Kal Aaj aur Kal

This one is for our Hall Magazine - ARPIAN 2009


Kal.I can never forget that day.The long wait to know where I was to spend the next three years of my kgp life.The permutations and combination.And there it was.The list.And suddenly it was surrounded by hundreds of anxious and innocent faces.Some already celebrating;some already panicking.It seemed impossible to reach the holy list.But when i did, i was shaking.Eyes so desperate to find those two golden letters besides my name.And there it was.RP.Ecstasy.Soon came to know that none of my friends were going to be with me.Agony.I pulled myself up.Then came the Tea-party.I still can't figure it out why i thought of it as a formal introduction with the loving seniors over a cup of tea.And Oh my god ! I was so wrong.We were made to sit on the footer ground and were faltering to give our amateurish intro's.And out of no where came a huge splash of water that took us all by surprise.We were targeted by a bunch of bucketeers mocking us as if we were lambs.The massacre continued till dusk.

The summer following this seemed short.I came back to our new home.Scared and puzzled seeing a notice asking all the freshers to report in the common room.And there they were.They had a distinct thing in them which separated them from us.The confidence and the composer.They encouraged us to try out in every possible event they were to conduct so that we know ourselves better.I somehow believed every word they said.And today I am glad that I did.And then I did everything, went everywhere and had the best time of my stay in kgp.I learned a lot from them.I came to know what I was good at.They became more than friends to me.We used to hang out with them all the time.Had loads of fun and learned a lot from them.And then came Illumination. joy of being a part of something so amazingly beautiful and so wonderfully golden, created by the combined work of four generations of the hall was just out of the world. And that too , twice ! Although it meant a lot of physical work but doing it together with so many people made it fun.That united the hall in every respect.It was followed by numerous other occasions when we celebrated and cheered together.Aah ! nostalgia.

Aaj.Things have certainly changed. Although the change is not in the way its done;but sadly the way in which the new ones interpret it.People like to pursue affairs which have apparent and immediate benefits. They don't want to socialize when there is nothing at stake for them. The so called hall has become a hostel where our rooms just happened to be next to each other.The joy of living together has become a lost cause.People have other ways now to learn and spend their precious time.And by other ways i mean the zillion new societies and groups.The Socult GC has suffered most, as the hard work behind the performances goes in vain without the support of a hall junta.In sports, the teams will play anyway.In Tech, a group of 10 seems over crowded.It was always the Socult GC which united the hall and thus the other GCs were also encouraged.It brought us all closer.Not anymore.I never thought it would end like this.It's hard to figure out what went wrong or if something went wrong.May be this was destined.May be its the beginning of the end.Damn mortality !

Aur Kal. The future seems so not what i imagined it to be.When we go through a culture and fall in love with it, we wish that it always stays there to touch the lives of others as it did for us.We wish if only others can feel what we felt.If only.I am not complaining about the way things will be in the future. It's just that, it won't be like the good old days.Sadly it may become, just another hostel.I wish things go back to the way they used to be.I wish the spirit resurrects.