While people sat to discuss career prospects and went between their exams to give a million entrances, I laid in bed, quilled cards, shopped, got told off, occasionally felt guilty, studied now and then, wrote, gave just 2 entrances (TISS and DU for social work. I didn’t give JNU. And I got looks) and ordered tons of food and bloated into a ball. I even distracted juniors by talking about dream men and engagement rings the night before an exam. I reminded myself of my high cool quotient, because I was interning with BASIX and was earning 6000RS per month, I had a super cool boyfriend, I am pretty and I was the super senior, thanks to previous years of borderline cleared attendance!
I passed third year unscathed with 35% attendance while 66.6% was compulsory. Hey, trust me, even I didn’t think that would happen. For some time, I thought I’d have to repeat that year and it didn’t seem too bad back then. Well, why would it seem bad to a carefree, pampered brat bestowed with parental riches? I don’t know where that confidence came from, because had I been detained, I’d be writing this post from my grave. All I understood back then was kinship, friendship, internship and… uhm… courtship!
I guess because there are no reasons for absolute madness!
Ahh-ohh! Confessed too much!
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One humid day, sometime during the beginning of the session in July, while walking into the mess for lunch,
“Hi, do you need help?”
“Please” I said and caught onto her hand. “First year?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Third year” I paraded, surely she didn’t notice.
After a brief introduction and a hurried chat in Tamil over quick spoonfuls of kaddi chawal, before the afternoon classes, I invited her to my room that evening. And she turned up. I thought she was homesick and was looking for an elder sister in me. What all seniority can do to you!
But how can you blame me? That’s how I was when I was in my first year. I asked whether she was missing home and she said yes. See?
After a few crazy, intelligent conversations and my birthday dinner when my friends with much super seniority made her wash a dirty saucepan, we became buddies. We poked fun and cracked too many inside jokes. We became buddies, sisters, well; we had other plans as well.
So now, drums roll…
Introducing my sweetie sponsor… put your hands together for Anuradha Rao!
Because she has a lot to say about me!
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The moments you can't put into words.
There are some moments that are terribly hard to describe. The amazement at a finished piece of quilling, the excitement on knowing you'll have south Indian food from Saravana Bhavan for dinner, the high feeling when you've laughed so much with a friend that you just can't laugh any more or the honour on being asked to write a guest post in the world's most entertaining blog.
It's difficult to explicitly explain these brilliant moments in words- they need to be lived. And I have lived them all. Lucky me right? I know you're probably thinking- what's in a few good moments? They come, they go, so what's the big deal? You couldn't have been more off the mark. It's this sequence of crazy, weird, mental, beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime moments that build unforgettable memories. And it helps if you have a crazy, weird, mental, beautiful, one-of-a-kind friend to share them with.
I can't even begin to describe how sad it is when a whole year of fun-filled happiness with a special person like this comes to an end. I've had to live with it every day of the past four months, and trust me, it's not easy. I don't speak of it often, because not many understand. Nobody else can appreciate the depth of that void without experiencing something like it.
So when I was asked to write this post, I jumped at the opportunity. But for a long time, I wondered. What do I write about? The topics suggested to me included Federer (oh, but that post would never end then) and the Beatles (there's nothing to write really- they need to be heard, not read about!). So then I decided I'd write about the time I spent with the person who suggested these topics in the first place. Who also happens to be the person who runs this blog, just by the way. It's not possible to put it all down in one post (not even a thousand page tome would suffice)- oh no, don't get me wrong.
It's not a problem to do with a space constraint at all. It's to do with not being able to express those intangibly amazing emotions in writing. Sometimes, words are just not enough.
By Anuradha Rao
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Old gems digged!
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