Saturday, October 16, 2021

Making Memories

The anticipation of meeting
The smells and sounds of travelling
The wait at the signal
The walk to Room 1, the destination final.
Yes we met on Zoom and Meet
On Telegram Groups everyday each other we greet.
But the heat of the day, the thirst we feel
The loud voices that over masks distances heal.
The roundabout introductions
The teasing and the one-on-one conversations
The informal tour of the campus as a TISSian
That to even old timers now feels alien
The talk of cats and monkeys
And of shortcuts and libraries
Seeing the new home of the Centre
The sun beating down on us admist the banter
The stillness of air, the sweat, the tea, the brownies
The contrast of an actual classroom earlier and the terrace wannabe
All coalesce in one unforgettable memory
This is why the virtual can never beat physical reality. 

- Written on 15 October 2021.
- On 14 October 2021, a few of us Mumbai-based students and faculty gathered together to finally meet after a year and half of online classes.