Key to being the ARKEE

A case of mistaken identity There is a reason why teenagers prefer not to have their parents talking to people they know, especially classmates, friends, other acquaintances (just about anyone we know). Parents tend to speak volumes about their progeny, as if the entire world is awaiting breathlessly to know about us, and they often end up reveal a bit too much information, even very less information is a lot. However, for once I must give credit where its due, my parents did not get into the boring trope of  "my daughter is like that, she loves this food, she was always good in her studies..." at the time of my enrollment into the hostel. However, I became the victim of a big misunderstanding or as they say a case of mistaken identity. The truth of all of this I would only learn later, after serious mocking by seniors, and exchange of heated words with some. Few days after I had joined the hostel, there was this constant reference of AC everytime I passed by. Initially I d

Amidst much fanfare, (seniors booing) we took our first step into our F1 Architecture Class. A large spacious room furnished with desks and benches in the front and drafting tables at the back. A charcoal drawing depicting the various scenes at a Kathakali fest executed by the great artist Namboothiri adorned the back of the classroom. Pieces of art contributed by the previous batches adorned the walls. I stared with admiration not once realising that this was just a preview of what I too was expected to do in the coming days. Before I get into the details let me tell you facts that you need to be well aware about architecture before enrolling for the course unlike clueless moi U need to have some drawing chops – The last time someone complimented my drawing was when I was in LKG and had drawn an orange a circle coloured using an orange crayon). Another memory of an opposite nature was when I was in my 12 th grade, when I had sketched a frog for my bio lab; my sir had stared at the

It was a restless night, the thought of the first day at college kept me awake, the new people I would run into, enrolling into a course I was clueless about and more importantly the fact that my parents would be leaving me and going back home around 600 km away. I felt a pang in my heart and silently sobbed, already feeling a bit homesick.  The next day, I paid a visit to the Padmanabhaswami temple, one of the most famous temples in kerala, before I headed for the college and offered my prayers (the convenient religious sentiments that typically arise surrounding exams, new ventures) As soon as we reached the college, we were all directed to the architecture department for our first meeting with our HOD. The department building was pretty impressive, it stood out from the rest of the buildings in the campus, someone had put in a lot of thought into it in order to set a unique character to to its design and layout. We seesmbled in the seminar hall on the basement level one along with o

The admission date was scheduled for October but thanks to the never ending formalities and political disruptions that arise every year around the engineering admissions, the date got postponed to the end of November.  Come November 22 and I set foot for the first time in the CET - a massive campus sprawled across acres of land. We were asked to assemble in the CETAA hall of the college where the principal greeted us and congratulated us for being part of the best college in Kerala. Parents all around beamed with pride over their off springs who according to the principal were the creamy layer. My father glanced at me as if I had just won the Oscar. Well, not bad, I thought I could sure cash on this one, while the aura lasted i.e.  Post session we moved onto the admissions floor in the main building. People already had kicked off conversations like they knew each other for ages. Its like humans, esp Mallus have an inbuilt radar that help them track down another fellow being by picking