And they left one by one...

Yesterday was a day which I could not come to terms with easily. It was after quite a few days when I had absolutely nothing to do. No classes, no preparations for exams... nothing at all !!!

Yesterday was also one of the more misty-eyed days here at Nirma. Friends-in-arms, co-conspirators in pranks and people with whom one can spend an entire afternoon without worrying about the going-ons around you...all of them left for home one by one. I was surprised by how lonely I felt at the end of the day when I realised that so many of my friends had gone back home and that the hostel resembled an empty fortress more than anything else.

Mini 'Dolphin', Whale and the Piranha, all left by the afternoon bus. So did Sudhanshu. Later in the evening, I accompanied Sexy Sam to drop Basanti off at the Kalupur railway station. Right through all this, there was a voice in my head which kept on saying "Hey, before you know it, it'll be the first of next month, and they'll all be back." It wasn't before Baap (err...that would be my friend Neeraj; his nick-name at the insti. is Sabka Baap, or 'Baap' for short) knocked at my door at 2 in the morning to say goodbye (he had a flight at 6) that I realised how empty the hostel had become.

The Whale, before leaving, had his revenge from me though. :D

For the uninitiated, Tushar (aka The Whale) was my room-mate for the last one year. And on numerous occasions have I left him waiting outside the room while I was somewhere on this 140-acre campus with the only keys to the room. Well, yesterday, after we loaded his stuff onto the college bus that was supposed to take them to the railway station, Whale realised that he had forgotten a blanket at the room. I gave him the keys and he rushed upstairs. By the time he came back, I was busy saying my good-byes to the rest of the gang. And the nutcase that he is, he too forgot about the keys.

It was only after the bus actually started off that I remembered that the room-keys were still with him. That bloody idiot!!! I ran after the bus shouting his name, but the bus had already gathered speed. I gave up the chase and called up Mini to ask Tushar to throw the keys out of the window. Before that could happen, though, I had to run behind the bus for a good 100 metres. That !@#%!$@!#$@. Wait till he comes back.

I started reading "By the river Piedra I sat down and wept" by Paulo Coelho at around midnight yesterday. Finished reading the book at 3. Would have finished by 2 or 2:20, but slowed down owing to the break in the middle to have a final chat with Baap before he left. Kinda ok book, nothing great.

Ok then... Me off to Goa today evening with a bunch of 5 other equally idiosyncratic and crazy folks. Will be back on the 24th.

Till then... ciao, take care and make your Momma proud!! :D