My Small Moments

With just over a week left for this chapter of my life to close, I cannot help but feel nostalgic about the four years I spent here, at one of the "premier engineering institutes" of this country. I still remember the mixed feelings I had while coming here, not unlike those I'm having now. A sense of accomplishment at having cracked arguably the toughest entrance examination, a sense of apprehension about what awaits me in an "IIT", a whole gamut of emotions too complex to explain.

Four years later, I must say that I have learnt a lot here. Though I do not have much to show regarding my prowess in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, which incidentally was my major here, I leave with something a lot more important.... friends and experiences. From the most random and unplanned trip ever to a scenic Gangtok to a visit to IIT Guwahati on a "debate" that turned out to be much much more for reasons I had never expected, to being able to visit Spain, Italy, France, Singapore... places I had only dreamed about. I made a lot of friends, some close, others closer...while people entered my life and left, some being my fault while others of their own volition. All in all its been one heck of a rollercoaster ride, scary, exhilarating, with a lot of ups and downs, but on the whole a lot of fun.

But you ask what are the memories that I take back from this place ? So which are the memories I cherish the most out of all the myriad of emotions faced...? Because, after all, as said in El Secreto de sus ojos, "Its only memories that you take to your grave" :) . Well, I had initially expected it to be tough to pick out single incidents but surprisingly I find that a few memories stick out the most.

For example, Spring Fest this year was very happening for me. Making new friends, meeting up and hanging out with old ones, going for salsa, hockey et all... but surprisingly its not any of these that stick out in my mind as much as one single moment, one plain and insipid act that didn't even warrant much attention. Now I don't know why that stands out so much for me, but it does. Because when it comes down to the basics, its not the Indian Ocean concerts that I'll remember or even my first and only "EX" in IIT (yes I just put that in there to show that I got one :P). Its the small things that will stay with me, the small moments that I shared with various people, whether it be the time when a friend popped an innocent Melody into my mouth catching me unawares (yes somehow THATS the memory that stands out the most for me this Spring Fest.. weird but true), or the time when you just sat quietly alongside someone special with a beer and a B52 in front of you, the time when you exchanged a knowing glance with a friend across a table in Gangtok, the times when you came out of a viva (always with the same guy and the same marks, Shishir and 0), the times spent sitting in Cheddis and Tikka and Shady's with a cup of tea and no intention of getting up, the time your Jacks and Aces full house got beat by an Aces and Jacks full house, the time when an awkward question (or two) popped up for a friend during a Truth and Dare session, the time when a friend laughed so hard that sauce spurted out the nose, the time when a lunch box was handed over at the train station, the time when a friend and I were forced to practice stopping hockey balls at 5:30 in the morning (still half asleep), the moments are as innumerable as they are innocuous.

As I said before, there have been ups and there have been downs, some moments that hurt a lot and some that didn't, some that made me happy and some that left me nonplussed. But overall I would like to think that all this made me better and stronger for any trials and tribulations that this world has to offer because, and believe you me, I have done almost everything that could be done in my time here. I'd heard that college life would be fun and something to remember, but I never knew it would be this awesome. From the people in my first year, Uppu, Chor, Ledi, Sunil, Chom, Baniya, Majdoor to the people I met later Prateek Agrawal ("jcb anyone?? vs ??"), Thusuda ("wooo"), Bubs ("kyaa"), Urmaliya, the whole poker house, Dubeyda, and a whole lot of people.. the gadhis, the losses and mona... these are the people who made this "trip" memorable.

A lifetime of experiences that I take from this small nondescript place called Kharagpur. Four years that taught me more about life than I could have imagined, four years that taught me (to use a poker analogy) that even if you have a strong hand and suffer a really bad beat, you have got to have the sack to ante up again. Four years that I will cherish forever, for the small moments that made the ride worthwhile, four years that now I will never get back but will always have with me. Four years that taught me more about myself than I could have imagined, four years made up of moments of a lifetime.