6 months ago
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
After contemplating for about thirty minutes, I finally decided to stick to this title. It was a three hour journey from Bangalore to Mysore that took me down the memory lane. I was going to Mysore to attend the engagement of my classmate, also my colleague and friend.
On our way to Mysore we pass through a small city (district headquarters) named Mandya. This is a place where I have spent the maximum part of my life (19 years to be exact) and due to obvious reasons it is a place that is very close to my heart.
The city does not have a bypass road which is annoying for the long distance travellers but it didn't quite annoy me. I was enjoying the ride through the city. I could recognize every building, every tree, my school, our house, shopping streets, movie theatres, and petrol pumps. It was as though every building that I saw was smiling at me and welcoming me back. It was disheartening to see few old buildings demolished but then if the infrastructure of a city has to improve the old has to give way to the new. Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson knew this a long time ago “The old order changeth, giving way to the new.”
It was this five min ride through the city that suddenly took me back by twenty years. For the next hour of my journey, I stopped the music I was listening to, closed my eyes and tried to remember every single bit I could remember about that city. It was just like any flash back that one sees in a movie. All the scenes were flashing right in front of eyes. I so badly wanted to get into those scenes again but all I could manage was to open my eyes and stare at the sunlight that was peeping through the window pane.
I was expecting to meet a lot of (at least ten) old friends during the engagement but only three turned up. Nevertheless, it fun meeting old friends. The conversation started with a 'how are you' but somehow ended up in the usual/formal questions like “Which language do you code in?” and “Who are all your clients?” I am sure all software engineers would second me on this one. We could not really help it. We did not have an odd man/woman out who could divert us away from software! The lunch was delicious and so was the vanilla ice cream. We wished the couple, took photographs and bid good bye to my friend and her parents.
On the way back to Bangalore, I passed through Mandya again but this time it was not the buildings but the twinkling stars and glittering lights that smiled and waved good bye.
The friend whose engagement I went to attend was extremely happy that I could make it. I was happy too that I could share her happiness but even happier that this engagement gave me an opportunity to take the beautiful trip down the memory lane.
On our way to Mysore we pass through a small city (district headquarters) named Mandya. This is a place where I have spent the maximum part of my life (19 years to be exact) and due to obvious reasons it is a place that is very close to my heart.
The city does not have a bypass road which is annoying for the long distance travellers but it didn't quite annoy me. I was enjoying the ride through the city. I could recognize every building, every tree, my school, our house, shopping streets, movie theatres, and petrol pumps. It was as though every building that I saw was smiling at me and welcoming me back. It was disheartening to see few old buildings demolished but then if the infrastructure of a city has to improve the old has to give way to the new. Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson knew this a long time ago “The old order changeth, giving way to the new.”It was this five min ride through the city that suddenly took me back by twenty years. For the next hour of my journey, I stopped the music I was listening to, closed my eyes and tried to remember every single bit I could remember about that city. It was just like any flash back that one sees in a movie. All the scenes were flashing right in front of eyes. I so badly wanted to get into those scenes again but all I could manage was to open my eyes and stare at the sunlight that was peeping through the window pane.
I was expecting to meet a lot of (at least ten) old friends during the engagement but only three turned up. Nevertheless, it fun meeting old friends. The conversation started with a 'how are you' but somehow ended up in the usual/formal questions like “Which language do you code in?” and “Who are all your clients?” I am sure all software engineers would second me on this one. We could not really help it. We did not have an odd man/woman out who could divert us away from software! The lunch was delicious and so was the vanilla ice cream. We wished the couple, took photographs and bid good bye to my friend and her parents.
On the way back to Bangalore, I passed through Mandya again but this time it was not the buildings but the twinkling stars and glittering lights that smiled and waved good bye.
The friend whose engagement I went to attend was extremely happy that I could make it. I was happy too that I could share her happiness but even happier that this engagement gave me an opportunity to take the beautiful trip down the memory lane.
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Seriously…. Every time I pass thro’ ….. I insist on seeing our school..... and not to forget the chaat stall …..VV road….. I forgot the name of the stall though……
"The old order changeth..." - have read it somewhere earlier. [;)]
I know how it feels. Though I have not been as lucky to spend 19 years at the same place, but I feel the same way whenever I go to Kolkata, Bokaro or Begusarai.
-CK-
wow! times like these, i really wish i had a real Pensieve filled with memory theads. it wud be lovely to re-visit the times in the past, even if its just as on-lookers. or even better - a Time-Turner! how i wish! :)
Nice Blog!
Thats It...
I can understand and sense every emotion and vibe coming out of you , in this article of yours.. its very tough to describe the feelings about something which is so close to you..Anyways coming to the article , im glad you met 3 of your friends atleast got to speak to them , im sure there was nothin common between you and them apart from codeing and clients now , its kind of irony ,when we were in college we wait for the days when we can get corporate and talk about work we do and company and when we get to do it we wish that "informal" converse , May be thats life
anyways happy gowri and ganapathy habba
Finally to the readers out here on blog comment on the article please dont judge it its a small request because everyone have their respective style
Hi Divya,
Finally you managed to comment! You are one of my dedicated readers. But since this is your first comment on the blog, a warm welcome to you.
