Age no bar?

I have decided to jot down some of my best campus memories before I forget things, on account of my age and all. I was lucky to have made a lot of friends in college. Their traits covered the entire gamut of human behaviour, resulting in many incidents which are noteworthy. Here goes...

I was a hostelite, thank God. Everyone should stay in a hostel for some time of their lives. It teaches people values like tolerance (how not to whack the living daylights out of your irritating roomie), discernment (how to tell when your roomie is about to whack the living daylights out of you), financial management (how to save just enough money for that desperate phone call home), socializing (make a large group of friends so that there is at least one fallback when the most nerdy person inexplicably fails -- that idiot -- to finish the assignments so that others can copy it) and tact (how to sneak into your friends room, remove the blades of the fan and put them back upturned, and still not to burst into laughter when he complains about how it is getting warmer everyday). In our first year, due to paucity of space, two people were made to share one room (from second year onwards we got individual rooms). Things got complicated occasionally when completely matchless personalities, people who should have stayed single and never got married... wait a minute, I've mixed up two thoughts. Yeah, interesting situations came to happen when the duo in question happened to be incompatible.

There were these two guys, we shall call them 001 and 002 (a very intelligent nomenclature, in case I ever have to narrate a story involving more than 99 guys demanding anonymity), the mismatch of whose personalities was very subtle -- they didn't like each other. 001 liked studying late into the night. 002 was a staunch believer in the early to bed philosophy. 001 liked to study with music playing. 002 had the exact musical sense of his wooden bed, which he went to sleep on early every night. 001 liked Pete Sampras, while 002 favoured Agassi. Alright, I made the last one up, but they were not the best of friends. Anyway, one day the situation got so bad that there was a showdown between the two. 001 called 002 many unmentionable body parts. 002 retaliated by pointing out how, coincidentally, 001 resembled the ones he forgot to name. In a very Hindi movie fashion, they decided to divide the territory in their room. They didn't, however, think everything through and 001 decided to keep turning the light bulb on and off the whole night because, hey, the switch was on his side of the room. Right? 002 was fuming the whole next day. That night, when 001 came back to the room after dinner, at 10:30 in the night, 002 had removed the light bulb and holder -- they happened to be on his side of the room. Right?

I met an old friend from hostel today. It felt funny. You expect to see the same person, but everybody ages, thereby making you aware that you probably don't look the same you did in college. Some people handle getting older well, but some don't. Even though I don't throw a tantrum about getting old, I don't like the fact that I am hurtling towards an age where I won't be able to do a lot of things just on account of not being young enough anymore. It is a very scary thought for a sports maniac like me -- I have been playing tennis, badminton and running long distances even though I have a torn ligament in my right knee since the summer of 2002. I can't give any of these activities my 100%, though. The other day I came across the DVD for Chariots of Fire and I sorely missed running fast. I haven't sprinted since 2002, and you can't even begin to imagine what a nightmare it is for me. I feel like my synapses are frying because my idiotic brain can't comprehend the fact that my knee is not longer together and keeps sending signals to my leg muscles to try and do what my knee won't support, but I don't follow the orders. I have decided to get operated this June, come what may. And then it's off to Himalayas next summer. Wheee. Which tells me that I am happy with my life these days. There was a time when nothing could cheer me up. In the words of Uriah Heep:

There I was on a July morning, I was looking for love...
With the strenght of a new day dawning, and the beautiful Sun.
At the sound of the first bird singing, I was leaving for home...
With the storm and the night behind me, and a road of my own.
With the day came the resolution... I’ll be looking for you
I was looking for love In the strangest places
Wasn’t a stone that I left unturned.
Must have tried more than a thousand faces
But not one was aware of the fire that burned.

It is a horrible feeling, to be alone in this world of six billion people, and feeling that nobody cares for you. If it lasts too long, it can leave a permanent mark on you. I see the same signs in some fellow bloggers whose blogs I frequent. I sincerely hope they don't go through it as long as I did. I can't feel some of the emotions anymore due to having hurt for so long. I have hardened and I hope they don't ossify like I did.

There, started with a happy post, and ended on a poignant note...

Have a great week (because that's the frequency of my blogging).