Chapter VI : Flying Down South

I write this when Sachin’s just been dismissed having missed a ton of tons (yet again) cleanbowled by Siddle while the spiteful Sushma Swaraj is getting wonderfully back-answered by Kapil Sibal on the Lokpal Bill debate in Lok Sabha. And I’m waiting for the moment when my frozen clumsy fingers will warm up to typing correctly! 

This Christmas indeed was the coldest North India’s celebrated in 5 years. But the cold doesn’t prevent us mortals from keeping our desires and wishes ignited. While Anna fasting in Mumbai for another 3 days would have asked for a wholesome Lokpal to be dropped in his stocking, I want Santa to make time stop.

I have barely 10 days left at home before I fly out of Punjab for my internship down south. Tickets are booked and after much ado we have unanimously opted for taxi to IGI Airport on the chilly evening of the seventh day of 2012. Flying to Bangalore on the early morning of 8^th and then another taxi ride to reach my training center at Mysore about 3 hours from Bangalore by road. 

Talking about Mysore, I have a never-dying inclination towards South India. I have been there of which I remember only a little. Can you blame me? I was in 9^th grade. I even forget everything that happened a week ago, let alone years! My biggest handicap! My brain’s cache houses the details of only the last seven days at most. Beyond that it’s all a blur. It does get you in a fix sometimes when your mates are conjuring up things from past and all you can do is nod along like a trained pet or smile.

What I can recall is that it was a school trip back in 2005 with people whom I hardly knew or liked. Only thing that still stays with me about Mysore is the magnificent summer palace of Tipu Sultan. It’s a shame I didn’t have a camera to capture it in all its glory back then. I had a friend of mine visiting it around Deepawali so I know that it looks even more enchanting with infinite light bulbs adorning it. I also vividly remember how delectable South India food is. I utterly love the coconut chutney and the spicy sambar. The aroma of spices takes me over. I’ve always been a foodie. And to indulge in rich flavoured spicy food is what I can’t resist. Though I’ve heard from seniors whining about the food that we’ll be made available but I wish not to reach there with any notions. I’ll be the judge. Nothing’s better than entertaining those taste buds with something as rich as South Indian food. Can’t wait!

Anyway, I've finally started a novel by John Grisham. The Summons. Feels lucky to have got time out for it. Also my little nephew will come visit us and it’ll be a delight. Besides my sisters visiting us , there’s a new year right around the corner ready to bring fuckloads of luck outshining all the good things of the previous year. Amidst it all there’s countless things that need to be bought and packed. My indolent ways will only yield a garnished set of usual Punjabi cuss words from Dad as a Newyear Gift! While packing my bags, every passing second reminds me of how little time I’m left with and of the mammoth responsibility of collecting all my stuff together. Change is just as cruel as is permanent. For every second disheartens me reminding me of beautiful things I’ll leave behind. My parents and my friends occupying the major chunk of it.

One doorway’s shut. The last 4 days of college have given me more than what 4 years could ever muster up. Our bizarre baseless blabbering, the roaring laughter at the silliest nastiest jokes have all grown just as strong as the bonds among everyone a part of the craziness. The 4 day workshop that we were all stuck to attend turned out to be the best 4 days of college life. From the incessant brow-raising commentary to reading the most intensely carnal twitter pages out loud to trying out every canteen and getting dozens of pictures clicked with silliest looking waiters to thoroughly embarrassing oneself in public (applies to me) - the 4 days have been quite a ride. An indelible one.

Yes, I successfully made myself butt of all jokes for my group. But I volunteered. And they left no stone unturned. I have learnt some important lessons about public speaking too. That you are always at a disadvantage when there’s the prettiest girl of college attending the same workshop and listening closely as you open your gob. Never before did I fumble so foolishly. Never did my words just lose their track completely while finding their way from my mind to tongue. Beauty so powerful!

My birthday treat also happened. We raided KFC and PHD located adjacently. The noise we generated sure earned us some stares but the previous 4 days had inured us of any embarrassment that these mortals shy away from. Memorable time captured for life in pictures. As the treat coincided with the last day at workshop/college so it resulted in moist eyes, awkward hugging and some seriously inane good-luck-for-life parting messages.

In addition to my friends, I’ll also miss the Winters because down south the temperatures don’t plummet to this extent. The chattering of teeth, the difficulty in driving two-wheelers, warming my hands by placing them under my bum, to snuggle up in my mother’s quilt everytime I go to their room which is quite rare given the quality of TV shows they watch. Shows that are so nauseating and logic-defying where every character is so madeup and definitely has a twin battling a pained existence, the child of a lesser god!

