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Transforming Identities: The Unseen Side of College Life

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Stepping into college often comes with high expectations about academics, friendships, and even politics. A rather ignored side of the college experience is the unexpected arc of self-discovery and growth that comes with it. This piece attempts to explore how college may challenge you in unforeseen ways. 

I remember 2nd November, 2022, as if it were yesterday. Skittish with nerves but bubbling with excitement, I stepped into college for the first time. Like the hundreds of other freshmen, I could not wait to experience the much-anticipated college life. 

We all have fantasised about our lives in college, props to the ‘wild’ college stories we’ve heard or the media we’ve consumed. The college experience is often glamorised and romanticised, becoming almost inescapable due to the ubiquitous college student trope in popular culture. Through all these narratives, we consciously or subconsciously end up building certain expectations about our time in college. However, one aspect of the college experience that we rarely foresee is how profoundly it will transform our identity. On my first day, I had a certain idea, an expectation from my three years at Delhi University. However, nothing could have prepared me for the journey I was to go through.  A third year student of sociology at LSR shares a feeling similar to my own,

Since coming to college, I have realised that I have a newfound confidence in my ability to think for myself and make decisions completely of my own accord. Owing to all the discussions that we have had in our classrooms since the first year, I have become even hungrier to know more and to learn more. I feel I have become more fearless with my decisions, and I participate more comfortably and confidently in conversations as I have the right facts and ideas of my own,

One of the most dramatic shifts that we experience as teenagers is perhaps the transition from school to college. Suddenly, we no longer have to wear a uniform, no one is checking our notebooks, and we have a newfound autonomy. Many of us have longed for this freedom—this autonomy—but when it finally arrives, it brings with it a certain anxiety. Now we are on our own, and no one will be holding us accountable but ourselves. This sudden leap into adulthood can be quite jarring and challenging, but at the same time, the sense of independence and empowerment that it brings with it makes it worthwhile. Over time, we come to appreciate how some seemingly small moments have contributed to our growth and maturity.  Another student from LSR resonates a similar feeling,

My time at DU has instilled a certain sensitivity in me regarding other people’s opinions and cultures, and I have come to appreciate being exposed to different ways of thinking,

While one can argue that there is still some work to be done on the diversity and inclusivity front of the university, it is not a stretch to say that being at Delhi University introduces you to people from very different social realities than your own, something that I find lacking in many other institutions, and particularly private ones. Students from markedly different socio-economic and regional backgrounds converge in their common pursuit of knowledge. These interactions challenge our preconceived notions and biases, prompting us to reflect on our own experiences and perspectives. This microcosm of empathy and understanding can then become a catalyst for positive developments in your personal identity. 

In my own experience, engaging in conversations with people from diverse backgrounds heightened my political consciousness. I found myself more involved in socio-political discourses and issues. While I do recognise that my thoughts or actions alone may hold little value in comparison to the gravity of the socio-political issues, I do not feel as powerless as I once did. I now have a voice, even if it may not be as loud as others. This realisation has also made me more comfortable expressing myself unapologetically, whether through conversations, fashion, or art.  A third-year Economics student from Gargi College remarks,

Before coming to college, I was a shy kid. I didn’t speak unless I was spoken to, and sometimes I even tried to escape regular conversations. I anticipated that my college life would be similar. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. These three years transformed me from an introverted kid to someone who makes small talk in the metro now,

While the prospect of finding connections in college may seem daunting, these shared spaces and daily interactions make it easier. For many of us, college becomes a place where we find a community and a sense of belonging. 

From navigating administrative tasks to participating in student politics to daily commutes, every small experience in college contributes to the transformation of our identities. To anyone who’s just about to start their college journey, here is an unsolicited piece of advice: take a deep breath and strap in, for the next three years just might surprise you in ways you never imagined. 

Read also: 

Maintaining your Identity in College

Featured Image Credits: Disha Bharti for DU Beat

Disha Bharti  

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DUB Speak

School To College: The Transformation

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Change is the routine in our lives. Every day changes us, every experience and every interaction. College, most definitely is the perfect pedestal that induces a transformation.

Learning is a procedure, one that works in a circle. Just as you begin to feel that you have learnt a lesson, another excites you. But an important part of learning is the act of unlearning. Some transitions in the act of learning come to you as a first. But every now and then, you learn something that makes you want to question your prior knowledge of the matter. And that is precisely what makes this process an adventure.

