I’m in the train right now, my parents sitting silently across me. I stare out of the window, the world outside blazing past me, reflecting the pace at which my summer vacation went – three whole months, a seemingly infinite duration, and yet I was on my way back to my harsher home now, my hostel, and college.
It was then that I took my laptop out, and started writing this. A little something, not too detailed though, to help me look back at those 82 days, the longest ever vacation of my life, till date. New people, new places, new friends. And not a single one I regret! And through this, I want to thank all the people for having made my summer vacations so memorable, and not let me get bored for even a fraction of a second.
Firstly, Shahana, for asking me to join her and her friends to watch The Japanese Wife, and giving me the opportunity to meet such great people like Ritwik Goswami, Adrija Chatterjee, Rohan Ghosh, Puja Rohra, Debadrita Modak, Rupkatha Sarkar, and Lijo Varughese, who were till then just familiar faces from Facebook. Also, Sayantika, along with Shahana of course, for listening to every stupid joke of mine during the movie, and laughing at the same, reminding me why we had been best friends once upon a time in the first place.
Thank you Anirvan, for going out with me numerous times, despite having a parallel social life, and introducing me to such wonderful people like Trisha Ray and Aditya Bidikar, and thank you also, Oindrilla for introducing me to Pratyay Ghosh and Neo Bhattacharya, though I knew Trisha and Neo from much before that. Thank you Trisha, for calling me over to your place for lunch, and Fight Club. :) Thank you Pratyay and Neo for those sudden facebook chat pop ups, which led to hilarious, pointless conversations! :P You too, Rohan Ghosh. :)
Thank you Abhigyan, for convincing me to watch Rajneeti, and those numerous (unnecessary, though) treats. You saved me a lot of money. :) You too, Guddu, for watching The Bounty Hunter, Badmaash Company, and Edge of Darkness with me, movies perhaps I would not have watched otherwise. :P And also, yet again, for saving some of my expenses. Thank you Chiru, for taking me to watch crappy yet keora bangla flicks – read: Amanush. You’ve started that trend in me. :P
Thank you CRY, for getting to work with and also know my own college mates (I rarely talk to otherwise) better – Aritra Bose and Sreya Saha. Also for giving me the chance to meet Arpan Biswas, who unexpectedly became such a good friend in such a short time. And also to give me the chance to meet Sripriya Poddar, Priya Gupta, Chirag Jain and Piyush Bagaria, who are really nice people. And Arpan, I guess I should thank you for the Miss Intern “award”? :P
Thank you Anirvan, once again, for watching Date Night and Shutter Island with me. It’s a pity we didn’t get to watch I Hate Luv Storys, but we got something better instead. Thank you also, for giving me the chance to watch Equilibrium practice, which kind of brought back memories of my own band practices at school. And also to finally meet Kabir Chattopadhyay. Had heard so much about him from you. Thank you Krittika for the treat at KFC, and also for inviting me over for lunch. You’re as cordial as ever. :) And also thanks for donating all those clothes, and helping me work for a cause. Thank you Aankita, for meeting me, and catching up with good times. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with you. :)
Thank you Sayoni, for calling me over to your place, and having such a great times, like old days, with you, Soumi, Chandy and also Niptika. Thank you Neo, yet again, for making me a part of the “last adda” and lunch at Grub Club, for teaching me ‘taash’ which I will definitely make use of in hostel. ;) Also for giving me the chance to meet Rohan Mittra, who I’m sure is a great guy (from what I hear). And of course, thank you for the immense help with the articles. Big treat you will get when we meet again. :) And thank you Rohan Mittra, for giving me a good dp for facebook. It was a welcome change after the Argentina Flag which was getting quite boring indeed! Hoping to meet you again during Pujo. :)
Thank you Devarchana, for meeting me almost after a year (!), and there could be no better place to meet at, than LST, where it all began. :) Thank you Trisha, Adi and Anirvan for Bon Appetite. Do go back there once again to try the mushroom on toast. Lip smacking it is! Thank you again, Trisha, for calling me to watch Toy Story 3. One great movie it was, and will top my list of favorite animated movies for days to come now. And thank you Aditto, for just being my friend, and the extremely nice person that you are. :) Oh, and also for providing me with your short stories which were quite a delightful read before hitting the sack every night. Hoping to see more of you too during Pujo. And a HUGE thank you to Anirvan, Trisha and Adi for the surprise farewell and that amazing farewell card, and that balloon! It brought back the feeling I had had last year while leaving the city for the first time, and while getting my first farewell back then. Also Aditto, for planning the mode of surprise. :)
And last but not the least, thank you Ma, thank you Babuji, and thank you Dada, for buying me every minute thing I wanted, for the vacation at Raigunj in North Bengal, for Le Chhakka, for being there with me for 4 hours till I had passed my driving test, for putting up with every little nagging I did during my stay, and loving me through and through. Also right now, for accompanying me all the way to Cuttack till I settle down in my new hostel. Love you guys like crazy!
It has been a good vacation, (barring my almost hectic internship with CRY), and I can’t wait to go back home already! Maybe it’ll be a couple of days before I actually post this online, what with all the shifting and settling down with the entire luggage. Nevertheless, this summer will always remain special to me, this summer of 2010. :)
