Chronicles of the red shirt in the wardrobe...

Another Sunday evening. Another lacklustre day. Finally, I decide to tidy up my place. Takes me a couple of hours. Books on the coffee table. Clothes in the wardrobe. Bedding neatly folded and put aside. I am done. I sit down to pen my thoughts. I dont know what to write. I look around. Nothing interesting. Feeling a little sleepy. I close my eyes. Various thoughts swing in and out.
Scenes move in and out. A documentary of sorts. Amazing. I am right in it. All the action is happening around me. And I am seeing it from the outside as well. As if I am watching some black and white movie of yesteryears. There. I freeze the frame. This scene. The one right in front of my eyes. Many years back. I open my eyes. And the scenes still flash upon me...

I am walking with three others to the college. The rest are talking. My thoughts lie elsewhere. We pass Gurukripa. And I already see lots of students waiting outside. Alyosha would tell me that he makes it a point to have one plate of samosa-choley everyday. The samosa. The choley. The onions and the chutney. Not now I say. I move on. Today is a very important day. It is the "tie and saree day" in the college. A day that means a lot to some. The boys are to come in formal attire. Tie being the speciality. And girls would come in the "saree" (the most widely used attire by Indian women). Whether it is the saree that increases the splendor and beauty of an Indian woman or vice versa is certainly debatable. I am a bit nervous. I am wearing a red shirt with full sleeves. And a tie that I borrowed from my neighbor. My mother kept telling me that it was a "matching tie". Impressive I said to myself. I had been hearing a lot of people in my class discuss this day weeks in advance. It was a grand day they felt. They had been discussing their attire, their arrival time, places around the college where they would take pictures of themselves with "interesting" people and ofcourse where they would go to eat later in the day. Nothing short of a carnival. The digital camera was a new found luxury among middle class folks in Mumbai at that point. There was this one guy (NRI for this blog) who had one. Several of my classmates had spent a considerable time trying to convince him how important it would be to bring this gizmo. And finally after a lot of coaxing, NRI agreed to get it. Thats that. And so now I am about to move inside this quadrangular arena. Straight out of the Gladiator movie. The only difference being there are no wild beasts and warriors of great skill in here. Only a bunch of students ready to make the most of the day...

So I enter the building. All around me I see girls in fascinating sarees. Not to mention the jewellery that many of them have decided to sport today. I am certain most of them have spent several hours in the beauty parlors. And spent hundreds of rupees so that they can put forward their best "outward" appearance today. Harry comes by and tell me that all lectures have been suspended. It was pretty obvious to me that none of these girls were interested in classes today. And I guessed that the professors had already felt the same. Harry is his usual self. Chatty. And trying to engage in a conversation with every "nicely dressed" girl. I see NRI come by. He shows me his digital camera. And he keeps showing me the cool features. I am really not interested. I tell him that he better take photos instead of describing the camera. I admit to myself. I am curious to see all the faces in my class today. Especially away from their regular college attire. And I see Silver come by. He only shakes hands with folks who come from a "IIT parentage". Everyone else is scum according to him. He is smart but arrogant. I move on. I see a group of people sitting in the middle of the class. Mostly referred to as "Super 6ers". Well, I am not a great fan of theirs. But nevermind. I go and say a hello. NRI comes around and shows me some of the snaps he has already taken. Almost all of them of girls with heavy makeup and embroidered sarees. And he sees me sulking. So he takes a couple of my pictures. I say thank you. I guess he thinks this will cheer me up. Harry comes by and asks that his picture be taken in such a way that lots of girls form the background. I cannot hide my laughter. NRI obliges. The Super 6ers are doing their regular stuff. Singing some Tamil songs. Totally incomprehensible to me. I accept it as a harsh reality. I say to myself. You are studying in a South Indian college full of South Indians. What else do you expect? Move on. Well they are singing. Banging the desks. This guy Priam is at the centre with another girl Softy. Both are singing so loudly that some of the Marathi folks from Dombivali decide to go out. Had it been lavani I am sure they would have stayed back. Arab, Carrot and Collar decide to leave the class. And then I see Carnatic come by. He is a buddy. Talks too much. Alyosha dont like him. I dont mind. He and some other discuss the latest in EPL. I have convinced myself that this is nothing but a sense of superficiality introduced to appear hiphop. "Oh, see I am cool. I prefer soccer over cricket" kind of thing since cricket seems more hackneyed to them. I dont pay attention. This group had Carnatic, Rag and King. The Super 6ers had grown more vociferous after they were joined by CasanovaSwami and Chembur's Govinda. CasanovaSwami is moving in and out. Singing. And then flirting with some girls. Suddenly, I see three familiar guys come by. They are not at ease too right now. This setting seems alien. They come and join our "nerdy" lot. GodFood and Comet are here. And they are joined by Raol. Comet is at it again. Takes out his book and tells me that Prof. NoSorrow has asked him to solve some 290 probability problems. Alyosha thinks this guy is a "once in a lifetime madcap". NRI suddenly joins him in solving some. After that I see that the class has agreed to take group photographs. I join them. Lots and lots of photographs. We all go down in the quadrangular and take more group photographs. Harry and CasanovaSwami are enjoying. I confess. I will cherish one photograph forever. We all come back to the class. I ask NRI to take one photograph of some of the girls sitting in the corner. A motley group. I smile. One importance of this day is that folks get to give roses to whoever they like. Rest assured, I have not got any nor have I given anyone today. Not because I do not want to. But because today of all days, I feel the rose does not have the ability to carry the emotion and message intended by the giver. Dont know why. Its late afternoon. I and NRI move to Gurukripa. Everyone has moved on. All had made plans for some sort of a party and hangout. I have no plans. NRI keeps showing me the photos. I ask him to mail some of them to me. And there I see my good friend Alyosha having his samosa choley with some others. I go and say a hi. We recount some of the day's happenings since both of us are in different classes. He recounts all the "glamorous happenings" of the day. Both of us have a laugh. Comet comes by. And most of us agree that since we have no party or hangout to go to, we better catch the train and go back home. Comet is desperate to complete his 290 task. And so we start walking. We are joined by Carnatic and his buddies as well. Fifteen minutes walk and we reach the station. I catch the Thane local...

Great scenes. I still recollect them vividly. NRI would later mail me the photographs. I dont have them today. I have left out some other details from this. I leave them for some other day. Right now, I cannot stop laughing and reminiscing. Those guys and gals. Their excitement. Their frolic. I dont know where all of them are today. Of some I know. Of others I dont. I dont know what all of them are doing today. What career path they have chosen. But I am here today. I walk across to the wardrobe. Look at that shirt. That very shirt. The red shirt with full sleeves. Other than the memories, it is the only part of that day that still remains with me. I shake my head and put the shirt back in the wardrobe....