Those Happy days...

I was watching "Happy Days" today - not that I am watching it for the first time. I saw it at a cousin's place with bunch of people a few months ago and that too a pirated copy with a guy's hush hush cell phone conversation in the background all through the movie. Why talk when you are recording? - What a common sense! At that time it felt magical .. nostalgical and GB went on and on with his CBIT experiences and me with my Vasavi moments. Well, we couldn't get over that evening for many days.

Yesterday, we shopped at Namaste Plaza and I ran towards the DVD's section as soon as the amount on the cashier’s computer hit $20. We get a free DVD rental for every $20 of purchases. To my surprise, I found 'Happy Days' and I was excited to watch it again in the privacy, leisure and comforts of my own home. And today, I popped the DVD in the player as I fed Mimi her dinner. The movie seemed different the second time, actually I enjoyed it more this time and there is no stopping for my nostalgia to come flood me with the memories of those times..

That was when I started my Engineering school! I may not remember the dates, But I remember the entire days exact with the weather, smell, feel and what not.. I may not remember some names, but I remember many faces. I clearly remember the day, my dad came to drop me off and how scared I was to see all the students/the seniors/the dhadhas and par-dhadhas with years of backlogs/the interior roads from the main cities/the dirt roads/the silent military areas/those students strikes...I still can recall my fast heart beat from that day. Then I was very scared and I was preparing myself to face any situation that may come (ofcourse..this was while trying to maintain composure and balancing my failing knees).

We..with our slim bodies, those dresses, the books - standing in front of seniors doing what ever they wanted us to do. And we would cling to who ever we meet from our class just for support. It was stressful, but adventurous.. Those days have certainly taught all of us- some important lessons of life. Apart from those last minutes rushing to copy assignments, those last minute preparations for internals, those last minute group studies with a bunch of past question papers (we called them combined studies - actually they should be called something like 'da boyz and weird gals of the class - an Analysis') - apart from all of these, there was much more to those four years. The genuine friendships taught many things for the first time in our lives. I learnt how to deal with people through my friends. I learnt that everyone has problems and issues, proportionately. I saw hard work, love, affection, different family relations, different life styles, different personalities..uh..I just loved knowing each one of them in each unique way.

For me atleast, it was change of perspective. Each soul on that campus has a different approach of life. It was fun to be there, irrespective of whether I was recognized as a part of that campus by anyone or not. That was the first time that I saw boys and girls of different personalities from up-close. The Ragging, the forming of groups/friendships, the labs, the hesitating glances, the surveying, the drafting, the smithy lab, the professors, those hopelessly roaming weird looking couples, the playing cricket, the kerosene smelling canteen snacks, the ladies room and the guys hanging outside of it, the English ma'm, the Structures ma'm, the HOD, the lab assistants, the caroms room, the rain..., the huge trees with platforms built around them for sitting, the huge library, the clean/silent but utter waste computer lab, the fresher’s party, the boys on the bikes and in the cars, the girls with them, the college politics, the RTC buses, the college buses, the book worms, the drooling drivers and conductors, the stealing glances across the buses, the bus stops, the HJC, the burger place, the private junior college nearby, the blank calls that we got and the blank calls that we made... But all these I mentioned above would fade in the back ground sometimes. Sometimes..only those smiles of girls, those sharp looks of boys, those words that come out unspoken through the eyes…these just pop out of everything around.

On that campus I met many people who were very different in many ways but everyone had almost the same goal, same destination. The careless looking guys who doesn't seem to be there for any sort of engineering studies, the geeks who were in the study mode right from the day one, the ‘awara’ guys whose only motivation in life was to talk and if possible date some cute looking girls, the ugly looking guys with hearts of gold, the posh guys on bikes and cars who seemed very 'hatke' as if they didn't belong there, the over stylish and secretive girls, the over shy girls, the over friendly girls and the confused ones! Well..I can go on..exactly for a total of four years if I put each and every memory of mine in order. But my experience of those four years wouldn't be a bit complete without any of them. They all had to be there with all the good, better and best along with the bad and worst things they got with them. I would'nt have it in any other way. ...