Sunday, December 28, 2008

35. 30 years down the lane….

Yay! vacation again after a long sem! But that also implies 3 weeks of utter joblessness!! As usual, hardly had the holidays started, when boredom started settling in. With no jobless sibling or friends to hang out with, I was once again confronted with nothing but boring, uninteresting days to look forward to(sigh!)

Therefore I wasn’t surprised when dad announced one dull morning that the next day he had his 30th reunion of his civil ’78 batch.(yaawwn…) Dad assured us that we would have an awesome experience, and to top it all he said that there would be a Gazzal concert. Go(yaaaawn…)sh Noooo! And now I should go there and listen to those old songs composed ages before I was born?And what am I going to do there among the dozens of 50+ old people?

Having exhausted my reserves of excuses for not going out along with my parents, I was forced to tag along for the reunion. The food at the 5-star hotel being the only thing to look forward to…

I deliberately delayed my folks so that we would have to spend only less time there. But on reaching there, we found that people had just started flocking in. I was elated to see one of my college-mates there. Apparently my dad and her mom were classmates, now working in the same firm. But soon I realized that even 2 college-girls can run out of topics to speak.

We had the intro session first –one by one, each alumnus had to introduce themselves and their spouse and children, starting with my dad! Half way through the session, it was heartening to learn that all of them were in respectable positions and were well placed in their life. However I was surprised to note that more than 95% of them had their children in the same field (UG, PG, or employed in some software/core firms). Only a few of them had children who pursued medical field, and there were 2 law students as well. That’s all!! Does this country produce only engineers and doctors? Are people oblivious of the scores of other opportunities around? Has the outlook of both the parent and the child been narrowed down to this extent? …or do the children by nature inherit their parents’ taste? (I know, that includes me as well…and I frankly admit that, I still am not sure whether engineering is really my thing!)

The session was however punctuated with slap-stick humour, which they cracked at each other every now and then. The ‘gen gap’ dint prevent us ‘new age folks’ from roaring with laughter along with the people of the 70’s. I never really thought I could laugh at the jokes of my dad’s gen. Damn! I wish my mom had studied in the same college too…could have heard some of their classified stories

The concert wasn’t all that boring either… Gradually my mind drifted to my 30 yrs down the lane…How would it be like? This reunion started by paying homage to 2 of their batch mates who were taken from this world in a span of 30 years.…We’ll definitely have that part, because hardly 3 yrs into the course, and we’ve already lost 2 of our batch mates……..Coming to the brighter side…How many of the ‘college-couples’ will remain couples for life? Will our old pranks which we played on each other be remembered then? Will our children too, have the narrow vision which confines them to the engg/med field?…Wont we let them venture and explore the world of fashion, literature, art and philosophy? Will our children say the same thing about us as we do? Will our current hip songs which we consider with high regards be dumped and labeled as ‘BORING’ by the next gen? Little surprise in that, even if they do…cos that’s how it has been, that’s how it is now, that’s how it will be.

Or wham! Will nothing sort of this ever happen? Will we be too busy with our own selfish lives and be shrouded from the outside world, that we wouldn’t even be able to chip in enough time for such reunions?

To all 3rd yrs…....Four years of fun and joyful college life comes to an end next year. There after no silly jokes in the middle of classes, no stupid fights, no sleeping in the class, no roaming about in the campus …so friends, forget the little fights and misunderstandings and enjoy the next 3 sems! We came with the fear of not knowing anybody …but we will go with tears after knowing everybody…that’s college life

PS:This post was written a few weeks back when vacations started. Now at the fag end of the holidays, I quite regret what I had said about the vacations, for soon I will be longing for those blissful boring days once the sem starts

24 comments:

Hari Vishnu said...

