The evening of Feb 5, 2016, my last college sports day happened. My department were participating in the march past. The uniform was navy blue pant and sky blue shirt with a Cap, black shoes and a belt. The attire looked like a Navy uniform. I gave my best wishes to the participants. I was assigned to the duty of sitting throughout the event as audience. I was also unofficially assigned to the duty of being an in-charge for bags of my best friends who marched. A video about sports achievements by my college students was played. I was awestruck by the range of talents our Indian women are capable of achieving. Then the march past by all the departments in the college began. When my department’s turn to march in front of the Chief Guest came I clapped like anything to cheer them up.
Afterwards, prize distribution happened for a long time which made my back to ache. Finally! They announced the results for the march past for which my department won. The people who marched were so elated after hearing they won. Some hugged each other, some high-fived and some screamed in joy. I felt immensely proud and at the same time sad about missing all these marvellous people who made three years of my life worth living. So, I stood up from my seat, picked all the bags and went to congratulate them. Before I started congratulating, they hugged me with their tawny appearances. All of them started to take Selfies and photos. I hesitated to join them during their victorious photograph session and took a step back. But my dear friends insisted I come in their photos because this is final year anything can happen so we all need memories for a happy ending, so I also joined them on their request. These small gestures make me feel included and makes my life complete.
After the event got was over, I was thinking how to catch a bus and my close friends offered me to drop me at my house. At first I thought of saying no but the place was getting darker and I have no idea which bus stop to take so I went along with them. They thought of taking an auto to the Chetpet railway station. But all the autos were booked and filled with passengers. So, we decided to walk till Chetpet railway station. My friend asked directions from a person. We walked, talked and giggled to our silly jokes. Then, I saw a dog sleeping on the porch of the house we were walking by. I showed it to my friends but the dog got alert, started to bark and I thought the gate was open and screamed “Gate-u thorandhu iruku” (the gate is open in Tamil) and my friend became alert and about to hit the dog if it pounces on us. The hilarious thing was the gate was locked and I panicked for nothing. The people around us must have thought we were bunch of weirdoes. But we laughed about it throughout our journey to reach the station.
I have never seen so many turns in a road to reach prime location like Chetpet Railway station. It turned out to be a shortcut taken by the local people to reach the place. It leads us to the tracks instead to the platform of the station. So, we crossed the railway tracks and climbed the stairs to the platform. My friend took the tickets and we entered the ladies compartment of the train. We spoke and laughed and I felt a pang of melancholy of missing these moments in the future. Then we reached Guindy and I struggled my way to get out of the compartment. I thought of taking a bus but they gave the stare like don’t you dare go alone. So, I tagged along with them. We reached my friend’s house and waited for the other friend’s mom to arrive and pick us up. I was given coffee and murruku (Indian snack) in the meanwhile.
My friend’s mom came along with her little sister. Her little sister was excited about the big place outside the house to play around. She started roaming and skipping outside. Meanwhile, all the elders sat, spoke and somehow the discussion ended up with their daughter’s (My friends) future education. I always try as much as possible to neglect whatever serious discussions done by elders unfortunately I had to listen as I am a guest. I was a bit jealous that my friend’s sister is happily skipping outside while I am stuck here listening to boring stuff. So, after a long exhausting education and career related debate we all said our good-byes and entered my friend’s car.
We drove and when I was close to reaching my home my dear friend remembered to buy me a shawarma. I felt guilty for not buying her anything, so I wanted to say no thanks or escape or do something but too late. They stopped at the authentic Arabian cuisine restaurant nearby to my home. Aunt went to the restaurant to buy shawarmas. I spoke to her sister for a while. Kids are one pure joy to talk with. They are straight-forward, adorable and up to the point. They left me safe and sound at my home. I cut the shawarma into three pieces for me, for my brother and for my mom. The pieces looked more like a murder scene. The stuffing were came out of the flat bread. I am horrible at dividing food pieces. I took the first bite and didn’t get the yummy taste. I discovered that I like more Indianised or indo-fusion foods. The shawarma I had during my childhood had spicy marinated and cooked tandoor chicken and lots of mayonnaise as filling. But the one I ate consisted of well prepared bland chicken pieces. The fault was not in the shawarma it was in my taste buds.
For most of the people I know visit beaches, multiplex, movie theatres, shopping malls, window shopping, long drive, cafes, and any places of their interest as a hangout. But for me having a simple walk with a person whom we admire and takes good care of us is the best hangout. And, I felt many glimpses of it that day. Will miss these moments but will never regret or forget it. Thanks to those people who make my and a person’s life better.
