My Footpath

We were in the process of getting admission, it was the dream colg for all the science aspirants for 11th grade. But, my interest lied in joining some other college. But, fate played a game with me, I had to give up my dreams of being an astronaut or in air force to join the commerce stream of studies in the same colg where hundreds were rejected for low marks. I would have been rejected, but luck played the game of getting me in there.

Now, all set to go to college on the first day, was excited on my journey, dreaming of the fun and freedom we can enjoy, those which were denied in schools, it was all new to us. But, surprisingly, we never had any formal introduction on the very first day, instead had classes being conducted consecutively. It was strange sitting besides strangers whom we never met till date, then, times passed, our knowledge and enthusiasm of knowing eachother raised, we came together to be called as friends, many joined into groups, some left, others stayed...
Now, the journey of 5 years of college life had started here, in the footpath, which, we proudly called ourselves as the members of footpath association.

Every morning, hundreds of bikes lay parked their near the footpath, which was our adda for 5 years, Everything, in and out everything was done near the footpath, which was 200 mts long, students, staffs, people kept walking in and out of the college daily, but, we stay their, watching figures, greeting friends, bunking classes, racing on bikes, calling by nick names, having crush on pals, going to movies, fighting, gossiping, dreaming, hoggingg, travelling on footboards, watching bus stand figures, studying together during exams... what not?

All the memories lay on this footpath, the days we spent waiting for friends, days we spent chatting, sharing our stories of fun and joy, playing cricket, tennis, Basketball, messaging to friends on information about classes and mass bunks. How can we forget the days we gave Birthday Bumps, and got our share too... the days we celebrated our's as well as all those friend's birthdays, those days we got caught for not attending morning prayers, and the days we got ragged by seniors and those days we became seniors to rag our juniors, when we got caught for such ragging acts...

The memoirs of the college fests we attended, the days we strived to get the tickets for the Mount Carmel (MCC) girls college fest, the funny acts we did during our ANUBHAV fest in our 12th grade, the one's like "Is se kehte hain? Toin toin fish?", the stage dance, the train lines we formed pushing thro between the crowds, the push-ups on the stage, the guffawing sounds of our voices, all those sight seeing and hunting for new babes, new figures etc...
How can I forget to talk about the beautiful evening we spent dancing to the tunes of Sivamani's concert hosted by our college, those hot looking Babes dressed in sleeveless tops, the sounds he created and the enthusiasm of the crowd, who never rested a second during the 2 hour concert, those moves, which left the crowd go gaga over his music, the rockets that flew over and over everybody's head...

Although, everyday we kept doing the samethings, every moment we faced new extremities of fun, new friends came in, juniours joined in, where as seniors kept leaving, we had to bid farewell to all those seniors who taught us, ragged us, helped us, provided us with knowledge and information about their experiences, shared their life with us...

But, finally we came to the level where we had no seniors, but infact we realised it was time for our farewell now, It was the last year of our college, infact I would call 'Our Footpath Life'...
Now, here comes the famous proverb, "unknown we met, well known we depart", now we come together to share those final moments sweetly called those Kodak moments, to preserve them for life, we came to college everyday early by 10, just to meet all those faces, which we would be missing after a year, we came to have fun, to create a history of our own...
As days passed, our time was nearing, everyday we left home late, initially we left at 3, 4, 5, 6, then 7 and somedays til 9, we hoped the day never ends, rather wud liked the time to stay still...
The whole time we stayed in the footpath having fun, not willing to move out of the place even for lunch, we were addicted to the footpath as we were addicted to smoking, it kept us enthusiastic, it kept us alive, it gave us shade, it gave us a place to park our buttocks, it provided us with an ambience, a feel of being safe and secure amongst our friends, there were days even , we had a small sleep on those footpaths, laying down to rest, when we were tired... Also, those days with our dog 'Ramu' whom, we fed it like our baby, it gave us peace, it gave us happiness, it came in search of us eveeryday, so humble, so proud, so faithful, that even friends forget to show sometimes...

We came to the final times of our life, where exams kept approaching, study holidays started, friends kept busy studying, some came, some didn't, now, the footpath lay empty, the green leaves turned dry, no vehicles parked, no ppl sitting, it stay there alone waiting for it's members, better call it's children who grew their in its vicinity to meet for the last time together, here came the exams, the days when friends were busy studying having no time to even say 'Hi' or wish their friends 'goodluck', those few days, last days were passing, with no fun, full of tensions and sorrows for bad performances in exam, finally the countdown had started!

It was all over in a week, some faces came back cheering about their splendid performances, some came sobbing, some came with smiles, some with fear of being departed, they passed their slam books to be filled, everyone, sit their having fun for the last time, but it was not over yet!
We still came to our alma mater, the footpath, we will never forget what it had taught, how it has served in our times? Gradually, the number of days we met in a week came reducing, from everyday to 3 days then, 1 day a week, now its rarely once a month, everybody now lay in their dreams of making it BIG in their lives... The hands that wrote with pens are now typing on keyboards, the hands that received pocket money from parents are receiving their own hard earned salaries, the hands that rode bikes are now riding cars. In the places where bikes were parked now cars are being parked...

Everything has changed in 5 years, the group of friends, the bunch of bikes, the crushes, foods in canteen, lecturers in college, new ppl kept coming, old one's left, principal's changed, But, one thing that never changed was the "Footpath" where we grew, it still lay there alone waiting for its children, even though knowing that, they are busy to look back...

It was ours, we the presidents of Footpath! Every one who grew their, owns a stone of memory inscribed in it, which can never be demolished, Lets stay alive with those memories, remember that was the platform where we explored this world, lets not forget those friends, lecturers, memories in short,... Stay alive!

It was My Footpath! I own it! Now, tell me Yours!

- V. Sathish Venkat