The Last One

Hello KGP

In all probability this is the last blog written/posted from KGP. I started blogging after I came to KGP, and it’s been five years of rambling for me, and just somehow as I get ready to pack my computer for one last time, this turns out to be the 50th post on 22 Crossroads.

Five Years. Five years can do a lot to you. They can make you well up at a stupid farewell ceremony holding a stupid cup in your hand trying to make sense of some stupid words while kids around you chant 'speech speech'. Well, goodbyes are full of clichés -- it’s the end of an era, life will never be the same. And as Myth pointed out in his blog (link), Life outside Puri gate is a bitch. Five Years.

I started writing this blog on the day Sanjay Da, while serving, in the mess said, 'Aaj mere haath ka akhiri fish hai. Fir na aap rahiyega, na hum rahenge'. He always used to save a good (if not the best) piece of fish for me, and well, so the sento nerve was struck. Thank You Sanjay Da and Anil Da and Sahil - for feeding me, with love, over the last 4 years.

So, how does one sum up KGP in a single post? Maybe, by doing an Oscar style thank-you speech for the awesomest of people one has met here. It’s gonna be a heck of a long post. It’s gonna be cheesy, lame and even boring at times and yet I just have to, have to do it. As embarrassing as it may be to admit, over the last month and half, I have fallen deeper and deeper in love with this idea called KGP. And for me, as for most of us, KGP is about the people. Some of them I spent a lot of time; for some others I can only say that I wish that I had that privilege. If nothing else, these are the people I shall always remember.

Starting with people with whom I had among the very first interactions - ETDS 05 Guvs. Aditi, Sherpa and The Dawn - thank you for giving such a pleasing, loving, caring beginning to my KGP chapter.

A bit later in the year begun the chapter that was to be close to my heart for the next five year (and maybe more) - Robotix. It’s where I met a guy with a bag on his shoulders, scolding you one minute, smiling with you the next - Choubey Da - the friend, philosopher, guide, all in one. Thanks to TD for showing that PJs can actually be funny and Sabya for my first Photoshop Lessons!!

Now we all know har team bas ek hi gunda ho sakta hai - and there is no doubt is team ka gunda kaun hai. Sassy - it’s been fun being scared of you, it’s been fun jumping gates with you, its been fun hatching conspiracies and creating & diffusing situations with you. Thanks to Sarkar for carrying forwards TD's legacy, for introducing me to twitter, and for showing that even geeks
can sing Hotel California.

Then we came to our 2nd year and to, how do I put it subtly, to Patel Hall. Saying that I was shit-scared of this place would be the understatement of this half decade. Saying that I am madly in love with it right now would sneak that award from that last statement. Thanks to all my hall seniors for transforming me in more ways than one.

Sidharth Mallik, for showing that seniors do have an aura of their own, a real one.
Addu and Tuhin, for being so cool (that’s for Addu, not for you Tuhin :P) and for being so fun (this one’s for you).
Singh and Kanwa Singh: R.E.S.P.E.C.T
Mangu Jain: You are at the top of that category, wherein wish I had spent a lot more time with you.

Mishra: I don’t know why, but since that first day in the common room when you asked 'Who bought Burney Ecclestone’ villa?', since that day I have looked up to you, and still do. That’s why I bug you on gtalk ever so often (and shall continue to do so). Thanks for being - well, just you - and also for playing the awesomest 20-questions of my life everrrrr.

These awesome seniors notwithstanding, it was good to have moved up a pedestal and have juniors of my own. Here’s a big thanks to these wonderful kids for making my life fun, even when I was getting older and whimsical and crankier.

@Naman: A smoke in one hand, a beer in the other and Naman Jhavar on an acoustic guitar playing Luka Chupi - I am so gonna miss those nights. Thanks Juice, especially for the last year and half. Will so love to see/hear you play again.
@Aggu: Stop being paranoid, stop supporting DC and I will love you even more. Continue being crazily awesome.Thanks for the bird and for giving me more importance that I probably deserved. You know how I have loved it.
@Zoo: Hell, I like you but I don’t know why, so just be happy with that!!

