I just read Surd's novel, and while I didn't entirely like it, it did remind me in a nice way about the microcosm that was Law School.
I barely had time to get senti about leaving Law School. In two days, I was packed off to the next institution and plunged into a murky world of Numbers, Engineers and Deadlines that made the Law School ones seem laughably flexible. Reading that novel made me relive some moments - not with the stomach-achy nostalgia that I used to feel during rare free moments at B-school; but more like I was visiting a set of memories that made me smile and laugh at how green I was back then.
What I relived the most was the momentous occasion of my first day at Law School. I had visited it a few days earlier when my admission was confirmed - and my parents and I went to the girl's hostel area (WHOR :D). Eager to see what the rooms were like, I peered into a room which I now realize was an Annex room - probably the same one in which Bhavya was to eventually reside. It of course looked very big and spacious and I was very happy. So imagine my shock when I walked into my eventual room in the 'Annapoorna' hostel - a tiny hole in the wall in which 3 people were expected to reside. I still remember the most desirable bed already had a mattress and some items and a slip of paper on which the name 'Anwesha Haldar' was written. I realize how historic that moment was only now. I somehow remember that she was wearing blue, her hair was braided and she was wearing specs which made her look very geeky. My parents with their usual resourcefulness found out somehow that my other roommate's name was K. Aishwarya - who was in fact the niece of one of my favourite schoolteachers. I remember meeting Aishu at the water cooler - she wasn't crying like many of the others (who were leaving home for the first time), but she looked very much on the verge of it. Later that evening, I sat on upper deck of my beloved bunk bed watching Aishu as she pottered about putting away her clothes into the almirah (I had gallantly consented to live out of my suitcase as I was the Localite - a fact that would come back to bite me in the ass later) and we discussed music. I remember how thrilled we both were to discover that U2 was our mutual favourite band. At some point, I would have visited the neighboring room and met Bhavya for the first time. She was rather intimidating even then and I had seen her howling earlier when her parents left. I remember thinking she had a very expensive looking phone.
Perfectly normal first meetings, without any drama. Like a handshake at a bowling alley in the Leela Palace followed by a vaguely creepy Facebook friend request further followed by a meeting at Croma and a conversation that really irritated me. When I look back, I feel some grand music should have been played when I first met these people; there should have been thunder and lightning and all manner of special effects. It is wonderful how tiny coincidences shape our worlds - a fact never ceases to amaze me.
P.S.: This post acquired quite a life of its own in the end, didn't it?
