Just too quick

Why do we have memories for? To strike that delicate balance on your emotions; To flip that dark night to some day light; To let you smile when you are crossing that rough road laid on life; To take a deep breathe at times of sigh; To wet your eyes & curve your lips at the same time. Well…we just don’t know why, but we do count them like those pennies saved in the piggy banks. Like that penny worth more than a million you can possibly earn!

 

To pen down four year memory on college is neither an easy task nor that uncommon. (Most of the tweets or status read the Sob words about the end of days anyway.) Yet, the pleasure one takes in writing it, could be irreplaceable. 🙂

So, here goes my jump :

After coming to the closure stage of college, it seems so funny to wind back a few old memories: Like the day one steps into the college with a butterfly in the stomach,  searching for a spot to sit & finds a seat next to someone who is the close friend now! That day of getting a tour around the college, trying to figure out where the canteen was & starring at the ones walking along, trying to make friends & also remember all the new names. Walking alongside some smiling happy faces satisfied with that college while some disappointed faces to have got stuck by some accident or parental compulsion. Most of us had always been complaining  & felt utter disappointment in the beginning as the personal perception about the term ‘college’ was found to be an illusion. Not to mention that the illusion was an influential result of the movies & stories one crossed. (My perception of a college was totally in contradiction to that free environment where one practices being an adult pretending to be responsible)

The feeling to have been put at the perfect wrong place was mostly the initial intuition; but as time passed, & when excitement retired, friendship stepped in with an angel’s attire. After loosing the strangeness in the air, the classrooms started becoming warmer & bad lecture hours brought friends closer. Cozy was the class during the break hours. It never mattered how short it was. But it was always the period of drama & action with Sight-seeing at a corner, discussions at another, gossips floating in thin air, quick grab on a friends meal, & hustles to finish that usually forgotten homeworks. Also, never to forget that one professor who was a nightmare to make us opt some ‘Outstanding’ path. The path which we had to choose because of those weekend hang outs in search of fun.

It was also the Terminal Teenage period with Cupid flying high & aiming at too many random people in tandem. Some aims did hit the target, while some missed. But there was always some distraction in the air. Utter confusion that lasted in too many hearts. The spell-bound four letter word that was let loose & used too liberally. Some sputtered it outside as a result of some flamboyant flirtatious pick-up line while some decided to secretly carry it in a personal journal. So different was that time when a few creatures of the opposite gender were treated like the God’s divine blessing. Blessing that one wished to carry along with pride to have had an introduction & a decent conversation amidst starry eyes.

When life was counted to be a blessing &  warmth was filling with sunshine, there was a time when disputes broke out& the quarrelsome beasts were let loose. At that time of combat, the issue seemed to be worse than the war of the worlds; the coldness was sometimes even severe to survive the regard; it was once a matter of life or death; but now, looking back at all those, the story seems to be so silly & the source looks pointless & random. Then following these, were the days of cold exchange of glares & words, then sometimes patch-ups happened else the frays were forgotten.

Writing about the college days, one cannot forget to mention about the Academics or class hours. The days when we kept staring at the watch for that lecture to get over. Not to mention those tiresome records we wrote & the weird laboratory hours we had to attend. (I still don’t find a reason as to why one has to write a record that replicates an observation.)The best hours were the library & recess times. If a professor was friendly to hang around, then those hours could be added to the list too. The tension periods of not finishing an assignment & the relief when our mates are in the same situation. (To have company to get punishments is such a relief at times. 🙂 ) The practicals involving the Computer labs were the most fun-filled: either because there were some pranks or the other, or because the air-conditioned rooms gave a soothing feel during the hot sunny days. (But I have to admit that the smell of the dirty socks: Yuck!)

Never would we forget those practical exams when the Lab Assistant was equivalent to God! A word “verified” that brought about a great sigh of relief. The internal exams that always kept coming the moment we breathe out the words: “Finally! Its over!”. The internal mark display boards that heard a lot of spats on the professors. There were moments when there was a hatred towards a few professors who portrayed an open coldness & flunked. There were times when the internal exams saw us study better than today’s semester. The morning of the internals saw the most funny moments as some prepared the tiny materials & some hustling around the one who learnt begging them to explain the concepts. (The most funny case was that the one who taught mostly flunks while the one who listened gets a better figure in the end.)

