Well, well, well! We have read 100 stories where the main character wakes up in a different world, including Gulliver's Travels, Sindbad the Sailor, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and the film 'Life of Pi', but all need not be sailors or travellers to wake up in a different world.
Little Anya was the apple of everyone's eyes. Brilliant student, well-mannered, good student, dancer, athlete, debater, champion in the school, and with dreams to become a doctor. she took coaching at a reputed institute, went to an international school in her chauffeur-driven Mercedes, and the same driver took her for her coaching too. She was hard working and had a great family, a doting mom, a loving sister, busy and rich father. all support everywhere, and also good friends.
she had given the NEET entrance ( National Eligibility Entrance Test), and as expected, she did well and joined a premier medical college. all were happy and celebrated her success!
after all the procedures were followed, she was finally allotted a hostel room.
Stop! She entered a new world for sure!
What was this? She had to share a room with two other girls.... She had never seen such dingy rooms in her life. everything was so cluttered. She realised she was in for a lot of shocks. from a well-maintained palatial house with great interiors and regular staff for housekeeping, she had to share a room with two other girls, heaven alone knew from where. right now, they weren't in the room, but she was told they were from her batch. their suitcases were partially unpacked, and the small cupboard, which all three had to share, was almost occupied. She didn't like the curtains and felt the lighting was poor. Before she could gather herself from the shock, the hostel warden appeared with a long list of DO'S AND DONT'S.
Anya sheepishly asked for he washroom and she was shown a few bathrooms and toilets at the end of the corridor. the toilets were clean but not up to her expectations. the bed provided was small, and the mattress was hard. She signed the paper where all the inventory was listed. After the warden went away, Anya just wanted to run away!. She said to herself, " To hell with medical school, I can't stay here!" but then she remembered the years of hard work and effort she took to come to this prestigious institute and decided to stay on.
it was 4pm, and her father said, if she had any issue, he would pull her out of the hostel and he will arrange accommodation outside, but the college authorities insisted that she should stay in a hostel so that she gets to know the batch.
at 4.30 pm, one of her roommates came, and she was clothed in very plain clothes, which doubt if any of her servants' children would wear. the girl introduced herself as Pinky and said she was from the tribal area of Chhattisgarh. Her father was a labourer in a saw mill, and she had taken a scholarship from her state because she was the first girl to qualify for the medical college from her government junior college.
Their third roommate, Sukhbir, was from Punjab and had come from the sports quota as she was a wrestler and had represented the nation in some International competition.
Well! Anya lived such a protected life all along that she had never met such people in her life.
Both of them already seemed to have become friends.
after the regular exchange of greetings, A nya came to know that the seniors. the previous batch of medical students often ragged the freshers, though it was officially prohibited.
Though cross ragging was strictly prohibited, the senior girls were good enough. Anya was scared. She was soft spoken and had difficulty understanding the English spoken by both Pinky and Sukhbir. While Pinky could hardly communicate in English, the language that Sukhbir used had a very heavy Punjabi accent and with many errors, which Anya could not imagine even in her LKG times.
Then came the tough times, all the freshers were lined up in the hostel quadrangle and asked to wear salwar kameez and oil their hair and make two plaits. OH my my! how horrendous, from a freshly done keratin treatment and a hair spa, Anyo could not imagine such a hairdo. With this drill it was hard to tell who's who?
Anya had never done such a thing as wear a salwar kameez; all she had were jeans, trousers, skirts, and other outfits, and even her school uniform was a short skirt. they wer e given day for changing their get-up. Anya learnt that she had to was her own clothes, clean her room and neatly keep her things. she had to recite some meaningless poems as demanded by their seniors, do funny tasks given by them. ad just in a real small place.
The food seemed unpalatable for her and she had to deal with all the snide remarks regarding her super-polished English and diction.
Some were mean enough to call her rude names and a rich, spoilt brat.
She was never rude to anyone or complained but everyone seemed to be making fun of her. She cried buckets every day. Anya did not like the food, almost everything was so bad.
Even though she had no great affection for her two roommates, they seemed to be the only people who understood her. Tribal girl, Pinky, helped Anya with the hair and washing, Sukhbir gave her moral support, and instead of this, Anya did the writing work, especially the log-book and records of seniors, which were given to the freshers to fill as a part of the orientation.
Every day, there was a new drama, sometimes, they were called to sing, sometimes, to enact a skit, and they were expected to entertain the seniors with silly/ funny or different actions. they were insulted and humiliated over things which was very rude and unimaginable. a few seniors were kind and gave them good stuuf to eat, some gave advice , some were simply mean but all in all, what was absolutely shocking initially was tolerable now.
At the end of one month. A nya no longer regretted her decision to stay in the hostel. She now had friends and her best friend was Pinky, whom she abhored at the beginning. Anya admired her sense of wit, resilience, smartness and ability to learn. She wondered how, with such meagre resources, this girl could secure a seat in a premier med school. Anya always wanted to help Pinky with everything she could, which included books, essentials, and even clothes, which she told her mother to gift whenever she went home because she knew how sensitive Pinky was, and Anya didn't want to hurt Pinky's self-esteem.
Yes indeed, Anya had woken up to find herself in a whole new world!!
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