Chapter 4

I still remember the day, when my mom packed clothes for me in the tattered grey bag, it was smelling as I sensed from a distance. When my luggage was packed, and the bedding was rolled, I glanced towards my house. I had to travel by minibus, and my brothers helped me reach the bus stop. I wanted to show my middle finger to the "palace", but I felt it was inappropriate and over exaggerating in the last moment. My belongings were tossed on the roof of the bus, and I boarded it to reach Srinagar. This was my first time leaving my village. It felt like the green cap of the earth was stripped with barren lands and glinting roofs. My excitement suddenly vanished. The bus stopped at its last stop, and I had to hire an auto-rickshaw to reach the college campus. After sifting through the suburbs, the vehicle reached a plateau, on which my college campus stood. It was dark when I came to the main gate. The gatekeeper was missing, and the main entrance was open. I entered the gate and asked some students about the hostel building. It was a shitty building in the middle of the valley, surrounded by Engineering wing. The road up to the building was also full of boulders. Getting a car down the road would be a daring dark, I said to myself. I entered a small two-storey building at the entrance of which hung a board displaying, MMS charitable school. I was taken aback as I climbed up the stairs. The journey up to the office was full of surprises. The warden with slick but thin hair stood on the chair looked into the files. I knocked on the door, and he raised his head. His face resembled that of a gentle-faced molester. It was only the first impression that changed after the first meet.

"Ilhaam Ala, sir, new admission," I said meekly.

"Sit down," warden's voice was comforting.

I looked around, and the hanging charts implied I was really in a school. After filling the forms, I was given a key for the room no 34.

Let me describe my hostel building, it was divided into two parts, Siberia and India. The Siberian side never got sun, while the Indian side was warmer in winters.