That packet of Namkeen

The packet of Namkeen or as we say Gaja in Odia, reminds me of the days in hostel and college in SRM University. 

Four years of engineering
comes with a lot of memories. In those four years of my life, I made a visit home at least a dozen of time and each visit the amount of food being sent with me kept on increasing. I never realised it until today, until I spent a moment to contemplate it. 

As a child, Gaja used to be my favourite thing to munch on. The first thing in the morning that I wanted to grab on was that and since then everyone in my family knew how important it was for me. I used to finish a whole jar in 2-3 days. Being a single child, I was made a lot of them, by my grandmother, mother and even house-helps. So it became a ritual for them to make it to make me happy. 

When engineering happened, my folks were bit too emotional about things and started on my first trip to college, I had a jar full of Gajas sent with me increasing the already heavy luggage I had. The jar stayed in the hostel cupboard for around 15 days and finally when i saw my room-mates eating on stuff they brought from home, I was reminded of the same. No, my love for it had not subsided but the emotions attached to it were not the same. No one was there to stop me from eating them and that didn't make me want to eat them any more. 

As I opened the jar in my tiny hostel room, my friends got a glance of it and asked me what it was. I offered them a few, something i would not have done back home. They seemed to like it, and i passed the entire bottle down to them. It finished quite fast. 

Since then, it became my ritual as well to get at least one bottle of Gaja with me when i returned to college because i has my room-mates waiting for it. There was more and different food each time but the Gaja was always there and all of it would finish off in a matter of days. 

I am an engineer now, I am done with the hostel and flat life I had back then, but I still am away from my folks and I stay in a PG. My family never really realised where the Gaja used to go and why i was always keen on taking back a bottle back to college each time. They still make me Gajas and get with them each time they come to see me. Those Gajas lie in the cupboard, waiting for me to open them and eat them. But I don't. I don't know if I have lost the taste for it or if it doesn't taste the same without my friends but I just don't. I don't even tell my parents that  I seldom had it and took it for my friends. I just keep it with me thinking that someday I will meet them again and we shall munch on it. 

I miss you guys. Meet soon. 

MIAMI, not just a restaurant.

The first thing that you notice on the first day of a restaurant is the ambience because no one has yet tried the food and therefore you are entering the restaurant with an open mind. But the eyes do seem to go towards things of beauty. I can say it without a doubt that the ambience caught my eye and I became interested in trying the place out.

I have been passing by the same way since a little more than month and I had seen the restaurant being constructed. I saw the fancy stuff going in day by day and I must admit that I already had decided it long ago that I will for sure try the restaurant. On 21st of August as we passed by the restaurant again we saw people dining inside it. We were a group of 5 people and we decided to try it out. 

The restaurant has a menu with a variety of options to serve the need of all the possible tastes. Starting from continental delicacies such as pizzas, pasta, gnochhi, sizzlers to amazing Indian food. They have it all. It is a place where a group of five different people can serve their moods at the same time. The mock-tails not only are tasty but the presentation of all the food and beverages makes you want to have them all. 

Being humane, we ordered for a couple of pizzas and pastas accompanied by a mock-tail. The food was not only flavourful but filling as well. Most importantly, you can get all the taste and aura without burning a hole in your pockets. It is made keeping in mind the needs of all age groups and the party hall is surely going to be great hit. 

I feel honoured to be present there on the first day. 

Until we meet again.

It’s that time of life when every goodbye scares the hell out of people, thinking when we shall meet again. It is that time, when everything happens for the last time but we keep reminding each other of the first times.

The first friend, the first eat-out, the first class, the first bunk all of these suddenly becomes of utmost value and at times brings about tears to one’s eyes which silently roll down and leave a smile on the lips before falling off the cheeks. It is a time when you are not sure if you are happy that it happened or sad that it came to an end.  I too remember a few firsts of our college life and I would like to keep a list of memories to talk about when we meet again.

Orientation week, when we were told a lot of things which we hardly heard because we were busy sleeping. The first day of class, MBA Block 2^nd Floor, as my nervous steps took me inside the classroom which was already filled with quite a few students, 
I realized this isn't school anymore. Day 3 order it was and we didn't meet our Class In-charge on the first day of college, instead we were welcomed by our maths faculty for the semester. I meaningless introduction happened in the beginning of each section as if the teachers remembered anyone’s name.

The next class was English, in which we were asked to introduce our neighbors. That actually made a lot of sense and broke the ice for many people. Many other firsts followed soon, the first CT, first models, first semester exam and much awaited first going back home.

The first big group outing was to Bessy beach. Waking people up early in the morning to catch the first local and then the fun in the beach and breakfast after that and lest I forget the infinite photos in between. Wish we did more of that.

The first big eat out at Mahindra City. Thanks to Prantik, Dikshya, Shreyasi, Ayush and Sanjula. While the heat of Chennai got the better of a few but the walk towards and back was the best part of the day apart from the food of course.

As the years moved on, some bonds became stronger and some not so much and thus, all the firsts after that would be different for different people until we went as a group to Salem for the industrial visit. Like always the purpose of visit became secondary and the having fun became primary.

One more first would be our first mass-bunk which came pretty late in the end of the third year, though it technically was not a mass-bunk, but the bad-ass in me would like to call it that.
There are a lot of more firsts which I could add to the list but I would leave it for the comments of people reading this.

Whatever it might be, we had a heck of a class and we made a lot of people jealous and made a lot of eyes turn. It is inevitable to part ways in a few days from now but with a promise to meet again whenever we get a chance. 

Losing a friend or just staying away.

It's a tough choice to make about what is tougher to do. Losing a friend or staying away from a friend you had not thought of staying away. Losing someone is probably easier. You tend to forget their existence in a few days. Staying away is far more difficult, thinking about the person. Thinking about the times you could have had together.

Staying away is a continuous process. This never ceases to end.

When you lose someone forever there are things that you can't do with them anymore and slowly you tend to accept the fact that that is how it is going to be. There are a certain things that will not be like the way it was before and after a phase of denial you accept that fact.

When it comes to staying away from someone, the acceptance phase comes really late. There will always be instances where you could spend time with them but you are unable to. This keeps killing you from inside. The initial few drops of tears are just the beginning.

The fact still remains that no matter what the situation is. Time makes you forget both the pains. Having faced both the situations in less interval of time. That's all I have to say.