The moment I entered Nirma campus, our graduation collage, my heart started beating faster. Going through a turbulence of emotions & memories attached to that place.
There have been times when we used to remember our college days and I'd often said this to him 'Wish we could relive those days'. Since our childhood till yesterday there are times in our lives, most of us would want to relive, but somehow with the busy lives we live it seems unachievable. Well not to Harsh, and as usual he could surprise me with a well planned visit to Ahmedabad on our First Wedding Anniversary! :)
The watchman was brimming with smile, the moment he saw Harsh's 2006-bacth bus pass to allow us entry in the campus. We parked the car same place where Harsh used to keep his bike then. There were many student, some walking towards the bus stop, some on bike, some sitting in groups on those road-side benches, who were totally unaware of the fact that we were seeing our past in them. Well, there was a batch of students celebrating their Signature day and we suddenly realized that we should have worn our signed tees. :) To be honest I was smiling to the fullest my facial muscles allowed me without pain. Feeling younger at heart and filled with the deja vus of past as we walked ahead. We went to the NIT canteen first, the K-Block, recollecting food menu, those coupons we used to have, which are discontinued now BTW. It had same arrangement, almost same menu items with of course some new additions to it. There were a few infrastructural changes too regarding that Kalhupur Bank and fee office, but it still felt as much familiar as it used to be then. Moving towards the lake side, NIM campus, Law, Research centre, we observed many things were yet as they used to be and many things had changed in past 4.5 years. The campus area had expanded with additional blocks, canteens and play grounds. Few of them were under construction when we were studying and now completely operational.
That football/cricket ground is still there and the basketball ground has been covered by a new building. We went to NIM canteen whose Aloo parathas were famous in our group and of course it was in the plan to have that dish again :). To our surprise, the lady seemed familiar to me at the coupon counter, just that she was married now. She was looking back too with a smile you do not give to every student and I could not help but say that "we are old students" and she immediately replied saying "yes, I felt so.." :-) Shaah, I so badly wanted to say "We are married" Hahaha. While we were walking in a circle around the campus, we kept looking for one of the biggest fountains available in the campus. Once we thought may be they have removed it, but when we found it, it was simply relieving and as good as checking out some famous old monument. Then comes the B-block, where we've had attended most of our lectures. As we walked upstairs, we kept talking about how, when, what has happened there and the people who were involved. Many of the staff members and watchmen were recognizable and they too were giving that being familiar look back.
B-213, the classroom which had lot, lot of memories from initial semesters. Harsh found his back bench and I found mine first bench. Recollecting some old memories there we moved ahead. We decided to check if our professors were available at the staff-room and guess who did we run into? KP agarwal sir. He recognized us..The best part was when Harsh shared his business card and he said, please both of you write your roll numbers on it :) We were a bit late and could not meet other faculties. Harsh was very eager to meet Anitha mam. One of the teachers on whom somehow Harsh had an impression of being a rigid student, because he would not take any wrong teachings :P So we decided to drop her a note of thanks, and we did! Crazy us :D Hoping to hear back from her! I am sure one of the lines in that note will force her to recollect who we were - i.e. "Yeah, we are married!" :P :D
Now comes back Block-K, the main canteen.We had already planned to have "Papdi Chaat", which we quite often used to have, given it was the tastiest affordable food item then. Haha! So we had a plate of Papdi Chaat, 2 plates of fried rice and one onion-tomato uttapam. Ab kya kanjusi :P haha..Visited the D block, our first year block and the audis, labs, every corner we could jump in and recollect more and more memories. :)
We spent 4 heavenly hours in Nirma, much more to our expectations. When we were leaving from the campus we have decided to come back with our Surati group, we missed you guys a lot... :)
Btw on the right side is one of the assignment files we discovered lying unclaimed. Well, they are still the same :)
After this overwhelming visit to the campus, our next destination was the Barissta cafe where we first time talked something other than projects and college :P We just happen to go there to celebrate one of our project competition's victory in 2009, just 2 of us btw and that too on Valentines day! Believe me, a lot can happen over a coffee ;-) Sadly, that cafe was closed! :|
We then went to The Upper Crust, cafe. It has an interesting story to it. It was during the last semester of our college we 4 friends decided to have lunch here. The moment we saw the prices listed in the menu, none of us was willing to eat there any more :P Well not that we could not afford it at all, we were damn hungry to keep the budget in mind before ordering. So it was funny but we decided to move out one after the other shamefully rather than staying hungry :P So this time, it was in Harsh's plan to visit this place :) We were not hungry at all, but we managed to have one of their specialities!!
While we were reaching to these destinations, Harsh was pointing out the places where he used to hangout very often with his flatmates & Surati friends.I could notice his eyes scanning down the memory lane!
The next thing in the plan was Vastrapur lake. My Surati group members had planned my Birthday cake cutting there once, so this place :) Disappointingly it was a challenge to find out a single soda shop here..what happened to Gujju people :O! Post this, as per the plan we met my younger brother staying in the town. After a round of family gossips, we had all time favourite Fafda-Jalebi and Sitafal shake..Had a peaceful walk along the newly developed river-front. One of my younger sister joined after her classes got over and then the last planned thing in his list was Manek Chauk. I had been there just once before with around 9-10 other friends, just because he could convince me to ;)
This is one place every Ahmedabadi must know. It comes to the life after around 12:30 AM at night, yes night!! You will get most of the street foods like pav bhaji, pulav, dosa, kulfi , sandwiches etc etc. This place is famous for it's pineapple-chocolate sandwiches and gwalior dosa which is filled with cheese and butter...yummm!! We had sandwiches, dosas, pulav's', pav bhaji's' and famous Asharfi kulfi and Faluda in dessert. Well, don't frown..it was 4 of us :O
The latter part of the day was completely foodie. But that's what you do when you stay in Ahmedabad. People are fun loving, foodies and that's how they make memories too. The day was as expected and the excitement stayed till the end. One more thing which we were discussing was how we could reach from one place to another very quickly unlike Mumbai. The city is peaceful in many ways.
The entire day starting from the college till Manek Chauk was fun-filled. For once more, I could relive those moments! Though it was just two of us, most of my college memories were around him. I had lived 4 years in last 3 semesters, and believe me coming back was a real fun and a touchy experience. I never thought we could ever make it happen. It is not impossible but who thinks of planning an entire day for it! This day is truly an addition to the college memories.
While leaving the city, at that impeccable moment I could not help missing my Father. How I wished I could somehow share this with him. I wished if I could thank him for the efforts he took for me, so that I could be where ever I'd ever been. He would be happy for us somewhere, Wishing us our first anniversary!
And last but not the least, a big wala thanks to you..Harsh, for believing that we were going to enjoy the day. Says a lot about how Nirma and Ahmedabad were special to us and still are..our Fevicol Bond..It was the best Anniversary gift I could have asked for :)
Touch Wood ^_^
