Just a couple of moments together and all those memories strike you like a wild torrent from no where. It makes me wonder at times why it always happens this way. You never even bother to think about them when you have all the time in the world but when they’re right in front of you, you want those moments to just get back to you.
I’d been to Chennai with a few of my friends from Hyderabad for my convocation last weekend. Though we’d applied for the In-Absentia mode, we thought this was one event we just couldn’t miss. Machi, Adi, Abi and I left on friday evening by the Egmore Exp. MV, Kittu and his cousin Hari joined us at the station. Kranthi and Thopz were supposed to meet us but then had to drop their plans as they’d got their visa for their Masters at Hertfordshire university and had to fly the next day. The train journey was as such pretty boring. We reached Arrakonam at about five in the morning. People started pouring in by around 6:30 am. We managed to get a room in one of the lodges and left for the University at around 11:00 am.
The convocation was to begin at around 3:00pm and registrations were supposed to be done with by 1:00 pm. As we’d applied for the In-Absentia mode, we were relative free. Our time was best spent in the classrooms and the hostel rooms. The moment you’re in the hostel, you’ve got people all over the place calling you ‘Anna’ :-) It was in fact wonderful to get back to those ‘Senior’ days! People keep asking you advices , career prospects or just for the heck of it pull your leg, very well knowing that you’re just a year wiser than them. But still even that matters ;-)
The main event was as somber as it can get. The regular lecturing stuff, nothing really motivating. The person is called on to the stage , a moment for which he’s been paying shit loads of money for the past four years and finally when that moment comes he gets to be there only for a second. I wonder how convocations in Foreign Universities are! Here it’s more of a formality than a bonding between the university and the alumni. Moments after the ceremony got over, I had to rush to the Admin to get my certificate . They’d told me that the certificate wouldn’t be handed to me on the stage as I’d not registered prior to the convocation. Anyways, looking at how things went in the ceremony, I’m more than happy I got to be away from it and enjoy the fun from far ;-) . It at least gave me some time to catch up with people whom I’m not sure whether or not I would meet later.
We decided to stay back at Pavan’s place in Adyar that night. We left at about 9:30 pm and reached his house at around 00:30 am. I was tired as a pig and believe me, I’ve never slept that well for quite a few days :-) ! Next day morning at around 8:00am we walked down to the Besant nagar beach. This was just about a km from where Pavan stayed. To be frank, I never knew Chennai could be this beautiful! In contrast to The marina, The Besant nagar beach was pretty clean and the ambience was definitely breath taking. It was a wonderful sight to see the fishermen catching fish with magnanimous nets that early in the morning. This is something that you simply don’t get to see in a place like Hyderabad :-) Vairavan joined us a few minutes later and we had a great time together. The Horse ride on the beach shore gave a silver lining to the beach episode :-) .
The rest of the day was spent in Burma bazar with Abi and Adi scouting for Movie and Game CD’s . This is one place that they just don’t miss out when they go to Chennai! :-) . We could manage to have a brief stop by at Spencer Plaza where Rohit met us and even before we realised, it was 4:00pm. Our return train was at about 4:45 pm so we had to rush to the Station. Reached Hyderabad today morning and everything is back to square one now. Nevertheless, Two days of travelling, a few hours in the scenic beach and recollecting those innumerable wonderful memories have rejuvenated my mind :-) .