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Manipal
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Manipal...........If I can go back in time
It was night 8.00 clock. The tiresome journey from Hyderabad was about to end with the bus just turning into Manipal.After much persuasion I had managed to convince my parents to send me to hostels, and now I was just abt feeling why I had put myself in it. It was 21st of December. The roads were dark and few people tread on the streets. Managed to find the Hostel block and was introduced to my roommate for first year. His name was Jayant...a silent chap who later went on to make folklores to be remembered for long. Not that each one dosnt do it, in manipal everyone makes his own stories, some remembered some forgotten. I made many of my own and should say lots are remembered even today. Classes were due to begin 23rd december. Excited as I was to begin my tryst with engineering, I raced to find my classroom in the new building complex. This building is supposed to be a architectural marvel, a complex of eight buildings connected with each other. Even by the time I left college I could find new nooks and corners in this building and who knows some of the construction workers could have been lost in this complex and will find their way out sometime. Days flew by. From cricket inside fourth block, to the herd mentality of going to the mess routine just set in. Soon came first semester and then second. A year had passed with lot to remember. Lot of friends made, lots of new people, new personalities. Each a gem of his own making. Second year was decided to be spent in 8th block. We graduated from Vegetarian mess to the Non Vegetarian. For the first time we got to sit in the Library which was out of bounds for first years. Third semester brought along with it a new set of classmates. A strange bunch...which was divided into what is the perenial divide in Manipal - The always head in clouds ( Guess it was downtown or Sigma that caused it), waiting for the next opportunity to freak out, the ever industrious "Hostelite" and the stonewalls to ideas, and mamas kids "Localites". But it was a nice mix. There was rarely a moment when there was not some excitement in air. Back in the blocks my friends had got split into two buildings and time was spent in either my own room or in the other hostel block. The most significant part of second year were the cricket matches between my very own hostel block and the other hostel blocks.
Third year came and I shifted into 10th block. 20 of my
friends and just abt the best little place one can find for a person in entire campus. My
future room mate was opposite my room ...the notorious damu or Motu. Others included the
"Man who spent 1000s on Chikki - aka bun" , "Can I get 5 rupees,if not 2
Rs..Vin Pai", "Jai Junkesh- Ajeez", "Mr GRE personified...Aseem",
"Japanese Mantra - Rakesh", "Star Batsman - Puski", "The creative
artist - Guruprasad.. Time flew...and so came fourth year. The year which no one wanted...time to leave was approaching fast. Everyone knew it in heart of hearts...a suppressed emptiness that moment of reckoning is coming. The day when each one will spread his wings and fly off to seek new grounds,,,new pastures...Barrons and Word lists became the order of the day. Project work started and night oil was burnt to make the Voice Recognition system work. Hundereds of "Yes","No","Open" and "Close" ...all an effort which now seems ......well I dont have the right words to put it. In all this people managed to sneak in n number of picnics, movies, pranks......Soon it was 10th of June...the day I had booked my ticket to go back home. Final year had finally ended....Well didnt want to see anyone leave before me...so was the first to leave. I had managed to land a job at Tata Consultancy Services and my next destination awaited me................... And the question still remained with which I started If I could ever go back in time and relive those moments!!!
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