PS: I quite regret what I had said about the vacations, for soon I will be longing for those blissful boring days once the sem start

hah ! i wonder.. there was a time in final year wen i was actually tired of the holidays and just wanted to return to those heavenly days at college.. so ull probably eat ur words too in final year :)

yep.. ure quite right to note that the best part of ur life is coming up.. live it up to the fullest..

attending such reunions remind us of how the passouts, even the older ones, wish to live back this part of their lives.. i wonder if we'll even be able to organise one at nitc a few years down the lane..

alx said...

well aftr all dat braggin in d beginin (lol) I quite agree with d present situation where students have narrowed down der career options 2 engineerin n medicine

it wud ve been nice f u cud share some f dos jokes wen u roared with laughter so dat d readers cud judge "something"

the last part a bit senti....but a very much valid question in b/w-"Will we be too busy with our own selfish lives and be shrouded from the outside world, that we wouldn’t even be able to chip in enough time for such reunions? "...

Anonymous said...

you dint tell about the fooood :P
good luck for the new sem
-j.o
ps: literature s not a bad option

Neethu said...

@harivishnu
ha even i wish i would eat my words;)
hope u ll have reunions to relive those gud ol' times:)

Nikhil Menon said...

I cant imagine u 30 yrs hence..Jus praying tht u still wudn be tht 40 something or in those nearing 40 blues.. :p

I bet u wudn,lotsa work at hand na?? :p :p

Anonymous said...

30 years from now.... grandmother of two... it wud be fun then.. your grandchildren would be reading your blog page for sure..

alx said...

hey happy new year , may god bless you with a prosperous 2009

Hari said...

Ooh! The reunion post!

Reunions are fun. I too have attended my dad's MBA batchmates' reunion, which was funnier than this one. :D

About the Engineering/Medicine Debate:
You yourself are an Engineer who wasn't given any other option! :P

Btw, this post is more about musings than description of the actual reunion! :D Hehe

And, Happy New year!

Anonymous said...

check my page neets

Neethu said...

@lx
ya true...wish i had more choice for myself...
and ya...the 'jokes' wont have the effect if i tellyu here..ll tellya if i ever meet u :P

Neethu said...

@mgj
nah...whose gonna remeber food stuff;)..all that i know was, it was delicious...
and thnx for the advice...shud consider it seriously in this recession period:(

Neethu said...

@mm
no,dun worry....30 yrs from now i ll be 50 :P

Neethu said...

@chriz
woah!dat was too far fetched chrony!...

Neethu said...

@lx again
hey thnx and happy 2009 2u2!
God Bless!:D

Neethu said...

@hari
yea...dats what i meant by 30 yrs down the lane.....:P

Nikhil Menon said...

mandoose..!!I din mean ur age,the 40 blues..remember??

You are awarded..do check out.. :)

Neethu said...

@mm
arey yaar...i know dat...chumma paranjatha...
award??for me???:O...yay!where?:D

Usha. said...

watever is going to go outta style, one thing's not gonna...pranks among class mates ;))

P.S: I cudn't visit ur blog since a long tym... apparently, i needed an "invitation"...!!! nywa..gud to be back to ur blog! cheers!!

Neethu said...

@ginny
hehe...gud to cya back here too:)

vemuri said...

"We came with the fear of not knowing anybody …but we will go with tears after knowing everybody…that’s college life"

like a lot...!!!

yeah am in my 4th year.... a lot of them (words) hit me hard.....
we are spending almost the last few days of our lives together...

cheers!!
Peace!!!

Leela said...

I hope our weights wont be the first thing we ask about each other.

Scribbler said...

Hey i agree with hari vishnu... it seems holidays are not funny anymore..

then there is something i know from seniors:

You'll miss college like hell once you asre out of here, especially if you are into MNC job :)
The last year you'll remember and you'll mostly find the time for a re-union when you a get a chance because u'll miss the four year mates too much.. and might find it more enjoyable than watching it from a third person view :)

Dp

Neethu said...

@Dp
yea..yea..i know...i'll get to that phase some time in the near future....but hey, i bet u too have bitched about collg at some time or the other...havent you?;)

Scribbler said...

When you ask i have at times hated the college, But i've always liked this college for one reason, because i began knowing what's outside world.. and i've learned a lot of things here only.. i've loved this college for every experience including the almost yearout i got and i love this college for friends, juniors and seniors who have become just like my brothers and sisters.....

Thakks...