Nostalgia

Today noon as I walked out of the office towards the cafeteria for lunch, it was all the usual day to day scenes that surrounded me. People from the IT firms in the campus walking with their ID cards worn and duly dressed. I pass through the water tank which stands majestically in the Technopark campus. Then I get into another building to withdraw money from my account for the lunch, after the withdrawal I look at the balance amount and think for a while calculating the expenses for the days ahead. With the money in hand I head towards the cafeteria ordering Chapati and curry and then going very monotonously towards the counter and collecting my food. I sit on the table surrounded by techies munching down their food, some talking business, some chatting and some silently devouring their food.

As I munch upon my piece of chapati my mind goes back to the days when this time of the day had so many to offer me. We used to wait for the time to tick 12:30pm and then rush out of the class, run through the stairs, call everyone else who hasn't had lunch and head straight for the canteen. Those days money did not matter anything to any of us. The one who had money in his hand would gladly offer it to the rest of the guys and we always had a usual cusine, the cheapest of all - "KHALI BIRIYANI". Even before getting to the canteen counter we would all decide what each one wanted and then cries of "Moideene oru Full Kahli, rendu Half Khali..." and alike would be heard. Eating the lunch was the best part, chatting about the girls in the college, cursing the teachers for lack of attendance/internals and so forth. Soon after the lunch we would again gather around the cash counter to check the balance amount and then buy chocolates/Kadalamuttai for it.

The time after lunch was the most enjoyable time of those days. We would all assemble at the Bike Stand each perched upon a bike on which he felt comfortable and then its - 'Start, Action...!!' to "Bird-Watching". The sight of Girls walking to and coming from the hostel is the most gifted sight that we could get and the following outcome would be comments and gossips and so on. That time anyone passing by could clearly see the Gem sparkling in each one of our eyes and all of us would be so focussed on the activity that we would be unmindful of all other things going past us. And then when we are sure that all the usual figures have passed by its TaTa to the Bike Stand and again curses sweared at the teacher comin in for the next hour and off we go to sleep on our benches.....

Missing you all Guys...