Friday, March 16, 2007

I miss those days

It was one of those days when I was having dinner in the mess alone. The atmosphere was peaceful, as there were a very few people in the mess (for statistics purpose, the mess has a seating capacity of >800 and there were hardly 50-70 people present). My mind generally wandered off into the days when we were doing our M.Tech. H-12, B-wing, 4th floor represented one of the largest groups that ever went for dinner together. The entire process was fixed. At around 8:00 PM, someone would start calling out for dinner. Then, from one end of the corridor the shouting used to begin-"challlllllllllaaaaaaaa". Kaduskar used to pick up Pamya and Dani en route, where Faddy, Mamu, Nandu and myself would join them. The process of gathering would end with someone banging on Dr.'s door resulting in a sleepy Dr. trying to come to terms with what is going on. Then a troupe of 8-9 inmates used to barge into the mess.
A lot of times, we used to be joined by fellow inmates, taking the group strength to around 12-15. The group size was so large, that a lot of times, we had the entire set of two tables for us, with 2-3 extra chairs thrown in. It was a lot of fun over dinner. All in the group were Mechies doing their masters. I was the only odd one out-- the Chemie. Conversations were pretty diverse. Right from jokes, to serious issues such as economics or politics, every topic under the sun could be discussed over dinner.
However, what used to be, in Navjyot Singh Siddhu's language, the cherry on the pancake was the post-dinner unwinding session on the the 4th floor terrace. Here too, we discussed a lot of issues, ranging from the Marine Drive rape case to whether Air-India should be buying Boeing aircraft or not. Some of these sessions have been self inspecting sessions too. A lot of crushes, heart-breaks have been discussed and dealt with in these sessions. The updates on the latest chics in IIT used to be shared at this meeting. People have been the butt of a lot of jokes. We have ridiculed each other, made fun of everybody within the group at some point of time. We have agreed, disagreed over a lot of issues. However, everything was forgotten at the end of the session and people were back to work. No matter whatever conversation transpired at these sessions, all of us were pretty sincere in our friendship. Whether it was Pamya taking Faddy to the department daily, when Faddy had a surgery on his leg, or Kaduskar regularly filling the rebate forms for all those leaving on Friday afternoon, we were always ready to help each other.
Today I'm back in IIT for my PhD. However, days have changed. No more are there these friends with whom I could have shared my heart and who would have shared their heart with me. Everybody is busy in their own world. While we are in touch with each other there is no more of these open-heart sessions. Although I hope Pamya, UK and Dani would still be holding their sessions. The new friends that I've made here, have no time for such sessions. Now, it is no more of sincere open-hearted discussions, sharing of joy, guilt, sorrow. Everybody is busy meeting their goals or their personal world. Those true friends are now truly being missed.
Guys, this article is a tribute to our friendship. We were and are still true to each other. I still miss those days, and will continue to miss those days. Wherever you are, whatever you all are involved in, I miss you all. I miss those days, I truly miss those days.
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