Making Acquaintances with Mangaluru

The first thing that struck me about Mangalore was the slow pace of life. The whole city seemed to be in sync with a slow monotonous walk. The college, the people, the shops, the buses! Nobody seemed to be in a hurry. You wouldn't find buses running at six in the morning or after nine in the night. Tea shops which I knew to be open throughout the night used to shut down by ten. College started only at nine in the morning and closed in the late afternoon at around three.

The initial few months were a little difficult to digest. The city was far too small to be called as 'city'. I could almost walk around Mangaluru in a little over four hours. The initial few days went on with the exploration of the city, its malls, beaches, restaurants. Midnight walks were lonely as the roads were entirely deserted. The whole city looked like a ghost town. A nightlife in the city was non existent.

The initial few days in the college were a little dry. Shinoj was the name of the guy sitting next to me. He seemed visibly excited, even though he had studied in the same campus for almost four years. He seemed a little hyper active and rather innocent. The classes went on and as always, I slept through most of the classes only waking up to Melisa ma'am trying to get an answer for some question. I would turn to Shinoj, ask him what the question was, answer it and go back to sleep. It was difficult to sleep when she starts asking questions. Initially she tried her best to get an answer out of anybody, except me. It was always a torture for her to ask questions and elicit a response from the class.

Prof. Lourdusamy upped his usual antics and began calling us a 'bunch of useless assholes'. Most of the class was shocked when they heard, but it didn't seem to matter to me in the least. Asshole? Sure! Everybody's got one! What's the big deal? And soon I was appointed the class representative, by 'popular vote'. I thought to myself, "Damn! Screwed over in Loyola and I'm gonna be screwed here too".I guess everybody wanted to light my pants on fire.

In a few weeks I realized that the class had a speech impediment when it came to talking to me. The funniest incident was, when Harshitha had to practice for fifteen minutes to ask for a sheet of paper. I never realized that i was intimidating most of my classmates. Funny, I thought.

Midhun was the first guy in the senior class who spoke to me. The pillar outside my classroom used to be my usual jaunt after every hour. Midhun looked like a huge guy with a big beard. He was the big guy with a soft heart. The fresher's party seemed innovative with a few dances and songs. All the first years were asked to imprint their hand on a chart with little photos of themselves and we were asked to introduce ourselves on the stage.

August came and the rains didn't seem to withdraw. The city was damp and so were my spirits. It was Independence Day and my friends had come over. Agni, Dominic and Leo made a trip to Mangalore to just to visit me. Friends like them are hard to come by and harder to get. I guess Mangalore has started warming up to me.