A “Not so smoky” beginning by Nivedita

The first step into the college bus and the taste of the nitrous oxide set in. Mildly sweet. Stories of my apartment friends sharing bonds with their seniors flashed across my mind. But the moment I went in, I saw that I was the first junior to enter the bus full of Ragging-Hungry seniors. One by one, I was called by one senior after the other.
I was tired and I saw the time it was just ten minutes since I got onto the bus. Einstein’s theory of
relativity hit my head: dong! My senior saw me seeing the watch. “Watch eh?” in a telugucized English a senior taunted.
“Give that to me, Amma” said another senior
And, they took my watch
The bus halt.

Ah! My friend said she would get in here and she also said she knew some seniors. Finally, I would be
relived of these monsters who were avenging their ragging. I was waiting for her to get in and was looking at the front door of the bus when I heard her voice.
She got in from the rear end of the bus!
“Idiot..” I thought to myself
She shrieked in the typical convent school going girl’s accent “Heeeeeeeeeeeey….How were you?” As
she walked towards me, a senior stopped her.
“Hello madame.”
He asked her bio data, just like they did to me, made us say few stupid things like “Liril ones are liril.”
They promised us more later and this was just the starting.  As we stepped down the college bus and entered the college campus, the seniors behaved as if they did not know us. They signaled through their eyes.
That’s it!
The first day went in reminiscing the experience in the bus, running helter skelter finding our classrooms
for different subjects, labs.  The day end with we standing in the bus again amid stubborn, adamant seniors who ragged us but then  few of them were good too. They allowed us to sit in the bus.
As I got down the bus, the taste of nitrous oxide got back in the mouth. Mildly sweet.

~ Nivedita

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