PUNE MEIN PEHLA KADAM

The sudden chaos in the railway compartment broke my sleep. Someone from the bogie shouted that  Pune station had arrived. I checked my watch. It was 4:30 in the morning. It had rained last night. The air was cold and fresh. I had come here with my father to confirm my admission at MIT, PUNE for my engineering course.

As it was the last station, we needn’t rush. We took our time, packed our stuff and moved out along with other co-passengers. There was a huge crowd at the station. Many of them were enjoying their morning sleep lying down at the platform. Jumping and crouching, we made way through them. The unfamiliar language from the announcement box fell to our ears. We enquired an autowala about the nearest hotel where we could check in. We wanted it to be cheap and hygienic. I don’t remember the exact name of the place, but it was quite good for the amount it charged. I tried tuning the FM on my mobile by the time my dad got freshened. After an hour we both were ready.

One of my school pal, Rohit Jha , was already staying in Pune studying law from FC and we were supposed to meet him at Kothrud. We had planned to stay together renting a common flat. Devdutt, our another to be roommate , had too moved in to Pune .We all call him “Devoo”. He too had taken admission at MIT. I tried reaching Rohit on his cell while we were travelling in the auto .It rang  but there was no answer. I tried several times but with the same response.

After an hour of journey, we were standing at the Kothrud stop. I tried reaching him again, but still no response. My dad got a bit stressed. The issue was that we were carrying the luggage and needed to report to college for admission formalities and then I would have to register myself for the hostels. If we couldn’t contact Rohit ,I would have to take the hostel, which will definitely come along with many restrictions and all the plans we made before for having fun, will be washed away.

“Bhagwan ke ghar der hai , andher nahi.” Finally he called back. He told that last night he had slept late and was all out with this entire party thing and so he didn’t answered my calls. He told me to wait there and he will be coming in 10 mins. By the time, I checked out the place, the people and the girls.

He came after sometime. He took us to an apartment where we kept the luggage and moved ahead to the college .By 3 pm, I was done with the whole formalities. I was officially a MITian now. To celebrate, Rohit took us to café Durga. He told that this is one of the best of this place and we should definitely try MISAL PAW and COLD COFFEE.