Stilling the moments

Amal P Mathews
M.Phil English

 
You can call this anything; musings, meditations, ruminations, recollections, retrospection, well! It could go on...
Having being in UoH for two years and two months, one feels a curious emotion on thinking of one’s past in this milieu. A strange feeling fills the heart which is unnameable for the moment. The intention is not to compose a panegyric for this citadel of knowledge, rather it is an attempt to detail the minute yet tangible ways in which the place is and would be held very close to one’s heart.
The idea of a university has always held a special allure to one’s mind, right from the childhood days. Thought of as ‘this big place’ where everybody studies with a keenness unparalleled elsewhere and as the perfect locale where every mind is sharpened with insights. Trepidation was the sole feeling that reigned in my heart as I entered the portals of UoH. Had I not ventured to break through this film of feeling one wouldn’t have cherished the whole prospect as one actually did over the past two years. The first of its kind of hostel experience, the short stint in LH- 1 famed for its murky corridors and the shifting to the brand new LH-5 does not seem like a distant past.
Lessons in cycle riding under the tutelage of friends turned gurus, the inevitable ways in which one got lost in the campus, the tedious walks to the bank, in search of Kerala food to ‘Kairali’, another memorable discovery of the ‘mushroom rock’   on a Sunday evening- a collage of memories keep tumbling down from the interiors of mind when one searchingly probes the past. Not to speak of the larger-than-life professors in the department descending on us with their cerebral capacities. Storming into the departments for submissions, the sweaty palms and parched throat before a class presentation and the last minute brainstorms before the exams have all painted a portrait unique to each one of us. The watching of the sun dipping beyond the horizon from the sunset peak (the vision is presently obliterated due to the maniacal developmental projects), the cracking of dawn from the casements of reading room, the relishing of Irani tea with the quintessential samosas, the disappointed faces before a dysfunctional ATM have all been lived through in the bygone days.
Indeed the place holds a charm of its own which is felt in each of us, like the heart that skips a beat on sighting the nature at its best, all green and alive, as one re-enters the university after the summer hols. But what really makes UoH dear to me is the abundant bunch of faces which greets one in every corner. Faces lined with anxiety, nonchalance, spontaneous smiles, a tinge of sadness, eyes aglow with mirth- it differs. Each of them unfailingly strikes a resonance in unseen ways with the individual that you are. The vibrancy of youth extolling their varied legacies yet united in the single pursuit of excellence. The harmonious spirit pervading amidst the tensions and toils of student life. Life is indeed worth living amongst them- the assuring eyes, uplifting words and enlivening gestures.