Reminiscences of college days past

I MISS COLLEGE!!!!! :(

I miss waking up at 5.30 in the morning (of all the things)

I miss travelling on the train, rushing into class at 7.40, fifteen minutes late, sitting on the first bench (no, not a complete nerd, but when there are only 10 people in class, your choices are sort of restricted. Besides, its fun, try it)

I miss pining for Vishnu's coffee early in the morning, then drinking gallons of it when I finally got to the parking lot.

I miss the 7.30 video sessions on architecture of Indian monuments, during which I slept soundly in the audio visual room.

I miss the dumb college festivals, film screenings and incomprehensible plays we've attended.

I miss playing charades (if there is a National Charades competition, we'd qualify), GK quiz (Watch out Derek O'Brien), slurping solos (ice candy), the marathon gossip sessions in the parking lot.

I miss the winter fun, coming all bundled up in sweaters and laughing at people wearing shorts, tank tops AND then a shawl - Whats the point? (Thanks for reminding me Maansi!)

I actually miss my teachers and lectures - they were fun.. The absolutely brilliant history teachers, to the fun ones - Wouldn't you miss someone who keeps a straight face while teaching Dating Techniques and Open Striping Method (Archaeological Survey terms, what ARE you thinking?) to the political science teacher who announces that Prince Charles is the British monarch (And when it is pointed out that the British Monarch was Queen Elizabeth, says, "Is it? I don't know, I'll check.")

I'll definitely miss the canteen. So many things happen simultaneously - birthday celebrations, people tripping over a loose tile halfway through the canteen, juniors dressed in bizarre outfits, at least three different people screeching each day when one of the many cats that throng the place brush against their feet or jump at their table, the canteen aunty screaming at the canteen staff.

The exams. I know. The 'who cares?' attitude 20 days before the exams, the 'kal se pakka' declarations 10 days before the exam, the 'uh-oh' in our heads when there are 5 days to go and the frantic notes exchanges, marking, cramming, panic calls the night before the exam.

The crazy 14 hour sleeping pattern that lasts for 3 days after every exam (in my case, it lasts the whole vacation)



For five years, I was on an extended vacation, one that my parents paid for quite willingly, and while I may have learnt a few things about politics, economics, psychology and history, I have...(dramatic pause)...learnt a lot about life.

Oh well, maybe not all that much. :)

Last thought - I have no pictures to go with this post, nothing that will come close to giving you a glimpse of what the last few years have been like... think sunrise, trains, tree lines avenues, sunlight, silence and noise, rain, cold, books, chalk dust and blackboards, wooden benches and echoing classrooms, coffee, exhaustion, staircases, music, old buildings, steam billowing out from restaurant kitchens and the canteen as dosas and pav bhajis are made, wet umbrellas, wading in knee deep water, running nowhere and laughter. That's college.