For the past two years I had waited for this day. But when it came… it felt like it came too early.
After all, I had just started enjoying my vacation at IIMB.
Hours after hours of doing nothing.. playing World of Warcraft in the Computer Centre Lab night after night, taking a walk to Athica’s with friends at 2’o clock in the night for a cup of coffee, sitting in the OAT at 4 AM in the morning bitching about people, getting drunk on L^2 parties (and hitting on a girl?), watching a night show in a theatre and on our way back doing a little jig in the rain… the second year of my stay at IIMB was as chilled out as the first year had been rigorous, perhaps more … not because it was designed that way by the Insti… but because I had decided, after a lot of deliberation, that I want to enjoy this one year of my life to the fullest.
And enjoy I did. From travelling to Malaysia on a fraud project in a fraud course, to vacationing in Goa, to not mugging for FSA mid-term because I had to finish reading that newly released Harry Potter book (and thus, somewhat foolishly, showing the middle finger to grades), to organizing Karaoke parties in the night to the annoyance of the entire Girls’ Block, to spamming away to glory on all the BRacket folders in the name of ATF… second year at IIMB was fun. But always, somehow… there was an eagerness to run away from the place which had so few happy memories for me… I had always waited for the day when I will finally go far far far away from this hell-hole…
Now I realize how wrong I was… At times, we do not realize what is it that we actually want… maybe I didn’t realize too.
Second year was as different from the first year as it possibly could have been. Maybe because we knew by then that in this race for surging ahead of each other, in this game of marks and money… we are falling behind in this journey called life… we knew by then how to bend rules of the Insti, how to study just before exams and manage the passing grade, how to keep safe distance from the RG-loving, marks-hungry junta… how to ignore people who really don’t matter and … how to live your life your way.
Second year also shattered some myths for me… most important was the realization that my expectations have been misplaced all along… it is not necessary for friends to be like-minded, to crave for the same thing, to follow the same road. I made friends who couldn’t have been more different from me, they still are and will always be… and they formed part of every bit of fun that I had at the place. Had it not been for them, I don’t know if I would have survived IIMB at all. We have fought, we have shared, we have celebrated, we have cried together… have shown each other different facets of the world, have been each others’ conscience, have prayed for each other…
And all that was over…
I remember the day I left campus…
Mummy and Papa were waiting in the cab.. all my luggage had been loaded. I locked the room and rushed to the Hostel Office to deposit the keys… the corridors were deserted. Most students had already left campus. And those who remained would do so in a couple of hours. The first years were busy writing an exam…
It was in that moment that the feeling sank. So, this is it? IIMB is over?
I tried hard to contain tears.. not in front of Mummy and Papa!.... A couple of friends were standing near the cab to see me off… I felt strange. I didn’t know what to say. It was like I am leaving a part of me behind. I looked at the campus one last time… took in everything. There are thousands of things I can complain about and I have been doing that in all earnest. But I know one thing for sure - these were the two best years of my life.
