I got out of the car, putting one foot firmly on the ground, and then another. I waited for a sign. For a moment, nothing happened. The heavens and earth stayed just where they were, and a leaf twirled its way to the ground from a tree above.
And then a Malignance struck me, full in the face, throwing me completely off guard. This Malignance had been absent in all of my fanciful imaginings about college life, and as if to chastise me for forgetting to factor it in, it was relentless in its attack. There was no thwarting this determined Malignance. More charitable people than me have called this Malignance ‘the Chennai weather’.