Patna students want to nail it on day 1 of college

From losing weight to enrolling for personality development classes, Patna students leave no stone unturned to be in the best shape for their first day in college
Ask any Patna student and they will have you know how entering the gates of a college takes one into a different world that is way more hip, far away from the nerdy world of uniforms and spectacles.Clearly, Patna students feel that looks and personality matter more in college and they are out to finetune theirs before the colleges open for the new session.
Right after her board exams, 17-year-old Jyotsana Chaturvedi hit the gym with a target of losing five kilos before her results were out. And now, a few days before her classes commence, this commerce student is close to her target. Even in between the rigorous process of filling admission forms, keeping a track of cut off lists and taking a slew of entrance test exams, Jyotsana’s excitement to flaunt her slim self on her first day of college grows. “I had this in mind that I have to improve my personality before I enter college. I was overweight by seven kilos, but since I had just one and a half months’ time in hand, I had set my target at getting rid of some of that unwanted weight. Now, I have slimmed down and can easily fit into a waistsize 30 jeans,” says an elated Jyotsana.
Not just good looks, personality enhancement too is a concern with students. Take for instance Abhishek Sinha, who enrolled for a personality development programme in April this year. An introvert by nature, Abhishek felt he needed to open up with people to adapt to the new environment that he will be entering soon. And as he puts it, the need to sharpen his communication skills made him take this step. “I am basically shy by nature and since I will be leaving home for the first time, I thought I should sharpen my communication skills, groom myself a bit so that I pass the hurdles of life easily,” says the science student who will be enrolling for coaching institutes for medical examinations in Delhi in near future.
Before leaving Patna for further studies, engineering aspirant Ram Adhikari has enrolled in driving classes. The 17-year-old, who cleared the entrance exams of one of the engineering colleges outside Patna, felt the need of learning to drive a two wheeler before leaving the city. “Engineering colleges have huge campuses and there will be times when I will have to go around the college and the city. For that I feel I will need a bike so I have enrolled for driving lessons,” says he.
In the last five years of Ashlesha Singh’s life since she began wearing spectacles, the thought of replacing them with contact lenses never occured to her. But that was until the day she couldn’t match her boring spectacle frame with hairstyle. The hairstyle experiment was a part of ‘I-want-to-look-cool-when-I-go-out-to-study’ campaign. And so, the faithful old specs were replaced at an eye clinic with trendy contacts. “With specs on you can’t look as happening as you want too. Contact lenses on the other hand give you freedom to wear what you want. If specs don’t suit your face they kind of tie your fashion freedom down,” shrugs Ashlesha.