Every day slips by only too quickly and I can’t help but
think how fast it is approaching. The end. Of college. Of student life. Of
living on this hill. I wish I had one more semester. One more semester to do so
many things we do not have the time to do now. One more semester to go out to
the city and eat at all the places we had favourited on Zomato. One more semester
to set things right with some people. One more semester to become better
friends with friends, and to get to know more people we could never really get
to know.
How do I sum everything up I have seen, felt and experienced
on this hill? How are you supposed to do something like that? It’s like trying
to fit an elephant through the eye of a needle. How do I share what I felt when
I woke up every day and just gazed in amazement at the view outside? How do I
share what those long walks with friends around the campus under the moonlight
meant? How do I describe the infinite cups of tea I’ve shared with my favourite
people looking at the sunset? Sitting at the iconic tea-point and imitating
everyone, those inside jokes, the times when somebody’s chappal would fall in the drain and one of us would have to jump
down and rescue it. How do I express what I felt every time I would sit in
class and it would start to pour outside? How I would itch to go outside and
get soaked to the bone?
How do I describe those flashes of memories that fly before
me so quick no editing software in the world would ever come close to the video
that plays in my head? Those enormous clouds gliding past on those rainy days.
The droplets slithering down the colourful umbrellas. The rings left on the
mess table. The brown leaves falling on the road leading down to the mess. The screech
of the bus tyres. The cacophony after winning a match. The twinkling fairy lights
in the room. Pink Floyd. The warmth flooding through me when I would see my
friends after months. The long hugs. Waiting at PMC. Running to the store to
buy snacks for the night before it closes. Hot cups of coffee after dinner. Making
plans of going to SS. Running to the terrace with the desperation of doing
something spontaneous. Making plans. Oh, so many plans.
How do I write it all out? How it would crush me to remove
the bulletin board we stuck on our walls with so much love? How will I get used
to not sleeping next to a person as crazy as me who gets up squealing and
screaming and laughing? What better way to start your day? The uncountable
shoes under her bed. Her table so messy you wouldn’t know how she keeps a track
of anything. Her laundry basket always overflowing with clothes. The sound her
keyboard makes when she types away furiously. Her cookie monster face. Her
horrifyingly loud and physically painful laughter. Her telling me “I ate three
of your cookies in the morning but I replaced them today evening.” The one who
understands exactly what I’m feeling because more often than not, she feels the
exact same way. Who quivers her lips when I tell her we might not need another
hand wash. Who cries when I read out my old emails I had sent to my best
friend. How do I express what I feel when I think one day we would pack our
bags together and will not live in room 445 anymore? How do I tell her how this
time round, it will be me staining my pillow, for she will be gone and I would
be missing her just too much.
How do I talk about the boy who sat next to me every day? He
made me jam and butter sandwiches when I missed breakfast. He marked my proxies
in class. He understood when I was hungry or sad even before I knew it myself.
He sang old Hindi songs with me, he made me laugh and he made me cry. He hurt
me more than anyone else here, but he loved me so much more than that. He sent
me hilarious audio clips in the morning to wake me up for class. He sent me
chocolates, he got me books, he encouraged me, he made me feel I am worth so
much more than what I get. We would sit by the benches next to the basketball court
and gaze up in amazement at how clear the skies were. He would invariably tell
me “You see that? That’s the Orion belt. And that’s Ursa Minor.” And I would
say “Wow”, even thought I knew that already. I would let him explain the
constellations to me, because then, his eyes twinkled brighter than the stars. How do I say what it would be to not talk to
him at the end of every single day?
How do I describe what those Whatsapp group conversations
mean? Asking about the next lunch/dinner, discussing assignments, events,
classes or people. That incessant chatter will one day end. I am afraid it
would reach a point where none of us would have anything in common to discuss.
I am even more afraid that one by one, each of us would leave the group and get
lost in our respective jobs, dashing about concrete jungles and trying to make
sense of the brand new chapter in each of our lives.
How do I explain how much I love my room? How inviting the
bed is after a class ends and you stumble inside the room, drained out of
energy. How fresh it looks when it is bathed in the sunlight entering through
the window? How do I write what seeing familiar tables in the mess felt? Those
times when you would stand till 11:59 outside the hostel gate, talking to
everyone because it was just so much fun to be with all your best friends? How
it felt when the cool breeze blew the hair away from our faces, and we ran
around, high on friendship and on love.
