Monday, May 26, 2014

New Beginnings and Happy Neverendings

The first day of her engineering college Aarwen was lost and horribly late to class. First year girls had to oil their hair, plait it, pin up the dupatta with pins showing, wear bathroom slippers and mismatched salwar with a loose kamiz. This was called ragging. She reached the lecture hall late so busy was she ensuring she met the dress code standard that had been set. 

The front rows where the girls were sitting were all full so she decided to sit at the very edge of the fifth row next to some unknown boys. The boy next to her smiled. She tentatively smiled back. Introductions were in order. She lived in the hostel, but this was her hometown. Ranchi. Another boy, next to the first, one enthusiastically leant forward. Let's call him Lazywiz. He smiled. And asked Aarwen if she lived next to a movie hall? The professor walked in and class started. 

Lazywiz forgot all about Aarwen. But Aarwen remembered to look for him during the roll call after lunch. He was no longer sitting a seat apart from her. In fact when roll number 136 was called out he was not there. First day and Lazywiz bunked a class. 

He did not remember she existed. For some reason she remembered he wore an orange and green checked shirt that first day. He claimed to hate girls, specially ones like Aarwen. She remembered their conversation and felt she had made a friend. He would walk along the corridor looking formidable and lost, deep in concetration. She would never forget to smile at him even though he would resolutely ignore her. 

For two years they hardly ever spoke, but once they finally started to talk they hardly ever stopped. That was their beginning..

My roommate like most people was a fan of Friends. Still is. She made her way through all the seasons, while I would sit on my side of the room on my bed facing her and listen. So if you describe a scene I most probably won't know it, but if you quote a dialogue I would have probably heard it. After nine seasons of rolling with laughter, holding on to our sides  when it was time for the final season right from the first episode all we thought, or atleast I thought, was now it ends. And though it may have been a good season I still think it was the saddest. That is an ending..

I once read somewhere that the world is divided into two sets of people. One who love Harry Potter. And the others who want to read/watch Harry Potter.

**Harry Potter spoilers ahead** 
***Or atleast what some might call spoilers***

The thing that fascinates me about Harry Potter is how neatly everything ties up. It is a wizard world full of colorful details. But that's not necessarily why I find it special. I think J.K. Rowling stated that she had the last chapter written and locked away in a safe right from book 1. No wonder a goblin, a wand maker introduced in the first 100 pages of the first book were vital to the plot in the final book 7. No wonder the first and only wizard duelling spell a young boy of 12 years learnt was enough to defeat the greatest dark wizard of all times. And the reader comes to know of this only 8 or maybe 9 actual real life years later. 

Alan Rickman who plays the character of Professor Snape in the movies was told at the onset what would be revealed to the viewers a decade later. A whole generation would grow up and cross their teens while this story was getting written. As his final farewell he wrote a lovely heartfelt goodbye..
http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/harry_potters_alan_rickman_writes_jk_rowling_a_touching_thank_you-2011-05

It is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller.
               Alan Rickan's Farewell Letter

Often we can control the start. Sometimes we know the end. Usually we just don't know which stage we are in..

The one thing I am learning in life, is whether you are still at the start.. enthusiastic, excited.. or it feels like the fag end and you stand exhausted, tired.. living is all about the journey. Love the journey and you will always be in a place you enjoy and yet you will not be afraid to leave it behind to try out the next thing that you get to soon enjoy..

3 comments :

  1. hey aarwen, that was a nice story about a lazywiz up there... so he the hate girls sort, looking aloof and away and super smart... am i seeing someone here? very nice first meeting and a persistent girl. and the oil and plaits and weird clothes, back when i went to college, same ragging.... we had to wear sarees to class with oily hair. lovely blog, sir... will come and see more.

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  2. ranchi... i went to lazywiz's blog. jamshedpur. i lived thee from 1985 to 1989, straight after i got married. husband with tata steel for nine years... maybe your in laws and us... no no... that would be too much in terms of telepathy, coincidence, etc., right?

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    Replies
    1. hello Indi di.. since you didn't reply I sort of assumed you weren't coming. So happy to see you here.. hehe yes we see him everywhere don't we.. I know a certain lady who sees him at airports too..

      Now coming to the super exciting coincidence.. my father in law has a factory in Adityapur so you may not have met, but both my parents are from jamshedpur. My grandparents worked in Tata Motors. My dadu, mother's father, is Akhil Kumar Ghosh. Now retired but worked in Tata Motors. They stay in nildih. I still visit. My mother Samita Ghosh now Sinha. She did her college in kolkata. You won't believe but right at the beginning when I read you studied in kolkata I told my husband, she shouldn't turn out my mother's friend. Now I am hoping you do..

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