It’s funny and mysterious about how people end up in places they wouldn’t have thought of after 12th. I think it’s destiny that put me where I am now. Two years back I was in Bangalore starting BSc. Microbiology and now I’m a student in a prestigious college in Mangalore- Manipal College of Dental Sciences. Thinking about this pulls me back to the day I got admission in Manipal.
I was on holidays for Dussehra in Bangalore when I received a call for acceptance in Manipal. I was elated as it had been my wish to get in there since childhood. People might think it’s weird but I had a connection to Manipal ever since 1st grade when I was admitted there for a surgery. I used to split the word Manipal in Tamil where “mani” means money and “pal” means milk. So, basically it means Manipal was an institution which was flowing with money! My mom and I packed up my things with whatever we thought were necessary. Then we set off to Manipal with Dad driving the car.
The drive from Bangalore to Mangalore is about 300 km and we had to pass through Nelamangala, Tumkur, Kunigal, Hassan, Sakleshpur, B.C road and through the wild Ghat section.
The Ghat section is full of bends and turns which needs good maneuvering and more time to travel and the road wasn’t good. Overall it was a bumpy ride. We reached Mangalore quickly after passing through the dangerous Ghat section. It took about 6 hours as we hadn’t stopped anywhere. From Mangalore, it took 2 hours to reach Manipal via Udupi.
By now, I was psyched to see the campus and get into Manipal as soon as possible. We wove around the lanes to find the Manipal administrative office. Here and there I had glimpses of the campus like the hostels, Food Court and the grounds.
Admission took up nearly half a day but we had time to loaf around the campus. When I came across groups of students chatting after the college hours, I felt anxious as to whether I will fit in with my classmates.
Karma must have thought the same as just then I had an encounter with a girl who was starting her first year too in Mangalore. Little did I know that we would end up being good friends and have lots of craziness, fun, happiness and stay up late at night sharing our secrets. So after the short encounter, we went back to journeying to Mangalore to fill more admission forms! I really didn’t know the purpose of filling out so many forms and was ecstatic when I could finally see the campus where I will be living.
The campus for first years was in Bejai, a wonderful and residential place which had our academy near our hostel. The hostel was luxurious and beyond what I had imagined. Scores of people my age darted here and I had a ray of hope that things would be fine. Now, I realized that it wasn’t just fine. It was happening and I had a fun-filled and one heck of a year and am still having a great time and I’m loving it.
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