It was..

It was a beautiful campus.

The trees whispered here….they even hummed if you listened closely. You could see the sunshine, as it gracefully stepped on the roads, glittered on the shimmering leaves .At night the moonlight danced on the grass , making the dewdrops shine silver.The air was scented….shiuli , dolanchampa , chhatim ,depending on the season. The roads were painted…..yellow with fallen leaves, red with krihnachura petals and the road to school white with bird droppings.

It was a known campus.

Summers were very hot….printed frocks,afternoon naps that you were forced to take, talcum powder blotches on your neck , watermelon slices and tall glasses of squash.Winters were very cold…. thamma’s sweaters,chattering teeth, smell of mustard oil,ponds,and boroline.Mornings of racing to school on cycles, pretending they were horses. Afternoons of hopscotch, choachuyi , chuburi or reading Enid Bytons traded with friends. Often kittens were found in cupboards, and were fed with dropers. Sometimes you crawled across gardens and picked up ladybugs and keeping them as pets in matchboxes. Evenings of homework and sometimes if you finished early Chitrahar or Om namah shiva.

It was a small campus.

Small,with lots of kakus and kakimas. Small,with one little market .With shopkeepers who knew us by names, and occasionally gave mangobites for free. Small, with reasonless get-togethers. With tiffin boxes being sent over, filled with macherchop or pudding or shemai er payesh and ma making sure that they weren’t sent back empty. Small, with friends coming over to visit if you were down with fever.And mashi’s putting on band-aids if you bruised yourself in the park. Small, with kids riding tricycles on the roads or pulling little toy wagons .Young boys in half pants running with kites or little girls with braids plucking dandelions.


I live in a big city now.

Fast cars, fast life, fast people.A city with malls and multiplexes.A city with pocketmoney and cellphones. A city with tall houses,wide roads and flyovers.A city with parties and KFC’s.

It is a big city…it taught me to survive…. I like it.


It was a small campus…it taught me to live……I loved it.