pushed myself to go to the attached link on that email.. It took me to a sign-in page.. With fear and excitement stirring within my mindI entered the details.. Closed my eyes… was this going to be the end? That’s when glorious glitter spread across the screen and I was welcomed by a figurine, that looked like a tiger laying down. Guess, that’s a yes, I would help all the pomp and circumstance would not be for a rejection? I questioned, and proceeded to read the letter posted. My heart skipped a beat now, and norepinephrine rushed across every vessel in my body. I couldn’t express myself… for now I am going to be a tiger!

This was what I was waiting for the whole month, started by a few mails from the college inviting me to apply. As an international student, from the easternmost corners of India, I am hoping to attend Princeton. As I ponder, I cannot control my eagerness and excitement to study at a school, with short proximity to none other than the Big Apple. As I reflect upon this moment, my pen gently slips from my grasp, a silent invitation to traverse the enchanting surroundings of Princeton. Eager anticipation propels me to explore the intellectual haven bestowed by Princeton University, where every step echoes the resonance of knowledge, and the allure of cutting-edge research beckons with the promise of academic excellence

From high school to college.. Guess I would be making new memories, as I carry old ones with me to guide me, during the process. For me, the friends I made at high school or way back in middle school… have and will remain ingrained in my life, lasting forever. I am hoping to do the very same, when I set foot as a tiger into a new abode, and this just gets me more excited. A concoction of nostalgia, excitement and nervousness is brewing, and at the end, I can’t wait any longer to take the very first sip. 

Go Tigers!