THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE

Time: Somewhere between 20th to 30th august, 2007

The story is quite old now. Actually the thing I hate about this story is that it is not a story, it’s a true incident and even bigger reason for me to hate it is that it actually happened to me. Our AIEEE results were out and I was not very happy with mine. Somehow I managed to get a seat in IT branch of ITM College at Gurgaon. It was Friday when I first attended it, and following it were two holidays. I had only spent a single night in the hostel but s everyone wanted to go home and none was left in the hostel (mind you, It was a very small hostel with a capacity of only 45), I also decided to go home and reached there by 11 PM. My father had earlier participated in the third counseling on my behalf without my knowledge. The results of the counseling were out and I got a seat in UIET, Kurukshetra. I was missing my family and friends so I decided to change my college.
We were provided with only two days to report for the admission. There was a problem though; I was not having my documents as they were submitted at ITM. Still I went to request UIET management to admit me and I will show my documents later, but my request was turned down. As the next day was a holiday, I had to go to ITM on the same day and bring back my certificate all alone. My father was not at home as he had been transferred to Himachal Pradesh, so I had to handle it all alone.
I did not have even a single drop of water the whole day, let alone the food. It was 12 noon and now started the longest day of my life. I went straight to bus stand after having some biscuits at my home. It was a very hot day and I have to wait for almost an hour before I was able to find a bus to Gurgaon. It nearly takes about 5 hours from Kurukshetra to Gurgaon. The bus came and the journey started at last and I need not say anything about the Haryana Roadways buses. I was thinking about my destiny; will I be admitted or not, what will happen to me bla bla. I was very tensed and frightened. The journey ended, it was worth 5 very long and boring hours indeed. At last I was there in the ITM. There I met Mr. Kapil, the man in charge of admissions.
I told him about my situations and demanded back my certificates and he asked me to wait for half an hour. After half an hour he again asked me to wait for another half hour. Then he approached me and told me that Dean Sir has left and I can only be provided with the certificates on the day after tomorrow. I begged him and told him that the next day was the last day for reporting. He finally gave me the contact number of the Dean. Then I went out to search for an STD. After 2 km of walking, I found an STD booth. I felt relieved but I didn’t know it was not going to be my last walk. The Dean didn’t pick the phone. Then I called at my home. Alas! No one picked it up even after 4-5 trials. Then I called my dad on his mobile. But what I found was horrible, even more horrible than my worst nightmare; he didn’t pick the phone either. I didn’t loose hope and called a friend of mine, Neeraj on his mobile, even he was disconnecting my call. I don’t know why in the world he was doing that, what hell of an important meeting he was attending that he didn’t pick my call. Now I was beginning to loose my patience. Drops of sweat fell from my forehead as if they were rain drops falling from the sky.
At last a ray of hope came. My Uncle’s number who lived in Jammu suddenly struck me. I called him and he really picked it up. I was the most delighted soul in the world at that time. But perhaps even heavens were also against me, the battery of the mobile STD phone ran out. Oh GOD! What the hell that was, how can such things happen to a 17 year child who was that deep in trouble? I had to wait 15 min before they charged the battery. Then the call was again made and my uncle told me to go to the hostel and he would call my father in the meantime and inform him. I went to the hostel. It was 9 at night and I was all alone, starving, panting, and sweating on the streets of an unknown city.
Finally I went to the hostel, hardly 4 students; all seniors to me were there in the hostel. I neither wanted to go to the dinning room for dinner nor to sleep. The TV in the common room was being seen by the students, it aired a Hindi movie named ‘MP3, mera pehla pehla pyaar’ . I tried to watch it but my heart was sinking. Finally a call came for me, it was from my father. I wonder how sometimes the ring of the phone can sound sweeter than Beethoven. My father told me that I shall come back tomorrow earliest possible and we will do something about the certificates and I should sleep now. I lay on my bed of my room, all alone with no one to talk to. I was not having my mother with me there who can put her hand on my head! When did I sleep, only heavens know? Next day at early morning I went to bus stand to find my way to Kurukshetra where my uncle had come all the way from Jammu just for me.
Even after that, along with 10 other students were denied admission for another five days due to some problem (about which I can write a new story altogether). But we at last made it to the UIET and till date I am still there.
I do believe that there are some things in your life you don’t have an alternative for. For me , it was the love of my mother and her prayers that made my distant possible admission at UIET possible, even after so many hurdles. Destiny is inevitable, isn’t it? Love is always defining n prayers are never unanswered. Your belief in God makes it easy for you. Life is always random, you got to admit that. But now finally am happy I found admission in acollege at my own city, the very thought of living with my mother for four years makes life even more beautiful.
The story may not look very interesting to you, but for me, it changed my life….one more thing, now I would like to forget this horrifying story as it gets onto my nerves. Even today I feel frightened remembering thin one. It was my last time I remembered it to write, the longest day of my life lasted for about 40 long hours.