Coming of Age

If one thing that higher education has done for me, it's my coming of age. As a fresher, MBA has been an extended B.Tech, and I can easily draw some looks for saying these two years have been more fun than those four years. 

As an under-grad student, going to college was the first thing that I did outside of my parents' love and care cocoon. I was lucky to find great room-mates and Kasturba Bhavan's mess food was not bad. I found a hang-out in Surat city's famous Kavi Narmad library, an easy time- pass in walks around the lush green NIT campus, an addiction of American TV series and a solution to all problems-college k bahar galle ki chai. Having day-scholar friends met rides around the city and home food. Engineering didn't excite me but college fests and hostel celebrations and student council were fun. Basically I was a kid trying to live on my own.

Then, NITIE Mumbai happened. Hanging out with ladies and gentlemen, three-four years my senior, has been an experience. These species have been to office, seen the world-some of it at-least and are not students. They are professionals. I got to meet an ex-Army man, a twitter celebrity, people who had good government jobs, a lady drummer, a girl whose dream's to be a Formula One racer, professional photographers, poets: both kinds-romantic and self-deprecating, those who always wanted to live in the city of dreams, the social media slaves, some slaves of their own expectations, people in love, people married. Yes, I met adults here. 

In an environment where classroom studies were as real as a work of fiction, campus so beautiful with green and a pond, nested between two beautiful lakes, located in one of the chic-est locales in Mumbai and housing hundreds of people who left their pay packets to grab a bigger slice of pie; I grew. 

Some takeaways

• Dad was right. Listening is more important than speaking. 
• Lord maketh every one different. Observe all his creations, for each one is a mystery greater than the Universe. Plus, it's fun to stalk hot-looking peeps ;)
• Don't just be yourself, be proud to be yourself. 
• We all need a high. Some find it in booze, some in books, some in friends, others in shopping, still others in themselves. We all get high.
• Cool things are often underrated. Case in point, NITIE.
• Post-placement, B-School final semester means every one is getting married. Yes these adults I met, many of them used higher education as an excuse to postpone their marriages, but in the end, their parents emerge victorious. Or, many of them were in a relationship and now have gotten a fancy qualification and a sexier job, so they are ready to marry their sweetheart. As a younger adult, I am not in this phase.
• I make good power point presentations :D 

Unleashed

As the college comes to an end, nostalgia is expected. But when you ask people to scribble in the Class of 2016 Yearbook, beans are spilled, the town is painted red, inside jokes come out, unheard of friendships speak tons in 100 characters, emotions are unleashed!

As is human nature, each person forms an opinion of others. Some you know inside-out (my GANG members are laughing at this double entendre), while some people are a 50 shades of surprise. Sometimes you read between lines and realize a conversation some x months ago in some y context had some z meaning. Whereas most of the times, you know where you got your hands dirty from and that your partners-in-crime are just airing your dirty laundry in public :P Even if you or your friends aren't involved, but your crushes are, your brain cells are so active you'll just read the entire book of testimonials and connect any and every dots.


You start seeing people in a new light. Like a guy seen as a man of few words is really an encyclopedia  on Rock music. Or a guy I knew as a tough task master, focussed on work work work, has a romantic side.

And then you see yourself through others' eyes. Boy o' boy! You and your close friends are the wild animals who have seen each other naked in the field (well, figuratively). They know your harkartein, they know your takia-kalam, they know your soch-vichar. And you too. So you are mentally prepared for whatever comes out of their "shabdo ki pichkari". And they too.
But when rest of the junta writes about you, many different chemical reactions take place in your "khali-dimaag-shaitan-ka-ghar" :P And when your friends read out stuff written for you, the "chamak" on their chehre only indicates a night long session of leg-pulling and assumptions and conclusions and predictions and endless laughter.

So in the process of creating memories, we create memories.