Is this the end?

I somehow can’t fathom it. Bachelors of engineering from Mumbai university- a four years course for which we enrolled ourselves in 2003. 1460 days of learning, writing, reading, speaking, listening, running, cursing, walking, laughing, crying, playing, eating, smiling, fuming, smirking, teasing, dancing, sleeping, abusing, thinking – all of these “ings”, shared with 68 fellow engineers. Over the last 1460 days we had all been doing this. And we are done with it, forever. These days are never again going to come into our life. It’s history. But it’s not the same o’l boring history like the kind we had in our school textbooks. This history brings a spark- a surge of excitement in your body, every time you recall it. Every one of us has a collection of extra-ordinary moments to share with. Special moments that appeared out of thin air. Ordinary days that made you feel great in the end. Sometimes, a series of days when nothing seemed to happen. And some days when so many things would happen, that you would actually think of buying time, if it was some materialistic property available with your friendly neighborhood store. Days when nothing was planned, but events would just fit in perfectly, like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. And of course, there were days when nothing went as you had planned. We survived all those days. We cherished the memories of other days. I won’t say that every day was different. It wasn’t, to be honest. But you truly start appreciating happiness, when you experience sorrow. Same was with engineering. We would always yearn for those regular lectures to get over, didn’t we? My Oh My! How much would you all rage with anger, when I had to make an unfortunate announcement about an extra lecture! And how the whole class would rejoice with full blast, when a regular lecture was canceled. In fact, I am gonna list out some of these moments here:

- The regular hang outs at Ashish’s Sev puri wala, or the neighboring sandwich guy.

- Those endless rounds of ice creams from the canteen.

- The strong whiff of “Chinese tadka” forcing its way into your nostrils while you were at those ice-cream rounds, sometimes so strong that you would think you were eating chicken Singapore on a stick.

- The strong whiff of ammonia after passing the canteen.

- Those two hours of practical sessions, which were basically AC hangouts where you would discuss that cool movie/song/website/video/article/chic/guy/any_other_interesting_topic with your buddies, while your monitor reflected two-three open terminals with some C code on it.

- Voila! The SAME code appearing on your friend’s display. The probability of this event occurring was usually 0.9 to 1.

- Both the programs would usually have a third party name on it, and the date was one year back. Probability of occurrence: 0.95 to 1.

- Standing in the balcony with your lucky friends, enjoying the cool sea breeze.

- Laughing at the other not-so-lucky fellow classmates while you were doing this….they would be stuck up in some boring lecture, cursing you for not telling them in time.

- Sudden outbursts of laughter, thanks to BSB’s creative contributions like Biren’s excellent burps/abuses or Kini’s laughter. Kini’s laughter was very instigating- simply listening to it would make you laugh.

- Completing write-ups during lectures. You would raise your head in regular intervals, nodding slightly to show the lecturer your approval of the topic (you were faintly aware of), and then would look back down, and start writing – making notes, according to your lecturer.

- The sound of a hundred journal sheets being tucked below the desk hastily, while a book (with your writing in it) being simultaneously pulled up on the top of the desk. This would happen in only one case- when the lecturer would decide to take a stroll.

- Adding to your list of woes - the desk had no compartment below it...

- Telling the person in front of you, to shift slightly to the left/right. You had important matters at the table.

- Shouting “Yes maam!!” in chorus on some pre-decided victim’s roll call.

- Running to the lecturer and requesting her/him to check your attendance. Missing this after attending 60 minutes? No way!!!

- Arrival for the first lecture was inversely proportional to the distance of your residence from college. Hats off, Jennifer / Leslie / Tanmay / Prabhavi / Mansoor. (Sorry if I forgot anyone else. But I really appreciate your punctuality and perseverance).

- Heavy usage of networking / text replacement techniques during near-submission days.

- Endless loops of print queues.

- Master sheets for the entire semester, with columns named “printout”, “write-up”, “post-lab assignment” and ticks/crosses on them. These master sheets would enjoy utmost prestige. Everything relied on them. Everyone relied on them.

- Keeping a track of all your write-ups, assignments, and post labs with your classmates. It was a truly “distributed” environment.

- Heavy discussions in the evening, with the “first viva batch-mates”.

- Ultimate tension setting in 5-10 minutes after heavy discussions. (Most of the cases).

- Excellent strategies for Xeroxing notes, write-ups, assignments. Alternatively making use of ideal techniques like scanning or photographing using N70 and Sony Ericcson.

- Missing heartbeats on hearing news about the buzz on the third floor.

- Observing mixed emotions on third floor during the same time- satisfied smiles on some, great relief on others, tears on few.

………

Well…I realized that this list simply won’t end… So I have to end it here. We are now on the brink of the next big step in our lives, and great change awaits all of us. New tasks, bigger responsibilities, greater challenges. Let’s face it with enthusiasm and assertiveness. And let’s remember these moments during some peaceful epochs in between…after all, we lived upto them, didn’t we?

All the very best of luck to all the exceptioners!!!