Of Chilly Paneer and Peanut Masala

It is said that a drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts. Pretty true it seems, going by the numerous encounters that an average engineering student is bound to go through during his stay at “a home away from home”, a cliché for hostel!

What might just start as a “party” thrown by the winning candidate in the backyard of the hostel after being declared victorious in the annual show recognized by closed gates, colorful stickers, riot control vans, and ofcourse open jeeps can turn into an elaborate affair for the next few years. However, towards the fag end, nothing looks elaborate; its just another day, just another meal, just a few friends and just a few clicking glasses.

Many different places have had their name in the hall of fame. First, the balcony of a dormitory, filled with people tired after dancing away an evening at the cultural fest of the college. Most of them, still not fully aware of even the names of each other. What follows is couple of hours of discussion on wide range of topics; music, movies, life, life partners, life after college and at one time I remember, even death in a few years! And ofcourse, what fuels all these discussions is a glass bottle (plastic ones aren’t considered good!), some glasses from the canteen, something to chutter and mutter and the time flies of. Though everything is forgotten the next morning, traces still remain in the memory even after a couple of years.

Next was that place right across the bus stand. The whole idea of just sitting at a table and someone serving was delightful. It quickly became one of the most common places where you could bump into your batchmates at the end of each paper. Then, someone discovers an open arena, with temporary sheds, on the outskirts of the city; the food awesome and it suddenly becomes the place where all birthday “parties” are celebrated. Lately, the place became so popular, that one had to start avoiding it, just because of the rush. A few more excursions here and there, some good, some really bad and a lot of time elapses in between these things. Two years almost.

Now, here we are, coming towards the end of our four years, for which I do not have an appropriate adjective. Things are relatively simpler and lot more enjoyable. A dimly lit room, a playlist running on a laptop, everything for the time being is “in-house” (again thanks to that annual show!), four or five people and time again flies away.

Time surely is flying away too fast, a couple of important things still to be done before we wind up. Don’t really know what are the odds of holding a bucket and tequila party; but that is certainly on the menu!