Playback please!!

Of all the days that I have been a witness to in my 365X23.5 days of existence, my days at IIT Bombay were the most eventful (Gargi too, but it’ll require a separate post, or a bunch of it..more like..). Not that I have had Paris Hilton’s life so far, but relatively, one can always state!

So where should I start? You might discover sporadic entries that will eventually fill up this part of cyber space with anecdotes of my hostel life. Second semester followed by the fourth, then sudden references from the first and so on. That could have a lot to do with the enormity of those experiences (or a lack of chrono-logic in my system..whatever!..). So I’ll start with my official last day of Masters (flashback movies leave a bigger impact!)... I was miserable (understated of course), not because of my grades or anything, my profs loved me for being a fairly good student (that ain’t difficult in a batch of eleven..believe me!). I wanted those two years to play all over again, like a music piece I was beginning to love.

MJ (that’s me by the way, it’s the way I address myself out of sheer vanity) -after her stint at IIT was a different person (to say the least!)… She was a proud ex-cultural council member (who with her cult team managed to shatter some of the biggest notions existing in the insti- girls ain’t that good at comedy, hostel-11 has no enthu, to quote a few), a loved friend, a nine pointer (RE: that ain't difficult in a batch of eleven) and MOST IMPORTANTLY, a member of the “Neelas, Kales and Reddy’s family” (love u guys!). Mom was (she still is, to set the record straight) extremely proud of me..What more could I ask for man? So for all intents and purposes, I had a rocking time!

All those moments kept on featuring in my mind, in a typical Bollywood feature film style (something similar to flashes of “cute moments spent together” followed by the sudden..and almost expected..”Gosh!! I love him!!”) Everyone who mattered was there. It felt great to be a part of this “rowdy” group (yeah..this is how folks addressed us!). Obviously it was followed by watery eyed hugs (though I was literally howling…emotional variety that I am).

Throughout my time in the hostel, I kept on comparing Delhi to Mumbai, how home is a better place (on sentimental grounds, no rebut here) and how I would love to take the first flight to Delhi, after my semester gets over (ask my friends, they’ll tell you), etc.,etc. But that day, you could probably not recognize me (or you would have suspected split personality). I fell head over heels for my campus man! Natural!

I am aware of the “life moves on” and “there is life beyond campus” crap, but every student (can bet a fortune on that), goes through the same curve. All good things come to an end and (like hell yes) sooner that you expect. So quoting a dear friend “You can take me out of my insti, but you can’t take the insti out of me”. Period!