Trip to Bombay!

College days…ahh..the best days a person can have during his whole life time…but unfortunately almost everyone realizes this fact after it grows to be a part of their times of yore and then we start regretting things we dint do during those happy-go-lucky days and in the mean time we also savor some moments with our near and dear ones.I find it ironic when you look at it with a discriminating scrutiny from your current post-college days, we almost have the same pressure now also, if we used to kick up our heels amidst the studies, assignments, exams during the college days then vis-à-vis we still have our share of fun in between projects, deadlines, KT docs with an additional benefit of getting paid for the same in our current jobs. Then where does the difference lies which makes the college days so unique, so significant. I believe it is the people around you which mark the whole difference. You have a certain pool of people available to choose from, who becomes your partner in crime for everything you carry out during your tenure at the college. You have a certain visibility about it and you know for sure that you will be seeing that person day-in and day-out for the rest of your college days. Once you choose those people and hold them close to your heart, then you have that feeling of protection and you carry out all the plans with utmost aptness. You are still treated like an immature individual and are excused for any of your inadequacies. All in all, you enjoy being an irresponsible brat and can afford to have fun with limitless boundaries.But the whole scenario changes as soon as you land up in a responsible role in a job, you are not sure where you will be after a couple of months, in which project, in which city and thus you are never able to form that bond with your team mates and that void is always there which gives you a very restrained feeling and that is when people strongly feel that “College days” were the best.Time and again, they take a ride in the wonderland mesmerized by some remarkable events from your past, the time spent with your friends, the tricks you pulled together.I am no exception and I also keep dwindling into such moments and let me tell you I come out feeling rejuvenated with a thought in mind that Some day….Some day we will surely catch up with our good old friends and will have the time of our life again.One such episode that keeps striking me and reminds me of all the fun that we had is of the trip we took to Bombay. This happened during our PG days in Indore. We were a group of four (although we were many more but these were the ones who used to hang out very regularly); Rajul being the latest entry, whom we befriended during our PG course, he topped the popularity chart amongst us very soon with his insane ideas and friendly nature; a very emotional guy not afraid of accepting the same; always chasing some or the other girl, kept his heart up his sleeve. Gurdeep was another close friend in the group, famous for his sudden surge of illogical and unbending moves (a pure surd by nature!); but exactly opposite when it came to intelligence, this guy had it in him in abundance; very sharp brain, good heart and a dependable character, I knew him from our graduation days and have shared a lot of good moments with him; with its own share of fights; but we never drew apart from each other, such was our bonding, we still are very good friends. Then there was Uphar, whom I knew from my school days; my pal; my bro; a very balanced person; a keen observer; very famous among our entire group for his mature suggestions as he always carried an image of being a stable one. Now that I have introduced all of the contributors of the episode I am about to narrate, let me also tell you something about myself. I was the propellant of the group, mostly in charge of converting ideas into actions; an active benefactor in the group studies as I was a good student academically; Uphar being the other one as sharp and intelligent; Rajul was the major beneficiary as we used to give him lots of fundas prior to our exams. I always felt the Indian educational system always underrated his intelligence and he is much more capable of things as compared to what his exam results showed.Now lets get to action with the incident. I and Uphar were from out of town, so we used to share the same flat. Rajul and Gurdeep were localites, but mostly used to spend their time at our place. Our flat was the head office for all the meetings and ideas in our day-to-day lives. Those days, the Bajaj Pulsar bike was the talk of the town and we were also besotted by its speed and looks.Uphar was the first one in the group to buy the Black Pulsar, on which we clocked many timeless journeys. Gurdeep was the next in line to get one; red in color; very dashing. Myself and Rajul also had bikes, but two vehicles were enough for 4 of us to hang out together and the pulsars were the obvious choice for the same. We used to hang out in the city very often, but being the hysterical speed maniacs we all four were, we always felt the need of an adventurous long journey to test the mettle of the speed monster.Then it happened, thanks to the modern internet and chat technology, Rajul