This Gurukul was located on the outskirts of the city where we lived.
It was a long four-hour journey by car, and knowing that I often get motion sick, I placed my head on my mother's lap and dozed off until we reached the main gate of the campus.
A gigantic serpentine line of cars was already dropping off children and their parents. At the same time, the older students kept peeking inside the vehicles, curious about their new juniors.
I wondered when I would meet my acquaintance from the hell teaching classes and whether the guy sitting beside me during the parent interviews got accepted. The part of the campus we went to was only meant for the first three classes. For secondary school students, a different part of the campus was reserved.
Four huge buildings covered the four sides of a rectangular park that took up the center of this sub-campus.
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people roaming out within this small area. Fathers were carrying massive steel trunks, mattresses, and buckets.
Some were even holding enormous rations of snacks that were more than enough to last a week until they could revisit their child. Waterworks had already started among the families leaving early because they still had a long way to go back.
My old habit of observing people and guessing their recent past and future kicked in. I imagined the parents supporting each other, holding back tears in a train compartment, and returning to an empty home that now had the memories of their children growing up. Do they have a younger child? If so, they will get much more attention from now on.
I glanced at my father walking beside me but decided not to imagine further. He was the one who wanted to come here the most, after myself and my grandmother. But my mother was already a wreck. I could sense her nervousness and determination not to start crying right now.
My brother had already left home for college one year ago, in a different state, and now her home will be empty.
I couldn't help imagining her completing all the household chores, sitting around bored, going through our photographs, or starting new soap operas on television. There was no one to fight for the TV remote anymore; she would think and again hold back a new batch of tears. Her life usually revolved around me and my brother, and now that we were away, I wanted her to start thinking about taking up a hobby that she liked again.
Maybe she can teach the kids in the neighborhood chanting as she taught me in childhood?
Hopefully, she won't be as strict as she was with me, or all the students will surely flee after one or two classes.
Chanting was an art form where you had to memorize verses in Sanskrit, the ancient language used to write Vedas and channel the words from your diaphragm to make it feel like the words were coming from your chest instead of your throat.
My grandma had told me that the process was way more complex and that I was only taught a simpler version my mother inherited from her father. The complex one involves manipulating precise vibrations or frequencies and saying the words alone without proper frequencies and pronunciation, which will have no effect. I didn't miss that and pushed her further, asking what would happen if we did it correctly.
"You can't even imagine what happens. You feel connected as if you finally filled yourself with something that was once 'you' but was lost eons ago. Your grandfather taught me only one verse in a correct manner and only once. I never felt that again in my whole life." She had said.
I was shocked that she even talked this much. People usually act mysteriously and tell us to figure it out ourselves.
I realized I had lost focus and concentrated on my surroundings once again. Two little shrines were in the central recreational area, one at each end of the same diagonal from the upper left to the lower right.
One of the sides had a bird enclosure at one end, and I could see a lake behind one of the boarding buildings. Will they be here? I got excited about finally meeting monitor lizards but soon realized it was the building for seventh-standard students, where I'll go after two years.
I have to sneak in, somehow, at least once.
We moved towards one of the two buildings responsible for holding half the sixth and fifth-standard students. We will be allocated a senior, one for each of us, who'll mentor us on the routines and rules for one month.
He will also be held responsible for any mischief we commit.
We found the room we were allocated to from a list set up on one of the noticeboards at the entrance.
The building I was in had a placard over the entrance which read Ashwatthama Bhavana. Ashwatthama was one of the eight immortals in our Myths. From my grandma's stories, I recalled that he was the son of Dronacharya, a Guru of the main heroes in Mahabharata.
We have eight classes from five to twelve, and eight buildings for each, named after the eight immortals who are said to be still alive, meditating in some remote corner of this world.
Only Ashwatthama and Kripacharya 'Bhavanas', which means abode, had students mixed up from the two youngest classes. A smile crept up my face as I saw that Saiyan was allocated in the same room with me. The other two guys were named Anik and Dweep.
