The ROOM

Very recently I had read this book called 'five point someone' by chetan bhagat. The book had created quite a flutter when it was released and I actually thot it would an ultimate murder mystery plot or an un-imaginable sci-fi based book but it turned out to be neither. It was a book on 'What not to do at IIT'. Its about three friends who spend time at IIT Delhi, their life at IIT. While I was reading through the only thing I could relate about the book to my life was this place called 'ROOM'. Yes, the ROOM in Koti. Though its a small place, there are lots of pleasent moments bound with this place. A place, to write about which this space wouldn't be sufficient.



So whts this ROOM, where is it and whts so special about it??? (to the new comers...)

ROOM, as I would describe, is a two roomed space on the 2nd floor of an congestedly constructed apartment in the most centrally located place in the city, Koti. And actually one should be asking whts not special with it. Each one of our lives was tied to this place for four years and each one of us would agree that indeed this place is place is special. How, Lets find out!!!


Firstly, the occupants of the ROOM :Manoj, Seenu, Yaser.

But the list doesnt end here. Harish anna, Ashish, Rakesh, Mandala, Police (as rajesh is fondly called), Keerthi, Praveen ( the hero of our class), Sreeram (motu), Pradeep, Vijay, Bhupal, Chandu..and last but never the least, me. Among the others who visited would come the entire class, from Nishanth, sridhar to vamshi etc. So, this entry is decicated to all the roomies of the ROOM.


Four years this room has seen each of grow into new beings altogether. It has seen us sit and laugh, fall and cry, cheer and joy, share and tear, make and break and what not. Moments of joy, sorrow, glee and gloom all of them are associate with this small space.


We started of in year one of engg life where I first visited this place to get my bus pass stamped. ( I guess every body remembers wht connection the room had with the bus pass stamp) and the hero of our class, praveen,introduced me to this place. And then the skit reharsals in 2-1. All of us had gathered for the dress reharsals actually. Imagine almost 10-12 poeple in tht place with the music on and Rakesh, the director and Chandu, the Co-Director ( from whn on he was called Codi or KODI..hehehe) calling the shots. It was not just the skit, whtevr the event be from fresher's party to tour planning's to cricket matches to party plannings to everything one could think of, the outset for all of them was the ROOM. It should start at the room and very much to the expectations it should end at the ROOM too. Whatever the events would be, the discussions and planning would start at this conference ROOM with the planning panel sitting seriously on the bed (ha yes...) and finally all the occasions would end with the day long or actually days long analysis sessions the participants of which would be varying from 2-4-10. And all this analysis was actually just timepass talk with each of having got nothing to do ( we actually had exams and labs to read for..but who cares coz we had our own style of exam preparation).



Exams were a hell to anyone but not for us ( a bit exaggeration i know) but yes we had our own style of preparation. Teamwork actually. Each one would read a unit and explin the others and by the morning next day the syllabus would be done atleast once for everyone. And the sessionals were the most intriguing one's. None of us would start preparation, until the FINAL word came from the ROOM as to what would need to prepared for.... the secret of success..i guess everybody knows...;). And when there are exams there nightouts- tea breaks. we used to roam on the roads of hyd without caring about the time of the day. Be it 12 or 2 or 4, if we were sleepy, take one of the bikes ...( courtesy:harish anna, ashish, or manoj) and vrooom to the Imbliban bus stand for 'chai'. And only then even think of watever. If NY is the city that never sleeps, the room that never sleeps is our ROOM. The lights wouldnt go out at alll. There were days when everybody used to doze off reading but still the door would be open with the lights still burning.



If thats how the nights were spent, the days were spent in an equally amazing fashion. No one used to get up till 8 and still get ready by 9 to reach college by 10 or 10.30. Me and yaser once fought on some petty issue. I think it was about the pillow in the ROOM. We always used to fight for it. And we actually fell on the bathroom door and it broke. And from then on, Ms. Mallika Sherawat's half nude poster hangs on the door to cover up the broken cleavage on the door.

We used eat breakfast at a 'bandi' in the market area. It used to be good. And lunch used to be a conglomeration. 6-8 people in the ROOM. One used to get the curries and the rest used to laze around complaining and cursing the guy who had gone to ge the curries for the delay. We used to eat as if it was days since we had eaten. We were actually as lazy to even pick-up our own plates. Two or even sometimes three used to eat in a single plate.

One thing to mention here, I dont know how many of our class girls can cook. But, Manoj is an awesome cook. He used to cook for all of us while we either used to laze around or sleep. Movies(dont ask what..;) used to keep running in the background and each one used to doze off later not knowing where to sleep. There was a day when we had just returned from the exam in the hot sun. There was only one source of cool air (one cooler) in the room and we were actually around 10 ppl. Each of slept in the same room and on top of each other. 4 ppl on the bed and 6 on the floor. Hahaha...that was something which is astonishing coz never one would have thought it was possible.

Evenings would be time for fun ( again). It would start off with a plate of pani-puri in the market area or mirchi-bajji. Then pulling each other's leg while strolling back to the ROOM, we used to have a lot of fun. Back in the ROOM, it would be time for another movie or time to wait for someone to arrive so that the analysis on some event of the day to start.


Tht was how a typical day in the ROOM would be. It could be a combination of any of these happenings or something altogether completely new. We lived, studied, slept, danced, dreamed, shared. It was a place where each of us found ourselves. Seenu to this day keeps reiterating the fact that the 'ROOM has taught me how to live'.


In a sense he is right. I spent more than half my engg life in the ROOM( this is one reason why seenu would call me the or actually everbody a parasite. 'Maa room meeda padi dochuku tinanaru raa'). I knew each situtation these people faced and how they came out of it. I too learnt how to live along. I used to eat lunch, most times dinner and often breakfast at the ROOM. It was almost like I had a second house in Koti. My mom was always upset whn I used to call her up to tell her i wouldnt be coming home that night.


I'll always miss this place. The times when we used to sit to wile away time. The times we spent here discussing various issues, various ideas. The times of mini-projects and major project. The times of rainy days when we flushed out water that had flooded the room. The times of celebrating b'day's and kicking everybody along with the b'day boy.( Poor Motu used to end up getting b'day bumps for every b'day). The times of sharing sorrows. The times of celebrating success. The times of preparing for the campus interviews or the TOEFL or GRE. All these times would stay alive to remind each one of the golden days of our lives!!!!


This was my experience and thoughts on our ROOM. I want all your comments please. Write in your thoughts, all things you would want to share and things which I may have missed out.