My Commute with Purpose

Two years ago, I would have never thought of spending a significant portion of my time in the metro, but that was a new normal that I had to come to terms with after coming to college. The excitement of college died down within a month, especially because of the toll that a cramped up semester had on my mental health. Soon, I came to realise how important it was to prioritise my time, especially as a day scholar.

My first semester was probably the most haphazard, especially in contrast to the highly disciplined routine that I had followed in 12th grade. Calling my first semester overwhelming would be an understatement. For someone who had hitherto been a consistent student, completing the entire syllabus on the last day of the preparation leave was something I had to grapple with. Despite this, I consider the first semester a great experience because, so long as we are making new friends, meeting new people with different backgrounds (particularly prevalent in DU) and engaging in activities that push us out of our comfort zone, we'll be growing as people.

Another fascinating thing I discovered as a day scholar was how ignorant I was about my own city. A city as eclectic as Delhi, with so many facets within each district is something we ought to explore in our college life. This also served as a respite from the monotonous metro rides that I had to take on a regular basis. More often than not, we consider metro rides to be tedious, but as day scholars, we can make better use of this time, especially if our travel time is longer. One thing I picked up on was reading in the metro, something that became a sacrosanct part of my metro rides. Finding alternatives to mindless scrolling is something that needs to be looked into, considering our diminishing attention span. Nonetheless, I found more stability and balance in the following semesters as I gradually got accustomed to the daily rigour of my college life. As I head into my final year of college, I hope to meet more people who can expand my perspective and break the preconceived notions that I have in mind.