My Life at Thiruvananthapuram Women's College

"Women’s college-il admission kittalle” (please don’t let me get admission to Women's college), I prayed during my SSLC (10th grade) days. 

When friends talked about all the freedom they would enjoy in college, and made fun plans like cutting classes and going to movies, I knew that the only way I could enjoy college life was if I didn't go to Women's.

"What was at Women's?" you may ask - but it was more of a "who" that was at Women's - my mother!!

My Mom was a professor at the Maharaja’s College for Women in Thiruvananthapuram, popularly known as Women's college, at the time, and I knew that I would never be able to have any fun under her nose. 

But of course, my prayers went unanswered and I ended up at Women’s for PDC (11th and 12th)!!

The first class on my first day at Women’s was Physics. The professor, Jayaprakash sir walked into the class, greeted everyone and then asked, "Who is Deepthi?" 

I slowly stood up, wondering what was going on. He didn't say anything, just looked at me and then told me to sit down. Turns out Jayaprakash sir was my Mom's friend and she had asked him to keep an eye on me.

This continued in every class! My Mom made sure that every teacher knew me! "Onnu nokkikkonay" (please keep an eye on her), she told everyone.

The Chemistry teacher was scary, and she always picked on the kids in the front row to ask questions. If you didn't know the answer, she would embarrass you in front of the whole class. Everyone fought for the last bench in her class. 

My heart stopped when she asked, "Deepthi Dinesan, who is Deepthi Dinesan?" 

As I stood up, she said, "Come and sit on the first bench. From now on, I want you on the first bench everyday, okay?" 

I picked up my bag and took a place on the first bench. 

"Tholanju (I'm so screwed)", I mumbled under my breath, and my friends gave me pitiful glances. 

For fear of running into my Mom on campus, I never dared skip any classes. One day, Mom was absent from college, and so I decided to enjoy my freedom. I corrupted my studious best friend and got her to cut classes with me that day. As we were wandering around campus, we ran into one of our teachers. 

"Class onnum ille?" (don’t you have any classes?) she asked. 

"Illa, teacher absent aanu" (no, the teacher is absent), I lied. 

The next day, Mom comes home after college and says, "Nee innale class-il kerathe thendi thirinju nadannennu kettallo?" ( I heard you skipped classes yesterday) 

This went on for the whole year of first PDC. Mom got regular updates about my class performance from all teachers, leaving me little wiggle room to be anything but industrious.

One day, at the start of the second year of PDC, I came home to find my parents in deep discussion, their faces grim.

"Enthu patti?" (what happened?), I asked. 

"Enikku transfer aayi (I've been transferred) - to Kozhikode. I have to leave next week," Mom said in her sad voice.

"Aiyo, that's horrible!" I said, hoping my voice hadn't betrayed my happiness.

Sure, I missed my Mom and had to deal with my Dad's experiments in cooking while she was away, but college life wasn't quite so bad that year…..