A poignant goodbye

A whole year has passed. This one year alone has been more eventful than all past years put together. And all this while I have felt like the guy standing on the road divider watching stumped as the vehicles zipped past. A year of learning, experiences, friendships, some relationships made, some broken, a few highs, some lows, some cheery moments, some laments, a rollercoaster to the core.

And now, the time has come for me to bid goodbye to those walls, trees, roads, rooftops, floors, classes, benches, tables, library, quad that have defined my past one year. A year ago, I walked into the rec center, with stars in my eyes, confident that I was sent on earth by God with the express mission to change the world. A peculiar smell then caught my nose which was to linger with me for the whole year, getting renewed each time I'd walk past those doors for a dunking, a drink of water in the middle of a late night walk, or just as I'd shuttle between SV2 and SV3. And today, I walked through those doors for the last time. As I took a walk today around campus, a strange familiarity grew over me, as yet another peculiar smell endemic to the flowering trees here promised to be with me forever. These trees added the dash of color to the imposing peach colored structure that has defined one year of my life, the tall structure that has promised to shape my career, my life as I go further.

I lingered around the atrium today and though it looked fairly empty, somewhere in the distance, I could hear a gurgling laughter. I saw a bunch of us tea in hand walking towards the elevator in the 5 minute break between classes. I could hear the groans that accompanied an 8 am class. I looked skywards and the gray clouds converged. I could suddenly hear the pattering of rain, though the ground under me was starkly dry. I could smell the wet mud, hear the croaking of the frogs and sense the slithering of the occasional snake and I saw myself in my quad gazing out that huge window wishing I was out in the rain and not studying for a DMOP paper. I walked those long winding corridors from Lecture Theater to Lecture Theater and saw my classmates suited up, file folder in hand, walking towards an interview room. I could hear myself wishing them luck. I turned around and there was my gang waving to me wildly, calling me to get ready for lugging a projector back to LT. I smiled and thought about which movie we could see, when in the distance I could smell the aroma of freshly brewed tea. I gazed into the distance and saw everyone I had befriended over this one year looking all cheerful and successful and suddenly we were throwing our hats up in the air and I was shaken out of my beautiful reverie.

A year later, I do harbor intentions of doing something meaningful. I came in here to change the world and I emerge a changed individual myself. I take back with me memories that weigh a ton, and friendships as strong as oak. In this one year I have learnt a lot about finance and marketing and strategy. But more importantly I have learnt a lot about myself and have learnt to look at the world from several different perspectives. Was the year worth the pleasures and pains? Well, the fact that all of us walk out of here with a billion memories, some pleasant, some sour and a smile worth a few billions screams out that this one year is a year well spent indeed.