22:30

The clock on the comp says there is another half an hour to go before it will be time for me to call it a day.I kinda like this schedule because first of all it lets me write without having to worry about prying eyes and also it gives me a chance to be at peace with myself and be able to sum up the way things are going on at work and off it instead of just flowing away.I dont know if many will agree but starting and ending your day late should be the best work schedule because it gives you sufficient time in the morning with a mind that is mint fresh and helps you avoid those free evening hours plagued by a tired mind.

Well I'm saying all this with respect to my requirements and ofcourse it would differ from person to person.It has been a long time since I last wrote something and it is all crap that I am dishing out right now but anyways better to write something that not.I have been wanting to write about a lot of things but there hasn't been enough time and more importantly the requisite solitude to do that.I have wanted to write about my college days esp the hostel days ,the eccentric friends I had and sometimes the the tough balancing act that had to be done regarding issues that I might take up in detail later.I have wanted to write about the 'adda' outside our college that became a metaphor for togetherness.It served as a meeting point even when we were happy or frustrated...yes we were never sad , we were always frustrated.

Always maintaining a watch for policemen's eyes, the guy would sell Cigs and tea,two of our major consumptions,besides keeping a host of other dry things you could eat along with the tea.
I remember how a lot of my classmates had an aversion to this 'adda' before ultimately getting drawn to it by the time the last year arrived.It became a hub for everyone and a brief sojourn at it was a almost religiously observed everyday.It was there that policies were framed,ideas discussed and shot down,legs pulled sometimes literally and fights resolved or evolved.In short it was a melting pot of ideas in various hues.

Many a teachers' worst hours were plotted at this very place amidst clouds of smoke layered with disgust billowing from exasperated individuals who were probably at the wrong end of fun that very day.I was a passive visitor to this place,in only the sense that I did not smoke.Otherwise I too was an integral visitor of this adda.It was the perfect place to visit during the evenings from the reading room especially when the mind would be overflowing with photocopied notes and excerpts from borrowed books and those small sessions would provide enough time to recoup for another round of notes reading besides letting you decide on what to have for dinner.It would be the time too for a particular gentleman to go back home on his ricketty scooter but not before giving truly excellent ideas about mugging up the seemingly inane theoretical subjects and he was guy who led from the front on this account.He could rattle the best in the business when it came to cramming , the only hiccup being that he always crammed the wrong things.

Yes, Addy I am talking about you.You along with a lot of others made 'adda' special.I still wish I was sitting precariously on its fence dreaming about the future ahead and not writing about it as I am now. Even as I write i can recollect the scene.A group of 4 or 5 guys sitting on the fence or standing making fun of a scooter as well as the rider who did not seem to care and boldly goes on expostulating his greatest theories on every topic under the sun.The final shake of hands that signified the end of the quarrels for the day and evened the score till the next fight.The amble back to the reading room from the serene absence of light to an ugly overwhelming presence of it.Somehow the reading room would never look the same after that and we waited for the day to end and a new morning to arrive with loads of panic to get us started about completing unit two to five of the exam next day.

Time to go now....sorry about the sudden change in tenses that would make the reading a bit of a pain but I guess it is because I have written about it in the present while all the time yearning to sneak back into the past.