It was about 4 years back when I entered S1 in a class full of boys, literally full of them. There were 4 girls standing next to me, probably having the same thoughts in their mind. “Ye kaha aa gye yar!”
I remember, it was a typical fish market, full of chaos and I had no idea whatsoever about how will I survive here. We were there, dressed in our first year formals i.e. salwar kamiz and 3 pin dupatta, and all of them were staring at us. I still remember those reactions on their faces. If you asked the first year version of me, standing in the mechanics lab, trying hard to breathe amongst those sweaty boys, whether I’ll ever, ever even talk to my classmates, my answer would have been a NO. But gradually we began to bond.
It was FOYC, and as we were screaming ROYAL CIVIL on the top of our lungs, ignoring the fact that there were only 5 girls amidst 120 boys, I understood that we are those multiple entities unified as one.
Then came the mother of all sessionals, Surveying. The amount of fun we had was inversely proportional to the work we actually did. Walking on the Tiger Road, roaming around in the CG, we did it all together and this was when we cherished togetherness.
Unlike other branches, the first row was never left for girls in our class, and we had no problem sitting somewhere in the middle. The bond that I share with my branchmates is inexplicable. You can yourself imagine the kind of unity in the branch which holds the record of maximum mass bunks to itself. Not once have we fought over it. During the sessionals, I’d been shooting a 1000 questions at them and they had answered all of them, well, not so patiently but yeah, they did.
Everything was so much fun. Even the Field Surveying Part 2, which was supposed to be quiet tedious, proved to be a whirl of masti. I’m so going to miss the fuss and fun. There were times, many a times, when girls from other branches used to tell a multitude of negative stuff for the boys of our class and used to call them by all sorts of names.
Bit by bit, we learnt how to deal with this too. How? We chose to simply ignore them. After all, you cannot be good for everybody, right? My branch and my people have always been with me and so I’ve been with them too. I never thought that I would ever be writing this. But as the time to bid adieu is inching close, I felt the urge to express my love and gratitude to them all for one last time.
I realised that the only thing that I can call a family is this one, The Royal Civil Family. No girls group, no hang out buddies, just this one. The only part I will always cherish and miss! These four years with them were like a dream.
Always respected.
Always protected.
Always cared for.
All the other girls can surely have a different opinion but we 5 know, we know. Civil has always been a male dominated branch but we played our parts. We know it. I’m going to miss them.
-Jaya Kindo
Royal Civil Forever!
SARJANA 