Today as I go down the memory lane, I find myself drowned in reminiscences of the days when we did not have even a penny. Still, we enjoyed the life to full and felt on top of the world along with friends.
Yes. I am talking about my medical college days spent with my dear friend ‘John’ (Rajeev Sood). At 8:30 PM, we would start looking for each other. “Hey man! Let’s go for a movie”. “Do you have any money?” “No”. “Let’s arrange”
So, we would go to each and every room in the hostel and pick up coins 25 paisa, 50 paisa, or one rupee just whatever coin we could get hold of till we had collected Rs 14/- That was all we needed- Rs 6/- each for the ticket and 1/- for coffee. By the time first prof exams were over in the month of December, we had watched 23 movies.
Then came a time when we started a co-operative mess. Everyone would contribute towards it. John was chosen the cashier unanimously. The money poured in, suddenly there was so much money in the room. He couldn’t sleep. He arranged a ‘Peepa’ with a lid on it and also did a ‘jugaad’ of a lock. The key was always with him and I could see that he was so stressed because of this money. I suggested it was time to take a break and off we went to Dalhousie with money in our pocket and enjoyed our trip. Of course, we returned all the money later where it belonged.
Another incident of having no money that I recall was that I would be looking for clothes to wear. Dhanraj and Kohli were of same size as me. So, I would go to their rooms and get their clothes and wear them. They would be shocked when they used to see me wearing their new outfits.
I was always very fond of listening to music but did not have a transistor radio. Dana (Naresh) had a music player, so I befriended him and would spend whole day with him listening to the music. Later he became my bestie.
A funny (or shall I say crazy!) incident happened. Once our seniors picked up a fight with Mangal Das Soni Dhaba people and they rushed to the mess where we were eating dinner. After listening to them we got enraged and together we all set out towards the Dhaba to “set them right”. But it was already closed so we entered forcefully breaking the glass and started creating a mess (Our young blood did not know anything better to do). Suddenly I noticed a small radio NELKO lying around. Oh My God! I got so excited and just brought it with me. I enjoyed this souvenir of our Dhaba raid all through my hostel life.
Those were my memories of ‘no money’ days but in contrast now I have all the money I need but I miss my friends and those joyful and carefree days. Such is the life.
Sukhwinder Singh aka Sukhi
