It was the safest spot for the new comers, preferably called
Fresher’s or simply ‘first year’. Water was being served in jugs and Mannu
gulped a portion from one without even being seated. The registration process
was a task of several signatures, verification of documents, photograph, and
identity proof. The fresher’s were directed to keep all the documents ready. So
the fresher’s, in a mechanical fashion, had kept the files and folders on their
lap and most of them sat alert, but confused. A few of the boys were busy
finding the best among the girls, the most fair, the tallest, slimmest and the
most beautiful and some of them were moving in and out of the hall in turns. It
seemed that they knew some seniors and that company gave them escape from the
general code of conduct. Mannu found a backseat with empty sides, took out the
document folder and kept it on his lap. After wiping the sweat from his face he
could find courage to turn around and take a breath of relief.
“Mannu...Mannu...”A female voice was heard. Everyone was
looking around as it was the seond call for Mannu.
“Mannu. Admission from Lucknow.”
Abruptly Mannu stood up and down went the folder and the
hanky.
“Yes, Yes Mam...Mannu” He spoke loudly with a raised hand. Heads
turned towards him and restlessness took control of him. For a while he dragged
the suitcase with him, but he stopped suddenly rethinking whether he should
carry the bag with him or not. The female voice was heard again saying,
“Leave your bags
there. Pick up the folder and hurry up.”
“Yes Yes Mam.”Head were still turned towards him. This kept
the restlessness high.
“Good morning Mam”
“Afternoon. Class twelfth
mark sheet?”The lady enquired. He produced it and secretly looked the time by
his watch. It was almost one.
“Five passport size photographs. Coloured.” He produced
them.
“Oho...I need one with a white background.” She sighed and
showed Mannu the instructions. It was clearly written, but this instruction
page was not to be found on the website. He came out with no answer. She waited
for a while, looked at him again, nodded her head in disdain and carried on
with the pasting them on different forms. A cross signature on each of the
photograph was demanded. Meanwhile she sipped tea and made a sarcastic comment
about the fresher’s with her colleague who was busy stapling photographs of a
girl. These rounds of comments had made Mannu upset. To further add to it he
was given a medical form which had to be signed by a doctor from a government
hospital.
“Excuse me Mam where can I find the doctor?”
“Yaa. You will find a bus from the main gate. Tell the
driver to drop you at Amber medical dispensary.”
This was like a shock for him. He thought that the doctor
would be available in some different hall. But a bigger distance had to be
travelled. Fortunately, the room number
was allotted, but accommodation was to be finalised only after submission of
the medical form. It had to be done by evening.
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