Quarter Century OR just a blink of an eye?

Has your flight every got cancelled? Yes, maybe and you felt really bad when

that happened. When that happened the airlines booked you in another flight. Has it ever happened that the flight you were booked into ALSO got cancelled? Well, that happened to me yesterday on returning from SJR @Roorkee. I took 28 hours to reach Mumbai from Roorkee. I am sure some of the US/UK batchmates would have reached earlier. That should have really pissed me off. But you know what? It didn’t. The spirit (I like the Hindi word “Suroor”) of meeting all friends and visiting the campus was so high that nothing mattered.

“Will I recognize anyone?" was the question that repeatedly did rounds in my head, "Has the University changed after so many years?" (I still don’t feel like calling it IIT), "Does the UOR spirit still lingers?" and many such thoughts were put to rest the moment I laid my eyes on the first set of classmates who had flown from around the world for the 25 years reunion of our batch that graduated in 1993. At that very moment the quarter century just time warped from the memories and the time we spent together flashed back, fresh as if it all happened just yesterday. Most of us were still in our teens when we joined UOR and surely the first time we had moved out of our nests. Just a glance at the Main building brought the crystal clear image of me ambling there with everyone else. The moment I got down at Satkar brought back memories of the first smoke we had there. A walk past my room in Ravindra & Cautley reminded me of “Taking Test. Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors in the former and riding our ‘ghoda’ cycles in the long corridor of the latter. I was there seeing myself quarter century back as vividly as it could be. Meeting jhatka-mates reminded me of the proxies we put for each other to the extent of even getting caught, formation of ICCC, doing practicals and of course THEOlogy. The lathe machine and foundry were fresh in my mind as we walked passed the workshop. “Ho Gaya, Ho Gaya” shouts… Movies in Hangar… Pinky (I think she still exists)… Slowing down when cycling / walking past SB… God, I can go on and on... Everything seems to be just happening right in front of our eyes AFTER 25 f@#$in' long years...

We all grew up together on Bun-om & special Maggi and went from teenage to adulthood guiding each other (some needed more guidance than others J). Being an almost all-boys batch had its own charm and peculiarities. We could never know crap like "she is my girl" or "mine is bigger than yours" kind of stuff. The friendships were pure, straightforward and uncomplicated. Everyone was equal and no one gave a damn anyways. And in those days there was nothing like homosexuality, at least I didn't know about it. In fact, we realized, that even religion, race or caste had absolutely no relevance in those days. TV programming was limited, no computers, no mobile phones, no nothing that we are dependent today to while away our time. So, how were we actually spending our time then? Surprising, isn't it?

All of us chose our own paths - some driven by choice and some by destiny – Managers, IAS, IPS, Entrepreneurs, Bankers, Stock Brokers, a few still continued to Engineers, Filmstars, Gigolos... (The last two are to just add some glamour but then one never knows as they say "Life begins at 40"). Most got married and subsequently made their contribution to the country's population (Prabhuji still awaits for his perfect life partner. Others can help)

And then we all met AFTER 25 years... And we forgot that we were all in mid-forties,

we forgot that we were married and some of the wives were around looking at us with complete awe as we turned back into eighteen, we forgot that our kids were there as we back-slapped each other like we did when we were their age, we forgot we were CEOs, VPs, IPS, MDs etc and back to being the bumchums we were back then. None of us wanted to return to the present, to what we are now. We all wished the time would stall and we could be in Roorkee forever. We hugged and held on to each other.

We were all apologetic we hadn't kept contact all this long but then we all promised to each other that we would not repeat the same mistake. With that we begin our life's new chapter in which the friends are back to make our life more lively and full of fun...

Some of the batchmates couldn't join... I heard someone saying "We are definitely missing them but more than that it is THEY who have missed this once-in-a-lifetime get-together"...

Some of the classmates have passed on to a better world and we missed them all.. Some were untraceable... We wish they are all safe and prosperous...

Smile... Sob...