Freshening Up

Last time around, i told you the story of my first few weeks (in short) and how things are in college – the culture, my friends and all that...

Things at this point in time were great... college was fun and everything before and after it was great too. The whole world being knit around me felt right... as I hopped between the late nights and early mornings and the super-high fives with Madhav (he’s 6’4”, so things worked out great... we’ve high 5’d from over 5 people at once!) and low fives with Mehr (something no one apart from the two of us would ever really understand.. the timing was flawless!), things looked great and life was awesome! And in the last week of July, word had spread that our Freshers Party wasn’t very far away. Of course, most, if not all girls, had started sorting dresses probably since the first week of college itself but never mind.

The date had been finalised and the party was organised for the 7th of August at a place called Leather Lounge on M.G. Road. Everyone around was a little apprehensive since it was a Thursday and we’d have to call it an early night but there was too much excitement in the air to really give a damn.

I’ll skip all the formal before-the-party descriptions (just picture a bunch of teenagers gearing up for one of their most ‘important’ parties of the year) and skip to the interesting bit. Or so, i think it is. The rest would be up to you to judge... (By the way, this might come as a surprise to quite a few people so this is pretty risky on my part!)

Now, the day before the party, Jo, Madhav and I were late to class and had to sit in a part of the class we wouldn’t usually occupy. There were really no issues in the seats. They were just as far from the front as we were accustomed to and the fans worked fine. The unusual bit was that we found ourselves in the immediate company of a group of girls who were, let’s say, people we’d smile at when they’d walk in. We were sitting right next to and talking to everyone there... I’m not saying much but you need to know this bit to get the whole story. Anyway, my point is, that was the first time we ever really spoke to them, me in particular and it wasn’t a bad, rather fun, experience.

That same day, when we went down to the mess, Mehr (who alongwith my ‘backup date’, Sneha, and Antariksh and everyone, had seen us talking us speak to those girls) pulled me aside and told me that I needed to do something. Apparently, this guy from the BBA section, Tanay was going to our freshers and wanted to ask this girl for it. And there was this thing where Tanvi liked him and things would’ve gotten messed up if he did. She knew, and I won’t deny it, that I, like every other straight guy in college, was generally attracted to and interested in her. And come on, MOST guys were. So anyway, Mehr tells me that i HAD to ask her to go with me to the dance, at least before Tanay, because she told him I had already asked her to the party and was going with her. So in the matter of half a day, she expected me to ask one of the more attractive girls in college to a big-ass party. And that whole day, again and again, she’d either walk past or come up to me and remind me of what i had to do. It was a matter of her pride and i had to prove my friendship by not letting her down. That day, a Wednesday, we had this thing called Design GupShup, a kind of club, but with a difference. They met every week and did some activity or the other and it was a direct forum for seniors and juniors to come together and interact. That day, they had Mad Ads as the activity and split us into groups. Madhav, who was going with Devika, one of our friends from SIMC (Symbiosis Inst. Of Media and Comm.), was in that girls team. Mehr, coincidently enough, walked past and gave me one more reminder... And unlike myself, by the end of it, in a very stupid way, i did ask her. To top it all off, i got a positive nod. We set a time, exchanged numbers, and went back to the rest of our days.

The next day, college just seemed endless, yet felt like it got over in a jiffy. When the wait was over, Madhav, who came to my room to get a tie to go with his shirt and jeans, and I, checked our watches and ran like the wind, got flowers and like good dates, reached on time and stood waiting for the ladies to come. Once they did, we took an auto each and headed to M.G. Road. On the way, we met some light showers that threatened to mess up her dress but a quick change in seating saved the day. We spoke during the journey and she told me about her long-term, long-distance relationship. That didn’t bother me cuz it wasn’t my motive to get into a relationship, not that early into my college life at least, and it wasn’t something that would mess up my night. It was meant to be very casual and my motive was to enjoy myself the best I could. I reassured myself and we spoke a little more. Soon enough, we had reached our destination. When we got there, the party was underway. A loud mix of lounge, house, bollywood, hip-hop and even rock were spun together by the DJ, who seemed to have been in love with the song Rise Up and the words “My dream is to fly, over the rainbow, so high” echo in my ears even today thanks to each of the times he played that song! Anyway, on our way to the party, while travelling in one of the shit expensive autos of Pune, the two of us had deal – No dancing. And since she didn’t drink and most others at the party did, I promised her I wouldn’t, though it wasn’t necessary – just so she had company in all regards. And well, the only things I drank by the end of the night were a complimentary Coke, a few glasses of water and some lemon juice! As far as the dancing bit of it goes, it didn’t take us very long to break the deal. After refusing to dance with the rest of our friends a few thousand times, we did. And we did for a very long time too. And it was fun. Lots of fun. Its hard to explain, but each of those steps, one more stupid than the other, gave me a high. And I felt really happy and full of energy as the minutes passed. I was shit tired by the end of it, but it was well worth it. It was by far the most fun I had while I was sober, in quite some time. And it felt good. I remember being stubbed by a random cigarette too, but even that didn’t really hurt. I was too happy to care. Plus, some ice from the bar did the trick. We danced like crazy. We sang our lungs out when the DJ just stopped all the music and played B.C. Sutta for our seniors. We laughed. We cried cuz’ we were laughing so loud! Some guy got drunk and was literally kicked out by bouncers too... but no one seemed to care... We clicked photos. I screwed most of those up by holding a chicken lollipop up randomly. But it made the pics more fun too. And memorable. It was a great party, though the place wasn’t too great. My world seemed to begin and end within the doors of that dark, loud hall. And it felt great!

The night went well, but that wasn’t the end of it. After the girls boarded a bus that would take them back to their hostel, we guys were left there. While most people went back, Madhav, Antariksh and I (the only sober people, though Madhav had a few drinks) were left with a whole bunch of really drunk people who refused to head back home and were on the lookout for a midnight snack when one of them had a bright idea and got everyone to head to the Comesum at the railway station which is open 24hrs. In 3 ricks, we went there, ate and headed back, making sure each of the drunk people reached this senior’s place with everything intact.

Over the next days, I spent quite a lot of time with that girl and we became really good friends. Since we were in the same class, we’d spend most of our days together and it was all good fun. However, all that became too much for some people to handle and people in the girls hostel had started linking us up. Since she was in a relationship, more so since it was long-term and long-distanced, it naturally bothered her. Though we took it as it came for a few weeks, soon enough things tipped for her and after we had a talk, we had to distance ourselves. That’s just how college is. It would probably be incomplete without the politics. And even though we haven’t become perfect strangers again, things aren’t really even close to being the same. They are just memories that i can blog about. And that’s pretty much it. So I guess I’ll just leave it at that.

By the way, just so you know, one of my new year’s resolutions is to blog more often. I’m hoping i stick to it cuz’ all the irregularity is leaving me with loads to catch up on every time i sit to write...

Until next time...

\m/.rock.in.peace.\m/