Harpinder’s phone was blaring, the alarm serving its purpose to wake him up in the morning. He groggily rolled over and turned off the ringer, and checked his notifications. He saw that had a few text messages, from both Mohan and Gurpreet, in Gurmukhi. He flipped through the texts quickly, Mohan wanted to meet up shortly before their first class, and Gurpreet simply sent a reminder that he had to pass in his mentorship form as soon as possible, so he could send out matches before tonight’s meeting.
Harpinder sent a reply to Mohan, agreeing to meet up in the breakfast hall, and another to Gurpreet asking if a photograph of the form would be sufficient. He paid no mind to the fact that his default keyboard was Gurmukhi and that he was using the script fluently. He set his phone down and wrapped his hair in a patka and his body in a towel to go to the dorm’s bathroom and shower.
After he came back, he checked his phone again – both men had sent quick replies. Just a thumbs up emoji from Mohan, and confirmation from Gurpreet that he was allowed to take a photo and send it to him. Harpinder smiled, now he didn’t have to seek out Gurpreet. Not that he didn’t want to see the man, but he had quite a busy day planned and didn’t want to tell Mohan that he couldn’t work with him.
Before going to find his mentorship form, Harpinder opened his closet and went to get dressed for the day. He grabbed a pair of his Kachera from his undergarment drawer and slid it up his waist, pulling the drawstring tight. He then put on a pair of socks, and reached into his pants drawer and pulled out a crisply folded pair of blue dress pants. He slid them on, and then pulled a white dress shirt from a hanger in his closet.
Harpinder perused his closet before selecting a thin blue suit jacket, to match his pants. He then pulled out a light gray cardigan and put it overtop. He reached for his Kangha comb and combed his long hair, before reaching for a turban to match his dress. He put on his patka, wrapping his hair expertly underneath with the comb in place. He wrapped a dark blue turban with black dots on over his patka, and looked himself over in the mirror. Harpinder smiled through his big well-groomed beard, he was dressed sharply as usual and appreciate it.
Ready for the day, Harpinder grabbed the form and looked over the answers again. He had written about his Bollywood movies and music taste, and filled in an extensive paragraph about his passion for looking well and seeking out the latest fashions. Professionalism was important to Harpinder, which of course helped him out greatly in his finance degree. Having the Sikh Coalition on his resume would of course help him out in the long run, and it was great to have like minded people to be around. Especially after moving to the U.S.A. from India and only really knowing his brother. He had of course written that he wanted to “network” down under his goals, which was the formal way of saying make friends.
He checked the form over once more for clarity and then took pictures, sending them to Gurpreet, who promptly thanked him over text, followed by a “See you tonight!” in Gurmukhi script. He put the form back on his desk and filled his messenger bag for his first class, so that he could head to first period immediately after meeting Mohan at the breakfast hall.