Countdown of 'Lasts'
First rain of the season brings back many memories, but the most prominent one has to be the memory of last semester of my graduation. It ended with first rain of Monsoon, rain that marked a milestone.
In all four years of college, that one semester was different. Our class always had a strong bond. We grabbed every opportunity to get together, be it for fun or for studies. But in that last semester, everyone had only one thought at the back of their mind that bothered us, ‘This is the last chance we are going to get to be together.’ I hated the word ‘last’, but somewhere in my mind too, the countdown was on.
Everyone had realized that little time was left. Final year projects, placement interviews, exams were fast catching up and we feared that we would lose that time to them. But much touted ‘engineers’ that we were, we stole whatever free time we had and turned it into the most cherished memories of our lives. Every little affair was like a social occasion to us. I remember our Dabba Party where localites brought a bigger tiffin from home. We the hostelites, skipped our lunch in mess and had a grand lunch on college lawn. I remember the sudden plans and quick executions of Formal Day, Black n White Day and Tapori Day. Tapori Day has to be mentioned specially, because everyone’s eyes that day, were on us. What a sight it was, guys and girls wearing handkerchiefs around their necks, shirts unbuttoned at the top, reversed caps, some chewing paan, some carrying chains in hands. The traditional day was different too. After lot of discussions, arguments and convincing, all boys finally agreed to wear dhoti and we stood apart from rest of the college. The last Gymkhana dinner and post-dinner photo-shoots were unforgettable.
I wonder, we could do all of this in previous years too. Why was everyone pumped up only then? It was because of the ‘last’ factor. Every night after a fun-filled day bothered me. Thoughts haunted me. ‘When will we get time to do this again?’ It was hard, moving on saying ‘Okay. That was probably the last time we had a photo session together. God knows when everyone will have time again just to hang out.’
Days passed. The painful feeling of end nearing in became more intense. Almost every little thing got tagged as ‘last’; last movie together, last practical, last lecture, last night-breakfast (late night tea served in mess in exam times), last time studying together and then… the last paper. Photos after the last paper best describe the mixed feeling in everyone’s mind, one part of it jumping with joy of last exam getting over, while the other deep in sorrow for all the fun that will be missed.
Days after the exams were fun too, everyone sitting at the Boat Club, playing Mafia for hours. I had decided that I would not leave hostel until everyone else left for home. I didn’t want to miss the last goodbyes. Everyone tried to stay as long as they could. But when they started leaving one by one, I couldn’t take it. Thought of someone leaving and the uncertainty of meeting him again pained me. View of locked I-420 brought me on the verge of crying. This was the room that never slept. There was always something going on and it was the favourite place to hang out for everyone on our floor. With my roommates and other friends gone, hostel turned horribly empty. I never imagined it would be so painful. In those lonely nights I cursed myself for deciding to stay till the end.
Finally the day came for me to leave. It rained that day; the first rain of the season. It rained like never before. Lights went off, sewers got flooded, and roads were jammed. It felt like the sky cried, like the city didn’t want me to leave. And beneath the raining sky was me, taking last looks at everything; my room, corridors where we celebrated so many birthdays, bench outside the mess which we used to laze upon on Sundays, Chai shop outside the gate and JM road where we strolled for countless times… I closed my mind, there was no space for more.
Some friends came to see me off. We bade goodbye with moist eyes. When the bus left it dawned on me that I was alone. A new journey had begun, journey of an independent life and I set off with treasured memories of unforgettable four years.
Since then whenever it rains those memories are projected in front of my eyes like a vivid picture. It reminds me that those golden moments though gone, will last forever. This is the ‘last’ that I’ve started liking.
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