Overheard someone saying its winter in Madras these days
Ironically, that is what got me thinking about Pilani winters.
The bone-chilling sub-zero temperatures, the fog, the 8 '0' clock tests (the occasional classes too), the 9 '0' clock comprees, an occasional bright day with just enough sunshine, the piping hot gaajar ka halwa and last but not the least-the warm comforts of sleeping under a thick razai..aaaaaargh :D
Those were headily lazy days. Technically, one didn't have to bathe for 2 days at a stretch (the ever-buyable "we dont have geysers" phrase almost always worked provided one didnt have the BO of a yeti). The fog-filled mornings sometimes make me wonder if this movie was secretly shot in Pilani. On days that one cared (read: DARED) enough to walk into a class with four layers on, vague lectures on probability theory, structure and properties of materials, and much later, pharmacology worked very effectively in inducing sleep. The biggest challenge however, was to be able to hold a pen deftly enough to write a 50 minute test. The best of the best test crackers had issues with this and at the risk of sounding immodest, I have to admit this is one skill I did master (although it took me all of three winters and the course of my time there). And I can safely say that three years in Madras have put an end to whatever little mastery I had of this highly ignored and underrated art.
Evenings spent freezing our asses off on those narrow parapets in Connaught will rate as the best though. Music was almost always in the air, and what made it more special was Pilani's very own Manna-piping hot gajar ka halwa from Blue Moon. And the customary hot coffees, badam milks only added to that list of winter specials.
..and someone says Madras has winters!!! Enna anniyayam ya idhu??
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