The most distinctive feature of Indian college life is the hangout place, a place where everyone turns up without being informed, a place where you certainly know you will find the whole bunch at a particular time, a place where your comfort is as good as home and a place you long to revisit after college is over!
Paathshala was no different in this aspect. In the pre-historic days of Paathshala, the most common hangout was the canteen,quadrangle. The first 2 sems was the time people mostly spent time around the canteen and the attendance level was high. You could occasionally find sincere chaps (or ppl like Axesh) wandering around the library to complete write-ups and assignments. The pressure of assignments and write-ups was formidable at that time especially from Mr Patwardhan (Physics) { the guy used to whistle and had the cleanest shave ever). Not precisely a hangout but ya,one could spot most of the crowd around here.
Once we started expressing more freedom better places were discovered and conquered. Most important was the SLOPE.As Patya would say,"Structurally just above the auditorium and offering an inclined terrace like feature with the angle of inclination to base being 30 degrees and having an error margin of plus or minus 2.7%!!!". {Although I don't remember him saying something like this, its not hard to imagine that I wasn't present when he might have said it :P }
It began with a free Engg Drawing lecture which had some of us slipping out of the class and spending sometime at the slope. Once we discovered the richness of that place, we made it our own and till date we speak of that place with reverence and deep attachment. Countless memories have their roots on the slope. Pointless discussions, sitting in silence, listening to songs, laughing loud on anything, dancing, roller-skating,stop-n-party, wall tennis, enjoying the cool breeze and drizzle of monsoons, completing write-ups, revision and tutoring before exams, discussions after exams, celebrating exam results and crying over KTs .... .... ..... it has all happened over the slope. It was undoubtedly a part of our daily schedule, to spend sometime on the slope. Thanks to Pratik ( Old hindi songs[Kaun hai jo sapno mein aya]), Aparna (English songs[No idea]) and CR (New hindi songs and videos[Aye Hiphopper]) for providing the entertainment content in that pre-smartphone era. Hearing the same songs again today brings back the memory of that particular moment on the slope.
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| A normal day at slope |
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| Our A division comrades |
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| Ppl in Nightout/Trip T-shirt |
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| Sharanya's beautiful smile :) |
The slope was the place where the Holy discussion of Goa used to take place. Columbus must have been ashamed of himself if he knew the amount of discussion we had before our trip.
Apart from Slope, there were a couple of locations we used to seasonally migrate to. Like the "pipes" we discovered just outside the canteen. They were literally pipes and we found the arrangement quite suitable to digest the food, listen to "english" songs reluctantly coz we didn't have ear muffs, irritate Sharanya by playing "Mere piya gaye rangoon", watch the doggies etc. But soon this place became the new hangout and some was occupied by other people more often. We abandoned this place and soon the pipes were taken away :P .
Whenever we all meet again, we will go to the slope and re-live the bliss that it offers. We owe it to our Slope.
Apart from Slope, there were a couple of locations we used to seasonally migrate to. Like the "pipes" we discovered just outside the canteen. They were literally pipes and we found the arrangement quite suitable to digest the food, listen to "english" songs reluctantly coz we didn't have ear muffs, irritate Sharanya by playing "Mere piya gaye rangoon", watch the doggies etc. But soon this place became the new hangout and some was occupied by other people more often. We abandoned this place and soon the pipes were taken away :P .