I would have visited every nook and corner of the city if I was driving my own vehicle but since I was in a bus all I could manage was to pass through the main road :(
Hi Chandan,
You've definitely read it. I was inspired by one of your posts to use this quote.
Am glad I am not the only one with that feeling :)
Hi Archana V,
We can check with Harman Baweja if he can lend us his time turner :)
Yes! Even i wish to go back. It would be so lovely.
Hi Pradeep,
Thanks yaar. BTW he was one of the guys I met in the engagement :)
Hi Arjun,
Happy Gowri Ganesha Chaturthi to you too.
It all depends on who we meet. If he or she was just an acquaintance back then it remains the same even today but it sometimes amazes me when good friends don't have anything in common to speak. Thanks a lot for your concern my dear. I don't see anybody judging the post anyway.
The best way to enjoy any travel is to recollect the past... and to pass through the same place while doing it is just overwhelming ... not easy to express in words...lucky you are in a position to visit it more often than many others.
Ah, I have crossed Mandya many times as we friends keep going for randim bike trips on the Mysore highway.
Hey tell me , wasn't it Mandya only where one Engg college was closed down back in 98 or 99? Its been ages I forgot it was Mandya or some other place..
Btw, Isn't it also called 'The Sugar City'? Wonder why you did not mention that...
Reunions are always pleasant whether all turn up or few.. :)
Hi Appa,
Yes. Very true. I am indeed very lucky to be living so close to Mandya. I can at least visit it whenever i can think of it. Not many people are so fortunate. And regarding thinking of past, I would like to add a word there and make it thinking of happy past :).
Hi Oxy,
I did not know you knew so much about Mandya!! It is called the 'Sakkare Nagara' meaning the Sugar City because it boasts of a huge factory that supplies sugar to almost all parts of Karnataka. I didn't want to mix that with my post. I'll write a separate post on Mandya and places worth visiting in and around Mandya.
As far as I know there was and is only one engineering college - PESCE in which I studied and it used to close only for holidays and Cauvery River tensions :)
Well, B'lore might not be my birth city or I might not provide any sort of connection, but it's the city I adopted and I guess i need to be aware of the places in and around B'lore. And why just places nearby B'lore, I have seen almost 70% of Karnataka from Gulbarga to Hassan, M'lore, to Shimoga, Belgaum to Davangere. Gokarna, Coorg and Yana are few of my fav places.
Yes I knew its called Sugar City :) and abt Engg college I think I am getting confused with some other college which was closed and its students were placed in different colleges of B'lore.. If not Mandya then I think it was Malnad?
a truly well written blog!
Hey Oxy
I am impressed! :).
It could be Malnad College.
Hi Harshada,
Thanks so much!
I always wished how lucky we would have been if we had a time machine !!! Some of you could at any point of time go back to your old school or the places you have been in your childhood, for people like me, who had been abroad for about 16 years, all these are difficult. The physical memories are in the form of fotos and thats just it!
Have passed thru Mandya a million times without thinking of it as a place, somebody's hometown, a dreamcity........... Only, as you wrote, it was a nuisance passing thru blocked city roads when i was in a hurry to get someplace else.
You changed my outlook!;)
Hi Vimmuuu,
That's one dream machine every human being on this planet wishes for.
Don't worry. The world is really small. You'll some day visit your home town.
Hi Apu,
Welcome to Varun's Digital Diary!
I am glad to hear that I have managed to change your outlook towards Mandya and I am glad that you commented :)
Thanks a lot yaar. But its not the matter of visiting my native. I spent my early 16 years abroad and now Im in India, and going there would be difficult, na?
Not at all. You just need an air ticket and a visa. Pehle singer ban jaao. You can go anywhere you want. :)
Every weekend when i happen to board the bus to mysore i make sure i see the road which leads to our Eng college :) and every time i see it, i simply happen to drift to the past memories. its indeed a great feeling.
you have wrtten really well. I was again carried away by the past memories when i was going through the blog :)
i wish i could also make it for the engagement..:)
Every weekend when i happen toboard the bus to mysore i make sure i see the road which leads to our Eng college :) and every time i see it i simply happen to drift to the past memories. its indeed a great feeling.
you have wrtten really well i was again carried away by the past memories when i was going through the blog :)
i wish i could also make it for the engagement..:)
A wonderful trip down the memory lane... Your Best till now!! :)
Hi Kumuda, ,
Thanks a lot. Now you know where to come to recollect your past :). I get that feeling for every road I see there.
Hi Mumtaj,
Thanks so much. I'll surely try and better this effort :)