Winter in Bhubaneswar

Dammit. I procrastinate and push away all the writing till a deadline, Sigh.

The time during my end-semester examinations left me in tremendous anxiousness and pain. I have absolutely no idea how, when, or where they got over. They just did.

Some enjoy college, some loathe it, while the rest simply survive it. I'm on the survival lot, where even the things we take for granted at home, have to be carried out. Mundane activities, done for the sole reason of survival. Still, it is far from any jungle. It's an ecosystem within itself.
I wasn't alone. A number of my pals were here. We explored the city, ate really good food; I personally enjoyed my time at the debate club and read books over warm cups of coffee. But I've got two set of memories, which I'll cherish forever, and I felt they're worth sharing. Bhubaneswar was cold during the November-December gap. It always is during this time. The eastern part of India enjoys a milder version of winters compared to the northern and north-eastern parts of the country, but blame it on climate change, it was cold. Ah, that time of the year where your end-semester exams are over. Free time on our hands! And this semester break, I decided to spend my week here.


One

Nostalgia

One memorable trip was with Sougata and Shivam. Damn, it was thrilling as ever. The three of us hopped onto some bus headed westward, and opted for three usual tickets. After a period of kilometers, we were kicked off the bus because our tickets expired 6 blocks ago. We merrily walked about the boulevards,visiting Churches, cine theaters, nostalgic musical stores, second -hand book stores, and ventured into the Indira Gandhi Park. We took out a shortcut, and voila!

We were in the busiest market of the city, Market number 1 and 2. We simply strolled through the streets, and along the way, lost direction. Nonetheless, we found out our way back, and got back to our hostel.







Two

EGGS !

Two things always spring up about this memory. Thinking about omelettes makes my mouth water; and how bad mess food is, to counter that thought. As most of you know that the usual food served at engineering hostel messes is bad. Terrifying, stupefying and at days, unrecognizable and barely edible, hostel food is the bane of ever engineering undergrad. But alas, food is essential to be alive, so we thought to thread upon the unbeaten path. Of course it is nothing new, but 6 of us together made a dish which defines our very existence, both literally and figuratively:
EGGS. We got a crate of eggs, some tomatoes, a couple of onions, a tiny piece of garlic and a handful of coriander. We rushed back from the markets, almost dropping the eggs, and got on with the chopping, The ONIONS proved to be fatal, and it so appeared that everybody came back from a funeral; each of us was in tears. We had all the onions finely chopped, all the garlic grated, all the veggies chopped, all ingredients spiced up with salt and pepper, it was time to break the eggs. I took my egg, held it in my fumbling fingers, hit it hard on the woodwork, and....Splash ! Well, failures are the stepping stones to success, so I was barred from breaking eggs. We all helped each other with the cooking, and it was such a holy mess. Still, we ended up with 4 plates of really tasty omelettes, sunny-side-ups, scrambled eggs, under-cooked and over-cooked food, loads of sharing and hogging, and a complete collection of bittersweet memories.

The randomness and the complete change of travel plans, extras, shortages in food supply, walking into new territories was very new to us, terrifying, but it was an experience worth sharing.The are some of the instances which make living in a hostel, miles away from childhood buddies and parents, enriching, and truly memorable. Damn, these kind of days makes one feel alive !