The college is about to come to an end, and the people you met, who stayed with you for a good 4 years are always going to hold a spot in your memories. They will awlays stay there, .. only with bigger noses and tinier feet. But what would remain the same is the first encounter…

(Of course.. you are the alien)
A day before I got to know that a friend of Gautam’s (now in NSIT) is going to be my new class.
“Bahut padhne wala ladka hai. Dhyaan rakhiyo uska..” were the exact words..
“Siddhant Goel. Padhne wala my ass! I will show him. ghanta padhne wala phhh..” I thought, smiled as I drifted to sleep.
day 1
I knew Shruti Sharma, from my school days (she used to be a senior) and she was going to be there. “Pheww… I dont have to make frnds all over again. I will just be frnds with her frnds. Easy!
No pressure.. Just make it work with the bunch you get.” I said to myself.
Having not seen her in a while, I was not sure whether I could spot her. “Hmm… she is really really fair.” “How many really really fair girls could be there in my class.”
With that in my head, I reached the dusty lab.
There this girl standing.
girl.. check.
fair.. check.
Though she didnt ring a bell.. I mean.. there is a chance that I might be making mistake here.. but she was really really fair. and was a prime candidate for being Shruti. There…
“Hi Shruti??” I asked in disbelief..
She nodded, in disbelief.
her bespectecled friend nodded in disbelief..
It was Aarti standing with Ankita.
yaeeks.. first day.. and such a blunder!
Hours later, Ankita would be seen sitting with Anuradha.. and they I thought were taking turns raising their hands.
Inside the registration hall, no shruti in sight, I could only collect my form and start filling it. My plan A is on hold, and now its the time to make conversation, my plan 9 (from outer space..as you will see)
How to make friends.. over a quick conversation.
As I was signing the sheet, I saw two guys approaching with the classic seeta geeta problem of “who-is-who”. There were two Anupam Kumars in our class..
I collected my form, and was filling it out. There I saw Atulya. Now my dad and his had a little chat on the day of registration. I certainly expected an air of recognition, only to be blown away.
“Atulya… right? Hi”
“.. ya I am Atulya. But sorry yaar I dont remember your name” said he.. and his then gang burst into a very unsettling laughter..Laughter for them and unsettling for me.
“Fuck! Thats strike two. First day… and two strikes. seriously Fuck!”
Then..
There.. entered a mob. The mob.
A lot of chatter… and hum and din of well acquainted, possibly impossible to infilterate gang. Boy.. if 20 people, together. Poor me .. the outcast .
Shruti was a part of that mob, and hey.. I could be friends with her friends. Plus.. there is someone called Siddhant Goel I could be friends with.
Shruti was sharing a joke with two stick thin people. The taller one, seemed to very pleased with the joke, laughing his heart out. The other one was all flushing with confidence.
That was Prateek Jain. The one who was in control of his senses… the guy I had seen in my crash course classes. Boy.. crash course didnt suck at all. We both made it here.
“Hi Shruti..”
“Hi Prateek. Kaisa hai tu”
Interrupting a very wholesome conversation was Siddhant.
“You are Prateek Nigam?”
“Ya. You are Siddhant Goel?”
tap tap tap, exchange the numbers.. awkward smiles and I, said Hi to the taller one. The one I will have *to be* friends with 
” Sunil”
“Prateek..”
There… minimum effort, and you have a sort of people to hang out with! yaee.
I also met this female, who was all smiley and cheerful.
Swati Khurana! Who I thought was flashing a 1 Kilo Watt smile the very first day. Weird.!
Standing out.. next to the railling.. I saw a boy and a girl.. discussing amongst themselves…
“Yar DCE ka crowd kitna mast hai”
and I said to myself “All this crowd has come from NSIT only. he he he”
That was Aastha and Saurabh.
Day two..
waiting for a lab, there came a girl. With two guys walking her sides. I am not to use my walking a pup or the bodyguard analogy.. sorry! But you get the picture
She was wearing heals.. and I was just picturing her stumbling on one of the blocks and toppling over in the pool near CC. The two guys, Divyanshu Anand, and Prateek Khurana! The girl.. Rashmi.
Later in the class..
A guy wearing a cap trying to get people to introduce themselves to one another… “a natural leader” I said to myself.. Maneet Bansal.
In the canteen..
One Rashyap Sahi… taking me for an NSITian and getting me to introduce myself in hindi.
making the first program in college, with Samrat (who later asked me whether I hailed from UP) and Kartik (who ,I learned was there in my school for almost a year)
Walking with Sunil and Siddhant, asking whether I was being “unwanted” or a “tag along”.. (the silences were making me feel like one). Turns out… 4 years passed.. I am still the one who does all the talking..
Some days when Sunil and Siddhant wont turn up, I would try to make an auxillary gang. A sort of backup. And.. me being a chronic front bencher got to know Prateek Khurana. Ghissu’s connect at some level.. I guess. Its like an instant brotherhood…
But then we sort of stopped hanging out… dont exactly remember why(may be after I saw him trying to cheat in the discrete maths paper)
funny..how I judge people..no?
… it was long before the famous AE lab incident of 3rd semester, when we officially stopped hanging out with him.
More to come about that in next few posts.
Plus… I will write more about Aastha and when we discovered our common passion… FOOD
Kanika’s punches in the PEE lab,
my car almost smashing Kriti’s right hand , AP and abhishek changing the tyres… with aastha’s wrench,
my first meeting with NSR, us playing roadies with anshu madam as Ranvijaya
, us playing Charades with anshu madam, and the never documented before ..slapgate scandle of course:D