Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Last Night......

Life seems to be an ever-going roller coaster of a ride, and nothing in life is ruminated as much as the pit-stops that the roller coaster makes along the way; these are the moments that truly decide how much life has given us, or rather, what we have been able to get out of life. The people we meet, the friends we make, the things we have done to cause us happiness or regrets, the places we visit are but a few of the experiences of living life. The last four years has been nothing less than an exhilarating ride down that roller coaster called life. The classes spent in boredom, the classes spent talking, the precious moments spent in our favorite hang-out spot in front of CIT and the rush during exams and project submission dates are just a few of the images that I have at this time. Then there were places we went to; although termed by names like picnic and hiking, it was nothing more than an excuse for hanging out with the guys out of the pressure of getting to class five minutes later. The things done here were really ones that are fit to be cherished as some of life’s precious moments. True, there have been moments of happiness as well as those of regrets, moments that made one feel as winners, as well as losers. The overall effect in the end, however, is of the great experience yet from life, termed as LIFE AT IOE.

Before getting time to comprehend the pleasure of being here, the four years are nearly over. Now all we are left to do is to take the exams after about a month, and then we hand out all the exaltation of being a BCT student at IOE to the juniors, and we get reduced to the mere position as the alumni of IOE. But it is just as abhi used to say “Nothing lasts forever”, deriving it from the once-an-anthem of mine, November Rain. There were frantic chants of countdown to the last of the days at IOE; first it was 47/46/45…. and then gradually kept reducing and before knowing it, a week was all was left between us and the final day at IOE. Then comes the proud invitation from the juniors to attend the farewell they had planned for us, with the same vigor that we had done exactly a year ago. I now understand why the seniors had asked us ”ahile farewell dine bela bhaisakyo ra? Kina hatar gareko?” The question was not objective, it was a perceptive one that related to the impending sense of leaving IOE. Little wonder then that the same question popped to my head when I was invited to my farewell, but I dared not speak a word.

No plans, nothing. Just a last minute preparation (excluding some really hurried practices at DHK’s home), and then we take the stage for our own farewell. There comes one who says he’ll be Two Steps Behind, dedicating it to the juniors and pals, but clearly hinting of the commitment he’s about to make to the latest “departing-time crush” he has. Then comes mrityu ko ghanta, the one who never sang with words able to be comprehended by the sharpest of ears, but this time, he’s got a surprise; he sings the classic Kehi mitho baat gara by the maestro Narayan Gopal, and what do u know, he rocks at this song! Then comes another one, singing to call himself a “creep”, and somehow managing to get the guts (after the horrible event called Patience 4 years ago), to get into the high scale, demanded by RadioHead, not without a number of problems, with DHK learning the plugins at the near last moment, and the bassist being prepared 5 minutes earlier (Thank god for the bass, or the song would’ve had another reason to be called a horror!). Then there was this guy who calls friends his greatest assets, (a lesson to be learnt by all), calling us all just Dust In The Wind and the lead guitarist playing his leads without being plugged in at all. By then, we were hungry like hell, so we had to rush to the food depo, and the food was great, proving the age old wisdom of sages, Bhojan bhanda bhok mitho.

There was also “The Hall” amusing us by wishing us for a good-life, gr8 wife (Hey, that is sort of catchy! I’ll have to use it somewhere later!)

The dances that lasted for not so long was also gr8. When asked why she wasn’t dancing, NA makes me realize the easily-obvious fact of the time: k kuraa gareko tyo? Tyaha keta harulai dekheko chhau? Ani euta keti dekhya chhau? Sabaile malai dokha diyera ghar gaye. Kasari eklai naachna jaaun?” It was then that I realized about the advantages of holding back inquisitions without referring to the facts first.

Maybe b’coz this was the last event we could enjoy as IOEans, some of the lesser known dancers were seen to heat the dance floor with so great an enthusiasm.

Then comes the most memorable part of the farewell: The night of the farewell. Somehow, we decided we didn’t want to leave the college yet, so reminiscent of the great Terrace Party, the guys prepare for some booze, with the active participation of the booze gang from 059BCT. Booze was brought, and the people got boozed. So much was the effect of the booze, that people were committed to actually play Antakshari at that wee of an hour, in that place, with that loud of a noise. And the funniest part was when the songs were repeated after 2/3 alterations, and still there were questions like hamile yo geet gaayo? Chhaina kyaare! Even DHK(the genius of a guy who is always the controlled and composed out of all of us) was at his best in tomfoolery, and we were actually concerned when he started running with a big trunk on fire (borrowed from the boozed out electronics group), and danced with jhingala-la tunes. Well, that was unexpected, but as I’d like to say”Now I’ve seen everything”. The guys started dancing and all, and I had to go home ‘coz it was already past 9(?), and there was no one at home. I was to take DHK home with me, but his Maobadi attire and boozed out behaviour made me think twice about actually taking him all the way to Kalopul in the bike. However, after asking deathbell and D-base, he planned on staying, so it was kiran_kiru who went with me on the bike. That was all I had known and seen that day. But little was I to know what the guys did on that boozed out phase of the night. DHK thought deathbell went home, so he called him and….. well, let’s just say started singing the typical raga tunes of an angry Nepali. Good thing deathbell’s mobile was out of battery, he says later…. RKW wasn’t any less, I heard. He was really boozed up, so he started calling friends as his greatest assets, and later confessed to having unclear memories of being dragged through the hostel steps. dethbell was the star of the night, it seems, for the guys do not tire of talking about him to this day. Having initially drunk socially, he went with NSD to a local bhatti, I heard. And then dyaam gives the best description of his “poise” when getting out of the bhatti. dethbell says in his blog that he was in a pleasant trip, and the reports from the guys seems to confirm this. Then there was dyaam,in his dancing steps from the start, having picked it from somewhere during the dance in the party, and once boozed, he started going on a “chain-reaction”, one after the other. On being asked to stop, all he has to say is “Grow Up,yaar”. Oh well, hope I never grow up in that case!


The days just keep rolling by now, each day away from the past.......

However, the farewell day has helped me realize the simple fact that Nickelback sings :

IF I COULD RELIVE THOSE DAYS

I KNOW THE ONE THING THAT’D NEVER CHANGE…..

LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH
EVERY TIME I DO IT MAKES ME LAUGH

And I do think if I could relive those days (aside from some of those painfully boring classes we had to sit through), I would never change the chance to experience every moment of this great experience called LIFE@IOE.