Once upon a time, when we were Freshmen!

Do you remember your college counselling?
Do you remember walking into that auditorium, with so many people, kids like you and their parents, some anxious, some disinterested, others nervously excited. The seats kept filling up, while you waited with all your forms and your certificates, all the proof they wanted to let you get into that college (and you did not even really want to get into that college, did you?)...all your achievements, or lack thereof, laid bare, scrutinized...

Do you remember your first day?
Do you remember seeing so many new people...strange people, people who you thought you'd never be able to get along with. Do you remember noting down that first semester time table? Do you remember your very first lecture? Do you remember finding a familiar face in your class, perhaps someone you met during counselling, perhaps someone from your old school, perhaps your new roommate... You sat close to people you barely even recognized from the day before.

Do you remember that ugly, ugly teacher who took your first class?
'Aise teacher hain yahan?'
Do you remember hanging on to every word that ugly, ugly teacher said? It seemed important then.
Do you remember getting lost in the labyrinth of corridors, nervously asking people who you assumed were seniors (they looked happy!) for directions.
'First year?' they usually asked, an evil grin crossing their face. You nervously nodded, and went about your way.

Do you remember your first weekend? How perfectly wonderful it felt to not have classes! You hung out with your new friends, still trying to get to know them. You saw that pretty girl/cute boy from your class outside college for the first time, buying hot chocolate fudge from Sahni's.
Do you remember the first time a teacher scolded you in college? It was infuriating! You're in college! You're not supposed to be talked to like that anymore! Do you remember how naive you were?

Do you remember talking to your old school friends over the phone, sharing some of the same experiences elsewhere...do you remember telling them how you missed them, and wished you were still together? Do you remember that girl/guy you fell in love with in school, who you couldn't see anymore...do you perhaps remember how hard it was to be in a long-distance relationship for the first time?

Do you remember the cliques that started to form by the end of the first month? Those groups of five, maybe ten, sometimes fifteen twenty people that always, always hung out together. Do you remember your own group? Those same people you sat down with each day after classes, at Jaggi, or somewhere else...D block perhaps...oh, do you remember D block? Do you remember doing really stupid stuff with these people? Really stupid stuff...juvenile!

Do you remember your first mid-sems? Do you remember thinking, 'I'm definitely failing!' and then managing to scrape a passing grade somehow, although if you had these kind of marks in school, your parents would probably have disowned you? Do you remember finding out for the first time who was the guy/girl to get notes from for your end-sem? Bloody chussus...Do you remember when you used that term for the first time?

Do you remember your first Aranya?
Do you remember Jal? Do you remember thinking, 'this is the awesomest thing EVAR!'? Do you remember that that was the fest where you had the most fun ever (maybe simply because it was your first!) Do you even remember the number of photographs you took/were part of?

Do you remember your attendance almost never falling below 80% in any subject? Yes, you bunked classes, but even bunking one a day seemed like an adventure! Do you remember not worrying at all about your attendance?

Do you remember making the best friends of your lives? Your classmates, maybe your roommates, boys and girls who you spent all day with, who you cracked the stupidest jokes around... do you remember all the fun you had?
Do you remember the first time you visited 'the canal'? It was so absolutely thrilling! Do you remember the times you lied to your parents about where you were?

Do you remember your first CGPA? Some of you were horrified, like I was, some of you (bloody chussus) were not!

Do you remember going home for the winter, and then thinking you couldn't wait to get back! Do you remember feeling at home in that second semester? Do you remember hearing about the first few 'couples' in first year? Do you remember liking somebody yourself, and telling your friends about him/her, wondering if it would be wise to ask them out.

Do you remember Saturnalia?
Do you remember feeling for the first time, you should be careful about your attendance?

Do you remember thinking how it would be really sad when next year, you'd be split up from a lot of your friends, some of your best friends...do you remember thinking how unfair it all was?
Do you remember promising to stay in touch, when you left for the summer, and actually doing it? Do you remember promising to still meet everyday next semester, when you'd be in different classes?

Do you remember how, at the end of that first year, you realized that the last twelve months were the best, and definitely the most fun twelve months you've ever spent in your entire life?

I remember...

Graduating college in 4 years is like leaving a party at 10.30...