For The Class: Rolling Waves Of Time

Waves come and go. There is nothing permanent about them. They come and they go. They never stay. But waves are forever. There is no shore without waves. In that sense, they are permanent too. They come and go forever.

Today, we are in the last throes of what we would recall (perhaps, fondly) as our college life. Three and a half years have rushed by us like a wave. No sooner did it come has it gone. I still remember when we sat in our first class, “as a class”, i.e. All the faces had the same expression. That expression of optimism, eagerness and innocent naiveté associated with the school pass-out. That thirst for life and success after a grueling and boring 12^th Standard.

Now however, there are a million faces. Some are happy and some are sad. Some are disillusioned, not necessarily about the same things. College has been an integral and not necessarily happy part of our lives for the past three years. College has been the routine, the daily chore, the normal and the quotidian. It has been the common pole star for all of us, myriad though the paths of our lives.

We have been through much as a class. We have had our lows (losing parents, losing a classmate). We have had our highs too (BTX’06, beach trips). We have had our moments of mediocrity and moments of sheer brilliance. We have been united in a lot of things and disunited in a lot of other things. We have had our moments of pride and shame. We have all struggled in our relationships and found the needed strength in other relationships. We have had our secrets. We have hidden, but we have also shared. We have covered, but we have also revealed.

We have all been different. Some of us were loud and in-your-face. Some of us were self-centered, introverted and silent. Some of us have been selfless with no reward. Some of us were blatantly selfish and self-justified. Some of us were astoundingly intelligent. Some of us were amazingly mediocre, at least in our own eyes. Some of us were none of the above. Some of us were all of the above.

Some of us have made great friends. Some of us have lost friends. Some of us have found our better halves within the class. Some of us have found them outside the class. Congratulations and may you live forever in bliss. Some of us have not, though. Some of us have sought to belong but did not. Some of us did not want to belong, but have been pleasantly surprised.

Through it all, each of us has grown inside. Certain qualities in us have died, certain other qualities amplified. We have all changed to some extent, yet we feel that it is the world around us that has changed. We have come out stronger, but also weaker. Older, but wiser. Better prepared, yet lonelier. We came in as a class, but we leave as individuals to face the big bad world with our own two hands. And stand on our own two feet. With our own little brain to guide us. We can no longer afford to linger on our forgettable and unforgettable memories. We have to move on.

Today, we prepare to leave the class. We all have our plans. We want to go to exotic places and study marvelous things. We want to earn a lot of money and experience the comforts that money can buy. Our own individual plans, nonetheless. No more are we “the class”.

That begs the question, “Where we ever ‘the class?’” The answer will never be a complete yes or no. Just like life. No black-and-white. Just shades and shades of gray on life’s little canvas. College is perhaps a darker or lighter shade. College is perhaps noticeable and distinct on the aforesaid canvas. And yet, inevitably, invariably, inescapably, it must fade away too. Fade into the rest of the painting. Fade into our memories. Fade into our fantasies of what could have been. Fade into our relationships, lost and found. Fade into our lives. Fade away.

The wave is retreating into the sea. It has to go back, for that is the nature of the wave. And that is the nature of our lives.

The waves. They come and go forever.

Wrote this for the class IBT_2k7. At the end of the seventh semester.