The Nostalgic Factory!

In an attempt to try and recover from this, and taking advantage of the same, I’m using bits and pieces of words to come up with this list. I’m gonna apologize in advance to those of you that aren’t an ex-colleague or a bum pal of mine, since most of this may not make sense to some of you.

Some of them cherished, some of them bitter-sweet, glad that I stopped with good memories. I’m sorry it’s a long list, but the memory traces back to 6 years or so; I just couldn’t help but list out the things closest to my heart…

1. Office pantry – 3 guys, 3 girls, the war of the sexes, albeit a pleasant one and mostly the girls winning over the guys by simply calling it quits. :-P You might think that’s lame, but you’ve gotta be one of us to get what I’m saying! :)


2. The Dal Roti bill dated 18/5/2006 neatly folded and tucked away in my purse. Probably the last time I had dinner there.


3. Hot afternoons, “Nature Fresh”, countless watermelon juices, Strawberry milkshakes, and chocolate milkshakes; need no explanation. (Should I add the pani puri I hated to take?)


4. Afternoon walks!


5. 10:30 AM, office pantry, tea time, Nitin says “I’m bored, I wanna go home.”


6. 3:30 PM, office pantry, tea time, Nitin says “I’m bored, I wanna go home.” :) That guy always wanted to leave from work as soon as he’d get in.


7. 1:00 AM — office conference room, two people around the conference table, one of them quietly working/browsing (waiting for the office cab), me on a conference call.


8. Alternate working Saturdays, 20 of us, lunches at a restaurant.


9. Day offs when I was sick at home, friends dropping by with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of sweet surprises! I wish I were sick more often. :-/


10. 11:00 PM, frenzied fingers fighting over the mobile phone buttons, sending SMS.


11. Paying bills, finding a home by myself, getting LPG connection [grin], unlocking the doors to my home by myself (I loathed doing this), paying rent, managing expenses/budgets, endless futile walks to the BSNL telephone company for the broadband connection I never acquired.


12. Awful office food, hungry afternoons, a Woody’s dosa and strawberry milk! :D (self-explanatory)


13. Yahoo messenger, cyber hugs in indecipherable Mandarin Chinese which later turned out to be the official language of cyber hugs, cyber kisses, and all things lovey dovey! Thanks to “you-know-who-you-are” :)


14. 6:00 PM, office TV room, two pairs of hands absently typing away on our respective laptops, F.R.I.E.N.D.S.


15. 6:30 PM, office TV room, Seinfeld.


16. An electricity bill receipt dated 17/2/2006, again tucked away in my purse to keep reminding me of that snug little place I stayed in for a brief 5 months.


17. Snickers, snickers, and more snickers. I was just insatiable (then) and miraculously, his pocket would have enough money for them every single time. :)


18. Lunch at the office terrace, Sandy the scapegoat! Fun unlimited!


19. Sometime in May last year, basement bike park bye-byes and promises that eventually broke!


20. Alternate working Saturdays, me coyly trying to get permission from parents to spend those hot summer evenings at Besant Nagar beach with two half-wits (friends that happened to me) that I’m grateful for even to this day!


21. Two girls hopelessly oblivious to the world around them, chatting, giggling, and sharing the week's events while gracing Brigade road by foot, eVeRy SiNgLe WeEkEnD. Actually, I can’t seem to think of a single weekend that I didn’t follow that norm! Miss Punctual here would ensure I showed up!


22. V-factor and W-factor. It has been a little close to 3 years now and I still am clueless on what they mean, but I know it included Big B, Nitin, and me in some form. Any clues guys?
    


23. June 8th 2006, office terrace, two hung heads, an unspeakable truth, a tearful goodbye.


24. The second Saturday of September, Madras Boat Club, two pairs’ boats, two fours’ boats, more than half a dozen corporate crews (of at least 15 oarsmen and oarswomen in each crew), 6:00 AM, sweaty and stinky from the land workout, squinting our eyes from the morning sun, the half-broken raft taking in more sunburnt stomping legs than it can accommodate, threatening to sink any moment; frenzied fervor of the M&B semi-final races! I miss them tonnnnnnnneeess! In fact I rather liked the knock-outs and semi’s more than the finals itself.


25. The second Saturday of September, 4:00 PM, the Madras Boat Club filled with club members, hopeful friends, parents, media, the works; Men’s Fours finals, the race starts under the bridge, four men rowers, one woman coxswain, feverishly praying that we take the opponent. Of sweet success! :) I think I did justice by mentioning the M&B as a grand finale, didn’t I? ;)

Phew! That was some list! And if you thought this one was long, I think I’ll still have more to add even moments after I post it. Sorry about the long sentence construct in most of them. Remember I'm still suffering from this? ;)

And oh, thanks for your patience. I feel like a river of memoirs has just flown out of me.