The January Flavour

January always occupies a special place in Arbitmind's life.

The magic won't be recreated ever but what would linger on forever 

are the memories.

The first few Januaries of the 21st century would follow a predictable yet enchanting pattern.

Between the 4th & the 8th of every January a busload of people(& ten pointers) 

would hop onto an already overcrowded,rickety bus from The ISBT in 

Delhi (Maharana Pratap Bus Terminal to some).  Almost all of them would have had 

landed up at Nizamuddin 12-18 hours later than scheduled, fog in North India playing

the spoilsport. You could spot them in ISBT with ease.Lounging around the counter 27, 

in freezing cold,with a sweat shirt or a cap having 'BITS,Pilani' printed on it.  

A 75 rupees ticket 

& anything between six to eight hours later they would land up in a  sleepy Nutan market. 

In between they would have thanked their stars numerous times as the driver(!!!) of the bus,

ostensibly in high 'spirits', would try to break the sound barrier consistently.

[Advisory: Please do not try to dissuade the driver from his job. 

Once,a senior of Arbitmind had the grit to yell out to the

driver, "Bhaisaab..Thoda dheere nahi chala sakte kya?". The response 

was all 'shock & awe' style. The well meaning & affable driver threw up his hands in 

the air(ignoring the steering wheel for that fleeting moment) & rendered an invitation ..

"Tu aake chala le B******". The story found its way on to the campus & since then the 

sacred tradition of not meddling in someone else's job came about. 

Remember the ad "Experts ka kaam experts pe chhod dena chahiye". QED ] 

A couple of minutes of negotiations with a cycle rickshaw & people would vanish into 

their respective Bhawans & then subsequently into their wings. Sem II was on !!

A loud exchange of New Year greetings would follow,interspersed with resolutions 

like "iss Sem main 10 banane ka soch raha hoon" or "I Quit smoking in the new year" 

[An indicator of precisely what would be the things not to do in the new year]. 

Dinner in C'not(A place lined with the best restuarants Arbitmind has ever come across.

.Blue Moon, Sharma's, Volga, Kapoor's, Golden Dragon) or Kake da Dhaba would follow. 

This would be the first & the last day when the entire wing would go to sleep by 12 midnight 

-- the next day all of them had to register for their courses [the less lucky ones would have had

a PR(priority) number less than 200 & would have to get up at an unearthly 8 AM. 

The more fortunate ones could crash till 11 ].

The next day would be a mixed bag. 

People would enter the IPC praying that seats in courses 

like FMS(Flexible Manufacturing Systems), PPC(Production, planning & control) would be available. 

These courses assures you of at least a couple of A's in the bag for the ensuing semester. 

The lucky ones would lay their hands on it, the slimy ones would not- but would manage to land up some 

SOP(Study Oriented Project) under a very popular(for obvious reasons) Professor.

& the unluckiest of the lot would have to be content with 

LOPs(Lab Oriented Project-- where one had to actually work for a decent grade). 

These electives - kind of lessened the trauma inflicted by courses like OR(Operations Research) 

& NumAl(Numerical Analysis). Arbitmind sincerely believes that the OR & NumAl 

courses were the Almighty's way of making you pay for the sins in your last life.

Registration Day over.

The timetable would say that the first test series kicks off after the 26th of Jan.

Ulti Sac Out for 2 weeks!!! :-)[euphemism for doing nothing]

Time to celebrate --- 

Spirituality would flow in the wing via an Old Monk or a self-proclaimed number One.

Everybody loved an auspicious start.

January would also see the start of the inter-assoc cricket tournament,

"The Marudhara Cup"[Hallmarks of this tournament were dubious umpiring, unfathomable boundary lines

& both teams 'gherao'-ing the umpire after every contentious decision].

Arbitmind would be neck deep in preparations(read meetings in SKY) along with members

of "Morucchayya" to finalise details of the "Moru Grub"

(as it is known on campus- a dinner hosted by Morucchaya showcasing the might of the Bengali Cuisine). 

January would bring about a fog soaked campus, shivers to the tune of 1 degree Centigrade

 & loads of Fried maggie in ANC(All Night Canteen). 

'Nagar ji's chai' & 'Pappu's Hot Chocolate' see the most business during this month.

Somehow, January in the campus would make Arbitmind happy. 

As if there was something to look forward to every day.

Something to soak in every morning.

This was a month when wingies won't complain if you are without a bath for two weeks.

This was a month when the numerous campus chowkis(chowkidars) would light a bonfire 

& you could huddle around that warmth at 2 AM in the night...

just because you had nothing else to do.

 

Life has taken many a turn after the last January on campus.

Old Monk has given way to Smirn-Off.

The cycle borrowed from 'Bugs' has given way to a car.

The Moru Grub has given way to expensive Buffets.

The BITS,Pilani sweatshirt has given way to a Van Heusen one.

But, the 'magic' has not been recreated.

Arbitmind agrees with the MasterCard guys, 

"There are somethings money can't buy..for everything else....."

Which brings me to this couple of lines(part of a ghazal)

"haath chhute bhi to, rishtey nahi chhoda karte 

 waqt ki shaakh se, lamhe nahin toda karte "