Pioneer Batch :)

It was 3:30 pm and I was damn exhausted with my boring classes and a project work, still one thing was left on agenda and so I marched on. VH ,welcoming session of pioneer batch by Director and here I was with 30 people in age of late 70s and enthusiasm of early 20s! Few were busy recalling their time at IITK and few were trying really hard to recall names and faces, well it had been long 50 years, then suddenly it would flash in their head followed by bear hugs and grins :)
All of them are big shots in their spheres and here they were calling each other by nick names, conversing in jargon of their time and being just a Btech all over again. Most of them had come with their lovely wives and they spoke of them fondly to their friends, God! those are lucky wives.
They have a passion, a vision for institute, for students ,for workers and are willing to do every bit of their job to fulfill it.
Also this meeting gave me glimpse of what my life could be and one thing for sure is this is going to be very much mine, as irrespective of how they started from here, they all have played the final innings doing something they really wanted to do. Some are great civil servants, some are the best consultants in the world and I also met a person who is teaching 1000 students of slums in Bombay.
The best part about all of them is return of childhood in their 7os, that very curiosity about everything on campus and affection for everyone. The way they relish this place makes me respect and appreciate it more and more. I know when I come back after 50 years ,which I will, I will so miss my wing, my friends, canteens, coffee at 2am, the night outs, freaking exams and frustrated professors ( ;) ) and would go on lengths to talk about it but it would indeed be an honor ,to connect to my batch in that phase of life and to see them old, matured ,with their families. All of them would be rich by then and we would talk as to how we used to survive in limited money and unlimited expenses. I hope that I and all those I want to meet would be here. I hope that day will come and I am happy this day did.

The pleasure of solitude

Narcissist! A synonym for me . And so I was contemplating that is it my obsession with me or the unparalleled pleasure I get with myself. Also is it only me of this type ?
When I am with me, its my world smeared with my emotions in my perspective and best of all with no judgement, no opinions about it. It makes me smile and it makes me weep, in fact the gamut of emotions emerges only when its only me. Reflecting on the reasons, it seems as if the very idea of being what you are not is abominable to me and yet that is all what I need to, what I am supposed to do most of times with people around me. A fake smile , a fake laughter, a fake worry and a fake person, although there are people who make you feel your very self but then those are very rare.
Probably it is also the drive to reach out to many people, that has brought us to this stage where we do not have time and subsequently the appreciation for true relationships and everything gets reduced to the "Hi, Hellos". So after every such encounter, my mind, my soul demands a huge amount of only me, and I heed to its desire.
And so I choose to be with myself , to feel that great calmness and peace with no obstructions, no obligations but a sheer simplicity of knotted feelings, that pleasure of solitude.
That pleasure of being true, of being pure, and that pleasure and process of knowing thyself more and more.