Edited by: Kavya Mittal
I might not be the only person who is having the jitters by the idea of going to campus. Being a first-year student, all I know of my batchmates is their online presence. The zoom boxes with name tags and faces are now going to turn into actual people. Everything is going to change. I was lucky enough to find a group with whom I resonated and had a lot of fun during the online semester. However, the prospect of meeting them is filling me up with mixed feelings.
Don’t get me wrong, I am really excited to meet them. The idea of hugging, hanging out daily, and making many memories with them is really exhilarating. Being aware of their good qualities (and even the bad ones) makes me want to witness these traits in person (bad qualities, not so much, but you get the vibe). I am really looking forward to playing different sports in the evening after classes, studying together in the library, and even having long conversations till 4 in the morning. It is hard to comprehend how a group of strangers can come together in a virtual space and grow so close to each other.
I cannot wait to listen to more music recommendations from one friend and hear crazy stories from another. Raiding the wardrobe of another friend is also a priority. Going to different book stores in Delhi and trying tasty dishes together are much-awaited events. There are also a million reel trends that we want to try (most of them are no longer trending, but who cares).
I am also aware that as of now, these good things turning out to be good, just exist in my imagination. Things in the real world don’t always turn out how they look in our minds. When different people come together there is bound to be some conflict. We might find out that we are not the best people to be friends with. Or worse, we might form different subgroups, with weird tensions between one another. Ew, no one wants that. These people have helped me survive an online semester, so things should turn out good right?
I remember the times when someone would rant about how an assignment didn’t go well or how much workload they had, and the others would send a stream of messages, encouraging them and trying to make them feel better. According to me, there is an element of spontaneity in an online setting that offline interactions cannot match. It is very easy to drop a text but ten times more difficult to go up to a person and actually share your thoughts.
Being online also guarantees a space. If you don’t feel like interacting for some time, you can choose to keep your phone aside. Although, it is always better to drop a text before one does so. I remember doing that once and getting a chain of messages asking for my well-being. Offline settings don’t offer that luxury. Being around people 24×7 brings out their (and even your) negative sides into a greater focus.
Going from one or two video calls per week to living together on campus will bring all the positives and negatives with it. Scribbl rounds will turn into UNO nights. Transitions are not always comfortable but that doesn’t make them less exciting. The anxiety that things might not be the same will be there for some time. This doesn’t mean that we cannot cherish the laughs and fun we had in our google meet sessions. I am extremely grateful for the bunch of cuties I managed to find online. I have a few people waiting for me in the other world- the campus, and that is a good feeling.