Farewell!

Helllllllow people!
It is just so difficult to believe that an year has passed since we bid goodbye to our seniors .. I mean, the night I wrote the post on that occasion is still as clear in my mind as would be yesterday! I donot like clichés, that’s right.. but oh, Time DOES seem to fly!
We received our farewell on March 16- quite a grand affair, I’d say. Though the fact that we had a company visiting campus the next day, was a fun-spoiler; while some of us were up chit-chatting till 5:30 in the morning… many others retired to bed early :-(
And our grand plans of holding a chen music-gathering or at least a fun games gathering all night were pooh pooh-ed :-( It was something of a dharam-sankat though, when on 16th morning, Amit brought us the news of who all were shortlisted for the company next day (his own name missing from the list :-/) Ironically, while one was happy for the ones shortlisted, my first response was .. “haw… we won’t be able to have fun tonight .. !” .. To which, Amit replied (promptly) .. “why not… we’ll stay up all night… we’ll have fun” … “Errm..” I repeated (knocking some sensitivity into the discussion- comeon, how does it feel if all your friends are enjoying a rare farewell moment, while you are trying to get some courtesy sleep- for a godforsaken interview the next day!!) … “Comeon ya, yeh log nahi honge na …hum kaise enjoy karenge” …
To which, he replies..(a note of protest) “arre toh kya hua .. yeh achcha hai .. shortlist bhi na ho pao.. aur enjoy bhi mat karo :( ” :O :O .. Well, point well taken!
Screw these schedules sometimes… things just don’t fit!
Anywho… the farewell was a good affair. We added some good spice to the night with the photo session of course. No no.. not your boring ‘fake pose- fake smile’ photos naah! .. We are a creative lot. We are a fun lot :D .. sooo we had lots n lots of creative n fun shots… :D … We took snaps for various permutations n combinations.. Sample these :
—
It began with (People shouting) Hey.. all girls … all guys, now…. All Commercies, all Arts-ies.. All DU-ites.. ( which effectively meant kicking out farji or part- DU-ites such as karishma etc :P) , all DU-and allied ( meant, including those previously mentioned) ..then, what was supposed to be the ‘HR Summit team’ … ( eventually infiltrated by every other single soul in the batch.. :)), ‘Empezar team’ ( again, the same story) .. and then, the classifications got crazier… The stage-cum platform was one freakin’ open photo studio with a dozen cameras clicking @ 30 pix per minute .. the camerapersons practically jumping from one ‘mood-group’ to another, at their beck n call!! ..
The category snaps were followed by pose snaps … aah … from A-The-Awasthey-Pose ( which basically had all of us – chanting – ‘A-The-A-The’ :D :P , to Bhuppu pose ( right hand on the neck-collar, left pointing outwards), to Sud. Suri Pose - … [Our SAP prof… We have created a comic character SAP-MAN after him.. Meggs ( my co creator) might want to be the first one to blog about that one though] .. , to Vijaya Pose .. to Mamta Ma’am pose ( an expressionless, deadpan face- with a hint of mamta on it ;) )..
That was followed by the dance party of course… which by the way, is not the same fun as last year … coz our new warden has acted really geeky all year, n put a time limit – of 1 o clock … ! .. Gawwdd.. even during the dance party .. I kept getting flashes of our seniors’ farewell … *spooky* .. I’m such a Flashback person, I tell you!
Errm .. though.. major point of difference.. our seniors were pretty senti and some of them cried bucket loads .. I kept taking breaks between the dance n asking people .. when are we gonna start crying … n u know … acting all ‘goin-away-ish’ :D :D … See, I knew- the cold fish that I am, I was not going to cry; still, I do like the karan johar movie stuff :D … ( hate me.. hate me)
Finally, Mansi did the honours…and a couple of others… :D :D I dun like to see Mansi cry though … :-/ anywho.. she did .. at which point, we decided to move out n get some fresh air!
Ummm …. One weird problem at such moments is … there are ‘groups of friends’ everywhere, and during the last few moments .. you want to be with all … steal time with all ! … (not to mention, the weird traitor feeling you get everytime you are with one group – and not with the other)!
