friday the thirteenth of july- ah, the memories!

it's friday, the thirteenth of july
and i'm wondering about the last time it was friday the thirteenth of july, back in 2001
it was a weird day.
i had a foot which was hurting badly after getting injured with a rusted iron nail and after stuffing it into tight leather shoes for two days for impression's sake
i had a very heavy suitcase i'd been lugging around for almost a week now
i had just been accepted into a very prestigious medical school
i had barely enough money to buy the cheapest of bare essentials to start surviving in a new town
i had just said goodbye to the last person i knew and was about to be all alone in an alien town, with an alien language, among totally alien people, for the first time really away from home.
i was having all sorts of apprehensions that now, seem so hilarious

who'd have known that it was the beginning of a wonderful journey
five wonderful years of college life lived, and enjoyed, to the hilt
six years in which, i believe i've grown up, and hopefully, grown into a better person
so many wonderful friends made
a small town in the middle of nowhere with nothing to recommend it, and yet me becoming so comfortable with it, that i now contemplate staying here for a long time to come

oh, the memories
do you remember when we all used to get together every week to pray and sing and dance?
do you remember when we all used to sit up late at night making inane contraptions for some program or the other?
do you remember the effort we put into all those sports, dumb charades, quizzes, dances and music?
do you remember standing on stage having won the annual music competition?
do you remember those long night-walks all over the campus?
do you remember gas-sessions?
do you remember bush-hunting?
do you remember the class meetings? the arguments? the hammer on the lecture tables?
do you remember the hill-top retreats?
do you remember the tears shed on the last hill, when we talked late into the night?
do you remember songs like "i know a place" or "milk"or "jambalaya" or the 'grease' tunes?
do you remember the bus-rides with roof-banging, foot-tapping carlos santana tunes?
do you remember how even the pop-haters used to join in and sing christina aguilera songs just because the class was doing it?
do you remember dinners in small joints and posh rooftops?
do you remember easter sunrise on top of a hill?
do you remember the water fights in the bus and the lecture rooms?
do you remember being thrown into a pool on your birthday, or the midnight party?
do you remember the three traditional questions?
do you remember christmas carol rounds?
do you remember dressing up in out-landish clothes, or dressing your juniors up?
do you remember imitating teachers?
do you remember sleeping in stuffy classrooms?
do you remember the long hours in library before the exams with the short stress-buster breaks in between?
do you remember making noodles, or getting coffee to stay up and study?
do you remember starting internship knowing next to nothing?
do you remember saying goodbye to your best friends?

do i remember?
how could i ever forget!
thank you B.O.N.O., there's no one like you!