Farewell…

I find farewell parties chaotic. Your juniors spend time coming up with a theme and then you are faced with the ordeal of finding outfits that suit the theme. If you are lucky, good and if you aren't, you could simply turn up in that fancy outfit hidden in the suitcase that is just waiting to be worn. Who cares about the theme in that situation anyway? Just tell them this is your interpretation of the theme. But make sure you have comfortable shoes. You might look terrific in stilettos, but if you intend to dance and run down stairs, you need something more comfortable.

After school, we were given two sets of farewell parties, one by the juniors and the other by the teachers. For some strange reason there was no dancing. But we were given generous helpings of food. Autograph books were also handed around, in which one was expected to answer questions like "Your Favourite Colour?"

Someone from the other section that I didn't know gave me his autograph book. I wondered for five minutes about what to write in reply to: "What do you think about me as a person." I finally settled for a polite: "Too bad I didn't get to know you while I was in college. But it is never too late. So keep in touch." He seemed pleased enough and promised to keep in touch, though no numbers and addresses were exchanged!

After graduation, the farewell party was more fun. Some theme related to the underworld was chosen. So while the juniors came dressed as demons, mummies and underworld dons, we were dressed in saris. We were given spooky entertainment, after which we lit diyas and walked towards the famous college pond. The electricity was turned off, and the place looked amazing with all those diyas. Then we were asked to go to the chapel, where a hymn was sung. And after dinner in the mess, we changed into more comfortable clothes and danced around a fire. No one slept that night. Several crazy photographs were taken and addresses exchanged. And some people made new friends then as well.

Then came the frightening stage of sending out more and more applications for further studies. I got admission for my master's and after the initial ragging came a lot of hard work. Internships followed. And before any of us was prepared, we had come to the end of another two years.

The college walls were filled with posters giving information about the farewell. 'Moksh' was the chosen theme. There was a lot of commotion in college. The lucky few who had found jobs wandered around giving suggestions to those who hadn't. But a vast majority was deciding on clothes, accessories and footwear for the evening. A bus collected those of us without cars and took us to the farmhouse, forty minutes away from Pune city.

The location was perfect. A huge house with a beautiful swimming pool. Candles had been lit all over. The DJ was busy with the music and the disco lights had been fitted. Everyone was dressed to kill. Despite having disliked Karan Johar's Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham, many of the men were dressed like Shah Rukh and the women like Kareena Kapoor. The juniors hovered around making sure we were all comfortable. After the initial hugging and kissing, all attention was diverted to the bar.

Meanwhile we were entertained with skits and songs. The DJ played popular music that everyone danced to. Dinner was served. And the drinking continued.

By 3 in the morning, the party was still showing no signs of coming to an end. The dancing hadn't stopped, and the drunken elite of the class was in the pool. A worried junior made repeated requests: "Please don't use the pool." But nothing changed. More and more people were jumping in. And soon those who didn't want to jump in were being pushed in. Strange are the ways in which people behave when they get drunk. Otherwise classy, dignified people walked around making fools of themselves.

G___ who always spoke with a certain accent and walked a certain way, walked from person to person asking for their surnames, that he repeated thrice. And A__ who was the official class snob, got off the pool and went around hugging those he wouldn't normally have spoken to. S__ was indulging in a lot of hugging and singing, but M__ spent the entire evening crying because she said she would miss everyone.

It was an eventful evening. Two people nearly got drowned, and a lot of couples were being rather openly demonstrative!!!

A cake was finally cut and handed around. The music got louder and the dancing more violent. Someone was always getting pushed around, while the person beside him stumbled over a bottle that someone had carelessly placed nearby. A bored few who claimed they had two left feet settled for the more entertaining act of breaking bottles.

Then the cops arrived.

Money changed hands and the party continued. Several people made sentimental speeches about their friends. The juniors swore that we were the best seniors they could have asked for. Then there was more hugging, more tears and more dancing.

Finally, the party ended.

Everyone said their good-byes. Suddenly everyone became more serious. Perhaps then we all realised that it was indeed the end. We all knew that we would always be in touch with our friends, but what about those people that you never got to know. Maybe you'd shared a coffee with them once and discussed a difficult assignment. Maybe you'd said "Hi" to them when you ran into them. Maybe you sat with them occasionally making casual conversation till your friends arrived. Maybe you never gave them much thought. Maybe you'd never even meet them again. And this realization was making a lot of people a little sad.

But not for long!

Five minutes later, we were back on the bus. And everyone was fast asleep.