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.

'In vacant or in pensive mood'

There is something very therapeutic about hot chocolate at midnight…the bitter sweet taste never fails to comfort me, but very often, makes me pensive…

I sit and wonder what will happen tomorrow, where will I be? Will I be somebody? Will I be happy being that somebody? Will I fall into a routine that most people we see around us fall into? Get up, food, travel, work. Travel back. Will my whims, which arise with amazing regularity (and thus contradict the word, but whatever) - to be alone, to just laze around reading, surfing, watching TV, go book shopping, to just be quiet…take a backseat?
Not that life isn’t very time table-ish right now. Wake up at a god forsaken hour, bathe, dress- all the time moving sluggishly, run behind the bus which forever eludes me (Melodramatic? Try paying 20 bucks each day to get to the station) Travel (VT seems closer than Matunga, don’t ask) attend lectures which, thankfully, are enjoyable.
But college life is not meant to be lived through by rote - and again, thankfully, I don‘t. The structure remains the same, the insides change everyday - you know? I may have extra work to do, some meeting to attend, friends to tease and ‘hang out’ with, gossip and argue with. Discuss everything under and beyond the sun with them. Go for a movie, go to VT- yay!- get lost there, wander around in Asiatic. Drink hundreds of cups of coffee, eat out. Complain about canteen food and crib about the rain or the heat. Forget an umbrella behind, drop the cell phone at least once. Swear, sing off-key, laugh. Announce, in a fit of guilt and motivation, the commencement of studying from “this day onwards” and sheepishly smile the next day, when that obviously didn’t happen. Say goodbye- 7 times- then finally leave for home. Some days, rush to class, hit the kit a few thousand times and argue good naturedly with Mona on the way back. Read into the night, till the sun peeks out and wonders why I am up earlier than the birds. Go back to college.
The point of this post? I have absolutely NO idea! :)

I’m done being pensive now. ’night, folks.

Cricket woes

When I got a call from the VPM (Student's association of sorts, I'll explain later) saying they wanted me to come over to discuss the box cricket tournament they were hosting on Sunday, I had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be regarding media coverage for the event (I handle Media publicity for VPM)
I'll be blunt - they want all the VPM volunteers and teams to play cricket on Sunday. Reason : They want the event to be all inclusive
My conclusion after reading between the lines : Since they have only one registration for the event....
Now, I'm all for the thing. Only problem is, I've never liked the game. Haven't even followed the over-hyped IPL, preferring to watch the French Open at the time. Of the few cricket matches I have seen, all involved India and Pakistan, and I watched them anticipating drama, rather than due to any love for the game.
Since I have played cricket only NEVER, I was going in to have fun. But that was until I saw several teams actually practising. So.
Now I have to borrow a bat from some friend, learn to bowl from dad AND learn to catch properly. Not that I'm a very girly girl, but please!!!!
match on Sunday. One thing is for sure : I refuse to get eliminated in the first round. Yeah!!!

Aaaarrrghhh!!!!

Hey, so teachers really expect you to know stuff by the time you reach the third year. Hell, they expect you to remember stuff you learnt last 2 years (please!?!)
So the history department has exactly 2 teachers: The HoD (MM) is very cute and really good, and the other one (LR)too is great but also,er.., for the lack of a better term, high on life.. She's beams at us bleary eyed mortals, while bouncing into the classroom at 7.25 in the morning. Beams. Most of us are usually in various stages of desperation for coffee at the time. She usually proceeds to remind us to hand in our assignments by the end of the month, (4 at the last count) and goes on to say "I won't give marks if you don't do your research!" - we've been asked to read almost all the History books in the library. Oh, we also have 2 projects of 20 marks each, which are kind of important if you want to be anywhere in the vicinity of a first class when you get your TY results.
So, we obviously don't have enough to do, what with 4 assignments and 2 projects and infinite research work, so now we have an extra project thrown in to add to the fun! Oh joy.