The fortnight that shouldn’t have ended

May 15th- I decided to touch the heights of unnecessary expenditure. I decided to fly Bangalore- Mangalore (considering it’s an 8 hr journey by bus which is pretty comfortable more often than not). And why not this was going to be my last (official) visit to Manipal.

According to the academic calendar we all were going back for our final sem viva but we all knew that it is going to be a 15 day party that we’ll never forget.

MIT, of late has become very student friendly. Laptops in classrooms, no subjects in 8th sem, and just a half hour viva in the end to get the prestigious tag o BEing a B.E. and thereby providing ample time for a hard working student (who actually did a project and not faked one like many others) to have a god time.

So my final trip to Manipal had started. The first night we ended up at a pub (by Manipal standards only) and guzzled beer like crazy. Two of my friends went overboard but I was prepared for all this as I knew what happens when a group of manipalites go drinking. One of them actually dirtied the washing machine (read the loo) and was glad he didn’t go near the dishwasher (read sink).

The days went on and so did the madness. Amazing dinners and lunches with people we can only hope to see now just added to the nostalgia of the entire thing. It was parties galore with people going abroad or going for an M.B.A. More parties imply more free booze. So no one was complaining.

Anyways more people kept flowing in everyday. In the middle of all that my viva came and went. I guess I showed up for my viva or may be I forgot all about in the craziness I was surrounded. If my memory serves me right I was high when I went for both my vivas.

Then came the 26th of May and with it came Mr. Nitin (for his last visit to Manipal for the 5th time). Well everything after that is just a blur. I felt like I was back in the Manipal I used to know. In the Manipal where I had no worries what so ever. My last Saturday there was a grand affair. Dancing away till way past midnight with things happening on the dance floor that I had never imagined I would see (people around me can check the wallpaper on my cell). The beer had me dazed by the time I left the place.

A trip to Hanging Bridge was proposed but that ended up in a very drunk friend of mine crashing his car and we spending the rest of the night trying to put it back on the road. What better way to end a 14 day drinking binge?

29th may- I guess the saddest day of my life. I finally had to say goodbye to the place that made me who I am (a total freak that is). And the only thing that I kept thinking on my way back was I wish “the fortnight had never ended”.