I’ll miss gorging on pignuts stuffed in my jacket’s pocket during those long walks with Music on lonely fogged-up streets just to straighten myself out. I’ll miss hearing the Gurbaani early morning from the nearest Gurudwara and with those little birds twittering, all contributing to make mornings marvelous. What I’ll not miss is when taking time out for a hot coffee on terrace that loud Punjabi music embellished with lewd lyrics makes you gnash for spoiling the little time you borrowed from your busy day to center yourself.

I’ll also miss my laptop which will stay put at home.

But out of everything that I leave behind, I’ll miss both my parents the most. They always have been supremely eloquent at conveying how good-for-nothing I am. But I also know that I am the apple of their eyes. I’m going to miss mom experimenting with recipes just to evoke a “Yum” from me. Dad for calling me names and faking being strict when he has to get his work done. I’m gonna miss them locking horns and erupting into an argument when both are laying the same point favoring me. Perhaps they will never know how much I love them.

It’s just 16 weeks, I tell myself. I can do it. Wait is good. As Benjamin Franklin says “He that can have Patience, can have what he will.” Just like these magical 4 years, 16 weeks will fly off just as soon leaving me swamped with better memories and experiences. Never been surer.

Chapter V : On The Brink

Roughly, four years from now I had not imagined that parting from college would stir something inside me. With my facebook homepage brimming with sob stories, I only used to guffaw at the drama a few hours ago. This deluge of updates about all the fun people had or all the things they’d miss was something I’d dismiss with a high-pitched “Oh Please!” Because my affinity towards college or its people never fully bloomed from its embryonic state. Or so I think.

4 years flew like batting eyelids. The same routine every day. Catching already-packed public transport buses to College have taught me to forget being a “gentleman” sometimes and run for your life when you see one approaching, cutting sharply through a gamut of people of different shapes and sizes. Bus rides have been a melange of experiences. In summers you get to know what sweat actually smells like and you would even get a wet patch on yourself off someone else’s shirt because the buses are so stuffed. In winters it gets intolerable with all the windows shut and some old folk’s flatulence would make you realize how terribly unblocked your nose is despite the freezing cold. Such supremely sensitized olfactory functions, you begin to wonder.

The walk from the University gate to College would be my most favourite part of the day. With Music on and the 2 KMs daily would freshen me up. I’ve always wanted to be alone for walks but that’s something too much to ask for. I’d almost always have friends from my town who, like me, have been successful to catch a timely bus. And the probability of asking for my opinion on a preposterous discussion when the one song I’ve been waiting for for the previous 20 minutes would begin to play is crazily high and highly irritable. 

I reach college and lectures begin. Those doses of sedatives! The only news my auditory system was desperate to hear would come from our Class Representative, our ace of spades! Last year the bunks we did outnumber the classes we rested our asses in. Such delight it used to be.

And to survive 2 years without a faculty and then having a laugh at how stupid that question papers have been set. Of the limited teachers we had, some would only qualify as apes. Most of them with only a flatulent attitude and no substance, Some others badly out of shape and almost all of them out of their minds. One who would shamelessly itch his crotch behind the dais thinking students don’t get to know about it. Some whom even the guards would mistake as students. 

And to begin talking about the crowd.. I have witnessed so many Put-on-a-show kind of girls with an insanely wrong idea about confidence. So self-amused by all the guys who have ever approached them. Known umpteen holier-than-thou guys who all have the same bikes popular in Punjab also pronounced in a hilariously Punjabi way. “Bult”. Their egos back up their pompous walk and they assume that they are born with an innate right to ogle at all the girls that happen to be in their eye span. They are the self proclaimed Jack Of Hearts of the prettiest girl in the University. 

College is where I learnt more than just topologies or polymorphism. Because that’s just vomiting what you mugged up 5 minutes before an exam, after your "reliable source" hints at the important topic which you had already planned to do early morning but had bartered away for a few extra winks instead. FYI, 16^th marked the end of all the examinations of my engineering degree. which adds upto a nearly 90 Mid Semester Tests besides an End Semester Test for each of the 46 subjects I’ve studied.

Also my Birthday this 13th arrived packed in between two extremely useless exams and I’m glad it just went the way I wanted. Receiving calls from all the people who really care and not just from everyone in your Friends list bound to wish you because their Birthday alerts tell them to.

I missed some calls from loved ones because I dozed off before the clock struck 12. With my phone on silent! I’ve braved an array of colorful remarks on this front and have concluded that I indeed am an idiot. And waking up to 40 missed calls does give you a mini-heart-attack first but then you realize that it’s your birthday and these are the people who love you. Then your heart beams with joy. But I’m mad at some people I expected a call from. Or atleast a text message. So I have been practising some curses and waiting for a nicely written obituary anytime soon in the newspaper!