Ooh… there was this very nice token we were given … A huge poster containing a collage of our pix in the last 2 years (life at IMI – batch of 2007-09) .. anddd a huge white Hanky (and a sketch pen!...)
While the dumb me started jumping about telling the organizers that hankies are supposed to be a baddie gift… I was shown the sketch pen … ! So, we were supposed to circulate the hanky around and take farewell messages from friends ..
Well.. this was some scene …as by this time ( 3-ish I think) .. most of the people were high – in spirits or on spirits – but high nonetheless .. :D … we were in the amphitheater ( Do I need to mention that I threw a fit to get my sketch pen replaced .. (yellow!! .. how was I supposed to get comments from people In yellow!!) .. then … lost the new sketchpen ( somebody stole it!) ..n then minutes later .. lost the entire kit ( minus the hanky which was with me) .. I did suck up to the organizers n got a replacement tho! :D ..
Okay .. and two amusing tiny moments .. in brief ..
1. Nirmalya comes around looking most jobless amongst us all … I thrust my hanky into his hands. Write on mine.. He takes it obediently. Moments later … I discover him empty handed …:O ..
Junta busy exchanging messages ..
ME ( wailing): “Where did you keep my hanky?!”…
Nirmalya( lost): “What hanky!”
Me ( whining) : My hanky … my hanky!! I gave it to you …
Nirmalya (now I notice- rather struggling to stand steady on his feet) .. : No, you did not.
Me: (shooting annoyed looks)- WHERE IS MY HANKY!!!
(spot it on the grass…) : Here it is!.. see you threw it around!!
Nirmalya (now affectionately examining the hanky with eyes wide open- and a dazed look): Nice Hanky yaar!! ….
LOLOLOL!!
Goes on: “I’ll write this message only”…
and then he did! .. So, ladies n gentlemen, my first farewell message … “ Dear Shruti..Nice Hanky yaar!”
:D :D …
[I shared this amusing story with Meggs .. and she seemed to think that I am easily amusable – IF that’s a word at all!] …
2. This one… I laughed at it ( n my state) for hrs
So we are all doing good … talking etc .. n for some reason .. and one ‘junior’ did something funny… errm this JUNIOR technically, is several years my senior and several feet taller … and well, I have to stretch my neck while talking to him- and get this automatic respectful feeling of junior-ity always! I never realized the irony in our equation until he did this …
Sajjal was leaving … so they said stuff to each other .. like .. u know .. “okay, dude, had a nice time with you! …” *Junior now turning to me .. in the same spirit*
Picture this: .. hand over my head … like one deals with a little kid jumping around like an overwound toy ..looking 3 feet down… to meet my level …
“Nahi seriously Shruti, had a very nice time with you … It was great having you around as a SENIOR!” .. :O :O …
(Me .. looking 3 feet up ..) … “Really!!” … And this was perhaps the most memorable message I have gotten in the past few months … I kept laughing at the irony of this scene for hours.. and of course later.. eventually, even Ajay JUNIOR and Co. saw the humor and laughed along :D :D
PS. Like every good thing is ruined by some small odd bit of development, so was this night. I categorically recall having had such a disappointment at the seniors’ farewell as well! .. Someone has to say or do something, that would add bad taste!
It didn’t last long though. Gave it a pass. In times like these, it really does feel good to know that we are moving away. Too much of anything is bad. And people …. Don’t get me started on people. People suck. BIGTIME. I know you and I are people too. And so, yeah! We do suck. Big time! It’s just that people can be fun too. And some can be real special. So that kinda compensates for the sucker-moments.
But, Oh am I glad we are moving apart.
Sure, we’ll have memories. We might even yearn for the good times spent here.
Sure, we’ll have difficult times ahead. Who knows, life could be ten times more ugly outside of the B- School. But, heck! We won’t know until we move on, right! And life ahead will have it’s own charm, along with the flipside (like life in a B-School did).
Partings are well made. Specially, partings like these. I say this, at least for me.
Will write again soon. A real post, and not such a random account of a day’s event.

So long! :-)