30 Nov 10-11-12

I was not the first one to get up. Shanthi's mother and Kavya were already awake. I freshened up and sat on the side lower berth looking outside the window. I watched with amusement as familiar scenes went by. First came Mangalore Junction and then came Mangalore Central. We got know that the train would go even to Surathkal station. But then it would have started from Central only after half an hour so we decided to go by road. I saw Meenal's bargaining abilities when we booked a taxi to college. I got down at the junction near GB and walked towards boys hostels, passing in front of Main Building. I started getting calls from juniors and batch-mates. The excitement rushed in again. I went to my juniors'  wing which was the wing opposite to one in which I was staying in my final year. They were staying in the same rooms. Unlike us they were allowed to continue in the same rooms.They came out yelling hellos. The greetings, the slang, the lingo. I was loving it. Gult batch-mates called up and asked me to come to Food Court. We met up there, hugs and high fives. Mechwing gang from the train had left to Ocean Pearl (in Mangalore) for breakfast from the railway station itself where few others from the Mechwing were joining. They came to campus later. Meanwhile Supreeth got down from Pune. We met before he left to Mangalore to buy a formal shirt for the function. The remainder of the day was mostly spent partying. I went to Suraj for lunch with gults - few batch-mates, few juniors - and found that most, if not the whole, of Suraj International was occupied  by NITKians. Meenal Varshini and Kavya were also there. I promised them a treat which couldn't happen then because everyone was busy with everyone else :P . There were lot of other people I met while I was in Suraj and after that we came back to campus. We registered that we had arrived and would be receiving our degrees the next day on stage. Sometime after that, me and Supreeth went and met Gangadharan Sir in SOLVE Lab, and from there while walking back to the hostel I met Shruthi. As always we walked while we talked and after about two rounds in front of the main building she left with others and I came back to the hostels. Most of the gults had gone to beach and they probably had dinner at GNPD after Vidyun came (I'll leave his adventurous bike ride for him ;) to write in his blog ) I went to Sadanand for dinner with Supreeth and Vaishali where I also found Yaswanth and Saketh with their fathers. By the time they all left I was joined by my juniors. We all came back, I don't remember when, I had no track of time, and after a long talk about a lot of things, where mostly only I was talking, I went to sleep.
The next morning as I got up and got ready, the familiar running around for paste, bucket, slippers etc brought back a little nostalgia. I left with Supreeth, went to Amul, took a snack and came to SJA where others were having the so called Hi-Tea.We joined them. Exchanged greetings, asked each other about jobs and job locations.Then when moved into the auditorium. Shanthi managed to continue her legacy, though this was totally unintentional, actually it is never intentional :P . The arrangement and everything else for the occasion seemed just perfect. Everything went on smoothly. We had our moments of fun with random applause. Our chief guest was a Dean from Kumamoto University, Japan. There must be something between me and Japan, I will probably figure out someday. DBZ, Naruto, FairyTail, MarutiSuzuki and now the Chief Guest for convocation :-) . Anyways. After the National Anthem, we all moved out and clicked photographs with our degrees and then people dispersed. Few went out. I came to our very Mega Mess to have lunch with many other graduands. Convocation was over. Things slowed down. My evening had more of thought than excitement. I got a little emotional after getting a lovely graduation gift along with a sweet letter from this sweet sister Vaishali. Later I spent some time at the NITK Beach. I had my dinner with Shanthi's and Saketh's families at Sadanand and I came back to college where people had started leaving. Supreeth, Vishwas, Shruthi and Meenal left that night. I felt bad for not giving a send off to Shruthi; while in college I always used to stay at the pick up point till her bus left. I could meet Shanthi and Varshini for a few minutes before they went back to GB. Thereafter I went to Red Rock where there was a gult party going on and finally came back to hostels with Saketh and few others, and after a sensible yet random chat over phone with Madhu the day came to a close. I slept off very soon probably because I was tired due to all that running around during the day. Next morning I was woken up by Saketh. We went to Surathkal where Shanthi was going with her family to Sringeri. I was going to leave that afternoon and so wanted to meet her once. After they left me and Saketh came back to hostel. Then Saketh left with his father to the hotel room. I got out of the lift on the fourth floor and while I walked towards the wing I felt a chill. I felt all alone. It dawned on me that everyone would be getting separated again, that I would be back to Gurgaon. I realised how much I missed my college days. I started wondering about the possibilities of us being together again and I got lost in the flow of emotions and the thoughts about our future.

Cheers
Aditya