Anyway, college will always have a soft spot for me for the bunch of likeminded people I found. We’ve together gradated to great friends from being complete strangers. They bear with me despite my incessant meaningless chatter and smutty jokes and know that I am the last person they’d come to when in trouble! And still stick close. I’ve learnt a trillion things from all of them and also how to be there for them. Because in the end that’s what really counts. 

They say, “You only prize a bird’s song when it perches on a distant bough.” My college is the bird here.

Chapter IV : C'est ici!

And today was the first of my last ESTs ever. Last few days have seen me using nasal drops in public, download some long-awaited music and prepare for Practical exams so ridiculously handled.

One week back, it all began with a toothache. So sharp that fearing a visit to the Dentist I started to walk the extra mile. Which included giving away a huge pack of Snickers + Mars + Bounty to a friend only to find out that the pain had got nothing to do with my teeth which just to say are in perfect condition. Also learnt that all four of my wisdom teeth have found their place but are apparently snoozing right now because wisdom's still the most wanted item on my list.

The dentist hinted at Sinusitis and an ENT specialist put a stamp on it. Along with some mucosal hypertrophy which despite being explained twice is still Arabic to me.
So I began my first round of antibiotics and battling 'Steam-Helps' & ‘Cover Your Head’ rebukes. And trust me, to get assisted by a friend to take nasal drops at 11am in Rose Garden Chandigarh is good to get some eyeballs rolling. The hardest thing about business is minding your own. True that.

They say 'Save the best for last'!
And finally it's December. I've always had an affinity to it like Sodium to Oxygen.
Not only because it's my birthday month. With Dad's birthday and MomDad's wedding anniversary also falling in December it does make it all the more special. Hitting 21 this 13th and Dad 66 on 20th. I'm only one-third of years he's lived and dying to hear from him that I'm doing good so far.

December to me means to be remembered and getting calls on my birthday from everyone who throughout the year doesn't seem to care at all but this day would act over-familiar and bring up topics you’d rather avoid. They’re just like your favorite pair of underpants. Comfy but sometimes sticking up in places where you can’t do a thing about in public but to go with it.
December also means days without sun. Foggy bus rides with close-to-nothing visibility and those welltrained drivers daring to speed up enough to evoke a 'Haaye' from an insanely covered lady holding a book of hymns and murmering all through. It also means enjoying birthday just how I want to. Because I always have an exam on or around 13th. So I usually spend it at home.

I remember last year my birthday got consumed in 5th semester ESTs but I made it a point that Dad's doesn't follow suit. Visiting my eldest sister and cutting a cake there was a rather warm reunion in the spine-numbing chill of December.
I decided to stay back till New Year's Eve only to conclude that yes, I'm jinxed for that place. Everytime I plan on staying there, an old member of their family plans to kick the bucket just then on the very first day. So all that my stay got diminished to was the kids' room upstairs and those dumb computer games as my sister's room was booked by bulky grandmas with moustaches that'd give Jackie Shroff a run for his money. But I was able to enjoy dinner out once and it was all compensated for!

This December is supposed to bring out another emotion because it is just 5 more days I get to see my college. Something that just doesn't get me. I'm glad that it's getting over for I never really got much attached to it or its people and the few I thank my stars for will be there with me even after college life ends.

And getting slam sheets filled and tshirts scribbled on is way too juvenile for my taste. Girls grab a chance to get all the good stuff penned for them. I won't lie but I too had to fabricate a lot of stuff about some people I hardly knew. Words didn't fail me then which is like my worst fear. What if I just can't get it all out. What if I fail to express what I really want. Well that’s another story! I'm beyond all the “fill-my-sheets”, “aw-it's-time” and the bromance mushrooming in college because Facebook is anyway going to keep us all connected.

Downloaded Lioness by Amy Winehouse. The whole ‘60s sound of it draws me to music by the likes of Donny Hathaway, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles et al. Because they are what real music is, I believe. Lioness isn’t like previous seamless records by the late singer but now that it’s here I’d like to mention the Motown sound of Between the cheats, the chorus of Like Smoke and the heartbreaking rendition of A Song For You made famous by Donny Hathaway are amazing.

Right now it's time to do away with the remaining five ESTs that still hold ground to bug me. After they end on 16^th , I have three other exams lined up along with a special Christmas outing with friends which hopefully won’t be scrapped considering how comatose Winters makes us all. Looking forward to a pleasant birthday.