For me, this year has been perhaps the single greatest learning curve ever. I mean, right from the first day to the last, I've seen new things, felt new feelings, met different people, done different things and more importantly have become a much more mature individual than a summer ago.
The year started off on a bright note, having spent New Year's eve in Darjeeling I woke up on the 1st of January with the Kanchenjunga in all its glory staring me in the face. Not a bad way to start the New Year eh??Anyway a day later I was back in Cal and out again within 48 hours this time to Naru Mama's immortal Rock Climbing Camp in Purulia. Accompanied by a whole hoard of classmates and a group of women closely resembling the male species(in spirit of course!!!..lol) I had the time of my life!!!....Rural Bengal rocks baby!!!!!! Seven days and a whole host of mended relationships later I landed in good ol' Cal again ony to realize that my SATs were just 2 weeks away!!!!!
The 4th of February is a day that I will definitely not forget in a hurry. That one day was perhaps the single most humbling experience that I have ever had. A friend of mine..who just a month ago had been livin it up with me in Purulia just a month ago..passed away tragically in a car accident. This incident served as a reminder that in the powerful cycle of God ... men are truly just mere mortals. I never thought that someone with whom I had become quite intimately acquainted with would be no more. Death suddenly seemed all too realistic and definitely way too close for comfort. I suddenly came to the realization that if it could happen to my friend, it could happen to me as well..
Moving on...the period from March to May was one marked by extreme confusion and indecision with regard to college and career plans...some of which...in fact most of which lasts even today. My father wants me to be a doctor...I want to be a travel show host. However it took me some time to come terms with the fact that the latter wasn't really too feasible after all. Having made the decision I finally plunged headlong into the glamorized hell that is JEE preparations. During this period women I knew played on my mind a lot. I really felt that I had finally fallen in love with a person and not just with a body. However, I never really followed it up and just let matters stand as they were. The girl and I eventually drifted apart and although we are still in contact today, our relations are a mere shadow of the rollicking friendship we used to share in the past.
As summer passed and the monsoons had just started making their presence felt... i discovered and subsequently fell in love with a fascinating new hobby..photography. I suddenly discovered that I actually did possess and innate aesthetic sense!!! Matters were compounded when my parents gifted me a phone with a really good camera. Very soon all I could think about was angles angles scenarios angles again lighting color modes picassa....the works.
The months of August and September came and went and with them passed the first terminal examinations. It was sometime towards the end of September that it suddenly hit me that in around 3 months time LMB would be just a thing of the past.... This evoked in me waves of nostalgia which continue to hit me even today during moments of weakness. I had once laughed at a friend for giving too much importance to the school. Looking back today, I can definitely say that I was wrong. I love my school and all the experiences that I have had there. Some of the best moments of my final year in school were spent in the humanities and floating classrooms in the months of October and November. The jam sessions, adda sessions, politics and not to forget the whole "MOB vs BRAS" conspiracy theories. They were really brilliant. Moreover I realized that I have indeed been truly lucky to have made such good friends during my school days. I have been on intimate terms with a fascinating array of people from varied backgrounds right from the traditional Marwari business families right to the prim and proper engineer and medical families.
Childrens Day and the last day of school are two days that will stand out in memory principally due to their emotive content. I have probably never ever been as emotinally fragile in my life as I was during these days. It wasnt only about letting go of school, it was about letting go of an integral part of my life.
Along came December and with that came a whole load of exam pressure and projects etc etc. Handled them with not so much ease and panache and more haphazard coffee induced late nights and then I blinked twice and New Years Eve was at my doorstep. The Year had ended. 2008 was knocking on the door.
Yesterday once more? I wonder......