Did they allocate us in the order of interviews? I guess they kept the names in the list as they were and did not randomize them.
"Yo!" I waved my hand with a grin from outside the door of my room as Saiyan stood up from his crouched position in front of his steel trunk and walked up to me.
"Yeah, I was also surprised." He nodded as we shook hands, arm wrestling style. Both his and my parents were surprised by our behavior.
I saw that the other two guys hadn't arrived yet.
There were three beds at the opposite end of the room, and another was beside the door perpendicular to the other three, spanning a window that faced the corridor. The other three beds also had a window each overlooking an open area filled with shrubs and random clutter, possibly chucked from the floors above.
The door was situated on the left bottom corner of the room if you look at it from above, and had a wardrobe with four panels lining the left wall; there was also a rope that spanned the middle of the room from left to right, probably for hanging our clothes and tying the ends of our mosquito nets.
My father started chatting with Saiyan's family, and we discovered they lived north of our state, where my father once worked. While the two fathers instantly bonded, our mothers looked awkwardly at each other and decided to start unpacking things from the suitcases.
"When did you arrive?" I scanned his trunk to see how he was setting things up. There were two sets of traditional wear, three sets of regular pants, and round-necked T-shirts folded neatly.
"We will get our school uniforms a few days after they take our measurements," Saiyan said. "Have you seen the color? They're bland..."
"Let's not talk about the uniform in my previous school. Anything will be better than it." I remembered my light yellow and brown pant set from my previous school. No one said it outright, but I'm sure I looked like a clown wearing it.
"You brought stocks?" He asked, pointing at two huge plastic bags that took up most of the space in his trunk. I could see potato chips and biscuits inside.
"You can't tell anyone I have lots; I gathered info that the wardens often seize our stocks if we have them in excess. I have a bait in my wardrobe with three biscuits in case they arrive for an inspection." He completed his explanation, looking smug.
"Bro, if they come, they'll first check your trunk. And especially so when yours is as big as that." I compared both of our trunks.
While mine was a cuboid of dimensions nearing 120cm x 70cm x 40cm, his trunk exceeded my one by about a dozen centimeters on all three dimensions.
"Considering its size, they'll check for people inside yours before looking for stocks..."
He snorted as my mind went into overdrive. The sound of him laughing reminded me of my dreams.
Was it you? The one who was standing on that snake's corpse?
Saiyan was already quite tall, two or three inches more than me. And he was as thin as a stick. He had quite the tanned skin as if he had spent much time causing mischief in the sun.
But he was still quite far from the godly physique I had seen in my dreams. It will take me more than a few lifetimes and some genetic modification to come close to that.
I've been told often that I was a spitting image of my grandfather. I used to take it as a compliment until I saw a picture of him other than the one kept in the shrine.
He had a stadium in the middle of his head. I knew sooner or later, I'd have to go completely bald like that astronaut I once saw on my brother's phone. He retrieved it right after the astronaut entered the training room, leaving me quite curious about the training regiment of people visiting space.
Later in a movie, I saw the machine rotating at a high speed, giving the same sensations as someone sitting inside a rocket during take-off. I once rode a Ferris wheel and realized fast that it was not for me. I felt sick for almost two days after that experience.
Someone from behind suddenly broke my train of thought by touching my shoulder. My hell-teaching mate was standing behind me.
I had already tried to memorize the eight names from the list of students who were supposed to stay on both sides of my room when I realized that I didn't know this guy's name properly.
It started with an A and was small in length. At first, I thought the Anik guy was him, but he introduced himself to Saiyan before things got awkward. Arko and Saiyan shook hands in a handshake style as I explained that we took coaching classes together.
Saiyan remembered that he also took coaching back home and has a friend named Aditya in Kriparcharya Bhavana. He would introduce us sometime.
My father called me to teach me the knot mechanism of my mosquito net. It was a knot with two components: a closed loop attached to either the wall or the middle rope, and a small toothpick attached to the mosquito net rope.
I only needed to put the stick inside the loop.
I had taken the left-most one among the three beds, the first one you see after entering the door. Saiyan took the one on the immediate right of the door, with the 'corridor facing window'.