Exam time:

People start freaking out as exams get closer. The funniest part was: we kept freaking but never really intended to learn. The minute the schedules are out, we started to hunt the books down. To be honest, there was always this relation: Exam preparation/study level is indirectly proportional to the Semester number i.e. the larger the semester you attend the smaller becomes your study time for exam. For example, the first semester, a normal guy starts preparing for it around a day back. The next semester it becomes the previous night; & when the last semester arrives, don’t be surprised if you start a few hours before the exam. As soon as the semesters are over, the enjoyment plans begin. Some glues with TVs & PCs(not to forget the Group chats online) while some start traveling crazy having fun with family or friends. The semester holidays begin with Fun tunes but later starts becoming the peak of boredom. Then starts the longing to get back to college. But as college’s re-opening day approaches, holidays starts to become fun again. Then comes the date of getting back to routine college life. The first re-opening date was always exciting with discussions of what happened all those days!

Cell-phones & internet:

Although the college banned Cell-Phones, most of the bags did carry them with the Silent Profile active. The most common fun times were those conference calls. The conference calls that could take hours & hours long. A definite thanks to those service providers who played a key-role in improving the conversation time period. The 10p scheme of the Vodafone was one of the famous ones at college. Taking turns in calling after that 30minute cut. Heated arguments that never seemed to end. The fear of being caught for using the cell-phone at very late hour. The worrisome parents who feared about the health of their wards due to prolonged phone time spent. Some gossips sipping here & there about weird “combinations”. The internet scoops in the Social Media. Orkut was once at its peak to pick the random friends & scrapy times!

Symposiums & Organizing:

We still have no clue as to what the intention of the Symposiums or those competitions are. There was always some biasing involved. (If you have a very close friend who has a greater influence in the organizing committee of that college’s competition, then it makes sense for your participation.) But, whatever be the case, organizing such events is so much fun. This is the big time when Seniors & juniors get along well. In most of the Indian colleges, the Symposium (which is supposed to be an academic conference to bring together minds to discuss a research paper) organized by each stream, is a mean to boast their respective reputations. At the end of the day, the symposium ends up being a competition as to which department organized it best; or had the highest count of participants or largest sponsors or the biggest banner, etc. But as a whole, such events not only taught us so many skills, but also acted as a pool of fun, chaos & funny disputes within the community. The art of learning to handle such situations is one added experience. No matter what the dispute is, at the end of all the events & competition, it all vanishes & brings a serendipity. When I think of those organizing days of tension, sweat, pride & disappointments of so many kinds they only make you feel that you’ve gone through all that not alone but together. 🙂

Final Hazels:

The end of college approached & we started thinking a little mature. With employment interviews, &/or higher study examinations staring at us, some were clear about their next step in life while some confused with the choices. Disappointments, heart-breaks & break-ups got along. Early matrimonial news of a few girls broke out getting a few shocked & all sorts of complications were passing-by. Amidst so many different emotions, there came a day called “Farewell” – a date when you are officially forced to have the last date/fun, then walk afar bidding good-bye to a few & move along with a heavy heart. A heavy heart because all those familiar faces who stood beside you mocking & supporting, are going to get on different directions: some reachable, & some not. Some might even be strangers few more years from now. I finally realize that I will miss those voices that call me with funny pet names.

Accepting reality, & wishing luck for all the hopes of staying in touch, here we are, looking at the path ahead: a path which is going to be another adventure starting from scrap. An adventure when we’ll have to turn responsible & be like a grown-up.  A grown-up who has the responsibility to make the right decisions. Decisions involving fiscal credibility & many other facts; & have “fun” which has a different context. A new world where age isn’t a bar & control is all that is set from within. A path which will definitely miss those familiar faces that bullied & pulled the pranks at us. It is still one of the hardest fact to digest that FOUR YEARS has gone past this quick. It seemed as though it were only yesterday that I wanted to pretend to be that grown-up I am going to be tomorrow! Funny how life works giving us something that we once wanted! It is just too quick!

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