A wondrous upheaval of sorts becomes a reality in college. We have all grown up in a systematised structure of our respective schools. From convent schools to arya-samajik schools, the diversity in our schools converges at more than one point. All schools prohibit use of mobile phones, for instance. We all will agree that schools, in one way or the other, impose on us a great burden to conform with a lot of rules and regulations. Our teachers claimed the true purpose of these ideal behaviors and manners readied us for a more sophisticated life ahead. But colleges are different. Professors will not criticise you for your mohawk, not openly at least.

My friend Sanchi Mehta, a third-year Literature student at Hindu College captures the transformation from school to college in a symbolic analogy. “The transition can be summarised as the symbolic shift from the stiflingly homogeneous uniform to a flitting, self fashioned attire, consciously choosen everyday until the point where one breaks free from these shackles of both overt or insidious determination to lounge in their favourite pair of jeans (or pyjamas),” says Sanchi. This is how growth can be routed in our decision making process once we access the endless possibilities in college. Everything matters, everything that you choose to affect your actions.

The Bollywood idea of college is far from real. In fact, it is just the opposite. Not everything makes perfect sense, not everything is compulsorily fancy. College is a smattering of crises and joys. And pointedly, there is often a balance between the two. The exclusivity of college-crises is evident in the realisation that here, these crises are dealt with a more serious individuality. Help is available, but unlike schools, where our teachers interacted more personally, in college, you have to reach out to the help. This is empowering as well as challenging, I feel. But this is the essence of college as well. Through these struggles come the brightest chances and opportunities. In college, spontaneity in decision-making and activity is not a pressing issue. In fact, in due course, it becomes the very sustenance of life in college- spontaneity.

Personally, I feel that college has been a metamorphosis. It is as Chahak Gupta, President of the Literary Society of Hindu College states, “The metamorphosis of an individual nourished with the fodder of conformity into someone who breaks away from the cocoon and embraces the world of subjectivity and difference.”

Prior to entering college we are allowed a very limited liberty. The experiences in school shape us for the experiences in life, truly, but not without limiting our thinking processes too. The embracing of this world of subjectivity and difference poses a challenge to us for this reason. We are too familiar with accepting definitions, that it becomes a challenge to delineate differences and diversities in them. It is the free-thinking atmosphere of college that proves conducive to such growth of our perspectives.

It is this metamorphosis that I have lived through, in this short span of college. And the most promising prospect to me is that there is a lot of growth that needs tapping still.

 

Feature Image Credits: Odyssey

Kartik Chauhan
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DUB Speak

The Physical Transformation that Comes with College

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Some people use their appearance to reflect their true selves, while others use it as a blank canvas to expresses their art.

School protocol requires for every student to wear the same uniform all day, every day. The length of skirts, elasticity of sock bands, shiny-ness of black shoes, etc. is all specified, and meticulously laid down under “Uniform Guidelines,” in our diaries. While the intention behind the creation of a uniform is noble, it hampers creative expression. Almost all Indian schools have uniforms, in a bid to erase socio-economic inequalities, and promote a sense of unified identity amongst its students.

College acts as the hot knife of freedom, cutting through the (sometimes) suffocating butter of unoriginality that schools forces upon us for all these years. It acts as the saviour of whatever little imaginative abilities most of us have left. Hair usually ends up being the first victim of expression. The possibilities are limitless, bold, blunt, bob, or balayage. Cut, colour, and style, marks the exit of a school child, and the entry of a strong free, independent individual, whose hair exuberates confidence and fierceness.

The way of dressing too undergoes a drastic transformation. Most follow their own good sense and dress as they will, while others may buy into the University of Delhi culture of kurtas and jhola. The khadi way of life, is an indicator of successful integration into one’s own culture, as well as an ode to Gandhiji. After years of buying into the colonisers capitalism, returning to one’s own roots, is never a bad idea.

Clothes and hair manage to scratch the surface, but the real transformation is best observed in body language. Our way of speaking, posture, hand and facial gestures go through a radical change, over the three years. You may find yourself subconsciously aping your professors’ mannerisms, which usually is a result of your admiration for that person. The way you carry yourself in public and private spaces becomes more distinct, as a result of maturity and exposure.

The first-year identity crisis finds its resolution in the third-year of college. You may find yourself not caring about physical appearance at all, or perhaps, the complete opposite. The art of not caring about what others say is mastered, and you find a version of yourself which is completely authentic. No matter the clothes and hair, by the end of your college journey, you reach a stage in life where beauty lies in diversity and acceptance, and the art of giving and receiving love.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Meher Gill
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