ThOsE WeRe ThE BeSt DaYs Of My LiFe!!

Aki, Aloke and Me (The 3 Stooges)

This blog is exclusively dedicated to my 2 best friends from College. I still remember like it were yesterday, we had just joined college, me and Aloke toh, had come directly form a CBSE school so were new to the whole college fiasco. I remember behaving like a total loser on the first day when I was asked to introduce Mamu (FYI Mamu was the nick name of Dipti Susan.) Aloke was like this fultoo outgoing and hyper-active chick. Aki, was sitting between the two chechis (ok if you are wondering what I am referring to, they were the twin Mallu sisters in our section.) So when Aki nad I meet we introduce ourselves 'Hi I am Akshaya,' and she says 'Hi I am Akshata,' I was thinking in my mind why is she repeating my name and that too incorrectly. From that day onwards till the three years of our college every one have confused with our names. During the second semester we actually became great friends, at least twice a week we used to go for the latest movies at Urvashi theater. We always preferred the Gandhi Class (from row) and reasoned that the AC was better down and of course, in our first year the ticket was just 30 bucks ( can anyone beat that??) now it has gone upto 75 (Gawd, inflation I say!!.) The ticket counter guy toh always had tickets for us whenever we went to pick them up in the lunch breaks. I also remember our weekly or sometimes two times a week eat-outs at Janatha Sagar (actually that dingy hotel's name was Jayanthi Villas but we never remembered the right name and ended rechristening it. ) Aki do you remember, in our 2nd and 3rd year after I got an I pod, we used to listen to Bryan Adams songs like it was Venkateshwara Suprabhatam, in lemme think Anuradha, Vishwini, (remember Abhay calling her freeway... bolta tha shuru toh ho gayi, par khatam hi nahi hoti!) and Ravi Shankar's classes. In Meryn's class we both used to sit in that dark corner and go to sleep after a heavy lunch. How can I ever forget Ravi Shankar Sir (he was the self proclaimed extra smart dude who attemped to teach us Bio Chemistry) I remember Lakshmi had kept a separate notebook just to note down the way he spoke. His most common one that I can remember off-hand being 'Look at here!' and his never ending praises for Israel. I remember one time Vishu was teaching ABT (Animal Bio Technology,) if I am not wrong she went on teaching the same media preparation ( which was only the first chapter) for almost the entire semster. 

I also cherish our bike rides over Aki's tiny antique Scooty Pep. I remember me and Aki zooming at 60 or 70 kmph on her Scooty over the K.R. Market flyover. Also, our favorite hangouts at Gandhi Bazaar, I am not able to get the name of that hotel where DG sir had explained about his lab Aki, do u remember?? Roti Ghar, Ice Thunder, Brahmin's Coffee Bar wo ho! and the list went on. I also do fondly remember mine and Aloke's Commercial Street shopping sprees. We used go on and on the caption 'shop till we drop,' was apt for us!

Me and Aki 

The birthday gifting and surprises planning was the best part! Two of us would do the entire planning and screw it all up before the third person's birthday lol! Aki, u remember, Aloke's feet long self-made birthday card. God! the glitters that we used, my furniture, my dad's trousers and even my maid had the glitters and sparkles for a week after that. And when I had a sleepover at ur place for making the card, we were awake till like 3 or 4 in the morning after 2-3 Matt Damon movies ;-P and the Tandoor dinner which was Shivu uncle's birthday treat. We were so zombie the next day in Manjula's class.

Aloke and me in front of Ice Thunder

Our Mangalore trip to check out KMC, Manipal was also kick ass it was so much fun with Aki's mom and bro. It was more of pleasure trip than educational trip. 

Our last minute preps just before exams, buying the semester books just the previous day of the semester exam. The way we used to bunk the VAP and Indian Constitution classes and end up getting attendance. 

Most of all our lab shenanigans, Aki and me doing the Recombinant DNA Technology course at that Sridhar labs, then that 'Shubro look-alike' guy at JIVAS lab, Aki, u used to snore after lunch when he used to teach us the theory part in Immunology project. We used to take his case royally and he was so slow that he never realized that we were pulling his leg.  And the way you fought with that librarian. She still gets cold feet when she sees you or even me (later when I was doing the Clinical Bio Chem course, she was so relieved that u were not around, she even said that to me :-P) In the college labs all we did in the PTC labs was prepare media and get them contaminated. Our plant cultures used to get flicked. And Abhay, Aki and me sitting in the labs with Abhay playing the fool and telling us all about his ex girl friends and how they ditched him (I am sure Abhay is going to kill me when he listens to this.) Aki u remeber, once I was pricking Abhay's finger during the immunology lab and Abhay's used lancet pricked me. I was so freaked, I made that lab attendant who was he Channe Gowda or Malle Gowda also nervous, I poured like half a bottle of alcohol on my hand to get it disinfected. Ramya maam scared me further saying ask Abhay if he has HIV and when I did actually ask him Abhay was ready to kill me. Also, in the Genetic labs, Chetan, Avik, Aki and me used to play almost 20- 25 rounds of Bingo on the lab filter papers. Rajshekar sir had caught us playing so many times. 

Even in the class, that Chetan had such big ears, he used to hear to all our talks and keep laughing! One day, Aki and me took Chetan’s case, that why he was eves dropping. And then who can ever forget Shanti Iyer, our Genetics HOD, god she used to give a 1000W smile even while blasting the hell out of all of us. Looked like her husband works with Colgate manufacturers and gets loads for her. I remember once during her extra class, it was really hot and the AC was switched off, Hayne (full name Hayne Marcus Fernandes) who is from Bahrain was sitting and fanning himself frantically when Shanti was attempting to explain the LAC operon repressor concept which is quite complicated to understand. So, she got pissed off and shouted, so she use to call him ‘Hainee’ instead of ‘Heyn’ she says, ‘Heyn, you live in a hot desert yourself and you cannot take Bangalore’s climate  and are busy fanning yourself with the notebook in which you should be taking down notes, shame on you!’

@ Coffee Day, we landed her after celebrating Aloke's birthday 

One more trip that I remember was the one to A Rocha NGO, all that the guide showed us after a 4-5 kilometres trek were heaps of crap and said that this was the wild elephant crapping here. We didn’t even see one elephant there and these guys were photographing the crap like it was some UFO. God it was so funny and that Ramya maam and Reena climbing the mango tree to ear raw mangoes lol! I know we were the most lunatic bunch of students, professors, lab attendants and principal (Sundu, speaking like Karunanidhi in a croaking voices for ever.)

But, definitely, THOSE WERE THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE WITH LOADS OF FUN AND FOND MEMORIES!!!