@Gorab Da: A lot has been said already on our walls (asli wale, not facebook ones). So lemme just add that NOW YOU ARE A FIFTH YEAR AND YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, never forget that. And also remember, you are basically a (much) younger version of me. And yeah, thanks for choosing me when Sethi was sleeping :P
@Sneha: 'thr thr asleep again' - I just wanted to write it somewhere :) Thanks for being a patient ear to my incessant ramblings over the last year and half. And it’s been a pleasure being the patient ear to yours. And yeah, smile: it suits you.
@Rasna: Let me preface by saying that this is not an olive branch :P. But with you offline, facebook, gtalk and twitter haven’t been half as much fun. Thanks for all the ammo and for happily being the target of my virtual bully behavior.

And finally, the KGP batch of 2005. More than anything, thank you guys for tolerating me over the last 4-5 years.

@Punters: Thanks for a cool first year at KGP. Thanks to you guys I didn’t stay all locked up in my room (as I had imagined it would be).

@Wingies: Saalon ek baar to kahin chal lete. Mere Rao Da career pe laga yeh dhabba mitane ka mauka to dete. But worry not, I shall keep making more plans, if only to invite cynical comments. Special thanks to Myth for continually shunning my away, in order to help me stay straight. I had understood your strategy on first day itself.

@Rbtx05: We guys are just too awesome man. That’s why all of you are tagged as 'dudes' in my gtalk list. Thanks for being patient with my designs when I sucked, for being critical when I was good and for just going along with my whims and fancies. A 15 ft banner and a 50sqft of unframed paintings - seriously, what was I thinking. Thanks for making my stupid Help Desk job look awesome. And over all, thanks for dreaming together, and then making it possible (except for Pocket Tanks and fire in the arena). We are just too damned awesome.

@Mech Study Group: Thanks for (always) studying in my room so I didn’t have to move my lazy a**. Thanks for watching TV shows, movies, documentaries, Gult videos, cricket (and a lot more), playing Contra, Mario - all while when we were supposed to be studying.

@CCD Group: Thanks for making and helping me blow half my money away. You guys are also to blame for my obesity. And for all the red and black chaugi’s and panji’s.

@Soni, KG, Loadu and Mainta: For 29, when AC and Coffee were not added incentives. Also, Soni kabhi cheating nahi karta hai!! :P

@KG and Loadu: Chalo ghar khojte hain!

So did I miss anyone? Ah, well !! You thought you had escaped the cheese fest, didn’t you?

@Sandy: Thanks for being the continual pain in the a**. Trust me - this is the best compliment I can give you. Without you pushing my all the while, I would hardly be this awesome. Thankfully now I am.

What’s left? Discussing my KGP crushes?? :P :P
Lets leave that for some other time (yes @myth: Lets leave it, for some other time.)

At one point I wanted to pen down a few lines of my own, trying to reminisce those yellow misty nights, those order after order of chai and special chai and super special chai, those hungry niteouts at the rbtx arena, not so hungry niteouts in the common room, tempo shouts at netaji, the legend of the subcoms, cursing the bong business sense and the spirit of cholbe na, random trips to kolkata, 2.2s, the bhaat sessions esp during exams; trying to survive, dream, live and die -- all at once. One may curse KGP all one wants, but in the end, if you had to, you would do it all over again. So that’s it KGP. That’s 5 years of my life - and just like that, it’s all in the past now.

So Long, and in the words of Jim Morrison, This is the end, this is my goodbye. See you around.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end

Just get a string quartet to play me off with Jefferseon Airplane's Embryonic Journey and I shall call it a perfect journey with a perfect ending.

--
manGO, keeda, Rao Da, Xerxeus, Kroni, Ritwik (take your pic)