Vikram G. Aarella (Kolar)

I still remember the day,
standing in a row,
I first saw the college
with my dad in tow.

I was full of hopes and dreams
of a new life, new begining,
It did not disappoint me at all
set me on a path of learning.

The buzz in the campus
listening to the boring classes,
the tea shop and the canteen
the highway and whizzing busses.

The beautiful junior chicks
ragging them for fun,
bunking classes to play carum,
playing cricket,
in the hot midday sun.

The games in practicals,
our college day celebration,
travelling to the clinics,
and our village vacation.

The tension of exams,
the good and bad results,
the fights and friendships
the various groups and cults.

Night outs in the city,
the parties and drinks,
the new relationships, and
our underworld links.

The mad professor,
the mistakes and blunders,
our class holiday trip,
our marvelling at medical wonders.

The patients, their relatives.
different languages spoken,
and the kinds of people seen,
our feeling of home sickness,
lonely evenings spent, umpteen.

Our graduation day,
when we all wept,
those memories are still fresh,
like a storm that time swept.

A tribute to the college that made me into a man.