Sayonara!
He heard something; probably someone was calling him. He left packing and ran to the door as if he was really expecting someone to call him for some work however stupid... He heard voices as if someone was calling him for Brandmaps meeting, for HRM submissions or for just a coffee at Jaggu’s. He looked out of the door... there was no one, yet the voices kept coming in. From where did they come? Was someone there playing a prank on him? He was really doubtful because a very few had left in the hostel after the convocation ceremony. Then who was that? Was it his own mind or something else? Were those noises of winning the CS matches, the calls for the meetings, songs after the bucket parties that he heard were real or just a part of some really freaking mind games?
He kept thinking for a minute... He could actually witness all the happenings. There was his roommate talking to his girlfriend on cell and trying to be as low on voice as possible. He stood between the two groups who were taunting each other for the Cricket matches the other day. He could see his best friend riding a bike to some hotel, Fidalgo probably, for a usual midnight coffee with his not-yet-official girlfriend. Then there was the seven pointer topper of the class returning with his thick specs from the library with a serious notion on the face and the grief that the library was not open 24x7.
He witnessed all this again in a flash. He was back in his past experiencing one of those fun-filled nights at the hostel. Someone then bumped onto him. It was his neighbour... he was again in some trouble with his laptop just a night before some important submissions. He felt like laughing and mocking him that he had done almost everyday but then he suddenly saw a group of guys moving to a room; he followed. They all were discussing about someone... a gossiping session was ‘on’ probably. He felt like joining them, laughing, smiling and discussing some special news in a very low voice. But then he heard someone yelling at the top of his voice... he went there... one of the sincere guys was there standing taking out all his frustrations on some free riders in his team who were simply not concerned about his reaction and were in fact laughing at him. He felt pity for the scholar... Others were around him enjoying the fun but no one cared to come ahead and calm down the scholar, probably they wanted him to discharge his anger first or they just wanted to watch the fun; most probably both.
He left them to join the carom group. They all seemed to be professionals except for the language they used on losing a chance to score a point. The four players were actually surrounded by around 10 people, everyone acting and advising as if he were an old professional carom coach. The card players were busy in their own game and didn’t bother to even look at the others. Then there were some rooms which were closed... some scholars were actually studying hard at that hour too... The sincere guys... they always kept studying irrespective of any event or so, he felt. He always felt jealous over their power of concentration.
Suddenly he was back into reality.... he came from his past back to present... the once house-full corridor now looked deserted. All that fun, all those movements, all those activities, all those people were simply missing and he stood alone in that corridor. Living in memories was easy and the present, because of the same, seemed depressing... He probably was going to miss something. He had lived a great life here but had never realised that until this date. All those study meetings, all those counter strike matches, all those bucket parties, all those carom and card games went past his eyes as if they were happening live before his eyes. He couldn’t stand there. He moved on to the classrooms... Even there, every bench had some or the other story to tell... right from the presentations to dozing off in between the sessions...Right from the negotiations with the professors to extend the assignment deadlines, fights for the class participation marks to simple uncaught and at times caught attempts of copying in the surprise quizzes.
He bumped with someone... she was running fast from mess to the class, probably she was late and didn’t want the professor to shut the door denying her entry to latecomers. He smiled at her but she was too busy to reply... He preferred joining another group of students who had just headed for mess after the session. The mess was as usual full, his classmates had created a good crowd at the counter and were yelling at the top of their voices to get the food at the earliest... Some were running to the dining area with plates, others were just chatting around. He went on... to the quad to witness again all those birthdays, all that birthday spanking that happened there of birthday boys as well as their friends... He looked at the ladies hostel... a building so much near the quad yet remained so much distant because of the fine for boys entering in... He smiled... he remembered the days he kept on looking at her room window, the time he spent in playing basketball, cricket in the quad just to have a glimpse of her and then the Valentines’ day when his good old college friend and she announced about their affair...
He moved on now out of the college... to the ferry point where he had spent hours with friends chatting, at times gossiping or resolving quarrels. He remembered all those incidents... it was like a dream that went by or a movie that was being played in front of his eyes. Suddenly he realised, he had to pack. He started returning... the fish special hotel Annapurna, tea shop of Casa, the restaurant Gene’s all that had been so dear to him, all somehow seemed so distant to him... For the first time he felt he was not a part of that... he was somewhere away and looking at those just like that and not as a part of that scene. He started feeling lonely. He hurried to his room to see whether there was anyone to give him company for a moment or so, but there was none. He returned to his room and started packing. He had to leave soon...
His cab was at the door. The luggage had been loaded. He was about to sit into the cab when he just turned around to have a last look at the place where he had spent probably the best times of his life. His gaze seemed to roll over each and every object around as if it wanted to store everything in the memories for the last time... A tear rolled over his cheek; he himself couldn’t understand why, but again somehow he didn’t feel awkward crying in public even after being a guy.
A couple of moments later his cab kept travelling to the airport with him and his luggage but his mind still lost in that place, was it just because he was leaving a place where he had spent some the most amazing times of his life or because of some unknown bonding he had developed there, even he himself didn’t know... He just felt like saying ‘dasvidaniya’ rather than ‘alvida’ because as they say “saying ‘alvida’ kills all hopes of meeting again”...
1 comments:
its touching :) very nice..
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