A Forgotten Season

-


JUNE 2021 brought the rains lashing into the city. A half breathing half living city, wanting to be up and about but restricted and held back due to the COVID situation. The upside of it all was, the mind went whirling to another time; a long forgotten college season, to a city in past times with naturally empty stretches of  roads, sounds of birds tweeting , clean fresh air and cyclists trying to make it to their destination before the next shower.

Collegians of that generation have today forgotten that cycles were not only mean exercising and health maintaining machines but literally carried you wherever your heart desired. Being the only mode of affordable transport to the struggling student (besides the sparse municipal transport) it was an asset to the owner, the only worry being getting an easily accessible spot in the college cycle parking lot.

Quick exits after hurried breakfasts from homes, in order to beat the rain somehow seem to be a hard won battle. The old and green shade giving trees in summer now ensured you get splattered on with huge drops water, as you would weave your way through carefully avoiding the huge puddles. When you were simply happy to have arrived dry, at the turn to the college street, a flash downpour would start or getting hit by a ‘splasher’ speeding by in a van or bus was fated. A few angry curses thrown skywards and at the back of the ‘splasher’ only would pacify the rage on being unfairly treated by the universe.

The sheer joy of being on a huge green campus, with friends on a drizzling rainy day was worth the struggle to get there. Somehow, the rainy days also conjured up few cancelled lectures, answering every student’s prayer to hangout in kattas and corners with friends, on a no agenda time. 

As sounds of crashing thunder flash by, memories of an old college day flash by like yesterday, where a century old peepal tree had uprooted and fallen down in the fury of June rains. We freshers stepping into the huge leafy recess of the behemoth was fortunately captured in polaroid for time and remains a dear possession to date.

The breaks in the drizzle always ensured you could rush to the canteen for a sizzling cutting chai and creamroll. Grave and great matters of importance were discussed, with no urgency, college festival details, sports and musical events and the annual student body elections. Plots to bunk classes and manage proxys would abound.

Years have changed the cycles into bikes, scooters and even cars but the June rains of 2021 saw, a paradise lost to the youth of today.

The freshly washed greenery, the now unnatural silence on the roads and the sound of birds has come to us with colleges and schools on Zoom calls... chai in your home...no cycling even for exercising and no leaving homes even in cars, protected from the rains...

The curses of having to get up early to reach the first lectures, anger at not getting a free lecture, sadness at having to leave your friends in the canteen to attend practicals in science labs are nonexistent for the fresher today.

As the old saying goes ‘Be careful what you wish for...the universe may just give it to you’ seems so true.

#college  #chai  #friends # monsoons #students  #campus


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Moonlighting’ in the time of WFH – Part I

-
Image
 What is moonlighting? In simple terms, it means having another job in addition to your Primary one. Moonlighting is also known as ‘side-hustle’, side-gig’ or ‘private consulting’. It has been endemically present in the non-IT sector, but with WFH and smart technology, it has aggressively moved into this vertical.                                              #Moonlighting can be categorized as ‘ Inbred Moonlighting’ and ‘Outbred moonlighting’ . Inbred moonlighting is working on additional jobs or assignments in the same or similar industry where your primary job is, ‘Outbred moonlighting’ is working in an industry unrelated to the industry your primary employment is in. As per the study of Manipal Global Education- one of India’s largest Education services Groups, India is second to only the USA with more than 15million freelancers. In precovid times, an incipient sharing industry, epitomized later by #Uber, #Airbnb, and many others targeted people with jobs. The proposition of
Read more

The Ambiguous Path Home

-
Image
Hiraeth ; a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. Hiraeth  is  a feeling   with many layers . It is homesickness for a home you can't return to, or that never was and also sense of regret, along with a general sadness over the lost or departed. It's a longing for a place, for one’s homeland , a romanticized past , but unlike homesickness, hiraeth  can be felt for a place one has never been to. To  feel hiraeth  is to feel a deep incompleteness and recognize it as familiar. Globalization and strife have pushed a huge diaspora of humans to every corner of the world, feeling Hiraeth. It is the longing you hear in the voices of the ones who have left their homeland long ago, a homeland which continues to remain in their hearts. A homeland, which has ceased to physically exist , maybe simply due to decades of development, done to ensure the improvement of the current occupant’s quality of life. The places they once inhabited, the people who once walked the land, all c
Read more

Imaging my Incredible India - I

-
Image
 The ‘Idea of India’ appeals to everyone, in fact even to the people who haven’t been here. It has been said that my country has a way of getting into people and changing them . History has shown, that the invaders got so trapped into her magic, that many made it their home. There is colour everywhere and cuisines that completely change if you travel 200km in any direction. Flora, fauna, terrain, climates, and even the physical appearance of people change as you travel from the hills in the north to the southern peninsula , or if you take a journey from the economic capital on the Arabian Sea, and reach the lush green tea estates of the far east. Something about its spirit and earthy love digs and settles deep into your being and tugs at your heartstrings as flashes of memories surface. On the anniversary of its birth this August, I would like to give you a small glimpse of my India , the memories of living in various places, across the land of my forefathers, and which will belong
Read more