Nov 23rd 2018 – Day 3, Pilani: Aarti, Mandir
We’ve been organized into batches for the 4 buses leaving for Pilani. Priya and I are in bus #3 supposed to leave @ 10am. A bus is supposed to leave at 8 am – only glad I don’t have to find out if it left on time 😛 At 9:30 or so, I go ahead for breakfast leaving Priya to finish getting ready. Nidhi and Amit are in the breakfast room, finishing their meal. Too bad, they are not coming to Pilani – I say bye to them there. Breakfast is yet another orgy of South and North Indian dishes. Now writing about it in cold, grey, foodwise-starved Amsterdam, I long for that food. But that morning at breakfast, I can’t quite face so much food. I pick out a couple of dishes that I feel will not make me too nauseous for the bus ride.
Eventually, closer to 11 than 10 am, we are in the bus, starting out for Pilani… for the… 8th time for me! No Rajasthan roadways this time, no ISBT. AC bus right from the resort – luxury befitting our age 😉 The initial part of the ride is quiet. I go in and out of dozing and Priya is closer to a zombie state. I recall some sweet-sour ginger sweets that Vidhya passes on to us. There are samosas too at some point. I strongly resolve not to aggravate my stomach with samosas – but cave in easily when they are actually passed around. Only a bit of the crispy part, I tell myself. Hmm… not much has changed with my resolutions – just like all those long ago resolutions to stay up late and study… where I’d end up eating maggi at night canteen and promptly fall asleep!
People start singing. I am surprised to find so much talent among us – not sure why I should be surprised, but since I sing so badly myself, it always surprises myself when others hold a tune and are able to make their voices do what they tell them. Ruchi, Sathya, Vidhya to name a few… and Pramod(?) (Not sure of the name…) Anyway, all awesome voices, singing nostalgic songs. The inevitable anthakshari kicks in at some point – I half follow and half doze in contentment. Just happy to be on this bus, sitting next to Priya, going to Pilani! Can you believe it?! We’re going to Pilani!!!! As I click away with my phone, I feel like I can’t have enough of those sunny dusty road side scenes.
Nearly five hours pass pleasantly. Despite the unwise samosa, I am too distracted to be nauseous, thankfully. “Yaaaay! We’re in Loharu!”, someone exclaims. The driver takes a wrong turn and shows us a bit more of Rajasthan than in the original route. Finally we enter the village of Pilani. More squeals all over the bus. Then old landmarks are recognized here and there… the Sarvajanik Hospital. Ah, good old Saarvi! For some strange reason, the memory of visiting Priya Padmanabhan – PriyaP, in Saarvi pops into my head, even though she has not come for this reunion.
We are now in the narrow road to Campus! The excitement within the bus is palpable. I catch a glimpse of the gates. “Crying is coming” I confess to Priya. Until then she was quietly choking with emotion, but with that declaration, she burst into a delighted peal of laughter. We’re now getting out of the bus, Ruchika is right behind us. Priya tells her about the “crying is coming”, and she too bursts into laughter. I haven’t yet lived down that phrase. We’re all soon laughing almost hysterically – until we have tears in our eyes. We’ve got out just inside campus, on the main road next to the guest house where we will stay the next two nights. One of the other buses has taken a set of guys to the out-of-campus guest house. Our guest house inside campus is to be the hub of our activity for the next two days: meals are served in the QT of this guest house, camp fires are made, it’s the general gathering place.
When we land, we are ushered into the QT where lunch has been served. We get our room allotted: Priya, Deepti and I are in one room on the second floor of the main building. There is a U shaped extension of the building, only ground floor, surrounding the QT – in the rooms along the extension Vidhya and Chinnu share a room, Bindu, Shreya, Sheetal and Ruchika share another room. Priya and I belatedly collect our bandhni dupattas – there are the last couple left, but all pretty colors anyway. I have a mustard yellow and purple one <3 <3.
Soon it’s time for the next activity: I only know that we are supposed to wear white outfits with bandhni dupattas for this. It’s beautiful to see all the girls take their dupattas and customize the outfit to match: some wear their dupattas traditionally with salwar kurtas; others, with pants or skirts, white shirts, the dupatta wound loosely over. Everyone looks gorgeous in their designer styles. Unfailingly, as soon as we land in Rajasthan, the colors somehow seem to come to life!
There’s a surprise awaiting the guys – they each get a red pagdi to go with their traditional Indian wear! What thoughtful, imaginative minds were behind getting this all organized! Hats off to Bindu and Ruchika! They’ve been organizing more behind the scenes, like the Gala dinner at Westin, but this evening outshines all the rest.
