Walking The Nostalgia Lane

The guard opened the gate speculatively and let our car enter through, eying suspiciously at us, as me and my friend made way towards the entry register.

‘Ah, that familiar feeling!’, I thought to myself, looking around absorbing everything, old and new.

The nostalgic trip has finally happened, translating from the chats and turning into a reality, even if just for a weekend. Good thought that we hadn’t left it to marinate for months and years of planning. Instant bout of nostalgia while cleaning up my old inbox one day, I had randomly shared some old pictures of graduation with my friends. Reminiscing about the simpler times, the plan was made to visit our alma mater in one of the upcoming weekends, this time with our spouses.

I had always wanted to show P around, but was unsure about visit rules in my women-only-college. Together with friends, it sounded better. A few days later, after shuffling through a few dates of availability of four working individuals and household commitments, we arrived here to re-live the days of early adulthood. The days when we tasted our first bite of freedom (though restricted) and experienced independence of adulting.

A, my extrovert friend, took lead at the entry gate and soon we were issued a pass to roam around the campus, meet the wardens and the teachers and show our husbands around – the part of life which had shaped us for both good and bad.

Starting the tour with visiting our very first hostel brought back many pleasant and unpleasant memories of the first year of college – first year being away from home, first time making space for yourself in the outer world, first fights, first window to adulting, and many more. This hostel had seen us become something we hadn’t imagined we could. The large terrace that held hundreds of stories sat quieter today.

 Yes, the first thoughts back then had been to run away from this place which felt like a jail with tons of rules in place. Today, these rules have been eased, students are allowed to have phones, wear a variety of clothing that we could only pine for, availability of laundry and drycleaning services, shops selling mobile phones and sim inside the campus are just few of the examples. To see this, felt revolutionary of sorts. But I guess fifteen years is a long time for any change to take over.

And the change indeed was visible everywhere around, there were fewer groups walking around, less laughter in the mess hall, students mostly self-engrossed with headphones on, the liveliness felt a little lost.

Dipping our toes in nostalgia, we went on with the stories of yesteryears as we walked towards the academic section. We intentionally took a pause to have shakes and patties, just as we used to while returning from our classes in the scorching heat. The food might not have tasted as par with our current expectations but it excelled in serving a perfect dose of yesteryears.

We realized that most of our teachers have moved to other institutions but there was one teacher from our student era still present. The very day being Teacher’s Day, we didn’t waste a minute in connecting with him. He had taught us VB.Net back in the days. An hour-long chat with him was enough to drown us in the memories of those simpler times. Our husbands waiting patiently for us as we jumped from one building to another, was indeed a humbling sight. Maybe they were enjoying as they observed the carefree version of their wives.

We were also able meet one of the wardens of our times, she had been the warden when we had first joined the hostel. She had been the one who had taught us all the rules and made sure we abided by them. During our brief conversation, she was curious to know about all the mischief we used to do during our college days. We did share one or two but was careful enough to not spill all the beans!

The caravan moved on to cover the remaining two hostels, few canteens and the old market. Few things that used to have open access had been put behind the gates like entry to the Airstrip and the road to temple at the back of the campus. Taking a drive through the roads we had only walked until then, felt very different. It drizzled throughout our visit this time, and we discussed not remembering this much rain during our stay of three years back then.

I had been silent most of the tour, when A did the talking, taking in, feeling the lost emotions I probably had left here itself with the memories. It was overwhelming to see that campus after almost fifteen years. I was surprised how the body still remembered the feeling of being inside this campus. Reminiscing about the student life and those emotions brought back the times when we were focused to escape the place to pursue masters elsewhere. The place that felt so lively and calm at this moment, had felt the opposite to the emotions of a teenager all those years ago. I could still feels bit of anxiousness in remotest parts of my being.

Surprising how walking the old lanes can give you a fresh perspective about the time we had resided at the same place. I could feel something inside me shifting, like I was realizing I had kept all those memories hidden somewhere in back of the mind where I rarely visited. Dusting them off, lifted something off my shoulder.

Our vehicle slowly moved towards the exit, and I tried to take in as much as could, the chaotic calmness of the campus, aware about the uncertainty of visiting this place again. This time, the departure process was the smoothest it had ever been. It felt overwhelming to not have gone through three levels of scrutiny before getting the exit pass from the university.

On the drive back, I dopped a few photos in the Whatsapp group to let my friends know about the little time travel I had done. The discussions in the group opened new threads of conversations as old memories were pulled out of the box. Oh, the charm of those bitter-sweet memories.

Have you ever revisited your college days? How did it feel?

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This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!

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