I hate hearing my alarm buzzing at morning. The most annoying sound in the world however musical it is. Forgetting how helpful it would be for me to get up and do my duty on time, I become mad and snooze it and go back to bed again. Usually I get up only after 10-15 minutes of alarm time of which I have set. I always love and long to have a fresh good morning without any interruptions and beeps. And I never fail to make it during weekends.
On Sunday morning when the alarm beeped at 4.00 am. that is an hour earlier than the usual time, I almost jumped from bed smiling myself. Lot of anticipation and excitement twirled up on my mind. I got ready wearing a dress that was chosen randomly after pulling almost all clothes out from my wardrobe.
I took a bus from Madurai at 5.30 am. It seemed like ages since I had travelled alone. For the first time I left my kids to my husband and was travelling for the Reunion of my college mates of Communication Department in M.S.University. While I was travelling, my mind got into the time machine and just travelled couple of decades back. How exciting it was to look back to see those cheery days after a long span.
I was playful and not a bright student at the end of the school and the lesson learned through the marks I scored, gave me a determination to choose a subject that is easier and enjoyable for me. I started loving Shakespeare, Shelly and Keats. And I was in English Literature class in UG. Never ever thought about what would be my career in future. I was a day dreamer then, never attended the class seriously. Most of the time my eyeballs moved when the Professor moved on the stage and I remained physically present and mentally absent on those classes. If not, I doodled something on my note pages. Yes I loved doodling. But some how managed to get a first class degree that was my target then. One of our professor introduced communication course in M.S University and He said it would be awesome to learn as it has endless opportunities regarding the career. so he selected few of us and asked us to do the Post Graduation in Communication.
Thus three of my class mates (me, Latha and Vadivu) and a senior boy, Mathan joined but we never knew what we were going to learn since we were in the first batch of the department. We were in and not at all disappointed to see the old tiled, dusty shed as class rooms with few rusty chairs as the University building was under construction. We all loved that simple and small class room. We were all anxious and in the brim of joy that we were going to learn something different and new. We had no syllabus, no library, But we had a couple of great faculties.
Unlike I was in UG, the communication made me to attend the class and I listened, yes listened and took notes as we didn’t have access to any of the text books. I enjoyed every session. I realized how precious every class was. I should thank Mr. Murali and Mrs.Susan for their knowledge input and they were who introduced us to the subject. Mr.Natraj did tap our latent talent as I have mentioned in his welcome speech and threw a new light about the career and profession we were about to. And Dr.B.P.Sanjay was our HOD and the real source of inspiration. Till today, He is my Guru to all my new ventures I make in my career and business. Our department faculties were so sweet and down to earth. It was unbelievable and exciting when Mr.Murali, Mr.Natraj, Dr.B.P.Sanjay came to my house in Nagercoil. Mrs.Susan was awesome and stayed in my house during a diwali celebration. I was so fortunate to have those faculties.
Three girls (me, Vadivu, and Latha) who were from Nagercoil, stayed in one of the nearby college hostel since the university building was under construction. The rules inside were so strict and all should sit up and read during study hours. When we said we had nothing to study, we were forced to flip Dictionaries as magazines or other books were not allowed to read during study time. We were distressed about being separated from the family and severe homesickness made us to quit the hostel and by then we were the day scholar travelling from Nagercoil to Tirunelveli (82 kms) by train. Starting from home at 7.00 am to Tirunelveli and back to home at 9.00 pm. We carried jolna bags and did the assignments at late night.
I would say, the bunch of students in our class were unique by their own way. They were intelligent and helpful by nature. We were serious learners during exams. We were in an era where we didn’t have access to google or wikipedia to do our reference or assignments. we all believed in Knowledge sharing and we shared with others whatever we had learned individually and did group studies. Every semester, Arul took the lead in securing marks. Me, Haneef and Vadivu were just few marks behind him. We were all good friends and we never competed with each other. But at the end of the course, final semester marks and the thesis I submitted helped me to become the Topper. I was not so excited as I felt, Arul deserve that title. Now I am happy that all of my friends are in the right path and topping in their respective career.
By the end of the course we had some unwanted group clashes too with other friends in the class that made some of us to embarrassment but now after decades we are all together and it was like a kids fight making us all realize and smile.
I was so eager to meet all the professors, friends and all the juniors of the dept. And being quite ambiguous whether they all remember me or not since it has been a long time, two decades and I have never met them in between.
At 9.00 am I reached Tirunelveli and Josephine, one of my junior of the department who was already known to me through fb received me there. I met my friend Haneef there after a long gap. We all joined and headed to the University.
The new university building was huge and well maintained. The department was clean, beautiful and well equipped with all updated state-of-art stuffs. We met the present HOD of the communication department, Dr.Govindaraju. I didn’t feel like that I met him for the first time. I think that’s the magic of the Communication family. Prof.B.P.Sanjay, who was our HOD of the department then, to my surprise, He did remember me and recalled few instances about me. I was super excited and thrilled to meet him. Mr.Natraj was as such as he was decades back. I felt everyone were from my family and didn’t feel like we were meeting after a long time. It was nice to hear their lectures and that took me to the past classroom. Dr.Ravindran was in when we completed the course. So we were not fortunate to hear his lecture. The speech he made during the meet made me to long to attend his class. Dr.Arul Selvan, my classmate Arul’s brother was there and I liked his thought and attitude when he spoke in the meet. From my batch, four of us were there. Me, Haneef, Salai, and Durai. It was like a dream and the whole day was a day of fun and laughter. We also met our direct juniors and friends and we shared some interesting moments when we were together and missed other classmates who didn’t attend the meet.
I bought some Tirunelveli special Halwa for my kids and my husband who were so sweet and understanding and helped me to attend this wonderful memorable meet. I reached Madurai at 10.30 pm. My husband and my two kids were waiting more than an hour in the car to pick me up. My daughter jumped to me and kissed me and said how much she missed me during the day. I thanked God for the wonderful family and friends I got. World is so beautiful with all those unconditional love and care.
A day that is entirely different from my routine – work, designs, deadlines, emails, daily chores, fb… I told my husband, “We have been missing something in our life while we battle with machines and technology. The real world….. It is still beautiful”.
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