The blare of the airconditioner finally woke him up. Bleary eyed, Sameer stared outside expecting a resplendent scenery in Burnet Woods. What greeted him instead made his eyes goggle. It seemed to have rained the entire night and the day seemed to be all set for many more rounds of scattered showers. It was Tuesday, 20th September, 2011 and as part of the orientation program, he was required to be in Winton Woods for a day of outdoor activity with his groupmates. The buses taking all students and faculty to this place was scheduled to leave from the circle outside main lobby of the C.H.L.College of Business at 8am. With barely 5min to start, Sameer managed to secure his seat on one of the buses. He was still conversant with the "IST" modus operandi. Except for Pakhi, he didn't recognize the others in the group. Incidentally, another group had already completed the same excercise on 19th and one more was slated to go through the rigor on 21st. With loud thunderclaps in the backdrop and streaks of lightening in the distant firmament, the stage was yet again set for a threnody of his drowning zest.
Winton woods resembled a usual Indian circus set. There were ropes dangling everywhere and instructors dressed as acrobats and trapeze artists were roaming around. When he tried to share his thoughts with a fellow student, prompt came the response, "Do you mean it resembles Cirque du Soliel"? Not sure of how to respond, Sameer beat a hasty retreat.There were huge rings lying on the ground and Sameer shuddered at the idea of having to perform hula hoop excercises with his overtly prominent waist and paunch. Soon enough they were ushered into the adjacent ground for some aerobics and then into the woods with different obstacle courses which they, as a group, were required to clear to reach their arbitrary destination. One of the excercises required 15 people to be huddled together in a spider web (made by rope), having enclosures of various sizes spun on it. The condition was, all the members had to position themselves in the web without touching the rope. They could touch or hold each other. The idea was to propagate the concept of teamwork (Together Each Achieved More). During another such course, Sameer noticed a sprightly young lad, trying all ends up to scale a large wall. Sameer recognized him as Wahid, the guy who had introduced himself in class as, "I am from Pakistan and I am not a terrorist".
Two of the earliest friends that Sameer had made at the college was Scott Drew & the sole Korean in class, Steve (his real name was Yon Won). Once during lunch at the Tardyman University Center, when Sameer was talking about their newfound classmates, Scott had mentioned to him, "Time will prove, who your real friends are"!!!! It was almost a week since then. Overall the day was a lot of fun but even with as much physical proximity as was required during each of the obstacles/events, Sameer was still looking to add on to his list of 'real friends'. Although gregarious in nature himself, Sameer realized that 'proximity' in real sense, had more depth in mental attachment than physical nearness. The 2nd half of the day was spent in a group excercise with Helena and the way back home was spent in getting to know Rima, who seemed to be tensed on the course offerings in Qualitative Analysis, at the college.
Without much fanfare, the classes finally started on Thursday, 22nd September at 10am. It was the 'Leadership & Organization' class. Dr. Klaterberg in his usual jovial self, walked into room 107 and introduced himself. The rest of the session was spent in each student introducing himself/herself. At the end of class, Dr. K'berg announced that he would form smaller teams amongst the students in the class for various group activities. It was to be his first formal group in college and like many others, he too hoped to be grouped with atleast manageable, if not like-minded people. Like anybody else, Sameer too believed in "1st impression being the best impression" and the fact that 1st group (in general like 1st love, 1st job) would remain permanently etched on his mind and life. Finally, when the names were announced, Sameer was taken aback to see Riya's name prominently displayed in the group where he belonged. The others were Corwin, Brendon & Ruhan. He didn't know what to expect. He wasn't sure of how the team-bonding would evolve. It was pointless to conclude anything since he didn't know any of them, but going by his 1st day experience, at least one of the members had all the potential of landing him in troubled waters or giving him a torrid time. As he headed down to the basement for their 1st team meeting for an ensuing presentation in class, Sameer kept his fingers crossed. Only time could say, to ensure his worth in this team, would it be a struggle to prove or an experience of 'dream come true'!!
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