first visit to kozhikode

 After a long journey the train finally reached our destination,Kozhikode. It was raining heavily. As we stepped out of the station, we had two options(as it was written in information brochure sent to us from the college) . Either we can take an auto from station to palayam bus stand, from where we will directly get a bus to the college or we can hire an auto to NITC. We were too tired to go for the first option so we  asked the auto drivers standing there to take us to NITC, but they said no, saying something in Malayalam which we really didn’t understood. So we were left with no other option but to go by bus. We took an auto to palayam and finally got inside the bus.

With heavy rains, everything was looking so green and lively. The way the houses were built was really very beautiful. There's always the way of facing the relentless rains here, which makes people more and more innovative. The roads were flooded with rain water. It was then I realized why auto drivers told us to go by bus. On such flooded roads nothing but only buses can survive. By the time we reached NITC , it stopped raining. The speed at which the rain buckets down and then stops suddenly was really fascinating.

There were posters and banners all around the campus so as to avoid any inconvenience for the parents and the students. Parents were busy with their children filling up forms.  We went inside the hall where they were calling students one by one to submit necessary documents. Then after waiting and waiting my name was called. It was then that I realized that Pass certificate for class 12 was missing. Mam over there  told us not to worry and asked us to submit the affidavit for the missing pass certificate. 

What a bad luck it was. After coming to Kozhikode for the first time, the first place we were visiting in  city was the ‘court ’.  So we took a bus from college to palayam bus stand. Then caught one auto and asked him to take us to the court. At first he didn’t seem to understand what  we are saying. Then when I said high court, he understood. After around 20 minutes, when we stepped out of the auto, as far as I remember, we found ourselves standing in front of some handicraft shop. It was raining heavily. So it was difficult for us to find another auto. I told him all words related to court which I knew like courtroom, law, judicial system, judge, lawsuits, attorney, magistrate, advocate and everything we can. Then again he started his auto and took us to some restaurant. We really had a tough time talking to locals there. Then thankfully, one uncle saw us and came for help. He knew hindi too. Then he told auto person to take us to kodathi (which means court in Malayalam). Thanks to that uncle that we finally reached court. There it just took around 2 hours and afffidavit was ready. 

Then we came back and the next day submitted all the documents. It was the first time I realized that I have to learn some broken malayalam to survive on the city roads.

But one thing I can say is that experiencing diverse cultures gives us the perspectives as we interact with people and enables us to respond to diversity with curiosity and respect, which makes us a better human being at the end of the day.