Nostalgic Moments

By Ashish Agarwal on the eve of Farewell Party.

Yesterday, it was 6th day of July 2004 when we all were sitting in the Lecture Theatre (LT2) for the counseling of B.Tech program at JIIT. Today, it’s all over. We have completed four full years here together sharing moments of joy and sorrow. Time seems to have passed at the blink of the eye.

We all came to JIIT on 26th of July 2004 for the commencement of the first semester. All new faces and new personalities came in all possible shapes and sizes, but, today they all have become an integral part of our little lovely family here. The family which has got many strong pillars but none is weak. We all shared happiness and even fought with one another, and now since we are departing, all grudges are dumped.

Semester after semester, year after year all passed. A few days more and only the memories shall be left with us. The memory of the times that we enjoyed with coffee cups in the cafeteria, times we chatted with friends at the coffee shop where always glows a neon-lighted coffee mug, bunking lectures, conspiring against others, copying presentations, making fun of the teachers, back breaking dance at DJ parties during JIVEs and lot more.

Every bite of the home cooked food will remind me of the mess times, when we enjoyed the boring food together. We would never forget the times of power failure in the mess and hostels, where students started shouting in various voices of animals and demons and abusing the wardens and mess incharges.

All my books in my shelf and writing programs at Infy will remind me of the last minute exam preparation with the friends, the time when we exhibited the true team work. Less marks, more grades and vice versa coz of the buttering, making face values no one can ever forget. ‘Cut-Copy-Paste’ this is what we call our engineering degree. Teachers, do hell with plagiarism. You people were the losers who could never identify the similar answer sheets and assignments.

We shall always remember the fights with friends, resolving matters, conspiracies and bitching. Best nick names that we could think of made us feel proud. Numerous crushes, proposals and rejections, some got girl friends and some got boy friends, some even got serious for marriage. Like India and Pakistan, there were several groups amongst students, active and passive politics trained us of corporate culture as people say so.

Naughty activities shall make us think of tricks we played with teachers during classes. Launching paper rockets with rubber strings, throwing chalks and pulling out the LAN cords from the projectors, mass bunk on the date of tests and assignment submissions are just few. Dear teachers, please do not mind as you all are very dear to us and we loved being in your company.

Birthday bumps, late night movies, tea parties in hostel rooms, spending long hours on phone, and dearest of all, the snail speed internet connection made our hostel life. Hostel life was the biggest fun at JIIT. Stealing sugar, spoons from the mess and mostly eating outside the hostel mess, seems we just wasted the parents’ money. A lot of responsibilities also we came to learn. In short, it was a complete holiday package.

Security guards were the people most respected by hostellers’ coz our attempts to go out for food, tea and coffee late night were made successful by them and were hated by the day scholars as they were always checked for the identity cards and restricted from entry into the hostels but we were no less. Wardens, especially Mr. Mastana could never catch hold of the day scholars despite the fact that many of them stayed in the hostel every day and night. After all, we are engineers. Mr. Avtaar Singh, shall always be remembered.

Fooling the local guardians in the name of tests and work load and going out for the late night treats at the ‘Dhabas’ and rocking JAM at Shipra mall for night shows were a regular process. Sumo Sir’s car (little blue Matiz) was really helpful for such outings and he as driver, such a cute driver. Contri-parties were a great fun.

Things we shall miss forever are the ‘Gupta Ji’s parantha’, ‘Tau Ji’s chai’, ‘Shikanji waala’ and the Maggi stall. These were the busiest meeting points for us all. Just a cup of tea and we spent a long time discussing about various issues. Most common ones were the ‘girls’ and ‘the college administration’. Gym, snooker, swimming pool, laundry and tuck shop must also be kept alive in memories. Places most deserted in college were the LRC (the college library), the faculty cabins and the lecture theatres as none of us ever wanted to go there.

I cannot forget the Jaipur trip with Amit, Vivek, Niharika, Neha and Vanshika. The most memorable part of the trip was the verbal fight [not just quarrel] between Vivek and Niharika continuously all through the journey. Loved to experience the city of joy ‘Jaipur’ this is now a days struck by terror serial blasts. Probably, there may be more trips next month. Biggest thanks to the mentors of the projects for the happening party they hosted.

Scribbling ceremony which was held today, 16th May 2004, gave us some very precious memories. Today, many of us came closer, grudges set apart and the true feelings of joy and friendship set ablaze the ceremony.

Today, nearly all of us have achieved something. Yesterday, we were unripe little youngsters of 18-20, today we all are engineers. Many are placed with companies, some are going abroad for higher education and very few are the daring ones to experience entrepreneurship. Time has transformed us for the better.

We found one of the best friends for life here. Hope these friendships may continue for long. The budding engineers are now good citizens too and have learnt a lot from JIIT, our dear college that we are proud of. Thanking everyone, teachers, students, and staff for their supportive role and providing an ambience to grow and become a good human with values.

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