Monday, November 14, 2011

Homecoming

I assure you this weekend was more than just going back to college, meeting the same set of people, talking about the same stories for the hundredth time, going for a sleepy LONG drive to Mulshi dam, drinking, having breakfast at Café Good Luck, lunch at Blue Nile, high tea at Chaitanya and dinner at Mezza9.

It was also about suffering a slow death inflicted by Nargis Fakhri. Katrina Kaif, take a bow. You have competition. Who said, you can’t act?

Now, as a group, we are very diverse. We have very different personalities, tastes and opinions, which is why it takes us at least 30 minutes to reach a consensus, even on simple things like in what order we should use the loo. The process can go on for over two hours if it involves critical issues like, say, how to have fun, because we can’t even decide on a common DEFINITION of fun. But Rockstar achieved what nobody else had ever managed: instant agreement.

Anyway, moving on, the trip reminded us of the old days, the carefree life, the little things that made the two years so special. But it also confirmed something which we already suspected, i.e. certain things/people never change:

Like the awesomeness of the bun maska/baked beans on toast/scrambled eggs at Good Luck, the Patiala lassi and parantha at Chaitanya and the joy of ravishing daal chawal at 1 a.m. after four hours of binge drinking…

Like repetition of the same jokes which still manages to bring a smile on your face…

Like huddling over the laptop to watch old videos and snaps and randomly hugging each other…

Like revisiting every corner of the college and trying to recreate the same memories: sitting on the swing where we had our ‘deep conversations in the dark’, crowding around in front of the Sweety Stores (only it’s now called the Rangoli Stores), arranging ourselves in the exact order in which we used to sit/sleep in the classroom (Room No. 307) or sitting opposite the canteen by the Zenia flowerbed (the guys arguing over who gets to face the girl’s hostel)…

Like barging into Room No. 213 (the hostel room we shared) and squealing like excited schoolgirls as we posed for random pics (me cursing ‘my’ wardrobe by the door)…

Like the guys taking care of us (booking cabs, buying tickets, food and alcohol, arranging mattresses and pillows, making tea and waking us up in the morning) while we let them…

But then, we also noticed the differences: like getting older, getting married, talking about bosses/investments/property/family, tiring more easily and slowly giving in to mundane mediocrity…

As I tossed and turned on a rented mattress, I found myself a little less impulsive, a little less spontaneous, a little less uninhibited and a tad more scared than I was two years back…

9 comments:

Makk said...

take care.

Neil D'souza said...

Awww welcome to the oldies club.

So I take it youre not leaving soon?

Nefertiti said...

@makk
err??? I am not sick, just growing up.

@neil
u r the old one... I am still desperately holding on to my youth, i.e. doing stupid things despite developing dark circles and abdominal fat :(

~ Icarus said...

The days that were ... Somehow I always felt my MBA ruined me in more than one ways. Am super nostalgic about my engg days when all of us had stepped out from the comfort of their homes for the first time and literally struggled to get past daily scuffles over 'living' ... Experienced best of the emotions and worst of pitfalls (including a murder attempt, all for one girl can u imagine and for a girl to whom I till date have spoken less than what 2 hours cumulative) ... MBA was contrast. Very mellow and as a matter of fact unlike engg never made friends in MBA ... Guess people are all grown up by then ...
But having said that I am connected to neither. I only connect to people for some strange reasons and not places. So my alma mater is in Kanpur and Mumbai. Attend all their alumni meets but seldom do tour the campus or get senti ... And my batchees are so wary of this ... Coz I was so much into branding my colleges ...
Good ol' times, a few hundred years ago for me ... Great day...

survivingbrain said...

reminds me - change is the only thing that doesnt change.
:(

Nefertiti said...

@mohit
whoa... for someone who just claimed he doesn't get senti, that was quite a sentimental comment :) but yea, I can understand the partiality towards the engineering years. It happens at a stage when you are still young but have all the freedom, you are still experimenting and most of all it's four bloody years!! that way mba is like a fleeting flash in the pan experience.
but thanks for the LONGGGG comment :)

@survivingbrain
ummm isn't that a good thing? otherwise life would be so boring.

Makk said...

sick doesn't really need to be cared.

its growing ups those are really deserving candidates for that.

Asita Ajgaonkar said...

Ohhh,u were here in the campus??? U know what,I started reading ur blog just because i wanted to know more about SCMHRD (currently i am studying in SCMHRD!) But then i beceme addicted to ur blog...:)

Nefertiti said...

@asita

yea yea I was!!! it was so cool to go back to the old days. and welcome to my blog. keep reading!