Krea has many people, which I’ve slowly realised this trimester. Even though it has lesser number of students compared to other universities, it still feels overwhelming to see these many people all at once on this campus. As a person who enjoys their alone time plenty, I seem to never get any. Once I step outside my room, there’s always someone or the other I greet and talk to. Maybe we can talk about work and classes, discuss group projects, and ask how they are feeling that day. The day is always filled with lively chattering, extending even after midnight. The only solace I get is when I am going to sleep, and that is not enough time for me to be with myself since I am already exhausted and I just tend to pass out. The cycle repeats day in and day out, which I probably should fix because, clearly, it’s not healthy. But that’s a problem for another day. It just shows that something is always bubbling on campus and I can’t seem to shut up about it.
Now that Diwali break has rolled around, (un)surprisingly, many people went back home to celebrate it with their families. I decided to stay around because I really couldn’t be bothered to go home only for four days. What’s the point of returning home only to spend such little time with your family, which will be unsatisfactory (to me, at least)? I thought that maybe I could finally get the alone time I desperately needed since the entire campus would be empty and peaceful.
As the number of people trickled down to almost only a handful, I realised how many people occupied this campus. I finally got my alone time on multiple occasions. I would wake up and leave my room, and there would be no one I would have to stop in my tracks to talk to. It felt exhilarating to be not interacting with so many people every day.
Eventually, it started to bore me. The emptiness of the campus gave a sense of the stillness of time. Diwali celebrations were going on, but it felt less lively. A sort of dead feeling that could only be palpable if no one was enthusiastic enough to celebrate the festival. Nearly empty dining halls, empty roads, and no one playing some obnoxiously loud music across the campus while they are walking around. All of it was gone.
Even with many people on campus, I hung out with a set of people, but I would still like to see the other people on campus. I did not feel lonely, but I was not very used to the campus being oddly quiet. The people I just smile or wave to, the small passing conversations I hear as I walk through the road to the Dining Hall or the Academic Block, I miss it. I may miss my friends with whom I spend most of my time, but that does not negate that I enjoyed my alone time while I had it.