The Miss and the Miss-not

I'm done with exams! In other words, I'm done with college. Completely. Fully. Totally. Ah, the pleasures of blogging after almost an entire month. It feels good to finally sit relaxedly and type.
I think i've gone on quite a bit about finishing college in previous posts, and, surprise surprise, i'm going to go on a bit more in this post. I thought the time is just right to make a list of some of the things i'm SO going to miss about the past 3 years, and some things that i'm so happy to kiss goodbye.
I'll start with the 'miss-nots':

1. Waking up early
I'm done with waking up at 6 everyday! Ha ha...the single worst thing about college was the time it started at. 7.45a.m is way too early an hour to report for classes, especially for people like me who sleep the best in the early hours of the morning, and who had kinda gotten used to starting classes at 10a.m when i was in Canada, right before I came to India. Now, I'm pretty sure Mum is not going to let me snooze past 8 at the best, but 8 is oh so much better than 6. TWO EXTRA hours of precious precious sleep!

2. Atendence Alarms
No more stressing over attending every lecture just to get good internal marks! Yippee! I don't need to spend any more hours in a stiffling classroom listening to a certain professor drone on and on in a very strange accent of a very strange language that could really not be English considering how she speaks it!

3. Pesky Politics
I think The Worst memory i carry of college is the stupid group of people responsible for organising cultural activities and all. Ok, so they did a good job mostly and maybe i don't have a right to comment since i never even volunteered to help, but the bottom line is that they did play ugly politics a lot, like not giving everyone an equal chance to practice, favauritism, 'groupism', bla bla...don't really want to think about it now. But i do hope that life teaches them a lesson or two about it now that we're out into the 'big bad world'.

4. Pointless Learning
I've spent a good part of the past three years cramming (or 'mugging up' as it's called here) word-to-word definitions of stuff said by people who're so long gone that you would find nothing but soil if you exhumed their graves. And i don't have to do it anymore. Ever. *mighty sigh of relief* I never for once understood - and WILL never understand - what is the point of so much rote learning at UNDERGRADUATE level of study. I so wish Gujarat University some day evolves a system where they test actual KNOWLEDGE rather than memory.

5. Queues (hope that's the right spelling! I'm having a bit of a spelling-crisis these days)
I've lost count of the number of hours i've spent standing in queues that just didn't move during the past three years. Whether it was submitting the application form or paying fees or collecting marksheets or getting a medical checkup done, queues have been an integral part of my college life. :P I so wish people could use some common sense while waiting in queeue though. Some patience wouldn't hurt either. It would sure as hell prevent the queue from turning into a crowd with people pushing and shoving and elbowing like they're about to meet SRK or something. (I wouldn't indulge in such behaviour even if it WERE to meet him! No one's going to feed your marksheet to their dog, people. So just WAIT your turn, for God's sake!)

Hmm, i think that's about it with the miss-nots. Now, for all the things i'm going to miss like crazy:

1. Early morning 'gup-shup'
I live quite far from college, so I always left home early to avoid any traffic, which means i usually reached college atleast 10 to 15 minutes before the first bell went. Apart from the fact that mornings are definitely the best (read: coolest) part of the day in India and that i loved the breeze against my skin and the lush green of the lawns and the trees swaying gently in the breeze, a couple of friends used to arrive early too. And we'd stand by the staircase chit-chatting as other students gradually poured in. Those few minutes of 'gupshup' are definitely something I'll always cherish about my college life.

2. Laugh Riot
Sitting in class, listening to every word, making notes, yet simultaneously having lots and lots of fun is something i've truly mastered. A silly comment here, a witty comeback there; lectures have been full of some of the best, and some of the lamest jokes ever, and boy am i going to miss it all. Where am i going to get my essential daily dose of humor now?

3. Ami Ma'am
She's definitely one of THE BEST teachers i've ever had! And i'm going to miss her so much She's my idea of the ultimate woman: intelligent, independent and doing a job she loves (and is damn good at too). She only taught me for two years but she's one of the greatest influences in my life. Whenever i'm faced with some kind of a conflict, I make myself think what SHE'D say about it, and i almsot always feel immediately reassured and calmer. Will definitely miss her lots - she's taught me more than every other teacher combined!

4. Zipping around
I've lived my entire life (until just before college) in Kenya, where i was always chauffered around in a centrally locked car. So the pleasures of zipping around on a two wheeler with the wind in my hair and nobody to stop me was something totally out of this world for me. I loved the times when my friends and i would just DECIDE to go out for some chai at the famous 'Ram Bhai ki kitli' near IIM, or vadapav near Vastrapur Lake or anywhere at all, and would hop onto Activas and Scootys and bikes and zoom off. I don't even have a vehicle of my own because i can't drive, but those carefree, blissful drives anytime, anywhere, are going to stay with me forever. :)

5. After Hours
This is about something that became a sort of a ritual during the last year. Every day, since we would have an unusually full timetable and would be mentally drained by the time that much-awaited last bell went, we decided that we needed to chill out a bit before heading home. So a group of us would gather in a specific corner of the lush green lawn (which we came to quickly regard as 'our spot') and just enjoy each other's company. Sometimes we hardly talked, preferring to listen to some soothing music instead, other times we'd have deep heart-to-heart chats about life and love and the future and what-not, and yet other times, we'd totally lose it and 'play-act' hillarious 'dramas', improvising our dialogues spontaneously and assigning 'roles' to anyone else who would care to join in. I remember once, when we were having a particularly melodramatic, very-reminiscent-of-hindi-tv-soaps, drama, people around us actually got up and left, wearing disturbed, irritated expressions. Lol. That was crazy, but oh so much fun!

6. Friends!
Most of all, I'm going to miss all the lovely people who've become such an integral part of my life over the course of the past 3 years. I'm not just talking about my close friends, the group of people i hang out with, but others too...who I may never see again. Whether it be those people who were among the first to talk to me on my first day in first year, or classmates who i've shared a great rapport with, or even random people who I've known and spent time with now and then. They've all left me with wonderful memories which I'm sure i'll cherish forever.

7. All those li'l things
All in all, there are so many little things - good as well as bad - which will bring a smile to my face when i think of them. Giggling uncontrollably with a friend while a professor told us off and the entire class looked on in bewilderement, attending garba nights all decked up in traditional wear, having mini photo sessions every other day, eating banana chips and ending up with black pepper smeared all around my mouth, the din and echo of a hundred voices and footsteps in the corridors as soon as the bell rang, the boring 'life-lectures' of a particular professor which a lot of us soon knew by heart, the irritatingly slow fans and rushing to get a seat directly under one for some respite from the sweltering heat, the smell of fresh-cooked chinese food from the cantene during recess, the musty smell of wet earth and the filthy puddles of water during the monsoon, the stressing over exams, the jokes, the arguments, the happy smiles, the hot gossip, the occasional bunked class, the stupid crushes, and the not-so-stupid ones...geez, i feel nostalgic now! So going to miss St. Xavier's...so so much!

Song in my mind at the moment: Kal..rahe ya na rahe...yaad ayenge ye pal..