Nupur

The Last Dance April 15, 2011

It’s April 15 and the semester is hurtling to the finish line like never before. True that the even semester always seems to race post midsems, but this time, with the blur that life has become with valfis, it is even more difficult to keep track of days and nights.

We’re getting infinitely senti with all the passing out talk and nostalgia. I thought it wouldn’t get to me but little events in their own way have added up and turned me into a big baby too. The magnitude of the whole thing hit me a day after my valfi when I realised that all the case-takers and silent spectators from the previous night would be staying here or in the US and I like some heroine would be in Dubai. I am fully aware of my reasons for choosing and wanting Dubai but right then, after my valfi, starting a life there seemed like a very very tough thing to do, something way beyond my capability.

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My first glimpse of H10 in 2007 was by accident when I had come to IIT for counselling and happened to drift from Convocation Hall to MB to Infinity Corridor to H10. I remember thinking that IIT was so huge that I would never figure it out. I remember my parents being horrified at the hostel I am going to sorely miss now.

I am so used to living in my wing that everything I would miss about it hadn’t even registered. It is by far the hostel’s noisiest wing owing to its location. We hated that about it. I’m going to miss the noise next year. It told me people were around.

I’ve lived next to Kanchana for 2 years now. I am so going to miss giving each other pointless hourly updates on our activities and our nightly chat sessions for hours on end. We are so telepathically connected by now that she miraculously realises when I’m pissed even in her sleep without any communication whatsoever. People call our occasionally synchronised baths creepy but hey, we don’t mind

And then there’s Sukhada who takes a detour to her room and waltzes into our wing every couple of hours to “what’s up?” us and squat on Kanchana’s beanbag, flail her arms around and say, “I want to be more girly!” One of these days is going to be the last time I see her do that and I hate that.

No more getting startled out of sleep by Chandrika’s shouts of “Ashuuuu Ashuuuu” and no more Astha lending me earrings, makeup and infinite fundae on everything pretty and pink. No Sai to rudely awaken everyday and no Anusha and Mridul catwalking up and down the corridor How am I ever going to manage without these people!

Life in IIT has been soooo peaceful. Ready-made meals, proximity to HN, an ATM next door, classes nearby, infinite opportunities and freedom from the institute, it’s been the ideal world. Orientations were so awesome, with all the hostel fights and the hoarse, hoarse screaming. I remember the majority of us getting starry eyed after each orientation in disbelief at how awesome everything looked and that we had a chance to be part of it all. All that is behind us now. I wish those of you reading this feel that you’ve achieved all that you wanted to here.

We are so used to walking around at unearthly hours without a care in the world that it is going to be very difficult to restrain ourselves from doing so outside. And I am sure if I sit on the sidewalk in Dubai just to chat with friends I’ll definitely get a ticket.

Just 4-5 years ago, we were amongst the most hard working kids in the country, slogging to get into the country’s most premier engineering institute. Now we are engineers passing out from that very place. So much has changed since we came in. We are the people that popularised Orkut, and dumped it for Facebook. We are the people who danced with joy at Google Wave invitations, waited for Facebook Unlike buttons and celebrated Buzz. We have seen a swine flu epidemic, a 26/11 and a glorious Cricket World Cup. I remember when the whole hostel sat in the TV room following the 26/11 massacre with bated breath. I remember the glorious moment when the PAF punters of Hostels 3, 5 and 10 madly celebrated in OAT after India won against Australia in the World Cup QFs. Yes, these days have been topsy turvy.

We hope for so much more in the future, but I wonder if we will get the simple joys we have experienced here. The deafening cheering at Pronites, the peaceful sittings at lakeside, the night time wanderings, the PAF tension, the first year acad nbd, the free afternoons napping in hostel, the frenzy at every Goonj, the shared excitement of Vodafone Tuesday, the joy at longer LAN hours, the Valfi mania, the nights invested in pure chatting. So many small moments to cherish, which make up this wonderful IIT experience. Whatever life brings your way, wherever you go, my parting request to all of you would just be this: Wherever you are, Facebook par khoob pics upload karo!

This is just one part of the IIT nostalgia. There are so many more people, so many more facets. I’m pretty sure I can’t make an exhaustive list. I just hope all of us have a wonderful time wherever we go. That we remember to take out the time to enjoy life. That we can afford to take out the time to enjoy life! IIT life has been brilliant, no doubt. But then, there is a world waiting out there. A real world, with tonnes of opportunities. And I guess, the time to explore it is HERE!