I love you, Benares!

Dear Benares,

Yes, I love you. I seriously do. And I don't think that I'll be able to get hold of you. I dont want my stroll from Assi to Dashashwamedh to end. I dont want the crowd of Gowdholia to go any lesser. I dont want to hear 'HOW ARE YOU?' instead of kaisan ba? And most importantly, I dont want you to become any of the metros.

Everything about you is intoxicating. The way auto-wallahs shout Lanka-BICCHU...Lanka-BICCHU... on your narrow roads, the way every Paan-ki-Dukan flourishes in your smallest of the corners, the way every building poses a threat of falling but still stands high on your rich history - you swept me off my feet.

I was very skeptic when I first sat my foot on your land as to how will I survive in this backward city. With lack of metro-like infrastructure, I thought I committed a blunder by deciding to come to this city. Most of my friends went to Bombay, Delhi and Kanpur and I came here - to YOU. Nevertheless I started liking you.

I live in the BHU campus and during my stay of 4 years here, I have tried my best to get to know you better and used to think that 5 years would be a considerable period of time to explore you completely. Now I realize how wrong I was. I have met people who came from distant land to know what's about you which is so attracting and believe me, even after 15 years, they are still discovering. They have made you their home. Now they dont wanna go anywhere. And now I am one of them.

My love for you was a gradual process. I have loved you in my idle sitting in the evening at Assi Ghat, in crossing the length of the Holy Ganga, in celebrating Dev-Deepwali, in eating Malaiyyo and in the morning prayers of saints. I found a bit in highly narrow alleys and other in people singing 'lalipop lagelu' :D. The rest is from Sangeet Samaroh in Sankat Mochan to Dhrupad Mela at Tulsi Ghat.

Though I'll be leaving you after a year but that will not change anything. You'll always have a special place in my heart. 

Believe me, I LOVE YOU.

from lie to truth...

from darkness to light...

from karma to moksha...

from being human to experiencing God...

from life to death...

...Benares.

HAR HAR MAHADEV!!!

P.S. jetna garam tohar khoon hau, okar dugna garam hamaar moot hau au jab moot deb dahiya ma fafola pari jai...samajhe na!!

End Credits

Good Evening!

Yes, the inevitable evening has arrived. Evening of the most cherished phase of our life - COLLEGE LIFE. Imagine you and your friends, sitting on a wall and seeing the sun setting down. A blanket of darkness and chill covers you. Much like the end of a heart-warming show. A very terrified thought crosses your mind - What will happen tomorrow morning? Where will I be? Why 'this' can't be continued eternally long? And your heart shrinks - this is what closely feels like in the last-ever week of the 4 years of your cant-be-described-in-words college life.

I am no exception to it. Though I am not leaving this year but I am still feeling the same and that's because my friends are graduating. They will leave. So will a part of mine with them. Over a span of these 4 years, I've had the luxury of company of some awesome people who have affected me in one way or another. And in my timeline, they deserve end credits.

CLASSMATES - 

• Varinder Singh Grewal, Kiranjot Singh Deol and Akash Garg - A day will surely come when both of you will leave the game after half-time and score shall read 6-0 with Real Madrid at my disposal and Akash 22 ji, Ajmer is your home too now. Be it classes, assignments, CTs, labs or endsems - these guys never gave a rat's ass to anything. Deol, being a prodigal coder, got placed in Facebook, Vinda in Adobe and Miss in Paypal.
• Ayush Rawat, Saurabh Pratap Singh, Chirag Agarwal, Kapil Agarwal, Sahitya Agarwal and Prashant Chaudhary - I can sum up my whole 2nd year with these people. Always high on energy. 
• Yashpal Singh and Nishant Kumar - These two require special mention. Palu and Drag were always there after what happened in 3rd year. Yashpal, I mean it when I said I'll light up whole of the Udaipur for you and Nishant, aaj raat main free hun. :D
• Ravi Nagar, Ishan Tyagi and Ravi Bhanu - If you have an awesome starting, you enjoy the journey thoroughly. These 3 along with Vijay were all I had back in my freshman year. Guys, I apologize for not continuing with the same pace but I still share those brotherly feelings. Nagar, I was writing this blog when you were going through job interviews and I am finishing it with the news of your placement. Happy days all over again. Congrats!!
• Abhishek Ranjan (GOD), Kamlesh Kumar Mahawar and Ravi Kumar - I seriously dont know why Ranjan sees me as a versatile person. A supportive friend indeed. And I dont know what to say about Bobo. A simple guy with a pure Rajasthani heart. Are Netaji, Pranam - a true leader and a very humble person.
• Jahnavi Singhal and Kumar Ankit - You cannot find a humble person teaming up with a self-righteous one. Former one is a conventional believer whereas latter one is a rational logic appraiser. Part of the only group which I didn't leave. You guys are just great.
• Sonul Saxena - One of the finest persons I've ever met. A true gem of a person, dear friend, sincere student, sober personality, musician with a terrific voice, avid traveller... - are you still looking for more adjectives? Apart from my music group, she's the only person who can identify as well as appreciate acoustic bass. Captain, karke dikhaenge....han bhai han...:D

MUSIC GROUP - 

• Kushagra Sharma - The one who didn't want to be a bassist just because being one wasn't cool. He started with being a hardcore Green Day supporter and ended up as a good critic of Porcupine Tree. He hates being scolded in front of juniors. Kushagra, I have attended Porcupine Tree live and have met Steven Wilson in person. 1 me - you 0.
• Hardik Shah - Unarguably the best guitarist/musician in college. A great admirer of progressive genre and a fine teacher of music theory. We started with For Whom The Bell Tolls and ended on Tom Sawyer with 2 OCs on our list.
• Vivek Singh Grewal - You meet the low frequency God now. Deeply interested in classic rock but always talk in probabilistic terms - han, main dekhta hun..kuch karte hain..ho jayega..bas 5 min me aata hun..
• Harshit Pareek - He's my brother and a fine tabla player. He represents the Indian Music Club of the college and have a great passion for fusion genre. One of the few who genuinely don't believe in the segregation of music into Indian and Western. ;)
• Aditya Prasad - You just cant match this person's intellect. A true versatile person - CGPA >8.5, even got 9 once, doesn't do STUFF and a classic rock guitarist. You are a real inspiration to budding musicians.

And I just can't leave mentioning Akshit Jain - My buddy since class 4 and continuing with me till the college. Be it school classes, lunch breaks, Kota, 13th, college - he was there with me for every single minute. My brother from another mother.

I apologize to all those whose names I haven't mentioned here but you all too made this journey a joyous one.

I hope you've had the TIME OF YOUR LIFE.