Conversations

Much had changed within the confines of their almamater; the ATMs now had vexing swarming queues, the open free spaces had given way to fancy accretions and the cigarette shop owners had lost faith and understandably stopped loaning cigarettes to the college students. But to those four sitting at the table, the traditional college spirit was as intact as the transgressional college spirits. And true to traditions on that Wednesday night, they were there again.
That shoddy place where they served cheap and quick alcohol had been their answer to quite a few questions. But, so often, they didn’t even need a question. This process had become more of a ritual, a familiar one at that. The guy with the flared nostrils folded up his legs on the dilapidated plastic chair, confirming the waiter’s prediction that they were not one to leave early. He looked across the table to find the guy with the bulged forehead swiveling and swinging, the vodka being the leading cause of it. He lit a cigarette, fumbled with the matches and eventually burst out laughing at himself, at his drunken stupidity. He suddenly straightened his face, looked into the cigarette flame with enthusiastic profundity and corked “Few more days magans and it will all be over. It’ll be a distant past, an occasional reminisce.” The alcohol had begun to kick in. “It's hard to imagine life outside those walls” he said pointing towards the college premises behind him, grudgingly turning his head along. The last time he spoke of the walls, he was cursing them, shouting out to the world how much those walls had ‘raped his life’. The guy with the flared nostrils grinned because he found it funny how alcohol tended to make people either hate something or love something passionately, albeit differently each time. But unlike the last time, he found slight empathy in what he was saying.
“Eh. Someone beat him up dude. He’ll start with all his emotional shit again” retorted the guy with the twisted lip, clearly showing his lack of amusement. Others found it funny how he always said ‘someone beat him up’; never ‘I’ll beat you up’.
“No, No. Really. I’ll miss this place. The beach. The blocks. The beers. This bar. Good memories” came Bulged forehead’s reply. The alcohol was speaking now, which had a mind of its own.
Twisted lip swilled the Vodka left in his glass, because he figured this as the only way to find his way into the conversation. He knew he was generous and better-natured after he went past the first four drinks. He had decided to skip the third, went from the second straight to the fourth.
“Yes. Fine Memories” said the guy with the thick eyebrows. He wasn’t a big fan of talking while under the influence. He stayed the most sober and staid when they went drinking.
“My memories of this bar are vague and hazy and I’m grateful for that” quipped in Twisted lip, as he refilled his glass and raised it haltingly.
“Haha. Yes. Good times. Cheers” said Thick eyebrows, immediately relating to what he had to say.
“Yeah. But everything good has to end. It will only remind me how much life after college will suck. I mean you’d look at a few pics of the department later, which today, you’ll find absolutely detestable, and you’ll realize how naively wrong you were. That the department wasn’t all bad” said Flared nostrils. He always maintained how his department was an abomination and a big regret in his life and how he should have gone with a different branch choice. But he had managed to hide it from the others that if he could turn back time somehow, he’d still choose the same branch.
Thick eyebrows got into the conversation. “ You know, if you’d just get down to balancing what we’ve done for the college and what the college has done for us, I’m guessing it’d be a lop sided affair. If you’d just list out the things you got from coming here, you’d know what I’m talking about.”
“Well. Its 11 pm on a Wednesday, and I can see my rum bottle half empty; In fact I can see 2 of such bottles, although I’m aware there’s just one. Anyway, I think the college deserves a standing ovation for this kind of freedom” said Bulged forehead.
“Correction. The bottle is half full, not half empty. One more thing the college deserves credit for I think. But yes. Freedom. Granted” said Flared nostrils.
Bulged forehead had a point to make. “It made us realize so many people are smarter than us…”
“It made us realize so many people are dumber than us” quipped in Twisted lip.
Thick eyebrows added to the list. “When I came to college, I’d wonder how I’ll adjust to life in a hostel. Today, I wonder how I’ll survive life outside.”
“The importance of water, I think. It’s taught me to check the water tap before I settle down to business. In fact, it’s a habit I’m most addicted to. And I’m addicted to quite a few, you know” said Flared nostrils with a sheepish grin, and nodding along, because he thought it was funny.
Bulged forehead realized that this was an honest perspective on what he had gained from the college. He added “And on a serious note, the fact that a want to do something, to achieve something, be it winning in sport, trying to do 400ml Vodka, getting an AA, managing a DD, organizing an event, screwing an event, getting a girlfriend, or even writing a blog post are all possible with a hint of flair and a great deal of enthusiasm and passion. I think the college certainly had some role to play in this.”
Each knew that they’d worked a part of their ass off to come to this college, and that it certainly wasn’t a walk in the park. They came to this college wide-eyed, with a will to conquer the world, with overwhelming expectations. But, as they went along in college, they struggled to comprehend the significance of what they were doing, and how conquering the world is harder than they thought it was. But as they went along and reached the fag end, the haze had started to clear steadily, and they started to develop a certain gratitude for the time spent in college. They started to believe that these four years had caused some sort of a morph, some sort of a quiet revolution, something that they hoped would hold them in good stead later. How, that would happen, they were not sure. That it will happen, they were sure. Fumed by the alcohol as much by the raw adolescent energy, they got back that feeling of the want to conquer the world.
Thick eyebrows added with a malicious look “And although not very significant, a job and a B.Tech degree.”
“Yes. We are who we are because of our college. Cheers to a wonderful four years well spent. Unfortunately, life will never be the same again.”
“Cheers”
“Cheers”
“Cheers”