One Last Time....

 

With this blog we complete a year of blogging and no this is not the last blog but probably my last blog about college life, as now it's over. After writing the preceding line I just couldn't believe that it's for real that it's over. When I entered my college for the first time on the first day I was mesmerized by its sheer grandeur and spectacular architecture. The semi-circular construction just makes your head held high and stare at its subtle perfection. The view is simply unmissable! On the last day, everyone entered the college for that one last time in the tension of writing the last exam of Engineering. But this last exam was not like any other last exam where we used to be happy about a semester ending or a year ending because this was the end game for our graduation. There were mixed feelings, no one was happy about the exams being over instead we were all sad that there is no next reopening date to look forward to, no more scary vivas and practicals, no more unit tests, no more defaulter's list, no more submissions, no more attending lectures and that hit us hard. And more than that, no more laughing our heart out with friends, planning impromptu food dates with the college friends, putting proxy attendance, cheering open concerts in amphitheater, lab talks, canteen sprees and this list is never ending.

So for the last paper as usual everyone got seated in their respective classrooms and waited for the paper, the paper also did not want us to leave early, it wanted us for 10 more minutes so it started 10 min late. Those 10 minutes we all looked at each other, laughed, smiled and after some time even started talking, maybe it was college having its moment with us before we departed. And then we started writing our paper, there was no time to be emotional then because it was quite a lengthy paper. After the answer sheet collection I just looked around and found faces beaming with satisfaction and happiness of having survived engineering. We all came out and looked out for each other for that one last time. Then we headed to the canteen. It's not just a place it's and an emotion that spices up friendships and makes everything sweet. We ordered our favorite dishes for that one last time and had it full! The entire canteen was mostly filled with final year students and everyone was having their last meal at college. Clicking their last group-fies and trying to accept the reality ahead.

 

Finally we came out of the college building into the garden/lawn where there is the statue of Swami Vivekanandji meditating. He is the representation of calm in the chaos. Just looking at the statue is therapeutic. We sat there and clicked pictures. Then shot some reels and those last pictures for that one last time. Everyone was bidding goodbyes and wishing good luck and promising for future meet ups. Soaking all those feels and looking at the college for the one last time we headed towards the main gate while recalling the R. Madhavan's iconic dialog," In saari yaadon ko camere mein samet ke mein saath le jana chahta tha, uss din sab ek dusre se gaale mil rahe the, emotional hoke vaade kar rahe the ki touch mein rahenge saal mein ek baar zarur milenge, kise pata tha hum rancho (college) ko aakhri bar dekh rahe the". And that last step out of college was the most difficult step that I took in the last 4 years. But with my best friends by my side the sadness was overcomed with future talks about job joining dates and relocation discussions. We ended the day with an ice-cream , and realized that time in college was like this ice-cream, it was meant to melt, the best thing is we had it full before it melted. Finally we hugged and promised to meet each other again whenever possible, and we all knew it was impossible for all of us to have time at the same time ever again.

 

And just like that 4 years were over and all we had were memories to cherish for a lifetime. This was our time and we had it full, now we have to live by these memories for the rest of our lives. Engineering made us cross each other's paths and now we will try and make sure that we find each other at some cross-roads and laugh over a cup of old brewed gossip from our college time.

 

Until then stay tuned for the next blog,

 

Happy Reading,

 

-Siddhi Bhosale.