YEAR 1:

As a beginner in the legal profession now, it involves plenty of learning with on-field interaction. However, the study for my profession happened in a law college with multi-dimensional experiences.

As an only child, my parents were really reluctant to send me to the hostel but, I was capable of looking after myself and others with some snacks and skills. The twist of course came when we had realised from another friend’s parent that I had been admitted for B.com-LLB instead of BA: LLB as I had opted for. However, time turned and sent another friend who said that today was the last day to change courses if we wanted. After quivering a five-day wait I got the course. Initially, I did not get a roommate, and the freshers next to my room were considerate enough to call me into their room to rest for the night. We discussed about telegu movies and we did not attend the ice-breaking that was going on upstairs as we felt so tired from travel as were actually called later than the regular dates by the management regarding our placements. To our own surprise the other first years who were already there for about ten days, called us in person and had a group introduction session filled with jokes and selfies. The next few days were filled with queues for the bathing stalls, using a kettle for the morning hot water bath, and learning about a village dhobi. Meeting students from different ethnicities and their choice of meals was an eye-opener to the tastes of India. Knowing that staying alone means snacking me and my family made a wholesome seven thousand rupees purchase of snacks the previous day. We even bought bird-feed for the peacocks that live on the campus and that surprised everyone around me. I was allotted a room with a window view of the empty grounds and compound area of the campus. It did invite bugs and beetles for free however it gave fresh air too. Three days later I got a roommate from the shining city of Bombay. Interacting with her was soft however she turned out to be a reserved character after some time. The feeling of time passing felt like a boat ride. The fresher's party with the DJ night and themed outfits made the welcoming immaculate. We all danced like there was no tomorrow. The lectures were simple but neat and made us understand how the countries that are called Western or Eastern get their names due to the nature of the nation rather than its geography. It was my first time seeing an evening Holi celebration as I had never witnessed Holi before. The “colourful” students made the corridors with rivers of watery colours by attempting to wash themselves off after playing. Since the individuals living around the village where the college was located, consumed only river fish trying them out for the first time is a fond memory now. The menu was not followed exactly and was revised too often to maintain consistency. Being a book-worm myself the library was an explicit experience to remember forever. With my 19th birthday nearing only a few students and the warden were aware of it.

On seeing my mother call and wish me at the stroke of midnight many students quickly gathered in my room with cookies and bournvita cake after I chatted with the warden and shared my brownies that were parcelled from a good friend. I was really taken by surprise and loved the feeling.

As my first year there was coming to its first half’s end the cyclone Gaja hit us. Taking refuge in a hostel with broken windows, damaged plumbing with the power gone and malaria spreading the university was closed a few days earlier forcing the cancellation of the upcoming exams. Once the weather returned to normal, we were all on our way back home we had to plan our trips for the sociology field study. Luckily for me, my own native Chennai had an Armenian church and a Jewish cemetery to visit and learn about the traces of mixed cultures in India. Once the college reopened from our very first winter break the students from northern India brought a variety of snacks. A friend from Rajasthan brought a sweet called the pumpkin sweet which made all of us ravenous for more. On returning back to campus after two months for the second semester with the exams of the previous semester still going on I understood that budding lawyers can be skilled thieves too. Many belongings got stolen including my own bournvita bottle on the second day. Around sixteen thousand rupees was stolen in our first year alone forcing students to lock their doors even for the breaktime. Coming to facilities they still needed development. Once the showers stopped working and I remember adjusting with the drinking water for bathing! That passed for humour a lot.

The next experience was having a Pongal celebration a month after the festival ended. The staff and management along with the students just wanted to fulfil our desire and we came across plenty of native entertainment troops, village styles of cooking and massive pots for the brew. The second semester got postponed in a way similar to the first one making our summer break a bit lengthier. On returning the robbery increased on campus for both the men’s and women’s hostel. The stolen items included gold, silver and slippers as well. I genuinely felt bad for the victims as trust is broken when there’s no result of efforts for rectification from the other side

YEAR 2:

Time passed at its own pace and we were allotted rooms for the second year a bit earlier. With the room being in the floor at the building's middle it made the stay feel sultry. However, meeting a bubblier roommate and mingling with Kerala kids made me see the other side. They all loved my brownies and khakhras. Even before the semester could end coronavirus hit us and we all underestimated the coronavirus news. Once the fear began to take over India, we saw our own seniors returning from moots obtain the infection too. I was not surprised to see well-connected students talk to the media to bring the attention of the management earlier. We all waited with masks on and bated breath for the leave announcement. Soon enough a lockdown was announced enough to irritate parents and leave most of our belongings in the hostel. You will be back in 20 days, won’t you? That was what our parents said to us. The announcement eventually led to the beginning of a never-ending thirty-six-month journey of online college. All the professors who often advised me to refrain from electronics had turned to an all-electronics mode. Online classes turned out to be harder than we thought with the zone of relaxation and safety turning into a secluded zone of peril our mental health was strained at all times and I was basically reserved to the top floor. My frowny face even made my dad question why my appearance was so down. No wonder home-schooling is a limited option. Initially, the classes began at ten o’clock and then shifted to eight o’clock.