Tables are setup with diyas, ready to be lit. There is an air of anticipation and childlike excitement to be dressed up and awaiting what’s coming next. KD gives a short intro speech: “When we came to Pilani for the first time 29 years ago, we didn’t get a traditional welcome. No matter, we shall have individual welcomes complete with aarti now!” A big hand for the organizers! We line up solemnly in front of two Rajasthani local women, who perform our aartis two by two. So beautiful and peaceful – that evening is etched in my memory so clearly.
It is twilight by now. We take the diyas and set out towards the temple for the aarti of Goddess Saraswati. We walk towards the temple passing a few current campus dwellers – who look at our group indulgently: “Oh, it’s that time of year – the migratory reunion birds are here!”, they seem to be saying to each other.
We reach the temple. By now it’s dark. I don’t remember the exact moment when the diyas are lit. But suddenly, like 200 fireflies the diyas are shining in the dark. After some group photos at the steps of the temple, we head inside. The mood is solemn, everyone seems lost in their own thoughts. Our time inside the temple is emotionally charged and overwhelming for many of us …
We form a rough queue to get close to the sanctum, and to place the diya that each of us is holding somewhere in and around the sanctum. Like all the rest, I walk around the sanctum, revisiting the beautiful sculptures and marble architecture of the perambulatory space. Looking around and above, again feeling that awe, and a sense of inner peace. It’s impossible for me to stop the tears. I notice some of the others also in a similar state. Chinnu and Viji stop to talk a few words with me in hushed tones. They relive their time in the mandir from the past and talk about what it meant to them. I am happy they felt like sharing with me. It helps break the spiral of emotions and tears.
The priest is waiting patiently for all of us to pass by and place our diyas. Then he performs the evening aarti. Not being religious myself, I don’t recall ever attending aarti while at BITS, though I have been to the mandir countless times. And now, seeing the devotion and being part of this group for this special evening aarti is indeed a special experience. After the aarti, some of the girls spontaneously start singing bhajans. They sound lovely, divine almost. No accompanying instruments, just their voices sounding sweet and clear. I happen to glance out from the temple, and to the east see the rising full moon. It completes the perfection of that evening.
Everyone chooses their own form of meditation – or not – but is at least respectful of the feelings of others. Slowly we disperse from the temple, each of us slightly changed for having had this experience.
Priya and I walk over for our first glimpse of Meera Bhawan. The phat-phatis and autorickshaws on campus are a new nuisance – a recent threat to the peace and quiet of campus roads. Many passed us on the short walk from the mandir to MB, slowing down to lure us in for a ride, which we cunningly refused. The motorized traffic on campus strikes a discordant note in that sleepy, sacked out place. Make it go away! We want our nostalgia intact!
The chowkidar outside MB greets us warmly. He claims to recognize us – we take a photo with him, just in case. The chowkidar, the high walls, and barbed wire – not much has changed in some ways. What has changed is the styles of the cycles – sportier and more modern than in our day. But if you let it stand for a few days, the desert dust covers it all, same as it used to. Thankfully – dust, the equalizer!
The next part of the evening is dinner at Ram-Budh mess. Priya and I wander bravely around trying to find the place. We’re not even afraid of asking for directions, yet we get impossibly lost, walking around in circles. After some 20 mins which feels like an hour, Priya puts her foot down and gets us on a cycle rickshaw to be dropped off at the correct place. The buffet dinner has already been underway for a while when we arrive. We are greeted by a couple of the mess workers with huge smiles. For a moment we don’t recognize them – then we shriek “Chotu!”, “Mansingh!”… and we’re taken back in time to the younger images of these two! Chotu was this young lad, we never thought about how old he was back then – now he is a family man with a thick moustache – but I’m glad to see that infectious grin remains intact! And Mansingh – he was a handsome young man back then, who has aged gracefully. Quite chivalrous of them to recognize, or pretend to recognize us without trouble! 🙂
We eat in those traditional compartmentalized steel plates: a feast of a meal with puris, but I can’t recall much of the rest of the menu 😐 Only recall lusting after cassata ice-cream and stuffing my face with it! Then we bump into Murphy – more squealing and recalling of art-n-dee memories. We promise Murphy that we will find him for a pic of our batch art-n-dee including Joy.
It’s still chilly in November in Pilani, making it perfect weather for a campfire – which is next on the agenda, at the guest house QT. Speaking of campfires, though I keep an eye out for those street corner fires that chowkidars used to light (burning rubber and other rubbish!), I don’t spot any on the two evenings there.
There are a few different circles and fires setup. We find Joy and Murphy and make the promised art-n-dee team pic. Many are in different states of inebriation with various of the usual substances – it’s nice to see everyone without barriers or formality. We have a much-needed laccha session with Vidhya in her room, then wander off to our room and to bed.
