Funny Story

Funny place this WIMWI. The first three days here were hell, no cooler, top floor in a furnace made of concrete, temperature in the 40's, and a huge set of books to boot with names so alien that I wished I was in my super-cosy, air conditioned cubicle with a bean bag just around the corner and free coffee any time of the day.

Not very slowly, but surely, those thoughts of comfort were driven out of my mind and I started hating this place just for the loneliness I felt in the midst of the 400 odd sheep here. Soon, I started getting acquainted with people in my dorm and with those who sat on my bench in the well. Funny all these people are, I thought. How different from the kind of friends I had in office. And how very different from the guys in college. These guys are so... icky.

Lekin samay chalta gaya aur baatein badhti gayi,
kuch naye dost bane jinke saat baaton me raatein bhi katti gayi.

Study groups, clubs and dorm were the places where I spent most of my time. And even though I pined for my life before I entered this place, I grew to accept WIMWI as a part of my life. Still, the visits home were the most cherished part of the year. Meeting my friends, eating ma's food, teasing my sis about her stupid choice of yuck nailpolish, and driving. Driving in Chanakyapuri, driving on expressways, driving to obscure places in Mehrauli.

But in the midst a year had passed. I had made many trips home by now and the awesomeness of being at home was fast growing stale. Even when at home I found myself missing the freedom of playing whatever I wished on my speakers at 6 am. I missed teasing the fuchchas, listening to Shababi. I missed Z's random dramatic entrances into my room, where he would empty his little bottle and go and fill it again and come back, only to repeat this many many times. I missed Chichora's habit of walking around with his mobile's handsfree dangling as if it was the sacred thread. CV and his irritating habit of being on the phone all the time, Horny's "Mai bore ho raha hu. Kuch kare?", RC's "Tiny, Kuch lete kyu nahi?". The way Bazaaru will play just the one song on a loop, the way Focus would laugh like a demon and scare the shit out of me. I have now begun missing it all.

Funny. And when I look ahead I see myself getting out of this place so soon. Just a month more over here and then I would be heading to France. By the time I come back everybody would be busy with placements and poof, just like that, it would all be over. And it seems as if I just got here..!

Never thought I would say this, but I wish I was back in the first year. I would still do it the same way, I would still be super frustrated in the sixth slot. I would still hate the fact that I learned nothing substantial, that everything happened too quickly for me to digest, but I would still be more than a year away from leaving this place.

I never felt this way when I left NSIT. I was sad that my friends were all going to different places, but was excited about my job. I did feel this way when I left my job, because I left the most awesome set of friends behind, but they were always there and I could go back anytime to meet them. But here, it's more than just friends. It's more than the dorms, more than the campus, more than the stupid Joos or the ridiculously expensive CT. It's that which makes me wanna go for a walk at 6 in the morning, behind the girls dorms, in that little wood. It's what makes me want to have night out after night out, alone, or with friends. It's what makes me write on my blog early in the morning, it's what makes me sing when everybody else is sound asleep. It's what makes me walk around the 3rd floor in my kurta (Yo!). It's what makes me wanna spend a long long time here. I can't really put my finger on what that is, but hey fellow wimwian, can't you feel it too? :-)

PS: Of course, I wrote this post when at home and missing WIMWI :-)

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