Confused and sleepy classes going countless assignment extensions, and differences in methods of teaching between the students of different courses and colleges led to plenty of opposition to bring in some peace. The biggest surprise for me in the year 2020 was me becoming a BTS ARMY! In my family, we’re usually a bit reluctant with international media. The then hit song ‘Dynamite’ which was a contribution to the late worldwide rockstar Michael Jackson got me their attention. As a huge MJ fan, myself I felt it was a risky move from the BTS’s side to release a song at the time a peaceful judgement was passed in favour a 23-year-old case on the late star. Soon enough I became closer with two friends online and learned to see my feelings expressed in their songs.

YEAR 3:

We got promoted to the third year just like that. The first semester of the 3rd year took 5 months to finish, such was the level of scrutiny, stress and differences in access to the internet. With limited contacts with students and lack of uniformity in teaching methods made the process hard. The third year was when I tried an online moot court competition with two of my classmates. We thought mooting would train us professionally, but we were proved wrong as one of the variety of meanings the word moot has one expresses little or no practical relevance. We were all mooting from different cities online with no rehearsal or practice and managed to clear two rounds. That experience made us all decide to not moot again as anyhow we began to learn that the pandemic learning we were having was limited teaching of real court works. We wrote plenty of online exams and had world-war three strains, and some lost family members in the peak pandemic period as well.

YEAR FOUR:

The fourth year was less strained and we got to interact with juniors in a never before way. When we were called seniors and “akka” or “anna” the batch felt that we were the seniors most of us never had due to the pandemic. We chatted with many juniors through WhatsApp burning the internet away. Young talents never fail to surprise us. Students with swings of attitude from the villages and from places like Theni made me want to visit farmlands and ponds. The subject “gender justice” was an eye-opener for many the then Vice-Chancellor came to take lessons for us as well. The internship experience is unforgettable where we could finally travel to courts and meet real advocates. The juniors recognised me and we had a great interaction on the court proceedings. I also had the opportunity to do an online internship which made me see how fast an online hearing is. More than thirteen matters were dealt with in half an hour.

FINAL YEAR:

Finally, in 2022-2023 we lived as fifth years on campus. Meeting the unseen staff and juniors along with news of COVID still lingering and ceiling fans dropping made the welcome relevant to the scenario. Before returning to campus some students went to their rooms once more to retrieve things and found them all to be stolen by their trusted friends themselves. Luckily, my things when I went to retrieve them in the early months of 2022 were still safe and sound.

The first semester of the final year happened with masked students and teachers. During the first and last ever meeting with the people in charge we saw the true colours of the promised support. Time passed and some infections still spread in the campus hence we had to conduct medical camps and spent plenty of time in the terrace. The initial quarantine happened individually for us and the juniors were given the staff’s apartments for quarantine.

We almost thought the hostel rooms would not be enough but it was enough by making the juniors share a room for three as it was a compulsory rule that final years must have only one room for two.

Feeding dogs, hearing peacock calls and campus walks feel so nostalgic now. The skies had different colours too. The Ethnic -Day event was the most awaited student initiation. To my own surprise, I won most of the attention with the black sari I wore. As the most desperate batch to return to campus, we experienced the Pongal celebration once more with other festivities too. We could finally have our own cultural event and taste native snacks. The food trucks and entertainment troops were always on time and gave top-tier service. The AC rooms held most of the fun with a myriad of alarms every morning, project works, shows on laptops and most importantly the rainy days made it even more splendid. fashion queens of the campus would ask me their opinions on their styles, and my honest opinions were always appreciated. The rains in a village gave a blissful atmosphere during and after its shower. Terrace moon watching and the designs of lighting, along with musical nights is a great memory now.

December 3rd was an important date for me as we witnessed a stage drama on Tamil history that kept us all spellbound along with the dance performances of my batchmates. The interaction with some professors was informative for us as we spent many semesters online. The story of my cousin who lived in Canada for a decade grabbed my professors’ attention. However, the ACs and Fans needed more maintenance as they were left untouched in the pandemic. The Hong Kong hand fan I had made my classmates show the excitement of a kindergartener. My accessories and dresses aesthetic collection of hostel needs grabbed plenty of attention. Conclusively the experience is precious now, but every coin has two sides. The difficulties that laid weight on already strained minds were the “BIASED BEHAVIOUR” of students and the rushed semester for a variety of reasons. Remember this is gen-z, biased behaviour was slightly expected by me initially. And so, it did exist among the kids which made my hostel life less of a cinematic experience but human feelings are so intricate and intense the simple meal interactions made me feel so nostalgic now too. There was a less adaptive nature in both mingling and work making it tough for the professors to help us too. Such an atmosphere made navigation difficult for all of us making the need to have a person to pour feelings out to. That would be me for many and along with a few other girls. My hostel life stands as a lesson and a memory now. The advice what I hold for the readers and other hostellers is the need for understanding without any biases. These may be linguistic differences, native places and even a lack of adjustment. But as a member of this society, this lacuna was unpleasant to experience in an important period of my youth. Kindly develop more understanding, joke without teasing and depend less on trends to find friends. 

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