Back To The Future

It has to be the first-day first show. Blue Lagoon and Brooke Shields, bunking classes and watching the noon show(12 to 3 pm) was the normal characteristics of collegians. We had a belief that otherwise, the movie becomes stale. The planning had to be well in advance, arranging the money was nothing less than that of an economist's planning. Budgeting the monthly need, exploring the sources- monthly pocket money from Maa was the main source until the brothers started working. Even though I had never tried other alternatives such as asking for haircut charges every week, purchasing of study materials, lab charges, college fees or diverting funds from household shopping, were some of the popular methods being followed by my friends. Three working elder brothers during college days was an added advantage for me.

The group has to be homogeneously mischievous, taking an oath never to disclose our activities even under extreme pressure from parents. Even bunking of classes was an art, group size, frequency, the classes to be bunked etc were very important criteria. Then the biggest challenge was getting the tickets, two to three friends would be standing in the queue and the most handsome and smart looking one would be finding out the right target in the ladies (girls) line for requesting to get the tickets. Then watching the movies and trying the best to follow the English dialogues or pretending to give the impression of understanding everything.

The most difficult part was the return time to home after watching the movie, it should not coincide with the showtime. I remember those days smoking was allowed inside cinema halls, it used to leave a typical smell on your clothes. And my Maa, like Sherlock Holmes, would just stand by me and ask "which cinema"? I had two friends who had developed a very innovative method- one friend would watch the first half and the other one would watch the second half on the same ticket and after a day or two in the reverse trend. They were the ideal youngsters in their society.

The evening time was the khati (chit-chat) time, reaching the designated spot on time, discussing various topics, having some snacks and coming back to home on time was a normal schedule. But later on, we changed our khati spot, as my eldest brother and his friends were also having their location very nearby. I could not forget the day when my friends decided to stop the evening gathering because it would disturb my preparation for the various competitive exams. As far as clothing was concerned the only craze was to have faded jeans and T-shirts. The most challenging task was arranging logistics. Getting the cycle as per your need was the most sought after thing. And you had to pick up the not so lucky friend, as the co-rider. Here comes the typical cycling style of Bhubaneswar, double pedalling, because of the ups and downs. In addition to the cyclist, the co-rider also puts his left foot in the left side pedal and helps in pushing the pedal down to climb the slopes. A dying art.

Most sought after eating out were chicken rolls and chat, available at some specific joints. Going together and paying separately (GTPS) was the only viable funding style, until some of us started working. In case of fund crunch, sharing a single roll or a plate of chaat was the available alternative. Any of the friends who got a job had to give a party in a restaurant. The monetary constraint was compensated by the valuable time we used to spend together.

Thanks to lockdown, it has forced me to go down the memory lane. I hope I have my friends beside me, with no constraint of time, no mobile, no target, no zoom meetings, nobody else except them. Aa ab laut chalen (Come, let's go back).