College days were not so remarkable for me because I never attended my classes. Very rarely did I attend classes. Going to college was the thing I was least interested in. But I did really enjoy the three years at the hostel. During the first year, we had a room on the first floor. It was a room for three - Arya, Rejani, and me. We were quite a good gang. From the first day itself we gelled well. All good in bunking classes.
Initially Trivandrum was new to us. Slowly we learnt the places. The first thing we did was to take a membership at the University Library. Every alternate Saturday, we would leave from the hostel with permission to be at the library. Within five minutes of reaching there, we would return the books, issue new ones and leave the place. Rest of the day we would spend in discovering the favourite spots of Trivandrum. Films were another great means of timepass for us. During those three years we had watched almost 70% of the films at the theatres over there. Our other hostelmates used to make fun of us saying that we were the Encyclopedias of the Trivandrum theatres. Good food was another weakness. Zam Zam at Palayam was a favourite pick. Arul Jyothi, Prime, and Azad were a few another hangouts.
During the second year of college, one could find us in the evenings at the Trivandrum Museum. We used to idle our time sitting on the benches, shifting from one to another, as the sun went down. It was a bit later that we discovered the Kanakakkunnu Palace. It was a quiet place as compared to the musuem. It had an open air theatre and widely spread out places to sit. It was less frequented by people. It was one of the places I used to go when bunking classes alone. Sitting idle over there for hours itself was a great feeling. I just loved the ambience. In our final year, when we had to prepare a script for our short film, we chose this place. We were a gang of six girls and two boys. When all were bugged up preparing the script, the boys took out a cigarette to smoke. A few of the girls including me tried. I failed miserably at it.
By the end of the second year, I took a membership at the British Library. For the next three years, I used to spend hours over there. But now I guess its closed down. It was around the same time that we had to do our internships in the Print Media. I was lucky enough to get in the Trivandrum bureau of the Indian Express. My roomates were doing their intership at another bureau at a different place. So for the one whole month I was alone in my room. I discovered a lot of things during this time. The internship at the bureau was interesting. I would work till noon and then roam about the city. When I was shifted into the editorial section, it was more interesting. I would sleep till 10 am. Then have a look at the newspapers, read a book, have lunch, take a nap, and leave for the bureau. The editorial desk started functioning only in the evening. I actually had very little work. Once that was over I would leave the place. But it would be dark then. It was interesting to walk through the streets, the wind blowing briskly, and all alone. Wow! I miss that. And yes, I had special permission granted at the hostel... ;-)
The final year was quite difficult. We realized very soon that everything would be coming to a still. The final video project was the only entertaining thing left. As mentioned earlier, we were quite bugged up in making the script. The group spent a lot of time together. But we were actually looking forward to this assignment from the first year of college itself. Not because of our interest in filmography, but out of the interest in the monetary gain involved. We could extract quite huge amounts from our parents in this name. After all its an academic project! We conducted the shoot for two days. Editing was what followed next. The editing would get over only at midnight. Only three girls and two boys would be there at the studio. We had no transport means of our own. We would walk through the roads till we found an autorickshaw. Those were the carefree days!
Now its all over! 10 - 6 at office. To bed at 12. And then the same routine. Nothing else. Perhaps thats why I say "I'm missing LIFE"!
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