found a reason enough to be obdurate for a trip to Bombay (I don’t want to disclose the reason here to prevent Rajul looking like a fool here J). The initial thoughts were to travel by train as our parents weren’t brave enough to accept our heroics to travel a long distance on bikes. But then, we decided to give it a shot, Rajul and Gurdeep, being the epitome of virtuousness at their homes, made their parents believe that they will be parking the bikes at our place and then we will catch a late evening train to Bombay. It was a 600 kms journey from Indore to Bombay spanning over 2 hilly routes. We decided to drive through night to beat the heat and humidity during the day.We started at 8 30 pm from Indore, enjoying the drive, eating at one of the dhabas; we hit the first hilly route at around 11 pm. I was on Uphar’s bike and Rajul was the pillion rider with Gurdeep. We were driving awfully fast for the normal road traffic. I was carrying a small bag on my lap and decided to shift it to the other side while still on the ride. Being young gives you a permit to be a fool and more exploratory, so I stood on the running bike and tried shifting the bag mid-air; Uphar helped by bending the bike on one side to adjust the balance, unaware of the truck coming from the front. By the time he realized this, it was too late and in an effort to save the bike to clash with the monstrous vehicle, he diverted the bike off the road with full brakes; but we lost balance in all this and the bike started sliding towards the deep valley off the road; but fortunately stopped just in time to keep us alive to narrate this incident. Miraculously, we both escaped with minor bruises; Rajul and Gurdeep were speechless as they were the spectators of the whole incident from behind. Once we got up on our feet and were ready to go again, undeterred by the accident, Rajul said to me that “I thought that was the end of it and we lost you”. We continued our journey with the same enthusiasm, exchanging hands on the bikes, racing ahead of each other, taking stops at the places with no one in sight on either direction and enjoying the silence and darkness with the star-studded sky. We reached Bombay at the crack of the dawn and the Mumbai Police welcomed us with heavy fines for not having mirrors on the bikes. We had to track down an auto shop and get it fixed immediately to avoid any more financial losses. We took a hotel at Panvel and booked two rooms for 4 of us. The receptionist was very skeptical about us, as we looked like hell from the long journey and were on vehicles from outside Maharastra. But we never thought of what was to be followed later. As soon as we reached the room, we crashed on the beds with minimum clothes possible on us. I think half an hr would have passed when we heard a large bang on our doors. I got up and opened the door with sleepy eyes and to my surprise, a group of policemen barged in. Apparently, the hotel owner reported us as suspicious strangers!!. The policemen searhced and sniffed through the whole room, including our dirty socks and shoes, talking to each other in a funny Mumbaiaan language. We tried hard to control our laughter watching them behave like a dog searching for some bone and the situation we were in. Rajul and Gurdeep on the other room faced the same music. We were all "integorrated" in person to see if our stories matched and when the policemen were satisfied that we were four college guys with legitimate purpose to visit the city, we took tips from them about the places nearby worth seeing. They were extremely friendly and gave us all the advice and directions we needed. When they left, we all were on the floor laughing our a** off and pointing to each other's conditions. As our sleep was interrupted by this sudden incident, we decided to get ready and explore the city. Meanwhile, the sole reason for our Bombay trip (read Rajul's Reason) was also a big flop show and it once again gave us a good chance to have a hilarious laugh. We wandered around the city, having fun, eating vada paaos, seeing some beaches, and teasing Rajul for the rest of the evening.Next day, we went to Essel World, had the time of our lives, and headed back to Indore with the same exuberence with which we started our journey. We couldnt stay for long in the city due to our college schedule and studies. But we decided to pay a visit again in the near future. Unfortunately, it never happened, leaving a lot more to be desired.But everytime I think about this, it brings a smile on my face with all the fun we had during the trip and makes me think how blessed I was to have frenz like this with whom I spent some quality time. I wish we could have had more trips to capture them in our memories and fondly think about them.Gurdeep is working in Bombay, I and Rajul are at distant places away from India; dutyfully doing our jobs. Uphar; well I lost touch with him, for some of his personal concerns; but last I heard of him, he was in Pune, having a good time and doing well.It made me learn one thing, life gives you very few chances to relish some moments; all you have to do is to seize the opportunity so that the moment is frozen in time and always comes as a cool breeze down your memory lane!