For wardrobes, I chose the one closest to my bed, and he took the one on the opposite end closest to the door.
My mom kept reminding me to keep my windows closed, fearing snakes could come inside since we were on the ground floor with a small jungle behind.
I set up my wardrobe with the newly bought notebooks and stationary items and kept track of where my father and mother were keeping my belongings. There were four sections inside the wardrobe: the upper one was for books and studies after that came my clothes, and below were my bathing items, including toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, scrubber, and soap. They also placed a handwash below my bed.
Below the bathing section were miscellaneous items like an umbrella, shoes, and socks. After setting up my things, we went out with Saiyan's parents for a tour around the campus.
Maybe the other two guys will already be there by the time we return. It was already 3 pm, and my parents would have to leave by 5.30 pm.
Many people were still hustling around the campus, while the seniors were nowhere to be seen.
So, imagine an eagle's eye view of a rectangle to better understand our Bhavana's position. We entered this campus from the lower left angle. The lower side had the Bhavana for seventh-class seniors and the bird enclosure, with a pond behind it opposite the center.
The right side of the rectangle had our Bhavana, the upper side had Kripacharya Bhavana, and behind it was a vast playground that extended beyond the boundaries of the left and right sides of the rectangle.
On the left side was our school building, where the classrooms were. A snack shop was on the left upper side where most of the crowd was. My father bought me some chips and biscuits despite my protests. It would suck if I buy only for them to get seized by the wardens.
We walked around and then relaxed on the floor of one of the shrines dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, The Goddess of Knowledge, taking in the serenity among the chaos.
While people were running around on the road surrounding the central part, the inside was calm, with people sitting on the marble seats or under the shades of the two shrines. Many families were having a light lunch together as they won't be able to do it for another week. We came to campus on the first Sunday of the month, and visitations usually occur on the second and fourth Sundays; bad luck if there are five Sundays in a month.
My mother was almost tearing up when the clock struck 5.30 pm. We had separated from Saiyan's family to give them and ourselves some privacy. My father hugged me first, patting my head slowly. He was breathing unsteadily, but his expression was stern.
"Make good friends and stick with them. You don't need many; just four or five will be enough. In this place where we are not present, they'll be the ones who'll become your new family. I know you can judge whom to trust by yourself. Don't worry much; I'll take care of your mother." He said, glancing at my mother, who couldn't hold back her tears anymore.
My mother wrapped me in a tight hug and whispered in a broken voice, "You've worked so hard to get here; I won't act in a way that'll make you regret this choice. I'm glad you came here of your choice rather than just following my mother's wishes. I hope you find what you want here. If it becomes unbearable, return home. Stay healthy and have fun with your new friends. We are already coming back next week, so don't get sad. I'll also try not to." She kissed my cheek and loosened her grasp as I freed myself.
I stood at the rectangle's lower left end, looking at the long road connecting this campus to the main gate two kilometers away. Why did they have to put us this far inside? My parents glanced back thrice before taking a right turn and disappearing from my view. As soon as they left my view, an unknown emotion rushed within my stomach.
There was a slight fear of the unknown, excitement of newfound freedom, a bittersweet feeling of separation, and minute hope for the future.
As dusk set in, ceremonial bells rang from all three Bhavanas. It went on for a couple of minutes until they died down. Two wardens arrived, ushering us into our respective hostels as the seniors returning from the playground watched us like a pack of wolves waiting for their prey to step inside their den.
"Hoo, there are some that aren't crying..." One guy interrupted another, "They are the ones who usually wet their pillows at night and arrive late to the Ashrama. Let's go back; we need to prepare for the next week in Marta."
The Ashrama might be what they are calling the school.
Students who sleep late at night might automatically be late for school. But something felt strange. This intuitive tugging feeling that had started within my body when I first correlated Saiyan and that scene from my dream, was not going away at all. And for good reason, too.
Night arrived in the Gurukul as the sun crept below the horizon. It was this night that overturned my view of this world forever.