The flashback cushion!

I was thinner in college. That’s a good reason I want to go back to college. And that means I feel liking travelling back in time every morning as I look at myself in the mirror before heading to office. Every morning as I see that tummy bulge out of line of control!

But then that’s just one of the reasons. Trivial probably… because there are so many others… College life is always inviting. Except when you are in college yourself!

Stepping into college makes everyone feel grown up. I almost gave up wearing jeans. Grownups wear formals. Good sense prevails as I landed in Bangalore and realised formals need for too much maintenance. Jeans are just good. Wear for a month without wash and no one would notice. Heck, it would be termed style! And till date I swear by my jeans. Lessons learnt in college!

Such lasting lessons, such fond memories! And to think of it, the first day of college always means so much of uncertainty in the mind of students as they walk in. I remember the day I walked into college. I tried being invisible. Something I have always been… but then on the first day of college it is just not possible. Certainly not if you decide to walk into the canteen… I did that. Oh how I was made to dance! It was a simple step… crush the cigarette butt with your left foot, and fix the light bulb with your right. And then some other step. And then I sang. And then some questions… I suppose I did manage to impress them.  I was welcomed right away.

The canteen soon became a place where I spent most of my day. In subsequent years I saw new students doing same dance step, same salutations… and gradually fitting into the ever expanding family! A family where members would fight, celebrate, experiment and probably discover themselves… I did! For an invisible, college was a time when I and my friends tried a whole lot of things. We even tried working a bit! But work was only secondary. Enjoying college was a full-time experience… and I thank my stars I did that to the hilt. Because today as work leaves me with little time to anything else I at least can look back and say to myself ‘Hey! I did try that too’. I did indeed!

Canteen was where we checked out girls. Well we did that at the library too actually. But since talking was not allowed in library the canteen was the sought out place. And that favourite corner of the canteen. The corner where we planned the first inter college festival organised by the department, the first and only fashion show I choreographed, the cricket matches, winning those medals. College was the time I did the best I could do. Probably in some way I discovered myself. And I could speak the same for so many of my friends.

Probably that’s why I wish to travel back in time too. As the life in its entire mundane self takes charge one does tend to lose himself. At least I have my memories of college to remind me who I intended to be!  I shiver at the thought of not having those moments to go back to.

Times have changed. Though I remain a student, college has long passed. And as I meet today’s students, things seem to have changed. I see first year students in college getting into full time jobs; or jobs that leave them with little time to probably discover the pleasures of college. The race to stay ahead in life…  My word for them: go discover yourself first before you discover your job! And trust me, there is no place better than college to do that.

Please note: Checking out girls and being a letch are different. Be the later at your own risk! You would not want to be one!

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