“Post-retirement college life”
They say life’s a bitch. There are two sides to
every coin. For every bit of fun you have, there is a bit of misery waiting for
you. Life always takes you through a tough situation after you successfully
cross the lenient one. The toughest time of my life was the last day of my
college. After sending off two of my best buddies, I had to leave too. The
poignancy of the moment was inevitable, and then, all of a sudden, began the
last journey. Heart getting overloaded with emotions and eyes flooded with
tears, my sentiments seemed to reach a height from where it would be impossible
for them to fall back from. So, I tried to divert my thoughts any way I could –
any way that would bring some relief. Moments later, I felt those dark clouds
fading out and the climate of my heart getting pleasant. My tears subsided and
a broad smile appeared on my face and the last 24 hours of my journey started
seeming easy.
“College ke is
paar hum zindagi ko nachate hain, aur us paar zindagi hume!” Needless to
ask, this comes from Rang De Basanti. Having stayed in college during vacations,
I can very confidently say that college days are the best part of one’s life,
not because of the freedom or the canteen food; but because of the friends you
make and the relationships you build. ‘The
end of college life is the end of the happiest days, but also the beginning of
the most purposeful days of one’s life.’ I was fantasizing about the life
post the end of the most purposeful days of my life, days which were as
beautiful in my mind as the days before the beginning of the same. I was
wondering if this was not a good-bye. I was wondering if we’re destined to meet
again. I was wondering if we’re all leaving for a vacation and then we’re going
to come back to the same place and then continue our journey till the end. Of
course, vacation would have to mean a period of working.
We all have some dreams, some responsibilities, some
targets to achieve; and we’re on a vacation to do justice to those aspects of
life. And then one day, when we’ve earned our name, when we’ve established
ourselves as a person of note; and when we’ve tended to all the
responsibilities of our family, i.e. when our kids are settled in their lives;
then we’ll come back to a place and live together, again, as a family. Now
close your eyes for a minute and imagine what life would be when we meet again.
Far away from social responsibilities and formalities will be a world of our
own, just like it was in college -nothing to gain, nothing to lose and nothing
to give a rat’s ass about. And years hence, things will be the same again: our
mornings will begin with the appalling voice of Aditi and nights will end with
a spine-tingling, and immensely irritating, performance by Ravaliya and Luxmi. ‘Nikita
Maata’s’lj’s will be prone to causing
heart-attacks to everyone, but the daily laughter dose of my ‘katwa stories’ will keep our hearts
strong enough to bear them. By that time, Anusha will also get thousands more
reasons to be tensed and as many things to get angry at. And Kaushal will get
more brainless, and will probably end up in a mental asylum (preferably
Bareily) reading novels. Sumitabh will have divorced thrice till then (yeah,
THRICE), but won’t stop hunting for girls and sending them friend requests on
Facebook. Madhav’s wife (or gf) will keep getting angry at him every ten
minutes, leaving his face no option but to assume that famous expression of “Maine kya kiya?”everytime. Anupam will
probably not be able to find the right girl and will still be making out with
his ‘Barbie Das’. And yeah, the only
thing that won’t show even the slightest change is the expression on the face
of Body.
A common man sits on a chair and waits for death to
come and take him away from the cruel world. But in our case, there’ll be a
series of night outs and loads and loads of fun, and a life in our last few
breaths. And this time, there’ll be no good-bye. It’ll be, ‘Tu chal, mai aya…’
And now, every time I miss you people, every time my
sentiments seem to take over my consciousness, I fantasize about my life after
my ‘Retirement’ and start making ‘Post retirement plans’ for my life. This
fantasy has the power to literally shoo away my sadness and invigorate my soul,
just like your camaraderie had and still has.
