Living Life “By” the Clock | The Day My Hostel Life Began
#HSCDays #MCCSchool #HostelYears
#memoriesfromdiaries
1st July 1994
This particular day in my life proved to be a monumental day for me!
A day when I experienced a massive life transition – from home life to hostel life!
The very first day of my 11th grade in MCC School, Chetpet, Madras, oops Chennai! 😊
Today even as I look back on this diary entry of almost 32 years ago, I am totally in awe!
Little had I realised back then, that one day, I will be sharing from my diary entry on the ‘Internet’ on a ‘Blog’ging platform, three decades later in time!
Be it getting a pair of sportshoes and some “good day” biscuits, or getting a few friends on the very first day - the anxieties, the curiosities, and the excitement of the day were of the highest order, you see!
There are two particular things that I wish to highlight from this diary entry as takeaways from this blogpost –
First is the sense of time-consciousness that my hostel life has taught me bigtime!
Even my personal diary entries from then on, have (I noticed it only quite late) have recorded the day by these timestamps - 10:30, 12:45, 4:00, 7:25, and finally sleeping by 8:50 p.m.
I am especially astonished at my repeated use of the word ‘by’ to denote time.
It makes me compare our lives to a train journey, where each station arrives by – for example – by 10.30 am, by 12.45 pm, by 4 pm, by 7.25 pm and finally by 8.50 pm.
It also makes me realise how the concept of time had assumed for the first time, a lot of significance - once I had enrolled myself into a “rigid institutional routine”.
As a Professor of English today – I feel slightly embarrassed to see the typos and the spelling mistakes that I had innocuously made in the diary entry – which is again, a very personal one you see - 😊
Now let me highlight some of my pretty “structural nativism” quirks in this entry, which are replete with the regional flavour! 😊
For example, expressions like “Today morning” (instead of this morning), “I and mummy,” and “fellow guys” etc., make this diary entry get its authentic vibes I guess!
I also noticed a few minor spelling errors like “tiffen” and “bye me” (buy me) that add to its authenticity. 😊
Here’s to the little boy of 16, who “took the time” to write down his impressions - way back in 1994 – albeit with helluva typos, lotsa regional flavour, and anxieties of all hues writ large on him, and what not! 😊
Because, without him, I wouldn’t have been the person that I am, today!
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