Goodbye!!!

It has been 4 years since I joined NIT Jalandhar fresh as a budding engineer. Over these years I have had my shares of ups and downs and learnt to fight everything with an iron fist. My best friends and worst enemies both emerged out of this pot. i have been through both the best of times and the worst of times. And today as I stand on the verge of exiting this place and kissing it 'Goodbye', a very important realisation dawned on me. It is not the place, so much as the people who made this place so special that i will miss and it is the saying goodbye to them, which is going to be the toughest part.
places come and places go but people who enter your life leave lasting impressions in your mind and some of your most cherished memories are with these people. They have cast their image in your mind and no matter how big a nuclear warhead hits you, you will never forget these memories.
These faces and the various emotions they carry, the plethora of pranks they played, the tonnes of consoling they provided in your hour of need become indelible parts of your psyche.
And so it comes to pass, that though you might feel that you are bidding these priceless souls goodbye, you are acually deep in your minds making them a more integral part of your life. By keeping them deep in your souls you are protecting them from the evils of the world outside at the same time making yourself stronger to face the challenges.
And as these thoughts pass through my head at 3.30 in the morning, I feel consoled that i am not bidding these priceless gems of my life "Goodbye" but I am just welcoming them to start a new life with me and enrich my soul once again with their almost divine like presence...


So to all my closest pals, let me tell you...This is not the end, but just the Beginning..

Auf Wiedersehn NITJ!!!!!

For the last 1 month everyone has been flooding Facebook with their umpteen experiences and nostalgic moments of their college life. So I thought lets enter the fray and contribute my own experiences. So here it is.

Its been 4 years since I took my fledgling steps into the ' LAnd of booze, chicken and babes'. J- town at the begiining was a tremendous downgrade from my bustling hometown of Pune. Nightlife seemed bleak and places for fun were few and far between. But as it so happens epiphanies do strike in and it dint take me long to realise that fun is defined by the company not the place. And this fun could not have had a better beginning than the awesome group of friends of A block Hostel Number 1. We christened ourselves as the Night out freaks and went from being disciplined Mama boys to hard core nocturnals, so much so that we would have scared the shit out of the owls. From the first night out on the roof, which indeed had epic proportions to the first bottle of beer shared between 10 guys to the first birthday party where we got boxfuls of samosas and tikkis from the canteen to the first trip to Bidhipur by tapoing the walls, the first week of college had freaking awesome written all over it. Class bunking and proxies became a part and parcel of the psyche. The stomach became immune to the aweful mess food, so much so that we can digest even shit today. Evening trips to the Nescafe became a regularity in order to give the eyes a fair share of the opposite sex. Interactions with the initially feared but later loved seniors fuelled many trips to the awesome Changra tea stall and the impregnable Sukhman Dhaba. Getting into trouble with the hostel authorities became a mundane activity as many famous incidents like the birthday of 29th august, the diwali rocket firing incident and the big brawl between A block and C block and the infamous Gamla KAAND became a lasting legacy of the college jargons. As the first semester drew to a close many of us got our first experience of the biting cold which made us all clinomaniacs making attendance in classes minimal. Relationships started blossoming. As the first V Day drew close, new couples bloomed while a plethora of other rejected souls ( including me :P) started to adjust back to life as a single guy even starting to take pride of their status. As the first year drew to a close many of the studious guys took to new passions involving smoke and drink and girls leading to a startling plummet in the GPA's of many. CGPA took a major back seat as we welcomed the 2nd year and our juniors with renewed vigour.

The 2nd year blew off with a shabby hostel allotment where the words Black List drew initially fear but was later mocked upon. We started looking at our juniors with new interest as newer prospects of establishing your seniority dawned on. Positions of higher responsibility were obtained during the tech and cult fests.The beautiful terrain of North India found brand new visitors who were all amazed and had a blast. A couple of people especially from the Southern part of the country finally managed to hammer the last nail in the coffin that was the national language Hindi. Visits to Changra and night outs became a part of the daily lexicon.

As the Pre final year dawned on, the awesome batch of 2010 grouped in together to organise the best TechNiti to date. An awesome Ganesh Chaturti also became the highlight of this year. The infamous strike gave the students a much deserved mid semester break which we exploited fully to visit the paradise on earth ' Kashmir'. Studies and exams became synonymous with a visit to the brothel. Parties and parties was the essence of the 2ND SEMESTER OF 3 RD YEAR AS we bid adieu to our awesome seniors ready to take the baton from them. The last week of 3rd year was spent in frantic perusal of Internships at any place where it was available. The frantic efforts Yielded fruit as everyone was able to obtain an internship which fetched them good grades.

And then in the blink of an eye We were in our final years. The college administration started becoming more and more ridiculous.Strikes became more frequent than classes. The junior batches became more and more distant. Many relations made their last final hurrah before taking a bow, very few endured on. The realisation of the inevitable end became more and more clear. And today as we sit on the perch of our launch pad into the outside world, these series of memories flash before your eyes, filling you with joy that the 4 years here was a period well spent. People seldom known from forgotten corners of the country became your closest friends. Juniors seemed even more loving than before as the season of parties and farewells was reborn only this time with you on the hot seat.

And today as i roll my eyes past these memories and this college which has made me who I am, I can safely say that the decision I took 4 years ago was the best of my lifetime. The friends i have made here will be the bedrock of my life for many years to come. The seniors we had will always continue to inspire us and the juniors we have will continue to be as helpful, loving and awesome as ever.

And i bid au revoir with only one hope.. the hope that I have been a good friend, junior and senior and that people will not curse me wen I may meet them Many years from today. And for all those people to whom I may have caused pain or suffering, I am extremely sorry guys and this apology is from the deepest chasms of my heart.Have had an awesome time with you guys and i hope to continue rocking life in your company for many more years to come...

I will end with a quote fromone of my favourite movies 'Troy''...Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?