Vicky took a deep breath and headed to SRM's campus.
Hostel Room – The First Encounter
When he walked into his assigned room, a guy was already inside, arranging clothes in a cupboard.
The guy turned. Skinny, curly hair, dark skin, wearing a lungi and a CSK jersey.
"Room 312, ah?" he asked.
"Yeah… that's me," Vicky said, dropping his bag.
The guy smiled wide."I am Kiran. Chennai born. Mechanical, first year. You?"
"Vicky. Jaipur. BCA."
"Super da! North Indian ah?"He didn't wait for an answer."You eat spicy?"
"Yeah," Vicky said. "But not too spicy."
Kiran laughed like he had heard the funniest joke on Earth.
"Bro… this is Chennai. We don't have 'not too spicy.' Only 'spicy' and 'why did I do this to myself spicy.'"
Orientation Day
The auditorium AC was freezing. Vicky rubbed his arms while Kiran whispered beside him—
"Bro… they want to kill us. First the heat, then the ice age. SRM is training us for climate change."
"Shh," Vicky hissed. "Seniors are staring."
"Let them stare." Kiran leaned back. "We are freshers. We have human rights."
The speech went on about attendance, clubs, labs.
At one point, the professor said, "Independent learning is important."
Kiran muttered, "Means nobody will teach us. We are on our own."
Vicky chuckled despite the stress.
Exploring Chennai
The weekend turned into a soft crash course in Tamil-Nadu life.
Anna Tea Point
Vicky held the small paper cup carefully.
"This is strong," he said.
"That is why it is tea," Kiran said proudly. "If tea doesn't hit your soul, it's not tea."
Velachery
Vicky's eyes widened at the traffic chaos.
"Does anyone follow rules here?"
Kiran shrugged. "Bro… rules are for decoration."
Marina Beach
They sat on the sand.
"This is nice," Vicky admitted.
"Of course. This is Chennai's pride," Kiran said. "All breakups happen here."
"What?"
"Bro… every college couple comes here to fight. Free entertainment."
Vicky laughed, a real, relaxed laugh.Something about the city felt… grounding.
Classes Begin
The first programming class hit him hard.
The teacher wrote something on the board—
for(i=0; i<10; i++)
Vicky whispered, "What is this?"
"Loop," Kiran whispered back. "Goes round and round. Like our lives."
"I don't get it."
"Same," Kiran whispered. "We suffer together."
After class, Vicky sighed, "Man… this is going to kill me."
Kiran patted his back. "Don't worry. First semester is confusion. Second semester is regret. Third semester is depression. But after degree, salary is good."
"That's supposed to help?"
"Little bit?"
Night Thoughts
One night, Vicky stood on the hostel terrace.The city lights stretched everywhere.
Kiran joined him, carrying two cups of tea.
"Here, da," he said. "Night tea."
"Thanks."
They stood silently for a while before Kiran spoke again.
"You miss home?"
"Yeah," Vicky admitted. "A bit more than I thought."
"Same. But it gets better. Chennai is loud, messy, hot… but it grows on you."
"I hope so."
"What are you thinking so seriously?" Kiran asked.
"Just… what I'm going to do here," Vicky said. "College, future, something productive… I don't know."
Kiran grinned."Future is mystery. Present is tea. Drink tea."
Vicky laughed, shaking his head.But the simple line calmed him.