What do I do with the endless photos I have gathered in my
phone? The unusual uniqueness of every relationship I share with each of my
friends. So different, so comfortable. How I know each one of them so well.
Maybe too well. Which makes me love them and hate them at the same time.
When you live on a residential campus, your friends are your
family. And I have found my family here. These hills, silently observing our
every move, knowing what takes place in dark, obscure spots of the campus,
enveloping us in their misty, majestic presence. They know us. It is oddly
pleasing to look at the sprawling city spread out before you like a game of Monopoly.
The shimmering city lights in the distance remind you that when you gain enough
perspective, your problems do not seem as gigantic as you make them in your
head. Right now, I feel that there is so much more to life than your career.
Than your placement. Than your CGPA. That’s not what we will remember. What we will
remember are the nights we were crazy enough to stay awake and go for breakfast
even before the mess opened. What we will remember are those times we stayed up
at night talking, realizing how we all have the same doubts in life, how we are
all in this together. We are all in the same boat. We are a family.
I wanted to do this for quite some time. Just sit in front
of my laptop without thinking and let the words spill out, like smoke billowing
out of a chimney in haphazard patterns. There is so much more to this place
than what meets the eye. It teaches you life lessons which probably no other
place would teach. It compels you to bond with the people around you, to keep
you sane. It teaches you that there is more to life than holding grudges against
each other, or to wallow in grief if you miss out on an opportunity. Much like
the roads here, life here has been full of ups and downs. And my heart refuses
to believe that it is going to end. How would it be to not have to worry about
missing class every morning? How would it be to never have to write an exam
again? How would it be to not stay up all night and sleep the next day away? How would
it be to not see the deep orange sky and the silhouettes of the guys playing
football every evening? What would life be? Where would I be? Where would we
all be?
We would all probably be struggling with our newfound
freedom and all the challenges that come with it. But I am certain that we
would never forget our experiences on these amazing, throbbing, gleaming, heartbreaking
hills. The hills that have witnessed thousands of students come here, go
through the same experiences every 20-year-old something would go through, and
then leave with a heavy heart. They have watched them leave year after year,
knowing that they will never be the same again.
This is SO relatable, I kept furiously nodding and tearing up at every paragraph. I think this bit best sums up Lavale: "There is so much more to this place than what meets the eye. It teaches you life lessons which probably no other place would teach. It compels you to bond with the people around you, to keep you sane." I love how you've articulated exactly what most of us are probably feeling at this point. :')
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kim! You would understand it best :3
DeleteYou made me relive my last month of College life. Me and my room mates had painted a wall of our room by dipping our hand in Ujala and leaving the imprints all over the wall. How it killed me to leave it all behind.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds beautiful. I'm afraid we can't do something like that on our walls without paying a hefty fine for it. It's too late anyway. Thanks for stopping by :)
DeleteAnd yet again....articulated brilliantly! Probably this will be the only reason I'd recommend this college to people, THE EXPERIENCE, of falling, learning, getting back up, winning & growing! The memories will be precious, and I shall remember them for a LONG time!! Thank you for some of the awesomest of them Astha! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you too, Sachin :) I'd recommend this college only for how strong it makes you. And for the hills.
Deleteomggggggg I was almost crying in the end. Bdw college, as in professional college like university like high school? Anyway that's not the point here. Asthaaaaa you nailed it, you really really nailed it. Its so hard to move on particularly when you are living like a family and I can totally understand your fear. Its so so so hard to accept that the people you love and admire are just going to be really busy in their lives after a period of time. Its heartbreaking and that's what I fear most. I have no yet started college like university but to be very frank when I read your post I was like omggg shittt I will have to go through that one day and I dread growing up. I was thinking to apply in a residential college and what a coincidence that is all hilly but now I prefer studying as a day scholar. Its my fear that is keeping me from going far and getting attached. I know I should give it a try but then I don't wanna be too attached. Anyway as I scrolled through your blog, I saw your older posts and one of them is about Lootera movie I guess. I haven't watched the movie but omgggg Ranveeer Singh! I want to watch all his movies. I am going to take time out and read all your previous posts particularly the one about Lootera. Best of luck for everything in your life! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ridx :) This is a Post Graduation college which offers degrees in Media and Communication. I loved Lootera, you should definitely watch it! And yes, we all have to go through those terrible phases in life when you have to say goodbye. But then again, that's how we grow, right?
ReplyDelete