Walking into our faculty on another bright week day, mind filled with a ‘to-do-list’ of tasks, I was not at all prepared for the sight that welcomed me as I looked up while entering the ‘open’…

A sea of new faces, looking anxious and restless; some staring at nothing in particular while few others (like myself) looking all around trying to take in everything at once.

Although instincts and prior experience told how vulnerable and lost these faces are feeling, the realization that, how little they knew of the great power and effect their mere presence, inflicted upon us; ‘seniors by one year’, was new.

Words are not enough to explain the roller coaster of feelings and flashes of memories that burst through my head. My mind drifts back to yet another bright sunny day, almost one year back…

Entering a whole new, strange territory after hours or debating on what clothes to wear and how to comb the hair,

Feeling lost in a huge crowd, sharing the same thoughts and dreams,

Slowly making friends by mustering up the courage to speak finally,

Trying to make sense of each and every word uttered as advice to the ‘university life’,

All these memories danced around the mind while the eyes gazed at yet another batch, ready to embark on an adventure of their own, to be made special in their own way. It dawned that our place in the story had been replaced, and a page had been turned over to yet another chapter.

To conclude this stack of jumbled thoughts, written from the heart,

Welcome to the new home brothers and sisters! It is your turn to write another special story of “batch fit”, “functions”, “fun” and “love’’; one that you will treasure and cherish, as I do mine…